Thief Emperor

Chapter 340 Mr. Jiang
After meeting the two chief officers of Changzhou, Li Yun just had a brief chat with them and didn't waste any more words with them.

There are big problems with both of these people.

It’s not that they colluded with these bandits to capture the state capital, but because there were big problems when they were in power before.

It is quite normal for an official to accept bribes or even bully men and women. However, as the chief officer of a state, the state capital was easily occupied by two hundred people, which is enough to show that these two people are the worst of the worst.

Their crimes were so serious that they were not even qualified to be recruited by Li Yun and become his subordinates.

After Li Yun has sorted out the ins and outs of the Changzhou Rebellion, he will come back to deal with them.

Li Yun divided several people involved in the "rebellion" into separate rooms, interrogated them one by one, and compared their confessions one by one.

At this time, it was not difficult to get the truth or lies out of them, because there was no law that could restrain Li Yun, and he could use whatever means he wanted on these people.

Throughout history, there have been many people who have been able to withstand severe punishment and have a will as strong as a rock, but these bandits and rioters are definitely not among them.

If they were truly determined, they would not have suddenly transformed into demons who killed anyone they saw after entering the city.

Soon, all the confessions were placed in front of Li Yun.

In a separate empty room in the governor's mansion, Li Yun sat on a chair, looking at Bai Zhen, the leader of the Bailong Village, who was already in a state of disarray, and said slowly, "Are you sure you're done?"

The eyes of the Bai village chief were covered with blood clots and he could hardly open them. After hearing Li Yun's voice, he trembled subconsciously, huddled in the corner, and tears flowed from his eyes.

"That's all, that's all..."

One of his legs was broken, so he could only move with difficulty. However, he still tried hard to kneel in front of Li Yun and lie on the ground: "Give me a quick death, give me a quick death..."

In just one day, the Bai village chief witnessed the methods used in the government office.

The punishments in the prison are much more diverse than those in the mountain village.

Li Yun slowly flipped through the confession written down by the clerk in his hand, and then said calmly: "You said that before you entered the city, someone in the city led you and guaranteed that as long as you pretended to be villagers, the government troops at the city gate would not discover your identities."

"You don't know the name of this person."

Li Yun couldn't help but frowning when he read this, and shook his head, saying, "You were taken advantage of by someone and you ended up like this. In the end, you didn't even have any leverage over them. You're really stupid and pathetic."

He glanced at the white village chief.

"You are the village chief, is this a family inheritance?"

The Bai village chief was lying on the ground. He was stunned at first, then he said in a trembling voice: "Yes...it's a family heirloom."

"I'll just say it."

Li Yun closed his confession and sneered, "Anyone who can start from scratch and build a village will never be as stupid as you."

He stood up from the chair, put his hands behind his back and said, "I will ask the painter to come over. You describe the man's appearance in detail. If I can find this person, I will not torture you for the next two days. After two days, I will kill you with a knife."

The white village chief touched the ground with his head and cried, "Thank you, sir, thank you, sir..."

Seeing him like this, Li Yun couldn't help but frowned.

At this time, there were only two of them in the room, and they were also the two "second-generation village chiefs". Li stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the reptile-like Bai village chief.

"a shame."

He said in a cold voice: "According to the rules of the Green Forest Road, weddings and funerals, postmen and peddlers, traveling doctors, widows, widowers, and the lonely, etc., are not to be robbed or killed."

"You guys killed more than a thousand people in Changzhou City in three days! How many taboos did you break?"

"I don't care how you got into Changzhou City, but since you're in Changzhou City, you can either rob some money and leave, or raise the flag of rebellion. Whichever way you choose, I, the surname Li, will not argue with you."

"You kill anyone you see in the streets and alleys. I have seen several pregnant women die under your knives."

Li Yun asked, "Who brought you into this business and taught you to kill a pregnant woman?"

The man surnamed Bai suddenly raised his head and tried hard to open his eyes to look at Li Yun.

"you you…"

Li Yun was too lazy to look at him anymore and walked to the door. After reaching the door, he stopped and asked one last question: "Did the person who led you into the city tell you which house in Changzhou City you cannot rob or enter?"

The Bai village chief lay on the ground, shaking his head in confusion: "No, no..."

Li Yun frowned slightly, left with his hands behind his back, and then the wooden door slowly closed.

Li Yun walked out of the room and walked thoughtfully in the front yard of the Changzhou Governor's Mansion, lost in thought.

It is certain that there is an insider in Changzhou City.

You know, it is easy to understand that these two hundred people entered the city and occupied the governor's mansion. However, at that time, there were more than four hundred government troops in Changzhou City. If these four hundred government troops had fought bravely, they could have easily suppressed the rebellion of these two hundred people on the spot.

But according to Li Yun's investigation in the past few days, after the government troops fought with these bandits, there were only minor casualties and they fled in all directions.

Now, the government troops in Changzhou are scattered in various places, fearing that they will be held accountable by the government.

It’s hard to say there’s nothing fishy going on here.

It’s a pity that the Sima of Changzhou died in this turmoil, otherwise the first person Li Yun would have arrested would be the Sima of Changzhou.

Thinking of this, Li Yun stopped and shouted, "Call Yang Xi over."

Not long after, Yang Xi, dressed in armor, strode up to Li Yun, bowed his head and clasped his fists, saying, "Envoy!" "Go, post a notice in the city, saying that the rebels have betrayed an important person. I want to summon all the painters in the city to paint this person for me."

Yang Xi bowed his head and said, "I obey your command."

After he said this, he was about to go downstairs to do his work, but was stopped by Li Yun.

"Tomorrow morning, open all the city gates."

"what?"

Yang Xi was stunned: "Sir, aren't those rebels going to be executed the day after tomorrow?"

"Just do whatever you're told to do, why bother nagging me."

Li Yun waved his hand and said calmly: "Do as I tell you."

"never mind."

Li Yun changed his mind and said, "Wait here for a while. I will write the notice to recruit painters myself. After I finish writing it, you can copy it and post it all over the city."

After Li Yun finished speaking, he turned around and went into the study, where he drafted a notice himself.

The general idea is that after two days of interrogation, it has been found out that Changzhou was breached because there was an insider in the city. Now it is necessary to summon painters to draw the images for comparison.

After writing, Li Yun gave it to Yang Xi and asked him to post the notice.

Because the price was set, the notice was posted in the morning, and in the afternoon, three or four painters volunteered to come to the governor's mansion.

In this era, there are actually people who specialize in this, drawing pictures based on descriptions. The wanted poster for Li Yun in Qingyang County was drawn in this way.

Therefore, among these people, there are actually two who are professionals in this field.

Li Yun directly had them taken to the cells of several wanted criminals and drew maps based on the descriptions of these criminals.

On the morning of the next day, Yang Xi opened all the gates of Changzhou according to Li Yun's instructions and began to allow normal entry and exit.

During these few days, except for the bodies that were transported out of the city for burial, most of the people were not allowed to leave the city. Once the city gates were opened, many people immediately rushed out.

Some of them are outsiders who want to leave Changzhou, a troubled place, as soon as possible.

The other part goes out of the city to deal with the aftermath of their deceased relatives.

As soon as the city gates were opened, every gate in Changzhou became bustling with people leaving the city in an endless stream.

Li Yun stood on the tower of one of the city gates, quietly watching the people coming and going at the gate, with a sad look in his eyes.

By evening, the gates of Changzhou City were closed again. Li Yun and Yang Xi, each with a hundred men, left Changzhou City on horseback.

They walked along the official road, one heading south and the other heading north.

Li Yun led a hundred riders and rode northward along the official road for more than two hours. Finally, he saw two carriages at the door of an inn in a town.

Mr. Li glanced at the two carriages and made a gesture. His subordinates immediately surrounded the inn.

"Master Jiang, please come out and have a chat."

Li Yun's voice was stern.

Because they were so powerful, the entire inn was soon alarmed. After a cup of tea, an old man in his fifties came out cautiously and bowed his head to Li Yun and said, "I am Jiang Ju, a commoner. I am here to see you, sir. May I ask who you are..."

"Li Zhao, the Jiangdong Recruiting Envoy."

Li Yun's face showed no expression, and he said calmly: "Please go back to Changzhou for questioning."

Mr. Jiang was stunned: "It turned out to be Li Shijun, Li Shijun, may I ask what crime I have committed..."

Li Yun said calmly: "All the big families in Changzhou who are in a hurry to leave Changzhou today will be taken back for questioning."

Upon hearing this, Master Jiang smiled bitterly and said, "Envoy Li, the only people leaving today are me and my daughter, as well as a few servants..."

"How can the Jiang family be considered a big family?"

Li Yun's mouth curled up into a sneer: "It is precisely because your family had already moved out of Changzhou before the New Year, and only a few people are left, that I targeted you."

Li Yun jumped off his horse, walked up to the terrified Mr. Jiang, squinted his eyes and said, "Because your family has already moved away, even if the rebels enter the city without stopping their weapons and without scruples, they can't hurt your family."

Mr. Li continued, "I sent someone to check. Among the big families that moved out of Changzhou a few years ago, there are three families with some people left in the city. Among these three families, two of them left Changzhou in a hurry today."

"Master Jiang."

Li Yun looked at him with his hands in his sleeves.

"Don't embarrass yourself."

Mr. Jiang drooped his face and sighed, "Envoy Li, you really arrested the wrong person."

"Whether the arrest was made by mistake or not, we will find out when we return to Changzhou."

Li Yun put his hands behind his back and turned his head away.

"Tie it back."

(End of this chapter)