Chapter 465 Soft Words
"Your Majesty, General Zhu is quite heroic." Dugu Ying hesitated for a while before saying this.

He really felt that Zhu Deyu was no ordinary person. Although he had been a monk and came from a humble background, he was very righteous, public-spirited, and good at commanding the generals in the army, making him very popular among the people.

Having such people under your command is a real test of the superior's ability to manage his subordinates.

Li Yuanhui smiled and asked, "Does Dugulang think I don't know people?"

Li Yuanhui didn't care how selfish Dugu Ying was or whether he really saw something.

As a nobleman in Luoyang and a descendant of the Dugu clan of the Xianbei noble family, he naturally had some conflicts of interest with the Jianghuai faction. As for why Dugu Ying knew about what Li Baishi had suppressed, Li Yuanhui also thought it was very reasonable.

This is Luoyang after all. Even if Li Baishi is acting as the governor of Luoyang Prefecture, too many of his subordinates are clerks from Luoyang. Such a big thing cannot be hidden from Dugu Ying at all.

On the other hand, faced with the ascendancy of the Jianghuai military, the Xianbei nobles had to fight again once they entered the fray.

Li Yuanhui was aware of these undercurrents and could not let his subordinates dominate alone. He had been thinking about how to restrict Zhu Deyu recently.

This is undoubtedly someone handing you a pillow when you want to take a nap.

This was a great opportunity. It gave Li Yuanhui a perfect reason to attack the Jianghuai faction.

You can't just go looking for trouble and say openly that I'm afraid of you and now I want to reduce your power and take away your official position? If you use this as an excuse, no one will be able to say anything.

On the other side, Zhu Yuanzhang stormed out of the palace, mounted his horse and rode straight back to the camp, then ordered his men to summon all five governors and twelve lieutenants.

Hu Kuohai, Xu Qiande, Tang Wu, Geng Junyong, Wu Liang, Wu Zhen. The only one missing was the governor Tang He.

"Where's Tang He?"

Seeing that Old Zhu's face was livid, several people were somewhat worried. Finally, Tang Wudao, who was more senior, said, "General, Tang He said he had to go out to do something. When he left, he asked me to help him look after the camp."

"When did he leave?" When asking this question, Lao Zhu also remembered that he had not seen Tang He during the morning inspection of the camps, but he did not investigate it in detail. But now it seems that he already has the answer in his mind.

"Morning."

"Does anyone know where Tang He went? Did one of his men commit a murder?!"

When they heard what Lao Zhu said, their faces suddenly changed color. After all, the fire could not be covered by the paper.

On the other side, Tang He brought a few people to Jindefang in the north of the city, and then came to a house with ease. When they arrived at the door, Tang He directly said to them, "All of you, kneel down."

Several of them were a little confused. They thought Tang He brought them here to scare the woman, but they never thought that it was them who asked them to kneel down.

He was immediately unhappy and asked, "Brother Tang, what's wrong?"

Tang He shouted angrily, "If you guys still want to live, shut up and kneel down, or I will kill you with my own hands!"

Normally, Tang He was quite tolerant towards these old brothers, but when he got angry, these old brothers were a little scared and immediately knelt down in obedience.

Then Tang He went to knock on the door, "Miss Zhang, is there?"

Not long after, the door of the small courtyard opened, and a pretty young lady in mourning came out. She looked at them and said angrily, "How dare you come here? I've already said that I don't want money, I just want justice. Now soft means don't work, so you have to use hard means, right? If the government doesn't help me, I will go to the palace to complain!" There was a lot of noise here, and several neighbors from the neighborhood came out one after another.

After all, the people of Luoyang were the eastern capital of the previous dynasty, so they were not afraid of trouble. Instead, a few righteous people came directly to show their support.

Tang He said, "You have misunderstood. I am not here to threaten you. It is just that my brothers are indeed wrong. They have killed the family of Miss Zhang. But they all know they are wrong. Why don't I bring them here to kowtow and apologize? Miss Zhang, they are all heroes who have shed blood on the battlefield for our Tang Dynasty. His Royal Highness the King of Qi has personally commended them. Take off your shirts, all of you."

At this time, the few people did not dare to question Tang He, and could only unbutton their shirts helplessly. Everyone had some knife or arrow wounds on their bodies, which was shocking to look at. I don’t know what kind of tragic battle they had experienced and how they survived it.
Tang He continued, "Miss Zhang, they are all veterans who followed the King of Qi to fight in the Yingchuan War and survived. It is inevitable that they are a little rough and immoral. They committed crimes after drinking. I still say the same thing. Just tell me what conditions you want, how much money or what you want, and we will find a way to get it for you. I just beg you to close the case and give our brothers a way to live. Next time there is a war, we will let them take the lead."

The onlookers were watching this scene, and those who originally wanted to express their support were speechless, because if these people were to use force, you would not be able to speak up for them.

But he knelt down directly, showed his scars, and spoke softly. It was hard for people to speak righteously.

After all, this scarred man was kneeling on the ground begging for mercy, and Tang He spoke so smoothly.
But the young lady cried directly: "I don't understand what you are saying. I just know that my husband was beaten to death by them. I want justice, and you come to force me to do it again."

Tang He said, "Madam Zhang, I am not forcing you, I am begging you."

"Old Tang!"

The sudden sound made Tang He shudder and feel a chill all over his body. He turned around and saw that it was his old brother and immediate superior Zhu Deyu.

"Heavy General"

Normally he dared to call him "Zhongba", but this time he lost his confidence and simply called him "General".

Zhu Deyu looked at him with his eyes wide open, which made Tang He feel a little scared again. "Listen to my explanation."

"What do you want to explain? Did these beasts molest decent women? Did they bully people? Did they kill anyone?"

Tang He was speechless. Zhu Deyu then looked at the people kneeling on the ground and said, "What? Are you still waiting for us to invite you? Put on your clothes, go back to the camp and wait."

When several people saw Zhu Deyu's angry face, they were so scared that they were shaking like sieves. They put on their shirts and ran towards the camp in shame.

Then Old Zhu changed his expression, clasped his fists towards Miss Zhang who was standing at the door and said, "Madam, my soldiers committed a crime. I just found out about it, but I am also wrong. Please come with me to East City later. I will give you justice in front of you. Neighbors and common people, you can also be witnesses. Don't worry, if I dare to protect these beasts, not to mention His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi, even God and Buddha will not let me off."

After he finished speaking, he clasped his fists and bowed to everyone, then turned around and hurried back to the camp.

The righteous look moved the people present, and many of them followed him involuntarily. Miss Zhang, as the victim, was a little worried, but seeing so many people, she made up her mind and joined the crowd.

Tang He followed Zhu Deyu dejectedly.

"General, is there really no room for easing this matter?"

Old Zhu stopped and sneered, "Ease? Old Tang, what do you call this? Today, I lost face in front of the King of Qi. This time, not only me, but also Li Pushe will be implicated by you! Are you still thinking about protecting these bastards?"

"Have you been blinded by lard?"

(End of this chapter)