Du Ke was thinking about how to answer the emperor. It was not appropriate to answer directly that the emperor was wrong. But in fact, in Du Ke's eyes, this matter was not a bad thing. At least Qin Fang had solved the matter and did not harm the innocent woman in the bandit group. All the evidence was in hand. As long as the bandits and the county magistrate were dealt with and the remaining 70,000 yuan of money in the bandit group was returned to the people, the emperor's reputation would definitely be improved. So in Du Ke's eyes, this matter could not be more perfect.
However, the one who asked the question was the emperor. Even if the emperor would be generous and not care, as a subject, he still had to say nice things. Du Ke could become the emperor's confidant and secretly took sides before the emperor's fight for the throne. He must be a smart person.
So Du Ke just pondered for a while and answered: "This matter is a bad thing for the emperor and the court, but the good thing is that the matter has been resolved 70%, so it is a good thing. Therefore, the emperor's answer is half right and half wrong in my humble opinion."
Oh? Du Ke's answer piqued the emperor's interest. He chuckled at Du Ke and said, "This is rare. I can hear such an answer from you. It shows that you are quite satisfied with your attitude and measures to solve this matter. You just didn't tell me that I guessed wrong."
Du Ke said solemnly: "I dare not."
The emperor snorted, "Come on, tell me what happened."
"As ordered." Du Ke continued, "Does the emperor still remember Qin Fang from the Yongzhou border camp?"
"Qin Fang?" The emperor thought for a moment, "Is it the Qin Fang who proposed to divide the surrendered barbarians into small groups and resettle them?" He did have an impression of him, mainly because this incident happened not long ago.
Du Ke: "Yes, this matter is also related to Qin Fang." The emperor was impressed by someone, and judging by the emperor's answer and expression, it was a good thing. "General Qin took 3,000 surrendered barbarians and walked to Yunxiang County for resettlement. He was also transferred to Yunxiang County as the city defense general. When passing through Huanshui County, two major events occurred."
The emperor asked, his expression changing unpredictably: "Huanshui County? I remember Huanshui County is quite wealthy." It takes three days to ride from Huanshui County to the capital, which is not far or near, but from the perspective of the location of Qi State, it is not bad, so it is also a good county. "Why? In this relatively wealthy county, two major events can happen? I haven't received any memorials from Huanshui County."
Qi State did not have a cabinet. Except for memorials from military commanders, which would go through the Ministry of War, the rest of the memorials would go directly to the emperor. In other words, if something happened in Huanshui County, the memorial would be sent directly to the emperor, and then sorted by the eunuchs. The memorials were divided into different colors to distinguish the urgency of the situation. Then the emperor would review the memorials according to their urgency.
Du Ke said: "The first thing is that hundreds of the three thousand barbarians led by General Qin are sick. This disease is a contagious cold. After the onset of the disease, the patient will cough, have a headache, and feel weak all over. Although it is contagious, if the medicine is taken on time, there is no danger to life. Now General Qin has isolated the patients from healthy people. However, it takes a long time from the onset of the disease to recovery, about a month. During this month, if you take medicine every day, the cost of the medicine alone is not small."
What does the emperor fear the most? Ordinary people fear illness the most, and the emperor also fears illness the most. The emperor can afford doctors... No, he has imperial doctors and medicines, but he is different from ordinary people. Ordinary people are afraid of spending money when they are sick, but he is afraid of dying when he is sick.
The emperor was upset when he heard this. Although infectious diseases were different from plague and smallpox, they still made him upset. Fortunately, Qin Fang had controlled the disease and isolated it: "Have you confirmed with the imperial physician? Are you sure it's just infectious and not fatal?"
Du Ke replied: "After entering the palace, I went to the Imperial Hospital and confirmed it with the imperial physician. In fact, this disease is more common in spring every year. However, many people die from this disease every year because they have no money to buy medicine."
When the emperor heard this, he looked at Du Ke thoughtfully and said, "You mean to ask the court to allocate funds to Qin Fang to treat the barbarians?"
Du Ke's heart tightened, and he immediately said righteously: "The barbarians have just surrendered to us. If hundreds of them die at once, once this matter spreads to other barbarians, not only will those barbarians who are waiting and watching dare not surrender again, but other barbarians will also be worried. However, General Qin has already taken care of this payment."
The emperor was surprised: "How did Qin Fang solve it? Did he pay for it himself?" He didn't think anyone would do that.
Du Ke: "This is the second thing I want to say, and it is also a more serious matter. It affects the reputation of the court and... your reputation, Your Majesty."
As soon as Du Ke said this, the relaxed atmosphere in the imperial study disappeared, and the emperor's expression became serious: "What's going on?" He would never allow anything that would affect the reputation of the court and his personal reputation to happen.
Du Ke said: "The magistrate of Huanshui County colluded with the bandits, General Qin..." He told everything, and then handed over Qin Fang's letter, which also contained a lot of testimonies from the bandits.
The emperor read the letter first. Of course, there was nothing wrong with what Qin Fang wrote in the letter. If there was any problem, Du Ke would not hand it in. However, after reading the letter, the emperor said lightly, "He actually thought of writing to you."
Du Ke did not try to guess the meaning of this sentence. He explained, "General Qin has just been promoted to General Wude, and he probably doesn't know the rules of the court yet. In early March, I went to the Yongzhou military camp, and I became somewhat familiar with him, so he wrote this letter to me." The addition of the word "ba" also shows that he is not very clear about Qin Fang's actions, nor is he very sure, and he can rule out the possibility of him colluding with Qin Fang.
Even if the emperor didn't plot against the prince, the collusion between civil officials and military generals was not what the emperors of all dynasties wanted to see. Du Ke knew this very well, so he explained himself. However, he also knew that the emperor would not doubt it. After all, what was Qin Fang's background? He was from a grassroots background, without any backdoor or support, and was promoted this month. With such an innocent identity, no one would suspect him. What's more, the emperor was so wise
But it was one thing for the emperor not to have any doubts, but as a subject he still had to show his attitude.
The emperor smiled and said, "This Qin Fang is quite interesting. It's fine if he just wants to suppress the bandits, but he also wants to use the money of the three provinces as military pay to build the military camp in Yunxiang County. This is like the Marquis of Yonghe."
Du Ke smiled apologetically and did not answer.
The emperor said again: "But it's good this way. If everyone is as self-aware as Qin Fang and finds ways to make money when they need it, why should I worry about the money in the national treasury? Look at those who need money to build dams and cause floods. Why don't they learn from Qin Fang and make money by suppressing bandits?"
Du Ke continued to smile. How could he answer this? They were afraid of death and didn't dare to suppress the bandits? "Then the emperor promised him three hundred thousand yuan?"
The emperor said: "Just give him four, and the extra one is my reward to him." In other words, Gui Qinfang would own it privately.
However, the emperor did not lose out. This money was earned by Qin Fang from suppressing bandits. He originally intended to keep 70% for the people of Huanshui County, but now he has earned 10%, which means that the people can only get 60%.
However, since it was a reward from the emperor, Qin Fang could naturally take it.
Three days later
"General... General, I'm back." As soon as Tao Shan arrived at the bandit's den, he rushed inside. The rain had stopped and the weather had improved. Those who were healthy still lived in the brigade's camp, while the sick were moved to the bandit's den.
Kunshi and others heard Taoshan's voice and came out one after another.
Qin Fang was free these days, waiting for Tao Shan to come back. It took six days to come back and forth, and he was getting impatient. He was mainly afraid that the county magistrate would suddenly come over. But it was a bit unexpected. After a few days, the county magistrate didn't send anyone. Maybe the bandits and the county magistrate rarely contacted each other except for dividing the loot.
Qin Fang finally waited for Tao Shan to come back. Looking at the dusty Tao Shan, he said, "Thank you for your hard work. Did you deliver the letter to Lord Du Kedu?"
Tao Shan smiled naively: "It's not hard, the letter has been delivered to Lord Du, and I brought back Lord Du's letter and the emperor's edict."
Qin Fang immediately knelt down to receive the imperial edict after hearing it. Tao Shan respectfully took out the imperial edict and handed it to Qin Fang.
Qin Fang received the imperial edict and said to Tao Shan: "Go and have a good rest first."
Tao Shan: “Yes.”
Back in the house, Qin Fang first read Du Ke's letter. Du Ke wrote in the letter that he would come to Huanshui County soon. Because he was not as fast as Tao Shan in traveling as an imperial envoy, he asked Tao Shan to bring his letters and imperial edict first. At the same time, he also asked Qin Fang to detain the county magistrate after receiving the imperial edict, and wait for him to come to discuss the rest. In addition, the letter mentioned that the emperor promised three hundred taels of stolen money as his military pay, and rewarded him with another hundred taels of stolen money as his reward.
Qin Fang was very happy after reading the letter. The bandit's silver had been counted, a total of 50,000 taels of silver, not counting the remaining jewelry and other things. If he was to be rewarded, it would have to be at least 5,000 taels of silver.
Qin Fang seemed to feel the silver flying around. It turned out that… suppressing bandits was the fastest way to make money.
The door of the house suddenly opened, and Qin Fang came out with the imperial edict: "Someone come."
Soldier: "General?"
Qin Fang: "Hurry up and count the number of people. Everyone, follow me to the county town to capture the county magistrate."
Soldier: “Yes.”
Half an hour later, all the soldiers gathered at Wulipo. There were two hundred soldiers from Qi State and three hundred soldiers from the barbarians, a total of five hundred soldiers were all here.
Qin Fang stood at the front, holding the imperial edict in his hand and said, "The emperor has ordered us to capture the magistrate of Huanshui County. Everyone, prepare to set off."
"Yes." The neat voice was very loud. In the past few days, the soldiers had eaten meat several times, so they were in high spirits.
Huanshui County
The reason why the county magistrate paid attention to the Wulipo bandit den was that they rarely contacted each other and only contacted each other when they divided the stolen money. If they contacted each other too much, it would be bad if someone found out. Secondly, he was busy recently and the matter of Feng's medical clinic made him very irritated. There was no way to deal with the murder case hastily, not to mention that everyone saw it.
County Office
The county magistrate angrily glared at Doctor Feng who was sitting next to him: "How many times have I told you not to test drugs on ordinary people? Don't test drugs on ordinary people. Why didn't you listen? Now look, three people have died. What if the families of those people are restless?"
Doctor Feng smiled nonchalantly: "When you first took the money, you were so happy. I thought you were just talking and didn't care that I was testing the medicine on ordinary people."
County Magistrate: "You... but now someone has died."
Doctor Feng disagreed: "The lives of those lowly people are cheap to begin with. Besides, the people I chose are all from extremely poor families. If I give them a little silver as compensation, they won't care about these lives."
The county magistrate said with a snort, "Why don't you tell me how you almost dragged someone of status into this a few days ago? If the head of the police hadn't asked the person to leave immediately, this matter might not have ended well if someone irrelevant had been involved."
Doctor Feng: "The person has already left, why are you still bringing this up?"
County Magistrate: "This is my last warning to you. Do not test the medicine on ordinary people, otherwise..."
"What else?" Doctor Feng asked, "Are you ready to part ways peacefully?" He had another question to ask, "County Master, do you dare?" He just didn't say it.
But, didn't the county magistrate know what he meant
At this moment, there was a sudden loud noise outside, and the head constable rushed to the door: "Sir... Sir, something bad has happened."
The county magistrate shouted in the room: "What's wrong? What happened?" His anger towards Doctor Feng was directed at the captain of the police.
The head of the police said, "Someone claims to be General Wude and has been ordered to arrest you. He has surrounded the county government office."
The county magistrate was stunned, and shouted, "How dare you! General Wude of that name! You have such courage! I haven't even heard any news from the court. Who dares to falsely convey the imperial edict?" As he said that, he strode out of the room and asked, "Where is that damn general?" In front of outsiders, he was an honest county magistrate. Only in front of his own people did he reveal his "true nature".
The head of the police: "At... at the gate of the county government office."
At this time, at the gate of the county government, Qin Fang was standing there majestically in the uniform of General Wude. He was tall and had a resolute and stern face. In addition, his years of experience at the border made his skin darker than that of ordinary people. So he was like a martial god without a word or a smile. Although he had been an official for a short time and did not have much authority, he became more arrogant and gained authority through this bandit suppression. He was very good at pretending in front of the common people in the county. Besides, he was holding the imperial edict, and he felt that there was a reward in his heart, so it was the time to be full of energy.
Therefore, in the eyes of others, this is a great general.
"What's going on?"
“I don’t know.”
"This is the general, right? Generals all wear clothes like this."
"Why did they build the county government office?"
"That's right, they are so brave."
"Could it be that the county magistrate has committed a crime?"
"Shut up and stop talking nonsense, or you'll get yourself into trouble."
"That's right, just ignore it, but don't say certain things carelessly."
"Be gentle, for evil comes from the mouth."
Amid the discussion among the common people, Qin Fang said loudly: "Fellow villagers, please be quiet. Your county magistrate is colluding with the officials and bandits. This general is ordered by the court to arrest him. The imperial envoy will arrive soon."
"What? The county magistrate is colluding with the bandits?"
"Isn't this possible?"
A brave man asked curiously: "General, are you talking about the bandits in Wulipu?"
"You want to kill yourself? How dare you mention the bandits in Wulipu?"
"I just mentioned it, but they can still kill me in front of the general."
"Those damn Wulipo guys are unlucky. They should have been caught long ago."
"If they had been arrested earlier, there wouldn't have been so many people being tortured."
Qin Fang said: "Yes, it is the bandits from Wulipu outside the county town."
After Qin Fang's admission, the people started talking again. "I knew it, every time the county magistrate said that no one can be arrested without evidence, it turns out that the officials and the bandits are colluding, and the county magistrate must have benefited from it."
"Bah! Why would such a person be called the county magistrate? He should be arrested."
A woman in the crowd quietly left. She ran home desperately. After turning left and right in the county town, she came to a dilapidated hut and said, "Mother... Mother... God has opened his eyes. God has finally opened his eyes."
A blind old lady came out of the dilapidated hut, with a little girl supporting her. The old lady asked in a hoarse voice: "What happened?" Her voice was full of tension and concern. This hoarse voice was not natural, but was caused by crying.
The woman said, "Mother, a group of soldiers came to the county town just now. They are not the county yamen runners, but soldiers from the army, led by a general. The general led the soldiers and surrounded the county yamen. The general also said that the county magistrate colluded with the bandits in Wulipu, and that the officials and bandits colluded. He came to arrest people under the order of the court. He also said that everyone should not worry, and the imperial envoy will be here soon. Mother, let's go find the general now and ask him to redress our grievances."
The old lady hesitated: "But... But will the general redress our injustice?"
The woman said, "Do you want your husband to die with regret? Besides, the imperial envoy is coming soon. What if that beast kills and silences the witnesses before the imperial envoy arrives? Or, if that beast escapes before the imperial envoy arrives, won't we be able to catch him for the rest of our lives and won't be able to avenge your husband?"
When the old lady heard this, she immediately said, "You are right. Let's go find the general and ask him to redress our grievances."
The lady continued, "Mother, Xin should go by herself. You and Ju'er should not go. You should hide here. If the general does not seek justice for Xin and instead colludes with that beast, then you should forget about it and run away from here."
The little girl called Ju'er held back her tears and nodded: "Mom, I know what's going on in my heart, don't worry."
The old lady said, "Xin, go and seek justice from the general. You and Ju'er hide. My daughter-in-law, Xin is old and won't live long. If Xin follows Ju'er, she will be implicated. But you are different. You are still young. Xin can rest assured when you take care of Ju'er."
The woman also knew this, but: "Mom..."
The old lady shook her head: "My heart has been decided. Send it to the general, and then find a place to hide yourself."
Qin Fang didn't know yet that an unjust case was waiting for him. At this moment, he was waiting for the county magistrate in front of the county government office.
The county magistrate of Huanshui County was a thin man, with little meat on his body. No wonder no one suspected that he was colluding with the officials and the bandits, because he was too thin, and he could not afford meat and was not well off. If the officials and the bandits were colluding, the county magistrate must be rich and would eat and drink lavishly, so such a person should be obese.
The county magistrate in front of him looked like someone who was hungry. If he hadn't learned the truth from the bandits, he would have been fooled by his appearance.
While Qin Fang was looking at the county magistrate, the county magistrate was also looking at Qin Fang. The man in front of him didn't look old, but his tall body was full of solemnity, which made the county magistrate swallow his saliva. He had no doubt that the other party could crush him to death. However, as a local snake, the county magistrate had experienced ups and downs. He even dared to cooperate with bandits, let alone a general? He said in a cold voice: "Who are you? You dare to pretend to be an official appointed by the court and break into the county government. You have committed a serious crime of killing nine clans. You leave quickly, and I can still plead for you."
Qin Fang was too lazy to talk to him. When he saw him coming out, he said directly: "Come here, tie him up with me. If he dares to struggle, just remove his limbs."
Captain Yang: “Yes.”
The county magistrate felt a chill all over his body. It was hard for a scholar to explain himself to a soldier. Shouldn't the other party explain his identity to him at this time? Then he continued to question his identity to buy time, and then find a way to escape. However, the person in front of him was obviously different from the one he had planned. He didn't say a word and directly sent someone to kidnap him. What was going on
The county magistrate quickly stood behind the captain and said, "Captain Zhang, stop them."
Captain Yang taunted: "While I was killing the enemy on the battlefield, you were probably still bullying the people. Stop me. I don't know how much blood my sword has seen. How dare you come?"
Captain Yang was not a gangster, but when he spoke, he really acted like one. I don't know if he did it on purpose.
The captain of the police took a few steps back. To be honest, it was fine for him to act arrogantly in Huanshui County, but he would not dare to fight with these people who had been on the battlefield.
Captain Yang said again: "Our generals are here to arrest corrupt officials under the orders of the emperor. If you are sensible, surrender and you will suffer less punishment. If you are not sensible and want to die in vain, you will have asked for it."
The bailiffs who were originally blocking the county magistrate immediately made way.
Captain Yang immediately took his men to arrest all those who should be arrested.
Qin Fang was waiting outside, looking at Captain Yang and showing off. Just then, a cry came from the crowd: "General, it's unjust... General, it's unjust..."
The crowd made way, and they saw that the one who was shouting that she was innocent was a blind old lady. She took a cane and walked a few steps forward, then knelt directly on the ground: "General, this old woman is innocent..." Because she didn't know where Qin Fang was, she knelt directly.
The common people blamed the old lady, and then blamed Qin Fang. Qin Fang was also a little confused. It was the first time he met someone who cried out against him.