Chapter 8 Assassination
Xu Gong was in charge of the interrogation. During this period, Zhu Yuhuan and the officials of Zhangde Prefecture comforted the people in the city and distributed the temporarily allocated food to the people in the city.
According to the method previously discussed with Empress Dowager Zhang and the cabinet, the people who followed Zhang Puxiang in the rebellion but were released because of their lighter crimes were re-registered. After that, the government would arrange for these people to be dispersed and arranged to various places to resume farming.
The workload was also not small. Even though Zhu Yuhuan could only be considered a supervisor in most cases, the fact that the government even sent clerks to help with the registration showed how manpower-intensive this work was.
Of course, a big problem was that the rebels occupied Cizhou, and the officials who surrendered were arrested and interrogated, and those who did not surrender were all killed by the bandits. They could only temporarily transfer officials from other places, or select some people who could read and write in the city to participate, and promised to recruit these people into the government as officials later.
Cizhou had just ended its rebellion and returned to normal, so there was inevitably some chaos in the city. The guards did not dare to relax, for fear that something might happen.
They had joined the siege before and had good luck. Some of them had made military achievements and worked even harder.
"Is that Princess Shunde the one reading over there?"
The old official raised his hand and knocked the younger man's head down, scolding him in a low voice: "Princess, how dare you look at me so casually! Are you courting death?"
The clerk hurriedly whispered, "I just took a quick look...Her Royal Highness the Princess wasn't wearing a veil, so the common people could see her clearly. Besides, I think Her Royal Highness the Princess has a good temper, otherwise how could those people dare to peek at her..."
The people of Cizhou were curious to learn that Princess Shunde was also present. They wanted to see what the first princess of the dynasty to become a Taoist priest looked like, and whether she looked any different from the images of the gods enshrined in the temples. They often heard officials reading articles about how Princess Shunde had specifically petitioned the government to provide money and food. Without this, the bandits would not have surrendered so easily, and ordinary people like them would have had a harder time saving their lives.
Only when I met Princess Shunde in person did I realize that she was not as solemn as I had imagined. She looked young, but she was efficient and capable, commanded officials in an orderly manner, and her every word and action was graceful, which made people respect her unconsciously, but without the slightest hint of arrogance, which made people follow her unconsciously.
"No matter how good her temper is, she's still the emperor's sister. Be careful if someone finds out or she'll be executed." The old official snorted and warned, "Don't you see? All the officials, big and small, are completely obedient to the Grand Duke. They're even more obedient than they are to the prefect."
The clerk glanced at the young soldiers guarding Zhu Yuhuan and said angrily, "If the prefect also had a dozen strong men with swords following him, I guarantee they would all be as well-behaved and sensible as they are today."
The old official rolled his eyes at him and said, "Have you ever seen them behave so honestly and so faithfully, never disobeying their orders, as they have these days?"
After he said this, the clerk thought about it and said, "Then... it seems that there is none."
"That's right. A Shunde official has been reported back in the past few days, accused of incompetence. He's a scholar! Not just any scholar!" the old official said solemnly, "The princess has promoted several locals from Cizhou. While they may not be very literate, they're from Cizhou and carry some weight. Plus, they were promoted by the princess, so they listen to her even more respectfully than they would their own mother. It's clear the princess isn't some secluded lady; the tricks of ordinary officials won't get by."
"I see..." The clerk sighed with emotion and envy, saying, "If I could also be promoted by the princess, wouldn't that make me a successful person?"
The old official instructed, "Then you must work hard, otherwise the princess will never see an unknown person like us."
The two were whispering when suddenly a scream was heard not far away. The guards who were originally guarding Princess Shunde protected Princess Shunde behind them, and the other two knocked several ordinary people to the ground. The most conspicuous thing was a dagger with a cold glow on the ground.
The two were startled and hurried forward to apologize.
Zhu Yuhuan was often peeped at by young girls in the teahouse. She had long been accustomed to these stares and did not take them to heart. But today was different. Several people's gazes had not shifted from the moment they saw her, which was obviously different from the stares of ordinary people.
As expected, when the two men registered their names, they took out sharp weapons and tried to assassinate Zhu Yuhuan, but they were quickly captured by the guards around her.
Seeing that the assassination attempt had failed, one of them shouted, "Witch! Witch..."
He had just shouted when the guards beside him swiftly covered his mouth, kicked him, and cursed, "Bullshit! How dare you insult the princess? You've wasted all the imperial food!"
As soon as the guard said this, the people nearby were immediately filled with righteous indignation and shouted, "That's right! You're repaying kindness with enmity! You're definitely not from Cizhou!"
"They must be accomplices of that evil man Zhang Puxiang! They want to sneak in among us ordinary people and assassinate the Princess!"
"The Princess will definitely behead these heartless people!"
Although Zhu Yuhuan was surrounded by guards, he could hear everything happening outside clearly. He heard the people of Cizhou immediately draw a clear line between themselves and the other side, obviously worried that they would be implicated by mistake.
Zhu Yuhuan was a bit amused and motioned for the guards to withdraw. He then stood up and said, "Take them back to the yamen and detain them. Ask Captain Xu, General Liu, and Censor Wang to come and interrogate them!"
The other party came to assassinate the eldest princess, and was undoubtedly Zhang Puxiang's accomplice. But why did he call her a witch when there were other reasons? It sounded a bit puzzling. There must be something fishy about it. Zhu Yuhuan immediately became extremely alert.
"yes."
Zhu Yuhuan took the two men back to the government office where they were temporarily resting, and asked the guards around him to disperse the other people around. Only then did he look at the two people who were brought in.
Judging from their simple clothing and sturdy limbs, these two men must be ordinary people. A guard nearby examined them and said to Zhu Yuhuan, "These two men have traces of armor on their bodies. They are new. They must be bandits who are rebelling with the evil Zhang Puxiang."
Zhu Yuhuan raised his eyebrows slightly, glanced at the two of them, and said, "You two call me 'witch'. It seems that you are loyal to the so-called 'Seven Buddhas' and know that I am a Taoist priest."
The man who called Zhu Yuhuan a "witch" spat out a mouthful of blood foam and cursed: "You unfaithful 'witch'! You bewitched the late emperor! It is because of 'witches' like you that the late emperor granted the imperial farm. Those princes and nobles are grabbing the land everywhere, which is why we have no land! Even my wife..."
The guards around him were about to attack him after hearing his outrageous words, but Zhu Yuhuan raised her hand to signal them to hold back. She asked, "Are you originally from Zhili?"
The other party was obviously ready to risk everything, saying, "So what if it is! If it wasn't you, why would the late emperor have granted the land?"
Zhu Yuhuan said coldly, "The late emperor granted the land to more than just me. Can I force the emperor to do that?" She raised her eyebrows slightly and asked, "Why don't you tell me, who stole your land? Who persecuted your wife?"
"Yang Ji! He said the late emperor doted on Princess Shunde and granted her thousands of acres of land. As the Prime Minister's son, he deserves his own estate!" The man burst into tears, saying, "He saw my wife was pretty and forced her to do it right in front of me... My wife couldn't stand the humiliation and hanged herself the next day!"
Zhu Yuhuan was silent for a long time, exhaled a breath of foul air, and said to the guards: "Lock him up first."
"yes."
Zhu Yuhuan then looked at his trembling accomplice and asked expressionlessly, "It's natural for him to hate me, but why does he call me a 'witch'?"
The other party gritted his teeth and stammered, "I... I don't know..."
Zhu Yuhuan drew her guard's sword, and with a flash of cold light, she had already cut off the man's bun. She asked coldly, "Who said I bewitched the late emperor? If you don't tell the truth, the next cut will be your fingers, and the next will be your wrists... I will chop you into pieces and feed them to the dogs in bowls."
Frightened by her devilish aura, the other party hurriedly shouted, "It's Zhang Puxiang! Zhang Puxiang said the princess is a witch and that the Quanzhen Cult is bewitching the late emperor!"
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