Thief Emperor

Chapter 315: Li Qingtian, the Messenger of Justice
This trip back to Xuanzhou to visit relatives and bring his father-in-law and mother-in-law back to Wuzhou was only part of Li Yun's purpose.

His real purpose was still in Yi'an County, at the Tongguan Copper Mine in Yi'an County.

He had been preparing for this matter for a long time, and only after everything was ready did he return to Xuanzhou with his men.

Now, Deng Yang has already led his men to Yian in advance, so they might have arrived by now. In addition, news suddenly came from the court that the old emperor was on his deathbed. The situation was changing rapidly, and Li Yun no longer had the patience to stay in Qingyang.

He took Li Zheng, Yang Xi and a dozen other people and rode all the way to Yian County.

Since they were in the same state and the distance was not too far, and everyone was riding horses, they did not stop all the way. After they set out from Qingyang, it only took them one day and one night, and they arrived outside Yi'an County on the next morning.

At this moment, Deng Yang was already stationed outside Yian County. When he knew that Li Yun and others were coming, he immediately led people to greet them beside the official road.

After Li Yun approached, he dismounted very quickly. Deng Yang stepped forward and saluted with his fists: "Envoy!"

Li Yun said "hmm", looked at him and asked, "When did you arrive?"

"yesterday afternoon."

Deng Yang smiled and said, "It has not been long since we settled down, and the envoy has arrived."

Li Yun looked at the small county town not far away, and then slowly said: "Do you know where the Tongguan Copper Mine is?"

Deng Yang lowered his head without hesitation and said, "I know."

"Take two brigades and surround this copper mine."

"No one is allowed to enter."

Deng Yang did not hesitate, bowed his head and clasped his fists, saying: "I obey your orders!"

After he led his men away, Li Yun looked at Li Zheng and Yang Xi and said slowly, "Let's go into the city."

Li Zheng thought for a moment and asked in a low voice, "Second brother, the troops stationed outside the city may have alerted the local government. Should we inform them now?"

"Need not."

Li Yun looked at Yi'an County and said calmly, "Let's go into the city and find the real owner before dark."

Li Zheng nodded and said nothing more. He followed Li Yun obediently. The group went all the way to the city gate. They were all officials and could enter the city with the badges on their bodies. They entered Yian County smoothly.

After entering the county town, Li Yun took out an envelope from his arms, and from the envelope he pulled out a piece of paper with an address on it. He found his way to a somewhat dilapidated alley, and stopped an old man, asking, "Old man, do you know where the home of Xu Dian County Magistrate is?"

Upon hearing this, the old man first looked Li Yun up and down. Seeing that Li Yun was very young, he hesitated for a moment before pointing in a direction and said, "It's there."

"What do young people want to do with the Xu family?"

The old man whispered, "You speak with an accent from other places. It's best not to have any contact with this family. If others see you, they will cause trouble for you."

Li Yun smiled and said, "It's okay."

He followed the direction indicated by the old man and soon arrived at the gate of a dilapidated small courtyard. The wall of the courtyard was already dilapidated and could not stop anyone.

Even wild beasts cannot be stopped.

The distant gate was even more dilapidated, and when the autumn wind blew, it creaked loudly.

Li Yun frowned and walked up and knocked on the door.

Soon, a very thin, even skinny girl, who looked only thirteen or fourteen years old, with a pale face and thin body, came to the door cautiously, looked at Li Yun with vigilant eyes, and then spoke in the local dialect which was difficult to understand.

"Who are you looking for?"

Li Yun didn't understand, but he looked at the little girl, thought for a moment, took out a petition from his sleeve, unfolded it, and placed it in front of the little girl, saying gently, "Little sister, you asked someone to write this, didn't you?"

The girl looked at the complaint, then looked up at the smiling "big guy" in front of her. She turned pale with fear and waved her hands quickly: "No, no..."

"You've got the wrong person. You've got the wrong person."

She turned around and ran.

Li Yun called her.

"Xu Miaozhu."

The girl stopped immediately, trembling all over, and looked back at Li Yun pleadingly, crying, "I was wrong, I won't sue again, I won't sue again..."

Li Yun frowned.

"How can I not sue? I have to sue."

He jumped lightly into the small courtyard, looked around, and then said, "Two months ago, you met a scholar on the street. The scholar said he could redress the grievances of your family, and then you dictated it and asked him to write a petition for you, right?"

The girl was still very frightened. She leaned against the wooden pillar and dared not speak.

Seeing this, Li Yun sighed and said, "Don't worry, I'm not a bad person. I'm the court official who redressed the grievances for your family as the scholar said."

The girl then looked up at Li Yun, still unable to believe it: "Really...really?"

"of course it's true."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Otherwise, how could this lawsuit be in my hands?"

Several months ago, Li Yun began to make arrangements in Yian County and sent people over to look for a breakthrough.

The breakthrough point was not difficult to find. Salt, iron and copper were all highly profitable businesses, and the local officials guarding such a large copper mine were naturally not clean, and could even be said to be extremely dirty.

It is not difficult to find evidence against them.

Wherever there is muddy water, there is clear water. Wherever there are corrupt officials, there are naturally honest officials. The former Yi'an County Magistrate Xu Dian is one of them.

Xu Dian did not come from a formal background. He was in his thirties and only got the position of county magistrate through the recommendation of others. After he arrived in Yian, he soon discovered that the officials of Yian County had colluded with local businessmen to manipulate the copper mine.

County Magistrate Xu spent a long time finding out the detailed evidence, and wrote them down one by one in a memorial, which he finally submitted to the court three years ago, hoping that the court would send down an angel to severely rectify the Yian officialdom.

He was very smart and knew that if he submitted the memorial layer by layer, it would be blocked by officials at all levels. Therefore, he used his connections to send the memorial directly to the capital, to the Council of State Affairs.

Can…

Although this memorial was sent directly to the Council of State, it was intercepted by a prime minister and eventually sent back to Xuanzhou.

What happens next is not difficult to guess.

The officials of Xuanzhou and Yian hated him so much that before long, Xu Dian was imprisoned for dereliction of duty and corruption. He only spent two months in prison before he "committed suicide out of fear of punishment" and died in prison.

Xu Dian was an honest official and his family did not have much savings. With his death, the family lost its pillar and was left with only his wife, a son and a daughter.

Even though they were orphans and widows, the officials of Yi'an County did not let them go. They used some trickery to take away the Xu family's ancestral home. Now the three people of the Xu family can only rent this dilapidated courtyard.

It neither blocks the wind nor keeps out the rain.

Two months ago, a subordinate of Li Yun who was sent to Yi'an found out about this matter and had many contacts with the eldest daughter of the Xu family. Finally, he got the petition and delivered it to Li Yun.

During these two months, pieces of evidence became clear one after another, and it was time for Li Yun to close the net.

But now, there is still a plaintiff missing.

The Xu family, mother and her two sons, are excellent plaintiffs.

Li Yun stood in front of the pitiful little girl with his hands behind his back and said softly, "It won't be long before I can vindicate your father."

"me…"

Xu Miaozhu looked up at Li Yun, and suddenly sat on the ground, tears in both eyes: "My mother...my mother is sick, sir, can you...can you..."

"Can you lend me some money?"

She looked up at Li Yun, tears streaming down her eyes. Because her face was not clean, her entire face was covered with tears.

Seeing this, Li Yun sighed in his heart.

This is the way the world is. Most of the time, bad people bully good people.

The reason why Li Yun was able to live so comfortably was largely because when he faced those evil people, he was more vicious than them.

even…

Even Li Yun himself came to the Xu family to be a messenger of justice because he needed to collect some benefits, which means...

Under normal circumstances, no one would pay any attention to this poor family.

If an official suddenly offends another official because of the people.

Most likely it was not because he had good intentions, but because he needed such a gun in the political struggle.

"Skinny monkey."

Li Yun shouted.

Li Zheng lowered his head immediately.

"Second brother."

"Go and invite the best doctor in Yi'an County to treat Madam Xu. Also..."

"Go get another table of food."

At this point, Li Yun looked around and frowned, "Don't stay in this yard at night. Find a suitable place for them and their two children to live."

Li Zheng immediately bowed and went downstairs to do his work.

Only then did Xu Miaoju believe Li Yun and began to talk to Li Yun about her father. After talking for a while, she took Li Yun into the house to visit her mother who had been bedridden for more than a year, and her brother who was also skinny.

Especially her brother, he was so hungry that he was almost unrecognizable. He walked unsteadily and looked extremely pitiful.

In this world, the local officials disliked it and lived a hard life...

It can't be too good.

While Li Yun was talking to the Xu family, a group of people slowly gathered outside the courtyard.

After a long while, a sound suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

"Liang Zheng, the magistrate of Yi'an County, requests to see Lord Li!"

(End of this chapter)