Jiuxi

Chapter 974 Chapter 972 [Who can escape the fate of heaven]

"Six years ago, I said here that if you are trapped by the blade of the Jing bandits and have no choice but to serve the enemy, if you are just running errands, your crime is unavoidable and excusable. But if you become accomplices to the tiger and help the Jing bandits bully and ravage the people of Da Qi, then no one can save you."

Lu Chen looked at the 23 people kneeling on the ground and trembling, and said coldly: "Perhaps you didn't take it seriously at the time, and just wanted to coax me away as soon as possible, so that you can still do whatever you want when the Jing army reoccupies Heluo. You think that the Jing army will not lose again, and that the king will not come here again, so you become more and more evil, and now it's time for you to pay the price!"

Under the control of a group of fierce guards, these people were like a puddle of mud, no longer able to make any sound.

"As for you——"

Lu Chen turned to look at the remaining nearly 100 prisoners who were once powerful and influential, and said slowly: "There are still some people among you whose crimes are not as bad as those beasts, and they did not actively collude with the Jing thieves to betray the country and surrender to the enemy. This king is not a bloodthirsty person, but we can't just pretend that nothing happened. Chen Xun, read out their names."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Chen Xun bowed and then read out thirty-five names aloud.

The palace guards brought out the thirty-five people whose names were called and had them stand on the other side.

Lu Chen looked at these people and suddenly said loudly: "Wang Han."

"The villain is here!"

Wang Han was surprised and quickly bowed in response.

In the bright spring breeze, Lu Chen turned his head and looked at him, and asked calmly: "How do you think I should deal with them?"

Wang Han's forehead was sweating, but he didn't dare not answer, so he said with some difficulty: "Your Highness just mentioned that these people were forced to do so, which shows that they are not unforgivable people. Now is the time for the court to recruit people, and I dare to speak nonsense, maybe I can make them make meritorious contributions while serving their sentences."

Lu Chen asked without comment: "How can we redeem ourselves from our crimes?"

Wang Han hesitated again. He couldn't guess what Lu Chen was thinking, but he felt that Lu Chen would not kill them all. The best way was to kill some and appease others.

Thinking of this, he said cautiously: "Your Majesty, I think it would be a good idea to let them spend all their wealth to benefit the people and atone for their sins."

"Your Majesty, I have something to say!"

About two or three feet away from Wang Han, a man in his thirties with a slightly yellow complexion stood up and bowed to Lu Chen.

Lu Chen turned his head and looked at him. Seeing that his expression was calm and his eyes were upright, he nodded and said, "Tell me."

The man said without hesitation: "Your Highness, I cannot agree with this brother's proposal. Although these 35 people were forced to do so, they could also be like us, hiding in the mountains or being content with obscurity. Although the Jinglian people are cruel and vicious, they will not force us to become officials. From this point of view, they are also guilty of greed for power, greed for money, and disloyalty to the country!"

Wang Han was afraid of Lu Chen but not this man. He frowned and said, "Brother, you are wrong. When they are about to be killed, how can they choose? Even if they themselves are not afraid of death, how can their relatives who are left behind be innocent?"

The man turned around and looked at him, saying sternly, "May I ask, brother Wang, why haven't dozens of us lost our families?"

Wang Han thought to himself that most of you celebrities come from poor backgrounds and are not valued by the people of Jinglian. And those thirty-five people are all from wealthy families in Heluo or other places. How could the people of Jinglian ignore them?

However, he could not explain these words in front of Lu Chen, because this was not the time to reason.

Lu Chen looked at the two men with interest. Seeing that Wang Han was at a loss for words, he asked the man, "May I know your name?"

The man bowed his head slightly and said, "Your Highness, I am Cui Hao, courtesy name Boyuan, from Guanggu Prefecture, Qingzhou."

Lu Chen asked again: "Then according to your opinion, how should I deal with these thirty-five people?"

"My Lord, the ancients said that strong medicine cures illness, and severe punishments are used to control chaos. Jiangbei has been occupied for more than 20 years. Now that it has returned to the rule of Daqi with the help of Your Majesty, the most urgent task is to stabilize the people's hearts, so we must not let these people off easily. Even if their crimes are not serious, they have plundered and robbed the people's wealth in the past 20 years. Only severe punishment can make the people of Jiangbei believe that the court and Your Majesty are determined to put the people first!"

These words were so powerful that other famous people in Jiangbei all nodded in agreement, but Wang Han looked solemn.

Seeing that Lu Chen did not speak, Cui Hao continued, "Of course, if Your Majesty continues to kill people, it will inevitably violate the harmony of heaven. Therefore, I dare to suggest that Your Majesty confiscate the property of these people and use it to help the poor people in Jiangbei. As for them, they can be spared the death penalty but cannot escape the punishment of life. Or they can be exiled 3,000 miles away to serve as a warning to others!"

Cui Boyuan's life experience emerged in Lu Chen's mind.

According to Chen Xun's records, this man was 34 years old at the time. Although his family was poor, he had great ambitions. He tried every possible way to study hard and became a well-known scholar in Qingzhou in his early twenties.

The pseudo-Yan government recruited Cui Hao several times, but he remained unmoved and was content to live in poverty. He made a living by teaching in the countryside while devoting himself to annotating the classics of ancient sages.

Previously, Cui Hao stood up against Wang Han, but Lu Chen did not look at him differently. Even after he called for severe punishments in troubled times, Lu Chen felt a little disappointed, thinking that he was just another pedantic scholar with a false reputation.

But his next words made Lu Chen take it seriously, so he asked gently: "How do you think we should help the people?"

"In front of the prince, the common people dare not speak nonsense."

"It's okay, the speaker is not guilty."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Cui Hao responded calmly, and said slowly: "It is better to teach a man how to fish than to give him a fish. If we just distribute the silver, it may improve the people's lives temporarily, but it is more likely to breed a group of lazy people who eat and wait for death and ask for more. Therefore, in my opinion, after twenty years of brutal and cruel rule by the bandits Jing, all parts of Jiangbei urgently need to encourage farming and water conservancy. I have drafted a ten-thousand-word letter with fifteen strategies to keep the people safe, benefit the people, and enrich the people. Please take a look, Your Majesty."

He took out a booklet from his sleeve and held it in front of him with both hands.

Lu Chen moved slightly.

Chen Xun strode over, looked at Cui Hao very seriously, took the booklet from him, then walked up to the podium and handed it to Lu Chen.

When Lu Chen opened it, the first thing that caught his eye was the strong and sturdy handwriting, just like the person himself.

After a moment, he closed the book and said to Cui Hao, "You are thoughtful."

Cui Hao bowed, his attitude respectful but not flattering.

The others, including the children of the Wang family, were actually prepared, but now that Cui Hao has taken the lead, it would be awkward for them to rush in, otherwise they would think it would be a loss of the spirit of a scholar.

Lu Chen did not promote Cui Hao immediately. He turned to look at the thirty-five people and said, "You reap what you sow. Since you did not dare to resist the bandits and served them for ten or twenty years, you must bear the consequences today. Considering that you have not committed many evil deeds, I will spare your lives for now."

These people couldn't help but burst into tears, knelt down and kowtowed, saying: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"

Lu Chen said calmly: "All your assets will be confiscated. After the Heluo Prefecture reviews the case, those who are innocent will each receive 30 mu of land and be self-reliant in the future. Those who are guilty will wait for the court to decide their fate."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for not killing me!"

Although this was an ending of falling from the clouds into the abyss, they also knew that they were lucky to be able to save their lives, so they dared not feel resentful at all.

After these two groups were dealt with, there were still more than fifty people standing in the square. Their crimes were the least serious and they did not have close ties with the Jinglian people. Most of them had behaved themselves in the past and had basically not done anything unscrupulous.

However, before Lu Chen could speak, they all knelt on the ground, and took the initiative to express their willingness to pay a fine of silver to atone their sins, and that the children in their families could work hard according to Lu Chen's requirements.

Lu Chen's attitude towards these people was not harsh, but it was not humble either. He just admonished them and asked them to accept Chen Xun's unified dispatch starting tomorrow.

Lu Chen looked at the first 23 people who were dragged aside, and then said to the others: "Everyone, follow me to Caishikou. Today, many heads will fall to the ground. I hope you will be present throughout the process. In the future, you will be respectful when doing things, and avoid ending up like these people."

"I will obey the prince's order!"

At noon, at Caishikou, west city of Heluo.

This place is already packed with people.

Upon learning that the powerful officials and gentry who helped the Jinglian people bully the people would be executed today, thousands of people came to watch, and the execution site was surrounded by crowds.

Fortunately, Lu Chen had dispatched two thousand elite soldiers in advance to maintain order, otherwise those people would have been torn to pieces by the angry people before they were beheaded.

On the north side of the high platform, Lu Chen sat calmly. Behind him and on both sides stood most of the officials in the city, dozens of famous people in Jiangbei and descendants of the Wang family, as well as dozens of powerful officials and gentry who escaped death.

Song Shifei, commander of the Feiyun Army, was in charge of supervising the execution. Only a fierce general like him, who had killed countless enemies on the battlefield, could watch batches of death row prisoners being beheaded without changing his expression.

Including twenty-three families, there were a total of 4,723 death row prisoners, and the execution process lasted more than two hours!
At first, the onlookers cheered loudly, and many of them couldn't help crying when they recalled the darkness they had experienced in the past twenty years.

However, as the execution continued, the smell of blood became stronger and stronger. Even the border soldiers who were specially assigned to serve as executioners had been replaced seven or eight times. Finally, many of them could not bear it anymore and left.

Lu Chen turned his head and saw that all the people behind him had pale faces. The timid ones could hardly stand. Even some of the loyal and unyielding celebrities in Jiangbei could not help but run away and vomit.

To his surprise, except for more than a dozen famous scholars in Jiangbei such as Cui Boyuan, all the descendants of the Wang family including Wang Han were able to persevere.

"Report to the prince!"

Song Shifei, full of murderous intent, approached with the steps of a dragon and a tiger, and said in a loud voice: "Today, 4,723 people should be killed, and 4,723 people have been killed. I have completed the military order and come to report!"

"it is good."

Lu Chen slowly stood up, glanced at the setting sun in the sky, and said in a deep voice: "Hang the heads of these people outside the north gate for a month to warn future generations. If anyone dares to collude with foreign enemies to humiliate the people of Daqi in the future, this will be their fate!"

"Follow the order!"

Song Shifei bowed.

Lu Chen then turned around and looked at the various people who would help him manage Jiangbei in the future, and said slowly: "This king also hopes that you will remember that no matter what position you are in in the future, being good to the people is being good to yourself. Otherwise, no matter how capable you are, no matter how close or distant you are to this king, there will be no innocent souls under my sword."

Nearly two hundred people all leaned forward and said solemnly in unison: "Yes, Your Majesty!"

(End of this chapter)