NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 45
45: Work-for-relief! Assassins rush! Assassinate Zhu Gaoxun!
The two people who were talking were two of the assassins sent by Niu Jinxing.
These two people were fellow villagers of Zhou Jian of the Tiancheng Dynasty. They were all from Macheng, Huguang, and became bandits because of the famine in their hometown.
The eldest among them was Gong Chi, who had the title of Juren and his family had some assets. Therefore, he had practiced literature and martial arts since he was a child and was quite insightful.
The second one was Zhu Quzhao, who was born in a landlord family and practiced martial arts. Because the county magistrate framed him and his family was destroyed, this man drew his sword in anger, killed the county magistrate’s family, and fled his hometown.
On the way to escape, the two met and became good friends.
At present, they are hired by the”jianghu people” to assassinate the incompetent emperor…….As the saying goes, if you are willing to sacrifice your life, you dare to dethrone the emperor.
Because of what happened in their hometown, the two of them had a bad impression of the Ming Dynasty court, so they had no psychological burden about assassinating the emperor.
But now……The scene in the capital city shows that this emperor is clearly a good person. How can he be considered stupid at all?
“Just one or two things are not enough to determine what kind of emperor this is.” The eldest brother Gong Chi looked at the cheering people and said thoughtfully:”Observe for a while. If we can be sure that the emperor is not bad, this emperor must not be killed, otherwise you and I will become sinners for all eternity.”
After all, Gong Chi has read books and he knows clearly what the consequences of assassinating the emperor will be.
If the emperor is incompetent, he can still win eternal fame by assassinating him.
But if the emperor is not only not incompetent, but is also trying to save the Ming Dynasty, and he assassinates himself, then he will be a sinner for all eternity and will be despised by future generations.
Zhu Quzhao followed Gong Chi and was naturally aware of what the sinner for all eternity meant. He shuddered and said,”I don’t want to be called a traitor. I’d better listen to you, brother.”
“”Okay!” Gong Chi stood up and said slowly:”Tomorrow, follow my eyes and follow my steps!”
“clear!”…
At the same time, in Chen’s house,
Chen Yan and Ruan Dacheng sat opposite each other in the middle hall, talking about what happened in Shuntian Prefecture recently.
Chen Yan listened to the people’s cheers and sighed,”The court is confused, the emperor is confused!”……What can this bunch of mud-legged people accomplish? If we want to govern the world, we have to rely on the literati!”
Hearing this, Ruan Dacheng glanced at Chen Yan and sneered,”Brother Fasheng, you can fool yourself and the emperor with these words. There is no need to say these words in front of me.”
They are all thousand-year-old foxes, why are they playing Liao Zhai?
Being an official is for power and money, and they know this very well.
In the past.
Ruan Dacheng disdained to associate with people like Chen Yan. Although he was greedy, he wanted power more…….Now that the great ship of the Ming Dynasty is about to sink, it must find a good owner.
After being confronted by Ruan Dacheng for a while, Chen Yan looked very unhappy, but he did not dare to say anything. After all, he still had to rely on this man’s plan to survive.
“Brother Jizhi is right.” Chen Yan said awkwardly,”I shouldn’t have done that.”
Seeing the former cabinet chief groveling and speaking in a low voice before him, Ruan Dacheng felt happy and wanted more power.
“Has this house raid affected us?”
“No.” Chen Yan was complaining about Ruan Dacheng in his heart. When he heard him speak, he shuddered and said hurriedly:”I have resigned and stayed at home, and the rest of the people are officials of medium or small ranks. The emperor should not be able to find them for a while.”
“very good……”Ruan Dacheng looked towards the south and murmured,”It’s almost time. Just wait a little longer and you’ll be free!”
Ruan Dacheng said this to Chen Yan as well as to himself.
Niu Jinxing had already written a letter in secret and was on his way out. He should start in the next two days! When the capital is in chaos, that will be the day for Ruan Dacheng to rise to prominence!……
The next day.
Zhu Gaoxun came to the city wall, where a large number of people had gathered early.
Yesterday, the house was searched and the total amount of silver seized was more than 10 million taels. This amount is not particularly large, but for the current Chongzhen Dynasty, it is an astronomical figure.
Zhu Youjian has not been able to fully recover until now, and this number is still echoing in his head.
Because of his magical powers, Zhu Gaoxun has always been more casual.
He stood directly on the high platform, surrounded by the people below.
“Today, I summoned you here to help reinforce the city walls…….”
Before Zhu Gaoxun finished speaking, there was a commotion below, and the people were whispering.
Obviously, this sentence evoked memories deep in their minds.
In the past, whenever the court had any major projects, it would summon the people to work.
What is this called? This is called corvée – the so-called corvée means doing hard labor for the court for free, without wages, and even without food.
In the past, when there was surplus food at home and the court was doing well, it was okay, and we just had to hold on.
But now we can hardly survive, and we still have to do corvée? Isn’t this going to kill us!
In the crowd, Gong Chi and Zhu Quzhao stared at Zhu Gaoxun, with fire in their eyes about to burst out.
“I know you are in a hurry, but don’t worry, wait for me to finish speaking.” Zhu Gaoxun used his magic power, his voice was not loud, but it was clearly heard by everyone,”This is not corvée, but the court invites you to work! It provides a lunch and wages! If you do well, there will be rewards!”
What!?
The court has opened its eyes? Since when can you get paid for working for the court?
Gong Chi and Zhu Quzhao were also very surprised, looking at each other with surprise…….What is the emperor up to?
“To your east is where lunch is served.” Zhu Gaoxun said with a smile,”And to your left is where the wages are paid in the evening. Believe it or not, you will know after working for a day…….”
“Get started!!!”
A loud shout came from the crowd, and dozens of people moved at the news.