The governor said in embarrassment: "Now that there is drought, there is unrest at the border. I am afraid that the southern border will take advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos, so I have transferred all the troops to the border. The drought there is also very serious. Having a garrison to guard it can also prevent unrest."
Xie Qing snorted lightly: "In other words, in Shenyang City, we can now use the Empty City Strategy?"
The governor quickly apologized: "Your Highness, please allow me to report that the border is only a day's journey away from the army of Shenyang City, so we can still send reinforcements in time. Therefore, the troops stationed in the city are sufficient to withstand any unexpected events."
"Any accidents?" Xie Qing smiled meaningfully. "Since you can withstand any accidents, why can't you spare some manpower to guard the well?"
The governor was speechless immediately. He lowered his head and glanced at the prefect's hand out of the corner of his eye.
The prefect's hand was hidden in his sleeve and could not be seen, but his sleeve moved slightly. The governor frowned and then took a deep breath.
The two of them moved so slowly that no one noticed.
Xie Qing said: "Since you all don't have the energy to take care of it, I will send someone to take over. Come on!"
In an instant, dozens of guards came out from the surroundings. Qin Wan also signaled the guards to come out. Together with Master Du's men, there were actually nearly a hundred people.
Qin Wan only left two people by her side, and the rest were under Xie Qing's command.
Xie Qing's cold eyes swept over the prefect and others kneeling on the ground, and said, "Go and take over the city's water supply. If anyone obstructs you, take them down immediately. If anyone dares to resist, they will be killed on the spot!"
"Also, I will exterminate my three clans. If you are dissatisfied, feel free to file a complaint against me in the capital!"
The prefect was terrified and quickly said, "Your Highness, this must not happen! These people are backed by local gentry and powerful families. If we act rashly, we'll probably cause chaos!"
Xie Qing snorted coldly, "What kind of chaos is this? Can they assassinate me, the Crown Prince, on the spot? Or are you planning to wait for the well to dry up so you can make some money from the national disaster?"
"We are wronged!"
The prefect and the provincial governor fell to the ground and cried out for justice.
Xie Qing snorted lightly, walked past them to the prefectural yamen, and ordered someone to summon the county magistrates to come and see him.
There are only four counties under the jurisdiction of Shenyang Prefecture. Xie Qing only passed through two counties along the way. He sent people to investigate the other two counties. The news was delivered back last night, and they were only slightly worse than those in Shenyang Prefecture.
Because the border is close to southern Xinjiang, the drought situation has eased slightly, but because it is located on the border, there are indeed some minor frictions.
The relationship between Da Zhou and Southern Xinjiang has always been friendly, but how can the relationship between the two countries be truly frictionless?
It is only natural for the governor to send troops to garrison, but it is dereliction of duty if he completely ignores the chaos everywhere.
Xie Qing glanced at the governor coldly and got on the carriage.
About a hundred people, divided into ten teams, rushed into the streets and alleys and went straight to the well.
The people who were queuing for water were frightened and fled in all directions.
"Follow the orders of the Crown Prince to guard the water source. Anyone who disobeys the order will be killed without mercy!"
Lei Da, who was guarding the water source, said with a ferocious expression, "The Crown Prince? He's still thousands of miles away! We are the Prefect's wife's people. I don't think any of you dare to move!"
The guards had no intention of hurting anyone, but since someone was ungrateful, they swung their swords and struck the person in the throat.
Several minions looked at the blood gushing out of Lei Da's neck like a fountain, and they all fell to the ground in fear.
The guard pointed his sword at them: "Surrender your weapons and we will not kill you!"
"We surrender, we surrender."
The minions hurriedly dropped their weapons.
The guards ordered them to clean up the scene, but at this time, who would be willing to use precious water to wipe away the bloodstains?
Dragging the person away is considered cleaning up the scene.
The guards said to the people watching from a distance, "His Royal Highness has ordered that from today onwards, no money will be charged for drinking water in the city! Anyone caught will be killed without mercy!"
"Now we have to queue up to get water, half a bucket per person."
The amount of half a bucket per person was also the conclusion Xie Qing came to after this trip, and of course it was also the conclusion he came to in his previous life.
At first, no one dared to go forward to fetch water. However, the guards could not bear it any longer and picked up a bucket of water. They walked over to them and poured the water in. Only then did they believe it and lined up quietly.
The guards from other places also took over the water wells in the city at lightning speed, killing five people and capturing dozens of people in total.
When they learned that the ruffians who had occupied the water source were going to be exterminated, they immediately organized themselves and kidnapped their families.
So when Xie Qing was in the government office, looking through the files, groups of people were pulled over.
Seeing these bloated people, Prince Du was furious: "If it were you, I would just kill them. Why bother tying them up?"
Xie Qing glanced at him and said, "We are not killing gods. We cannot kill innocent people indiscriminately."
As soon as these words came out, the eyes of the kneeling people flashed with hope, and they kowtowed and begged: "Your Highness, spare my life!"
Xie Qing changed the subject: "Take them away for interrogation. No one can be killed without authorization, and no one can be spared. After the interrogation, behead them tomorrow morning at Caishikou for public display! From now on, anyone who dares to seize water sources and cut off people's lives will be severely punished!"
"yes."
The guards took orders and immediately dragged the man away for interrogation.
It doesn't matter if there is not enough space in the government prison. The remaining prisoners can just squeeze in. The prisoners now are arrested one family at a time, so it will be easier to torture them if they are squeezed into one big prison.
These were all ordinary people, and they all confessed without any torture. Without exception, they just saw that the well was unattended and wanted to make some money by using it.
No one betrayed the prefect. Either these people were caught by the prefect. Or, they really didn't know about this matter.
Xie Qing naturally tends to the second possibility. If the prefect didn't know about the yamen runners pretending to be thugs and seizing the water source, he would be extremely incompetent.
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