Pinghe City, dungeon.

It was dark and humid, and there was a strange smell in the air. Two cadres smelling of alcohol opened the door to the dungeon.

They surrounded Lu Xing and Jiang Zhen respectfully, with flattery in their eyes.

The dungeon is divided into two layers: an inner layer and an outer layer. The thieves and petty robbers are locked up in the outer layer, while the inner layer houses mostly prisoners with capital crimes.

"Sir, save us, Your Majesty, we were wrong, we don't dare to do it again!" A group of women cried in the cell, and the old woman in blood-clothed clothes cried the hardest. They were all arrested for causing trouble a few days ago.

A woman who was imprisoned in a dungeon by Lu Xing.

"Why are you crying? Just come in and enjoy it!" The officer swung his whip and hit the iron gate, hitting the hands of several women and making them cry loudly.

Lu Xing said to Jiang Zhen: "These people came in yesterday, and there was chaos last night. I haven't had a chance to interrogate them. In terms of their hearts, they may have committed a small crime, but in terms of their crimes, they will die if they die."

These words seemed to be spoken to Jiang Zhen, but in fact they were said so loudly that both the yamen servants and the women heard them clearly.

The yamen servants cracked their whips more diligently, but the women's wails stopped slightly. They looked at Lu Xing and Jiang Zhen timidly, biting their lips and staring at each other, as if they were thinking about something.

Seeing Jiang Zhen's silence, Lu Xing also said nothing and kept walking. He wanted to go to the prison to see Dong Kuan.

"Your Majesty, it's Lord Jiang. It was Lord Chiang who instigated us. He asked us to block your carriage, saying that we wouldn't have to pay the poll tax for three years." When the women saw that Lu Xing was about to leave, they all rushed to be the first.

He tried, holding the iron door with both hands, and refused to back down in the face of the government servant's whip.

"Jiang Zhen asked us to give you a slap in the face so that you, this... dandy, lose your sense of proportion. He said that you are an incompetent and lustful person who is easy to deceive." Seeing that Lu Xing did not stop, the women's words became even louder.

in a hurry.

"Dang!"

Lu Xing stopped in his tracks and did not look back or look at Jiang Zhen's face. He raised his hand and waved his voice calmly, "Stop beating the yamen servants. Look, I beat them crazy. They are just talking nonsense."

.”

"Hey," the officers stopped lashing their whips. They put their feet on the iron door and said fiercely to the woman inside: "Stop yelling! If you yell again, there will be no food for today and tomorrow. You just wait to starve to death."

!”

Perhaps it was Lu Xing's cold reply, or perhaps it was the yamen's stern warning. The women silenced their voices one after another. They squatted in the corner, tears kept falling, and they wrinkled up into a ball, as if they were complaining about how big the world was.

Wronged.

After entering the cell, it was empty. The two government officials were sent away by Lu Xing.

The lights were flickering, the vents were sealed, and it was a bit stuffy; unlike the sour smell of the outer prison, the inner room had more of a metallic smell.

"What to do with those women?" Lu Xing asked as he walked.

Jiang Zhen lowered his head and followed, saying: "I beg the prince to let them go. They are all tenant farmers of several big families. They are illiterate and ignorant, so they attacked the prince."

"Let me think about it again," Lu Xing continued and asked, "Are there anyone from the Dong and Wang families inside?"

Jiang Zhen quickly shook his head, "No."

The back room was dark, and there were chaotic noises at the end. It must be that someone was interrogating the Dong and Wang families.

Either whipped or ironed, every scream made Jiang Zhen step a little harder. After walking for more than twenty feet, Jiang Zhen finally stopped, gritted his teeth, and fell to his knees with a "pop".

"Your Majesty, I am guilty! Those women were arranged by me. I wanted to use them to make you feel bad about the farmers in Pinghe City. Originally, I arranged a group of civilians to make trouble later, and then I came forward to help you get rid of the civilians.

Trouble making trouble.”

"Oh~" Lu Xing stopped, turned around and looked down at the gray-haired middle-aged man in front of him, and asked with a smile: "Then what do you want, Mr. Jiang, to arrange a show for me?"

Jiang Zhen bowed his head and said sincerely: "This military conscription, I want Pinghe County to be exempted from the military conscription."

Lu Xing suddenly thought of the information from the dish. There were more than 200,000 people in Pinghe County, but only 5,000 men of the right age. This news was simply ridiculous.

But for Jiang Zhen, Lu Xing's current attitude is to treat him leniently. The Jiang family has the merit of saving him, and after the collapse of the Wang and Dong families, if the Jiang family falls again, the local powerful people in Pinghe County will be extremely uneasy.

It is a critical period for the war between the Northland and the barbarians. If a rebellion breaks out in Pinghe County, it will undoubtedly add insult to injury.

"It is inevitable that we will recruit troops when they are needed. More than that, I want you, the Jiang family, to take the lead, and all the major families to contribute money. Otherwise, I will settle the account with you for being a traitor. No one from the aristocratic family is clean, and the bookstore

Dishes are not for free rice."

Jiang Zhen looked worried and said quickly: "But Fanhe County next door is exempted from this military conscription. We, Pinghe County, can provide people and help, but it is inevitable that there will be a gap in the hearts of the major clans."

"Hehe, hehe," Lu Xing chuckled and said, "I'm curious about something. Is it your Jiang family who wants to protect the tenant farmers under you, or is it that the major clans are pushing you into trouble?"

"Fanhe County next door actively participated in the military conscription the year before last, sending 20,000 people a year. They fought with the barbarian kings and died heroically. None of them surrendered. If Pinghe County can find 20,000 martyrs, then I will exempt you from the military conscription.

, if not possible, eight thousand people, not one person at a time. In addition, the armor and weapons will be provided by each major clan."

"This..." Jiang Zhen was speechless and looked hesitant, "I, the Jiang family, don't care. After the battle last night, the Jiang family was very thin, so just let the tenant farmers be recruited away, and you can also bring your own armor and weapons. But the landlords in other cities are afraid of the powerful.

This is hard to accept. This is a matter of losing profits for nothing. Without the Crown Prince personally coming forward, I am afraid it would be difficult to accomplish."

Lu Xing looked at Jiang Zhen's face and chuckled: "Are you really as wise as a fool? You, Jiang Zhen, can clearly distinguish between right and wrong, but you are so undecisive in dealing with these small things. There is a war merit system in the North, and a reward for killing a barbarian is

For one sheep, two barbarians will be rewarded with one cow for killing two people. Three cows can be exchanged for one male barbarian slave, and three sheep can be exchanged for one female barbarian slave. Those tenant farmers are in Pinghe County, and according to the rules, 30% of the spoils they bring back will be given to the owner's family. If

If you borrow armor and weapons, you will have to divide it into 50%."

"Okay," Jiang Zhendian could only nod his head and said, "I will obey the order of the Crown Prince."

Lu Xing looked at Jiang Zhen's pale face and sighed: "Hey, I don't mean to embarrass you. To tell you frankly, if you, Jiang Zhen, have a daughter, you can give it to me. She is still qualified to be a concubine. For outsiders,

I won’t say anything else.”

After leaving these words, Lu Xing entered the cell inside, leaving Jiang Zhen alone to guard the door.

A flash of inspiration crossed Jiang Zhen's mind. He actually had a daughter who studied at Yingtian Academy all year round. She was praised as "Yangchun" and was even accepted as a disciple of a great scholar.

It's just that... the relationship between his daughter and him was not good. Her mother died early, and because she had Rong'er at that time, she couldn't care less about her.

The relationship between my daughter and Dong Xiangxue is very good. When they were outing and playing the piano together, a great scholar passed by. The great scholar stopped to listen and forgot about everything, so he was praised as "Bright Spring and White Snow".

"If I write a letter asking her to come back and marry Lu Xing, will she agree?" Jiang Zhen nodded, unsure of his daughter's thoughts. He still loved this daughter very much, so he sent her there.

Yingtian Academy, firstly, can leave the Jiang family, a place of right and wrong, and secondly, she can study more. If she can become a female wife, she will be able to stand on her own feet in the future.

Inside the gate, there was a plater interrogating Dong Kuan.

Dong Kuan was tied to a cross-shaped rack, with scars all over his body and brand marks on his chest. However, Dong Kuan gritted his teeth and remained silent no matter what Dian asked. From time to time, he would faint and be splashed with cold water by Dian.

Awake.

"I've met the Crown Prince," Diazi quickly handed over his hand when he saw Lu Xing.

Lu Xing asked: "Is there any result?"

Dianzi lowered his head and said with shame, "This person refuses to confess and refuses to speak no matter what."

"You go out first," Lu Xing said calmly.

After the plate was out, Lu Xing looked at Dong Kuan who was covered in bruises and said, "Wang Taihe is dead, and all your direct relatives will die. There are nearly a thousand people in the Dong and Wang families. Because of your decision, men are slaves and women are prostitutes. They are serving their sentences."

Thirty years. Don’t you have any remorse?”

"And your daughter, Dong Xiangxue, is a good girl, but she has to die. Don't worry, she won't die easily. She will be paraded naked in the streets, and her dignity and humanity will be trampled on the ground. This is what you want to see

Of?"

"Tell me who is behind the scenes, and I will let your daughter live."

Dong Kuan remained silent, only when he heard Dong Xiangxue's words, his eyelids twitched.

Lu Xing chuckled, "Your daughter is very beautiful, but when the flowers fall into the mud, they will only end up rotting. It's just 'spring snow' casually said by a great scholar, and she is not a disciple of the academy. No one can protect her."

Seeing that Dong Kuan was still silent, Lu Xing shook his head with disappointment in his eyes, "I know what you are thinking, Dong Yan. Your second son is an official in the imperial court and is said to have become a sixth-rank minister. What do you think of the rest of the Dong family?

It doesn't matter, as long as Dong Yan is alive, the Dong family will be prosperous again, so you bet again and want to use my head, Lu Xing, to build Dong Yan's road to heaven."

"Ha," Dong Kuan finally raised his eyes and snorted coldly: "So what? I have two sons here, and the Dong family will eventually prosper. If I, Dong Kuan, die, I will die."

"Lu Xing! Your current arrogance will only be the last voice in the North. If Wu Xian dies, there will be no coming year in the North! I, Dong Kuan, am waiting for you underground. I will watch over you, the dead souls of thousands of people in the North.

, he will eventually be buried with me, Dong Kuan." Dong Kuan looked crazy, roaring at the top of his lungs, and kept coughing out blood.

"Hey, if you were from central Qingzhou, you wouldn't be able to say these words," Lu Xing sighed, with helplessness in his eyes. He had no intention of holding a butcher's knife, especially if it was aimed at people in the North.

"The surname of Northland is Lu. What is the surname of Northland? If only one person survives, the Northland will survive."

"Twenty years ago, the eldest brother Lu Ang died, and no one saw the eldest sister Lu Shuang, but she killed the gods and humans with her sword and set the tone for the world."

"Lu Ang!" Dong Kuan suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Lu Xing. His expression was extremely ferocious. He pulled the iron chain with both hands and made a "clang" sound. It seemed that dusty memories came to his mind: one hand was holding a butcher knife.

The man stood behind the closed Yanmen. The man held two swords, one broad and straight, and one full-moon scimitar. He killed the barbarians who were migrating, and the people in the north were terrified.

"Lu Ang, the King of the North...yes, yes, he is dead..." Dong Kuan shook his head, feeling a little confused.

Lu Xing didn't stay any longer, so he stopped asking if he couldn't find out. In fact, he could probably guess who was behind the scenes. The highest place in the temple was chilling.
Chapter completed!