Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 147 Rumors and Evidence
"General, there are more people coming to file a complaint. Should we let them go to the county?"
"Well, send a sergeant to lead the troops for protection." Zhou Tai said.
Although Zhou Tai had been demoted to the rank of colonel, in the absence of a higher-ranking officer in the army, everyone was called a general. Who would be so ignorant as to specifically call him "Colonel Zhou"?
At this time, Zhou Tai was stationed outside the Xu clan's land - the hundreds of hectares of land around it were all Xu clan's property.
Actually, in terms of land, Xu's family was not much richer than Lu Su, but... Xu's biggest asset was livestock. The land that they had exchanged for buffaloes was distributed throughout Wujun and even Kuaiji, adding up to thousands of hectares. They were not inferior to those of the less wealthy and "poorer" families. However, since they had not yet exchanged for any land, they could only collect rent.
"Yes!" After receiving the order, the personal guards immediately arranged for the escort.
Ever since Zhou Tai came and stationed nearby, he has received many people who came to accuse Xu of his evil deeds.
However, it is clearly written in the military regulations that it is the job of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Justice to punish corrupt officials and evil-doing nobles. Military officers have the responsibility to convey and protect the plaintiffs, but they have no right to deal with them directly - of course, this refers to the "jurisdictional war zone" of General Bai Tu. If it is within the sphere of influence of other princes, they can exercise discretion in an emergency.
There are three main types of accusations against Xu. The first is destroying the Fuchun deep well, the second is robbing the deep well, and the third is bullying men and women... The number also decreases in sequence.
There are also some incredible rumors, such as Xu Gong destroyed deep wells because he thought they ruined the Xu family's feng shui. Every time he destroyed a deep well, he would seal a pair of boys and girls in it. Others said that in order to seize the deep wells to feed the cattle and horses, the Xu family slaughtered an entire village. What's even worse... it was said that the people of the Xu family knew witchcraft, and after peeling off the cow's skin and sewing it on a person, they would turn the person into a cow!
Zhou Tai also wondered who was spreading the rumor, and who was so imaginative...
At first, Zhou Tai believed it and dug up several damaged deep wells, but he didn't find any virgin boys or girls. As for turning people into cows? I don't believe you!
Although Zhou Tai did not believe it, there were too many people who did. Now, almost all the missing children in Fuchun County in the past ten years were blamed on the Xu family. Massacre of the whole village was unreasonable and no witnesses were needed - don't ask, if you ask, they just killed them all, so there are no witnesses!
Some even swore that they had seen Xu's cows speak...
Anyway, Zhou Tai didn't find out anything, but he had no responsibility to help him dispel the rumors, so he just let them do it.
As for the common people who really had grievances and came to Zhou Tai to file complaints, he would send people to send them to Fuchun - the Fuchun magistrate had already been arrested by the Ministry of Personnel for dereliction of duty and collusion with bandits amid the laughter and cheers of the people.
The joint law enforcement team of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Justice is now stationed in Fuchun. If you want to file a complaint, you can go to the county town.
Zhou Tai waited for several days before it was finally his turn to take action!
A few days ago, the Ministry of Civil Affairs happened to conduct a random inspection of Fuchun's civil affairs, and happened to focus on the Xu family. Today... several officials of the Ministry of Civil Affairs were suspected of being detained by the Xu family. The chief clerk of the Ministry of Civil Affairs who was in charge of this matter immediately asked for help from Zhou Tai, who happened to be stationed nearby.
It is the army's duty to suppress rebellion, and it can exercise discretion in emergencies.
So Zhou Tai immediately sent someone to the nearest signal tower to deliver a message, and at the same time led his troops into the Xu clan's territory, surrounding the core residence of the direct descendants and the ancestral temple.
At this time in the Xu family ancestral hall, there was a crowd and chaos outside. Many young clan members were talking angrily. Some were angry at the people outside, while others were angry at the people inside the ancestral hall!
The ancestral temple was now filled with the elders of the Xu family, as well as several important officials and officials serving the imperial court, including Xu Gong...
Since the drought began, some people in the Xu family had realized that something was wrong, and they became even more worried when the deep wells began to be used.
However, more people are actually worried about the large amount of water required by their livestock!
It is true. If the crops in the fields fail for a year, the worst that can happen is waiting for relief and becoming a refugee. As long as you can survive, you can start a new life next year... a good farmer! But if the livestock are deprived of water... they will go bankrupt in a few days, and you won't be able to turn beef jerky into a live cow next year even if you soak it in water.
Even modern animal husbandry has huge risks, let alone animal husbandry in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
However, under this situation, most of the core members of the Xu family still thought of "cow". It has to be said... the decline of the Xu family is inevitable.
In recent years, the decision-making core of the Xu family has become too eager for quick success and instant benefits, and has been gambling on the family's fortunes at every turn. Xu Gong's position as prefect was obtained in a rather dangerous way. In order to erase the influence of the former prefect, the Xu family has already attracted a lot of criticism. Later, they even dared to be at the forefront of things like supporting Yan Baihu to establish his own regime!
Although within a short period of time, the accumulation of more than ten generations of the Xu family rapidly expanded into interests and power, it was also several seemingly successful "big gambles" that made the core members of the Xu family more and more gambling.
Of course, the Xu family is not just trying to fight against the enemy with an egg. After all, if all the family members were brainless villains, they would not be alive today...
After breaking up with Bai Tu, Xu Gong, the direct descendant of the Xu family, planned a plan. On the one hand, they pretended to be brave but not wise, making Bai Tu think that as long as they developed step by step, the cancer of the Xu family could be eradicated sooner or later. On the other hand, they secretly contacted Cao Cao. Before that, when Xun You came to Jiangdong, Xu Gong had some private contact with him.
Contacting Cao Cao instead of Yuan Shu shows that Xu was not stupid.
Xu Gong had a great idea. His main strategy was to send letters to Xudu whenever he had nothing to do, to spread the word that Bai Tu was ambitious, and then to ask Cao Cao for an official position and express his loyalty to the court, so that he could be used as an internal supporter...
If Xu Gong could serve as an official in the court, not only would he be safe, but Bai Tu would also find it difficult to attack the Xu family.
However, his previous remarks about "deep well disease" that he had stirred up among the people eventually harmed him!
After comprehensive consideration, Xun You concluded that Bai Tu was "harmless" during his trip to Jiangdong. Naturally, Cao Cao did not want to bother with Xu and was unwilling to easily offend the "harmless" Bai Tu.
Although Xu Gong continued to send letters to Xu Du, and the deep well in Bai Tu made him the savior of Jiangdong and his popularity among the people was unparalleled. His previous act of allowing the "deep well disease" to spread also seemed "ill-intentioned". Maybe Cao Cao would really become alert?
But... Xu no longer had any chance. The Ministry of Civil Affairs had accurately pinned the investigation on Xu, and all the public resentment was directed at them!
Ever since Zhou Tai led his troops and stationed them nearby in the name of disaster relief, the Xu family has been silent.
The attitude of the officials in the Ministry of Civil Affairs made them realize that there was no way back. If they really wanted to be serious, the people and farmland that Xu was hiding would be enough to bankrupt him, not to mention the other crimes that could not be "redeemed"...
Finally, on the fourth day after the Ministry of Civil Affairs began its thorough investigation, dozens of unregistered households were discovered in one of the Xu family's farms, and even... bows and crossbows were found hidden there. When officials from the Ministry of Justice from the county came with official documents, seeking to interrogate several members of the Xu family who were suspected of various crimes, Xu Gong had no choice but to resist the law violently.
Then Zhou Tai quickly led his troops to attack, and the Xu clan was thrown into chaos...
