amaotonovel Chapter 667 The Xuzhou gentry all hate Luo Tong
Chapter 667 The Xuzhou gentry all hate Luo Tong
Repeatedly jumping back and forth is an extremely dangerous and demanding task, because this is, after all, Cao Wei territory. If the Imperial Household Department discovers this, the Chen family will surely be wiped out.
But what makes aristocratic families aristocratic families is their courage to take big risks and gamble on major decisions that concern the survival of the family.
Therefore, after discussing with Chen Su, Chen Pi took action. The first thing to do was to figure out how to make Chen Yu fake his death in a reasonable way.
To avoid arousing suspicion, Chen Yu deliberately took a cold shower to induce a cold, then exaggerated his condition before announcing his death a few days later.
Given the limited medical resources available, many people died from catching a cold during this era, so this reason is not absurd.
Moreover, the severity of a patient's condition is determined by the doctor, and non-medical personnel have no say in it. A large family like the Chen family must have its own trained doctors, and it is impossible for them to betray the family at a critical moment.
So the day after Chen Su returned, news of Chen Yu's illness spread throughout Xiapi City. Upon receiving the news, Lu Qian, the governor of Xuzhou, Wang Xiang, the deputy governor of Xuzhou, and other officials rushed to visit him. What they saw was Chen Yu with a persistent high fever and a half-dead state.
Chen Pi only let them take a look before taking the visitors away on the grounds of potential infection, leaving Chen Yu at home to recuperate and await death.
Meanwhile, many major events were unfolding in Xuzhou. First, smuggling became increasingly rampant, with Xuzhou gentry going out to sea almost every day to trade with gentry in Jiangnan, bringing back large quantities of unique Jiangnan goods, which were then sold at high prices, making a fortune every day.
Along with the trade of goods, various novels themed around the imperial examinations also entered the country and spread wildly to all sides. There were even newspapers that serialized only one or two chapters of the novels. This greatly angered Governor Lü Qian, who immediately ordered the preparation of a detective team and wrote a letter to Luo Tong, the naval commander who had been appointed by Cao Pi as the leader of the detective team, to come to Xiapi to take charge of the detective team's affairs and quickly seal off all places to crack down on smuggling.
However, where there's a will, there's a way. Faced with the impending establishment of the detective team, the Xuzhou gentry used all sorts of methods to get their own sons into the team. In this way, if the detective team took action, the Xuzhou gentry would receive the news immediately and take measures to avoid it.
The Xuzhou gentry had a good idea, but they didn't expect that the detective captain Luo Tongqi was one step ahead. He actually took all the detectives recruited in Xuzhou to Qingzhou, and then brought the detectives from Qingzhou to Xuzhou, so that they could handle cases in different places.
Moreover, Luo Tong also militarized the detective team members. When there were no missions, the camp was sealed off and no one was allowed to enter or leave. When missions were carried out, the soldiers would act as a group. Even when going to the toilet, the entire group of soldiers had to go together. No one was allowed to act alone, in order to prevent them from being secretly bribed by the local gentry.
In addition, Luo Tong wrote to his stepfather Hua Xin, asking Hua Xin to help gather a group of people from Yuzhou, Jizhou, Bingzhou and other places to start training. He wanted to replace the existing detectives after a year and not allow the detectives to stay in their current positions for more than two years. In this way, even if the gentry tried to bribe the detectives, it would be a waste of money.
This move struck at the Achilles' heel of the Xuzhou gentry. In their first raid after the detective team was formed, they seized seven or eight merchant caravans that had just landed. Not only did they confiscate all their wealth, they also issued exorbitant fines to the caravan owners, forcing them to return all the profits they had made in the previous raids. If they refused, they would be punished according to the laws of the imperial court.
The gentry had no choice but to pay, their hearts bleeding as they watched Luo Tong take away their valuables.
Luo Tong's crackdown caused heavy losses to several captured aristocratic families, and also made other aristocratic families panic. They gritted their teeth when they mentioned Luo Tong.
However, the gentry of Xuzhou had no good solutions other than cursing, so they could only ask Governor Lü Qian to help persuade Luo Tong not to go too far.
Faced with Lü Qian's pleas, Luo Tong directly chose to refuse. He came from Jiangnan and had no roots in Jiangbei. If he wanted to survive, he had to be loyal to the court and Cao Pi and thoroughly implement Cao Pi's orders. Moreover, he had a deep hatred for Guan Xing Liu Bei, who had seized his family property, and he did not want Liu Bei's northern expedition to succeed.
Luo Tong was the commander of Ruxu in Eastern Wu in history. His abilities were beyond question. If he could put aside his personal interests and work for the public good, his abilities would definitely instill fear in everyone.
Therefore, in just half a month, the detective teams of Qing and Xu prefectures achieved one victory after another under his unified command, and the seized materials were enough for the detective teams to operate for half a year.
The detective team members needed to be paid, and daily operations also required money. However, the imperial court did not provide Luo Tong with a single grain of food. In the early stages, Luo Tong had to raise funds on his own. But the captured supplies were too valuable. After a series of operations, Luo Tong not only ate his fill but also managed to hand over a lot to the imperial court.
As a result, the imperial court cracked down on smuggling, and Luo Tong earned enough money to support his thousands of detectives. Only the gentry of Xuzhou suffered heavy losses, which angered them so much that they sent several waves of assassins to kill Luo Tong, but all of them failed. Not only did they fail, but they also angered Luo Tong, who intensified his crackdown.
After several defeats, the Xuzhou gentry, who had no way to deal with Luo Tong, began to curse Guan Xing. "Damn Guan Xing, aren't you the Marquis of Champion of the Age? Aren't you supposed to capture famous generals of Eastern Wu as easily as catching chickens? You've captured so many famous generals of Eastern Wu, how come you missed this piece of trash, Luo Tong?"
Amidst the curses of the Xuzhou gentry, Chen Yu, who had been "seriously ill" for many days, finally succumbed to his illness and tragically "died."
The Chen family held a grand funeral for him. All the officials of Xiapi attended the funeral, except for Luo Tong.
The aristocratic officials present had already made up their minds that if Luo Tong dared to show up, they would immediately swarm him and beat him to death with a flurry of punches, but unfortunately he didn't come.
The night after the funeral, Chen Yu, who had already "died of illness," secretly appeared at the seaside with more than a dozen confidants. He then sailed out to sea and soon arrived at the trading location with Zhang Xiu, where he saw Zhang Xiu's treasure ship transporting goods.
The two sides met in the cabin of the multi-story ship. Zhang Xiu looked over the cabin and saw Chen Yu's ship approaching. He said in surprise, "Why is there only one ship? You can't transport all this cargo in such a small boat."
Chen Yu shook his head and said, "Don't transport it anymore. That damned Luo Tong is like a mad dog, leading the reconnaissance team to attack everywhere. Recently, all the goods that landed have fallen into the hands of the reconnaissance team. The major clans have suffered heavy losses. Your batch of goods will be seized by Luo Tong as soon as it lands, and then become military supplies for Cao Wei to fight against the Han Dynasty."
"Uh..." Zhang Xiu asked in surprise, "What's going on?"
Recently, all the goods of the major aristocratic families have been traded at sea and intercepted by Luo Tong after landing. In other words, the Jiangdong aristocratic families who traded their goods at sea and then turned around and left did not know that such an oddball as Luo Tong had appeared in Xuzhou. Therefore, Zhang Xiu was extremely surprised.
Chen Yu sighed and briefly recounted the recent events in Xuzhou, saying, "The detective team not only blocked all roads leading from the shore to the city, but also sent cavalry to patrol everywhere. It's like setting up a huge net between the sea and the city, blocking all goods coming from the sea."
"Furthermore, Chen Yu has already passed away in Xuzhou. I am now called Lin Yu. I have no intention of going back this time. Please take me back to Jiangdong. I wish to request an audience with His Majesty (Liu Bei)."
Zhang Xiu turned to look at his own cabin, his teeth aching terribly, and said, "Taking you to see His Majesty is no problem, but what about all this cargo? I've been on the road for days, you can't expect me to bring it all back, can you?"