Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 72 Let's see if my West Factory's punishment can pry open your mouths.
After taking Zhang Hai away, Qin Lu looked at Yang Jizon and Wang Yan, whose faces were also pale.

Before this, the two of them had no idea that Qin Lu was actually outside the door.

Wang Yan's back was instantly soaked with cold sweat, and he felt a sense of fear in his heart.

There is a feeling of relief at having survived a disaster.

Qin Lu's gaze swept across the two men's faces and finally fell on Wang Yan's face.

"Fortunately, you two adults did not cross the line just now."

"Otherwise, an official in charge of land survey and an imperial censor in charge of supervision would be imprisoned in the Western Factory for accepting bribes before they even left Shuntian Prefecture."

"It would be too bad if this matter got out."

"It would be too unreasonable to trouble His Majesty to send a new chief officer and a censor here."

Wang Yan looked away, not daring to meet Qin Lu's gaze.

Yang Jizong frowned and suppressed the anger in his heart.

"Eunuch Tan is wrong. As officials appointed by His Majesty himself, how can we betray His Majesty's trust?"

"Please don't compare us with those corrupt officials, Eunuch Tan."

Wang Yan looked at the floor and nodded repeatedly.

"Your Highness Yang is right. We are not the kind of officials who would embezzle or accept bribes."

Qin Lu nodded: "I hope you can continue to stick to your original intentions and serve His Majesty wholeheartedly."

"I have doubted you two before, please forgive me."

"I have cases to handle and people to interrogate, so I won't bother you two anymore. Goodbye."

Qin Lu turned and left the room, giving the order at the same time.

"Pick up the banknotes."

"Yes, Second Gear!"

The remaining two Western Factory guards picked up all the Hongzhi banknotes that Zhang Hai had scattered on the ground, and then left the room.

Only Yang Jizong with a livid face and Wang Yan with a look of surprise were left.

After Qin Lu left, the first thing Wang Yan said was: "It's really strange that I can hear a soft word from the people of the West Factory?"

"Did the sun rise from the west today?"

"In the past, I only heard words like arresting people and killing people from the people in the West Factory."

Compared to Wang Yan's expression of disbelief, Yang Jizong just snorted coldly.

"Since we haven't done anything wrong, why should we be afraid of the Western Factory's thugs knocking on our door?"

Wang Yan poured a cup of tea for Yang Jizong and said, "Yang Yushi is really a man of steel and courage. He can still stand up to the second-in-command of the Western Factory."

"I'm not afraid of being laughed at by the censor. The look Qin Lu gave me just now scared me so much that I broke out in a cold sweat."

"Zhang Hai is a local official of the third rank. Qin Lu said to arrest him and he was arrested. The West Factory is really reckless and overbearing."

Yang Jizong sneered: "We are the chief officers appointed by His Majesty. As long as we don't make any mistakes, I will have the same attitude even if Wang Zhi, the director of the Western Factory, comes."

After hearing what Yang Jizon said, Wang Yan felt a pang of pain in his teeth.

You are quite frank. Everyone knows that you, Censor Yang, are famous for not taking a penny for yourself.

Before Hai Rui of the Jiajing period, among the few honest officials in the Ming Dynasty, the most famous was Yang Jizong, who never took a penny for himself.

Like Hai Rui, Yang Jizong’s political achievements may be mediocre, but he is truly honest.

Wang Yan felt that although it was stressful to have Yang Jizong supervising him, at least he could be guaranteed not to make mistakes.

……

Qin Lu walked into the room and saw sixteen Western Factory soldiers standing around the room, each of them covered in blood.

Some of the bloodstains are my own, but more of them are others'.

In the middle of the room, there were two temporary wooden stakes.

There was a person tied to each of the two wooden stakes.

One was Zhang Hai, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture who had just been kidnapped, and the other was a man dressed as a wealthy businessman, whom Zhang Hai mentioned as Liu Zong or Mr. Liu.

Liu Zong's official title was the fifth rank Yuanwailang of the Ministry of Works. Yuanwailang refers to officials outside the regular quota, equivalent to non-established civil servants.

But since the Song Dynasty, the imperial court has been selling official hats on a large scale. Anyone can give the imperial court a sum of money and donate the title of Yuanwailang.

Yuanwailang only has a rank and an official position, but no real power and no salary.

After the Ming Dynasty, Yuanwailang became a nominal or idle position and was no longer related to the imperial examination. Following the example of the Song Dynasty, landlords and businessmen could donate money to get a Yuanwai official position.

This is the case with Liu Zong.

He was a local rich man in Jinmenwei, with a fortune of immense magnitude and hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land.

But no one knows where his land came from.

Early this morning, Liu Zong invited Qin Lu to a banquet, and Qin Lu happily went there with sixteen Western Factory guards.

After arriving at Liu Zong's house, after some politeness and testing, Liu Zong took out two thousand taels of silver.

Please ask Qin Lu to turn a blind eye when he is surveying the land in Jinmenwei.

Qin Lu turned hostile on the spot and ordered people to arrest Liu Zong.

However, they didn't know that there were dozens of secret guards hiding in Liu Zong's house. They jumped up on the spot and refused to let the Western Factory take Liu Zong away.

Qin Lu immediately drew his sword and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the dozens of secret guards together with the sixteen guards from the Western Factory.

But what was strange was that these secret guards didn't seem to care about Liu Zong's life or death when they were fighting with the Western Factory.

Not only that, they even deliberately slashed at Liu Zong with knives, trying to kill him.

But with Qin Lu around, these dozens of secret guards were no threat at all and were immediately killed by Qin Lu and others.

Afterwards, Qin Lu took Liu Zong back to the post station without stopping for a moment.

Unexpectedly, during the time when Qin Lu was away from the post station, Zhang Hai, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, came to Jinghai Post Station in person to act as a matchmaker and openly offer bribes.

Qin Lu keenly realized that this was unusual and there must be something hidden!

Qin Lu walked up to Liu Zong and Zhang Hai and asked in a deep voice.

"Zhang Hai, you are the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, a high-ranking official of the third rank. Why did you come to Jinghai in person to bribe Doctor Wang and Censor Yang?"

Zhang Hai was originally begging for mercy with a sad face, but after hearing this question, his expression suddenly froze, and then he immediately replied.

"Master Qin, I was asked by Mr. Liu to come and say hello to the two masters."

"Isn't that right, Mr. Liu?"

"Yes Yes Yes!"

Liu Zong nodded quickly, and the fat on his face trembled.

"I asked Master Zhang for help."

Qin Lu sneered: "Do you two really think that my West Factory is an idiot?"

"A clerk who donated money to become an official, can you invite the third-rank governor of Shuntian Prefecture to help you make connections?"

"Tell me, who is the person behind you?"

"Liu Zong is just an ordinary businessman who doesn't do any valuable business. Who owns the hundreds of thousands of acres of land under his name?"

Zhang Hai and Liu Zong's faces gradually turned pale, but they still held on tightly.

Zhang Hai trembled: "Master Qin, I was really entrusted by Mr. Liu!"

"He gave me five thousand Hongzhi treasure notes, and I was confused for a moment, so I made such a mistake!"

Liu Zong stumbled: "Master Qin, the land under my name is naturally mine."

"After all, who would give me land for nothing?"

"Don't you think so, Mr. Qin?"

Qin Lu sneered: "Since you won't tell me, let's see if my West Factory's punishment can pry your mouths open."

"Someone, pull out all their nails first!"

"Yes, Second Gear!"

Two guards from the Western Factory, holding torture instruments in their hands, walked towards Liu Zong and Zhang Hai with expressionless faces.

(End of this chapter)