Chapter 83 Traitor
"What are you doing!" Mei Junrong dropped Liushenai, strode over and shouted sternly.
She was strong and tall, and was very scary when she got angry. When the women who were making a fuss about leaving came in front of her, they all lowered their heads and dared not say a word.
Zhu Dafeng came over and whispered, "General Mei, they are all from Liujia Village. They said they don't want to go with us and want to go back home on their own."
Mei Junrong quickly waved her hands, "Sister Zhu, please don't call me that. Just call me by my name. We're both bandits on the same side now."
As he spoke, he glanced at the women. Seeing that they didn't react, he thought they probably didn't hear him. He felt relieved and lowered his voice, "Besides, I'm not a general yet."
Zhu Dafeng realized that he had let the cat out of the bag, nodded, and stopped talking.
Mei Junrong looked towards the crowd and asked, "Who was it that just now shouted that they wanted to go home?"
There was a commotion among the crowd, and many people quietly stood back.
After a while, a woman stood up with her chest puffed out. "I was the one who shouted. Didn't you say you were here to rescue us? Why won't you let us go home?"
Hu Xinghua stared at Mei Junrong with her big black eyes, looking fearless.
She was from Hujia Village and later married to Liujia Village.
Hu Xinghua always felt that she was lucky because she had six older brothers, all of whom were very strong and could be considered the bullies of the village. No one dared to plot against her family.
Thanks to the support of these brothers, she was not bullied by the Liu family after she married the son of the Liujia Village chief.
What made Hu Xinghua most proud was that she gave birth to two boys for the Liu family in one go, thus becoming a great contributor to the Liu family, and everyone greeted her with a smile.
Especially her father-in-law, the clan leader, who was originally very indifferent to her. But after having a grandson, he loved her very much. He praised her to everyone he met, and even invited her to sit at the table for dinner. He even gave her the iron pot that was passed down from his family.
Because of this, several sisters-in-law were jealous of her for several months.
She had been living a comfortable life, working, taking care of the children and serving her husband every day. But who would have thought that one day, a bandit suddenly appeared in the village.
It was that Liu Lanhua. No one knew what had gone wrong with her. She actually killed her husband and went to Zhu Dafeng in Mangshan.
What’s even more hateful is that Liu Lanhua led the bandits to their village.
These bandits came to her house every month with knives to borrow food, and they stole and robbed her. She even stole several nests of eggs that she had secretly hidden for her son.
When she thought about the eggs that she had saved with great difficulty ending up in the stomachs of those bandits, she hated them to death. Why could they eat such delicious food?
She really wished Liu Lanhua would die.
She didn't need these bandits to save her. If it weren't for them, she would never have been captured by the soldiers.
No, these people are not bandits at all.
Hu Xinghua had already seen that the identities of these women were not certain at all. Judging from their appearance, they were not women begging for food in the fields.
They were all tall and strong, some were quite powerful, and their speech did not have a Yuzhou accent.
Unlike the women in their village, who often don't have enough food to eat all year round, can't grow taller or fatter, and have hunched backs from working from morning to night.
Maybe this group of people are the real traitors.
If they really followed them, then these women would be doomed.
Fortunately, she was the daughter-in-law of the clan leader, and the women in the village had to listen to her. When she told these people this, they were all terrified and hurriedly said they wanted to go with her.
It is precisely because she has the support of so many people that Hu Xinghua has the courage to stand up and say this.
However, looking at Mei Junrong's serious face, she couldn't help but feel nervous.
If she couldn't leave this time, she would sneak away with her sisters-in-law at night while they were asleep.
Mei Junrong looked at the group of women with indifference. She knew very well what these people were thinking.
"You want to go home? Okay, I won't stop you. Those who want to stay stand on the left, and those who want to leave stand on the right. I want to see how many people want to leave."
Hu Xinghua was overjoyed and was the first to stand on the right.
The crowd was in an uproar. They were all from nearby villages and knew each other. Whether they were leaving or staying, they would definitely go together.
Slowly, someone followed Hu Xinghua and stood on the right.
Seeing the situation was not good, Liu Lanhua quickly pulled her second aunt to the left and warned loudly: "Don't forget, even if you go back, you will be arrested again by the soldiers!"
"Nonsense! We're not bandits, and we didn't kill or burn anything. How could we possibly be arrested? If the soldiers want to arrest someone, they'll arrest you!"
Everyone nodded, and most followed Hu Xinghua to the right. Soon, the two groups became clearly separated.
Hu Xinghua asked, "Can we go now?"
Mei Junrong took a look and found that there were only fifty or sixty people who wanted to stay, less than half.
She sneered, "I saved you, so your lives should be mine. Twenty taels of silver each. Pay me and I'll let you go."
The person who chose the right side was very happy just now, but his face turned pale when he heard this. "W-Where do we have the money right now? Besides, twenty taels is such a large sum of money. We farmers can't even earn twenty taels a year. Aren't you just taking advantage of the situation?"
"So, you mean we're saving you for nothing after all the effort and money we've put in? There's no such thing as that! I'm not a sucker. Either stay and join us, or pay the money and leave!"
Everyone was speechless. They had previously thought that this group of bandits were all women and easy to talk to, so they thought they could just make a fuss and leave. Now that Mei Junrong suddenly turned against them, they didn't know how to react.
Mei Junrong looked at his men and said, "Give orders to send a message to these people's families immediately. If they can't raise the money in two days, their lives will be mine!"
When Hu Xinghua heard this, she almost fainted. Twenty taels of silver, even if her family could afford it, she would not be willing to spend it.
The others were even more panicked than she was, because their families simply couldn't come up with that much money, unless they sold their fields and land, which was impossible.
However, Mei Junrong was too lazy to even bother giving them any attention, and he stopped being polite and directly ordered them to be tied up and taken hostage.
Then he looked at the people on the left and ordered them to each choose five people on the right to keep an eye on them and not let any of them escape.
If the task was completed well, each person could receive one or two taels of silver, but if one was let go, then no money would be paid and they would be punished.
Most of those who chose to stay and join the gang did so because they were afraid of being bullied by officers and soldiers when they returned, or because they had bad relationships with their families and were afraid of being beaten and scolded.
At first they felt a little regretful, thinking that it might be better to choose to go home, but when they saw that everyone who wanted to leave was tied up, they immediately felt relieved.
They were even happier when they heard Mei Junrong instruct them to guard the hostages and reward them with silver.
After all, there are not many opportunities to earn a few taels of silver by one's own ability, and they have never seen so much money.
In fact, they did not think that Mei Junrong did anything wrong. There were no bandits in the world who did business at a loss. The people of Zhu Fengzhai were very kind by not killing them.
Since you have been saved, you should repay them. If you can't afford twenty taels of silver, then just stay and work for them.
Those who chose to stay convinced themselves and took action immediately. They each chose a hostage to guard and soon divided them up.
Some people hesitated for a moment out of consideration for their neighbors, then looked up and realized they had no share, and immediately felt very regretful.
At night, everyone stayed in the dilapidated temple. Mei Junrong arranged the Jinwu Guards to be on guard and patrol outside, while the people who stayed inside took turns to be on guard, keeping a close eye on the people and swearing to never let them escape.
Hu Xinghua was furious. "Traitors! You are a bunch of traitors!"
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On the other side, in Yuzhou City, Zhao Zhuo prepared a grand banquet to welcome Zhao Mingyue.
After eating and drinking, Zhao Zhuo dismissed everyone, leaving only him and his confidant Xie Qinjian in the room.
Seeing this, Zhao Mingyue guessed that he was going to tell her about the letter, so she asked the guards to leave the door, leaving only Xue Qi.
"Niece, I've heard rumors before you that the Empress Dowager has imprisoned the Emperor. I never thought she would send you to Xiqi, too. This woman is truly despicable. Although I want to send troops to rescue the Emperor, I'm afraid people will misunderstand me as a rebel. I really don't know what to do."
Zhao Mingyue felt a pang of contempt when she heard him speak so sanctimoniously, but on the surface she tried to look grief-stricken, saying in a plaintive voice, "Uncle, I know this request is unreasonable, but please save us, my sister and I!"
"I don't want to marry to Xiqi, and my brother doesn't want to be the emperor. We just want to stay away from the court struggles and live a peaceful and stable life. But who knew that the Queen Mother... wuwuwu..."
She really couldn't say anything bad about her mother, so she turned her head away and pretended to sob.
When Zhao Zhuo heard her say this, he was of course very happy. He thought to himself, it turns out that Zhao Chun's son doesn't want to be emperor, then this is an easy problem to solve.
After he entered the capital and killed Queen Mother Chi, he could let Zhao Chun abdicate to him. Wouldn't that be legitimate, and he wouldn't have to bear the crime of persecuting his nephew.
Thinking of this, he said solemnly: "Since things have come to this, then as a member of the Zhao family, I am afraid I can no longer sit idly by."
Zhao Mingyue raised her eyes and looked at him sincerely, "Thank you, uncle! I think you are wise and powerful. Once you rule the country, you will surely become a wise emperor who works hard to govern the country and is praised by the world!"
Zhao Zhuo was flattered by her words and his heart burst with joy. He smiled so hard that the fine lines on his face wrinkled together. "Hahahaha, thank you for your kind words, niece. Don't worry, niece, you can live in my house. King Xiqi will never dare to snatch you away. When I ascend the throne in the future, I will find you a perfect husband."
Zhao Mingyue lowered her eyes, a hint of anger flashing in her eyes. Is this considered a reward? He is clearly treating her as a reward!
Maybe, the so-called good husband is actually his subordinate, using her to win people's hearts. What a vicious method.
He was simply deceiving her as if she were a three-year-old child!
Zhao Mingyue smiled and said, "Then I would like to thank you in advance, uncle. This is the imperial edict written by my brother Chun. Please accept it, uncle. With it, my mission will no longer be without a legitimate reason."
As he said this, he gave Xue Qi a look. Xue Qi understood and took out a box and handed it to Zhao Zhuo.
Of course, Zhao Zhuo didn't know that this edict was forged by Xue Qi using Zhao Chun's handwriting.
He took out the imperial edict, unfolded it, and found a sentence written on it: "I was imprisoned by Queen Mother Chi, and the kings sent troops to rescue me."
Zhao Zhuo's eyebrows moved, "Good! Great! Qin Jian, please keep it for me." He then handed the edict to Xie Qinjian.
Zhao Mingyue saw that his expression had relaxed, and he seemed to be less wary of her. She tentatively asked, "I wonder when Uncle plans to send out his troops? I heard that there are 100,000 imperial guards stationed in the capital. If we don't recruit enough troops, I'm afraid we won't be able to attack the capital."
Zhao Zhuo smiled confidently, "Don't worry about the troops, niece. I plan to hold a swearing-in ceremony to send troops to defend the king at the beginning of next month. I just happen to have something to ask of you."
The so-called oath-taking ceremony was used to trick those soldiers into rebelling. No, it should not be said to be rebelling, but to be loyal to the king.
This is why Zhao Zhuo wanted to have a legitimate reason and a legitimate reason. Otherwise, few of the soldiers would be willing to risk being beheaded and rebel with him. Once their morale was low, they would surely be defeated.
Just looking at Zhao Zhuo's confident look, it seems that he has been prepared for rebellion for a long time.
Zhao Mingyue remained expressionless and said with a smile, "Uncle, please tell me. I will do my best to help you."
Zhao Zhuo looked at her expression and said with a smile, "I want my niece to write a manifesto to attack Queen Mother Chi and read it to the soldiers at the oath-taking ceremony to inspire them."
Zhao Mingyue was stunned for a moment, "This..."
Asking her to write a manifesto to attack A Niang? She couldn't even say anything bad about A Niang, let alone write one.
Zhao Zhuo saw her hesitation, and a hint of suspicion suddenly appeared in his eyes. "My niece hates Queen Mother Chi so much, it shouldn't be so that she can't even write a proclamation to attack her, right? Or are you lying to me?"
When he said the last sentence, Zhao Zhuo's tone turned cold.
Zhao Mingyue was startled. When she looked up, she met Zhao Zhuo's eyes full of suspicion. Her heart started pounding instantly.
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