Chapter 488 The evidence is conclusive
Chapter 488 The evidence is conclusive
The man was horrified and shouted, "Turn around! Turn around!"
Several boatmen did not move, and the two boats behind also stopped sailing. These boatmen knew that only by cooperating honestly could they be safe.
A dozen patrol boats pressed forward, and hundreds of soldiers raised their crossbows and shouted, "Kneel on the deck and raise your hands, or we will kill you without mercy!"
The boatmen and escorting warriors of the three boats all knelt down and raised their hands. Only the man on the first boat took a few steps back and jumped into the Yangtze River.
But he couldn't run away at all. More than a dozen soldiers jumped off the boat, captured him in a moment, and tied him up on the boat.
By this time, dozens of soldiers had boarded the ship to search, and they suddenly shouted, "They are all armor!"
This became a serious problem. The three large ships were taken back to Jiangdu Wharf, and everyone including the boatmen were detained by the military.
The next morning, You Junda came to report to Xiao Xia, "Your Highness, at two o'clock last night, our patrol boats captured three ships carrying weapons and armor, and seized 15,000 sets of leather armor."
"Has the person escorting the goods been caught?"
"He has been caught. According to our interrogation, his name is Houmochen Chong. He is a warrior leader of the Houmochen family and was born as a slave. Fifteen other warriors were also captured. According to their confession, the unloading location was Yuyao County, Kuaiji Prefecture, and the consignee was the Lan family."
Xiao Xia nodded. He knew that the Yuyao Lan family was the most powerful family in Kuaiji County and the leader of the Shanyue powerful families. He was probably one of the leaders of this rebellion.
"I see. Do you have any samples of weapons and armor?"
"I have brought it!"
You Junda brought in two large bundles of armor from outside, each bundle contained ten pieces, and a set of helmets.
Xiao Xia squatted down to take a closer look and found that it was actually armor from the Northern Zhou Dynasty. It was very neat, but also very old.
At this time, Gao Jiong walked in and said with a smile: "I heard that Your Highness has caught evidence that the Guanlong nobles were transporting weapons and armor to the Shanyue tyrants!"
Xiao Xia nodded, "Fifteen thousand sets of armor are the ones on the ground. Lord Gao, I can't understand why the Guanlong nobles have so many armors?"
Gao Jiong walked forward to take a look and sneered, "This is not the armor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. This is the armor of the Northern Qi army. It should have been completely destroyed in the third year of Kaihuang. I didn't expect it to still be in the world."
Needless to say, the Guanlong nobles did something and hid the weapons and armor that should have been destroyed.
"Where do they hide this thing?"
"There are many places to hide them. The manor is the most likely place. Their manor is very large, and the court doesn't know where they hide a lot of old armor. But then again, this kind of armor is too old, and its defensive effect is very low. Wearing this kind of armor is completely deceiving yourself."
Xiao Xia nodded, "Its only function is to prove that the Guanlong nobles are supporting the Shanyue tyrants behind the scenes!"
"Your Highness, do you intend to tell the Emperor about this?"
Xiao Xia said calmly, "Yesterday I wrote a memorial to the emperor and the court. In the secret memorial to the emperor, I mentioned that the Guanlong nobles were supporting the Shanyue tyrants behind the scenes. If the emperor wants evidence, I can send it to the capital. However, the emperor will not fall out with the Guanlong nobles for the time being, so he probably won't want this thing, so just leave it with us for now!"
Gao Jiong smiled and said, "Your Highness, let's go to lunch together at noon! Let's talk about the Shanyue nobles."
Xiao Xia nodded. He was also looking for an opportunity to talk to Gao Jiong about his planned marriage with a Jiangnan family.
At noon, Xiao Xia, Gao Jiong and Liu Wenjing were having dinner together in the Beiyuan Restaurant near the General Manager's Mansion. Xiao Xia briefly told them that he planned to marry the daughter of the Lu family. Gao Jiong laughed and said, "Being young is good! You can use the simplest and most effective method, Your Highness, this is a good thing. In this way, the Wujun family will be stable. Otherwise, it will be like the tenth year of Kaihuang, when these families were indecisive, neither joining the rebellion nor fully supporting the court. Yang Su was worried that his retreat would be cut off, so he started a massacre and used the simplest and most harmful method to quell the rebellion."
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and asked, "Do you think, Lord Gao, that this time the Shanyue tyrants will rebel again like they did in the first decade of the Kaihuang era?"
Gao Jiong shook his head. "This is a different time. In the tenth year of Kaihuang, the whole of Jiangnan was in a panic. The people were extremely hostile to the Sui Dynasty. The whole situation was turbulent, so they quickly gathered tens of thousands of people to rebel.
But now it is different. After nearly twenty years of recuperation, the people have settled down. First of all, the Han people will not support their rebellion. No matter how much the nobles and the common people want stability, even the Shanyue people will not all support them. At most, the people who were massacred in the tenth year of Kaihuang will support them because they are full of hatred. The rest of the people will not support the war. "
After a pause, Gao Jiong smiled and said, "Actually, this is what I wanted to say today. Yesterday, I carefully looked at the tax situation over the years. The people of the seven counties in the southern part of Jiangdong, whether they are Han or Shanyue people, have always paid taxes steadily. If the people wanted to rebel, there would definitely be a large-scale tax resistance, but it did not happen."
Liu Wenjing smiled and said, "Mr. Gao means that this time the Shanyue tyrants will not rebel on a large scale like they did in the tenth year of Kaihuang."
"That's what I mean!"
Gao Jiong added: "I don't think they will raise the flag and rebel openly on a large scale, let alone claim the throne. They will rebel secretly like the Baohui Association, or be a little stronger than the Baohui Association, attacking government offices and looting taxes. When the main army attacks us, they will break up into countless small groups of rebels to attack us, making it difficult for our main army to find a target, but also unable to rest. I think they will adopt this small-group attack method."
Xiao Xia snorted, "Then I will just clean up their family and physically destroy these tyrants!"
"Your Highness, they must have been prepared and hid directly in the mountains."
Xiao Xia sneered, "Then let them live in the mountains! Even if they have money, they can't buy anything. Salt and iron are cut off, and food is cut off. Let's see how long they can hold out."
Liu Wenjing asked again: "Your Highness, when do you think they will rebel?"
Xiao Xia shook his head. "I don't know either, but we are targeting the salt shop. Once our salt shop is burned down, it will be a sign that they have started to rebel."
At Dugu Mansion in Luoyang, Yuanshou, Yuanmin, Houmochenyi and Dugutuo gathered in the back hall to discuss the situation in the south of the Yangtze River.
Yuan Shou said slowly, "I received the latest news from Yuan Wenzhen today. The thirteen Shanyue warlords discussed in Yuyao County for three days. They unanimously decided not to rebel openly, but to rebel secretly. They dispersed the army, attacked government offices and warehouses, and looted taxes, so that the Sui Dynasty could not rule the seven counties in the southeast of Jiangdong."
Dugu Tuo nodded, "This method is not bad either. It can last for a long time, just like the Baoguo Society. I heard that the King of Qi sent troops to wipe out the Baoguo Society several times, but all failed. He didn't even know where the Baoguo Society members were hiding. When do they plan to start the action?"
Yuan Shou said: "They are not ready yet, and it may take another month or two. I heard that Xiao Xia canceled the inspection of Yuhang County and sent another 10,000 troops to Wu County. I guess he also felt that something was wrong."
Dugu Tuo frowned, "How could Xiao Xia have heard about such a secret matter?"
"They failed to assassinate Xiao Xia in Piling County, and the assassin was caught."
Dugu Tuo was immediately annoyed and cursed: "What a bunch of bastards who are more likely to cause trouble than to do anything. Xiao Xia is a ninth-grade inner strength cultivator and just encountered an assassination attempt in Luoyang. How could we give them another chance? Now Xiao Xia is also actively preparing, and the court will also send military support. It's really not worth it!"
At this time, Houmo Chenyi, who had been silent all this time, slowly said, "There is one more very important thing. My son-in-law wrote to tell me that Xiao Xia is secretly checking the charity granary."
Dugutuo and the other two looked at each other and asked in unison, "Is this true?"
Houmo Chenyi nodded, "It's absolutely true. My son-in-law is Li Hanbing, the governor of Xuancheng County. He is a classmate and friend of Pei Xuanji, the governor of Danyang County. Pei Xuanji told him that the first thing that happened was the charity granary in Jiangning County. Tens of thousands of farmers protested. Xiao Xia rushed to Jiangning County to inspect and promised tens of thousands of people that he would solve the problem of the charity granary. He was originally going to Megan County to inspect, but after the charity granary incident, he didn't go and turned to Wu County. He is very likely to investigate the situation of the charity granary. Now I heard that he sent many officials to various counties in Jiangnan Road to investigate the situation of the charity granary."
Yuanshou was a little anxious. "Maybe the imperial court will also start investigating the situation of the charity granary. If that happens, our plan will fail."
(End of this chapter)