The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 242 Rescue Efforts Shake Down the Villains
Huang Zhi's scheme was exposed on the spot.

He knew that from then on, his path in the capital was cut off.

He immediately became dejected, slumped to the ground, and lost all expression.

Seeing this, Tu Chengyu ignored him and continued to question the old man from before.

"How long have you been doing things like this with him?"

"That's only happened twice today. Last time, my son went with him."

Once the old man started speaking his mind, he no longer held back and now spoke quite frankly.

"Who is your son? Let him come out and talk about what happened the first time."

The old man said, "My son has been held hostage by him since the last transaction, and I don't know where he's being held. I beg this young master to save my son."

"Don't worry, as long as you're not lying, I will definitely have someone rescue your son."

After saying that, he turned to Su Xuanbao, who hadn't done anything behind him, and said:
"Take Huang Zhi and those two thugs away, find out where the hostages are being held, and then bring men to rescue them."

Su Xuanbao accepted the order and, with several of his men, led Huang Zhi and the two burly young men aside.

Huang Zhi probably knew that his future days would not be easy, so he had lost the will to struggle and let others drag him away.

On the contrary, the two thugs tried to struggle, but Su Xuanbao beat them into submission in just a few moves.

The old man originally thought that even if the young master opposite him agreed to save the person, he wouldn't do it so quickly.

He didn't expect that they wouldn't waste a single minute and immediately ordered their men to take care of it.

Thinking of this, the old man was overjoyed and quickly knelt down again.

"This humble subject thanks you for saving me, young master. I kowtow to you here."

As soon as he finished speaking, he kowtowed several times cleanly and efficiently. Tu Chengyu wanted to have someone stop him, but it was too late. He could only watch him finish kowtowing.

After they finished, Tu Chengyu asked him to stand up and then asked:

Are there any other disaster victims like you who arrived early?

The old man said, "There are four or five families, but they are in other places."

Do you know where they live now?

"I know where they live, but I can't be sure they've moved."

"Since you know, you'll come with my men to find them later. If they've changed locations, we'll talk about it then."

"This humble subject will follow your instructions, young master."

Then, Tu Chengyu asked the old man about his next plans, to see how the disaster victims were preparing.

Where do you plan to stay next?

"Young master, I plan to build a hut nearby and stay there temporarily."

"Staying here is fine, but how do you plan to solve the problem of food?"

"I still have some grain left from what I brought from home. If we eat less these next few days, it should last until the court provides porridge."

Even if there is still some food left from bringing it from such a distant place, it is estimated that there won't be much left.

The old man has a large family, and if they don't have enough food, they probably won't last more than a few days.

Tu Chengyu felt that they still needed to find a way to resolve this.

Otherwise, these first batch of disaster victims might suffer from hunger and illness.

However, the imperial court's arrangements for disaster relief have not yet been completed, and there are no plans to distribute porridge. Tu Chengyu has no way to arrange for porridge to be distributed in advance.

It seems that the formal channels are not working, so we should try to find another way.

However, this solution wasn't something that could be come up with in a short time. He planned to go back and discuss it with Quan Wenwei before making any arrangements.

The most urgent task is to find the other families of disaster victims who arrived earlier and arrange accommodation for them.

Thinking of this, Tu Chengyu said to Quan Xu:

"Now take this old man and find the other families, then bring them all here."

"Yes, son."

Once he had made the arrangements, he prepared to leave with the old man.

Tu Chengyu then remembered something else and quickly said to Quan Xu:
"Are you and Su Xuanbao's men far from here?"

Tu Chengyu was asking about the soldiers that the emperor had ordered the two of them to bring to maintain order among the disaster victims.

However, there were too many people and too much chatter around, so Tu Chengyu didn't ask for more details.

Quan Xu naturally knew who Tu Chengyu was asking about, and answered directly:
"Young master, my men are not far from here."

"Since it's not far, you can go there on your way. Bring a hundred men with you, and remember to have them bring their bedding. They'll be staying outside the South Gate from now on."

Tu Chengyu planned to send his soldiers in ahead of time, which would both protect the disaster victims who arrived first and allow them to practice beforehand.

"Yes, young master," Quan Xu replied once again.

After Quan Xu and the old man left, Tu Chengyu looked at the buyers from Beijing around him, wondering what to do with them.

These guys were tricked into coming here by Huang Zhi, so they're kind of pitiful.

However, their initial goal was to squeeze money out of the disaster victims, so they were not exactly good people.

This is what Tu Chengyu is struggling with right now.

Treating them the same as Huang Zhi would make them less serious, but ignoring them would be too lenient.

Tu Chengyu hesitated for a while, but then he came up with a good idea.

Just as he was about to tell Quan Wenwei about this idea and discuss it with him.

Then a noisy sound came from not far behind.

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu turned around and saw a large group of soldiers running towards him from the south gate.

These soldiers, dressed in the robes of the patrol battalion, hurriedly came towards this place, led by a military officer riding a poor horse.

Judging from the situation, it seems that the patrol team discovered someone drawing a knife near the city gate and came to investigate.

Faced with this situation, Tu Chengyu did not make any rash moves and stood still, waiting for them to come over.

After the general on horseback arrived with a large group of men, he did not make any rash moves.

Instead, he sat on horseback and, taking advantage of the height, surveyed the area.

From the scene, he could roughly tell what the situation was.

He knew that Tu Chengyu was the dominant party here, but he could tell that Tu Chengyu's identity was not simple and that the people he brought with him looked like soldiers.

So he didn't make any unnecessary movements, but simply asked Tu Chengyu:
"Young master, why are you so recklessly waging war in the capital, right under the emperor's nose?"

Upon hearing this person's question, Tu Chengyu felt it was time to reveal his identity.

However, before he could speak, the well-off middle-aged man spoke first.

"General Ding, we were just doing some business here when this young master and his men stopped us and wouldn't let us leave." It turned out that the mounted general's surname was Ding.

Upon hearing the words of the portly middle-aged man, General Ding asked directly:

"Manager Bai, why aren't you doing business in the city? What are you doing here?"

This statement clearly indicates that the two people know each other.

But upon reflection, it's not surprising. One of these two men is a general of the patrol battalion, responsible for maintaining order in the capital.

The other was a shopkeeper in the capital, who was easy to get to know.

Faced with General Ding's question, Manager Bai quickly replied:

"We were deceived by that scoundrel Huang Zhi and came here to discuss business. For some reason, this young master came and arrested Huang Zhi, and won't let us leave."

This Manager Bai probably didn't dare to complain directly because he was wary of Tu Chengyu's status, but he did try to trip him up in the back.

On one hand, he told General Ding that Tu Chengyu had taken someone away without permission, and that he had brought men with knives to block them all.

Sure enough, after hearing these words, General Ding turned to look at Tu Chengyu and asked again:
“Young master, according to the laws of the dynasty, those who are not officials are not allowed to arbitrarily detain others or recklessly use force.”

Tu Chengyu knew that he had to reveal his identity now, so he said to Xiao Xuanzi beside him:
"Produce the token and tell them my identity."

When Tu Chengyu uttered the words "this king," everyone around who could hear it was terrified.

Then they saw Xiao Xuanzi raise her head high, take out a golden token from her bosom, hold it high, and shout to the crowd around her:

"With Prince Su here, why don't you pay your respects and greet him?"

Seeing the token and hearing this shout, who could remain calm?

General Ding, who was on horseback, jumped off and bowed in salute.

"This humble officer, the Assistant Commander of the Southern City Garrison of the Capital Patrol Battalion, greets Your Highness, Prince Su."

Seeing Ding Ze, a general in the army, give a clean and crisp salute, the others knew that the person in front of them was indeed a prince.

Moreover, he was a prince of the current dynasty, the ruthless Prince Su, who personally killed the only son of the former crown prince.

Upon learning of this situation, even the buyers from Beijing couldn't stand still and bowed deeply in respect.

Manager Bai, who had just applied eye drops to Tu Chengyu, was so frightened that his heart almost stopped beating.

He could imagine that the young man in front of him must be a person of noble status, but he really couldn't have imagined that he could be this noble.

His nobility is unmatched by most in the world; even the powerful figures behind him cannot harm him in the slightest.

Thinking of this, Manager Bai wished he could slap himself twice.

Ding Ze came over just now, and thinking that they had some connection, he spoke recklessly and said some unpleasant things. He never expected to have offended such a person.

Does this mean I'll end up like Huang Zhi, dying here this year?

Thinking of this, Manager Bai was overcome with grief, his face filled with utter dejection.

However, Tu Chengyu had no time to deal with Manager Bai; he was talking to Ding Ze, who had just arrived.

Ding Zexian asked, "Your Highness, if I may be so bold as to ask, what is the purpose of your visit?"

If it weren't for his duty, Ding Ze naturally wouldn't want to get involved in these matters, but since he encountered them, he had no choice but to ask, otherwise it would be dereliction of duty.

Tu Chengyu knew this was their job, so he cooperated and said:

"I discovered these people were doing illegal things here, so I came to take a look, but there's nothing serious."

Tu Chengyu didn't say much, and Ding Ze didn't dare to ask any more questions. He could only say:
"Your Highness, is there anything I can do for you? Please feel free to give your orders."

Tu Chengyu looked at Ding Ze, then at Manager Bai and the others, and then asked:

"General Ding, how many of these people do you recognize?"

Ding Ze, unsure of Tu Chengyu's intentions, vaguely replied:
"Your Highness, I recognize a few of them, but I don't know the rest."

There are over twenty people like Manager Bai, so it's not a lot to know just a few.

Tu Chengyu ignored Ding Ze's intentions and simply said what he thought:
"Now that I know a few of them, things will be much easier. Otherwise, it would have been quite a hassle for me to find out where they live in the future."

Tu Chengyu's words startled Manager Bai and the others.

Judging from the situation, it seems that Prince Su will seek revenge on their families later?

They simply couldn't understand why they had come all this way just to buy something, only to be tricked into doing so, and more importantly, not even managing to make a sale.

These shouldn't be serious crimes, right? Why would Prince Su even target their own families?

Thinking about this, the group of people were terrified.

Ignoring the possibility of punishment, they hurriedly shouted:

"Your Highness, I beg you to spare my family's life."

“Prince Su, one should take responsibility for one’s own actions. What happened today was our doing and has nothing to do with our families.”

"Your Highness, we will accept whatever punishment you desire, but please do not involve our families."

These words left Tu Chengyu completely bewildered; when had he ever said he would punish their family members?

However, upon reflection, he realized that his earlier words were indeed prone to misunderstanding.

However, after seeing this misunderstanding and how these people obediently accepted the punishment, Tu Chengyu felt there was no need to explain to them.

Moreover, he turned the tables and asked the question:

"Are you really willing to accept punishment?"

They quickly replied, "As long as it doesn't implicate our families, we'll accept any punishment."

Seeing them like this, Tu Chengyu laughed.

Before Ding Ze arrived, Tu Chengyu had already figured out how to punish these guys. Now that they were so willing, things would go more smoothly.

However, before imposing the punishment, Tu Chengyu had a few words to say to them.

"As you probably know, the court entrusted the Crown Prince with the resettlement of the disaster victims who came from the south, and I was working alongside him."

Everyone in the capital knows about this.

The reason for this was the rumors circulating in the capital a while ago, which made everyone aware that the Crown Prince and several other princes were in charge of resettling disaster victims.

Seeing that they all seemed to know, Tu Chengyu continued:

"Since this task is the responsibility of the Crown Prince, I hope that no problems will arise. If any do, I will certainly not let those troublemakers off the hook."

Therefore, I hope that whatever ideas you may have had before, or any desire to benefit from the disaster victims, you will put them away this time.

Otherwise, I would never have let you go so easily as I have today. Remember these words well, and you may also tell them to others.”

These words were not spoken on a whim by Tu Chengyu, nor were they meant to show off in front of these people.

Rather, he saw from today's events that some people in the capital might be plotting to profit from these disaster victims.

With only a few households arriving, people like Huang Zhi are already having designs on the situation. If all the disaster victims were to arrive, it would inevitably attract even more wolves and tigers.

(End of this chapter)