However, the villagers soon discovered that the strength of the two sides was not equal. On one side were unsuspecting villagers holding farm tools, and on the other side were regular soldiers armed to the teeth!
Needless to say, the result was that after just one encounter, all these villagers were subdued, and some were knocked to the ground, with their lives and deaths uncertain.
"Prefect, we are late!"
After subduing the villagers at the scene, the officers of these soldiers bowed slightly to Ma Ningyuan.
"No, you came just in time. Without you, I wouldn't know how to deal with these unruly people!"
Ma Ningyuan was in a good mood at the moment and said loudly.
"These unscrupulous people ignored the imperial ban and planted rice seedlings without authorization! Go and destroy all the rice seedlings planted in the paddy fields."
Ma Ningyuan glanced at the visitor and then gave instructions.
"Master Prefect, this... this is not appropriate!"
After listening to Ma Ningyuan's request, the officer looked hesitant and then said slowly.
"Hmph, go ahead if you are told to go! Do you also want to disobey the order?"
"This... subordinates don't dare."
Seeing that Ma Ningyuan had given an ultimatum, the officer gritted his teeth and ordered the soldiers behind him: "Listen to my order, everyone mounts their horses and tramples all the seedlings in the paddy field!"
"yes!"
These soldiers had no right to refuse the orders of their superiors and had no choice but to respond in unison.
Then the remaining soldiers got on their horses, lined up in a row, controlled the horses under them, and stepped towards the paddy fields.
"drive!"
The horse's hoof was sunk deep into the paddy field. When the horse pulled out its leg again, it was already stained with black mud and had an unbearable putrid odor! Wherever it has been trampled, a big hole will inevitably be left, and bubbles will continue to bubble out of the hole.
When the horse's hoof went down, all the nearby seedlings suffered disaster and were stepped into the soil one after another.
"Oh, my seedlings! Oh my god, why don't you let people live!"
"Without these seedlings, how can we survive this year? Woohoo."
"God, please open your eyes and see! What kind of world is this!"
Seeing that the seedlings they had just planted were destroyed, the villagers became more and more excited and wanted to break through the obstruction of officials and go to the paddy fields to protect the seedlings they had planted earlier.
Finally, a white-haired old man, taking advantage of the official's negligence, broke through all the obstacles and came to the paddy field.
"Please don't step on me again!"
The old man looked at the trampled seedlings and cried.
The soldiers ignored the old man's voice and continued to control their horses.
The old man leaned down and carefully straightened the seedlings that had been trampled into the mud.
At this time, the soldiers had already trampled all the seedlings in the paddy field once, and now, it was the second time.
"Ah ah ah, if you want to continue trampling on the seedlings, you have to step over the old man!"
The old man looked at the seven or eight horses galloping towards him from a distance, his eyes seemed to be about to spit out fire, and he stopped directly between them.
"Old guy, get out of the way! Don't you want to live?"
Seeing the old man blocking their way, the soldiers on horseback panicked and shouted quickly.
The old man ignored the soldiers' shouts and stood motionless! From a distance, it looks like a scarecrow specially placed in a field.
"Ah, get out of the way!" Seeing that the distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, when the soldiers wanted to tighten the reins and stop the horses underneath them, it was already too late.
The old man was knocked two meters away and fell heavily into the paddy field! The horse's hoofs trampled hard on his back, and in an instant, there was only a crisp sound. The old man vomited a large mouthful of blood, tilted his head, and then fell silent.
It was only then that the horses stopped.
"Ah ah ah, the government killed someone!"
"Folks, come after me!"
This situation completely ignited the anger in the hearts of the villagers at the scene. They broke through the obstruction of the officials one after another and came to the old man, wanting to investigate the situation.
Then I saw the villagers lifting the old man up from the mud and carrying him to the edge of the paddy field.
A moment later, the only doctor in the village rushed to the scene. After checking the old man's injuries, he shook his head in a subtle way.
"Hopeless."
After the doctor left these words, he turned and left.
"Master Prefect, someone is killed! What should we do now?"
Seeing this, the subordinates on the side quickly asked Ma Ningyuan how to deal with it.
"What are you afraid of? It's because this old guy has no eyesight and insists on stopping the government from doing things! He deserves his own fault for what happened today!"
Ma Ningyuan glanced at his subordinates and said calmly.
"you!"
Ma Ningyuan's words successfully ignited the anger of the villagers. The villagers ignored the long sword shining in the official's hand and gradually approached Ma Ningyuan's place.
"What do you want to do? Attacking a court official is a serious crime!"
Seeing this, the guard on the side hurriedly pulled out the long knife from his waist and warned the villagers.
"We are not even afraid of death, so are we afraid of the crimes you have imposed on us?"
Some of the villagers said so.
"Yes, folks, let's fight them!"
"Fight!"
Just as the two sides were at war with each other, there was a rush of horse hooves coming from afar.
Hai Rui, the magistrate of Chun'an, rushed to the scene with his people. When he saw the old man lying on the ground, he looked around and said in a deep voice: "What on earth is going on?"
"Master Magistrate, please make the decision for us!"
Seeing Hai Rui coming, the villagers in Wangjia Village seemed to have found a backbone, and they all knelt on the ground and cried.
"Tell me the whole story."
Then Hai Rui asked the villagers who were kneeling on the ground to stand up and spoke.
"Master Magistrate, this is what happened..."
Seeing Hai Rui's question, the villagers in Wangjia Village quickly told the whole story.
After understanding all the ins and outs of the matter, Hai Rui frowned and turned to Ma Ningyuan, who was standing aside, and asked, "Master Magistrate, when something like this happened, don't you have anything to say?"
Ma Ningyuan glanced at Hai Rui and said coldly: "Of course I have something to say. Look, this is Chun'an County under your rule, Hai Rui! How dare you ignore the national policy of converting rice to mulberry? You are all dishonest. !”
"That old guy couldn't think of anything else and insisted on stopping the government from doing things. He is solely responsible for what happened! It has nothing to do with me."
"Besides, you, a small county magistrate, dare to question me?"
Ma Ningyuan seemed to be irritated by Hai Rui's attitude and turned to sneer.
"Humph, so what if you are the prefect? If you do something wrong, you should do it according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty!"
Facing Ma Ningyuan's sarcasm, Hai Rui didn't take it to heart. Instead, he stared into Ma Ningyuan's eyes and spoke word by word.
"Hai Rui, I am waiting for your impeachment memorial!"
After Ma Ningyuan finished speaking, he looked at Hai Rui from top to bottom, as if he wanted to engrave his entire being in his mind.
"Let's go!"
After Ma Ningyuan finished speaking, he waved his hand and gave his subordinates the order to retreat.
"Humph, after doing bad things, you want to leave after patting your butt? It's too late! Come with me to the Governor's Mansion and meet the Governor."
Hai Rui called out to Ma Ningyuan and said in a deep voice.
"Okay, I will accompany you to the Governor's Mansion! Then let the Governor decide the guilt."
When Ma Ningyuan heard what Hai Rui said, he immediately stopped.
…
Fujian, in the government office where Tan Lun works daily.
"My Lord Governor, this is the letter sent to you by Mr. Xu Jie and Xu Ge!"
While Tan Lun was processing the official documents on the desk, the voice of his subordinates came from outside the door.
"Well, come in."
As Tan Lun spoke, he put down the half-processed official document and said loudly.
"Sir Governor, this is the letter Mr. Xu Ge sent to you! He said that he wanted to deliver it to you personally."
After entering the door, the subordinate respectfully handed the letter in his hand to Tan Lun.
"Well, I know, please go down!"
Tan Lun took the letter and gave instructions to his subordinates.
"Yes, Lord Governor!"
After the subordinate finished speaking, he bowed and left, closing the door behind him.
Tan Lun looked at the letter in his hand that was sent by Xu Jie himself, with a look of struggle on his face.
As early as before, after listening to Hu Zongxian's advice, Tan Lun had already made up his mind to sever ties with Qingliu! Therefore, he did not reply to any of the letters from Qingliu members.
But now, Xu Jie wrote to himself personally, which made Tan Lun a little uncomfortable for a while. After all, this was Xu Jie, the second minister of the cabinet whom he once admired the most!
Tan Lun suppressed his chaotic thoughts and opened the letter Xu Jie sent to him.
In addition to the daily greetings, the content of the letter also included the strategy that Xu Jie and the others had previously discussed in Prince Yu's Mansion, which was to strongly support Tan Lun in wiping out bandits in the entire Fujian Province!
At the same time, he also promised to reduce the burden on the people of Fujian, redress unjust and false cases, and punish corrupt officials. In short, it was to allow Tan Lun to achieve political achievements as soon as possible.
After reading the contents of the letter, Tan Lun rubbed his chin and kept thinking about the intention behind it.
After a long while, I saw Tan Lun's eyes shining brightly, and he said excitedly: "I understand! Xu Ge always wants to use me to fight against the strict party. After all, I am one of the few officials in the border area."
After Tan Lun thought clearly about everything behind this, he couldn't help but feel that his thoughts were clear, and his whole person felt an indescribable sense of relief.
"Oh, but the content of the letter is correct. Bandits are everywhere in Fujian now, and the people still don't have a peaceful life! How about taking this opportunity and using the support of Mr. Xu Ge to eliminate the bandits in Fujian? How about wiping them all out?"
"But I am now a high official in the border area, and I am on His Majesty's side! If I don't communicate with Your Majesty in advance, will His Majesty think that I, Tan Lun, am still engaging in cliques for personal gain? But I didn't directly Presented to His Majesty’s channel.”
Tan Lun thought so, frowning, and fell into a dilemma.
"Yes, why did I forget Governor Hu! Can't I just repeat the contents of this letter to him exactly and ask him to pass it on to His Majesty?"
The more Tan Lun thought about it, the more feasible it became, so he immediately laid out his pen and paper and started writing.
"Governor Hu, your subordinate, Tan Lun, recently received a letter from Mr. Xu Jie and Xu Ge. The content is as follows..."
"At that time, please also forward this letter to His Majesty. The letter contains some of my thoughts on this matter. I would like to thank Governor Hu for this!"
After Tan Lun finished writing the last sentence to Hu Zongxian, he stood up from his seat and said silently to himself: "This way, everything will be foolproof!"
After the ink on the paper was dry, Tan Lun called his subordinates and ordered: "Submit this letter to Governor Hu as soon as possible without delay!"
"Yes, Lord Governor, my subordinates will do it now!"
After taking the envelope from Tan Lun's hand, the subordinate quickly left.
(End of chapter)
