After listening to Wang Ben's cry, Liu Xiu pondered for a moment and said, "Let Li Jian come over!"
Xu Ying bowed and gave a salute and walked away quickly. After a short time, he brought Li Jian over. Seeing Wang Ben kneeling in front of the carriage, with runny nose and tears, Li Jian secretly grinned and knelt down.
He stood on the ground and kowtowed forward: "Your Majesty!"
Liu Xiu asked: "Wang Ben sued the King of Surabaya to seize the land. Magistrate Li, do you know about this?"
"This...this...Wei Chen..." Li Jian hesitated, unable to say a complete sentence for a long time.
Liu Xiu frowned and asked, "Does Magistrate Li know about this?"
"No... Wei Chen... Wei Chen knows, but... Wei Chen hasn't investigated clearly yet..." When Li Jian spoke, a layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Liu Xiu stared at him for a moment and asked: "Is the King of Surabaya in Ye County now?"
Li Jian hurriedly replied: "Exactly...exactly!"
Liu Xiu nodded, waved to him and said, "Stay back!" When Li Jian got up, Liu Xiu said to Wang Ben: "Wang Ben, get up too. If this matter is indeed the fault of the King of Surabaya, I will
I will punish him and give you justice!"
When Wang Ben heard this, he kowtowed repeatedly and said in a trembling cry: "Your Majesty is wise! Your Majesty is wise!"
Liu Xiu didn't say anything more and lowered the curtains.
After the carriage continued to move, Yin Lihua, who was riding in the same carriage with Liu Xiu, saw that his face was not good, and she whispered to comfort him: "Your Majesty, there is no need to be angry with the King of Surabaya. When you see the King of Surabaya, you will have inquired everything clearly, and you will not make a decision again."
Late."
Liu Xiu said quietly: "The King of Surabaya obviously already has his own fiefdom, but he still wants to go back to Nanyang to buy land. It is nothing more than taking a fancy to the tax reduction and exemption given by the imperial court to Nanyang and wanting to make a big fortune from it. If only the King of Surabaya is like this.
, that’s all..." At this point, he couldn't help but shake his head.
The problem is that many princes and nobles have asked for leave from the court, left Luoyang or their respective fiefdoms, and returned to Nanyang one after another.
Are they returning to Nanyang just to visit relatives? I'm afraid that visiting relatives is a fake, and buying land is real. These princes and nobles want to take advantage of the court's policies, and Liu Xiu can tolerate it, but you can't use the banner of the Han Dynasty and your status as a prince
, plundering and oppressing the people. The lesson learned from Deng Feng has just passed. If public anger is aroused again, Nanyang doesn't know how many "Deng Feng" will emerge!
There was no words all the way. Liu Xiu's guard of honor arrived at Yecheng. Outside Yecheng, there was a large group of people standing, led by two people whom Liu Xiu knew. One was the king of Surabaya, Liu She, and the other was the king of Zichuan.
Wang Liuzhong.
Seeing Liu Xiu coming out of the carriage, Liu She and Liu Zhong stepped forward quickly, bowed to the ground, and said, "I pay my respects to Your Majesty!"
Even though Liu Xiu was a hundred unhappy in his heart, his outward courtesy was still acceptable. He took two steps forward, helped Liu She and Liu Zhong and his son up, and said with a smile: "The King of Sishui and the King of Zichuan don't need to be too much.
present!"
Liu She said with a smile on his face: "I learned that Your Majesty was passing through Ye County and I was unable to greet you from a distance. Please forgive me!"
Liu Xiu smiled lightly, waved her hand, and said, "Let's go to the city to talk!"
Liu She said as if he was offering a treasure: "We have a house in Yecheng that we can give to your majesty for use as his palace!"
Liu Xiu said: "I can live in the post house."
Liu She said quickly: "The conditions of the post are too bad, and living there will be inconvenient." As he spoke, he glanced at Liu Zhong beside him.
After all, there was a generation gap between him and Liu Xiu, so the relationship between him and Liu Xiu could not be said to be very close. The one who was really close to Liu Xiu was his son Liu Zhong.
Liu Xiu and Liu Zhong have been playmates since childhood. They have similar temperaments and can play together. They have always been close to each other.
Liu Zhong saw the look in his father's eyes as he handed it over, and smiled at Liu Xiu: "Your Majesty, please don't refuse. It would be too unreasonable for Your Majesty and your ministers to push back and forth any more."
Liu Xiu was amused by Liu Zhong's words. He patted Liu Zhong's arm and said with a smile: "We haven't seen each other for many days. Ah Zhong has become a lot stronger!"
Liu Zhong's health had never been good and he was frail and sickly. He was older than Liu Xiu, but he was very thin. When they played together, Liu Xiu always took care of him. It seemed that Liu Xiu was more like an elder brother.
"Thanks to His Majesty's grace, I have no worries about food and clothing in the palace, and it's hard to think about my health!" Liu Zhong sighed happily.
Liu She's fiefdom was in Sishui County in Yuzhou, which was also the Peiguo County in the block. He had a fiefdom.
Liu Zhong's fiefdom is Zichuan in Qidi. Qidi is currently occupied by Zhang Bu, so Liu Zhong's fiefdom is only in name but not in reality. He currently lives in the palace of Luoyang.
Although he could not get the food and fiefdom from the fiefdom, the imperial court would also give him a salary every year, which was not as generous as the fiefdom and food fiefdom. It was more than enough to support a royal palace.
Liu Zhong changed the subject and said sternly: "Your Majesty is indeed not suitable for living in a post house. You should live in your father's house. Your Majesty, please don't refuse anymore."
After hearing what Liu Zhong said, Liu Xiu thought for a while and finally nodded.
Liu She did not have one house in Yecheng, but several houses, all of which he bought from the county government.
After years of war, Nanyang suffered a serious population loss. Many houses were vacated and uninhabited, and finally fell into the hands of the county government.
For princes and nobles, this is also a good way to make money.
They don't need to spend much money to buy a large house from the county government. Even if they resell or rent it out later, it will still be a huge income.
This is the charm of power. With power in your hands, you can find so many ways to make money.
Arriving at the house provided by Liu She, Liu Xiu raised his eyes and looked around. This big house can be said to be luxurious.
He reached back and helped Yin Lihua out of the carriage. Upon seeing this, Liu She and Liu Zhong on the side saluted and said, "Noble Yin!"
Liu She, Liu Zhong, and Yin Lihua are also no strangers. When Liu Xiu and Yin Lihua got married, both his father and son came to congratulate each other. Later, when Liu Xiu held clan banquets in Luoyang, they could often see each other.
.
Yin Lihua said softly: "The King of Sishui, the King of Zichuan!"
Liu Zhong smiled and said: "Yin Guiren's complexion is much better than before, and he is even more radiant now!"
Others would not dare to say such frivolous words, but the relationship between Liu Zhong and Liu Xiu is so familiar that it is not an exaggeration to describe them as brothers. There are not so many courtesies between monarchs and ministers, and there is no relationship between them.
So restrictive.
After hearing Liu Zhong's praise, Yin Lihua couldn't help but laugh and glanced at Liu Xiu subconsciously. Liu Zhong also looked at Liu Xiu and said, "Your Majesty should take Yin nobles out of the palace more often in the future."
"Ah Zhong said it was easy, but how can it be that easy?!" Liu Xiu shook his head helplessly.
As he spoke, everyone walked into the house together. In the hall of the house, everyone sat down one after another.
Liu Xiu and Yin Lihua were in the middle, Liu She and Liu Zhong were on the left and right. As for Li Jian and other county officials, there were no seats for them in the hall, and everyone could only stand in the courtyard outside.
Liu She said with a smile: "In the past, Wang Mang brought trouble to Nanyang, and later Deng Feng brought trouble to Nanyang. Nanyang was ruined and the people were in dire straits. Now that Nanyang has been taken care of by the emperor, it can be said that it has become completely new!"
Liu Xiu looked at Liu She, who kept wearing a high hat on himself, and said quietly: "When I entered Ye County, a group of people blocked the guard of honor."
The expressions of Liu She and Liu Zhong changed. The former frowned and asked, "Your Majesty, who is so bold as to dare to block the emperor's guard of honor? We must punish him severely!"
Liu Xiu said slowly: "This person calls himself Wang Mingben." As he spoke, Liu Xiu picked up the tea cup and took a slow sip of tea.
Hearing Wang Ben's name, Liu She and Liu Zhong were shocked. Liu Zhong frowned and looked at his father sitting opposite him. Liu She rolled his eyes and said, "You are bold and unruly! Don't worry, Your Majesty."
, I will definitely punish this thief severely..."
Before he could finish his words, Liu Xiu put down his tea cup, turned to look at Liu She, and said, "Wang Ben blocked the ceremony in order to sue the emperor. Who is the person he wants to sue, King Kezhi of Surabaya?"
"This this……"
"It's the King of Surabaya!" Liu Xiu said slowly and calmly with no obvious fluctuations in his tone: "Wang Ben said that the King of Surabaya invaded his family's hundreds of acres of fertile land. I don't know, but is this possible?"
"This... this is sheer nonsense!" Liu She stood up, knelt down and said, "Your Majesty loves the people like a son and rules the world with benevolence and virtue. The humble ministers are deeply aware of this, so how can they do something like occupying people's fields? Please, Your Majesty
Insightful!"
Liu Xiu looked at Liu She who was kneeling on the ground and was silent for a while. He waved his hands and said, "Please rise, King of Surabaya." Then, he looked at Xuying beside him and said, "Bring Magistrate Li and Wang Ben in."
.”
"Yes! Your Majesty!" Xuying agreed and walked out quickly.
Liu She and Liu Zhong looked at each other, their expressions a bit unnatural. After a short time, Xuying brought Li Jian and Wang Ben into the hall.
After the two people came in, they both knelt down, kowtowed forward, and said, "Your Majesty!"
Liu Xiu ignored Li Jian, looked at Wang Ben below, and asked: "Wang Ben, you said that the King of Surabaya has invaded your Wang family's fields."
"Exactly!" Wang Ben's body was shaking a little, but his voice was still loud.
"What nonsense!" Liu She shouted angrily at Wang Ben: "I bought the fields in the north of the county with money!"
Wang Ben knew in his heart that whether he could keep the hundred acres of land depended on his current performance. He said: "The common people have no intention of selling the land, so how can the King of Surabaya talk about buying it?"
When Liu She was about to speak, Wang Ben continued: "Now the good land in Nanyang costs 5,000 yuan per acre, but the King of Sishui is only willing to pay 1,500 yuan per acre. The King of Sishui wants to buy the land of the grassroots at such a low price.
Fertile farmland, how can the poor people agree?"
"Five thousand per mu of land, why don't you go and rob it!" Liu She's face turned red with anger, and he said angrily: "Fifteen hundred per mu of land, which is a high price in every county, how much do you want for an mu of land?
Selling it for 5,000 yuan is simply raising the price on the ground, shamelessly!"
Hearing this, Wang Ben was also annoyed and said tit for tat: "If the King of Surabaya feels that the land of the grassroots is too expensive, he doesn't have to buy it, but he can't take the land away from the grassland by force!"
"That's not your Wang Ben's land at all, but Cai Yi and Cai Gong's land!"
"Cai Gong and his family have already moved to other counties. Before leaving, he sold the land to the grassroots people, who have the land title!"
As he spoke, Wang Ben reached into his arms, took out a yellowed parchment, and handed it to Liu Xiu respectfully.
Xuying stepped forward, took the parchment, unfolded it, looked over it over and over, and found nothing unusual, then placed it in front of Liu Xiu.
Liu Xiu picked it up expressionlessly and looked at it carefully. It was indeed a land deed, with the official seals of the state, county and county on it.
He had already understood the general story of the matter. The hundred acres of fertile land did not belong to Wang Ben, but was bought by Wang Ben from a man named Cai Yi. Obviously, Liu She also knew about this.
He planned to ask Wang Ben to resell the land to him. His bid was 1,500 yuan per mu, while Wang Ben's asking price was 5,000 yuan per mu. The two parties could not agree on the price, so Liu She sold the land to him.
It was occupied by force.
Seeing Wang Ben take out the land deed, Liu She swallowed his saliva and said loudly: "This land deed cannot be counted!"
"The King of Surabaya suspects that the land deeds of the grassroots are fake?"
"This land deed is stamped with the seal of the previous dynasty. The reckless thief is dead and now the world is ruled by the Han Dynasty. Of course, the land deed of the previous dynasty cannot be counted!" Liu She said loudly. After hearing this, the faces of everyone present changed.
