Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 95: Fighting corruption requires evidence, suppressing rebellion requires only a list! (3K)

At this moment, Pi Qin frowned, staring at the wine cup that had fallen to the ground and broken into pieces. Then he slowly shifted his gaze to the armored soldiers, his teeth unconsciously clenched slightly.

In an instant, countless questions flashed through his mind like lightning, and then his eyes suddenly fixed on Lu Zhi, who was still sitting safely on his seat, and the corners of his mouth could not help but twitch slightly.

Yes, since the prince is so respectful to Lu Zhi, Lu Zhi will definitely complain to the prince.

But you old thief, Lu Zi, you can't afford to play so you just pick up a knife?
Have you forgotten you're a scholar now that you're a Northern Army General? What's the difference between your behavior and that of those stinking soldiers?
Pi Qin's chest heaved violently. In his heart, he had already labeled Lu Zhi as a treacherous minister who relied on the prince's trust to act recklessly, as if he was the innocent victim.

Although they had guessed the truth like Pi Qin, the other family heads still wanted to try to argue.

Just as Feng Qi was about to step forward and hand over some of the food to beg for mercy from the prince, a strong hand grabbed his collar like a pair of pliers and lifted him up as easily as a chicken.

Feng Qi's feet left the ground in an instant, and his body twisted wildly in the air. The feeling of being suspended in the air made him terrified, and he let out a short cry of surprise.

Dian Wei's eyes were wide open, holding an iron halberd that was carefully forged using the roasting steel method. The black halberd blade was flashing with cold light, revealing a biting chill, and it was firmly pressed against Feng Qi's neck.

Unlike Xu Chu, who was more wise but appeared foolish, Dian Wei was now just a loyal minister with no ulterior motives.

The prince not only made sure he had enough to eat, but also appointed him as the Prince's Undertaker and ordered the Prince's Tutor Lu Zhi to give him the courtesy name "Junming". The empress dowager also often took care of his elderly mother, so he had to repay the prince's kindness!

It is precisely people like Dian Wei who are not afraid of anything. Not to mention the Xindu Feng family, descendants of the Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai, even if you let his ancestor Feng Yi crawl out of the grave, as long as he threatens the safety of the prince, he will kill him without hesitation.

"If you dare to come forward again, you will die!"

Dian Wei let out a low roar. Feng Qi was stunned by the roar for a moment. His eyes became dull in an instant. When he came to his senses, his face turned red and he was about to blurt out the swear words in his heart.

When did these scholars fall to the point of being bullied by these stinking soldiers?
However, when he met Dian Wei's murderous eyes, the anger on his face froze instantly, and the curse words that were on the tip of his tongue were swallowed back.

He truly felt the undisguised murderous intent in Dian Wei's eyes. He was very sure that if he uttered a curse word, this reckless man would really kill him without hesitation. His body could not help but tremble slightly.

"Jun Ming, let him go." Liu Bian raised his hand slightly and said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Dian Wei put Feng Qi on the ground, but his vicious gaze was still as frightening as that of a tiger or wolf. He stared at Feng Qi, as if ready to attack again at any time.

Looking at Feng Qi, who was in such a miserable state and looked like a stray dog, bringing disgrace to the gentry, Pi Qin could not help but snort in his heart, feeling quite disdainful.

Anyway, the iron halberd was not on his neck.

However, after hearing Wei's roar, Pi Qin finally reacted and regained some of his rationality.

"Your Highness, are you planning to arrest us?" Pi Qin slowly bowed to Liu Bian and said, "I wonder what crime we have committed that would warrant Your Highness arresting or even killing us without investigation, evidence collection, or trial?"

After all, he was the head of the Xindu gentry. He had seen a lot of things at his age. After calming down, he realized one thing: the prince and Lu Zhi certainly had no evidence of corruption!
Otherwise, why would the prince lure them here under the pretext of a banquet? He could just arrest them directly!
Now it is clear that they are trying to trick them into confessing!
According to the judicial system in the "Han Code", the judicial process should be prosecution, trial, judgment and execution. Now it is at most the prosecution stage. According to the law, Liu Bian should not directly make a judgment or even punish.

Liu Bian simply sat back down in his seat. To everyone's surprise, he nodded in agreement with Pi Qin's words, a faint smile on his face. "I agree with what you said, so I have ordered the Crown Prince's son Guo Tu to search your homes for evidence. I will never punish you without solid evidence."

After hearing this, the wealthy families who had been worried just now secretly exchanged glances, breathed a sigh of relief, and felt a little more at ease.

They had already removed the evidence of embezzling grain and fodder. The fire burned so thoroughly that all the evidence was reduced to ashes. Even several minor officials on duty were knocked unconscious and thrown into the granary and burned to death.

As for the witnesses, the county officials who handled the grain and fodder also embezzled money. It would not benefit those county officials to betray them. What's more, these county officials were originally from wealthy families in Xindu. Could they betray their clan?

The servants who were transporting the grain and fodder thought that all the grain and fodder were transported from other cities by various families, and it was impossible for them to report them. The few managers who knew the truth were all killed.

You can't just take a bag of grain from their treasury and say it's the proceeds of embezzlement, right? Liu Bian said no more, just sat there quietly, his eyes briefly glancing at the dancers huddled together on the ground, and waved to them, motioning them to come forward.

Faced with the prince's summons, the dancers had to stand up tremblingly and walk to the prince's desk, looking at Dian Wei and Xu Chu, who were standing on the prince's left and right with ferocious looks, and they couldn't help but become more frightened.

Some of the timid dancers were even crying, tears streaming down their cheeks. Their delicate makeup was wetted by the tears and became a mess. They had completely lost the charming posture they had when they surrounded the prince and tried to seduce him. Their bodies were shaking constantly, and their hands were subconsciously tugging at the corners of their clothes.

On the contrary, the older dancers in the lead were calm and composed, with their chins slightly raised and a hint of indifference in their eyes, as if the unexpected events at the banquet had not affected them at all.

They knew in their hearts that in the eyes of the prince and these wealthy families, they were just a group of playthings.

If their family head is innocent, then they naturally have nothing to worry about.

If the head of their family is guilty, they will not be implicated too much. They will just be sent from one family to another as trophies.

And if these dancers really became playthings of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, perhaps it would not be a bad thing for them. At least the Crown Prince was young and handsome, and he might even provide them with an alternative channel for advancement.

Liu Bian leaned forward slightly, looking at the dancer who was standing nearby. She was either holding her heart or about to cry, and she had a delicate beauty that made people feel pity. He said softly, "It's okay. This matter won't implicate you."

As they were talking, accompanied by the sound of horse hooves and the creaking of wheels rolling over the ground, Guo Tu and a group of people in embroidered clothes walked straight in.

But after Guo Tu entered the room and paid his respects to the prince, there was an indescribable strange expression on his face.

"Your Highness, I have seized over 3,000 sets of armor from the mansions of many aristocratic families. The rest include swords, spears, halberds, bows and crossbows..."

As Guo Tu spoke, he took out a piece of silk with data written on it from his bosom and presented it to the prince.

As Guo Tu reported, the prince's face became increasingly gloomy, and his originally gentle eyes instantly turned cold. The wealthy families on both sides were instantly terrified, and most of them turned pale.

Isn't the prince here to catch corruption? Why is he checking armor?
When Pi Qin and others heard the news, their legs went weak and they collapsed to the ground, their faces full of despair.

Even if the prince caught them with evidence of corruption, they were confident that they could find a scapegoat, but they forgot that there was armor in their own treasury.

The Later Han Dynasty did not ban crossbows. The "April Civil Order" had a saying that "when insects and moths are rampant, horn bows and crossbows should be loosened, their strings should be removed, bamboo and wooden bows and crossbows should be stretched, their strings should be loosened, and tents, furs, woolen objects, and arrow feathers should be hidden in ashes." However, the Later Han Dynasty still strictly prohibited armor.

Guo Tu only borrowed more than 1,300 sets of leather armor stripped from the corpses of the Yellow Turban Army from Dong Zhuo, but he ended up finding more than 3,000 sets of armor in total.

This means that these wealthy families really did hoard armor privately. Looking at the numbers written on the silk handed over by Guo Tu, these wealthy families had more or less dozens of sets of armor in their mansions, and some even had hundreds of sets.

"Okay, how brave!"

Liu Bian sneered at the group of aristocratic families who were already trembling. The Later Han Dynasty did not ban swords, spears, halberds, bows and crossbows. The government would not interfere whether you used them for self-defense or hunting. You could even rent or buy weapons from the government under the guarantee of a guarantor. However, privately storing armor changed the nature of the matter.

After secretly hoarding the armor, these weapons were no longer so-called self-defense weapons, but turned into tools for rebellion!
Fighting corruption requires evidence, but suppressing rebellion only requires a list!

"Take them all!"

(3093 words)
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PS: This update is considered a bonus update, there will be at least two more updates today!
PPS: The term "Qiu Ba" is not from the Han Dynasty. The derogatory term for soldiers in the Han Dynasty should be "Yong Nu". It is mentioned in "Records of the Grand Historian" and "Book of Han". In "Records of the Three Kingdoms", it is mentioned: Yi sent Ma Dai to chase and kill him, and brought his head to Yi. Yi stood up and stepped on him, saying: "Yong Nu! Can you do evil again?"

Although the word "yongnu" can be interpreted literally, it is mostly used to describe soldiers, so it is considered by later generations to be a derogatory term similar to "qiuba". As to whether it was actually used at the time, it remains to be discussed.

(End of this chapter)