Ming Dynasty: Is a mere unruly commoner rebelling against heaven?

Chapter 94: Confiscating the Wang Family of Jinghai!

People are easily influenced; once one person speaks up, the rest tend to follow.

Thus, the farmers in the room knelt on the ground, recounting the evil deeds of the Wang family one by one.

"The Wang family forcibly coerced me into selling them thirty acres of fertile land, thirty acres of fertile land, for only five hundred copper coins!"

"Previously, the Emperor had ordered Lord Wang to return the land he had seized from us, but Lord Wang gave all the land to this Lord Liu. We didn't get our own land back at all!"

"Sir, please do justice for us! Lord Wang's grain tax is too high; we really can't survive!"

"The common people don't ask to get their land back, only that the Lord can reduce some of the grain tax and leave us a way out!"

"… …"

Compared to the Zhou family of Changping, the evil deeds of the Wang family of Jinghai were actually somewhat restrained.

The Wang family only focused on seizing farmland from farmers, while the Zhou family not only seized farmland from farmers but also seized the Emperor's imperial estates, attacked passing merchant caravans, forcibly took women, and beat farmers to death.

Now, the Zhou family has been destroyed, with Zhu Youtang exterminating their three clans.

The Wang family is not far from destruction either.

Qin Lu instructed the West Depot agents to record everything the farmers said.

At this moment, a large team of West Depot agents arrived, numbering over a hundred.

The leader handed a secret letter to Qin Lu.

Qin Lu opened the secret letter, and the letter inside contained only two words.

Capture them.

Qin Lu closed the secret letter and immediately turned around, leading the West Depot agents away from Duliu Village.

Before leaving, the first farmer who spoke up mustered his courage and asked, "Sir, when will the West Depot uphold justice for us?"

Qin Lu glanced at him, not stopping his pace: "Now."

The farmer stared blankly at the departing figures of Qin Lu and the West Depot agents, lost in thought.

Someone pushed him from behind: "Hey, are you stupid? They've all left; what are you spacing out for?"

"I want to go to Lord Wang's house and take a look."

Suddenly, the farmer murmured to himself.

"What? Go to Lord Wang's house? Are you crazy?!"

Someone exclaimed in surprise: "You haven't finished paying this year's rent. If Lord Wang's people catch you, they'll hang you up and beat you again."

"But that sir just said that he's going to uphold justice for me now."

"I think they should have gone to Lord Wang's house."

"I want to go see, I want to go see!"

The farmer murmured to himself, his heart pounding, feeling that something was about to happen.

Then he immediately ran out of the hut and ran towards Wang Yuan's residence.

Leaving others shouting in the house: "Hey! Hey! Are you really going? Don't you want your life!"

Just as that person was feeling that this farmer was inexplicable, the other farmers in the house also stood up one after another.

"I also want to go to Lord Wang's mansion and take a look."

"Me too. I think that sir wasn't lying to us; he really went to uphold justice for us."

"Then let's go to Lord Wang's mansion together and take a look!"

"Let's go! Let's go!"

With one person taking the lead, the farmers in the house quickly reached an agreement, inviting friends and companions to go to Wang Yuan's residence together.

Seeing that everyone had left, that person shouted anxiously: "Hey! Hey! Why have you all left?!".

"Wait for me, I'm going too, I'm going too!"

After shouting, he also went out the door and ran towards Wang Yuan's mansion with the main force.

… …

Wang Family Residence.

Wang Jun, who had been in a coma for a long time, suddenly woke up from the bed.

"Third Master, you're awake."

The beautiful woman guarding beside him was filled with joy and quickly ran over to help Wang Jun up.

"Third Master, this concubine has prepared some meat porridge; it's still hot. Quickly eat some while it's hot, okay?"

Wang Jun looked at the gorgeously dressed beautiful woman beside him, tears suddenly streaming from his eyes.

"Xue Mei… … Alas… …"

Wang Jun wanted to say something but stopped, finally only left with crying.

Wang Jun's wife, Xue Shi, with her hands full of jewelry, gently caressed Wang Jun's cheeks, her face anxious: "What's wrong with you? Why are you crying?"

"I regret it so much, I regret it so much!"

Wang Jun lowered his voice, his tone full of regret.

"I regret so much that when my brothers forcibly seized the surrounding farmers' land, I didn't stand up to stop them."

"Now the two older brothers are stubbornly unrepentant, unaware that disaster is imminent. I regret it, I really regret it."

Xue Shi's heart panicked, and the jewelry on her head also shook.

"Third Master, what do you mean by this?"

Wang Jun took a deep breath and wiped away his tears: "It's nothing. I miss the child a little. Bring Huan'er in."

"Okay, this concubine will go now."

After Xue Shi left the room, Wang Jun got up and got out of bed, took out a wooden box from the cabinet, and inside the wooden box was a packet of white powder.

Wang Jun poured the powder into the rice porridge on the table and then stirred it evenly.

Before long, Xue Shi came in holding a four- or five-year-old boy.

The little boy was wearing a brocade hat and sable fur, with a huge jade pendant hanging from his waist. The value of this attire was equivalent to the harvest of an ordinary farmer working for twenty years.

"Dad!" The little boy called out to Wang Jun.

Wang Jun responded with a smile: "Huan'er is here. Come, sit down and have porridge with Dad."

"Okay!"

Wang Jun pulled Xue Shi and Wang Huan to sit down and scooped a bowl of porridge for each of them, and then the three of them drank the meat porridge together.

While drinking the meat porridge, Xue Shi suddenly heard a noisy commotion coming from outside the house.

"Who's outside? Why is it so noisy?"

Xue Shi got up and wanted to go outside to see what was going on, but Wang Jun grabbed her wrist.

"Never mind them. Let our family have a good meal."

"Okay."

Xue Shi smiled and sat down again, the family drinking porridge neatly together.

… …

After Qin Lu received Zhu Youtang's order, he immediately took the West Depot agents and rushed to Wang Yuan's residence at full speed.

From the moment he captured Liu Zong and Zhang Hai, Qin Lu had been transmitting information back to the West Depot while collecting evidence and investigating Rui'an Earl Wang Yuan.

In recent days, from the evidence provided by the Jinghai County officials to the testimony of the people, Qin Lu had clearly grasped the matter of the Wang brothers seizing farmers' land.

After arresting the Wang brothers, they could be convicted at any time!

Soon, Wang Yuan's residence appeared before Qin Lu's eyes.

At this moment, the gate of Wang Yuan's residence was tightly closed, and the inside was quiet, with no sound.

Qin Lu ordered: "Confiscate! The Wang brothers are to be captured alive. As for others who resist, kill them without mercy!"

"Yes, Second Head!"

With Qin Lu's order, hundreds of West Depot agents surrounded Wang Yuan's residence to prevent anyone from escaping.

Originally, Qin Lu had only brought a dozen West Depot agents to supervise the work of clearing and measuring fields.

In order to confiscate Wang Yuan's property, Wang Zhi specially selected a hundred more West Depot agents and sent them to Qin Lu to drive.

After hundreds of West Depot agents surrounded Wang Yuan's residence, someone stepped forward to knock on the door.

But the door did not open for a long time, so the West Depot agents broke in.

"Bang!"

The black lacquered gate of the Wang family's residence was chopped to pieces by the West Depot agents, and after a large number of West Depot agents rushed into the Wang family's residence, they discovered that it was filled with a large number of guards holding sharp blades.

Looking at the appearance and posture, it was exactly the same as the group that attacked Qin Lu before.

In addition, there were many servants and maids hiding behind the guards.

The guards gathered in front of the main hall, firmly protecting the main hall behind them.

"Who are you?!"

"This is the home of an official appointed by the imperial court. You must quickly retreat, otherwise, if the Great Ming Dynasty investigates, you will all die without a burial place."

Behind the guards, a middle-aged man dressed as a steward stood on the steps in front of the main hall, shouting at the West Depot crowd with a stern expression but weak inside.

Qin Lu snorted coldly: "We in the West Depot arrest officials appointed by the imperial court."

"Honestly explain, where are Wang Yuan, Wang Qing, and Wang Jun?!"

The steward looked flustered, his eyes constantly glancing outward.

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"This is the home of Liu Zong, the wealthy Liu. There are not those three people you mentioned. You've come to the wrong place."

"If you want to find Rui'an Earl, you have to go to Rui'an Earl's mansion to find him. What are you doing at the home of the wealthy Liu?!"

Qin Lu was too lazy to waste words with him: "Search!"

"Yes, Second Head!"

The West Depot agents immediately searched the inner rooms. The steward's face suddenly changed, and he shouted loudly: "I'd like to see who dares!"

No one paid attention to him, and the West Depot agents' footsteps did not stop.

The steward was unable to stop them, so anxious that his face turned pale and his whole body trembled.

And just as the West Depot agents were about to rush in front of them, those guards took the lead in attacking, wielding sharp blades and killing the West Depot crowd.

In an instant, the two sides engaged in close combat in the residence, unfolding a melee.

On the other side, the nearby farmers who had been oppressed by the Wang brothers for seven or eight years were coming in droves.

Under the leadership of the previous farmer, many farmers rushed to the Wang family's residence.

Along the way, they invited friends and companions, summoning all the farmers from the surrounding villages who had their fields forcibly occupied by the Wang brothers.

The farmers heard that an adult from the imperial court had come to stand up for them and cause trouble for the Wang brothers, and they immediately became excited.

One told ten, ten told a hundred, and in the end, there were hundreds of farmers who came to watch the excitement.

When they came near the Wang family's residence, before they even got close, they heard shouts of killing, screams, cries of pain, and pleas for mercy coming from inside the Wang family's residence.

These shouts seemed like some kind of magical spell, unlocking another kind of nature hidden beneath the farming talent of these farmers.

Their hearts beat fast, their breathing became rapid, their eyes turned red, their temples throbbed outward, and something was about to break free from their bodies.

They could not help but quicken their pace, coming before the Wang family's residence, and what greeted them was a tragic scene.

Inside the entire Wang family's residence, the ground, the walls, the doors, and the windows were covered with blood.

One by one, the corpses on the ground, with their eyes wide open, stared blankly at the sky.

The West Depot agents were covered in blood, chasing down all the guards who dared to resist the West Depot's capture with extreme ferocity.

And the Wang family's servants and maids were screaming and fleeing in all directions, looking extremely embarrassed.

These scenes impacted the brains of the onlookers, causing their blood to rush, and a kind of hostility was roaring and boiling in their bodies, urgently needing to vent it!