Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 519 Involvement

Cao Yin looked at the group of people who suddenly appeared, all holding weapons. Cao Yin was stunned for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face, and he said: "My dear heroes, what's the important matter?"

Lu Ping walked forward and said in a deep voice: "Cao Yin! Your incident has been exposed, come with us."

Cao Yin was not afraid when he heard this. He said calmly, "If you are short of some valuables, I can treat you to a cup of tea. It is harmless. But if you want to fight, you should think carefully. It is a taboo to show your weapons in public. The government will not sit idly by."

Lu Ping sneered and said, "Country bumpkin, you think we are some strong men. Go ahead and capture Cao Yin."

Seeing that Cao Yin's guards were still planning to take action, Lu Ping shouted, "The Qingluan Guards are acting according to orders. Anyone who dares to disobey will be regarded as treason!"

In the Jiangnan area, over the past few decades, the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party had been fighting each other fiercely. In order to show that the Eunuch Party was persecuting loyal and good people, the Donglin Party had long since spread the evil reputation of the Jinyiwei everywhere, and it can be said that this reputation has penetrated into the hearts of the people in Jiangnan.

The current Qingluan Guard is just the Jinyi Guard in a different shell. Cao Yin and his guards felt so frightened that their backs went cold and they trembled all over when they thought of the eighteen kinds of tortures in the legendary Zhenfusi prison.

After hearing this, Cao Yin broke out in a cold sweat. He looked around, wondering if there was any space for escape. However, this was obviously wishful thinking, as the Qingluan Guards had already blocked all the passages.

Cao Yin showed an ugly smile on his face and said to Lu Ping: "My Lord, I raised millions of taels of military pay for His Majesty. Aren't you afraid of His Majesty's wrath by doing this?"

Lu Ping chuckled and did not answer. Instead, he waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to control Cao Yin.

Several subordinates stepped forward immediately. Cao Yin and his followers dared not resist and were caught immediately.

Cao Yin regretted it very much. The Cao family did have some assassins, but they were usually kept in a villa outside the city. If he had known this would happen, it would have been much better to stay in the villa. If things really didn't work, he could have fled to the sea. Now he was trapped in a jar.

As soon as Lu Ping caught Cao Yin, he left Yaxianju, which made the girls inside feel a little relieved.

Cao Yin arrived at the Qingluanwei prison. Looking at the rusty torture instruments, sweat flowed down his forehead involuntarily. His mind was racing. He was wondering why he was in prison and how to escape from this imprisonment.

"Squeak... Um" The prison door of Ningbo Qingluan Guard was a little stiff. As a sound reached Cao Yin's ears, he came to his senses and looked at the person who came in. It was the person who had just ordered Qingluan Guard to arrest him.

Cao Yin asked hurriedly: "Sir, have I violated any law?"

The two subordinates who followed behind him tied Cao Yin to the torture device. Before they started to torture him, cries for mercy kept coming from Cao Yin's mouth.

Lu Ping pulled up a chair and sat in front of Cao Yin, flipping through the documents in his hand and said coldly: "Discussing state affairs and slandering the emperor, these two serious crimes are not enough, as for plundering people's property at sea, oppressing the people, forcibly taking women, and forcibly buying land at a low price, these two pages cannot be written in full."

Cao Yin's face changed. Let alone anything else, just slandering the emperor was enough to get his entire family executed.

At this moment, Lu Ping closed the document and said slowly, "Of course, if Mr. Cao can be honest and tell everything, then His Majesty may be able to give him a lighter sentence out of consideration for our old friendship."

Cao Yin's mind was racing, and after a long time, he still didn't say anything. Lu Ping was not in a hurry either. Instead, he asked someone to bring a pot of tea, sat on a chair, and drank it slowly.

After a long while, Cao Yin regained his breath, looked at Lu Ping, and asked, "Can the Qingluan Guard guarantee my safety?"

Lu Ping put down the teapot and replied, "It depends on whether Master Cao confesses thoroughly. If he does, then those people you have reported will be dead. What else do you have to worry about?"

Cao Yin gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I'll tell you!"

Cao Yin had made up his mind that if he didn't say something, he would surely die if he was caught. But to be honest, it was a big deal. There was a large group of people who participated in opposing the salt and iron monopoly, and they were all well-connected people.

The emperor is certainly not afraid of one or two people, but if there are ten or fifty, even Meng Jun might not dare to take action. Which of the maritime merchants, salt merchants, and mine owners from all over the country would be willing to sacrifice their own interests? Cao Yin made up his mind to say more, so that the court would not dare to take action. As long as the court did not take action, he could then make some arrangements and bleed a little, and maybe the matter would be over.

When Lu Ping saw that Cao Yin was about to confess, he waved his hand and a clerk from the Qingluan Guard brought a table and brought writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone. The clerk took notes as Cao Yin spoke.

The smell in the cell was a bit strong, and Lu Ping felt uncomfortable in his nose, so he simply walked out of the cell and went outside to get some fresh air.

Lu Ping walked and thought, how could a Cao Yin have such great power? There was so much opposition to the Jiangnan Salt and Iron Monopoly, there must be a lot of people behind it, Lu Ping had a strong premonition in his heart that this time, I'm afraid it will set off a storm.

After a while, Lu Ping took a breath and prepared to go back to see Cao Yin's confession. As soon as he entered the cell, he ran into a clerk, who hurriedly said, "Sir, the prisoner has confessed everything!"

Lu Ping walked in, picked up the confession and looked at it. He couldn't help but frown and was a little shocked.

Lu Ping looked at Cao Yin and said coldly: "Master Cao, if the confession is false, the consequences will be very serious!"

Cao Yin swore to heaven that there was not a single lie in his confession. In Cao Yin's confession, there was no specific evidence of any crime. All he had was an agreement to incite ignorant people to jointly oppose the salt and iron monopoly. The core strategy was still the same as that of the Donglin Party back then.

When the people had been incited enough, they would surround the government offices in various places to create a greater impact, and portray Li Weita, who advocated the salt and iron monopoly, as a treacherous minister of the new dynasty to put pressure on the court. If the court could not withstand the pressure and demoted Li Weita, then no official would dare to target them in the future.

This is actually very easy to do, but now the court has a newspaper, so the effect is not as good as it was in the Ming Dynasty.

Lu Ping felt a little uneasy. Those who secretly united to oppose the national policy included maritime merchants, the Gao family, the Xu family, the Wei family, the Chen family, the Ma family, salt merchants included the Miao, Li, Wu, Ji, and Wei families, and there were seventeen mine owners from various places.

According to Cao Yin, some of these families have ships, some are extremely wealthy, some own thousands of acres of land, and some own mines. They are not ordinary people. With so many families involved, it is not something that Lu Ping can decide easily alone. Moreover, even if Lu Ping wants to take action, he does not have that much power.

Therefore, after reading the confession, Lu Ping urgently sent the letter to the capital at an express speed of 800 miles. Although Lu Ping was only the deputy commander of the Qingluan Guard, he was ordered to leave the capital secretly, so he still had the right to send the letter at an express speed of 800 miles.