Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 66: Verbal sparring
The people Zhou Yijin sent to Nanhai County met Lao Zhou on the road before they arrived at the county government office. Lao Zhou waved his hand and said, "I know everything. Let's go!" Then he led the officials of Nanhai County to the warehouse of Yihehang.
Although the prefecture was larger than the county, and Guangzhou prefecture was the immediate superior of Nanhai County, they were all runners, and this was a special area, so Lao Zhou did not lower his voice. He pointed at the runners from the prefecture who were blocking the warehouse door and cursed, "What are you doing? What are you doing! This is Nanhai County, what are you doing!"
Inside the warehouse, the guys from Yihehang secretly breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Lao Zhou - although they had dared to resist the Guangzhou officials, they were still a little nervous about resisting the officials as common people. Now that the people from Nanhai County had arrived, they didn't need to take the lead.
The criminal secretary of Guangzhou Prefecture was good-tempered and said with a smile, "Captain, don't be angry. We are all just following orders. Do you want to take a look at the official document?"
Old Zhou waved his hand and said, "What are you looking at? I'm just a rough guy and I can't understand! In short, you are not doing things according to the rules." He would not read the official documents. After reading the documents, he would find it difficult to shout about some things.
The Xingshu said, "In that case, shall we wait for the people from 'the top' to arrive?"
Lao Zhou said: "Okay, as long as you don't mess around."
As he spoke, he ordered his men, half of them to stay outside and keep an eye on the government servants, while the other half went into the warehouse to help guard the door of Yihehang.
At this time, countless people had gathered outside the warehouse of Yihehang. In addition to the Yihehang employees who heard the news , the employees close to the family also came, and the brothers of Hongmen and the coolies of Baietan also came to "watch the fun." Although there were many yamen runners and civilians transferred from Guangzhou Prefecture, they were a minority in terms of numbers. Therefore, psychologically, it was the yamen runners and civilians who surrounded the warehouse who felt insecure.
Seeing this, Ou Jiafu felt relieved and thought, "According to the current situation, as long as the other party can't come up with a strong reason, I can defend this door."
Amid the commotion, a group of soldiers from the Governor's Office came forward, escorting two sedan chairs. They arrived outside the warehouse and two people got out of the sedan chairs. One was Cai Qinghua and the other was Cai Shiwen.
Someone in the crowd recognized Cai Shiwen, and someone shouted, "It's Hei Cai Tou!"
In the past six months, Cai Shiwen has been doing business with his head down, and has not made any noise in Guangzhou for a long time. Even in Shenxianzhou, there is no trace of his Cai family members. However, people in Xiguan know that Hei Caitou's decline is due to the rise of Haoguan. So when they suddenly see him, many people feel "suddenly enlightened" and think: "No wonder the officials suddenly surrounded the Yihe warehouse, they are here to take revenge."
After Cai Qinghua got off the sedan chair, he glanced at the surrounding situation and said angrily, "What's going on? Why haven't you sealed the warehouse for inspection?"
The criminal secretary of Guangzhou Prefecture said, "Master Cai, we wanted to go in, but here... they won't let us in."
Cai Qinghua sneered, "This is really funny. Is this Baietan still the Baietan of Guangzhou Prefecture? Is this Guangzhou Prefecture still the Guangzhou Prefecture of the Qing Dynasty? You have the Guangzhou Prefecture's signature, but they won't let you in, so you're just wasting time here?"
The criminal didn't want to bear the blame, so he pointed at Lao Zhou and Ou Jiafu and shouted, "Hey, get out of the way!"
Ou Jiafu shouted from inside the door, "We are Yihehang, a brokerage company, and we are under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Customs and Nanhai County. I have never heard of Guangzhou Prefecture intervening directly in matters here. We are doing business approved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. If we open the door casually and something goes wrong later, we will be blamed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Guangdong Customs. Please forgive us, can you please go to Guangdong Customs to get the official documents? As long as Guangdong Customs gives the order, we will open the door immediately and dare not disobey."
Cai Qinghua looked up to the sky and laughed, "Okay, it seems that the signature of Guangzhou Prefecture is useless. Then the signature of the Governor's Office should be enough!" He took out a piece of paper with official documents and shouted, "This is the document of the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi. Go over and break the door open! Anyone who dares to stop us is defying the court and will be killed without mercy!"
Ou Jiafu, Lao Zhou, all the clerks of Yihe Bank and the police officers of Nanhai County were all shocked. Although no one could see clearly whether the paper was really an official document, no one dared to check it.
The Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi is not comparable to the Guangzhou Prefecture. He is a senior official who represents the emperor to guard the southern part of Tiannan. If he gets really ruthless, it is common for him to execute people first and report later . The Guangzhou Prefecture may be afraid of the Imperial Household Department, but Governor Zhu may not be.
The few soldiers from the Governor's Office who came up with Cai Qinghua were about to step forward. The constables and runners from Nanhai County all wanted to run away, and the guys from Yihehang also all looked at Ou Jiafu.
Then a clear voice laughed and said, "Master, you are so angry in such a hot day, haven't you had any herbal tea today?"
Ou Jiafu felt relieved: "Master Zhou is here."
Then two sedan chairs were carried closer, with two people sitting on them. One was a handsome young Han man, and the other was a sinister and silent Manchu slave. They were Zhou Yijin and Hutabu.
Zhou Yijin jumped off the sedan chair, holding a folding fan in his hand, and bowed to the people around him, saying, "I'm late, I'm late. I've kept you all awake for so long."
Behind him, the guys from Yihehang had already pushed two large carts of herbal tea. Some took bowls, some took spoons of herbal tea, and then brought the tea to each person, ensuring that everyone had a share, regardless of friend or foe.
It is now midsummer and Lingnan is extremely hot. The sun is shining brightly. No one can stand standing for a long time without some shade.
The clerk of Yihehang and the policeman of Nanhai County drank it without thinking. The official of the government took the cold tea, thinking that since the other party's own people drank it, there must be no problem, but he didn't dare to drink it, and looked at the criminal secretary. The criminal secretary also took a bowl in his hand, but looked at Cai Qinghua.
Zhou Yijin personally brought a bowl of herbal tea, came to Cai Qinghua and respectfully offered it, saying, "Master, let's talk about business later. Drink a bowl of herbal tea first to cool off."
Everyone was relieved when they saw Cai Qinghua took it. They just waited for him to drink and then continued drinking. Unexpectedly, Cai Qinghua raised his hand and poured the whole bowl of cold tea directly on Zhou Yijin's face. He said coldly: "We are doing business here! Who are you? Are you using these filthy things to stop the Governor's Office from doing business?"
When the government officials saw this , they immediately poured out the bowls in their hands and threw them away.
Zhou Yijin's face drooped, letting a bowl of cold tea drip onto his eyebrows, nose, and cheeks. Without even wiping it off, he bowed and said, "I dare not. I am here on behalf of the Yihe Bank's guarantor, Shang Haoguan, to receive the messenger. May I ask, sir, what is your identity, what order do you have, and what mission are you on?"
Cai Qinghua said, "I am Cai Qinghua, the shogun of the Guangdong and Guangxi Governor's Office. I have been ordered by the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Mr. Zhu, to supervise the work of the Guangzhou government. Because your Yihe Bank sold prohibited items, Governor Zhu ordered the Guangzhou government to investigate the matter thoroughly. The first round of court hearings has passed," he pointed to Cai Shiwen next to him, "The guarantor Cai Shiwen is the initiator and also a witness. Now we are here to search for evidence. You actually gathered a crowd to stop the officials. Are you going to rebel?"
"No, no, we are all obedient citizens of the Qing Dynasty and have always been law-abiding." Zhou Yijin said, "It's just that the Guangzhou prefect is not a close official. According to the conventions of this dynasty, the prefect should send the case to Nanhai County, and let Nanhai County handle the matter. But now the prefectural staff came directly to the door, and even transferred the yamen runners and militiamen of Panyu County to work on the ground in Nanhai County. This is against the rules. The elders and villagers of Nanhai are panicked, which naturally caused the people of Xiguan to be surprised, and the merchants were even more at a loss."
Cai Qinghua said, "Cai Baoshang not only sued your Yihe Bank for buying and selling contraband, but also sued Nanhai County for shielding the company, so Governor Zhu ordered Guangzhou Prefecture to bypass Nanhai County and conduct a thorough investigation directly. Master Zhou, according to the practice of our Qing Dynasty, if there is a problem in Nanhai County, does Guangzhou Prefecture have the power to do so? Is there any violation of the law in Governor Zhu's order?"
Zhou Yijin said: "If that's really the case..."
He suddenly turned to Cai Shiwen and said, "Cai Baoshang, you reported Yihehang as a businessman suing a businessman, but suing Nanhai County is like a citizen suing an official, and the county you are suing is Nanhai County, and you live in Xiguan Street, Nanhai County, and the magistrate of Nanhai is your parent. The magistrate governs the people, like the parents of the people. You sued Nanhai County, which is like a child disobeying his parents. According to the laws of the Qing Dynasty, you will be beaten with 20 sticks first!"
The practice of 20 lashes of the cane as a civilian suing an official, and even elevating this practice to the level of "filial piety and brotherhood", is a characteristic of the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty. Zhou Yijin's words would be full of perverse logic if they were put in the Ming Dynasty or in modern times, but in the Qing Dynasty, everyone took it for granted.
Cai Shiwen's face darkened when he heard this. Before anyone could react, Zhou Yijin turned to the criminal judge of Guangzhou Prefecture and said, "Current Judge Qu, did the criminal judge of Guangzhou Prefecture punish him with the twenty strokes of the cane during the trial?"
Qu Xingshu was stunned and said, "It seems... that the fight has not started yet..."
In fact, seeing Cai Shiwen still standing there, everyone knew that the fight had not started yet.
Zhou Yijin smiled and said, "Master Cai, the procedure of the Guangzhou Prefecture's trial seems to be wrong. How about taking Cai Baoshang back to the Guangzhou Prefecture government office first, giving him 20 strokes of the cane, and then confiscating the warehouse of Yihe Bank?"
If they were to follow the procedure, in addition to taking Cai Shiwen back to the Guangzhou government office to be spanked, all the government officials would naturally have to withdraw first, and then come back for an investigation after Cai Shiwen was spanked - with this gap, even if there were any contraband in the Yihehang warehouse, they would have been moved away long ago, so there would be no need to investigate.
Cai Qinghua looked up to the sky and laughed, saying, "According to convention, this is indeed the way it should be."
Ou Jiafu and the others were just feeling happy, thinking that Master Zhou was really amazing, forcing the other party to withdraw by seizing a flaw, but unexpectedly Cai Qinghua changed his tone and said, "However, Governor Zhu said that this matter is of great importance and needs to be dealt with with lightning speed. Let Guangzhou Prefecture record the twenty strokes of the cane against Cai Baoshang first, and then judge his merits and demerits and close the case together."
Zhou Yijin asked, "Master Cai, is there any evidence to support your statement?"
Cai Qinghua said calmly, "This is Governor Zhu's order. If Mr. Zhou doesn't believe it, you can go to Guangzhou Prefecture and ask the prefect."
Everyone present guessed that this might not be the case, but Cai Qinghua immediately gave the order for Zhu Gui. He was Zhu Gui's confidant. Would Zhu Gui disapprove of him? With Zhu Gui's support, would the Guangzhou prefect dare to disapprove of him? So there was no need to ask.
Cai Qinghua said: "If you have any questions, ask them all. If you don't have any questions, get out of here!"
Cai Qinghua's eyes were fierce, and he was about to urge the officers and soldiers of the Governor's Mansion to open the door. Zhou Yijin made way for him. Hutabu, who had already gotten off the sedan chair, was bulging with a round belly and shouted, "Who dares to do anything?"
