Liu Chengyou was a little surprised by Shi Hongzhao's enthusiasm. I thought that it would take some talking to achieve the goal, but I didn't expect it. Shi Hongzhao took the initiative to take up the task without having to explain it clearly. Liu Chengyou was naturally happy about this.
"Well, Qing Shi is worthy of being the pillar of the imperial court and the leader of the country. He does not avoid danger, is brave in taking on tasks, and dares to take on responsibilities. I will leave this matter to Qing Shi with full authority!" A series of compliments came from Liu Chengyou more smoothly. spit out from the mouth.
"A traitor is a traitor to the country, and I can take control of it and rectify it." Shi Hongzhao waved his hand and spoke in an impatient tone.
"I can feel at ease with Shi Qing taking charge of my affairs!" Liu Chengyou nodded and said, "I will send the Wude Secretary to assist Shi Qing."
"No need!" As soon as Liu Chengyou finished speaking, Shi Hongzhao simply refused: "It's enough to have a minister."
Shi Hongzhao dared to open a dyeing workshop only if he was given some color. Liu Chengyou couldn't see any reaction to his arrogance, but he still said calmly: "Don't misunderstand me, Qing Shi, I have no other intentions. It's just the little officials in the Wude Department who have made some gains in the early detective work, and with their help, I think this can avoid wasting some unnecessary energy of Shi Qing..."
After Liu Chengyou carefully comforted him, Shi Hongzhao nodded in agreement, resigned, and left in a hurry. Judging from his posture, he must be making a big noise.
Asking Shi Hongzhao to handle this matter cannot be regarded as bad intentions, it is just to let the right people do the right things. Liu Chengyou did not explain how to deal with it, leaving everything to Shi Hongzhao. With Shi Hongzhao's usually rough and tough style of dealing with things, one can imagine what the scene will be like next.
After leaving the palace, Shi Hongzhao got the list from Li Shaoyou, and things became easy for Shi Hongzhao. He directly summoned the four battalions of accompanying imperial troops. Under Liu Chengyou's instruction, the commander of the army, Ma Quanyi, also simply sent troops to support. Although Shi Hongzhao was still the commander of the infantry and horse guards, and the first senior general of the Forbidden Army, he could not mobilize the accompanying troops and horses after leaving Tokyo.
Soon, under the arrangement of Shi Hongzhao, more than 2,000 forbidden troops came to the door, arrested people, and ransacked homes according to the list with great fanfare. Such a big movement caused everyone in Xijing to look askance. If the imperial army had not been ordered to strictly maintain order in the city, they would have thought that there was another mutiny.
Later it was discovered that it was Shi Dushuai who received a report that an official had violated laws and disciplines and was causing trouble for one party. After verification, it was confirmed to be true, so he sent troops to enforce the law...
These reasons are simply full of loopholes. If they commit crimes, they have their own prefecture and county censorship stations, so there is no need for military affairs management. It is unreasonable and against the rules to directly send troops to arrest and enforce the law. However, today's Han Dynasty is not very strict about rules, especially when Shi Hongzhao takes the lead in enforcing the law.
Within three days, more than 40 officials and powerful men were captured in Tokyo City, and no one on the list slipped through the net. Before being imprisoned, he was remanded to Luoyang City to have his crimes publicized and his misdeeds detailed.
It can be found that most of these people are former ministers and honorable officials, and they are the kind of people with extremely bad reputations and excessive greed and violence. It seems that Shi Hongzhao's purge actions are well-founded.
However, Xijing immediately became popular, especially among the old people of the previous dynasty. Because if they reflect on themselves, they will find that they and those arrested are no better off.
If the people are captured in the city and brought to the territory, they will send troops to seize their land, occupy their manors, and most importantly, free their peasants...
After a series of swift and fierce actions, complaints arose in the city of Xijing, and the nobles and bureaucrats were all in danger. Some officials directly asked to see Liu Chengyou, hoping to accuse Shi Hongzhao of "doing evil" and impeach him. Unfortunately, Liu Chengyou was nowhere to be seen.
And this "rectification operation", in the hands of Shi Hongzhao, also gradually tended to expand. It was not just the people on the list. The house confiscation was on the rise. He began to turn his attention to other hot spots. Whoever had more land and who had a rich house, that is, its goal.
"Shi Dushuai, most of the corrupt officials on the list have been brought to trial. It's time to stop. Enough is enough." In the capital prison, Li Shaoyou found Shi Hongzhao who was interrogating the prisoner and said to him seriously.
Glancing at the beaten prisoner, Shi Hongzhao's style was still as strong as ever.
"Is this enough?" After receiving his advice, Shi Hongzhao was stunned at first, and then glared at Li Shaoyou: "Those people are the scum of the country, causing harm to the country and chaos in government, and violating the law and harming the people. I wish I could kill them all, so how can I stop? There is no need to say anything, just watch this commander eliminate these scourges for the country."
Shi Hongzhao Yi was giving orders and his attitude was arrogant. Li Shaoyou's expression immediately turned gloomy and he asked in a deep voice: "Does the commander-in-chief still want to capture all the Xijing officials? If the public is upset, the situation will be expanded and the court will be in chaos. Stable, how will it end then!"
Hearing this, Shi Hongzhao also became angry and refuted: "Do I need you to remind me how I should behave? What is your intention in speaking out to defend those national thieves? Are you colluding with them?"
As he said this, Shi Hongzhao looked at Li Shaoyou with some "suspiciousness" in his eyes.
Seeing this, Li Shaoyou stopped suppressing his voice. It was obviously impossible to reason with Shi Hongzhao. He said directly: "The officials have issued an edict first, so they must not blindly affect the officials!"
Unexpectedly, when Liu Chengyou was brought out, Shi Hongzhao still didn't buy it. Instead, he scolded him more severely: "You are ignorant and rampant. Are you using the government to oppress me?"
Before Li Shaoyou could open his mouth, Shi Hongzhao continued: "What should not be affected blindly? It's nonsense. I only know how to eliminate evil! This is not the order I have been given. Are you trying to do what the emperor wants and want to do something wrong?"
Listening to Shi Hongzhao's words, Li Shaoyou almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He had known that Shi Hongzhao was arrogant and uncontrollable, but he never expected that he would reach this point, be so unreasonable and refuse to let him, a relative of the emperor and a close official of the emperor, go. In the eyes.
With a gloomy look on his face, Shi Hongzhao seemed to be in no mood to quarrel with him here. He called to his subordinates and ordered: "Come here, get this guy out of here!"
"Shi Hongzhao, don't go too far!" Hearing this, Li Shaoyou said angrily.
Hearing Li Shaoyou call him by his first name, Shi Hongzhao yelled and scolded him again and sent troops to force him away.
After driving away Li Shaoyou, Shi Hongzhao looked calm and didn't care at all. Who is Li Shaoyou? He is just a favorite and playmate of the emperor. He dares to make noises, talk nonsense, and point fingers in front of his commander Shi Dushuai. He is simply bringing humiliation to himself.
Being kicked out in disgrace, Li Shaoyou was furious.
"You bullied me too much!" Li Shaoyou cursed angrily: "I knew this person was difficult to control, but I didn't know he was so difficult to control!"
"Commissioner." Seeing that his boss was angry, a subordinate family officer asked in a low voice and made a suggestion: "Should we report it to the officials?"
"That's natural!" Li Shaoyou replied immediately.
"I'm going to prepare evidence of his crime immediately," the marriage officer said.
In the process of doing things, Shi Hongzhao made a lot of personal gains. A lot of the property he confiscated, the land he seized, and the land he released were swallowed up by himself. By the way, he took the wife and daughter as concubines, and took the mother and daughter together, tsk tsk... It was true, there was no scruple, and it was all recorded by Wude's spies.
He was stopped by Li Shaoyou and saw that he had regained his composure. He glanced in the direction of the prison and said, "He is under the orders of the officials this time. These things cannot bring him down."
After saying that, Li Shaoyou sneered again: "This wretch is on top of a cauldron and doesn't even know it."
"Besides, if he is so arrogant and arrogant, how long can the officials tolerate him?"
"Then what should we do now?"
"From now on, keep an eye on Shi Hongzhao, his relatives, and his subordinates. Record all his crimes and misconducts in detail!" A strong sinister look flashed across Li Shaoyou's eyes. Li Shaoyou's temperament had a certain tendency to retaliate, but Shi Hongzhao's bullying of him really made him angry.
"This envoy still has to enter the palace. If Shi Hongzhao continues to act recklessly, I'm afraid it won't end well if the officials come forward!" After thinking about it, Li Shaoyou sighed again, mounted his horse and headed for Luoyang Imperial City.
Regarding the outcome of sending Shi Hongzhao to take charge of the matter, Liu Chengyou had actually anticipated it in advance, so he was not too surprised when he heard Li Shaoyou's report. This person enforces the law with an emphasis on violence and ruthlessness. When Tokyo was in chaos, Liu Zhiyuan ordered the three yamen (the Department of Guards, the Kaifeng Prefecture, and the Inspection Department) to straighten things out. Shi Hongzhao's methods were the most brutal and, of course, the most effective, but they only served to establish the imperial court. The price of evil.
After listening to Li Shaoyou's report, Shi Hongzhao wanted to escalate the matter and continue to arrest people and ransack their homes. Liu Chengyou's brows only frowned slightly. He indeed did not draw a red line for Shi Hongzhao and allowed him to develop freely. What Liu Chengyou is concerned about is that when Li Shaoyou moved out of him, Shi Hongzhao was still as arrogant as a coward...
"What did you get?" Liu Chengyou asked after thinking for a while.
"So far, more than 100 hectares of land have been seized, nearly 4,000 hu of grain have been seized, more than 2,000 farmers have been released, and the value of money and silk confiscated exceeds 100,000 yuan..." Li Shaoyou reported, and added calmly: "This is all recorded secretly by the minister. There may be discrepancies. The specific details need to be reported in detail."
"The harvest is quite substantial." Liu Chengyou sighed lightly.
Last year, the Khitan bandits from the south and their return to the north almost emptied the Central Plains. In just over a year, these nobles, bureaucrats, and powerful people have amassed so much. This accumulation of effort is obviously very good.
"In the official family, Shi Hongzhao is arrogant and hard to control, and his methods are ruthless. If he continues, he may make people unstable and the court uneasy!" Li Shaoyou warned carefully.
Hearing this, Liu Chengyou thought about it for a while and said, "Wait a little longer."
But Liu Chengyou had other plans in mind. Shi Hongzhao did so "excellent". In that case, why not let him attract more hatred?
Now, Liu Chengyou's edict may make Shi Hongzhao stop and stabilize the situation and people's hearts. However, Liu Chengyou always felt that it was not enough. The emperor had to take action at a more appropriate time.
Let this turmoil in Xijing continue for a few more days.
