Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 102 I Didn’t Dare to Ask for Even an Acre

"We are ordered to arrest Shaanxi Provincial Inspector Lü Zhonghe. As soldiers of the imperial court, you should immediately lay down your weapons and not interfere!"

As soon as Wang Yangming arrived in Shangzhou, he immediately sent troops to surround Lu Zhonghe's residence.

The inspector had soldiers with him, so at this time Wang Yangming had to take out the imperial edict and announce his orders to the inspector and censor Lu Zhonghe and the officers and soldiers under his command.

Seeing this, the officers and soldiers under the command of Inspector-General Lu Zhonghe had no choice but to obey. After all, although the Inspector-General had soldiers, they were given by the imperial court, and the Inspector-General did not have the actual power to control these officers and soldiers.

However, as a civil servant, Wang Yangming knew that Lü Zhonghe was, after all, an imperial censor who inspected the local areas on behalf of the emperor, so he naturally gave Lü Zhonghe some face.

Wang Yangming did not lead his troops directly in, but instead asked someone to send a letter to Lu Zhonghe according to the rules of officialdom.

Naturally, Lu Zhonghe did not dare to refuse to see Wang Yangming, so he calmly asked someone to bring Wang Yangming in.

When Wang Yangming came in, he saw Lu Zhonghe having a meal, and the meal was extremely simple, just two steamed buns, a plate of vegetarian dishes, and a bowl of white porridge.

Wang Yangming couldn't help but laugh when he saw this: "Lü Xun is really frugal and honest, yet he eats such simple food!"

"I don't dare to claim to be honest. I'm not greedy. As for food, I've always eaten like this. Why did Wang Xueshi come to arrest me? Did I commit the crime of greed and cruelty?"

The inspector, Lü Zhonghe, laughed. He seemed to have no fear of Wang Yangming at all. He took off his official robe and pointed at the patched clothes. He said, "I am a bastard. My family was poor since I was young. I have been supported by the people of the Quannai tribe. After studying and becoming an official, I have always abided by the teachings of my ancestors. I only serve the people and do not harm others. Now, Mr. Wang, take a look at the clothes I am wearing. Do you think I am a corrupt official?"

"Inspector Lu may be an honest official, but he may not be a mediocre official. I am here to arrest you today because several villages in Sanyuan County were massacred by the Tartars. As the inspector of Shaanxi, I am afraid that Lord Lu cannot escape the blame. Therefore, the court has issued an order to bring you to the capital for strict interrogation! And to search your house for investigation!"

Wang Yangming took out the imperial edict and showed it to Lu Zhonghe.

Lu Zhonghe immediately slammed the table and said, "This is outrageous! Search now to see if there is any evidence that Lu has colluded with the Tartars or harmed the people!"

"In that case, Wang will not be polite!"

As Wang Yangming spoke, he winked at Yang Mao, the commander of Jueshengwei. Yang Mao immediately ordered the officers and soldiers to rush in and begin searching Lu Zhonghe's residence. They checked all the papers and documents, even the wardrobe, bed cabinets, etc.

However, Lu Zhonghe continued to eat calmly.

After a while, Yang Mao came back and reported the search results to Wang Yangming using sign language.

"What, nothing suspicious?"

Wang Yangming could not help but feel quite surprised, and hurriedly ordered in sign language: "Search again! Including the residences of his staff and family members! Don't let any of them go! Bring all the petitions, articles, petitions, documents, and orders to me, I want to review them one by one!"

Wang Yangming continued to chat with Lü Zhonghe, "Inspector Lü is really fearless in the face of danger. This time, several manors in Sanyuan County were massacred by the Tartars, and even the prince's guards were not spared. Isn't inspector Lü surprised? Didn't he investigate?"

"This steamed bun is good and sweet. Mr. Wang can try it." Lü Zhonghe avoided the question and seemed unwilling to be trapped by Wang Yangming. But in fact, Wang Yangming had already suspected that Lü Zhonghe might be related to the case of the villagers being massacred through his previous words, because after he read out the order, Lü Zhonghe actually directly told Wang Yangming what he wanted to find out. In Wang Yangming's view, it was obvious that Lü Zhonghe knew what he was going to do and what he wanted to find out.

After Wang Yangming confirmed that there was no evidence of crime on Lü Zhonghe's side, he said, "In that case, take Lü Zhonghe back to his hometown in Shanxi. If there is still no evidence of crime in his hometown, I will personally seek justice for Lü Zhonghe!"

As he spoke, Wang Yangming ordered, "Come here, take Lu Xun away!"

When the inspector Lu Zhonghe saw that Wang Yangming was going to take him back to his hometown in Shanxi and that he was going to search his hometown, he immediately became anxious and said, "Wang Shouren, what do you want to do? You are just a Hanlin poet, and you are even a flatterer who got promoted to Hanlin by flattering the emperor. What qualifications do you have to arrest a censor like me and even dare to search my house!"

"Just based on the imperial edict in my hand!"

Wang Yangming said.

No matter how much Lü Zhonghe struggled, no matter how much he scolded Wang Yangming, he could not stop Wang Yangming from following his orders.
When Wang Yangming brought Lü Zhonghe to Lü Zhonghe's home in Shanxi, they saw that the entire Lüjia Village was like a city, with every household having a high brick house and grain piles everywhere.

However, the difference is that this place has now been surrounded by soldiers sent by Wang Yangming in advance.

As soon as Wang Yangming arrived at Lu Zhonghe's hometown, he ordered the officers and soldiers to search and confiscate all kinds of land deeds from each household of the Lu clan, as well as a large number of granaries, even mountains of granaries, and a lot of them were new grain.

Wang Yangming also checked the land deeds and farm deeds, and couldn't help but say to Lü Zhonghe: "Inspector Lü, your clan's population is only a few hundred people as registered in the Ministry of Revenue, but why does it look like there are more than a thousand people here, more than ten thousand houses, and more than a hundred thousand dan of grain? Any one of these land deeds and farm deeds is more than a thousand hectares. Didn't you say that you are a bastard and your family was poor since childhood? Why is your family so rich now?"

"Those are family property, not Lu's property!"

Lu Zhonghe said.

"There are 115 hectares of fertile fields in Wuguiwan, Sanya Village! There are 800 hectares of fertile fields in Zhoujiakou!... These places are all the lands looted by the Ministry of War... And these are all! They are all fields stationed in Yansui, Guyuan and Shaanxi Xingdusi. How did they end up in the hands of your Lu family? Even if it is family property, you, Lu Zhonghe, cannot escape the blame for colluding with the Tartars to embezzle people's fields!"

Wang Yangming had been the director of the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War. He remembered clearly the reports submitted by local officials to the Ministry of War about those places being looted by the Tartars. Naturally, Lu Zhonghe could not hide it from him.

At this time, the patriarch of the Lu clan, Lu Guizu, was also brought in. When he saw the imperial soldiers raiding his house, he knew that Lu Zhonghe had committed a crime. He was anxious to distance himself from Lu Zhonghe and cried, "Excuse me, sir! These were obtained by Lu Zhonghe, who said he was offering them to his clan members, but we didn't know that he had embezzled them!"

Now that the people in the clan had betrayed Lü Zhonghe, and Wang Yangming had also produced evidence, Lü Zhonghe lost his confidence and knelt directly in front of Wang Yangming, crying with grievance:

"Master Wang, I didn't dare to take even one acre of these fields, nor did I dare to take even one stone of these grains. They all sold them to the Tartars for money, otherwise they wouldn't be able to support so many maids and servants!
If you don't believe me, ask me. I gave everything to my clan members! They asked me to do this, because everything I have was given by my clan members, and I have to repay them! But I am very frugal, I am afraid that people will find out that I am not honest, and I am afraid that I will not be promoted! If my clan members didn't ask me to do this, I wouldn't dare to do it, and I wouldn't want to do it!"

Wang Yangming didn't bother to care about the relationship between Lü Zhonghe and the Lü clan, and directly escorted Lü Zhonghe and all the members of the Lü clan and their confiscated properties to Beijing in accordance with the imperial decree.

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(End of this chapter)