Fang Yuan arranged Zhu Cizhi in the old mansion provided by Shi Kefa as the Yongwang Mansion, and personally introduced Mao Bijiang as Zhu Cizhi's teacher.

No matter how dissatisfied Zhu Cizhi was, he didn't dare to disobey the arrangement of his teacher Fang Yuan, so he could only honestly accept this fact.

Fang Yuan arranged everything in Yangzhou Mansion, leaving only a team of 100 Shenji Battalion to guard Yongwang's Mansion, so he led a large army to Suzhou Mansion and arrived at Fengqiao Wharf in Suzhou City five days later.

Unlike the grand occasion when hundreds of officials and wealthy businessmen came out to greet them, although Fang Yuan had informed the Suzhou government in advance, there were very few government officials who came to greet him, and even the prefect Chen Hongmi was nowhere to be seen.

Only Li Xiaokong, who knew the same as the government government, led more than a dozen government officials to line up at the wharf to greet them, but the rich businessman did not see him.

The dozen or so officials who came were also listless and unkind, not like they had come to greet them, but as if they had come to mourn.

Fang Yuan was secretly angry when he saw this cold and depressed scene, and the gentry and wealthy businessmen in Suzhou Mansion, including even the prefect Chen Hongmi, not only did not give him face to Fang Yuan, but also did not give face to Zhu Cihuan, the king of Wuyue.

Qin Zhan said, "Boss, they are clearly slapping you in the face!" ”

Fang Yuan snorted coldly and said, "These gentry and wealthy businessmen are playing non-violent and non-cooperative with me!" ”

The so-called non-violent non-cooperation is a disguised soft resistance, which neither clashes head-on with Fang Yuan and his party, nor cooperates with any of Fang Yuan's work.

Fang Yuan endured his anger, got off the boat with a calm face, exchanged a few words with Li Xiaokong, a fellow acquaintance who came to greet him, and then asked where Chen Hongmi's was going.

Li Xiaokong said embarrassedly, "The prefect is educating the villagers, so I have prepared a dust-washing banquet for the governor." ”

Chen Hongmi's attempt to educate the villagers at this time was to fool Fang Yuan as a fool.

"The officials and wealthy businessmen of Suzhou Mansion really know the rules so well, haha!"

Fang Yuan sneered and said, "The dust washing banquet will be waived!" Within two days, the Suzhou government will hand over to me all the accounts of the annual tax payment of all the gentry who have made meritorious contributions and above since the year of His Majesty's accession to the throne, as well as the wealthy merchants with a fortune of more than 100,000 taels of silver, including the land tax, commercial tax, and city tax, and I will examine them one by one! ”

He coldly dropped such a sentence, then ignored Li Xiaokong, and shouted at Jing Jie in the back, "All the Jinyi Guards, Xuanjia Army, and Shenji Battalion sergeants have entered the city!" ”

If such a group of tiger and wolf divisions entered Suzhou City, they didn't know what would make a disturbance in the city, Li Xiaokong was shocked when he heard it, and hurriedly refused, saying, "There is no place for the sergeants to be stationed in the city, and the entourage of the governor is still stationed in the guard post outside the city!" ”

Originally, the sergeant was stationed inside the city or outside the city, Fang Yuan didn't care, in order to avoid the panic of the people in the city when he was in Yangzhou, he would still choose to garrison outside the city.

However, if it is said that the officials and wealthy businessmen of Yangzhou Mansion are still yang and yin, they can still get along with Fang Yuan in terms of face. The officials and wealthy businessmen of Suzhou Mansion made it clear that they wanted to confront Fang Yuan to the end. Since they came to slap Fang Yuan's face in public, Fang Yuan didn't bother to give them face again.

Fang Yuan stared at Li Xiaokong coldly and said, "Li Tongzhi hasn't understood yet, from this moment on, I will take over all the military and political affairs of the Suzhou Mansion." Except for the officials related to taxation, who stayed in the government to listen to the report at any time, everyone else waited at home for news. The Suzhou Mansion, as well as all the pavilions, I borrowed them. ”

Li Xiaokong saw that he had made such a big move before he entered the city, and immediately terminated the daily work of the entire Suzhou Mansion, and was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat, and said in a loud voice, "Lord Governor, what are you going to do?!" ”

Fang Yuan said in a cold voice, "What do I want to do, I need to tell you Li Tongzhi?" Remember, if you can't pay the tax accounts for 15 years within two days, you, the same acquaintance, and Chen Hongmi's prefect, will be exempted! ”

Li Xiaokong was in a cold sweat on his forehead, he had only heard of the other party's original resolute style before, but now that he had experienced it himself, he knew that the rumors were true.

He had already secretly regretted that he had come to carry this pot for the prefect Chen Hongmi, but now he couldn't even get out of himself, so he wiped the sweat from his forehead, "Yes, yes, Lord Governor, I'll go and prepare immediately." ”

Fang Yuan entered the city with 3,000 people, and arranged Jing Jie, Su Hongyu, and the 900 Shenji Battalion in the two big pavilions in the city; Chigutai and Li Zongze's 1,000 Xuanjia troops were arranged in Xu Hua's Taoyuan Garden, as well as in the nearby houses belonging to the Taoyuan industry.

Fang Yuan secretly ordered Jing Jie, Chigutai and others to be vigilant at all times, not to slack off in the slightest, and once something happened, they must respond to each other.

After explaining this, Fang Yuan and Qin Zhan led a thousand brocade guards to directly settle in the Suzhou Mansion and drive away all the officials who occupied the mansion.

At nightfall, Xu Hua of Taoyuan organized all the manpower and material resources available to provide food and shelter for Fang Yuan's three thousand sergeants.

Fang Yuan had a supper meal with Xu Hua, and then called Qin Zhan and ordered him to go to the Jinyiwei office in Suzhou City the next day to extract the information on the land owned by the gentry and wealthy merchants investigated by Jinyiwei, and then compare them with the tax records provided by the government one by one to verify the amount of land owed by these gentry and wealthy merchants.

Xu Hua said worriedly, "Governor Fang, you made such a big move as soon as you came, if you caused a civil uprising in Suzhou, how should it end?" There is a tradition of civil unrest in Suzhou Prefecture. ”

Fang Yuan said in a deep voice, "Heavy punishment is used to govern the troubled times, the punishment for the civil unrest in Suzhou last time was too light, Your Majesty is very dissatisfied, if Suzhou Mansion dares to riot again, it will not be as simple as spraying some chili water and tear gas." ”

Before Xu Hua could say more, Fang Yuan asked again, "There was a civil unrest in Suzhou Mansion, did the local wealthy merchants gather tens of thousands of people, killed the soldiers sent by the imperial court, and finally handed over five people without pain, and what kind of tomb of the five righteous soldiers were built?" ”

Xu Hua is a native of Suzhou, and he is very familiar with the tomb of the Five Righteous Warriors, so he hurriedly said, "Yes, there is a small temple outside the gate to worship incense." ”

"The five murderers still offer incense?!"

Fang Yuan's eyes shot out a terrifying cold light, and he said slowly, "Okay! Good! I'm going to go outside the gate and see the tomb of the five righteous people. ”

Xu Hua heard a strong murderous intent from his words, and he didn't dare to answer again, but he didn't dare to lie down in this troubled water.

In the early morning of the next day, Fang Yuan was sleeping with Xiao Yuan in his arms, but was woken up by Qin Zhan's hurried knock on the door.

Fang Yuan got up and Xiao Yuan dressed him neatly, finished grooming, opened the door and asked, "Fourth, what's so urgent?" ”

Qin Zhan said with a gloomy face, "Boss, the Jinyiwei premises in Suzhou Mansion have been burned down the night before yesterday, and five Jinyiwei have been burned to death in the premises, and the land information of the gentry and wealthy businessmen who have been investigated before has disappeared. ”

Fang Yuan was shocked, Jinyiwei's premises were burned, and the timing of Jinyiwei's killing was too coincidental, needless to say, it was also aimed at Fang Yuan. In order to conceal the truth, these people gave Fang Yuan a dismount, and even dared to kill the Jinyi guards of the imperial court!

Fang Yuan slapped the table hatefully and said sharply, "These Suzhou gentry and wealthy businessmen are simply lawless and rampant!" Fourth, give me a careful check, Jinyiwei is dead, they still have families, there should always be some clues. ”

"Yes!"

Qin Zhan hurriedly gave up his hand, and Fang Yuan said, "There is such a big case in Suzhou Mansion, no one has told me, give me the government office to know Li Xiaokong immediately!" ”

Qin Zhan was embarrassed and said, "I know that Li Xiaokong said that he was sick and took leave for one month early this morning, and now he is no longer in the mansion. ”

Fang Yuan asked again, "What about the tax accounts I want?" ”

Qin Zhan sighed and said, "I know that Li Xiaokong is in charge of tax collection, and as soon as he leaves, the officials of the tax department and the tax treasury department of the government will collectively take leave, and no one will send the accounts." Boss, what are we going to do now?! ”

These bureaucrats of Suzhou Mansion are also determined to work against Fang Yuan, the officials of Suzhou Mansion pretend to be stupid and do not cooperate, and the local gentry and wealthy businessmen dare to kill Jinyiwei without authorization, which is simply against the sky!

Fang Yuan, who had just arrived, was so angry that he gritted his teeth and said repeatedly, "Okay! Good! Fourth, you sent Jinyiwei to Nanjing to ask the scholar Shi Kefa for the land and commercial tax accounts reported by the Suzhou government. Go and gather Jing Jie again, call all the Jinyi Guards, Xuanjia Army, and Shenji Battalion Sergeants to go outside the gate! ”

Qin Zhan looked at him in amazement, and didn't understand why he suddenly proposed to go outside the gate, "Boss, what are you doing outside the gate?" ”

Fang Yuan coldly spit out two words, "Liwei!" ”