Dozens of large ships sailed down the river, each flying two flags.

One is Zhao Lin’s big flag with the word “Zhao” on it, and the other is the Qingzhou Army’s big flag with the word “Qing” on it.

"Your Excellency, you are so ostentatious. Aren't you afraid of being impeached by the Censor?"

Bai Shiyuan looked at Zhao Lin's boat, which was reckless and rushed all the way. Whenever it met someone, it would go first. He frowned and advised him.

Fu Wenqi and Chi Qiaoyu also nodded repeatedly.

As the emperor's former favorite general, Fu Wenqi naturally had to return to Beijing to celebrate Chengji's birthday.

However, Gong Qiubai, Su Yinghan and others did not need it, as they just happened to stay in the Governor's Mansion with Su Di to do some work.

Chi Qiaoyu was purely trying to curry favor with Zhao Lin. When he learned that Bai Shiyuan was going to Beijing on Zhao Lin's boat, he immediately rode his horse at full speed to catch up with him and asked to go with them.

Zhao Lin naturally did as he wished.

Zhao Lin laughed and said, "If I don't do this, the censors won't impeach me, right?"

Bai Shiyuan and the others were silent.

Ever since Zhao Lin directly shot the censor Yu Youning to death with arrows as if he was an accomplice of the rebels, the entire Censorate became Zhao Lin's enemy. The Censorate fired a small arrow every three days and a big arrow every five days, as if they would not give up until they brought Zhao Lin down.

Cheng** seemed to take it as a joke and did not object to the censor's impeachment. Sometimes he even asked Zhao Lin to write letters to defend himself, which made the situation quite lively.

But Zhao Lin didn't take it to heart at all.

Anyway, no matter what the matter is, he can directly write to Cheng**, and sometimes Zhu Zhongyan, Fu Chengwang and Li Xingye can also help speak for him.

Compared with the censor, Cheng** trusts Zhu Zhongyan and others more.

Even if the censors of the Censorate talked till their mouths watered, it would be useless.

It only adds to the laughing stock.

At this moment, there was a commotion ahead.

Zhao Lin said dissatisfiedly: "What's the commotion?"

"Sir, it's the local government. They're actually demanding benefits, otherwise they won't allow us to dock for replenishment."

Shen Yuan hurried over to report.

Zhao Lin's face darkened: "Bring it here."

The person was brought over quickly.

The visitor was very arrogant: "Are you their master?"

Zhao Lin said calmly, "Who are you? Why are you asking for benefits?"

The visitor raised his chin and looked down at Zhao Lin. "We are from the Tongzhou River Bureau. My name is Yang Si. What do you mean by asking for benefits? You use our river, so shouldn't we give you benefits?"

Zhao Lin sneered: "We are a canal transport vessel, we don't need to pay any fees."

"I don't care. You have to pay taxes when you come here. If you don't pay taxes, don't even think about buying food when you go ashore. Do you believe it or not, I can't let you leave?" Yang Si said arrogantly.

"How bold!" Zhao Lin was furious. "I've rarely seen anyone more arrogant than this Governor."

Ever since Zhao Lin became the prefect of Qingzhou, anyone who dared to act arrogantly in front of him was subdued by him and dared not complain.

Now, a mere person from Guanhe Hall dared to say this to him, which completely infuriated Zhao Lin.

Fu Wenqi was equally angry and said, "According to the Daqi Law, grain transport ships are exempt from all fees. Even the government does not collect taxes. What benefits are you taking?"

Yang Si sneered, "The Great Qi Law doesn't work in our Tongzhou. Besides, we want hard work fees, not taxes. We worked so hard to repair the river for your use, don't we deserve hard work fees?"

“That’s ridiculous!”

Bai Shiyuan couldn't help but say, "You are receiving salaries from the court, so isn't it your duty to repair the river?"

"What do you mean by 'should'? You old men are receiving salaries from the imperial court, so the people under your rule should live well. Are they living well?" Yang Si said disdainfully.

Zhao Lin sneered and said, "You are quite sharp-tongued. Anyway, how many of you are there?"

Yang Si thought Zhao Lin was about to pay, so he said with a smile, "Wouldn't it be better to do this earlier? We have eight, no, eighty people in total, and one hundred taels of silver per person is enough. If you pay sooner, you can also get ready sooner and not delay your journey, right?"

"Eighty times one hundred equals eight thousand," Zhao Lin said to himself.

"grown ups?"

Just as Bai Shiyuan was about to stop them, he heard Zhao Lin say, "Come here, hang them up and give them eight thousand lashes."

The entire cabin suddenly became quiet.

Zhao Lin's face darkened: "Didn't you hear?"

Shen Yuan hurriedly shouted, "What are you all standing there for? Didn't you hear what the adults said?"

Immediately, guards came over, tied up these people from Guanhe Hall, hung them outside the boat, and then whipped them severely with horsewhips.

"You dare to hit me? We adults will never let you go. Ouch!"

Bang!

"I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill you!"

Bang!

"Stop fighting, stop fighting."

Bang!

"I know I was wrong, please stop fighting."

Bang!

"Please spare my life, sir, please spare my life. I will never dare to do it again..."

Bang!

The officers were whipped with whip after whip, and they screamed and begged for mercy.

There are eight people in total, and they will be whipped eight thousand times, which means each person will receive a thousand whips.

Let alone a thousand lashes, even ten lashes would have made these people cry for their parents and almost faint.

"Sir, these people can't bear it after just a dozen whips." Shen Yuan ran over to report.

Zhao Lin said, "Let them rest for a while and then fight them again after they recover."

"yes."

Shen Yuan hurried to give orders.

Bai Shiyuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Tongzhou doesn't belong to the two provinces of Jiangbei. You are committing a crime against the local government by doing this."

"So what?" Zhao Lin snorted coldly, "Let alone the local government, even if someone from Shengjing Prefecture dared to do this, I would still beat them up."

That's because the boss of Shengjing Prefecture is your master. He values ​​you so much that of course he will support you.

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