Chapter 228 Back to the Beginning
Jiang Tong's subordinates had all witnessed their emperor, with his iron fist, ruthlessly executing members of his clan who disobeyed orders.
At that time, many people from the Yuan clan pleaded for the man, including even their emperor's own uncle. However, their emperor did not give face to anyone and had the man executed without hesitation.
Besides this most important one, there are other adventurers who think they can hide their true colors well, but once they are discovered, His Majesty the Emperor will punish them mercilessly according to the severity of their crimes.
Because he always acted solely according to the law and military regulations, even when he punished someone, he would only forcefully revoke their illegal privileges. Therefore, even if his subordinates wanted to use the guise of speaking frankly to fight for the right of their class not to abide by the rules, they could only sigh helplessly, "The tiger wants to devour the sky, but there's nowhere to start."
They can't very well tell their lord, "Whether you have the hearts of the people, whether you can become emperor, or whether the country can be stable are not important. What matters is how many privileges we, the meritorious officials who followed you to conquer the country, and our relatives and friends, can enjoy," can they?
Isn't this just asking for death when you think you have too much life ahead of you?
No one dared to openly display their own selfish desires, demanding that the emperor make concessions and compromises at the cost of losing popular support and destabilizing the country. Naturally, no one could stop the emperor from governing the army with military regulations and ruling the country with laws.
In this situation, even if some people still harbor illusions and cannot help but indulge their greed and evil thoughts, such people are only a very small minority.
Jiang Tong's subordinates were clearly not among that "very small minority".
They still wanted to live a peaceful life, and dared not take advantage of the fact that the mountains were high and the emperor was far away to wantonly slaughter civilians.
After all, given how ostentatious their arrival was, even if they killed everyone in the village to silence them, the local authorities would still be able to follow the trail they left behind and find them.
They will be in big trouble, and it won't just be them who will suffer; even their master, the emperor, will inevitably be held accountable.
Taking a deep breath, the leader swallowed his resentment and forced a smile. He then reached out and took off his waist tag, handing it to Chen Lizheng. "This should be enough to prove our identities, right?"
When he said this, his tone inevitably carried a hint of arrogance.
Chen Lizheng examined the waist tag from all angles, then somewhat embarrassedly handed it back to the other party with both hands, saying, "To be honest, in this rural area, no one really knows the origin of your tag."
He hesitated for a moment before suggesting, “How about I take you all to the county government office and ask our county magistrate to take a look? Our county magistrate is from the capital and is very knowledgeable.”
The leader was so angry he nearly fell over, and everyone behind him stared wide-eyed.
Do people say that?
What normal person would bother the local magistrate just to identify a token?
Does this old man even realize that he's just a lowly village head?
Seeing the strange, bewildered expressions on the faces of the group, Chen Lizheng couldn't help but chuckle to himself. He thought to himself, "Of course the old man isn't going to take you to the magistrate. He's just saying this to give you a warning and make you more careful in your actions."
The other villagers of Mingfu Village, seeing this group of outsiders suddenly perform their face-changing skills because of Chen Lizheng's words, couldn't help but look at their own village head with amazed eyes.
Chen Lizheng pretended not to notice the various gazes directed at him, maintaining his professional fake smile. "What's wrong? Is there something inconvenient for everyone?"
The leader took another deep breath to keep himself from turning hostile because of Chen Lizheng's words. "There's no need to go to the yamen. We're just here to find someone, not on official business."
Although their identities were not problematic, they did not want to get involved with the county magistrate of Tang County, who came from an official family in the capital, before they could get things done.
For the sake of the Earl's family and their Earl's reputation, they absolutely could not allow the fact that their Earl and Jiang Yuan were father and son to spread to the ears of other high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital before their Earl had completely taken control of Jiang Yuan.
Otherwise, those high-ranking officials who were at odds with their lord would definitely swarm like flies that had caught a whiff of something, trying to use Jiang Yuan's matter to attack their lord.
He stared intently at Chen Lizheng, his tone carrying a hint of threat, "My master is trying to find his son, which is a matter of course. Even as the village head, you have no right to interfere."
Chen Li rubbed his hands and laughed, "Oh dear, you've misunderstood. This old man has no intention of stopping A Yuan from recognizing his ancestors. As long as he's willing, he can call whoever he wants 'father'."
It must be said that these words also inherited the same sarcastic tone as Chen Lizheng's previous remarks.
Before the leader could speak, Chen Lizheng added, "We're asking you all for evidence just to confirm whether the Earl you're talking about is really A Yuan's biological father."
The leader's lips moved slightly, as if he was about to say something, but the other man behind him couldn't help but sneer, "If it weren't for that, why would we have come all the way from the capital to a remote rural place like yours?"
Chen Lizheng scratched his head, "The problem is that this old man is too ignorant to see anything from that sign. Naturally, I can't be sure if you all really came from that Earl's Mansion in the capital."
Thus, the problem returns to its starting point.
In other words, he still couldn't easily reveal Jiang Yuan's whereabouts to this group of people.
The group of people sent by Jiang Tong became somewhat angry when they saw that after he had said a lot, he had come back to the same point.
He couldn't recognize their badges, so he directly denied that their badges could be used as evidence. Instead, he turned around and reached out to ask them for other evidence. Isn't this just blatant sophistry?
If they have other evidence, why are they wasting their breath arguing with this old man? Wouldn't it be better to just throw the evidence in his face?
Fueled with anger, everyone instinctively turned their gaze to the leader, waiting for him to make a decision.
The leader was Jiang Tong's trusted confidant and former bodyguard. He became Jiang Tong's bodyguard for two reasons: first, he was injured on the battlefield and his combat effectiveness dropped significantly; second, in addition to his good skills, he was also adept at handling daily affairs.
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