Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 672 When Gods Fight, the Common People Suffer

“Ju Tongzhi, be careful!” Huang Tingyue, the clerk, stood on the edge of the cliff, looking down at the path leading down to the terrace. “Come, grab my hand,” Huang Tingyue said, half-lying down and offering his hand before Ju Shibo even got close. “I’ll pull you up right now.”

The slope wasn't clearly so steep that someone would have to pull him up; Gu Shibo could easily have climbed it himself by clinging to the branches beside the path. But since Huang Tingyue had offered his hand, Gu Shibo accepted his kindness and reached out. "Thank you for your help," he said, responding to his subordinate's flattery—a gesture of courtesy expected of a superior.

"Of course, of course!" Huang Tingyue was indeed very happy, and a smile immediately appeared on her face.

"Why didn't you lend me a hand?" Zheng Dushi brushed the dirt off his front and immediately glared at Huang Tingyue.

"Hmph," Huang Tingyue only rolled her eyes and let out a soft snort in response.

"Is it them?" Ju Shibo looked at the group of people dressed in coarse cloth, their faces filled with fear.

“Yes. This old man is the clan chief of the village you mentioned.” Huang Tingyue walked to the head elder and casually pointed.

"Hmm." Ju Shibo asked the clan chief, "What's your name?"

"Little, little old man, my name is Wen Xianyong. Master, you can call me Little Old Man Wen Da." The clan chief shrank back, trembling as if he were being shaken.

"Judging from your expression, you should know who I am." Ju Shibo laughed, like a benevolent Maitreya Buddha.

"Yes, I know." Wen Xianyong was not fooled by Gu Shibo's seemingly kind appearance. The infamous reputation of the Uijinfu, which could stop children from crying at night, was enough to transform anyone, regardless of their appearance, into a devil from hell.

“Don’t be afraid, smile,” Gu Shibo walked over and put his arm around Wen Xianyong’s shoulder. “We’re just asking a routine question. We won’t do anything to you.”

"Quick, make you smile!" Huang Tingyue echoed, glaring at him.

"Hey," Wen Xianyong forced a smile, looking like he was about to cry.

"Very well. Since you know who we are, you should also know why we called you here. So I won't waste any more words." Gu Shibo slowly wiped the smile off his face. "Tell me, where did these rebels who have been entrenched here these past few days come from? What are your dealings with them?"

"Traitor?" This word startled Wen Xianyong's heart, which had been pounding for over sixty years, to the point of almost stopping. "Wh-what traitor!"

"Didn't you tell him?" Gu Shibo frowned as he looked at Huang Tingyue.

Huang Tingyue's eye twitched, and he quickly explained, "I just wanted to bring the people to you as soon as possible, so I only revealed my identity and didn't waste too much time talking to them."

Ju Shibo rolled his eyes in displeasure and turned to Wen Xianyong, saying, "Let me put it simply. Not long ago, a group of treacherous rebels took up residence in this dilapidated temple! In their attempt to seize the throne, they even dared to kidnap the Prefect and kill him to cover their tracks. Your village is only two or three miles from here; it's impossible that you don't know anything about it." As he spoke, Ju Shibo smiled like Maitreya Buddha.

"Our Uigeumbu has always been reluctant to use torture on people other than the accused when handling cases, and we have always maintained a lenient attitude towards those who have repented. In other words, as long as you can help us find those rebels, this matter will be settled. Moreover, we can even get you rewards. Gold, silver, treasures, grain, livestock, and even student quotas at Sungkyunkwan University—as long as you can help us catch the rebels, I can get all of these things for you."

Gu Shibo took a deep breath and licked his slightly dry lips. In the blink of an eye, his face turned cold again. "Alright, speak. Tell me everything you know."

"I, we don't, we really don't know." Wen Xianyong kept shaking his head, his old face, full of wrinkles, was filled with fear and helplessness.

"Ugh!" Gu Shibo interrupted him impatiently, suddenly becoming agitated. "Don't tell me you don't know. Don't tell me you don't know! Hearing this kind of nonsense is really annoying!"

Gu Shibo suddenly roared, startling Huang and Zheng, who were completely unprepared. Not to mention Wen Xianyong, who was already frightened, he knelt down with a thud, not knowing how to defend himself, and just lay on the ground trembling helplessly.

Under normal circumstances, Gu Shibo wouldn't have reacted so violently from the outset. But the current situation was different; the imperial envoy was about to lead the Ming army into the capital and seize control of Joseon's highest government. Gu Shibo didn't know his future fate, but he was well aware that after the envoy arrived, Hanyang would undergo a major reshuffle, so he had to seize the opportunity while he still held power to root out that damned traitor!

But Wen Xianyong couldn't say anything; he hadn't even quite grasped the situation. All he could do was kowtow repeatedly to Ju Shibo, hoping to appease his anger: "My lord, my benevolent lord! We are just honest farmers; how could we know what kind of traitors were hiding in this dilapidated temple!"

"Injustice! Injustice, sir!" The young men that Wen Xianyong had brought also knelt down and cried out their innocence.

"Fine, you don't know, huh? You're crying foul, huh?" Ju Shibo took a deep breath and gritted his teeth as he said to Huang and Zheng, "Take them away, take them both away!"

"Where are we taking it?" Huang Tingyue asked on a whim.

"Where else can we go?!" Ju Shibo roared back, his ferocious appearance increasingly resembling the Maitreya statue in the Heavenly King's Palace, which had become mottled and twisted due to years of neglect.

"Guards!" Zheng, the magistrate, shouted, ordering the other patrolmen nearby. "Tie them up and take them to the yamen for a thorough interrogation!"

"Yes!" The surrounding guards immediately sprang into action.

"No, no! We are all honest and law-abiding farmers!" Wen Xianyong and the other young men kept crying out for justice, but they were still pinned to the ground and tied up by the well-trained Yijinfu guards.

"And another thing!" Ju Shibo stretched out his hand, pointing towards Wenjia Village as if his fingers were cramping. "And everyone in that village, arrest them all and interrogate them thoroughly!"

"All of them?" Huang Tingyue's eyes twitched.

"All of them!" Gu Shibo roared, his eyes wide.

“Commander Ju, there are over a hundred people in that village. We definitely don’t have enough manpower,” Huang Tingyue said.

"Then mobilize troops! Go train the military commander and have Uncle Ju Shi lead men to suppress the rebellion!" Uncle Ju Shi tore off his waist token and threw it to Huang Tingyue.

This is clearly against the rules, even if the assassin's deputy, Uncle Gu, is Uncle Gu's younger brother.

Huang Tingyue was well aware of this, so although he accepted the token, he dared not utter a word in response.

"What are you still standing there for!" Ju Shibo glared at Huang Tingyue.

“Commander, this is against the rules. Besides, the Training Supervisor is still under suspicion in the palace. Even if we mobilize troops and arrest people, we might not be able to bring them into the city,” Huang Tingyue said, forcing a smile. “I think we should go back first and ask for a formal order from the palace before making the arrest.”

Gu Shibo was taken aback at first, but quickly calmed down. "Alright. Let's take them back first."

"Judge Ju is wise!" Huang Tingyue breathed a sigh of relief, smiling obsequiously as he handed the waist token back to Ju Shibo. "Master, Master, we're innocent!" Wen Xianyong struggled and cried out. Soon, a patch of marks resembling the struggle in the kitchen was created on the open ground in front of the temple gate. The only difference was that there was no blood here yet.

"Gag them, gag them, gag them all. This screaming is really annoying!" Zheng Dushi himself was the executioner, and he did not mind, and even enjoyed, listening to the screams of prisoners struggling. But since Ju Shibo had shown impatience, he also became impatient.

The patrolmen only carried ropes, not gags, so they simply pulled down the trousers of several villagers and stuffed them into their mouths.

--------

After the guards tied up the Wen family villagers, Gu Shibo waited a while longer, only to hear that some signs of a beggar's long-term residence had been found in the backyard, along with some dilapidated junk. Gu Shibo had lost patience and decided to take the physical evidence and witnesses he had found back to Hanyang to give an explanation first.

"You take Zhang Er's squad and continue the search here," Ju Shibo ordered Zheng Dushi first, then turned to Huang Tingyue: "Go and gather the rest of the men."

"Yes!" Huang Tingyue immediately clasped his hands in a fist salute.

"Yes," Zheng, the clerk who was given the order first, hesitated for a moment before accepting the command.

"Gather! Gather!" Huang Tingyue ran into the temple and shouted from the doorway.

"Take them with you." Before the guards could finish assembling, Ju Shibo simply pointed to the bound Wen Xianyong and the few young men from Wenjia Village, then turned and walked down the mountain.

Upon arriving at the entrance at the foot of the mountain, several conscripted laborers were tying ropes to the sedan chairs being loaded onto carts under the direction of the guards.

Upon seeing Ju Shibo, the guard in charge of the horses immediately led his horse over, and the guards who were directing the laborers to carry out their duties also stood at attention and bowed to Ju Shibo.

Ju Shibo took the reins and was about to mount his horse when he heard a scream: "Father! Why are you arresting my father!"

Gu Shibo was startled by the sudden scream. He turned around instinctively and saw a young laborer jump off the cart and run toward Gu Shibo, or more accurately, toward a young man who was tied up behind Gu Shibo.

"Stop him!" The boy ran up empty-handed without a weapon, but the leading guard still stood in front of Ju Shibo as if facing a formidable enemy.

The first to act was the patrolman guarding the mountain path entrance. He kicked the charging youth to the ground. Then, he drew his knife, pressed the blade against the youth's neck, and glared menacingly at the other restless laborers. "Don't move! Anyone who dares to move!"

"Waaah! Waaah!" The young and strong laborers who were tied up had already become obedient, but when they suddenly saw their son being kicked to the ground and then held to the ground with a knife, they immediately began to struggle violently again.

The guards in charge of escorting him wouldn't allow him to move around like that, so they kicked him in the back of the knee, forcing him to kneel down.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the situation on the scene was suppressed by the guards using force.

"What's going on here?" Huang Tingyue, who had rushed over, glared at the guards beside the cart and demanded loudly, "Where did you get this cart from?"

"Well, that village over there," the patrolman who brought the cart said sheepishly, pointing towards Wenjia Village in the distance. "That village is the closest, and we have manpower and a cart readily available, so we..."

"Oh dear! Don't you know that's a den of thieves?" Huang Tingyue sighed, then turned to comfort Ju Shibo. He had to do this, because the guards who went to find the carriage were all his men. "Prefect Ju, these bastards have no sense of propriety!"

"That's enough," Gu Shibo interrupted him calmly. After the initial shock subsided, Gu Shibo's eyes no longer showed any extra fluctuations. He knew very well that these unarmed laborers could not possibly harm him unless there were several times more of them.

"You, come here." Ju Shibo came to the boy and beckoned to the nearest patrol guard to pull him up.

"Yes." The guard immediately took action, grabbing the man by the back of his collar and lifting him off the ground.

"Take it away." Gu Shibo gently pushed the knife resting on the boy's shoulder, pressing on the blade.

“Commander, this is a traitor!” said the guard on the mountain path, unaware of the situation.

"Take it away." Ju Shibo pushed it again.

"Yes." The guard moved the blade away, but did not sheath it.

"Is that your father?" Ju Shibo smiled and pointed to the trembling young laborer.

"Yes," the boy was terrified, his eyes filled with tears. "It's my father."

"Good child." Ju Shibo nodded, pointed to the sedan chair, and asked, "Do you know whose sedan chair this is?"

"No, don't know"

“Then let me tell you. This is the sedan chair of Li Gong Erzhan, the prefectural judge of the Uijin Prefecture. The money spent on this sedan chair could buy all the fields in your village.” Gu Shibo reached out and gently patted the boy’s face. “The day before yesterday, a group of rebels kidnapped him and his four sedan chair bearers and brought them here. Now those four sedan chair bearers have probably been killed and drowned in the river.”

"In other words, this is a case of plotting to endanger the state and murder to cover it up. To investigate this case and bring those traitors to justice, the Uigeumbu (the government office) will stop at nothing! Speak. You," Gu Shibo's sharp eyes swept over the other laborers, "tell me everything you know. While I'm still here, I'll ask you!"

"Sir, we are just honest, simple farmers."

Snapped!
Gu Shibo slapped the boy across the face. "I don't know? Just say three words. Why are you spouting all that nonsense? Tie them up, tie them all up!" Gu Shibo had lost his patience again.

"Yes!" Upon receiving the order, the guards behind the boy immediately pressed the man to the ground.

Seeing this, the other laborers beside the cart turned and ran. But how could they, already exhausted, possibly outrun the Uijinbu guards who had been resting and recuperating nearby?

Before long, the laborers who had been conscripted to pull carts were forced to the ground by the fierce patrolmen.

"No, no, no!" the laborer who had run the furthest cried out as he struggled. "I've seen them, I've seen those people the lord was talking about!"

(End of this chapter)