Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

Tian Cai said with emotion, "Let me tell you a story! It's been a long time since I've had a good chat with a scholar!"

Zhang Jingwei, who was sitting opposite him, nodded impatiently and urged, "Go ahead! But you'd better speak faster."

Tian Cai took a deep breath and slowly recounted his unbearable experience: "Back then, I was a scholar in Hunyuan County. I studied hard every day, hoping to pass the imperial examination one day. Who could have imagined that the Rong people would invade! The soldiers at the border fought bloody battles, waiting for the court's support in vain, and Yunzhou fell. We fell into the hands of the Rong people, who were extremely cruel to us Central Plains people! They treated us as second-class citizens, bullying and slaughtering us at will. And we, the powerless people, could only struggle to survive in the cracks, barely surviving."

At this point, Tian Cai's eyes welled up and his voice trembled slightly. "I really had no choice but to be a slave to those armored men for three whole years! During these three years, I suffered all kinds of torture and humiliation. Finally, I secretly saved up some money and planned to escape to Henan to find a glimmer of hope. However, fate always plays tricks on me. Just when I was about to escape successfully, I was discovered by my two ruthless and ungrateful brothers. Without saying a word, they beat me up and not only robbed me of all the money I had saved with great difficulty, but also almost took my life. At that time, I was beaten all over my body and only half of my life was left."

Tian Cai paused and continued, "To make matters worse, not long after, I was captured by those armored men again. When they saw I wasn't in the circle, they flew into a rage and hung me high up, intending to dry me out alive. Just as I was on the verge of death, a kind-hearted wealthy businessman rescued me. That businessman also bought many slaves. From then on, I joined the Yunzhou slave camp in the resistance. And the leader of our group was none other than the famous General Huangfu!"

Hearing this, Zhang Jingwei couldn't help but interrupt and ask, "Then do you know who that wealthy businessman is?"

Tian Cai said with a bitter face, "Alas, those days are really hard to recall! I really don't remember anything about what happened before. Later, our Yunzhou slave camp suffered a great disaster, and I was the only one left. General Huangfu was a man of great power. A humble person like me could not even talk to him! From then on, the only thing in my mind was to find my benefactor and kowtow to him a few times to express my gratitude!"

Hearing this, Zhang Jingwei's eyes rolled and he interrupted with a grin, "Hey, then it's almost the same if you kowtow to me!"

Tian Cai was stunned when he heard this. He asked with a puzzled look on his face, "What? What do you mean by this?"

Zhang Jingwei knew he had spoken out of turn, so he quickly waved his hands to cover it up, saying, "Ah...it's nothing, it's nothing, go on!"

Tian Cai calmed himself down a bit and continued, "When I was serving under General Huangfu, I was too weak to achieve any significant military exploits, so I served as a clerk in the army. Later, Yunzhou was finally restored, and I was assigned to the military camp. It was during that time that I met Captain Hao. Seeing that I had some knowledge, he promoted me to a small position, specifically responsible for writing official documents and regulations for him."

At this time, Zhang Jingwei was a little impatient and urged: "Alright, alright, these are not the main points, let's talk about the key points!"

Tian Cai sighed deeply and said slowly: "Thinking back to those days, that was several years ago. The price of land was ridiculously high at that time. The best land could be sold for a full twenty strings of cash! If the water conservancy facilities near the land were complete and the roads were smooth, the price would be doubled and it would be no problem to sell it for thirty strings of cash! Who would have thought that at this critical juncture, something happened in our Tianjia Village. An old man in the village passed away, and his good-for-nothing son was so anxious to sell the family's good land at a low price, just for a mere fifteen strings of cash! It's really It was unbelievable. But the weirdest thing was yet to come. For some unknown reason, the young man who sold the land suddenly fell ill and died a few days later, tragically at home. Coincidentally, the imperial court was carrying out drastic land law reforms at the time, stipulating that "land from extinct families will no longer be confiscated by the public, and the land of the people will be granted to the clan." Our village chief saw the opportunity and without hesitation, he seized the land for himself. However, they weren't too greedy and eventually sold it to Hao Aiming for 15 strings of cash.

Zhang Jingwei frowned upon hearing this and pressed on, "So, because they got a taste of profit from this deal, they started eyeing the land of those extinct families and started their plan to wipe them out?"

Tian Cai's face was bitter as he slowly spoke, "At the beginning, it was indeed just Hao Aiming who was desperately trying to drive the price down to an extremely low level! I was assigned to collect the land at the time, and in a moment of desperation, I murdered Liu Laoer and his family in Yuquan Township. However, as time went on, I stumbled upon a huge loophole I could exploit. For every ounce of cost Hao Aiming lowered, the price of the extinct land was lowered by a full pound! This created a considerable profit margin. So, I became scheming and secretly pocketed a full 20% of the net profit. Perhaps it was the greedy bloodline passed down from generation to generation in my Tian family that was at work. I not only covet power, but also have an endless desire for money. Over the years, I've accumulated a fortune of thousands of taels without even realizing it."

Zhang Jingwei asked again, "But why would you harm your own family? This is truly incomprehensible!"

Tian Cai snorted coldly, a trace of anger and resentment flashed in his eyes, and he said with gritted teeth: "Relatives? Humph, do you know why my third brother suddenly came to me? His ugly face has not changed at all over the years! He came here this time not for the sake of brotherhood, but to keep the money for himself, and tried to use me to get rid of his fifth uncle!" At this point, Tian Cai clenched his fists tightly, his body trembling slightly, as if the anger that had been suppressed in his heart for a long time was about to burst out.

Zhang Jingwei frowned and sighed softly, "Even so, we shouldn't use such extreme methods to solve the problem. Now that it has happened, I must hand you over to the authorities. Your crime will be judged by the prefect."

Just as Zhang Jingwei was about to step forward, he suddenly jumped up from the corpse lying on the ground, his eyes wide open, staring at Tian Cai intently, cursing, "You heartless bastard! I've always been very kind to you, taking care of you in every way, but I never thought you'd dare to embezzle my money!"

Hao Aiming's action scared Zhang Jingwei quite a bit.