Li Guo suddenly fell to the ground and said, "Your Majesty is a good emperor. The common people have harmed countless people. His crimes are serious, so he is willing to kill him!"
Although they decided to escort Zuo Menggeng, they were already aware of death. However, it was beyond the expectations of many people for Li Guo to say that he was guilty and willing to be executed.
"Father..." Li Laiheng heard this and called out, but he didn't know what to say.
After all, what he just said was not forced by anyone, it was Li Guo who said it himself.
Amidst Liu Tichun's surprised voice, Li Dingguo also followed him and said: "Although Cao Min is young, he has almost ten years of experience as a thief. Although Cao Min did not mean it, he did create many orphans like Cao Min. The Cao Min heard that Your Majesty I love the people and feel that His Majesty is a good emperor, and the common people are willing to pay their lives for what they have done in the past!"
Seeing that even Li Dingguo had said this, Liu Tichun sighed and said: "That's all, the emperor is indeed a good emperor. He will kill or behead him. In one word, he will never frown and is willing to be punished!"
Seeing this, Li Laiheng looked at this and that, and he didn't know what to do.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen did not speak immediately, but looked at them.
At this time, he finally understood. Why did Li Guo ask him about the follow-up treatment in the first place? If he didn't answer at that time, or if he answered that he would drive back to the capital immediately, it would mean that he did not have a deep understanding of the bandits. As a result, the emperor was probably not qualified enough in their eyes to allow them to let him go. They were so impressed that they couldn't say anything like they were willing to be executed.
Exactly what he said just now is the means to completely eliminate the rogue thieves. Let Li Guo and others know that there will be no more thieves in the future. At least Li Guo and Li Dingguo were convinced, and felt that if the quarrel continued, their persistence would no longer hold up.
After thinking about it for a while, Emperor Chongzhen said slowly: "Since you know that your sins are serious, how can you just die?"
Upon hearing this, Li Laiheng, who had been silent just now, couldn't help but retorted: "We are all willing to die to pay for our sins, what else do you want? Like that coward Zuo Mengeng, you want to cut us into pieces with a thousand cuts?"
"Shut up!" At this time, Li Guo stopped Li Laiheng sternly, then looked at Emperor Chongzhen and said: "Your Majesty, the common people have killed too many people, and cutting them into pieces with a thousand cuts is not an exaggeration. But the common people have I’m asking, can I wait until I see the Zuo thief and his son killed before I’m punished?”
"Yes, Your Majesty, I am unwilling to die as a thief first!" Li Dingguo immediately followed, "Your Majesty, please do it!"
"Yes, let's watch the left thief and his son die!"
"..."
Chen Qiyu had received instructions from Emperor Chongzhen in advance and knew how to arrange the bandits. Therefore, at this time, he probably understood what the emperor meant. These people should not be executed!
Sure enough, Emperor Chongzhen smiled slightly and said: "There are many ways to atone for sins, and it does not necessarily mean dying to atone for sins..."
Hearing this, the thieves, including Li Guo, couldn't help but look surprised. They couldn't believe it. Did the emperor want to pardon them?
"...I thought that I could do something for the people and help them. Such atonement is the best for them." Emperor Chongzhen said this, looked at them and asked, "What do you think?"
"But...but we don't know anything!" Liu Tichun was confused when he heard this, "We only have one strength!"
Working as a coolie is the most indispensable nowadays. He didn't understand. Is this okay?
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen shook his head and said: "You have all been fighting for many years, and this counts as your ability. The people of Liaodong are still in dire straits, oppressed by the rebels, and live a life worse than pigs and dogs. I How about sending you to serve in Governor Lu Xiangsheng's army to fight against the Jianlu to atone for your sins?"
At this point, he added: "Of course, if you go, I will forgive your previous sins and treat you like ordinary soldiers. You will be rewarded for your merits and punished for your demerits. I will not treat you just because you were thieves before." I deliberately asked you to die. I would like to ask you if you are willing to fight against the enemy?"
If the old thieves are forced to go to Dongjiang Town, they will be unwilling to do so. Although Lu Xiang is stepping up the pressure, there is no guarantee that everything will be fine. Therefore, if it is possible to get them to go to Dongjiang voluntarily, that would be the best.
"The common people are willing!" Li Guo did not hesitate and immediately bowed his head and said, "The common people thank Your Majesty for your kindness!"
Li Dingguo and the other two people also expressed their opinions, and they all agreed. For them, they originally thought they were going to die, but now they are going to fight Jianlu, and at most they will die! If you're lucky, you might be able to make some meritorious deeds and return home in glory, then you've earned it!
Emperor Chongzhen smiled happily after hearing this. After placing a Class C eavesdropping seed on each of Li Guo and Li Dingguo, he had them taken away.
Of course, he is still a prisoner and must be detained. However, they will fulfill their wish and let them go with the people of Nanyang City to watch Zuo Mengeng being tortured. Finally, Zuo Liangyu will be killed and sent to Jiubian to tell other generals that this is the fate of betraying the imperial court.
After that, the screening of prisoners also accelerated. Those who have been homeless thieves for more than one year will be imprisoned separately; those who have been homeless for less than one year and more than one month will be placed in another group of prisoners. Finally, the homeless thief who was less than a month old was also detained separately.
The thieves who are rounded up every day will be checked for their experience as thieves before being imprisoned in three groups. Not only Liu Guo could participate in this work, but later, even Li Guo, Li Dingguo and others also participated in verifying the identity. Of course, there are still some, but even so, they cannot be verified, and they are divided based on military experience.
Generally speaking, the number of thieves who are more than one year old is the least, only about one-twentieth of the total number. And these are basically the backbone of rogue thieves. If it hadn't been for the Battle of Nanyang, there would have been the most number of bandits less than a month old. But in the Battle of Nanyang, many people died, so the numbers of the other two groups were not much different.
Emperor Chongzhen inspected Li Guo and Li Dingguo through Class C eavesdropping seeds in the past few days, and found that they indeed had consciences and regretted their previous sins. In the process of asking them to identify the thief, their words and deeds were consistent, and there was nothing messy.
Of course, behind the scenes, they would inevitably guess what the imperial court's intention was to divert thieves away like this? In addition, some people were relieved that Yuan Zongdi and Sun Kewang had escaped.
Emperor Chongzhen didn't pay much attention to this, because he knew how many bandits would escape when Zheng Chongjian, the governor of the three sides, including the Yongwei camp from Luoyang and the Baigan Army from Sichuan, surrounded them. It’s hard to say.
He did not pay attention to these matters for the time being. Therefore, the issue of food was the most urgent matter. Even if the food from the bandits was seized, it was actually not much.
However, he was not kept waiting for long, as Chen Qiyu hurried over quickly and reported the food-related matters to Emperor Chongzhen.
"Your Majesty, the food from Huguang and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River have all been transported to Yicheng. However, they were stopped by Huang Shu, the censor of Huguang, so they did not continue north to Xiangyang!"
Yicheng was not far from Xiangyang. Emperor Chongzhen was delighted when he heard this and asked quickly: "What's going on?"
Inspection inspectors are generally sent by the Metropolitan Procuratorate of the capital to inspect areas. They have the responsibility of patrolling on behalf of the day. They are small officials with great power. They usually return to the capital in one to two years to perform their duties. The restructuring of the Metropolitan Procuratorate was only finalized at the beginning of the year, and local Metropolitan Procuratorates are still being established one after another, so the patrols in various places have not been completely removed.
According to the original impression of Emperor Chongzhen, this Huang Shu was a Jinshi a few years ago and served as a promotion official in Kaifeng, Henan Province. He had perseverance and meritorious service, and was promoted to Huguang Inspector before Emperor Chongzhen crossed over.
After the emperor asked, Chen Qiyu hesitated for a moment and then said: "Huang Xun supposedly said that the transportation of grain to the disaster area is related to the dignity of the court, and must be strictly investigated. There can be no shortage of jin or liang, and old rotten rice cannot be used as a supplement. After he Only after the inspection is correct can it be released.”
"Oh?" Emperor Chongzhen was a little surprised when he heard this. This Huang Shu is so serious in his work, but also a bit rigid?
Doesn't he know that the victims of war disasters just want to survive? How can they be so particular? As long as they can eat!
As for missing a pound or two, how do you check this? Is that too harsh? Of course, it is impossible to transport only a few dozen kilograms of grain in one place. How many ships are there in units? How to check the shortage of jin and liang? The situation in different places is different, and the consumption on the road is different. There will always be more or less food. If it is about the same, it is understandable. When the food escort arrives, even if he is not there, he must have an explanation to the governors of the five provinces.
While he was thinking about it, Chen Qiyu heard that the emperor was a little strange. He thought for a moment that it was about him having to deal with the aftermath of so many thieves, so he said again: "Your Majesty, I think this is a high-sounding excuse." ?”
Naturally, he was still more familiar with the ways of officialdom than Emperor Chongzhen who had traveled through time. Therefore, after hearing that the people sent out rushed back to report, he knew that there was definitely something wrong inside.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen's face suddenly darkened and he said, "Chen Qing, tell me, what's going on?"
"Back to Your Majesty, I guess that Huang Xunjian is taking advantage of this opportunity. Even if no problem is found after blocking those grain ships, as long as the deadline set by His Majesty's strict order is delayed, these grain ships will not be able to bear it. , we must bribe Inspector Huang to let him go." When Chen Qiyu said this, he still wanted to be on the safe side and added, "Of course, this is just the guess of the humble minister. Whatever the facts are, His Majesty still needs to send someone to verify!"
As soon as Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he basically understood that Chen Qiyu's guess should not be wrong. In the official circles of the Ming Dynasty, how can it be that there are less cases of feather plucking and layer upon layer of deductions? The capital side should be better after being rectified by me, but in the local area, if you say it is gone, you won’t believe it!
Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen became angry: "He is so brave. He dares to play these tricks in front of me. Aren't he afraid that I will find out and punish him?"
He didn't know that this Huang Shu was actually very courageous.
In the original history, he colluded with Zuo Liangyu during the two years he served as Huguang's inspector. After the founding of Nanming, he even used Zuo Liangyu's military power to hug Zuo Liangyu's thigh. He wanted to gain power and gain fame, so he criticized the top auxiliary Ma Shiying's ten crimes in person.
After the Qing Dynasty went south, he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and worked for the Qing Dynasty. He led the Qing army to attack Nanming and plotted against Zheng Chenggong. He was behind the scenes for other generals who resisted the Qing Dynasty and even those who were related to him, regardless of his relatives. Stab. In later generations, Huang Shu was nailed to the pillar of shame in history.
When Chen Qiyu saw the emperor talking angrily, he added: "In my humble opinion, he probably didn't know that His Majesty had arrived in Nanyang and was so concerned about food."
"Okay, okay, okay!" After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen said hello three times angrily. He immediately named him, "Liu Qianhu?"
"My subordinates are here!" Liu Yue, a member of the Jinyi Guard Qianhu, immediately stepped forward to wait for the order.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at him, calmed down his anger and said: "Take someone to Yicheng to investigate this matter for me. Remember, I don't want to wrongly accuse good people, but I will not let a corrupt official go. If he is not found out, He is really dedicated to serving the public good, so we urge him to be released immediately without any further delay. If he is found to be using power for personal gain, no matter how many people he colludes with, arrest them all and send them to Nanyang City!"
Emperor Chongzhen was still somewhat rational. He did not think that Huang Shu might be using his power for personal gain, so he directly ordered his arrest. Chen Qiyu, who was standing next to him, saw this and secretly admired the emperor for his magnanimity.
"I obey the order!" Upon hearing this, Liu Yue immediately accepted the order, then set off immediately and rushed to Yicheng. At the same time, he was also thinking: The emperor entrusted such an important matter to himself, which shows that the emperor trusts him, so he must handle this matter properly.
Of course he didn't know, because he had Class A eavesdropping seeds in his body, Emperor Chongzhen could know how he investigated the case, and Emperor Chongzhen would be more confident if he let him go than if he let others go.
After Emperor Chongzhen explained the matter, he also knew that the food was not far from Xiangyang, so he felt a little relieved. Then I talked to Chen Qiyu about the current arrangements for dealing with these thieves.
At the same time, on the outskirts of Nanyang City, the dragnet was getting tighter and tighter, and many thieves thought they were going to escape despite all the hard work. As a result, they ran into the hands of the Qin infantry led by Zheng Chongjian, as well as the Yongwei camp and the Baigan army. They were either caught on the spot or driven back to Nanyang.
Of course, there were also some bandits who fled and hid in the mountains. But if there are no refugees hiding in the mountains, there won’t be much food, and it’s unknown how long they can hide.
And this time, even if you hide in the mountains, you won't be able to escape easily. Since Emperor Chongzhen was determined to solve the problem of bandits once and for all. Naturally, troops would be sent to search the mountains where there were many fleeing thieves.
Suddenly, more and more bandits were imprisoned in Nanyang, and there were also more and more troops. When the number of captured thieves was almost there, Liu Yue also returned from Yicheng.
. Miaoshuwu
