After the family fell, I wanted to lie down

Chapter 103: Strike

Hearing the sound of reading outside Yiyuan, Liao Chengyi's face became gloomy. This man arrested batch after batch, but the sound of reading outside never stopped.

"Aren't they afraid?"

Zhang Zhe said, "Perhaps it's because we are not Lu Gongqing after all."

This answer made Liao Chengyi even more angry. His voice suddenly rose and became sharp. "No, they are not afraid of Lu Gongqing. Lu Gongqing works for His Majesty. We also work for His Majesty. We are all people who work. There is no reason for them to be afraid of him and not us. He knows things that we don't know."

Zhang Zhe touched his nose helplessly and said, "How about we just do what they say and try a group of suspects first? Anyway, we have the final say on whether they are guilty or not."

This may sound strange, but it is actually very clear: whether a person is guilty or not is not decided by the suspect but by the person who interrogates him.

Liao Cheng said, "Okay, let's do as you say. Since they are like this, don't blame us for being cruel. We originally wanted to give them a few days off, but since they don't value it, don't blame us."

"I will just pick out a few troublemakers and make an example of them to scare the monkeys. Then we'll see what they can do."

Zhang Zhe responded with a yes, and was about to go out when a guard hurried in and said, "Sir, there are some people outside."

"It doesn't matter how many people come, just let them study..."

"Sir, no, they said they were the ones who salvaged the female corpse."

"They said that since their daughter didn't have the blessing to enjoy her life, they wanted her to be buried in peace."

Liao Cheng was stunned for a moment. For a moment, he forgot that there were two women killed by Lu Gongqing. When they first arrived, Lu Gongqing's guards refused to salvage them. Now it has been almost three months. They have been soaked in the water for three months. It is estimated that there is no evidence now. He turned to Zhang Zhe and asked, "They should be too old to find out by now."

Zhang Zhe said, "I can find out."

Although not all coroners are so good, Liao Chengyi didn't dare to take the risk. After all, once this matter became known to the world, it would have a huge impact. "Go, tell them not to salvage the body. Complaining about suicide is a great disrespect to the Queen Mother. They should be punished by being underwater and never seeing the light of day."

When the guards responded and were about to leave, Liao Cheng said, "If they make trouble again, we will say that their daughter actually wanted to drown herself that night and deliberately caused a commotion in order to buy time for the assassin. We will arrest them all as suspects and interrogate them."

The guards walked away quickly after hearing this. After a while, they heard louder noises outside, mixed with crying. Liao Chengyi was not afraid at all. "Humph, we work for the court, why would we be afraid of this group of unruly people? Everyone in Mo City is a hateful suspect. It's true."

Liang Jingtian only felt his eyelids heavy at this time. He tried hard to open his eyes but couldn't struggle open. There was a faint sound in his ears that came and went, until there was a splash, and a basin of water poured down from top to bottom, biting and cold. Liang Jingtian gasped and suddenly opened his eyes in anger.

Liang Jingtian was sitting on his bed, surrounded by a group of officials and subordinates, two of whom were holding wooden buckets. He lowered his head to look at his wet clothes, obviously woken up by being splashed.

"Sir, please forgive me." A group of officials bowed in panic and saluted. "We know that you work hard every day, but now it is really..."

Liang Jingtian then grabbed his sleeve and wiped his face and asked, "What time is it now?"

An official said, "It's a quarter to noon."

Liang Jingtian said, "This is not the right time." He still remembered that it was already past noon when Xue came to see him.

Other officials also replied, "That's the right time."

Liang Jingtian was surprised and said, "This can't be the noon of the second day."

The officials said again, "Your Excellency has worked so hard. You were so exhausted that you only slept for a day and a night."

This Miss Pei, she was the one who did it, it's bad, now it can't be...

Liang Jingtian suddenly staggered to his feet and said, "Tell me quickly, how is Yiyuan? Is there an accident?"

He guessed that something must have happened to Yiyuan, otherwise his subordinates would not have used the method of pouring water to wake him up.

This group of damn warriors only know how to stir up trouble. Now they’ve caused big trouble. They’re exposed, exposed.

You know, Lu Gongqing didn't find them for eight years, but now they were exposed themselves. Liang Jingtian was so angry that he wanted to beat his chest and stamp his feet.

A subordinate hurried forward and said, "Sir, don't worry, Yiyuan is fine."

Liang Jingtian was stunned. Is Yiyuan okay? He glanced at the people in front of him. They all looked pale and panicked. Does this look like everything is fine?

"Sir, Yiyuan is fine. Something happened in the city." An official said tremblingly.

Liang Jingtian asked, "What happened in the city?"

"Sir, the city is on strike." Everyone answered in unison.

Liang Jingtian stood on the street, feeling dazed. He had only slept for a day and a night, but it felt like a whole new world had appeared in Mo City.

The once prosperous streets were gone, the grain and oil shops were gone, and even the teahouses, taverns and even restaurants were closed. A group of bewildered people stood on the streets.

Suddenly, there was a strike, and the people's food, clothing, housing and transportation became a problem. "Hurry up, there are still shops open in Shilipu in the city, go and grab rice and grain."

Someone shouted from somewhere, and suddenly people on the street ran out. Liang Jingtian, who was standing on the street, only felt a gust of wind passing by him. Looking carefully at the street, there were people scrambling for food. Will prices rise next, not only in Mo City, but even spread to the entire surrounding area of ​​Mo City?

How could things turn out like this? This is not something that can be done by one person, nor by one or two people. Only when the entire noble families of Mo City work together can it be done. But why? How could they suddenly... "What on earth is going on?"

"Yesterday, I heard that someone from the Wei family went to Yi Garden to claim the body, and was arrested by Liao Chengyi as a suspect..." an official whispered, "The scene became chaotic at that time. I don't know what happened, but Mo City went on strike overnight."

"If Liao Chengyi hadn't treated everyone in Mocheng as a suspect, the people of Mocheng wouldn't have been uneasy and forced to reflect on their mistakes behind closed doors," said another official.

Liang Jingtian understood what he meant instantly. Now it was not the students' business, but the business of the scholars and the entire Mo City. Now the whole Mo City was about to be in trouble.

This is a big deal.

"Sir, please quickly meet with the four major families and the gentry. They must be involved this time." said an official who was involved.

Liang Jingtian raised his hand and said, "This matter is not urgent. I need to write a memorial."

When the report was submitted, the officials were stunned. Was he going to tell the officials in Xijing Road that something was going to happen here?

"We have already sent someone to inform them. We usually dare not conceal such a major event, and it is impossible to conceal it. The horses at the post station can spread the news much faster than the relay."

What’s more important now is that Liang Jingtian must gather all the major noble families in the city to negotiate as soon as possible to quell this buying war and avoid riots.

Liang Jingtian shook his head to stop him, "No, this government will report to the court. Liao Chengyi's tyranny has caused civil unrest, which has caused the people of Mo City to panic, the gods are angry and the people are resentful. The ordinary people of Mo City are living in misery."

What? The officials were surprised. How...how could this be possible?

"He is considering the people of Mocheng as suspects. As the head of a prefecture, I am also the number one suspect. I will write a memorial to impeach him and then ask to be imprisoned."

Things have come to this point, so let’s just forget about the so-called golden mean.

The other officials present understood what he meant in an instant. If they did not put the blame on Liao Chengyi, then the blame for the strike would have to be borne by themselves.

"You all continue to perform your duties, and don't worry about other things. Just protect the people. I will take responsibility for this matter alone."

After Liang Jingtian finished speaking, he flicked his sleeves and strode towards the government office.

The whole Mo City is now in an uproar. The remaining officials are pale-faced. How did things turn out like this?

How should this end?

On the eighth day of the tenth month of the first year of the Yongfeng reign of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Mo City fell into chaos, or to be exact, it had been in chaos for a long time. All shops in Mo City were closed, all trading stopped, and people began to panic buy. In just one afternoon, the price of rice had risen to four thousand per dou. Soon after, the counties and prefectures around Mo City also began to strike, and goods such as rice, grain, oil, and cloth were in high demand but had no price.

The most crucial thing was that Liang Jingtian, the prefect of Mo City, did not appease the people and dissuade them, but took off his hat and asked to be imprisoned. This caused chaos among the people and officials, and the strike still forced the market to close due to panic buying, but it eventually caused even greater panic.

Not only in Mo City, but also in other county towns, the streets were crowded with people. The people were almost in panic, thinking that the Daliang people had invaded and the government office was surrounded. Some angry people even threw rubble and smashed things at the government office. No one asked about what happened in Mo City, the source of the incident.