In my dream of returning to the Tang Dynasty, I snatched Wu Zetian from my lap.

A fierce chase is unfolding in a private residence in Shizhuang.

It was not the Lu clan members who were chasing Li Yuanchang and his group, but rather Li Yuanchang and his group who were chasing Lu Congjun.

"Someone come here!"

"Help me, where the hell are they?!"

As Lu Congjun shouted, he ran wildly with a look of terror on his face, smashing doors and windows, panting heavily, covered in cold sweat, as if there were ghosts behind him.

Just now, all his men were cut down and forced to retreat.

These soldiers, though burly and strong, were only for ordinary, weak people. Guo Chao and his men, however, were all retired border troops, and once they got angry, they were fearless.

Cutting down a dozen or so would deter a large number of people.

That's why Li Yuanchang led his team in a counterattack and broke through Lu Congjun's men.

"Are you looking for me?"

A faint voice suddenly rang out and blocked the way.

"what!"

Lu Congjun screamed in terror.

The next second, bang!!

With a loud crash, Lu Congjun was sent flying backward like a wild goose landing on a sand dune, smashing a hole in the fragile earthen wall before landing in the main room with a thud.

"puff……"

He coughed up blood, his veins bulging from the pain.

Li Yuanchang smashed the wooden board in his hand in two, covered in blood, and approached with a cold smile.

"Second boss, I gave you a chance but you failed! You failed miserably!"

"You couldn't kill seven of my men even with hundreds of chapters, so you deserve to lie down!"

"No, don't come any closer!"

"Okay, if you let me go, I'll give you five hundred or six hundred strings of cash!"

"Even if you kill me, you won't get out of here!" Lu Congjun wailed, retreating continuously.

"Is that so?"

"Open your dog eyes and look outside, see whose men they are!" Li Yuanchang scoffed. He had already heard the sound of galloping horses and knew that it was reinforcements brought by Wang Hongzhi.

This was also part of his plan. The only problem was that someone leaked the news to them, which led to the Lu clan taking the initiative.

Lu Congjun subconsciously looked outside.

Through the holes in the houses, one could see torches burning throughout the village, the Han King's banners fluttering, and cavalry figures constantly appearing, accompanied by the angry shouts and killings of the government troops.

Lu Congjun was instantly filled with despair!

At that moment, a series of footsteps sounded, and Guo Chao and his men, covered in blood, rushed in, accompanied by a large number of guards.

"We are late in coming to your rescue, Your Highness! Please forgive us!"

"Get up, you're not late."

"How's it outside? How many people have arrived?" Li Yuanchang asked.

"Your Highness, the situation outside is under control. As soon as the guards entered, they killed more than twenty people, and the Lu clan members basically surrendered."

"Lord Wang is worried about not having enough manpower, so he has already transferred four hundred soldiers from Wei County," a guard said.

Li Yuanchang raised an eyebrow. Wei County?

He had some impression of this county magistrate, who was relatively clean-cut. Since he took office, the magistrate had been trying to make connections and curry favor with him.

"Your Highness, your hand?"

Li Yuanchang glanced down and said, "It's nothing, it's not heavy."

"Give the order: immediately seal off the entire Shizhuang village; do not let a single person escape."

"Guo Chao, take your men and immediately go and clear out the stolen goods, and rescue the slaves who are still imprisoned in the cave and working there."

"yes!!"

The guards of the Prince's Palace split up and left twenty men to protect Li Yuanchang closely.

Outside the houses, cries of anguish rose from all sides; they were all members of the Lu clan. In some places, fires had broken out, a scene of annihilation.

Li Yuanchang approached Lu Congjun and said, "Second Master, from now on, I will ask you a question, and you will answer it."

Blood dripped from Lu Congjun's mouth as he said resentfully, "I answered, and I'll die anyway. Why did I answer?"

puff!

Without warning, Li Yuanchang pierced his palm with a knife, and the excruciating pain instantly contorted his face in agony.

"ah!!"

"I'll talk, I'll talk, I'll talk!"

Li Yuanchang remained extremely calm: "Since we're going to talk about it anyway, why bother taking this pain?"

Lu Congjun burst into tears on the spot.

Li Yuanchang scoffed. Just now, when there were many people, they even dared to kill the Prince of Han. Now that they have been defeated and captured, they don't even have the courage to face death calmly.

Ultimately, a local bully is still a local bully; their true nature is quite different.

"Was it you who did this at Dahong Temple?"

Lu Congjun's face turned pale: "Yes, yes."

"No, that's not it!"

"We provided the bricks and stones, but we weren't the planners; they wanted to buy them themselves!"

"Them? Those 'them'?" Li Yuanchang pressed.

The guards took out paper and pen from their pockets and wrote down their statements on the spot.

Lu Congjun wailed, "Lu Qi, the Sima of Liangzhou!"

The moment the first name was announced, the guards' expressions changed drastically – it was him!

"And there's Huang Si, the registrar of Liangzhou; Lu Yang; Zhang Ke; and Bai Zhijin Tu, the prefect of Liangzhou..."

"He Cheng, the magistrate of Qiu County."

"The Assistant Magistrate of Qiu County was Zhu Xi."

"..."

A long list of names was confessed, from the highest-ranking Sima to the lowest-ranking Li and Baizhi, Baizhi meaning guard.

There were more than fifty people in total!

These fifty-odd people formed a huge network of vested interests and jointly participated in this embezzlement project that enriched themselves.

Li Yuanchang's eyes were cold, but he wasn't surprised.

"What about the warehouse clerk?"

"Was no one involved in the Cang Cao (a minor official post)?"

"How was Wu Wei, who died, murdered?"

Lu Congjun trembled, almost in shock: "You...you knew about this too?"

"If you don't want others to know, then don't do it in the first place!" Li Yuanchang said condescendingly.

Lu Congjun said in despair, "He... he was killed by Liu Yishou."

"When the incident happened, many people died. Those high-ranking officials were afraid that the imperial court would send someone to investigate, so they wanted to kill people to cover up the truth."

"Wu Wei, who was in charge of the money, became the necessary sacrifice."

"It was Liu who killed him. At the time, he was just a trusted clerk under Wu Wei. Lu Qi promised him that as long as he killed Wu Wei, he would make him the military advisor in charge of grain storage."

Li Yuanchang said quietly, "So, Wu Wei was murdered first, and then his body was disposed of?"

Lu Congjun nodded painfully.

The guards in the tent were all horrified. Li Yuanchang sighed inwardly. A high-ranking official of the imperial court, the Director of the Granary, was actually killed and then disposed of.

People die for wealth, just as birds die for food!

No wonder Wu Wei's death didn't cause a big stir, and no one questioned it. With so many people's interests involved, his death alone meant everyone else could be safe.

The officialdom is truly cruel and dark, even in small places.

Soon after, Lu Congjun signed and sealed the document, and was put into the carriage.

As for Lu Xiangdong, he was also found, but there was no need for interrogation, because he was as dead as could be.

As they left Shizhuang, countless torches illuminated the scene, and large numbers of Lu's retainers were being escorted and lined up for control.

"Your humble servant has arrived late to rescue you, Your Highness! Please forgive me!"

A middle-aged man, around forty years old, led a group of people forward and bowed.

Wang Hong stepped forward, bowed, and whispered, "Your Highness, this man is Yang Zhuo, the magistrate of Wei County."

"When you left Liangzhou City, the incident happened suddenly. I was worried that there wouldn't be enough manpower to follow up, so I wrote a letter to request reinforcements."

"This person arrived very quickly, and even brought his male family members with him."

Li Yuanchang raised an eyebrow. It was him.

"Lord Yang, please get up."

"You deserve immense credit for this operation."

Upon hearing this, Yang Zhuo was excited, as he was much younger than those old foxes in Liangzhou Prefecture.

"Your Highness, I wouldn't dare!"

"This is what I should do!"

"The Lu family is too audacious! Fortunately, Your Highness is unharmed, otherwise their entire clan would not have been spared!" he said indignantly, expressing his loyalty.

In the past, when officials from Liangzhou Prefecture came to curry favor and express their loyalty, Li Yuanchang would ignore them. But this time was different.