Chapter 504: Admitting Defeat Is the Way

The several of them were all panicking.

The man lying on the ground had originally been lying still, but after hearing Xu Xianchun's words, he felt a burning anxiety inside, and was even more desperate to crawl forward.

But the Embroidered Uniform Guard just held him down, his mouth stuffed, refusing to let him speak.

Casting a disdainful glance at the men, Xu Xianchun held a blade in his hand and stared at them with an expressionless face.

The one who holds the power of speech is truly this formidable—whatever I say goes, and I won't let you speak.

"No, no!"

"No, we—we don't have any!"

The men hastily shook their heads, shaking them like rattling drums.

Who would dare admit to such a thing?

If you admitted it, you were finished!

Xu Xianchun dragged one man over and said, "Come, you—first tell me about yourself: what's your name, where do you live, and what do you do for a living?"

"If you dare utter a single word of falsehood, you're a remnant of the Shandong White Lotus sect, here in Jiangnan to stir up trouble, seizing the opportunity of Your Majesty's visit to Jiangnan to plot treason and repeat the old Shandong affair."

Xu Xianchun said this with a very serious expression, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The man who had been dragged out nearly pissed himself from fright.

Of course he knew about the Shandong affair—it had caused an enormous uproar back then. When the White Lotus rebelled in Shandong, how many people died? How many were exiled to Liaodong?

No one knew.

In fact, not that many people had been killed; most of them had been sent by Zhu Youxiao to Liaodong to serve as soldiers.

You see, that place in Liaodong had no people now—if they didn't send some exiles over, life there couldn't go on at all.

But Zhu Youxiao also had other methods, such as attracting some Joseon immigrants.

Of course, certainly not the poor common folk from below, but rather those Joseon immigrants who could write Great Ming script and speak the Great Ming language—the more refined sorts. Take Yi Sun-sin from back then, for example—the man could even write poetry, and his poems were actually quite good.

Those who spoke only Korean were lower-class people; once Joseon was taken over later, that would just be a regional dialect. Zhu Youxiao didn't care at all.

The Great Ming was so vast—were there few dialects?

Cantonese and Mandarin weren't the same thing at all—could anyone understand that? And what about Hokkien—could anyone make sense of it? What difference would one more Korean dialect make?

Besides, if dialects wouldn't do, then there were minority languages—after all, there would surely be many ethnic groups in the future.

Zhu Youxiao didn't mind; it was just that this plan hadn't been rolled out yet, but he believed it would be soon.

But none of this had anything to do with the Embroidered Uniform Guard—they swaggered about arrogantly every day, doing all sorts of terrifying things, which was why the situation in Shandong had been blown so wildly out of proportion.

Especially among the literati—after the affair with the Kong family, panic spread through everyone's hearts, and all sorts of riffraff came crawling out.

At the time, the words used to smear Zhu Youxiao were countless, and Jiangnan was precisely a gathering place for scholars, so the tide of public opinion rose. Add to that people secretly fanning the flames, and the rumors spread even more fantastically.

After all, Zhu Youxiao had shut down academies and abolished many fields of learning, which made many scholars dissatisfied. Zhu Youxiao's reputation was terrible, so of course they had to spread rumors.

Even if there were no misdeeds, they'd fabricate some for you—and since you'd actually done this now, naturally they'd exaggerate it and tell it all over again.

These Ming dynasty literati—never mind exaggerating; even when they fabricated stories, they made them look utterly convincing.

Under such circumstances, Zhu Youxiao in Shandong was practically a bloodthirsty butcher.

As for the business with women, that was naturally made up as well. That the Emperor had many women in his harem had long been common knowledge.

Things like the current Emperor loving wine and women and believing in Daoist priests were nothing new at all. This was also why Zhu Youxiao could scare people senseless wherever he went—his fearsome reputation truly preceded him.

Now Xu Xianchun used this to intimidate the men before him, and it worked immediately. If the Embroidered Uniform Guard slapped such a label on you, your entire family would definitely die to the last person.

The man hastily said, "Sir, I am Li Changsheng, a native of Yangzhou, and my family deals in salt. Sir, please investigate carefully—I am a law-abiding good citizen!"

Xu Xianchun glanced at Li Changsheng, his gaze filled with contempt, and gave a cold snort before saying, "What do you mean? You're a good citizen? You did nothing wrong? So you're saying that I, this official, have no discerning eyes and have wrongly accused you?"

The moment these words came out, everyone present was once again stunned by Xu Xianchun.

Your shamelessness and lack of any bottom line have exceeded our expectations. How can you even say such things?

But there was nothing to be done—Li Changsheng hastily said, "This humble one has no such meaning! You, sir, are naturally brilliant and wise, with eyes that see through everything!"

"Naturally. I, this official, am brilliant and wise, with eyes that see through everything. So go on then—tell me, what crime have you committed?"

Li Changsheng was choked speechless by this.

What do you mean, what crime have I committed?

How am I supposed to answer that?

I've committed plenty of things—am I supposed to confess them one by one?

If I confessed everything, I might as well just admit to rebellion—that would be quicker and more straightforward.

"Could it be... frequenting the pleasure quarters?" Li Changsheng asked tentatively.

"Are you a Ming dynasty official?" Xu Xianchun looked at Li Changsheng and asked.

"No, no!" Li Changsheng shook his head and said, "This humble one did study the classics before, but I never passed the imperial examinations. Becoming an official is out of the question—I can only hope for the next life."

"The next life won't work either." Xu Xianchun said disdainfully, "Since you're not a Ming official, who cares whether you frequent brothels or not? Seems you're not being honest either. Come now, drag him down and break both his legs."

Having said this, Xu Xianchun waved his hand impatiently.

Seeing that Li Changsheng was about to open his mouth to say something, Xu Xianchun said with irritation, "Stuff his mouth—utterly nonsensical! Break his legs and toss him aside."

The Embroidered Uniform Guards rushed up like wolves and tigers, directly hauling Li Changsheng away and breaking his legs.

The one carrying out the punishment this time was the same guard who had broken someone else's legs last time—as if he had experience now, it took him only two strikes to break Li Changsheng's legs.

Fast and effective—truly an ace among the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Shooting an appreciative glance at his subordinate, Xu Xianchun said, "Good, well done."

Xu Xianchun turned his gaze to the remaining men.

At this moment, these men were panicking.

What is this?

Just like that, he broke two men's legs?

Even if he recovers, he'll be crippled. If things go badly, he could lose his life. If instead of sending him home to treat his wounds, they throw him straight into the Embroidered Uniform Guard's dungeon, there's no way he'll survive!

Clearly these Embroidered Uniform Guards didn't care about their lives in the slightest — utterly lawless!

One of them couldn't hold back any longer, teeth chattering as he said: "Doing this, do you have any regard for the law? The Great Ming has laws! The Great Ming has statutes! How can you do this? We don't accept it!"

Xu Xianchun glanced at him and said: "Well said. You can't accept it, that's fine. Let me find a way you can accept. Come on, drag him down and break both his legs!"

That man immediately cried out in shock: "You can't do this! You can't do this!"

"Gag him. Yes, yes, gag him." Xu Xianchun ordered his men impatiently.

Two Embroidered Uniform Guards rushed up like wolves and tigers, pinned the man down, gagged him, then dragged him aside — bang, bang, two sounds.

This time, both his legs were broken again, and then he was tossed aside.

Xu Xianchun looked at the remaining four and said directly: "Does any of you still have something to say?"

The four immediately shook their heads.

Say what? Did he even let them speak?

Whoever spoke would have their legs broken.

This man simply didn't care about lives — he was insane! Who would dare speak at a time like this?

"Very well then. Since none of you will speak, this officer will do the talking." Xu Xianchun said: "Come, come, you there — the fat one."

The one pulled out this time was a plump white-skinned man, not tall, but looking quite thick-set and sturdy.

In this era, being able to be this stout was definitely a sign of an uncommon status — a look of prosperity.

Why is being fat called prosperous?

Because only the wealthy can afford to get fat. If you're poor and can't even afford food, how could you get fat? Count yourself lucky you didn't starve to death.

Only the rich can eat enough to get fat, so being fat is called prosperous. If a man is fat, it proves his standard of living is one of wealth.

This man before them was exactly that — clearly a wealthy man. You could tell at a glance he had more money than the others.

Look at his clothes — with this outfit, this appearance, he was definitely a rich man.

The reason Xu Xianchun had kept him for last rather than pulling him out first was simple: those earlier men were meant to scare him.

Under normal circumstances, in a cooperative venture, the wealthy one knows the most. After all, when running a business to make money, the rich one would surely hold the largest share — they had the power.

Aside from that, it would be the one with the most unusual identity.

Among these men, the one with the most unusual identity was the first to jump out — the one who had been so arrogant toward him — and he was already beaten down.

If Xu Xianchun wanted to know the inside story, he could only turn to the wealthiest one. The fat man before him was clearly the wealthiest.

Now that the chicken had been killed to warn the monkey, it was time to question the monkey.

Xu Xianchun asked directly: "Will you be like them?"

The fat man immediately shook his head and said: "No, no, I won't."

At this point he wasn't stupid — forget about the chicken-killing warning. At this stage, whatever Xu Xianchun did, he had to obey.

Otherwise it wouldn't be killing the chicken to warn the monkey — it would be chopping up the monkey and eating its brains directly.

So admitting defeat was the way to go. The fat man surrendered immediately.

"Very good." Xu Xianchun praised him and said: "Then this officer asks you — what is your name and surname, where is your home, and what business do you conduct?"

"Answering your honor, this humble one is Zhao Wuji, a man of Huizhou, also in the salt trade." Zhao Wuji said hurriedly, a smile on his face: "Your honor, ask whatever you wish — this humble one will tell all he knows without reservation."

"Very well." Xu Xianchun nodded and said: "What sort of person is this one?"

As he spoke, Xu Xianchun pointed at the first man whose legs had been broken.