Chapter 40 Things Have Changed and People Have Changed

ps: Continue to ask for collection.

In front of the gate of the county government, Chen Ming did not pretend to be arrogant or tough, and did not use his contempt for the two people in front of him to elevate and declare that he was still "unreachable". He handed over two pieces of silver with a calm demeanor.

The government office is open, don't come in if you have no money!

Chen Ming's "observance of rules" made the two gatekeepers even more embarrassed and uncomfortable. "How dare, how dare..." Four hands dodged and evaded, and they were unwilling to take Chen Ming's money. In the darkest government office in the world, people also have to have face.

Two people went in and reported that it was the one surnamed Wang. The family member was left to face Chen Ming, and Chen Ming asked him about his father's situation. Only then did he know that Chang Rui had already thrown Chen Hui and his group into jail when it was dark.

"Ming Shao, that Hatu... said, it's late, don't disturb the adults if there's nothing important..."

"How much silver does he want? Is this enough?" Chen Ming's expression was neither happy nor angry. He flipped his hand in his sleeves and threw a silver ingot of 20 taels into Wang Yayi's hand.

20 taels of silver is certainly enough to buy Hatu a convenience! Hatu immediately had a convenience. Then Chen Ming followed him, and Liu Wu carried a box containing 500 taels of silver and walked behind the two of them.

"Chen Ming greets the county master." Facing Chang Rui, Chen Ming was very surprised that he was still clear-headed instead of furious. Chen Ming, who bowed his head, did not notice that Chang Rui's face had changed. Because Chang Rui did not feel the slightest fear and tension from Chen Ming, let alone the slightest anger.

Chang Rui was very surprised. Chen Ming's performance was beyond his expectations. After his face paused for a moment, he looked at Chen Ming with a hint of murderous intent. No one would be kind to someone who put his father in jail. Is Chen Ming a heartless person? Probably not. Otherwise, he would not have come to the county town by himself; is there any good boy who has no fear of the government when his father is arrested? No. Chang Rui dares to guarantee with his head that there is absolutely no such good boy!

So what does Chen Ming's current behavior show?

Chang Rui felt more uneasy. This person, when doing bad things, always considers a lot, and then hopes that the object can follow his own "rules" step by step as he imagines and imagines. Chang Rui is the most typical example.

He hopes to see a panicked Chen Ming, who will bring him the wealth of the Chen family continuously, instead of the current Chen Ming who makes him uneasy. Liu Wu's five hundred taels of silver are so hot that he is holding them.

Without saying a few words, Chen Ming retreated.

He asked Chang Rui if he could let his father and his party go, and then the Chen family would definitely reward him handsomely; Chang Rui's mind kept turning over and over because of Chen Ming's reaction, but no decision on this matter could be made easily. In the end, he answered Chen Ming according to the dialogue he had prepared, saying that Chen Hui's guilt was solid and could not be easily exonerated, and there was also a hint from the top on this matter. If he really wanted to exonerate Chen Hui and others, he had to take care of all aspects. Since he came to Lushan County, Chang Rui has regarded Chen Hui as his confidant, and of course he couldn't bear to see him go to a dead end. If the Chen family was willing to pay, he could come forward to exonerate Chen Hui in the officialdom.

Chen Ming finally proposed to go to the prison to see his father and send some food. Chang Rui agreed cheerfully.

After walking out of the backyard of the county government, Chen Ming's face calmed down, and Chang Rui looked at him with a very unpleasant look. Chen Ming also reacted and knew that it was his attitude that made Chang Rui uneasy.

Think about it, as a person who is determined to "become a bandit", would Chen Ming bother a county magistrate? But his fearlessness is exactly the reaction that a "kind-hearted citizen" should not have. Unless Chen Ming is not prepared to be "kind"!

The Lushan County Prison is located in the right corner of the county government hall, mainly to facilitate the interrogation of prisoners at any time. There is a screen wall inside the prison gate, and there is only one passage to prevent prisoners from escaping. Once you enter the prison gate, there is a corridor with four right angles and five doors, followed by a "hutong" about one meter wide. On both sides of the "hutong" are two rows of low cells, where ordinary miscellaneous prisoners are detained; at the south end of the "hutong", turning a right angle to the east is the inner prison, which is specially used to detain death row prisoners. The inner prison is in the shape of a quadrangle, with ordinary cells on the east, west and south sides, and two windowless cave-style cells on the north side. This is the women's prison for female prisoners waiting to be released from death row.

Chen Hui and his group were locked up in cells on both sides of the alley. After all, they had not been convicted and tried in court.

Feng Zhang, the prison clerk, was in Chang Rui's group. Chen Hui was thrown into prison, and the situation should not be good. But it was only half a day after all. Chen Hui fell, but he still had the Chen family, a powerful family, behind him. The jailers in the prison had not figured out the situation and did not dare to find trouble with Chen Hui.

Chen Ming took Liu Wu and carried a lunch box into the cell, and saw that the cell where his father lived was the outermost one. It could be said to be the neatest one among the cells on both sides of the alley. Not only did it have a bed, but it also had a quilt.

From entering the gate to the jailer opening the cell door, Chen Ming threw out a small twenty taels of silver, asking for nothing else, just asking these jailers not to ravage Chen Hui and others before the last struggle. These people who were thrown into the cell together were not only Chen Hui's old team, but also each of them had good fighting and calculating skills, including Bai Yi. Chen Ming was thinking about really "becoming a bandit" and taking these people into his pocket.

Prisons in China have been independent since ancient times. Although they are under the jurisdiction of the torture chamber, the prison chiefs and wardens only care about money and cannot see the king's law. As far as Chen Ming knew, the prison in Lushan County was cleaned only once thirteen years ago. It's because the cell bosses and wardens indulged the prison bullies too much, bullied others too much, and sought death themselves.

In the Lushan County Prison at that time, a man named Zheng Zuo was sentenced to eternal imprisonment for pushing his father to death. Zheng Zuotong was in prison for a long time and was appointed as the prison chief. He opened a pawn shop in the prison and exploited the prisoners for huge profits. When a prisoner enters prison, he must pay him money and property, otherwise he will suffer all kinds of abuse and even torture. Because Li Chun, an official, benefited from him, he not only ignored his illegal behavior, but also protected and condoned him in every possible way. Zheng Zuo can even enter and exit the prison on his own without restriction. Every time a new prisoner entered prison, he would lead his accomplices to beat them severely, bully them in every possible way, force them to pay for their stolen goods, and if they did not meet their demands, he would continue to torture them. At first, Zheng Zuo and others only tortured the prisoners in the Lushan County Prison. Later, they also tortured the prisoners who passed by the prison to extort their stolen goods. Later, they even tortured the officers who escorted the prisoners to the prison to extort their stolen goods. Li Chun, the official, will naturally have a share of the money he gets each time. Li Chun received a total of more than 400 taels of silver. After Li Chun got the money, he let Zheng Zuotong do whatever he wanted. Zheng Zuotong also became more unscrupulous and even raped female prisoners in prison. After Li Chun learned about it, he felt that he was too bold, but Zheng Zuotong immediately sent two hundred taels of silver to cover up the matter.

Later, a police officer from Gushi County in Guangzhou escorted a prisoner into the province. When passing by Lushan, he was also beaten by Zheng Zuo and his accomplices and forced to take the stolen goods. They were tortured. The officer was furious and went to Ruzhou Yamen to complain. After the magistrate at that time asked about the reason, he brought Zheng Zuotong to the prefectural government office for punishment and ordered him to be yoked in the prison. As a result, Zheng Zuotong gathered his fellow prisoners to beat gongs and drums and set fire to the prison. Fortunately, he was extinguished in time. Na Zhizhou was also a coward. When he found out, he was afraid that things would get serious, so he didn't dare to dig deeper and released Zheng Zuo's accomplices. It was the police officer in Gushi County who had a bad temper and went to the province to accuse him. The province sent personnel to investigate and brought Zheng Zuo and his party to the province for interrogation. As a result, Zheng Zuo and his gang were all sentenced to death by Qiu Hou, and the official Li Chun was also hanged.

The entire prison cell in Lushan County was given a thorough cleaning.

However, existence is reasonable. The existence of prison bullies cannot be eliminated in China in the 21st century, let alone the Manchu Qing Dynasty before Qianlong? The government's sword can only serve as a temporary deterrent. Now more than ten years have passed, and the old thing has long been repeated in Lushan County Prison. Chen Ming can give money, but he is not willing to let people like Chen Hui experience the methods of those prison bullies.