Chapter 524 "Those who collude with the Japanese shall die!"
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Chang Hai felt a tightness in his throat. He glanced at Zhou Canjun beside him and saw that the latter was pale and his hand holding the wine glass was trembling slightly.
Chang Hai felt a little better. Thank goodness, he wasn't the only one afraid of Li Shiyue!
However, Cai Hua, who was sitting at the table closest to Li Shiyue, was still able to raise his glass and drink at this moment!
Before Chang Hai could figure anything out, he heard Li Shiyue, who was sitting in the head seat, say loudly, "This general is not the kind of person who would force others to do things against their will."
Since Zhao Dajia is unwilling to lower grain prices, then let's just forget about the Zhao family.
I don't know, you...
Li Shiyue turned her head to look at the other eleven wealthy merchants.
"But are you willing to lower the price?"
"Let the people of Jian'an City have a good New Year?"
The eleven wealthy merchants sitting around the round table inside the room turned deathly pale as Li Shiyue stared at them.
Especially the two wealthy merchants who had a fairly good relationship with Zhao Liangfu, both of them were now covered in cold sweat.
At this moment, Li Yu suddenly stood up!
"General, you are wise!"
After bowing respectfully in the direction where Li Shiyue was standing, Li Yu straightened up and, with a happy expression, continued to say to Li Shiyue: "The grain prices in all of my Li family's grain shops will be reduced by 30% according to the general's orders!"
Salt shops have reduced their prices by 20%!
Furthermore, my Li family is willing to donate one thousand taels of silver and five hundred shi of grain to the general's two thousand brothers to help the general resist the Japanese pirates and protect Jian'an from their invasion!
As soon as Li Yu said this, Li Shiyue's icy face instantly brightened up to look like spring flowers in bloom.
Upon seeing this, the other wealthy merchants sitting at the same table as Li Yu all stood up to express their opinions, fearing that if they were a step too late, they would follow in Zhao Liangfu's footsteps.
"My Zhou family is also willing to listen to the general's offer to lower the grain price! My family will donate one thousand taels of silver and eight hundred shi of grain!"
"My Wang family will donate six hundred bushels of grain!"
Listening to the eager merchants speaking, Li Shiyue nodded in satisfaction and turned to Cai Hua and the others: "And you all?"
Cai Hua took a deep breath, stood up, and cupped his hands in greeting to Li Shiyue: "The garrison will definitely cooperate with General Li to resist the Japanese pirates and protect the people and the borders."
Du Hui, Feng Gui, Wan Kai, and others sitting at the table also stood up to express their support for Li Shiyue.
Finally, it was the turn of the four recruits, including Chang Hai, the registrar.
Chang Hai's palms were sweaty. Seeing his colleagues all stand up to express their opinions, he quickly stood up as well: "This humble official is willing... willing to obey the general's orders."
Li Shiyue was very pleased with everyone's reaction. Her gaze lingered on Chang Hai's face, who was standing at the end of the table, for a moment. She asked Chang Hai with a half-smile, "Commander Chang, you told me you were sick a few days ago. I saw you were sweating profusely just now, but you look much better now."
Chang Hai's legs went weak, and he almost knelt down before Li Shiyue.
He bowed his head and cupped his hands to Li Shiyue, saying, "This humble official...this humble official..."
"Haha," Li Shiyue laughed twice as if teasing a kitten or puppy, "I was just joking with you, Military Advisor Chang, there's no need to be nervous."
Li Shiyue waved to Chang Hai, "Sit down."
The banquet lasted until 9 PM.
During this time, Li Shiyue chatted and laughed with everyone, and the atmosphere at the table was very harmonious, as if Zhao Liangfu's half finger lying on the clean porcelain plate did not exist.
Although everyone appeared to be having a good time, almost no one had a taste for their food and they were just hoping that this trap would end soon.
Seeing that it was almost time, Li Shiyue stood up again and held up three fingers. "The third thing I want to say is that anyone here who has news of the Japanese pirates should contact me privately. There will be a great reward."
No one answered Li Shiyue's question.
She wasn't in a hurry, picked up her wine glass and took a small sip: "It's alright, everyone can think about it slowly when you get back."
Anyone who remembers anything can come to the governor's mansion to find me at any time.
It's getting late, let's call it a night.
Oh, starting tomorrow, I want to see the price of grain in Jian'an City come down.
Please take your time.
Upon hearing this, everyone felt as if they had been granted a pardon, and they all rose, bowed, and took their leave.
Just then, a commotion arose downstairs, followed by heart-wrenching cries.
Li Shiyue gave Hei Zi, who was standing at the door, a look, and Hei Zi opened the door.
Thus, everyone inside saw a young man covered in blood being dragged up by Sun Xiaoliu and thrown at the bottom of the stairs.
"General, Zhao's eldest son has arrived."
Sun Xiaoliu stood at the door and cupped his hands to Li Shiyue, who was already sitting inside, saying, "Just as the general predicted, we found letters between the Zhao family and the Japanese pirates!"
Not only that, my subordinate also found this..."
He went into the house and handed Li Shiyue a bronze plaque with strange wave patterns engraved on it.
Li Shiyue took the bronze medal, his eyes suddenly turning sharp as knives: "A Japanese pirate's medal!"
Sun Xiaoliu and his team had already discovered that Zhao Liangfu had colluded with the Japanese invaders.
It should be noted that Li Shiyue went straight to the governor's mansion as soon as she entered the city that day.
The Xuanjia Army found quite a few good things in the governor's study.
Sun Xiaoliu and his advance team did a good job; their suffering on the rooftop for more than half a month was not in vain.
They really did find a lot of evidence.
Li Shiyue had already said that Jian'an was rotten to the core from top to bottom.
At present, she only killed Huang Wanchang, the governor, and his family, just to smoothly transition power. She kept Cai Hua alive so that she could use him to intervene in the garrison later.
The reason for keeping Feng Gui, Du Hui, Wan Kai, and others around was naturally to have them do the work.
After all, all she brought were soldiers, good for fighting or raiding, but not skilled in civil administration.
Furthermore, Li Shiyue was truly not the kind of person who was heartless; the officialdom, throughout history and across the world, was just like that.
In order to keep their positions, some people, even those in low-ranking positions, have no choice but to take the blame for their superiors.
It will always take time to find out the truth about these things.
But someone has to do the civil affairs of Jian'an City, right?
Therefore, she only executed Huang Wanchang, leaving the others to do the work.
Besides, since she killed Huang Wanchang right away, she could find a reason to say that he colluded with Japanese pirates to sell innocent people, and that she had to kill him for the sake of Jian'an.
This reason is at least one that can be used to explain things to Liu Tan.
As long as she hands over some of the silver confiscated from Huang Wanchang to Liu Tan and takes the matter of killing the bandits seriously, Liu Tan will naturally comply with her wishes and will not ask her to overstep her authority by beheading people.
These were all things Li Shiyue had already planned out.
But who knew that this guy surnamed Zhao would be so disobedient tonight!
If Zhao Liangfu had obediently complied, lowered grain prices, and donated silver or grain, Li Shiyue had no intention of taking action against these traitors she had already identified so quickly.
But Zhao Liangfu just wouldn't listen!
Li Shiyue stood up and walked up to the young man, looking down at him: "Zhao Dalang, do you know that your father is a traitor to the Japanese?"
Zhao Dalang, his face and head covered in blood, knelt on the ground, trembling all over: "I...I don't know...General, spare my life..."
Li Shiyue suddenly smiled.
"Hey, tell me, I came to Jian'an on the orders of the Prince to kill the bandits."
Your father betrayed his country and colluded with the enemy; the evidence is irrefutable. You, as his son, are you telling me here that you don't know this?
Haha, so tell me, should I believe you or not?
Zhao Dalang probably felt that he, no, that the Zhao family, was about to be finished, so he suddenly stepped forward and tried to hug Li Shiyue's leg.
With a "bang," Zhao Dalang was kicked against the wall by Li Shiyue.
His neck twisted to the side, and blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, leaving him looking as if his life was hanging in the balance.
Li Shiyue's kick was so fast that Chen Yong, who was following behind her, didn't even have time to react before Zhao Dalang was kicked away.
The crowd watching her kick only noticed its speed, but only Cai Hua and Song Fang, the two soldiers standing behind her, understood the technique.
"She... indeed, those who can sit in the position of general are all capable."
As Cai Hua thought to himself, he knew that if he were to kick Li Shiyue, he could also land the kick, but he would never be as fast or as powerful as Li Shiyue.
Zhao Dalang's neck was broken, so the strength must have been immense!
"Those who collude with the Japanese shall die!"
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