Chapter 212: Come and go in a hurry
As for Ma Ruyu, what Matthew Li said was almost the same as what Mrs. Ma said. He did not dare to say more as the matter was not confirmed yet, for fear that if he said too much, it would be a disaster for him.
After this, Ma Ruyu and his wife went to the yamen to get a divorce the next day.
Matthew Li felt relieved only when he saw his eldest daughter-in-law leaving the Ma Mansion with several grandchildren and dowry.
When Ma Ruyu got a divorce, Butler Zhou told Mrs. Zhou immediately. When Mrs. Ma asked a matchmaker to come to her house again, Mrs. Zhou agreed.
The marriage between the two families was scheduled for the sixth day of February.
If it weren't for the dynasty's rule that marriages cannot be held in the first month of the lunar year, Ma Xiuli would have wanted to hold a wedding for his eldest son after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, all civil and military officials in the court take a day off and reunite with their families.
At night, the royal family would hold a lantern festival, and Emperor Yongping or Chu Chengyi would personally go to the Wangtian Tower in the north of the city and lead civil and military officials and the people to worship the gods.
Yu Shouzhong, Duke of Fuguo, also returned to Beijing on this day.
His mission to collect the taxes on private soldiers was a secret, so he did not have the glory of returning victoriously and bringing his troops back to the court.
He only brought a team of trusted men and went back to the Duke of Fuguo's Mansion in a low profile. After changing his clothes, he went into the palace to report the details of the mission to Emperor Yongping.
Emperor Yongping had already received the secret letter from Duke Fuguo, and handed over the matter of offering sacrifices to the gods in Wangtian Tower to Chu Chengyi and his wife, while he himself made a special trip to Anren Palace to wait for Duke Fuguo.
"Your Majesty, the number of private soldiers totaled 48,612, of which 15,300 were refugees from Jingzhou, and the origins of the rest have also been investigated.
And as you guessed, not all of them are from Sheng'an."
This matter could not be explained clearly in the secret letter, and Yu Shouzhong's face was solemn when he talked about this matter in front of Emperor Yongping.
If he had to find out the origins of those people, it wouldn't have taken him so long to wipe out a private army of 40,000 to 50,000 people.
"Oh? They are not from Sheng'an. What are their identities? Have you found them out?"
Emperor Yongping also frowned when he heard this. This point was not mentioned in the book.
"In reply to the emperor, there are a total of 300 Red Spirit people, 100 of whom are secret guards, and the remaining 200 are spies."
Yu Shouzhong truthfully informed Emperor Yongping of the shocking results of his investigation.
The secret guards of one hundred people are apparently more than the number of secret guards in the East Palace.
As for fine workers, none of the five countries in Changxing mainland does not have fine workers.
In order to prevent other countries from coveting it, Sheng'an Kingdom would also send spies to infiltrate the four surrounding countries to gather information.
But having 200 detailed makers is definitely a big deal.
Thinking that the private army was raised by the empress, Yu Shouzhong began to sweat.
If the Queen succeeds, one can imagine what kind of situation Sheng Anguo will be facing.
"Are you sure there are no fish that have escaped the net?"
When Emperor Yongping heard the number of people, he took a deep breath.
No wonder the queen in the book was so successful. It turned out that besides being deceived herself, she also had the help of so many people.
"I have screened three times and found 48,612 people, not one missing. To prevent any omissions, I have taken these 300 people back to the outskirts of the city and detained them. The rest are still trapped in the mountains.
The identities of all 15,300 Jingzhou refugees have been confirmed.
8,565 innocent people were deceived into the mountains and did not carry their household registration documents with them. This matter still needs to be verified by their registered places of residence.
The remaining 20,000 or so were all mountain bandits and unregistered refugees. Those mountain bandits had received a lot of benefits and were willing to serve as private soldiers in order to make a living.”
Although Yu Shouzhong was the Duke of Fuguo, he did not dare to act on his own.
If the principle of rather killing the innocent than letting them go was followed, the bandits and unregistered refugees would probably not escape death for these more than 40,000 people.
If you dare to be a private soldier, you will have no way to survive.
He did not kill them simply because he thought they were citizens of Sheng'an, and his sword was only used to kill invaders.
But if one day they really raise a knife to the people of Sheng'an, he will not show mercy.
"All the refugees from Jingzhou should be repatriated. As for those without household registration papers, they should be treated as refugees for the time being. They should be divided into several groups and sent to work as laborers in the mines. After their identities are verified, their families will come to take them back.
As for those so-called bandits, you can take them to Liangzhou for training. If there is a war, let them rush to the front. If they dare to be bandits and rob merchants and civilians, they must be prepared to protect the people.
I don’t need to say much about refugees. They will be exiled to remote, cold and harsh places, and will never be allowed to return home for the rest of their lives.”
Emperor Yongping thought for a moment and then arranged places for all these more than 40,000 people.
He is not a bloodthirsty person, not to mention that these are all citizens of Sheng'an Kingdom.
They will be dealt with according to the law and under strict surveillance. If they are dispersed like this, even if there are some that slip through the net, it will be difficult for them to make a splash.
Moreover, he believed in Yu Shouzhong's ability.
An old border guard, his eyes might be more vicious than his.
"I obey your orders. I will leave the city and take care of this matter. Those three hundred people..."
Yu Shouzhong is a man of quick and decisive character, and he will not procrastinate at all when it comes to things.
After receiving the emperor's order, he had to carry it out immediately.
"As for the three hundred men, I will send someone to take them out of the city with you."
Emperor Yongping was kind to the people of his dynasty, but he would show no mercy to foreigners with evil intentions.
Once those people fell into the hands of his Dragon Guards, they had to dig for information desperately, and if they couldn't dig out any, they would be made to suffer a fate worse than death.
"yes."
After Yu Shouzhong bowed and took his leave, he immediately summoned his confidants to leave the palace.
He came and went in a hurry, and after all the trouble, he couldn't do anything about Cui.
"Ruomei, what did your father do?"
Yu Jinming was a court official, so he had to go to the north of the city to participate in the worship of the gods. Cui then reunited with her female relatives and children in the mansion.
Seeing that Yu Shouzhong came back and only greeted her briefly before leaving, and then sent someone to call away his confidants, she became a little angry.
She's such a living person, couldn't the old man just tell her something?
Isn't this too much of a disregard for her?
"Mother, father has always been cautious. What he doesn't say, he can't say. This is also to protect you, your daughter-in-law and grandchildren."
Su Ruomei knew at a glance that her mother-in-law was angry. If she didn't comfort her, she would probably be too embarrassed to keep silent.
Who told her father-in-law to come back home and then leave? He left without saying a word. If it were her, she would be angry too.
"Humph, I don't want to know what's going on with him. I just think he has too many things to do. Why would he come back to his house to meet him when he has nothing to do? Doesn't he know that today is the Lantern Festival?"
Cui had her daughter-in-law to comfort her, so she couldn't get really angry. She just complained a few words and then left it at that.
But I still felt a little unhappy.
It was obviously because she was 'sick' that the old man returned to Beijing, but after spending only a few days with her, he was so busy that he was nowhere to be seen.
If I had known this would happen, I would have let him stay at the border.
At least that way we'd know where he was and whether he was in danger.
"Grandma, does the Lantern Festival mean family reunion?"
Seeing that his grandmother was unhappy, Yu Luoyu came over to talk to her.
He had actually heard the teacher talk about this problem before, but why couldn't he and his sister Shu'er be reunited on a day that was clearly a reunion?
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