"Huzi, Huzi, are you okay?"
When the father saw this situation, he immediately panicked, hugged the child tightly in his arms, and kept calling.
Perhaps due to vomiting blood previously, the child's face was extremely pale at this moment, and his breath became extremely weak.
Perhaps he heard the call from his father. The child opened his eyes with great effort, stretched out his dirty little hands, wiped away the tears from the father's face, and said softly.
"Dad, don't cry, Huzi is not feeling uncomfortable anymore, cough cough, cough cough..."
Before the child finished speaking, he vomited out a large mouthful of bright red blood. If there was a doctor at the scene, it would be obvious at a glance that he was already alive!
Seeing this situation, the vision in the father's eyes was completely blurred by tears. He was choked with sobs and looked at his son who was about to die soon, crying bitterly.
"Huzi, you will get better soon. Dad promised you that he would buy you candied haws!"
"Tang...candied haws?"
Perhaps he heard something he was interested in, but the child used the last strength of his body, as if he wanted to grab something from the darkness, but soon, his hand dropped weakly and his head tilted , completely out of breath.
"No, Huzi!"
Seeing his son die in front of him, the man seemed to have suffered a great blow. After crying for a while on the child's body, he straightened up tremblingly and said with an extremely resentful expression. He looked at those people from the White Lotus Sect.
"I have sold everything I can sell at home, just to cure my son's disease, and now, he has died like this after drinking your talisman water!"
"You...you are all liars, fake, all fake!"
After the man finished speaking, he made a pretense to rush towards the White Lotus cultist who was in charge of hosting the ceremony. However, before he could even take two steps forward, he was stopped by the previous believers who came to the stage to receive the talisman water.
"Hmph, I think you brought it upon yourself. It was precisely because of your dishonesty that you were unable to impress the old mother Wu Sheng and cause her to perform a miracle!"
"Well, yes, you must be insincere. Just now you failed to impress the old mother Wu Sheng. I also drank the talisman water with your child. Why was my illness cured?"
"Yes, I have also recovered from my illness. It's not because you are sincere!"
Sounds like this kept echoing in the man's ears, making him begin to doubt himself.
"Could it be that it's really because I'm not sincere?"
Just as the man fell into self-doubt, the White Lotus cultist who was standing on the steps and was responsible for presiding over the ceremony walked up.
With a smile on his face, he came to the body of the dead child, leaned down, and after pretending to recite a mantra, he came to the man's side and said slowly.
"I have communicated with the compassionate and compassionate old mother Wu Sheng. She said that your son has arrived in his hometown of Vacuum and will live an unimaginably happy life there!"
"Every day there are endless delicacies to eat. Not only that, but there are endless silks and satins to wear. Your son has been adopted as a boy by Wusheng Mother. His future future is limitless! "
"If I are reincarnated in the future, I will definitely be able to be reincarnated into the home of a prince, general, and minister, enjoy all the glory and wealth, and see all the stunning beauty in the world!"
After hearing these words, the man couldn't help but start to waver in his heart. After hesitating for a long time, he asked cautiously.
"You...are all the things you just said true?"
"My son was really chosen to be a boy under the birthless mother?"
The White Lotus cultist who was responsible for presiding over the ceremony smiled when he heard this and answered decisively.
"Of course it's true. Your son is now a boy under the birthless mother!"
Upon seeing this, the White Lotus cultist who was responsible for hosting the ceremony immediately looked at the believers in the audience and said loudly.
"As long as you believe in the Inanimate Mother wholeheartedly, you can also reach your hometown in the vacuum and live a life of rich food and clothing!"
After the words fell, the expressions on the faces of the believers became even more fanatical, and then they all fell to the ground and said in unison.
"The mud comes from the beginning of chaos, and the white lotus appears and brings prosperity!"
Seeing this, the White Lotus cultist who was responsible for presiding over the ceremony couldn't help but turn around. A sarcastic smile appeared on his face where no one was paying attention.
"Haha, these idiots are so easy to deceive. Once I drain all your money, I will be able to live the life I want. At that time, I will buy a big house in the city and then pay a More than ten or twenty concubines!”
"By then, I will be a master too!"
The White Lotus cultist who was responsible for presiding over the ceremony thought so and was already immersed in the beautiful longing for the future.
At this moment, Hai Rui was extremely angry. He raised his head from the ground and looked at the White Lotus cultists quite angrily. He clenched his fists and muttered silently to himself.
"You bunch of beasts who confuse the common people deserve to die. Let's see how I deal with you later!"
Immediately, Hai Rui came back to his senses, turned his gaze to Xiao Er, nodded, and spoke in a low voice.
"Tell the officials lurking around to start taking action."
"Yes, sir!"
When Xiao Er heard this, he immediately took out the fireworks used to send the message from his arms without leaving a trace. After a moment, there was only a "whoosh" sound, and the fireworks exploded over the abandoned temple, which was extremely gorgeous.
Seeing this situation, the White Lotus cultist who was responsible for presiding over the ceremony suddenly came back from the beautiful vision before and spoke in a panic.
"No, it's from the government. Run!"
As the words fell, countless officials holding torches were seen, surrounding the many White Lotus believers present, as well as those kneeling on the ground.
After that, Hai Rui slowly stood up from the ground, pointed his finger at the White Lotus cultist who was in charge of the ceremony, and gave instructions in a deep voice.
"Get him for me!"
"Yes, sir!"
As soon as Hai Rui finished speaking, the officials immediately stepped forward. Anyone who dared to stop him became the victim of the sword!
Seeing the shining weapons in the hands of the officers, the White Lotus cultist who was responsible for presiding over the ceremony could not bear any resistance. In addition, the dozen or so White Lotus cultists wearing white robes were also controlled.
Seeing that the White Lotus cultists at the scene had all been controlled, Hai Rui couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, a rather concerned voice sounded in his ears: "Sir, are you okay?"
When Hai Rui heard this, he followed the sound and saw the person wearing the county magistrate's official uniform. At this moment, he was looking at him with a worried look on his face.
The person who came was Xue Jing, the magistrate of Licheng County. This time, he was following Hai Rui's order to help capture the White Lotus Sect members.
Hai Rui came to his senses and waved his hand to Xue Jing casually, indicating that he was fine.
After a moment, Hai Rui looked away from Xue Jing and turned to give instructions.
"It's okay, let your men take those White Lotus followers down as soon as possible, so as not to have long nights and dreams!"
"Yes, sir!"
After Xue Jing listened to Hai Rui's instructions, his expression immediately became serious and he responded with extra respect.
Before that, Xue Jing, who was the magistrate of Licheng County, knew a lot about Hai Rui's deeds. After all, he started from a small county magistrate in Chun'an, and then was promoted all the way, and finally became the governor of the capital. , held the important position of left deputy censor.
This is a dignified third-level official of the imperial court. No matter where he is, he is a role that cannot be ignored. What's more, Hai Rui's promotion speed is extremely rare in the entire Ming Dynasty. After all, there are very few precedents before this. Promoted from the county magistrate to serve in the capital!
With the example of Hai Rui in front of them, the county officials have become more active in handling the affairs at hand. After all, who doesn't want to be the second Hai Rui?
And Xue Jing regards Hai Rui as his idol. In Xue Jing's opinion, the experiences between him and Hai Rui are quite different. For example, they both served as county magistrates and both had periods of depression. However, Hai Rui waited for Zhao Zhenji's boss, and Xue Jing's boss had not yet appeared.
Because of this, when Hai Rui sent people to the government office to ask Xue Jing to send officers to help arrest the White Lotus followers, Xue Jing not only did not shirk at all, but also went to the battle himself, fearing that something would go wrong in the process.
Just when Xue Jing listened to Hai Rui's instructions and was about to implement it, he suddenly stopped as if something suddenly occurred to him, turned his eyes away from the cowering people, turned around, and asked road.
"By the way, sir, what should we do with these people who have been deceived by the White Lotus Sect?"
Hai Rui came to his senses immediately after hearing this. After thinking about it for a moment, he immediately spoke out his instructions.
"In this way, let's take them down together with those White Lotus Cult members. When we find out the whole story, it won't be too late to release them!"
After receiving Hai Rui's specific instructions, Xue Jing nodded and immediately called his men to take the people away together.
"Yes, sir!"
At this moment, looking at the White Lotus believers around him who had been controlled by the officials and were in a miserable state, the man from before suddenly woke up and saw him kneeling on the ground with a thump, his face full of self-blame.
"Huzi, it was my father who harmed you. The White Lotus Sect and the Innocent Mother are all lies!"
"If they are really so powerful, why can just a few officials subdue them? All the spells and qigong are fake!"
Just as the man was blaming himself, there was a sound of footsteps coming from behind him. He subconsciously followed the sound and saw Hai Rui appearing in front of him with his hands behind his back and asking.
"Since you have already realized that all this is just a trick played by the White Lotus Sect, why do you still listen to their temptations and continue to believe in it unswervingly?"
After the words fell, the man was stunned for a long time before he subconsciously answered.
"Sir...Sir, in order to cure Hu Zi's disease, I have sold everything I can sell at home!"
"They say that as long as you drink that bowl of talisman water, any disease can be cured. This... this is the last hope. If... the disease can't be cured again, I can only watch him helplessly. die……"
"Sir...Sir, you don't understand. There are so many excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes from the government. Those officials often use clever names to torture us people in different ways. Could I not know that those people from the White Lotus Sect are all liars?"
"At least...at least those members of the White Lotus Sect are still willing to pretend to care about us..."
When Hai Rui heard this, he sighed helplessly and immediately looked up at the sky. Unknown to him, a full moon had risen in the sky, and the bright moonlight fell on the ground. Apart from that, there was nothing else. other.
"Take him down with you!"
"Yes, sir!"
…
The night passed in the blink of an eye, and early the next morning, when Zhao Zhenji came to the Inspectorate for duty as usual, this was what he saw.
I saw a mountain-high pile of impeachment memorials in the duty room of the Inspectorate. Not only that, but the subordinates were still carrying them inside.
Zhao Zhenji was shocked by the situation in front of him. At this moment, he saw a subordinate official passing by with a hurried look.
When Zhao Zhenji saw this, he quickly stopped him and asked in a deep voice.
"What exactly is going on?"
The subordinate official was a little impatient at first, but when he saw that the person coming was Zhao Zhenji, he immediately changed his face and responded cautiously.
"Sir... Your Majesty, these impeachment memorials were sent by those officials!"
"And they impeached the same person, the cabinet minister, Xu Jie!"
After Zhao Zhenji got the exact answer from the subordinate staff, he nodded slightly, waved his hand, and gave instructions.
"Well, I know, you go down and do your work!"
"Yes, sir!"
Upon hearing this, the subordinate official bowed to Zhao Zhenji and then turned around and left.
Zhao Zhenji looked at the back of the subordinate official as he left, and couldn't help but sigh: "Those officials are really crazy!"
In fact, Zhao Zhenji has heard about what happened at Huangjimen yesterday. In his opinion, those officials are just bringing the blame on themselves. There is never room for negotiation on anything that His Majesty decides!
Whether it was the earlier reduction of clan expenses, the lifting of the maritime ban, or the integration of officials and gentry into paying taxes, it was all the result of His Majesty's arbitrary rule!
Nowadays, His Majesty just wants to add arithmetic as a subject in the imperial examination next year, and he has attracted such serious opposition. This is very abnormal!
Zhao Zhenji felt that this was the group of insects making use of the topic. Apart from anything else, the integrated grain payment system implemented by the government and gentry not long ago had cut into the arteries of the gentry. How could they swallow this sigh of relief?
And this incident, in the final analysis, just lit the fuse!
"Hmph, can you defeat His Majesty on your own?"
"But that's okay. Just fight. The harder the fight, the better. The Inspectorate's mission for this year is almost completed!"
Zhao Zhenji thought so, then with his hands behind his back, he walked calmly towards the room where he was usually on duty.
(End of chapter)
