Chapter 242 Smashed! All smashed!
When Qinglong and three hundred Jin Yiwei stepped into the territory of Jiangnan, there were countless pairs of eyes staring at them.
But no one acted rashly. They were afraid of alerting others, and even more afraid of setting themselves on fire.
Qinglong came all the way with a very clear purpose, heading straight to Qiantang.
Finally, when Qinglong led the Jinyi guards to Qiantang County, the Qiantang Yu family finally couldn't sit still.
Just when Qinglong entered Qiantang County, the contemporary head of the Yu family, Yu Yunzhong, had already taken his servants to Nanjing to establish relations.
The southeast is beautiful, the three Wu cities are there, and Qiantang has been prosperous since ancient times.
The prosperity of Qiantang County is unmatched by those counties in the north.
In Qiantang County, there are bridges painted with smoked willows, wind curtains and green curtains, cities lined with jewels, households filled with luxury goods, and hundreds of thousands of households competing for luxury.
There are so many tourists, the sound of hawking is endless, and the commercial atmosphere is very strong.
At this time, several important economic areas along the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty were no longer considered to have sprouts of capitalism, but were actually born with capitalism.
But not many new capitalist aristocrats were born. Instead, the original aristocratic families completed the primitive accumulation of capital early and enjoyed the dividends of capitalism.
Yu's mansion is located in the most prosperous and best-located place in Qiantang County.
But Qinglong did not choose to go to the city. Instead, he bypassed Qiantang County and went to a place called Yipeng.
This is Yu Shen's hometown.
People from his nine tribes also live here.
As Qinglong and others gradually moved away from Qiantang County, the scenery in front of them was still beautiful and the crops in the fields were still prosperous.
But the working people walking in the period rarely have smiles on their faces.
Their bodies are equally thin, their skin is rough and slightly dark, and they are not at all like the wealthy people in the city.
The clothes they wore were all made of coarse linen, which was in sharp contrast to the wealthy people in the city who were covered in fine clothes.
The houses in the streets are also simple and unpretentious.
It seems that the wealth and prosperity here have nothing to do with them.
Like thousands of other ordinary people, they are just getting enough food and clothing.
But compared to the people in the north, they don't have to worry about food and clothing. Although life is difficult, they can still get by.
There is a surplus of food at home, so they can eat meat during the holidays and make a new set of clothes every four or five years. This is their daily life.
Of course, the life they are living now is something that people in other places can only dream of.
But considering the prosperity in the southeast, the people should not live such a hard life.
Qinglong glanced at them indifferently. The people walking in the fields were not moved at all, and they still went straight to Yu Shen's ancestral home.
But just when passing by a luxurious ancestral hall, Qinglong stopped.
I saw a few masons hammering on a stone, working very carefully.
The stone is about ten feet long. After being hammered by the stonemason, it has already taken a rough shape. Judging from the style, it is a stone statue of a person.
Taking a closer look, the man's appearance was exactly the same as that of the traitor Yu Shen.
Qinglong got off his horse and came to the stone statue.
When the masons who were knocking stones saw people in official uniforms coming, they all stopped what they were doing, took a few steps back with their hands down, shrank back, and nodded and bowed respectfully to Qinglong.
"Master...Hello, Master..."
Qinglong's face was livid, and his brows were tightly knitted together.
It was obvious that Zhu Youtang had already determined Yu Shen's nature and sentenced him to be a national thief, implicating the nine clans!
But these people in Qiantang are still carving stone statues for Yu Shen, which is simply treason!
"You are so brave, you dare to build a stone statue for the traitor!"
"Do you also want to rebel?!"
Following Qinglong's questioning, hundreds of Jinyi guards behind Qinglong quietly approached and surrounded the masons.
The masons had never seen such a show of force before. They killed the imperial guards on the spot and knelt down in fear to beg for mercy.
"My lord, please spare my life, my lord, spare your life!"
"We did not want to make this stone statue. The local people paid for it and asked us to make it."
"We just make a living, someone pays us, and we get plastic surgery. We don't know what crime he committed!"
The explanations of the masons made Qinglong even more shocked and angry.
"What?! People paid for it?!"
"Stupid! Absolutely stupid!"
"I don't think the people here are rich, so why bother spending so much money to give a statue to this rebellious minister..."
Suddenly, Qinglong's heart was pounding, and he turned around and asked: "Who asked you to make this stone statue?!"
"It can't be that the people of Qiantang paid for it to be made by you, right?"
"My lord is wise, it would be great if we ordinary people could have enough food and clothing. How can we have spare money to build statues?"
The masons nodded repeatedly and explained: "It was Mr. Yunzhong of the Yu family who ordered us, the people of Yujiazhuang, to pay for this man's statue."
"Everyone said that this man was a hero of the Ming Dynasty and a great hero who came out of our country and brought great glory to Qiantang."
"Both of the sentiment and reason, we all have to pay for his statue. They also said that it is our honor to be able to pay for his statue!"
"For this reason, every household in Yujiazhuang has to contribute half of the money. Our family has worked hard for a year and still can't save half of the money!"
"Who knew that the person we paid for the statue would actually be a sinner!"
The stonemason said and kicked the stone statue at his feet.
"Please take a closer look, sir. It's really not the statue we want to make for him!" After listening to the stonemason's narration, Qinglong already understood the whole story.
Qinglong then asked: "How many households in your village have contributed money?"
"Returning to the officials, there should be more than 1,600 households."
Qinglong sneered: "More than 1,600 households, that's more than 800 guan of money, more than 800 taels of silver."
"Do you need more than 800 taels of silver to build a broken stone statue?!"
The mason lowered his head and murmured: "Master Yu said that this money will also be used for subsequent maintenance and sacrificial activities..."
After Qinglong figured out the statue, the anger that surged in his heart disappeared without a trace.
He was not surprised at all that a wealthy family in Qiantang would do such a thing. He just recorded another crime in his heart for the Yu family.
In the final analysis, no matter how rich Jiangnan is, no matter how favorable the court's policies towards Jiangnan are.
These have nothing to do with ordinary people.
The gentry in Jiangnan may rise or fall, but it will always be the ordinary people who suffer.
Please...you...collect_6_9_书_吧 (六//九//书//吧)
Qinglong immediately ordered: "Smash this stone statue down!"
"Ah?! Smash it?!"
The masons looked at each other in confusion.
"Master, this is Master Yu's order. If we smash him, we can't explain it to Master Yu..."
"If anyone really asks, just say it was me, Qinglong, the royal guard, who asked me to smash it."
Qinglong looked at these masons with an indifferent expression: "However, I guarantee that no one will ask these questions."
"Huh? This..."
The masons were still hesitating, but Qinglong shouted loudly: "Hurry up and smash it!"
The stonemasons were so frightened that they trembled and hit the stone statue on the face with their stone hammers.
With just one click, Yu Shen was completely confused.
This stone statue is completely unusable.
In this case, the remaining stonemasons simply took heart and quickly smashed the remaining stones into pieces.
In this way, before Yu Shen could erect the stone statue, he was personally smashed by the Qiantang masons.
"Guan...Guan Ye...has finished smashing..."
Qinglong nodded and was about to leave with Jin Yiwei when he suddenly saw a stone statue standing inside the ancestral hall.
The stone statues inside are obviously old, but they are still well preserved, with only some traces of time.
If it were elsewhere, Qinglong wouldn't be so sensitive.
But this is Qiantang, and besides Yu Shen, there is another famous official from Jiangnan!
Qinglong stopped, pointed at the statue in the ancestral hall and asked: "Who is that statue made of?!"
The masons looked in the direction of Qinglong's finger, and then smiled proudly: "Oh, that sculpture is the pride of our Qiantang Yu family, and also our hero of the Ming Dynasty, Yu Qian Yu Shaobao!"
"Master Yu from Qiantang County is the adopted grandson of Shaobao."
When Yu Qian was mentioned, the masons' expressions were completely different from those when Yu Shen was mentioned.
He was indifferent to Shen, showed no concern, and even had some hatred.
Because of Yu Shen's existence, they lost half their money in vain. This kind of real loss made their attitude towards Shen definitely not good.
But when Yu Qian was mentioned, even the stonemason in the village showed a proud smile on his face and puffed up his chest unconsciously.
In fact, they all did the same thing. The only difference was that the nobles in Jiangnan didn't have much time to publicize Yu Shen's glorious deeds.
Therefore, Yu Shen's popularity is not as high as Yu Qian's.
In the Jiangnan area, Yu Qian was enshrined like a Bodhisattva by the aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River.
Thanks to the concerted efforts and perseverance of these aristocratic families, and for many years of publicity, the fact that Yu Qian is a hero of the Ming Dynasty and a defender of the capital has become deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
You see, even Emperor Xianzong vindicated him, can he still be wrong?
But here Zhu Youtang, no!
After Zhu Youtang learned all the truth about Tumubao from Zhou, he issued an order.
Let’s settle all old and new grudges together!
He Qinglong came to Qiantang not just to kill the Yu Shen clan.
The Yu Qian clan must also be uprooted!
Although Yu Qian no longer has a blood heir, he still has to die even if he is raising a grandson!
"The statue of Yu Qian? Destroy it together!"
Qinglong looked grim and immediately ordered.
"Ah?!"
When the masons heard Qinglong's order, they were frightened out of their wits, and they all knelt down in front of Qinglong and begged for mercy.
"Master, you can't smash it! You can't smash it!"
"If you smash the statue and Mr. Yu gets angry, we will be in trouble!"
"Master, please do your best and stop!"
"..."
None of the masons were willing to take action, but Qinglong had already led the imperial guards behind him and rushed into the ancestral hall.
Take it upon yourself to destroy Yu Qian’s statue!
(End of chapter)