this novel is healthy

Chapter 1606: The Divine Died Even More Miserably
"You bastard, there is no Great Zhou in this world, there is only the Great Tang!" Cheng Yaojin was furious when he heard this, and slapped the passerby on the head. With Cheng Yaojin's strength, even if he didn't practice immortality, it was enough to smash the unfortunate and curious head.

“Stop!” At the critical moment, it was Li Shimin who stopped the impulsive Cheng Yaojin and said, “Since this old man is willing to remind you not to talk nonsense, it proves that he wants to help you and is also loyal to the Tang Dynasty. Otherwise, why would he bother to talk and let you be arrested!”

"That's right!" Cheng Yaojin scratched his head, then said to the old man beside him, "I'm sorry, I wronged you, but I didn't hit you, otherwise your head would have been blown up by me, so you should thank me!"

Hearing Cheng Yaojin's words, the old man didn't know whether to cry or laugh. Fortunately, Li Shimin walked over in time and walked to the old man with a smile and said, "Don't worry, old man. We know our limits and will leave here soon. We won't cause any trouble for you."

"Well, this is not a matter of whether it is troublesome or not. It's just that some dogs have very sharp noses and very sharp ears. Just look at that house. It was originally a harmonious family. But because the head of the family said after drinking that hens also want to crow, he was directly captured. Now we don't know whether he is dead or alive. His family sold the house but couldn't get a replacement. I heard that the person is gone."

"It's different now than before. When Emperor Taizong was still alive, I once pointed at the palace and said some ridiculous things, but I was just driven away by the guards. It's not like now. If you say something wrong, you will lose your life!" The old man talked about Emperor Taizong with great emotion, and then looked at Li Shimin's face. Suddenly, he thought of something and laughed, "To be disrespectful, you look a bit like Emperor Taizong."

"Oh! Have you met Emperor Taizong?" Li Shimin asked happily.

"Yes, I have. Every year during the Lantern Festival, Emperor Taizong would celebrate with us on the gate tower of Suzaku Gate. My eyes were still very bright at that time. Even in the middle of the night, I could see Emperor Taizong's appearance clearly by the moonlight. He was indeed very similar to you!"

"Alas, what a pity that Taizong is no longer with us, otherwise how could it become like this now..." The old man sighed, as if he was recalling the days when Taizong was still alive.

"Yes, I also admire Taizong very much!" Li Shimin said happily, "By the way, we actually plan to go to Luoyang to buy some red dates. I wonder what the situation in Luoyang is like now?"

"How can a commoner like me know the situation in Luoyang?" The old man couldn't help but laugh. "I have only left Chang'an a few times in my life."

"But he knows more information than us. We just came back from the Western Regions, and we know very little. For example, when we left, it was still the Tang Dynasty, but now it has become the Zhou Dynasty?" Li Shimin asked.

"It hasn't really become the Great Zhou yet, but it's moving very fast!" The old man sighed, "We dare not say it outside, but the neighbors behind closed doors say that the Saint will ascend the throne in the next two days. Half of the officials in Chang'an City have left, and most of the hawks and dogs who usually monitor everywhere are said to have gone to Luoyang."

"But there are a lot more troops in Chang'an City. I saw an army of 10,000 people enter the city a few days ago."

"I heard from those who have connections that the Saint has granted your Majesty the surname Wu. Although it is still the Tang Dynasty, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty has the surname Wu. How many days do you think the Tang Dynasty can survive? Maybe tomorrow we will receive an imperial edict and the Saint will ascend the throne and become emperor."

"Tsk tsk, a female emperor. I heard there has never been a second one in history. This is really eye-opening. This woman can actually be an emperor. My wife couldn't recognize her own name until she died. She would just cry when there was trouble. How can a woman rule the world?" The old man kept muttering. It was probably because he hadn't found a situation where he could talk to people for a long time.

As a result, the old man who had just clearly reminded Li Shimin and others not to say anything nonsense, now said a lot of fatal things.

As a result, the dogs with a keen sense of smell naturally followed, and soon everyone heard the sound of chickens and dogs barking on the street. At the same time, more than a dozen people in uniforms rushed over and said, "Where did these traitors come from to slander our Great Zhou? Arrest these people and send them to the Magistrate's Court for a thorough interrogation to find out where these traitors are from."

Seeing this scene, the man who was so excited just now collapsed. If Li Shimin hadn't supported him, he would have knelt down. At this time, the old man could only tightly grasp Li Shimin's sleeve and said, "Run away... Run away quickly... If you run away, you can still survive. If you can't escape, you can commit suicide on the spot. It's better to die outside than to be tortured in the court!"

"What will you do if we escape?" Li Shimin asked curiously.

"What else can I do? Just follow them!" the old man said with a wry smile.

"Didn't you say that life in prison would be worse than death, so it would be better to punish him on the spot?" Li Shimin asked doubtfully.

"If I were alone, or if I didn't live in Chang'an, I could naturally escape. But my family of more than a dozen people are here. If I escape, they will be dead. It's better to die in the Magistrate's Court. At least the lives of my family can be saved!" said the old man.

"I see that these people are not from the imperial court. Although they are all wearing the same clothes, they do not follow any rules at all. Has the imperial court of the Great Zhou become so rotten to this extent?" Li Shimin asked curiously, looking at these guys who were getting closer and closer.

"They are not from the imperial court at all, they are just a bunch of scoundrels!" Perhaps they were about to be caught, so the old man completely gave up his worries and said directly, "They are all Lai Junchen's men. Lai Junchen specializes in catching so-called traitors for the saint, but he can't solve the case, so he summoned thousands of hooligans in Chang'an City and asked them to inquire about the news in Chang'an City."

"How could they get information from these hooligans? They would just report anything they heard on the street to Lai Junchen. Then Lai Junchen would have these scoundrels confiscate their homes, and force those without money to sell all their property in exchange for their loved ones. As a result, 10 out of 5 could not be released, or had already died in the Magistrate's Court when they came out!"

"What about the rich?" Li Shimin asked curiously, "Can all the rich survive?"

"Alive?" The old man seemed to have heard a very good joke and couldn't help laughing. "The poor can at least survive halfway, but once these rich and powerful people go in, none of them can survive."

"Why is that? Aren't they rich and powerful?"

"So what if I have money and power? Forcing you to pay a little money to save your life is nothing compared to directly confiscating your family and exterminating your clan, and turning all your family's property into mine."

"Once those rich and powerful are caught, Lai Junchen will do everything he can to frame them with a crime, and then use all kinds of punishments to force them to confess. Then he will confiscate all their property and exterminate their entire clan, and naturally all their property will become Lai Junchen's!"

"Over the years, Lai Junchen has confiscated the property of at least hundreds of wealthy families, and thousands of officials and royal family members. I heard that even the Cheng family, the Duke of Lu, who was extremely prominent during the reign of Emperor Taizong, was almost executed. In the end, although the emperor showed mercy, only a few people survived, and most of them died in the court.

In this world, not only the poor have no way to survive, even the rich and powerful have no way to survive. This is truly a rare situation in ancient times!

(End of this chapter)