Lu Wen, upon hearing this, felt that the day was extremely strange. He looked at Yin Xiaohu and the hundred-plus people behind him. Although they wore villager clothes, their expressions were resolute, showing no panic. Their movements were coordinated, far from resembling ordinary villagers. Could they be disguised imperial troops? Perhaps the Fujian Navy? Or the garrison troops from Jinshan or Zhenhai?
Thinking of this, he felt it was best to retreat for now. At the very least, Zhu Mo's people had arrived, and he could report back to Luo Longwen. He nodded immediately.
Ma Sen loudly declared, “Return to camp!”
A stir followed as the imperial troops immediately formed ranks and retreated.
Lü Kun stood tall, looking with disdain, but his palms were sweaty, and his back was already drenched. Only after the troops had completely withdrawn did he let out a long sigh and say, “Xiaohu, if you hadn’t come this time, something big would have happened…”
Yin Xiaohu saw that many villagers were injured, with forty to fifty dead. He felt a pang of sadness. “Mr. Lü, where is Scholar Zhu at the moment? What should we do about this situation? If they come again tomorrow, what will we do?”
Lü Kun shook his head and sighed, “I don’t know either. We can only take it one step at a time…”
…
Within Fuzhou City,
Shen Chun’s secret residence.
Luo Longwen was not angry. After listening to the report from the two men, he merely sighed leisurely and said, “Kong Yang, you were tricked… Zhu Mo was trying to avoid trouble, so how could he have returned to Jingde Town? If he had come, it would have confirmed the charge of rebellion! You should have arrested those people as well…”
He finished speaking, glanced at the two men, and shook his head repeatedly.
Ma Sen said, “Lord Luo, those people were not villagers. They looked like disguised soldiers! Zhu Mo is cunning, and we… we were afraid…”
Lu Wen exclaimed, complaining, “Lord Ma, you’ve misunderstood me! How could I have been so foolish? Since we had already broken the stronghold, we should have killed a few hundred people!”
He thought for a moment and then asked, “Lord Luo, shall we attack again tomorrow?”
Luo Longwen, however, shook his head and sighed, “Fan Yingqi will not agree… By now, Tan Lun’s order has likely reached Fuzhou. It will be extremely difficult to move even a single soldier. I expected resistance, but I never imagined someone would rush to aid from a thousand miles away! What is going on? I’ve never heard of such a thing…”
His original plan was to escalate the situation. Ideally, the imperial troops would charge in and kill several hundred people. When investigated, it would be claimed as a melee that the imperial troops suppressed, leading to resistance and thus the bloodshed. The purpose of this was to make the situation irresolvable, forcing Jiajing out, then arresting Li Mingfeng and torturing him to confess that Lin Ru and Prince Yi had instigated it. Lin Run and Prince Yi would then not dare to admit that the Crown Prince had instigated it, thus pinning it on Zhu Mo… But any discerning person could see that it was actually Prince Yu who had instigated it.
In this way, the royal melodrama would be ridiculed by the world. When officials submitted memorials and the world criticized Prince Yu, both Prince Yu and Zhu Mo would be unable to ascend the throne. At this time, Prince Jing’s illness would improve, and Jiajing, believing he held the trump card, would allow Prince Jing to become the Crown Prince…
But now that the situation had taken an unexpected turn, his hand had to be revised. At this moment, he needed to immediately arrest Li Mingfeng and torture him to implicate Lin Run and Prince Yi. Only then could he regain control of the situation, making Fan Yingqi dare not interfere, and even making Tan Lun fearful and unwilling to intervene…
He then decisively stated, “Shen Chun! You just wait and see! You set up private torture chambers and act lawlessly. When the imperial court investigates, you will all be beheaded!”
Ha, Shen Chun let out a shrill, mocking laugh and said, “Apply the torture!”