Nangong Fusang had someone secretly bring in a civilian, who thought they were sent by the prefect of Qinzhou. After all, this kind of thing had happened before.
In order to prevent them from going to Beijing to file a complaint, the prefect of Qinzhou not only sent people to guard them day and night, but also often sent people to pretend to be imperial envoys to trick them into filing a complaint. Then, all those who attempted to file a complaint were beaten to death.
After a while, they didn't dare to speak anymore.
No matter how Nangong Fusang asked, the civilians insisted that they were living well and no one was forcing them.
He asked several people in a row and they were all the same. He even revealed his identity as the Crown Prince, but they remained unmoved. Nangong Fusang was very troubled.
Just when his subordinate was about to send the last laborer back, Nangong Fusang suddenly had an idea and asked him if he knew the Prime Minister.
When Minfu heard the word "Prime Minister", a glimmer of light suddenly flashed in his dead eyes.
But it soon disappeared, a new scam.
Nangong Fusang patiently took out the handwritten letter given to him by the prime minister and told Minfu that this was a letter written by the prime minister to Prince Mu, asking Prince Mu to assist him in investigating the corruption of the prefect of Qinzhou.
The man still didn't believe it: "Sir, I can't read."
"It doesn't matter if you can't read. Do you recognize this?" Someone from Prince Mu's mansion took out a token.
The common man stared at the token carefully for a long time and said, "Yes, this is the token of Prince Mu's Palace. It is the same as the flag of Prince Mu's Palace. I have seen it before."
The common people are illiterate, but it is not difficult for them to remember a flag, especially the flag of Prince Mu's Palace.
Although their place is not on the border, they are often invaded by foreign races, who burn, kill and loot. It is always the Prince Mu's Mansion that leads his troops to repel the enemies.
"We are from Prince Mu's Palace. This is His Highness. The court sent him to investigate the Qinzhou land invasion case. We have received an order from the Prime Minister to assist His Highness."
With Prince Mu's men as guarantors and hearing that it was the Prime Minister who sent them, the common people finally couldn't bear it anymore. They knelt down crying and begged Nangong Fusang to seek justice for them.
Nangong Fusang helped the man up and asked about the whole process.
The prefect of Qinzhou colluded with local wealthy businessmen and first raised taxes, forcing the people to hand over most of their income.
The common people were starving and had no choice but to sell their land, but the wealthy businessmen lowered the price and bought their land at low prices.
Without their land, the common people had no way to make a living and could only rent the land from the wealthy businessmen. They went from being good citizens who owned land to tenants. Most of their income went into the pockets of the wealthy businessmen, and they could only barely make ends meet.
Throughout Qinzhou, nine out of ten people are tenants, and the land in Qinzhou is almost entirely controlled by a few wealthy businessmen.
They still felt that it was not enough, so they stopped renting them land and forced them to sell themselves as slaves on the estate, working day and night.
"Your Highness, more than ten people in my family died of starvation and freezing last winter. Now I am the only one left with my bedridden wife."
"My wife is seriously ill and is coughing up blood. They won't let her see a doctor and want her to work in the fields. Now she can't get out of bed and can only wait to die."
When he talked about the sad things, tears flowed down his face.
Nangong Fusang gnashed his teeth when he heard this. It was really outrageous that in such a peaceful and prosperous era, the common people were forced into having no way to survive.
"Everyone in this manor is in a similar situation to the common people. Some of them came here with dozens of people, but now they are all extinct."
"Then do you know how many people in Qinzhou are involved?"
Nangong Fusang must have the exact list in order to catch them all in one fell swoop.
"All the wealthy merchants in Qinzhou who had land were involved, as well as the Qinzhou government officials. Everyone was an accomplice, and those who refused to go along with them were killed."
The common people had seen many people secretly go to the government office to file complaints, but the bodies would be thrown back into the manor the next day as a warning to others.
Nangong Fusang had a solemn expression. It seemed that Qinzhou had rotted from the root.
"Would you like to come back to the capital with me and repeat these words to the emperor?"
The civilian immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed loudly: "I am already alone. If I can save thousands of people in Qinzhou with my own life, I am willing to die."
"Okay." Nangong Fusang helped him up and prepared to leave Qinzhou and return to the capital tonight.
But before they left, a fire suddenly broke out outside the door.
"There's a fire." The subordinate exclaimed and wanted to open the door, but found that the door had been locked at some point.
This is going to burn them alive.
Everyone immediately picked up their swords and kicked the door open.
When they kicked the door open, they found that the entire manor was on fire, and countless cries for help could be heard from the houses everywhere.
You can see the helpless figures of the civilians, clapping and shouting around in the house.
This scene deeply hurt Nangong Fusang.
In order to kill a few of them, he was willing to burn everyone to death?
What kind of wolves, tigers and leopards does the imperial court have?
“Zhan Feng, take two people with you to escort His Highness away.” The leader said, “Others, follow me to rescue him.”
After that, dozens of people rushed into the sea of fire, approached the locked door, cut off the lock with a knife, and pulled the person out.
But the fire was too big and there were too many people, so there was no way they could put out the fire even with dozens of people.
At the same time, a group of thugs rushed out from all directions, killing anyone they saw. Even if the civilians were lucky enough to escape from the sea of fire, they were killed by the thugs.
Nangong Fusang saw that the people he brought were almost killed, and wanted to save them. But Zhan Feng kept pulling him: "Your Highness, please leave quickly. If you die, the true face of these beasts will not be exposed, and they will all die in vain."
Nangong Fusang gritted his teeth, looked back, and finally got on his horse and left with Zhan Feng.
Nangong Fusang took the complainant and followed Zhanfeng. Zhanfeng fought all the way and tore a hole in the fire, and took Nangong Fusang out.
Three men and two horses fled the manor and rushed towards Yunnan.
They didn't dare to stop along the way. As long as they were in Qinzhou, they would not be safe.
As expected, they encountered several ambushes on the way, and it was only thanks to Zhan Feng's years of experience in fighting on the battlefield that he was able to successfully avoid them.
Afterwards, they simply bypassed the official road and took a detour back to Yunnan via the wilderness path.
The wilderness path was rugged and difficult to travel on, and horses were of no use at all, so the three men abandoned their horses and walked.
I don’t know how long I walked. When I was hungry, I ate wild fruits, and when I was thirsty, I drank mountain stream water.
Finally, before dark one day, they found the Yunnan garrison stationed on the border.
Zhan Feng rushed over to ask for help, and the Yunnan garrison immediately took them to see Prince Mu.
When Prince Mu saw Nangong Fusang, who was covered in mud and so dirty that his facial features were almost invisible, he was shocked, but also very impressed.
I never thought that the emperor, that old villain, could give birth to such a courageous son.
"Your Highness, they all said you were dead."
Section 244