Ye Cheng's voice was so stern that the man was so frightened that he knelt on the ground, "Sir, please spare your life, little one..."
"That's enough, I don't have time to listen to your noise and rob people. The crime should be punished, from the emperor to the common people. People are one and the same."
"Zhou An, take this guy to the backyard, chop him into pieces, and throw them into the mountains to feed the wolves!"
"Yes!" Zhou An agreed loudly and was about to take him away.
I saw this man was so frightened that his legs were weak, and he couldn't stop murmuring, "My lord, please forgive me! I'm not doing the official's business, he's just following orders!"
That's what Ye Cheng wanted, and he immediately gave An Ning a look.
"Husband, as soon as you arrived in Jiangzhou, you went on a killing spree. It's unlucky. From my perspective, it's better to give him a chance to speak. It won't be too late to deal with it after he finishes speaking." "My life?"
"Sir Ye Yuan, Lord Ye."
"Ye Yuan?"
Ye Cheng's voice was as cold as ice, frightening the eighth-rank official to kowtow repeatedly.
An Ning's expression also changed. She knew that Ye Yuan belonged to Xiao Tian's faction. However, An Ning did not expect that Ye Yuan would degenerate to do such an inhumane act for the empress - kidnapping children for evil cultivation.
"Tell me clearly, what did Ye Yuan ask you to do? Where are these children going to be sent?"
Ye Yuan's stern shout came next, and the official was so frightened that his pants were soaked.
"Sir, please spare your life! I'll do this for you!"
"Sir Ye sent a secret order from the capital three days ago, asking me to collect five pure yang boys and five pure yin girls from Jiangzhou every month and send them to the capital and hand them over to the police. ...Leave it to the Palace Internal Affairs Department."
"Internal Affairs Department?"
Ye Cheng knows this department very well. To put it mildly, they are in charge of the cleanliness of the palace. At worst, they are responsible for sweeping the floor of the palace.
Yecheng never expected that the Secretary of Internal Affairs would actually kidnap children!
“Zhou An, bring those children over.”
“Yes!”
Not long after, several servants brought ten children to Ye Cheng.
These children, the oldest are only eight years old, and the youngest are only three or four years old. They are trembling in the arms of the servant.
That lesbian mentioned by Zhou An just now is still unconscious at the moment, with blood stains on her face, and a small hand holding a shabby little tiger doll tightly.
Ye Cheng walked up to these children and comforted them one by one for a moment.
Finally, she looked at An Ning, "Madam, how do you think we should deal with these poor children?"
An Ning glanced coldly at the eighth-rank official on the ground, "Are the families of these children still alive?"
The eighth-rank official kowtowed repeatedly and said, "To prevent them from complaining to the officials and causing trouble, they have all been killed."
Ye Cheng sneered, "Madam, do you regret it?"
An Ning knew very well what Ye Cheng was asking, and she nodded firmly, "I'm so sorry!"
"Okay, Zhou An, drag this man away. Go down to Lingchi, and then ask Zhou Tian, who is responsible for this person, and kill them all!"
"Yes!"
After saying that, Ye Cheng no longer paid attention to the man's plea for mercy, and walked towards the children with compassion in his eyes.
He gently wiped away the blood on the face of the three-year-old girl, and then looked at An Ning, "My dear wife, these children are very pitiful. My husband wants to raise them in Anguo Palace, you..."
An Ning smiled and nodded slightly, her eyes full of relief, "Okay, I'll follow my husband, my Anguo family has a big business, and it won't be a problem to feed more than a dozen children."
After deciding on the matter, An Ning hurriedly ordered a doctor to diagnose and treat the children, and personally cleaned the children's wounds and put on clean clothes.
From now on, all the city gates of Jiangzhou Prefecture will be strictly inspected for those who bring children out of the city. If found, they will be strictly questioned. In addition, all officials and merchants in Jiangzhou who have dealings with my cousin will be thoroughly investigated."
"Give me the list within three days."
"Yes!"
The next morning, Zhou An got the list into Ye Cheng's hands because the three-year-old girl was crying, and no matter how much An Ning coaxed, she couldn't coax the child.
Hence, Ye Cheng had no choice but to come to the yard to discuss the matter with Zhou An, "The people on the list are the people who have had contact with Ye Yuan, right?"
h "That's right, Master."
h "Okay, You go to Zhang Ji and ask him to send people to investigate. If anyone who knows about Ye Yuan’s actions is found, arrest him immediately!”
But even so, there is still a long queue in front of each big pot.
The overweight rice porridge was tumbling and fragrant. The victims held bowls and drank the porridge with tears in their eyes.
They have been waiting for this bowl of porridge for too long, and many people even died without being able to wait for this bowl of porridge.
Not far away, Ye Cheng, who was watching all this, kept asking himself in his heart, how could the great Zhou Dynasty, which the late emperor had worked so hard to protect, become like this?
It was only five years since the late emperor passed away, five years!
While the porridge donation was proceeding in an orderly manner, Yecheng also relied on its own power to abolish the privileges of local wealthy merchants from being held accountable by the government.
This matter was left to Zhang Ji. Considering the time, he should have finished issuing the notice by now.
Sure enough, from a distance, I saw Zhang Ji slowly coming with a dozen soldiers, "I'm here to see the Duke."
"Brother Zhang Xian, there is no need to engage in these false etiquettes between you and me. Get up. How do those wealthy businessmen react?"
"No one has any objections. I support you with both hands and feet in abolishing their privileges."
Ye Cheng looked at Zhang Ji curiously, "Oh? This surprises me. They actually support it?"
Zhang Ji sighed, "Brother, you don't know something. The imperial edict of the empress took away not only Mr. Zhou's power to deal with grain merchants, but also all families with a property of more than one million shi, the prefect has no power to deal with."
"Because the prefect cannot control them, the descendants of this group of people have become dandies one by one. After all, there is no punishment for evil."
"People will do evil without a bottom line, and many wealthy businessmen are unable to discipline their descendants. Now that you have abolished their privileges and let those young men know that there is still God taking care of them, they will naturally be happy."
"After all, only when people are afraid can they teach them."
Ye Cheng looked at Zhang Ji with admiration. In the past, Zhang Ji was a general who only knew how to fight. Unexpectedly, now that he is a local official, he understands a lot of truths.
"Well said, Zhang Ji, since everyone has no objections, let's do it."
"Yes. By the way, brother, is it true that your cousin arrested the child?"
Ye Cheng sneered, "He is just a pawn, and behind him is General Xiao Tian."
Zhang Ji heard this and immediately cursed, "This loser can't guard the Demon Locking Tower, but he is really good at doing evil?"
骂到这里，张继突然想到了什么，「大哥，你说萧天大将军，莫非？」
叶城点了点头，「在京城也有人到处掳掠孩子，被我当面撞破他们才收敛了些，不敢在京城如此行事。」
「昏君当道，生灵涂炭啊……大哥。」