Chapter 370 Confiscating Property
Just as he was leading the man out of the palace, a guard from inside the palace gestured to him at the gate.
It means that this person's property was confiscated, and no one was left alive.
The prince must have been truly enraged today.
Seeing that no one was willing to reveal any useful information, Lin Changning was quite helpless and could only lead his men to search the house.
After gesturing to Old Ma and the others, he sat quietly in the carriage, waiting for them to bring their people over.
Before long, Old Ma and Old Zhou arrived on horseback, leading two squads of guards.
Lin Changning glanced at Wu Zhidong, who remained defiant with his eyes closed, and then got off the carriage.
After pulling the man off the carriage, a guard gave up a horse, and Lin Changning mounted it, casually glancing at the guard beside him.
"Tie him up!"
The guards quickly and decisively tied up Wu Zhidong behind them. After handing the rope to Lin Changning, Lin Changning grabbed the man and dragged him toward the Wu residence.
This guy is just a small fry; there's probably some big fish behind him. It's hard to believe that no one was behind what happened today.
It's obvious that the prince is making an example of someone to scare others.
Thinking of this, Lin Changning looked back with pity at Wu Zhidong, who was being dragged towards his home.
This is the chicken.
I wonder if he'll be as tough as he was in the Prince's mansion when he sees his entire family wiped out.
They quickly arrived at the Wu residence on horseback. Lin Changning stopped his horse and waved to the old horse.
"Not a single family member was spared."
Old Ma clasped his hands in greeting, and together with Old Zhou and his personal guards, they surrounded the Wu residence.
Lin Changning frowned slightly when he saw that the man had no other expression.
After a while, the broken door opened, and several guards came out.
He quickly ran to Lin Changning's side, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and said, "Junior Commissioner, the Wu residence is deserted; everyone has left!!!"
Lin Changning chuckled. No wonder this person dared to be so assertive; it turned out he had already sent his family out of Taiyuan ahead of time.
A little while later, Old Ma jogged over from another place: "The vegetable vendor next door said that this family was still here yesterday, so they must have left the city last night."
Lin Changning stared at Wu Zhidong, noticing a barely perceptible sigh of relief from the man, but a sense of unease ran through him.
Entry and exit from Taiyuan City are now strictly controlled. If someone had secretly left the city last night, the city gate would have reported it to the military commander. There was nothing unusual last night.
Lin Changning pondered for a moment and confirmed that nothing unusual had been found at the city gate recently.
Seeing Wu Zhidong let out a soft sigh of relief, he narrowed his eyes and turned to look at Lao Zhou.
"They can't escape very far from such a short distance. Besides, security is tight lately. Old Zhou, go to the manor and take some men to look for secret passages or rooms. I don't believe so many people can escape in such a short time!!!"
Old Zhou clasped his hands in a fist and nodded, then quickly led another group of people straight into the gate of the Wu residence.
Lin Changning silently watched as Wu Zhidong behind him suddenly widened his eyes and his pupils contracted slightly, knowing that he was probably right.
Thinking of this, Lin Changning asked again, "Who's behind this last chance?"
Wu Zhidong suddenly became dejected, sighed, and looked at Lin Changning: "After the King of Chu, there will only be traitors and rebels. You will not have a good outcome if you follow him!!!"
Lin Changning lowered his eyes: "We'll talk about the future later. You won't get a good result today."
Just then, a series of screams and curses came from the courtyard. Without a doubt, Old Zhou and his men had found the secret passage.
Wu Zhidong closed his eyes resignedly, then suddenly groaned and collapsed to the ground.
Lin Changning frowned as he looked at Wu Zhidong lying on the ground behind him, sighed softly, and waved to the guards beside him.
The guard beside him quickly stepped forward to check the man's breath, then pried open his mouth to take a look. He turned back to Lin Changning and clasped his hands in a fist salute: "Jian Shi, he bit his tongue and committed suicide."
Lin Changning sighed and looked at the group of people who came out of the door. They were of all ages, the youngest being only four or five years old. They still looked bewildered and seemed unaware of what had happened.
A woman saw the corpse behind Lin Changning outside the door, screamed, and rushed forward frantically, but was held down hard by a soldier who kicked her in the back of the knee.
For a moment, Lin Changning's ears were filled with all kinds of angry curses and cries.
Lin Changning sat on the horse in a daze for a while, until Lao Zhou pushed the person out and reminded her.
"Changning, these people?"
Lin Changning hesitated. Just as she was hesitating, she heard several women and several young men angrily cursing at her.
"The King of Chu's lackey! A filthy executioner."
"You eat the king's food and serve the king; you can't sever the pride of a loyal minister even if you are the king's dog!"
"King of Chu! You will die a horrible death!"
Hearing the offensive words, Lin Changning immediately understood. At first, he thought that if these people were unaware of the situation, he might lock them up first and then plead with the prince, so that at least the women and children would not be harmed.
But now, hearing these words, this family knows what they have done, so there is no need to sympathize with them anymore.
It's just a pity for the child, who is now ignorant and unaware.
Hearing one of the young men curse him for being a freeloader and a dog of a traitor, Lin Changning raised his eyes slightly and said firmly.
“I eat the prince’s food, so naturally I must be loyal to the prince. I survived in Daxing thanks to the prince’s food, and I was also rescued from Daxing by the prince’s troops. You are right, one should be loyal to the one who pays the price. The people in front of you, we protect you on the frontier, but the court withholds our food and does not pay our wages. You can be loyal to the emperor in your hearts, and we will naturally be loyal to our emperor as well, but it is pitiful.”
Lin Changning looked at the child, who was not yet 5 years old and still only knew how to cry, with pity: "It's just pitiful that you are being used as pawns, and innocent children are being implicated!"
After saying that, he sighed, turned his head, and ordered, "Let's do it!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than several heads rolled to the ground in front of the Wu residence, and the little boy's shrill voice almost shattered Lin Changning's eardrums.
When it was almost time for the last baby, she finally felt a pang of reluctance.
"Wait a moment!"
Upon hearing this, the guards quickly withdrew their hands and looked at Lin Changning, whose face showed some hesitation.
Lin Changning still felt that the child shouldn't have laid a hand on him, but the prince had already ordered that the Wu family be used as an example to deter others.
Even if he were to report back, it wouldn't be easy. Just as he was hesitating, Old Zhou suddenly looked up, raised his knife, and was about to make his move.
Lin Changning hurriedly dismounted, grabbed Old Zhou's hand, and hesitated, saying, "Old Zhou! Wait a minute!"
Old Zhou sighed. He knew that Lin Changning was too young and reluctant to do the job, which was why he wanted to take it on. However, Lin Changning was now his superior, and he could not disobey orders.
Lin Changning didn't say anything just now. He killed the man and went down the ladder, but this kid insisted on stopping him.
Lin Changning sighed and said hesitantly, "Confiscate all of the Wu family's wealth. I'll go and plead with the Prince for mercy on this child."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a hidden arrow suddenly appeared from nowhere, heading straight for the little child in front of Lin Changning.
Lin Changning instinctively drew his knife.
"Ding~"
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