latelenovela Chapter 146 Aftermath
Chapter 146 Aftermath
Chapter 146 Aftermath
Li Yajing stood to the side, sobbing and wiping away her tears. Even in modern times, let alone ancient times, forcibly sleeping with a girl is a grave mistake. Although Li Yajing was a courtesan, she wasn't yet fully married, and she felt deeply wronged.
Sheng Lan walked over, grabbed Wang Wenzhou's arm, and said, "Stop hitting him! You can't kill him, can you? You have to give Ya Jing an explanation!"
Wang Wenzhou nodded, stood up, cupped his hands in a gesture of respect to Li Yajing, and said, "Xiao Liang has really gone too far. I think we should hold a public trial tomorrow to put Xiao Liang to the test."
"Brother-in-law!" Upon hearing this, Li Yajing cried even harder. She was a young woman who had been forcibly raped, publicly tried, and let so many people know. How could she ever face anyone again?
Sheng Lan frowned and said softly, "No! If others find out about this, how will Ya Jing face anyone?"
Wang Wenzhou thought for a moment and replied, "Lazy Blue, don't worry, it doesn't matter whether Ya Jing is there or not. I won't reveal Ya Jing's identity. But you'd better take her to see her so she can vent her anger."
Sheng Lan was unsure of Wang Wenzhou's intentions. Li Yajing was like a sister to her, and she had practically raised her. Although Sheng Liang was her nephew, she didn't dote on him much because of Sheng Lei, especially since Sheng Liang's actions had angered her further. She wanted to teach Sheng Liang a lesson. She knew very well that Wang Wenzhou wouldn't kill Sheng Liang.
“Okay!” Sheng Lan nodded.
Sheng Lan was recovering from her serious injury, and her face was still a little pale. She had been resting in bed and had been disciplining Sheng Liang for a long time, so she was also a little tired.
Wang Wenzhou noticed the fatigue on Sheng Lan's face and quickly said, "Ya Jing, quickly help Lan Lan go inside to rest. Don't worry, I promise I won't let Xiao Liang off the hook tomorrow."
Li Yajing glared at Sheng Liang with resentment, sobbed a few times, nodded, and helped Sheng Lan into the house.
"Brother, you'd better tell them to go easy on me," Sheng Liang said pitifully.
"Don't worry! It's just physical pain. If you want to sleep with a goddess, you have to pay the price! If you can't even endure this little bit of pain, how can you sleep with a goddess?" Wang Wenzhou complained.
"Yes!" The young racing prodigy Sheng Liang nodded solemnly. He had already made up his mind to do as his uncle instructed.
“Alright, go ask Wang Qiang if the damage statistics after the riots have been compiled yet,” Wang Wenzhou said.
A short while later, Wang Qiang and Li Yinshui hurriedly entered the house.
Li Yinshui cupped his hands in greeting and said, "Reporting to Your Excellency, in this riot, 809 civilians in Hanshan were injured and 678 died. The labor camp and special forces suffered 331 injuries and 125 deaths. The yamen runners suffered 37 injuries and 21 deaths."
"Hoo..." Wang Wenzhou took a deep breath. Damn, only a little over a hundred bandits, yet they caused such heavy casualties. There were just too many.
Wang Wenzhou thought for a moment and said, "Casualties in labor camps and among government officials are considered work-related injuries. They should be given compensation. Depending on the severity of their injuries, each injured person should receive 5 to 30 taels of silver, and each person who dies in battle should receive 50 taels of silver. Innocent civilians who suffer should also receive some condolence money. Each injured person should receive 5 to 10 taels of silver, and each person who dies should receive 20 taels of silver."
Li Yinshui roughly calculated that it would require thirty to forty thousand taels of silver, which was a huge sum of money. Lord Wang really didn't treat silver like silver.
"Sir, will the money come from the government's public accounts?" Li Yinshui asked.
It's almost the fifteenth of the month again, and the government's public accounts show that the income from city entry taxes, good citizen certificates, and other sources totals about 60,000 taels of silver.
Wang Wenzhou didn't intend to use public funds; he planned to donate in his own name, with the money coming from the upcoming charity auction.
"The money won't come from the public accounts; a charity auction will be held the day after tomorrow," Wang Wenzhou said calmly.
Li Yinshui had been busy with the aftermath and hadn't heard the news yet. Now that he heard it, he secretly chuckled to himself, thinking how good his godfather was at making money.
"Understood!" Li Yinshui said, cupping his hands in greeting.
Wang Wenzhou thought for a moment and then said, "Xiao Qiang, bring the map over."
Wang Qiang quickly got up, took out a map, and spread it on the table.
Wang Wenzhou pointed to the open space in front of the stadium and said, "Notify Li Yinshui, Feng Yuantao, and others to suspend construction work on this land. Have everyone level this area properly. Then, build a monument overnight."
Li Yinshui and the others didn't quite understand what a monument was.
Wang Wenzhou explained, “The monument is similar to a tombstone. I’ll draw up the blueprints later. The names of all those who died in this suppression of the rebellion, whether they were government officials or labor camp inmates, will be engraved on it.”
"Quickly compile a list of the deceased's names, making sure you don't get a single one wrong," Wang Wenzhou said.
"Your subordinate obeys." Although Li Yinshui couldn't understand why his godfather did this, he knew that his godfather was a man of great talent and ambition, and there must be a deeper meaning behind it.
Wang Wenzhou plans to build the "Hanshan Heroes Monument." Whether it's a country or a city, it needs cohesion. Wang Wenzhou also considered that if all the people had spontaneously stood up during the riots, the casualties certainly wouldn't have been so great.
Furthermore, Wang Wenzhou plans to launch a nationwide martial arts training campaign in Hanshan. He intends to hold the Hanshan Heroes' Martial Arts Tournament at the stadium. The top 100 participants will each receive a reward of 100 taels of silver. The first-place winner will receive a grand prize of 10,000 taels of silver.
Furthermore, Wang Wenzhou planned to issue a decree that anyone with a certificate of good conduct in Hanshan could choose to duel with another person if they had a conflict. Both parties would sign a contract under the witness of the government office, and the deceased's relatives would be prohibited from seeking revenge. This method of dueling was intended to increase the fighting strength of the people of Hanshan.
Once these two measures are implemented, Wang Wenzhou believes that it won't be long before the people of Hanshan fall in love with martial arts. When everyone is a martial arts expert, if there are any more riots...
Let alone a few hundred people, in this era of cold weapons, every civilian is a seasoned fighter. Without an army of hundreds of thousands, you can forget about entering Hanshan City.
Wang Wenzhou did this with future in mind. In less than ten years, the Manchus would enter the Central Plains. By then, the entire population of Hanshan would be mobilized for war. Given Wang Wenzhou's influence in Hanshan, a single call to arms would instantly summon hundreds of thousands of troops. Even without cavalry, that would be enough to hold off the Manchus for a considerable time.
This is essentially hiding military power among the people. The rapid rise of the West in recent centuries is inseparable from dueling. It wasn't until the late 19th century that dueling became illegal in Western countries. For example, US President Adams challenged a political opponent to a duel after being openly provoked, and was subsequently killed by the opponent. Many famous figures have participated in duels, including President Lincoln.
A nation where the military is embedded within the civilian population, where the entire population is armed, is truly invincible. The United States has consistently implemented a policy of civilian military presence. Approximately 80% of American households own firearms. Consider this: if another country were to invade the United States, even if its regular army were completely annihilated, how many security forces would it require to govern a country where almost everyone is armed?