RPAGF Chapter 301: Officials force people to rebel...
Chapter 301: Officials force people to rebel...
Yuan Tianxiong shook his head.
"No, but it is said that he was taken into the Grand Commandant's mansion by Lord Zhu. As to why, my brother and I do not know."
The Grand Commandant's residence? Why would she go to the Grand Commandant's residence?
"What about the Linglan flower?"
Although Lan Zhi disliked Ling Lan Hua, she still wanted to know about her.
"My brother only briefly mentioned in his letter that the Empress has become the Empress Dowager and is ruling from behind the curtain, Consort Jin has become the Dowager Consort Jin, and the other concubines, those with children, have left the palace with their children, and those without children have all been banished to the Cold Palace. Consort Lan should also have been banished to the Cold Palace."
Lan Zhi didn't feel sorry for her; she just smiled regretfully.
"She brought this upon herself, and now she must be regretting her past actions!"
Wei Jianning smiled disdainfully, his eyes filled with contempt.
"They brought it on themselves. It's just a pity for those young and beautiful women who have to sacrifice the rest of their lives for their few years of extravagant living."
Lan Zhi echoed:
"Even knowing the final outcome, women still flock to the palace one after another. That's probably just human nature!"
Perhaps sensing that the topic was too heavy, Wei Jianning stood up and calmly said:
"Let me think about the matter in the capital. Let's go to the pharmacy first!"
Lan Zhi followed along as they walked outside, saying, "Let's go together. Aqi and Xiangxiu might not be able to handle it all by themselves."
The three people talked as they left the house one after the other.
Ning's Pharmacy has become quite famous in the neighborhood in recent years. People say that the doctors there are not only highly skilled but also have the ability to bring the dead back to life, and the medicines are not expensive. Whenever people mention Ning's Pharmacy, they all praise it highly.
The magistrate here, Lord Han, is not as incompetent as the magistrate of Xingcheng. On the contrary, he is a good official who loves the people like his own children. When Wei Jianning and others first arrived, he helped them a lot.
Just as Wei Jianning and the others were about to enter the clinic, Aqi came out to greet them.
"Young master, young lady, you've finally arrived! Lord Han has been waiting for you here for a long time."
Lord Han rarely visits the clinic, so his sudden visit today must be for something important.
Wei Jianning and Lan Zhi strode into the clinic, where Lord Han hurriedly greeted them with his hands clasped in a fist salute.
"Manager Ning, Doctor Lin, I've come today because I have an urgent matter I need your help with."
Wei Jianning gestured for him to sit down.
"Lord Han, please don't be in a hurry. Sit down and talk about it slowly."
Lord Chao sat back down in his chair, shook his head, and sighed, saying:
"I shouldn't have come to you, but in the entire Quan City, I'm afraid you're the only ones who can help me with this."
At this point, he hesitated, looking a little embarrassed, and lowered his head. Lan Zhi quickly asked:
“Lord Han, we’ve known each other for so many years, and my husband and I know your character well. Please speak frankly, and we will definitely help if we can.”
Lord Han then let out a long sigh.
"To be honest, the imperial court has issued an edict requiring each of our government offices to raise three thousand taels of silver to hand over to the court as a congratulatory gift for the new emperor's ascension to the throne, and also to contribute to the stability of the Northern Wei Kingdom. But while that sounds nice, where am I supposed to get three thousand taels of silver? If I can't come up with this money, my family will be raided and I will be exiled. Tell me, isn't that going to kill me?"
"Three thousand taels? Not only can your Quancheng not afford this amount of silver, but I'm afraid there are very few government offices in the entire Northern Wei Kingdom that can come up with it."
“That’s what they say, but the court doesn’t care about our lives. They even told us to collect money from the people. The people are already strongly dissatisfied with the court’s arbitrary increase in taxes. Are we going to starve them if we ask them for money?”
Seeing Lord Han's troubled and angry expression, Wei Jianning clenched his fist and slammed it heavily on the table, shouting angrily:
"The old emperor was incompetent, but the new emperor is even more incompetent. Is the Northern Wei Dynasty doomed?"
"Manager Ning, you mustn't be talking nonsense!"
Lord Han, startled, reminded him while glancing towards the door. Seeing that no one had entered, he continued:
"It is said that the Empress Dowager is a person who cannot tolerate even the slightest dissent. If anyone dares to say a disrespectful word to the new emperor, she will dare to execute the entire family of that person. Such words are no longer allowed."
Wei Jianning ignored it and snorted coldly again.
"Hmph! With an emperor like this and an empress dowager like this, what hope does the Northern Wei Kingdom have?"
Seeing his face turn pale, Lord Han swallowed hard, sighed mournfully, and stood up while shaking his head.
"Manager Ning, I know you're in a difficult situation. I didn't come here to borrow money from you. I was just thinking that my house is still worth some money. Why don't you buy it?"
"Lord Han, you're selling the house? Where will your whole family live then?"
"Sigh! What's the point of keeping the house when you're about to die?"
Seeing this, Lan Zhi glanced at Wei Jianning and said in a low voice:
“Lord Han, we will not buy your house, nor do we lack houses. If you need money, I have a thousand taels of silver here for you to take as our gratitude for taking care of us over the years.”
Lord Han hurriedly waved his hands in refusal.
"No, no, I'm not here to exploit you. Besides, it wasn't easy for you to save this little bit of money. I can't just take your money for nothing. I'll go back and get the house deed right now..."
Lan Zhi smiled helplessly, then went into the inner room, came out with a silver note,
"Lord Han, I won't accept the house deed even if you offer it. For the past five years, we have relied on your help in Quancheng to earn money. But right now, this is all we can offer. You'll have to figure out how to keep the remaining two thousand taels yourself!"
Lord Han did not want to accept the silver note, but he really had no way to raise the three thousand taels of silver.
He could only accept the silver note from Lan Zhi with tears in his eyes, take a few steps back, and bow to Wei Jianning and Lan Zhi. Wei Jianning quickly stepped forward to help him up.
"Lord Han, you are a good official. This is all we can do."
Lord Han nodded with a rather helpless expression.
"Although I have served as an official for many years, I have not saved much money. My wife pawned all the valuables in the house, including her jewelry, and we only managed to scrape together three hundred taels. I thought we should just hand over whatever we could scrape together, and I hope the court will not make things too difficult for us."
Seeing the helplessness in Lord Han's eyes, Wei Jianning gritted his teeth in hatred.
He truly never expected that Wei Jianye, upon ascending the throne, would actually exploit these lowly commoners and minor county magistrates; it was infuriating.
After seeing Lord Han off, Wei Jianning clenched his fists and said resentfully:
“When officials force the people to rebel, the people have no choice but to rebel. If he pushes the people too far, they can overthrow his throne without foreign invasion.”
“Young master, these ideas could not possibly have come up with by Wei Jianye, who is only sixteen years old. They must have been the work of the Empress Dowager.”
Wei Jianning didn't say anything more. He went to the doorway, looked at the deserted street, and felt a mix of emotions.