Chapter 302
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Chapter 302: Interrogation
Seeing Luo Jin, who was sweating profusely, Luo Ji instinctively covered his face.
After feeling a slight stomachache, he decisively spoke again.
“Forget what I just said. Tell your Mirror Division members to investigate who is creating this chaos! Also, check if anyone was deliberately escalating the conflict between the two groups recently. Once you confirm the targets, detain all of them immediately!”
“Understood, Your Majesty! But, what does ‘creating chaos’ mean?”
Luo Jin asked with an awkward expression, deeply doubting his own intelligence and work ability.
“…”
Luo Ji had been pushed to the brink by the current work, and his composure had cracked for a moment.
No wonder Luo Jin didn’t understand what he was saying.
After Luo Ji spent 10 minutes explaining in detail, Luo Jin, realizing the severity of the problem, withdrew with a solemn expression.
The very next morning, while on patrol, the city’s patrol team discovered that the public notice he had posted on the bulletin board had been torn down.
Then, rumors began to spread from an unknown source, claiming.
“People from Da Zhou are all enemies, and we will never accept Da Zhou citizens.”
There was no doubt that certain individuals, after learning of his actions, had taken even more aggressive measures.
They were clearly trying to incite and manipulate his people.
Luo Ji, however, remained calm.
Since he knew someone was stirring up trouble behind the scenes, it would have been truly strange if they hadn’t reacted to his actions.
But Luo Ji’s calmness did not mean everyone else was as calm.
As the commander of the Mirror Division, the intelligence agency, Luo Jin had learned of this news even earlier than Luo Ji, and his face instantly darkened completely!
Tearing down the public notice Luo Ji issued was a blatant provocation!
And his failure to immediately apprehend those who were causing trouble in the shadows was a sign of his incompetence as the Mirror Division’s commander!
“Find them for me! Within 3 days, bring every single one of these troublemakers to me!”
Luo Jin, who was usually level-headed, was furious for the first time.
With this command, he dispatched almost every available person from the Mirror Division.
It proved that the Mirror Division was powerful in intelligence control and collection.
In just 2 days, they had arrested 13 people with conclusive evidence, not even needing the full 3 days!
Luo Ji motioned for the 13 individuals to be brought before him.
He wanted to confirm something.
Before they even entered the door, wailing and crying could be heard from outside.
“We’ve been wronged! Your Majesty, we’ve been wronged!”
“Yes, Your Majesty, we are all good citizens!”
Each of them acted tearfully.
Upon seeing Luo Ji, they cried even more intensely.
Luo Ji sneered inwardly.
He could tell with a glance whether they were good citizens or not.
He casually opened the attribute panel of the person crying the most intensely and checked their loyalty.
It was only 61 points.
According to Luo Ji’s standards, loyalty above 70 points meant ordinary citizens, and around 80 points meant good citizens.
Given that the person in front of him only had 61 points, their status was obvious.
Although his ruler’s talent could grant his people a default loyalty of +10, it was not invincible.
For example, if someone’s original loyalty was only 10 points, adding 10 points would still only result in 20 points.
He had to admit that the disadvantage of not being able to check each panel individually to confirm loyalty was once again evident.
Luo Ji, with a poker face after confirming the loyalty, flipped through the list in front of him and then read out the person’s name.
“Zhang Lin…”
Upon hearing his name called, the middle-aged man who was crying the most paused his wailing, then continued to bawl.
Luo Ji didn’t care, he let him cry and then, in a calm tone, read out the content below the name on the list.
“Half a month ago, you sold a bronze cup, and recently, you have successively sold two bronze ornaments…”
As these words were spoken, the middle-aged man named Zhang Lin’s expression visibly stiffened.
Before he could react further, Luo Ji’s next words followed.
“Bronze cups, bronze ornaments, I don’t recall my territory having such items?”
“Th-this was what I bought with my wages some time ago, Your Majesty. Have you forgotten? You yourself said that bronze transactions were permitted a while ago.”
Zhang Lin said, gritting his teeth.
“That’s right, I did permit bronze transactions, but I did not permit the manufacturing of bronze ornaments and bronze cups.”
Bronze, after all, was an important military resource.
Luo Ji’s primary purpose in opening bronze transactions was to acquire bronze from relatively wealthy Great Zhou citizens, as he couldn’t simply seize it from those who hadn’t committed any crimes.
Hence, this method was implemented, but for his own side, items like bronze cups and bronze ornaments were still prohibited from being manufactured!
Luo Ji’s voice was unhurried, but the sweat beads on Zhang Lin’s forehead grew more numerous.
“Furthermore, for the past half-month, you’ve been drinking and eating meat daily, living quite comfortably, haven’t you? But you are merely a small laborer in the logging team. I don’t recall the logging team’s wages being so generous?”
“It’s because… because I worked hard and received a bonus…”
“Hahahahaha…”
Luo Ji burst out laughing.
“In the past half-month, you’ve been absent for 3 days, late or left early 7 times, and fined twice for drinking during work.”
“As of yesterday, you’ve already been fired from the logging team. Do you call this working diligently?”
As he spoke, Luo Ji’s entire expression suddenly changed.
“Colluding with traitors, harming the interests of the Myriad Worlds Civilization, instigating other people, and attempting to incite internal strife, do you know how many times these charges are enough for you to die?!”
With an angry roar, Zhang Lin’s legs trembled, and he knelt on the ground with a thud.
Knowing he could no longer hide anything, he truly began to cry, his face a mess of snot and tears, while continuously kowtowing and begging for mercy.
“Your Majesty, spare me! Spare me, Your Majesty!”
“Do I need to call out each of your names one by one?”
Luo Ji’s gaze swept across the dozen or so people, who had long since turned pale with fright, and they immediately knelt down, one after another, beginning to plead for mercy.
Luo Ji drank all the tea in his cup, quelling his anger, and then coldly stated.
“I’ll give you a chance to avoid death. Confess all your accomplices and those who instructed you to do this!”
At the brink of death, how could these people care about anything else?
They opened their mouths, one after another, rattling off a string of names like spilling beans.
The number turned out to be unexpectedly high, making Luo Ji’s expression grow increasingly grim.
