Great, it's just a lackey, we're saved!

Chapter 286 What the surname requests, this palace has no choice but to grant!

The Nanguang Army showed no mercy and immediately intimidated the crowd.

Man Yi then publicly announced: "Anyone who wants to test the sharpness of my blade is welcome to continue crying and howling."

For a moment, the convicts fell silent, and everyone could only look up at Jiang Yueli.

Although there was still hatred in his eyes, he simply couldn't bring himself to utter any insults.

When the Queen Consort of Ling saw this scene, a look of satisfaction appeared on her face.

"These cowards who bully the weak and fear the strong, they've finally met their match?"

The eldest prince held her hand and comforted her, saying, "Good and evil will eventually be rewarded."

As everyone was pushed into the pit, the atmosphere became increasingly tense.

The people were both afraid and curious; they dared not watch the massacre, yet they were reluctant to leave.

They even felt fear towards the bright yellow figure on the city wall!

This was completely different from the feeling towards the eldest prince, even though the people knew that the eldest prince was the prince of Ningzhou.

However, the eldest prince has never interfered in affairs and has not been known to have any tyrannical tendencies, so the people all think that the Prince of Ling is easy to get along with.

Unexpectedly, this Crown Princess was completely different!

Not only do they act in a high-profile manner, but their behavior also tends to be ruthless and cold-blooded.

When ordinary people saw that officials and their families were about to be massacred, they couldn't help but feel a strange sense of shared fate.

Jiang Yueli naturally knew that publicly burying and executing a convicted official would instill fear in the people.

But so what?

She was born as the crown prince and will eventually ascend the throne as empress.

Emperors, sitting high on their dragon thrones, are not inherently benevolent!

Just as the people were whispering among themselves, a man from the Nanguang army stepped forward, holding a stack of files.

Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, he began to recite aloud.

“In the eighteenth year of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Sun Wuyan, a military advisor in the Lingwang Mansion, for amusement, together with soldiers from the military advisor’s office, massacred fifteen villagers in Niujia Village, which was under the jurisdiction of Ningzhou Prefecture. They robbed and raped women. Afterwards, they disguised themselves as bandits and escaped. Later, the relatives of the victims in Niujia Village filed a complaint, but Sun Wuyan falsely accused them of colluding with bandits and imprisoned them to extort money.”

"Liu Shan, the head of the Lingwang Palace, claimed that the fiefdom was used to raise warhorses for defense. He demanded that every household in the counties and villages of Ningzhou Prefecture adopt a horse. He also said that the people were unable to raise warhorses, so the palace stables would raise them on their behalf. Each household had to pay a monthly amount of fine feed. The fine feed was expensive and the people could not afford it, so they had to sell their land and houses."

“Zhang Qi, the chief farmer of the Lingwang Mansion, has been forcing people to sell their land at low prices since the thirteenth year of the Great Zhou Dynasty, citing insufficient agricultural tax revenue. He also used household registration and travel permits to force people who had lost their land to become his tenant farmers, bringing their own food rations to cultivate the land. Over the years, he has forced countless people to their deaths and caused a large number of people to flee Ningzhou and become refugees.”

"The Spirit King's Palace..."

The soldiers of the Nanguang Army spoke loudly and clearly, enunciating each word distinctly, so that even the civilians standing behind them could hear them clearly.

As the officials' crimes were revealed one by one, the sympathy that had just arisen in the hearts of the people vanished instantly.

Countless people began to wail and curse, some even picking up clods of dirt and throwing them into the pit.

Man Yi stood aside and watched, without allowing the Nan Guang Army to stop them.

The common people standing here watching the spectacle today have almost all been oppressed by officials of the Prince's Palace.

Some people don't even know why their families were destroyed.

Now, upon hearing about the culprits' evil deeds, I wish I could kill them immediately!

The cries from the crowd gradually increased.

"I'm from Niujia Village. My wife died that night at the hands of bandits. But it turns out they weren't bandits at all, but you bunch of beasts!"

“My family’s fields are long gone. When my father died, we couldn’t even find a place to bury him.”

"My poor child! You died such a terrible death! You beasts, you beasts, I will kill you all!"

The cries reached the city wall, and the princess looked at Tan Lin.

"Mr. Tan, if this is the case, will the people still call me a tyrant?"

Tan Lin's expression was complicated. He looked at the people below who were crying out for justice, and his emotions were hard to calm down.

Zhou Wei then said, "The pain only comes when the rod is on you. Although this saying is somewhat inappropriate here, I am not mocking the people, but speaking about human nature."

"If the princess murdered these officials just for the sake of the two princes, the common people would naturally not feel the same way."

"Only when they know that the suffering they have endured over the years is all the work of these people will they stop having that useless sympathy."

Tan Lin turned to look at the servant and his master, and sighed inwardly.

In terms of understanding people's hearts, this servant and his master were probably no less capable than the emperor in the palace.

As more and more officials' crimes are revealed, the public's anger has reached its peak.

"Kill them!"

"Kill them!"

"Kill them!"

Someone shouted something, and the people immediately followed suit.

Amidst the deafening roar, the faces of the convicted officials inside the pit changed drastically.

Everyone knew they were finished!

Once public resentment arises, nothing can appease it except murder.

The people had been shouting for a long time, but the Nanguang Army had not taken any action.

Then someone knelt on the ground and shouted, "This humble citizen, Niu Er from Niujia Village, begs Your Highness the Crown Prince to do justice for me! I beg Your Highness to execute the traitors!"

Upon seeing this, the common people immediately followed suit, kneeling on the ground and shouting "Long live the Crown Princess!" begging her to make the decision.

Upon seeing this, the princess's cold expression softened.

She looked at Tan Lin and said, "Mr. Tan, you see, it's not that I want to kill officials today, but that the people are begging me on their knees, and I have no choice but to do it!"

Upon hearing this, Princess Ling tightly grasped the eldest prince's hand, her eyes shining as she looked at Jiang Yueli.

He whispered, "Your Highness, your sister is truly a hero! If every woman were like her, there would be no more oppression in the world."

The eldest prince grasped the hand of the Princess Consort Ling and said, "Therefore, only Yue Li is most suitable to sit in that highest position."

Tan Lin shook his head, then suddenly smiled.

He cupped his hands towards Jiang Yueli and said, "Your Highness's thoughts and ideas are beyond my comprehension."

The princess smiled slightly and took two steps forward, making herself visible to the people below the city wall.

"Fellow citizens, these officials, for their own selfish desires, have been levying exorbitant taxes and harming innocent people in the two prefectures!"

"Today, I, in accordance with the will of the people, will execute the guilty official and his family!"

"I know that my actions today will be criticized by the people of the world, and some will even say that I am cruel."

"So what? If today's brutality can bring peace to the people, I will gladly accept it!"

"I want the world to know that those who insult the king shall die! Those who insult the people are even more unforgivable!"

After he finished speaking, some of the people below began to wail and cry.

Man Yi looked up at the eldest princess, sighing inwardly.

Years ago, the princess was just an outstanding general; now, she is a born emperor.

Man Yi knew that what the princess said was just for show, but the people bought into it!

Not to mention the common people, even the soldiers of the Nanguang Army were extremely excited.

I wish I could follow the Crown Prince to the death!

Zhang Yong, standing in the crowd, was also trembling. He wanted to see these officials killed immediately.

But when he thought of the immortals outside the city, Zhang Yong hesitated again.

The eldest princess is so kind to the people, what if she is harmed by a deity?

Zhang Yong, who was usually not good with words, suddenly found courage.

Suddenly, he stood up, cupped his hands towards Jiang Yueli, and exclaimed, "Your Highness, there is a deity outside the city who is colluding with these officials. This deity is extremely powerful, Your Highness must be careful!"

Zhang Yong's reminder also calmed down the people who were begging Jiang Yueli to kill someone.

Yup!

They almost forgot that there was a deity guarding the city from the outside.

Seeing the fear on the faces of the people, the princess looked at Zhou Wei.

Zhou Wei immediately stepped forward and said loudly, "Fellow citizens, there is no need to worry. The person outside the city is not a god, but an evil spirit!"

"Only true cultivators from blessed lands deserve to be called immortals! The princess has eminent monks from Kongshan Temple and great scholars from Zhengshan Academy under her command."

Following Zhou Wei's direction, the people looked at Tan Lin and Zhu Qi, who were standing next to Jiang Yueli.

Tan Lin couldn't see anything amiss, but Zhu Qi's head clearly belonged to a monk.

At this moment, Zhou Wei said, "That so-called immortal was killed by the princess's master a few days ago. From then on, no one dared to cause trouble in the two mansions!"

When the people heard this, they were shocked to learn that the immortal had actually died, and had been killed by the Crown Princess's subordinates.

The way they looked at Jiang Yueli immediately changed.

A crown prince who can be assisted by cultivators from blessed lands must be a wise ruler born!

The people shouted even louder, and their expressions became even more fervent.

Seeing that the time was ripe, the eldest princess waved her hand and said, "Soldiers of the Southern Pass Army, listen to my command: fill in the soil!"