115: Coercion and inducement

Chapter 114: Coercion and Lure

Throughout Great Yu, almost everyone paid close attention and care to the new firearms produced by the arsenal under Zheng Yi.

Unfortunately, due to strict orders from Zheng Yi, as well as the investigations by the Jinyi Guard and Eastern Depot, only a very small number of people in the imperial court had witnessed the power of the new firearms.

As the New Army swept across Yong Province to suppress the rebels, discussions about the new firearms rose to a new height once again.

Although the area around the arsenal had been cleared and fortified, it could not withstand the omnipresent spies.

In a short span of half a month, the Eastern Depot captured over a hundred spies.

Due to the very few casualties of the New Army, naturally, some firearms, bombs, and other items also flowed into the civilian population and were acquired by interested parties.

However, this quantity was extremely scarce.

Therefore, this group of Eight Great Merchants of Bing coveted the new firearms even more.

Now that they had obtained the opportunity, how could they not go and look upon them with reverence?

Upon arriving at the military camp, many people already saw the flintlock muskets carried on the shoulders of the passing New Army, and their eyes were extremely burning, but without Liu Chengen's secret, they did not dare to act rashly.

As for Liu Chengen, he brought them into the large tent to continue serving dishes, while nodding at Cui Xiawu who came up to greet them.

Inside the military tent, Liu Chengen said loudly: "Gentlemen, did you just see our army's new firearms?"

"Those firearms can spew flames and steel pillars from three hundred paces away, easily tearing apart human bodies and blowing city walls to collapse. This is a rare treasure bestowed by the heavens, and the blessing of our Great Yu!"

"The reason why our Great Yu was able to suppress the refugees and expel Wu Country so quickly this time relies entirely on the merits of Your Majesty and the firearms!"

"However...!"

Liu Chengen's tone suddenly changed, and he said through gritted teeth: "There is also a batch of accomplices who actually colluded with Wu Country in secret, selling salt, iron, weapons, armor, and other items to Wu Country!"

"These people deserve to be executed a hundred times over!"

"Bang, bang, bang..."

As soon as his voice fell, teams of the Jinyi Guard suddenly rushed in from outside the military camp, like wolves and tigers, surrounding all the landlords and major merchants in the military camp.

The cold Xiuchun sabers pointed directly at this pale-faced crowd.

"Liu Chengen, what do you mean by this?!"

Wang Zhonghe, with a pale face, stood up tremblingly.

He never expected that Liu Chengen, who looked amiable and was drinking and making merry with them the second before, would change his face so quickly!

"What do I mean?"

Liu Chengen asked rhetorically: "Why must Elder Wang pretend to be ignorant?"

"Humph! If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext. Without evidence, how can you convict us of our crimes? You are slandering us, I want to see Your Majesty!"

Wang Zhonghe glared at Liu Chengen, his eyes filled with blood.

If he didn't know the true face of this old man, Liu Chengen would almost have been fooled by him.

At this time, the others also reacted. Although they dared not resist when facing the gleaming Xiuchun sabers, they shouted one after another: "We are wronged, Liu Chengen, we are all good citizens!"

"Liu Chengen, you are slandering us. When did we ever collude with Wu Country?"

"That's right! Where is the evidence? Where is the evidence of our collusion with Wu Country?"

"Without evidence, this is a false accusation!"

"Liu Chengen, although we are only merchants, there are loyal and righteous people in the imperial court who will definitely impeach you!"

"You want evidence?"

Liu Chengen sneered, flicked his hand, and several envelopes fell in front of Wang Zhonghe and the heads of the Eight Great Merchants of Bing sitting in the main seats.

"Here, this is the evidence you wanted!"

"Inside are the letters of your contact with Wu Country and the inventory of the goods sold, which include salt, iron, weapons, armor, and other items. I still have hundreds of such letters!"

"Do you... all still want to read them?"

Several family heads tremblingly picked up the envelopes on the table, and after just one glance, they almost fainted.

There was no mistake.

These letters were indeed the contact letters they wrote to Tuerga of Black Mountain Pass in Wu Country and the Meng family, along with the inventory lists of transported goods.

But... how could they be in Liu Chengen's hands!

In fact, Xu Mujun only searched out more than a hundred envelopes from Black Mountain Pass.

But perhaps wanting to watch the show, or perhaps wanting to take revenge on Great Yu,

when Wu Country paid the war indemnities, they actually dumped all the materials and evidence, such as letters and inventories of their transactions with the Eight Great Merchants of Bing over so many years, all at once to Great Yu.

By doing this, they completely sold out the Bing merchants!

In their thoughts, with Black Mountain Pass occupied by Great Yu, at least they shouldn't think about invading Great Yu for a hundred years.

Since that was the case, why not sell out all the Great Yu officials and merchants who had been secretly contacting them?

By doing so, they could exempt part of the indemnities and also disgust Great Yu; it was truly a win-win situation!

Therefore, Zheng Yi had long grasped ironclad evidence of treason among some ministers in the imperial court, as well as some major merchants and aristocratic families!

If the merchants of Bing present knew that Wu Country had sold them out like this, would they regret it so much that their intestines turned green?

The masters they licked their faces to kneel and serve turned around and sold them out, handing all the criminal evidence over to Great Yu.

From then on, only one path awaited them!

"Fake! They are all fake!"

Wang Zhonghe said angrily: "These letters are all fake, I want to see Your Majesty!"

The rest of the figures also reacted immediately and roared one after another: "That's right! These envelopes are fake, they are all fake!"

"We want to appeal to the emperor!"

"Liu Chengen, you are framing us!"

"That's right! When you can't scrape money from us, you rack your brains to frame us. This is a common tactic of the Jinyi Guard!"

"We want to see Your Majesty~!"

Liu Chengen chuckled and said: "Just based on you people, how could you possibly see Your Majesty?"

"However..."

His tone suddenly turned, and he grabbed the letters in his hand and slowly tore them to pieces.

The many merchants present were surprised by this move of Liu Chengen, and all subconsciously stopped their actions.

What was Liu Chengen doing?

Why did he tear up the evidence?

"Hehehe..."

Liu Chengen chuckled and said: "Although Your Majesty is furious at your actions, Your Majesty also deeply knows that this is Wu Country's trick of killing with a borrowed knife."

"Moreover, the heavens have the virtue of loving life. In recent months, under the enlightenment of Abbot Fayuan, Your Majesty has devoted heart and soul to Buddhism and decided to reduce killings."

"Your private collusion and suspected treason truly deserve capital punishment!"

"But Your Majesty is deeply righteous, and considering that you have merits to the country, and the future construction of the Grand Canal cannot do without your support, Your Majesty has decided to spare you from the death penalty!"

As soon as these words fell, the many merchants present breathed a collective sigh of relief.

No need to die?

That couldn't be better.

More people flickered their eyes, secretly considering whether it was true or false.

Could Liu Chengen make such a joke just to extort gold and silver?

"However, the death penalty can be forgiven, but the living crime is inescapable!"

"You Eight Great Merchants of Bing, the eight families of Wang, Qiao, Chang, Meng, Hou, Qu, Kang, and Fang, must each hand over one million mu of farmland as guilty fields, before your death penalty can be pardoned; otherwise, your whole family will be executed!"

What?!

Upon hearing Liu Chengen's words, everyone present was stunned.

One million mu of farmland?

And that could pardon the crime of colluding with the enemy country?

This was simply... too cost-effective!

One million mu of land sounded like a lot, and in fact it truly was a lot.

It was almost seventy percent, ninety percent, or even all the farmland they held in their hands.

But compared to the lives of their whole family, it was simply negligible.

Furthermore...

Several people present flickered their eyes, hardened their hearts, and quickly came up with a scheme.

Qiao Maoyong suddenly stood up and said: "Liu Chengen, my Qiao Family accepts the punishment!"

"Please let Father-in-law release me and my father to return, and in three days, my Qiao Family will definitely deliver the land deeds for one million mu of farmland into Father-in-law's hands."

In his heart, however, he was thinking that as long as he went back, he would immediately contact the group of horse bandits and mountain bandits he raised under his command. If that didn't work, there was still that group of rebels, and he would rebel against their mothers.

He would even contact the other seven families, and with all seven families plotting rebellion together, it would inevitably stir up turmoil throughout Bing Province.

Someone in the other families also thought of this issue and shouted one after another: "My Meng Family also accepts it, one million mu of farmland!"

"Father-in-law, let me go back, and tomorrow I can hand the land deeds into your hands."

"Although this old man is old, I can still ride a horse. Let this old man go back..."

For a time, dozens of people were endlessly scrambling for the list of those returning, and even several brothers started a fierce physical fight.

Seeing this situation, Liu Chengen sneered and said: "Do you really take me for a fool to coax?"

He pointed his finger at a few of them and said: "Qiao Family's Qiao Maoyong, Yue Mazi, the horse bandit leader roaming within the territory of Qixian and Quanyang Commandery, is your man, right?"

"And the Old Mount Tai of Taigu, the Green Wolf Mountain bandits of Yuxia Commandery, the Blood Knife Gang of Yuanping Commandery, and the warrior monks of Nanwu Temple spanning across Mount Wutai, are all people raised by you."

"If I let you go back on my side, more than half of Bing Province will rebel over there!"

"Since I managed to gather you all together with such difficulty, how could I let you go back so easily?"

Wang Zhonghe frowned and asked: "What does Father-in-law intend to do?"

"Very simple, each of you writes a handwritten note and hands it to me, and I will send people to receive the land deeds."

"As long as the land deeds for one million mu of farmland are in hand, I will release people immediately!"

"Otherwise, obediently stay by my side."

"Men! Take these gentry down, prepare brush, ink, paper, and inkstone for them, and figure out who writes first!"

"I can make the decision: the merchant family that writes first only needs to pay six hundred thousand mu of farmland, and the remaining four hundred thousand mu of farmland will be borne by others!"

"Understood!"

The wolf-like and tiger-like Jinyi Guard immediately pounced forward, tied up the merchants one by one, and shoved them as they walked out.

"I will write! I will write first!"

"My Meng Family writes first!"

"Get lost! It is my Fang Family that writes first!"

"My Chang Family! Hurry..."

Several people hurriedly rushed over, constantly pushing and shoving to vie for the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. Liu Chengen waved his hand, signaling the Jinyi Guard to withdraw.

He smiled and said: "That's right. As long as you are obedient, this Father-in-law will definitely not fail you!"

Soon, the heads of the Meng Family, Fang Family, and Chang Family finished writing their letters and handed them to Liu Chengen.

Among the Eight Great Merchants of Bing, these three families had the weakest strength and the least wealth, which was why they compromised so quickly.

Liu Chengen carefully glanced at the letters in his hand and smiled, saying: "Good, good, good. You three are truly enlightened gentry, I will make the decision to reduce the amount of guilty farmland for the three families to six hundred thousand mu."

"The remaining four hundred thousand mu will be borne by the last three families to write."

As soon as these words fell, the eyes of the three family heads suddenly lit up.

"Thank you, Father-in-law! Thank you, Father-in-law!"

And the other five families were also extremely conflicted. Eventually, the heads of the Qu Family and Kang Family also hastily wrote, being fined one million taels.

Finally, only the Wang Family, Qiao Family, and Hou Family were left.

These three families had the strongest strength and the most wealth, especially the Wang Family.

Wang Zhonghe stood up tremblingly, glared at Liu Chengen, and said: "Liu Chengen, by doing this, are you not afraid of criticism in the imperial court?"

"Criticism in the imperial court?"

Liu Chengen sneered: "I am wholly devoted to the public and wholeheartedly for Your Majesty; this heart can be witnessed by heaven and earth!"

"So what if there is criticism in the court? As long as Your Majesty trusts me, even if I am smashed to pieces, it will not be enough to repay!"

"I still advise Elder Wang to write. Those stationed here are all Jinyi Guards, who are utterly loyal to Your Majesty and will never leak any news out."

"Write a letter to your family, telling them to obediently open the doors and hand out the land deeds, and I will turn around and leave!"

"Otherwise, it will be the execution of your entire family, leaving not even a chicken or a dog!"

"You...!"

Wang Zhonghe glared at Liu Chengen, his eyes almost spitting fire from anger.

"I' rather'm not afraid to tell you the truth, the imperial court has restarted the military merit system. So many new recruits have performed meritorious services, yet Your Majesty has nothing more to confer and nowhere left to reward. This is all Your Majesty's intention."

"However, I changed the method."

"Old man, don't fail to appreciate favors~!"

Under Liu Chengen's coercion, luring, and continuous threats, the remaining three families also had to pick up their pens to write, letting their families open the doors and take out the land deeds in exchange for their whole family's lives.

"Ah, that's right. Wouldn't it have been fine if you had been obedient earlier?"

"You wrote this wrong here, it is not one million mu, it is one million four hundred thousand mu!"

"Old and young gentlemen, a promise is a promise, all three of your families are one million four hundred thousand mu, write quickly!!!"

Watching Liu Chengen walk out proudly holding the envelopes, Wang Zhonghe was so angry that his eyes were almost spitting fire.

"Good, good, good! Very good!"

"Eunuch Liu Chengen! My Wang Family will remember this, once this old man gets out, I will definitely fight you to the death!"

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