Chapter 697

Xia Butou's face was ugly. Although he was a Butou, no one dared to provoke him in Ningzhou Prefecture. These abominable tea farmers dared to resist him. They really wanted to die.

Thinking about it, Xia Butou rushed over angrily, and kicked a tea farmer flying away.

The tea farmer was not in good health, so he vomited blood after being kicked out like this.

The tea farmer behind was enraged, and glared at Xia Butou angrily, Xia Butou shouted angrily: "Get out of here, if you don't get out, I will fight with you."

The twenty or so tea farmers subconsciously became timid, but soon they thought of the person who said behind the scenes that they would give them money, and they did not flinch. If they succeed in making trouble, then the person behind said that they would give them money every day. Twenty taels of silver per household.

Twenty taels of silver is a sky-high price for tea farmers. The tea they grow is only fifteen yuan a catty, of which only thirty taels of good-quality tea are enough for the whole family.

Twenty taels is an astronomical figure, and people die for money, so they fought hard.

None of the tea growers flinched, and all glared at each other.

This made Xia Butou even more angry, and he knew that these people could not be allowed to stay anymore. If they stayed, they would be in bad luck if Xie Tongzhi and others found out the inside story of the tea field.

Detective Xia thought about it quickly, took a quick step forward, and ordered in a deep voice: "Go, if you don't go, you will all be arrested and locked up in prison."

Seeing that no one moved when he finished speaking, he directly ordered the policeman behind him: "Come here, arrest these troublemakers and put them in prison."

As soon as Xia catcher's words fell, the catchers behind rushed forward like wolves and tigers, ready to arrest these tea farmers.

The tea farmer immediately burst into tears: "It's not good, the government officials have arrested people, they are going to kill us, they are going to kill people."

The shouting of the tea farmers alarmed many onlookers.

At this time, Xie Yunjin's carriage came back. He got off the carriage and saw a group of troublemakers surrounded in front of the government office, and Xia Butou rushed to arrest people like a wolf.

As soon as Xie Yunjin came over, she lowered her face and said coldly: "Stop."

Xia Bu turned around and saw that it was Xie Yunjin who came, and his expression turned ugly. He quickly explained: "My lord, these are all troublemakers, and my subordinates are about to arrest these troublemakers and lock them up in prison. .”

He said with a smile: "My lord must be tired, go in and rest quickly."

After Xia Butou finished speaking, he was courteous and wanted to send Xie Yunjin in to rest.

In front of the government office, some people whispered to the tea growers: "This is Master Qingtian of Ningzhou Prefecture, Mr. Xie. If you have any grievances, you can appeal to him. He is the one who will make decisions for the people."

As soon as the tea farmer heard this, he rushed over and knelt down in front of Xie Yunjin: "Master Xie, please be the master for us."

"Thank you, sir, for making decisions for us. If you don't make decisions for us, we will die."

"Yeah, if this continues, we will have no way out."

Xie Yunjin stopped and looked back at the tea farmers behind him.

At this time, the carriage of the prefect Lin came back and saw the tea farmers kneeling in front of the government office, and there were many people around.

Zhifu Lin only felt his heart tremble, he strode over and shouted angrily: "What's the trouble?"

Xia Butou walked quickly back and forth, "My lord, these troublemakers are causing trouble."

"Since the troublemakers are causing trouble, immediately arrest them and put them in prison."

Butou Xia was ordered to rush over to arrest him.

Xie Yunjin said: "It's better to ask the reason first, my lord."

Prefect Lin raised his eyebrows, and said in a deep voice: "Xie Tongzhi, I am the prefect of Ningzhou, and you are Tongzhi. It is not your turn to refute the decision made by this official."

Xie Tongzhi nodded slightly: "That's the reason, but what the lower officials receive is the imperial court's salary, not Master Lin's. If Master Lin acts impartially, the lower officials have no right to intervene, but now it is obvious that Master Lin is not doing things fairly. , the next official will have to ask a few more questions."

After he finished speaking, he turned to look at the tea farmer, and said in a deep voice, "What's the matter with you?"

Master Lin saw that the tea farmers were about to speak, and shouted: "You troublemakers, dare to talk nonsense, let's see how I deal with you."

The tea farmers were shocked, but they did not forget that the reason why they were so poor was because the prefect of Ningzhou lowered the price.

If they say now, the magistrate of Ningzhou may settle accounts after the fall, and their family may be in bad luck by then.

The tea farmer hesitated for a moment and dared not speak.

Prefect Lin made up his mind, but Xie Yunjin said, "Don't be afraid, if you have any grievances, you can tell me. Although my official position is not as high as that of Prefect Lin, I can still make decisions. According to the logic, the prefect should serve the people. Make the decision, if you can’t make the decision for the people, the imperial court knows that it will punish you.”

These words are short of saying that if the prefect of Lin can't make decisions for the people, the court will punish him.

There are twenty taels of silver hanging behind the tea farmer itself, and now listening to Xie Yunjin's words, someone couldn't help but say loudly: "My lord, we don't plant tea trees anymore, we want to tear down tea trees and plant medicinal materials, but because planting tea is an imperial government order , if we want to knock down the tea trees and plant them elsewhere, we need to get the official documents."

"My lord, when we plant tea trees, every family will die of poverty. I beg your lord to take back the decree and let us plant medicinal materials instead."

"Please take pity on our families, my lord, please take back the decree."

Prefect Lin yelled angrily before Xie Yunjin with a gloomy face: "Presumptuous, planting tea is an imperial government's decree, and you are trying to change the decree by the imperial court, how courageous you are."

Without saying a word to Xie Yunjin, he ordered Catcher Zhao on the side: "Take these unscrupulous people to prison."

Xia Butou rushed over to arrest them, Xie Yunjin ordered Zhao Heng and his men behind him coldly, "Stop Xia Butou and others."

Zhao Heng rushed over to stop Xia Butou and the others.

Xie Yunjin walked up to the tea farmer and said with a strange expression, "Why do you want to tear down the tea trees and plant medicinal materials instead? Tea is very valuable."

A tea grower below shouted loudly: "My lord, the tea leaves we grow are worth fifteen renminbi a catty, and the good quality is only 30 renminbi. How much money do you earn? The medicinal materials grown by others cost tens of renminbi, and the expensive ones cost two to three hundred renminbi. If you grow ginseng and Ganoderma lucidum, you can sell them for a few liang.”

"My lord, do you think we look like rich people? Our family has managed the whole tea mountain, but in the end we can only get enough food and clothing. We don't even dare to buy decent clothes, and we don't have money to see a doctor when we are sick. My lord , please ask the imperial court to allow us to plant medicinal materials instead."

Xie Yunjin's face suddenly became gloomy, he turned his head to look at the pale-faced Prefect Lin, and said in a deep voice: "Prefect Lin, this is not right, why do I remember that in the account book of the tea farm, tea is divided into nine grades? Yes, the lowest price is fifteen Wen a catty, but the first-class tea is four hundred and twenty Wen a catty?"

(end of this chapter)