Lao Zhu laughed angrily and waved to Zhao Lu, "Come on, raise your head."
Zhao Lu raised his head for no apparent reason. 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.
Lord Dan's Lao Zhu was already out of anger and roared with all his strength: "Didn't I send an imperial envoy to investigate first? But see how the investigation was conducted? 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 all dare to be so presumptuous. Do they still have me as the emperor in their eyes?"
"Han Du went, but the real main culprit was investigated and punished by the government official Pan Fu. But those people dared to threaten even my imperial minister, and even asked whether the gangsters were attacking the county. I just want to ask you, is this Liyang or the Ming Dynasty? Is this the world of our country? Or is Liyang the world of those corrupt officials, landlords, and gentry?"
Zhao Lu was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and shivered. He never thought that Liyang's problem would be so serious. He fooled the imperial envoy and even dared to threaten the imperial envoy. He also gathered bandits to attack the county town. He couldn't even imagine what kind of person he was that dared to be so lawless.
The reason why Zhao Lu 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 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 was shrouded in Lao Zhu's furious authority. They were all silent and did not dare to interrupt at all, let alone say a good word for Zhao Lu.
Finally, Du Ze, the official minister, stood up. He first walked over and picked up the memorial, opened it and scanned it quickly. Then he knelt down to the emperor and said, "Being so unruly is the same as treason. I beg the emperor to arrest everyone and bring them to justice, and punish them with justice, as a warning to others!"
Lao Zhu glanced at Du Ze and said nothing. Of course he will not let anyone go, but he will not punish them. This incident involves several counties and hundreds of landlords and gentry. If they are interrogated and sentenced one by one, 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: "Retreat from the court!"
...
Han Du spent the whole night and day in fear. At the evening of the next day, he was greatly relieved when he received the news that Shanzi Camp had moved to Liyang.
While staying in Liyang, Han Du was not worried about his own safety, but he was worried about the landlords and gentry jumping over the wall to kill the people. Although the soldiers under his command are powerful, they can only protect themselves. For the people in the city, there is really nothing they can do.
Fortunately, perhaps because the heads of each family were imprisoned by him, during this day and night, no one 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 the announcement, he followed the guard 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 Marquis is serious." Although Xu Chengfei has already been granted the title of Marquis, he is still used to calling Han Du Marquis.
Then he immediately said: "We came 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 address him. Based on his friendship with Xu Chengfei, that would actually create 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. He looked at the 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 them all, men, women, old and young. As for how to deal with them in the end, that is a matter for the court and the emperor."
Xu Chengfei nodded and sighed: "It seems that we are busy."
Han Du said with a smile: "That's not all. In addition to arresting these landlords and gentry, you also have to deal with the bandits and gangsters in various counties along the way. These people dared to attack the county that day and should be punished. I didn't have the energy to go there. Chasing them, they must have all fled back by now. Keeping them in the counties will be a disaster, so we might as well take advantage of 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! Kill the nine tribes! Property confiscation!
Pan Fu? kill! Kill the nine tribes! Property confiscation!
Jiang Yiru? kill! Kill the nine tribes! Property confiscation!
Chen Jian? kill! Kill the nine tribes! Property confiscation!
Landlords and their accomplices in various counties openly protected Pan Fu, as well as others who helped Pan Fu escape, tipped him off, and provided accommodation and support along the way, including those who led the siege of the county, more than 400 households. Search their homes and kill them all!
This time, even Han Du, who always advocated killing less, did not say anything, because these people really deserved to die. If they don't die, there's no telling how many people will 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.
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 more than once about the low salary of officials. Moreover, he also asked his father for instructions many times, hoping to increase the salary of hundreds of officials. However, his father wanted to leave this opportunity to win over officials to him, so the salary increase was never implemented.
"But these people are different." Han Du's face suddenly became stern, "It's not that the landlords and gentry can't survive, but that they are greedy and want to desperately take away the last copper and the last grain of food from the people. For this reason, they even do not hesitate to intimidate the people with horrific revenge. If such people do not die, will there be 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 implicate 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 true purpose of my father. The killing spree is not the purpose. The real purpose is to frighten the landowners and gentry in the world so that they do not 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 it as a warning. And the people of the world will know that Father is here." Make the decision for them. When faced with the persecution of 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 landlords and gentry had their homes confiscated, and thousands of people were beheaded. Such a storm that shocked the world, with a strong smell of blood, 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 rejoiced 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.
