Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Is what they said true?

Sorghum doesn't mince words either.

He looked directly at the people around him.

“That’s right. Although these wealthy men are the richest in the city, they have never bullied us.”

"Your Majesty, these wealthy gentlemen are all merchants from the city,"

"They may be a bit stingy, but they're not bad people."

......

The people were discussing it animatedly.

They eagerly answered the question about sorghum.

She quickly confirmed it.

These ten or so merchants,

Indeed, he was not lying.

"You say that Magistrate Cheng extorted money from you, what exactly happened?"

Gao Liang frowned slightly.

His gaze swept over the merchants who had filed complaints.

"As far as I know, that Prefect Cheng has a very good reputation as an official?"

After she finished speaking,

The people nearby also joined in,

"The Queen is right, the Prefect is indeed a good official!"

"Thanks to the Prefect, we were able to hold on when the plague broke out in the city."

"Could these wealthy men have made a mistake? Is it actually an official under the prefect who is extorting them?"

.......

Chapter 631 Corrupt Official or Honest Official

"Your Majesty, you are unaware of the truth,"

The dozen or so merchants quickly said...

"Prefect Cheng is indeed good to ordinary people."

"But he was extremely harsh on us merchants."

“In addition to paying the normal business tax, he also forced us to pay extra money several times.”

"Your Majesty, our family alone has paid an extra twenty or thirty thousand strings of cash in the past year or so!"

Another merchant said.

"I want more! A full 40,000 strings of cash."

"Not only did my family have to pay more money, but they were also asked to give us a lot of silk!"

"Me too, that Prefect Cheng demanded a lot of precious medicinal herbs from my family's herbal medicine shop."

.....

The merchants all chimed in with their opinions.

But Gao Liang was secretly surprised by what he heard.

After all, according to these merchants,

That Prefect Cheng Wanli,

In just one year since taking office,

He extorted nearly 200,000 strings of cash from the merchants.

Other than that,

There are also many precious silks and medicinal herbs.

what is the problem?

Why has Wan'er never mentioned these things?

She deliberately helped her father cover it up.

Or do you really not know?

Gao Liang frowned.

A series of questions welled up in my mind.

According to Cheng Wan'er's account...

There was also intelligence from Liangshan spies.

Cheng Wanli should be a good official who cares for the people and is honest and upright in his governance.

But now,

In the mouths of these merchants,

This Prefect Cheng, however, became a greedy and insatiable man.

Corrupt officials who readily solicit bribes!

Which side is true?

Which one is fake?

......

The merchants' words

Not only did it shock the sorghum,

The local residents were all dumbfounded.

"How could this be? Prefect Cheng is such a good and benevolent official, how could he possibly ask for money!"

"What's impossible? All officials in this world are equally greedy!"

"That Prefect Cheng probably only pretends to be an honest official because he sees that we common people don't have much money to offer."

"But in front of these wealthy people, they revealed their true colors!"

"Impossible. My family was bullied by the local tyrants before. It was clearly the prefect who stood up for my family."

"That's right, my family is the same. If it weren't for Magistrate Cheng, we would have been ruined long ago."

.....

Because of what these merchants said

The nearby residents immediately began to make a fuss.

Some people believe that Prefect Cheng was indeed a corrupt official.

He merely put on the appearance of an honest official in front of the people.

Some people, however, believe that these merchants are making false accusations.

The crowd of people continued to make a fuss.

Here in Gaoliang,

For a while,

It's hard to make up your mind.

Osmanthus is more dignified.

Seeing that the nearby residents were arguing more and more loudly,

There's even a tendency for a fight to break out.

He quickly and quietly tugged at the sorghum stalk.

"Miss, if this continues, something bad might happen!"

After being reminded by her,

Gao Liang then noticed the unusual situation nearby.

"Enough! All of you, stop making a scene!"

She immediately shouted.

The surrounding Liangshan soldiers,

They also began to stop the crowd of people from making a fuss.

"You people, since you say that Prefect Cheng is demanding money from you,"

Gao Liang looked at the dozen or so merchants expressionlessly and said,

"Then do you dare to come with me to confront Prefect Cheng face to face?"

"My lady, what we're saying is true, so what is there to be afraid of!"

"We came here to file a complaint because we heard that Liangshan stood up for the people. How could we dare to lie!"

"We are willing to go with the Queen to see Prefect Cheng!"

......

Article 632 Wanli's Arrangement

Seeing that these dozen or so merchants were not afraid to confront Cheng Wanli at all,

Gao Liang immediately understood what they had said.

I believed it a little more.

"In that case, you may all come with me."

Gaoliang waved his hand.

"Let's go to the Prefect's residence together and find Prefect Cheng to get to the bottom of this!"

.....

The Prefect's Residence.

Since before,

After listening to her daughter Cheng Wan'er's words,

Open the city gates.

After allowing the Liangshan army to enter the city,

Cheng Wanli then returned to the prefect's residence and secluded himself inside.

He only ordered his servants to...

Keep an eye on what's happening in Dongping Prefecture.

And what happened next

Everything went as expected.

After the Liangshan army entered the city,

As expected, it did not harm the people.

Instead, they dispatched guards to patrol the streets.

Arrest the thugs who wanted to take advantage of the chaos.

"Hopefully, the Liangshan army will indeed withdraw in a few days, just as Wan'er said,"