In the evening, Wang Jianbei, the prefect of Pingxi County, was in his mansion, looking at the letter in his hand with a strange look on his face.
The letter was sent by someone from the Manufacturing Bureau and was written in the name of Qian Su.
Wang Jianbei and Liu Yucheng were both subordinates of Lei Sitong, and they were also good friends and colleagues. Therefore, their relationship was different from that between the governor and the military governor in other places. They were very close and often discussed things together. When the letter was delivered, Liu Yucheng was in Wang Jianbei's study. After reading the letter, Wang Jianbei handed the letter to Liu Yucheng, "Yucheng, take a look?"
Liu Yucheng took the letter and only looked at it for a few seconds. His thick eyebrows, which were full of murderous intent, suddenly raised up and he let out a slight exclamation, "Ah, someone actually dared to pretend to be someone from the Transportation Office to cheat the Manufacturing Bureau. How brave..."
"Those people are probably not fake, but real people from the Transportation Office!" Wang Jianbei looked at the sparrows jumping on the branches of the magnolia outside the window and said lightly, "I just received a secret letter from the adults two days ago. Zhong Xiankui, the deputy transportation envoy of the Northwest Transportation Office, has brought a team of people into Ganzhou and is heading towards Pingxi County day and night. Calculating the time, they will probably arrive in Pingxi County today?"
"Did the Transportation Office send a letter to the Governor's Office?"
"No, the County Magistrate's Office has not received any letter from the Transportation Office!" Wang Jianbei shook his head. "The Transportation Office has been acting recklessly over the years, so they did not send any letter when they entered Ganzhou this time. However, since those people entered Ganzhou and did not hide their whereabouts, they naturally could not escape the eyes of Lord Lei. After discovering that those people seemed to be heading towards Pingxi County after entering Ganzhou, Lord Lei also reminded me to be careful and not let them catch any handle!"
"Is the Transportation Office targeting the Manufacturing Bureau?"
“It seems so now!”
Liu Jianbei, the governor of Pingxi County, took another look at the letter in his hand and took a deep breath. "They are so brave that they actually arrested Zhong Xiankui and his men. Although Zhong Xiankui is a good-for-nothing, he must have brought experts with him since he came to Ganzhou. I met Shi Zhiyu, the inspector of Ganzhou in the Transportation Office, a year ago. He has already advanced to the rank of Great Martial Master and is a difficult person. I wonder if he came with Zhong Xiankui..."
"Since Zhong Xiankui came to Ganzhou, Shi Zhiyu should have followed him!" Wang Jianbei nodded gently, "Although this letter was written by Qian Su, I guess Yan Liqiang should be in the Manufacturing Bureau at the moment. This letter is Yan Liqiang's intention to inform us and give us a clear idea..."
"Why is the Manufacturing Bureau so bold as to arrest even the people from the Transportation Office?"
"Didn't you see the reason they wrote in the letter? The Manufacturing Bureau is an agency under the Qiyun Guardian Office and is not subject to the control of the Northwest Transportation Office. Those people don't even know this little bit of common sense and come to the Manufacturing Bureau to cause trouble. They must be fakes. Moreover, the Manufacturing Bureau did not find any official badges or documents on those people..."
"Damn it, it's cruel, it does look a bit like what Yan Liqiang did!" Liu Yucheng slammed the letter on the table and smacked his lips. "The people have been arrested, so if the Bureau of Official Documents says there are none, then there are none. The excuse they came up with is reasonable, but if Jiang Tianhua, the Northwest Transport Commissioner, knew what happened here, he would be furious and would not let it go. The Bureau of Official Documents is now in trouble..."
"Jiang Tianhua has always followed Lin Qingtian's lead. Yan Liqiang is on His Majesty's side. If this matter requires a lawsuit, Yan Liqiang is not afraid even if it comes to the Imperial Capital. He is aware of this!" Wang Jianbei showed a deep smile on his face.
"Jiang Tianhua should also know this, so I don't think Jiang Tianhua will get into any verbal battle with Yan Liqiang!"
"Of course!"
"Then why is Yan Liqiang so bold?"
"When cornered, even rabbits can bite, let alone humans. Yan Liqiang had someone write this letter to inform us, so we just need to inform Lord Lei. As for other things, such as whether Zhong Xiankui and Shi Zhiyu came to Pingxi County, we have not received any documents from the Transportation Office, so we naturally don't know anything and don't need to care. We should do what we should do and delay as much as possible, just pretend that nothing happened!"
"Jiang Tianhua is a ruthless person, and he has connections in the Transportation Office!"
"No matter what, you are the one who has the final say in Ganzhou. If Yan Liqiang can't hold on and needs to ask us for help, that's even better!" Wang Jianbei's eyes suddenly became profound.
"Over at the Yuntao County Salt Field?"
"That's your purse. You should go there more often these days, Yucheng. As soon as the salt fields in Pingxi County start shipping, several big salt merchants in the northwest are already alarmed. Although your lordship has sent experts to the salt fields, there are still many idle characters in Yuntao County these days. If it doesn't work, we can use the name of drills to transfer another cavalry battalion over there to avoid chaos..."
"Good! Damn it, Yan Liqiang is really good at making money. Once anything passes through his hands, it's like turning stone into gold. Now people are saying that Yan Liqiang has such ability because he was enlightened by a god. I didn't believe it before, but now I believe it a little. Let's see how he can get through this..."
…
"Crash..."
Zhong Xiankui, the deputy envoy of transportation, was drenched from head to toe by a basin of water. He shuddered all over and slowly opened his eyes. In a daze, he saw clearly the environment he was in.
This was a dark cell, surrounded by stone walls. In the room, there was a blazing charcoal fire burning, turning the light in the room red. Qian Su, who had met him before, and a few unfamiliar faces were standing in the room, looking at him calmly...
As soon as he saw the scene clearly, Zhong Xiankui felt an extreme pain in his cheek and half of his head was numb. He wanted to reach out and touch it, but with a loud bang, he found that his hands and feet were fixed to a rack with iron chains.
“What are you doing? I’m the deputy envoy of the Northwest Transportation Office. Beating and detaining an official appointed by the imperial court is a capital crime…” Zhong Xiankui immediately screamed like a pig being slaughtered and struggled desperately.
"You are not an official appointed by the imperial court, you are just a liar..." Yan Liqiang smiled and calmly looked at the deputy envoy of transportation who was struggling and screaming on the chains.
“Nonsense, I… I have an official badge, and official documents…” Zhong Xiankui shouted, wanting to reach out and find something on his body. Unfortunately, his hands and feet were tied with iron chains, and his range of movement was limited, so he couldn’t touch himself at all.
"Are you looking for this?" Yan Liqiang picked up several official documents and a stack of official badges beside him.
Zhong Xiankui raised his head and saw what Yan Liqiang was holding. His eyes suddenly lit up. "Yes, yes, that's it. Now that you know who I am, why don't you let me go? Do you want to die..."
Yan Liqiang smiled coldly and threw the official documents and official badges in his hand directly into the burning charcoal fire beside him. The official documents immediately caught fire when they saw the fire. Several wooden official badges engraved with the characters of the Northwest Transportation Office also caught fire in a short while...
"Now, who can prove your identity?" Yan Liqiang asked Zhong Xiankui.
"You are committing a capital crime, a capital crime..." Zhong Xiankui's mouth was leaking air when he spoke, but he still shouted loudly.
"Pretending to be an official from the Northwest Transportation Office and coming to the Manufacturing Bureau under the Qiyun Guardian Office to defraud is a capital crime!"
"Nonsense, I am Zhong Xiankui, the deputy transport envoy of the Northwest Transport Office, how could I pretend to be..."
"Brother Zhou, it seems that he is still not conscious now, please make him wake up..." Yan Liqiang instructed Zhou Yong beside him.
Although Zhou Yong was slightly injured before, after taking medicine and bandaging, his injuries have basically stabilized and he can move around without any problems. Just now, Zhou Yong had been gritting his teeth and staring at Zhong Xiankui, whose face was swollen like a pig's head. After hearing what Yan Liqiang said, Zhou Yong directly used pliers to pick up a red-hot triangular soldering iron from the furnace and walked towards Zhong Xiankui...
"What are you doing... What are you doing... I am an official appointed by the imperial court... Qian Su, you are killing yourself..."
Seeing the red-hot object approaching, Zhong Xiankui screamed in fear.
"Ziz..." The red-hot iron was pressed directly on Zhong Xiankui's chest. A smell of burnt meat wafted up. Zhong Xiankui screamed and struggled on the iron rack like a dead fish, but to no avail. After a moment, his head finally tilted and he fainted again.
Another basin of cold water was poured over him from head to toe, and Zhong Xiankui opened his eyes again in a daze. This time, looking at Yan Liqiang's calm face, there was nothing in Zhong Xiankui's eyes except fear and terror.
"What's your name?" Yan Liqiang asked calmly.
"Zhong... Zhong... Xiankui!"
"Wrong, your name is not Zhong Xiankui, your name is Zhu Dakui, am I right?"
Zhong Xiankui hesitated for a moment, and when he saw Zhou Yong licking his lips and looking over, as if he was about to reach out for the fire tongs, his body immediately trembled and he nodded quickly, "Yes, yes, yes, my name is Zhu Da Kui, my name is Zhu Da Kui..."
Yan Liqiang finally showed a smile on his face, "Tell me, who sent you here..."
(End of this chapter)