Chapter 436: Beating
Princess Kunxing was happy that Luzhou City was successfully captured, and the rest of Anhui's prefectures and counties were basically conquered by issuing an edict.
What made Zhao Xiaofei frown was that he demanded that Liu Yingbin be pardoned. Princess Kunxing hated such traitors the most. As a governor, Liu Yingbin was ungrateful and loyal to the court, but instead colluded with the Nanjing rebels.
Princess Kunxing thought to herself: "What do you mean by being held hostage? You believe that? Didn't the internal security guards report it to you?"
Zhao Xiaofei knew that Liu Yingbin was a fence-sitter, but if he could kill him, it would be easy, just a knife. But if the court was tolerant and generous, wouldn't the resistance to attacking the south be much smaller?
Everyone's watching! This is the time to demonstrate your generosity as the regent princess. Why are they against ****? Besides personal interests, there's also political ideology. They're afraid you, the queen, will be too ruthless in power.
Princess Kunxing certainly didn't understand. She only cared about right and wrong, not self-interest. She always thought about destroying anyone who disobeyed her, while Zhao Xiaofei was only concerned with maximizing self-interest.
Luzhou City was successfully captured. Zhao Xiaofei held a banquet at Zuixianlou in Luzhou City and invited local celebrities and gentry.
Most of these gentry and celebrities came to the banquet trembling. Why trembling? It was because they were deceived or threatened to help the Southern rebels. Of course, there were also some who actively supported the Southern rebels.
Zhao Xiaofei called all these people here today. As the only living prince of a different surname in the Ming Dynasty, Zhao Xiaofei was of course the last one to arrive.
As soon as he entered the restaurant, everyone fell silent. Accompanied by his guards, he walked through the crowd and came to the chair. He threw his cape and sat down in the chair with a majestic look.
Li Deliang and Gu Mancang stood on his left and right respectively, which made his domineering aura more apparent.
Zhao Xiaofei looked around at everyone with a cold gaze, then said calmly, "You are all elites from Luzhou and even the entire Anhui Province. There is no need to be so nervous. Please take a seat!"
After Zhao Xiaofei finished speaking, these gentry looked at each other, and no one dared to sit down first.
"What's wrong? My words are useless?" Zhao Xiaofei asked back.
When everyone heard what the prince said, they immediately sat down obediently.
Seeing everyone sitting down, Zhao Xiaofei spoke, "Now that the world has finally been stabilized, the people have finally enjoyed a few days of peace. But some people are disrupting the world for their own selfish interests. They fail to understand the situation and are a bunch of traitors who bring disaster to the country and the people!"
As soon as Zhao Xiaofei finished speaking, an old man stood up and said, "Your Highness is right! We all hope that the world will be stable soon and the people will live and work in peace and contentment."
As the old man finished speaking, a middle-aged man stood up and said, "Zhang Xiyao! You old bastard! A few days ago, you said in front of Liu Yingbin that a woman in power would ruin the country! Now you're just like that Liu guy, both of you fence-sitters! Have you both forgotten what you wanted to do in the first place?"
After hearing what the middle-aged man said, the old man's face changed several times, fearing that the prince in the main seat would have him chopped to pieces with a knife.
Zhao Xiaofei didn't wait for the middle-aged man to finish his words. He immediately slammed the table and said, "Who the hell are you? How dare you speak so arrogantly! Come on! Drag him out and behead him!"
"Yes!" Two soldiers immediately dragged the middle-aged man out the door. The middle-aged man shouted along the way: "A woman is in power! The country will be ruined! The fake king wants to destroy the Zhu family's rule!"
The sound became farther and farther away, and finally at the door of the restaurant, a soldier of the Kenan Army cut off the head with a knife, and the sound stopped abruptly.
The old man named Zhang Xiyao was so scared that he was sweating profusely and trembling all over. He turned around to see Zhao Xiaofei's reaction.
He turned around and saw Zhao Xiaofei looking at him with a playful look. This frightened him even more. He immediately knelt down and said, "I never said that. Cao Linting was just talking nonsense!"
"What did I say? Why are you in such a hurry to explain yourself?" Zhao Xiaofei asked with a smile.
"I'm sorry for speaking too much, Your Highness. Please forgive me! It's just that Cao Linting slandered me, and I was so angry that I had to defend myself to Your Highness!" Zhang Xiyao said.
"You know whether it is true or not!" Zhao Xiaofei said.
"Your Highness, I..." Zhang Xiyao was about to speak when Zhao Xiaofei raised his hand to signal her not to speak.
Zhao Xiaofei said, "Even if there was such a thing before, it doesn't matter. From now on, just be a gentleman and do your academic business well! What's wrong with being a fence-sitter? It's better than that Cao from before! He's strong but easily broken!"
At this time, Xiao Si walked in from outside, holding a stack of papers in his hand and said, "Your Highness! This is evidence of Cao Linting and some local gentry and celebrities colluding with the Nanjing rebels! It also contains a list written by Cao Linting. Please review it, Your Highness!"
Xiao Si was about to hand the list to Zhao Xiaofei, and the celebrities and gentry were all staring at Zhao Xiaofei, waiting to see if he would take it. Their legs were shaking. They felt like their world would collapse if Zhao Xiaofei took the stack of papers.
Zhao Xiaofei saw all this, but he didn't take it. Instead, he said to Xiao Si, "Burn it!"
Xiao Si was stunned, glancing at the prince. The others, however, breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if their lives were finally coming back. It felt like a roller coaster, though they didn't know what a roller coaster was. It kept them on edge for a while.
Zhao Xiaofei saw Xiao Si's confusion and said loudly, "It's all in the past. What's the point of all this? Do you really have to kill everyone before you're satisfied? The court is still tolerant!"
This was said not only to Xiao Si, but also to everyone else. Everyone felt relieved after hearing this, and Xiao Si followed Zhao Xiaofei's instructions and had someone bring a charcoal brazier to burn the list in front of everyone.
After the list was burned, Zhao Xiaofei said, "They say that when a woman is in charge, the house collapses, but is that really true? When Wu Zetian was in power, she invented the palace examination, which is still used today. She also created the military examination, right? Also, why did the Persian chieftain build the Tianshu for her? Without her, there would be no Kaiyuan Prosperity. Let's not talk about the distant past, let's talk about Qin Liangyu. Without her, the southwest of the Ming Dynasty would have been a sea of blood and corpses. So what's wrong with a woman in power? How is she inferior to grown men like us?"
After Zhao Xiaofei said this, the group of gentry and celebrities below immediately understood what he would do after returning!
Everyone thought: Saving our lives is the most important thing! When we get back, we'll write an article and ask the princess to take power. As for Nanjing? Screw it! The promised 100,000 troops are nowhere to be seen. Besides, the prince burned the list of names, clearly letting bygones be bygones. We should just be our gentry in Luzhou City, studying, doing business, and marrying concubines. Who cares who is in power?
At this time, although Shi Kefa had dispatched a large army, he received the news that Luzhou City had been occupied. He was hesitant, not knowing whether he should continue to intercept or defend the city.
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