Chapter 544: Defection, Whose World Will Be King?
No one dared to say a word. They just looked at the dozens of riders, with human heads hanging under the horses' necks, still grinning.
The barricades had been drawn, and the general defending the city looked at Ma Fang and said, "Dismount!"
Ma Fang looked at him coldly, "My uncle said that anyone who is blocked on this journey will be killed. Are you sure you want to block my way?"
More than a hundred soldiers turned around and looked at the general.
The general looked struggling. Ma Fang rode his horse slowly towards him. He was covered in blood and holding a long knife. The head under the horse's neck was still dripping with blood.
The sound of horse hooves is like the sound of drums, making one's heart beat along with it.
At this time, someone in the city shouted: "Long Wilbur has left the station."
The generals were as if they had been pardoned, and they shouted, “Make way!”
The barricades were drawn aside, and the soldiers fled to both sides, with their heads lowered, feeling their colleagues passing by with murderous intent.
No one dared to look up.
Ma Fang took a look at these officers and soldiers, and when he came to the general, he said, "People say that the officers and soldiers in the south are like drunkards. Today I see that it is true."
His words seemed sarcastic, and the general looked up with a blushing face, but he saw anger in Ma Fang's eyes.
"Are these the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty?"
Ma Fang was thinking.
Jiang Qingzhi once said that the officers and soldiers in the south were even worse than those in the north.
Today, he forced the other side to bow their heads with just one ride, which shows how low their morale is.
If the Japanese pirates come all the way in... who can stop them?
Ma Fang even felt that these officers and soldiers were not as good as the servants of the powerful.
This is not a good sign!
If the situation continues to develop in this way, the South will become the world of scholars and powerful people.
No wonder the teacher said that the South is the biggest hidden danger for the Ming Dynasty at the moment.
All this requires a radical reform.
Thinking of this, Ma Fang said, "Cheer up and let the people of Suzhou see the heroic demeanor of our Tiger Guards and Left Guards!"
Dozens of riders lined up and slowly entered the city.
Pedestrians took shelter on both sides of the street, watching these blood-soaked soldiers enter the city.
A pair of eyes looked ahead indifferently, and the sound of armor leaves colliding was frightening. The majestic horses took a leisurely pace...
The whole street became quiet in an instant.
On the second floor, several scholars who were gathering together leaned out of the window and looked down. One of the scholars, who was drunk, shouted, "You bastard..."
Ma Fang pointed at the man, and a soldier beside him drew his bow and arrow.
An arrow flew up and nailed the scholar's hand that was holding on to the window.
Amid the howling, the sound of windows closing could be heard from the second floor of the shops facing the street.
"What a murderous aura!" A powerful man looked down through the crack in the window, and his companion said, "I'm afraid Yang Bai is in trouble."
Hao Qiang nodded, "What I am most thankful for at this moment is that I rejected Yang Bai's solicitation."
When Jiang Qingzhi received the news, he was on his way to the government office.
Behind him, more and more people followed.
Sun Chonglou asked, "Master, why are they following us? Should we disperse them?"
Jiang Qingzhi shook his head, "Let them follow, let them see the true face of the scholar-officials."
Xu Wei smiled and said, "In the past, these scholars and officials were like gods, but today we will bring them down to dust. The biogas tank is a trigger to let the world see the true face of these so-called gentlemen. This is the purpose of our trip."
When they saw the government office, there were at least two to three thousand people following Jiang Qingzhi.
At the government office, the doorman came out trembling with fear and saluted, "Greetings, Master."
"How far is Chenji?" Jiang Qingzhi asked.
"Already entered the city."
Jiang Qingzhi nodded, "Let all the officials in the government office come out."
Xu Wei went in with a team of soldiers.
Yang Changhe is in the duty room.
When he heard the knock on the door, he said as usual, "Come in."
The door opened and a clerk came in. "Your Excellency, Lord Wei is outside. He ordered us all to go out."
Yang Changhe wrote a line of words on the document and stood up. "Is it time? That's fine."
He straightened his clothes and walked out calmly.
The wind blew in through the open door and blew the document.
The paper was turned over, and the line of words caught the clerk's eye.
——I regret it!
The officials walked out of their duty rooms and slowly gathered together.
The coroner was also among them, with two soldiers flanking him and two other yamen runners standing in front and behind, protecting him tightly.
Just as they saw the gate of the government office, the clerk in front of the coroner suddenly turned around, with a short knife in his hand. He stabbed at them with a grim smile.
Almost at the same time, the sergeant next to the coroner pulled him, and another sergeant stepped forward, drew his sword, and swung...
An arm fell to the ground and the dagger landed with a clang.
Yang Changhe in front of him suddenly turned pale, and in an instant he seemed to have aged ten years.
The gate outside the mansion was very spacious. Jiang Qingzhi stood there with his hands behind his back, and behind him were more than a hundred riders. Further away were the common people who followed him.
Thousands of people gathered together, and all kinds of voices mixed together, which sounded quite noisy. But when Yang Changhe came out, the noise stopped.
Yang Changhe walked over and the officials behind him stopped.
He walked up to Jiang Qingzhi and asked with a smile, "What brings Chang Wei Bo here?"
Jiang Qingzhi said, "You, Yang Changhe, studied hard for ten years and made great achievements after you became an official. But since you came to the south to serve as an official, you have been corrupt and always accede to the requests of local tyrants. Why?"
Yang Changhe smiled and said, "When every official arrives in the south to take up his post, the first thing he does is to visit the local powerful people. If not, the decree will become a piece of waste paper once it leaves the government office."
He looked at the onlookers, "If anyone dares to go against them, it won't be long before they find out that the officials below are pretending to obey them but actually disobeying them. They may even set a trap for you... It won't be long before you either bow your head or wait for impeachment... Do you understand?"
Yang Changhe smiled and said, "There are countless southern scholars serving as officials in the capital. They are closely related to the scholars in their hometowns. One word can ruin your reputation, or one word can make you promoted and rich. How do you want me to choose?"
This guy actually turned against us?
Jiang Qingzhi was a little surprised, but this was a good thing after all.
And in the crowd, someone was cursing, "Old dog, you are going to betray us, go and report to the master!"
But at this moment, Yang Bai and others were feeling anxious in their own mansion.
Yang Changhe looked at Jiang Qingzhi, and suddenly there was a pleading look in his eyes.
Xu Wei whispered, "This is surrender."
Jiang Qingzhi nodded slightly, and Yang Changhe raised his voice, "When I first arrived in Suzhou Prefecture, I also wanted to do something for the people. Suzhou is rich, but the annexation of land is also the most rampant.
I arrested two slaves and prepared to kill them as a warning to others. But the next day, someone reported that a crowd of people in Changshu had gathered to cause trouble and blocked the county government office...
Then the officials I sent down to investigate the matter reported back that there was no such thing..."
Yang Changhe looked at the people and said, "There is no such thing!" He said angrily, "I called the official and rebuked him severely, but he just sneered. Two days later, I went down to investigate in person, but was turned away. When the villagers saw me, they were like seeing a tiger, and they closed their doors and windows one after another..."
"Then someone came to report that dozens of people had come to the government office to file a complaint..."
"As soon as I arrived in Suzhou Prefecture, I provoked a civil uprising and the number of lawsuits increased greatly... Later, someone informed me that the imperial court was ready to impeach me. What can I do?"
Yang Changhe's voice echoed in the long street, "If I insist, the capital and Suzhou will join forces to ruin my reputation and make me lose my job in an instant."
"I sat there all night, and the next day, I went to visit the famous scholar in Suzhou... Mr. Yang. As a result, no one picked up lost items on the streets of Suzhou, and no one locked their doors at night. My reputation as a capable official spread widely in Suzhou, and even people in the capital praised me, saying that I was a great talent and it would be a pity to leave me in the countryside."
Yang Changhe smiled bitterly and said, "No one picks up lost items on the road, no one locks their doors at night, capable people, great talents... Who is controlling all this?"
The crowd was silent.
"You must be very curious about the so-called divine punishment." Jiang Qingzhi said.
In the eyes of the common people, the literati were like the gods from heaven, and they were extremely noble. But Yang Changhe's words brought these god-like local emperors down to earth.
They looked at Jiang Qingzhi in disbelief.
"The biogas digester was first tested in the capital, where it increased income significantly. It was then promoted throughout the country. At the time, scholars and officials flocked to oppose it. Why did they oppose it?"
Jiang Qingzhi looked at the crowd, "Because this is the invention of the Mohists. They are worried that farmers will have a favorable impression of the Mohists after their income increases.
The dispute between Confucianism and Mohism was well known in the capital, but not many people in the south knew about it. When the biogas digester was promoted throughout the country, news came that Confucianists were preparing to take action to stop it in a certain place. Later, as expected, the matter of divine punishment broke out in Suzhou Prefecture. "
"Divine punishment!" Jiang Qingzhi smiled. "The news has spread to all places before it even entered the palace. The news spread faster than the Jinyiwei of my mother!"
Someone in the crowd muttered, "It seems this has been planned for a long time!"
"I was ordered to come to Suzhou Prefecture to investigate this matter, and encountered various obstacles. There were even assassinations and ambushes... They dared to gather servants to ambush the soldiers, and they dared to kill the officials to silence them."
"What else are they afraid of?" Jiang Qingzhi pointed at the coroner, "If I hadn't asked someone to watch, this witness of divine punishment would have died long ago."
"He is spreading rumors." Someone in the crowd shouted, "Jiang Qingzhi has been bullied by the Ye family since he was a child. He wants to take revenge on my Suzhou Prefecture!"
Someone shouted, "The coroner was forced to change his statement by him."
Someone among the officials said, "Let the coroner speak."
Everyone looked at the coroner.
The coroner lowered his head and said, "When I examined the corpse, I found traces of... lightning strikes."
"This is God's punishment. Jiang Qingzhi wants to confuse right and wrong!"
There was more noise in the crowd. Jiang Qingzhi took out the medicinal cigarette and said lightly: "Let's start!"
Someone drew his bow and shot an arrow. Amid the sound of arrows whistling, the sound of wheels could be heard faintly.
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw more than a dozen soldiers escorting a carriage slowly approaching.
The carriage stopped in front of the coroner.
A soldier lifted the curtain of the carriage, and a woman with a pale face slowly tilted her head...
"Miss!"
The coroner was startled and rushed over.
The woman looked at him, her lips moving, "Husband..."
Chen Ji said in a deep voice: "We stopped the carriage halfway, and then the famous doctor invited by the Lord arrived..."
An old man came over and said, "This person is seriously ill. I can't do anything for him. I heard that he is going to the capital? I dare say that the patient can't make it to the capital!"
The coroner knelt down slowly, and the woman said softly, "Husband, you can't... make the same mistake over and over again."
The coroner looked up and said, "Those corpses... all had knife wounds. Afterwards, they said they could send my wife to Beijing for treatment, so I testified against my will... I deserve to die!"
Jiang Qingzhi turned around.
"Old man, I am guilty!"
Yang Changhe knelt down.
Huang Jing looked at the coroner unwillingly and slowly knelt down, "I am guilty."
"The lower official is guilty."
The officials knelt down one by one.
(End of this chapter)
