Chastity Layman

restless night.

At dawn, the people of Chang'an cautiously pushed open the crack of the door and looked out, and found that there were three steps, one post, five steps and one sentry on the street in the middle of the square.

The nine gates outside Chang'an were opened an hour later than usual, and opened slowly under the golden morning sun.

Last night, the bad people in Chang'an, who had been worried and frightened for half the night, were finally released from house arrest. They took to the streets in twos and threes, and began to announce to the public with drums and gongs.

Only at this time did the common people know that the big commotion last night was actually caused by the imperial court sending troops to clean up the Wuyou Cave in the dungeon.

Wei Zheng rode his little donkey, walking on the street, looking at these heavily armed soldiers, his face was livid. Because the gate of the workshop was blocked, Wei Zheng was also blocked in the workshop this morning. Even if he showed his title of participation in politics, the soldiers of the Zuojinwu Guard who belonged to the Zhenfu Division still firmly blocked the gate of the workshop. Let people in and out.

After passing many guard posts along the way, they finally came to the front of the palace.

But a servant announced that the morning court would be canceled today.

Wei Zheng is so angry, you should have said earlier about canceling it.

Furthermore, he is a dignified prime minister participating in politics, why did he not know anything about such a big move by the court? So what is his participation in politics called?

Wei Zheng directly asked to see the emperor.

But soon got another reply, His Majesty was gone.

It's already noon, so of course the emperor couldn't be still asleep. In fact, the emperor didn't sleep at all last night. Tens of thousands of people were dispatched from the outer city to whack hamsters. How could the emperor sleep?

Although he didn't say he was waiting in fear, he did read the book all night, with his ears pricked up all the time, and the commander in front of the temple would report the situation outside every half an hour.

At this time, the sky was bright and the emperor canceled the early court, but he had already summoned Chengqian, Qin Lang, Changsun Wuji, and Zhang Liang in the side hall to listen to their report on the results of the battle.

The emperor was very concerned about the results of last night's battle, and he knew with his ass that there was nothing good about Wei Zheng's plea for seeing him, so he simply didn't see him.

"Your Majesty, after a night's search and arrest operation, a total of more than 5,000 mice have been captured from the underground city." As the person in charge of direct action, Zhang Liang reported to the emperor.

Li Shimin was a little surprised when he heard the number of more than 5,000. Qin Lang reported that there were more than 10,000 people in this dungeon.

"Did someone tip off the news in advance, so that some mice escaped?"

"I can assure you that none of the fish slipped through the net during the operation last night. All the rats that were in the underground tunnel last night were caught."

Li Shimin asked Qin Lang.

"Didn't you say there are tens of thousands of people? How about a few thousand more?"

Of course, Qin Lang didn't dare to talk nonsense to the emperor. When he said tens of thousands of people in the underground city, he was referring to the time when the underground ghost market opened during the day. At that time, there would still be many ghost market merchants and customers in the underground city.

Furthermore, at night, there are also some people who are active in the dungeon during the day, but they do not actually live in the dungeon at night. After all, the conditions of the dungeon are actually very average.

"Your Majesty, based on these reasons, although we only captured more than 5,000 people in the dungeon last night, we also demonstrated fixed-point arrests in Zhufang, the outer city of Chang'an, and arrested more than 2,000 people."

Of course, not all of the more than 2,000 people in the outer city participated in the dungeon. It was just incidental to this time. These people are not innocent people. guy.

There were even some counterfeit and dirty vendors who were arrested this time.

In one night's operation, tens of thousands of people were mobilized, and more than 7,000 people were arrested.

"Among the more than 7,000 people, about 1,000 committed relatively serious crimes, such as kidnapping and blackmailing, abducting children, forcing people into prostitution, committing crimes with money, murder by robbers, robbery and theft, etc. Some barbaric illegal stayers."

"There are also many accomplices who just assist crimes, or commit crimes such as collecting and selling stolen goods, manufacturing and selling counterfeit goods, smuggling, defrauding, and hurting people."

"There are more poor people. There are escaped slaves, gamblers and businessmen who are in debt and bankrupt, and there are also disabled or seriously ill homeless people. In fact, many people just use the underground city as a refuge During the day, they do odd jobs in the ghost city of the underground city, or work in the three above-ground cities or neighborhoods of Chang'an to earn a living, but there is no place to live in the city, and they cannot afford to rent a house, so they live in the underground city. It's just a bunch of poor people living here."

Zhang Liang disagreed with Qin Lang's statement.

He said that the people in the dungeon didn't have any good people, but many disabled, sick and weak people, who looked pitiful, were actually untouchables. They were greedy and cunning, and they were also very vicious, and they didn't even have laws and morals in their eyes.

Qin Lang shook his head and said, "Mr. Zhang is also a person who experienced the troubled times at the end of the Sui Dynasty. In fact, these poor people in the underground city are very similar to the refugees who spread all over the world during the Sui Dynasty. They were originally good people, but they eventually fell to the bottom. Struggling to survive. In places like dungeons, for a bite to eat, someone will force them to trample on their moral conscience and the law, they are just struggling to survive, and they are helpless."

The emperor asked Qin Lang, "How do you think these people should be dealt with?"

"Quick interrogation. For those who committed serious crimes, they were sentenced to exile in Lingnan as slaves. Those who committed minor crimes were sent to Lingnan to farm. Ordinary people were forcibly moved to Lingnan to settle in Shibian."

Those who committed serious crimes were degraded to slaves, and they would never return to Lingnan until they died. When they went to Lingnan, they were lowly slaves, and they had to do the most tiring work. For minor crimes, they went to Lingnan to cultivate fields and became farmers on farms. Their status was criminal surveillance. occupants.

"Aren't you going to kill them?" Zhang Liang asked. He thought that many people had committed serious crimes, and not killing them would not be enough to cause the people to be angry.

"Your Majesty, I think that there are many people who have committed serious crimes. Killing them makes the law majestic, but it is too cheap for these people. Relegating them to slavery and letting them work in Lingnan to make atonement is the most severe punishment for them. punish."

Qin Lang couldn't bear to kill these guys. Those who really committed crimes were young and strong. These are high-quality and strong laborers. It would be a pity to kill them.

Now that Qin Lang is so short of people, if he kills one, he will lose one.

With more than seven thousand people, Li Shimin hesitated.

This is not seven hundred and seventy, it is more than seven thousand. In fact, the Tang court is also short of people, even in the most populous Guanzhong area, it is still very short of people. On the one hand, although there are too many people and the land is not enough, on the other hand, as the capital of the capital, there are many handicraft workshops in Guanzhong, government-run and royal.

In addition, those mines, saltworks, and even docks need people everywhere.

Changsun Wuji suggested to the emperor that all criminal rats should be confiscated and all property should be confiscated, and then exiled to Lingnan.

Of course, he didn't think these people could just be given to Qin Lang for nothing.

Otherwise, the imperial court can assign these people to the official handicraft workshops or mines of the imperial court as slaves. "For felons who have been demoted to slavery, the imperial court assigns Wu'an Prefecture to the Qin family to take care of them. The Qin family is responsible for the escort and supervision all the way. In addition, the Qin family paid 20 pennies to the imperial court for each slave."

Twenty guan, this is definitely more cost-effective than buying slaves. After all, these guys are young and strong, and slaves in Chang'an are very valuable now, especially if they are Han slaves.

Qin Lang frowned slightly, Changsun Wuji was cheating him.

Originally, he had talked with his eldest grandson before, and later made an agreement with the emperor, but he didn't say that he would give money.

"Your Majesty, I am powerless."

Li Shimin thought to himself, will Qin Sanlang have no money? But the eldest grandson's proposal is indeed a bit ugly. It is not appropriate for the court to arrest people, convict them, demote them into slavery and sell them to Qin Lang.

"How about this, the imperial court is responsible for escorting people to Wu'an Prefecture in Lingnan, and handing them over to the Qin family to take care of them. The Qin family will pay a total of 10,000 yuan for the escort and food on each Changliu slave road, how about it?"

The majestic emperor has started to bargain with Qin Lang, what else can Qin Lang do?

Qin Lang agreed, but proposed that only the slaves should be paid accordingly. The Qin family could escort the exiled petty criminals by themselves without paying the court. As for the others, the court would mobilize them to move south, and the Qin family would be responsible The expenses along the way, and the resettlement after arriving in the land, etc. In addition, the Qin family also gave each person a settling fee.

Changsun Wuji hoped that the Qin family would pay more money, while Qin Lang said that he wanted to resettle everyone there, which would actually cost a lot, especially among the people captured from the ground, many of them were old, weak, sick, and disabled. Yes, Qin Lang accepted these people, in fact, he has saved a lot of resettlement and relief expenses for the imperial court.

"Your Majesty, I know that there are still many prisoners in various prisons in Chang'an. It is expensive to imprison these people, and it is not an unstable factor. I request that some of them who have reached the penalty of exile should all be exiled to Lingnan. Going to Wu'an Prefecture, I am willing to accept these exiles, provide them with a place to stay, and organize them to cultivate wasteland and work in the land. I am also willing to be responsible for escorting them to the past, and I will release these people when the exile period expires."

"You are greedy." Li Shimin said.

Changsun Wuji asked with a sneer, "You need this and that, you haven't been to Wu'an Prefecture yet, and it's still in the hands of the Cochin barbarians, how can you ensure that you can control it, how can you ensure that these people can be resettled after they pass by?" can survive, instead of dying of illness or even starving to death?"

"Elder Grandson, I have His Majesty's support, and I have the determination and courage to develop Wu'an Prefecture, and I have Jiaozhou as my back. I believe it will not be difficult to settle there. The Qin family is also willing to give everything they have to develop and build the fiefdom of Wu'an Prefecture. " Qin Lang said firmly.

Seeing his resolute attitude, Li Shimin nodded in appreciation and said, "This is the spirit of a pioneer, well, since you dare to say that, then I will give you everything you want, but I also hope you can say to do it.”

In the end, the emperor even gave Qin Lang another big discount, no matter how many felony slaves and how many misdemeanors there are, or how many immigrants are forced to move, in short, Qin Lang only needs to pay the court 10,000 guan, and all these people , plus those in the prison, there could be more than 8,000 people in total, all given to him.

Of course, the imperial court is not responsible for the escort and escort, etc., all of which are handled by the Qin family themselves. Safety on the road, food and clothing, and even settling expenses are all taken care of by the Qin family.

Qin Lang responded immediately.

These 8,000 people still have to go through detention and interrogation, so Qin Lang plans to divide these people into several groups and move south in batches at that time.

The first batch of two or three thousand people will go south with him, and there will be knights, warriors and his personal guards accompanying him.

With so many thousands of people, Qin Lang estimated that when he arrived in Wu'an Prefecture, he should be able to quickly open up the situation and gain a foothold.