The prefect was furious that the Liu family landlord had bribed him in front of the crown prince.

Isn't this just asking me to commit a crime against the wind?

He certainly couldn't accept it himself, but even if he didn't accept it, the Crown Prince would still think that he had been involved in accepting bribes in the past.

Otherwise, no one would bribe him so openly.

They must have known that he accepted bribes on a regular basis, which is why they blatantly bribed him.

Thinking of this, the prefect stepped forward and kicked out hard, sending the Liu family landlord sprawling to the ground. He then angrily cursed at him:

"What are you doing? What are you doing? Are you trying to bribe me? I am an honest official who has never accepted bribes. What good will it do me to bribe you? Do you think I am such a corrupt official? I have never been corrupt in all these years, and you dare to openly bribe me?"

These words were, of course, meant for Zhu Yunwen's ears; whether or not he had accepted bribes, he knew perfectly well.

After giving the Liu family landlord on the ground a severe beating, Prefect Zhang quickly said to Zhu Yunwen:

“Your Highness, I have always been diligent and conscientious, and have never accepted bribes. I have not accepted any today, nor have I accepted any in the past, and I will never accept any in the future.”

Zhu Yunwen squinted at Prefect Zhang and said:

"Your matter isn't urgent; there's plenty of time to investigate and handle it. Today, the focus is on resolving the immediate issue."

The prefect knew that he would not get away with it.

Although my problem wasn't serious, Zhu Yunwen had made an example of me, so it wouldn't be so easy for me to let it go.

Thinking of this, he glared fiercely at the Liu family landlord again.

If it weren't for this guy, how would I have gotten into this mess?

So he angrily said to the Liu family landlord:

"You bastard! The purpose of the imperial decree is to ensure that ordinary people have their own land to cultivate."

And you actually dared to forcibly lease those lands at low prices, and even coerce and beat these people? Do you really have no respect for the imperial court and the government?

The landlord, Liu, was beaten and realized the seriousness of the problem.

The prefect was unwilling to accept his money and kept criticizing him, which showed that the prefect was serious about this matter and wanted to hold him accountable.

Furthermore, he had already realized that the prefect was extremely respectful to the young man, even addressing him as the Crown Prince?

He thought about the word carefully, then his expression suddenly changed, and he looked at Zhu Yunwen in terror, stammering:

"Grand...Grandson, you are...you are the current Grandson of the Emperor?"

Zhu Yunwen snorted coldly and said:

"What's wrong? Weren't you quite arrogant before? Now your voice has changed?"

Upon hearing this, the Liu family landlord's legs went weak, and he knelt directly before Zhu Yunwen, repeatedly kowtowing and saying:

"Your Highness, spare me! Your Highness, spare me..."

Zhu Yunwen looked at the Liu family landlord and said calmly:

"You were quite arrogant in this courtyard just now. How dare a mere landlord beat up ordinary people and force them to rent out their land at low prices? Is this openly defying the imperial court? Or is it openly defying me?"

The landlord, surnamed Liu, was trembling all over and hurriedly said:

"I know I was wrong. Please forgive me, Your Highness. I will never dare to do it again. I was blinded by greed and did such a heinous thing."

"From now on, I will never dare to do anything that harms the interests of the people again. I am even willing to give all the land I own to those people."

Zhu Yunwen sneered and said:

"Now you've finally realized your mistake, but it's too late. You've been incredibly audacious, daring to use torture against innocent people and force them to rent out their land at low prices, which is tantamount to forcibly seizing it. This is truly an act of defiance against the imperial court, and your crime deserves death."

Upon hearing this, the landlord from the Liu family collapsed to the ground.

The phrase "their crimes deserve death" is tantamount to sentencing the Liu family landlords to death.

The Liu family landlord panicked immediately.

He hurriedly kowtowed and begged for mercy, hoping to save his life, but Zhu Yunwen simply turned slowly to the prefect and said:

"According to the law, this matter should be dealt with seriously, and all the property of this landlord Liu should be distributed equally among all the people in the surrounding area. Since he usually obtains his profits by exploiting and oppressing these people, it is only fair and reasonable to return it to them today."

The prefect replied, "I will certainly handle it well."

Zhu Yunwen nodded slightly and said, "As for yourself, you know better than anyone what you have done. Tomorrow morning, I hope you will list out some of your crimes so that I don't have to send someone to investigate."

The prefect, his lips pale, said, "I understand."

Zhu Yunwen flicked his sleeve and turned to leave.

He specifically instructed the Embroidered Uniform Guard to send a message to the imperial court, asking the court to publicize the matter to various regions.

The purpose is to make an example of them, to let those landlords in some places who try to coerce ordinary people into renting out their land at low prices know what the consequences will be.

At the same time, the prefect failed to play a good supervisory and management role in these matters and should also be punished.

This can be seen as a warning to officials throughout the Ming Dynasty.

After these things got out, Zhu Yunwen believed that local officials would also worry about similar incidents happening, and would therefore pay more attention to whether the local people truly owned their land.

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