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Join the ServerSoon, Hang Shuyao led her men and surrounded Huang Junqing’s residence.
Although Huang Junqing had been dismissed from office, he still had the savings from his many years as an official.
Now, he was a wealthy household in Jiangnan.
His residence was very large.
Hang Shuyao directly had two hundred soldiers surround the Huang residence.
She herself led a hundred soldiers in armor and charged in through the main gate.
The guards in the residence were also very frightened at the sight of so many soldiers in armor, but there were still some who were not afraid of death and stepped forward to block Hang Shuyao and her group.
“Who are you?
Do you know who our master is?
How dare you break into our residence?”
“We’ve come to arrest Huang Junqing.
Less talk.
Lead the way.”
Hang Shuyao directly had someone grab that servant boy and make him lead the way.
At first, he was quite defiant, but after a beating, the man became much more cooperative and led Hang Shuyao and the others into the residence.
At that moment, Huang Junqing was drinking tea in a tea room with a dozen or so other officials who had also been dismissed.
“Brother Huang, what do you think is happening outside the city now?”
“I imagine that Prince of Ning is already at her wit’s end.
They are all scholars.
When scholars get riled up, they can be very terrifying.
She will suffer.”
Huang Junqing burst out laughing, and the others joined in.
“That’s right.
Those scholars are so easy to fool.
With a little agitation, they couldn’t sit still.
Let them charge into battle for us, and we can enjoy ourselves in peace.”
“No kidding.
They dismissed us from office for no reason.
We must demand an explanation.”
Just as these men were happily discussing these matters, chaos suddenly broke out in the courtyard.
Huang Junqing frowned and asked, “What is it?
Don’t they know we are meeting here?
How can they be so noisy?”
Immediately, a servant boy ran in.
“Master, bad news!
Bad news!”
“What’s wrong?
Can’t you see I am drinking tea with these gentlemen?
Why all the commotion outside?”
Huang Junqing said displeased.
“Master, government soldiers have arrived!”
No sooner had the servant boy finished speaking than Hang Shuyao had already kicked open the door of the tea room with her men.
Huang Junqing’s face was livid.
He had been the prefect here before.
When had he ever been treated like this?
He immediately demanded, “Who are your superiors?
Do you know what place this is?
How dare you lead troops to break in?”
“Huang Junqing, not to mention that you are no longer the prefect of Jiangnan Prefecture, even if you were, you would still be nothing.
Men, take everyone here.
Take them all away.”
Hang Shuyao said coldly.
“Yes.”
The soldiers immediately pounced on these men and tied them up with hemp rope.
These men were still cursing.
“You armed thugs!
We used to be civil officials!
How dare you arrest us?”
“Yes, release us at once!
Otherwise, His Majesty will not let you brutes off!”
Hang Shuyao saw that these men were still so arrogant and directly ordered, “Slap their mouths.
Do not stop until they behave.”
“Yes!”
The soldiers had been annoyed by these men’s foul mouths anyway.
Hearing Hang Shuyao say this, they put all their strength into it, slapping them directly across the faces.
Huang Junqing also hadn’t expected these soldiers to dare to strike them.
One by one, they were completely shocked.
During the Great Zhou, civil officials had always been strong and military officials weak.
Civil officials could easily manipulate military officials.
These civil officials had always looked down on soldiers.
When had they ever suffered such humiliation?
They were completely dumbfounded.
Moments later, the tea room was filled with the sound of slaps and the shouts of these men.
“It hurts so much!
Stop!
Stop!”
“Who exactly are you?
Is there no law?”
“Ah!
Ah!
Stop!
Stop!”
Only when these men quieted down did Hang Shuyao have the soldiers stop.
She had the soldiers escort these men away, leaving the soldiers from before to continue guarding the Huang residence.
Soon, Hang Shuyao escorted these dozen or so men to the city gate.
Seeing the corpses and bloodstains at the city gate, Huang Junqing was completely terrified.
Coupled with the burning pain on his face, there was no telling how wretched he looked.
Soon, these men were brought before Wei Lan and Lu Zijin.
“Your Highness, the men have been brought.
This is Huang Junqing.”
Wei Lan nodded and asked, “So, you are the one who colluded with officials in the south to agitate these scholars against the court?”
“No, I didn’t!
Not me!
You’re slandering me!
Prince of Ning, you have killed innocent people!
The officials in the south were already dissatisfied with you!”
Huang Junqing’s head grew hot, and the words came out without thinking.
He regretted it as soon as he spoke.
The corpses were still lying at the city gate.
He was terrified that Wei Lan would have him killed on the spot.
Wei Lan was so angry she laughed.
“Bring the man from before over.
Let them confront each other face to face.”
“Yes.”
Immediately, a guard brought over the man from earlier.
When the man saw Huang Junqing, he became very excited.
“Huang Junqing, you gave me one hundred taels of silver to incite the students around me to oppose the court!
Not only me, but you also found many other students to agitate!
It was all your instigation, Prince of Ning!
It was all him!”
The man cried out excitedly.
“I did not!
I did not do this!
I did not!”
Huang Junqing, his face covered in cold sweat, vehemently denied what he had done.
Wei Lan said coldly, “Shuyao, take these men away and beat them.
Do not stop until they are willing to talk.”
“Yes.”
Immediately, soldiers took these men away for beating.
These men had all been civil officials.
After being hit a few times, they all began crying for mercy.
“Spare me!
I’ll confess!
I’ll confess!
It was indeed Huang Junqing who gathered us to do this!
Prince of Ning, spare us!
We only wanted to improve the treatment of civil officials!
We never had the courage to oppose the court!”
“Yes, Prince of Ning, spare us!
We won’t dare do it again!
We’ll never dare again!”
Wei Lan did not have them stop immediately.
She let these people suffer nearly twenty strokes of the board before waving her hand to signal the soldiers to stop.
“Zhang Wenzhao, have your men write out the confessions of these people, then have them sign and fingerprint them.”
Wei Lan continued.
“Yes, this subordinate will have it done immediately.”
He quickly had the petty officials beside him write out the confessions.
Wei Lan then looked at Huang Junqing.
“Huang Junqing, write down the names of all the officials you colluded with.
The Princess and I can show you leniency.
Your family will not be implicated.”
With that, Wei Lan continued, “Oh, and you others as well.
All of you write them down, so no fish slip through the net.”
With that, Wei Lan had the ropes loosened for the others.
She had paper and brushes prepared for them and had Huang Junqing write down the names of the remaining officials clearly, so she could send soldiers to arrest them, family by family.
By now, Huang Junqing’s back was flayed open from the beating, and his face was burning with pain.
Still, he endured the discomfort, picked up a writing brush, and began to write.
The other dozen or so men did the same, each writing down their lists.
Wei Lan and Lu Zijin were not in a hurry.
They waited right there.
Soon, over a dozen lists were produced.
Wei Lan had Hang Shuyao handle this matter; everyone involved was to be arrested.
After doing this, she and Lu Zijin finally entered the city.
Zhang Wenzhao had already prepared a place for Wei Lan and the others to stay.
Wei Lan and Lu Zijin moved in.
Over the next few days, Hang Shuyao was responsible for making arrests and confiscating property.
Wei Lan and Lu Zijin, meanwhile, supervised the officials below in verifying the lists of the rioting students, recording them all and permanently disqualifying them from taking the imperial examinations.
In short, everyone at the prefectural office was busy.
Lu Zijin also had someone draft an official notice informing the public that those rioting students, and their descendants, would be forever barred from taking the imperial examinations.
After the bloody incident outside the city gate, coupled with the severe punishment of the students, the unrest was quickly quelled.
Finally, Jiangnan was stabilized once more.
However, Wei Lan and Lu Zijin still needed to stay and handle some minor matters.
For example, this time, as many as 79 officials had colluded in the unrest; they all needed to be beheaded as a public example.
Their wealth, properties, and lands would, of course, be confiscated by the national treasury.
Naturally, exiling the families of these people was also a major undertaking, requiring many bailiffs.
Wei Lan and the others also needed to coordinate with various places to transfer more bailiffs.
By the time she and Lu Zijin had finished handling all these matters, over two months had passed.
Wei Lan wrote a memorial and had it sent to the capital by fast horse, along with the confessions of those officials.
She also wrote a letter home to Fan Chuan, saying that she would stay in Panyang City for a few days on the way back.
She would have Hang Shuyao lead the main force of soldiers back to the capital to report on their mission.
After finishing their business in Jiangnan, she and Lu Zijin headed to Panyang City.
It took another half a month to reach Panyang.
This time, it was Xi Ye who came out with her subordinate officials to welcome Wei Lan and the others.
Wei Lan and Lu Zijin returned with her to the city lord’s office to stay.
“Your Highnesses, the repairs to the Lu residence are mostly finished.
The same goes for the furniture.
For the damaged furniture that was returned, Lu Feng had the craftsmen restore it.
For those pieces that were truly beyond repair, he also had carpenters make new ones according to the old styles.
Now, only the trees in the courtyards have not yet been restored.
After all, some of those very thick trees were decades old.
Lu Feng could only have new trees of the same kind replanted in the original spots.
The damaged areas are also being repaired, but they are not yet finished.”
Xi Ye reported the progress of the past two and a half months to Wei Lan and Lu Zijin.
Lu Zijin nodded faintly.
“Lu Feng must have spent a fortune this time, right?”
“Yes, Your Highness.
All the materials are the same as before, and the wages for so many craftsmen – Lu Feng has truly bled dry this time.”
Xi Ye quickly said.
Lu Zijin nodded.
“Good.
We will go and take a look tomorrow.”
“Yes, this subordinate will make the arrangements for Your Highnesses.”
Xi Ye said with a smile.
Wei Lan looked at Xi Ye, always feeling she was acting strangely.
This woman was all smiles, not the cold and aloof person she used to be.
Before she could ask, Xi Ye rubbed her hands together and knelt directly before Wei Lan and Lu Zijin.
“Your Highnesses, Zhou Yufu and I are together.
I want to marry her.
I wonder if you would be willing to be our witnesses.”
Wei Lan hadn’t expected Xi Ye and Zhou Yufu to have progressed so quickly.
“Of course.
When did you get together?”
“About a month ago.
Besides managing Panyang City affairs during this time, we have been preparing for the wedding.
There is one more thing, I wonder if I could beg Your Highness for permission?”
Xi Ye asked.
“What is it?”
Wei Lan asked.
“Yufu and I have thought about it a lot recently.
She has been running her shop here for a long time, and her family is from Panyang.
So, I thought I would stay here in Panyang City to work.”
Xi Ye had originally thought of returning to the capital.
But after thinking it over for a long time, she felt it was inappropriate.
After all, Zhou Yufu had lived here since childhood and was already used to it.
There was no reason for her to move back to the capital just because Xi Ye wanted to.
Moreover, Xi Ye’s own family was gone, so she was free and unburdened.
She should stay and keep Zhou Yufu company.
Anyway, the capital was now stable.
If the two Highnesses needed guards, there were plenty; they wouldn’t miss one.
Wei Lan nodded in understanding.
She smiled and said, “That’s good.
By leaving one of our own here in Panyang, it will be more convenient for us when we return to visit in the future.
Here’s what we’ll do: when I return to the capital, I will speak to His Majesty about this.
You will stay on as city lord of Panyang.”
“Thank you so much, Your Highnesses, for your understanding.
Yufu will be very happy when she learns of this.”
Xi Ye’s face was full of smiles as she spoke.
The adventure continues! If you loved this chapter, Looking For My Child's Father is a must-read. Click here to start!
Read : Looking For My Child's Father
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