Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 361: Bold Action
Zhu Ying suddenly wanted to leave the city with Zhang Shou. On the surface, Zhu Tingfang had a fierce quarrel with Zhu Ying, which made his sister slam the door and leave in anger. But in fact, he was just using anger as a cover, hoping that the two of them would stay away from Cangzhou for a few days and not see some bloody scenes. Because after he dealt with those powerful families with a ruthless hand, he immediately chopped the knife at those idle people in the market.
In his opinion, these idle, aggressive guys were the most unstable factors wherever they went. Therefore, without the eldest prince who needed the protection or surveillance of the Ruiqi Battalion, he directly ordered Du Heng to lead the Ruiqi Battalion to arrest a bunch of small gang leaders who were bullying the city, and beheaded two of them in the market that day.
These two men were the organizers of the first wave of counterattack on the palace, bribed by Changlu County Magistrate Xu Cheng with a large sum of money. However, as soon as Lao Xianyu said that we were the righteous army, the motley crowd they brought with them was dispersed by Xian Yunhe and others who rushed out.
Until the two men were killed, they didn't know why they lost their lives, whether it was because they had been Xu Cheng's lackeys, or because of their past bad deeds such as extortion and resulting in death or injury.
These were the first two people Zhu Tingfang killed after arriving in Cangzhou. Compared with the crackling boards on the platform in front of the county government hall, compared with the several beheadings and a large number of exiles he sentenced, and compared with the "rioters" Xian Yunhe and others who were imprisoned in the palace waiting for the court to decide, the scene of two heads falling to the ground undoubtedly had a stronger deterrent effect.
At least, among the idlers who accompanied the executioners, seven or eight of them peed their pants out of fear, and the rest fainted or were pale and shaky. Only one in ten could stand firm as if nothing had happened. As for those heroes who were not tied to the execution ground to watch the execution, but spontaneously hid in the crowd in groups of three or two, or hid in nearby wine shops and teahouses, their mood was even more complicated.
The rioters were detained, the wealthy families were dealt with, but the court regarded those idlers with martial arts but no proper jobs as the most restless factors who needed to be killed as a warning to the rest, or to make an example of them. This was undoubtedly a very dangerous sign!
When Cao Wu hurried back to Cangzhou City the next evening, he learned from his apprentice who was waiting for him at the city gate that Zhu Tingfang had beheaded two people the day before. The first batch of people who were to be executed immediately were still in the death row, but the two people in this batch were suddenly taken to the execution ground. He felt nervous when he heard this, until his apprentice called him "Master" twice in a low voice, and then he came to his senses.
"Anything else?"
"The chief escorts from the other three escort agencies have all come to our house. They said they couldn't sit still at home, so they had to come here to wait for your news... Now that you're back, should we go back quickly?"
Cao Wu's face suddenly darkened. "When I'm not here, you can treat them to a cup of tea and send them back. Why keep them here? Two people were killed yesterday, and they still don't know how to behave themselves. They are actually colluding with others everywhere? I still have things to do. Go back and tell them that I have met the person I wanted to see. If they want to be safe, they should go home and wait!"
Seeing his apprentice startled for a moment and then running away, Cao Wu shook the reins and finally ran straight to the Changlu County Office. When he got off his horse at the entrance of the county office, a few riders happened to come galloping over from the other side.
The two leading men were handsome young men in ordinary clothes. They jumped off their horses without even looking at him, and walked into the gate one after the other, followed by several guards. He was not in a hurry when he saw this, and he dismounted and walked straight to a door at the gate.
If it was normal, when he stood like this, the doorman who would definitely recognize him would have called out "Master Cao" very attentively. But at this moment, the doorman stood straight, without saying a word, just nodded to indicate that the group was there, and he didn't dare to speak, so he signaled Cao Wu to speak first.
Faced with such a situation, Cao Wu did not have to put on airs, and immediately said with a smile on his face: "Please inform them that Cao Wu from Shunhe Escort Agency wants to see General Mingwei..."
Seeing the hesitation on the man's face, he immediately added: "I met Miss Zhu in Maliu Mountain. She asked me to come."
As soon as he finished speaking, a surprised voice came from inside. It was a young man who had just entered the room and turned back. He looked him up and down for a while, and then laughed and said, "This is really the sun rising from the west. Yingying has always only treated good-looking people differently. With your appearance and demeanor, you have to be very capable to win her attention!"
When Cao Wu first saw the group of people, he recognized the young man as Zhu Ying's second brother, the second son of the Duke of Zhao's mansion. However, at this moment, he deliberately pretended not to recognize the person and said with a smile: "Today, by chance, I have been a guide for the young lady for a while. I am grateful for your guidance, so I came to see General Mingwei."
"Oh?" Zhu Er looked at Cao Wu critically. Thinking of the word "escort agency" that he had just heard, he raised his chin slightly and said, "Well, hand over all the weapons and hidden weapons on you, and then follow me in!"
Cao Wu had no intention of bringing those odds and ends to see Zhu Tingfang, so he did as he was told. When he went in with Zhu Er, he could not help but secretly glance at the young man who was waiting for them impatiently. He did not know who this person was, but he only knew that he seemed to have been going in and out with Zhu Ergongzi for the past two days.
But soon, he found out, because Zhu Er had no intention of keeping a secret in front of an outsider like him!
"Who is this guy? It's no exaggeration to say that your Boss Zhu is very busy these days. You bring all the cats and dogs to him. Aren't you afraid that he might get mad at you for being nosy and come over to beat you up?"
"My elder brother doesn't just use his fists all day long. He has a better brain than anyone else. Don't try to sow discord between them! As for this guy, he just said that Yingying introduced him. Whether it is true or not, it is up to my elder brother to judge. Why do you, the eldest son of the Qin State, need to worry about it? I am almost done with the sample statistics of the first street. Can you do three streets by yourself?"
Zhu Er said this with a long tone: "If you can't do it, I can help you share another street..."
"No need!" Zhang Chen snorted in annoyance, and then said stiffly, "Don't forget what the young master said, this time I am the one in charge, you are just helping out!"
Seeing Zhang Chen walk away in anger after finishing his words, Zhu Er was immediately annoyed: "Helping? Without me as an assistant, you can't finish the work even if you die of exhaustion! What are you showing off? If my brother-in-law were here, he would definitely say that being able to order others to do things is a real skill, and only knowing how to work hard by yourself is stupid..."
Cao Wu saw Zhu Er mumbling to himself, and finally he was sent to the second hall, but he was only handed over to a guard standing in front of the door, and then he left without saying anything. He thought he would be strictly interrogated, but who knew that the guard just looked at him for a moment and then reported to the inside.
Soon, he saw the door in front of him open, and then a young man who looked like an attendant came out. He only glanced at him and walked out the door. The guard just now pursed his lips at him and said, "What are you standing there for? The door is open, why don't you go in quickly?"
Cao Wu did not dare to delay and hurried in. Fortunately, as a martial artist, he had very steady feet and would not stumble over the threshold because of nervousness.
However, when he saw the young man sitting in the center, with a scar on his face but still handsome, and whose aura was completely different from Zhu Er and Zhang Chen, he was stared at by the sharp gaze, and immediately forgot most of the words he had prepared in his mind.
When he heard Zhu Tingfang's question, he was even more unprepared, because General Mingwei asked the question directly without any detours.
"I won't ask why the head of Shunhe Escort Agency dropped everything and went two hundred miles to Maliu Mountain to be Yingying's guide. You can tell me everything you said to her now, or I can ask her later. Don't avoid the important issues, I have limited time."
Cao Wu hesitated for only a moment, then he made up his mind and told Zhu Ying everything about how he met her and their subsequent conversation, even including the part where Zhu Ying almost kicked the son of the Hejian prefect off the mountain.
Sure enough, when he finished speaking, Zhu Tingfang was seen playing with a short dagger in his hand with a stern look on his face.
"He's just a sour scholar who can't show off but talks nonsense. Beat him if you want. Don't worry about him! As for the worries of you Cangzhou warriors... Hehe, every family has unfilial children. This is understandable. Even the Jiang family, Qi family and other families with evil deeds, I didn't implicate them, let alone you?"
However, before Cao Wu could feel at ease, Zhu Tingfang said coldly: "But for money, as long as you are willing to pay money to become a disciple, no matter whether you are virtuous or not, you will be taught some basic martial arts. Naturally, you have become a group of people who think they are good at martial arts, do not work, and make trouble all day long. This time, the Cangzhou incident has caused such a big fuss, and you are also to blame."
Cao Wu now accepts the beating and punishment, and only hopes that Zhu Tingfang will not use his butcher knife on Wu Men.
After all, if it was just General Mingwei and the Duke of Zhao's Mansion, they would retreat and not necessarily be afraid. However, this time the court's face was really trampled on the ground. God knows how furious the emperor would be?
At that moment, he put on a very humble attitude: "General, what you said is very true. It's because we didn't carefully select talents in the past, so there are some bad apples..."
Before Cao Wu finished speaking, Zhu Tingfang said in a deep voice: "Since Yingying gave you advice, I can make a break for you. First, you clean up your own house and expel those with bad records. Second, you provide people to maintain the street security in the near future. As for the third, select a young man with both civil and military skills and a clean family background and report him to me. I can recommend him for the military subject."
Since he had promised Mr. Xu to let Zhang Shou recommend a few outstanding scholars to study in the Imperial College, it would not be a big deal for him to recommend a few martial arts disciples to try the martial arts exam. While wielding the big stick and the butcher knife, of course he had to appease!
Cao Wu had never expected that the ruthless Master Zhu would be so magnanimous, and was immediately overjoyed. However, he had seen the world and knew that the two conditions at the beginning were far inferior to the price offered by Zhu Tingfang. He immediately bowed and thanked him: "General, you are magnanimous. I am very grateful. I will clean up the mess when I return. As for the public security..."
"There were 20 to 30 police officers and constables that I arrested along with Xu Cheng, the magistrate of Changlu County, so there are many vacancies in the third shift of police officers serving in the county government. If you want to help maintain the law and order in Cangzhou City, you really can't do it without a name. How about this, each of you recommend some elite soldiers to fill the third shift."
Is there such a good thing? You know, many of those arrested this time were regular servants, not assistant servants and deputy servants who were not on the roster of the government and could be dismissed at any time. Regular servants were often inherited from father to son, and it was impossible for outsiders to get involved! There were said to be more than twenty vacancies in total!
When Cao Wu was feeling inexplicably excited, Zhu Tingfang's next words made him feel cold all over and groan inwardly.
"I checked the roster of the Changlu County Li Office. The total number of regular servants registered in the three classes of fast, strong, and soap classes is only thirty people per class, a total of ninety people, but the helpers and deputy servants together exceed three hundred. With more than three hundred people eating the people's fat, plus those idlers in the market, it's no wonder that the people of Cangzhou are uneasy."
"For those you recommend to fill in the third shift, first screen the assistants and helpers for me. Anyone with a bad record will not be spared! This is an order, not a discussion with you!"
Knowing that he couldn't refuse, Cao Wu could only bite the bullet and say, "General, you hate evil, and I understand that. But if this happens, the black sheep we have expelled, plus those laid off by the third shift , will be at least several hundred. It's probably not a good thing to throw hundreds of idle people into Cangzhou City all at once..."
"It's none of your business." Zhu Tingfang raised his eyebrows sternly and said word by word, "Just do it yourself."
When Cao Wu reluctantly agreed to leave and quietly left the room, Zhu Tingfang thought of the investigation that Zhang Shou had mentioned to him when he left, which was done by Zhang Chen and Zhu Er. Zhang Shou called it a population employment statistics in front of him. He thought from Cangzhou to other prefectures and counties, and from other prefectures and counties to the world, and his mood was naturally heavy.
There are too many people without land and jobs... It is indeed a big problem! Why don't those so-called famous families know how to restrain themselves?
Think about the chaos in the world. It's called famine, but isn't it because there are too many people who can't feed themselves and their wives and children even though they work and cultivate the land? He had previously blamed Zhang Shou's new spinning machine for causing such trouble. Now, judging from the situation in Cangzhou, the trouble has been slowly accumulating for a long time, but it was not noticed before.
Just as Zhu Tingfang was deep in thought, a voice suddenly came from outside: "Young Master, someone from the Young Lady's side sent a letter back, saying that the tunnels in Maliu Mountain were not entirely left by Qi State. They may have been excavated in recent years, and they also found... found a strange stone tablet."
