Chapter 199
"But he couldn't digest such a big benefit alone. In order to protect himself and find someone to back him up, he quietly told Cheng Youhai, the prefect of Weihui House. Cheng Youhai is also a greedy and daring gambler. Cheng Youhai is really like Tao Yiming. I wish to conceal this matter, and together with Tao Yiming, quietly create a disappearance case in the jurisdiction. The people they are eyeing are isolated, familyless men, they took these people into the mountains and forced the men Mining ore, and at the same time blocking the news, if someone reports the case, they will not investigate, and hastily closed the case as missing."
"However, this is still too slow. Mining gold requires a lot of labor, but how many beggars, homeless people, orphans can there be in a county, even if they kidnap them all, it's far less than what is needed for mining. And doing this Not only is it troublesome, but it is also easy to be exposed. Even if the prefect and the county magistrate suppress all the reported missing cases, they will eventually leave traces. At this time, the news of the emperor's southern tour came from the capital, and Cheng Youhai and Tao Yiming felt the opportunity. He planned the disappearance of Hegu Village."
"They confiscated the young and middle-aged people of the village under the pretext of building a palace, and quietly locked them up for mining, but they claimed that they encountered flash floods on the way, resulting in the death of the whole village and no survivors. However, Aunt Liu's persistence exceeded their expectations, Liu said. The aunt kept suing, and even joined the villagers to ask for an explanation, Tao County magistrate had to allocate a sum of the mining income and distribute it to the villagers of Hegu Village in the name of funeral expenses to appease people's hearts."
Lu Heng was noncommittal and asked, "Cheng Youhai manages such a big place, why did he choose Hegu Village?"
Wang Yanqing was well prepared and said calmly, "Firstly, since it is close to the mining site, it is easy to deceive more than 100 people. Second, there are insiders in Hegu Village. People's hearts, their plan will go well. Thirdly, the Liu family's mother-in-law said that they had heard a loud noise in the mountains at night, and it was said that the ground was moving, but Aunt Liu's husband thought it was not. Hegu Village blocked the prefect. The county magistrate's way to make a fortune, even if there is no labor, the prefect must find a way to get rid of these people, it is better to make the best use of it and deceive the men into the mountains to open mines."
Lu Heng nodded and said, "This is just your guess, what about the evidence?"
"This impure sand gold, the suddenly wealthy Lizheng family, and the blood book sent by Osprey can all prove it. The easiest way to verify it is to go to Hegu Village's Zhengjia and search to see if there are any unknown origins. Gold and silver, you will know if my inference is correct."
The golden sand in the river was first discovered by Li Zheng's grandson. After Li Zheng reported to the official, Tao Yiming and Cheng Youhai should have promised him a lot of benefits in order to stabilize Li Zheng. These money are just scraps from the prefect's hand, but for the Lizheng family, it is already an astronomical amount. The daughter-in-law of Lizheng's family is unknown, so she suspects that her in-laws are stealing the pension.
The daughter-in-law complained to Wang Yanqing about this, but she was wrong, and Wang Yanqing discovered the truth.
Lu Heng asked: "But these have nothing to do with the paper figurines. Since the two of them are seeking money, what happened to the abnormality that happened today and yesterday?"
Wang Yanqing sighed: "Speaking of which, it was an accident. If they could, they wouldn't want to make it so complicated. The prefect and county magistrate are local parents and officials, and the villagers couldn't go to the capital to file a complaint. No splash. According to their plan, the people will forget about it if they ask for no results for a long time, and they will destroy the relevant information on the missing persons. No one knows what happened. But they did not expect the emperor to suddenly want to make a southern tour. , the two women of the Liu family had the guts to file a lawsuit against the imperial court, and they didn't expect that an idler like the second brother would really want to investigate. Cheng Youhai and Tao Yiming's plans were disrupted, so they had to rush to remedy. They faked a set of paper figurines Demon tricks, the specific details, the second brother should know better than me."
Lu Heng nodded and sighed: "Yes, probably the context is right. But you are wrong."
Wang Yanqing hurriedly asked, "Where?"
Lu Heng rubbed the tea cup with his fingers, and said slowly: "I should, I'm not an idler."
Wang Yanqing was silent and did not speak for a long time. Lu Heng smiled lightly and complained, "Just kidding. Why are you not cooperating at all?"
Wang Yanqing smiled reluctantly, sorry she couldn't understand Lu Heng's fun. Wang Yanqing just said a lot, but now he finally sighed helplessly and asked, "Second brother, what are you doing?"
She understood Tao Yiming and Cheng Youhai's thoughts, but not Lu Heng's. Lu Heng asked, "When did you start to suspect Cheng Youhai and Tao Yiming?"
"Last night." Wang Yanqing said honestly, "Last night, a paper figurine suddenly appeared on the roof. When I went to search outside, I noticed that Cheng Zhifu's expression was a little strange. He has always shown the image of a mediocre official who is swaying and chasing horses. His expression and body His actions were all exaggerated. I was blinded by his appearance, and regarded it as normal. But last night, his surprise and fear were a bit separated. An official who was so afraid that he couldn't even look at the face of a paper man stood at the gate of the county government, his body I didn't move. I had doubts in my heart. Today, I focused on Cheng Zhifu at the scene of Tao County Magistrate's suicide, and finally determined that he was performing."
Lu Heng was deeply moved: "It's an excellent way to disguise yourself by making others feel stupid. He is very good at pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger, and even I was deceived by him."