Hengyang City is a pioneer city.
As an advanced outpost guarding the capital of Jinling, it was almost the last buffer line of defense when a large army came to attack Jinling.
At this time, outside the Hengyang County Government Office, after receiving a handwritten letter from the prince from the capital.
Zhou Wang Zhu Ju directly handed it to the Hengyang County Magistrate who was sitting aside with the old god present.
"County magistrate, this is a handwritten letter from the capital, His Highness the Crown Prince, and it has the Crown Prince's seal on it as proof! How about it? Can I lead the troops out now?"
When he saw the other party taking the handwritten letter, Zhu Zhu directly took the sword that came from the ground as he spoke.
The smile on his lips was not concealed at all.
Early this morning, the people outside Hengyang City Government Office were completely surrounded.
Zhu Tong's first reaction after learning about this was to directly lead his troops to surround these people.
However, after the county magistrate of Hengyang City heard about this, he hurriedly came to Zhu Ju's mansion and threatened him with death.
If Zhu Ru dared to lead troops to suppress the people, he would die directly in front of Zhu Ru.
He has seen Zhu Ju's methods of suppressing others.
The fire gun and the sharp knife are all invincible wherever they go, and almost all those who resist are left alone.
If Zhu Xi were to lead his troops to suppress the people, there would be a river of blood flowing outside the Hengyang government office.
The Hengyang County Magistrate was also a real person. In order to fulfill his duties, he threatened his own life and blocked Zhu Zhu in his mansion for a whole morning.
"His Royal Highness King Zhou, although there is a handwritten letter from the prince, I still have to remind you that the old officials in the village have no control over your suppression of the bullies, but those are innocent people, and they have not committed any transgression. If His Highness insists on a bloodbath, then If an old minister makes a mistake in governing, he should be the first to be punished!"
"Your Highness, please think twice!"
The old county magistrate originally thought that after reporting the matter, the court would step in to stop King Zhou's atrocities!
But when he saw the handwritten letter sent by the prince, he found that it actually said four words: "Let him do whatever you want."
His old face, which was originally calm and calm, suddenly showed a heavy look.
He never dreamed that the reply from the capital would be in such four big characters.
This was really beyond his expectation.
"Don't worry, old county magistrate. I, Zhu Ju, am not a murderous person. I have explained to you very clearly that I am not going to suppress the people. Why don't you believe me?"
Zhu Ju looked at this extremely stubborn old man. He just wanted to open his Tianling Cap and let him see what was in his mind.
Ever since he heard that people had surrounded the Hengyang government office in the morning, he had been thinking of bringing someone to deal with the matter.
As a result, I was dragged away by the old county magistrate all morning.
He also didn't want to think about what if he, Zhu Ru, was really a cruel and murderous person.
Can he still hold himself back?
If he wants to die, just let him die.
As for saying so much to him?
"His Royal Highness, King Zhou, I don't know whether you are murderous or not, but I do not follow any rules at all. This is an indisputable fact!"
After hearing Zhu Zhu's explanation for his behavior, the old county magistrate still just shook his head in contempt.
After Zhu Zhu came to Hengyang City, he led his people to kill them in a furious manner.
There were many people whose homes were ransacked and their property confiscated by him.
The temporarily requisitioned warehouses of Prince Zhou's residence were already filled with all kinds of money, silver and silk.
Many of them have even been moved to guest rooms for temporary storage.
The grain he collected during this period filled three granaries.
The prison was almost filled to the brim with people.
However, nine out of ten people who were imprisoned and whose homes were ransacked were directly captured by Zhu Ru without being examined.
How could the old county magistrate not be worried about such a way of doing things that went beyond the law?
If he went to face those people and was slightly contradicted by someone, he would behead them on the spot.
Then the entire Hengyang City should not immediately turn into a pot of porridge?
"Urgent times call for extraordinary measures. Hey, forget it, come with me. You will understand later."
Zhu Ji actually admired this old county magistrate of Hengyang City.
After he arrived in Hengyang, the first thing he did was to check the family situation of the Hengyang County Magistrate.
With a low salary, he not only supported the government officials, but also sometimes had to help the poor neighbors around him.
A man is old but has no children.
I heard that my children and my wives all starved to death in the famine.
Zhu Rui admired this kind of old man from the bottom of his heart.
That's why he was coerced by the other party's threats.
When Zhu Ru left the mansion, the Fire Gun Army, the Infantry Guards and the Cavalry Guards all moved directly after him.
When they saw King Zhou's guards leaving again, the people and business travelers along the way were so frightened that they quickly moved out of the way.
Since King Zhou arrived in Hengyang, almost everyone in the city knew what he had done.
It's just that after he arrived, he was busy ransacking homes and arresting various village bullies and villains.
This also made it impossible for him to clear his name for a while.
But Zhu Rui didn't care about this at this time.
Because he knew very well that he was just doing cleaning work now.
Once the mess is cleaned up, everything will gradually get better.
"Surround everyone up!"
When Zhu Zhu led his people outside the government office in Hengyang City, looking at the people kneeling on the ground, he directly ordered the guards to surround everyone.
And those people who originally came just to complain about injustice saw the bright spears and black blazing guns of Zhu Ju's guards.
Hundreds of people couldn't help but commotion.
But before they could make any move, Zhu Rui had already jumped off the horse.
Then, he took over a wooden loudspeaker from the attendant's hand.
This thing was also prepared by Chu Ze in advance for him.
"Everyone, fellow citizens! Don't get excited. With so many people gathered together, it is easy for a stampede to occur. Everyone listen to my order, get up slowly, and then squat down on the spot!"
"Now, I will count to three, and then everyone will stand up together. I am Zhou Wang Zhu Ju of the Ming Dynasty. I am definitely not here to cause trouble for you, but to solve your problems!"
"All soldiers, put away their weapons and do not accidentally injure civilians. All civilians must not cause riots. Now: one, two, three, stand up!"
With the blessing of the loudspeaker, Zhu Tie's already loud voice, coupled with the shining weapons in the hands of the surrounding soldiers, instantly became the best tool to maintain order.
As Zhu Ru's slogans rang out, the people who had come to express their grievances slowly stood up from the ground under Zhu Ru's command.
After seeing this, Zhu Ru couldn't help but reveal a slight smile.
"Now, everyone listen to my order and squat down slowly. Now that there are so many of you crowded together, if there is a riot, some innocent people will be trampled to death. So remember, this is for your safety. Without my order , don’t get up without permission, otherwise for the safety of most people, I will order him to be shot!”
"Remember, I'm not kidding you!"
The scene that was originally quiet because of the sudden appearance of the soldiers suddenly became a little commotion again because of Zhu Rui's sentence of shooting.
However, after discovering this sign, Zhu Ru quickly picked up the loudspeaker again and shouted.
"Anyone who doesn't want to die, please leave me alone!"
This angry rebuke immediately made all the people shut up in unison.
All of them looked at Zhu Ru with horror on their faces.
The reputation of this Zhou king for his cruelty has now been completely spread in Hengyang City.
Killing without blinking is no longer enough to describe him.
At this time, when they heard that Zhu Ru suddenly got angry, these people who had never seen the world dared to move again.
They were all trembling as they looked at the armor that had surrounded them.
His face was full of regret and horror.
Originally, they came to complain outside the government office, thinking that the law would not punish the public.
But when they were really surrounded by soldiers, fear still slowly rose from the bottom of their hearts.
"His Royal Highness King Zhou, that's not what you told me before you came here!"
After King Zhou forcefully suppressed everyone, the old county magistrate of Hengyang City rushed over from the carriage panting.
When he saw the people directly surrounded by soldiers, he couldn't help but rush to Zhu Ru's side with an anxious face.
"Mr. Chu, I respect your dedication to your duties! But at this time, please don't cause trouble. I will naturally abide by what I promised, but I also have responsibilities, so please cooperate with me."
Looking at the Hengyang County magistrate who came with an anxious face, Zhu Xi glanced at him coldly, and then looked at the people squatting on the ground again.
"Someone... bring the things up!"
Under Zhu Zhu's order, several soldiers moved the table to Zhu Xi with quick hands and feet, and then someone brought a stack of thick booklets.
After everything was ready, Zhu Rui gave the men next to him a look.
After the subordinate nodded knowingly, he stood in front of the temporarily arranged table, took the loudspeaker from Zhu Rui's hand, then picked up a booklet and started reading.
"The rich gentry of Hengyang City, Liu Zhuqian, forcibly bought and sold 21 acres of land in Daliu Village, three acres of good land from Zhao Si's family in Daliu Village. During the forced purchase, they occupied Zhao Si's wife and daughter, interrupting Zhao Si's One leg, Zhao Si's wife and daughter committed suicide by jumping into the river. Wang Sanjiu's family in Daliu Village has three acres and seventy-four acres of land, and Niu Erdan's family has paddy fields."
"In addition to Daliu Village, it also occupied 15 acres of land in Xiaogegou Village, 37 acres of Mushan Village Forest Farm, and three fish ponds in Yuhe Village."
"A wealthy gentry in Hengyang City opened a brothel and a casino. Using the casino as a guide, he attracted many people to gamble and get into debt. He sold off his property and his wife and daughter to pay off the debt. At the same time, he also trafficked people."
"The wealthy gentry of Hengyang City"
As Zhu Ru followed beside him, the thick and loud voice gradually read out the cases they had interrogated and recorded, and gradually spread to the ears of the people below.
The originally agitated crowd fell into silence.
At this time, some people who were hiding in the dark and watching gradually emboldened themselves and came out.
Everyone listened with rapt attention to the reading outside the yamen.
The thick stack of booklets was read by four or five people, and it took a full hour to finish reading.
After the reading of the last booklet ended, Zhu Xi took over the loudspeaker and let his men go to rest.
After wiping the drool on the loudspeaker with a handkerchief soaked in strong alcohol, Zhu Ru looked at the people gathered below again.
"I know that I, Zhu Rui, have a bad reputation in recent times because after I took over Hengyang City, I have been leading troops to attack everywhere. So there are rumors that I, the prince, came to Hengyang City to kill, burn, and plunder! "
"But the people I just announced are the ones I, Zhu Ru, are going to kill! But I dare to ask you, is it wrong for me, Zhu Ru, to kill these people?"
"Don't they deserve to die?"
"The world belongs to me, the Ming Dynasty. In this world there is still king's law! There is also heaven's justice and justice!"
"All of these people are full of evildoers! As the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I, Zhu Rui, work for the people of my Ming Dynasty, not for these villains who only know how to bully the countryside!"
"I kill these people to bring peace to the world!"
"Of course, some people may say that I took over these people's property and land. Now I can tell you responsibly that I did take over these lands!"
"And I won't return it to the original owner, because after I return it to them, they can't keep the land. Today it was occupied by bullies. I can get it back for them, but tomorrow? The day after tomorrow? What if I'm gone? Na? I don’t know?”
"So, I will not return these lands to them. From now on, these lands will belong to Hengyang City Government! The imperial court will be the owner of these lands."
"Now, what I have to do is to rent these lands to these landless people in the name of the imperial court. Remember, it is leased to you. From now on, you can safely farm the imperial land and pay the rent every year. , you don’t need to worry about the rest.”
"I will have someone write down the title deeds for the lease of these lands later. The lease period is: forever!"
"As long as there are still people in your clan alive, these lands will always be leased to you."
"And once anyone dares to take advantage of your land, give it to them. I'd like to see if any bully dares to come to the Ming government office to ask for the land deed!"
"Now, I will inform all the victims who were announced earlier. If there are any survivors at home, they can come to my government office to report."
"Those who have grievances can come to my government office to complain!"
"Those who are afraid of not being able to hold on to their land can also take the initiative to hand it over to the government office and then sign a lease!"
"I, Zhu Ju, will be here to watch everyone every day for the next ten days. Anyone who has any questions can come to me and ask. If anyone violates what I said today, I, Zhu Ju, will be struck with five thunderbolts and will not die!"
"You are my subjects of the Ming Dynasty, and my court of the Ming Dynasty is your backer!"
"Those who violated the laws and disciplines previously selected will be beheaded in the execution ground three days later!"
"The money and food seized will be given priority to compensate those who were harmed. It can be regarded as my small compensation for what they have suffered."
"It was my imperial court's negligence that caused misfortune to happen to them. I, Zhu Rui, am here to apologize for the deceased!"
After Zhu Zhu finished what he wanted to say, he silently knelt down on one knee under the gaze of all the people watching.
Not to mention the common people were dumbfounded by this move.
Even the surrounding soldiers were dumbfounded.
(End of chapter)
