Chapter 155 The Feast at Hongmen (Part Two)
Seeing this, Li Yuanzhao smiled slightly and said, "Alright."
She gestured to Chen Yanqing behind her, "Bring the things up."
Chen Yanqing immediately ordered people to bring up two huge wooden boxes and place them in a prominent place in the hall.
The box was opened, and inside were neatly stacked stacks of contracts and documents.
Li Yuanzhao pointed to one of the boxes and said, "These are the contracts for the purchase of land at low prices by everyone since the severe drought."
She then turned to another box, saying, "These are the accounts of how you bought grain from the government granary at low prices and then resold it at higher prices."
After saying that, she looked at Sun Tian and said, "In my opinion, the Sun family alone has profited nearly 100,000 strings of cash from the disaster victims."
Upon hearing this, the faces of all the guests changed drastically.
No one expected that the Princess, who had only been in Weizhou for a few days, would uncover their private dealings so thoroughly, even compiling their contracts and accounts.
Sun Tian then belatedly realized that His Highness didn't want them to donate grain or money at all; he was clearly there to settle old scores.
But then he thought again and forced himself to suppress his panic.
The Second Prince was also brought down by them, so what is there to fear from a mere Princess?
He hurriedly explained, "Your Highness! This is all a misunderstanding! The rise in grain prices is due to transportation difficulties, and the price reduction for land purchases is also due to fluctuations in grain prices. It is absolutely not our intention to oppress the people!"
Pang Guang quickly chimed in, "Yes, Your Highness, we also have our own difficulties. Since the disaster began, if we hadn't been willing to sell our grain to the victims and buy their land to give them a way to survive, I'm afraid even more people would have starved to death!"
Shen Churong stood to the side, his face growing increasingly gloomy.
This blatant distortion of the truth, portraying the exploitation and oppression of disaster victims as a great act of kindness, is utterly shameless.
Li Yuanzhao tapped her fingernails lightly on the armrest and said, "I am not an unreasonable person. Since you all say you have difficulties, then let's deal with it this way today. The court will redeem the land for the disaster victims at the original price. As for the portion of grain purchased from the official granary at a low price and then resold at a higher price, you only need to make up the difference to the court. I will then forgive and forget about it."
"What?!"
The crowd below immediately erupted in uproar.
Redeem the land at the original price, and then have to make up the difference in grain prices?
Isn't this just making them waste their time and effort?
Sun Tian's face turned ashen, and he immediately protested, "Your Highness, please understand! After this great disaster, our family's grain reserves have long been depleted. Moreover, the rioters have repeatedly looted the grain stores, causing heavy losses. Where can we find any surplus grain to replenish our supplies? Furthermore..."
His voice deepened, taking on a hint of force: "If we are unwilling, what kind of logic is there in this world of forced buying and selling?"
Upon hearing this, many aristocratic families and wealthy merchants nodded in agreement, their eyes filled with a hint of wishful thinking.
Sun Tian is right. Transactions are voluntary. Even if the Princess has great power, she cannot openly violate common sense, can she?
Li Yuanzhao stopped tapping his fingers and looked directly at Sun Tian. "Since Lord Sun is unwilling, then let's do it as you say?"
Sun Tian was stunned when he heard this, not understanding what the princess meant.
Should we handle it according to his suggestion?
What did he say?
Before he could figure it out, a series of uniform sounds of armor clanging suddenly came from outside the door.
Everyone looked up and saw a group of soldiers with swords suddenly file in and instantly surround the entire banquet hall.
Only then did everyone realize that this was not a banquet at all, but a trap set by a treacherous force.
The princess was not there to negotiate with them; she clearly intended to force them to submit!
If they refuse to provide grain to make up the price difference, we're afraid we'll all be ruined here today!
Sun Tian was also greatly alarmed. "Your Highness, what are you doing?"
Li Yuanzhao leaned back comfortably in his chair, a half-smile on his face, and said, "Lord Sun, I remember you said, 'I will do everything in my power, even at the cost of my life.'"
Upon hearing this, Sun Tian nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
He was just being polite; he didn't really want to die!
He forced himself to remain calm and said, "Your Highness, we are local gentry. We have neither embezzled nor committed any crimes, nor have we rebelled. On what grounds do you kill us?"
Li Yuanzhao was too lazy to waste words with him.
Honestly, she didn't have the energy to argue with others, nor the inclination to listen to their sophistry.
For her, it was as simple as this: if she could obey, she would live; if she couldn't, she would die.
She killed him, so why explain why she killed him? She wasn't that kind.
She raised her right hand and gestured gently.
Without hesitation, Shen Churong, standing behind her, drew his long sword and walked straight toward Sun Tian.
Sun Tian shouted "You dare!" and stood up, trying to run away.
But Chen Churong simply stretched out his wrist, and the sharp longsword sliced directly across his neck.
Warm blood splattered onto Pang Guang's body.
Sun Tian's eyes widened, he made "ho, ho" sounds, covered his neck with both hands, and slowly fell to the ground. He twitched a few times and then became still.
The banquet hall fell into a deathly silence, with only the heavy breathing of the crowd remaining. Many people even collapsed into their seats on the spot.
Pang Guang's face was smeared with warm blood. He stiffly raised his hand to wipe it away, and looking at the bloodstains on his hand, his body trembled like a leaf.
He no longer cared about the dignity of his aristocratic family, and knelt down with a thud, kowtowing frantically.
"Your Highness, we are willing! We are willing! We are willing to pay the difference and redeem the land! Please spare our lives, Your Highness! Please spare our lives, Your Highness!"
After kowtowing dozens of times, he dared to raise his head slightly, and added in a trembling voice, "But...but we really don't have much food stored at home, and...we hope Your Highness will grant us some time to gather more food..."
He thought that as long as he could get out alive today, there would always be room for maneuver in the future.
They could even collude with local officials to submit memorials to the capital, accusing the princess of "indiscriminate killing of innocent people."
Even if she wields great power, she will still have to give the court an explanation!
However, before he could finish his thought, Shen Churong's sword had already swept past again.
Pang Guang's voice stopped abruptly, his wide eyes filled with disbelief, and he finally collapsed heavily to the ground.
Li Yuanzhao didn't even glance at the two corpses. He simply looked up at the crowd below, who were frozen in place, terrified, and asked, "Is anyone else in trouble?"
The remaining people were so terrified that no one answered for a moment.
In the dead silence, Xue Nanzhi stepped forward steadily and said in a loud voice, "Your Highness, my Xue family grain store is not only willing to make up the price difference in full, but also willing to donate all of our stored grain for disaster relief."
The remaining people then seemed to wake from a dream, and they all knelt down on the ground, kowtowing frantically, shouting, "I'm willing to make up the difference!" "No problem!" "I'm also willing to donate all my surplus grain."
Li Yuanzhao watched this scene with a slight smile, "I suppose everyone did this voluntarily?"
At this moment, who would dare to utter a single word of "no"? Everyone said, "It's all voluntary."
Li Yuanzhao smiled with satisfaction and instructed Chen Yanqing beside him, "In that case, let's start the banquet."
The servants quickly carried the two bodies out, cleaned up the bloodstains on the ground, and the guards surrounding the banquet hall also withdrew in an orderly manner.
The banquet resumed as usual, as if the killing had never happened.
Afterwards, the maids carried the plates and placed them on the table for everyone, serving the dishes to the guests one by one.
The crowd was so horrified by the bloody scene that they felt nauseous and had no appetite left.
However, when the plate was lifted, everyone still gasped.
What was on the plate was not some delicacy, but a few cakes made of some unknown mixture of mud and weeds.
Even the wine glass beside it didn't contain fine wine, but rather a glass of murky water with tiny specks of mud floating on the surface, a sight that would make one want to vomit.
But now that they've witnessed the Princess's methods, who would dare to show even the slightest dissatisfaction?
One by one, their faces turned ashen, and they forced themselves to swallow the gritty mud cakes and astringent sewage, mouthful by mouthful, while suppressing their nausea.
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