Lao Zhu laughed angrily and waved to Zhao Lu, "Come on, raise your head."
Zhao Lu raised his head without knowing why. Before he could see the emperor's face clearly, he saw something flying towards him. It hit his old face with a slap, causing pain.
His Excellency Lao Zhu was already out of anger and roared with all his strength: "Didn't I send an imperial envoy to investigate first? But look at how the investigation was carried out? The first imperial envoy was inexperienced, and they fooled him into thinking he was a fool.
.The imperial envoys I sent out represent my face, and they dare to be so presumptuous. Do they still have me as the emperor in their eyes?"
"Handu went, but the real main culprit was found to be Pan Fu, the imperial commissioner. But those people dared to threaten even my imperial commissioner, and even asked whether the gangsters were attacking the county. I just want to ask you, is this Liyang or the Ming Dynasty?
Is it the world of our country? Or is Liyang the world of those corrupt officials, landlords, and gentry?"
Zhao Brigade was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and trembled. He had never thought that the problem in Liyang would be so serious. He fooled the imperial envoy and even dared to threaten the imperial envoy and gathered gangsters to attack the county. He did not dare to imagine what happened.
What kind of person dares to be so arrogant?
The reason why Zhao Brigade stood up to object just now was because he felt that the emperor gave the order directly without going through the General Affairs Department, and the other reason was that he was extremely disgusted with sending the army to the people.
He really didn't expect that things had turned out like this. It was like he had dug a hole for himself, and he could only jump out of it.
Everyone in the court hall was shrouded in Lao Zhu's furious authority. They were all silent and did not dare to interrupt, let alone say a good word for Zhao Lu.
Finally, Du Ze, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, stood up. He first walked over and picked up the memorial, opened it and scanned it quickly. Then he knelt down and bowed to the emperor, saying: "Such unruly people are no different from treason. I sincerely ask the emperor to bring all the people together."
When people are caught and brought to justice, they will be punished according to the law to serve as a warning to others!"
Lao Zhu glanced at Du Ze and said nothing. Of course he would not let anyone go, but he would not punish them clearly. This matter involved several counties and hundreds of landlords and gentry. If they were interrogated one by one,
If you are clear about sentencing, how long will the trial last?
There is only one word in Lao Zhu's heart right now, kill!
Kill all these people so thoroughly that the corrupt officials, landlords and gentry in the world will be frightened!
However, Lao Zhu did not say these words in the court. Instead, he waved his sleeves and shouted angrily: "Quit the court!"
Han Du spent the whole night and day in fear. At the evening of the next day, he learned that Shanzi Camp had moved to Liyang.
After hearing the news, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Staying in Liyang, although Han Du was not worried about his own safety, he was worried about the landlords and gentry jumping over the wall to kill the people. Although the soldiers under his command were powerful, they could only protect himself. For the people in the city, that was really a disaster.
Nothing can be done.
Fortunately, perhaps because the heads of each family were imprisoned by him, during this day and night, no family was able to act in unison.
This couldn't help but make Han Du's heart drop.
Xu Chengfei missed Han Du and came directly to Liyang. After being informed, he followed the guards into the county government office.
Han Du got the news and hurried out. The moment he saw Xu Chengfei, he burst out laughing, "Hahaha"
The two hugged each other happily and patted each other hard on the back several times.
After letting go, Han Du looked at Xu Chengfei and said, "If you don't come again, my hair will turn gray."
"The words of the Marquis are serious." Although Xu Chengfei had already been granted the title of Marquis, he still used to call him Marquis Han Du.
Then he immediately said: "We are here this time to follow the orders of Lord Marquis. What is the situation now and what can we do?"
Han Du didn't pretend to be reserved and asked him to change his title. Considering his friendship with Xu Chengfei, that would have created a rift.
Pulling Xu Chengfei into the inner hall, pointing to a map on the table, Han Du said: "You have to capture all the people who protected Pan Fu, including Liyang, Guangde, Jianping, Yixing, Chongde and other counties.
All the landowners and gentry in the county add up to a total of 483 households. Here is the list of each county, please take it."
Han Du handed Xu Chengfei the list he had prepared long ago.
Xu Chengfei opened it and saw that the list was divided according to counties. Looking at it, he saw densely packed names.
"These people" Xu Chengfei was speechless when he saw so many of them, and asked in confusion: "Arrest the whole family?"
Han Du nodded, "Arrest all of them, men, women, old and young. As for how to deal with it in the end, that is a matter for the court and the emperor."
Xu Chengfei nodded and sighed: "It seems that we are very busy."
Han Du said with a smile: "That's not all. In addition to catching these landlords and tycoons, you also have to stop by.
Deal with the bandits and ruffians in each county. These people dared to attack the county that day and should be punished. I didn't have the energy to pursue them at the beginning, and they must have fled back now. Keeping them in each county will be a disaster, so I might as well just
Let’s take this opportunity to clean them out.”
"Understood." Xu Chengfei nodded and agreed.
Next, Xu Chengfei took the list and ran around arresting people in various counties, while Han Du interrogated Chen Jian, Jiang Yiru, Pan Fu and others in the prison one by one and obtained their respective confessions.
The two divided the work and worked together for almost a month before finishing the matter.
After Han Du returned to Beijing and reported the results to Lao Zhu, Lao Zhu used his usual iron-fisted methods.
Just one word, kill!
Li Ang? Kill! Exterminate the nine clans! Confiscate the family property!
Pan Fu? Kill! Exterminate the nine clans! Confiscate the family property!
Jiang Yiru? Kill! Exterminate the nine clans! Confiscate the family property!
Chen Jian? Kill! Exterminate the nine clans! Confiscate the family property!
Landlords and their accomplices in various counties openly protected Pan Fu, as well as others who helped Pan Fu escape, tipped him off, and helped and stayed with him along the way, including those who led people to besiege the county town, more than 400 households.
Search their homes and kill them all!
This time, even Han Du, who had always advocated killing less, did not speak out, because these people indeed deserved to die. If they did not die, there was no telling how many people would suffer.
Zhu Biao glanced at Han Du over and over again, but Han Du just pretended not to see it.
After saying goodbye to Lao Zhu's palace, Han Du was quickly stopped by Zhu Biao who was chasing him.
Zhu Biao looked at Han Du angrily and asked sternly: "I just told you to be prickly, why didn't you say anything?"
Han Du helplessly spread his hands and said, "Your Highness, such a big thing has happened. Even if I open my mouth, what's the use?"
Zhu Biao pondered for a moment, then shook his head unwillingly and said: "You are the imperial envoy sent by my father to investigate this case. If you say a few words, my father will still listen. But why did you say anything just now?
If you don't say anything, maybe my father won't kill so many people if you open your mouth."
The faint smile on Han Du's face quickly faded and he sighed: "Your Highness, not everyone can be forgiven for everything."
"You were not like this before, why are you like this now?" Zhu Biao looked at Han Du in confusion.<
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Han Du nodded and explained: "I did intercede for criminal officials in the past, but that was only when the crime was not serious. Moreover, in my opinion, the corruption of some officials is not a serious crime. After all, we have the Ming Dynasty.
The annual salary of the court is too low. If the official rank is lower and the family is larger, it may be difficult to support the whole family. In my opinion, being greedy for money in order to survive can be forgiven."
Zhu Biao nodded slightly as he listened. Han Du had told him about the low salary of officials more than once. Moreover, he had asked his father for instructions many times, hoping to increase the salary of officials. However, his father wanted to win over this issue.
He was given the opportunity to become an official, which resulted in the salary increase never being implemented.
"But these people are different." Han Du's face suddenly became stern. "It's not that these landlords and gentry cannot survive, but they are greedy and want to desperately take away the last copper and the last grain of food from the people. For this reason
Therefore, they even do not hesitate to intimidate the people with horrific revenge. If such people do not die, will there be any justice in this world?"
"This is the truth, but if they do evil things, they can be punished according to the law. There is no need to punish the nine tribes, right?" Zhu Biao is like this. Once he encounters a critical moment, he will easily become soft-hearted.
Han Du chuckled twice and said: "Otherwise, it's not enough to shock the world."
When Zhu Biao heard this, he immediately realized, "It turns out that this is the real purpose of my father. Going on a killing spree is not the purpose. The real purpose is to frighten the landowners and gentry in the world so that they don't dare to do this again."
After thinking about it, Zhu Biao no longer objected.
He also returned to Lao Zhu, bowed and said: "Father, I think this matter should be told to the world. The landowners and gentry in the world will take a warning when they see it. And the people of the world will know that Father is here."
Make the decision for them. When facing persecution from the landlords and gentry, they know that their father will make the decision for them so that they will not be afraid of the landlords and gentry."
Lao Zhu nodded with satisfaction and looked at Zhu Biao with admiration, "What the prince said is true, so let's do it."
More than 480 households of landlords and gentry were ransacked, and thousands of people were beheaded. Such a turmoil that shocked the world carried a strong smell of blood and spread towards the whole world.
Just like the cold north wind, it instantly brought a strong chill to the landowners and gentry all over the world. But the people were happy and clapped their hands to applaud the emperor's move.
Suddenly, there were far fewer ferocious-looking landlords and gentry in the past, while there were more landlords and gentry who built bridges and paved roads and were kind to their neighbors.