newbobooks Chapter 169 I want to give all this money to the poor!
Chapter 169 I want to give all this money to the poor!
(This chapter has been revised! Please feel free to read it!)
The man wearing a ceremonial crown moved very quickly.
He flashed in front of Wen Yanzhao with a gust of wind and pushed the captain away. He looked at Wen Yanzhao with cold eyes:
"How dare you act so wildly in the government office!"
"Don't you know that this osmanthus flower is presented to the current King Jingyu? How dare you be so presumptuous!"
How could Wen Yanzhao tolerate him? He met the man's gaze and the true energy in his body burst out instantly!
"Oh!"
The man flew several feet away and fell to the ground, spitting blood.
When the prefect saw how capable Wen Yanzhao was, he quickly hid behind the legal advisor and started screaming like a pig being slaughtered:
"Unruly people! Unruly people!"
"You dare to hurt Eunuch Jinru in the palace? I think you are tired of living!"
"Come here, quickly send Captain Xu to arrest the murderer!"
It turned out that the man wearing a ceremonial crown and a purple robe was a mediocre disciple of Zhuoqing named Jinru.
Jinru's kung fu is mediocre, and his cultivation level is only at the Vajra Ordinary Realm, but he is good at currying favor, and is still favored by Zhuoqing.
Zhuoqing bet on both sides, secretly supporting Qing Wang Xiao Xie on the one hand, and showing goodwill to Jing Yu Wang Xiao Ruojin on the other.
That's why he sent his disciples to Guixi City to supervise the harvest of osmanthus flowers.
In fact, he just let Jinru use the name of collecting osmanthus flowers to make a lot of money and embezzle money.
The prefect of Guixi City was also a scholar who was once promoted by Qing Wang Xiao Xie. The two took advantage of the opportunity to embezzle tens of thousands of taels of silver.
Upon hearing the prefect's order, the captain of the police who was rescued by Jinru immediately got up and ran straight out of the government office.
Seeing the captain of the police leaving to get reinforcements, Xin Baicao quickly reminded Wen Yanzhao:
"Wen boy, the captain has gone to get reinforcements, and now you are in trouble!"
Xin Baicao has always been cautious and he doesn't know any martial arts.
Although after spending a few days together in Yaowang Valley, I know that Wen Yanzhao has a poison skill that is unmatched in the world.
But he knew better than anyone that the government offices in Shu usually maintained thousands of soldiers and horses, and he was afraid that Wen Yanzhao would start a massacre and cause trouble.
Wen Yanzhao gently placed Su Xian'er on the ground, then turned to Xin Baicao and said:
"Senior, please keep an eye on this little sister. I'm going to go see what the little eunuch from the palace is up to."
Su Xian'er looked at Wen Yanzhao with some worry, and said haltingly:
"Brother, they are all bad guys who kill without blinking an eye. You have to be careful!"
Wen Yanzhao pinched Su Xianer's little face:
"It's okay, my brother is even more ruthless than them!"
After saying that, he turned into a gust of breeze and flashed in front of the prefect, and picked up the bloated prefect.
"I came here to pay my sweet osmanthus, and it's fine if you don't welcome me, but you dare to ask someone to arrest me?"
"Tell me, how many cruel things have you, a bunch of corrupt officials, done to harm the people in the name of picking osmanthus?"
Seeing Wen Yanzhao grabbing the prefect, the wretched-looking lawyer quickly withdrew and ran to the back hall.
Unexpectedly, he fell to the ground after running only seven or eight steps, with black blood oozing from his mouth and nose.
In just a few breaths, the whole body turned into a pool of filth like a melted candle.
Xin Baicao quickly covered Su Xianer's eyes, shook his head and sighed:
"Alas...there isn't a single normal person in the Wen family. They're so quick to turn people into a pool of pus and blood..."
When Wen Yanzhao heard what Xin Baicao said, he responded:
"This dog-headed lawyer is obviously not a good person. He must have instigated this dog official to do bad things!"
The prefect, who was caught by the collar, was so frightened when he saw his master die on the spot that his face turned pale and he almost collapsed to the ground.
He could only keep begging:
"Young man, no no no... Master, please don't kill me... The imperial court also ordered me to collect these osmanthus flowers!"
"It's none of my business. If you don't believe me, ask Eunuch Jinru from the palace..."
Wen Yanzhao pulled the prefect to Jinru. Just as Jinru was about to struggle to get up, Wen Yanzhao stepped on his fair face.
"Your name is Jinru... so you're also a disciple of that damn eunuch Zhuoqing?"
"Why are there disciples of Zhuoqing everywhere? Could it be that Beili is a giant den of eunuchs... Come on, let me teach you two a lesson!"
Jinru knew that Wen Yanzhao's cultivation was far superior to hers, and almost gave up resistance.
Just like that, Wen Yanzhao, one in each hand, pulled the prefect and Jinru into the main hall like two chickens.
Xin Baicao also pulled Su Xianer and followed Wen Yanzhao into the main hall of the government office and sat in the seat of the legal advisor.
The portly Fu Tai and Jinru knelt on the ground trembling, waiting for Wen Yanzhao's decision who was sitting in the main hall.
Wen Yanzhao didn't waste any words with the two despicable guys. He just clicked his fingers and two pills of "Tell Everything" flew into the mouths of the two people in the hall.
After foaming at the mouth for a while, the two men told a detailed account of how they had taken advantage of the opportunity to make money and persecute the local people.
Originally, the Beili royal family's mission was to produce one thousand stones of fresh cassia twigs and five hundred stones of fresh osmanthus flowers.
But the two heartless guys secretly added three thousand stones of fresh cassia twigs and one thousand stones of fresh osmanthus flowers.
This quantity is equivalent to 360,000 jin of cassia twigs and 120,000 jin of fresh osmanthus flowers.
Excluding the nobles and officials at all levels who did not have to pay grain and taxes, there were less than 100,000 ordinary people in Guixi City, most of whom were farmers who had been farming for generations.
Even if these amounts were distributed to the farmers, even if the elderly, the young, the sick and the disabled were included, it would be impossible to complete the task.
Therefore, the prefect and Jinru agreed that if the osmanthus flowers could not be handed over, the money would be used to offset the taxes.
One dou of cassia twigs cost one qian of silver, and one dou of osmanthus flowers cost three qian of silver. By using this method, the two of them amassed tens of thousands of taels of silver in less than a month.
Based on the confession of the prefect, Wen Yanzhao found the account book in which they recorded the collection of silver, which recorded in detail the osmanthus tax silver collected from the people everywhere.
There were many people who had to abandon their homes and businesses and sell their children because they could not pay the osmanthus tax.
It is not uncommon for people to be imprisoned or even whipped to death by these corrupt officials on false charges such as resisting justice and defying the court!
After hearing this, Xin Baicao couldn't help but slam the table and curse:
"That's outrageous! Even if we plucked out all the osmanthus trees in Guixi, we still wouldn't be able to pick enough osmanthus flowers!"
"Wen boy, if you have any poison, use it on these two beasts!"
"Don't throw away the body, I'm keeping it for drug testing!"
This was the first time Wen Yanzhao saw Xin Baicao, who was always gentle and elegant, and was so angry today.
Of course, he would not take the lives of these two people so quickly after finding out where the silver was hidden.
He took the account book and brought Xin Baicao and Su Xianer to the government office's treasury to withdraw silver.
Just as the three of them were out, the local captain brought five or six hundred soldiers armed with long spears and short swords to surround the government office.
That captain was only a third-rank military commander. Wen Yanzhao just glanced at him and fell off his horse and died.
The soldiers who came with him immediately panicked, but Wen Yanzhao listened to their advice and sprinkled a handful of colorful medicinal powder to the soldiers.
These soldiers stood obediently in place, with staring eyes and drooling mouths, allowing Wen Yanzhao to give them orders.
Xin Baicao was a little surprised:
"What kind of poison did you use? Why haven't I seen anyone use a warm pot of wine?"
Wen Yanzhao pursed his lips and smiled:
"This is a form of insanity I developed myself. Those who are poisoned will only obey my orders, but... they will become idiots in the future!"
Xin Baicao could only sigh:
"Ah... well, at least I saved their lives and prevented them from doing evil again!"
Following Wen Yanzhao's order, five or six hundred soldiers dropped their weapons, followed the three men all the way to the treasury, and moved all the silver out.
Afterwards, according to the amounts recorded in the account books, the tens of thousands of taels of silver were returned to the local people in different categories.
……
It was not until that night that the tens of thousands of taels of silver were finally returned.
During this period, Wen Yanzhao brought Su Xianer all the way to her home.
It was a leaky thatched hut with nothing in it except an iron pot worth a few copper coins.
The wooden bed was covered with straw and tattered quilts, and on it lay a woman with a sickly face.
Xin Baicao naturally would not be idle. He took Su Xianer's mother's pulse and prescribed medicine. In just a cup of tea, Su Xianer's mother came back to life.
He got up and thanked Wen Yanzhao and Xin Baicao profusely, insisting on cooking for them.
The two men were unwilling to stay, so Wen Yanzhao left behind the extra few hundred taels of silver in the treasury and a few gold bars on him and left.
When leaving, Su Xianer had tears in her eyes and leaned against the door, looking at Wen Yanzhao reluctantly.
"Brother, uncle, thank you for saving Xian'er and mother!"
"Will you...will you come back?"
"What if those bad guys come to my house again and steal the money..."
As he spoke, two lines of tears rolled down his cheeks, causing Wen Yanzhao to feel a pang of pain in his heart.
Xin Baicao looked at the pile of yellow and white things on the bed, shook his head and said:
"Wen boy, a man is innocent but he is guilty of possessing a treasure. The mother and daughter are helpless, and these things will cost them their lives!"
Wen Yanzhao was stunned when he heard this, and immediately understood what Xin Baicao meant.
He immediately set out back to the city, hired a coachman and a carriage, and wrote a letter by himself to the Xihou Mansion in Qiandong Town, 500 miles away.
Under coercion and inducement, he asked the coachman to escort Su Xian'er and her daughter, along with his letter, all the way to the Prince's Concubine at the Xihou Mansion in Qiandong Town.
After doing all this, Wen Yanzhao breathed a sigh of relief.
After the two returned to Guixi City, they were surrounded by the people who had received tax silver as soon as they entered the city gate.
"Young man, a miracle doctor!"
"Look, it's the young man called Poison Sword Immortal!"
"What are you talking about, young hero? These two are living gods sent down from heaven to save people from suffering!"
"Yes, a living god!"
Facing the people's fiery gazes, Wen Yanzhao felt a little embarrassed for a moment.
Xin Baicao smiled and said:
"Great! You, a murderous little poisoner, are now being called a god..."
"I have to admit that I, Xin Baicao, have changed my opinion of you today. A lot!"
Wen Yanzhao blushed and scratched his head embarrassedly:
"Oh, Senior, I feel a little embarrassed when you praise me like that... I just did something small for these suffering people!"
More and more people gathered in Guixi City. Although it was late at night, these people spontaneously lit torches.
Soon, the scattered flames merged into one, and the whole street was ablaze!
Wen Yanzhao and Xin Baicao were surrounded by the common people, most of whom were poor and had always suffered from the oppression of the local prefect and corrupt officials.
This time I finally got rid of my anger, and naturally I am grateful to Wen Yanzhao!
Surrounded by the crowd, Wen Yanzhao seemed to have finally found the value of his existence in this seemingly glamorous world of young people.
Look at those hands covered with calluses and mud, holding or cupping their only valuable things: eggs, peppers and some small trinkets woven from rattan.
For a moment, his eyes were a little hazy...
……
(I worked overtime until after nine today, so I wrote this a little hastily, but the number of words in two chapters is far better than the usual three! Thank you all for your support and understanding! I'm going to eat something first, and please don't stay up too late, take care of yourselves! (|3[▓▓] Good night! Love you all!)