"So, you are slandering me." Hou Ruguang bowed to Zhao Lin and said, "My lord, this thief abducted a woman and beat her husband to death. Now he dares to slander me. I cannot tolerate this. Please sentence him to death swiftly to comfort the people who died unjustly."
Zhao Lin nodded. "You're right. Without evidence, it's slander. Zhu San, do you have anything else to say?"
"Sir, I am telling the truth. It was indeed Hou Ruguang who ordered this."
Zhu San panicked and knelt on the ground, kowtowed repeatedly: "I know I deserve death, and I don't ask for my life. But Hou Ruguang must die too. He is the mastermind, and he deserves death even more than I do."
"Hmph, you are talking nonsense when you are about to die, and you still dare to blame me. The governor is not like those incompetent officials. He is very observant and will not be fooled by you." Hou Ruguang said proudly.
Zhao Lin nodded. "In that case, then sentence Zhu San to death by beheading. After the Ministry of Justice has conducted an investigation, the execution will take place immediately."
Zhu San collapsed to the ground in an instant, his face ashen.
Feng Siyuan smiled.
Although I failed to disgust Zhao Lin with this matter, it’s fine as long as I don’t implicate more people.
Fu Wenqi and others frowned.
There's clearly something fishy about this case.
Although Zhao Lin's approach was not wrong, it was a bit rough.
"Now, let's talk about Zhu San being kidnapped and silenced."
Zhao Lin suddenly changed the subject and said, "Bring him up."
Immediately, several more people were pressed forward.
These people all had injuries on their bodies, and it was obvious that it took a lot of effort to capture them.
Zhao Lin said, "These guys are gangsters from the neighboring Jiasha Province. They actually came from another province to kidnap someone as small as Zhu San. Isn't that strange?"
Fu Wenqi pondered for a moment and said, "Could it be that someone hired them to do this?"
Zhao Lin clapped his hands and said, "Brother, you're worthy of being called a brother. You hit the nail on the head. Someone invited them here specifically to silence Zhu San. I'm curious. Although Zhu San is a nobody, he wouldn't go to such great lengths to do that, right? Lord Feng, could you explain this to me?"
Feng Siyuan was startled and said quickly, "Don't blame me, sir. I really can't think of the reason."
Zhao Lin smiled and said, "Don't worry, you'll figure it out soon."
Feng Siyuan didn't understand.
Zhao Lin said, "I forgot to tell you all. A few days ago, some bandits broke into Mianzhou Prefecture and massacred 137 people in Huangzhuang Village. These bandits are in cahoots with them."
Everyone was moved.
In fact, bandits and rebels can rob, and everyone is used to it, but they haven't massacred a village for many years.
Doing this is to fight the court to the death.
How will local officials cope if the bandits are not dealt with?
From Zhao Lin down to the prefecture and county where Huangzhuang Village is located, all of them must be dismissed and investigated.
After the incident, Zhao Lin immediately dispatched Chen Qifeng of the Qingzhou Army to lead 3,000 people to retaliate. However, there was no news until then. Unexpectedly, the bandits who were going to kill Zhu San were also the same gang.
It's obvious that they are all targeting Zhao Lin.
Moreover, this village massacre is closely related to the officials of the governor's office.
Any qualified official can figure out the connection here.
“It’s so heartless!”
Fu Wenqi slammed the table and shouted angrily, "In order to fight for power and profit, they actually harmed the people and massacred the entire village. I will report this to His Majesty and have all the officials of the former governor's office arrested and interrogated one by one. I'm not afraid that we won't be able to find the culprit."
Feng Siyuan's face changed drastically.
The former officials of the governor's office who were listening outside also changed color.
Isn't Fu Wenqi a gentleman? Why is he so cruel?
Just a suspicion and everyone should be arrested and interrogated!
Gong Qiubai said coldly, "That's exactly what we should do. You and I should write a petition together and ask the Ministry of Justice, no, the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Personnel, and so on, to send people in to investigate and interrogate each of us. We won't tolerate anyone telling the truth."
"And us."
Others said.
The faces of the former officials in the governor's office became extremely ugly.
Feng Siyuan coughed dryly and said, "Master Fu, there's no need to do this, right?"
Fu Wenqi said coldly, "Everyone knows that I previously served as the Inspector General and the Inspector General of Salt. I resigned from Your Majesty before coming here, but Your Majesty only granted me the position of Inspector General of Salt, but the Inspector General position remains. Therefore, I have the right to execute first and report later!"
Fu Wenqi's eyes swept across the faces of the former officials outside the hall. "Even officials can execute people first and report later, let alone a group of people without official status. Come, arrest them all!"
Although the rank of the Inspector Censor was not high, only the seventh rank, but he held great power. Li Xingye arranged this position for Zhao Lin to facilitate his supervision of the Qingmiao Loan. However, he had not had the chance to use the position yet, so Fu Wen started to use it first.
The bailiffs all looked at Zhao Lin.
Zhao Lin nodded slightly, and the bailiffs immediately rushed forward and arrested all the former officials.
There were too many people and not enough yamen runners, so Zhao Lin simply transferred a team of soldiers over.
"Master Futai, Master Fu, absolutely not!"
Feng Siyuan stood up hurriedly, his hands shaking as he said, "If you have any doubts, you can slowly investigate, but you absolutely cannot arrest them all. If word gets out, we'll all be finished."
Zhao Lin said with a cold face: "Isn't this just a slow investigation?"
Feng Siyuan was about to say something, but Zhao Lin stared at him and asked, "Master Feng is speaking so loudly for them. Could it be that you are the mastermind behind this?"
Feng Siyuan quickly waved his hand: "Your Excellency, the Governor is joking. I have absolutely no knowledge of this."
"It's good that they didn't know. Otherwise, such a large governor's office, from top to bottom, would be in collusion with bandits. Lord Feng, as the highest official in Jiujiang Province, you must bear all responsibility."
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