After the death of Duke Hongguo, the Lu family experienced the most panicked period in history.

Fortunately, the Empress Dowager was secretly helping them. Now they have a new residence, spend money to buy slaves and cars, and their food, clothing and expenses are gradually returning to their former life.

It seems that the days are back to the past.

However, just this morning, the soldiers from Jingzhao Mansion suddenly rushed into the Lu Mansion and arrested everyone in the Lu family.

Duke Hong's eldest son, Lu Yin, the current head of the Lu family, was shocked and screamed.

"What are you doing? We are all good people, why should you arrest us?!"

A soldier took out the arrest document issued by the prefect and said loudly.

"More than ten merchants jointly sued the Lu family, for not paying money for buying things, indulging slaves to beat people, oppress good people, and domineering. After verification by Jingzhao Prefecture, it is true. Now I will arrest you to Jingzhao Prefecture for trial!"

Amid the screams and curses, more than 30 people from the Lu family were arrested and entered Jingzhao Mansion.

Mei Guangtao was wearing an official uniform and sat upright in the high hall to start the trial of the case.

As the head of the Lu family, Lu Yin is naturally the main target of being interrogated.

He does not admit that he owes his debts and does not pay them back.

He was confident. When the Lu family was on credit, they did not write an IOU. Even if the merchants wanted to sue them, they could not provide conclusive evidence.

However, he thought things too simple.

Although the merchants cannot get the IOU, they have an account book and everything they sell every day is clearly recorded.

Not only that, they all have their own trademarks when they are on the shelves such as fabrics, furniture, gold and silver jewelry. As long as they are sold from their homes, everything has their own unique marks.

Not to mention antique calligraphy and paintings, each piece is unique and can be recognized at a glance.

The official from Jingzhao Mansion took the account book to the Lu family to compare one by one, and soon found all the things.

Now Lu Yin can no longer deny it.

He could only try his best to quibble for himself, saying that they did not pay back the money, but they were not well-off lately and would definitely be able to pay it back later. He begged the prefect to give it a grace for a while.

Mei Guangtao saw that he wanted to be fooled at this time, so he couldn't help but sneer.

"Do you know what should be done by those who owed debts under the Dasheng Law?"

As the saying goes, if the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam is crooked, and Duke Hong himself is not a good person, so naturally the son he raised did not learn much.

Lu Yin has never been ignorant since he was a child. Even if he had been in Taixue for a while, he still had no idea about Dasheng's law.

It was precisely because he did not understand the law that he dared to blatantly instruct his servants to throw out the merchants who came to ask for debt.

At this time, when Lu Yin heard Gong Mei’s question, he didn’t think much about it and curled his lips.

"I just owe some money. At worst, I can just ask someone to return all those things."

Mei Guangtao has been watching for many years, but who hasn't seen him?

Seeing Lu Yin's stupid look, he knew that it would be useless to say more, so he directly brought out all the valuable things of the Lu family and sold them to the pawnshop. Then he used the money from the pawnshop to pay off the money that the Lu family owed to the merchants.

The merchants were naturally satisfied and happy when they got the money.

Lu Yin cried and dared not speak out.

However, this is not the end.

Mei Guangtao: "The Lu family bullies others with their power and indulges slaves to beat people. This is still at the feet of the emperor. You dare to be so arrogant. If you cannot teach a lesson, I am afraid that you will become more and more bullying the good people in the future. Come and send all male men over twelve years old to the Tongshan Quarry to perform labor service for one month to serve as a warning!"

Lu Yin was shocked and exclaimed: "I don't want to serve corvee! We are a gentry, and we have the privilege of not serving corvee!"

Since the rise of the gentry, there has been a huge difference between the gentry and the common people.

The gentry did not have to perform corvee service or military service, and the land and business under their names did not need to be paid taxes. Some relatively powerful families can even raise private soldiers.

Not only do common people have to serve three months of corvee service every year when spring and summer change, but each household must have at least one male to serve in the military service, and the various taxes are scary. Not to mention doing business, donating miscellaneous taxes can almost crush people to death. The money earned by merchants every year is basically not much left after paying taxes.

In the previous dynasty, the common people were not even qualified to take the scientific examination, which was a game that only gentry could afford.

It was not until the great dynasty that this restriction was broken and the common people had the opportunity to participate in scientific examinations to change their lives.

However, that's all.

The various privileges of the gentry are still there, and they still monopolize most of the resources of the entire country.

Mei Guangtao sneered after hearing Lu Yin's words.

"You have long been demoted to common people and are not gentry at all."

Lu Yin choked and shouted: "Although we are not gentry anymore, I am the nephew of the Empress Dowager. Are you not afraid of the Empress Dowager blamed me like this?!"

Mei Guangtao supported himself on the table with one hand, leaned forward slightly on the upper notebook, and smiled coldly.

"I am not afraid to tell you the truth. The clerk has already impeached the emperor for the scammers of the Lu family's destruction. The emperor is very unhappy and signaled that I must deal with this matter severely. Do you understand what this means?"

Lu Yin didn't expect that he just owed some money, and even the emperor knew about it.

He was so scared that his face turned pale and he didn't dare to speak anymore.

Mei Guangtao waved his hand.

Immediately, a soldier came forward, grabbed Lu Yin roughly, and dragged him out.

In the afternoon of the same day, all male men over twelve years old in the Lu family were sent to Tongshan Quarry for a one-month labor reform.

This matter was quickly introduced to the palace.

Lu Xinyao was immediately cried. Her father and her brother had never done heavy work. If they were to serve a month of corvee service, they would definitely be exhausted to death!

She cried and went to find the Empress Dowager and asked the Empress Dowager to help save the Lu family.

When the Empress Dowager heard about this, she was shocked and angry.

She immediately asked someone to invite the emperor over.

The Empress Dowager asked: "The emperor has confiscated all the property of the Lu family, so why do they still have to be sent to labor service? You don't know how hard it is to carry out labor service. Do you really want to kill the Lu family to be willing to do so?!"

Now both military talismans have been in Luo Qinghan's hands. He is in power and is too lazy to think of a snake with the Empress Dowager.

He said expressionlessly.

"As long as the emperor and grandmother promise not to interfere in my private affairs, the Lu family will naturally be safe."

The Empress Dowager was shocked by his uncovered threat.

It took her a long time before she made a sound in disbelief.

"You're just trying so much to vent your anger for the imperial concubine?"
Chapter completed!