A court trial ended when no one doubted that Sun Ning was the emperor.

At this point, the Xie family's charges are no longer justifiable.

This is not only evidenced by some previous confessions, but also by physical evidence such as the oil mentioned by Sun Ning.

Coupled with the frightened Xie family's own testimony, and Xie Ao's final self-exposure in despair, this time the desire to set fire to the major temples in Hangzhou was also determined to be an iron case!

Therefore, when the sky was about to be lit up, Zeng Taishou had already ordered all the people of the Xie family to be taken into custody, and then all the confession files and everything were sent to Jinling.

At this point, the facts of the case are clear, but in the end, how to deal with the Xie family, especially Xie Ao's key criminals, is not up to him, the Hangzhou Taishou, to make his own decisions.

The situation in Jiangnan looks even more weird.

Although the imperial court has long been unable to control them, among the dozens of state capitals in the south of the Yangtze River, they still have their own set of respect and inferiority management systems.

The nine surnames of Jiangnan are the de facto authorities in Jiangnan today, but these local officials left over from the Dayue Imperial Court have become subordinate ministers who must obey the orders of these nine families, pure workers.

On weekdays, everything is business as usual, and the government can make its own decisions. But when they really encountered something that had a huge impact, the officials had to follow the instructions of the nine wealthy families.

This case is directly related to the Xie family, one of the nine surnames, and it is not something that can be decided at will in Hangzhou, so it is necessary to make the final decision of the three surnames in Jinling and Yangzhou, Gu, Lu, and Wu.

"Gu, Lu, Wu, the three surnames?" Sun Ning repeated this statement, with some doubts in his expression, looking at Guo Chong, who was drinking tea in front of him, waiting for the other party to make a further explanation.

After the case was completed, Sun Ning naturally came out of the yamen, and then found an inn to live in temporarily.

Compared with the Central Plains, which has experienced several battles, and the southwest, which is not too rich, everything has not changed here in Jiangnan due to years of peace.

Even if there are Buddhism who continue to oppress the people, but there are many years of existence, everyone's life is still good, the inn or something is also prosperous, as long as the money is enough, the accommodation is also quite good.

Two days later, Guo Chong, who had been listening to all kinds of news, rushed to meet him again, and told Sun Ning about the more detailed information he had gathered, such as the follow-up to the Xie family's case and the real power structure in Jiangnan.

At this time, listening to Sun Ning's curious question, Guo Chong no longer sold anything, raised his head and said: "Yes, this Gu Lu and Wu three families are the big surnames among the nine surnames in Jiangnan, as for Xie Qian, Yao Ling, Zhu Zhang, they are the six small surnames."

"Although they are collectively known as the nine surnames of Jiangnan, when it comes to power, it is a world of difference.

"Just like this Xie clan, although the ancestors were once famous in the world, but that was hundreds of thousands of years ago, their influence has long been weakened with the change of dynasties for hundreds of years, and the migration and tossing and turning.

"To this day, although the Xie family of Hangzhou is still ranked among the nine surnames, the real power can only be at the bottom, and even the surname of Huiji Yao is above them. As for this Hangzhou, the Qian family completely overpowered them, so even the local Buddhists no longer took them seriously, making their situation more and more difficult, and finally had to make crazy moves. ”

Sun Ning nodded knowingly.

Yes, only when there is no way back, people will make a desperate gamble and take risks.

And for a family, if the power can still cover a city, how can it have the idea that there is no way to retreat, so that it is desperate?

"However, after all, the nine surnames of Jiangnan have had many years of friendship, so the local government does not dare to be careless and negligent in the case of the Xie family, they are afraid of attracting the dissatisfaction of the real wealthy family."

Guo Chong smiled: "Of course, the big clan here refers to the three families of Gu Lu and Wu. These three families are different from the Xie family, which has a thousand-year-old heritage, they are all upstarts who only rose in this dynasty, especially the Yangzhou Lu family, there are five people who have entered the dynasty in the past two hundred years, and another three have become governors of a province, and one is the governor of northern Xinjiang......"

This kind of glorious family history made Sun Ning listen to it with admiration, this is the real family heritage, and the connections left by those people alone are enough to spread all over the world.

Of course, that means that in the absence of the chaos of a few years ago, as for now, I am afraid that their influence can only be maintained in a corner of the south of the Yangtze River.

Glancing at Sun Ningyou, Guo Chongcai said again: "As for the Gu family and the Wu family, although there are no talents like the Lu family, there are always children who have served as high-ranking officials in the court for many years, and Yu Jinling and Suzhou are also the same existences.

"And there are many in-laws between these three families, almost one family, so the power covers the entire Jiangnan, so that the local government can only act according to its orders.

"This point was actually true long before the Central Plains Rebellion, and after the fall of the imperial court, it became even worse."

While Sun Ning was secretly frightened, he finally understood why Jiangnan decisively remained neutral after the fall of Luoyang.

This is not the choice of those local officials at all, but the decision of the wealthy family, because it is the most beneficial for them.

Without the constraints of the imperial court, they can truly become the masters of Jiangnan, and as long as they are given enough time, it is not impossible for Jiangnan to become completely independent.

"Then the prosperity of Buddhism is also related to their promotion and connivance?" As his mind turned, Sun Ning asked a key question.

Religion, whether it is the Buddha or the Tao, or something else, the most powerful thing about them is brainwashing, which makes believers completely ignore the truth in the process of brainwashing again and again, and do things that go against their own likes and dislikes, and even human nature.

For example, the famous White Lotus Sect in history, and some little green ...... in later generations

However, religious brainwashing will take a long process after all, at least the current Jiangnan is far from reaching that step.

Guo Chong complimented softly: "Your Majesty Shengming! Although the information obtained on the surface shows that the reason why Buddhism can be so popular in Jiangnan is due to the promotion of the Lu family, which has three generations of heads of the family, who have believed in Buddhism for three generations, and even built five large temples in Yangzhou, and donates countless money and fertile land every year......

"But it seems to me that they must have also gained more benefits from Buddhism, and even controlled the local people through Buddhism, and held them firmly in their own hands. It is said that Yangzhou has formed a Buddhist army of tens of thousands of people! ”

Sun Ning smiled: "So, they are not foolish people, the so-called Buddhist temple, in the eyes of the three families, is just a tool they use to grab more benefits." And if you want to confirm this, it's actually very simple, just look at what kind of fate the Xie family will end up with! ”