Under the dark night sky, most of Wuzhou City was already lit up with fire.
The roaring sound fills my ears.
Li Xuan rode on a tall horse and walked slowly down the long street, escorted by a group of Qianniu guards and Kuaiji soldiers.
From time to time, bursts of shrill shouts could be heard, followed immediately by the sound of weapons clashing.
"Creak!" A loud door opening sound suddenly came from the left side.
Li Xuan turned her head subconsciously and saw an ox cart coming out of the gate.
Under the flickering firelight, a bloody corpse lay alone on it, with a fist-sized bloody hole in its chest.
Fang Yunxiu, the leader of Wuzhou Hall of Tianyin Sect.
A prison van followed closely behind, carrying two corpses almost filled with crossbow arrows.
Two months ago, the assassin who assassinated the assassin Wang Fanglin lost his hand and life.
After that, there were five carts of corpses piled together.
The blood kept dripping, drop by drop.
It looks inexplicably permeable.
There were more than a dozen people behind, wailing all the time, being pulled out from behind the workshop door by ropes and swords.
There were adults, old people, children, women and girls. Dozens of people were pulled out together by a long rope.
Li Xuan calmly watched the group of people being taken away without saying a word.
At this time, Yan Tao couldn't help but come forward: "Your Majesty, I wonder if we can be a little more generous. Those children are innocent."
"I also want to be open to the public, but because of the law, there is nothing we can do." Li Xuan turned around, patted Yan Tao's shoulder, and said seriously: "This is the last time I will tell you, you have to understand, They are the family members of those rebels, which also means that their whole family are devout believers of the Tianyin Sect. Once the Tianyin Sect breaks out, their whole family will turn into thugs and take people's lives."
Li Xuan's eyes passed over those children, and finally fell on Yan Tao again, and then said extremely coldly: "Once you go to the battlefield, if you still have this mentality, then don't blame me for killing you, so as not to be shaken. Military spirit."
"I don't dare." Yan Tao suddenly became shuddered and quickly bowed to apologize.
Li Xuan waved her hand, looked at the team on one side, and said calmly: "Go and get those two killers and Fang Yunxiu's weapons."
"Here!" Although Yan Tao didn't know what Li Xuan wanted to do, he immediately agreed and walked towards the other side.
"Your Majesty!" A voice sounded behind Li Xuan.
Li Xuan turned around and saw Du Bixing and the inspector Cao Canjun Xu Jian standing aside with their hands clasped.
"How's the situation?" Li Xuan's eyes crossed the two of them and landed directly on the square gate behind them.
Du Bixing immediately raised his hands and said: "Report to the prince, now that we have passed the four lanes of Changxing, Dexing, Shunxing and Anxing, a total of twenty-one Tianyin sect disciples have been recognized. Their parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, and uncles are all recognized. He has been imprisoned, his home has been sealed, his neighbors have been isolated, and the news has been released, but..."
"Just what, tell the truth?" Li Xuan frowned slightly.
"Your Majesty, I wonder if I can screen my uncles and brothers. Those who are willing to blaspheme Tianyin Goddess and sever ties with the Tianyin Sect can have their crimes reduced to a lesser degree?" Du Bixing glanced at the hundreds of people, and then said cautiously: "Can you set an example for others?"
Li Xuan leaned forward and looked at Du Bixing: "Mr. Du, you are now the inspector of the school and the military. Come and tell me, does the Tang law allow for such a reduction of crime?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, there is no such provision in the Tang Code, but as a guest of Wuzhou, Your Majesty has the right to..."
"You said yes, that is my authority." Li Xuan gave Du Bixing a deep look.
Du Bixing immediately came to his senses, cupped his hands and said, "This official has overstepped his bounds."
"You're not overstepping the rules, you're just not thinking carefully." Li Xuan turned around, pointed to the people on the other side who were being pulled forward by the Wuzhou soldiers, and said coldly: "The uncles and brothers you mentioned To be more liberal, have you thought about whether the elderly and children also have to have their crimes reduced?
However, if they are unwilling, will the king immediately behead them in public? "
By the end of Li Xuan's words, she was already gritting her teeth.
He stared at Du Bixing and said: "Now these are just the family members of Tonight's Assassin, so how many Tianyin believers are there in the entire Wuzhou, if they are not willing to give up their faith after one by one, do I want to kill them all?" Kill? Have you ever considered how many people I need to kill to settle the dispute?"
Li Xuan has never been merciless when it comes to killing, but when he can avoid killing, he will try his best not to kill.
Just like when she was in Dongyang, Li Xuan mostly chose the method of killing people and punishing the heart.
Even in Caishikou, Li Xuan used death row prisoners as stand-ins.
"Now that the Tianyin Sect uprising is approaching, once the rebels are confirmed, there is no way to hold back. If you still use this method at this time, once they are identified, and they refuse to repent for a while, are you really going to kill at least thousands of people in this city? , will they all be beheaded immediately in public?" Li Xuan looked at Du Bixing and couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment.
However, Du Bixing said extremely calmly: "Your Majesty, if you believe deeply in the Tianyin Cult, no matter what your Majesty does, they will eventually want to rebel against the Tianyin Cult. It is better to take action now and at least lock them up." , wait until afterwards to distinguish one by one, and."
After a pause, Du Bixing looked at Li Xuan and said in a solemn tone: "Your Majesty, although there are many followers of the Tianyin Sect in Wuzhou today, I believe that there are more people who are not traveling with him."
Li Xuan looked at Du Bixing, who was still insisting, and said softly: "Mr. Du, do you think that besides the previous method of distinguishing Tianyin Sect, don't I have other ways to distinguish people's hearts?"
Du Bixing's expression changed slightly, he cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I'm the official..."
Li Xuan waved her hand and interrupted Du Bixing: "Mr. Du, I'm waiting in Zhoucheng now, but it's different when I'm waiting in Dongyang...
At that time, when we first arrived in Wuzhou, we were unfamiliar with the situation and faced many dangers. It was understandable that we would be a little more aggressive with our methods, but that was not enough for the city. Today, the city is generally under our control.
Even those Tianyin cultists will have enough time to train them slowly in the future, so why use such radical methods..."
"What the prince means is that the prince is already sure that the Tianyin Sect will not attack the city?" Du Bixing did not pay attention to the dissatisfaction in Li Xuan's words and directly grasped the information revealed in his words.
"It's just an idea." Li Xuan's expression relaxed. He looked at Du Bixing and said, "Mr. Du, I know that you are eager to completely eliminate all hidden dangers in the city, but don't be anxious first. I'm waiting for the method we discussed before. This kind of discrimination technique is used to scare people first. If it's best and there is no other way, then this is the only way."
"If there are only a few Tianyin believers left in the city in the end, there is no need to do this, they will die out on their own." Du Bixing's expression perked up, and he cupped his hands towards Li Xuan and said, "I will wait for the good news of the prince."
Li Xuan waved her hand and said: "Although the art of discrimination is not feasible, if it is just to cut off the connection with the Tianyin Sect, I will try to report to Your Majesty. If Your Majesty is so kind, it will naturally be feasible. If Your Majesty... "
"It turns out that there are too many people in Wuzhou." Du Bixing finally understood.
Reduced crime.
This is the reason why Li Xuan is unwilling to make a distinction in Zhoucheng.
If you want to make the believers of Tianyin Sect give up their faith, it is not enough to suppress them with swords and guns. You also need something to induce them to give up.
The core content here is to mitigate the crime and avoid the death penalty.
But Zhoucheng is different from Dongyang.
The population of Zhoucheng is several times that of Dongyang. In Dongyang, even if Li Xuan gets a reduced sentence for some people, he can definitely get away with it because of his status. But Wuzhou cannot, there are too many people.
If he did the same thing in Wuzhou, he would inevitably be accused of buying people's hearts and having evil intentions in the future. Chinese website
If it were a certain great saint, he would naturally be willing to risk his life to save ordinary people regardless of his own safety, but Li Xuan couldn't.
He is too selfish.
A black leather bag containing five daggers was hung casually on the side of the brown horse, and Li Xuan returned to his residence with Qian Niuwei.
The side door opens immediately.
Li Xuan took the lead and rode in. Xiong Yan stood aside with his hands tied, followed by Bai Lao and a group of his men.
"Close the door and lock it!" Xiong Yan ordered in a low voice, and then quickly chased after Li Xuan and the Qianniu Guards.
"Replying to the prince, the food is ready." Xiong Yan stepped forward and grabbed the horse's rope, leading the horse forward slowly.
Li Xuan nodded, turned to look at Qiu Zhenmu on the other side, and said: "Brother Qiu, let's take the brothers to have a drink. Xiao Wang won't go there. There are still many things to deal with tomorrow... Xiong Yan, have someone prepare for me to take a bath."
"Here!" Xiong Yan pulled the horse, and Li Xuan turned over and dismounted, and walked directly into the main hall regardless of the people behind.
"Your Majesty." Yu Ze and Wang Bo were already waiting in the hall.
Yu Ze placed an open book and a land deed on one side.
Li Xuan waved her hand and said, "Tell me, figure out how many acres of land are available for granting."
"Back to the prince, originally there were only about 5,000 acres of wasteland. However, the Yang family sent 3,000 acres of fertile land before. In addition, the land of the Tianyin cultists who were killed and captured today probably does not exceed 2,000 acres. The total is Altogether, there are ten thousand acres of farmland of varying quality and quality in different places.”
"Thank you, Uncle Yu and Han joined the army." Li Xuan nodded gently and said softly, "Now, this is the most important thing."
Li Xuan placed one hand on the field register.
Yu Ze could always keep up with Li Xuan's ideas and complete them without compromise, while Du Bixing was a little behind.
Perhaps it could be said that he was the emperor himself, and by Li Xuan's side he was just helping Li Xuan complete his mission.
He has his own goals and practices.
"But Your Majesty, these ten thousand acres are not enough!" Yu Ze said with a little worry: "Although it is not as good as in the time of Emperor Gaozu, when every ding was granted 20 acres of Yongye land and 80 acres of Kou land, at least every ding needs to be granted Yongye land. There are twenty acres of property land and twenty acres of oral land. Our land is now only enough to be granted to 250 people."
"This time we will not grant oral allotment of land, only Yongye land." Li Xuan looked at Yu Ze and said seriously: "Yongye land is the people's own land. As for oral allotment of land, it does not matter whether it is rented by the court or the landowner. There’s not much difference.”
"This kind of land grant is only enough for 500 people, which is still far away." The worry on Yu Ze's face was still heavy.
"In Wuzhou today, the summer harvest is just around the corner, and the officials are short of manpower. They can allocate three hundred acres of farmland every day. After a month of this, I think we should already have enough farmland in our hands." Li Xuan's face A hint of coldness flashed across his face.
"Why don't you release more tomorrow, just release 500 acres?" Yu Ze suggested cautiously.
"No, let's just release a thousand acres and stir up people's hearts first." Li Xuan said lightly: "According to our previous method of dividing people..."
"I understand!" Yu Ze let out a long sigh of relief, finally having a clue about everything.
Li Xuan turned to look at Wang Bo, cupped her hands and said, "By the way, Mr. Zian, I need to trouble you to write a letter of apology..."
