I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 692: Establishing authority and capturing aristocratic families, opening a court to try important cases (Combined Chapter 5K4)

"Yes, evidence."

"You accuse someone of treason with nothing to show for it. Do you think I'm easy to fool?"

"If I believe this, how can I gain the trust of the people in the world?"

When Master Liu heard this, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He had a subtle feeling that Su Yao had already expected him to say this and was waiting for him to say it.

But right now it was a matter of life and death, and he couldn't afford to think too much. If he couldn't provide strong support, his family would be doomed.

As a result, Master Liu kowtowed like crazy and not only confessed everything he knew, but also, fearing that the evidence was insufficient, he compiled a bunch of powerful details in order to protect himself.

Some of these stories are true, while others are completely fabricated with exaggeration.

These things ranged from how Zhang Yan secretly contacted the remnants of Dong Zhuo to launch a boycott against the rule of Marquis Guanjun and so on.

From small things like Zhang Yan raising private soldiers, colluding with powerful people, acting lawlessly, bullying and dominating the market.

Even trivial matters such as Zhang Yan's childhood when he stole chickens from his neighbor's house and kicked the door of a widow's house were dug up by Master Liu.

In order to save his own life, Master Liu resorted to all means, portraying Zhang Yan as a treacherous villain with evil intentions.

"When the thief Dong occupied Hongnong, Zhang Yan fawned on Dong Zhuo and offered him grain and money eagerly."

"Now that the Marquis of Guanjun has arrived, he has not done anything to help. Instead, he has encouraged us to try to threaten the Marquis by boycotting the Zhen Company. His evil intentions are obvious, and his rebellious intentions are obvious!"

As he spoke, he secretly observed Su Yao's expression. Seeing that he did not show any impatience, he felt relieved and continued to add fuel to the fire:

"I heard it with my own ears. He and his men conspired to raise an army and rebel when the time is right. We will cut off your way home and attack you from both sides together with the thief Dong to destroy your army!"

Young Master Liu was talking with spit flying everywhere, but Su Yao kept a faint smile on his face and did not comment.

He knew that some of these accusations were true and some were false, but that didn't matter.

This time he came here, he had already communicated with Jia Xu. The important thing was that Mr. Liu's words were enough to cause an uproar in Hongnong City and put Zhang Yan in a passive position.

The times have changed.

These noble families in the Central Plains have probably lived in peace for too long, and many of them have not come to their senses. They seem to think that they can still, as they did in the past, rely on their status as local bosses and family power to point fingers at foreign rulers and do whatever they want.

Little did they know that Su Yao was different from those weak prefects and governors who were played around by them.

In troubled times, the strong are respected, and only those with strong soldiers and horses can dominate the rise and fall.

Su Yao knew very well that the new version would require a new way of playing.

If he wants to end the chaos as soon as possible, he must break the old rules and restore order.

The Su Yao of today is no longer the man who had a boss above him, was bound by rules in everything, and had to be careful to avoid getting a red name.

Marquis of Guanjun, General of Chariots and Cavalry, leader of the anti-Dong alliance, in the blink of an eye, he has become the leader of a faction, able to decide life and death with a single word, and holding the fate of countless people in his hand.

That is true. If you are guilty, then it is a sin even if you enter the door with your left foot first.

Of course, Su Yao would not easily abuse such power, but at the same time, this does not mean that his leniency towards his subordinates would be unlimited indulgence.

Since the noble families in Hongnong City are ignorant of the current situation and are against him, severe punishment will surely await them.

He could just use this action to establish his authority, not only solving the food and salary problems in one fell swoop, but also letting the noble families in Hongnong City know who the real masters here are.

So, Su Yao smiled faintly:
"Mr. Liu, your accusation is very serious. I cannot make a conclusion based on your one-sided statement."

"However, since you are so sure, I will give you a chance."

"Later, you will go to Zhang Yan's residence with Fengxian and Wenhe to find evidence of his treason."

"If the evidence is conclusive, then considering your hard work in exposing the crime, I will give your Liu family a lighter sentence."

"And if what you said is untrue and you are maliciously accusing me, then don't blame me for being merciless."

Su Yao's eyes suddenly became sharp, which made Master Liu feel a chill in his heart. He nodded quickly and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead:

"Yes, yes, I will do my best to find evidence of Zhang Yan's treason!"

Immediately afterwards, the army behind Su Yao turned around. Except for more than a hundred people who stayed here to continue blocking the mansion and guarding the people in Lu Xianghou's mansion, the rest followed Lu Bu and Jia Xu, mounted their horses and headed straight for Zhang Yan's mansion.

"Marquis Lu Xiang, you really have a filial and good son."

Su Yao looked at Master Liu's hurriedly departing back, a meaningful smile forming on the corner of his mouth.

Everyone in Marquis Luxiang's mansion also breathed a sigh of relief.

However, when Liu Song looked at the army that came and went in a hurry, his face did not relax at all.

He was worried that he had only escaped temporarily.

He was really not sure whether his son could find evidence of Zhang Yan's treason.

However, his worries were obviously unnecessary.

Because Zhang Yan ran away.

"Oh no, Brother Zhang!"

"Have you heard? The Marquis of Guanjun has just sent troops to surround the Marquis of Luxiang's mansion and is now calling for justice!"

Outside Zhang Yan's mansion, Li Shen and others ran in panic, shouting.

However, when they entered the house, they found that the mansion was in chaos. The servants were packing up their belongings, and Zhang Yan and his family were nowhere to be seen.

Li Shen quickly grabbed a servant who was running away in a panic and asked him about it.

It turned out that Zhang Yan felt something was wrong when he heard that Champion Marquis Su Yao was leading a large army straight to Marquis Luxiang's mansion.

He was afraid that Su Yao would be serious and he would become the next target, so he simply ran away with his family out of the city and returned to his own manor in the west to protect himself.

"what?!"

After hearing what the servants said, Li Shen's eyes widened with shock.

"Here, what should I do?"

Another young man from a noble family who came over had a look of anxiety on his face.

None of them expected that Zhang Yan would choose to escape at this critical moment.

“I said at the time that this could not be done!”

"He was so determined to do it, but now he's running away!"

"What a coward."

Li Shen was so anxious that he jumped up and down, and other children from noble families also started cursing.

"Don't panic, everyone. It's useless to say this now. Things may not develop to the worst. We should think of a solution first."

At this time, an older young man from a noble family gave rational advice, hoping to bring everyone together again.

However, his efforts were doomed to fail.

Soon, before these people could figure out what was going on, the sound of hurried horse hooves came from far away, and then a group of cavalry appeared in front of them.

The leaders were none other than Lu Bu, Jia Xu and Liu Gui.

Lu Bu reined in his horse and glanced at him sternly:
"Great! All the ghosts and monsters have gathered together."

"Your crimes of conspiracy and rebellion have been exposed. Why don't you surrender quickly and wait for your punishment!"

"what?!"

"rebel???"

"What an injustice! What an injustice!"

As soon as Lu Bu finished speaking, the children of the noble families all showed expressions of fear. Some wanted to escape, while others tried to explain themselves.

However, Lu Bu naturally would not give them any chance. He waved his hand and the cavalrymen behind him quickly surrounded these people like tigers descending from the mountains.

"No!"

"My father is an important official with a rank of 2,000 stones!"

"You can't catch me!"

Faced with the aggressive soldiers, some people stepped forward and cited the names of their elders to try to resist.

However, what he got was a heavy punch that made him grit his teeth in pain.

"In front of the Champion Marquis, even the most powerful officials with a rank of 2,000 liters are useless."

Lu Bu's voice was cold and resolute. He said with disdain:

"The crime of treason is unforgivable. Once verified, none of you will be able to escape!"

Finally, until this moment, these young men from noble families who prided themselves on their noble births realized how stupid it was to reason with the soldiers.

In the face of absolute force, all sophistry and resistance are futile.

Lu Bu's order was like an iron law and could not be questioned. The cavalrymen acted quickly, escorted these young men from noble families onto their horses one by one, and brought them back to the county magistrate's office for interrogation.

Along the way, the people saw those disciples of aristocratic families who were once high and mighty being escorted on horses by Su Yao's army and marched through the streets and alleys. They all poked their heads out curiously, revealing shocked looks on their faces.

It cannot be said that no one expected the Champion Marquis to react, but few of them could have imagined that the Champion Marquis would act so quickly and forcefully.

Amid the discussion among the crowd, Lu Bu and others escorted the children of noble families back to the gate of the county governor's mansion.

When they came here, those noble families who were previously as depressed as eggplants hit by frost suddenly regained their spirits. Looking at the plaque of the county governor's mansion and listening to the discussions of the people behind them, those noble families cried out in grievance and demanded an explanation from the Marquis of Guanjun.

This is the Hongnong County Governor's Mansion!
It is a place that represents the majesty of the imperial court!

Those soldiers are unreasonable, but you, the Champion Marquis, can't just not listen to them!

However, they did not expect that after arguing for a long time, the Champion Marquis did not come out to meet them.

Su Yao directly handed the task of interrogation to his newly appointed military advisor, General Jia Xu.

In the lobby, the candlelight flickered and the atmosphere was tense and depressing.

Jia Xu sat in the main seat, looking sharply at the children of noble families who were escorted in. There was no expression on his face, as if he was a cold sculpture.

"Everyone, the Marquis of Guanjun has ordered that we must investigate Zhang Yan's rebellion."

Jia Xu's voice was deep and powerful:
"I hope you can tell the truth and not misjudge the situation and waste your life in vain."

These young masters who usually live a life of luxury now look pale and their eyes are filled with fear and anxiety.

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"Military Advisor Jia, we really don't know about Zhang Yan's rebellion!"

Li Shen was the first to speak, with a sobbing tone in his voice:

"We just followed his orders and participated in some actions to boycott the Zhen Company. Our original intention was just to get Marquis Guanjun to pay more attention to us. There was really no other reason. We would never dare to rebel!"

"Yes, yes, we definitely don't have any other intentions!" Other children from aristocratic families also echoed, trying to distance themselves from the matter.

However, Jia Xu just smiled coldly:
"Humph, boycotting the Zhen Company? Do you think this is just a simple business competition?"

Jia Xu's voice became stern:
"This is an act of treason, an attempt to overthrow the rule of the imperial court!"

The children of the noble families were panicked and tried to make excuses.

However, Jia Xu no longer paid attention to their explanations and started the interrogation directly.

This time, he did not gather all of them together, but interrogated each of them individually.

"Li Shen, now that things have come to this, you should tell the truth."

Jia Xu's voice was deep and powerful, as if it could penetrate people's hearts:
"Master Liu has already told us about Zhang Yan's conspiracy."

"We already have enough evidence."

"Now you are asked to explain, which is to give you a chance to survive."

"If you don't cooperate with us, and someone else betrays you, then the confiscation of your property and the extermination of your tribe will be inevitable."

When Li Shen heard this, his face turned pale instantly.

God bless him, if he knew this might involve treason, he would never get involved.

This made him explain, but he himself didn't know what to explain.

At this time, Liu Gui, the son of Liu family, who was interrogating Jia Xu, saw that he was so unruly and hurriedly said,

"Brother Li, don't you understand yet?"

Young Master Liu lowered his voice, with a hint of urgency in his tone:

"Now is not the time for you to handle this alone. Only if everyone works together and turns Zhang Yan over, can we have a chance of survival!"

When Li Shen heard this, a trace of struggle flashed in his eyes. He looked at the soldiers in shining helmets and armor around him, and then looked at Jia Xu with a serious face. He knew in his heart that he could not hesitate any longer at this moment.

So he explained in detail how Zhang Yan had instigated them to fight against Su Yao.

Jia Xu listened carefully and found that Li Shen's testimony was obviously more reliable than Liu Gui's previous words, with rigorous logic and consistent evidence.

According to what Li Shen said, Zhang Yan did often express his dissatisfaction and hostility towards Su Yao, and even made it clear that he would use this opportunity to teach Guan Jun Hou a severe lesson.

There is no doubt that Zhang Yan is the mastermind behind this boycott.

But the most crucial thing is that no evidence of Zhang Yan's rebellion was found.

Neither the physical evidence in the mansion nor the testimonies of these people could clearly indicate the crime of treason.

This made Jia Xu's face gradually gloomy.

This was obviously not what he wanted.

If Lord Su wants to rectify the chaos in Hongnong, he must severely punish a group of people.

The current charges are obviously not enough to support such an action. If it is launched rashly, it will give people excuses and be detrimental to the reputation of the prince.

It seems that he has to think of something.

Fortunately, Jia Xu was very familiar with the style of these children from aristocratic families.

As the saying goes, if your family is big, you will have all kinds of people.

Perhaps some people are born into a prominent family, cherish their reputation and can be regarded as models of virtue, but at the same time, there must be people in his family who use his name to do evil.

So, Jia Xu instructed Master Liu and Li Shen and others to provide some reliable evidence of treason if they wanted to survive.

At the same time, after consulting Su Yao, Jia Xu immediately opened the gates of his mansion and posted notices to collect information about Zhang Yan and other powerful families who were committing crimes, such as committing crimes for money, killing people, and oppressing the people, and encouraged the masses to report them.

As soon as the notice was issued, the entire city of Hongnong was shocked.

There was a crowd of people in front of the bulletin board, talking a lot. Some looked angry, some had hope in their eyes, and more people looked incredulous.

They found that this champion seemed to be serious!
For a time, the members of the noble families whose family members were detained were very upset, while their enemies and the common people who were usually bullied by them were very excited.

However, Zhang Yan and others have been working in Hongnong City for a long time. Although they cannot cover the sky with one hand, they still have a huge influence.

It’s not like ordinary people haven’t tried to file complaints before, but in the end they were all covered up by officials protecting each other.

Instead, the person who filed the complaint ended up with his family destroyed.

Therefore, although the notice caused a sensation, there were almost no people who dared to stand up and report it.

Throughout the whole day, the front of the county magistrate's mansion was bustling with activity, but there were only people who were watching the fun.

Soon, looking at Jia Xu who was doing nothing inside the door, many people, especially those from the aristocratic families who were watching, showed expressions of watching a joke.

They all started to make a fuss and demanded that Guan Junhou release the people and not wrongly accuse the innocent.

"Let them go, let them go, let them go!"

The crowd followed suit and shouted, one after another, resounding over the Hongnong County Magistrate's Mansion.

Faced with this surging public opinion, Jia Xu's face was cold, but he was not desperate in his heart.

Because he knows that almost nothing does not mean absolutely nothing.

He just didn't believe that those aristocratic families could cover the sky with one hand. Is it possible that there is no citizen with any integrity in this huge city of Hongnong?

Therefore, Jia Xu closed his eyes, ignored the noise outside the door, and waited patiently.

And this wait took a whole day.

dusk.

Even the crowd watching outside the door were shouting in boredom, and their voices were sparse.

Suddenly, an old man in ragged clothes and bare feet pushed through the crowd, staggered to the front of the county magistrate's mansion, knelt on the ground with a plop, and shouted to the sky, accusing a young man from a wealthy family of occupying his property twenty years ago and killing his son who had filed a complaint several years ago.

"Master!"

"Champion Hou!"

"Please help me, old man!"

"That kid from the Zhao family took advantage of his family's wealth and power to seize my ancestral property and caused my son to die unjustly. I, an old man, will demand justice today even if I have to risk my life!"

--"Pooh!"

"Don't spit blood at me."

Among the crowd of onlookers, the patriarch of the Zhao family was so angry that veins on his forehead were exposed after hearing what the old man said.

He really never expected that there would be a tail to this matter.

His son is currently being detained in the county magistrate's mansion. If the old man succeeds in his complaint, the consequences will be disastrous.

Immediately, he signaled his tribesmen to pull the old man down.

But how could Jia Xu let him have his way?
Although there was a lot of noise, he could still hear the cries of injustice outside the door while he was in the mansion.

He knew that the people were deeply concerned, and that the situation could only be reversed by setting a strict and severe example and alleviating their concerns.

So, after exchanging a glance with Su Yao, Jia Xu slammed the gavel in his hand and shouted:
"Bold maniac!"

"They dare to be so presumptuous in front of the champion's seat. Come, take them all down!"

Following Jia Xu's order, Zhao Yun made a lightning-fast move in front of the mansion gate. He stepped in front of the Zhao family members in a few steps. His body was as fast as lightning and his moves were as fast as the wind. In the blink of an eye, he subdued those Zhao family members who tried to pull the old man to the ground and protected the old man.

Behind him, the Scarlet Cloud Knights also attacked with heavy punches. They brandished their unsheathed long swords and rushed towards the "crowd" that were watching the fun and making a fuss, heading straight for the Zhao family leader and others who had just instigated the riot.

This guy scared the Zhao family members out of their wits.

They were just ordinary clan members, how could they be a match for these battle-hardened knights?
For a moment, there were wailing and screaming in front of the county magistrate's mansion, and the Zhao family members were knocked down one by one with clanging sounds.

The head of the Zhao family didn't even have time to react before he was pinned to the ground by the knights and captured.
(End of this chapter)