Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 180 Plot
"So that's why everything was exposed, and we've fallen to this state?"

Murong Ruyan sneered.

Master Dong's thoughts had been exposed, and he looked somewhat embarrassed.

No one would complain about having too much money. The "Yellow Robe Immortal" incident was originally a scheme by Magistrate Zhou and his cronies, who were blinded by greed. They planned to use this title to fleece the magistrate, then finish the story with the tale of "Magistrate Zhou outwitting the Yellow Robe Immortal and bringing him to justice on the spot, restoring peace and order to the county." In this way, the incident could serve as a political achievement, and they could also take a cut of the profits. It was a perfect scheme with huge profits to be made!
Who would have thought that after only half a month of work, before even having a few sips of the oily soup, they would attract the devil, causing them to lose everything!

Master Dong truly regretted suggesting to Zhou Wenfang that he use the name of "Yellow Robe Immortal" to cause trouble!
After learning the whole story, Murong Ruyan stopped arguing with Master Dong and instead sent someone to question Magistrate Zhou.

We need to compare multiple testimonies to convict these people.

However, now that the whole story is clear, some accomplices can be dealt with first.

"I've vaguely heard that the Great Xiao Kingdom conducts an annual population census to calculate taxes. I wonder... how many households are there in this county?"

The Great Xiao Kingdom places great importance on population. Although its primary purpose is to collect taxes, it also frequently reduces or exempts the poll tax for many young children in various regions in order to encourage childbirth. Compared to the previous dynasty's taxes, which often bankrupted the people and caused them to give birth to children but not raise them, the taxes in the Great Xiao Kingdom in recent years are much lower than those in the southern state of Chu.

Of course, this only happened in the last few years. When the late emperor was alive, he had created many pretexts to collect taxes, and even went so far as to conduct a ridiculous household registration check every six months.

Upon hearing Murong Ruyan's question, the clerk, who was also wearing armor, bowed slightly and replied, "Your Highness, according to the count in the county government's register, there should be 3,711 households, totaling more than 10,000 people."

Most counties in the Xiao Kingdom had around 20,000 people, and some large counties near the capital even had more than 100,000 people. A small county with just over 10,000 people like this really seemed shabby.

But it's also easy to handle.

"It really is a small county,"

Murong Ruyan nodded and ordered, "Everyone in the county shall be treated as accomplices. According to the old system of Emperor Taizu, children under the height of a cartwheel shall be exempted from punishment. Except for women who were bought and sold and who are exempted from punishment as the victims, the rest of the women shall be sent to the brothel, and the men shall be punished as government slaves. They shall be sent to General Heshilie. It just so happens that my brother is building the Baozhou Palace. Let them go to the palace to build it! All those who have committed crimes shall not be redeemed!"

Murong Ruyan's punishment was far too ruthless. Not only in this dynasty, but throughout history, such a large-scale punishment of slaves and servants is extremely rare. Even if it has happened, it is usually for serious crimes such as plotting treason or starting a rebellion, which would warrant such punishment.

The clerk beside him was so startled that he looked up abruptly, nearly breaking his brush, and didn't know how to begin writing: "This...Princess..."

"This princess hates the phrase 'the law does not punish the masses' the most. Since these young men dare to rebel, they should know who is supporting them!"
"Moreover, if the entire county is filled with such vicious people, harming merchants and civilians, and the Shuntian Army surrounds and investigates the county, they still show no remorse and are even attempting to incite a rebellion, it seems that this can already be considered a rebellion!"

As Murong Ruyan spoke, she glanced lightly at the civil official, then looked at Heishui Changqing, and sighed seemingly unintentionally, "In that case, this place will be vacant. It's not good to leave so much fertile land empty. I can also petition my brother the emperor to use this land as merit land and distribute it to everyone. But General Heshilie will probably blame me for overstepping my bounds."

Hei Shui Changqing hurriedly knelt on one knee and begged for forgiveness, saying, "Your Highness is too kind! Your Highness is a princess of the imperial family, while the general is merely a servant of the imperial family. Naturally, one should always put His Majesty and the princess first!"

However, these were just polite words. As soon as Murong Ruyan said that, the Shuntian Army light cavalry, who had not reacted before, all showed joy on their faces.

While the Shuntian Army was indeed the elite force of the Xiao Kingdom and was directly controlled by Murong Zhen, the soldiers in the army did not receive much pay. Having not fought for many years, they had long since accumulated no "merit fields." Therefore, Murong Ruyan's actions immediately aroused ambition among everyone.

"Gongtian" (功田), also known as "Niutoudi" (牛头地) or "Niujushuidi" (牛具税地), was land awarded to military households for meritorious service. Only a very low "Niujushui" tax was payable. It could not be bought or sold. Although it was nominally still "state-owned," it could be inherited.

For soldiers, nothing inspires their enthusiasm more than the reward of land for merit. Since Murong Ruyan's actions, the clerks dared not utter a word, and Heishui Changqing had long since followed Murong Ruyan's lead. In less than half a day, the more than 3,000 households and over 10,000 people in the entire county were driven away by the Shuntian Army. Heishui Changqing selected 500 men to escort them to the Shuntian Army camp in Baozhou for further processing. The remaining Magistrate Zhou, Secretary Dong, and others were all punished for their crimes. Murong Ruyan personally wrote a memorial and ordered the Shuntian Army to send it to the capital by fast horse to present to Murong Zhen. Only then did Heishui Changqing send men to slowly escort these people back to the capital.

With that, the matter in Pingding County is finally resolved. Next step…

That's Weize Pass.

Magistrate Zhou and his advisor Dong were certainly despicable, but they were right about one thing—

If there are ten passes in the world, then there will be ten passes that collude with each other to engage in smuggling to enrich themselves.

Of course, these "extra incomes" were not actually pocketed by local officials and generals; most of them were sent to their superiors as "tribute" to bribe officials.

For example, Magistrate Zhou confessed that the smuggling business at Weize Pass was largely taken by Baishan Saili—who was none other than the younger brother of the Empress Dowager of Baishan and the little brother-in-law of the Xiao Kingdom!
Baishan, a noble Mohe clan that has existed since the time of Emperor Taizu, is now not only a powerful maternal relative, but also because the Empress Dowager has an elder brother and a younger brother, and there are two powerful "imperial brothers" in the court, known as the "elder and younger imperial brothers".

Although Murong Zhen outwardly treated the two imperial brothers-in-law with great courtesy, he had been gradually eroding their power. The Empress Dowager was old and naturally dissatisfied, but due to her declining energy, she gradually lost ground in the political struggle.

Especially as relatives of the emperor, they often relied on money to pave the way in court, so the most frequent impeachments against the two imperial brothers-in-law were mostly for minor corruption, something Murong Ruyan had heard about quite a bit.

Therefore, in this memorial, she not only directly characterized the Pingding County incident as a rebellion, but also explicitly wrote about Zhou Wenfang sending the money he obtained through smuggling to the Emperor's brother's residence.

Her current privileges in the Xiao Kingdom are not only due to her being a disciple of the White Stone Immortal Sect, but also because Emperor Murong Zhen of the Xiao Kingdom is willing to coexist peacefully with the White Stone Immortal Sect.

Therefore, in politics, one cannot be a "fence-sitter."

Compared to the serious crime of treason, the matter of the "Yellow Robe Immortal" was something she downplayed, writing that Zhou Wenfang was using the pretense of a sentient animal that could blow yellow winds to perform supernatural tricks, which only took up two sentences in the memorial.

As for Weize Pass, it's even simpler.

Weize Pass is an insignificant pass, with only a few hundred people living in it. Even with the garrison soldiers, it doesn't exceed a thousand people. With the elite of the Shuntian Army, if anyone is disobedient, they can be directly suppressed by force without much effort.

"Since this Weize Pass is on my fiefdom, I will send people to garrison it!"

Murong Ruyan seemed completely unaware of the unspoken rule that princesses' fiefdoms were now merely nominal and they could not interfere in politics, and spoke to Heishui Changqing as if nothing was amiss.

When she arrived, she brought more than a dozen people with her from the villa at the foot of Baishi Mountain. They were all personal guards left to her by Murong Zhen. The weakest of them had a cultivation level of the ninth rank, and they were capable of temporarily guarding Weize Pass.

Although these people were all Murong Zhen's people in terms of kinship, in name they were "the guards of the princess's residence".

After all, she had no intention of giving up Pingding County and Weize Pass since she had already taken them in!

Didn't Master plot against the neighboring Zhou Kingdom? It's not unreasonable for him to only plot against one county and one pass.

(End of this chapter)