Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 237 The frightened bird
Kaiyang County, county government office.

County Magistrate Zhou excitedly took the file and came to report to Li Yuan.

He smiled excitedly and said, "Sir, we've made a fortune! The money we got from those wealthy families is enough for our county to spend lavishly for ten or eight years. It won't be a problem to build Kaiyang County into a wealthy county! It must be said that those wealthy families in Tong County are really not short of money..."

Suddenly, County Captain Zhou's joy faltered because he noticed that Li Yuan was reading a letter with a not very good expression.

County Magistrate Zhou couldn't help but restrain his expression and asked in a low voice, "Sir, are you a clerk from the Hongzhou government office?"

Li Yuan raised his eyebrows, put away the letter, and said lightly: "No, it's a letter from my family, saying that Lu Zheng has received a divine gift."

County Lieutenant Zhou was stunned for a moment and asked curiously, "What divine gift?"

Li Yuan explained, "During the Hongzhou Autumn Examination and the Confucian Temple Conferring Titles Ceremony, Lu Zheng was not on the list of recipients, but he was uniquely endowed with the literary aura by the sage. This is something that Hongzhou has only had for so many years!"

County Lieutenant Zhou's eyes lit up as he asked in surprise, "Isn't this a good thing?"

County Captain Zhou was a little puzzled as to why Li Yuan had such an unhappy expression.

Holy gift, he wouldn't even dream of doing this.

"That's a good thing." Li Yuan sighed and said quietly, "But after he received the Holy Gift, he followed the governor and his men to attack the wealthy families in Hongzhou, including our Li family."

"Ah this..."

When County Captain Zhou heard this, a strange look flashed in his eyes.

No wonder the county magistrate had that expression on his face. Did the attack on the rich backfire on him?

Li Yuan rubbed his brows and said slowly, "My uncle wrote me a letter. One of his sons, my cousin, may have committed something serious. He asked me to help speak a few words and plead for him."

County Lieutenant Zhou said cautiously, "This is human nature. What are you going to do, sir?"

Li Yuan said calmly, "Don't we know what kind of character Lu Zheng is? I'm going to beg for mercy? Can I? He dares to do such a thing, how can I beg him? Do you think I'm worried about the Li family? I'm worried about Lu Zheng! If he does this, won't he become a target of public criticism? We still have to develop Kaiyang County and climb up..."

Li Yuan didn't care about his useless cousin at all. Instead, he was worried that Lu Zheng would offend the public and suffer a bad end if he did this.

County Magistrate Zhou raised his eyebrows. "What are your plans, sir?"

Li Yuan said, "My Li family is prosperous. The death of a few unjust people is their own fault. Besides, my Li family will not be seriously injured... I am going to write back to my family and the state government to fully support Lu Zheng's actions. He is putting justice above family ties! I, Li Yuan, have read the books of sages. Don't I know the importance of the important things?"

The Li family is a prominent clan in Hongzhou, and Li Yuan is just one of its branches.

Even if a member of the clan committed a serious crime and his property was confiscated, he would not be the target.

A Li family from a state capital, and Lu Zheng who was blessed by the emperor.

Li Yuan knew clearly who to support.

If he stayed with the Li family, after he died, he would only appear in a line of words in the family tree.

If you follow Lu Zheng, it is possible to open your own family tree!

Upon hearing this, County Magistrate Zhou quickly praised him, "Your Excellency is wise!"

Li Yuan looked at County Lieutenant Zhou again and said quietly, "You should also keep a close eye on the county government and those wealthy families. Now that our county has money, there are always people who can't help but be greedy. This person needs to have a long-term vision. With so much money, can he take it or spend it?"

County Lieutenant Zhou was startled and said quickly, "Don't worry, sir. If anyone dares to embezzle money, I will be the first one to catch him!"

Li Yuan waved his hand and said, "Let me see the file, and you can go down!"

County Lieutenant Zhou quickly presented the files and then respectfully took his leave.

Li Yuan picked up the file and flipped through it, his eyes widening as he couldn't help but mutter, "How much of the people's wealth and state taxes have these wealthy families exploited? Even a local corrupt official couldn't have embezzled so much!"

"These are just some of the wealthy families in Tong County. As for the wealthy families in Hongzhou...I'm afraid I don't even know how much wealth my family has."

Li Yuan was a little worried and didn't know what the current situation in Hongzhou City was.

But he really couldn't help much. The most important thing now was to develop the county. Only when he had some political achievements could he have a say.

……

An Dingyuan got what he wanted and did not stay in the provincial government for long. He left alone.

Su Ming watched An Dingyuan leave and felt relieved.

Although Andingyuan didn't say much, he could clearly feel that the other party supported Lu Zheng's behavior.

With such a figure around, the families in Hongzhou City will have to think twice before making any more trouble.

This person is from the royal family, and his status is not comparable to that of He Feng and others.

Su Ming even speculated that the higher-ups were intentionally suppressing these families, which was why Lu Zheng acted this way and sent this new governor.

Of course, no matter what, the advantage lies with the provincial government.

An official came hurriedly and whispered, "Sir, a soldier wants to check the prison."

Su Ming thought for a moment and said, "Let him go."

Upon hearing this, the official hurried away again.

In the provincial jail, several bailiffs were leading a soldier around.

The soldier said calmly, "Who participated in the assassination?"

"Well, the heads of those families went into hiding, and only their relatives and close associates were arrested..." someone next to him explained slowly.

The soldier glanced at a cell not far away and asked, "Are they relatives?" "No, they are the heads of several other families..."

Patriarch Gao and others already knew that Lu Zheng had been assassinated by the Wu people.

At first, they thought it was a self-directed performance by people from the provincial government, but later they found that it seemed to be true.

The head of the Gao family noticed that the soldier had an unusual temperament and must be someone from above.

He couldn't help but ask, "Are you the one from higher up who's investigating? We haven't committed any serious crime, yet we've been detained by Su Ming..."

"Who among you knows He Feng, the Censor He?" asked the soldier.

"I……"

A family head quickly raised his hand.

Seeing that the others didn't respond, the soldier looked at the yamen runner next to him and said calmly, "Lock him up in a separate room. Also, bring his family here. I want to interrogate them personally."

The patriarch was shocked when he heard this, "Who are you? You can't do this..."

The soldier said indifferently, "I am an official under the new governor."

A new governor? These family heads knew that a new governor was coming, but they had not yet found out who it was.

"May I ask who the new governor is?" asked the head of the Gao family.

The soldier said calmly, "Grandson of Prince Pingyang, son of Prince Kang, Dingbo An Dingyuan."

When the head of the Gao family heard this, his face changed. Prince Pingyang was the elder brother of the current emperor, and Prince Kang was the legitimate son of Prince Pingyang.

He had no impression of An Dingyuan.

However, there are many descendants of the royal family, but only a few of them can be granted the title of earl.

Those who can be granted the title of king or prince must have made great military achievements.

Those who can be granted the title of Earl are either people of outstanding talent or people who are deeply favored by the emperor.

Just as the provincial government began to suppress the major families, a member of the royal family was appointed as the governor. It was hard for them not to think too much.

The expressions of these people in prison kept changing.

The soldier said no more and took the head of the family who was dragged out for interrogation.

A patriarch looked at Patriarch Gao and whispered, "Old Gao, could it be that the higher-ups are cracking down on us, and are targeting Hongzhou as a target? I'm afraid we're in big trouble this time."

I originally thought that Lu Zheng and Su Ming were going to deal with them, but it turned out that even the royal family was involved.

This is no longer a minor incident in Hongzhou City.

Patriarch Gao's expression was grim. "Don't ask me. I was the first one here. I don't know anything."

He had only guessed before, but he didn't expect it to be true?
Someone couldn't help but ask, "Master Gao, do you really not know? Doesn't your Gao family have connections in the court? I came here because I heard you were at the provincial government office... I saw you looked so confident before. Could it be that you've already made all the preparations and are just waiting to leave?"

Patriarch Gao's face was filled with black lines. When had he ever been so confident? It was just that there were yamen runners guarding the place, and he didn't want to chat with them, lest he reveal any information.

Thinking of this, the head of the Gao family felt inexplicably relieved. It seemed that it would be better if he came in on his own than if he was caught.

At this time, an officer spoke up, "If you have some free time, would you like to write a confession? The superiors have said that if you report each other or surrender yourself, you can get a lighter sentence... We have a private room ready, and we provide pen and paper free of charge."

"If you take the trouble to find out, I'm afraid you won't let me off easily," the officer said leisurely. "I just went out to see that governor. He's not as easy to talk to as the previous governor. I heard that when he came, he made the previous governor resign and go home with just one word."

"The governor said we should try to close all the cases before the Mid-Autumn Festival. Counting on my fingers, there are only a few days left. We have been so busy that we haven't slept for days and nights, but you gentlemen are the ones who can keep calm."

When everyone heard this, they looked at each other, their thoughts turning for a moment.

"Well, I want to write something..." one person couldn't help but speak.

The officer smiled and said, "Sir, do you want to report or surrender yourself?"

"This..." the man gritted his teeth and said, "We have both!"

"Okay, wait a moment..." the officer said slowly, "Things are based on a first-come, first-served basis. If you report something, it won't count if someone else surrenders accordingly. Of course, don't worry, we won't reveal who you specifically reported."

When the others heard this, they could no longer sit still.

Who knows if you might be the one being reported?

After all, who can be caught here and is clean?
We have all been living together in Hongzhou City for so many years, and everyone has some leverage over others.

Before, they could still work together and unite against the outside world.

But the situation is different now. The people above are going to take real action.

"I want to report it!"

"I want to report it too!"

……

Suddenly, there was commotion in several prisons, and everyone wanted to report first.

In a cell next to him, Zheng Yu sat there leisurely, watching the commotion in front of him.

I have lived for most of my life, but I have never seen such a scene... Zheng Yu sighed in his heart. As expected, once you enter a place like this, no matter how successful a person is, he will lose his former charm and become just a prisoner.

(End of this chapter)