The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 184: The Net (I)

Luanzhou City, Yongping Prefecture.

Shen Lian, wearing a Feiyu suit and carrying an embroidered spring sword, walked quickly on the north and south streets of Luanzhou. More than 30 Jinyiwei soldiers followed closely behind Captain Shen like a huge tail.

A large black flag was erected in the crowd with four large characters "Dongjishichang" written on it.

A group of garrison commanders followed the guards. They came from Kaiping Zhongtunwei and were responsible for assisting the Jinyiwei in capturing criminals.

The people of Luanzhou City made way for the officials and stayed away from them, fearing that they would get into trouble.

Shen Lian ignored the panicked civilians around him. Captain Shen's pace was so rapid that his two subordinates could barely keep up. He wanted to finish this mission quickly and return to the capital to reunite with Pei Dahu and his men. Then, they would return to Kaiyuan together.

Over the past year, Shen Lian took the Jinyiwei out to arrest and kill people every few days.

In the first year of the Taichang reign, the Donglin Party in the capital was massacred by Eunuch Wei on various charges. Now, Eunuch Wei turned his butcher knife to the various places in northern Zhili.

Shen Lian had long been tired of such killing.

At the beginning, he would still care about whether the people he arrested were corrupt officials and whether they really deserved to die. Later, as he killed so many people, he became numb.

Ten days ago, the factory manager ordered the arrest of Yang Lian, the leader of Donglin, on charges of violating etiquette and accepting bribes from Xiong Tingbi.

The bandits raided the Yang residence but found little silver. Wei Zhongxian ordered Yang Lian imprisoned and tortured every three days, forcing the Yang family to hand over the 20,000 taels of contaminated silver as soon as possible.

This mission was originally supposed to be led by Captain Shen, but Shen Lian temporarily turned it down and handed it over to the general Zeng Tianxing.

Pei Dahu, Lin Yu and Wu Xiao arrived in the capital in mid-August. By early October, they had been there for almost two months, still anxiously waiting for Emperor Taichang and his ministers to determine the rewards for the Kaiyuan Army.

During this period, the news that the censor accepted bribes from Ping Liaohou spread in the capital. Shen Lian knew that someone was deliberately fanning the flames behind the scenes to force the emperor to take action against Kaiyuan as soon as possible.

He hurriedly found Pei Dahu and others. After analysis, they concluded that the court might take action against the Kaiyuan army.

However, it is unlikely that the two sides will go to war directly. The court may send a military supervisor to Shandong, reduce food and wages, or summon Ping Liaohou to the capital and take him as a hostage.

~~~~
In this dimension, the contradiction between the eunuch party and the Donglin Party became more acute, and Wei Zhongxian's liquidation of the Donglin gentlemen was more thorough and cruel.

While the Jinyiwei arrested Yang Lian and put him in prison, reports from Jinan Prefecture impeaching Liu Zhaosun continued to be sent to the palace. In addition, Duke Yansheng died suddenly, and the Kaiyuan army occupied Wendeng.

The emperor was alarmed by the chaos and ordered the Imperial Guard to investigate the matter. Wei Zhongxian's confidant Xu Xianchun quickly found irrefutable evidence that Yang Lian was colluding with Ping Liaohou.

The evidence was presented to the emperor, but Emperor Taichang did not take immediate action. Instead, he dispatched two trusted aides to Dengzhou. At the same time, he ordered the Imperial Household Department to send someone to Qufu to announce the imperial decree, promoting the Marquis of Ping Liao to a higher rank and awarding the Kaiyuan army 10,000 taels of silver as a relief.

Wei Zhongxian was very dissatisfied with this indulgent attitude.

The emperor is not anxious, but the eunuch is.

Compared to Zhu Changluo, Wei Zhongxian knew more about Liu Zhaosun. Ping Liaohou's ambitions were definitely not limited to Wendeng County. As the Nine Thousand Years Old and the Factory Master, Wei Zhongxian had to take action.

While Pei Dahu stayed in the capital, Wei Zhongxian took two measures.

First, send people to secretly monitor the Shandong Guild Hall.

Second, continue to arrest the Donglin Party and confirm the evidence of Donglin's collusion with Ping Liaohou, so as to prepare public opinion for the emperor to launch an expedition to punish the criminals in the future.

Today, Shen Lian and his team were going to arrest Yang Lian’s good friend, Zuo Guangdou, the commander of the Zhili military farm.

Not long ago, Zuo Guangdou, who was in charge of the military farms in Yongping, unexpectedly drafted a memorial with Yang Lian, impeaching Wei Zhongxian for 32 crimes punishable by death and suggesting that the emperor execute him as a token of gratitude to the world. Wei Zhongxian was furious and sent Shen Lian to Luanzhou to arrest the meddling military farm official.

Shen Lian is the sharpest sword in Jiuqiansui's hand.

The sword is meant to kill.

~~~~~~
The Zuo Mansion is located in the east of Luanzhou City. It is a small courtyard with two entrances. The gate is a bit shabby. Compared with the mansions of other masters in the capital, it is really too shabby.

Outside the courtyard stood a large number of imperial guards and soldiers. The gate was ajar, and the courtyard was unusually quiet, separated by a low earthen wall.

"When you go in, just arrest people, don't hurt anyone. Do you understand?"

"Yes! Master Centurion!"

All the brothers below respect Shen Lian.

Shen Lian had been at the Northern Pacification Office for only a year, but he had already gained considerable popularity. When he was doing work (confiscations of property), he would call on his brothers if there was something lucrative, and would rush to the front if there was danger.

In addition, he is tall and handsome, and many women admire him, so he is always lucky wherever he goes.

So every time there was work to do, his brothers would rush to follow him.

The Jinyiwei's job was to confiscate property. When they did so, they would extort money and do whatever they wanted. If you didn't warn them in advance, it was common for the prisoners' families to be killed.

After hearing this, the flag officer Gao Yifang shook his head and sighed:

"The governor of Northern Zhili built water conservancy projects to benefit the people, but he never expected this would be his fate!"

The flag officer Lu Jianxing next to him complained, "We're so poor, how can we make any money? It's really damn unlucky."

Shen Lian turned around and glared at his two younger brothers. Neither of them dared to speak again. Captain Shen was about to turn around when he heard a rough voice behind him.

"Captain Shen is wrong. What's wrong with confiscating a family's property and killing a few people? I always kill someone every time I confiscate a family's property! This time, I heard that the Zuo family has a daughter. It would be a pity to send her to the Music Bureau!"

The sound was not very loud, and the surrounding guards probably heard it, with different expressions on their faces.

Shen Lian frowned slightly, veins bulging on his face, but then he regained his composure. He turned and looked at the open door without saying a word.

The two younger brothers were indignant and could only shout:

"The door is open, grab your weapons and follow the captain in!"

A group of militiamen, led by Captain Shen, rushed into the yard.

In front of the steps of the main house facing the gate, Zuo Guangdou, a dark and thin man wearing a tattered robe with a crane patch, sat upright on a wooden chair.

His family gathered around the wooden chair.

There are three of them in total, plus Lord Zuo, a family of four.

He had a wife and a concubine, and they were very old. They dressed in plain clothes and looked no different from ordinary people.

A little girl of fifteen or sixteen, wearing a light-colored skirt and jacket, was squatting behind a wooden chair, not daring to look at the group of ferocious-looking monsters who had broken in.

"I will go with you now, but please don't hurt my family!"

Zuo Guangdou's voice was loud and full of energy, and several guards moved slightly.

Pointing to the furniture and luggage placed beside him, he stood up and walked straight to Shen Lian, saying neither servile nor arrogant:
"I have been an official for twenty years, and all my assets are here. The officials of the Pacification Office do not need to search everywhere."

Shen Lian looked at Zuo Guangdou carefully.

He was about fifty years old, with gray hair at his temples. Seeing the shabby appearance of the family, he knew that he had met an honest official.

During this year's house searches, Shen Lian sent at least eighty officials to the Pacification Office, if not a hundred. Among these people, very few were truly honest officials.

Under Zhu Yuanzhang's concept of "maintaining integrity through honesty", the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were extremely low.

An honest official like Hai Rui, when he was the magistrate of Chun'an County, could not even support his family with his salary.

Zuo Guangdou should also be an honest official.

So what?

If Wei Zhongxian wanted Zuo Guang to die, he would have to die. Even if Shen Lian didn't come, others would come, and they might be even more brutal than himself.

Shen Lian began to worry about Mr. Zuo's family, worried that they would not be able to collect the 20,000 taels of "corruption silver".

"Master Zuo, I am Shen Lian, a captain of the Northern Pacification Division. Someone in Yongding Prefecture has reported you for colluding with border commanders and accepting bribes. They also allege you embezzled funds from the Northern Zhili military farms. We kindly ask you to accompany us to the Pacification Division to explain the situation. Your family must also accompany you to the capital."

Shen Lian was worried about scaring Zuo Guangdou, so he continued to explain:
"Don't worry, Master Zuo. My family is innocent. They just need to live near the Pacification Office. If Master Zuo wants to..."

Zuo Guangdou understood what was going to happen next without much explanation. His family lived next to the Pacification Office. Apart from paying the ransom, they also waited for him to die so that they could collect his body nearby.

(End of this chapter)