"Where are those two people now?" Pei Che asked. These two people used the title of prefect to ruin his reputation. He could not swallow this breath no matter what.
Zhou Xu said, "They said they were not used to living in the big government office in Cangzhou, so I had someone book two rooms for them in the largest inn in Cangzhou. They should still be there now, right?" He was annoyed. He should have written a letter to verify it earlier, instead of panicking when he heard that Liang Jing was coming and being deceived by two liars.
Wait! Those two people are liars. The person in front of me only brought out the seal and the document. What's the difference between him and those two people
Zhou Xu's eyes became subtle, and he looked at Pei Che and Jiang Miao suspiciously.
Pei Che's mind turned, and he understood what he was thinking at the moment, and asked: "Master Zhou is questioning my identity?"
Zhou Xu was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "No, no, I don't dare. But besides the documents of appointment and the seal, do you two have anything else to verify your identity?"
"Do you recognize this?" Pei Che took out a jade plaque with an ancient shape, on which were engraved four large characters: "Loyalty Duke's Mansion".
Zhou Xu had gone to Liangjing to take the imperial examination in his early years, so he naturally knew the Duke of Zhongguo. More than a decade ago, he had met the Duke of Zhongguo's son. He looked at the jade token and then at Pei Che, and it seemed that the face in his memory was indeed very similar to the person in front of him.
"Master Zhou, please dispatch some personnel to go to the inn with me and capture those two people." Pei Che said.
Zhou Xu did not dare to hesitate any longer, and quickly arranged for someone to take Pei Che and the others to the reception building.
Yingbin Building is the largest restaurant in Cangzhou. The first two floors are used as restaurants, and the rows of rooms at the back are where guests stay. Because the two claimed to be the governor's confidants, Zhou Xu and others did not dare to neglect them and directly booked two top-grade rooms for them to stay.
When the bailiffs arrived, they heard a lot of obscene music. It turned out that the two men had called a few prostitutes to come and drink with them. The whole room was filled with smoke and it made people feel sick.
The two men were already drunk, and only after being taken to the government office did they sober up a little. One of them saw the scene clearly and shouted angrily, "Zhou Xu, you are so bold!"
Zhou Xu slammed the gavel and scolded, "How dare you call me by my name? Do you plead guilty?"
"Haha, what crime do I admit? I am the confidant of the prefect. How dare you offend me? I will report to the prefect in the future and punish you for disrespect!" The man was startled, but he still had an arrogant look on his face.
Zhou Xu sneered: "You must be blinded by greed, and you keep calling me the prefect. Then open your eyes and take a closer look. Who is this person in front of you?"
The two men looked in the direction he pointed, and saw a handsome young man sitting below. When that man looked up at them, there was no warmth in his eyes, and the cold aura around him was frightening.
"I don't care who he is. If you know what's good for you, let us go. Otherwise, you'll be in trouble when the prefect comes!" Another person shouted in a timid tone, staring at Zhou Xu, as if he wanted to see a hint of hesitation on his face.
"You two are really blind. The prefect is right in front of you. How come you don't recognize him?" Zhou Xu had been flattering them for more than a month, but he didn't expect that they were fakes. The shame of being deceived surged in his heart, and he just wanted these two people to die.
"What nonsense are you talking about? He is not the prefect! We have the prefect's official document and seal as proof. He is not the prefect at all!"
Seeing that he still did not repent, Zhou Xu asked them to present the document and seal. If there were no objects for comparison, the document and seal would look quite real, but when placed in front of the real thing, the two things looked a bit clumsy.
"It seems that you won't confess without torture. Come on, loosen their skin first." Zhou Xu was completely relieved now. He pulled out a stick and threw it down. The yamen runners below saw it, pinned the two men down, and gave each of them five hits.
Jiang Miao was very curious and asked, "How do you know it's five hits?" Is it a tacit understanding
Jiang Miao suddenly realized: "I was wondering why they had to throw a stick every time they tried a case. I thought it was a special ritual."
Pei Che smiled. From A Miao's tone, he clearly had seen many trials, but as far as he knew, A Miao didn't even know where Liang Jing's government office was. He had many secrets, and Pei Che was happy every time he discovered one, feeling that he was getting closer to the real A Miao.
While the two were whispering, the two people here were crying in pain after being tortured. When they saw Zhou Xu pretending to get the signature, they immediately began to confess.
According to them, they were originally swindlers. One was good at imitating calligraphy, and the other was good at imitating seal carving. The two of them colluded with each other and often forged some fake calligraphy works of celebrities to sell.
At first, the two people's imitations were not very similar and they were often discovered, so they would flee to other places. Gradually, the two people's skills became sophisticated, and they could succeed seven or eight times out of ten. However, they still did not dare to be careless. After a few successes, they would leave and go to the next place to cheat, and spend the money they got from the cheating on wine and women.
However, if you walk too much at night, you will always encounter ghosts. In their latest scam, they cheated an ordinary fat young man. This fat man had no education, and when he heard that it was a work of famous artists from previous dynasties, he directly paid for it. Not only did he buy it, he also asked if they had it, and if so, he would take it all.
How could they miss such a good opportunity? They said they still had a few paintings and would give them to him in a few days. The fat young master left happily, but within two days, a group of people surrounded the place where they lived.
Because the fat young master took the calligraphy of a famous calligrapher to show off, but it was recognized as a fake because the real one happened to be kept in the man's house. The fat young master lost face and naturally wanted to seek revenge. Although he was not well-educated, he had a good family. After the two swindlers escaped by chance the first time, those people kept chasing them. During that time, they were exhausted from running around, and they dared not go to the busy places in the city anymore. When they were on the road, they only took the deserted paths.
One day two months ago, they were resting in a dilapidated temple. Suddenly, it started to rain heavily and a carriage came over to take shelter. The two were afraid of getting into trouble, so they hid. Unexpectedly, the visitor turned out to be He Ming, the former governor of Cangzhou.
He complained a lot about Cangzhou, and said that fortunately he had finally made connections to get promoted, otherwise he would have to spend his whole life there. The people traveling with He Ming were a little worried, wondering if there would be trouble if they left early and Cangzhou was left without anyone to govern it.
He Ming said: "People with a little vision will never come to Cangzhou. If we wait for the imperial officials to send us here before leaving, it may take forever."
After that, they talked a lot more, but the words just now made the two men think. Rather than running away like a rat for the rest of their lives, it would be better to do something big. Taking advantage of the heavy rain, they secretly put smoke in the fire of several people to make them faint, then searched their bags, found the documents and seals and began to copy them. After the copying, they quietly put them back, after all, they did not dare to hurt their lives.
After they got the things, they pretended to be trusted and acted arrogantly in the city, taking the opportunity to make a lot of money, thinking that they would make enough money for the rest of their lives at once, and then live in seclusion. Of course, they were always on guard against outsiders, thinking that if there was any news, they would take the money and leave.
A few days ago, they heard that the officials sent by the imperial court were coming soon, and they wanted to leave this place in panic. Unfortunately, the mountain near the official road collapsed, burying the official road, creating a dilemma of being unable to enter or exit.
At this moment, the two of them were relieved, thinking that it would be better if the road was blocked, so they informed Zhou Xu not to let him send people to clear the road. But what they didn't expect was that the newly appointed prefect would pay the surrounding people to clear the road. They also thought that when they couldn't stop them here, they would sneak out while the road was cleared.
The whole story is clear now. The two swindlers will be sent to Liangjing for punishment soon. Such bad behavior cannot be appeased without severe punishment. All the silver they embezzled, except for the money they spent, will be returned to the people who were fined. The part confiscated by the government will also be returned to the people.
The common people celebrated, and the yamen runners who were arresting and punishing people breathed a sigh of relief. They didn't want to do this either, as there were few outsiders in Cangzhou, and those who were arrested and punished were all their fellow villagers. Since the order was issued, they would be pointed at whenever they went out, and some even secretly dumped manure water at their doorsteps.
However, the superiors set a quota for each of them, and those who failed to reach it would be punished. If they did not comply, they would be fined at the least, or lose their police uniforms at the worst. In order to support their families, they had no choice but to do it, fining every car and every person they saw.
(End of this chapter)