Domineering Daming

Liu Fengzhong's whole body was trembling, he wanted to get close to the knife but blocked him, so he could only say with a flattering smile: "Lord Hou, please let me go, I would like to present 10 taels to your lord..."

Hou Guoxing's eyes lit up, his smile deepened, and he said, "Now I want to go to your lord's house even more, you two, lead the way for lord Liu!"

The two fans stepped forward and snatched the package from Liu Fengzhong's hand, then put the knife on his neck, and said with a half-smile: "Master Liu, let's go, if I accidentally use too much force with this knife, we can only do it ourselves." went."

Liu Fengzhong was trembling all over, looking at Dongchang fanzi who didn't show his hands at all, with a red face, he was pushed forward reluctantly.

Naturally, this is not a treat for dinner. In fact, Ti Qi has already filled the surroundings of Liu's mansion, ransacking the house.

As soon as he arrived at Liu's mansion, more than a dozen of Liu Fengzhong's wives, concubines and children rushed over, crying together.

Liu Fengzhong was knelt on the ground, trembling. He knew that he couldn't escape this episode, and desperately thought about the network that the capital could use, so he had to save his life!

But the capital city is not what it used to be, who dares to form a party for personal gain, who dares to shield fellow countrymen?

Whenever there is suspicion of party members, I don't know how many people avoid it!What's more, this is Wei Zhongxian's action, how many people dare to ask him for face?

His eyes flickered sharply, he still has another courtyard, and there are 5 taels hidden in it, which may be used to save his life.

Hou Guoxing sat in front of the gate of the Liu Mansion, drinking tea comfortably.

The interior of Liu's Mansion was brightly lit, people came and went, big boxes were brought out one by one, silk and satin, gold, silver and jade wares, calligraphy and painting antiques, all piled up in the open space in front of the gate.

Hou Guoxing narrowed his eyes, his face could not conceal the excitement.

Hejian Prefecture has a special geographical area, which is the key connecting the north and the south. There is also Haikou in Tianjin Wei. Over the years, it is not known how much money has been transferred here.

"It seems that I still underestimated this place." Hou Guoxing secretly said.

Not long after, a fan stepped forward and said, "My lord, I have roughly counted it. The silver alone is more than 10 taels, and the other property is estimated to be more than 30 taels..."

Hou Guoxing froze for a moment, turned his head to look at Liu Fengzhong who was being detained, and said suspiciously: "How did you get so much money?"

A magistrate is not in a prosperous age, how did he do it?Even Hou Guoxing, who knew it well, was shocked.

Liu Fengzhong knelt on the ground, didn't say a word, only his small eyes twinkled non-stop.

It was the master secretary who raised his hand tremblingly and said, "Return to the adults, the little ones know."

This is related to his future family property, Hou Guoxing said with interest: "Tell me about it."

Liu Fengzhong turned his head and looked at the master book, frowning slightly angrily.

The head secretary ignored him at all, and said loudly as if asking for credit or revenge: "My lord, the taxes, food and tax money of the Hejian Mansion will be [-]% below, and another [-]% will be given to the magistrate, and then there will be another level of filial piety, he One person took [-]%. In recent years, merchant ships and merchants have gathered. He took advantage of this opportunity to collect taxes in a pretentious manner. Although there are not many people, there are many people who can pay taxes, and the accumulation is quite considerable. All the taxes went into his pocket..."

Hou Guoxing didn't show much surprise, this is the usual method of low-level officials in Ming Dynasty, anyone can do it, these methods are not new.

The master also saw it, and quickly said: "He also colluded with the bandits, divided the dirty money, stolen goods, sold stolen goods, and opened more than a dozen pawnshops..."

Hou Guoxing's eyes lit up. He had heard of this before, but it was in the southwest, far away from the court, but he didn't expect that there would be people at the foot of the capital who would dare to do this!

"Talent..." Hou Guoxing looked at Liu Fengzhong, thinking in his heart how he got his hands to make money for him.

Dongchang Tiqi dispatched and mobilized government soldiers to besiege the magistrate's yamen, and even ransacked the house with open fire, which naturally aroused countless people's onlookers.

The big and small officials of the Hejian Mansion all turned pale, slipped away quietly, and ran back frantically, no matter what happens, it's important to pack up and run away.

Naturally, they couldn't hide this from Dongchang and Hou Guoxing, but he took some time off to sit there leisurely, drinking tea.

"If you catch everything in one go, Dongchang will have nothing to do..."

It took a full hour to complete the counting and packing. Hou Guoxing did not meet with other officials, but directly escorted the people and goods, and rushed back to the capital overnight.

Chapter 610

Dongchang's actions can be said to be aboveboard, without any concealment.

When Hou Guoxing escorted Liu Fengzhong into the capital, the high-ranking officials in the capital who had already fallen asleep and who hadn't slept all got the news one after another, and had to get together to discuss countermeasures.

It's not the first time -- it happened.

This time it was Fu Changzong's mansion, two people from the cabinet, five people from the six ministers, and seven gathered in the pavilion, all with a dignified look.

Their worries about Wei Zhongxian come not only from his glorious past, but also from his unknown means.

The emergency yamen has great power and cannot be controlled. If something really happens, they don't even have a chance to deal with the aftermath!

Everyone was silent for a while, and then Shen Xun asked, "Is there any news from the Governor's Court?" He didn't have any news from the Ministry of Punishment, and he didn't think there would be any news from the Governor's Court, but he still couldn't help asking.

The Governor's Council is in the hands of Prince Jing. This person is the prince of the clan. The adults are now avoiding him intentionally or unintentionally, trying to push the clan out of the court's decision-making circle.

Fu Changzong was relatively close to King Jing. Hearing this, he shook his head and said, "There is no special movement from the Governor's Council. We are stepping up preparations, selecting people, and setting up Governor's Councils in various places. I'm afraid there is no time to pay attention to Wei Zhongxian. It's just that the Anti-Corruption Bureau is very active, we have to ask Prince Jing for details."

Everyone nodded silently. The Governor's Council, the Ministry of Punishment, and Dali Temple were all busy with the layout of the local area to complete the goal of "political reform". This was their top priority.

As a former eunuch, Xu Dahua was most worried about him, and said with a worried face: "Wei Zhongxian has already done something, what should we do now?"

Zhou Yingqiu knew a lot about Wei Zhongxian, and it was not for nothing that he had been in the Ministry of Officials these years. His expression was as calm as iron, and he said indifferently: "We don't know what Wei Zhongxian is going to do and how to do it. Currently, the cabinet and the six ministries still have to deal with important tasks. To promote the 'New Deal', as for Wei Zhongxian...wait on the sidelines, and act when we need to act, otherwise it will only add chaos and will not help stability."

Zhou Yingqiu's words were of course reasonable, but they were reasonable and could not solve their worries.

Wei Zhongxian's means and the power he has now can overthrow Beizhili!

What Shen Yongmao was most worried about was military power. Wei Zhongxian had already controlled 2000 men and horses in Jingdong camp, and [-] horses in Dongchang. If there were more, something uncontrollable might happen!

That is absolutely intolerable to them!

Shen Yongmao said: "The patrol battalion is on standby day and night. It should protect the safety of the capital. If it is in the palace, can it be safe?"

Everyone looked slightly startled, and immediately thought about it.

The Forbidden Army is now in the charge of the deputy commander, Li Sizhong. Li Sizhong is a "second minister" who rebelled against Ming and gold. In this era of extremely strict requirements on character, Li Sizhong is not worthy of their trust at all.

But Li Sizhong is a surrendered person after all, the court must show tolerance, and secondly, there is a Li Cairen in there, who is regarded as a foreign relative, let alone be contemptuous.

Sun Chengzong understood and thought about it: "I will go to the palace to see the queen mother later, and ask the queen mother to make some adjustments to the arrangement of the imperial army, and at the same time curb Li Sizhong's power."

Although women cannot interfere in politics, it is no problem to ask Empress Dowager Zhang to arrange the palace ban at this time. Li Sizhong will not object, and their courtiers will not.

Bi Ziyan nodded slightly, and said: "Later, I will call the people involved in the emergency yamen, such as the Six Gates, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Governor's Office, to the cabinet, and have a serious talk. Anything must be reported to the cabinet in time. , to deal with it seriously.”

Everyone had no objection, Xu Dahua felt unwilling, and was about to speak when suddenly there was a loud noise of gongs and drums outside the palace.

"What happened?" Shen Xun stood up abruptly and shouted towards the door.

The others also turned their heads. Recently, they were all a little nervous, and their hearts jumped when there was any trouble.

Xu Jie, the secretary of the cabinet, walked in quickly and said, "I have already sent someone to ask, my lords will wait later."