novelaction Chapter 1013
Chapter 1013
In fact, Zhu Zongshan was not really worried about himself. He was worried that Wei Wu's actions would displease the court.
By then, if His Majesty issues an imperial edict, the issue of equalizing the land tax will probably be shelved, which is not what he wants to see.
When Bao Yu was forced to perform labor service, Zhu Zongshan regarded it as a personal grudge and did not think much about it.
After all, Wei Wu was the Duke of the Ming Dynasty, and Bao Yu was targeted for his offense, so other officials would not say anything.
After all, we are all officials. How can they allow a small civilian like you to offend us at will? Where would they put their face?
But now Wei Wu's approach is no longer acceptable. He violated the Ming Dynasty law by arresting hundreds of people at one time and sending them to perform labor service.
This has nothing to do with the officials' reputation. It is definitely a violation of the rules and the officials will not tolerate it.
The problem is that Wei Wu's attitude seems to be that he is not worried at all that those people will report the matter to the capital.
Zhu Zongshan was just a prefect and had no ability to stop Wei Wu from doing anything he wanted to do, so he had no choice but to act according to his orders.
However, just as Zhu Zongshan was about to execute the order, Wei Wu suddenly spoke up.
"In order to make things go smoothly, you only need to send out two teams. I will send two people to follow them separately."
As he spoke, Wei Wu turned his head to look at Shen Lin and Zhang Hai.
"You, follow the yamen runners."
Shen Lin and Zhang Hai immediately responded in unison: "Yes, Master!"
Afterwards, under Zhu Zongshan's arrangement, Shen Lin and Zhang Hai set off with two teams of yamen runners arranged by the yamen.
Wei Wu, on the other hand, sat calmly in the yamen sipping tea, as if he didn't care about the matter at all.
As the largest family in the silk business in Suzhou City, the Gong family controls nearly 50% of the silk business in Suzhou.
The remaining 50% was divided equally among other merchants. Unfortunately, Gong Honghai, the head of the Gong family, was not happy about it.
On the contrary, every time he saw the exquisite silk produced by his own family, he felt a pang of suffocation and discomfort in his heart because he himself could not wear it.
The Ming Dynasty had a strict clothing hierarchy. Merchants could buy and sell silk freely, but they were not allowed to wear it.
On the contrary, farmers can wear silk because their status is nominally higher than that of merchants, but they basically cannot afford it.
For Gong Honghai, this is equivalent to being surrounded by delicacies from land and sea every day, while he can only eat white flour buns.
So he thought of a solution. Since he couldn't wear it in public, he would just wear it secretly at home, and everything would be fine.
For example, now, Gong Honghai's clothes are all made of silk from inside to outside, and they are purple with gold thread.
Whether it was purple or gold thread, it was an usurpation of his status as a businessman, but he wore them anyway.
However, just as he was standing in front of the bronze mirror looking at his gorgeous clothes, the voice of the steward came from outside the door.
"Master, Master, something bad has happened. The officers and soldiers from the government office have come to the door and want to see you. Please change your clothes quickly!"
As the housekeeper, he naturally knew Gong Honghai's little secret. When he realized something was wrong, he immediately came to report it.
Gong Honghai was also shocked when he heard this, and quickly took off his clothes to avoid being seen.
However, just as Gong Honghai took off his outer clothes and was about to take off his inner clothes, a servant ran into the yard in a panic.
He rushed to the steward, grabbed his clothes and said:
"Master, the young master has been arrested by the yamen runners. Madam asked me to tell the old master to come over quickly!"
Hearing this, the steward became anxious, sent the servant away, and whispered something to the people inside the house.
At this time, Gong Honghai was about to take off his inner clothes, but when he heard that his son was arrested, he no longer had the heart to take off his clothes.
He simply found a cotton and linen coat and put it on, opened the door and ran out.