Before the prefect came out, he heard the sound of busy footsteps behind him. Li Xiang knew that this Tiragon was not a peaceful person. Sure enough, soldiers from Wa City came running from the three nearby streets.
Li Xiang's men have all seen the world. Although you have more than a hundred people, if we are frightened by you, then all our campaigns will be a joke.
The men under Chang Sun Ze have also been on the battlefield. At this moment, they all showed the crossbows in their hands. If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince gives the order, don't blame us for creating a bloody crime scene.
"Don't mess around, who let you into the city?"
The prefect finally came out. When he saw the army around him, although he didn't understand what was going on, he knew that there was an official from the Tang Dynasty court here, and looking at the followers around him, he was definitely not an ordinary person.
Tiragon was thinking of relying on these troops to make Li Xiang surrender, but who knew that his cousin would come out.
The soldiers present had drawn their swords, but after hearing the prefect's words, they could only stand aside obediently. However, they still surrounded Li Xiang and his men, after all, their general was controlled by Li Xiang.
"May I ask if this gentleman is an official of the Tang Dynasty?"
The prefect first saw Li Xiang standing in the center, and in his heart he praised his good looks. Then he looked at his sharp eyes and realized that he was definitely not an ordinary official.
"My name is Huang Yi, from the Tang Dynasty's Anxi City..."
Li Xiang made up an official title at random. Anyway, the other party had no way to verify it. The official document in his hand was not fake. It had the seal of the Tang Dynasty government on it. In this era, no matter who the person was, no one dared to forge this thing. It was a serious crime punishable by the death of nine generations of the family.
The prefect was skeptical at first, but when he saw the big red seal, he immediately believed it. The main reason was that in this era, no matter which country people were from, few people dared to forge such things, especially those from the Tang Dynasty, where the laws were more strict.
"Master Huang has detained our officials. Why? Is this how the Tang Dynasty does things? This is our territory, Wa City."
The prefect was no fool, and he immediately put the blame on Li Xiang. Although his cousin usually did not do his job, he would handle the relationship between the two countries at such a critical moment, and that was not to show weakness first.
"Your Excellency, please don't use diplomatic rhetoric. Let's get down to business. I'm wondering how much tax your country levies on our Tang merchants? Do we have to pay taxes again in every city we visit? And the tax rate is horribly high, like ten bags of rice for every twenty-five?"
Li Xiang was too lazy to beat around the bush with him, so he just told him what had just happened. If he continued to beat around the bush, there was no telling how long it would take.
"How is this possible? Our country has always been happy to interact with the Tang Dynasty and has opened several checkpoints on the border. Besides, such a high tax rate has never appeared in our country before."
As soon as the prefect heard about this, he knew that his cousin usually did not do any serious work, but because they had the same grandfather, he had to be arranged to work in the military camp outside the city. This kind of thing of using the banner of a powerful person to cover up one's own shortcomings was not the first time he had done it, but he did not expect that this time he would offend the officials of the Tang Dynasty, and it seemed that he would not be able to end it well.
"Then, Your Excellency, shouldn't you investigate and see if what I just said is true? There are merchants from our country here, as well as yours. Furthermore, this fellow was standing on the street collecting taxes, claiming to be following your orders. If I'm lying, Your Excellency will punish me. But if what I said is true, Your Excellency, please give me an explanation to the Tang Dynasty court and the Tang Dynasty merchants."
Li Xiang's words were powerful. "Don't you want to be reasonable?" I am the most reasonable person. The truth is clear to us now. Let's see how you handle this matter.
The prefect nodded with some embarrassment, then looked at the two people beside him. These two people had just gone down to understand the situation, and their answer was basically the same as what Li Xiang said. The two also nodded with embarrassment.
"You bastard, you're the one who did such a stupid thing. Do you know how much this will cost the relationship between our two countries? Someone, take this guy away and we'll try him later."
Everyone frowned after hearing the prefect's decision. "You two are cousins. If we don't sentence this guy today, he'll easily find a reason tomorrow. If we just let him go, wouldn't we all be at a disadvantage?" Besides, this guy is known for his vindictive nature. If we offend him today, how can we still do business in Wacheng in the future?
"Master Huang, what are you doing?"
The prefect's men wanted to go up and hand over Tiragon, but without Li Xiang's nod, how could these guards hand the person over to them?
"Let me ask you one more question. According to your country's laws, this person has arbitrarily collected taxes, made things difficult for our Tang merchants, and even committed extortion. What kind of punishment should he receive?"
When Li Xiang said this, the prefect knew that he was not easy to fool. He had thought of resolving the matter with much ado and little action, and then making amends to these Tang merchants later, but he did not expect them to be so persistent.
"Thirty lashes, confiscation of all illegal gains, expulsion from the military and permanent ineligibility."
In front of so many people, the prefect could not favor his cousin.
"I represent the Tang Dynasty court and am here to protect the interests of Tang merchants. I, the Tang Dynasty court, am dissatisfied with this matter."
Li Xiang was immediately dissatisfied after hearing such a punishment. If thirty lashes were enough, then the punishment would be too low. In the words of modern society, the cost of crime is too low, and there will be such people who will come forward to cause trouble in the future.
"In your opinion, how should we deal with this?"
The prefect said with a stiff upper lip that although he knew the person before him could not represent the Tang Dynasty court, he was currently an official of the Tang Dynasty. If he was not handled properly, it might really cause some conflicts between the two countries.
"This man is the root of chaos. I just questioned several Tang merchants. They were not only extorted by him, but also whipped. Your Excellency, you can send someone to ask them. Are Tang merchants so unbearable? Coming to your place to do business and being insulted by you is a true insult to our Tang Empire."
Li Xiang raised the height in an instant, shocking the prefect so much that he was speechless.
