then.
When Mr. Li struggled to push open the wardrobe in front of the secret passage, he came out of the tunnel with a gray face. When he looked up, his pupils shrank sharply and he froze in place, his head buzzing.
In front of him, more than a dozen pairs of teasing eyes were looking at him quietly.
After only being shocked for a moment, Li Gong reacted and hurriedly went into the tunnel.
However, before he could get in, two thick arms lifted him out and threw him to the ground.
"Old thief, you finally got out of this rat hole, how can you think of going back again?"
Seeing that he could not escape, Li Gong calmed down.
"Only Old Man knows about the secret passage here. I wonder how His Highness knew about it?"
"Why do I want to return this old thief like you?"
Zhu Di smiled coldly and ordered to the guards on the side: "I'll take people in quickly to search and see if there are any escaped thieves or mice!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Immediately, several guards from Prince Yan's Mansion took off their armor and entered the tunnel with shields in hand.
Zhu Di and Zhu Biao still ignored Li Gong beside them and just stared at the tunnel.
Li Gong couldn't help but feel a little dazed.
However, soon there was a sudden noise in the tunnel, which attracted his attention.
Again less than a moment.
The soldiers who had just entered slowly retreated out.
At the same time, two strange gentry and a group of soldiers were brought out.
Seeing Li Gong and Zhu Di and Zhu Biao in dragon robes, the two gentry suddenly looked ashen and knelt on the ground with a thud.
Zhu Di asked directly: "Tell me, where are the families of those old farmers hidden?"
Li Gong and the two gentry simply lowered their eyebrows and said nothing.
"A group of thieves fell into the hands of this king. How dare they speak harshly?"
Zhu Di snorted coldly, "I have told you, I can give you and your family a happy life. If you don't tell me, I will send you to the capital and let my father personally deal with it!"
The expressions of Mr. Li and the two gentry changed, but they were still hesitant.
"Your Highness!"
At this time, Zhu Liang walked in quickly from outside.
"Your Highness, a guard just came out of the house next door and headed out of the city in a hurry. He was stopped by the brothers who had been guarding outside.
After an interrogation, a nursing home was recruited..."
"Very good!" Zhu Di looked happy.
As for Mr. Li and the two gentry beside him, their expressions changed drastically and they were full of disbelief.
"This is impossible!"
"Tie them all up and take them back!"
Zhu Di glanced at Mr. Li and walked out.
Zhu Biao asked: "Fourth, are you going to Tongzhou?"
"Brother, I want to go and see for myself!"
"Let's go too!"
"..."
Soon, a group of people got on the carriage, escorted by a group of soldiers, and headed towards Zhangjiawan Pier!
at the same time.
Tang Yun, Pu Sanji and others who were searching near Zhangjiawan Pier and inside and outside Tongzhou City also received the news and surrounded a house ten miles away from Zhangjiawan Pier.
Then, before the people in the house could fully react, they directly broke into the house.
Anyone who resisted, whether human or dog, was directly slaughtered.
By the time Zhu Di, Zhu Biao and others arrived, the battle was over.
The entire house was filled with a strong smell of blood.
"Your Highness, there are eighty-four thieves hiding here. Fifty-three of them were killed by the general and others because of resistance. There were also ten thieves and dogs that bit everyone on sight. Kill them all!"
Zhu Di nodded slightly, looked at Tang Yun and continued to ask: "Can the family members of those old farmers be in this house?"
Hearing this, a trace of resentment flashed in Tang Yun's eyes.
"Reporting to Your Highness, we have found them all!"
"Where are people?"
On the side, Zhu Biao asked with some concern: "Are they still okay?"
Tang Yun, Pu Sanji, and Cao Zhen couldn't help but glance at each other.
Finally, Cao Zhen said.
"Your Majesty, it's not very good. When I arrived, for every young man, a child was beaten to death and was being fed to the dogs.
There are also a few women who are being toyed with by those beasts..."
"Beast!"
Zhu Biao was furious and walked in quickly.
Zhu Di, Guo An and others quickly followed.
Inside the house.
They had been specially cleaned up by Tang Yun, Pu Sanji and others, and many corpses were piled aside.
As for the women, they were all wearing clothes, their faces full of fear, and they were hiding in the corner of a house.
Even those children had some scars on their bodies.
Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and others looked even more furious.
"Come here, go and chop those thieves into pieces with a thousand swords!"
This time, Zhu Biao didn't even speak to stop him.
Behind him, Guo An let out a long breath and hurriedly suggested: "Your Highness, can you let the Jinyi guards go to interrogate those thieves before they are chopped into pieces? They should also know something.
Perhaps, we can follow the clues and dig out more thieves! "
"That's right!"
Zhu Di nodded slightly and looked at Pu Sanji aside.
"Pu Sanji, we don't care what method you use, we want to know who are the thieves hiding behind these beasts!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Pu Sanji responded quickly and walked out quickly.
Soon, there was a miserable howl outside.
Tang Yun asked worriedly: "Your Highness, what should we do with these women and children?"
"Um?"
Zhu Di was furious, "Is it possible that those thieves still dare to take revenge on these farmers?"
Tang Yun said nothing.
Not just revenge, but also losing virginity!
On the side, Guo An said: "Your Highness, Commander Tang, we will take these people back first to give an explanation to the old farmers.
They can go home, or go to my farm in Prince Yan's Mansion, or even go to a place where no one knows them! "
"No one knows you?"
Zhu Di and Tang Yun couldn't help but think deeply.
"Do as Guo Qing said!"
"yes!"
Tang Yun responded quickly.
At this time, a soldier walked in from outside.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince, Your Highness the King of Yan, Jiao Jia, the magistrate of Tongzhou, and Qiu Pei, the commander of the Tongzhou Guards, are asking for an audience!"
"Let them in!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Not long after the soldiers left, a group of military generals and officials walked in with miserable faces.
"Wei Chen Tongzhou Zhizhou Jiaojia!"
"Wei Chen Tongzhou Guards Commander Qiu Pei!"
"...Meet His Highness the Crown Prince, and meet His Highness King Yan!"
"snort!"
Zhu Biao, who had always been kind-hearted, looked at the generals and officials in Tongzhou with unhappy expressions.
"This is Tongzhou under your rule? The thieves are running rampant, oppressing and persecuting the people, are you aware of it?"
"Your Highness, please forgive me, Wei Chen and others really didn't know!"
Jiao Jia explained quickly.
This kind of thing is really a disaster for them.
The house here is only ten miles away from Zhangjiawan Pier. With such a close distance, they didn't dare to come and investigate.
Moreover, in recent years, Tongzhou has really become a cemetery for officials.
For three consecutive years, three people in Tongzhou have been executed.
Now, if such a tragic incident occurs in Tongzhou, it is also related to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and King Yan. He, the governor of Tongzhou, cannot even think of doing it.
Just as the newly appointed magistrate of Tongzhou thought, Zhu Di and Zhu Biao scolded him fiercely.
Then, let him go back and wait for the investigation by Jin Yiwei and the Inspectorate.
Jiao Jia didn't dare to have any objections, and even his body was trembling. The miserable howls coming from the surrounding rooms were really scary!
As for Qiu Pei, he was only the commander of the Tongzhou Guard. In addition, the status of Ming generals was still very high, especially such a powerful general.
Zhu Biao did not blame him, but asked Qiu Pei to send more sentries to patrol Tongzhou in his spare time to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.
After rescuing the families of the old farmers, Zhu Di and Guo An were no longer so anxious.
After returning to Peking City from Zhangjiawan Pier, the sky was already dark.
The city of Beiping also fell into silence.
Nothing happened all night.
The next day.
After Guo An came on duty, Zhu Di called Guo An to Cunxin Hall.
There is also Zhu Biao in the hall, together with the old farmers and his family yesterday.
After a night's rest, these old farmers and their families looked much better.
Zhu Di asked directly: "Guo Qing, what do you think should be done with them?"
Before Guo An could speak, the old farmers kowtowed to Zhu Di with frightened faces.
"Your Highness, the villain deserves to die the most. Your Highness punishes the villain at will, and the villain has no complaints. Please consider that the little old man and grandson are still young, and please spare the lives of their mother and son!"
Zhu Di waved his hand helplessly, "You are also the victims this time. I will not kill you."
The old farmers looked at Zhu Di with disbelief and were immediately overjoyed.
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
Guo Andao: "Your Highness, all the sons of these old farmers were killed. Now, only these old farmers, their daughters-in-law, and their grandchildren are left.
Let them go wherever they want, to their homes, to their farms, or to Korea..."
Then, Guo An told all these places to all the old farmers.
However, these old farmers said they were too embarrassed to go to the farm and did not want to stay away from their hometown. In the end, they all went back to hold on to their fields.
In response, both Zhu Di and Guo An allowed these old farmers to leave.
Next.
It was the group of gentry, merchants, and three officials who looked frightened who were captured yesterday.
"Do you have anyone you want to recruit?"
Zhu Di asked coldly.
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, His Highness King Yan, and the lower officials were all wronged. We had no idea that these people were so treacherous and dared to do such evil things to frame His Highness King Yan!"
"Yes, Your Highness, I really don't know, otherwise I would never..."
"Shut up!"
Zhu Di snorted coldly and said to Pu Sanji who was standing aside: "Drag me down and interrogate you separately!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Pu Sanji was not polite either.
Dragging three officials with him, he walked out.
Zhu Di looked at Gong Li and his group again.
"Do you have anything to explain?"
Li Gong and others still looked bad.
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, His Highness King Yan, Lao Chan and others are all from good families. They are just here to do business in Beiping Mansion this time..."
"Pu Sanji!"
Zhu Di shouted angrily.
"Your Highness!"
"Drag these old thieves out for us and interrogate them one by one. I will cut them into pieces and destroy all three of their clans!"
"yes!"
Pu Sanji then began to greet a group of royal guards and drag them into the palace.
Upon hearing this, Li Gong and all the gentry and merchants suddenly changed their expressions.
"Your Highness, please help us. We are really a kind family! Your Highness, we still have fame..."
"King Yan, you are such an ambitious evil king!"
"Your Highness King Yan, the villain has recruited, the villain has recruited everything..."
Hearing this, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di remained motionless, obviously wanting Pu Sanji to punish these people severely first.
…
(End of chapter)
