Chapter 506: Using People as Bandits, the Truth about the Riots
"After examining them, my father found no trace of water in their hearts and lungs, no mud or sand in their throats, and no signs of struggle after falling into the water. He concluded they definitely did not drown."
"This matter was of great importance. Father wanted to report it to the Crown Prince immediately, but Lou Yongan stopped him."
"Lou Yongan used my mother, me, and other members of the Zhou family to threaten my father to keep silent, saying that if he dared to tell the truth, he would wipe out the entire Zhou family. He even had my mother and me kidnapped as a threat."
Zhou Fengchun's voice was not loud, but in the extremely quiet hall, it was loud enough for everyone to hear clearly.
"In order to protect my mother and me, my father had no choice but to agree to play along with Lou Yongan, hoping to find a chance to inform the Crown Prince later. But who would have thought that the news of the shipwreck would get out."
"A sudden riot broke out in the South, and the Crown Prince was forcibly recalled to the capital due to incompetence. The Third Master of the He Family, who was in charge, went to Rongjiang again, so my father had no choice but to go there. This time, he witnessed the scene of the soldiers slaughtering the city."
When Zhou Fengchun said this, his face turned pale and his voice trembled, but he tried his best to explain the matter clearly, and what he said was similar to what the King of Zeng had said before.
He told the whole story of how his father had gone to Rongjiang, how he had hidden outside the city and witnessed with his own eyes the soldiers besieging the city, how he had seen He Wenzhuo shouting at people outside from the top of the city wall and being shot by arrows, and how the soldiers outside had shot torches into the city with crossbows, setting Rongjiang on fire.
Zhou Fengchun's voice trembled, "Father never expected to encounter such a scene. He felt depressed."
"Those people later released floodwaters, flooding the entire Rongjiang River. My father did everything he could to find a relatively intact body. He found out from the body that he had been drugged before being burned. Nearly 10,000 people in Rongjiang City were first drugged and then burned to death in the city."
"Father, horrified by the catastrophic events he had been involved in, fled in terror. Soon after, news arrived that He Wenzhuo, the third master of the He family, had colluded with officials in the Southland, embezzled disaster relief funds, and was murdered by a mob. Immediately afterwards, the Lu family and the then-fifth prince were ordered to take control of the Southland and began a massive purge of those responsible."
"At that time, blood flowed like a river in Shezhou and the three regions. Most of the officers from the Changxin County government who were helping to recover the bodies were killed or injured in the process of suppressing the riot. My father realized someone was trying to silence him, so he didn't dare mention the Rongjiang incident at all."
"To reassure Lou Yongan and the others, he feigned greed and demanded money to keep quiet. Furthermore, my father was distantly related to Zhou Jungui, the Shezhou garrison commander who was suppressing the rebels at the time. This allowed him to save his life."
Zhou Fengchun could feel that after he finished speaking, many people in the hall were gasping for air, and some people were even breathing heavily.
Some were shocked, some were skeptical, and some looked angry.
Zhou Fengchun didn't care about them, he just continued slowly:
"My mother and I never knew about this incident, but my father was troubled every day, awakened by nightmares every night. He didn't tell us about this until he died. He kept crying and complaining about his cowardice, saying he felt sorry for the soldiers and the people who died in Rongjiang. He didn't close his eyes until he died."
"I originally wanted to keep this matter to myself, but Lou Yongan and Zhou Jungui suddenly died, and many officials involved in the incident also died tragically."
"I was already feeling uneasy, and my mother was terrified, so I took her to worship Buddha and confess my sins to seek peace of mind. I didn't expect to be caught red-handed. When the news got out, I knew it was bad and I quickly took my mother and fled, but who knew that the people who wanted to silence her would follow."
"My mother and I fled all the way, and luckily we met the people of the Hate Prince, who saved our lives. But my mother...she died at the hands of those people on the way."
Zhou Fengchun's eyes were red and tears were flowing.
"My father concealed the truth and watched so many people die in vain. My mother and I used the money he greedily earned to live a comfortable life, but the ghosts of the dead in Rongjiang linger, and the south is filled with wronged souls."
"This is all retribution for the Zhou family, it's our retribution!"
Zhou Fengchun couldn't help crying, and the women who followed him in also burst into tears after hearing his words.
They were all people who benefited from the flood that year, and their husbands, nephews and nephews rose to prominence and wealth because of their collusion with others.
They are more afraid than Zhou Fengchun.
Without anyone asking any questions, they all knelt on the ground and confessed their identities and what they knew.
Some said how her husband colluded with the Lu family, spread rumors to confuse the people, and framed Prince Li and He Wenzhuo.
Some said that their own sons and nephews accepted huge amounts of money and deliberately obstructed Prince Li and others from providing disaster relief.
Others told how family members colluded with the people sent by the court to suppress bandits and rebellions, and how they had colluded with the real bandits in the south to keep refugees captive, using civilians as bandits, and pretending that those who had rioted and looted were "cleared out" by the court. Afterwards, they used this to gain military merit, allowing those bandits to legitimately infiltrate the southern officialdom.
They talked at once, some of them speaking intermittently due to sobbing and fear, but each thing made the people in the hall breathe more heavily, and the generals such as Wen Xinhou were even gasping for breath.
The veins on the back of Yin Bao's hand popped up. He looked directly at the woman who had said "using civilians as bandits" and said word by word, "Are you saying that the news that the court sent troops to suppress the rebellion and the bandits back then was all fake?!"
The woman shuddered: "Yes, it's fake..."
"The original mob in Shezhou was actually the bandits who had been causing trouble nearby for years. My brother-in-law was one of the bandits who led people to rob the disaster relief funds."
"I overheard my husband mention it once. He said someone bribed the bandits to help them stir up trouble in the South. After the Crown Prince's ship sank while sailing south, they took advantage of the chaos to instigate the refugees and civilians to oppose the relief workers, thus preventing the relief efforts from proceeding."
"After Crown Prince Li was summoned back to the capital and new officials took over disaster relief, the imperial court sent troops to suppress the bandits and quell the rebellion. They had already learned of the situation and colluded with the soldiers who later moved south, as well as the local government in Shezhou, killing a large number of disaster-stricken refugees and passing them off as bandits. The original rioters took advantage of the situation to claim credit, cleanse their identities, and return their official positions."
Yin Bao's eyes widened in anger, he couldn't believe it.
Marquis Wenxin was furious: "How dare they?!"
Cao Dejiang pursed his lips tightly, clutched his palms and said coldly, "Go on!"
The woman was so frightened that she trembled all over, but she didn't dare to refuse. She just lowered her head and whispered:
"The commander of the troops in Shezhou at the time was Zhou Jungui, and my husband served under him. They colluded with the bandits, using civilians as bandits, and quickly put down the rebellion in the south."
"My husband was rewarded and promoted three ranks to become a military commander in the Shezhou government office. Zhou Jungui was appointed as a military officer in the Governor's Office. Fearing discovery and due to concerns about personal interests, my husband also married his younger sister to a bandit leader who had infiltrated the government office. He later became a sixth-rank guard..."
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