Chapter 222: The True Bully is the Southern Jiang Prince, So Hate Him!
The voice was extremely sharp, instantly piercing through the entire hall!
Everyone was astonished and turned their heads to see who had the audacity to utter such outrageous words.
They found a burly man with a dark complexion standing out from the crowd. He pointed at Lin Beifan with great anger and said, “This official is simply talking nonsense! Does the Empress care about us? Does the court care about us? It’s all a joke!”
“Think about the grievances we’ve suffered over the years!”
“For years, we’ve been working diligently, farming the land, abiding by the law, and not causing trouble. But what have we received in return? Excessive taxes, harsh corvee labor, endless oppression!”
“We are bullied by the privileged, and when we seek justice from the officials, they turn a blind eye to our life and death! They protect each other, shelter the privileged, and only bully us, extorting money from us!”
“Think about it, where was the Empress back then? Where were the court officials?”
“Have they ever… considered us?”
At this moment, everyone’s hearts wavered.
Yes, over the years, where was the Empress? Where were the court officials?
Do we just let go of so much injustice like this?
Everyone fell into silence.
The dark-faced man continued to shout in anger, “Don’t sell your lives to them just for a few favors! They should provide us with grain because it’s our tax, our blood and sweat! Have we not paid enough taxes over the years?”
“I see it clearly; the court is simply afraid of us causing trouble, so they had no choice but to open the granaries! They only care about their own positions and power; they absolutely do not care about us!”
“In this great Wu court, there is not a single good person!”
“The Empress is a foolish ruler, and all the officials are corrupt!”
The officials and soldiers on the scene changed their expressions.
“Shut up! How dare you slander the Holy Empress!”
“Come, seize this man!”
…
Lin Beifan waved his hand and smiled, “Everyone, calm down. Let me reason with him first.”
The officials and soldiers stopped their steps and didn’t act.
Lin Beifan smiled faintly and asked, “May I ask your name and hometown, brave warrior?”
“What’s the point? Do you want to investigate me? I’ll tell you without fear. I am called Big Black Bull, just a small farmer from Southern Jiang. I’m all alone in this world, so I’m not afraid of death! I just can’t stand the way you officials behave—saying one thing and doing another, putting on a facade while secretly extorting money. So I couldn’t help but expose your true colors!” the dark-faced man sneered.
Lin Beifan asked, “Have you ever been to the capital city?”
“I’m just a humble farmer, busy with farming and tilling the land all day long. I haven’t even left my local village much, so how could I have had a chance to go to the capital city? Honorable officer, you’re asking such questions. Are you confused?” the dark-faced man scoffed.
Lin Beifan smiled, “Then I’m very puzzled! Since you have never been to the capital city, and you haven’t even left your local village much, guarding just your own little plot of land, how did you come to the conclusion that the Empress is a foolish ruler and the court officials are corrupt?”
“This… I heard it from others!” the dark-faced man hesitated.
Lin Beifan pressed on, “Who did you hear it from?”
“I can’t remember who exactly, but someone told me! Honorable officer, are you intentionally changing the subject by pursuing this question?” the dark-faced man argued.
Lin Beifan smiled again, “Big Black Bull, your words are truly ridiculous! As the saying goes, without practice, one has no right to speak! Since you haven’t even been to the capital city and can’t even remember who you heard it from, you actually use someone else’s words to refute my words, claiming that the Empress is a foolish ruler and the court officials are corrupt… But aren’t those other people’s words also fabricated? Can’t others twist the truth?”
Lin Beifan shook his head, “Big Black Bull, I really don’t know what to say to you! You are willing to believe the words of a passerby you can’t even remember, but you don’t want to believe my words! Did you have a momentary lapse of judgment a few days ago? Is your mind filled with mush, leading you to say such nonsensical words?”
“Hahaha!” Many people burst into laughter.
This retort was just too classic, using their own argument against them!
“Well, well, well…” The dark-faced man became increasingly angry and embarrassed. “But, over the years, we’ve been bullied by officials and the privileged, and that can’t be fake, right? I have so many fellow villagers here, and they can all testify!”
Lin Beifan asked, “Let me ask you, which official bullied you?”
“Jiangzhou Prefect!” replied Big Black Bull.
Lin Beifan asked, “Where is he from?”
“He is an official from Southern Jiang!” answered Big Black Bull.
Lin Beifan asked, “Why did he bully you?”
“For no reason, he just bullied me and wanted to extort money from me!” said Big Black Bull.
Lin Beifan asked, “In Southern Jiang, who is the highest authority?”
“Of course, it’s His Royal Highness, the Southern Jiang Prince!” answered Big Black Bull.
Lin Beifan asked, “If you were the prefect, would you listen to the Southern Jiang Prince’s orders?”
“Of course I would!” replied Big Black Bull.
Lin Beifan asked, “And all the officials in Southern Jiang, do they listen to the Southern Jiang Prince’s orders?”
“Of course they do!” said Big Black Bull.
“So, who is the one truly bullying you?” Lin Beifan asked.
“Of course, it’s the Southern Jiang Prince… No, it’s not like that!” Big Black Bull became somewhat flustered.
“Why can’t it be like that?” Lin Beifan smiled and said, “Look here, not only are there people from Jiangzhou, but also from Nanzhou and Hezhou. Without exception, they are all common people from Southern Jiang, and all of them have been oppressed! The fact that they are all gathered here can only indicate that the entire bureaucratic system in Southern Jiang is corrupted!”
“As the saying goes, ‘A rotten fish stinks from the head.’ It’s because the Southern Jiang Prince didn’t manage his subordinates properly, and even indulged them, that you have suffered so much hardship!”
“Therefore, all along, the one truly bullying you is the Southern Jiang Prince, not the Empress, not the court officials! If you want to resent someone, you should resent the Southern Jiang Prince, not the Empress, not the court officials!”
The whole scene was in an uproar!
But when they thought about what Lin Beifan said, they couldn’t deny the truth of it!
In the entire Southern Jiang, the Southern Jiang Prince held the highest authority!
All the officials in Southern Jiang followed the Southern Jiang Prince’s orders!
Their corruption, bribery, mutual protection, and oppression of the people were all done under the Southern Jiang Prince’s command or with his protection, allowing them to act recklessly!
So, the real root of the problem was in the Southern Jiang Prince!
It had nothing to do with the Empress!
It had nothing to do with the court officials!
The dark-faced man was sweating profusely. “It can’t be like that, it can’t be like that…”
“Why can’t it be like that?”
“The officials in Southern Jiang are ultimately officials of the court, so they should all listen to the Empress, right?”
“You’re saying… the mountain is high and the Emperor is far away!”
Lin Beifan said with a smile, “It’s 800 miles away from here to the capital city. It takes a day and night to deliver an urgent message over that distance. It’s easy to deceive the Empress in such a situation. There’s a chance to escape if you offend her. But if you offend the Southern Jiang Prince, there’s no way you can escape! So, if you were in their shoes, would you listen to the Empress or the Southern Jiang Prince?”
“This…,” the dark-faced man was left speechless.
He tried to stir up trouble again, “Our Prince is wise and martial, caring for the people. He’s definitely not the way you described him!”
Lin Beifan nodded with a smile, “Alright, since you say the Southern Jiang Prince is wise and martial, caring for the people, then why doesn’t he open the granaries for the millions of Southern Jiang people who are now homeless?”
“Because there’s no grain!” answered the dark-faced man.
“How did he manage to support his 600,000-strong army?”
“Well…”
Lin Beifan blinked, “Looking at it from a different perspective, isn’t he willing to let millions of people in his jurisdiction starve to death rather than lose a single soldier from his private army? Isn’t that what he means?”
“I… Can you please stop saying more?” The dark-faced man became angry and embarrassed. The more Lin Beifan talked, the more his master’s reputation would be ruined. How could he explain this when he returned to his master?
“So, everything is clear now!” Lin Beifan loudly addressed the disaster victims. “It’s the Southern Jiang Prince who abandoned you! Over the years, all the taxes and grain you paid were used by the Southern Jiang Prince to maintain his private army! But when you needed help, he didn’t even want to provide a single grain of rice! He drove you out of Southern Jiang and watched you starve to death!”
“All the oppression and grievances you suffered over the years were caused by the Southern Jiang Prince, not our court, and not the Empress! So, all this time, you’ve been hating the wrong people!”
“But at the critical moment, our Empress and the court disregarded past grievances, opened the granaries, and provided relief for you!”
“The difference between the two sides is clear!”
“With such great imperial favor, shouldn’t you feel grateful?”
“Is this how you treat those who show you kindness?”
The disaster victims knelt down one after another, feeling guilty and crying.
“I was wrong! All this time, I blamed the good people!”
“Your Majesty, I was wrong!”
“Your Majesty, please forgive me!”
…
Only the dark-faced man and a few others remained standing, looking very out of place.
Lin Beifan pointed at the dark-faced man and said, “Capture them, dead or alive!”
“Yes, sir!” The court experts moved forward.
The dark-faced man and his companions, seeing that their scheme had been exposed, quickly jumped up to a height of several meters and tried to escape into the wilderness.
The disaster victims, however, could see through their ruse. Someone with such great martial skills couldn’t possibly be a disaster victim. With those skills, they could easily hunt animals in the forest to feed themselves, so why would they need relief from the court?
Being amongst the disaster victims, they clearly had ulterior motives!
Feeling even more ashamed, the disaster victims saw through their deception.
In the end, due to being outnumbered, the dark-faced man and his companions were captured and brought back.
Lin Beifan waved his hand and said, “Kill those who spread deceitful words to deceive the masses!”
“Yes, sir!”
Cracking sounds echoed as several heads fell to the ground.
