"Xiao Luofeng, you are no longer the city garrison commander. I have not summoned you, so you have no right to be here in this courtroom!"

"I asked him to come!"

Zhao Cheng, who had been waiting outside for a long time, finally stepped into the courtroom and said proudly, "I have reported to the court and promoted Xiao Luofeng to be the deputy general of my military advisor. He has the right to come to this courtroom with me."

"What the heck?"

Du Laihua was stunned and exclaimed in surprise, "A deputy general of a military advisor?!"

Zhao Cheng said jokingly, "It seems that Marquis Yanxi doesn't quite understand the military system of Dajing. What is a deputy general of a military advisor? There are deputy generals of deputy generals of military advisors, and if the situation requires it, there are deputy generals of deputy generals of military advisors..."

"Go away, go away! I don't care if you're a deputy general or not, what are you doing here?!"

"The Marquis previously believed that Xiao Luofeng had abused his power for personal gain, so he exercised his supervisory authority. As General Zhaoyong, I now believe that you, the Marquis, are suspected of coercing a confession through torture, so I also want to come and see for myself!"

"General Zhaoyong?" Du Laihua sneered, "What rank? What is he? What business is it of mine?"

Zhao Cheng shook his head and said, "My rank is indeed insignificant, but my title of general was personally bestowed by His Majesty. Is the Marquis questioning His Majesty?"

"Stop talking nonsense!" Du Laihua ignored the gavel and slammed his hand on the table, shouting angrily, "What exactly do you want?!"

Xiao Luofeng said, "Please stop torturing the woman Yan Lan."

After he finished speaking, the common people who had come with Xiao Luofeng immediately started to jeer, including Dong Shier and Yan Zhi.

"Yan Lan is not a suspect, so why is she being tortured?"

"My lord, what you're doing is wrong!"

"Marquis Yanxi has abused his power!!"

"Go to hell!" Du Laihua grabbed the gavel and threw it into the crowd, shouting angrily, "If you dare to spout nonsense and cause a ruckus in court again, all of you will be beaten out with sticks!"

Xiao Luofeng raised his hand to suppress the voice behind him and said, "I'll say it again, please stop the torture, Lord Marquis."

"What if I don't stop?"

"Brothers!"

Xiao Luofeng roared, and the entire garrison behind him responded.

"exist!!!"

"We were born to serve the Great Jing, and we will faithfully perform our duties in Qingdong, and we will never allow anyone to disrupt the order of Qingdong!!"

"yes!!!"

After he finished speaking, a hundred garrison soldiers rushed into the courtroom and surrounded Yan Lan.

The once spacious courtroom suddenly felt crowded after the disturbance.

"Fine, very well!" Du Laihua laughed angrily, standing up and saying, "Xiao Luofeng, are you trying to rebel?!"

"I wouldn't dare!" Xiao Luofeng said solemnly, "As long as Your Excellency doesn't act recklessly again, I will absolutely not interfere with Your Excellency's handling of the case!"

"Insolence! How dare you obstruct me!"

Unfazed by Xiao Luofeng and the hundred garrison soldiers, Du Laihua stepped out from behind the desk again and shouted, "Men! Seize this person who is causing such a disturbance in court!!"

Upon hearing this, the cruel official holding the stern rod hesitated but ultimately did not move.

But a large group of people, probably over a hundred, surged into the courtroom, each brandishing a weapon.

Xiao Luofeng turned to look at them and said, "We're all colleagues, why are you acting like this?"

The leader of the group looked troubled and said, "Commander Xiao, please forgive us. With the Prefect absent, we must obey the orders of Marquis Yanxi. You... should do the same!"

Du Laihua sneered, "Xiao Luofeng, are you sure you want to keep making trouble? If your people fight to the death with the Central Government Office, regardless of the outcome, once this gets to Changsui, your entire Xiao family will be executed!"

Zhao Cheng interjected, "Marquis Yanxi is just a marquis, why does he speak like His Majesty? And what about executing his entire family?"

"Zhao Cheng, shut up!" Du Laihua pointed at Zhao Cheng and shouted, "I don't want to hear you speak!!!"

"Who dares to exterminate my entire Xiao family?!"

Just then, another hundred people surged in from the crowd. Unlike the garrison troops and the people from the central government office, these people were all in civilian clothes and none of them were carrying weapons, but they had a very imposing presence.

The three people walking at the front were Xiao Tian, ​​Xiao Ming, and Xiao Luomu.

Zhao Cheng noticed that Zhou Chuan and Zhou Nuo, the siblings, were also in the group.

Xiao Tian glared at Du Laihua and shouted, "My Xiao family is all here except for the old who can't get out of bed and the young who can't walk! Why don't you just kill us all, Lord Marquis?!"

Seeing Xiao Tian suddenly bring his family over with such a forceful demeanor, Du Laihua was momentarily intimidated and said with a smile, "Mr. Xiao, you flatter me. Xiao Luofeng and I were discussing work!"

"Work?" Xiao Tian blew on his beard and said, "Is your job to wipe out my entire Xiao family?"

"How is this possible?!"

"I heard everything!"

"I heard that too!" Xiao Ming jeered, "Marquis Yanxi, you are an official and we are commoners. You are in charge of us and you are above us! But how much tax does our Xiao family have to pay to the imperial court every year? How much tribute do we have to give to your Marquis's mansion? Are you going to discard us after you've served your purpose?!"

Upon hearing this, Du Laihua's expression changed. He looked towards the crowd of people on the outskirts and saw them pointing and whispering. He cursed them inwardly.

Filial piety?

Is this something you can say here?!

Xiao Luomu also said, "At worst, we'll fight to the death! If you dare touch my brother, we'll fight you to the death!"

Forced to this point by the Xiao family, Du Laihua felt humiliated and became furious.

"That's enough, what are you trying to do?"

Clang!

Du Laihua was unarmed, but to bolster his morale, he drew a sword from a nearby official and shouted, "This is a public court! Are you trying to force the dignified Marquis of Jingguo to submit? Are you planning a rebellion?!"

"My lord, don't scare me!"

Xiao Tian was not afraid at all and shouted, "Our whole family is here to reason with you. We didn't bring any weapons or any outsiders. What makes us think we can rebel?"

Xiao Luomu stepped forward and stood next to Xiao Luomu, saying, "Today, anyone who dares to touch my brother will be slaughtered by the entire Xiao family!"

Upon hearing this, the Xiao family members surrounded Xiao Luofeng and his brother in layers.

At this moment, Yan Lan was surrounded in the very center.

Zhao Cheng gave Dong Shier a wink, and Dong Shier quickly slipped into the crowd with Yan Zhi to help Yan Lan up and apply medicine to her.

Du Laihua also caught a glimpse of Yan Lan's movements and knew that if things continued like this, the situation in the courtroom would get out of control, and he would become a laughing stock.

He roared, "He Shun!!!"

"Here!!!" A voice came from outside the courtroom.

Du Laihua trembled all over, as if he had mustered his courage, and shouted, "Move the garrison!!!"

"yes!!!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned.

Not only Zhao Cheng and Xiao Luofeng, but even the officials in the courtroom were shocked.

Ultimately, as things have escalated to this point, the truth of the case itself has become largely irrelevant; it has evolved into an administrative dispute between Marquis Yanxi and the city garrison commander over the central government office.

This kind of competition tends to be more gentle and restrained.

If things escalate to the point of violence, one could easily be accused of treason.

Deploy troops!

That is to escalate the dispute to its most intense level.

“In the past, I protected Xiao Luofeng.”

Zhao Cheng pushed Zhao Wu out, while he kept observing Du Laihua's condition.

Suddenly realized,

This marquis has gone mad!