Only at this moment did the three men in black realize that they had been tricked all along.
Everyone else in the room knew what had happened, except for those three.
They even rushed to explain the matter clearly, and at that moment, the three men in black felt like they wanted to die.
They didn't regret revealing the truth; rather, they felt it was incredibly embarrassing. Exposing their intelligence in front of so many people was utterly shameful.
But saying anything more now is useless. Zhu Yunwen then looked at the officials above him and said calmly:
"Gentlemen, could you please provide an explanation for this matter?"
The three officials were all stunned. What could they say? Of course, they couldn't say anything.
After all, they hadn't expected things to develop to this point, and they had even prepared a set of countermeasures in their minds.
However, the entire process did not unfold as they had anticipated.
Everything was beyond their expectations, something they never imagined. They didn't realize what was happening until the very last moment, but it was too late.
Zhu Yunwen has exhausted his tricks, and the truth of the matter has been revealed to the world.
In front of thousands of people, these officials really wanted to make excuses, but they were too nervous to do so. The county magistrate was no fool either.
In today's social context, it is no longer the era in which a local magistrate could wield absolute power in a region, nor is it an era in which he could confuse right and wrong and distort the truth.
The Ming Dynasty now governs its officials very strictly and values the common people very much. These officials cannot do anything to the people present, but the people, after learning the truth, can easily bring down these officials.
So the faces of the four main officials all turned deathly pale, and they didn't even know what to say.
The people were talking about it, and some even took out rotten eggs and vegetable leaves and threw them at the officials.
The insults and curses were incessant, which was exactly what Zhu Yunwen wanted to see. In his view, officials should not have absolute authority over the people.
Zhu Yunwen always upheld the concept that the people should be the priority of the country, unlike some previous dynasties that only thought about sharing the country with the scholar-officials and only thought about granting power to some local people.
Even if these people treat the common people like cattle and dogs, it doesn't matter, as long as they can consolidate their imperial power.
However, Zhu Yunwen considered such a political tactic to be a useless move.
They treated these officials like vicious wolves, constantly threatening the lives and safety of the people.
Thus, they achieved their goal of controlling the world.
This kind of monarchy cannot be considered a true monarchy; it is merely a form of hegemony.
Even a hegemonic power that doesn't care about the world.
He only cared about his own supreme power and did not care about the lives of the people or the rise and fall of the nation.
This kind of power-grabbing is selfish and short-lived, and Zhu Yunwen broke this system of power-grabbing.
With his genuine abilities, he enabled the people to live a good life, and he became the leader of a society where every citizen sincerely respected him as their master.
Therefore, Zhu Yunwen did not need to rely on corrupt officials to exploit the people and thus establish his rule.
On the contrary, it is precisely by taking advantage of the people's good life that he can gain their support, and in this case, he must crack down on corrupt officials.
In truth, this is the true power of a monarchy. Monarchy and hegemony are different, as are the ways of the monarch and the ways of the hegemon. The truly capable person walks the path of the monarch and wields the power of a monarch.
Those who lack ability can only take the path of tyranny and wield hegemony.
Therefore, for Zhu Yunwen, the people were the most important. Only with countless happy people could a healthy nation be built, and only then could a group of officials of high moral character and outstanding ability be cultivated.
Instead of raising a wolfhound to manage the people like sheep, that would be soulless.
Just like at this very moment, Zhu Yunwen is helping the people overthrow officials who are like hungry wolves.
He truly empowered the people, and he genuinely made officials work for the people.
Officials who do nothing have only one fate; at this moment, the truth of everything is coming to light.
The four officials slumped to the ground, already anticipating their fate.
Zhu Yunwen took a few steps closer and said to the four officials:
“Reveal the identity and address of the mastermind behind the scenes, and have people arrest them immediately. Perhaps there will still be a chance to redeem oneself.”
Upon hearing this, the officials quickly came to their senses, and the county magistrate excitedly exclaimed:
"Quickly... someone, go to Xiahe Street, to the abandoned shop by the small bridge, open the cellar and search for the relevant criminals..."
He hastily issued a series of orders, not because he had truly turned back from his wrong path, but because he wanted to create some opportunities for himself, or rather, for his family, under these circumstances.
He genuinely wanted to atone for his crime by performing good deeds, because he knew that in the current situation, he was unlikely to survive and would have no chance of escaping his punishment.
All he could do was protect his family and prevent them from being implicated.
Therefore, he had no choice but to perform meritorious service to atone for his crime, not to atone for himself, but to find an opportunity for his family to survive.
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