Chapter 685 Mingzhu’s wish

Before dawn the next day, Li Qing'an led three thousand personal guards into Yangzhou City. Without alarming the local officials, he directly set up a large tent in the Maritime Affairs Square. It is obvious that Li Qing'an used the Maritime Affairs Fire as the entrance to clear the Jianghuai officialdom.

Li Qing'an was inspecting the burned Maritime Office, surrounded by dozens of personal soldiers. The fire in Maritime Office had been completely extinguished, and the main beam burned into charcoal no longer smoked. The main building collapsed, and the remaining walls around were pitch blackened by thick smoke. There were mostly burnt pages and blank tax bills mixed in the rubble. There were even dozens of burnt bodies, which were rolled up by mats, and a total of 74 people were burned to death. Except for one yamen runner, the rest were Hu merchants who had no time to escape. When the fire broke out, thousands of Hu merchants in the yamen fled in panic, and many were pushed and wounded, and finally engulfed by the fire. The tragic situation was shocking.

More than a thousand soldiers were cleaning the treasury. The 10,000 kilograms of huge rocks in the treasury had been smashed by the army with iron. The 3.2 million jin of coins in the treasury were moved out and placed in the northwest corner of the square. All the money was stored in huge iron boxes, piled up like mountains, including copper coins, big food silver coins and Roman gold coins, and Anxi silver dollars. The amount of money was indicated on each large box. More than twenty officials from the state and county treasury were counting and recording the amount of money, and the counting was over.

All ninety-five officials and tax collectors of the Maritime Warehouse Department were temporarily detained and temporarily detained in the county government, waiting to find out the problem. Yu Shiqing confessed to a huge group of rats, and none of the Maritime Warehouse Department was innocent.

"General, the man has brought it!"

Li Qingan turned around and saw more than a dozen Hu merchants being brought up by soldiers, all of whom were dejected. This was a search of Yangzhou garrison overnight, and the smashing and setting fires identified by nearly a thousand Hu merchants who were arrested. Some of them robbed blank tax bills, some robbed the dispersed money from the Maritime Bureau, and some were reported by their companions to set fire to the building, with a total of eighteen people.

There were also two people, Basan and Layer. They failed to squeeze into the Maritime Warehouse Office and were relieved of their crimes. However, they were the initial fuse of the incident, so they were also arrested and questioned.

A total of twenty Hu merchants were taken up and all knelt in front of Li Qing'an. Among them were the cannibals, the Persians, the Sogdians, and even a Byzantine merchant.

Twenty Hu Shangs were all so scared that their faces were pale and their bodies were trembling. In front of the burned Maritime Office, they seemed to have known that their sins were unforgivable and they did not even have the courage to beg for mercy.

Li Qingan glanced at them. Although the initial fault of this Hu Shang incident was not them, they gathered people to cause trouble and even burned down the government office. This was a death sentence in the Tang Dynasty's laws. Of course, the law did not blame the masses. If more than 10,000 Hu Shangs participated, he could not bring them all to behead him, but he had to kill one to warn him, otherwise the Tang Dynasty's laws would be useless.

Li Qing'an said to Ji Guangchen, the prefect of Yangzhou beside him: "This Hu Shang incident will be tried by Yangzhou. After asking for their confession, they will be strictly dealt with according to the laws of the Tang Dynasty!"

Ji Guangchen agreed and ordered the yamen runners to take the prisoner down. Li Qing'an gave another wink at the chief secretary Han Jin Pinghe County Magistrate Pei Jin and asked them to stay. He had something to say, but the two understood and followed Li Qing'an to the big tent.

When he arrived at the big tent, Li Qing'an invited Han Jinping and Pei Jin to sit down, and then asked his personal soldiers to serve tea. Then he smiled at Han Jinping and said, "It seems that Han Changshi is very busy recently!"

"Yes." Han Jinping said respectfully: "I am really busy recently. I have to clean up the mess left by Li Lin and cooperate with the transshipment officer to carry out warehouse construction. I am really busy."

"Haha! Thank you for your hard work in Changshi Han."

Li Qing'an's eyes turned to Jiangdu County Magistrate Pei Jin and asked him: "Last night, the Hu people gathered to cause trouble, why did County Magistrate Pei not dissuade him in time?"

Li Qing'an's problem made Han Jinping and Pei Jin a little uneasy. In fact, when he discovered that Hu merchants had gathered, Ji Guangchen, Han Jinping and Pei Jin immediately discussed countermeasures urgently. The three of them almost reached an agreement, but asked about this matter and summoned the yamen runners to prevent Hu merchants from striking into private houses.

Since Li Qing'an asked, Pei Jin said a little ashamed: "I originally wanted to dissuade me, but I soon discovered that these Hu people were in a state of out of control. I was worried that once the county government conflicted with them, their anger would turn to the innocent people of Jiangdu County, causing a large-scale tragedy. So I thought, I would rather let them have a goal to vent their anger than divert their attention. Of course, I also have a little selfishness, and I was worried that the county government would be affected."

Han Jinping also interjected from the side: "Your Highness, this is actually the unanimous agreement between our prefecture and county officials. If we want to hold them accountable, Prefect Ji and I will be the most responsible, and we have not even notified the army."

Li Qingan nodded. He believed that Pei Jin was telling the truth. Although it was unreasonable, it was reasonable. He no longer wanted to hold the responsibility of the prefecture and county levels in this matter, so as not to escalate the situation. In that case, Ji Guangchen and Han Jinping would not be able to escape. He was not asking them for this matter now.

"I won't mention this matter!"

Li Qing'an changed the topic and said, "I'll invite you two to discuss other things with you."

Han Jinping and Pei Jin were all relieved when they saw that Li Qingan no longer pursued them for their dereliction of duty. They hurriedly said, "Please give your order!"

Li Qing'an smiled and said, "That's right, I want to transfer positions for you two envoys."

Han Jinping and Pei Jin looked at each other. This incident happened suddenly, which caught them off guard. Both of them didn't know how to express their opinions and were stunned for a moment.

Li Qing'an said to Pei Jin first: "Last time I seized the Yan Port, County Magistrate Pei personally led the ship to set up defenses on the periphery to prevent fish that leaked the net. He also captured Hudou Island, making contributions to the Tang army clearing the south of the Yangtze River. If you have any contribution, you must be rewarded. This is my consistent principle. The last time I commended the achievements, I did not have the share of County Magistrate Pei. It was not that I forgot, but that I have been thinking about how to reward County Magistrate Pei, which has been delayed until now, which has made County Magistrate Pei wronged."

After the demise of King Li Lin of Wu, the Political Affairs Hall awarded meritorious personnel, and indeed missed Pei Jin. He was a little resentful. Now that Li Qing'an suddenly mentioned this matter, it moved him and a little ashamed. He hurriedly bowed and said, "The humble position is the magistrate of Jiangdu County, and that is the responsibility of the humble position, and he dare not be rewarded."

Li Qingan smiled slightly, "There is no reward, but there is improvement."

He took a letter from the table next to him and handed it to Pei Jin: "This is a letter written by Wang Jiaju, the magistrate of Linhuai County. The fact that the Sizhou prefect made a clever name to increase taxes and enrich his personal pockets. There is also the tax increase prefect of Sizhou prefect, and the ruling of Sizhou prefect's order to increase taxes. The evidence is conclusive. In addition, I have collected a large amount of evidence from the people of Sizhou. The Sizhou prefect should be killed and all his property is confiscated. I have ordered an army to go to Sizhou to execute the order. All the guilty officials in Sizhou were removed and their crimes were confiscated. Now Sizhou is in a state of military control, so I want Pei County Magistrate to be appointed as the Sizhou prefect and restore order in Sizhou as soon as possible. Soon, the Political Affairs Hall will be officially appointed. How about it, can Pei County Magistrate be competent?"

Pei Jin was excited and he was officially promoted to prefect. He quickly stood up to salute, "I will devote my humble position to my fullest efforts until I die."

"Haha! It's not that serious. I just hope that County Magistrate Pei will listen to public opinion and do more things that benefit people's livelihood."

"Your Highness's teachings, remember the humble duty!"

Li Qing'an said a little bit, then turned to Han Jinping, and said to him: "Last night, the judge of the Maritime Department, Yu Shi'an confessed to me that he had committed bribery, and at the same time reported to me the shocking case of the Maritime Department. Hu Shang set fire to the dark side of the Maritime Department Yang Xunwu, and exposed his corruption and scandal. This may involve the loss of 2 million guan tax money. I have checked the records before coming. The Maritime Department has not sent a ban on tax money to the court for eight years. Then there should be seven million guan in the Yangzhou tax treasury. The two million guan used by Li Lin for military expenses should be deducted. The treasury should be paid.

There are five million guans, but judge Yu Shi'an told me that there are only three million guans in the warehouse, and the two million guans with a difference have been embezzled by Yang Xunwu and the officials of the Maritime Warehouse. This case must be investigated to the end. I have already informed the court to immediately conduct a trial of the Grand Third Division. Soon the people of the Sansi will arrive. The Maritime Warehouse envoy Yang Xunwu has been dismissed. I decided to abolish the Yangzhou Maritime Warehouse and rebuild the Mingzhou Maritime Warehouse. I want Han Changshi to serve as the Mingzhou Maritime Warehouse envoy and the prefect of the Mingzhou Maritime Warehouse. The old officials of the Mingzhou Maritime Warehouse can be reused. Time is tight. Han Changshi should take office this afternoon."

"I am humble in my duties and follow the orders and leave in the afternoon."

After hesitating for a moment, Han Jinping asked again: "Who will I hand over the relationship with?"

"I have considered this, so let Yu Shi'an, judge of the Maritime Department, take over your position as chief minister."

Han Jinping and Pei Jin were both shocked at the same time. They just said that Yu Shi'an was guilty of accepting bribes. It would be fine if he did not pursue him. How could he be promoted to the Chief Secretary of Yangzhou again?

"Your Highness, this seems inappropriate!"

Li Qingan smiled, "Of course I know your worries. This time I will take special care of the matter. I want to use Yu Shi'an to warn the officials of the Jianghuai officials that the chief officer of the Grand Third Department of the imperial court is coming soon. I will not pursue the matter before that. Of course, I will never forgive the corruption like Yang Xunwu!"

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The arson case of the Maritime Warriors was completed by Ji Guangchen with a decisive trial after one hour. Eighteen Hu Shangs participated in the arson, according to the laws of the Tang Dynasty.

All sentenced to beheading halfway, and the heads hung in the Taipei City for ten days to show warnings to Hu Shang’s trouble. At the same time, Li Qing'an issued a general order. The commander of the ship Yang Xunwu violated the imperial court's order and raising trade taxes without authorization. He had dismissed him from office and punished him. At the same time, the Yangzhou Maritime Warehouse Department was revoked and the Mingzhou Maritime Warehouse Department was restored. The commander of the Yangzhou Maritime Warehouse Department was appointed as the Maritime Warehouse Envoy.

Even after shocking the Hu merchants, I will give them an explanation. As for Yang Xunwu's corruption crime, Li Qing'an planned to wait for the officials of the three departments to arrive in Yangzhou before handling it. Now it is temporarily frozen.

After Li Qing'an's general order was issued, Hu Shang in Yangzhou City completely quieted down and patiently waited for the return of their ships.

After dealing with the matter of the Maritime Warehouse Department, Li Qing'an had nothing to do for the time being and had two days of leisure. The next morning, Li Qing'an took Mingzhu to Dayun Temple with him.

Dayun Temple is not north of Shouxi Lake in Yangzhou, and five miles south of Shugang. This famous temple was completely destroyed in the Ming Dynasty. However, in the Tang Dynasty, Dayun Temple was one of the famous temples in the world. The famous monk Jianzhen practiced here in history.

At this time, there were more than 40 temples in and outside Yangzhou City. Dayun Temple was the largest. It was full of incense all year round and accepted worship from the majority of believers.

Li Qing'an came to Dayun Temple before the gate of the temple was opened in the morning, and he saw the towering pagoda and the magnificent dome of the hall from a distance.

"Brother, don't you know if Master Jianzhen is still there? I want to ask him for advice."

Mingzhu was in a good mood. She didn't expect that Li Qing'an was really willing to accompany her to Dayun Temple to fulfill her wish. Although she was just a temporary excuse to come to the temple itself made her extremely happy. Along the way, she released the Buddha and returned to the Girls' Generation, and cheerful laughter kept echoing in the carriage.

Li Qingan still remembers a little bit of Jianzhen's history. He probably went to Japan a few years ago. He smiled and said, "Master Jianzhen, you may not be able to see him. He traveled to Japan to preach Buddhism a few years ago. But I don't understand. If you have any advice, why don't you tell me and I'll give you some advice."

Mingzhu had already gone to Japan and couldn't help but look regretful in her eyes, but when she heard Li Qing'an's advice, her face turned red, "I'm just a trivial matter, I don't need my elder brother to give advice. Besides, if my elder brother is giving advice, wouldn't it be even more wrong?"

When Li Qingan heard her cute words, he couldn't help laughing.

Soon, the carriage stopped in front of Dayun Temple. The news had been received by Dayun Temple. The abbot, Zen Master Daoyun, had already been waiting outside the temple gate. King Zhao would bring his family to Dayun Temple to burn incense.

Under the protection of the five hundred guards, the carriage slowly stopped in front of the temple gate. Li Qing'an got off the carriage and helped Mingzhu out. Mingzhu was wearing a light yellow dress today, with his arms wrapped around the ribbon, a golden ring incense bag, and a jade hairpin for a boy worshiping Guanyin was inserted diagonally on his head. In addition, she was young and beautiful, with her snow-skinned and jade skin, making her look even more charming.

Zen Master Daoyun didn't ask what family members Li Qing'an came. Judging from Mingzhu's age, he instinctively thought it was Li Qing'an's wife and concubine, so he didn't want to look closely. So he came forward and put his hands together to salute, "I welcome your highness, and welcome your wife to come to the temple to burn incense."

Mingzhu's face suddenly turned red. She secretly looked at Li Qing'an. She saw that Li Qing'an didn't care at all. She clasped her hands and returned the gift to the abbot, "Thank you for your reception in the temple, for causing trouble for the abbot!"

Mingzhu heard that Li Qingan did not correct the abbot's mistake, and her heart was pounding, but she felt a hint of sweetness. Did he admit that he was his wife?

"Your Highness, come politely, please enter the temple!"

"Abbot, please!"

A group of monks led Li Qing'an and Mingzhu into the temple, and still followed dozens of guards behind him. Zen Master Daoyun introduced to Li Qing'an as he walked: "Since Master Jianzhen gave the precepts to this temple, Yangzhou Dayun Temple has become the Nanshan Sect, and Xiangbu Sect of Master Fali of Xiangzhou Riguang Temple and the East Ta Sect of Master Huaisu of Xitaiyuan Temple. They were at one point, so it was the right decision to come to Dayun Temple to make a wish to burn incense in the palace."

"I have also heard that Dayun Temple is famous for a long time. In the seventh year of Tianbao, I stationed in Yangzhou. I once wanted to meet Master Jianzhen, but time was in a hurry and I didn't see him. I came back today and found out that the master had gone east. It was a pity."

"Seventh year of Tianbao?"

Zen Master Daoyun thought for a while and sighed: "At that time, the master was blind. We all thought he would stay, but unexpectedly, a few years later, he still went east to sea with a strong will, which is admirable."

When Li Qing'an came, many believers had been waiting outside the temple gate. For Li Qing'an, the temple gate was deliberately not open, which had caused a lot of resentment. Li Qing'an himself had something to do. He didn't want to stay for a long time, so he turned around and prepared to greet Mingzhu, but found that Mingzhu was missing. He was stunned.

Zen Master Daoyun clasped his hands and smiled, "Madam, I went to Guanyin Villa just now."

He pointed to a small courtyard not far away, "It's right there!"

Li Qingan didn't know what Mingzhu went to Guanyin Academy alone to do? He quickly clasped his hands and smiled: "Master, please wait, I'll go and see it."

"Please give me yourselves!"

Li Qing'an hurriedly walked towards Guanyin Courtyard, and two personal guards stood at the door. They pointed to the courtyard, meaning that Mingzhu was inside.

Li Qing'an walked into the courtyard. The courtyard was full of apricot trees. The branches were covered with green apricots. A small stone path led directly to the Guanyin Hall. He seemed to hear a sound, so he slowly walked to the door and saw Mingzhu kneeling in front of the Guanyin through the crack of the door.

"Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, my disciple Mingzhu asks you for a marriage. My disciple has loved one since he was a child and has been in love for eight years. He married Mingzhu's sister as his wife. Although he is by his side, his heart is as if he is thousands of miles apart. As time goes by, he becomes more noble and his disciple becomes more humble. He is like the light of the sun and the moon, and the disciple is like the light of fireflies and rice. I beg the Bodhisattva to give mercy and fulfill his marriage. To cousin the disciple, my disciple wishes to quit meat and eat vegetarian food for a year and be kind to his heart. If the disciple really has no chance with him, his wish will be difficult to achieve. My disciple wishes to convert to Buddhism and accompany the Bodhisattva lamp forever...

Li Qingan listened silently, and he was extremely moved. It had been eight years, but she had been waiting for herself for eight years. It was really hard for her.

Li Qingan couldn't help but remember the scene when he first met her eight years ago:

"Li Qing'an, you guessed it right, I'm right behind the screen." As soon as the screen moved, a young lady with strange makeup jumped out.

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To be continued...