After leaving the Ministry of Justice yamen, Yang Fan and Yuan Han immediately rode along Ding Ding Main Street towards the Ding Ding Gate. Once they crossed the Tianjin Bridge, the two of them sped up and galloped along the wide and straight Ding Ding Main Street.
Yuan Han's subordinates, who were experienced in handling cases, had long since changed into civilian clothes and were quietly following behind the Hou family's ox-cart. Hou Sizhi's second steward personally drove the first cart with three ox-carts behind it, making a total of four. They slowly walked towards the Ding Ding Gate and stopped just before the gate.
Because the imperial court had just issued a ban on slaughter, it was still a busy time for slaughter. As the city gate with the largest flow of people, the Ding Ding Gate was not only the city guards, patrolling soldiers of the Jin Wu Guards, and Luoyang prefectural officials in civilian clothes patrolled the area. There was also an imperial censor and his subordinates patrolling non-stop.
The people entering and leaving the city gate were much stricter than usual, so the city gate was slightly crowded. Inside the carriage, a pretty woman in her twenties sensed that the carriage had stopped. She quietly lifted the curtain and looked outside with a slightly nervous expression.
The Hou family's second steward, Ma Jue, sensed something and hurriedly pulled down his bamboo hat. As he vigilantly watched the people entering and leaving the city gate, he whispered, "Second wife, quickly sit back down. Don't worry, this is the Hou family's carriage. When you leave the city, there won't be too many difficulties."
The charming and pretty woman replied in a low voice and put down the curtain nervously.
"What's in the basket? Wild vegetables, and they look quite fresh. How much do you want to sell this for? Eh? What's this? Stop right there! "
A country bumpkin carrying a large bamboo basket was being interrogated by the city guards. The officer lifted the cloth covering the basket and saw that it was filled with freshly picked wild vegetables. However, when the officer casually looked down, he saw three white striped chickens that had already been plucked and slaughtered.
As soon as the plot was exposed, the countryman threw away the basket and ran away. The two officers immediately chased after him. The sergeant in charge of guarding the city gate picked up the basket from the ground. Looking at the three white-striped chickens in the basket, he smiled from ear to ear. He looked left and right, but did not see any officials with a higher rank than him. He hurriedly picked up the basket and walked away.
When Ma Jue saw this, he immediately raised his whip and urged the old bull to move forward. At the same time, he shouted, "Make way, make way! My madam is out of the city to enjoy the spring scenery. A bunch of ignorant Tian Shehan, get out of the way!"
In front of them, there were a few commoners dressed in brown robes waiting to leave the city. Ma Jue urged his horse forward and shouted. The commoners were rather dissatisfied, but when they turned their heads to take a look, they saw that the decorations on the carriage were extravagant and did not seem to be that of an ordinary household. Furthermore, there were servants accompanying them on both sides. It was obvious that it was a wealthy household. The commoners did not dare to argue and hurriedly moved aside.
Ma Jue took advantage of the fact that two soldiers had just left the gate and there were fewer people checking the place. Moreover, the ten-man squad leader had gone to hide the three white striped chickens, so the checks were even more lax. Ma Jue wanted to take this opportunity to leave the city. When the bull carriage arrived at the city gate, the guards blocked it with their spears. One of them said, "Halt! Who is in the carriage?"
Ma Jue cupped his hands towards the guard and said with a smile, "Officers, you have worked hard. I am the coachman of the Imperial Censor Hou's residence. The madams of the residence want to go out of the city to play. The carriage is filled with women and it is inconvenient for them to get off. I hope that you can make things easier for us."
Just as he said this, Hou Sizhi's second wife lifted a corner of the sedan curtain and peeked out. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed and her face was flushed. She waved a handkerchief in her hand impatiently and said, "What's going on? Why do you have to interrogate us when we're leaving the city in broad daylight?"
The guard saw that the carriage was indeed carrying a well-dressed woman. He also heard that she was the wife of an Imperial Censor. He did not want to cause any more trouble so he straightened his spear and moved to the side. Just as he was about to wave them over, something unexpected happened.
Yuan Han's subordinates led the oxen and donkeys, disguised as all kinds of people, and followed behind the ox-cart. As soon as they saw the Hou family's carriage was about to leave the city, one of the strong men leading the oxen turned his head and gave a look. A man carrying a bamboo pole behind him suddenly grabbed the pole and used the pole with an iron tip to stab the ox's buttocks.
The bull could not bear the pain and let out a loud moo. It spread its hooves and rushed forward. The man leading the oxen pulled the reins with all his might and shouted, "The bull is startled! The bull is startled! " He tugged hard on the reins, as if he wanted to stop the startled bull, but he pulled the reins and forced the startled bull to change direction. The bull lowered its head, and its two sharp horns slammed into the back of the Hou family's carriage, one side of the luxurious carriage.
"Aiyo, my mother!"
The magnificent ox-cart was rammed by the crazy ox, causing the cart to tilt and almost flip over. The shed was knocked out of shape and the curtain of the sedan was blown up. Just in time to see the two large horns stuck into the wall of the cart, the horn was lifted up and a big hole was torn open. The young woman sitting inside was Hou Sizhi's sixth wife. She was so scared that her face turned pale. She scrambled out of the cart and scrambled to get out of the cart.
Hou Sizhi's sixth wife was only sixteen years old. She had a slender body and was delicate and delicate. Her movements were not fast. As soon as she lifted the curtain of the sedan and ran out of the carriage, there was a crashing sound behind her. Countless bolts of silk and satin fell down and hit her on the back, forcing her to lie flat on the front seat.
Seeing this situation, Ma Jue's expression changed greatly. The soldier who had already made way suddenly saw a mad bull ramming into Censor Hou's carriage from behind. A young woman fell out of the carriage, followed by a mountain of silk and satin, burying the pretty woman underneath. He could not help but stare with his mouth agape.
He was stunned for a moment before he suddenly reacted. He immediately raised his spear and shouted, "Take them down!"
Ma Jue panicked and didn't know what to do. There were three gates to Dingding Gate. The one in the middle was the widest. It was guarded by the Jin Wu Guards, the officials of Luoyang Prefecture, and the Imperial Censor of the Overwatch Council. Ma Jue was afraid that something might happen, so he purposely chose the left gate to leave the city. Who would have thought that something would happen?
At that moment, the officials saw that something had happened and rushed over with the soldiers and bailiffs. They ordered the women in the four ox carriages to get off and sent people to search the carriages. The four ox carriages were all piled high with silk and satin, filling up almost all the space in the carriages. There was only a small space left for one person to sit down.
No wonder the women who got off the carriages all had flushed faces and sweaty foreheads. They didn't dare to open the curtains along the way. The inside of the carriage was airtight, and there were piles of silk and satin everywhere. How could they not feel stuffy?
Hou Sizhi had stored a large amount of silk, so why was she so flustered?
It turned out that although gold and silver were valuable, they still didn't have the function of money. People used copper coins to buy cheap goods, and silk, silk, and embroidery to pay for large amounts of goods. Not only could it be cut into clothes and embroidered into shoes, but it could also be used as a large amount of money.
Among these goods, silk was the most important. Silk was also gold. Its price was like gold, so it was called gold and silk. If the rich and powerful all stored silk, there would be no circulation of money in the market and there would be deflation. Therefore, the imperial court prohibited people from storing silk. Once it was discovered, there would be severe punishment.
Now that Wang Xiaojie was fighting a war in the Western Region, Wu Sansi was repairing the Xingtai Palace, the Sanyang Palace, and the Tianshu Palace. The Ministry of Revenue was struggling to make ends meet and had to raise money everywhere. The Minister of Revenue was so anxious that he was about to hang himself. Every few days, he would go to the Political Affairs Hall and cry about poverty, which made Li Zhaode angry.
Li Zhaode was the Chief Secretary of the Political Affairs Hall, so he couldn't push this matter to the Ministry of Revenue and ignore it. Whether it was the military affairs in the Western Region or the Tianshu Palace for the Emperor to build the Tianshu Palace, they couldn't be delayed. If something went wrong, he would lose his position as the Prime Minister.
Therefore, at the beginning of this month, the imperial court had just issued an even stricter decree, "Those who store silk among the people will be killed without mercy!"
With this decree, many people didn't dare to store silk anymore. There was a large amount of "circulating money" in the market. Only then did the economy of the Great Zhou Dynasty, which was on the verge of collapse, stabilize. However, there would always be people who were extremely daring, and Hou Sizhi was one of them.
Seeing the prices of goods skyrocketing, the price of silk, which was the equivalent of goods, was also rising. How could he be willing to sell it? If he kept these carriages of silk in the warehouse for a few more days, he could buy a few more acres of land.
Now that Wang Hongyi had been arrested and Yang Fan had left behind such harsh words in the Senate, Hou Sizhi became more and more uneasy as he thought about it. He wanted to move all the Splendid Brocade in the house to the countryside. He was also worried that he had already attracted Yang Fan's attention, so he had his wives and concubines drive out of the city every day for the past three days.
For three consecutive days, nothing unexpected happened. Only then did he move the silk at home into the carriages. However, Hou Sizhi was only a peddler. How could his scheming compare to the officials of the Ministry of Justice, who had been promoted from the various prefectures and counties? These people were all law enforcement experts. Whether the carriages were light or full of goods, these officials only needed to glance at the ruts to determine. However, Hou Sizhi knew nothing about this major flaw. Today, he finally fell for Yang Fan's trick of "luring the snake out of its hole".
There were four large carriages of silk worth tens of thousands of gold. Faced with so much stolen goods, the Jin Wu Guards, Luoyang prefecture, and the supervising imperial censor all revealed awkward expressions. The Jin Wu Guards and Luoyang prefecture really didn't want to offend the censor, especially since three Prime Ministers had just been demoted. If even the Prime Ministers could be taken down by the censor, how could they?
However, under the watchful eyes of the public, if they were to let Hou Sizhi go, they wouldn't be able to bear the responsibility. Once this matter got out and reached the ears of those nosy officials, they would be held responsible for neglecting their duties. The supervising imperial censor was one of the censor's people. Faced with this situation, his face turned even more ashen.
The officials from the various departments secretly scratched their heads. They all hoped that someone else would speak first. Whether it was to let the Hou family's carriages out of the city or to hand them over to the Ministry of Justice, as long as someone took the lead, he would be able to extricate himself. Everyone had the same thought. For a moment, a very strange scene appeared. The people from the various departments all pretended to seriously examine the seized silk. No one suggested how to deal with it, but in private, they all sent people to inform their superiors to clean up the mess.
Not long after, the Luoyang Commandant, Tang Zong, arrived first. Seeing this scene, he also scratched his head. If only his people had seen this, then it wouldn't be a big deal to let them go, and he could even use this action to curry favor with the censor. But now that so many people were watching, he was absolutely unwilling to bear this responsibility.
Tang Zong's arrival was of no help. Under his orders, the four carriages were moved to the side of the road to prevent people from entering or leaving. Just as the carriages were moved to the side of the road under a tree, Hou Sizhi heard the news and rushed over …
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