After Yan Song and Xu Jie finished reporting to Jiajing, they were so nervous that they didn't even dare to breathe.
After hearing the report of the two men, Jiajing laughed angrily and responded: "How can such a coincidence happen in this world? I just said that I wanted to abolish the craftsmanship, and then something like this happened."
"Check it out for me. I want to see who is instigating it behind the scenes! Don't let go of anyone involved."
Seeing the emperor's anger, Yan Song and Xu Jie, who were kneeling on the ground, became even more panicked! And they also hated the group of carpenters who made trouble.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will definitely do my best to bring these rebels who have caused rebellion to justice as soon as possible!"
Then Xu Jie stood up and assured Jiajing.
"Well, you go down."
After hearing Xu Jie's assurance, the expression on Jiajing's face softened a lot, and then he nodded and gave instructions.
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will retire now!"
With a feeling of uneasiness, the two people left the Nourishing Heart Hall.
"Lu Fang, go and send the Jinyi Guards to check this matter for me and see if there is anyone behind this."
After Yan Song and Xu Jie left, the angry look on Jiajing's face disappeared instantly, and then he calmly ordered Lu Fang beside him.
"Slave, I obey."
After receiving Jiajing's order, Lu Fang quickly left the Yangxin Hall.
After Lu Fang left, Jiajing was the only one left in the huge Yangxin Hall.
He was seen stroking the dragon head carved on the dragon chair and muttering to himself silently: "Yan Song, Xu Jie, if this matter has anything to do with you, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
On the other hand, since Yan Song and Xu Jie left, the remaining three people in the cabinet also began to speculate on the cause of the matter.
"In my opinion, this incident is just an accident. After all, those craftsmen have been bullied for more than a day or two! Are you right?"
Yan Shifan did not make any cover-up and directly expressed his thoughts.
"Hmph, it's true that those craftsmen were bullied, but the timing of what happened must have been too coincidental!"
"His Majesty was about to abolish the craftsmanship status in the front leg, and such a big thing happened in the back leg. It is difficult not to suspect that someone was obstructing it and wanted to prevent His Majesty from abolishing the craftsmanship status!"
Zhang Juzheng on the side frowned and put forward his own idea.
"Yeah, the timing of what happened was really perfect!"
Gao Gong couldn't help but sigh after getting up and pouring himself a cup of hot tea.
"Wait, the capital is now under martial law, and those carpenters can't escape far."
After Yan Shifan finished speaking, he continued to work on the previous memorial.
…
"Have you found any trace of those carpenters?"
In the government office, Ding Shichang looked at his subordinates who hurried back and asked.
"Reporting to the prefect, we have not found any trace of this group of people yet, but..."
Facing Ding Shichang's questions, his subordinates could only respond hesitantly.
"Then why are you coming back? Continue to investigate for me! If you can't find the whereabouts of these people, don't come back!"
"Where are the people from the Five Cities Military and Horse Department? Let them search together! Even if I search door to door, I still have to find them."
"If we can't find this group of people, I will question you when the time comes!"
After listening to his subordinate's report, Ding Shichang became furious and spoke word for word.
"Yes, sir, my subordinates will take people to continue searching. We will definitely bring this group of carpenters to justice!"
Ding Shichang's subordinates, with panic on their faces, hurriedly responded and left the government office.
"Report to Mr. Fu Yin that the results have been obtained from Gu Zuo."
At this moment, the subordinate who had been sent to examine the body came back to report.
"Oh, how did these officials die?"
When Ding Shichang heard this, he couldn't help but ask.
"Report to the Governor, these officials were killed before the fire started! There was no smoke left in their mouths and noses. The specific cause of death was that their throats were cut with a saw."
When asked by his superior, he responded quickly and respectfully.
"Well, have the families of these people been informed?"
After Ding Shichang learned the exact cause of death, he nodded and then asked.
"Report to Mr. Fu Yin, their families have been notified."
The visitor saw this and responded respectfully.
…
"What happened? Why are there suddenly so many officers and soldiers on the street?"
A pedestrian stopped the vendor in front of him who was hurriedly closing his stall and asked.
"Hey, you don't know yet? There's something big going on here in the capital!"
The vendor glanced at the visitor rather strangely, kept moving his hands, and then answered.
"Oh, what happened?"
Seeing the mysterious look of the street vendor, the pedestrian's curiosity was completely aroused and he continued to ask.
"Hush, let me tell you secretly, some carpenters in the capital rebelled! Not only did they kill the officials, they also burned down the handicraft workshops run by the imperial court!"
Seeing that the things were almost packed, the vendor looked around and saw that no one was paying attention, and then explained to the visitor.
"What? These craftsmen are so bold!"
Pedestrians were also quite surprised after hearing the news from the vendors.
"Let me tell you, stop wandering on the street, or you may be caught as a suspect by the authorities!"
After saying this warning, the vendor quickly left.
Pedestrians looked to the side and saw vendors busy closing stalls everywhere. They thought to themselves: "It seems that it is not a good time to go out today, so you should go home and stay!"
After making up their mind, the pedestrians did not dare to stay longer and quickly left.
Not far away, there were subordinate officials from the government who took the roster and began to conduct house-to-house searches. The names, place of origin, appearance and characteristics of the carpenters were recorded on the roster.
"Open the door, open the door, the government is looking for the important criminal!"
The leading official patted the door and said loudly.
After a while, there was only a "squeak" sound, and the door was slowly opened.
Immediately, a man wearing coarse linen clothes and a flattering expression appeared, looking at the leading official and asking.
"Sir, what happened? Such a big battle?"
"Don't ask questions that shouldn't be asked, open the door and let us in!"
The leading official frowned impatiently, and then spoke.
"Sir, how could there be a wanted criminal here? Besides, my wife is about to give birth. Look..."
The visitor said, and as before, he stuffed some broken silver into the hands of the leading official without leaving any trace.
"Okay, you dare to bribe officials in broad daylight. Come on, get him!"
The leading official immediately grabbed the hand he wanted to take back, and then gave the following instructions to the subordinates behind him.
"Yes, sir!"
After receiving the order from the commander, the soldiers behind them swarmed forward to control the incoming people.
"My lord, I was wronged! My lord!"
When the man in coarse linen clothes saw this, he wanted to quibble, but his mouth was quickly blocked by the smelly socks he found from nowhere, and he could no longer speak.
"Hmph, this man is so sneaky, there must be something interesting here!"
"Brothers, be careful. If we are the first to discover the traces of those carpenters, we will have made a great contribution!"
The leading official forcibly suppressed the excitement in his heart and ordered like this.
"Yes, sir!"
Seeing this, the soldiers behind him also pulled out the long knives at their waists and began to be on guard.
"Later, I will count one, two, three. When we count to three, we will rush in together!"
"one two three!"
After the leading official finished speaking, he kicked the door open, and the soldiers behind him filed in.
"Who are you and what do you want to do? Ah!"
Soon, all the people inside were controlled, but when the leading official took out the book for comparison, he found that none of them matched.
"Sir, there are many children locked up in the backyard!"
After a while, the subordinate responsible for searching the yard also came to report.
"Huh, after all the fuss, it turned out to be a human trafficker!"
After the leading official finished speaking, he spat into the ground in disgust.
"Forget it, take all these people back to the prison, and take these children back to the government office. We can consider it a meritorious service today!"
"Yes, sir!"
After the soldiers behind him responded, they immediately escorted the traffickers to prison.
And in the darkness, there has been a pair of eyes silently watching all this, and he is Ren Shiwang.
(End of chapter)
