Fortunate Young Gentleman

Chapter 561 of the Main Text Volume of Ruyi Xiaolangjun: Leniency will be given to those who confess, and strict punishment will be given to those who resist. As long as the crime is not unforgivable and the crime is extremely heinous, the punishment can be appropriately reduced if the person confesses.

Of course, those who participated in the murder of imperial officials, especially the supervisory censor, even if they were not the masterminds, were still guilty of serious crimes. For the sake of his confession, although he could be exempted from the death penalty, he could not escape from the life crime.

The local officials in Ezhou were tampering with taxes and money. Considering the general environment in Jiangnan, they could not cure any serious crimes, but murdering the supervisory censor touched the bottom line of the court.

Even if Emperor Chen doesn't pursue this matter, the Yushi Yanguan in Beijing will definitely fight with them to the end. In addition, the officials are not easy to mess with. They usually turn a blind eye just because they haven't found an opportunity. .

After questioning the manager of Yuanyang Tower, Tang Ning returned to her room and wrote a letter to Fang Hong. She would hand it over to him after these people were escorted to Beijing.

Ezhou is not a big place, with only three counties under its jurisdiction. Within one day, all three county magistrates arrived.

The three of them stood in the hall, their faces all pale. Ezhou governor, Changshi, and Biejia were all put in jail. This shows what kind of ruthless person the official from the capital is this time. If someone offends him in any way, If you let him go, you might end up like those people.

Tang Ning looked at them and asked calmly: "Do you all know that the governor of Ezhou has been embezzling state taxes and money for many years, bribing the censor, and intending to murder the imperial officials?"

The three of them said in unison: "The official knows."

Tang Ning looked at them and asked, "I have taken down all the officials involved in the Ezhou government office. What do you think about this?"

"The governor's crime is extremely heinous, and he deserves it..."

"Your Excellency handled the situation extremely well, and I admire you."

"Thank you sir for getting rid of this traitor in Ezhou..."

The situation was stronger than the people. It was obvious that the Ezhou governor was doomed this time, and the three of them sided with Tang Ning without hesitation.

What Tang Ning is most worried about is that after taking down the high-ranking officials in the state government, the people of Ezhou will mutiny. Although Ezhou is not big, it is easy to suppress it, but if you can save one thing, you will have one less thing to do. If the county government under Ezhou cooperates, they can suppress it. The impact of this matter was minimized.

He looked at the three of them and said: "The governor of Ezhou deserves his punishment. The three of you should take this as a warning and stabilize the people in your jurisdiction. If anyone dares to cause chaos and has evil intentions, I will not be lenient!"

The three of them trembled and immediately said: "I obey your orders!"

After reminding the three county magistrates, when the three left, Chen Zhou knocked on the door, walked in from the outside, and said, "Sir, the punishment for Jiangnan West Road has arrived."

The Ti Xing Guan had a very special status in the Chen State. He did not have much real power in his hands, but he had the responsibility of supervising the officials of the same line. He could directly hand over the documents to the emperor. It could be said to be a sharp sword hanging over the heads of local officials.

He made such a big noise in Ezhou, there was no reason not to alert the criminal officer, but I didn't expect him to come so quickly.

Tangning walked into the side hall and saw someone standing in the hall. After being stunned for a moment, she said, "Mr. Song, why is it you?"

The middle-aged man standing in the hall was no stranger to him. Tang Ning had met Song Qian, the former Jingdong Road prisoner, when he was in Lingzhou.

Song Qian looked at him and said with a wry smile: "It is indeed Mr. Tang..."

Tang Ning ordered Chen Zhou to serve tea. After he sat down, he asked, "Why are you here, Mr. Song?"

Song Qiandao: "A year ago, I was transferred to Jiangnan West Road. This time I happened to be near Ezhou. After hearing the news, I rushed over immediately."

He looked at Tang Ning and said with a complex expression: "Mr. Tang, do you know that if you take the Ezhou officials, it will be very difficult for you to walk in the south of the Yangtze River. It will not be easy for you to explain to the court. Strictly speaking, you have no Once the news of your power to capture the governor of Ezhou reaches the capital, it will become the reason for those people to attack you..."

Tang Ning had actually thought of this before taking action. The purpose of attacking Ezhou first was to scare the other states and scare the other states.

During this trip to Jiangnan, he had only one mission, which was to find out the rebel forces in Jiangnan and eliminate them in one fell swoop.

In order to ensure the success of this mission, no matter who or what their purpose is, anyone who causes trouble for this operation will be directly eliminated.

Song Yi seemed to have something in his words. Tang Ning looked at him and asked, "Master Song, what do you mean..."

"Book of Wanmin." Song Yi stroked his beard and said with a smile: "As long as Mr. Tang conveys the public opinion of Ezhou to the capital, he can stop the mouths of those in the capital."

Tangning smiled and said, "Thank you, Mr. Song, for reminding me."

"The situation in Jiangnan is complicated. Even though I can't stand the actions of these people, I don't dare to act rashly." Song Yi looked at him and said: "In the next period of time, I will stay in Ezhou to assist Master Tang. Deal with the follow-up matters.”

"Thank you, Mr. Song." Tang Ning could no longer delay in Ezhou. Some of the subsequent chores needed to be handled by a trustworthy person.

Song Yi waved his hand and said, "Mr. Tang, you are too polite. You have done something that I have always wanted to do but did not dare to do. In comparison, what does what I have done count?"

…

Several major events happened in Ezhou in the past two days.

The first incident was, of course, the governor of Ezhou, Sima, Changshi and other officials. They were captured and imprisoned by high-ranking officials from the capital. This really caused a major earthquake in the officialdom of Ezhou.

For a time, Ezhou officials were panicked, and this incident spread to all directions at an extremely fast speed.

The second thing is that the governor's office was open for five consecutive days. All the people in Ezhou who had been oppressed by these officials could beat the drum to file a complaint, detail their grievances, and sign their names in the Book of the People.

For this matter, the people of Ezhou responded one after another. A long queue formed in front of the yamen early in the morning and did not disperse until the yamen closed at night. The next morning, the queues of people seeking justice would reappear.

The third thing was that the property of several officials, including the governor of Ezhou, was confiscated. It is said that the silver taels confiscated added up to a huge amount of one million, and various jewelry, gold and silver filled dozens of large boxes. The people talked about it.

"These corrupt officials are so rich. Is the court's salary so much?"

"Salary, their salary for hundreds of years is not so much, isn't it all extorted from the people's fat and blood?"

"One million taels, we can't make so much money in ten lifetimes..."

"Only one million taels?" Tang Ning looked at Liu Tong and frowned slightly.

Liu Tong said: "My Lord, one million taels is real silver, and the other treasures, jewelry, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, add up to an unknown value..."

Silver is something that can really give people a visual impact. Although one million taels is already a huge sum of money, Emperor Chen is not a poor emperor now, and this money can't bring him enough impact.

Tang Ning thought about it and said: "Let someone change all the silver notes into silver and pack them in boxes. The too big objects can also be treated as silver."

Those treasures and antiques are stolen goods and are difficult to handle, but the visual impact is much greater when silver notes are changed into silver. Some things that can't be taken away can also be pawned on the spot.

Liu Tong nodded and said: "My Lord, they also found out that some merchants in Ezhou colluded with the government to evade taxes..."

Tang Ning's eyes lit up and said: "Fine, according to the law, let them pay five times the amount back. Remember to pay all silver, not silver notes!"