Restart the Disaster of Another World

The two walked along the same path they had walked last time into the mountains. Wen Qun took cautious steps, secretly thanking himself for having some experience walking on mountain roads. Despite this, he was still afraid of the potential snakes, insects, rats and ants. Jing Yao remained alert and kept an eye on the surroundings.

Time passed quickly, and before noon, they arrived at the mysterious cave. Standing at the entrance of the cave, what caught their eyes was a towering tree with strong and sturdy branches, as if telling the vicissitudes of time. What was even more amazing was that the tree was full of blood-colored fruits, which swayed gently in the mountain breeze and exuded an alluring fragrance.

The sunlight shines through the gaps in the leaves and falls on the ground, forming patches of mottled light and shadow. Wen Qun is attracted by the beautiful scenery and can't help but indulge in it. Under the sunlight from above, the trees are like gems.

"The lychees are so beautiful, A Yao, let's start picking them now!" Wen Qun asked impatiently.

Jing Yao nodded, and the two put down the basket. Jing Yao began to climb up the tree, while Wen Qun supported him from below.

The lychee tree is tall, with lush branches and leaves, and many bright red fruits hang from it. Jing Yao tied a basket to his body and stood on the trunk. He found a node on the lychee branch and with a little force, the branch was broken. In this way, a large bunch of lychees were picked and placed in the basket, which would be taken down when the basket was full.

Wen Qun was below, tying the lychees in the basket into bundles with rattan to make it easier to pack and transport down the mountain.

The two of them worked for quite a while and filled up the baskets they brought. They had picked less than half of the fruit from the tree when Jing Yao jumped off the tree, put all the baskets into the space, then took out the sack and continued to pick the fruit. When all the fruit from the tree was almost picked, Jing Yao had repeated the same action tens of thousands of times. If it weren't for his supernatural powers, he would not have been able to lift his hands.

"Ayao, take a rest first." Wen Qun took out the food he had prepared long ago and handed it to Jing Yao. He then went to pick up all the fruits that Jing Yao had taken and put them in the basket so that he could take them down the mountain later.

Jing Yao sat down and drank some water first, then rested for a while before starting to eat. Seeing that Wen Qun was still busy, he said, "Qun Qun, just bundle up the ones that were taken out, and I'll put away the rest. You can have them whenever you want to eat."

Wen Qun nodded and sat down beside him. The two of them rested for a long time before picking up the bamboo basket and preparing to go back.

Qingzhou Prefecture

The next day after the provincial examination results were announced, the prefecture held a Luming Banquet, and Wen Yu, the top winner, was the focus of the whole audience. This banquet was attended not only by officials and wealthy businessmen, but also by a group of teachers from Qingyun Academy, many of whom came with their families. Those ladies with young ladies and young men of marriageable age were overwhelmed by the selection of young talents in the room.

Students who enter the official social circle for the first time can not only make connections, but also may be noticed by a young man or a lady from an important family and form a good marriage with her.

Many people take this opportunity to curry favor with the powerful and influential, which not only solves their lifelong affairs but also makes their future official career smoother.

Wen Yu, who is not married, is such a popular guy. He is only 20 years old this year, famous at a young age, young and handsome, and a disciple of the headmaster of Qingyun Academy. His future is bright. Many wives of officials have already set their sights on him, but because he has been sitting quietly next to Mu Zhiyuan, they have no chance to talk.

Mu Zhiyuan has received countless congratulations in the past few days. He has never married in his life and treats Wen Yu as his own son. He is happier about Wen Yu's excellence than he was when he passed the imperial examination. He drank a few more glasses without realizing it and was a little tipsy. He spoke to Wen Yu a little more intimately than usual.

"Yu'er, is there a girl you like?"

Wen Yu was listening to the singer singing. After hearing what the teacher said, he said helplessly, "Teacher."

Seeing him like this, Mu Zhiyuan joked, "Your father already has an older sister like you at this age."

Mu Zhiyuan's three brothers are quite different in age, but they all like to learn from Qing Yunzi, who is single and does not want to marry. Qing Yunzi beats and scolds his two disciples, but they are indifferent. The youngest disciple is too young, and when he looks at him innocently, he feels even more upset, so he runs away from home for five years.

Unexpectedly, when he came back, his young disciple gave him a big surprise, a son and a daughter, and he was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. As the only third generation, Wen Yu was doted on by everyone in his sect.

Fearing that Wen Yu would grow up to be a bad person, Qing Yunzi specifically asked Wen Yu to become Mu Zhiyuan's disciple, so that the two of them could teach him together. Both of them shouldered important responsibilities, Wen Xing was a strict father, and Mu Zhiyuan was a strict teacher, so they were very harsh in front of Wen Yu. Only Qing Yunzi was a kind master, and he was able to be at ease.

Wen Yu really doesn't have anyone he likes. Especially since he often sees Jing Yao and Wen Qun getting along, he feels that he must find someone with similar ideals and interests to spend the rest of his life with.

Mu Zhiyuan saw that he really didn't like it, so he stopped urging him, and the two master and disciple began to talk about other topics.

With Mu Zhiyuan stopping them, no one asked directly to Wen Yu. Wen Yu was chatting with a few friends, listening to them talking about boring things, thinking idly about returning to Wenjia Castle early tomorrow morning.

The next day, Wen Yu and Mu Zhiyuan took a car to Wenjiabao. As he was still drunk, Wen Yu felt dizzy all the way and was also despised by Mu Zhiyuan.

It was already evening when the two entered the village. The Wen family had already prepared a banquet and were waiting for them.

"Hello, senior brother."

"Junior brother, long time no see."

Wen Xing led his family to stand at the gate waiting for the two of them. He had written back a letter telling them the time of the results announcement. He guessed that Wen Yu would return home after the Lu Ming Banquet, so he had made preparations in advance.

Wen Yu was very happy that he could share his joy with his family. Looking at his father who was proud of him and his mother who was in tears, Wen Yu felt his heart filled with joy.

When the two came back, apart from the Wen family, Jing Yao had to stand up and speak about who was the happiest, because his brother-in-law passed the imperial examination and his father-in-law told him that he could propose marriage, and after the joint examination, they could officially hold the wedding, so he seemed extremely excited.

"Hello, uncle. Welcome. You've worked hard, brother. Come and have some fruit first." Jing Yao welcomed them in warmly and prepared a lot of fruits for the two of them and placed them in front of them.

Mu Zhiyuan knew that Wen Qun was engaged. When he saw Jing Yao, he guessed his identity and treated him as a junior: "This is our first meeting, so I don't have anything to prepare. You can use this piece of jade to carve a small toy."

Jing Yao took it and thanked him with a smile: "Thank you, uncle."

Wen Yu felt a little uncomfortable with Jing Yao's attentiveness, and quietly asked Wen Qun: "Qun Qun, what happened to Yao?"

Being asked suddenly, Wen Qun was a little shy and whispered, "Father asked A Yao to propose marriage."

Wen Yu was silent, and he knew that looking at Jing Yao who was smiling happily, Wen Yu felt a little helpless, but he was still happy for them.

They had a very enjoyable dinner. The various fine wines produced by Jingyao Brewery received unanimous praise from Mu Zhiyuan and Wen Xing. The two junior brothers finally had a drinking contest together.

The next day, Jing Yao found the matchmaker Li, and after finalizing the list of betrothal gifts, he began to prepare in full swing.

After the engagement, the two of them were going to prepare to go to the capital, where Zhenbao Pavilion was preparing to open for business. Jing Yao would attend in person, and he would also have to bring a batch of supplies with him.

"Your Highness, this is what we found in the city these days." General Qin handed a stack of papers to Xuanyuan Ting, who was sitting in the upper seat, and asked him to check.

"You concealed the disaster, imposed taxes privately, disregarded human lives, colluded with bandits, and plundered the people's wealth. Lord Zeng, you put a lot of thought into this superficial effort!" Every time Xuanyuan Ting turned a page, his eyes became colder. When he finished reading it all, his hands couldn't stop exerting force and he almost tore the letter paper.

Zeng Youwen was kneeling in a corner of the hall. He was still wearing his old official uniform. The hat on his head pushed his head down and he huddled into a ball. It was obvious that he knew he was about to face a disaster and he kept kowtowing and begging for mercy.

"Your Highness, please spare my life. Please spare my life. I know I was wrong. Please have mercy on me, Your Highness."

Xuanyuan Ting ignored his plea for mercy and continued to check the remaining investigations on other officials. In the entire prefecture, there were few innocent people in the dozen or so counties under it. All of them were in cahoots with Zeng Youwen, and officials who were unwilling to associate with him could not gain a foothold in Changping Prefecture. Their power was hollow, and they had official positions but no power, and could not do anything. Many illegal merchants in the city were all related to various officials, colluding with each other to drive up prices, making the people miserable.

"Your Highness, I have also discovered a mansion in the city. It is as magnificent as the imperial palace." General Qin said through gritted teeth.

Xuanyuan Ting looked at Zeng Youwen and found that he also raised his head, and he was sweating profusely with fear.

"Good, very good, Master Zeng wants to be a local emperor!"

Although Changping Prefecture is a provincial capital, there are very few prosperous areas. There are only a few commercial streets that look decent, and the rest are all dilapidated houses. Most of the people outside the city live in mud and thatched houses, and some people don't even have a tile to shelter from the wind and rain. As a local official, Zeng Youwen really deserves to die.

"Your Highness, I was just confused for a moment. I have no such rebellious thoughts. Your Highness, please understand!" Zeng Youwen was frightened by these words and collapsed to the ground. He was not alone. He had a lovely wife and young children in the city and a clan in his hometown. If he was accused of this, he would be the sinner of the family. He had been in Changping County for six years. At the beginning, he wanted to make some achievements, but money was attractive. He worked hard but got nothing and was despised by his colleagues. As long as he turned a blind eye and stretched out his hand, people would send him gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and beauties of all kinds. He had everything he wanted. He was addicted to this kind of life.

"Mercy, mercy, mercy on your life. But who can you ask to avenge the lives of millions of people? General Qin, drag all these people away and execute them on the spot." Xuanyuan Ting gave the cold order.

"Yes, Your Highness." Qin Fen came from a military background and he hated corrupt officials like this the most. After giving the order, he grabbed the man by the collar and dragged him away without caring about the man who was still kneeling on the ground begging for mercy.

At the entrance of the vegetable market

The epidemic has been brought under control, and there are no new infected patients. The control over the people in the city has also been relaxed a lot, because General Qin's dragging along the way attracted the attention of many people, and they all gathered around to watch.

Seeing that more and more people were gathering, General Qin signaled the clerk beside him to start reading out the crimes. The crimes written into Dayu's laws were shocking. The prefect, the assistant magistrate, the associate magistrate, the chief clerk, and the county magistrate were all guilty of them.

Many people did not know the law, nor did they understand the severity of their crimes. However, when they heard the huge bills, they understood the crimes committed by these so-called officials, and they picked up stones and dirt on the ground and threw them at them.

"Beat you to death, you corrupt officials."

"It's all you who destroyed my family."

"My poor son, he couldn't pay the taxes and was drafted into the army, never to return."

"Kill them. They are the ones who killed my father and daddy."

General Qin did not stop the people from venting their anger. Instead, he led his men to quietly look away and called away his subordinates who were too close to avoid accidental injuries.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also led a group of young masters from aristocratic families to watch the ceremony from behind, silently observing everything that was happening before them.

"Everyone stand back, the executioner prepares to execute." Seeing that the people had almost vented their emotions, he ordered them to retreat, and then the executioner came up, raised his hand and slashed with his knife, and soon the ground in front of the vegetable market was covered with blood.

Looking at the corrupt officials whose heads had fallen off, many people cried loudly at their doorsteps, for the suffering they had endured, the death of their loved ones, and the loss of their homes.

Looking at the mountains of gold and silver seized from Zeng Youwen's villa and the homes of those illegal merchants, Xuanyuan Ting ordered: "Select the money and count the number of people. The money will be distributed according to the head of the people, and the rest will be used to rebuild houses and farmland."