Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 495 Death Struggle
The news that the governor was hosting a banquet to honor local officials and gentry spread early in the morning. At first, people were keen on discussing who had not received the invitation and who had.

It seems that this invitation has become a symbol of identity and status.

Those who actually received the invitation had their own thoughts.

For example, the prefect Hu Ping was feeling very uneasy. He used to be the one to comfort others, but now it was Chen Dong's turn to comfort him.

"I heard that there was an assassin last night, and the governor's standard-bearer arrested him. The governor did not reveal the details of the case. Brother Chen, do you think tonight is the Hongmen Banquet?"

Chen Dong was unsure. Thinking that Jia Lian really took the money and that no soldiers came to arrest him, Chen Dong comforted him, "Your Excellency, you are overthinking. The governor wants to arrest you and me, and he needs to send an invitation?"

"That's right. With two soldiers coming, Hu can only surrender. How can he resist?" Hu Ping also felt that it made sense. This man was just guilty.

What Chen Dong said was not only to comfort the prefect, but also to comfort himself. Ever since Qin San, the shopkeeper, was arrested, Chen Dong had been a little emotionally unstable.

After confirming again and again that the house was not in the name of the Chen family, but in the name of a good friend of Chen Ding, Chen Dong felt a little relieved. The main factor that played a role was Jia Lian's act of accepting money.

If Jia Lian had not taken the money beforehand, Chen Dong would probably have escaped by now.

The day continued to be calm. Except for the stricter checks by the governor's standard-bearing soldiers when leaving the city, there was nothing special about the rest.

Chen Dong could only complain to Chen Ding in private, wondering why he had invited these disaster stars here and how they actually wanted to earn that secret money.

Chen Ding also felt that he was wronged, but fortunately he also received the invitation and felt that the money had been delivered, which made the difference.

The night banquet was held in the largest restaurant in the city, and the guests who attended the banquet were all major officials in the city and some prominent gentry.

As dusk approached, guests began to arrive and everything seemed normal, except that there were more soldiers guarding the place.

Everyone expressed their understanding. After all, there were assassins and they were still guarding the city gates. They did not search house by house and announced to the public that they were worried about disturbing the residents.

What else can they say? The local gentry and officials can only praise Governor Jia and say something like he is sympathetic to the people.

The garrison commander of Nanhaiwei also received the invitation. He rushed there and was present when the governor was welcomed. Only when he returned did he find out that his subordinates almost got him into trouble. They even went out to block people on the road and collect tolls. Fortunately, he did not run into the governor's large group of people, otherwise he would have been dead.

It was Jia Lian's subordinates who welcomed the guests. As the host, Jia Lian did not come out to greet the guests. It was not that he was impolite, but that the guests were not qualified.

How shameless do you have to be to deserve the governor to personally welcome you?
After dozens of guests arrived, Jia Lian had not yet appeared. When everyone was guessing, there was a sound of footsteps downstairs, and everyone stood up and stood in silence.

Everyone thought that the person who came in was Jia Lian, but they never expected that the person who came in was the Dragon Guards in black, led by Wei Da.

"It seems that we are late. Everyone who should have come has arrived." After Wei Da finished his opening remarks in front of the crowd with a fake smile, Hu Ping was the first to sit down. It was not because he didn't want to give face, but because his legs were weak and he couldn't stand. He didn't sit on the floor because there was a chair behind him.

The originally lively scene suddenly froze. Everyone knew what the Dragon Guard did. Although the Dragon Guard of this dynasty did not have the power to judge, it did have the power to investigate and arrest.

The reactions of officials and gentry were different. When the Dragon Guard appeared, he was mostly here to arrest officials. He usually did not target gentry unless you rebelled.

Otherwise, the one who was scared was the prefect! The prefectural chancellor was also very scared, and he barely managed to stand with the help of the people around him. He was just standing there with the prefect in front of him, so he still behaved badly.

The expressions of other officials also changed drastically. Now that Captain Long Jin had arrived, who knew who they were going to arrest?
The garrison commander of the Nanhai Guard was also panicked, but his performance was slightly better than that of the others.

Unfortunately, after looking around, Wei Da saw a group of frightened officials, and finally his eyes fell on him: "An Dezhi, as the garrison commander of the South China Sea, you have no intention of serving the imperial court, but have colluded with smuggling pirates, ignored the governor's orders, and set up checkpoints on the road many times to collect fees. I want to ask you, are you an officer or a bandit?"

"Oh my God!" The garrison commander of the Nanhai Guard cried out and sat down on the ground. He struggled to get up, but he had no strength left. Several times he fell back to sit down halfway up.

No one expected that the first person to suffer the misfortune was the Nanhai Guard. When the frightened prefect Hu Ping saw this, he seemed to be... Hmm? Did he send too little? It's possible!
Hu Ping's courage was restored, and brothers Chen Dong and Chen Ding also recovered. After looking at each other, they tacitly agreed that it must be an assassination and the governor was dissatisfied with An Dezhi.

"Take him away!" Wei Da didn't say any more words. With a command, two Dragon Guards came forward, carried the man away. When the guard, who was like a dead dog, was carried to the door, Jia Lian came in.

"Governor, save me!" After a shout, everyone looked towards Jia Lian at the door.

Jia Lian raised his hand to signal to stop, and everyone seemed to see the light of hope, and prayed that this arrest was an unauthorized action by Captain Long Jin.

"Eunuch Wei, Captain Long is arresting people. I can't stop him, but I must have evidence." Jia Lian's attitude seemed that he didn't know Wei Da was coming in advance.

"Governor Jia, since Captain Long Jin has come to arrest people, the evidence must be solid and we will not cause you any trouble." Wei Da answered neither humbly nor arrogantly, echoing the others.

Jia Lian silently made way and did not respond no matter how the garrison called for help.

The scene was just like a group of monkeys witnessing the killing of a chicken. It was so quiet that there was no movement at all.

Jia Lian calmly walked to the middle and clasped his hands to everyone, "Everyone, I'm sorry to scare you."

"You are too polite, Governor. An Dezhi deserves the punishment he received, and it has nothing to do with others." After Hu Ping recovered some blood, he had enough energy to stand up and speak.

Everyone agreed. Jia Lian smiled and turned around to ask Wei Da: "Eunuch Wei, is this really the case?" Wei Da grinned and said: "Taipei Jia, this is just the beginning. An Dezhi is just an appetizer. The mouse is pulling the shovel. The big one is yet to come."

In one sentence, the atmosphere on the scene reached freezing point again.

One can only say that this is Jia Lian's bad taste. He made everyone present feel like they were on a roller coaster. They just returned to the world from hell, but fell back again with just one sentence.

Jia Lian was still addicted to acting. Looking at the pale faces of the crowd, he asked with a smile: "Are there any bigger ones? Are they here to arrest Jia?"

This question rekindled hope in the hearts of the people. Yes, if we talk about the biggest ones, Jia Lian is the biggest.

Of course, there were also people who knew the truth, such as Hu Ping. He no longer held out any hope, knowing that he probably wouldn't survive tonight.

"That's impossible. Everyone knows that Jia Futai is an honest official." Wei Da replied with a smile. Jia Lian unceremoniously dragged a chair and sat down with a big horse and a golden sword: "Okay, Jia will sit and watch."

"Just wait and see! I promise not to wrongly accuse a good person!" Wei Da said with a smile. The officials and gentry present were crazy about his compliments to Jia Lian. How many gifts did Governor Jia receive when he took office? Why don't you check it out? Do you dare to bully people like us?

Wei Da turned around with a smile, and when he faced the crowd again, there were only a few people left standing. They were all sitting on the chairs, looking very ugly.

The prefect Hu Ping accepted his fate. He slumped in his chair and stared at the roof with a dull look.

Wei Da said, "Huizhou prefect Hu Ping fabricated facts about counterfeit currency and banned the circulation of silver coins issued by the court in his jurisdiction in order to make huge profits. Silver coins are issued by the Royal Bank. Hu Ping's actions are tantamount to treason. Come on, arrest him!"

Hu Ping jumped up as if awakened, knelt down in front of Jia Lian, and cried, "Governor, please save me! As long as you can help me survive this disaster, I am willing to give you all my property."

Seeing that he was about to hug his thigh, Jia Lian stood up and dodged, took two steps back before stopping and asked: "Oh, Magistrate Hu, I wonder how much property you have? Tell me so that I can open my eyes and see how much land you have extorted."

After hearing this, Hu Ping completely sobered up. After a moment of silence, he sat up straight and sneered, "When the governor first took office, I presented him with 10,000 silver coins. When you visited Huizhou, I presented him with another 10,000 silver coins. These are all facts, right? You won't deny it in front of the Dragon Guard, right?"

This is a desperate dog. If he is going to die, he will take someone else with him.

Jia Lian listened with a smile, not angry at all. Instead, he bent down slightly, looked at Hu Ping's face with snot still on it and said, "Prefect Hu, I say you are stupid, but you are also very smart. You can even think of such a method as banning the circulation of silver coins in the name of the government. I say you are smart, but you are also very stupid? The issuing agency of silver coins is the Royal Bank. You don't allow the people to use the silver coins issued by the government. What do you want to do? Are you going to rebel?"

Hu Ping was not stupid. After he finished speaking, he knew why he fell. He was stunned. It turned out to be because of this.

Which official in the world is not greedy? The emperor knew very well that the Great Zhou Empire had continued to this day, and the corruption of officials was difficult to reverse. Therefore, as long as officials did not go too far, such as excessive greed, which led to poor disaster relief, or cheating in the imperial examinations, or the case of banning the circulation of silver coins in front of them. These three cases were all digging at the roots of the Great Zhou court. The emperor absolutely could not tolerate them.

Think about it, the government was corrupt and the finances were empty. The emperor came up with the idea of ​​issuing silver coins, which greatly alleviated the financial difficulties. This was one of his most proud moves. A prefect, for the sake of a little price difference, actually banned the circulation of silver coins in the country. Prefects all over the world followed your example. Does this mean that the emperor's achievements are worth it?
"I see. It's said that the governor is the most trusted minister of His Majesty. Now I know that the rumor is true. Hu Ping, you have been wronged. There is nothing to say."

He looked like a man, struggling to get up, brushing off the dust on his clothes, and folded his arms towards Wei Da: "Hu Ping was a confused official and disloyal as a minister, and he deserves his punishment. I only ask one thing, Eunuch Wei, don't let my clan members be implicated." Wei Da shook his head and said, "This matter has no say in our family. But don't worry, Magistrate Hu, there is a fine for the crime, as long as your family and clan members pay it back, you will only be dismissed from office, or demoted to a commoner if it is more serious."

Wei Da didn't sympathize with him, he was just afraid that he would become depressed and commit suicide, which would make it difficult to handle future cases.

It should be noted that this case is very representative, and Wei Da needs to handle it well and strive to be able to operate back to Beijing. Although Guangdong is a good place, a northerner and a eunuch certainly hopes to stay under the emperor's nose, which is the core area of ​​power. Besides, he has made enough money, and it is time to make room for others. If he is not tactful and wants to continue to make money, others will not agree.

This was also one of the conditions Wei Da proposed to Jia Lian. He would handle the case, and then he could bring the criminal to the capital, make some arrangements, and keep him in the capital.

Hu Ping did not make any more trouble and was taken away quietly. All the officials of the Huizhou prefectural government and the county magistrates were arrested without exception. The charges were knowing the truth but not reporting it, knowingly breaking the law, and colluding with the prefect to resist the imperial decree. Corruption was not the main charge, and Wei Da did not even mention it as a major point.

After Wei Da captured all the officials present and took them back, he said goodbye and left. The following play was left for Jia Lian to continue. The Dragon Guard was very busy tonight. So many officials had their homes confiscated. Of course, only the backyard of the government office was confiscated. Unless it was a serious crime of treason, the homes of the officials in their hometowns would not be confiscated. The officials of the court still had to be a little decent.

You say it is a privilege, it is true, why? Nowadays, officials have privileges. If it weren't for this privilege, why would scholars study hard and take the imperial examinations?

After Wei Da left the stage, the remaining gentry all stopped like clocks that had run out of steam, all looking at Jia Lian's reaction.

The Chen brothers were tense at this moment, because they knew that the drama was not over yet.

Especially the head of the family, Chen Dong, has closed his eyes at this moment, sitting on a chair facing the ceiling. He is thinking about how to get through this level today.

After going through all the resources available at home, he finally came to the conclusion that he had to give money, even if it meant losing everything he had, otherwise the Chen family would be finished.

It can only be said that Chen Dong is still very self-compassioned. In comparison, Chen Ding lacks self-compassion. He was frightened at the beginning, but after gradually calming down, his eyes became cold and he kept staring at Jia Lian secretly.

Chen Ding's thoughts were different from Chen Dong's. He felt that he was destined to fail today. The reason was very simple. The Chen family was too rich. As long as Jia Lian took over the Chen family, everything would be his and he could take whatever he wanted.

If I were Jia Lian, I would definitely not let the Chen family survive. In this case, why not give it a try?

Chen Ding was known for his bravery and had practiced martial arts since childhood. At this moment, he held a sharp knife in his arms and moved quietly, little by little, slowly approaching Jia Lian, intending to take Jia Lian as a hostage when he was not prepared.

Just as he was five steps away from Jia Lian and stretched out his hands into his arms, Jia Lian's eyes fell on his face. After the two looked at each other, Jia Lian smiled slightly: "Mr. Chen, what do you want to do?"

Chen Dingxin made up his mind, drew out the sharp blade and pounced forward, making a hissing sound from his mouth, like a poisonous snake spitting out its tongue.

(End of this chapter)