Chapter 1090

“Elder Ge, I must take my leave. I have an important matter to report to His Majesty, so I cannot accompany you.”

Yue Yun’s tone was blunt and cold, not concealing his emotions at all.

Among the many officials who followed Xiao Ming to build the empire, the civil officials could still maintain a basic appearance of harmony with Ge Yiren, but generals like Yue Yun did not care about what Ge Yiren thought at all.

Ge Yiren showed an awkward expression. This was why he had spoken up for Luo Hong back then. The Empire’s armies were all in the hands of people like Yue Yun. Even if they, the civil officials, spoke loudly in court, what could they do?

“Then I will not bother you.” Ge Yiren smiled and had the coachman continue on his way to his mansion.

Yue Yun glanced at the departing carriage and continued on his way to the palace with the Cao family father and son.

Meanwhile, in Ge Yiren’s carriage, the atmosphere had dropped to a freezing point.

“What! Are you sure those two are the Cao family father and son?” Ge Yiren exclaimed.

“There’s no mistake. I saw Cao Kun in Suzhou back then. I saw the scar on the back of his hand, and it’s in the exact same place as that man’s,” Ren He said with certainty.

Ge Yiren nodded slightly. “No wonder Yue Yun is personally escorting these two. This is a great achievement.”

After saying this, he suddenly remembered something and asked sternly, “You said you have seen Cao Kun. Do you have any connection to him?”

“Brother Ge, you’re overthinking it. A lot of people saw Cao Kun when he was in Suzhou.” Ren He explained. “Besides, if I had any connection to him, I would have already fled the Empire. Why would I still be here?”

Ge Yiren’s expression softened. Although he was unhappy with Xiao Ming’s suppression of the nobles, he was also extremely disgusted with the Merchant Parliament, because the Merchant Parliament also wanted to take away their power.

Seeing that Ge Yiren no longer pressed the matter, Ren He let out a slight sigh of relief, but a deep worry flashed in his eyes.

He had lied to Ge Yiren. The purpose of his visit to Qingzhou this time was to cause chaos in the Empire, but he never expected Cao Kun to be captured so quickly.

As a member of the Merchant Parliament, he naturally remembered that Cao Kun had a list in his hands. It was this list that forced him to risk being beheaded and come to the capital.

When the Merchant Parliament was running rampant in the south, the people who joined it at that time signed their names and put their fingerprints on this list to follow the times. This list also contained the oath they had made to overthrow Xiao Ming’s rule when they joined the parliament.

If this list were to fall into the Empire’s hands, their fate would be unimaginable.

It seemed that by grasping this weakness in their psychology, Cao Kun, even after the defeat of the Merchant Parliament, remained like a lingering ghost, threatening them that if they did not obey, he would send the page with their signatures to the local government.

And this completely cut off their path of retreat. They had no choice but to continue to carry out the oath they had made in the parliament.

Thinking of this, Ren He’s expression became even more grim. All sorts of thoughts flashed through his mind, but in the end, only one thought was clear and distinct: escape!

…

Imperial Study.

Xiao Ming, after receiving the eunuch’s report, summoned Yue Yun.

Before Yue Yun arrived in Qingzhou, Lei Ming had already sent the battle report from Calcutta to him.

At the same time, the battle report also mentioned the Cao family father and son.

Since Yue Yun had personally come this time, he guessed that the Cao family father and son had probably been captured.

Sure enough, as soon as Yue Yun entered the Imperial Study, he saluted and said loudly, “Your Majesty, the Cao family father and son have been captured by your humble official, and at the same time, a list was obtained from Cao Kun.”

“Present it.”

Xiao Ming’s expression became serious. Wang Xuan had already told him about this list.

Yue Yun heard this and handed the list to Xiao Ming. He then stood to the side, waiting for instructions.

Taking the list, Xiao Ming flipped through it. Names one after another entered his eyes, making his heart grow colder and colder the more he read.

This booklet was three fingers thick, with a blue cover and yellow paper. Each page recorded twenty people, and there were a total of more than four thousand people on the more than two hundred pages of paper. Some of the names had an “X” drawn on them, which were the people who died during the North-South War.

But even so, there were still nearly two thousand people who did not have an “X” on their names. No one knew what roles these people were playing in the Empire now.

“Does anyone else know about this matter?” Xiao Ming asked.

“No. Your humble official personally escorted the two of them here and did not reveal any information to anyone on the way.”

Xiao Ming nodded. At this time, he picked up the telephone and dialed a number. Soon, Li San’s voice came through the receiver.

“Come to the Imperial Study immediately. I have an important matter for you to handle.” With that, Xiao Ming hung up the phone.

Yue Yun felt a little envious. He had heard that the Empire’s Telecommunications Department had invented the telephone when he was in Southeast Asia, but he had not had the chance to experience it yet after returning.

Now that the Emperor had personally demonstrated it, he was extremely shocked.

After waiting for a while, Li San arrived in a hurry.

Xiao Ming then handed the list to him. “Immediately find out where these people are and what they are doing. Once you have accurate information, arrest them immediately.”

Li San just glanced at the names on the list and knew that it was from the Merchant Parliament. He looked at Yue Yun and said, “Was Cao Kun captured?”

“Yes. I have already locked them up in the imperial prison. Once you have handled the matter of the list, it will be time for me to clean up the internal chaos.” Xiao Ming said sternly.

Li San nodded. He knew the seriousness of this matter. During this period, there had been a continuous stream of people secretly inciting conflicts within the Empire.

Through their investigation, they found that these people included remnants of the Merchant Parliament. It was for this reason that they had been waiting for the right moment to capture them all in one swoop.

“I will go and handle it now.” While speaking, he was still flipping through the list. Suddenly, one name made his hand stop.

He placed the list in front of Xiao Ming and said, “Your Majesty, there is also a person named Ren He in Elder Ge’s residence. He was once a great Confucian scholar in the south.”

Xiao Ming looked at Ren He’s name and narrowed his eyes. “These petty villains are truly audacious. They have even infiltrated the side of a cabinet minister.”

Yue Yun hesitated for a moment. He said, “Your Majesty, a fly won’t sting a flawless egg. This Ge Yiren is probably not a good person either.”

“He is indeed not a good person. Since he has run straight into my guns, he has only himself to blame.” Xiao Ming said coldly.

Now that the war in Southeast Asia finally had a result, he could now shift his focus to the internal affairs of the Empire.

Ever since he introduced the policy of popularizing the nobles, different voices had been rampant in the Empire, and there were naturally people behind the scenes pushing for this.

But at the beginning, he chose to condone it. His purpose was to see who could not hold back and who would take the opportunity to deceive the people with their wild talk.

As the saying goes, “don’t be too happy now, or you’ll have to pay the price later.” So far, Li San had already gathered a lot of information on many people.

Now, with this list, the time to “kill one to scare a hundred” had arrived.