Duke Jing's younger sister

Chapter 144 A shocking case

The next day.

When Shen Zhiyan arrived at Qinghui Courtyard, Shen Li was sitting by the couch, concentrating on embroidering a purse for Shen Beiqi.

June 9th is his birthday.

There are only a few days left.

She was thinking in her mind that after the embroidery and sewing were completed, she would choose a suitable tassel.

Alternatively, you can tie a tassel yourself.

"Ali?"

Shen Zhiyan came in after lifting the curtain, and before she even sat down, she hurriedly asked,

"Have you heard about the incident in which Duke Liang massacred 20,000 people from six villages in Tongxiang?"

Shen Li paused while holding the needle, and her first reaction was disbelief.

Twenty thousand villagers, twenty thousand lives?

"real or fake?"

"of course it's true!"

Shen Zhiyan had just returned from Qiwu Pavilion. When she arrived, she was listening to the servant reporting the matter to Yang.

After learning the whole story, she was shocked and went straight to Qinghui Courtyard after leaving Qiwu Pavilion.

Xingping served a cup of cold tea. Shen Zhiyan hurriedly drank a sip of the tea and said in a hurried tone,

"It's all spread in the streets. The Liang family was ordered by His Majesty himself yesterday. Their property was confiscated and they were imprisoned. When the Dali Temple examines the witnesses and evidence one by one, it is estimated that they will not be able to escape death."

Tongxiang.

This place sounds familiar.

Shen Li thought for a moment, "Is it the Tongxiang where a mountain torrent hit three years ago, killing and injuring tens of thousands?"

"That's it!"

Shen Zhiyan said indignantly, "You said this Duke Liang, well - he is not a duke now!"

"Do you know that there is a huge saltpeter mine in Tongxiang? Liang Yuanzhong got the news somehow and wants to drive all the villagers away to mine the mine."

"But the amount of money given to the people as a relief was very small, so the people united as one and refused to move no matter what."

They were all hardworking people who added bricks today and tiles tomorrow to build those few houses.

They told us to move without any compensation, and no one would be willing to move.

"So, he eliminated all the people of Tongxiang?"

Shen Li found it unbelievable.

Is this something a human can do?

When people curse others, they often use words like "beast" and "worse than pigs and dogs" to accuse the other person of being unworthy of being a human being.

But in fact, pigs and dogs are much kinder than some people.

At the very least, they cannot kill more than 20,000 lives in their lifetime.

It’s twenty thousand, not two!

How could he do it?

"That's right. They sent out five thousand elite soldiers to kill everyone they saw from house to house, regardless of gender, age or status. There were large patches of blood on the grass and corpses everywhere. It's horrible to think about it."

Shen Zhiyan's description was vivid and colorful.

Shen Li seemed to see a village that should have been quiet and peaceful covered in blood, and even the air was filled with the smell of blood.

Feeling a little uncomfortable, she asked, "Such a big thing, Jiangdu City didn't know anything about it?"

Shen Zhiyan: "It is said that Liang Yuanzhong is cruel! Not only did he kill him, he also took advantage of the night rain to blow up the dam and flooded the entire area of ​​Tongxiang within a hundred miles."

"The bodies of those who were killed were washed into the rivers and seas by the flood. Even the emperor only knew that they died in the flood, not murder!"

Tongxiang, located in the south of Haizhou, is surrounded by mountains and has a low terrain.

There are many flash floods during the rainy season.

When the previous emperor was alive, he ordered people to build a dam reservoir upstream of Tongxiang.

The purpose is to enable the people of Tongxiang to intercept the water when they encounter serious mountain floods, leaving them a chance to escape.

The late emperor probably could not have imagined that the dam he built to benefit the people would eventually become a weapon in the hands of others to kill people and destroy traces.

They killed everyone first and then blew up the dam because they were afraid of leaving any survivors.

From the very beginning, Duke Liang had no intention of leaving them any chance of survival.

The more Shen Zhiyan thought about it, the angrier she became.

"Tell me, is this still a human? People say that the demons and ghosts in this world are terrifying. In my opinion, even the fox demon and evil ghost would feel ashamed in front of Liang Yuanzhong."

Shen Li nodded in agreement.

The terror of demons and ghosts is only an imaginary fear, but the terror in the human heart is real.

People are often deceived by a person's appearance, but they don't know how many secrets and malice are hidden deep in his heart.

"Since all the people of Tongxiang were killed and even their bodies flowed into the rivers and seas along the Hong River, who is reporting this case now?" Shen Li asked.

"It is said that the proprietress of Muxue Teahouse took her neighbor's brother up the mountain to collect herbs. Suddenly, they encountered heavy rain and did not have time to go down the mountain, so they hid in a cave. Fortunately, they escaped the disaster."

"Six villages, and only two people survived?"

Xingping was very angry when she heard this.

"This Duke of Liang is simply a demon. Your Majesty should sentence him to death by lingchi (a procession of thousands of years) and beheading him would be too easy for him!"

Muxue Teahouse?

In Shen Li's impression, since the opening of the Muxue Teahouse, Shen Beiqi would always go there to drink tea several times whenever he was in Jiangdu City.

She once went there secretly and saw that the proprietress was very beautiful, so she thought that he had developed feelings for Yue Niang.

She tugged at her sleeve and asked him vaguely when he was practicing calligraphy in his study. His fingers holding the brush were slender and white, not at all like the hands of a military commander.

"Why do you like going to Muxue Teahouse?"

He repeated her question and paused, "Why do you think of asking this?"

She pursed her lips and pretended not to care.

"I just saw you go there often, brother, and I wanted to know...is there anything delicious or interesting there?"

Or was there someone...who attracted him there?

He smiled slightly and continued to write with his head down.

"Where can there be anything delicious or fun in a teahouse? However, the tea there is brewed pretty well."

The tea is well brewed?

"Brother, do you like tea very much?" she asked.

So it’s because Yue Niang makes good tea that he often goes to Muxue Teahouse?

He nodded slightly and replied nonchalantly, "I like it."

The sun was shining brightly at that time, and beams of light shone through the window lattices onto his profile, as if giving him a layer of holy light.

He has a high nose bridge and thick, long eyelashes that droop slightly.

She could almost see the fine fuzz on his skin, like first snow falling on his cheek, soft and white.

If so, she can also make tea very well.

Could he stay with her for a little longer?

Now it seems that Shen Beiqi went to the Muxue Teahouse for other purposes.

Or maybe, it was because of his help that Yue Niang was able to successfully enter the capital and gain a foothold in Jiangdu City?