After rebirth, I joined forces with my mortal enemy to seek revenge.

Looking around, Li Xiujing held the wine jar and paid tribute to the table after table. Wherever he passed there was no one who did not stand up and return the favor. And he also poured wine for the other party with a smile on his face.

Pei Jiaoran, who was at the top, looked at Li Xiujing with a gentle expression.

She invited Li Xiujing to come with her this time, not only because she was from the Li family in Longxi. The most important point is that he is General You Shence, the Emperor's Imperial Guard. Losing his face is tantamount to not giving the court face.

The group of gentry in front of them is just a powerful party. Far from being able to compete with the imperial power, they were still very wary of the emperor's imperial army.

Just as he was thinking that Li Xiujing had finished paying respects, he stopped in front of a middle-aged man wearing a white wide-sleeved Taoist robe.

The man in Taoist robes wore a lotus crown on his head, and the dust tail in his hand rested lightly on his arm. Sitting there with deep eyes, he looked like an immortal from a distance.

Pei Jiaoran raised his eyes to look at that person, curling his lips. She recognized that person, that person was Dang Chenghong, the head of the Dang family. He is an experienced Taoist who is quite good at Huang Lao's skills.

Looking back at Pei Jiaoran, Li Xiujing poured a glass of wine for Dang Chenghong. However, the other party remained motionless, as if he was an old monk in trance and was as deaf to what was going on around him.

"It's a pity, it's a pity." Li Xiujing shook the wine cup and sighed, "This wine was wasted after all. I will use this wine to toast the gods of Kyushu today."

After saying that, Li Xiujing tilted his hand and the wine in the cup fell into the dust and mud.

"You have made great contributions to Tongzhou over the years." Pei Jiaoran suddenly smiled, took out an account book from his sleeve and put it on the table.

Everyone's face darkened. This sounds so intriguing.

Quan Dehui folded his arms and remained silent.

Looking over the crowd, Pei Jiaoran said warmly: "Pei has checked Tongzhou's hands. Tongzhou's taxes cannot be separated from you." Her eyes suddenly froze, "However, I didn't expect that you would dare to purchase a large amount at this time. The grain was hoarded in the government and sold to the people at high prices, taking the opportunity to devour their fields. With such a bold and reckless behavior, where do you regard the laws of the court?"

When the words fell upon his ears, Quan Dehui's eyes were filled with astonishment. It seems that Pei Jiaoran did not expect that Pei Jiaoran would directly break up with them and talk to them about taking advantage of disaster to annex the land.

"Servant Pei, you can't say this nonsense," Bai Qian said coldly.

"Talking nonsense? Is this officer talking nonsense? Just ask him and you will know." Pei Jiaoran frowned and said, "Bring Heyang County Magistrate Yang Guangzai to custody."

Although she used her power to temporarily dismiss Yang Guangzai, as long as the court did not convict him for a day. Then she couldn't do whatever she wanted with him.

As soon as he finished speaking, two officials escorted Yang Guangzai over. The eyes of the gentlemen all fell on him. The expressions are different.

"Magistrate Yang." Pei Jiaoran called with a smile.

Yang Guangzai lowered his head, "I'm here."

"You told Pei before that someone bribed you to help him forge property accounting and record the property purchased in the name of the seller." Pei Jiaoran smiled kindly, "Look now, everything here is Who has bribed you?"

This trick is really incredible. The surroundings suddenly fell into restlessness.

No one understood what Pei Jiaoran was going to do and could only look at Yang Guangzai. I was afraid that when he opened his mouth, his name would be the one that came out.

Using one's power to bully others in one's own territory is another matter, but it is another matter when such a thing is brought to light. Today's world is no longer like the late Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, when every family had its own tribes and could use their own methods to deal with the officials sent to the local areas.

After struggling again and again, Yang Guangzai finally spoke out two names. Although there are not many in number, they are among the top powerful men in Heyang, and each family owns two estates.

"Ha." Pei Jiaoran uttered a cold voice, and his eyes fell on the two people identified by Yang Guangzai. "The two of them are not even close to each other. The two of them can own two farms and estates, which really impresses me."

One of them snorted coldly: "What the two of us are doing is building fields and dredging lakes. The benefits will last for generations to come, so how can we talk about annexation?"

"Is clearing the lake to open up farmland a benefit to the people?" Pei Jiaoran smiled scornfully and said coldly: "You two used this as an excuse to bribe Yang Guangzai with a lot of money to agree to your idea. You just wanted to take advantage of the fact that the people were displaced and the farmland could not be used. I guess you can take this opportunity to expand your private property. The so-called benefiting the people is nothing more than self-interest."

"How is opening up fields detrimental to the people? Could it be that Minister Pei has a narrow vision and cannot see where the merit lies?" another person retorted.

Pei Jiaoran sneered when he heard this. She knew that for these gentry, whether one person died or tens of thousands of people died, it was just a series of numbers in the history books, and it was even less important. They only care about owning countless properties in the place where they have been for many years. Because imperial power will eventually change, but only wealth and silk are eternal. Land is the source of wealth and the foundation that supports the power of the gentry.

"If it is advantageous, why is there no food in Tongzhou? How can the people have no food to eat?" Pei Jiaoran raised his head and looked at the two people calmly, "You can't even eat this porridge, but you expect the people to eat it. .Is this what you two call benefiting the people?"

"So is this the reason why Mr. Pei connived at the refugees and came to rob them? Quan would like to ask, where did Mr. Pei put me, Tang Lu?" Quan Dehui, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke.

Pei Jiaoran looked at him and said, "There are gentry in Tongzhou who are annexing land. The governor Quan is in charge of the military, government and people's livelihood in Tongzhou. Is it possible that he is unaware of this matter? Or are you deliberately conniving at it?"

"What is the real situation in Tongzhou, but Pei Shilang doesn't know?" Quan Dehui rolled up his sleeves and said angrily: "The most urgent task now is to submit the memorial to Chang'an as soon as possible and ask your Majesty to issue an edict to allocate funds for disaster relief. Please also ask Pei Shilang not to keep suppressing the memorial and not publishing it. Go to Chang'an and present it to Heaven."

"Don't worry, Governor Quan. Pei has already reported to the court that the Tongzhou government colluded with the gentry to seize land on a large scale." Pei Jiaoran smiled calmly, "As for allocating funds for disaster relief, I still have to give in to you for a few days. Help the people." "

Everyone looked indignant after hearing this. Pei Jiaoran's words were clearly telling them that the refugees would not stop.

After glaring at Pei Jiaoran, everyone walked away.

Looking down at the bowl of rice soup in front of him, Pei Jiaoran let out a long sigh.

There are many things that cannot be discussed until they are brought to the table. The only way is to punish the other powerful person at the poker table to scare the monkeys. Only then can other people who are watching change their attitudes. From then on, no matter what she wanted to do, there was no stopping her. Only the decrees issued by the imperial court can be implemented smoothly.

"Are you hiding something from me? Qingjia, you are using yourself as bait to lure them into taking the bait." Li Xiujing said.

Without denying Li Xiujing's guess, Pei Jiaoran raised his lips and said, "There is no other way. The governor's relief mission must be completed before the three towns take action. These people must be allowed to take action against me before you and I can take action. They took action, We can continue to negotiate with them later. As long as we let them cough up the money, Zuo Zang won't have to pay, and the Shence Army can conquer with peace of mind."

"Have they taken the bait now?" Li Xiujing frowned.