“What’s happening? Don’t be in a hurry, speak slowly.”
Looking at the official from the Ministry of Penalties who had hurriedly come, Xu Qingnian told the other party to take it easy and speak slowly.
“Your Excellency, these days, the Fans and foreigners are getting more and more arrogant and ruthless in their business, and the other day it was a bit hard to suppress.”
“The people went to all the major government offices to file complaints, the Ministry of Justice doesn’t know how many files it receives every day, but it has been indifferent, and today a group of scholars came to the capital to have fun, but what they didn’t expect was to be blackmailed by these Fans.”
“In the end both sides got into a fight, the students were all skinny and weak, and two of them were beaten up badly, and now they’ve gone to the Xingyang Yamen, and as a result the Yamen won’t accept the case, and when the people found out about it, they all surrounded the Yamen and looked like they might want to storm it.”
“The Xingyang magistrate’s head is all over the place now, and he is urgently begging the Ministry of Penalty.
The other party said with some anxiety.
“Hurt someone?”
“Shang Shu Zhang told me to step in?”
Xu Qingnian took a sip of tea, his expression slightly calm.
“Yes, Shang Shu Zhang has been scolded by many people during this period of time, not to mention him, the entire Criminal Affairs Department is now being talked about when they walk out, saying that we are not acting, but the good thing is that the people of Kyoto are still full of respect for you now.”
“If you had gone over there, they would never have made a scene.”
The other party said this.
“Fine, I’ll go there.”
Xu Qingnian got up and followed the other party out, and when he arrived at the Shouren Academy, he happened to run into Li Heiyi.
“Old Black! Don’t cook my meal today, I’ll eat outside.”
Xu Qingnian greeted.
“Alright, take care, my lord.”
Li Heiyi smiled, he had been in Shouren Academy for more than twenty days, apart from the normal cooking, he was happy to raise flowers and trim the branches of the trees when he had nothing else to do.
The people in Shouren Academy were still relatively polite to him, and Li Heiyi’s goodwill towards Xu Qingnian was growing, but there were many things he did not ask for the time being, which seemed a bit abrupt, and he planned to wait until he really got acquainted before having a good chat.
At this time.
Xingyang Yamen.
All the magistrates are out, and the officials from the Ministry of Justice are also here, for the purpose of peacekeeping, which would be a big deal if there was a real fight.
At the foot of the Son of Heaven, the people had broken into the magistrate’s office, and if word reached His Majesty’s ears, everyone would have to be questioned.
Outside the courthouse, there were seven or eight hundred people, men, women and children, all of whom were angry at the moment.
In the courthouse, there were hundreds of foreigners, and when they faced the gaze of the people of Wei, they were not afraid at all, but had a fierce look in their eyes, and a touch of disdain.
They didn’t know what had happened during this period, but since last month, no matter how much they blackmailed people, the officials would help them, although they used to help them more or less.
It could be preceded by warnings that people were still more subtle in their business and would go looking for tourists to target, the kind of fools who were a bit better at scamming.
However, now it is different, no matter what people do, whether it is an official from the Ministry of Justice or a military soldier on patrol, as long as they find it is to make the other party pay for it, a big look of not to cause trouble.
They didn’t even scold them a single time.
At first, people were still a bit curious and thought this was a bit odd, but then someone spread the news that the empress was about to have her birthday and that all the nations would come to the court then.
Congratulatory gifts were being presented.
So in order to show the national prestige of the Great Wei, they were not allowed to make any unpleasant things happen to their foreign tribe.
When the news spread, all the Fans and foreigners doing business in the capital became excited.
It was not unheard of for the emperor to reward them for their victories in the northern expedition.
The empress had just ascended to the throne and this was her first year, so it was only natural that they should be grand, so even though they knew that their business was not clean, they did not dare to do anything, and had to make it small.
After they understood this, they all became excited.
Before, they were still a bit sneaky, too rich to be plundered, those who seemed to have some background could not be plundered, they could only plunder some foreign tourists, and occasionally even if they did, they would not get much money.
But now it’s different. The Wei government doesn’t want to cause trouble, so they seize this opportunity to pull the wool over the eyes.
It doesn’t matter whether you have a background or not, unless you are a real big shot, so what if you do?
The amount of silver that they can get is not small, before it was five or ten taels, but now it starts at fifty or a hundred taels.
Even just the day before yesterday, a rich merchant touched a piece of jade by hand and asked for 3,000 taels, the other party also had a source, and both sides almost had to fight, then the Ministry of Punishment came and said something.
In the end, the rich merchant lost three thousand taels of silver.
Three thousand taels!!!
On a good day, it takes most of the year to earn it, so who wouldn’t be sour about this? Who wouldn’t be sour?
And so the great competition began. For the past ten days, this group of Fan people woke up laughing every night in their sleep, and every day they gathered together to ask how much you had pitched today and how much I had pitched today.
It can be said that they were all in high spirits, each laughing as if they had found silver.
As for the people of Wei, did they have a hard time?
What does it matter to them? They are not the people of Wei. To put it bluntly, they don’t care even if Wei is lost, as long as they have earned silver, everything is fine.
It’s just that this time things have gone a bit too far.
They had injured someone, and badly, and they were still in the doctor’s office, and it was a question of whether they would live or not.
“You are a bunch of merchants who deserve to die, cheating and deceiving everywhere.”
“The government does not care, we, the people of Wei, usually let you, because we do not want to argue with you about anything, do you really think we are afraid?”
“If there is no justice today, we all will smash the Xingyang Yamen.”
“Yes, where is this kind of bullying.”
“Some foreigners are forcing people to buy just by looking at them, and they can easily pay 500 taels of silver, who can afford it?”
Outside the Xingyang government office.
The voices of the people rang out, their words filled with anger.
These foreigners, who had been in Wei for hundreds of years, had made a lot of money thanks to the imperial grace of Wei, and were trying to take advantage of the people of Wei in every way.
In the past, when everyone was rich, it was fine, but now that the people are not so well off, these people are still doing what they want.
If a foreign visitor touches something, they force people to buy it, and if they don’t, dozens of people come up to them, scaring them and threatening them, so that the reputation of Kyoto is persecuted.
This was fine, and the blackmail was not too much.
But now it is getting more and more outrageous, more and more outrageous, and even the people of the capital are being pitted.
Before it was a must to buy if you touch it, but now it has become a must to buy if you look at it, it is really getting more and more outrageous.
Today, the people’s grievances have erupted and they are blocking the Xingyang government office, and they will not agree to anything until this matter is resolved.
The people were furious.
And the Fan people were cursing too, but they were using the Fan language, not the language of Great Wei, and the translation was simple.
“A bunch of inferior people!”
This was the posture of the Fan people, who earned money from the people of Great Wei, but simply despised them.
They used to be more respectful, until after the defeat of the Northern Expedition, when they suddenly understood that Great Wei was not invincible, and it was because of this that they dared to be so reckless.
Otherwise, when they were in their prime, these guys would have seen the people of Great Wei as if they were their fathers.
“Lord Xu is here!”
“Don’t argue, Lord Xu is here.”
“Lord Xu is here, our people are saved.”
“Where is Lord Xu? Lord Xu has finally come, you bunch of Fan people, prepare to wait for death.”
As the voices of the people rang out.
Not far away, the figure of Xu Qingnian appeared, followed by Feng Jianhua, the Left Servant of the Ministry of Penalties.
“Lord Feng, be sure to do as I say later.”
Xu Qingnian pressed his voice and said very seriously.
“Don’t worry.”
Feng Jianhua nodded his head.
Soon Xu Qingnian quickened his pace and arrived at the entrance of the government office.
The people shouted in excitement at once.
“Lord Xu, you must redress the grievances of our people!”
“Lord Xu, this bunch of Fan and Hu merchants are doing something wrong in our Wei, you must do justice.”
“Lord Xu, we all listen to you, you are a good official, unlike these people who collude with business, we trust you.”
“You are a scholar, we all believe in you.”
With the appearance of Xu Qingnian, the people were completely relieved, they now had no hope at all for the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of War, but Xu Qingnian was different, it could be said that Xu Qingnian had a very high status in the hearts of the people.
Before, there were still arrows drawn, but with the arrival of Xu Qingnian, the atmosphere instantly quieted down a lot.
“Fellow citizens, calm down.”
Xu Qingnian appeared, and the first thing he did was to tell the people to calm down, and then he looked at the Xingyang magistrate and said.
“Call out the Xingyang order.”
Xu Qingnian spoke, and as soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged man came out, wearing official clothes, and bowed towards Xu Qingnian.
“My humble servant wishes to meet Lord Xu.”
Xu Qingnian was an official of the seventh rank, and he was also an official of the seventh rank, but who was Xu Qingnian? He was the number one person in front of the empress, a vicious character who had been bailed out even after he had angrily beheaded the county king.
If he didn’t call out to his lord, what would he call out to?
“What is going on?”
Xu Qingnian asked with a cold face.
“Your Excellency Xu, these merchants had a quarrel with some students who came to the capital for pleasure, just because the other party took a look at their things, the merchants demanded five hundred taels of silver in compensation.”
“The group of readers were unwilling to agree, and the two sides fought, and now two people are seriously injured and are being treated at the medical center, and seven people are slightly injured.”
The amba*sador of Xingyang spoke up and briefly explained what had happened.
“Wounded?”
Xu Qingnian turned her gaze towards the group of merchants, who were inexplicably a little afraid when they faced Xu Qingnian’s gaze again.
Although they despised the people of Great Wei, Xu Qingnian still looked up to them, after all, this was an existence that had killed the king.
“If that’s the case, then why don’t you follow the law? It is no small matter to injure a scholar.”
Xu Qingnian said so.
When this was said, each and every one of these Fan Shang Hu people became excited.
“On what grounds?”
“They were the ones who broke our things first.”
“Our jade stones, dug out from the divine mountain, are worth a fortune, so why should we be shut down?”
“You people are unruly, I will sue you.”
A chorus of voices rang out, these Fan merchants were naturally anxious and loud when they heard they were going to be arrested.
The people, however, were very relieved, and at the same time praised Xu Qingnian for being a really good official.
“Shut up!”
Xu Qingnian bellowed as he looked at the merchants and said sternly.
“Arrest them all, investigate the matter thoroughly, and if they are found to be blackmailing people, act according to the law.”
Xu Qingnian was very fierce.
As soon as he said this, before they could say anything, Feng Jianhua quickly came over and whispered in Xu Qingnian’s ear.
“You can’t be arrested!”
“His Majesty’s birthday is around the corner, and there is already an order from above that these two or three months must never provoke this bunch of foreigners from the Fan merchants, lest by then their messengers come to Great Wei and ask for His Majesty’s guilt then it would be bad.”
Feng Jianhua said with a suppressed voice, but even with a suppressed voice, the merchants could hear a little of the content.
At that moment, the merchants changed their expressions, but did not say anything, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
“But this gang.”
Xu Qingnian was a little unconvinced and looked at the gang of Fan merchants.
“Forget it, forget it, they are not like this for a day or two, the big deal is that after this matter is over, let the people pay a little attention to it, and then when His Majesty’s birthday is over, press it again, anyway, no matter what, they cannot be offended.”
“Xu Qingnian, you’re in a lot of trouble now, it’s best not to get into this mess.”
Feng Jianhua spoke up, and in short, what he meant in a nutshell was don’t provoke them, just settle for this for now, and then just manage a little after His Majesty’s birthday is over.
When this was said, the merchants were even happier to hear it.
The truth is that they were really afraid when Xu Qingnian said that he would order them to do so, because this is an existence that dares to kill the king.
They really didn’t dare to provoke themselves ah.
Xu Qingnian frowned, he looked very hesitant and looked at the gang with anger in his eyes, but Feng Jianhua kept pulling Xu Qingnian and barking all sorts of instructions, looking a bit odd.
The people also saw this scene, not knowing what was happening, but somehow feeling that this matter could not be handled by Xu Qingnian either.
“Alright!”
Xu Qingnian opened his mouth, he took a deep breath and looked towards the people and said.
“People, I don’t know what to say, but please rest a*sured that if these merchants dare to continue acting like this in the future, I will not spare them.”
“This is the end of the matter today, I hope you will all give me face and let you suffer.”
Xu Qingnian bowed towards the people, respectfully.
At this moment, the people were silent, they did not expect Xu Qingnian to dare to lay hands on them as well, but what they knew even more was that Xu Qingnian could not invite further wrongdoing.
“Fine, Lord Xu, we believe you! This matter ends here.”
“Lord Xu, if anyone else came, we wouldn’t agree, but you, we give this face.”
“Lord Xu, you are a good official, you must have your own difficulties if you don’t take action, we trust you and won’t give you any trouble, let’s disperse first.”
“OK, OK, OK, let’s go.”
The people spoke up, they chose to believe Xu Qingnian unconditionally, although they were a little angry in their hearts, they still didn’t say anything more in the face of Xu Qingnian.
After all, Xu Qingnian has the courage to do what he says to redress the grievances of the people.
After that, Xu Qingnian spoke towards the merchants.
“That’s enough, this matter is over.”
“Don’t make any more trouble in the future, you will bear the cost of medicine for these people.”
Xu Qingnian said so.
If they were afraid of Xu Qingnian before, they were not afraid now that they knew Xu Qingnian had some scruples.
“Paying for the medicine? Sir, are you confused? They were the ones who asked for it, besides our jade is expensive, they should be the ones to compensate us.”
“Yes, yes, yes, we must be compensated, give us compensation.”
“These scholars, all of them know how to pull the wool over our eyes, Lord Xu, you are a clear official, you must give us an explanation for this matter, otherwise we will go to His Majesty to sue.”
“Yes, yes.”
The crowd of Fan merchants spoke up, each one arrogant as hell, but they didn’t say anything too extreme, after all, this was just to test Xu Qingnian’s attitude and see how far Xu Qingnian would let it go.
“How dare you!”
“You have injured someone and you still want to claim compensation? Are you really ignoring the laws of Great Wei?”
Xu Qingnian said angrily.
The group of Fan merchants changed their expressions somewhat, but the next moment Feng Jianhua immediately came and pulled Xu Qingnian, while Xu Qingnian glanced at Feng Jianhua, who pressed his voice somewhat sharply and said.
“Don’t make a scene, at this juncture, you really can’t make a scene.”
“Xu Qingnian, this matter really should not be interfered with.”
Feng Jianhua pulled Xu Qingnian with a look that he must not mess around, which made the group of Fan Shang even happier.
Xu Qingnian was silent.
And Feng Jianhua looked at the group of Fan merchants and said.
“Forget it, you don’t have to pay compensation, the government will handle it, so don’t say anything.”
Feng Jianhua said so, telling the people not to continue to make trouble, so let’s stop here.
I don’t want you to pay the money either.
But when the merchants took a look at the situation, they immediately came to life.
“What do you mean we don’t want compensation? They are the ones who will compensate us! If they don’t compensate us, we won’t leave today.”
“Yes, aren’t you bullying us, the foreigners? We want to sue the imperial court.”
“My jade stone is worth tens of thousands of taels of silver, is it too much to pay 500 taels of compensation?”
“Not too much, not too much at all.”
The crowd was rowdy and smug.
Feng Jianhua’s face changed, while the people clenched their fists, wishing they could rush in now and beat the gang up.
“All right, these five hundred taels are given by the Ministry of Punishment, this is over, don’t be bickering about anything.”
Feng Jianhua roared, and he came to fire.
You have beaten up people, you are not allowed to pay compensation, you are told to get lost, and you are still not happy?
And you want to continue to extort compensation? Are people willing to do that? Bullying is bullying, but is it possible to bully people like this?
But in the end, Feng Jianhua took a deep breath, he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so let’s leave it at that.
When this was said, all the merchants laughed, completely and utterly laughed.
