Chapter 54: The Drowning Dog Must Be Severely Beaten

  After Lin Ming brought back the Liang brothers, they were interrogated all night. Without using torture, the four brothers confessed everything. They had been intimidated by the beating at the Fuli Inn. Lin Ming just slapped the wooden board, and the bailiffs' rods hit the ground, making them tremble with fear. They quickly confessed, figuring that whether they confessed or not, it would be a death sentence anyway. By confessing, they could at least get someone to take the fall for them. That Deng Sen was too despicable, deceiving their brothers into thinking that Wang Erlang was nobody. Didn't they see how well-connected those bailiffs and thugs were at the inn? They seemed like they were wearing the same pants! Who else would take the fall if not him? If they didn't confess, they'd suffer another day of punishment in prison. It's better to confess early and be sent to Chang'an.

  The next day, Lin Ming had finished recording the case files and was about to instruct the clerk to send them to the prefectural government office with the confessions of the Liang brothers when Wang Kuang rushed over.

  When Wang Kuang arrived, Lin Ming thought that Wang Kuang had come to watch the commotion. What kid doesn't love watching a scene? In the past when the government office was trying cases, outside the hall would be packed with people.

  "Second Master, are you here to watch the excitement? Haha, you're too late, the interrogation is already over. Now we need to send the case files to the prefectural government." Lin Ming felt a little comforted that he could make Wang Kuang slightly disappointed.

  "Why doesn't the governor wait for the elder brother of a certain family to return from Yangzhou before sending the documents? Perhaps the elder brother will have some discoveries." Wang Kuang made a slight bow and winked at the clerk beside him.

  "Ah?" Lin Ming was also a clever person and immediately understood what Wang Kuang meant. After dismissing the clerk, he stared at Wang Kuang: "Could it be that Second Brother wants to eradicate the problem completely?"

  "Magistrate Ming is wise and discerning, and besides, I once heard an elder in my family say that if a dog falls into the water, when it gets to shore, it will shake off its dirty water onto others. So I think this fallen dog should be beaten severely, and it's best to beat it until it can't get back on shore." Wang Kuang shamelessly parroted Mr. Lu's words, thinking to himself: Don't blame me, sir, I'm just laying a good foundation for your theory in advance.

  Lin Ming had never been without the idea of cutting grass and roots, but relying solely on the crime of sending someone to seize someone, Deng Sen would at most be guilty of a crime punishable by exile, and after a few years, when the wind and waves were calm, as long as Luo Wu made some efforts, Deng Sen would definitely reappear in Yangzhou. This way, Wang Kuang would have to face Deng Sen's revenge, although by then Wang Kuang would not be afraid of revenge. However, if he allowed a annoying fly to buzz around his ear, he wouldn't be able to get any peace. Lin Ming also hoped that Wang Kuang could help him achieve some merit, and the Lin family also hoped to get a share from Wang Kuang, so Lin Ming was eager to take down Deng Sen once and for all, to achieve a lasting solution.

  At the sight of Wang Kuang's obvious hint, Lin Ming nodded and said loudly: "The second son is right. The Liang brothers have not yet been punished, but they are willing to confess easily. It's probably a trick. Never mind, let's just detain them for a few days first and re-examine them after their injuries recover."

  As a result of Lin Ming's words, the Liang brothers began their "happy life" in the county yamen's great prison, where they were massaged every day by someone who helped them.

  A month later, Wang Ling finally returned in Wang Kuang's day and night longing. Accompanying him were Deng Shi and his son Deng Xiao San, but Deng Shi's two legs had been crippled and he would likely spend the rest of his life in bed. It turned out that after Deng Xiao San had been away from home for two days without returning, Deng Sen became suspicious and captured Deng Shi, subjecting him to severe torture. Fortunately, Deng Shi insisted that he did not know where Deng Xiao San was going, and although Deng Sen was somewhat skeptical, he believed that Deng Xiao San might have fled due to resentment over being demoted to care for horses. As a result, Deng Sen simply threw the crippled Deng Shi into a woodshed without strict supervision. Therefore, when Wang Ling and others arrived in Yangzhou, they easily rescued Deng Shi and stayed there for several more days to complete the tasks entrusted by Wang Kuang before hiring a horse-drawn carriage to escort Deng Shi back home.

  After inquiring that Wang Ling and others had settled the matter in Yangzhou, Wang Kuang took Wang Ling to Lin Ming's mansion. The next day, Lin Ming sent a volume of documents to Huang Liang's desk. Huang Liang opened it and was overjoyed: "Heaven wants to destroy you, how can you bear it?"

  Three months later, news came from Yangzhou that Deng Sen's whole family was beheaded, the men were executed and the women were demoted to official slaves. Even Rong Wu, the military counselor of Yangzhou, ended up being beheaded. However, Huang Liang's son had previously flattered the governor of Yangzhou and although he did not get the position of military counselor, he was already in the governor's good books and his future looked bright.

  After Sun Mingqian knew the news, he came to ask Wang Kuang specially. Wang Kuang just smiled and didn't say a word. This made Sun Mingqian very depressed. Every time he saw Wang Kuang, he couldn't help but complain for two sentences. In the end, it was Wang Kuang who couldn't bear it anymore and said one sentence, after which Sun Mingqian no longer mentioned this matter.

  Wang Kuang only said five words: "The remnants of the Crown Prince's rebellion."

  Wang Ling used to deal with the rebels every day, so he naturally knew what signs they had. He could easily imitate a bunch of them and secretly hide in Luo Wu's and Deng Sen's homes. Meanwhile, Lin Ming forged a confession from the Liang brothers, who were already being tortured in prison and were eager to be released. After reading the confession, they pressed their handprints without hesitation. Everything went smoothly, but Wang Ling knew that during the early years of the Zhenguan era, there was never any mention of the hidden crown prince in either later works or his own impression of history. This must have been a taboo topic, so it's easy to imagine what happened to Deng Sen and Luo Wu.

  It's not that Wang Kuang is heartless, but he has always deeply hated the kind of behavior where someone gets slapped in the face and only expresses regret verbally. In his opinion, this is simply the behavior of a lapdog, which after being beaten, can only bark twice to show its protest. He deeply understands and carries out Mr. Xin Lu's idea: a drowning dog must be beaten, and not just lightly beaten, but beaten to death. It must be beaten until it can never turn over again.

  Deng Xiaosan was arranged by Wang Kuang to take care of the horses in the inn. The four horses have now become a means of transportation between the inn and Wang Village. Now, whenever something happens, going to Wang Village no longer takes two hours back and forth. It's true that Deng Xiaosan seems to have a natural talent for raising horses. No matter how fierce the horse is, as long as it meets Deng Xiaosan, it becomes docile. It seems that Deng Sen is not entirely useless, at least he has arranged Deng Xiaosan in the most suitable position.

  As for Deng Eleven, Sun Ming had already spoken out, and afterwards, Deng Eleven was supported by the Fuli Inn. A small courtyard was also bought near the inn for the Deng family father and son. Unfortunately, Deng Xiaosan's mother had died of a cold in her early years, otherwise, the three would have been happy together. Wang Kuang even found a carpenter to make a wooden wheelchair for Deng Eleven. Although it couldn't be compared with wheelchairs from later generations, at that time, it was already incredible. Who could have thought that someone with broken legs wouldn't need anyone's help to get out of the house? All they had to do was remove the threshold. At this time, rumors about Wang Kuang being a celestial master began circulating in Jian'an again. He was so scared that he didn't dare go out much anymore, otherwise, as soon as he went out, he would be surrounded by onlookers. He could only stay in the inn honestly and recite "zhi hu zhe ye" with Mr. Liu, feeling very depressed.

  Before long, it's autumn again. This year, Wangcun harvested over 1,500 kilograms of red peppers. Wang Kuang had originally wanted to expand the planting area on a large scale, but unfortunately, there were not enough laborers, and he didn't dare to casually recruit people. Even buying official slaves required careful consideration. For Wang Kuang, the lack of laborers has become the biggest bottleneck for development.

  That day, Wang Kuang was discussing with Sun Ming in his own courtyard whether to let the Lin family participate in the pepper business ahead of time, so as to solve the problem of insufficient manpower. With the Lin family's many years of operation in Chang'an, it should be easy to dispatch reliable personnel to Jian'an. Moreover, sending people from Chang'an thousands of miles away would make confidentiality easier than recruiting and buying officials and slaves in Jian'an.

  Two people were discussing, outside the yard Er Sun shouted: "Master, young master."

  Wang Kuang opened the door and went out, only to see Sun Er mysteriously smiling: "Xiao Dongjia, you're here."

  Division

  Sorry for being late, it's been over four hours and I've only managed to rush out these chapters. I'll send them first, and for now, there's only this one chapter available.

  The previous leak about the yield of Youfen has been corrected and is unrelated to the following chapters, so everyone can skip going back to look.