My daily cultivation progress is calculated.

Chapter 35 The Duke Returns, the White Lotus Sect's Heavenly King

Shen Yan squeezed to the front.

They saw that many civilians had not left, but had instead gathered outside the wall of Imperial Guards.

He couldn't help but feel curious.

"Hey bro, what's going on so early in the morning?"

"The Duke of Dingguo has decisively defeated the White Lotus rebels and is returning to Bianjing today. I heard that the rebel general has also been captured alive and brought to the capital!"

"oh!?"

Hearing this, Shen Yan also became somewhat curious. Although they were both members of the Shen clan, he had never met Shen Moxuan before.

The Duke's Mansion invites members of the Shen clan to a gathering every year, but the Shen family obviously does not receive an invitation.

After all, there are tens of thousands of people with the surname Shen in Bianjing, so the Duke's mansion would naturally only invite prominent figures.

Not long after.

The sound of horses' hooves rang out, and a procession of over a hundred people approached, followed by three prison carts.

These people must be members of the White Lotus Sect, who were captured alive by Shen Moxuan and brought back to Bianjing.

The soldiers who had just left the battlefield still carried an aura of menace.

Each of them was vigorous and strong, with an astonishing aura; these people must all be Shen Moxuan's personal guards.

This team of over a hundred people was composed entirely of rank-3 martial artists, which astonished Shen Yan.

However, we waited for a long time.

Shen Yan was puzzled when he didn't see Shen Moxuan.

Logically, a victorious general should ride at the forefront of the army, receiving cheers from the people and an audience with the emperor.

Then he saw a noble young man dressed in fine clothes riding up on horseback, followed by a carriage.

Shen Yan thought to himself.

"I wonder who this person is, that he's behind the army."

"Young Master Yue!"

He couldn't help but gasp softly in surprise.

The elegantly dressed young master was accompanied by the Moon-Playing Young Master, something Shen Yan never expected.

The two chatted and laughed, their words and actions revealing their intimacy, as if they were old friends.

Young Master Nongyue seemed to have also noticed Shen Yan in the crowd and nodded at him.

Shen Yan was unaware that this elegantly dressed young nobleman was the eldest grandson of the current Emperor Xuanwu, if not for his father being placed under house arrest in the Eastern Palace.

This is the spot where Crown Prince Li Chengde should be standing.

After they left, Shen Yan didn't linger and went to the prison to take up his post.

Arrived at the Heavenly Prison.

Seeing the clerk approach with a smile on his face, carrying an appointment letter in his hand.

Shen Yan was surprised that Xu Shaogong had moved so quickly and come down so soon.

"Brother Shen, from now on I'll call you Jailer Shen. Here you go!"

"Thank you, Master."

After saying that, Shen Yan quietly handed him a silver note.

The advisor nodded in approval and left, satisfied.

Those in cell A, seeing this situation, how could they not know what had happened?

They all rushed forward to offer their congratulations.

"Congratulations, Mr. Shen!"

"I knew long ago that Shen Tou should become a prison guard."

"..."

Surrounded by compliments, Shen Yan waved his hand dismissively.

"Tonight at Chunfenglou, I'm hosting a gathering for everyone."

Before he could be happy for long, Chen Xiaoshuan ran in.

"Chief Shen, people from the Ministry of Justice have arrived."

He dismissed the jailers, letting them go about their business, and led Chen Xiaoshuan and the others to the entrance of the prison.

Shen Yan did not recognize the leading official from the Ministry of Justice.

Chen Xiaoshuan seemed to realize that Shen Yan was unfamiliar with these officials, and whispered something in his ear.

"Shen Tou, the one in the blue official robe is Right Vice Minister Ding, and on his left and right are Physicians Qi Mingxuan and Fang Jingxing, respectively."

Shen Yan nodded slightly.

Xu Shaogong had already come out to greet them, standing beside Ding Anzhi with bows and scrapes.

Shen Yan frowned slightly when he saw the prison cart behind Ding Anzhi and the others.

I had a bad feeling.

"Aren't these the leaders of the White Lotus Sect? Why are they in the Heavenly Prison? Do they want to lock them up there?"

According to custom, prisoners convicted of such serious crimes as treason were imprisoned in the Imperial Prison of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

After all, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had many skilled fighters, and its defensive capabilities were far superior to those of the Imperial Prison.

Just like the last time a mid-level third-grade martial artist led the raid on the Heavenly Prison, what if the same group of people raided the Imperial Prison?

That would only mean adding more prisoners to the imperial prison.

Sure enough, what you fear most is what happens.

Ding Anzhi handed the prisoner in the prison cart over to Xu Shaogong.

"Shaogong, these three prisoners are the Four Heavenly Kings of the White Lotus Sect, the highest-ranking people besides the Buddha Mother. You must keep a close watch on them and make sure nothing goes wrong."

"But I went to great lengths to snatch this person from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so you will definitely deserve credit for doing a good job on this mission."

Shen Yan almost fainted upon hearing Ding Anzhi's words.

Seeing Xu Shaogong's grim expression, he gritted his teeth and accepted the offer.

"As an adult, I will make sure they are absolutely safe."

After they finished speaking, the officials from the Ministry of Justice left.

Ma Danian, Lü Youcai, and Shen Yan quickly stepped forward.

All three knew that the White Lotus Sect was a hot potato, and none of them wanted to take it on.

This job is neither lucrative nor rewarding, and it carries a heavy burden, making it a lose-lose situation.

In the end, Xu Shaogong still put the three prisoners into cell A, simply because cell A had a better environment.

After all, those prisons were for convicted officials, which was naturally different from the No. 2 and No. 3 prisons.

Upon hearing this, Shen Yan immediately became anxious.

"Warden Xu, these three are Heavenly Kings of the White Lotus Sect. Why would our Heavenly Prison take on this task? The Heavenly Prison can't stop those White Lotus demons. The prison break incident is still fresh in our minds."

Xu Shaogong certainly understood this principle, but how could his superiors in the Ministry of Justice possibly give up the prisoners they had won?

All I could do was offer Shen Yandao words of comfort.

"Don't worry, the officials in the Ministry of Justice have already taken this into consideration and have found a mid-level third-rank expert to guard the prison. You should take good care of these people and make sure they don't die. His Majesty wants to execute them by slow slicing as a warning to the world."

Shen Yan thought to himself.

"He promoted me to prison guard so quickly, could it be that he already knew about this?"

It's no wonder Shen Yan was imagining things; it was just too much of a coincidence.

In his view, Xu Shaogong was simply obsessed with getting promoted and had lost his mind.

These three are only in the Heavenly Prison; who knows how much trouble they'll face.

Helpless, he could only put the three of them in jail.

Of the three people in front of me, two looked to be in their thirties or forties. Although they were pale, they were also quite fierce.

It does match Shen Yan's image of the Heavenly King fairly well.

But the other person was completely unrecognizable; his face was wrinkled and dark, making him look like a farmer who toils in the fields all day long.

If it weren't for the fact that the case file states he was a general commanding hundreds of thousands of rebel troops.

Shen Yan could never have imagined that he would be one of the rebel leaders.

This man's name was Qin Tieyi. He was originally a retired border soldier who had been farming at home.

In the first half of his life, he could be said to have shed blood and sweat for the Great Zhou.

In previous years, the north suffered a severe drought, and the fields yielded no harvest. Officials embezzled the disaster relief grain and sold it at high prices through merchants.

Or they could use grain to acquire land; originally, one mu of fertile land could be exchanged for fifty shi of grain.

In this year of great disaster, three to five bushels of grain could buy the land from the farmers.

The original disaster relief grain was turned into silver and land.

As for the lives of ordinary people, those were not a concern for the officials.

The following year, the people had neither land nor food, and starvation was rampant, with people even resorting to cannibalism.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the White Lotus Sect launched an uprising, which quickly swept across the three northern provinces.

None of the corrupt officials and treacherous merchants escaped; they were all killed by the rioters.

To save his family's lives, Qin Tieyi had no choice but to join the rebel army.

He distinguished himself in battle after battle, eventually becoming the Heavenly King and leading hundreds of thousands of rebel troops.

He is also the only Heavenly King who is not a follower of the White Lotus Sect.

If it weren't for his existence, Shen Moxuan would have wiped out the White Lotus Sect long ago.

He was a capable general, but unfortunately, corrupt officials were incompetent, and the emperor had no interest in governing.