Upon hearing Zhang Hongxia's words, the guards knew that there was probably a big problem with the village.
The village has several hundred people. If they really find out that the villagers already know about the situation in the village, they will definitely not let it go.
He was the emperor's secret guard, and he put the emperor's safety first, so the young lady was allowed to stay for one more day.
"I know, thank you for your help, benefactor."
This girl is quite sensible.
The guards then restored the basement to its original state, went upstairs, and reported the situation to Emperor Kangxi.
Emperor Kangxi never expected that his plan to train his sons by finding a village for them to experience the hardships of life would backfire so spectacularly, directly uncovering the human traffickers' hideout. It's unclear whether they were the ones who suffered the misfortune or the traffickers.
"Go and notify people to come and surround the village."
"yes"
After the guards left, Kangxi summoned his attendants and ordered them to wake the Crown Prince and the others.
When the Crown Prince and the others learned of this, they were all shocked and quickly got up.
Just as they were about to leave, there was another noise outside the door.
"Keep your voice down, what if you wake someone up?"
"Okay, okay, I'll be careful."
"You know what, I ran into Madam Huang outside the gate today. She was the most beautiful woman I've ever captured. Tsk tsk, once I catch her, I'm going to have some fun with her."
Unfortunately, these words were overheard by Emperor Kangxi and others through the window, and Kangxi's face darkened.
Youqing's face also darkened.
The prince and others standing nearby wondered why they even existed.
At this moment, Youqing also remembered seeing the man with an ambiguous expression outside the courtyard after dinner. At the time, Youqing only felt that the man gave her a bad feeling and did not think much about it. Now that she thought about it, the man's mind was full of nonsense.
Just as the men outside approached, Kangxi gave a signal to his guards. The men were about to open the door when, before they could make a sound, they felt a sharp pain in their necks and instantly lost consciousness.
"Your Majesty, the men are all tied up."
Emperor Kangxi and his entourage then quietly left the farmhouse without disturbing anyone.
Half an hour later, Kangxi and his entourage returned to their camp. Just as they emerged, the entire village was surrounded, and everyone was bound in their sleep.
Kangxi dealt with the matter after dawn the next day.
After an interrogation, Kangxi learned the "skills" that enabled the villagers to survive.
At first, the village was just poor. They had land to cultivate, and when the harvest was good, they were able to survive and not starve. But when the harvest was bad, things went awry.
This village originally consisted of several villages, but due to extreme poverty, some villagers died or left, and the remaining people merged into one village.
The village had too few people. At first, marriages between people from different villages were between men and women. But that didn't work. People in the village started intermarrying frequently, and some even disregarded moral principles, resulting in the birth of mentally challenged children—one, two, three.
Later, a father and daughter were traveling and stayed overnight. A bachelor committed a heinous act. The village chief initially disapproved, but the bachelor's parents pleaded with him. Caught between a stranger and the villagers, the village chief acquiesced and allowed the bachelor to keep the father and daughter. Later, the woman he had taken liberties with became his wife and the mother of his child.
Later, such things began to happen frequently in the village. At first, it only happened to women passing by, but few women would travel such long distances; most of the people passing through were merchants.
Fearing trouble, the village chief was relatively polite to the caravan, leaving only a few weak and vulnerable people behind.
Because few women passed through the area, the men in the village had other ideas and turned their attention to trafficking.
Nowadays, half of the women in the village were either "left behind" or trafficked. Many of them have already died. Those who refuse to accept their fate are imprisoned like Zhang Hongxia. They either accept their fate or die.
Kangxi claimed to be a merchant on this trip, and the village chief did not suspect anything. He also brought a large group of people and gave them a considerable amount of money for lodging, so the village chief did not consider keeping them there.
He didn't do anything, but his youngest son did. He talked about Youqing with a few friends in the village, thinking about giving her away... In the end, as her biological father, the village chief would have no choice but to clean up the mess for him.
His plan was correct; the village chief would indeed clean up the mess for his youngest son. However, he underestimated Kangxi and the others.
Before they could even make a move, the person was knocked unconscious.
Zhang Hongxia was rescued.
"Thank you for saving me," Zhang Hongxia said to the guard who rescued her. She did want to find the guards from that night, but she couldn't find them.
"You're too kind, young lady. It's all my pleasure. Someone will come looking for you later, and someone will come to take you home tomorrow."
This was the business of the yamen (government office) that governed this area; Kangxi had no interest in "after-sales service."
Zhang Hongxia's case is relatively easy to handle, but the other villagers who were trafficked here are much more difficult to deal with.
Most of the women in the village who had been trafficked had already given birth. They were even begging the guards to release their husbands, claiming that they had come here voluntarily.
Releasing them was naturally impossible; the entire village was in a state of panic.
Furthermore, there have been strict legal provisions against human traffickers since ancient times, and this is not something that can be resolved by begging for mercy.
Of course, there were also some with fiery tempers who beat the people who had abducted them until their heads bled, and the guards did not stop them.
Those who could accompany Emperor Kangxi as guards must have had impeccable family backgrounds. Regardless of their moral values, ordinary people would despise human traffickers.
Every family has children, and every family has daughters. The thought that their own children might suffer in the future would make them take matters into their own hands if it weren't for the rules.
The village chief was still asleep when he was arrested. He was drunk and hadn't even woken up after being tied up. The village chief's wife was sober, but she had fainted from fright.
The reason the people in this village were able to do these things was simply because they outnumbered the villagers and no one was watching them; it wasn't because they were particularly clever or resourceful.
Those who came to stay overnight would never have imagined that the whole village was full of human traffickers. After all, they looked no different from others, honest and simple farmers with calluses on their hands from working.
Even Emperor Kangxi didn't expect this.
Everyone was captured and confessed everything they needed to. Kangxi then ordered the only scholar in the village to be brought over. This scholar had white hair, was over fifty years old, and looked extremely unwell, with a gloomy and defeated air about him.
“You already hold the title of a scholar, and the villagers are ignorant and do not understand etiquette. You should know this. Why did you not report it? Why did you collude with them?”
“I know, but there’s nothing I can do. When I found out, many people had already been harmed, including my own relatives. This place is too poor. We can’t just watch the village disappear. There’s nothing I can do.”
Kangxi did not speak, but directly punished the villagers according to the law.
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