Chapter 56 Chapter 56 Doesn’t that look like my brother-in-law?
Chapter 56 Chapter 56 Doesn’t that look like my brother-in-law?
The soldiers of these powerful families seemed to be in their hands, but in fact they were all "dispatched" by Lu Xusheng, who was firmly controlling all of them. For the first time in his life, Shen Yi felt like a puppet being manipulated by others.
No, perhaps before he alienated the Zhang and Shen families, or even earlier, when he just arrived in Jiangnan, when he dared to replace Cheng Mingyu and go south, he had already made a comprehensive plan.
The imperial court only sent Lu Xusheng to completely bring Jiangnan under his rule.
Such achievements are enough to be passed down through the ages.
But Shen Yi was the stepping stone for Lu Xusheng to go down in history.
Shen Yi smiled self-deprecatingly and looked at the young man in front of him again.
Lu Xusheng was dressed in a black shirt as dark as ink, with deep and calm features. Surrounding him was a painting of green bamboo, making him seem to appear out of thin air.
Shen Yi bowed to him.
"If the general has any use for me, please speak up."
Just like Zhang Huntian, he wants to negotiate terms.
Lu Xusheng narrowed his eyes, the green bamboo color flowed into his eyes and turned into a touch of coldness. He just threw down two words coldly,
"Take it away."
Suddenly, more than a dozen dark shadows jumped out from the depths of the bamboo forest, tied up Shen Yi and his group, and pressed them to the front yard.
The soldiers brought by Lu Xusheng had already captured all the members of the Shen family in the villa, and they were kneeling on the ground in the empty front yard.
Shen Yi, the head of the Wang family and the head of the Cui family were thrown in the front. Even though they became prisoners, they were proud of their status and could not bear to lose their dignity. They managed to remain calm until they saw Lu Xusheng take a bow and arrow from the guard behind him.
Shen Yi's expression finally changed.
"General Lu, are you going to execute me here? General, do you know how many secrets I hold? I believe you are very interested."
Unfortunately, Lu Xusheng turned a deaf ear to his words.
The arrow was placed on the longbow and slowly pulled apart. Shen Yi's eyes tightened as the bowstring became gradually stretched to its limit.
He swallowed deeply, and the red arrow seemed to gradually enlarge in his eyes. Beads of sweat oozed from Shen Yi's forehead, and his face turned terribly pale.
"Master Lu, I will tell you everything I know!"
After hearing this, Lu Xusheng hesitated for a moment, then suddenly swung the arrow to the left, hitting the Cui family's patriarch's forehead. The Cui family's patriarch immediately tensed up when he saw this.
"Lord Lu, Duke Lu, Immortal Lu, we were all bewitched by Shen Yi. Please show some leniency and everything will be fine. I will give you whatever you want..." The Patriarch of the Cui family was already incoherent, his teeth chattering.
Lu Xusheng snorted lightly, adjusted his posture, and moved the arrow gradually to the right, this time aiming at the head of the Wang family.
The head of the Wang family's eyelids trembled, and suddenly raised his voice,
"General Lu, your maternal grandfather's Wang family and I are from the same family. We were connected thirty years ago. A few years ago, your maternal grandfather celebrated his 60th birthday. I went to Langya in person to congratulate him. He was in high spirits and had a noble demeanor. He mentioned you, his grandson, all the time and was very proud of you..."
Perhaps it was these words that aroused Lu Xu's sympathy. He seemed to be in a dilemma and stared at Shen Yi and asked,
"Master Shen, which one do you think I should kill first?"
Lu Xusheng smiled briefly, his narrow and deep eyes seemed to be filled with spring light, and even his posture of drawing the bow was extremely upright and handsome, looking like a hunter selecting prey.
Shen Yi had completely seen through Lu Xusheng's intention. He said nothing, raised his head and closed his eyes deeply.
Just as he closed his eyes, a sharp "whoosh" sound broke through the sky, and an arrow pierced through Shen Yi's neck. A string of blood spurted out and splashed the ground in front of him. Shen Yi's eyes turned gray and his body fell down like a fallen leaf.
Lu Xusheng put away his bow and raised his eyes, his gaze fell on the heads of the Cui and Wang families, but he saw that they were already trembling, with pools of urine under their pants.
"Not really? Haven't you killed enough people?" Lu Xusheng asked idly.
They fell to the ground, weeping loudly.
"Please spare my life, General. Please spare my life. We are willing to serve as your vanguard and drive you."
Lu Xusheng ignored them, threw the bow and arrow to the guards, and ordered one of the lieutenants to
"Cut off Shen Yi's head and send a message to the three armies!"
Shen Yi's head is much more useful than the secrets in his mouth.
As long as his head is sent to various places, most of the powerful families' private soldiers and the people in hiding will surrender.
The deputy general did so.
As for the other two,
"Lock him in a room, interrogate him on the spot, and execute him on the spot after the interrogation."
Upon hearing this, the Cui family's patriarch howled, "Lord Lu, the trial is not your responsibility. Logically, we should be taken to Nanjing to be interrogated by the judicial office."
Lu Xusheng sneered when he heard this, and was about to leave with the reins in his hand. He turned around slowly and said with a smile,
"Hey, when have you nobles ever paid attention to the laws of the court? You are talking to me about the law when you are about to die?"
He gave a wink and the guards took the two men to the side courtyard for questioning.
Of course, Lu Xusheng couldn't bring these people to Nanjing. How many officials in Nanjing were able to break away from the wealthy families?
After handing over Yanzhou Prefecture to a deputy general, Lu Xusheng once again rushed west to deal with the remaining powerful people. After the deaths of Shen Yi and Zhang Huntian, the Jiangnan powerful families were leaderless and became a group of mobs without much fighting power.
Despite this, it still took Lu Xusheng a full half month to pacify most of the remaining warlords, leaving only a few stubborn elements to be dealt with by his deputy general.
On April 15th, Lu Xusheng hurried back to Nanjing.
The Governor General of Liangjiang, Jiang Chengbin, personally came to the outskirts of the city to greet him. He stood in the evening breeze and gave a long bow to Lu Xusheng who was riding his horse.
"Duke Lu's supernatural abilities are truly eye-opening!"
Is it really impossible for Jiang Chengbin to send troops to assist Lu Xusheng?
It was Lu Xusheng who did not allow him to mobilize troops. Jiang Chengbin's so-called blockade of the seaport and the river estuary was actually blocking the retreat of the powerful. It was also a guise to confuse the powerful and make them unpredictable about Lu Xusheng's possible whereabouts.
Lu Xusheng did not come here to fight.
His real purpose was to liberate the population and miners hidden by the powerful, and to use the means of inciting the miners and the people to resist in order to destroy the foundation for the survival of the Jiangnan powerful. From now on, there will be no more powerful people in Jiangnan, and all the people, mines, and shipping will belong to the court. It can be imagined how abundant the tax revenue of the court will be next year.
The cancer that had plagued the officialdom of Jiangnan for hundreds of years was eradicated by Lu Xusheng.
It's a celebration for all.
What is even more rare is that the imperial court obtained the entire Jiangnan region without spending a single soldier. This is what is truly amazing about Lu Xusheng.
He couldn't imagine anyone else who could do it, not even Cheng Mingyu.
Jiang Chengbin was so excited that he almost burst into tears.
"Shenzhi, you don't know. Whenever I go out to fight pirates, I need supplies and I have to flatter these powerful people. I am controlled by them everywhere. If I become powerful, it will be difficult to collect taxes. Shenzhi, Cheng Mingyu often said that I am like a daughter-in-law, caught between the court and the powerful people. Isn't it difficult to be a human being?"
Lu Xusheng was very polite to Jiang Chengbin and returned the greeting, "Thank you, Governor Jiang, for your support."
"Hey, I didn't do anything," Jiang Chengbin said, and pulled Lu Xusheng into the car and drove to the Princess's Mansion.
"On my way here, I looked at the sand table and deduced your movements in Jiangnan over the past two months. I found that the places where you marched included all the counties and towns under the control of the powerful families. In other words, you brought out all the people hidden by the powerful families. The next step is to register them and divide the land. This is another time-consuming and laborious project."
Lu Xusheng nodded, "This is exactly the purpose of my trip back to Nanjing. On the way here, I wrote a letter to the capital, asking the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel to send people south. In addition, Nanjing will also need to send a large number of officials to follow me into the mountains."
"That's easy. If you need my place, please don't hesitate to ask for my help."
Although Jiang Chengbin is a generation older than Lu Xusheng, he treats Lu Xusheng as an equal.
The two of them made a preliminary plan in the carriage, and then rushed to the eldest princess to report it in detail.
The princess saw Lu Xusheng and looked him up and down. "Are you not injured?"
Lu Xusheng smiled and said, "No."
The princess gave him a rare good look this time, "Since you have sacrificed yourself for the court this time, I will stop thinking about finding a male lover for An An."
The smile on Lu Xusheng's face disappeared completely, "Can you please not bring this up?"
Jiang Chengbin is still here, so we have to consider his face.
Jiang Chengbin was also a smart man, and he immediately covered his
"I didn't hear anything. General Lu is not a henpecked man. I know that."
Lu Xusheng: “…”
All his prestige was shaken off completely.
After laughing for a while, the three of them returned to the topic and began to arrange matters such as surveying the land, registering the population and taking over the mine.
As they were chatting until almost dinner time, a steward came outside and said that someone had sent a few cars as gifts.
The princess was stunned for a moment, "Who sent it?"
At this time, Jiang Chengbin stood up and saluted the princess.
"It was sent by your subordinate."
The eldest princess and Lu Xusheng exchanged glances and said nothing.
Jiang Chengbin said to the princess calmly,
"Your Highness, you know that when His Majesty first appointed me to Jiangnan, I was initially unable to demonstrate my abilities. It was only later that I slowly accepted their gifts and gained their trust, and only then did I gain a place in Jiangnan. Today, I will present all these gifts to Your Highness, and ask Your Highness to help forward them to the court. As for the annual gift list, I have already reported it to Your Majesty."
I have to say that this Governor-General of Jiangnan is a smart man.
Lu Xusheng killed those powerful family heads, so it is possible that he did not pry a lot of secrets out of their mouths.
And these secrets will shake the entire court.
As the Governor-General of Liangjiang, Jiang Chengbin could not be completely clean. His smartness was that he reported to the emperor from the beginning and cleared himself from the crime.
The princess knew that Jiang Chengbin had no reason to lie to her. "Okay, since I have reported this to my brother, I will hand all of this over to the capital."
Jiang Chengbin is smart and knows how to protect himself, but what about the others?
The princess glanced at Lu Xusheng, but Lu Xusheng's eyebrows didn't move at all, which showed that he didn't intend to reveal any truth.
In other words, the life and death of many court officials now rests in the hands of Lu Xusheng. No one knows how many levers he holds in his hands. It is conceivable that once he returns to the capital, it will be a nightmare for the officials in the capital.
After sending Jiang Chengbin away, the princess looked at Lu Xusheng with mixed feelings and said,
"Still be careful."
Lu Xusheng nodded, "I know what I'm doing."
The archer he was waiting for hasn't appeared yet, but he will be there soon.
After staying in Jinling for three days, Lu Xusheng led a hundred officials into the mountains.
Each county was assigned an official from the imperial court, several local officials from the clerk's office, and a group of soldiers to begin surveying the land.
Lu Xusheng is in charge of inspecting the various places. The current situation in Jiangnan is still unstable, so he is still needed to stay in place.
The miners only listened to him, and the militia only recognized him. The industries in the hands of the wealthy families needed to be cleared out bit by bit and returned to the court. With him in charge, smoothness and stability could be ensured to the greatest extent possible.
In the past, countries along the border would retreat hundreds of miles away upon hearing the name of Lu Xusheng, but now the three names of Lu Xusheng are known throughout the entire Jiangnan region.
Wherever Lu Xusheng went, local people gave him chickens, ducks, eggs and rice and worshipped him like a god.
When are people most likely to let down their guard? It should be when they are at the peak of their careers and have achieved great success, right?
That's what the man thought, so he waited for that day when the summer sun was shining brightly. When Lu Xusheng was surrounded by a group of people on the top of a hill, overlooking the azaleas all over the hill, a poisoned arrow hidden in the darkness of the woods was aimed at his neck.
*
With a "whoosh" sound, it was as if a ball of blood mist exploded.
Cheng Yian shuddered all over and suddenly opened his eyes.
She stared at the dark tent ceiling in shock, and then she broke out in a cold sweat, realizing that it was all a nightmare.
He stood up and sat for a while, then found a towel to wipe the sweat off his back. He vaguely heard footsteps outside, and Cheng Yian asked,
"What time is it?"
The one keeping watch today was Ruhui. She usually woke up early and was about to go to the bathroom. When Cheng Yian called her, she immediately went into the inner room.
"Miss, it's still early, it's still early, go to sleep for a while."
Cheng Yian felt uneasy and shook his head, "I won't sleep anymore. I have to go to Ping'an Temple today."
This dream was not a good one, so she wanted to ask for a lucky charm for Lu Xusheng.
Ruhui came in to help her change her clothes, "You got up so early, I'm afraid you'll be exhausted when you get home."
Cheng Yian said tiredly, "Just prepare some cooling oil and apply it. By the way, has there been any letter delivered from the front yard in the past two days?"
The eldest princess sent her a letter almost every five days to let her know she was safe.
There was news from Cheng Mingyu every now and then, but I hadn't heard that Lu Xusheng was injured or anything like that.
At this time, she really didn't expect Lu Xusheng to achieve anything, she just hoped that he would return safely.
Ruhui laughed and said, "You asked this question yesterday. Didn't I tell you that we wouldn't have any news until tomorrow?"
No news is the best news.
"Young lady, you are worrying about your aunt."
Cheng Yian smiled and did not deny it.
Lu Xusheng is her man, how can she not wish him well?
After washing and changing clothes, she quickly ate some vegetarian food, prepared incense, oil, silver and other things, and went to Ping'an Temple with her maid and nanny.
Lu Mansion is not far from Ping'an Temple. It is near Xishi. Just go north for two streets and then turn west.
First, a maid went to take the lead and learned that the wife of Duke Lu was coming to worship Buddha. The temple cleared a Buddhist hall for her and asked Cheng Yian to copy a sutra in it and burn it before the Buddha. She also asked the abbot to seal Lu Xusheng's birth date and time, and placed it before the Buddha to worship. Finally, she donated some incense oil and money before leaving.
Remembering that there was a shop selling delicious vegetarian buns outside the side gate of Ping An Temple, Cheng Yian planned to buy a few buns to eat. He walked past the Thousand-Armed Guanyin Temple and walked along the corridor to the side gate. Suddenly, a familiar figure flashed in his peripheral vision.
Cheng Yian stopped and couldn't help but look in the direction of that person.
"Hey, Rulan, does that look like your brother-in-law?"
He Qingyun was seen wearing a snow-white shirt, holding a scroll in his hand, and walking against the flow of people towards the back temple of the temple.