Chapter 64: Imperial Privilege, Execution Before Trial

"That will do. This official will continue to rest now. Matters of building roads and farming are not urgent."

He waved his hand dismissively, turned, and walked back into his room, slamming the door shut with a loud crash.

Outside the door, the layers of fat on Liu Yang’s face squeezed together into a blooming chrysanthemum smile. He leaned toward Zhao Wuji beside him, lowering his voice with a tone dripping in utter contempt.

"Master Zhao, see? What did I tell you? He's nothing more than a wet-nursed babe who hasn't been weaned yet."

Zhao Wuji stroked his beard, his turbid eyes glinting with cunning calculation.

"He's young and hot-headed, which is entirely understandable. Let him play. Once he tires himself out from playing, it will be time to discuss business."

"This Imperial Envoy of ours loves money and loves women. Those are easily managed."

The two men exchanged a knowing smile, leaving everything unsaid.

Inside the room.

The fatigue and lecherous facade on Zhao Yi's face vanished instantly, replaced by a biting, glacial coldness.

He walked over to the desk, picked up a brush, wrote a few characters on a sheet of paper, blew the ink dry, and folded it neatly.

"Tian Yi."

A silent, dark shadow materialized out of nothingness directly behind him.

"My Lord."

"Go and investigate." Zhao Yi handed over the note, his voice devoid of even a shred of warmth. "I want every single dossier regarding the 'predatory loans' in Ziyang County."

"Starting from the very first bad debt down to the last wronged soul driven to their death, not a single one must be missed."

"I want human witnesses, material evidence, blood-written testaments, and contracts. I want all their crimes turned into ironclad proof, nailed straight into their coffins!"

"Your subordinate obeys."

Tian Yi took the slip of paper, his figure swaying once before blending back into the shadows and vanishing completely.

For the next three days.

The Imperial Envoy Zhao Yi completely let loose.

During the day, accompanied by a retinue of guards, he swaggered ostentatiously through the bustling streets and alleys of Ziyang County, doing nothing more than cockfighting and hound-coursing. Whenever something caught his eye, he would simply order the county yamen to foot the bill.

At night, he invariably hosted lavish banquets at the local taverns, embracing courtesans with both arms and reveling in song and dance until dawn.

The twin sisters, Lan Xi and Lan Ni, clung to his side every step of the way, serving as the "living signboards" of his imperial eminence.

All the officials and gentry of Ziyang County finally reached a consensus.

This Lord Zhao had simply come down here to enjoy himself.

As long as they kept him pampered and comfortable, he would probably forget all about those damn imperial edicts entirely.

Zhao Changge watched his older brother’s degraded behavior with such fury that he refused to speak a single word to him for days.

He simply could not fathom how the brilliant brother who once stood in the Golden-laced Hall pointing out the nation's affairs with such lofty spirit had degenerated into an absolute scoundrel the moment he set foot in this place.

Late in the night on the fourth day.

Zhao Yi had just returned from a banquet and dismissed all attendants.

Tian Yi's figure appeared punctually.

He heavily slammed a stack of dossiers as thick as a city wall brick onto the table.

"My Lord, the investigation is complete."

Tian Yi's voice carried a suppressed fury.

"It is far more severe than we ever imagined."

He flipped open the first dossier, pointing to a name circled in vermilion ink.

"Wang Laowu, a blacksmith in the east of the city, borrowed three taels of silver from Zhao Wuji's estate three years ago to pay for medicine for his ailing mother. Six months later, through rolling interest, it snowballed into fifty taels."

"Zhao Wuji ordered his men to break the man's limbs and seized his wife and daughter. Driven to grief and rage, Wang Laowu set fire to the blacksmith shop and burned himself to death. His wife and daughter's whereabouts remain unknown to this day."

Tian Yi flipped to another page.

"The Zhang family in the south of the city, consisting of three members, borrowed five taels of silver and ended up having the entire family sold into slavery."

"Liu Hu in the west of the city—his daughter caught the eye of Zhao Wuji's son and flatly refused him. They framed the family with a fabricated debt of a hundred taels, ultimately driving the father to death by sheer torment. His daughter was forcibly seized into the estate and threw herself down a well three days later."

...

Every single page was stained with blood.

Every single line was written in tears.

The dossiers densely recorded the tragedies of three hundred and fifteen households.

Seventy-two families had their homes destroyed and their loved ones dead.

Over four hundred people had been sold into servitude.

Nearly a hundred people were missing and unaccounted for, their fates unknown.

This was no longer a simple matter of usury.

This was cannibalism!

Zhao Yi listened quietly, maintaining a completely expressionless face.

However, the knuckles of his hands resting upon the desk had turned white from gripping so hard.

"Very well."

After a long pause, Zhao Yi finally uttered those two words.

He stood up, walked over to Tian Yi, and picked up the thickest dossier.

"Send these into the palace."

"Deliver them to Her Majesty."

Tian Yi froze for a moment.

"My Lord, given your status, this matter..."

"This is protocol," Zhao Yi interrupted him, "and it is a sign of respect!"

"This subordinate understands!"

Tian Yi said no more. He took the dossiers, turned around, and vanished.

Zhao Yi waited for a day.

Then he waited for another day.

During these two days, he continued his routine of eating, drinking, and making merry as usual, indulging himself even more brazenly than before.

Liu Yang and Zhao Wuji now regarded him entirely as a puppet to be manipulated at will.

Finally, at dusk on the third day.

A dark shadow materialized like a ghost inside Zhao Yi's room.

He dropped to one knee and presented a roll of bright yellow silk.

No superfluous words were spoken, just eight characters.

"Execute first, memorialize later; the supreme authority of the crown is granted."

The signature at the bottom was Wu Mingkong's sweeping, dragon-like personal handwriting, stamped with that vibrant red imperial jade seal representing supreme sovereign power.

He carefully put away the imperial edict and then called out toward the door.

"Come here!"

The brothers Li Jin and Li Yin immediately pushed the door open and entered.

"Young General, what are your orders?"

"Go," Zhao Yi said lazily, his tone no different from usual. "Surround the county yamen for me. Dispatch another squad to seal off the estate of that old bastard Zhao Wuji as well."

"Not a single fly is allowed to escape!"

Li Jin and Li Yin exchanged glances, instantly grasping the implication as a bloodthirsty excitement bloomed across their faces.

"Understood!"

Inside the county yamen's main hall.

Liu Yang and Zhao Wuji were currently accompanying Zhao Yi to "discuss" the funding for road construction.

In reality, the two of them were just singing praises in harmony, scheming how to scrape yet another layer of grease from the imperial court's allocations.

Right at that moment, a commotion of chaotic footsteps and the clanking of armor drifted in from outside.

"What is the meaning of this?" Liu Yang frowned.

Before his voice even faded, dozens of shadow guards clad in black armor and wielding sharp blades flooded in like a tidal wave, instantly taking control of the entire main hall.

Cold blade edges were pressed against the necks of every single official present.

Liu Yang and Zhao Wuji were dumbfounded on the spot.

"Lord... Lord Zhao! What is the meaning of this?!" Liu Yang stared at Zhao Yi, who was leisurely sipping tea from the seat of honor, his plump face plastered with terror and incomprehension. "Is there some kind of misunderstanding?!"

Zhao Wuji also stood up, his expression turning gloomy.

"Lord Zhao, what is your intention? Weren't we drinking quite amicably just last night?"

"Drinking?"

"You two pigs and dogs aren't even worthy of drinking with this official!"

Boom!

The remark struck like a bolt from the blue, scorching Liu Yang and Zhao Wuji inside and out.

They finally realized they had been wrong.

Wrong to a preposterous degree!

This young man was no incompetent fool at all!

"Take them!"

Bypassing any further waste of breath, Zhao Yi gave a casual wave of his hand.

Two shadow guards stepped forward, forcefully pinning the limp, boneless Liu Yang and the obese Zhao Wuji straight to the floor like dead chickens.

"Search the estate!"

"Seal up every single dossier, ledger, and deed of land!"

"Tian Yi!"

"This subordinate is here!"

"Interrogate them," Zhao Yi uttered a single word. "I give you one hour. One hour from now, I want to know every sin their ancestors down to the eighteenth generation have ever committed."

"Obey!"

Tian Yi dragged the two men away toward the back hall as if hauling off a pair of dead dogs.

Zhao Yi rose to his feet, walked to the entrance of the main hall, and surveyed the officials who were now restrained by the shadow guards.

He cleared his throat, his voice ringing clearly throughout the entire county yamen.

"Hear my command!"

"Tomorrow at noon, at the county yamen square—the People's Tribunal!"