Chapter 126 Yanggu County Magistrate: My money, my money!
Although the accomplices and masterminds of Ximen Qing were never found after his death, a small portion of the 100,000 strings of stolen goods were recovered.

Now officials in various places are afraid of getting into this big trouble.

If you do it well, it's just hard work, no great achievement; if you don't do it well, you are putting yourself in front of Grand Tutor Cai and actively admitting that you are not good enough!

Officials must consider the gains and losses.

It would be great if the case could be successfully concluded.

As for the real thief, who cares!

Even Liang Zhongshu didn't want to make a big fuss as long as the stolen property was recovered.

A birthday gift of 100,000 strings of cash, doesn't this tell everyone in the world that he is a corrupt official?

As a scholar, you can do whatever you want when the lights are off, but you still have to maintain your dignity in broad daylight.

As for where the stolen goods came from, they could just sell off Ximen Qing's property, make some arrangements, and send 20,000 strings of cash to Liang Zhongshu to explain the problem.

After all, there were too many bandits on the road, and Ximen Qing, the thief, got 20,000 strings of cash, which went into the Taihe River.

So everyone worked together to make this case a solid one.

Ximen Qing's fall really fed many people.

Even Cao Jie ate a lot.

Cao Jie bought his herbal medicine shop at a price far below the market price.

A complete pharmaceutical team and a caravan for collecting medicines fell into Cao Jie's hands, laying a solid foundation for Liangshan's medical business.

It can be said that Ximen Qing died a worthy death.

Of course, the brothels in Dongping Prefecture also became lively.

You can question Ximen Qing's character, but you cannot question his aesthetics.

Wu Yueniang, Li Jiao'er, Meng Yulou's wives and concubines were all stunningly beautiful, and the maids Chunmei, Yingchun, Xiuchun, Lanxiang and others were all gorgeous.

Now they are all implicated and forced to become official prostitutes according to the law, serving people in brothels.

Times are different now. Mr. Cao has a very picky palate and generally won’t touch seafood that others have tasted.

It’s not a world-famous abalone, so I have no desire to eat it.

Therefore, Chen Liqing had to go find her, and Madam Li had to continue writing letters and using poems to seduce her.

Before I knew it, it was November and a snowflake fell from the sky with the sharp wind.

In a short while, the snowflakes in twos and threes turned into heavy snow.

In just one day and one night, the sky and the earth will be covered in silver. After everything is covered with heavy snow, Yanggu County will become a fairy tale world.

I just feel sorry for those poor people who have to endure the cold and hunger.

I wonder how many people will not survive this winter.

Up to this point, Cao Jie had only given a small bribe to Yanggu County Magistrate Shi Wenkui and had not even met him in person.

On this day, he loaded the money he had extorted from the people for more than two years into a cart and sent two of his trusted aides, two "elite" soldiers, and an unknown captain.

The five men, guarding at least ten thousand taels of gold and silver, headed towards Kaifeng Prefecture.

Chao Gai, Liu Tang, and Shi Qian are all veterans in robbery.

Even the birthday gift was transported to Liangshan quietly. The county magistrate robbed the people's money as easily as taking something out of his sack.

You Shiqian drugged everyone and made them all confused.

Chao Gai stepped forward and lifted the heavy cart with both hands.

With Liu Tang protecting them, the three men robbed the entire carriage and thousands of strings of gold and silver, weighing about fourteen to five hundred kilograms, quietly without alerting anyone else.

The three of them walked on the snow like a startled goose walking on the mud, striding swiftly and disappearing into the night.

"My Lord, this really alarmed the gods and ghosts!"

"If it weren't for ghosts and gods, how could more than a thousand pounds of gold and silver plus a large cart disappear out of thin air?" "Not to mention the axle marks, there were no footprints left on the snow! Everything I said is true. If I lied, I'd be struck to death by lightning."

In the lobby of Yanggu County government office, five soldiers escorting money knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

County Magistrate Shi Wenkui looked pale, his hands and feet were cold, and he was in a daze as if he was dreaming.

"Hit...hit me..."

"Clap clap..."

The smallest board used in court usually weighs more than 20 kilograms. It is estimated that few people can bear such a weight if it is lifted high and then dropped heavily.

This is why prisoners are often scared to death when they hear about being beaten with a stick.

Generally speaking, not many people can stay awake to receive twenty strokes of the stick, and even fewer can receive forty strokes of the stick. They often faint or even die in the middle of the beating.

Of course, if the person beating with the stick has good skills, even if it is a piece of tofu, it will not break after being beaten for a while.

If they want to kill you, they can just hit you lightly with three or four blows and paralyze you on one side of your body.

Since they were all colleagues, the bailiff naturally held back. After a dozen or so beatings, the man's skin looked torn and bloody, but they were only superficial injuries and would heal in ten days or half a month.

Listening to the screams all over the ground, Shi Wenkui couldn't help but want to roar to the sky.

"Oh my God! That's all the money I've collected over the past three years!"

'Gone! All gone!'

'My money! My money!'

"Without money, how can I get promoted?"

I want to cry without tears.

But what can he do?
The birthday gift was a gift to celebrate the birthday of Grand Tutor Cai, and it took so much effort to recover only 20% of it. How can I, a small county magistrate, solve this case?
Finished!

It's all over!

He had come to the position of county magistrate in an illegitimate way in the first place, and now he had no money to support those corrupt officials in the capital. Even if he was transferred to another position at the end of his three-year term, who knows where he would end up as a county magistrate.

When he came back from the county government office, he was like a walking corpse.

After three days of suffering, I lost 3 to 5 kilograms.

At this time, Cao Jie came to visit with gifts, and the timing was just right.

"County Master, I heard that you were ill. This is very important to Ximen Qing's herbal medicine shop, so I picked up some high-quality herbs to visit you."

Shi Wenkui looked at the herbs in Cao Jie's hand without any energy, nodded weakly and said, "Thank you for your kindness. If you have nothing else to do, go back!"

"County Master, take good care of yourself."

Cao Jie placed the heavy medicinal herbs on the table, making a "dong" sound.

"what!"

This sound is so familiar!
This is gold!
Shi Wenkui perked up, took the bag of herbs and weighed it, then said with a smile, "Please stay, please stay. Bring me some tea..."

"You have acquired Ximen Qing's herbal medicine shop, so you must run it well. If you have any difficulties, just tell me."

"It's not a big problem. I also run a grain, rice, oil and salt business in Yuncheng County. I hope you can take care of me."

"Okay, okay! Cao Erlang, I will remember you. You can run your business in Yanggu County peacefully. No one will bother you."

"Thank you, sir."

The two drank a cup of tea and had a pleasant conversation.

You see, if he had ten thousand strings of gold and came to bribe, he would naturally look down on a mere six hundred strings of gold.

Now, he has nothing, so naturally he treats us as guests of honor.

What is this called?
This means he is spending his money to do his own thing, and he will still thank us!

(End of this chapter)