girl riding a horse

Chapter 958 Heading to Taiping County

"Thank... Commander Xie." Under Xie Yuan's gaze, the county magistrate couldn't help but stammered, and cupped his hands, "I'm the magistrate of this county, Liu Shichang."

Xie Yuan frowned slightly. She knew in her heart that this family castle could exist, and the magistrate of this county must not be out of the way. But after thinking about it, because of the Queen Mother Bao and His Majesty, she herself tolerated it in various ways. Why make things difficult for a small county magistrate.

Besides, His Majesty asked him to come, clearly to give him a chance to turn his back on the dark.

Thinking of this, Xie Yuan frowned, and said in a cold voice:

"Magistrate Liu, I'll leave the rest of the matter to you. Those serfs have to divide their fields and have a place to live. These are all matters within the county magistrate's job, so there shouldn't be any difficulties."

Magistrate Liu nodded quickly and said:

"Yes, yes, the next official must do his best to take care of it."

"Also, the belongings of the Zhang family are going to be confiscated and returned to the public. I have already ordered people to make a book. Afterwards, you slowly put it away and wait for His Majesty to dispose of it. I took away the family members of the Zhang family, and His Majesty wants to see them."

"Okay, okay, the officer knows."

After Xie Yuan finished speaking, he led people past County Magistrate Liu and the others, first her personal soldiers, and then the family members of the Zhang family who were tied up with ropes, strung together in a string, looking miserable from his walked by.

……

……

"Your Majesty, except for the owner of Zhangjiabao who died on the battlefield because he refused to surrender, the rest of the people have been brought here." Xie Yuan said to the imperial carriage.

Emperor Ulay looked at the people kneeling on the ground. There were old people, women, and a few young men. Most of them were women and children.

He looked back annoyedly, and asked:

"The castle owner is dead, who knows best about him?"

Xie Yuan's eyes flickered, and he turned his face to the side and called out neatly:
"Zhang Shun!"

Zhang Shun, who was kneeling behind him, trembled, and quickly responded:

"Zhang Shun is here, Zhang Shun is here."

Xie Yuan introduced:
"This is the butler of the castle owner. At that time, the castle owner of Zhangjiabao sent him to speak out. He is probably a close friend of the castle owner. He should know it clearly."

When Emperor Wu Lei heard about it, he glanced at Zhang Shun, wondering what he was thinking.After a while he said:

"Go down, you've worked hard. Looking back, all the belongings of Zhangjiabao will be rewarded for your military merits in the central camp."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Xie Yuan bowed in response, but hesitated for a moment and did not move.

Emperor Ulay asked, "What's the matter? Is there anything else?"

"Your Majesty... At that time, in order to persuade them to surrender, I promised those people in the castle that they could share the land and be exempted from tax for one year. I don't know if it will be honored."

Seeing Xie Yuan respectfully, Emperor Wu Lei was as cautious as he did something wrong at first, his deep eyes flashed, he suddenly smiled, and said to her heartily:

"Of course, the distribution of land itself is a policy of the imperial court, and tax exemption is fine. These are trivial matters. It is in my favor that you can tear down the fortress so quickly. You have done a good job."

Xie Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty." He turned and left.

……

Xie Yuan wiped his body and changed his clothes behind the screen, while Shen Liuzhen watched her shadow and listened to her from outside the screen.

"I'm really afraid that His Majesty will not allow it. Although I said that the persuasion to surrender is to win and save lives, if it cannot be fulfilled, I will feel ashamed of those poor serfs. Fortunately, Your Majesty agreed and did not blame me. "

Shen Liuzhen propped his chin, looked at Xie Yuan's shadow stretching his arms to put on his clothes, narrowed his eyes slightly as if enjoying himself, took a sip of tea and said:

"Your Majesty will naturally agree. You can tell the difference, how could he not know."

Xie Yuan turned his head out from behind the screen, wrapped his sleeves, looked at Shen Liuzhen and questioned:

"Why do I listen to your words, it seems that... you are hurting me?"

Shen Liuzhen quickly put on a bright and flattering smile, and said, "No..."

When Xie Yuan heard about it, he nodded instead, sat down beside Shen Liuzhen, and said honestly:

"But you are right. Your Majesty must be better than me. By the way, what do you think His Majesty wants to ask the Zhang family? Why do you want to meet them?"

The smile on Shen Liuzhen's face became smaller, and after thinking about it, he said:
"It's nothing more than to confirm some things, and ask if it really has something to do with the Queen Mother."

Hearing this, Xie Yuan turned his head slightly in surprise, stared at Shen Liuzhen's expression and said:
"Your Majesty...doesn't trust you because of the Empress Dowager?"

Shen Liuzhen raised his face and thought for a while, after thinking for a while, he said:

"That's not the case. He still has luck with the Empress Dowager Bao, hoping that the rumors are rumors and not true, so that he can feel better in his heart. Another thing, the emperor can't listen to one side, these are his It should be done. Only by listening to it in many ways and confirming it in many ways can we make the right decision.”

Xie Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, she wiped her wet hair with a cloth towel, and said:

"I also learned from you badly. I should be more cautious in the future. I can't let His Majesty think that we are overstepping our powers and arbitrarily doing things. After turning around, the good monarchs and ministers will be suspicious again."

Shen Liuzhen snatched the cloth towel from her hand, walked behind her, wiped her hair gently and carefully, and said in a gentle voice:
"We, A Yuan, are right, we listen to you. It's been a hard trip... Thank you for coming back."

When Xie Yuan heard this, he burst out laughing with a "puchi", turned his head to look at him and said:

"Why so nasty?"

When Shen Liuzhen heard it, sparkling light shone in his sparkling eyes, with warm joy, he covered Xie Yuan's hair with a cloth scarf with both hands, just wrapping it around her ears, as if holding her head of.

He remained silent, bent down slightly, and kissed Xie Yuan's forehead lightly, cherishing it extremely.

Xie Yuan was looking at him with his chin up. It was rare to see his face turned upside down in his eyes. Under the dim light, Shen Liuzhen's face was very different, very mature and affectionate.It was as if he was holding him in the palm of his hand like a child.

Her eyes flickered a little, as if she felt that such Shen Liuzhen was a little strange, but soon she raised her chin, leaned over, cooperated with him, and the two kissed deeply.

……

……

I don't know what the emperor asked, anyway, the emperor sentenced all the people in Zhangjiabao to be executed that day, whether they were old people or children, they were all killed on the spot.

The next day, they went to Taiping County according to the existing plan.

Taiping County is a fief granted by the emperor to Huashi, where the Empress Dowager Bao will live with her son for the elderly.

The guard of honor marched mightily on the pipeline, and before they reached the boundary marker of Taiping County, they saw the Empress Dowager Bao and many people standing on the official road waiting to greet her.

She was wearing gorgeous clothes, surrounded by maidservants, and some local officials were behind her. Except for the unregulated imperial items, it was not much worse than the emperor's guard of honor.

(End of this chapter)