Lord of the Desert

Chapter 481 Trouble
In the blink of an eye, another month has passed.

On the tenth day of September, the peaks of Cangxu Mountain are red and the blazing fire is against the clouds.

Yang Cuiwei's body has been in custody for two and a half months.

"Today I received an urgent letter from a good friend in the Ministry of Personnel, telling me about the recent situation in Shenjing."

In the temporary meeting room of the inn, Zhen Yanchu took out a long wax-sealed but unsigned letter, looking slightly worried.

"The joint impeachment of the Censorate mentioned in the court report seventeen days ago was initiated by Gao Jiasheng, the Left Vice-Censor of the Censorate, and signed by nine imperial envoys. One of them said that the Ministry of War was in violation of the rules in managing tax and silver, and the other was that forcing an investigation during the mourning period was against human morality."

Hong Fan nodded calmly.

His name was actually mentioned specifically in the impeachment letter, which described him as "bullying the local people and being domineering," but there was no real evidence other than hearsay.

The Left Vice-Minister of the Censorate was a third-rank official, second-in-command of the Censorate. He held a high position of power and influence, and was a far-reaching figure compared to the sixth-rank official.

But even if the leader among the civil officials encounters a scoundrel like the Martial Saint, there is nothing he can do.

According to Zhen Yanchu's information, Guan Qimai acted like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water when he went to court. He just said that he was a country boy who didn't know etiquette. He thought that when people died, they would mourn for three days and bury them on five days like in the countryside of Qingzhou. He didn't know that there would be a lively funeral that lasted for three whole months, which happened to conflict with the schedule.

As for what Hong Fan did, in his words, he was just following orders.

"As the power of the Martial Arts Academy has grown over the years, there have been more and more conflicts with the Metropolitan Censorate. However, Hong Zishou, since you are not an official in the court and have no official career, you don't have to worry about it."

When Zhen Yan first saw his relaxed expression, he couldn't help but envy him.

"It's more than that."

Hong Fan shook his head and replied.

"The impetus for this impeachment did not only come from within the Censorate, but also from the Tongzhengshi Han Zishi. Although he is not from Qingzhou, he served in Hanpu City, the capital of Qingzhou, for two terms in his early years and has close ties with several major factions in the area."

Zhen Yanchu was stunned when he heard this.

The Tongzhengshi was the head of the Tongzhengshisi, ranked third rank, and was one of the nine ministers of Dahua. He was responsible for receiving and inspecting internal and external memorials and appeal documents, and was a position of high rank but little power.

"Qingzhou probably doesn't expect to suppress the Zhangwu Academy with a joint memorial. It's probably a trial by fire to see the attitudes of all parties. This time, the five grand secretaries of the cabinet have many different opinions. Among them, your Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Land have been looking for tax bases for many years, so you naturally support the headmaster. The two cabinet ministers from aristocratic families are just the opposite. The attitude of Prime Minister Yao, who has always been obedient to his superiors, is ambiguous. It can be seen that Your Majesty still intends to sit on the sidelines."

Hong Fan told the story slowly and leisurely.

"However, Zhenzong has received the response from the court and realized that the capital has not cooperated in the land transfer issue. He may be more confident."

"What is Hong Zishou doing?"

Zhen Yanchu was completely stunned by these words.

How could a mere sixth-rank official like me know about such a high-level matter as the cabinet's draft?
"Don't get me wrong, Master Zhen. I don't understand these things either. They were taught to me by a friend in the capital."

Hong Fan waved his hand and smiled, and Zhen Yanchu glanced at the silhouette of Shengyu Army guards outside on the window paper and immediately knew where the news came from.

"After all, Hong Zishou is the one who has all the connections!"

He then felt relieved and smiled.

"We have collected most of the evidence these days, and only a little finishing work remains. If nothing unexpected happens, there are about 17,000 acres of land under the name of Qingdi Zhenzong, of which only 3,000 acres pay taxes, and evade 20,000 taels of tax every year."

"Have you gathered all the evidence? The progress is faster than I thought."

Hong Fan was a little surprised.

"The matter of measuring land depends on people's support. Previously, you fought one against three in the Qingtian Palace of Zhenzong, exchanged a move with Chu Jianshou, and left safely. Once the news got out, it shook the confidence of many small and medium-sized landowners."

Zhen Yanchu explained.

"But if we put it this way, even if we pay the tax for ten years and hand over the remaining land, Zhenzong will only lose about 300,000 taels at most. It would be unwise to hold on for such a small amount of money."

Hong Fan did some mental calculations.

"They probably have their own unspeakable secrets."

Zhen Yanchu sighed slightly.

"I heard from the locals that in the past ten years since Yang Cuiwei felt that her time was up, Qingdi Zhenzong has been opening its doors to more people. Not only has the number of disciples doubled, but the price of elixirs has also risen. However, there is only one outstanding person, Zhang Angxiong. To raise these hundreds of thousands of taels, they may have to sell their ancestral property..."······
In September, autumn continues to fulfill its own prophecy.

The day is warm and the night is cool, and the white dew gradually turns into silver frost.

Chrysanthemums bloomed yellow, straw was buried in the flames of the wheat fields, and the smoke of ashes filled the entire Cangxu City.

On the 11th, Hong Fan celebrated his birthday by eating a bowl of longevity noodles with eggs in a store. In the following days, he secretly visited several local wealthy businessmen with Zhen Yanchu and obtained several important confessions.

On the 13th, twists and turns arose again.

A fire broke out in the merchant warehouse when Hong Fan was out. The fire spread rapidly and although no one was killed, the three rooms on the two floors where the documents were stored were burned to the ground.

During this period, seven soldiers of the Shengyu Army were knocked unconscious without being able to raise any warning.

Song Xuan Ge was so angry that his blood rushed to his head, and the clerks were on the verge of collapse.

Hong Fan did not get furious, not only because even the most strict organizational system would be full of loopholes due to the absolute gap in martial arts, but more importantly, he would seal the sorted important materials in the sand world every night ten meters underground in the storehouse, which just happened to avoid the fire.

Starting from September 14, Hong Fan ate crabs and fish and stopped going out.

A few days later, it was September 19th.

Two large boxes of materials were fully prepared, including fish scale books, land survey data, and a large number of testimonies from tenant farmers and landlords. They would only wait until the funeral period for Yang Cuiwei expired after September 25th, when she was buried, and then they would ask the Cangxu City Martial Arts Academy to come and enforce the law.

As a result, Master Bu came to the door that day and spoke in an extremely urgent manner. He said that there were rumors outside that the Zhangwu Academy was surveying the land in order to increase taxes on the people. There was an uproar in the city, and thousands of rioters surrounded the City Guard's Mansion. City Guard Qi hoped that Hong Fan would personally come out to clarify and appease the people.

Zhen Yan was quite at a loss when he first heard this - it was a great evil for a Beijing official to go on tour and cause a civil uprising - but the military men in the hall sneered in vain.

"This is a completely unfounded story, it must be the work of an evil person"

Song Xuan Ge bowed and asked for orders.

"Don't worry, sir. I only need 20 heavy armored soldiers to disperse a mere 1,000 rioters!"

Hong Fan frowned and glared at him, then waved his hand.

"Who is the leader of the riot?"

He asked Master Bu.

"This villain doesn't know that the people who shouted at him were all ordinary people with no cultivation and crude words."

The latter returned.

"That's really strange."

Hong Fan couldn't help but sneer.

Ordinary people understand best how vulnerable they are in front of warriors. That is why in the two thousand years of reliable history of the human race, there are few records of mass incidents caused purely by ordinary people.

This also means that any gathering to force abdication must be supported by warriors.

"Master, please sit down for a moment. Shen Hong, please go and take a look at the situation in casual clothes."

Hong Fan gave the order.

Shen Hong came back two quarters of an hour later and said that the three streets outside the city guard's mansion were blocked by the people in sackcloth clothes.

"Since the rumors pointed out that I was in charge of the land survey, why didn't they come here but blocked the city and guarded the mansion? They are just showing off their strength but are weak inside."

Hong Fan looked at the newly organized information and decided not to follow the pace of others.

"I don't think these people are rioters; this is like burning paper in front of a grave, the fire is bright for a moment, but it goes out in an instant."

As he said this, he sent the guest out regardless of Master Bu's pleas, and then asked Shen Hong to take the purple ribbon waist badge and the special agent's order to go to the Martial Arts Academy in the city, and to transfer four Guantong and two teams of detective rangers to reinforce the external defense of the trading house.

Nothing happened that day, and on September 22, the "rioters" dispersed on their own, without daring to approach Hong Fan.

(End of this chapter)