Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 8: No Plundering
Cao Qiu's cheeks twitched. Last night, when he received the order to accompany Yan Yi out of the city to recruit soldiers, he was flattered. This morning, after leaving the house, his steps were unsteady. Throughout Wucheng County, everyone knew that the future of the Yan family depended on this young prince. With him, their future was assured.

It was a good mission, but it ran into such bad luck. Cao Qiu sighed in his heart that he was unlucky.

From the chief clerk to the clerk, everyone in the Household Department was dissatisfied with the behavior of some people in the army who made up excuses to make money.

In terms of authority, the military had no right to collect taxes from the people. Conscience-wise, they were the ones who best understood the people's suffering, and they felt a certain degree of reluctance. In terms of profit, the entire Wucheng region only had 60,000 to 70,000 people, and each household had only a limited amount of money and goods. After the military extorted some of the money, the amount of money and grain the household office could collect would naturally be less.

You can't just ignore everything and let the people starve to death or force them to rebel, right?
Furthermore, as long as the refugees have not settled in Wucheng, they are theoretically still the people of Danyang. The way these bandits eat is too ugly and their actions are too unscrupulous. If this continues, who will dare to settle in Wucheng in the future?

However, although Cao Qiu was dissatisfied in his heart, he did not show it on his face. He would not say a word to avoid the military leaders' ears. He just answered truthfully, "My Lord, no."

"That's looting the people." Yan Yi said calmly.

The three soldiers kneeling on the ground were stunned together, with expressions of fear on their faces. The title Cao Qiu said made them surprised, and then panicked. They had already guessed the identity of the young man in front of them.

At this time, Si Qing came over with the refugees.

Yan Yi turned his gaze to the refugees and asked, "Did anyone among you see what just happened?"

The refugees looked at each other in bewilderment. A man who looked like a hunter hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and said, "I was nearby at the time and saw these three men demanding money from the couple and groping the woman. Her husband stepped forward to stop them."

He had just said half of his words when he was stared at fiercely by three soldiers, and he immediately swallowed the rest of his words back.

Yan Yi already had an idea in his mind, but because there were so many people present, he had to have evidence to base everything on.

He turned his gaze and looked at the ring-handled sword on the ground.

Chen Gan understood what he meant, stepped forward to pick up the knife, and with a clang, he drew the knife out of its sheath. Sure enough, he saw that the knife was covered in blood.

He walked over to the body, squatted down, lifted the deceased's clothes, and carefully examined the chest. He turned around and said, "Young Master, the knife marks match. This knife is the murder weapon."

The soldier who was shot by the arrow turned pale and his breathing became rapid.

The word "killing" was unfamiliar to Yan Yi. In his previous life, he would never have imagined that he would have a direct connection with a person's life and death.

But the environment can change a person very obviously. Born in troubled times, holding power, coupled with the oppression that filled his chest, and the eyes of the corpse on the ground that were still open, made him think for a moment and waved his hand: "Chop it off!"

Chen Gan licked his lips, strode behind the soldier who was shot by the arrow, pressed the soldier who was trembling like a sieve to the ground, and pushed his hair aside to reveal a neck with standing hair.

"Young Master Rao"

A streak of white light streaked across the sky, and as a huge head rolled to the ground, the cries for mercy stopped abruptly.

Chen Gan looked at the other two pale-faced soldiers with disgust and cast a questioning look at Yan Yi.

Yan Yi said in a deep voice, "Interrogate them both separately. Make sure they write down their names, who ordered them to do so, when they started plundering the people, how much money and goods they took, and where they went."

Si Qing and Fan Yan responded with a "yes", took out writing brushes, inkstones, and ordered the cavalry to drag the two prisoners aside and interrogate them separately.

After reviewing it once, the two of them compared it and reviewed it a second time.

After reviewing it a second time, he wrote down why he came there and the process of the investigation. He also called Sun's wife and two refugees who witnessed the incident and made clear records as well. Then he returned with the three volumes of bamboo slips to report.

Yan Yi unfolded the plan and studied it for a moment, his eyes cold and stern. "Young Master, shall we chop them all off together?" Chen Gan asked.

Yan Yi nodded slightly.

Chen Gan raised his knife and slashed. In a moment, two more heads fell to the ground, and the bloody smell in the air suddenly became thicker.

Sun's wife looked at Yan Yi with gratitude, bent down and bowed deeply to him.

Yan Yi walked up to her and helped her up. Looking at her young and beautiful face, he couldn't help but sigh. In his previous life, a woman like this would have been loved by countless people. "Do you have any relatives at home?"

Sun's wife's expression darkened and she shook her head.

Yan Yi pondered and said, "In that case, why not stay at Geqi Pavilion first? I'll have them arrange for some help to take care of your husband's funeral first, and then we can make plans."

Sun's wife nodded, tears falling again: "Thank you, benefactor."

At this time, Fan Yan came over with two cavalrymen. Pointing at the rather heavy packages in the cavalrymen's hands, he asked, "Young Master, these are the loot taken by three criminal soldiers from the people. What should we do with them?"

Yan Yi said without hesitation: "Let the refugees report their stolen property, and we will return it all after verification."

Fan Yan certainly hadn't come just to discuss the disposal of the treasure. After signaling two cavalrymen to do their work, he whispered, "Young Master, are you planning to investigate the mastermind behind this?"

Yan Yi sighed. "It's hard to convict those men based solely on this letter of love. After all these years, how many people in the military are innocent? If we were to get to the bottom of this, not only would I lack the authority to do so, but my father wouldn't agree either. I'll keep it for now; I'll have my own uses. What happened in the past can't be changed. What matters is what we do next."

Fan Yan was silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "The most important thing right now is to put an end to the looting of civilians. I'm afraid the commander-in-chief will have to step in and impose some restrictions on this matter."

"That's exactly what I meant."

Yan Yi smiled, called Si Qing over, and pulled a two-inch gold seal from the pouch at his waist. He handed it to him and said, "Zi Yue, you take the head of the ringleader and immediately return to the county. Hang it at the east gate as a warning. Spread the word that anyone who dares to plunder civilians again will be my enemy and I will kill them! Then report this to my father and mother. Ask my father to inform the county lieutenant and send patrol officers to patrol the townships and inform the chiefs of each pavilion to patrol the villages. If you discover any plundering of civilians, report it to the lieutenant immediately. I will assist him in handling the matter."

Youjiao was an official of 100 stones appointed by the county. He was directly responsible to the county chief and was responsible for patrolling the villages and arresting thieves. It was a relatively important position in the public security system.

If Yan Yi wanted to investigate and deal with looting throughout the county, he had to first obtain Yan Baihu's consent. Yan Baihu would then issue an order to the county lieutenant, who would then send out patrol officers to notify each pavilion, and each pavilion would patrol each village.

If looting of civilians is discovered, the head of the pavilion needs to discuss the matter with the patrol officers and report it to the county at the same time.

Now asking Si Qing to hang the criminal's head at the east gate and spread the news to all directions is tantamount to executing first and reporting later, forcing Yan Baihu to come out to support the situation, and he will inevitably be scolded again when he returns.

But if we don't do this, the so-called strict prohibition of looting will eventually become a joke.

Yan Yi is now taking advantage of his status as 'Yan Baihu's only son' to make the most of his money.

"If we can properly resettle the refugees this time, Young Master's kindness will surely spread throughout the village. Not only will Wucheng's population increase significantly, but the recruitment of soldiers will also be very successful."

Fan Yan smiled and turned his gaze away from Si Qing's receding figure.

Yan Yi smiled and asked himself, was he really doing this because he cared about the suffering of the people? Perhaps this was one of the reasons, but it was definitely not the main reason.

(End of this chapter)