The gentry who were about to leave suddenly stopped and turned back, saying:
"Grandpa, of course we'll go back and write a letter!"
"That's right, as you surely know, someone in my family is an official in the imperial court."
Old Master Wang lowered his eyelids and said calmly:
"I know that, but there's no rush for you to write letters."
"It's not too late to write this letter after you come out with me and meet that soldier."
Those people immediately panicked.
"Grandpa, how can this be?"
"Yes, that soldier is clearly bloodthirsty. The only way we can curb his behavior is to get the news to the court as soon as possible!"
Old Master Wang sneered inwardly:
"Do you think I don't know what you're planning? You're clearly afraid of that soldier, so you're using writing a letter as an excuse to escape from here."
"Once you step out of this door, who knows where you'll hide!"
But he said, "Don't worry, no matter how crazy that soldier is, he'll only kill some people at the ferry crossing. He would never dare to kill anyone in Nanjing."
"We'll go out together right now and block that soldier at the city gate. Let's see what he has to say!"
As he spoke, he stood up first, bypassed the group of people, and blocked the doorway.
Then he turned around and asked, "Are you coming with me?"
Upon hearing this, even the gentry who had other intentions could only nod.
"We'll do whatever Old Master Wang says."
After they walked out of the gate, they each got into their sedan chairs and began to head towards the city gate.
Even at this point, some people still tried to slip away, but he was just about to have his sedan chair bearers turn around.
Seeing the servants of Master Wang's household staring intently from a distance, he had no choice but to abandon the idea.
The group quickly arrived at the city gate, and at this time Li Ruolian had already led the three thousand soldiers to a place not far outside the city.
His face turned cold when he saw the group of gentry.
"Hmph, are they still not done?"
However, at this moment, Zheng Chenggong gently patted his shoulder.
"General Li, this is not like the dock. Even if you want to kill someone, you need a good excuse."
He raised his hand and pointed to the plaque on the city gate tower, which was personally inscribed by the founding emperor.
"We have to give Emperor Taizu some face, after all."
Upon hearing this, Li Ruolian indeed calmed down somewhat and turned around speechlessly: "What do you mean by giving the founding emperor face?"
"That's a rather disrespectful thing to say!"
Zheng Chenggong shrugged his small shoulders, thinking to himself, "When I was taking classes with Mr. Gao, I was being incredibly disrespectful all the time."
Before they could finish speaking, the group had already reached the city gate.
Old Master Wang was the first to step forward, and coldly asked, "Was it General Li in person?"
"A few hours ago, you went on a killing spree at the Guazhou ferry, slaughtering the gentry of Jiangnan. What exactly was your intention in doing this?"
"If you don't give me an explanation, I will absolutely not let you into the city!"
He spoke with such righteous indignation, as if he were a truly virtuous person who cared for the country and its people.
The onlookers in the distance nodded in agreement.
"That old man Wang is a good man; he didn't let us people of Southern Zhili down."
Li Ruolian dismounted with a cold smile and came to Old Master Wang.
"This general doesn't know who you are, but I don't mind explaining what happened at the dock just now."
His tone was quite impolite.
"I led my troops south on the orders of the imperial court, but when my army arrived at the Guazhou dock, I found some people acting suspiciously and secretly spying on our army."
"I suspected they were remnants of the Japanese pirates, so I went up to question them, but to my surprise, they gave irrelevant answers and spoke rudely."
"This further proves that they are Japanese pirates, so this general will naturally rid the people of this scourge!"
Upon hearing this, Old Master Wang's eyes blazed with anger.
"How dare you! Those gentry were merely inquiring about your background; at most, their tone was a little unpleasant."
"How could you kill people? How could you be so sure they were Japanese pirates?"
Li Ruolian sneered.
"You're the one who's being insolent!"
“My soldiers are government troops of the Ming Dynasty. If the local government of Nanjing sends someone to inquire, then there is some truth to it.”
“But a bunch of nobodies dare to jump out and ask me all sorts of questions; they’re clearly not law-abiding citizens.”
"If they're not law-abiding citizens, how could they not be Japanese pirates?"
As he spoke, he simply drew the precious sword from his waist and held it directly to Old Master Wang's neck.
"You speak up for them like this, are you perhaps one of the Japanese pirates?"
He turned around and called out, "Brothers, get ready!"
The three thousand soldiers behind him, those at the very front, had just killed people at the ferry crossing, and were now in a state of excitement and exhilaration.
Upon hearing the order, he instantly drew his sword and approached with murderous intent.
Seeing this scene, Old Master Wang was indeed frightened.
He still stubbornly refused to kneel down and beg for mercy.
However, his tone had softened considerably.
"Sir, you must have mistaken us for something else. We are all local gentry, how could we possibly be Japanese pirates?"
“My son is still an official in the capital. He may have even met you.”
"Besides, even if we are Japanese pirates, the imperial court must verify our identities before we can be dealt with according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty."
"How could I let a general like you handle this in private?"
Li Ruolian had no intention of killing anyone here, so once he got this way out, he simply took the opportunity to back down.
However, the performance cannot be stopped.
He sneered, "What you said, old man, isn't wrong."
"Guards, arrest them all and send them to the local prison... no, there's a special prison in Jinling City, put them all in there."
"Once the investigation is complete, those who should be killed will be killed, and those who should be released will be released!"
The soldiers were somewhat disappointed, but they still nodded in agreement.
The hundreds of gentry present were indeed imprisoned.
In fact, there were quite a few gentry members, and each of them had several servants behind him.
In terms of sheer numbers, they were not much fewer than the soldiers under Li Ruolian's command.
Even in normal times, they don't take the officers and soldiers seriously at all.
But they all thought that these government troops would kill them at any time, so they didn't dare to resist at all.
They didn't dare utter a single word as the soldiers captured them.
Seeing this, Li Ruolian even felt a little bored.
"Are these gentry so easy to deal with?"
"This is boring!"
He then turned to a clerk and said:
"Write down today's events in a report and send it back to the capital immediately to inform His Majesty."
Before leaving the capital, Zhu Youjian granted him the power to submit memorials at any time.
Three days later, the report was sent back to the capital.
After reading it, a hint of excitement flashed in Zhu Youjian's eyes.
"Good riddance! These gentry of Jiangnan should have been killed long ago!"
Having been educated and influenced by Gao Qingyun, this emperor of the Ming Dynasty had no affection for the gentry in various places.
They wished they could get rid of him as soon as possible.
If he hadn't been worried about killing too many people at once and causing chaos, he would have already ordered a crackdown on the gentry in various regions.
Zhu Youjian stood up, gently rubbed his hands together, and even a hint of longing appeared in his eyes.
"If I had known this would happen, I should have personally led the troops south!"
Upon hearing this, Luo Yangxing was immediately startled.
The Ming emperor's inexplicable departure from the capital was hardly a good thing.
The last time was when Emperor Zhengde led troops to quell the rebellion of Prince Ning.
Then, on his way back to the capital, he fell into the water and died a few days later.
The next one was Tumu Fortress...
Luo Yangxing quickly advised, "Your Majesty, you must not!"
"This... the gentry of Jiangnan will definitely not give in easily, there will definitely be more trouble in the future."
"If you go in person, and something bad happens, that would be terrible!"
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