Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 227: Heart-breaking Zhen'an Mansion

Jia Cong did not answer his question, but said calmly: "Xiuniang's incense shop is a well-known charity merchant in the city. It often helps disaster victims and raises more than a dozen orphans at its own expense.

He has a good reputation in the streets of Xicheng and is known to everyone. Moreover, his incense shop pays the government silver in full every month. If you are careless and send such a law-abiding businessman to jail, it will probably cause criticism from the people.

I have always admired the righteous deeds of Xiuniang Incense Shop, and I also know that the shopkeeper and the shop assistants have never violated any rules. If the government silver paid is really insufficient, I can pay it immediately.

Please give me some face and release those two first."

Zhang Shouan's face froze when he heard this. He had accepted the request and benefits from Ningguo Mansion's Jia Rong to get the secret recipe of perfume from Xiuniang's perfume shop.

Moreover, if he could accomplish this, he would be able to take advantage of the Ningguo Mansion's connections in the second year's examination of the Ministry of Personnel and ensure a smooth career.

Now that the matter is halfway done and the two men are still being tortured in prison, how can we just let them go like this?

The one who asked him to arrest the person was from the Ningguo Jia family, and the one who asked him to release the person was from the Rongguo Jia family. The two families had equal power and were from the same clan.

They were all gathered together, but they found themselves caught in the middle.

But he would never dare to tell Jia Cong that it was the Ningguo Jia family who asked him to do the job, let alone tell him about the matter of trying to obtain the secret recipe of perfume for the Ningguo Mansion. This was not a glorious thing, how could he easily say it out loud.

Moreover, once Jia Cong finds out, they can discuss it among their family members, but he will be in a difficult position.

……

It was just that Zhen'an Prefecture arrested people for failing to pay government silver, and Xiuniang's incense shop was not unpaid. At most, it could only be said that it underpaid.

In general, if merchants defaulted on paying government silver, the government would generally demand payment, and only if the arrears were excessive would they be sent to jail.

Now that Jia Cong has said that he can immediately replenish the official silver and force Zhen'an Prefecture into a corner, he no longer has any reason to withhold it.

If he just let the person go like this and couldn't get the secret recipe of the perfume, he would not be able to explain to the Ningguo Mansion.

If they were to create a rift with the Ningguo Mansion, they would be in great danger. That third-rank general Weilie was always arrogant and domineering, and was not someone who could be easily provoked.

Seeing that Zhang Shouan was still hesitant, Jia Cong said in a deep voice: "Today, there are many female customers in Xiuniang's perfume shop. These people are the wives of officials and wealthy businessmen in the city.

The people of Zhen'an Prefecture arrested someone in public, and the news must have spread. There are many people like me who are concerned about the reputation of Xiuniang's incense shop and feel indignant about it... "

When Zhang Shouan heard that when the bailiffs were arresting people today, there were many female customers in the incense shop, all of whom were wives of officials and wealthy businessmen, his face changed.

It's so hot in summer, how can the incense shop still be so prosperous and attract so many customers? It's really weird.

In his heart, he cursed the arresting bailiffs for being so brainless that they arrested people without even considering the situation and actually laid hidden dangers!
No matter how many dirty deeds officials do behind the scenes, as long as they cover up their actions, they can still appear righteous in front of others.

However, once a small matter is exposed and causes criticism, it will often grow into a big matter, involving many people, and finally become out of control.

Behind these wives of officials and wealthy businessmen, there are probably high-ranking officials in the court. If anyone among them were to pay attention to and investigate this matter in depth, he would feel a little uneasy at the thought of facing the two-year examination of the Ministry of Personnel.

……

Jia Cong's visit to Zhen'an Prefecture to ask for someone was really like trying to get something for nothing.

However, Feng and his gang were trapped in prison, and their lives or deaths were unknown. He could not care less about all that and had to give it a try no matter what.

So when he saw Zhang Shouan, he was straightforward, secretly exerting pressure with his words, and firmly grasped the convention of paying official silver to make his point, putting himself in a superior position of reason and righteousness.

Before coming, he also speculated that the sudden arrest of people in Zhen'an Prefecture was most likely related to Jia Zhen in Ningguo Prefecture.

But even if the Zhen'an Prefecture really arrested people on the orders of Jia Zhen, Zhang Shouan would never say it in front of him. Naturally, as few people as possible would know about such a dirty thing, so he would never expose his own shortcomings.

This would be more conducive to Jia Cong's argument based on the customary practice of paying official silver.

At this moment, he stared at Zhang Shouan's reaction, and seeing that he looked flustered, he took advantage of the situation and continued to speak sternly:
"Master Zhang, I have already offered to pay the government money for Xiuniang's incense shop. Why are you still so hesitant and unwilling to release her? Is there something else that you cannot explain?
The court has its own laws. If something is unfair, someone will say something. As an official appointed by the court, I will not sit idly by and watch innocent people being imprisoned. Since Lord Zhang cannot make a decision, I will appeal to the Dali Temple. I heard that the new Dali Temple Chief Yang Hongbin is honest and upright, hates evil, and will definitely give justice to the loyal people.

Even if the Dali Temple is useless, the emperor has granted Jia Cong the right to speak directly, even if he speaks directly to the emperor, the emperor is diligent in government and loves the people, and he will definitely not blame me!"

Jia Cong's harsh words frightened Zhang Shouan so much that his face turned pale.

This kid actually values ​​those two people in Xiuniang's Incense Shop so much. I'm afraid they have a close relationship with him. He must rescue them!

He seems to be determined to cause a fallout and make things worse!
The Dali Temple was the Ministry of Punishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and was responsible for investigating, refuting and redressing unjust and wrong cases.

The Dali Temple had great power to supervise and control government offices such as the Zhen'an Prefecture.

If this guy reports the matter to the Dali Temple, he can arrest people on the grounds of overdue official silver, but he can only fool the common people and will not be able to withstand the investigation of the Dali Temple.

As soon as the Dali Temple intervenes, he will be in big trouble.

He also said that he had the right to report directly, which was a privilege that could reach the emperor directly, although Zhang Shouan had never heard of it before.

But Jia Cong would definitely not dare to speak nonsense about such matters, otherwise he would be deceiving the emperor. In other words, it is true that he has the right to report directly.

If he really told everything that happened today in front of the emperor, what would be the consequences? Thinking of this, Zhang Shouan's legs began to go weak.

At that time, there would be no need to worry about the Ministry of Rites examination. Not to mention the official position, even your head would be in danger.

"Master Cong, please be patient, be patient. Since you are willing to pay the government silver for Xiuniang's incense shop, the man can be released."

Zhang Shouan was able to become the prefect of Zhen'an Prefecture because of his ability to bend and stretch. Jia Cong's verbal threats had already broken through his defenses, so how could he dare not release him?

As for how to explain to the Ningguo Mansion after releasing the person, and what other consequences there might be, such as whether the people from Xiuniang's incense shop would go to the Dali Temple to file a complaint, he didn't care about these.

If we don't release him now, Jia Cong will definitely go to the Dali Temple and the situation will get out of control immediately. We can only take care of the present.

Zhang Shouan is now regretting his decision to take on such a mess just to curry favor with Ningguo Mansion's connections in the Ministry of Personnel.

So he immediately ordered the bailiffs around him to go to the prison to release the man and bring him back to Jia Cong to take away.

As for the matter of making up the government silver, he and Jia Cong tacitly agreed not to mention it again, so as to avoid laughing at each other.

But after the runner went to the prison to release the man, Zhang Shouan remembered something and his face turned pale again, with a deep feeling of powerlessness rising in his heart.

After a long time, the yamen runner brought Feng and Liu Ping to the back hall.

But it cannot be said that he was brought here, but rather he was carried here on a stretcher.

Because both of them had just been tortured and had fresh injuries, they were unable to move normally.

Liu Ping was a strong young man. Although he had been whipped, he seemed to be in good spirits.

However, Feng's appearance looked a little scary, because she was the owner of Xiuniang Perfume Shop, and everyone thought that she knew the secret recipe of the perfume, and she was the first one to be tortured.

Women are weak to begin with, and became even more dying after being tortured. Not only were there whip marks all over her body, but her hands were also torn into a bloody mess by the tongs.

When Jia Cong saw this situation, his eyes turned red, and he glared at Zhang Shouan and said sternly:

"Zhang Shouan, you have such great power, but you dare to use such torture just because you owe government money. Is there any law in the Zhen'an Prefecture?"

Zhang Shouan felt a chill when he saw the coldness and murderous intent in Jia Cong's eyes, as well as his handsome face which was somewhat distorted.

(End of this chapter)