Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 557: Alarming the Snake

At nightfall, six people were drinking and having fun in the outer house. One of them sighed and said, "It's a pity that there are no beauties to accompany us. If Master Lin hadn't asked us to be quiet for a few days, we would have had to ask two beauties to serve us tonight."

Another person laughed and said, "What's the use of having so many lackeys around Wu? They will be taken care of by us brothers anyway!"

"Shut up! I've told you that no one is allowed to mention this matter again!" said the leader in a bad tone.

At this time, the housekeeper came in with a smile on his face, and said as he walked in, "My dear warriors, the master has ordered me to take good care of your daily expenses. I have already sent the food to the kitchen. Come, I will use your wine to celebrate your success!"

After saying this, the butler picked up the wine jug, poured himself a glass first, then filled everyone's glasses one after another, and then drank it all in one gulp under everyone's gaze.

"Okay, okay, the butler has a good alcohol tolerance!"

Everyone cheered and then drank what was in their cups. When the butler saw everyone had finished drinking, he chatted with them for a while just in case.

Not long after, there was a sudden noise in the room and the sound of tables and chairs overturned. The housekeeper pretended to be surprised and rushed into the door, only to see six people falling to the ground one after another, obviously dead.

The butler smiled coldly, thinking that it was just a little trick. Then he stepped forward and carefully felt everyone's pulse. Seeing that the master had completed his tasks, he instructed several servants of the Lin family to deal with the aftermath, and then he hurried back home.

After listening to the housekeeper's words, Lin Weining heaved a long sigh of relief. Now that the people who did it were gone, no one would be able to find out that it was him who did it. He was now clear of all charges.

In the city of Xuzhou, martial law was in place at this time, and the streets were full of guards rushing around. The people of Xuzhou never expected that even though the world was at peace, they could still see a scene that seemed like a war.

Although Wu Jinkun was assassinated, he did not stop. He only stayed in Xuzhou for two days before heading south to Nanjing without stopping.

In November of the second year of Zhaowu, Meng Jun issued an edict to conduct a population census, compile the Ding Book, and revise the Huang Book. However, nearly two years had passed, and the progress of many provinces was extremely slow. Only Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, and several provinces in Sichuan actually reported the Ding Book and the Huang Book to the court.

The rest of the provinces were facing numerous difficulties. Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong and Guangxi were recently recovered, so it was understandable. However, areas such as Jiangnan and Shandong had not been hit by war for a long time, and the officials sent by the court to investigate the local areas were unable to make any progress.

And this was a re-survey based on the Yellow Book left over from the previous Ming Dynasty. With these materials, the workload and costs of the Qian Dynasty were greatly reduced. But even so, with the power of the gentry in Jiangnan, it was difficult to rebuild the Yellow Book.

Wu Jinkun's first priority when he entered Jiangnan was to completely compile the Yellow Book. It was not until Wu Jinkun was about to cross the river that the report of his assassination was sent to Meng Jun. Meng Jun was furious when he saw this, and sent a fast horse to order Lu Ping in Jiangnan to find out who did it. No matter who it was, he would not tolerate it!

Wu Jinkun knew that any reform would not be smooth sailing, and there would always be complicated interpersonal relationships and conflicts of interest behind them. But now, he had the founding emperor of the Qian Dynasty standing behind him. No matter how complicated the conflicts of interest were, he, Wu Jinkun, could wield his sword and kill his way through them.

When they heard the news that Wu Jinkun was not dead, Lin Weining and Wen Yunde's faces turned pale. In fact, they had more than one plan, but Lin Weining's subordinates swore that Wu Jinkun was dead, so Lin Weining and Wen Yunde were worried about the risk of leakage of other plans, so they stopped retreating.

Lin Weining said bitterly: "What a damn idiot! You ruined my plan!"

Wen Yunde sighed and said, "What's the point of saying this now? Wu Jinkun has crossed the river, and the guards around him must be more alert. We definitely can't take action anymore. We have to think of a way to use a new strategy to deal with Wu Jinkun."

The two discussed for a long time and decided to use the killer weapon of the Jiangnan gentry, which was to intensify the public opinion offensive, slander Wu Jinkun, and throw dirty water on him.

Wen Yunde laughed coldly and said, "Reforming the system is a major event for the imperial court. How can we use someone with bad conduct?"

However, just as the two were discussing how to deal with Wu Jinkun, Meng Jun's order was urgently delivered to Lu Ping.

Ever since Wu Jinkun was assassinated, Lu Ping has sent people to investigate everywhere, but for the time being, there was really no clue. The assassin's footprints disappeared when they reached the riverside, and the Qingluan Guards questioned the boatmen along the way but did not get any information.

This also indirectly confirms that the assassin should be from Jiangnan, and the family that can own a powerful crossbow must not be an ordinary small family.

Lu Ping thought for a long time, and then he had an idea. He decided to use the method of alerting the snake by beating the grass. He directly arrested all the gentry in Jiangnan and scared them. Maybe he could gain something. There were many gentry in Jiangnan, but there were not many gentry families who owned large amounts of land.

Meng Jun's order made Lu Ping feel reassured. Afterwards, in Jinling and other places in the south of the Yangtze River, the Qingluan Guards once again showed their power.

However, just as Lin Weining, Wen Yunde and some gentry gathered to denounce Wu Jinkun, the Qingluan Guards broke in and arrested them all, ignoring their ugly expressions.

People were truly shocked when they saw one wealthy family after another being arrested. Such a scene had not been seen for many years. In the early Ming Dynasty, except during the reigns of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, they had never seen so many gentry being arrested.

Faced with the sudden arrest, Lin Weining and Wen Yunde were caught off guard. They looked at each other, extremely panicked in their hearts, but on the surface, they still pretended to be calm, because they knew that the Qingluan Guards definitely had no evidence. If they had evidence, it would be enough to arrest the two of them. Why arrest so many people.

Lu Ping tried all these people separately. He did not torture them, but placed the interrogation in a torture room filled with the smell of blood. He also forced these scholars, who were usually clean and tidy, to sit on the chairs in the middle, with several burly men holding torture instruments standing on both sides.

When many people see this kind of scene, they are so frightened that their legs tremble with fear. They answer all the questions asked, but if there is any hesitation, they become the main suspects.

Lin Weining and Wen Yunde were relatively courageous. Although they were not calm when facing the questions from the Qingluan Guards, their expressions were not much different from those of the others.

Just when Lu Ping thought that this method of alerting the enemy was not working, a breakthrough was reported, which made Lu Ping overjoyed. This person was also the loophole that Lin Weining and Wen Yunde had never thought of!