Chapter 392

"Dong dong dong …"

Ye Xiaotian was really tired this time. He was lying on his back and sleeping soundly. Ruo Xiaosheng ran to the door of the courtyard, tiptoed, pinched his throat and shouted through the door, "Miss Duo Ni, Miss Duo Ni, get up quickly …"

Ruo Xiaosheng shouted twice and felt that it was not appropriate. Although this was Miss Duo Ni's courtyard, he was looking for the master. If he was being sneaky, if the master heard it, he would suspect that he had an ambiguous relationship with Miss Duo Ni …

Ruo Xiaosheng gently slapped his mouth and hurriedly said, "Master, Master, get up quickly …"

Although Duo Ni was a girl, she slept very deeply, especially after being tossed around by Ye Xiaotian today, her body was almost falling apart. At this time, even thunder would not wake her up. Ruo Xiaosheng shouted a few times, but the maid sleeping in the side room heard it. She put on her clothes and asked outside the door, "Who is it?"

Ruo Xiaosheng quickly replied, "It's me, Old Ruo. The officials are here. It's a very urgent matter. They want to see the master."

"Got it!"

The little maid answered and knocked on the door of the main room, which woke Ye Xiaotian up. The candle on the table was not extinguished. Ye Xiaotian asked outside with the dim light. When he learned that it was the officials, he was shocked. So many big things happened today. He was really afraid that there would be an accident.

Ye Xiaotian quickly grabbed his clothes and put them on. When he looked back, he saw Duo Ni curled up like a little lazy cat and slept soundly. Half of her shoulder was exposed, which was as smooth as jade under the light. He could not help but steal a kiss on her cheek and covered her with the quilt. Then he tiptoed out.

Ye Xiaotian followed Ruo Xiaosheng to the front yard and saw a bailiff standing in front of the wall. Under the cold moonlight, he could not see the person's appearance for a while. The person hurriedly took a few steps forward and saluted to Ye Xiaotian. He hurriedly said, "Master, I am the prison guard. I was ordered to report that there was a robbery and Register Wang has been rescued!"

When Ye Xiaotian heard this, he could not help but be shocked. After half an hour, Ye Xiaotian appeared in the Gourd County prison. Outside the prison, there were layers of guards by the bailiffs, and the prison was brightly lit. As soon as Ye Xiaotian arrived, Ma Hui and Xu Haoran immediately led him inside, reporting the situation to him as they walked.

Ye Xiaotian asked in a deep voice, "How many people died?"

"No one died," Ma Hui replied. "There were four patrollers in the courtyard, two prison wardens, and two prison wardens. That's a total of eight people. Most of them were knocked unconscious. Only the prison warden, Old Xing, suffered a slight injury to his throat and has difficulty speaking. The two prison wardens have bruises on their chests."

"Hmm?"

Ye Xiaotian abruptly halted his steps and turned his head to look at Ma Hui. He then continued walking and asked, "Apart from the Lord Registrar, who else was rescued?"

Xu Haoran said bitterly, "No one else was rescued, but … Chang Zizai and Lu Mo were killed by them!"

Ye Xiaotian abruptly stopped in his tracks.

On the wall of the prison cell, Su Xuntian was holding a torch. Hua Qingtian stared at the drawing on the wall for a long time before asking Su Xuntian in a daze, "Xuntian, what is this?"

Su Xuntian replied, "It should be a swarm of bees."

Hua Qingfeng's expression became even uglier. "A swarm of bees? A swarm of bees? Could it be that Register Wang is … "

Su Xuntian said, "I'm afraid that's the case. When I interrogated the prisoners, they said that Register Wang is not a weak scholar, but a martial arts expert. He was the one who killed Chang Zizai and Lu Mo to silence them."

Puzzled, Hua Qingfeng asked, "Strange. If he's a martial arts expert, why didn't he escape that day? Instead, he was captured so easily."

Hua Qingfeng muttered to himself. In fact, he had already believed it. Thinking about how he and the mysterious Swarm of Bees had worked together for five years, and how they had schemed against each other in private, and how they were still alive and well, Hua Qingfeng could not help but shiver.

Ye Xiaotian walked over and saw Hua Qingfeng craning his neck to look at the wall. He hurriedly looked over, and as soon as he saw the drawing on the wall, his expression became extremely ugly. Ye Xiaotian stared blankly for a long time. Suddenly, he turned to Su Xuntian and asked, "Arrester Su, have you sent anyone to the Wang Family to investigate?"

Su Xuntian said, "Arrester Zhou has gone with his men. There's still no news."

Before he finished speaking, a torch flashed in the distance. Squad Leader Zhou came running back with a group of fully-armed bailiffs, panting. "Da Laoye, Er Laoye, the Wang Family has disappeared without a trace. The strange thing is, in their house, there are two of our men tied up."

Hua Qingfeng suddenly understood. "I understand. He was captured on purpose to give his family time to escape," he said.

Ye Xiaotian didn't know what he was talking about, but the two bailiffs walked forward and lowered their heads in shame. They said to him, "Daren, this lowly one is ashamed. I wasn't able to keep an eye on the Wang Clan's people, and … and even fell into their trap. When we woke up, we … we found ourselves tied to the pillars in the hall. We didn't see anyone."

These two were the two bailiffs that Ye Xiaotian had sent to keep an eye on the Wang Family. Ye Xiaotian sighed and patted their shoulders. "You didn't keep an eye on them, so be it. You're already lucky to be alive. The Swarm of Bees has never left anyone alive."

Reminded by Ye Xiaotian's words, Hua Qingfeng clapped his hands and said excitedly, "That's right! The Swarm of Bees has always been ruthless and ruthless. But this time, they've shown kindness. Isn't that strange? They're not the Swarm of Bees. They must have deliberately left behind a mark to lead us astray! "

Ye Xiaotian looked at him strangely and thought, "The people have already been rescued. Even if it wasn't the Swarm of Bees, what difference does it make? What are you so excited about?"

Hua Qingfeng thought, "As long as it's not the Swarm of Bees! If the people I offended were really those vicious and merciless bandits, now that I've cut off their source of income, it would be strange if they didn't steal my head in the future. "

…

The Gourd County case really caused a stir. Originally, Chen Muyan, as the tax envoy, was bribed to help smugglers. This was just an ordinary case of corruption. But Register Wang, who had long been a drug trafficker, was unexpectedly appointed by the government to be a county registrar. In this position, he used his official position as a cover to wantonly sell drugs for several years. In the end, he even successfully escaped from prison. This was intolerable.

This case was brought all the way to the young and arrogant Emperor Wanli. It was almost the New Year, and the imperial city was filled with a festive atmosphere. The entire capital was preparing for the New Year. Coincidentally, the case was presented to the Wanli Emperor, and he was immediately enraged.

The Emperor sternly issued a warrant for the arrest of the entire country. He also wanted to investigate the person who recommended Wang Ning to be an official. But after a long investigation, the matter suddenly disappeared. The Emperor also didn't pursue the matter any further, as if it had never happened.

It was said that Wang Ning had performed meritorious service in quelling the rebellion of the two chieftains. Because of this, he was made an exception and appointed as the county registrar. Because of this, the case involved a group of heroes who had helped to quell the rebellion. If they investigated in detail, it was inevitable that they would uncover a lot of dirty secrets.

The Emperor had just overthrown Zhang Juzheng, and the civil system was being reshuffled. He didn't want to make a big fuss about the military system. Therefore, the Emperor only issued an edict, ordering the Nanjing Ministry of Appointments to select an official to take over Wang Ning's position in Gourd County, and the matter was left unsettled.

Nanjing, Minister of Appointments Guo Shun's mansion. The former Jiangpu County Magistrate, Bai Hong, had a long face as he said to Minister Guo, "Brother-in-law, you must help me. Little brother doesn't want to go to Gourd County. The mountains are high and the rivers are dangerous, there are barbarians everywhere, the atmosphere is fierce, and the people there are swift and fierce …"

Minister Guo impatiently said, "Aiya! You are the person that Assistant Minister Meng named. Right now, Assistant Minister Meng is working in the Ministry of Appointments in the capital. If you are restored to your position, isn't that a slap to Assistant Minister Meng's face? Do you think Assistant Minister Meng will turn a deaf ear to this? When the time comes, I will also be implicated with you. "

This former Jiangpu County Magistrate Bai Hong was the unlucky official who, on the day Ye Xiaotian arrived at the Ministry of Appointments in Nanjing, heard that Ye Xiaotian was a famous ruthless official, so he deliberately teased Hua Yunfei and Mao Wenzhi, pretending to help him tidy up his clothes and hide a scorpion in his hat.

At that time, he made a fool of himself in front of Assistant Minister Guo. Although Assistant Minister Guo kicked Ye Xiaotian out of the Ministry of Appointments and sent him to the Ministry of Justice, he really did carefully investigate this Bai Hong. He found out that he was indeed an official fanatic. As an official, he only cared about passing the exams. In order to get a good evaluation from his superiors, he covered up his mistakes, deceived his superiors, and concealed his subordinates. He didn't report disasters in times of great disasters, and instead, he blindly extorted taxes from the common people. The people's opinion was extremely bad, and in a rage, he was removed from his position.

However, removing an official from his position and demoting him to be a citizen were two different things. "Demoting him to be a citizen" was "stripping him of his official status". He was stripped of his official status and became a commoner. His status was gone, and all his official privileges were gone. Even his deceased parents' titles were taken away.

On the other hand, removing him from his position was "living in idleness". The official position was gone, but the official status and rank were still there. Bai Hong's position as Jiangpu County Magistrate was gone, but he was still a seventh-ranked official. Therefore, it was possible for him to be reinstated, especially when there was "someone in the court".

Bai Hong was "someone in the court", and Guo Shun, the official of the Ministry of Appointments, was his brother-in-law. Of course, this older sister of his was not his biological sister. After carefully flipping through their family's genealogy and asking some of the elders in their family, Guo Shun's wife was indeed Bai Hong's older female cousin.

Therefore, after Bai Hong learned of this relationship, he immediately paid a visit and gave a generous gift, and affectionately acknowledged this marriage. Although they were distant relatives, the two families were very close. Guo Shun was also a soft-hearted person who didn't listen to pillow talk, so he thought about helping him get reinstated.

However, this Bai Hong was, after all, removed from his position by Assistant Minister Meng. Now that Assistant Minister Meng had been promoted to the Ministry of Appointments in the capital, his power was even greater than when he was in Nanjing. Doctor Guo didn't have any reason to boldly give Bai Hong the position of a county magistrate.

Coincidentally, there was an official document from the capital asking the Nanjing Ministry of Appointments to send officials to Hulu County to be the registrar. Doctor Guo had a sudden inspiration and came up with this idea. Compared to the prosperous places in Jiangnan, Hulu County couldn't be mentioned in the same breath. Basically, no one was willing to go there, so he could send Bai Hong there as a seventh-ranked official to be the registrar.

As long as Bai Hong stayed there for two or three years, even if he didn't make any contributions, he would still have worked hard. At that time, he could restore his official position and choose a wealthy county in Jiangnan to be the county magistrate. Who would have thought that Bai Hong didn't know what was good for him? Guo Shun angrily said, "Do you really think no one is willing to go to the registrar post? There are no current officials, but there are many candidates. If you are afraid of suffering, then I will choose someone else."

Madame Guo also advised, "That's right! Brother Hong, didn't your brother-in-law say that you don't need to make any contributions there, just don't make any mistakes? After two or three years, you will be transferred back. At that time, you will be rightfully restored to your official position. What are you worried about? It wasn't easy for your brother-in-law to fight for this opportunity for you. If you give up, who knows how long it will take for you to recover. "

Bai Hong stomped his feet and had no choice but to speak the truth. He put on a long face and said, "I am not afraid of suffering. In fact, when I was the county magistrate in Jiangpu, I didn't have any greed, nor did I have any benefits. It's just that I paid too much attention to exams and didn't care about the people, so I ended up like this. I am not afraid of suffering, but … but I really can't go to Hulu County. "

Guo Shun angrily said, "If you are not afraid of suffering, why can't you go? It's not a tiger's den! "

Bai Hong seriously nodded and said, "Brother-in-law, although Hulu County isn't a tiger's den, it's almost there. The Fengshui there isn't good."

Guo Shun was stunned by Bai Hong's words and said, "The Fengshui of Hulu County isn't bad? Who told you that? You haven't been to Hulu County, how do you know that the Fengshui there isn't good? "

Bai Hong seriously said, "Brother-in-law, did you forget that Ye Xiaotian is the county magistrate there? Where Ye Xiaotian is, the Fengshui will not be good!"