Compared to Xie Jun on the shore, who was on high alert and dared not relax, a suspicious person was indeed caught on the outskirts shortly afterward. After interrogation, it was discovered that he claimed to be a victim of Xin Ling, whose family business had collapsed because of Xin Ling. So he had decided to assassinate him in a moment of despair.
Xiwei made a special investigation to find out what the new decree was; it turned out to be a commercial tax. However, the commercial tax was not as alarmist as it seemed. Zhang Changle had inquired and found out that the perpetrator was involved in a corruption case, specifically a corruption case in Bingzhou.
Bingzhou is the territory of the Duke of Zheng. These past few days, the Duke of Zheng has run into trouble and has been targeted by Marquis Shi'an. It is believed that before long, Marquis Shi'an will be able to take credit for the Duke of Zheng.
After the new regulations were implemented, Weidu not only did not decline, but even prospered, dispelling the doubts of many merchants.
The Xiaoyao Palace was making hundreds of taels of gold every day, making Arufu even more reluctant to leave. In the past, the Xiaoyao Palace had always been secretive and dared not commit crimes against the wind. Now, the Xiaoyao Palace boldly allowed ordinary people to enter, and not only did nothing wrong, but it was also bustling with customers.
This allowed Arufo to achieve even greater success than Kenzie.
Dan Yuhou waited at the dock for a while, but Xie Bing didn't cause any trouble. Xie Zhu ordered their arrest, and he also heard that the Xie family was very fond of Xiaoyao Pills, ordering thousands of pills each time, almost exceeding Xiaoyao Palace's sales for two years. Xiaoyao Palace then requested an increase in supply from the north, but unexpectedly, they were sold out immediately. He couldn't help but put his suspicions at ease. Thinking that every Xie Bing was addicted to drugs, Dan Yuhou couldn't help but feel secretly smug.
At that time, Your Majesty will not need to personally lead the expedition; the Xie army in the southern Central Plains will naturally fall into disarray, allowing the Huns to trample them underfoot!
A hundred years ago, the Xiongnu were able to occupy the north; a hundred years later, they can occupy the entire south!
Dan Yuhou still did not go ashore. Xiexia received intelligence that the master above had sent a signal: the master went boating on the lake yesterday, and the three thousand guards on the shore were on guard.
It's the marshal's code!
Three thousand people immediately ransacked the Xiaoyao Palace, a place that had brought disaster to the country and its people.
Two thousand only need to defend against single rain.
Chapter 104 The Fire Sells of Xiaoyao Pills in Weidu
Xie Xia immediately issued an order to contact the government. The several cases of Xiaoyao Palace that the government had previously dared not handle were now brought to the table for trial in the courtroom.
The common people, merchants, and officials who had been harmed by Xiaoyao Pills were all gathered together by Xie Xia, who declared that they would seek justice for their innocent relatives.
The victims' families cooperated and gathered a group of over a hundred people to go to the government office to report the case.
"My lord, my son died from an overdose of Xiaoyao Pills. It must be Xiaoyao Palace that is harming people!"
"We beg you, sir, to do justice for our innocent family members!"
"The Xiaoyao Palace has ruined my family and caused my death. Even if I am killed today, I will go to the capital to appeal to the emperor!"
"The two masters of Tianjing love their people like their own children; they will not stand idly by!"
The county magistrate was a member of the Xie family, and he immediately ordered his constables to summon Arufu.
Arufu was counting gold in the storeroom when he was suddenly summoned by the yamen runners. He offered them money, hoping they would give him a heads-up, but they remained silent, refused the money, and simply left.
Arufo's eyelids twitched. Could it be that Shan Yuhou was right?
Whether it was true or not, he had to go, because the gold in the warehouse had not yet been delivered to the dock, so he had to go to the government office to buy time. He also ordered his men to inform Shan Yuhou.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the Xiongnu guards left Xiaoyao Palace, three thousand black-armored soldiers surrounded the palace, making it impossible for anyone to get through. The nearby people were so frightened that they dared not show their faces and stayed inside their doors.
The Hu and Xiongnu guards were caught with their mouths covered before they even left the gate.
Arufu was startled when he went out with his men. Xie Xia arrived with his men shortly after and asked him to go to the government office for a public trial.
"General Zuo, what do you mean by this? I am King Shang of the Hun. Seeing me is as if you were seeing the King. How dare you arrest me!"
Xie Xia sneered: "Your Majesty? The Central Plains has always only had an emperor. Besides, there's a saying that's true: princes are subject to the same laws as commoners. Even if your king breaks the law, he must still be punished!"
"Your Xiaoyao Palace's production of poisons has harmed innocent people, causing their families to be torn apart, their lives to be lost, and their souls to be separated by death. Your crimes are simply unforgivable!"
"Arrest him and hand him over to the authorities immediately!"
Two Xie soldiers grabbed the man, covered Arufu's mouth, and headed towards the government office. The Hu and Xiongnu guards rushed out to abduct him, but Xie Xia ordered his soldiers to stab the man to death without hesitation.
Then let the remaining people raid the house in advance!
While Arufu was being escorted, Shan Yuhou's men sneaked ashore and killed Xie Jun, who was escorting him.
The messenger said you must flee immediately!
"But the gold hasn't arrived yet..."
"Life is at stake!"
Arufu was unwilling to flee with his rescuers. He would occasionally glance back at the direction of Xiaoyao Palace, where black smoke was rising. Those damned Central Plains people had begun burning his Xiaoyao Pills.
This is all his gold! Arufo was heartbroken.
The sudden siege of Xiaoyao Palace caught the Hu and Xiongnu merchants in Weidu off guard, and they were all wiped out by the hidden sentries.
Only Shan Yu was waiting at a dock. He brought Arufu to the boat and was about to leave Weidu. The current was strong today, and the boat was moving very slowly. Xie Jun quickly came to catch up with a larger boat.
Seeing that the large ship was about to catch up with their small boat, Shan Yuhou ordered two gunmen to strike the ship's guns in desperation. With two loud bangs, Xie Jun's captain was shot through the shoulder blade, and another soldier fell directly into the water and drowned.
"What, what is that?!"
"The captain is injured! Quickly step back and don't get too close!"
"What kind of weapon is that? It can shoot farther than a bow and arrow!"
An archer, his face grim, shouted, "Three hundred and twenty meters in total!"
"Get at least 300 meters away immediately!"
The large ship quickly slowed down, giving the smaller ships a brief respite to change direction and continue their escape. They were approaching the crossroads of the harbor. Shan Yuhou immediately ordered two arquebusiers to fire on anyone they saw at the crossroads, especially the generals, and to shoot the leaders first.
Xie Jun arranged for two thousand men to guard the shore. The generals' helmets and armor were clearly different from those of the soldiers. Two musketeers killed the captain directly, leaving Xie Jun's men leaderless.
Xie Jun sent someone to inform Xie Xia.
Xie Xia was ordering people to move boxes of Xiaoyao pills and pile them up on the street corner. The rebellious Hun people were executed. Nearby people heard the cheers of the Weidu people, which did not sound like fear, and they opened their doors to see what was happening.
Only then did the people of Weidu realize that what they had always thought was harmful was finally carried by Xie Jun to a street corner to pile up firewood, set up a pot of seawater to boil the Xiaoyao Pills, Xie Jun evacuated the nearby crowd, then brought lime to mix the boiled Xiaoyao Pills together, and then piled them into mud.
Then set fire to some of the accompanying items. With a whoosh, the fire spread instantly. Once the Xiaoyao Pills were almost completely mixed with lime, they could be transported by ship and dumped into the sea, thus burning the harmful Xiaoyao Pills.
The firelight illuminated Xie Jun's black armor, making his cold and menacing figure seem less frightening. The people near Weidu gathered to watch the raging fire engulfing the harmful Xiaoyao Pills.
Xie Xia felt like vomiting just from the smell of the cigarette; he really didn't understand what was so appealing about being addicted.
Recently, Xie Jun has been trying to arrest people from Xiaoyao Palace, and more than a dozen of them have become addicted to drugs. Xie Xia thought that since the dangers of Xiaoyao Pills were going to be publicized anyway, he might as well have these dozen or so people quit in front of everyone, so as to serve as a warning.
Soon a centurion rushed over: "Report! Captain Xie Hong has been killed by a hidden weapon from the Huns!"
Another centurion ran up: "Xie Tian, Captain Xie Tian has been killed in action!!"
Xie Xia's old subordinate suddenly died. He felt dizzy and couldn't help but take two steps back, shouting incredulously at them, "What nonsense are you talking about? My two brothers were quite far away, how could they die!"
"It's a hidden weapon from the Huns, the same hidden weapon that killed Xie Fengqing earlier. They specifically target the leaders. Now that there's no leader on the shore, nobody knows whether to continue the pursuit, or how to pursue it!" At this moment, the weakness of obeying orders is exposed. Xie's army is known for its strict hierarchy, and no one can override their superiors. If their superiors are not here, they cannot be replaced. They have to wait for someone to make arrangements.
The centurions dared not go rashly, so only the bravest continued the pursuit. But halfway there, the enemy fired flaming arrows, burning both men and boats. The soldiers jumped into the water to save their lives.
If they then mustered their troops to pursue, Shan Yuhou and Arufu's ship had already left the harbor. The two men had escaped. Now only two Hun ships remained to cover the rear.
Xie Xia recalled the cannons that the marshal had allowed him to bring, because after the Ministry of Works and the warehouse merged, the production of cannons had increased, but there were problems with the cannon barrels.
Now, we can throw the boulders by hand!
He immediately ordered, "Prepare ballistae at the harbor and slaughter the remaining two pirate ships. We cannot let them escape under any circumstances!!"
"Yes!" Upon receiving the new instructions, the centurions immediately prepared ballistae, which had a range of about 1,300 meters. Once the mortars were attached, they would need mortars with fuses long enough to reach that distance.
Soon the gunners had their ballistae nocked and were firing two cannonballs at the remaining two arrogant ships.
Bang! Bang! The explosion shattered the ship's hull. The two gunners on board, who had been gloating that their two muskets could keep the Central Plains people at bay, were stunned into disarray by the blast. They and their weapons fell into the river.
The gold and the remaining Xiaoyao pills on the ship all sank to the bottom.
The only survivors, Shan Yuhou and Arufu, waited on a safe riverbed, but the other two boats never arrived.
Arufu slapped his thigh in anguish and cried out, "My gold! My magic pills!! How can I explain this to the king!"
"Stop yelling. Luckily, the current is strong. If they fall into the river, their guns will be unusable after being submerged. We don't need to worry about them being retrieved if they sink to the bottom of the lake." At this moment, Shan Yuhou was most worried about firearms. The two explosions just now were probably from the Southern Region's artillery.
He hadn't expected the cannons in the Southern Region to be so powerful and able to shoot so far. If he hadn't estimated the distance visually, the ship would have been at least 300 meters from the shore, well outside Xie Jun's firing range. The only possibility was that the enemy had used ballistae with cannons attached to them to blow up the ship.
"This is troublesome. I thought the Lord of the Southern Region was just a paper tiger. What kind of cannon is this? It's just a loud bang and it can't possibly shoot as far as a bullet." Shan Yuhou's expression was extremely solemn. At this moment, he had to put away his contemptuous gaze towards Xie Jun because of the power of the cannon.
Arufo had no interest in listening to him. He was simply lamenting the loss of the gold.
Dan Yuhou analyzed Xie Jun's approximate firepower. The power of the cannon was greater than that of firearms, and their guns also needed to select sharpshooters with good eyesight, all of whom were top-notch marksmen.
There's a saying among the Xiongnu: two firearmsmen are equivalent to two thousand men. Now, losing two is equivalent to losing a thousand.
"It seems we need to think twice before even haggling." Shan Yuhou was known for fawning over the powerful and belittling the weak.
But in the eyes of the Hu and Xiongnu, he was indeed a capable envoy, and his greatest strength was his ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
Arufu replied, "I must report this to the King and order him to immediately send troops south to avenge the dead Huns and Xiaoyaowan!"
Most importantly, it's his gold!
Dan Yuhou didn't listen to any of that; he was only thinking about how powerful that cannon was and how to report it to the king.
When such a major incident occurred in Weidu, Si Lei woke up the next morning to learn that all the Hu and Xiongnu merchants in Weidu had been arrested and interrogated. Anyone with close ties to Xiaoyao Palace was arrested, while those without connections were released. A large number of Hu and Xiongnu merchants were terrified and fled by boat overnight. The incident also alarmed merchants from other regions.
If Xie Xia hadn't been in such a hurry to hold a funeral for his subordinate, he would definitely have gone to explain first.
Xie Xia examined the wounds of the two men; both were shot in the chest, killing them instantly. They died without pain, but their deaths were too unjust!
After the coroner dug out two pointed beads, he wrapped them in a handkerchief and ordered a fisherman who was good at swimming to retrieve the belongings of the two gunners.
The fisherman retrieved the bodies of the Hun firearmsmen and their weapons, discovering that they had been clutching their weapons tightly until their deaths.
The coroner's examination of the body revealed that the gunner had no fatal wounds; he had simply been stunned by the shockwave and drowned after falling into the water.
Xie Xia immediately issued a firm order: "Bring the muskets and rifles back to Tianjing overnight, and the riders must personally hand them over to the Marshal!"
"Yes!" the rider shouted.
Chapter 105 The Impact of the New Decree
Although the incident involving the Weidu fire was only a local event, it shocked the entire country, especially the fact that more than a dozen members of the Xie family were publicly displayed for drug use, terrifying hundreds of thousands of people. This further amplified the propaganda against the harmful effects of Xiaoyao Pills.
This caused various vassal states to become wary of Xiaoyao Wan and boycott it among themselves, thus making the reputation of Hu-Xiongnu merchants infamous.
People outside the region spread rumors that the Hun people's goods contained poison, and that they used poison to control people, forcing them to buy poison to prolong their lives, thereby draining their victims' wealth. This simple and easy-to-understand rumor circulated widely throughout the country.
Because two of Xie's reserve generals had died, Xie Xia held a grand funeral in Weidu, inviting people of all ranks in Weidu to pay their respects. This was to ensure that the people of Weidu remembered the two martyred generals, Xie Tian and Xie Hong.