Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 284 The Prince (2)

Although Jiao Junze was a martial artist, his study was kept extremely elegant.

The air was filled with the fragrance of incense. Two rows of openwork bookshelves displayed all kinds of books, from Confucian classics to the history of the Han Dynasty and the Wu Dynasty, as well as some miscellaneous books such as myths and strange tales. Among them were some rare and unique copies. The walls of the room were decorated with paintings and calligraphy by famous artists, any one of which would be worth a fortune.

Of course, these items did not originally belong to Jiao Junze.

They only got these things after robbing a branch of the Fan family.

As a martial artist, he naturally didn't understand these things; they just looked impressive. He was afraid of being ripped off if he tried to sell them, so he decided to set up a study himself and decorate it a bit to make it look presentable. Even the style of the study, the bookshelves, and the desk were all moved from the Fan family. Although he had slaughtered the entire Fan family, the main perpetrator was that woman, so he felt perfectly justified in using them.

At this moment, a middle-aged man dressed in fine clothes was sitting in front of a desk, engrossed in reading an ancient book. Apart from the occasional sound of turning pages, the atmosphere was unusually quiet. Even Jiao Junze's cry of "Your Highness" did not wake him.

Jiao Junze remained bowing, not daring to move.

The middle-aged man was in his forties and could be described as handsome, though he was rather overweight and looked somewhat bloated. After a while, seemingly tired of reading, he closed the book, rubbed his aching temples, and sighed softly, "Why shouldn't a man carry a Wu hook and seize fifty states beyond the passes!"

"Please ascend the Qilin Pavilion for a moment, for which scholar has ever become a marquis?"

"Strong and passionate, yet directly expressing the poet's feelings, what a fine poem, what a fine poem..."

"I've long heard of Song Yan; he's not only good at leading troops into battle, but he's also quite talented. He's not bad."

There was no anger in his voice, but Jiao Junze's body trembled slightly, his face turned pale, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

His conversation with Song Yan was overheard by the prince.

Jiao Junze is also a ruthless person.

He dared to lead the Dingzhou Prefecture troops to resist the Jurchen cavalry's attack on the city, and even beheaded thousands of them. He was a decisive and ruthless man, but he instinctively felt some fear when facing the man in front of him.

Perhaps it's a shadow left over from many years ago.

Jiao Junze still remembers that he was only sixteen or seventeen years old at the time, and had just entered Dingzhou City as a soldier. Because of a bandit uprising, the governor of Dingzhou led troops to suppress the bandits. Because of his enthusiasm, he charged ahead and was lucky enough to behead the bandit leader.

This is a feat of slaying a general.

This achievement is enough for him, a mere soldier, to be promoted several ranks.

At that time, Jiao Junze was just a greenhorn, unaware of the intricacies of the situation. The reward was like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing his enthusiasm. Apart from two strings of copper coins, there was nothing else. Promotion was not even mentioned. On the contrary, the supervising officer, who had been hiding in the rear and had never even seen the enemy, received the credit for the general's slaying.

Later he learned that not only his credit was being fraudulently claimed, but also that the credits of other brothers who had fought alongside him had been completely embezzled by their superiors. The reward money that was supposed to be 100 strings of cash was reduced to only 2 strings of cash after layers of deductions. As for his comrades who died in battle, the 30 strings of cash compensation that was supposed to be given to each of them was also embezzled, leaving only 1 string.

Back then, he was too naive, only thinking about making something of himself so he could buy his sister some new clothes and improve his ailing mother's life, ensuring she had enough to eat every day. How could he tolerate having his money and official position taken away from him? He couldn't bear the sight of his comrades-in-arms being bullied by those same people. He wanted to file a complaint, but just as the petition drum was sounded, a group of thugs appeared out of nowhere and broke his legs.

When he dragged his broken leg home, his house had been burned to the ground.

My mother was burned alive in the fire, and my sister also died. Her clothes were tattered, and her body was covered with bruises from torture. She was also defiled by those people before she died.

At that moment, Jiao Junze felt as if the sky in front of him had suddenly turned dark, so dark that he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face.

He wept bitterly beside the bodies of his mother and sister, until his tears ran dry and blood flowed from his eyes.

All his energy and spirit seemed to have been completely worn away at this moment. He didn't know what his broken body could do anymore, and he couldn't even avenge his mother and sister.

Just when he was at his most desperate, the man in front of him appeared.

He wasn't this fat back then.

He was only slightly plump, but could be considered a handsome young man. He asked me if I wanted revenge. If I did, he could help me, but from then on, my life would belong to him.

Without any hesitation, Jiao Junze agreed.

He quietly turned and left. Soon after, a doctor appeared out of nowhere and healed his leg. The next day, all those dozens of local ruffians were found dead at their doorsteps. In the ruffians' homes, some words written in blood were left behind. They were probably from chivalrous outlaws who couldn't bear to see the heroes who suppressed the rebellion meet such a miserable end, so they took action to punish them.

Those people died a horrible death; almost all the bones in their bodies were smashed, leaving them like a pile of rotten flesh.

After that, people kept dying in Dingzhou Prefecture.

The relatives of these local scoundrels, ranging from parents in their forties and fifties to toddlers as young as seven or eight, die every day.

People said that these local scoundrels had done all sorts of bad things and were punished by heaven.

At first, the officials who embezzled the bounty and compensation money and claimed the credit for others could still sit still, since it was only their lackeys who died, and it had nothing to do with them. But a month later, after all the families of the lackeys had died, it was the officials' turn. The first to die was a clerk. Who could imagine that a clerk who only took notes could have the merit of beheading thirteen people?

At the scene of the clerk's death, a letter of repentance was left behind. The letter detailed how many officials in Dingzhou Prefecture divided up the soldiers' merits and embezzled their pensions. The amount of silver awarded to each person varied according to their rank.

To those officials, this was originally just a trivial matter. They often did this: if any troublemakers objected, they'd beat them up; if they still objected, they'd kill their father, mother, wife, and children—until they were finally convinced. Strangely enough, eliminating Jiao Junze would have been the simplest and most effective method, but they didn't. Instead, they killed Jiao Junze's sister and mother. Perhaps, in their eyes, watching a peasant from the bottom of society, dragging a broken leg, struggling in the mud, was a very amusing thing.

But who could have imagined that this time an unexpected incident would occur? Public resentment boiled over, and public opinion surged. For a time, the whole world was discussing this matter. In order to quell the public resentment, the prefect of Dingzhou issued a gag order, prohibiting anyone from talking about this matter. For a time, the prisons in Dingzhou were not enough, and a large number of civilians and soldiers were arrested almost every day.

These civil officials used all their power to suppress the matter, preventing the common people from making any sound.

Even Jiao Junze was imprisoned.

For a time, things seemed to have fallen into a dead end again, until the matter came to the ears of the former governor of Dingzhou's political enemies, and finally a breakthrough was made, and the matter was finally brought to the court.

corruption.

To claim credit for something else.

Forming cliques. Slaughtering the families of fallen soldiers.

They arrested ordinary people on a large scale.

When all of this was finally revealed, people realized the darkness hidden behind it. The matter could no longer be suppressed, and even the civil officials could not protect the governor of Dingzhou, and could only imprison him. The entire Dingzhou officialdom, from top to bottom, was almost completely purged. Hundreds of officials were imprisoned, and dozens or even hundreds of officials were beheaded.

Jiao Junze finally broke free from the dungeon.

Jiao Junze was at the center of this storm, and he received a compensatory reward for it, rising from a common soldier to a lieutenant general. Later, he made some more contributions, and everyone generally understood that Jiao Junze was a troublemaker and that it would be troublesome to embezzle his merits. Therefore, these merits naturally fell on Jiao Junze, and his status continued to rise. In just a few years, he climbed to the position of governor.

Jiao Junze knew that his current status was inseparable from this prince. If this prince had not joined forces with the heroes of the martial arts world and even secretly manipulated public opinion, this ray of dawn would never have shone on him.

He roughly understood the prince's power. Perhaps he didn't have many influential figures in the court and couldn't influence the political situation, but he had deep ties with the martial arts world and could manipulate public opinion, guiding public sentiment. Although the people he killed were all Jiao Junze's enemies, the sight of entire families being wiped out and the twisted, mangled corpses laid out before him was still chilling.

This incident occurred a long time ago, and both the prince and the civil officials in the court were consciously trying to minimize its impact. Soon, it was no longer discussed, to the point that many people no longer knew how Jiao Junze had risen to power. Song Yan had also wondered why the governor's mansion was so empty… all his relatives were dead, and besides Jiao Junze, only a few old servants remained, making it seem rather desolate.

"You wanted to attack the Jurchens, so you agreed to Song Yan's request?"

Just then, the prince's voice startled Jiao Junze from his reverie.

Jiao Junze's throat bobbed, and he didn't know how to answer for a moment.

The prince only instructed him to guard Dingzhou; sending troops to fight the Jurchens was not within his scope of duties. From this perspective alone, he had disobeyed the prince's orders. To be honest, he still didn't know what the prince's true intentions were. If he wanted to rebel, how useful would colluding with Jianghu forces be? In the end, rebellion relies on soldiers.

If they don't want to rebel, then the combined forces of the Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world) are not to be underestimated. They also have a knack for manipulating public opinion, and they're quite adept at it. As everyone knows, rebellion often begins with controlling public opinion—things like hiding books inside fish, foxes speaking human language, or digging up a stone figure from the riverbed.

Seeing Jiao Junze's expression, the prince chuckled and said, "It's nothing serious, and you don't need to be so nervous. I know you are a true general who always wants to do something for the people of Ningguo. If this expedition can severely damage the Jurchens and bring ten years of peace to the border, that would be quite good."

call.

Upon hearing this, Jiao Junze suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

"What do you think of Song Yan?"

"It's terrifying." Without hesitation, Jiao Junze immediately gave his answer.

The prince in purple robes was clearly surprised by this answer: "I thought you two would appreciate each other, but I never expected you to say that he is terrifying... Come, tell me properly, what is so different about this Song Yan that makes you so afraid?"

As he spoke, the prince in purple robes even pointed to the chair next to him, gesturing for Jiao Junze to sit down and talk.

"This is clearly his home..." Jiao Junze thought to himself, but he didn't dare say it aloud. After sitting down, Jiao Junze slowly began to speak: "Among the many officials in Ningguo, Song Yan should be the one who values ​​the people the most. Although I don't know why, he is extremely hateful towards foreigners, but relatively kind to Han people. I have investigated some things about Song Yan. Although he has been granted a title and is the governor of a prefecture, he has no airs in front of Han people. It is common for him to squat on the ground and boast to peasants."

"He probably doesn't care much about things like aristocratic decorum."

"He is ruthless and cruel."

"Although they were of a different race, he burned tens of thousands of people to death with two fires. Such a thing that goes against the natural order is something that an ordinary general would not do. But he felt no pressure at all. As long as it was beneficial to him, he could do it. He didn't care at all whether he would face criticism from pedantic scholars."

"Even among the Han people, if you commit a crime, you should be killed. During the disaster relief in Ningping, more than a thousand heads were chopped off."

The prince in purple robes nodded.

"He's not afraid of offending the civil service and powerful clans. He wiped out Xilin Academy without a second thought, beheaded officials in Pingyang Prefecture without a second thought, and even the Huang family was wiped out without a second thought. I heard that this time he even beheaded two of the Kong family's eldest sons and is planning to extort five million taels of silver from the Kong family..."

The Kong family?

The prince in purple robes frowned.

Jiao Junze didn't know what the prince was thinking, nor did he dare to speculate. He simply pursed his lips and continued, "In the eyes of aristocratic families and literati, Song Yan is probably an utterly wicked scoundrel."

"But Song Yan was very famous among the soldiers and the common people."

"It is said that in the coastal areas of Ningguo, many families have begun to worship Song Yan's longevity tablets because of his achievements in eliminating Japanese pirates."

The prince in purple robes shook his head, his expression somewhat unpleasant: "He has the support of the people and is renowned among the soldiers... Heh, in any era where imperial power reigns supreme, such people are dancing on the emperor's razor's edge. Yuheng is the same; he's always too good to his own family. He's just a son-in-law, yet he's gained the support of the people and has a group of arrogant and fierce soldiers under his command, and these arrogant and fierce soldiers are utterly loyal to him."

"Is this an attempt to rebel?"

"Even if he doesn't rebel, if the royal family regains power one day, this person will be a powerful relative who hinders the emperor's authority. He will be the next Yang family, the next Bailu Academy... Moreover, if the power around Song Yan develops to a certain extent, whether or not he rebels will not be up to Song Yan himself. Even if he doesn't want to rebel, he might be surrounded by his subordinates and forced to wear the imperial robe at any time."

Jiao Junze felt somewhat embarrassed; ultimately, he couldn't get a word in edgewise.

Then, the prince in purple robes sighed: "However, given the current situation in Ning Kingdom... if we let him cause some trouble, it might actually give my brother some opportunities to profit from the chaos. That's probably why my brother has been tolerating him all this time."

"The worst thing is that we might end up raising a tiger that will turn out to be a menace."

"We need to make arrangements in advance."

Suddenly, the prince in purple robes raised his head and looked at Jiao Junze: "If one day I make you kill that Song Yan..."

What will you do?

Jiao Junze was taken aback, then took a deep breath and stared directly at the prince in front of him:
"My life belongs to the prince."

"If you ask me to kill him, I will take his head!"

(End of this chapter)