Phi-Fic Chapter 152 The truth is revealed
Chapter 152 The truth is revealed
The Seventh Prince sat in the front, while Ye Youlan sat behind the screen and listened to their conversation.
The Seventh Prince read the list and said, "Zhao Yong, Zhu Er, Liu Wu, Zhang Erzhuang, and Xiao Dashan are your relatives. Tell me, why didn't you live in Linzhou and chose to hide in the mountains?"
A woman with disheveled hair and tattered clothes glared at the Seventh Prince with gritted teeth, "You killed my husband, and the county officials even said he and his men were spies. It's you who has made us homeless, with no place to escape, and we're hiding in the mountains, afraid to see anyone."
"Did the master say that? Wait for the master to come and let him tell you about it."
Soon the legal advisor was brought in. He looked ashen and told everyone that he had become greedy for the pensions given by the court, so he spread rumors that they were spies and were killed by the Seventh Prince. This forced them to not dare to stay in Linzhou City and they had to hide.
The Seventh Prince looked coldly at his legal advisor. The thin and withered man was trembling all over with fear.
"In addition to embezzling the compensation from these families, did you also embezzle the compensation and relief funds from other soldiers' families?"
The lawyer's mouth trembled. "No, because these families were participants in the Liangcheng ambush case. They were labeled as spies, so they dared not say anything."
The Seventh Prince raised his eyes and looked at everyone. Did you all hear it clearly?
Zhao Lin looked at the Seventh Prince with disdain: "Maybe you colluded with this."
The Seventh Prince smiled and pointed at himself and asked Zhao Lin, "Who am I? I am the Seventh Prince, the great general who led the army to repel the Northern Desert three years ago. Why would I deceive you for a few taels of pension? I would rather kill you quietly and get rid of everything. If I hadn't come to Linzhou this time, your annual pension would have been taken away by this bastard, and you would still be hiding in the mountains, living in fear."
"Then my father is not a spy?"
The Seventh Prince handed over a list of names: "This is the list of soldiers who died in the Liangcheng ambush. The court has a copy. They are not spies, they are heroes."
After hearing what the Seventh Prince said, all the men, women, young and old in the room burst into tears, and all the grievances they had finally poured out.
The Seventh Prince's guards escorted these people home and asked the magistrate to issue a notice to clear their names, bring the legal advisor back, confiscate the stolen money, return it double, and by the way, give the legal advisor a thorough trial.
After they left, Ye Youlan came out and told the Seventh Prince, "There's nothing wrong with the county magistrate?"
"How could there not be? Besides, he has a lot of questions, and the court will have a final conclusion soon."
Ye Youlan was surprised: "You are so fast?"
"We can go back tomorrow."
"So fast?"
"We have been out for more than half a month."
"Wait." Ye Youlan realized something was wrong. "Actually, there's no need for you to come in person to find the five missing families in Linzhou. Li Zhi took your token and gave it to the magistrate. How could the magistrate not help find them? Tell me the truth, are you hiding something from me?"
The Seventh Prince laughed, "I really can't hide it from you. Actually, I just wanted to take you out for a walk?"
"No, if you take me out to play, you can go to Jiangnan. Why go to such a remote place to see? To see the wind and sand flying all over the sky? My patience is limited. Tell me quickly."
The Seventh Prince held Ye Youlan's hand and said, "Actually, Linzhou is one of my fiefdoms. It's the poorest place in Da Chu. The other two fiefdoms are Qingzhou and Gucheng, which are better than Linzhou."
"So you brought me to Linzhou to experience the harsh conditions here and see if I can adapt? Are you worried that I won't want to leave the prosperity of the capital?"
The Seventh Prince nodded and said, "The Emperor is in his prime. I cannot always be under his watchful eye. So sooner or later I will have to leave the capital and come to my fiefdom. I want to see how you adapt."
"That's all right. Let's make more money while we're in the capital, and then come to our fiefdom to renovate this place and turn this remote little place into a cozy nest that's better than Jiangnan."
"Aren't you afraid of hardship?"
"I'm a princess wherever I go, so how hard can it get?" Ye Youlan's eyes lit up. "Why don't we wait here for a few more days until the magistrate is replaced? I have some ideas I'd like to share with the new magistrate. Maybe when we return here in a few years, this place will have become an oasis."
Instead of waiting for the new magistrate to arrive, a fire broke out. Linzhou's dry climate allowed countless oil-soaked torches to be thrown into the posthouse, causing the flames to spread like wildfire. Many people were left with no time to put out the fire, and escaped only by luck.
The Seventh Prince jumped down from the second-floor window holding Ye Youlan. As soon as he stood firm, the house on the second floor collapsed.
The people in the post house stood together, looking at the post house in the blazing fire, overwhelmed with grief, and couldn't help crying. The fire was not put out until the early morning, and the post house was in ruins and scorched earth.
"Are you scared?"
Ye Youlan didn't feel scared, it felt like she was dreaming.
Everyone moved to the county government office and the county magistrate was arrested. Although he denied everything, the prince just used two of his interrogation methods and the county magistrate could not bear it anymore. He confessed everything, and even more than expected.
Ye Youlan fell silent after reading the confession.
At that time, the imperial court's grain and grass were detained after being transported to Linzhou, resulting in insufficient supply of grain and grass in the military camp. That's why the Seventh Prince ambushed Liangcheng, the grain and grass base of the Northern Desert. However, the news leaked out and the enemy was well prepared, waiting for them to fall into the trap. As a result, only 300 out of 3,000 soldiers survived.
When the Seventh Prince returned to the capital, he beat up Lord Jin, who was in charge of collecting food and fodder. Now he knew that it was the magistrate of Linzhou who was behind this. Magistrate Lin was a disciple of Ren Qishan and was dull by nature, so Ren Qishan had arranged him to Linzhou behind the scenes. He extorted as much money from the people as corrupt officials in other places.
The magistrate said that everything was arranged by Li Da. Now that Li Da is dead, there is no evidence, and the clues are cut off here.
The Seventh Prince comforted Ye Youlan: "Now you know why Li Da died suddenly, right? Only when he dies can we take the blame better. No matter what we find out, it will point to Li Da, and the clues will be automatically broken."
"Behind Li Da is the Empress Dowager, and behind the Empress Dowager is Ren Qishan. The current situation is that we know they are the ones behind it, but we can't do anything about them."
"The new magistrate will arrive tomorrow, and this Magistrate Li will be escorted back to the capital. Whether he can return safely to the capital depends on his luck."
"You said someone would assassinate him?"
"The news has been released, and if someone can't sit still, they will take action."
Ye Youlan was anxious: "Do you want him to be dead or alive?"
"It doesn't matter whether he dies or not. What matters is who can't sit still."
Ye Youlan seemed to understand that it was pointless for her to play power games and it was too tiring for her brain cells.
"Let's go to the Gyeongju Valley and then return to the city."
"it is good."
A new county magistrate arrived. He was Mr. Zhang, a minister of the Ministry of Justice, whom the Seventh Prince knew. He was so angry about being marginalized that he wanted to resign and go home, so Prime Minister Ye recommended him to come to Linzhou.