The Ming Dynasty took an unconventional approach

"The county magistrate was not you, the county magistrate. If it were you, even if Yang Ji was more powerful, I would dare to give it a try, but it was Wu, the county magistrate at that time, how could I dare to speak out?"

Pan Yun touched his chin and thought: "That's not right. Nine years ago, the late emperor was still alive?"

"No, no, no, the late emperor is no longer with us. That was the first year of the Zhengtong reign," Master Li said hurriedly. "At that time, Prime Minister Yang was entrusted with the care of the orphan. All court affairs were decided by the three Yang elders. Magistrate Wu went to the Yang family every now and then to pay his respects to Yang Ji. The Yang family was very powerful at that time."

Pan Yun raised his eyebrows, smiling: "Yang Shiqi allowed his son to seize power, which is indeed a heinous crime."

The county magistrate couldn't help but frown.

Master Li opened his mouth, was silent for a moment, and then whispered: "I did hear a little bit. At that time, the burden of the Ming Dynasty fell on the three Yang elders. The new emperor was young, and the northwest, southwest and coastal areas were unstable. I heard that Prime Minister Yang was often so busy that he couldn't eat on time three times a day. How could he know what was happening in Ji'an thousands of miles away?

Yang Ji often used this incident to show off that Yang Shoufu was loyal to his duties and was trusted by the Empress Dowager and the new emperor, but because of this, we know that Yang Shoufu probably didn't know what Yang Ji did in Ji'an. "

Pan Yun immediately approached and asked in a low voice: "Then why don't you and Prime Minister Yang report him?"

Mr. Li smiled bitterly: "Distance does not separate relatives. Prime Minister Yang is honest, but he is also a powerful official and a father. When the time comes, can he really abandon his son and make decisions for us?

If he doesn't stand up for us and we report the matter to the higher authorities, who knows if he won't silence us?"

Pan Yun understood: "The trade-off is that so many people died quietly in the pit, and no one knew about it for more than ten years."

The county magistrate became suspicious and asked, "Is this the only corpse pit?"

Mr. Li shuddered and quickly clarified: "Sir, I only know this one, and I encountered it occasionally. I don't know the others. I really don't know."

The county magistrate snorted and asked, "Then what? What did you do after you found the corpse pit?"

Master Li swallowed his saliva and whispered, "I, I asked someone to secretly watch the corpse pit, and then followed the traces to a villa of Yang Ji, the one in Sanjing Village."

The county magistrate knew about the villa, and when Yang Ji was still alive, he was also invited to visit the villa.

He felt a chill run down his spine at the thought of having drunk and enjoyed music at a murder scene.

"I originally wanted to hold this as leverage, as it might be useful at a critical moment, but after watching for a long time, I discovered that every time a corpse appeared, it was during a secret banquet at Sanjing Villa. On the night before, several masters and young men who were good friends with Yang Ji went in.

At first, it was held every August 15th, and later it was held every Mid-Autumn Festival and Winter Solstice. Even officials from the government came to participate, so I didn’t dare to let anyone watch me anymore.”

County magistrate: "The handle has become a hot potato."

Mr. Li also smiled bitterly: "I wish I could just scratch my brain and pretend I didn't know about this."

The county magistrate and Pan Yun snorted coldly at the same time.

The county magistrate took out a piece of paper and said in a deep voice, "Write down the names of all the people you know who attended the banquet."

Mr. Li picked up his pen and wrote it down honestly.

The county magistrate then looked at the county lieutenant: "What about you? How did you know? How much do you know?"

The county lieutenant knelt on the ground and bowed his head, saying, "In the third year of Zhengtong, a family surnamed Liu from Liuxi Village reported to the police that their daughter was taken away by a merchant surnamed Zhao. They were afraid that something bad had happened to her. I took people to investigate. The man surnamed Zhao said he was a merchant, but he was actually a minor official in Ninghua, Fujian. His brother-in-law worked in the Fujian Navy. He came to Ji'an, saying that he was doing business, but in fact he came to match his brother-in-law with Yang Ji. Liu Xiaohong was redeemed by him from Wanchun Tower as a gift to Yang Ji."

The county lieutenant explained in detail: "Liu Xiaohong is very beautiful, but she is still a prostitute. The madam of Wanchunlou wanted to push her to be the next courtesan, so she was kept in her care. The man surnamed Zhao paid a large sum of money to redeem her from Wanchunlou.

He told Liu's parents that he wanted to take Liu Xiaohong as his concubine, and both Liu's parents and Liu Xiaohong believed him. However, Liu Xiaohong disappeared later and had not been seen for three months. When they went to look for her, Zhao said directly that he didn't know them.

Originally, if they didn't want to acknowledge this marriage, the Liu family would understand and not make trouble, but when the Zhao family said they didn't know them, they felt something was wrong, so they secretly followed the Zhao family for a while, suspecting that he had killed Liu Xiaohong. "

County Magistrate: “And then?”

"I only found out that Zhao took Liu Xiaohong to Sanjing Villa, and I can't investigate further here," the county lieutenant lowered his head and said, "However, I am curious about this matter and have paid attention to it privately, and then... I found that in previous years, a group of brothel girls and young men entered Sanjing Villa around the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the number of people who came out was always inconsistent, and there would always be one or two missing..."

Seeing that he had stopped talking, the county magistrate asked sullenly, "And then?"

"The people under me were not reliable in their work. Magistrate Wu found out about the surveillance, and then I was transferred away."

The county magistrate then remembered that he was promoted to the position of county lieutenant after he came to Ji'an to be the county magistrate. Before he came, he had fallen into such a state that he had to work as the stationmaster of a shabby post station.

It was because he encountered a cross-county robbery case. With the reminder of an old yamen runner, he got the man out of the post station, solved the case, and caught the thief. He was then promoted to shop manager and then quickly promoted to county lieutenant.

County Magistrate: "Well, it seems that not only I will be finished this time, but you will be finished too."

As a county lieutenant promoted by the former county magistrate, even if he is fine, his future days will not be easy.

The county lieutenant felt guilty and kowtowed, saying, "Sir, it is my fault for not reminding you of this case when Yang Ji got into trouble."

The county magistrate had a blank expression on his face: "Why didn't you say it at that time?"

There was only a difference of two months. If he had taken the opportunity to bring up the case, he would not be guilty but would have made a contribution.

Master Li finished writing the list, handed it over tremblingly, and whispered, "It may be because of this."

The county magistrate reached out to take it, and when he saw all the familiar names on it, he felt a chill all over his body.

Pan Yun leaned over to take a look, secretly wrote down the names, and then asked, "What's so special about these people?"

The county magistrate folded it up and stuffed it into his sleeve with an expressionless face. "Nothing special. Except for the two people who were imprisoned because of Yang Ji, the rest are safe and sound. One of them is the co-magistrate of Ji'an Prefecture, and the other two are officials of the Provincial Administration Commission. This time when Yang Ji got into trouble, even the Provincial Administration Commissioner was demoted and investigated, but these two people are not hurt at all."

Pan Yun: "What are their official positions?"

The magistrate said nothing.

Pan Yun stroked his chin and said, "I can guess even if you don't tell me. He is probably a third- or fourth-rank official like the Councillor or the Councillor, or a sixth- or seventh-rank official like the Experience Officer. He can't be an eighth- or ninth-rank official like the Prison Officer or the Prison Supervisor, right?"

Li Wenying: "Good fellow, you might as well just include all the officials of the Provincial Government." (End of this chapter)