The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 544 Bestowal
Emperor Wu Ding reined in his horse and stood in front of the Hailang River. The rustling sound of the stream watering the ice was very pleasant to his ears.

The cavalrymen trampled the white snow into a muddy state.

"What's the situation in the city now?"

The spy chief, Liu Xingzuo, who had been following behind and listening attentively, hurried forward upon hearing this and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, the two sides are still fighting fiercely, and Qian Sanruo and his men have the upper hand."

"Oh, I didn't expect that a businessman like him could also fight a war."

Liu Zhaosun exclaimed sincerely and looked up in the direction of Ningguta City. He could vaguely see a faint black smoke rising above the city.

The emperor couldn't help but curse in a low voice: "Fighting is one thing, but don't burn the house down."

Liu Xingzuo didn't hear clearly what the emperor was saying. He just stared at the black smoke in the distance with a ferocious expression.

"Where is Jiang Liuer now?"

"Your Majesty, he went to Sakhalin Island yesterday to hunt down the Rakshasa demons. He won't be back for at least ten days."

Liu Zhaosun was speechless for a moment. He began to feel a little disappointed with this young man whom he had once placed high hopes on.

"They only know how to fight, fight, there's a thief in the house, the backyard is almost burned down, and they're still fighting!"

Liu Xingzuo's throat moved slightly, and he wanted to say something, but after hesitating for a moment, he didn't dare to say it.

This detail was noticed by Emperor Wuding. He loosened the reins, rode his horse slowly forward, his eyes cold.

"To accomplish great things, one must always sacrifice some people. I can die, and you can die, but the two of them live in luxury, feasting every night, and their lives are more comfortable than mine. It's only right that they suffer a little now."

Liu Xingzuo didn't dare to say anything. The emperor's words of "suffering a little" ultimately meant killing the two men.

Of course, there are definitely more than just the two of them. The total number of officials, big and small, in the various government offices in Ningguta must be at least 800, if not a thousand. How many people would be implicated?

"Hold the artillery close. No artillery fire without my order! Ningguta was built with great difficulty. The people are prosperous and the business is thriving. If we start a war, I wonder how much money we will lose!"

~~~~~~
Ningguta, which the retired emperor had been thinking about, was now in great chaos.

The more than 300 pacification soldiers brought by Yang Tong from Shenyang have blocked the north and south streets of Ningguta tightly, and no one is allowed to escape.

Qian Sanruo, Shi Yousan and their servants were all blocked in the middle of the street. The garrisons at the four city gates had been taken away by Jiang Liuer to chase the Cossacks. Now all that was left were the old and weak and auxiliary soldiers, all of whom were prisoners.

The sound of low cymbals and gongs came from afar, and the scouts of the First Corps were cruising in front of the moat.

"The Emperor has ordered the city gates to be opened immediately!"

A sentry circled the city wall twice, and finally shot the imperial edict into the city with a bow and arrow at the point closest to the wall.

The auxiliary soldiers guarding the city wall dared neither open the city gate nor shoot arrows at the city. These people had received orders from Qian Sanruo in advance not to let anyone into the city and to kill anyone who approached the city gate.

However, the person who brought the message was clearly the army of Da Qi, and he also had the title of the emperor, so he didn't look like someone who would be easy to mess with.

"What are you all standing there for? Shoot him to death!"

The two Qian family servants who were in charge of supervising the battle on the city wall saw that everyone began to hesitate, so they drew their swords with a clang and put them on the last archer. One of them started yelling hysterically at everyone.

Seeing this, the other archers on the city wall naturally did not dare to delay. They raised their bows and released the bowstrings without even aiming. One after another, light arrows flew over the moat and disappeared.

"Keep shooting, aim at the Kaiyuan soldiers!"

The archers shot randomly at the moat, and most of the arrows fell limply into the river.

"Damn it, are you blind?! It shot into the river! Master Qian's money is not money!"

The servant swung his whip and whipped an archer while speaking. He was furious and lashed out with great force. Every time he whipped, blood splashed on the archer. The other archers did not dare to let him go and quickly drew their bows and aimed at the target. However, the sentinel horse who had just shouted had already retreated dozens of steps and was out of the range of the bows and arrows.

"If you dare to shoot again, I will kill you..."

The servant's voice suddenly stopped, he covered his chest with his hands, an incredible expression on his face. Everyone looked in the direction of his gaze and saw blood flowing out along the iron armor.

"Ah~!"

The servant finally reacted at this time, holding his stomach and rolling around on the top of the city wall, howling in pain.

Everyone scattered in a hurry. Before escaping, the archer who was whipped swung the bow and hit the servant in the face until his nose was broken...

~~~~~~~
Qian Sanruo stared blankly at the sudden change and was speechless for a long time.

"Yang Tong, what are you doing? Go block the city gate and don't let them in!"

Yang Tong looked at Qian Sanruo and Shi Sanyou in the alley with an expressionless face, and suddenly found that both of them had the character "three" in their names.

"Yang Tong, you dare to betray us! How much silver have you taken from Ningguta over the years! You traitorous bastard!"

Shi Yousan huffed and puffed, pointing at Yang Tong and cursing. The situation took a turn for the worse.

Shi Yousan said to Qian Sanruo, "Didn't they say he has already joined us?"

"Yes." Qian Sanruo looked bewildered. "Yesterday he said he wanted to join us and told us the addresses of the Suoyi Guards hiding in the city."

The servants looked at each other in bewilderment. Wu Xiao was quite unfamiliar to them, but everyone was familiar with Yang Tong, the living devil with only one arm.

"Put down your weapons. Your followers will be pardoned. Only Qian Sanruo and Shi Yousan will be held accountable!"

Yang Tong waved the iron hook that was shining with a cold light. In the sunlight, the sharp weapon made of iron was particularly dazzling.

"Yang Tong! Don't think you can deal with me with just these few people... Even if I die, I will drag you down with me..."

Before Shi Yousan could finish his words, a musket suddenly exploded, and the white smoke dissipated. Magistrate Shi looked at the huge bullet hole in his belly and said tremblingly:

"Yang Tong, you..."

~~~~~
Liu Zhaosun stood on the top of the city wall, pointing at Qian Sanruo, who was tied up and kneeling before him, and said with deep sorrow:

"Everything in heaven and earth belongs to you only when I give it to you. If I don't give it to you, you can't take it away from me."

"Look, this gun barrel is long and round, and this city wall is square and wide. What is this? This is what we call a round sky and a square earth! As the saying goes, the rules of heaven and earth are the norm!"

"Without me, you would be dead right now! I've assigned you to work in Da Qi, and you all must stay in your place. Those who make money make money, those who fight fight, those who kill kill, those who rob rob. This is the rule! Between ruler and subject, father and son, this is the righteousness! The rules cannot be broken! The righteousness cannot be lost! Do you understand?"

"Your servants, we will follow the instructions of the Supreme Emperor!"

All the civil and military officials knelt down and saluted.

Emperor Wu Ding continued:
"Qian Sanruo, you've been collecting taxes from Ningguta for thirty years, forcing the people to work hard and risk their lives for thirty years without food or drink. You've borrowed money from silver shops, and you dare not pay back even a penny less each month. If you do, you'll throw them into a dark cell. You've squeezed the poor out of their money! How are you going to make money in the future?"

The time traveler remembered the famous saying: "Leave the problems to future generations to solve, and trust in the wisdom of future generations."

However, no matter from which angle you look at it, the young emperor Liu Kan is not as good as himself.

I'm afraid it will be even more difficult in the future.

Qian Sanruo took poison, his voice became hoarse and he could not speak.

In fact, this is completely unnecessary.

Even if Lao Qian could still speak, he wouldn't dare to say anything nonsense.

He would not say in front of everyone that he and Shi Yousan had been exploiting the people for years, sucking their blood out of their bones, all for the sake of Da Qi.

Those ginseng, sable fur, medicinal herbs, and pearls eventually ended up in the treasury of the Great Qi, or were sold to the Southern Ming, turned into silver, and secretly handed over to the retired emperor.

Every warship of the navy, every hot air balloon, every cannon, every flintlock rifle... every weapon in the workshop was looted from Ningguta - of course, there are countless Ninggutas across the country - if he said it, Liu Zhaosun would grind him to ashes and exterminate his entire clan.

Dongfang Zhu unfolded a previously prepared imperial edict, looked around, and said loudly:
"The Emperor, by the grace of Heaven and the Mandate of Heaven, proclaims: I have read the annals of history, and have seen corrupt officials throughout the dynasties. At the beginning of the founding of the Great Qi, anyone who embezzled ten taels of silver would be skinned and stuffed with straw, and I did not think I was being lenient. Now, there are you, Ningguta Deputy General Qian Sanruo. Ningguta Prefect Shi Yousan, and others, who have embezzled the national treasury and the people's wealth to the tune of millions! Not only am I horrified by this, but it is also recorded in the annals of history, and future generations will be horrified by this..."

Upon hearing this, Qian Sanruo was so frightened that he fainted.

The emperor interrupted Dongfang Zhu.

"Don't read it anymore. Take him back to Shenyang and interrogate him thoroughly. Keep him well fed and well-fed along the way. Don't let him die!"

This last sentence saved Qian Sanruo's life.

You can’t just throw away gloves after use, otherwise no one will be willing to make gloves in the future.

As long as the charge of treason is not proven, everything else is not a big problem.

"Everyone, retreat and have a good rest. Tomorrow, we will discuss how to deal with the Rakshasa ghosts. These Cossacks really treat this place as their home. It's time to send them back home."

Wu Xiao was shocked. Based on his understanding of the emperor, he would never let his subordinates off so easily if they rebelled.

After Yang Tong saluted, he slowly withdrew. Seeing that Wu Xiao was motionless, he quickly pulled him out.

As the two walked out of the government office, Wu Xiao couldn't help but ask, "Old Yang, what do you mean? Let that Qian go..."

Seeing that there was no one around, Yang Tong pulled Wu Xiao to a corner:

"Do you know how much money Ningguta has contributed to the imperial court over the years by exploiting prisoners from all over the country? Do you know where the money comes from for Da Qi's annual wars? You should have listened to my advice earlier and revealed everything now..."

Wu Xiao's face was filled with fear, so he dared not say anything more.

(End of this chapter)