Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 206 King Qin’s Promise

In a huge military cauldron.

The best ingredients such as whole chicken, whole duck, ham, etc. are directly thrown in to stew and make soup. Various side dishes are cut up and down on the chopping board with a kitchen knife, cut into small pieces, and stir-fried at the same time. Pork belly and various meats.

After finishing her work for a while, Zhao Guangmei found a silk handkerchief and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Then she simply took off her arms because it was too hot, sat down on the ground and said:
"I'm going to cook you some maocai today. I use the best ingredients, things that even Fan Lou doesn't have. I'm not bragging to you. As a prince, I rarely cook on weekdays, but if I were to do it myself, Everyone in Kaifeng and even Song Dynasty is cooking, but no one can compare to me in cooking skills. You guys are really lucky to have me here to cook this dish for you personally. I am the only one who can cook this dish. My brother has never made it, it’s too laborious, and the soup needs to be cooked for a while before it’s ready. Sit down, and while the soup is cooking, let’s chat for a while, come and sit closer.”

As he spoke, he called everyone to come forward. He was not the type to speak with a strong voice. Originally, only the people in the first few rows could hear him clearly. Sitting so far away, few people could hear him.

Seeing this, Cao Bin and the others were all extremely nervous. They clenched their hands tightly on their sabers and stared nervously at everyone, for fear that there would be assassins here who would act violently.

You must know that this is the Carved Face Camp, full of special criminals, and almost all of them have already stepped into the gate of hell. It is not surprising that these people will do anything. Even military law cannot control them, and there is no guarantee. Is there a lunatic who wants to kill a prince for fun?

In fact, these people did not have much respect for Zhao Guangmei, the King of Qin. Someone said directly: "Your Highness, is this a courtesy first and then a soldier? It's rare for you to personally cook food for us rotten people, but let me tell you, you can do it Why don't you, these frivolous things, give us some meat to eat, and then take us to find some beautiful girls, so that we can become romantic ghosts before we die?"

After saying that, there were actually people standing by to respond. It was obvious that they were really not afraid of death, and they also knew that Zhao Guangmei seemed not to follow the convention and ignored their military discipline.

Zhao Guangmei was not angry, but ordered Cao Bin to take out the twenty or so heads and arrange them in a tower in front of everyone, saying: "These were all beheaded because of disobeying military discipline, women with sharp silver. Do you want to follow suit?"

Then, the evil-faced young men in this battalion started making trouble one after another. Even Zhao Guangmei was not used to it. Some people actually stood up and yelled at him. Cao Bin quickly took a step forward to stop him. The crowd was so crowded that they even drew their weapons and almost killed them all.

"stop!!!"

It was Zhao Guangmei who shouted, but the two groups didn't really start fighting.

"Cao Bin, come back."

Upon hearing this, Cao Bin obediently retreated behind Zhao Guangmei. Although the knife was sheathed, the crossbow arrows were taken out, and they were cocked and aimed. Anyone who dared to move would be shot to death on the spot.

The people he brought were all veterans of the business, and their archery skills were very accurate.

Zhao Guangmei, on the other hand, was still sitting on the ground. While talking, he poked out dead branches and added fire to the cauldron to cook the soup. He said, "I know you will definitely be dissatisfied. Whoever is dissatisfied can stand up."

Then, someone actually stood up in front of him. He held his neck and said with an unruly expression: "I don't accept it. If you can, kill me. I don't intend to live anyway."

"Yes, I'm not convinced, and neither am I."

"I don't accept it, I don't accept it! Come on, kill me."

Zhao Guangmei stretched out her hand to signal to stop, then pointed a tree branch at the first boy who refused and said, "You, get out of the queue."

The young man came out.

"Looking at your age, you're not too old. Have you ever had a woman?"

"No, I'm still young. What's wrong? I can't compare to you powerful men. You, Zhao Song, want me to work for you. Before I die, I want to taste a woman. What's wrong? The judges don't allow it? Why do you kill people?"

"Well, who is this person? What did he do to end up like this?"

"Haha, hahahahaha, what did you do? I don't know what I did. I'm from Xiangzhou Prefecture. After my father died, my family fell into decline and I worked part-time to make a living. As a result, I was arrested for no reason. Qiong Mian, the county magistrate insists that I am... a felon who raped and killed three women. Haha, why, you are allowed to unjustly accuse me of raping and killing women, but I am not allowed to actually touch women? What's the truth? "

"Yeah, what's the truth, what's the truth."

"And me, I was so damn hungry that I stole a pineapple to eat. Then they said I was some kind of rebel. They sent me to prison, beat me up, and sent me to die here. I refused to accept it. What's wrong? Why don't you let me refuse?"

As he spoke, these people started beeping in confusion, until Zhao Guangmei's complexion became darker and darker, until it was as black as the bottom of a pot, and he could not suppress his anger.

Because among the people who have spoken out so far, when they themselves described their crimes, the most serious crime was that they stole a goose from their neighbor's house.

It would definitely be exaggerated, and some people who remained silent were most likely committing real serious crimes, but upon hearing this, Zhao Guangmei couldn't help but feel angry.

And he was almost certain that these things were [-]% true. Naturally, it was no wonder that these people had so much resentment.

Because they are all top-notch people.

And it seems that almost all of these people are the kind of people who are easy to bully, that is, they have no relatives at home, no one will care about them even if they die, and they can make trouble, so that none of them have any weaknesses.

There is no weakness, and one foot is already on the doorstep of death.

King Qin?

Who is the King of Qin?

I had thought that the local penalty issue would be serious, but I really didn’t expect it to be so serious.

Because in the Song Dynasty, since Zhao Kuangyin came to power, criminal power was taken away from the Jiedushi and completely transferred to the hands of the prefect and Ti Xing.

Then, this criminal name was completely ruined in the Song Dynasty.

In ancient times, the county government, the prefect's government, and powerful people from all over the country had a very close relationship. The county magistrate also knelt down to beg for food to see the expression on Mr. Huang's face. Mr. Huang's son got into trouble, and there was a mistress. If the mistress jumped. After passing the county magistrate and even filing a complaint with the magistrate to impose a sentence, it is no longer possible to ignore this matter, but can Mr. Huang's son be moved?It definitely can't be moved, so we can only find a powerless and powerless person to take the punishment on Mr. Huang's behalf.

This kind of thing is actually quite good to be honest. Zhao Guangmei doesn’t even understand that county magistrates also have difficulties. We can’t expect all county magistrates to be Mabondang. Sometimes, Mr. Huang will be a little more benevolent and righteous, at least A sum of money will be given to the top bag.

However, most of these people are actually working for gangsters or even rebels.

Because in the Song Dynasty, since the establishment of strong branches and weak branches, the prefects in various places actually had no ability to arrest gangsters. It is no exaggeration to say that ten gangs of gangsters can often disrupt a prefecture.

The prefect can't catch him either.What should we do? After all, criminal names are one of the most important performance indicators for officials, so they can only find scapegoats. The original gangsters will be at large. When major crimes are committed again, can governments at all levels suppress them? Just suppress it as much as possible. If you can't suppress it, just retaliate again and find another scapegoat.

Many of the more than 400 rebellions in the Northern Song Dynasty came from this.

There's no way, after all, everyone doesn't know how to do it. In the past, the power of life and death belonged to the Jiedushi. When the Jiedushi killed people, they treated them equally, whether they were landlords, tyrants, or gangsters. Naturally, there weren't that many twists and turns. Well, now this power is suddenly handed over to prefects and even county magistrates. Everyone really doesn’t know how to do it, and their abilities are indeed limited.

You can't give the prefect military power, right?So what was Zhao Kuangyin's purpose in abolishing the criminal power of Jiedushi?

Everything is messy in the exploratory stage. After a few decades, it becomes clearer, and prefects from various places begin to collude with the gangsters. Naturally, there will be less of this kind of thing, and the government can help the bandits. By collecting protection fees, the bandits can help the officials do the dirty work and work hard to become their dogs. They cooperate with each other to find a few unlucky guys to chop up and deliver to the superiors on a regular basis. Wouldn't it be perfect in such a peaceful and prosperous age?

It was not that Zhao Guangmei had not heard of these things, but he always thought that this kind of thing should only happen to a small number of black sheep. However, now it seems that it is very likely that it is common.

No wonder, before he died, Chongzhen said the shocking words that all civil servants can be killed!Even he wanted to kill all these civil servants.

Therefore, how can the Qiong-faced people who were captured like this not be so resentful? It is no wonder that they have no military discipline to speak of.

Fortunately, it was only the early Song Dynasty. These people were only used as warriors to kill heroes. I heard that more than half of the imperial army in the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty were such people. Such an army would not say 80, but 800 million. How could such an army have [-] million soldiers? Useless.

It would be nice if he doesn't turn around and help the enemy attack you.

Zhao Guangmei said nothing, with a gloomy face, and began to pick up branches and throw them under the pot.

He even began to think in his mind about returning the power of killing to the Jiedushi defense missions in various places.

After the heroes-killing warriors each expressed their dissatisfaction, they gradually became quiet and just watched Zhao Guangmei playing with branches on the ground.

Maybe... you also have some expectations for him?

After all, Zhao Guangmei's reputation among the people, especially among these poor people, is still very good.

After a long time, Zhao Guangmei said: "Normally, since I, the prince, know these things about you, I should overturn your case and find out these things. It's a pity that now we are in the military camp, marching and fighting, even if you can say If it’s true, I can’t do anything for the time being.”

"Cut~"

"Haha, wise king."

"Prince Qin, we don't expect to be able to overturn the case. But before you die, can you help us find a woman? Most of us are young."

"Quiet!!" Zhao Guangmei shouted, then stood up and cursed: "I said I can't reverse your case now, and I didn't say I would ignore you. Can you let me finish what I said? Damn it, look at your point. Are you just thinking about girls? Are you just thinking about such trivial things? A man is born between heaven and earth. He should make great contributions and honor his ancestors. Isn’t it shameful to only focus on the little things in his crotch? "

"Your Highness, we who are about to die, apart from that, what else can we do?"

"you!"

Zhao Guangmei pointed to the first person who spoke: "What is your name? Where are you from? What is the name of your local county magistrate and what is the name of the prefect? ​​Do you know?"

"I don't know the names of the prefect and county magistrate... I don't know."

"Trash! No one even knows the name of your enemy. He's just a ghost. Who do you want to seek revenge from?"

After that, he took a deep breath and asked Cao Bin: "Bring out a roster and write it down."

"Yes."

Zhao Guangmei said to him again: "I swear to God with the ancestral tablets of my Zhao family and the Jiangshan Sheji of the Song Dynasty that I will investigate the case thoroughly after returning from this battle. If you are dead by then, I will definitely investigate this matter." How about we get to the bottom of it and all the people involved come to accompany you?"

"Your Highness, are you serious?"

"Damn it, who am I? Would I lie to you? Could I not do what I promised you? Am I fucking lying to you?"

"The villain dare not, the villain... The villain is willing to be driven by His Highness. I only hope that Your Highness can avenge me and redress my grievances."

"Hmph, don't rush to talk about revenge. You are not bound to die when you kill the warriors. If you die nine times, you still have a life."

"Listen to me. When you go to the battlefield, fight bravely and kill the enemy. Then you will survive. I, Zhao Guangmei, personally promise you that as long as you survive, not only will you be free of all past crimes, Xiaomi, as long as you are willing, under the supervision of Dongchang, in the name of the imperial envoy to investigate the case, you can go back to the government to investigate the unjust, false and wrong cases in this government, no matter you are really imprisoned unjustly, or you are forced to commit suicide by injustice. Kou, I'm going to give you a chance to take revenge personally. From the county magistrate to the prefect, the punishment is all within the scope of your investigation. As long as the evidence is conclusive, it can be handed over to the Dongchang Special Agents. If the matter is handled specially, Yun Er and others can take revenge with their own hands, and the prefect can also kill him!"

"I can't take you to find women. There are only three things I can promise you, which is Gongping, Gongping, or fucking Gongping! If you are unlucky and don't survive on the battlefield, Cao Bin! You can do these for me Robe Ze, kill the enemy with your hands."

"Here."

"Now tell me, can you keep your crotches in check?"

For a while, there was no sound.

"say!"

"Thank you, King Qin!"

For a moment, these soldiers knelt on the ground one after another, expressing their gratitude to Zhao Guangmei.

"Have a meal!"

(End of this chapter)