But nothing Liu Ying had done before was as shocking as his next order.
"Get a carriage and take the coffin back to the government office."
"What?!" Regardless of whether it was the Lu family or not, everyone was extremely shocked.
"No!" Lu Wenbin, Uncle Lu, and others threw themselves on the golden nanmu coffin and refused to let go.
"The Emperor has an edict!" Liu Ying then took out the edict from her sleeve.
"I am waiting to receive the order." Li Heng and other officials, who were looking nervous at the side, quickly knelt down and said, "I respectfully greet you, Holy Ann."
"..." Upon seeing this, all the guests knelt down one after another to listen to the order.
In the end, the Lu family, including Lu Wenbin and Lu Shuhe, had to kneel down under Liu Ying's sharp gaze.
"Liu Ying, the loyal and loyal uncle Liu Ying, went to Suzhou to check the cause of Lu Zhonghe's death, the date of his death and other matters. He must be in detail. The government must cooperate and prevent obstruction to resist the imperial edict. This is what Liu Ying said!"
Then he read the edict loudly, and then said to the Lu family in a deep voice:
"According to the emperor's decree, an autopsy must be conducted on Lu Zhonghe. If you don't have any objections, I don't mind calling him in and conducting it here on the spot!"
"..." In the end, under Zhu Hongwu's lustful power, the Lu family could only watch as their head's coffin was loaded onto a bullock cart and pulled out of Lu Yuan.
The moment the coffin was lifted, the Lu family burst into tears, their cries shaking the sky.
Wearing linen and mourning, they followed the team transporting the coffin, crying all the way, and their cries spread throughout Suzhou...
~~
Those guests who came to express their condolences did not follow him to Fuqian Street. Instead, they stayed at the Lu family's house to discuss countermeasures in the small courtyard arranged by Xie Yunzhang, who came to express his condolences.
But unlike when he was filled with indignation in front of others, the atmosphere in the room was solemn and uneasy.
To be honest, the leader of Ouchi's bodyguards suddenly came to Suzhou today, which really frightened these big Jiangnan families.
Especially Xie Yunzhang. He knew the inside story - Duke Pingjiang had no intention of seeking death at all at first. He originally planned to cry, make trouble and hang himself, and then he was rescued after making the matter worse.
However, after receiving a letter from Fei Ge in the capital the day before yesterday, he had no choice but to drink poisoned wine and commit suicide...
Xie Yunzhang was in Lu Yuan at that time. At the beginning of the month, he came to Suzhou for a medical visit. He stayed at the Lu family and discussed countermeasures with Duke Pingjiang day and night.
Therefore, I witnessed with my own eyes the strange scene when Duke Pingjiang wanted to escape to Japan overnight, but was blocked by his son and brother...
At that time, Ping Jianggong knelt down and cried, begging his son and brother to let him live, and even promised never to return to the Ming Dynasty.
Lu Wenbin and Uncle Lu also knelt down and kowtowed to Duke Pingjiang, begging him to die for the sake of the Lu family. The matter had become a big deal, and they wanted to see people alive and bodies even if they died. How could they get away with it by pretending to be missing?
But Duke Pingjiang had a very strong will to survive. No matter how much they talked and said good things, he refused to drink the bowl of poison.
In the end, the uncle and nephew had no choice but to ask him to leave. After a meal, heart-wrenching cries erupted in Mr. Pingjiang's bedroom.
"Dad, my dad, you died so miserably..."
"Brother, my brother, how can I live without you?"
It really makes those who hear it sad and those who listen to it cry.
At that time, Xie Yunzhang blamed Nanjing's big shots for being too cruel and pushing the Lu family into such misery. Only now did he realize that it was him and Ping Jiang Gong who thought too simply.
The emperor would really send someone to verify his identity!
If Duke Pingjiang dies one day later, something big will happen!
~~
"Mr. Li Ting, Gong Li Ting..." Others called him several times before Xie Yunzhang came back to his senses.
"Oh, what's the matter? I was distracted just now."
"Mr. Li Ting, you have to stand still. Now that Mr. Pingjiang leaves, you will be our only backbone!" All the wealthy households looked at him anxiously.
"Don't worry, I'm fine." Xie Yunzhang said solemnly: "Just now you said..."
"We discussed that we can't let this matter go like this." Zheng Dian, a young and energetic member of the Zheng family in Songjiang, shouted loudly:
"Otherwise, the old man will completely look down on us Jiangnan people and treat us like we can do whatever we want!"
"Yes, when we were accused of collaborating with bandits and our property was confiscated, we tolerated it! They imposed heavy taxes on us, but we tolerated it! They moved hundreds of thousands of wealthy households to Fengyang, and we tolerated it again! With unfounded charges, we tolerated it again.
We still tolerated killing Wei Guan, Gao Qi and others..." Everyone also agreed:
"But the result of enduring it again and again is not that enough is enough, but the old man's intensified suppression, breaking our bottom line again and again!"
"Look at today, Mr. Pingjiang is dead, but he still has no peace. He will be transported to the government and disemboweled! If we don't fight, we will really die without a burial place!" Everyone said with grief and anger: "Li Pavilion
Sir, let’s do it!”
"Yuan Chen is right." Xie Yunzhang naturally expected this attitude towards them.
Because Lu Zhonghe is still not safe even if he dies, and the government will conduct an autopsy. Who knows what troubles may arise?
So we still have to make the matter bigger so that no one will care about the cause of Lu Zhonghe’s death...
So he nodded and said: "We can't let Mr. Pingjiang die in vain, otherwise we will never be able to get over it... But we must protect ourselves, and we can't let you get involved again."
"That's natural." The big bosses nodded and said: "Just like in the past, we don't come forward, we just need to send people secretly to spread some rumors, and then give some benefits to the gangsters and let them take the lead. Those simple-minded white men
, will naturally lead the way for us."
"Okay." Xie Yunzhang couldn't help but smile: "It seems that you haven't mastered the craftsmanship of the previous dynasty yet."
"That's right, this is our housekeeping ability. For hundreds of years, we have relied on it to remain invincible. We can't lose it even after hundreds of years." Everyone laughed.
As a result, a group of Jiangnan's big businessmen discussed in a familiar manner how to divide the work and how to instigate... They quickly agreed on the charter and then went their separate ways.
~~
Suzhou City, on Xuanmiao Guanqian Street.
From the street to the end of the street, there are groups of men and women waiting for workers. This is a scene that can only be seen in the economically developed Jiangnan area.
It is completely different from the early barbaric conquest of northern areas by Mongolia. The Yuan Dynasty's expedition to the south of the Yangtze River, except for a few areas, was basically based on propaganda.
No matter what, at least this allowed the economy of the Jiangnan region to be almost undamaged. Under the nearly anarchic and relaxed environment of the Yuan Dynasty, coupled with the fact that it was backed by the Taihu Lake water network and faced important trade ports such as Taicang and Shanghai, Suzhou's industrial and commercial development
unusually vigorous.
In this most developed and affluent city in China, there are a large number of citizens who are divorced from agricultural production. They either work in the textile industry or sail ships between Taicang, Shanghai and Suzhou, transporting goods for large households.
Relying on Suzhou's prosperous industry and commerce, they can earn far higher incomes than people elsewhere.
But since this year, the situation has suddenly become very bad...
