After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao also became interested and winked at Wei Chao.

Wei Chao was helpless. He pulled out a silver note from his sleeve and placed it on the table. He handed it to the waiter and said with a smile, "Here, our master will give you a reward. If you have any good news, tell our master. If he is happy to hear it, there will be a reward."

The waiter took a look at the banknote and his eyes lit up instantly.

Ten taels of silver, he is indeed a big boss, he is very generous!

The waiter said excitedly: "Thank you for the reward!"

Zhu Youxiao slammed his folding fan shut and said, "Now, can we talk about what happened in Xianghe?"

"To answer your question," the waiter said quickly, "some people came a while ago and said that officials in Xianghe were colluding with local wealthy families, concealing their own land and refusing to implement the imperial court's policy of land inventory, causing the people to be displaced. They were all arrested."

"The families of local rich men like Chen and Wang were being arrested one by one. I heard from outsiders that this time, their homes will be confiscated and they will be exiled. It seems that they are going to send everyone to Liaodong. It is said that there is a shortage of people in Liaodong, so all the money and land of the families will be handed over to the court."

"There's such a thing?" Zhu Youxiao asked with a little excitement: "Do you know who did this? How did they become so powerful?"

"You don't know, do you? They're said to be some big shots in the capital." The waiter said with a pout, "Those are all big shots with connections. When they come, they always bring cavalry and Jinyiwei with them."

"That was truly terrifying. When the bigwigs arrived in Xianghe, they said nothing and just started arresting people. Seven or eight of our county officials were arrested, and I heard several had their legs broken. Those who kept silent met with no good end."

"Now everyone stays away from those people when they see them," the waiter said helplessly, "but they're not bad at all. They haven't harmed the people at all."

"Not to mention the others, even our county magistrate was arrested. There are only a few people left in the county government office. Apart from Old Zhang, who guards the gate, and the people who guard the cells, almost all are gone." The waiter said with a sigh, "It's really tragic."

"Then do you know why?" Zhu Youxiao asked calmly.

This is the key question Zhu Youxiao wants to ask.

If the people only know that you are arresting someone but don't know why, it's easy for something to go wrong. If someone with ulterior motives spreads rumors, that's going to be trouble.

Zhu Youxiao was confident in Chen Sihai's work, but he couldn't help but worry about this aspect.

The waiter got even more excited after hearing this. He slammed the table and said, "Don't tell me, I actually know this."

"The imperial court issued a special notice a few days ago, and some people spread the word, saying that those arrested were evading taxes and secretly harboring deserters from Liaozhong."

"But I don't think this is true." The waiter said with a look of disbelief.

"Oh, really? Then what do you think is true?" Zhu Youxiao asked again.

"I'm telling you, don't tell anyone else about this." The waiter looked around cautiously and said, "I heard it from others. There's something fishy going on here."

"Those people bought so much land and colluded with the officials. They didn't pay taxes. You know what? That's stealing money!"

"Whose money did they steal? They stole the money of the current emperor. But we can't say it's the current emperor's money. After all, the current emperor is frugal. The money was used to build roads and bridges for the people and buy food."

"The Ming Dynasty is plagued by disasters. Heaven is blind. How can such a good emperor still suffer so many disasters?"

After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao coughed and said, "Don't go off topic, continue."

"Hey? Hey, hey!" The waiter quickly agreed, "What good can come of stealing your Majesty's money?"

"We couldn't manage it before, but now that Your Majesty wants to, these people are starting to make trouble. Think about it, with so much land, how much money would it cost per year? Are those people willing to give it up?"

"So, they try to avoid paying and leave their land uncultivated. When the storm passes, they'll reclaim the land and it will be theirs again."

"These people are so wicked! They're so evil!" At this point, the waiter became excited and said, "But they're smart, and the court is smarter. Now that their actions have been discovered, everything is gone, right?"

"The whole family is exiled, they deserve it!"