NFBE Chapter 634: Fear
Chapter 634: Fear
The emperor waited anxiously for several days before finally receiving a letter from Shen Ruyi.
After reading it, he slapped the table and laughed, "It has to be her! She's so reliable, like she has divine help."
This was handled so beautifully and appropriately, it's wonderful! The Li Prince's Mansion, which had been entrenched there for decades, was easily dealt with by that little black charcoal.
Moreover, the process was handled so swiftly and efficiently, all at once.
He only needed to oversee the finishing touches, and they managed to reclaim another piece of land. It wasn't easy.
Meanwhile, on the third night after Shen Ruyi sent the letter, her group encountered a series of assassination attempts.
They were all bandits from the nearby mountains who came to avenge their lord after hearing that the Li Prince's mansion had been ransacked.
No matter how many came, Shen Ruyi and his men killed them all, and they only stopped after dealing with more than 200 people.
Shen Ruyi thought to herself, "I haven't even had a chance to deal with the bandits yet, and you guys are already delivering your food to my door? What a great thing."
I really hope more people will come, so that other people don't have to go looking for them.
After each murder, they would seek apology from the local officials.
I was almost terrified by the dead bodies that appeared every day; they even had no way to speak.
While dealing with the Wangfu's properties, Shen Ruyi also sent people to investigate the local officials and wealthy families.
Since she had plenty of time, she didn't do it herself, but sent some bodyguards to eavesdrop on these households every day.
As for these local officials, Shen Ruyi never met them. They came several more times afterward, but Shen Ruyi refused to see them each time.
This made these people even more uncertain, and those with poor mental fortitude had already started making arrangements for their own escape routes.
As long as you make a move, things will be easier; the more you make a move, the more flaws you'll find.
After Shen Ruyi finished dealing with the properties of the Prince Li's mansion, the investigation was basically complete.
They surrounded five more households, and apart from the Prince's residence, the top three officials were all captured.
Indeed, there are no officials who are not corrupt.
That same day, another letter was written to the government, requesting that someone be sent to take over the area again.
Shen Ruyi and her team acted incredibly fast, never giving anyone a chance to turn the tide.
However, a considerable amount of money was found in the homes of these families.
The total value is over 900 million taels of silver; these are all wealthy people.
It's quite easy to distinguish between those who maintain an army and those who don't.
After witnessing firsthand how the King of the East Sea raided other people's homes, these twenty-two young masters instantly matured.
After this incident, they felt real fear when facing Shen Ruyi.
It was a deep-seated fear; they realized that the King of the East Sea had allowed them to live until now, and that he had shown them mercy.
He easily confiscated the property of several hundred people, leaving them with nothing. This was a family fortune spanning several generations, which he confiscated without a second thought.
The worst part is that they would lose their heads as well. He gave the order without even blinking, which was terrifying.
What is the essential difference between this and a living Yama?
This frightened these people so much that they would try to avoid the East Sea King from afar, provided their legs weren't too weak to move.
Even a casual glance from Shen Ruyi from afar could send the timid person's legs trembling uncontrollably.
These people even wrote a letter home and asked the people transporting supplies and silver to take it back to them.
He specifically recounted what he saw and heard on the scene, focusing on how Shen Ruyi confiscated the property.
After telling the story, feeling uneasy, he specifically instructed his family members to avoid engaging in corrupt or illegal activities, otherwise they would definitely not have a good ending.
Otherwise, no one could have escaped the calamity of the King of the East Sea. It is said that the King of the East Sea is cold-hearted.
He's a cold-blooded animal, a freak, and incredibly vicious.
Tell your family to avoid Donghai Wang as much as possible in the future, and never provoke him or go against him.
There's no mouth he can't pry open.
They're so young, they don't want to die so early.
Xihe inadvertently discovered that these young masters were now particularly afraid of Shen Ruyi, and told Shen Ruyi about it as a joke.
"Your Highness, you have no idea how terrified they are of you now. They're all incredibly obedient these days."
Shen Ruyi smiled and said, "It's good. It's a good thing that there are people to be afraid of and things to be in awe of, so that everyone doesn't become lawless."
They become arrogant and domineering because they feel they have some power.
I don't want to keep raiding other people's homes; I'll get tired of it myself.
It's better to make others fear you than to make them think you're easy to bully.
Since I'm destined not to become a good official in the normal sense in the eyes of the world, then I'll become someone that everyone in this world fears.
This may well be a great path.
Shen Ruyi spent more than half a month here before she finally sorted things out.
However, the steward of Prefect Zhu, who was captured, revealed some useful information.
Their master has some connections with the Prince Qing's mansion; their master works for the Prince Qing's mansion.
Shen Ruyi instructed Ying Wu and his men to intensify their interrogation efforts.
After several days of hard work and perseverance, Zhu Tongzhi finally confessed.
The poison in Prince Li's body was administered by people under the orders of Prince Qing's mansion.
Zhu Tongzhi was acting on the orders of Prince Qing, and the poison was administered by a beautiful dancer from Prince Li's residence.
The beautiful dancer was Prince Qing's woman, and she used her own body as a disguise to poison him.
She would apply the medicine to her body before each time she served King Le and had sex with him, thus poisoning herself.
Each dose was small and not easily detected, but with repeated use, the poison accumulated more and more in King Li's body.
Until the disease became incurable.
They wanted to arrest this dancer for interrogation, but after checking the records, they found that there was no such person.
Only after re-interrogating the servants of the Li King's mansion did they learn that the dancer had committed suicide by swallowing gold on the very day the Li King died.
This dancer is quite ruthless.
Shen Ruyi sighed upon hearing this; indeed, the saying "lust is a knife above one's head" is truly a classic.
The land of gentle pleasures is the graveyard of heroes; every tender word carries the blood of a knife.
As for the deep-seated hatred between the two princely mansions, Zhu Tongzhi said he didn't know.
When Shadow Five realized he couldn't get any more information from him, he let him go.
Let's leave it at that for now.
Isn't this perfect? Shen Ruyi doesn't want to bear the blame for killing the Li family.
At least on the surface, it cannot be carried.
Of course, she truthfully wrote to the emperor about the information she had obtained, hoping to give him some advance warning.
Perhaps the officials know something she doesn't.
After all, both Prince Qing and his heir were involved in this matter; they couldn't have done this without a deep-seated grudge.
Shen Ruyi stayed in this area for nearly a month, sending men to wipe out all the bandit dens, big and small, in the mountains near the prefectural city.
Of course, some people heard the wind and sensed something was wrong, so they ran away immediately.
They dare not return to this place, at least in the short term.
He also sorted out all the property that had been confiscated from various prefectures.
All the silver and valuables were naturally sent back to the capital, while the worthless items were disposed of locally.
Of course, Shen Ruyi also wrote another memorial, requesting the emperor to reduce or exempt some of the taxes.
The reason is that all the silver sent to the capital came from the people's hard-earned money, which was obtained by local officials and powerful families from exploiting the common people.
Ordinary people are living extremely difficult lives and need a relatively favorable tax policy to allow them to recuperate for a few years.
The original quote was, "In such a remote place, they managed to plunder so much silver. How much must they have exploited the people?"
Given that bandits have been rampant here for many years, it really needs to recuperate for several years before it can possibly recover.
With this policy in place, it can also help win over public support.
In fact, Shen Ruyi would have preferred to distribute the confiscated silver to each household.
But this approach was clearly impractical, so the only option was to request the government to reduce or exempt some taxes.
With less tax to pay, there's naturally more money left for household expenses, making life much easier.
After much thought, this method is the simplest and most convenient: just read the policy aloud after the government agrees.
This is to prevent local officials from taking advantage of the fact that ordinary people are illiterate and do not understand policies, so as to falsely convey imperial edicts and enrich themselves.
When the officials received the letter, they saw that it was yet another request for a reduction or exemption of taxes, which they were already used to.
To be precise, he was mentally prepared for this request.
It's quite interesting to see that Little Black Charcoal is keeping a close eye on this matter; she seems to be constantly seeking a relative balance and fairness.
Looking at the amount of silver and the list of items presented, the quantity was indeed very pleasing.
He also needs someone to do the math to make sure he doesn't lose money.
In any case, he was particularly pleased with the silver and supplies that had been confiscated.
The exploitation is indeed a bit too harsh. Why not follow the policies of the flood-stricken area?
However, the official reply simply stated "approved," but the specifics would be decided once the silver was deposited into the treasury.
Naturally, someone informed the Minister of Revenue that it was time to clean the new warehouse.
The Minister of Revenue was just waiting for the Emperor's words; he had been waiting for this day ever since the matter of the Prince of Li's fiefdom took place.
Before he could even finish celebrating, he heard from the Emperor that the King of Donghai had suggested reducing some of the local taxes.
They asked how much reduction or exemption would be appropriate, and what a cost-effective approach they needed, so they wanted to come up with a specific plan.
The Minister of Revenue's face fell, and he clutched his chest, wincing in pain.
"Your Majesty, I wish to impeach the Prince of Donghai. He makes this request every time. Does he even want people to live?"
What's the point of all this mobilization?
The local people have it tough, but I have it easy, and the court has it easy. If he does this, it would be better not to send them back at all, and instead make me happy for nothing.
They were transported all the way back and haven't even been registered yet, and they've already been sent out from the other side. How are we supposed to live like this?
He finds this difficult and that difficult, but why doesn't he consider whether the imperial court has it easy or not?
He doesn't know the cost of living when he's not in charge, nor does he understand the hardships and difficulties faced by his subjects. This is just passing the buck, a complete waste of time and energy.
The Minister of Revenue's complaint amused the Emperor. "Indeed," the Emperor said, "this little thing is keeping a close eye on things. I can't disagree."
"My dear minister, though you complain, the necessary procedures must still be followed."
She wrote very clearly in her letter, almost saying that she felt she was helping the official to rob ordinary people by twisting the facts, and that she couldn't shake her conscience.
She also said that her behavior was very much like raising pigs, waiting for the pigs below to have had their fill and fatten themselves up.
This woman, who always preached benevolence and morality, took a big knife and killed the pig with one blow, then divided the meat up and ate it.
Raising a fat pig requires a lot of pig feed and a large investment to achieve such a size.
The people who feed the pigs are ordinary folks, yet they don't get a share of the meat.
Even if we get the lion's share, it would be fine to give them a small portion.
Surely it's not true that "those adorned in silk robes are not silkworm farmers."
It's quite cruel to think about; in a way, this is a disguised form of exploitation of ordinary people.
She said she felt terrible about it.
He also said he hoped that the official would agree to this matter.
If the imperial court ever needs money in the future, their household can do its best to raise the funds.
In short, I wrote several pages of rambling complaints and rants.
The people she was complaining about were herself and him, the official, and she didn't treat him, the official, as an outsider at all.
What they said was simple and straightforward, without even a hint of ambiguity.
Since things have come to this point, what else could this official say?
This world belongs to me, and my people are my people. She is working for me, so he has no reason to disagree.
She never embezzled a single penny; her thoughts were always with him, the official, and the ordinary people.
He was a man of utmost sincerity, integrity, and unwavering loyalty; what more could one say?
That's exactly what he admires and trusts about her.
She even covered all the expenses for everyone who accompanied her on this trip, bearing all the costs herself.
She's gone to such lengths, how could he possibly refuse?
The Minister of Revenue made this complaint, and while the complaint was genuine and the sentiment of losing money was real, it also served as a test of the Emperor's attitude.
Because people as clear-cut as the King of the East Sea are rare; he is the only one who has lived up to everyone's ideal.
Who doesn't have a heart full of passion and enthusiasm when they first enter officialdom? Who doesn't want to do something for the people? Who doesn't want to be an honest official and leave a lasting legacy?
But time is a cruel mistress; these seasoned veterans, in the end, still ended up becoming the very thing they hated most in order to make a living.
He was certain that those who disliked the King of the East Sea and those who admired him were almost the same group of people, and there was a significant overlap between them.
Even though some people want to bring down the King of the East Sea or even trample him into the mud, it doesn't stop everyone from praising him.
The desire to bring him down stems from the difference in their respective camps and interest groups.
I admire him because he is truly brave, reckless, and fearless. The key is that he is not afraid of death and dares to court death.
He sincerely hoped that the King of the East Sea could live for many more years.
After all, serving a ruler is like serving a tiger; one is always afraid that if someone becomes complacent and offends the emperor, things will go wrong.
People like them would never dare to live so purely, because there are too many things to consider and worry about, and too many things beyond their control.
Fortunately, the Emperor's attitude remained the same as that of the King of the East Sea, and he was not unhappy.
Thinking of this, the Minister of Revenue sighed and replied, "Your Majesty, I obey your decree. I am not unaware of the hardships faced by ordinary people, but the court is also facing immense difficulties."
"Sigh, the money's barely warmed my hands before it's gone again. My heart aches."
The emperor snorted, thinking to himself, "Do you think I'd be willing to part with that? That's a lot of hard-earned money."
I knew the Minister of Revenue would act this way; it's really not easy for anyone to get any money from him.