Chapter 1679

Cao Song was dead!

He died in the darkness before dawn.

Until his death, he did not wait for the release document, dying with his eyes wide open. Before he died, he was surrounded by epidemic patients; even if he wanted to roar or complain, no one would listen.

He died silently.

After his death, to prevent the body from infecting the crowd, families were not allowed to claim the body. All bodies that died of the epidemic were burned in a fire.

The Heavenly Prison was burning every day!

After burning, the ashes were put into jars.

A month later, it was confirmed that the epidemic was controlled, those who should have died were all dead, and those who were alive had taken medicine and were healthy; with the imperial court's permission, the long-closed gates of the Heavenly Prison were opened.

Creak, creak... the gates were like broken bellows, making noise everywhere.

Outside the gates, there was no one.

Several dozen zhang away, there were quite a few people gathered together.

Some were families of prisoners, and some were families of prison guards.

Everyone was looking forward, hoping their relatives were still alive.

Chen Guanlou signaled the clerks to post the list of the dead on the wall outside the gate, one for prisoners and one for prison guards. He also posted a notice: families should line up to collect the ash jars and pay a storage fee.

The fee was not high, fifty wen.

Everyone was angry at the Heavenly Prison's hungry-ghost-like appearance, but no one came forward to scold them.

People were dead, and they could no longer care about these trivial details.

Moreover, the fifty-wen fee was not expensive, and most prisoners' families could afford it. Even if the prisoners' families were too poor to come up with fifty wen, they could borrow it from everywhere.

"Line up, line up! No pushing and shoving! Otherwise, there will be a fine, starting at ten taels of silver!"

A loud-voiced prison guard roared, and the originally messy crowd quickly lined up, registered, paid, and collected the ash jars. If a medical record or a death certificate was needed, an additional ten wen was charged. It couldn't be cheaper.

Pens, ink, paper, and inkstones all cost money!

The Heavenly Prison was poor and could not provide them for free.

The families of prison guards did not need to pay these fees; instead, they would receive a pension. Register first, and within ten days, the pension would be issued to the families.

Because of the epidemic, the Heavenly Prison was more than half empty.

Not many prison guards died, less than a hundred.

When the epidemic first broke out, all medicinal herbs were prioritized for the prison guards, and they had to drink the epidemic-prevention soup arranged by Medical Official Mu every day.

This epidemic, which almost plunged everyone into despair, finally ended.

Chen Guanlou looked at the empty prison cells, his mood somewhat heavy.

He was still sentimental about the fragility of human life when Chen Quan came in a hurry to report that the Cao family had come looking. Upon learning that Cao Song had died and his body had been burned, they immediately made a scene, saying they would go to the Ministry of Justice to complain and to the imperial court to complain.

With someone taking the lead, other families of imprisoned officials also followed and made a scene.

They expressed that they could not accept the body being burned.

Chen Guanlou came to the gate and saw the crowd gathered together making a noise, and roared: "What are you arguing about? Who is making trouble, stand out?"

No one stood out.

Chen Guanlou recognized Cao Song's youngest son at a glance: "Cao Laoqi, I've given you face, haven't I? All bodies that died of the epidemic were burned; this is the imperial court's order, and also the palace's order. If you are not satisfied, go find the Secretariat, go find the Emperor. You venting your anger on the Heavenly Prison guards, what kind of ability is that? I tell you, whoever dares to make trouble on the Heavenly Prison's territory, I will deal with them! If you don't believe me, try it! See if your bones are hard or my knife is fast!"

"Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen, are you threatening us?" Cao Laoqi asked, biting the bullet.

Chen Guanlou sneered: "Cao Laoqi, why don't you take the lead? The gate of the Heavenly Prison is right here, and I am standing right here; you charge and try it!"

His expression was half-smiling, as if he wanted to provoke the other party, hoping they would charge the gate of the Heavenly Prison.

"You..."

Cao Laoqi was not a fool and knew that Chen Guanlou was not joking.

If he really dared to take the lead in charging the Heavenly Prison, Chen Guanlou would dare to kill him in full view of everyone, and it wouldn't even be against the law!

Charging a government office of the imperial court, calling it rebellion would not be an exaggeration.

Although the Ministry of Justice's Heavenly Prison was lowly, it was also a government office of the imperial court, representing the court's dignity and the majesty of the law! How could it tolerate others charging it.

Cao Laoqi endured his anger: "For this matter, I will seek justice from the Ministry of Justice."

"Go, hurry up and go! I'm just afraid you won't go. Do you want me to lead the way for you?" Chen Guanlou wished they would go to the Ministry of Justice to make trouble, the bigger the better.

It just so happened that the Heavenly Prison was empty and needed a large number of prisoners to fill it.

He was not picky about prisoners.

Every prisoner was money, the more the better!

"Go quickly, go quickly!"

He urged them, with an expression that said if they didn't go, they were turtles and grandsons, provoking the crowd's anger to rise, and they all went to the Ministry of Justice.

Seeing this, Chen Guanlou laughed out loud, laughing extremely triumphantly.

"This group of turtle bastards, I want to see how much courage they have and to what extent they can make a scene."

Qian Fugui ran up to him and complained of poverty, saying that there was almost no money left in the public account.

During the epidemic, everything was prioritized for epidemic prevention, and all problems were suppressed.

Now that the epidemic was over, those suppressed problems all emerged, a thousand threads and ten thousand strands, and they couldn't be left unhandled.

"Report the expenses during this period to the Ministry of Justice and urge the Ministry of Justice to settle the accounts. I will also urge Minister Sun to hurry up and approve them. So many people need to eat, and it won't work without money."

Chen Guanlou also had a headache.

Money is a person's courage, and money is also a government office's courage.

A government office with money has a loud voice and sufficient courage, and its influence also increases accordingly.

A government office without money, commonly known as a "clear water" office, doesn't even get a straight look, and when they go out, no one treats them well.

The Heavenly Prison was already a vulnerable group, belonging to a lowly government office; if there was no money, that would be terrible, equivalent to the sky of the Heavenly Prison collapsing.

If there's no money, find the Ministry of Justice; if there are no prisoners, you still have to find the Ministry of Justice.

Chen Guanlou took a trip to the Six Shanmen to urge his brother units to be more active in their work recently, investigate more cases, and drink less tea. Only when the Heavenly Prison is good is it truly good!

The brothers of the Six Shanmen were happy: "It's rare to see Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen in a hurry. With fewer prisoners, people are more relaxed; isn't that good?"

"Fewer prisoners means less money. Do you want to live a bitter life?"

The people of the Six Shanmen shook their heads in unison.

Having lived a life with money, who would be willing to live a poor life?

"Then hurry up and handle more cases, and catch more prisoners!"

"What if we catch the wrong person?"

"Cold mix! It's not like we haven't caught the wrong person before. Four-character motto: break wealth to avoid disaster!"

If you catch the wrong person, pay money, and clear the injustice.

Don't think the Heavenly Prison is too dark; it's much better than the local government offices that act recklessly.

On the Heavenly Prison side, if you catch the wrong person and pay money, you can still clear the injustice.

Some government offices, knowing they caught the wrong person, still knock the bones and suck the marrow. The wronged person gives money, but in the end, they still behead the person, and when the person dies, they still carry the crime.

Comparing the two, the Heavenly Prison is definitely a clear stream; as long as they receive money, they will handle things, and there is no situation where the relationship is not in place, the money is not spent on the key person, and the injustice cannot be cleared.