Chapter 795

When Chen Yan handed the girl to Hongye, his right hand probed out from his sleeve, his fingers pinching an iron whistling arrow the size of a thumb.

The arrow body was pitch black, the tail end wrapped in a circle of bright red silk thread specially made by the Mingjing Si, which was the mark used only for the highest-level emergency mobilization order.

He lifted the whistling arrow above his head and shook his wrist violently.

Whoosh!

A whistling sound sharp enough to pierce the eardrums rushed straight into the sky, the black iron arrow exploding into a mass of bright red smoke in mid-air, leaving a scarlet tail trail stretching for several li in the blue sky of early spring.

Zhao Lizheng lay in the mud, hearing the sharp whistle of the whistling arrow, his whole body shaking like a quail whose neck had been grabbed.

Chen Yan lowered his head and glanced at him.

"You just said a sentence, whoever goes to the state government to file a complaint is a riot by unruly people."

Zhao Lizheng's forehead was stuck to the ground, saliva mixed with mud and blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, the whimpering sound squeezed from the depths of his throat, indistinct as if his mouth was stuffed with stones.

"This little person deserves to die, this little person deserves to die, this little person was pig oil covering the heart, Zhuguo spare my life, Zhuguo spare my life..."

Chen Yan squatted down, two fingers pinching the fat on Zhao Lizheng's back neck, lifting his face from the mud ground.

"This Duke is asking you a question."

On Zhao Lizheng's face full of mud, two small eyes had already been cried until they were swollen into two slits, snot and tears mixed together, covering his face.

"This little person says, this little person says everything, whatever Zhuguo asks, this little person answers..."

"Liu Dabao, Qinghe County grain chief, is he Liu Daba's older brother?"

Zhao Lizheng nodded crazily, his head flipping up and down like pounding garlic.

"Yes, yes, older brother, older brother of the same mother!"

"How many fake accounts were made in the field verification under his hands?"

Zhao Lizheng's teeth bit his lip, hesitating for less than half a breath, before the two fingers Chen Yan was pinching his back neck with added a point of force.

"All fake!"

Zhao Lizheng let out an "ao" sound.

"The fields distributed to the refugees, three out of ten acres were transferred to the Liu family's name in the accounts by him, the seals stamped on the land deeds were private seals he carved himself, the seeds allocated from the official granary, two out of ten catties were deducted by him, and all the deducted ones were sold to grain merchants in the city!"

The more he spoke, the faster he became, the content of his words like a bucket of dirty water with its bottom poked, surging out with a splash.

"And farm tools, the batch of new plows allocated by Zhuguo, when they arrived at the Qinghe County Yamen, ten were intercepted by the county magistrate and sent to the Liu family's warehouse, and the remaining ones were distributed to the villages, and then another layer was deducted by the Lizheng of each village..."

Chen Yan's fingers loosened.

Zhao Lizheng's face was patted back into the mud ground again.

Chen Yan stood up, wiping his hands on his clothes slowly, as if cleaning some dirty thing stuck to his fingers.

He turned around, looking at the muddy road leading to the Qinghe County city, the light in those eyes already cold to the point of making people dare not look directly.

"Hongye."

Hongye's body leaned forward half an inch.

"Remove the knees of these two things and tie them up."

Hongye did not reply, her figure had already moved.

The moon-white skirt hem drew an arc in the air, the tip of her right foot kicking accurately on the outside of Liu Daba's left knee.

Crack.

That crisp sound of bone cracking was exceptionally clear in the quiet field, Liu Daba's scream being topped to his throat by the pain and then stuck back, turning into a dry retching sound.

The second kick landed on the right knee.

Crack.

The remaining three thugs were scared out of their wits, one of them turned and wanted to run, Hongye's figure flashed in front of him, and the sword spine of that fine steel short sword patted on his knee bend.

After a dull sound, the person pounced onto the ground, rolling in the mud water holding his legs.

The second, the third.

Hongye's movements were clean to the extreme, every kick and every sword landing accurately on the most fragile connection of the knee bone, without any extra flourishes, just cleanly destroying the standing ability of these people completely.

Zhao Lizheng lay on the ground, listening to the bone-cracking sounds and screams one after another beside him, his sphincter lost control again, and an even stronger fishy smell permeated from his crotch.

Hongye used the kind of cow tendon cord they usually used to tie up the people to tie the six people into a string with their arms tied behind their backs.

Chen Yan did not look at them again.

He walked to that dead locust tree, untied the water bag from his waist, and handed it to the old couple who were still trembling.

"Drink some water and smooth out your breath."

The old man's hand taking the water bag shook like a sieve, water spilling half on his clothes, but he couldn't care about wiping it, pouncing onto the ground again and wanting to kneel.

Chen Yan supported his shoulder with one hand.

"Speak standing up."

The old man's lips trembled for a long time, tears mixed with blood flowing out from his right eye swollen into a slit.

"Zhuguo, this old man thought he wouldn't be able to wait for you in this lifetime, this old man thought the notices you issued were all fake, this old man was wrong, this old man is sorry for you..."

Chen Yan's hand patted the old man's shoulder twice.

"It's not your fault."

His voice dropped by half.

"It's that my people didn't handle things well for this Duke, letting you suffer grievances."

The moment this sentence was spoken, among the refugees kneeling on the ground, more than a dozen people let out a howl suppressed to the extreme at the same time.

Not because of sadness.

Because they had never heard an official in their lifetime say the three words "suffered grievances" to these mud-legged people.

The earth began to tremble at this time.

At first it was extremely subtle, as if a group of wild horses were galloping in the distance, the sound of hooves transmitted through the ground.

Then the tremor became more and more violent, more and more dense.

A cloud of dust that covered the sky and sun rose at the village entrance, and black flags and dark red armor could be vaguely seen flickering in the sun in the dust.

Gao Jiong had come.

He rode on a warhorse that was pitch black all over, followed not by dozens of people, not by hundreds of people, but by a full twelve hundred Mingjing Si Embroidered Attire Envoys armed to the teeth.

The sound of horse hooves was like a sudden rainstorm, splashing broken stones on the muddy main road of Liu Family Fort.

Gao Jiong dismounted cleanly, armor plates colliding with a crisp metallic sound, and he strode to Chen Yan and knelt on one knee.

"This subordinate came late, please Zhuguo punish me!"

Chen Yan's gaze swept over Gao Jiong and fell on the steel phalanx composed of twelve hundred Ti Cavalry behind him.

"Qinghe County Yamen, sealed or not?"

Gao Jiong's voice carried a suppressed murderous intent.

"After receiving the whistling arrow signal, this subordinate immediately split out three hundred people to block the four gates of Qinghe County; all entry and exit channels inside and outside the county yamen have been blocked, not even a mouse can run out."

Chen Yan nodded slightly.

"Pass this Duke's order."

Gao Jiong's head pressed lower.

"Interrogate these two things on the spot."

Chen Yan's finger pointed at Liu Daba and Zhao Lizheng tied into a string.

"Use the method your Mingjing Si is best at; this Duke only wants the result, not the process."

Gao Jiong's corner of the mouth pulled, a kind of smile that made people feel cold on their backs appearing on that dark face.

"This subordinate understands."

He stood up and turned to beckon to two Embroidered Attire Envoys behind him whose masks were covered so that only their eyes were exposed.

The two took out a black cowhide package rolled into a cylinder from their saddlebags, and after unfolding it, more than a dozen fine steel tools of various shapes were neatly arranged inside, some like long thin silver needles, some like curved iron hooks, each polished until it shone.

The moment Liu Daba saw those things, his eyeballs rolled upward, and he fainted directly.

Zhao Lizheng held on for two breaths longer than him, and then he also softened.

Gao Jiong splashed two ladles of cold water on the two people, pouring them awake from their coma.

The interrogation was carried out in the cow shed at the village entrance.

The villagers couldn't hear the specific sounds, but they could see the dim yellow light leaking from the cracks in the wooden walls of the cow shed, as well as the muffled groans that occasionally drifted out, making one's scalp tingle.

In less than half a stick of incense, Gao Jiong walked out of the cow shed.

He was holding a wooden board, on which three sheets of white silk full of words were spread out, the ink not yet dry, a bright red blood handprint pressed at the bottom of each silk book.

"Reporting to Zhuguo, all confessed."

Gao Jiong handed the wooden board to Chen Yan, his voice pressed very low.

"Liu Daba's distant cousin is named Zhou Xingsi, and he is the judicial adjutant of the county city, in charge of criminal litigation for the entire county city and the three counties under its jurisdiction."

His finger pointed at a line of text on the silk book.

"Using his position for personal gain, he colluded with the Liu brothers to secretly transfer more than seven hundred acres of fields distributed by Zhuguo to the refugees to the Liu family's name, and embezzled grain subsidies equivalent to three thousand two hundred taels of silver."

Chen Yan's fingers slid slowly over the handwriting on the silk book, stopping when he slid to the last few lines.

Gao Jiong's voice was lower.

"There is one more thing, even more fatal than these embezzlements."

He took out a letter that had been folded extremely carefully from his bosom; the paper of the letter was yellowed, and there were traces of having been sealed with fire wax at the corners.

"The Qi State silver confessed by Liu Daba is not groundless; this letter is a secret correspondence between Zhou Xingsi and the remaining liaison of the Qi State Shadow Department, agreeing that the Qi State side would provide funding support of three thousand taels of silver per quarter, on the condition that Zhou Xingsi must use the judicial power in his hands to create opposition between refugees and local farmers at the grassroots level."

Chen Yan took the letter to his eyes and unfolded it to read it once.

His hand did not shake.

But the force of the few fingers holding the letter pressed several deep wrinkles into the edges of the letter paper.

"Lead the way."

Chen Yan tucked the letter into his bosom and flipped onto the warhorse Gao Jiong had led over.

"Go to the county city."

Gao Jiong punched his chest armor.

"This subordinate has mobilized eight hundred Ti Cavalry to wait outside the county city, just waiting for Zhuguo's order."

Chen Yan clamped the horse's belly, and the chestnut horse raised its hooves and left.

Twelve hundred Mingjing Si Ti Cavalry gathered into a black steel torrent behind him, the sound of horse hooves like a sudden earthquake, splashing broken stones on the thirty-li-long official road between Liu Family Fort and the county city.

When the city gate of the county city saw that dark red Mingjing Si flag, it opened without any resistance.

The colonel guarding the city knelt in the city gate hole, the knee pads of his armor hitting the bluestone slab with a clanging sound, his whole body shaking like a flagpole in the wind.

"Zhu, Zhuguo Master..."

Chen Yan's warhorse stepped over his head, not even sharing a glance with him.

Zhou Xingsi's mansion was in the southeast corner of the county city, occupying more than three acres, with two rows of copper nails on the vermilion lacquer gate, and a plaque written with "Clear, Upright, Honest, and Clean" hanging on the lintel.

Chen Yan saw that plaque on the horse's back, the arc at the corner of his mouth picking up by a point, cold to the extent that Gao Jiong beside him couldn't help but shiver.

"Smash it open."

Two iron-wrapped battering rams as thick as a rice bowl were carried to the front of the door by eight Ti Cavalry.

Boom!

The first time, three copper nails on the vermilion lacquer gate flew off, embedded into the wall opposite.

Boom!

The second time, the door bolt broke into two pieces from the inside, and the door panel collapsed inward, hitting the blue brick ground of the porch, kicking up a cloud of dust.

A sharp shout sounded inside the mansion, and more than a dozen family private soldiers wearing leather armor rushed out from behind the screen wall holding knives and spears.

Gao Jiong's command flag slashed downward.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Three rows of repeating crossbows fired in unison, iron arrows pouring into the courtyard like a rainstorm.

Those dozen private soldiers didn't even have time to raise the shields in their hands before they were nailed to the screen wall by the dense iron arrows, fresh blood pouring out from the countless arrow holes on their bodies, dyeing the screen wall written with the four large characters "Loyal, Thick, Pass Down Family" into a shocking scarlet.

When Zhou Xingsi was dragged out from the secret passage in the backyard, he was still wearing the sleeping underwear, barefoot, hair scattered, his face full of panic after being woken up.

Gao Jiong kicked his knee bend, kicking him to kneel under the plaque written with "Clear, Upright, Honest, and Clean" in front of the main hall.

"Zhou Xingsi, do you recognize this thing?"

Gao Jiong unfolded the Qi State secret letter pulled out from Liu Daba's confession and held it in front of him.

The moment Zhou Xingsi saw that letter, his eyeballs seemed to have been drained of all blood color, and the whole person turned into a gray-white empty shell from inside to outside.

"No, no, this is not mine, this is framing, someone is framing me..."

Gao Jiong ignored him.

He turned and walked to the door of the study on the side of the main hall, kicked the door open, and drilled in with two Embroidered Attire Envoys.

There was a secret compartment under the floor tiles of the study, and the wooden cover of the secret compartment had three locks.

Gao Jiong smashed the lock buckle together with the wooden cover with the back of his knife.

There were three layers of things neatly arranged in the secret compartment.

The top layer was white silver ingots, stacked as neatly as city wall bricks, with at least five thousand taels at a rough glance.

The middle layer was land deeds and field deeds, a thick stack, each stamped with the official seal of the Qinghe County Yamen.

The bottom layer was a wooden box wrapped tightly in oil paper.

Gao Jiong opened the wooden box.

Inside were more than twenty letters, each sealed with the fire wax unique to the Qi State Shadow Department, the secret mark on the seal identical to the runes on the batch of waist badges Chen Yan had previously seized in the settlement camp.

Gao Jiong held the wooden box to Chen Yan.

Chen Yan flipped off the horse, took the wooden box, and pulled out the top letter, unfolding it and scanning it twice.

There was no surprise on his face.

There was only a cold satisfaction of a hunter seeing the prey finally reveal all its claws and teeth.

"Seal everything and take it away."

He tucked the letter back into the wooden box, closed the lid, and handed it back to Gao Jiong.

"This Duke has great use for these things."

He turned around, looking at Zhou Xingsi trembling under the plaque, his voice light as if talking to a dead person.

"You colluded with the Qi State Shadow Department, embezzled refugee fields, used judicial power to shield the family from running rampant in the countryside, forced good people into prostitution, and treated human lives like grass."

He reached out and tore the "Clear, Upright, Honest, and Clean" plaque from the wall, the wooden plaque smashing onto the floor tiles in front of Zhou Xingsi and breaking into three pieces.

"This Duke has removed these four characters for you."