"Why do you, the governor of Xuanfu, arrest me, the prefect of Shuntianfu? Besides, what crime have I committed?"
Yan Yingyuan sneered: "I have the power to execute first and report later. Not to mention the prefect, even if the governor comes, I will arrest him!"
"As for your crimes, I will list them for you in front of everyone."
"First, after the bandits retreated, they did not think about restoring the government, but instead helped the profiteers guard the warehouses. This is a dereliction of duty!"
"Second, tens of thousands of people in the city are suffering from famine, and you sit back and do nothing, treating human life as if it were nothing!"
"Third," Yan Yingyuan pushed aside the shield in front of him and shouted to the people behind the wall, "I am the governor of Xuanfu appointed by the court, holding the title of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War. Li Paohui, the governor of Yanqing, has no power to mobilize troops but privately mobilized the garrison, committing the crime of treason!"
"Tell me, should Li Zhizhou bear the blame for this crime, or should you bear the blame?"
The people behind the wall opened the gate without any hesitation, walked out and put down their weapons.
Are you kidding? There are 50,000 troops outside the city. The court has a policy of pardoning those who surrender and reissuing their military pay. The reason we join the army is just to have a full meal, so there is no point in resisting!
"Lord Yan, the city was in chaos after the bandits retreated. We were bribed by Li Zhizhou to come here. I hope Lord Yan will show leniency and spare us."
Yan Yingyuan did not agree immediately, but looked at He Wenlong, the garrison commander of Yanqing.
As expected, these people turned out to be his subordinates. Whether they would accept surrender depended on his attitude.
Seeing He Wenlong nod, Yan Yingyuan said solemnly: "Exonerated!"
As those people surrendered, Li Zhizhou's face turned as pale as paper.
Just when he was about to give up hope, he suddenly remembered something.
He struggled to say to Yan Yingyuan: "Master Yan, do you know who I belong to? Do you know who Huang Yunfa's background is in the court?"
Yan Yingyuan immediately became interested...
Before coming here, Wang Chengen had deliberately explained that there were more than a dozen traitorous merchants in Xuanfu who not only did business with the bandits, but also supplied supplies to the Jiannu.
Although these merchants' hideouts in Beijing were destroyed, their influence in Xuanfu still remained.
Find a way to find out who the officials are who are colluding with businessmen.
"You say!" Yan Yingyuan pretended to be cautious.
Li Paohui immediately perked up when he saw this: "I am Shangshu Zhang's man. Huang Yunfa's relationship with Shangshu Zhang is deeper than you think."
Minister Zhang?
Yan Yingyuan was a little confused.
The six ministers are named Li, Fan, Fang, and Qiu respectively, and there is no one named Zhang.
Sudden.
He thought of a name: Zhang Jinyan!
Zhang Jinyan, the former Minister of War, was torn into pieces by five horses and his three clans were exterminated for his crimes.
Before and after Li Zicheng surrounded Beijing, martial law was imposed everywhere, and nothing that happened in the capital could be transmitted outside, especially in Yanqing area, where the only way to get news from the capital to here was through Juyongguan.
After Li Zicheng retreated, Tang Tong blocked Juyongguan tightly, making it impossible for any message to be passed on.
In other words, the outside world knew nothing about the changes in the capital.
Hehehehe.
Yan Yingyuan let out a sinister laugh.
Li Zhizhou panicked: "Master Yan...Master Yan, what are you going to do?"
"What are you doing?" Yan Yingyuan raised the sword in his hand and chopped it hard at Li Zhizhou's neck.
Crack! The head fell to the ground.
The whole Yanqing was quiet.
Everyone stared at Yan Yingyuan, frightened by his actions and stood still.
A fifth-rank official can be beheaded just like that?
It’s like students are in class at school and suddenly someone comes and kills the principal. How can the students not be shocked?
After a brief silence, the onlookers burst into thunderous cheers.
"Well done!"
"It feels so good, even better than having a full meal!"
"When Lord Yan Bao was alive, he was an honest official!"
Yan Yingyuan sheathed his sword and his eyes gradually settled.
There are only three ways to win people's hearts. One is to create terror so that the people will spontaneously unite; another is to implement benevolent policies, and the people will naturally stand together with the local officials out of gratitude; the last one is to kill, kill corrupt officials, and turn the fear and resentment in the hearts of the people into cohesion.
"Come here, arrest all the people in this mansion and put them in jail. Move all the food to the state government office, and set up a porridge factory at the gate of the state government office to provide disaster relief."
Yan Yingyuan looked up and estimated the time: "Fellow villagers, please don't just stand there. Go home and get your bowls and chopsticks to prepare the porridge."
The onlookers immediately gained strength upon seeing this, and ran home to pick up their bowls and chopsticks and ran to the government office.
If you go late you'll have to queue!
The rest is easy.
All the food in the city was concentrated in the provincial government, and those who should be imprisoned were imprisoned, and those who should be killed were killed.
Two hours later, the troops from the Five Military Camps completely took over the defense of Yanqing.
To prevent emergencies, all soldiers lived on the city gate tower or in empty courtyards near the city gate.
If something happens, you can go up to the city wall to fight, or leave the city at any time.
After everything was arranged, Yan Yingyuan came to a house near the city gate.
This was the residence of a local wealthy businessman. When he heard that Li Zicheng was coming, he moved all his people and property to Beijing as soon as possible.
There was a bonfire in the middle of the yard, and the soldiers were busy around it. Some were cooking, some were drying their wet clothes by the bonfire, and most were lying on the ground with their clothes on and resting with their eyes closed.
Yan Yingyuan frowned, stepped forward and woke up a sleeping soldier and asked, "Why are you sleeping outside? Go inside and sleep!"
The soldier was sleeping soundly. He was reluctant to open his eyelids after being woken up by the slap. He said casually: "Go, go away! There is no space in the house. The empty room next door is prepared for Lord Yan. You can't go there."
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