At their peak, they had driven out three local officials in a row, from county magistrates to prefectural governors. One of the county magistrates even died in the area.
It was precisely because of the death of the county magistrate that things became difficult to control, and the court felt that it should curb the local customs in Ruizhou, so it sent capable officials like Tang Lichen there, hoping that he could bring some changes to the local area.
At that time, Tang Lichen's rank was not high enough to be in charge of a state. Liu Muchuan and the late emperor chose him against all odds, so his official position was the acting governor of Ruizhou. This was a compromise made by the court for an official with strong ability but low official rank, which shows the trust the court placed in him.
Tang Lichen lived up to this trust and quickly concluded Magistrate Zhang's case after arriving there. It turned out that the unfortunate magistrate had died in a brawl between two clans.
This matter is quite interesting. Hundreds of people from the two tribes gathered together to fight, but no one died on either side. Only County Magistrate Zhang was in trouble.
Although the local residents of Ruizhou were known for their rebellious nature and disregard for government officials, they understood the seriousness of the death of an imperial official. Therefore, they colluded to conceal the incident, reporting it as an accidental death.
Tang Lichen spent a lot of effort to divide and disintegrate the opponent's alliance from within, and only then did he figure out the whole story.
Because he had received the emperor's instructions in advance, in order to prevent him from being unable to control the local situation, the emperor even gave him the power to dispatch troops stationed nearby, so things went very smoothly. Tang Lichen not only arrested all the people involved in the case, but also found out the traitor who infiltrated the yamen and helped them cover up the matter, and dismissed him from his post for investigation.
This case should have caused a sensation, but it happened to coincide with the death of the previous emperor, so it was suppressed after it was reported and was later hastily concluded.
However, in the local area, the arrest of hundreds of people was no small matter. Furthermore, among those arrested were several of the most powerful criminals, who held high prestige in the local area. Consequently, after their imprisonment, people came to the government office daily to cause trouble. After the case was concluded, Tang Lichen detained the main culprits and released the others, but the situation did not improve.
Because the crime was capital, Tang Lichen, as the prefect, did not have the power to execute the criminal, so he waited for several months and received approval from the court, then began to transfer the criminal to the capital.
But as soon as the escort team left the city, they encountered an ambush. Someone robbed the prison van and rescued the prisoners. They also killed almost all the soldiers in charge of the escort. Only two people escaped.
Tang Lichen was furious and not only pursued the criminal, but also decided to punish these unruly people. Therefore, instead of distributing the rice for disaster relief this year, he required the people to work in exchange for food.
This order caused widespread resentment among the local residents, who were extremely dissatisfied. Some people deliberately instigated the uprising, which grew in intensity and eventually became a civil uprising.
The current situation in Ruizhou Prefecture was that impulsive citizens had surrounded the government office, nearly rushing in several times, but were fortunately stopped by military guards. Reinforcements, having received news of the situation, arrived and surrounded the entire prefecture, demanding that the rioters hand over their leaders and disperse, threatening to execute them as traitors.
The people in the city were naturally unwilling to compromise, so they threatened Tang Lichen and asked the government to let this incident go.
The three parties were now in a stalemate. However, this situation would not last long, as the government did not have enough food stored. Once it ran out, they would have to seek help from outside, and the situation would inevitably change.
Tang Lichen apologized in a memorial, blaming his own mishandling for the uprising. He offered no further explanation of his current situation, instead demanding the imperial court dispatch troops to suppress the situation with lightning speed, lest the unrest escalate into a rebellion.
The implication is that he has disregarded his own life and death.
Upon closer examination, Tang Lichen certainly did nothing wrong in this matter. Not only that, he should be credited with merit. After all, he successfully completed the task entrusted to him by the late emperor. But then, he let the prisoner escape, allowing the situation to escalate to its current state. Someone must be held accountable. Tang Lichen was a wise man, and he took the initiative to shoulder this responsibility.
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