Chapter 455: Deadly Reconciliation
Chapter 455: Deadly Reconciliation
Miao Zhi regretted his decision to the core. He never dreamed that his nephew would lead bandits to plunder Shanyang County, especially on the night when Prince Jin was in Shanyang County.
He was extremely anxious. He wanted to check the situation but didn't dare to show up, so he could only pace back and forth in the living room. At this moment, he suddenly heard the sound of running outside, and Miao Zhi hurried to check.
But unexpectedly, he saw his nephew Miao Haichao running out from the darkness.
"Second Uncle, please save me!"
Miao Zhi stamped his feet anxiously, "Why did you come to me instead of running out of the city?"
"I can't run away. I just tried to go to the North City, but was surrounded by more than a hundred civilians. They killed seven or eight of my brothers with hoes. I managed to break out with great difficulty. Second Uncle, I really have nowhere else to go."
Miao Zhi wanted to kill this trouble-making nephew with a knife, but he couldn't do it because he was his nephew after all!
Miao Zhi had no choice but to take his nephew to the study, opened the door and said, "Hide in my study. There is a big cabinet inside. Hide in there for a few days. Wait until the storm has passed before you leave."
Miao Haichao went into the study, and at this moment, there was a fierce knock on the door outside.
"I'm coming!"
The housekeeper went to open the door, and Miao Zhi hurried to greet him.
The housekeeper opened the door with trepidation, only to see hundreds of people outside holding torches, lighting up the outside of the gate as bright as day. There were two or three hundred soldiers in armor in front of the gate, and the leader was none other than King Jin Xiao Xia.
Miao Zhi pushed the butler aside and pretended to be puzzled, "What does your Highness want to see me about?"
Xiao Xia sneered, "There's a big commotion outside, but County Magistrate Miao didn't even open the gate. What a caring official he is!"
"Your Highness, I am about to leave as well."
"No need, let me ask you, who is Miao Haichao to you?"
"He is. He is my humble nephew."
"Miao Haichao is the bandit leader who looted the county town tonight, but he is missing now. Someone saw a dark figure climbing over the high wall of the county magistrate's mansion. County Magistrate Miao, Miao Haichao is likely hiding in your mansion."
"Ah! I didn't see it. When did it happen?"
Xiao Xia was a little impatient with Miao Zhi's pretense, and said coldly: "No one said you were harboring the bandit leader, but we want to search your house!"
Xiao Xia waved his hand, "Search thoroughly!"
Two hundred soldiers poured into the county magistrate's residence.
Miao Zhi saw that he was about to be exposed, so he had to admit, "Your Highness, there is a big box in the study. I was afraid that Miao Haichao would run away, so I deliberately tricked him into hiding in the big box. Even if Your Highness didn't come, I would escort him out."
Xiao Xia snorted heavily, "Lead the way!"
Miao Zhi hurriedly took Xiao Xia and dozens of personal soldiers into the study.
Just as Miao Zhi pushed open the study door, a dark shadow suddenly flashed out from behind the door and stabbed him fiercely with a knife at an extremely fast speed. Miao Zhi was unable to dodge and was stabbed in the chest. Miao Zhi screamed and fell to the ground. The dark shadow rushed out of the study door.
But it was too late. In the yard, the black shadow was quickly surrounded by Xiao Xia's personal soldiers.
The shadow was Miao Haichao. He saw his uncle leading a large group of soldiers into the study yard from the study window, and thought that his uncle had betrayed him. He was furious and stabbed his uncle to death without hesitation. Miao Haichao drew his sword and was about to fight to the death. Suddenly, a short crossbow arrow "poof!" hit Miao Haichao's throat. Miao Haichao screamed and fell on his back. He struggled for only a moment before closing his eyes completely.
At the same time, Miao Zhi also died. He abandoned his principles and paid the price of his life for the so-called family affection.
Xiao Xia immediately appointed County Lieutenant Tian Guangshen as the magistrate of Shanyang County, and appointed Xu Yan, a military officer of the Household Department who dared to stand up and take the lead in leading the villagers and fighting the bandits, as the new County Lieutenant.
All the bandits were beheaded and put on display for public viewing. Xiao Xia also comforted the people who were killed by the bandits and announced that the government would compensate 100 strings of cash for each family killed by the bandits, 50 strings of cash for women who were raped, and 20 strings of cash for the injured. This pension would be paid by the General Administration's Office. At the same time, it was announced that the people of Shanyang County would be exempted from household taxes for one year.
Xiao Xia wrote a Jin Wang Order and asked the county magistrate Tian Guangshen to hand it over to the General Administration Office for execution.
At dawn, Xiao Xia took his men and Zhang Qiao across the Huai River by boat and continued to head towards Luoyang.
..........
The news that King Xiao Xia of Jin was coming to Luoyang to report on his work had been notified to the court in advance in the form of a pigeon letter, and the emperor and many ministers had learned of the news.
This news is important and unimportant. In fact, it is not important either. As a vassal king and a military and political chief authorized by the emperor, Xiao Xia does not report to the Council of State but to the emperor.
Therefore, Xiao Xia basically had no direct contact with the court. He might visit some ministers, but that was just a sense of connection and not a necessity.
Therefore, the news that Prince Jin came to Luoyang to report on his work basically did not cause any waves, but there were some exceptions.
Wei Chong was an exception. Before, Wei Chong hated Xiao Xia deeply because Xiao Xia's military operations in the northwest had cut off the Wei family's financial resources. Then Xiao Xia drove away Wei Yue, the governor of Wujun, and uprooted the Wei family's influence in Jiangnan. Even the 300,000 strings of wealth accumulated by the Wei family were robbed by Xiao Xia.
Three hundred thousand strings of cash! As a Guanlong aristocratic family, the Wei family is not as rich as the Guanlong nobles. Three hundred thousand strings of cash may be a small matter for the Guanlong nobles.
But three hundred thousand strings of cash was equivalent to most of the entire Wei family's wealth, including an additional thirty thousand strings of cash that the Wei family had scraped together from various sources. Now all of it was gone. At this point, the Wei family and Xiao Xia had an irreconcilable feud.
However, there is now a third major hatred, which is the struggle for the throne, but this is also the most secretive struggle, and only a very small number of core figures know about it.
The crown prince has become a fool and certainly cannot inherit the throne, so Prince of Qi Yang Ling becomes the first in line of succession, and the Princess of Qi is the daughter of Wei Chong.
How could Wei Chong ignore this opportunity to become the father-in-law of the emperor? Not only would he become the father-in-law of the emperor, but the entire Wei family would also rise.
Yang Ling's biggest competitor was Xiao Xia, also known as Yang Xia. Although he was an illegitimate child, his ability far exceeded Yang Ling's. Wei Chong was afraid that the emperor would get carried away and make Xiao Xia the crown prince.
Therefore, as the prime minister in charge of the Ministry of Rites, Wei Chong will use all his power and opportunities to suppress Xiao Xia's rise and discredit his reputation in every possible way. On the one hand, he wants to avenge the loss of 300,000 taels of family wealth, and on the other hand, he wants to block Xiao Xia's possibility of ascending to the throne.
As night fell, Wei Chong came to visit Yuwen Shu, who invited him into the VIP hall, and they sat down as host and guest.
Not long ago, Yuwen Shu suppressed a riot of civilians along the Tongji Canal, killing nearly 10,000 people. Previously, a riot of civilians in the Eastern Palace was also suppressed by Yuwen Shu, killing thousands of people. These two decisive suppressions won Yuwen Shu the favor of Emperor Yang Guang.
Of course, Yang Guang did not think that the common people were unable to bear the labor and were rioting collectively. He believed that it was the remnants of the National Protection Association who were stirring up trouble. In this situation, any hesitation would turn a riot of tens of thousands of people into a riot of hundreds of thousands of people, which required iron-blooded decisiveness.
Yuwen Shu did not disappoint Emperor Yang Guang. He led an army of 50,000 to surround the rebel camp and ordered the killing of 10,000 men and women. The brutal killing frightened other leaders of the peasants who were planning to riot, and the peasant uprising eventually ended in failure.
Because of this, Yuwen Shu was highly praised by Emperor Yang Guang, who promoted him to the title of Prince Taifu, Duke of Zhao, and rewarded him with 500,000 pieces of silk.
Yuwen Shu took a sip of tea, narrowed his eyes and smiled, "Xiao Xia has entered the capital, and many people are paying attention to him. It's not my turn yet. He is robbing the salt profits of the Guanlong nobles in Jiangnan Road. Doesn't Prime Minister Wei know about this?"
(End of this chapter)