Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 806: Chapter 606: Occupying Taiping County (Part 2)

The government office oppression, parents seriously injured, business couldn’t continue, Lin Baichao had no choice but to sell family property to treat his parents’ illness.

The civil servant wanted to take advantage, forcing him to sell the shop to the civil servant at a low price.

After selling the shop, he still got very little money, not even enough to buy medicine for his parents, and so his parents passed away one after another, leaving only him and his sister.

Lin Baichao was already working very hard to support his sister, but the civil servant still wouldn’t let them go, occasionally sending constables to create trouble.

Up to now, the siblings couldn’t even get enough to eat.

With no other options, Lin Baichao could only search for food outside the city.

What the Government Official said was true, he was just a small beggar, and those rice bran were begged for.

At this moment, Lin Baichao hid inside his home, observing the patrol youths through the door gap, hesitating and deliberating.

First, he returned to his room, glanced at his feverish sister, gritted his teeth, and suddenly pulled open the door and went out.

The patrol youths saw him come out, glanced at him, and shouted: ”Don’t cause trouble!”

Lin Baichao nodded repeatedly and cautiously said: ”I won’t cause trouble, my sister is ill, I need to find a doctor!”

The youths saw him looking like a frail chicken and felt he shouldn’t be a troublemaker.

”Go ahead!”

”Thank you, thank you, sir!”

Lin Baichao forced a flattering smile, though it was somewhat stiff.

Seeing the youths ignore him, he quickened his pace towards the medical hall.

The medical hall’s door was tightly shut, he knocked for a long time before getting a response.

”Who!” The voice outside trembled.

”Grandpa Li, my sister is ill!”

The door was pulled open, revealing an elderly face, and the doctor looked around the street left and right.

”Quick, come in!”

Seeing that no one else was approaching on the street, the doctor pulled Lin Baichao into the medical hall.

”What’s going on outside?” the doctor asked.

”I don’t know! These people appeared suddenly, the leader seems to be a young man!” Lin Baichao responded.

”You’ve seen them?”

”Yes, I saw them when entering the city and also encountered them just now!”

”They didn’t do anything to you?”

”No, no, they don’t seem to be bad people!” Lin Baichao responded.

Doctor Li leaned against the door, observing outside.

”Grandpa Li, my sister is ill, she started having a fever after the completion, and now she’s even unconscious!” Lin Baichao said anxiously.

Doctor Li looked at him, sighed softly, and said, ”Wait for me to get the medicine kit!”

They were all neighborhood residents, and Lin Baichao’s siblings were practically raised before his eyes, and he already pitied these two children, now he couldn’t bear to ignore them.

He carried the medicine kit, called his son, and followed Lin Baichao out of the medical hall.

They encountered the patrol youths again upon leaving, Lin Baichao bowed repeatedly and said, ”This is Doctor Li, coming to treat my sister!”

The youths looked at Doctor Li and his son, slightly nodded, ”Go quickly, as long as you don’t cause trouble, you can come and go freely!”

”Thank you, thank you~” Lin Baichao thanked repeatedly.

The three of them jogged all the way to Lin Baichao’s house, after closing the courtyard gate, Doctor Li looked outside in surprise, ”Strange, these people don’t seem to have malicious intent!”

”Grandpa Li, please treat my sister first!”

”Oh, understood!”

Doctor Li didn’t think further, and started treating the young girl.

Meanwhile, at the county government hall, the County Magistrate, civil servant, and more than a dozen officials and Government Officials were tightly tied up and escorted outside the hall.

”Young man, this scoundrel official actually wanted to escape with the silver!” Li Cheng placed the seized wooden box in front of Yang Mingzhao.

Yang Mingzhao opened the box, inside were roughly a dozen ingots of five taels each, and thirty silver notes, approximately more than three thousand taels of silver.

”Is this yours?” Yang Mingzhao asked Li Zhongping.

Li Zhongping had his mouth blocked by ragged cloth, mumbling.

Yang Mingzhao pulled off the ragged cloth, and Li Zhongping immediately said, ”Young man, this this is mine!”

”Where did you get it?”

”This is the family inheritance from ancestors!” Li Zhongping stuttered nervously.

Yang Mingzhao let out a cold laugh, ”Dare to deceive me!”

”Beat him!”

Two young men immediately stepped forward, wielding sticks to relentlessly beat Li Zhongping, making him scream in agony.

”Stop, I’ll ask again, where did this come from?”

Li Zhongping glanced at the young men beside him, then at Yang Mingzhao’s cold and stern face, trembling all over.

”This is the tax silver I embezzled over the years!”

”Hmph, corrupt official!” Yang Mingzhao snorted coldly and directly kicked the man over.

At this moment, Ma Yan also walked over with a few young men, ”Young Master, the county government’s treasury has less than ten taels of silver, and the Changping Warehouse has only less than three hundred stone of grain!”

Yang Mingzhao laughed, these officials are all fat rats, a whole county government actually has less than ten taels of silver and three hundred stone of grain.

Damn!

”Raid the homes!”

”You, take people and raid these people’s homes, arrest all their wives and children!”

”Also, raid the homes of the gentry and wealthy families in the city!”

This led to chaos in the city once more, as several large family homes were broken into by the young men, with everyone inside, men and women, being taken into custody.

Attacking these large families turned out to be more challenging than attacking the county government, as more than two hundred young men spent the better half of the day before completely subduing the seven or eight large households in the city.

During this time, there were even casualties, with one dead, two severely injured, and six slightly injured.

Of course, those killed by the young men were not few, numbering more than fifty.

The day passed in such chaotic scenes, and at night, the citizens of the city did not sleep soundly, fearing intruders might burst into their homes, killing indiscriminately.

Yet the night passed without incident.

The next morning, the sound of a gong was heard in the city.

”Public trial of officials and gentry at the county government, grievances can be aired, vendettas settled!”

”Public trial of officials and gentry at the county government, grievances can be aired, vendettas settled!”

The young men shouted along the streets, occasionally knocking on the doors of households, informing the populace.

Initially, the citizens were somewhat fearful, but seeing the young men were quite amicable, they gradually let go of some of their fear.

Some brave individuals went out towards the county government, and within half an hour, hundreds of citizens had gathered in front of the county government.

Seeing the time was right, Yang Mingzhao stepped out of the county government, and two young men carried out the table from the county government hall.

More than twenty young men acted as government officials, standing on either side.

”Court is in session!”

With a loud bang, Yang Mingzhao slapped the gavel, shouting.

Then the young men shouted: ”Authority~~Power~~”

Though they seemed a bit unprofessional, their shout lacked synchronization, and they exchanged knowing glances, feeling it quite amusing.

”Bring the accused!”

Yang Mingzhao commanded.

Immediately, some young men escorted a wealthy family to the front, with a dozen or so men, women, and children, and five or six servants, all neatly brought forward.

Yang Mingzhao flipped through the booklet in his hand, ”This family is named An, they run a grain shop and cloth business in the city, and own a thousand acres of good land outside the city, you all recognize them, right!”

The onlookers exchanged glances, remaining silent.

Seeing their silence, Yang Mingzhao didn’t mind and continued shouting: ”Air your grievances, today I will seek justice for you, as long as someone dares to speak out their crimes, I will severely punish them!”

The onlookers remained silent, but some had started to get eager to speak.

”There’s only one chance, if you don’t accuse them now, I will release them, and then you won’t be able to take revenge even if you have a grudge!” Yang Mingzhao shouted.

Finally, someone couldn’t hold back and stood up, ”Young Master, are you serious?”

”Haha, why would I deceive a commoner like you? Come, come, as long as you dare to speak, I’ll serve justice for you, even if it means executing them!” Yang Mingzhao didn’t sit still, directly standing up, one foot on the chair, the other on the table.

”Young Master, they beat me!”

”Who beat you?”

”It was him!” The man pointed to one of An family’s sons.

”Alright, people, drag him down and give him twenty lashes!” Without further ado, Yang Mingzhao ordered the punishment.

The sound of lashes cracking followed by wails echoed.

The citizens watched, deeply satisfied.