Zheng Chongjian was a little confused, because he looked at the words and deeds of the commander of the Jinyiwei, and it seemed that he had no intention of raising an army to investigate, and more, it seemed that he was just investigating impartially.
He even had a vague feeling that the commander of the Jin Yiwei was acting like this, as if... he seemed to want to make the decision for him.
Is this feeling real?
He couldn't understand, so he simply stopped thinking about it. Looking outside the gate of the feudal prince's palace, he hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm afraid it's inconvenient here. How about we go..."
"My Lord Governor, please come here!" After hearing this, Li Ruolian turned around and stretched out his hand to signal, "I know that Lord Governor has something urgent to do, and we can't waste time. Let's make an agreement as we go!"
Hearing this, Zheng Chongjian understood a little bit. He was definitely not asking himself to accuse him, otherwise, he would have reminded himself that he still had important things to do. Indeed, people have been sent to negotiate with the Hetao before. Calculating the time, we must rush back as soon as possible to deal with the matter over the Hetao.
Thinking like this, he lost a little more worries, and while walking forward with the commander of the Jin Yiwei, he recounted his experience in Prince Rui's Mansion in detail.
When Zheng Chongjian finished speaking, he discovered that he had arrived at the temporary garrison of Li Guoqi's army. At the entrance of the military camp, there was a Jin Yiwei wearing a Feiyu suit standing. It was obvious that the Jin Yiwei had taken control of this place.
Seeing this situation, Zheng Chongjian was a little confused again. Could it be that the Jin Yiwei had already captured Li Guoqi and the soldiers who were making trouble? The commander of the Jin Yiwei came here in person, what on earth did he want to do?
He was thinking about this, but Li Ruolian didn't care what he was thinking. Instead, he stood up and glanced at Zheng Chongjian's entourage. After thinking for a while, he looked at Zheng Chongjian and asked, "Mr. Governor, what did you just say? Is there a witness?"
"My lord, I can testify here that the governor said everything he said is true!" An accompanying civil servant responded immediately, without waiting for Zheng Chongjian's instructions, with a particularly angry look on his face as he spoke.
In his opinion, the Governor went to declare the decree, but was treated like this by King Rui. He really had no regard for dignity at all, and it was really infuriating.
Several other guards and officers also started talking, and they all said that what the Governor said was completely true, and they could also testify.
In the eyes of these warriors, if the commander of the Imperial Guards could report to the emperor impartially, he might not be punished because the governor was humiliated. As for the rest, they haven't thought about it.
Li Ruolian didn't speak, just listened to what they were saying. After knowing that they could all testify, his face seemed to be more serious. He glanced at them again, then turned to ask Zheng Chongjian again: "So, what I just said Can I sign and stamp the matter as proof?"
"Okay!" At this point, Zheng Chongjian had no other ideas. Anyway, he just told the truth.
As for whether the emperor will believe that Prince Rui’s family has really reached the point of eating chaffy vegetables, and that Prince Rui’s family is acting like a gangster and has no regard for the dignity of the royal family, making the Tian family look ugly, will the emperor blame this kind of thing? When it came to him, a minister, and Li Guoqi's men were to blame, he had no control and could only leave it to fate.
After receiving the reply, Li Ruolian did not stay any longer. He casually said "please" and led Zheng Chongjian and the others into the military camp and towards the temporary tent.
As expected, there were about five hundred people gathered in the open space of the military camp. All of them were unarmed and were guarded by Jin Yiwei. Li Guoqi was also there, looking worriedly at the Jin Yiwei commander and the governor coming in together.
Zheng Chongjian didn't even need to guess, these soldiers should be those who were robbing land rent. You can tell by looking at their sallow complexions and the looks of indignation on their faces.
When these military leaders saw the people coming, there was some commotion. However, being guarded by the sword-carrying guards, they did not move around and just kept shouting.
"Master Governor, why don't you pay me food and salary? How can you work for the imperial court when you are going to starve to death?"
"Master Commander, we are really hungry, so we have to grab some food. Anyway, Prince Rui's Mansion has so much food, and we can't afford the land rent!"
"Sir, I don't care about my general's affairs. We did it privately because we were very hungry!"
"..."
Listening to their shouts, people from nearby military camps appeared one by one. Obviously, they had been ordered to stay in their military tents before. But when he heard the noise, he stuck his head out. It can be seen that the faces of these soldiers are all full of anger. It was only due to military discipline that they did not come out. But we can also see that some soldiers seem to want to rush out.
When Li Guoqi saw this, he shouted loudly and reprimanded those people back. He also scolded the people in the open space to shut up.
Li Ruolian didn't say anything about this situation, but in his heart, he still felt a lot of emotion.
If what he said to the emperor before seemed a bit harsh, when he arrived in Qin, what he saw along the way, and the scenes he saw in the military camp, he was a little surprised to find that the emperor It seems that he is right. If someone like King Rui does that, the possibility of forcing all these border troops to the side of the bandits is very high. From a certain perspective, King Rui's behavior was indeed defeating the Ming Dynasty. I can't tell the seriousness from the seriousness. For such unwise behavior, it is not too unjust to end up like Prince Ning.
Although he was thinking this in his heart, on the surface, Li Ruolian remained calm and just walked towards the central military tent. However, when passing by Li Guoqi, he ordered him to follow him in.
Li Guoqi knew in his heart that he was going to be in trouble. Although he would not be convicted for it, punishment such as demotion would probably be inevitable.
After entering the Chinese military tent, he was surprised to find that the governor actually wrote a long thing and then stamped it with the governor's seal. And his entourage, civil and military attendants, also went over to sign and sign. When Li Ruolian wasn't paying attention, he whispered to a governor guard standing next to him: "What is that?"
"What happened to the Governor in Prince Rui's Mansion." The guard did not dare to say more, so he simply said.
Seeing this, Li Guoqi couldn't help but be curious. For a moment, he forgot about the punishment he was going to face. He was thinking, what happened to the Governor in Prince Rui's Mansion?
While he was thinking about it, Li Ruolian carefully checked the things and put them away carefully.
Then, under the attention of everyone in the Chinese army tent, he suddenly said with a serious face: "Now we have found solid evidence that King Rui colluded with the bandits and committed treason. Following the emperor's decree, I will arrest King Rui and go to Beijing to question him. All his family wealth will be allocated to the local area and used to reissue the money and food owed by the army in Qin."
The other people in the military tent were originally thinking that the commander of the Jinyiwei was going to announce some punishment for the emperor for grabbing land rent, right?
But when Li Ruolian finished speaking, none of them expected that Li Ruolian actually said that King Rui colluded with the bandits to conspire against them and wanted to ransack their homes to repay the food and salary owed to the army.
Suddenly, each of them thought they heard wrongly, and couldn't help but look at each other, wanting to know what others heard.
Among them, of course, Zheng Chongjian was also included. He also never expected that Li Ruolian would actually say that King Rui was plotting rebellion. After being stunned for a while, he came back to his senses and asked in surprise: "Prince Rui colluded with... the thieves? Yes?" Conspiracy?"
After hearing his words, the others immediately understood that they must have heard correctly. But then, they were even more surprised. How could this happen suddenly? It shouldn’t be!
Although they are not dealing with King Rui, it seems impossible for someone like King Rui to collude with the bandits, right?
With this thought in their minds, they all stared at the commander of the Jin Yiwei, wanting to hear how he would respond to the Governor's question.
Li Ruolian said coldly: "King Rui occupies one-third of Hanzhong City, but he disobeyed the decree. This is the first crime; and not only did King Rui refuse to exchange the banknotes and food stamps from the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank, , instead beat the imperial envoy, committing the crime of conspiracy, which is the second crime; now in troubled times, the court was unable to pay food and wages due to difficulties in the past, so that the soldiers were starving. King Rui, as a descendant of Taizu, enjoyed the glory and wealth of the Ming Dynasty, not only resisted the decree, but also I want to pursue the extremely evil soldiers, but if they are not colluding with the bandits and can do such things, wouldn’t this push our Ming Dynasty border troops into the den of thieves!”
At this point, he raised his voice and shouted sternly: "After being exposed by the Governor, there are various signs that Prince Rui intends to rebel. I follow His Majesty's order to search Prince Rui's palace. I also ask the Governor to continue to help. There are five hundred people outside." Sergeant, how about lending it to me temporarily?"
When Zheng Chongjian heard this, he was a little speechless: Do you have to expose it yourself? This... is this forcing myself to be dragged into the water?
Thinking like this, he couldn't help but look at what he had written again. Then I thought about the crimes Li Ruolian mentioned just now, and after thinking about it carefully in my heart, I couldn't help but feel a little calmer.
Just like the word "official" has two mouths, it is not the official who has the final say on how things will turn out. At the imperial court level, it can also be replaced by the emperor having the final say.
If the things that King Rui did were taken strictly, there would be no problem in charging him with conspiracy. But if the emperor didn't care, this matter would be nothing more than a reprimand. Even if the relationship between the emperor and King Rui was good enough, he might be able to favor him, saying that it was all caused by Li Guoqi's soldiers, blaming Li Guoqi, and blaming him as the governor for not restraining his men.
After all, Zheng Chongjian was a Jinshi and had been in the officialdom for many years. He was in Qin and was one of the parties involved in this incident. After contacting him from left to right, he basically understood the general context of the whole matter. It was nothing more than King Rui's actions that were not conducive to the Ming Dynasty. The emperor was obviously promoting the exchange of silver notes and food stamps from the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty for money and food from the vassal king to relieve the emergency. King Rui's selfish behavior hit the emperor's knife edge.
Kill the chicken and scare the monkey! Zheng Chongjian can guarantee that after searching Prince Rui's mansion, evidence of Prince Rui's collusion with the bandits will be found. This, he believed, would not be difficult for Jin Yiwei!
Recalling what he had just experienced in Prince Rui's Mansion and the current corrupt situation in Qin, Zheng Chongjian couldn't help but cheer loudly in his heart: Your Majesty!
At this moment, he suddenly had great confidence in quelling the rebellion. Half of this confidence comes from a new understanding of the emperor, and the other half comes from years of accumulation in the feudal palace.
Others in the Chinese military tent did not think as deeply as Zheng Chongjian. They are very disgusted with King Rui, and it can even be said that they hate him deeply. After hearing the words of the commander of the Jin Yiwei, regardless of whether there were other hidden stories, they were all very happy thinking that King Rui was going to be unlucky. Therefore, they all looked at the Governor-General, waiting for him to say a word. They did not even need the Governor-General's consent. Their eagerness to try and respond in groups was clearly revealed.
When Zheng Chongjian saw this scene, he knew that King Rui was definitely doomed. He immediately replied: "The commander is acting under the emperor's order. As the emperor's minister, I should obey the order!"
After hearing this, Li Ruolian nodded and said to Zheng Chongjian: "Then Governor, please go and do that important matter first. The Emperor is still waiting for the follow-up! I will rush over after I finish handling the matters here."
Zheng Chongjian understood what was going on and immediately replied: "Okay, then I will leave someone to assist you. I really have to rush back."
Li Ruolian said "hmm", then approached the excited Li Guoqi and said to him: "Let's go!"
When they arrived outside the Chinese military tent, Li Guoqi couldn't help shouting loudly to his five hundred men: "Prince Rui is plotting rebellion, and the Jinyi Guards are ordered to arrest him. We are waiting for help, and we are all ready to set off!"
As soon as these words were shouted out, the soldiers who were waiting for punishment suddenly became stupid. But they obviously didn't think much about it. After being quiet for a while, they heard a "boom" and immediately "exploded".
Anyway, they knew that King Rui was going to be in trouble, so they should be fine. Such a good thing is really a joy!
As a result, these soldiers responded in various ways. Some called the emperor Shengming, and some called the Jin Yiwei powerful. Anyway, there were all kinds of words. He was beaming with joy, as if he was about to celebrate the New Year.
Hearing the commotion here, the soldiers in the military tents stretched out their heads again. Seeing such a festive scene, they suddenly felt stupid.
Not long after, Li Ruolian led the Jin Yiwei men and Li Guoqi's 500 soldiers to surround Prince Rui's Mansion.
In the dumbfounded eyes of everyone in Prince Rui's house, people began to raid their homes.
Not to mention, the gold and silver property in Prince Rui's Mansion is far more than imagined. This is consistent with the reputation he has left in history, not interested in beautiful women but only interested in money.
He had previously disobeyed orders and beaten the imperial envoys, and now he was proven guilty of deceiving the emperor. Later, the Jin Yiwei even found letters from King Rui in his bedroom that were in correspondence with the thieves.
Anyway, no matter what, King Rui is finished.
The money and food seized by Prince Rui's Mansion will be distributed as money and food owed by the Hanzhong side of the border army. The excess should also be used for the war in Qin. Suddenly, the morale of the frontier troops in Hanzhong was much higher than that of the frontier troops in the north who had already received back pay.
Li Ruolian sent someone to escort the dissatisfied King Rui and his family to the capital, while he himself rushed to Guyuan Governor's Mansion.
As a result, something happened not long after the team escorting King Rui's family left Hanzhong City.
