The Monk

Chapter 237 Murderous Intent

While they were cleaning up the house, another person came. Zhang was also afraid that there would be too much noise and that the murder would spread throughout the city in a short period of time, especially if hundreds of soldiers failed to catch anyone and fled in despair. Everyone who heard this was surprised? Many people came to watch the fun.

The man was an old man, slightly fat, standing tremblingly in front of the door and knocking respectfully. Zhang Ping opened the door and saw that he was at least seventy or eighty years old. He was well-dressed and asked in a low voice: "Old man, is something wrong?"

The old man looked at Zhang Afraid and confirmed that he was the one in his heart. He bent down and bowed: "My lord, I'll pay my respects."

Zhang Ain hurriedly supported him, "Good guy, Haoxuan didn't even fall over, why did you bow to me?" Looking up, he saw a soft sedan parked a hundred meters away on the street. There were four bearers standing beside the sedan, looking this way. They were obviously the old man's subordinates. And just across the street, less than ten meters away, there were many people standing pointing and talking in this direction. I was wondering, who is this old man? Why are you so respectful to me? I was so respectful that I got off the sedan chair early and walked a hundred meters.

He looked at the old man again, and he seemed familiar. Just as he was thinking about it, the old man said slowly: "Sixty years ago, I met you three times. The first time was in a restaurant, and I did something wrong; the second time was in the magistrate's office. Yamen, the magistrate is treating me to a guest; for the third time, my father brought me to this place to apologize to you. "

The old man spoke slowly, but Zhang Ping suddenly remembered someone. There was a son of a wealthy businessman who almost molested Song Yunyi in a restaurant. Then his father took him to kneel at the door to apologize. It turned out to be him. He smiled and asked, "Do you still remember me?"

"The adults are magnanimous and let the young ones go. The young ones will always remember the style of the adults. After so many years, the style of the adults is still the same..."

The old man wanted to say something more, but the older man spoke slowly. Zhang was afraid that he didn't have the patience to listen anymore, so he stopped him and asked, "Do you have a problem with me?" Back then, he was just letting him go, not a life-saving favor. But people still remember me, and after knowing the news about me, they went out of their way to come to see me with gratitude. There must be something wrong with it.

The old man's face was filled with joy: "Sir, do you still remember me?" Thinking of the relationship between the two, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. His face immediately turned gloomy and he said in a low voice: "Please forgive me for the wrong things I did when I was young. Over the years, I have not been able to do anything wrong." Forget the teachings of adults and help the people with all your heart to rescue the injured..."

Okay, it’s another merit show. Zhang Ping listened patiently for a few words and then stopped him again and said, "Just tell me what happened."

The old man hesitated for a moment and then boldly said: "I have rescued thousands of people over the years, but the thieves don't like me. They are greedy for my family's property and occupy the fields and shops. I can't protect myself and can no longer do good deeds. Even if I suffer, there is nowhere to go." Complain, boldly ask adults to make decisions for minors.”

This is his purpose, but what does the taking of your family property have to do with me? Zhang was afraid that he didn't want to care. But Haolai was an acquaintance from sixty years ago. If he had done as much good deeds as he said these years, he could help, so he asked: "What's going on?"

The old man knew that he was speaking slowly, so he turned around and waved his hand. A middle-aged man, who was very rich, ran over from the crowd watching the excitement across the street. He was the old man's son. He ran over and bowed to Zhang Ai, and then told what happened.

The old man did not tell lies. When he offended Zhang Afraid, his father punished him. Later, when he saw Zhang Afraid doing good deeds and knowing about the accidental tragic death of a Salt Gang disciple and other things, he was greatly stimulated. He was afraid that Zhang Afraid would kill him. I simply decided to follow Zhang Ai's footsteps and do good deeds together, so you can't kill me.

Unexpectedly, more than ten years have passed since I started doing this. On the premise of not damaging my own interests, I have given out small favors. Over the past decades, I have done many good deeds and become a good person in Yong'an City.

Zhang Ping has an ancestral hall outside the city. In front of the ancestral hall is a large merit vat, which contains money donated voluntarily by the people to help poor families and patients. It is managed by the government, merchants and people's representatives. Later, Zhang Ai disappeared. Over the past few decades, the money in the merit vat was getting more and more, but Zhang Ai never showed up. The managers at that time passed away one after another, and the prefects also changed several times. Until now, the prefect has arrived. appoint.

If there is too much money in the merit jar and there are too few managers, someone will have evil intentions. Wang Li's father was one of the people's representatives. After his death, Wang Li's brothers took his place and were responsible for managing the money.

At this time, the then-serving magistrate fell ill and died, but the court did not know the news, leaving a vacuum in Yong'an County's power. The Wang Li brothers were cruel and used various methods to kill some people and take the money from the merit vat as their own. Recruit a group of scoundrels. As long as someone speaks ill of him, he will be beaten to death, and the worst case will be to kill someone.

However, the gangsters in Yong'an County had been driven away by Zhang Ai for many years. The barbarians and Han tribes had been on good terms with each other and there were not many guards. Wang Li spent a lot of money to bribe some soldiers and officials, and he became the overlord in the city. The people were unable to resist, and the soldiers were bribed. Many merchants couldn't stand it, but the richer they were, the more they cherished their lives, so they let it go.

When the new prefect took office, he spent a lot of money and successfully bribed him. He also used his connections to buy a reputation for brother Wang Li. After many years of working as an official, he was promoted to the position of prefect of Yong'an.

After this guy took office, he did not do any good things, but only bad things. First, they collected city fees, and then applied for entrance fees and increased taxes. This made the people miserable, especially the ethnic minorities in the mountains. They were already poor. It was difficult to get some mountain goods to sell, but the money in exchange was not enough to pay. Of course, Have a dispute.

This guy had a reason to ask for troops from the court, so the army marched in and charged more. The people in the mountains couldn't afford it, so they naturally stopped coming to Yong'an County. It's no wonder that Zhang Wen wanted to eat bamboo tube cake but couldn't.

Wang Li seized the money from the merit vat and drove away the people who managed the money. The ancestral hall gradually fell into ruins. But when the money always runs out, they start thinking about building a house and collect protection fees from the market. After occupying the house and collecting some small money, new affairs occurred. They felt that collecting small money was too tiring, so they might as well just engage in a few big ones, and then just enjoy the happiness.

Wang Li and the prefect were their own brothers. They spent a lot of money to bribe the highest military attache, the Admiral. The three of them worked together to extend their dark hands to the big families in the city. The fat man's family is rich, but he has been blackmailed for several years and has always endured it. Today I heard someone said that Wang Li was killed. After asking about the incident carefully, I guessed that Zhang was afraid of coming back, so he made this trip.

Zhang was afraid that he would be even more angry after hearing this. He thought he could kill the two of them, but he didn't expect that there were so many stories in it. His ancestral hall actually declined because of two bastards. He sneered: "Prefect? ​​Admiral? Haha."

In order to avoid being taken advantage of, a dozen elderly people over sixty years old were found among the people watching the excitement, and they were carefully questioned one by one. The things they said were basically consistent, indicating that the fat man was not telling lies, and Zhang was afraid that he had murderous intentions in his heart.

If an official does not consider the people, his life will be of no use. Yong'an County is not peaceful, so I will make it peaceful. From the soldiers and gangsters he encountered when he first entered the city, to the civil servants and generals who captured him later, as well as a group of government officials and soldiers, as well as the group of idle men, they were all calculating in their hearts, which one should die and which one could survive?