A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1209: Mountains like the sea, setting sun like blood
Cangshan is like the sea, and the setting sun is like blood.

The sun sets in the west, but the Dragon Boat Festival activities on the Hulu River are still going on lively and have not ended yet. The river beach is crowded with people.

Many vendors also took advantage of this rare flow of people and shouted their wares enthusiastically.

No one wants to end the Dragon Boat Festival carnival early.

On a high slope beside the riverbank, a group of Anxi soldiers cordoned off an area, in the middle of which was the famous Prime Minister Wu. Many people seemed to be approaching, wanting to pay their respects to Prime Minister Wu and say a few words. It seemed that their status would increase greatly, and they would have something to talk about when talking to others in the future.

Unfortunately, no matter who it was, the Anxi soldiers would stop them and not allow anyone to disturb the Prime Minister.

On Yanzi Mountain, in Dashicheng,
A guard ran into the lobby of the City Lord's Mansion and reported to the real Prime Minister Wu, "Report, our people are fighting with Anfule's men in a tavern in the west of the city."

Wu Huaiyu chuckled, "Land Commander Xiong Kuohai and Luo Cheng, take your men over immediately and bring them all back for interrogation on charges of assault and wounding."

Brigade commanders Xiong Kuohai and Luo Cheng entered the hall upon hearing the order, excitedly took the token from the officer, then turned around and went out, shouting to their brothers who were already ready and waiting for orders, "Everyone assemble."

The two brigades of Anxi soldiers quickly gathered and formed battle array.
They were all wearing infantry armor, with shiny round armor on their chests and backs, swords hanging from their waists, and longbows slung across their backs.
Some soldiers held crossbows and drew their weapons.

Everyone had a three-barreled musket, palm bomb, and gunpowder cartridge on their waists, and a fuse wrapped around their wrists.

There was no noisy chatter; everyone gathered in silence and lined up quickly.
Spear and shield.

Xiong Kuohai swept through the two brigades of 200 guardsmen,
"The emperor has issued an order to arrest someone in Xicheng."

"One team will follow me in to get the person, one team will follow behind, and the other two teams will be responsible for surrounding and blocking the area. You have to be quick and don't get entangled. Once you've captured the person, come back quickly.

Remember, our mission is to go back and bring people back,"

After assigning the tasks, he waved his hand.

The two hundred people were divided into four teams, and they set out with their respective team leaders and deputy team leaders.

Three people form a squad, three squads form a group, and five groups form a battalion, plus the head of the battalion, the deputy flag bearer and two flag guards, for a total of fifty people.

with a clear purpose,

They also acted very quickly.
Dashi City is not very big. Today, most people in the city went out of the city to the riverside during the Dragon Boat Festival. They easily reached their destination in the west of the city.

The target is a store in the neighborhood.
This is a place that combines the functions of a warehouse, a shop, and a guesthouse. It not only provides a place for merchants to store goods and trade, but also provides food and accommodation, and even acts as an intermediary for transactions.

After An Fule and his party entered the city, they stayed in this inn registered under the name of a local merchant named Cao.

Xiong Kuohai's purple face turned even redder with excitement.
"Surround them first, and don't let anyone escape. If anyone resists with a weapon, kill them on the spot."

"Be smart, try to catch them alive."

After explaining,
Xiong Kuohai led the first team straight to the main entrance of the Didian.
At the door of the inn stood several guards, belonging to the inn's owner, Mr. Cao. When they saw the large group of fully armed Anxi soldiers approaching, they were obviously very nervous, and their hands unconsciously touched the hilt of the sword at their waist.

"I am the commander of the Anxi Yabing Brigade. Is An Fule, the merchant owner of Kucha who entered the city today, staying at your inn?" Xiong Kuohai asked.

The guard of Kucha nodded nervously, "I wonder what the soldiers want from him?"

"Several guards of his caravan had an argument with someone while drinking in a tavern, which led to a fight. Not only did they injure many people, but they also destroyed a lot of property in the tavern.
Now we have been ordered to come and arrest the people and bring them back for questioning."

After hearing that they were here for this purpose, the two Kucha guards looked better. "Please wait a moment. We will go in and inform our owner and Lord An immediately."

Xiong Kuohai glared at him and said, "How dare you hinder the Anxi Army from enforcing the law? You are so bold! Get out of the way immediately. If you still want to cover up for me, be careful that you will be punished together with me."

Fighting is not a serious crime. If it is just a fistfight, the maximum punishment is 40 strokes of the cane. If it is a weapon, the punishment is 60 strokes of the cane.

If the person attacks after a fight and is in the right, the sentence can be reduced by two levels.

But if the injury is more serious, the punishment will be severe. For example, if a person breaks a tooth in a fight, he will be sentenced to one year of hard labor. If a person knocks out more than an inch of hair, he will be punished with 100 strokes of the cane.

Disfigurement of an ear or nose, breaking a finger of a hand or foot, blinding an eye, breaking a bone, just like knocking out a tooth, will all result in one year of forced labor.

The Tang Dynasty Code had very clear provisions regarding fighting.

Of course, in addition to these penalties, civil compensation for injuries and damage to property due to fights is also necessary.

Now the Anxi soldiers have come to arrest people, with very good reasons.

Since the Anxi Army entered Dashicheng, the Tang Dynasty laws have been applied. Moreover, the new king of Qiuci has already assigned Wensu and other three kingdoms to the Anxi Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty, and this place has also been set up as Wensu Prefecture.

As the capital of Wensu Prefecture, Dashicheng is temporarily under the charge of Anxi Yabing to take charge of city defense and public security.

Fighting, injuring people, and destroying property are all their responsibility.

Xiong Kuohai led his men into the store.
At a glance, he saw the Turkic guards of Anfule who were bandaging his wounds.
Those guys were in a pretty miserable state, with more than just bruised faces and noses. Some had broken noses, some had lost teeth, and some had broken hands. In short, those strong Turkic guards were groaning in pain.

Seeing the Anxi army rushing in,

An Fule and others were also shocked and very nervous.

The guards of Kucha quickly explained to Cao Dongjia the purpose of their visit.

Xiong Kuohai swept over the crowd,
There were nearly a hundred people gathered here, all of them young and strong, including Anfule and his group of more than twenty people.

"An Fule, these Turkic guards under your command got into a fight in the tavern today, injuring people and destroying property. Now we are going to take them back to the Wensu Prefecture Office for questioning according to the law."

Anfule smiled and stepped forward, quietly handing over the purse, "Here is a hundred silver coins."

"These bastards drank some horse urine and they don't know how high the heaven is and how deep the earth is. They quarreled with people and were really bastards. We should pay for the medicine and the lost wages. We will also pay for the damaged tables, chairs, cups, bowls, and drinks in the tavern.
Look, how about we just settle this matter among ourselves, and not trouble the Ya Army to worry about it."

Then he took out a purse and said, "This is for the soldiers to drink."

One hundred silver coins were given to Xiong Kuohai who led the team, and one hundred silver coins were given to the guards who followed. An Fule was decisive and generous.

These two hundred silver coins can buy five good horses. It is definitely a generous gesture.

Xiong Kuohai showed the two money bags that he had secretly stuffed into his hands and tossed them back and forth in his hands, "An Fule, you are so bold that you dare to openly bribe the Anxi soldiers."

"Come here, take Anfule away along with the Turks who beat and injured others."

Lord Cao came up and just opened his mouth.
Xiong Kuohai glared, "Whoever dares to obstruct the law enforcement again, don't blame me for being ruthless, I will catch them all and punish them."

Lord Cao had no choice but to take two steps back.
All the Kucheans, Turks, and Sogdians in the inn stood up. They looked at each other unfriendlyly and the atmosphere became tense.

Xiong Kuohai laughed twice.
Lord Cao gritted his teeth and shouted, "What are you all still standing here for? Go do what you need to do and don't hinder the soldiers from enforcing the law."

After saying that, he looked at An Fule and said, "Shangzhu An, although we are old friends, I really can't help you this time. You have to control your people. Go back with these soldiers and explain the problem.
You should pay the money if you should pay it, and you should plead guilty if you should plead guilty. You should explain clearly to the government that you just don’t know the rules, and you really don’t want to bribe anything…"

An Fule nodded slightly. He understood what Lord Cao meant. Don't lose the big picture for the sake of small gains. You should put the overall situation first.

Just follow him first. Even if they admit their guilt, it is only a few crimes of fighting, injuring people, destroying property and bribery. Just be patient and wait for Tutun to lead his troops to attack. When they capture Dashi City, they will naturally be fine.

It's just a matter of one or two days, and it will pass if you bear with it.

Anfule called over all the Turkic guards who had participated in the fight, and followed them.

Xiong Kuohai did not stay long.

This time, they were only here to capture those Turkic guards. They wanted to verify through them whether Qulichu Tutun was going to attack.

Anfule gave him money and took him along just as a gift.

The Anxi Ya soldiers came quickly and left quickly.

In the inn, Cao Runguo had a gloomy look on his face.

Several people came over and asked, "Have we been exposed?"

"Impossible. If we are really exposed, they will not be able to take away only An Fule and others. They will definitely kill us all at once. It must be just a coincidence. Quickly notify the others and tell them to be honest and not create any more trouble," said Cao Runguo.

"Then just ignore An Fule? What if the Tang people interrogate him and find out something?"

"An Fule is not stupid. He is only being taken away for bribery. If he keeps his mouth shut, he will only suffer for a few days. If he says something he shouldn't, the Tang people will not let him go, and neither will we."

After discussing it, they decided that nothing had been done and it was just an accident.

Continue to lie in wait, and prepare to open the door when Tutun arrives.

Anfule also thought so along the way, it was just an accident caused by the fight between those Turkic guards.

But when they were brought back to the provincial government, which was the former city lord's mansion, they immediately discovered something was wrong.

The person in charge of interrogating him was Zhao Yuankai, the chief officer of the Anxi Protectorate. Although this guy had a bad reputation, he had a lot of experience.

He was the youngest son of Zhao Fen, the prime minister of the Sui Dynasty. He was a famous flatterer during the Sui Dynasty. When Yang Guang toured Jiangdu, he was responsible for supplying fine wine and delicious food. This guy tried his best to provide all kinds of fine wine and delicacies, and was thus promoted to the position of Jiangdu County Magistrate.

Later, he surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and was promoted to the position of Shaoqing of the Ministry of Agriculture. He was good at plundering people's wealth, which made his colleagues dislike him. However, he was still promoted to the governor of Puzhou for his meritorious financial management. When the emperor visited Puzhou, this guy flattered the emperor in every way, ordered the people to wear gauze clothes to welcome the emperor, decorated the Puzhou government buildings, and prepared hundreds of sheep and thousands of fish to give to the royal relatives and ministers who accompanied the emperor. Because of this, he was reprimanded by Li Shimin.

But this guy's career has always been stable.
Even when Wu Huaiyu was on the Western Expedition, he was able to squeeze in and become the chief steward. After the war, all the generals and chief stewards returned to the capital, but this guy insisted on staying and became the chief secretary.

Wu Huaiyu didn't like this guy's character very much, but this guy was still very capable in doing things.

He personally interrogated Anfule and his Turkish guards.

It only took an hour.
He came to see Wu Huaiyu with a thick stack of interrogation records.

"Prince Wu, these guys have confessed everything. As expected, it is Qiuci Tutun Qulichu who is planning a rebellion. They want to attack Dashicheng with internal and external support, and even want to harm you,"

Zhao Yuankai reported excitedly.

Wu Huaiyu took the interrogation script and read it. Zhao Yuankai immediately made tea for Wu Huaiyu and fanned Wu Huaiyu with a fan.

He is a third-rank purple gold minister, but he always does such things to curry favor with his superiors.

When Wu Huaiyu was conquering Gaochang, his mount was bitten by an insect on the forehead. This guy actually used his mouth to suck out the pus and blood from Wu Huaiyu's mount. It was simply incredible.

Wu Huaiyu asked some details while watching, and knew that these results were obtained through separate interrogations. Although torture was also used, since they were interrogated separately, the credibility was very high.

The Anxi Army got the results they wanted. Everything was verified as they predicted. They even got a lot of more precise information on key points such as time and quantity.

"If what these guys say is true, then Trevor should be here tomorrow night."

"Well, tomorrow night, or the night after, just these two days."

"This guy really dares to think and act, hehe." Wu Huaiyu was disdainful. If it were someone else, he might really be careless and lose Jingzhou.

But Wu Huaiyu likes surprise attacks and beheadings the most, so how could he not be on guard against this?

"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Zhao. You can go and get busy first."

Wu Huaiyu didn't want others to see this guy trying to fawn on him. He had sucked the pus out of his mount's wound before, and it was well-known in the Western Regions. Even Chang'an probably knew about it.
I have to be implicated by this guy for no reason.

"Okay, I won't disturb the Prime Minister's rest. If you need anything, just let me know."

(End of this chapter)