During the Shangyuan Festival, Emperor Xiao Heng of Qi invited Wei Ran and his mother to the palace for a banquet.

Li Yuwan also entered Taicheng for the first time, and couldn't help but sigh: "I didn't expect this Taicheng to be so magnificent." ”

The crown prince Xiao Ju was already waiting outside the hall, and when he saw Wei Ran's mother and son, he immediately invited him into the hall and arranged for Wei Ran's mother and son to sit down.

Wei Ran found that only their mother and son were there, and he couldn't help but be puzzled, and asked Xiao Ju with his eyes.

"Today is a family feast, and my father did not invite anyone else." Xiao Ju said with a smile.

Li Yuwan already knew in her heart that after Weber came back a few days ago, she privately approached Li Yuwan and expressed Xiao Heng's intentions, thinking that today was to make it official.

Thinking of this, Li Yuwan gently pulled Wei Ran: "My son must pay attention to proportions today." ”

Soon the eunuch shouted, "Princess Yanran has arrived." ”

Xiao Yanran then slowly entered from outside the hall, today's Xiao Yanran was obviously carefully dressed, and even Li Yuwan couldn't help but admire: "See you again today, princess, what a pretty woman." ”

Xiao Yanran saluted Li Yuwan and said, "I have seen the prince of Guangling County and my aunt. ”

Not long after, Xiao Heng also walked into the hall, and after sweeping his gaze, he said, "Everyone is together, let's start." ”

Wei Ran was also dining with the emperor for the first time, and he was a little cramped, but Li Yuwan was not surprised and dealt with it very decently, which couldn't help but impress Xiao Heng.

"Mrs. Wei, I want to marry Yanran to the prince of Guangling County, I don't know what Mrs. wants." After three rounds of drinking, Xiao Heng went straight to the point and said.

In fact, according to Xiao Heng's previous meaning, marriage is a great honor for the courtiers, and there is no need to make such a show, but considering that he is old, Xiao Yanran admires Wei Ran very much, and Xiao Ju also has a good relationship with Wei Ran, so Xiao Heng feels that it is necessary to put the importance of Wei Ran on the bright side.

"Your Majesty, thunder, rain and dew are all heavenly graces. What's more, the princess is a golden branch and jade leaf, and it is a great blessing for the dog to be favored by the princess. The folk girl felt that there was nothing wrong with it. ”

Xiao Heng laughed when he heard this, then looked at Xiao Yanran and said, "Why is it a family banquet today, my daughter can know now." Are you willing to marry the prince of Guangling? ”

Xiao Yanran's face was slightly red, and she secretly felt that her father was really the emperor, and she asked such a question in front of the public. But then he whispered: "Everything is up to my father." ”

"Your Majesty, the minister has something to say." Wei Ran put down the wine glass at this time and said loudly.

"Oh, is the prince of Guangling unwilling?" Xiao Heng suddenly heard Wei Ran speak, and his face turned slightly cold.

Xiao Ju also hurriedly signaled Wei Ran with his eyes not to talk nonsense, and the smile on Xiao Yanran's face suddenly disappeared.

"It's not that Weichen is unwilling, but there is really something unspeakable."

Wei Ran thought at this time, if the princess married into the mansion, how would Yuan Shu and Miaoxiang deal with themselves, as far as he knew, the concubine could not take a concubine, so he simply made it clear at this moment.

"Your Majesty, there are two women in the Wechen Mansion, one is the daughter of my father's old friend in Huainan, I made a marriage contract when I was young, although a woman does not have the life of her parents, but because Wechen suffered all the way to Jiankang, Wechen really can't bear to lose." Wei Ran bowed his head and said: "Although the minister is not a perfect person, he also understands the love of people, so in other words, I hope Your Majesty will understand." ”

Xiao Heng looked at Wei Ran playfully at this time, he naturally knew that there were two beautiful women in Wei Ran's mansion, and he also knew that one of them was the Oiran of Chang'an in the Northern Dynasty. But seeing Wei Ran take the initiative to say it, for some reason, Xiao Heng held Wei Ran in high esteem instead.

"The public of Guangling County can tell the truth, and I am very relieved. According to the ancient system, unless the princess cannot come out, the concubine can be taken into custody. But now I am willing to make an exception for the county princess, one of the women has not been accepted as a righteous daughter by the Dingguo Mansion, and the other woman Although I am not masked, I have also heard that this woman is also a strange woman, so I came forward and asked Lord Wang to accept her as a righteous daughter in the mansion. Guangling County Gong can't provoke other Hongchen in the future, what do you think? ”

Wei Ran was a little confused for a while, he couldn't imagine that Xiao Heng would open the door so much for this marriage, and he might not be able to say it if he didn't appreciate it.

So Wei Ran hurriedly knelt down and said, "The minister is frightened, and he is so favored by His Majesty." It is enough to have two or three confidants in life, and I dare not ask for too much. ”

So the matter was decided, Xiao Heng made a decree, and gave Princess Yanran to the prince of Guangling County as his wife, Li Wanqing and Chen Wanwan as the side room, and after the return of the prince of Guangling County from Linhai County, he chose an auspicious day to complete the marriage.

A month later, when the spring flowers were blooming, Wei Ran led his troops to conquer the traitors of Linhai County.

Wei Ran set out on this expedition, bringing 4,000 elite princes and guards, and at the same time requisitioning 30,000 Huainan troops. Emperor Xiao Heng of Qi ordered that the troops of Huiji and Wu County were also dispatched by Wei Ran.

The army marched for several days and arrived at Huiji County. At this time, the county guard of Huiji was Xie Chang, a member of the Xie clan.

Wei Ran thought of what Sun Tai said before he died, and saw the current situation of Huiji County when he came. Seeing the people of the Xie clan was on fire, but the army needed to be resupplied in Huiji County. So he called someone to call Xie Chang, but Xie Chang didn't come for a long time, and Wei Ran was unhappy.

"Where's Xie Chang?"

"County Prince, Xie Chang is not in the mansion, and he has already sent someone to find him."

"When my Wang Shi arrived, Xie Chang not only greeted him personally, but neglected the soldiers of our army." Wei Ran said angrily.

"Qiyu County Prince, the last general found out the news, Xie Chang is inviting all the scholars to feast at home, and he has also found many women to help him." At this time, Wei Ran's family will report.

To say that this Xie Chang can really die. Huiji County was ravaged by war last year, and grain production dropped sharply, and the Southern Qi Imperial Court allocated funds to appease the people of Huiji, but Wei Ran saw hunger all over the field on the way to come, and when he asked, he learned that Huiji County did not give the people food at all, and many people did not even have rice seeds.

Wei Ran said angrily at this time: "Yang Hu, take five hundred prince guards and follow me to the Xie Manor." ”

Wei Ran asked on the road: "This Xie Bing lost Huiji City in such a daze, why is it still the Xie clan who is in power now?" ”

"County Prince, the Xie clan is one of the six great scholar clans in the south of the Yangtze River. Xie Chang's father, Xie Mengguan, was the middle school secretary, and he was in-law with Lu Ke. Originally, when the troops were withdrawn at the beginning of the year, the Xie clan had been imprisoned, but they put the responsibility on Xie Bing, and Lu Ke had to operate secretly, and His Majesty had no objection, but let this Xie Chang take over as the county guard of Huiji. ”

Wei Ran now also has a good understanding of the Southern Qi court, there are many scholars in the counties of Southern Qi, and the administration is basically controlled by local famous families. There are often cases of brother dying and brother and father dying and son succeeding. In order to protect their rights, Lu Ke and other ministers of the noble clan usually acquiesced to such behavior.

However, Wei Ran is not afraid today, first of all, before the expedition, Xiao Heng hinted to Wei Ran that if the local wealthy family has something illegal, he can do it urgently. Wei Ran was puzzled at the time, and Weber pointed out that the so-called emergency subordination can be extinguished by thunderous means, and also hinted that Wei Ran had a case of collaborating with the enemy in front of him anyway, and he could use it.

Secondly, the Huainan army was stationed behind Jingkou Guangling. This part of the Huainan army has no foundation in the south, and it is currently the most relied on by the imperial court. And arranging for the Huainan Army to be stationed in Guangling is also Xiao Heng's meaning, after all, Wei Ran is the prince of Guangling County, and Wei Ran's behavior before the Hefei Covenant made Wei Ran win the hearts of the army in the Huainan Army.

Wei Ran led the troops to the gate of the Xie manor, and the private soldiers at the gate saw the arrival of officers and soldiers in a vain attempt to stop them.

Wei Ran directly looked like several people on the spot, and the rest of the people all dropped their weapons and knelt down to surrender.

Wei Ran led his troops straight into the backyard, and then with a wave of his hand, he surrounded everyone in an instant.

Xie Chang was already drunk at this time, and when he saw Wei Ran, Xie Chang swayed left and right in front of Wei Ran, and then patted Wei Ran's face with his hand and said, "You are the prince of Guangling County, aren't you still a doll." Come and see, everyone. ”

But no one in the surrounding Shi clan dared to laugh, because they saw that Xie Chang's right hand had already flown out.

Xie Chang reacted at this time, and suddenly screamed in pain.

Wei Ran ignored Xie Chang, who was rolling on the ground, and kicked him out. Then he said: "I am the prince of Guangling County, and I was ordered to conquer the remnants of Linhai County, Xie Chang not only did not come out to greet the heavenly soldiers, but drank and had fun here. What a sin. ”

All the scholars knelt on the ground and did not dare to speak, thinking in their hearts that they would deal with the past first, and then write to Jiankang to impeach this person.

Wei Ran didn't know what they were thinking, so he said: "I have the list of scholars who helped the thief Sun Tai defend the city in the past, Huiji Xie Clan, Huiji Liu Clan, Shanyin Wang Clan,"

Every time Wei Ran read a name, everyone present felt cold.

Then he boldly said: "What does the county prince mean, the court will not pursue it." ”

"The court did not pursue it, but the court also said it. I hope that you will appease the people in the township, protect the territory and the people, and if you do anything illegal again, you will be punished together with the previous crime, yes and no. Now that Huiji County is starving, my father has just sent someone to check, and you have also taken the opportunity to occupy a lot of farmland. The people still have to pay rent to farm the land, and the imperial court has allocated grain and rice seeds, and you actually use them to sell, my father is wrong. Wei Ran pulled out the Taiping Sword and shouted.

Wei Ran drank again at this time: "There are 30,000 Huainan troops outside Huiji City, they are just to defend the Sanwu region, causing Hefei to be empty and entered by Northern Qin, but you are so prey-dazed people, my father agreed, and the 30,000 Huainan troops outside did not agree." ”

At this time, Xie Chang had already come to his senses, pointed at Wei Ran with his remaining left hand and said, "Wei Ran, you dare to do this to me, I don't know what my father is." Yes! Before he finished speaking, Xie Chang screamed again: "Xie Junshou insulted the county prince in public, and cut off his left hand, do you have any opinions?" ”

The scholars were all frightened, and kept kneeling on the ground and begging for mercy.

Wei Ran sat on the throne and closed his eyes to recuperate. After a long time, many soldiers arrived. It also brought a lot of people.

"What grievances do you have, now explain one by one, most of the scholars and officials in Huiji County are here. The court tried on the spot and was tortured on the spot. ”

The people were immediately agitated and began to complain about the atrocities of the scholars. In particular, the Xie clan and the Sanyin Wang clan were the worst.

Wei Ran then looked at the information collected by the soldiers and said, "Is there anyone from the Tan clan here?" ”

"Grandpa Jun, the Tan family is not here, in the Huiji prison." Suddenly, someone from among the nobles said.

"Why did you put the Tan clan in prison?"

Wei Ran saw that no one was talking, so he shouted loudly: "My father is asking you!" ”

Someone was frightened and said, "Tan Xuan, the current patriarch of the Tan clan, Xie Junshou also distributed disaster relief food to their family. They distributed grain and rice seeds equally among the people, touching the interests of other nobles. So he was imprisoned. ”

"Your Majesty ordered me to temporarily supervise the three counties, and now the evidence is conclusive, come here, go to the prison to release the Tan clansmen, and Tan Xuan will temporarily take over as the county guard of Huiji. Xie Chang, Xie Dang, Xie Hong, Wang Yang and others will be imprisoned immediately, and they will be executed tomorrow. And they shall give to the people all the land which they have occupied. And give rice seeds, exempt the people of Huiji County from paying taxes this year. All finances were confiscated," Wei Ran said in a deep voice.

Then looking at the remaining scholars who had not yet been punished, Wei Ran said coldly: "The remaining scholars, this Gongnian is that you are being coerced, and within two days, you will report the occupied land to Tan County Shou, and Tan County Shou will distribute it." At the same time, the 30,000 troops of Linhai County are conscripted, and you need to provide ten days' food, do you have any objections? ”

Everyone knelt down and did not dare to speak, and the matter was decided.