Hidden in the court

"It's simple. Please write a letter and ask the family to prepare the money. I will send someone to get it. Once everyone pays, I will release them."

"Okay... I'll write..."

With the prefect taking the lead, the others also started writing after struggling.

Nangong Xiao was worried: "Brother Ji, isn't this too much? One million taels is 100,000 catties, and an ordinary carriage weighs 20,000 catties. There are five carriages per person, and there are at least 80 people here. Moreover, most of them are minor officials of the seventh, eighth, and ninth ranks. How much can they be greedy for? They definitely can't afford it."

Ji Mingshang smiled when he heard this, "Brother, you still underestimate these people!"

As expected, when everyone finished writing, thirty or forty people came forward and tremblingly begged Ji Mingshang for mercy: "Sir, we really don't have that much money, can you be flexible?"

"Okay, then you guys think carefully about which hand to keep."

As they spoke, several imperial guards stepped forward, pulled apart one of the men's arms, and pretended to chop them off.

The people being dragged were immediately scared and pale, "Please spare my life, please spare my life, sir, I have money, I have money!"

"Wouldn't it be better if you did this earlier? It's a waste of feelings."

Then a dozen people said they could raise one million taels, but a dozen petty officials were still embarrassed, "Sir, please kill us, we really can't raise one million taels."

"Really?"

"Really, I have never embezzled anything. You might as well chop me off for one million taels."

Ji Mingshang smiled knowingly, "I have an idea, do you want to hear it?"

Without waiting for their reply, he took out a few letters and said, "These gentlemen wrote one million taels without hesitation. I guess they must be quite wealthy. After all, you are colleagues. Why don't you let them make up the difference for you?"

"I'll give him an egg!"

Someone shouted angrily, but was slapped away by Ji Mingshang.

"Just make up for it when I tell you to. Why are you talking so much nonsense?"

Everyone saw that their colleague who was knocked out and lay motionless "willingly" paid the difference.

By the afternoon, they had scraped together enough money to pile up 81 million taels of silver in Jinling City.

Nangong Xiao was shocked. This was how they figured out the entire country’s income for two years?

"What should I do? Should I send him directly to the capital to make my adoptive father happy?"

“Is it inappropriate?”

"There's no room for it here, so send it directly to the capital."

"We don't have enough manpower, we need to wait."

"Dispatch the troops from Jinling to escort them!"

……

"Can you let him go now?"

The Jinling prefect asked. Actually, in his opinion, this was not a big deal. On the contrary, Ji Mingshang took the silver because he was afraid to do something wrong. There was no evidence, so it could only be that Ji Mingshang was corrupt, and it had nothing to do with the officials of Jinling.

"Don't worry, I have another business deal."

Everyone had a bad feeling in their hearts.

"We are all out of money, what business can we do?"

"Now you can sign and seal this to buy the lives of your nine clansmen."

As he spoke, he took out a piece of paper, on which were three words most prominently written: "Confession".

"If we sign this, won't we die without a burial place?"

"Yes, but if you don't sign, you will have to meet your father's four clans, your mother's three clans, and your wife's two clans in the underworld."

"How dare you, boy..."

"I have nothing to fear. Your family members are not officials appointed by the court. Besides, I have already invited your family members."

"you…"

Before he could finish his words, soldiers came in, escorting a group of old and weak people. Their mouths were blocked and they kept making "wuwu" sounds.

"Come on, the family should be neat and tidy. I wonder if you mind if your son walks in front of you?"

As he said this, he walked towards an old man.

"This is your great uncle. He has a hand in everything you do? Tsk tsk... chop him off."

Ji Mingshang stepped back, and one of his personal soldiers stepped forward, drew his sword and slashed at his neck.

"Gululu..."

Heads rolled down and blood splattered on the spot.

The officials from Jinling turned pale with fear and kept pushing back, with a foul smell spreading throughout the air.

"Oh, the floor is a little dirty."

The Jinling prefect just closed his eyes and said nothing.

"The premise of not bringing disaster to your family is that you can't bring benefits to your family. Doesn't your family seem to be enjoying a lot?"

Kneeling next to the headless corpse was an old woman with a wrinkled and greasy face.

"The old man is over 70, he has lived a life of luxury for so many years, he should be very satisfied. If he refuses to die, he is a thief, drag him out and chop him off!"

When the Jinling prefect saw his mother being dragged away, he was anxious to go forward and fight with Ji Mingshang, but a knife was put to his neck.

"This is your wife. Why are you dressed up so brightly? Are you tired with so many gold, silver and jade rings on your hands? I'll use the torture. Let your wife relax for a while."

After saying that, he removed the cloth from her mouth so that everyone could hear her screams.

The guards brought out a torture device made of a rope and several small wooden sticks, and easily put all ten of her fingers through it.

"Please spare my life, sir, please save me..."

"What are you standing there for? Pull!"

The two bodyguards gradually exerted their strength, and the torture pincers became tighter and tighter.

"Ahhh-"

The scream was shrill and high-pitched, as if the throat was torn apart, and the sound pierced the hearts of the officials present.

The fingers are connected to the heart, so you can imagine the pain.

"Be careful not to break it."

Looking again, the Jinling prefect had completely closed his eyes, as if he wanted to ignore his family.

After a while, there was no sound because the person had fainted from the pain.

"Is this son who is as big as a white pig your son? He looks about the same age as me. He must have eaten a lot of human flesh and drank human blood."

As she said this, she squatted down and pinched his chubby cheeks.

"Little brother, take a good look at this. This is your father. He could have saved you, but he chose to live alone. Don't blame me. He did this himself and let you enjoy it. He is the one who ruined your whole family!"

Ji Mingshang's tone was almost crazy, his face was full of ferociousness, and two rays of light shot out of his eyes, like two sharp swords, which made people tremble with fear, bloodshot eyes, and looked like a madman, frightening people to collapse and scream.

"Save me, Dad...save me!"

The imperial guards standing by swallowed their saliva. No, they had never seen the Marquis act like this along the way.

Even Nangong Xiao felt that it was a bit too much, but looking at Ji Mingshang at this moment, he didn't dare to say anything, for fear that the game would fail.

"Bring out the guillotine!"

Ji Mingshang continued to roar.

The guillotine was brought over, and without saying a word, the man was dragged up and his neck was placed on the blade.

"That's enough. I...I sign! Let my wife and children go."

The Jinling prefect gnashed his teeth and squeezed out a sentence. At this time, he had already taken two steps forward, took the confession letter, and signed it.

After finishing writing, he seemed to have lost all his strength and collapsed to the ground.

"This this……"

The others looked at each other, at a loss.

Ji Mingshang did not regain his expression. He stared at the principle of performing a full performance and turned his head to stare at everyone.

"What about you, signing, or family reunion?"