Chapter 85: Catching Them All in One Net, Countless Wealth |
Dawn broke.
But for Shuofeng, the sky had darkened.
The servants of those prominent families had no idea why they'd moved all that grain and money from the estate storehouses last night.
Even the servants who'd helped with the transport were confused.
But early this morning, when all the family heads, mistresses, young masters, and young ladies of every prominent family in the city had disappeared, the abandoned servants finally understood—their masters had fled!
Soon, the common people of Shuofeng City began to stir with unrest.
"Did you hear? Last night, all those gentry fled!"
"And they transported cart after cart of money out through the south gate."
"Didn't they say the city gates would absolutely never open, that everyone had to resist the Qi together, no exceptions?"
"But when the Sixth Prince arrived, how did they get out..."
"Is this Shuofeng City only for us common folk?"
"What happened to resisting the Qi thieves together!"
The people's grievances ran deep, but only a few hotheads dared to actually voice their protests.
The reason was simple: if you dared to shout, they'd kill you.
Defending the city was the common people's responsibility to begin with.
But what was the real issue here?
The rhetoric had been set too high.
After the Sixth Prince arrived, everything he said and everything he did seemed to indicate military-civilian unity.
But in reality?
Those who ate fine rice could never truly be of one mind with them.
Thus, a mood of weariness and negativity gradually spread through the crowd.
Quite a few people even gathered at the county yamen entrance. Though they didn't do anything, they simply waited there.
Led by a few single men, they clustered together at that spot.
Normally, engaging in such behavior would result in arrest by county officials and beatings by soldiers.
But the crowd slowly grew larger and larger.
Because those soldiers and officials were also bewildered.
They couldn't help muttering quietly.
"The Prince transferred over the entire Langya army—if he's willing to do even that, why would he let those prominent families escape?"
"And it wasn't just the Zhang clan—it was all the prominent families."
"He could have just kept the gates tightly closed and forced them to resist the Qi."
"Or could it be that even the Sixth Prince can't contend with these powerful families..."
Regarding the future, slightly uncertain emotions emerged and spread rapidly.
Actually, if they forcibly suppressed this and let a few days pass, the matter would blow over.
When the enemy arrived, under the threat of the supervising officials, everyone would still have to fight desperately to defend the city.
But sometimes, 'popular sentiment' was a very subtle thing.
So subtle that it could influence many matters.
Once that moment of doubt appeared, there was no way to achieve one hundred percent loyalty anymore.
Those even angrier about this matter were actually the higher-ranking officers and officials.
We're all gentry—why do they get to enjoy comfort while we must remain loyal?
After Zheng Tong noticed these dangerous emotions, he quickly squeezed through the crowd and entered the yamen.
At Wei Wusheng's door, seeing his urgency, the guard said, "His Highness only went to sleep less than two shichen ago..."
"Go report immediately, this is urgent!" Zheng Tong said anxiously.
"Yes!"
The soldier quickly went to the room to report.
After a while, he came out and said, "My lord, please enter."
Crossing the threshold, Zheng Tong anxiously walked in. Then he saw Wei Wusheng sitting on the bed with a calm expression.
He'd already donned his armor.
Calm, as if he didn't care about any urgent matter.
No, rather, calm as if he already knew about everything.
"Let's go outside."
Wei Wusheng stood up.
"?" Zheng Tong showed a confused expression but could only follow behind him.
After leaving the room, the Sixth Prince's female guard also seemed to have prepared in advance, directly joining Wei Wusheng's side. The three proceeded together.
They walked out of the county yamen without saying a single word the entire way.
At the yamen entrance, extending all the way to the street and even to some residential doorways, everywhere the eye could see was filled with people.
Fully a thousand people.
And behind them, those who didn't dare to cause trouble but were also extremely angry about this matter and desperately wanted to know the reason and what would happen next numbered in the tens of thousands.
Everyone was watching to see what the Sixth Prince would do.
But everyone also knew in their hearts that even if he did something, they had no recourse.
What, you're not satisfied?
Of course, even if it was futile, they still had the right to be angry.
Since all the crows in the world are equally black, why set such high standards!
"What's happened?" Wei Wusheng asked the officials around him.
Since no one was specifically named, they all lowered their heads in silence.
They didn't know whether this matter had been authorized by the Sixth Prince.
Without understanding the leader's true intentions, they couldn't rashly stick their necks out.
The gun shoots the bird that sticks its head out.
Zheng Tong also couldn't quite understand whether His Highness knew or not.
If he didn't know, I just went in to report this matter—why didn't he let me speak?
Seeing these officials and officers remain silent, Wei Wusheng descended the steps and walked toward the crowd.
As he moved, all the commoners simultaneously shrank back.
Among those hotheads, several quickly grew cowardly and burrowed back into the crowd.
Only a few people remained at the very front.
"What happened?" Wei Wusheng asked.
It's the Sixth Prince.
A prince is the emperor's son.
The emperor is a true dragon, so a prince is a young dragon.
The dragon has spoken... and he's talking to me...
Immediately, the leading commoner knelt on the ground, cold sweat pouring, frantically kowtowing: "Your Highness, spare my life... Your Highness, spare my life!"
Wei Wusheng walked before another man, who also froze in shock and immediately knelt.
Then, there was a third man.
"What happened? Speakers are innocent. Speak, and I'll reward you with money." Wei Wusheng said.
Nervously, the man's voice trembled: "Your Highness... last night, all the prominent families left Shuofeng City through the south gate."
Hearing this, Wei Wusheng's eyes immediately widened.
Then he raised his head, looking at the common people behind him. Incredulously, he spoke: "Such a thing occurred?!"
As his words fell, Song Shi'an suddenly emerged from the crowd and reported to Wei Wusheng: "Your Highness! Led by Duke Zhang, all the prominent families last night exhausted their wealth to bribe the soldiers guarding the south gate, had the south gate opened, and escaped the city."
"..." Instantly, Wei Wusheng flew into a rage, "Rebels! To do such a thing—execute all those men!"
This roar of princely fury frightened all the common people into complete silence.
Looking at this reaction, His Highness actually knew nothing of this matter?
At this moment, Song Shi'an spoke again to persuade: "Your Highness, this is wartime—killing them would only diminish our fighting strength. We should let them atone through meritorious service."
"No! How can we maintain military discipline this way?" Wei Wusheng said indignantly, "Including the centurion on duty, each man receives thirty military strokes, then three years' salary forfeiture!"
As this punishment was announced, all the common people collectively cheered.
That was thirty military strokes—anyone with a slightly weaker constitution would be beaten to death directly.
And it included the centurion too, not just ordinary soldiers.
"So His Highness truly didn't know about this."
"Otherwise why would the punishment be so severe?"
"Right, if His Highness had ordered it, the punishment wouldn't be this heavy—otherwise who would dare do anything in the future."
"But those prominent families—are they just going to let them leave like that?"
"Prepare my horse, I'll personally go catch those people and bring them back!"
Suddenly, unable to contain his anger, Wei Wusheng immediately decided and extended his hand.
Soon, someone handed him a riding whip.
A warhorse was also led out from the yamen.
Wei Wusheng mounted the horse and struck its hindquarters with the whip.
"The Sixth Prince is wise!"
"The Sixth Prince is mighty!"
"The Sixth Prince truly does what he says—treats everyone equally, truly equally!"
The common people spontaneously made way, letting his horse gallop through the man-made 'road' between them.
Xinyue also followed.
Having arrived not long ago and just witnessed the entire scene, Qin Kuo, after exchanging a knowing glance with Song Shi'an and understanding everything, also quickly led a squad of cavalry and followed.
At the county yamen entrance, hands clasped before him, Song Shi'an watched Wei Wusheng receive the admiration of ten thousand people and revealed a satisfied smile.
Zheng Tong slowly walked over, moved to his side, sighed, then said: "The grain that Zhao Xiang and I couldn't obtain, you got every last grain. And in one move, you completely emptied the wealth they'd accumulated over more than a century."
Looking ahead without meeting his gaze, Song Shi'an said: "It was His Highness who did it."
"Yes, yes, yes." Zheng Tong smiled bitterly.
"Are there any flaws in this matter?" Song Shi'an asked.
"The evidence is ironclad, and there are delinquent soldiers responsible for this matter. This affair, in the records of the supervising officials, the chief clerk, and the chief clerk, will not differ by a single word."
Supervising officials were specially dispatched by the court, and moreover, they were a group that reported directly to superiors.
Unless they were all killed, after the battle ended and they returned to court, they would definitely report to the court.
And if the case details all matched, then it was the indisputable truth.
"Chief Clerk Zheng." Song Shi'an slightly turned his head toward him and said, "Are there any brothers in the army who are skilled at administering military strokes that look fierce but actually don't hurt at all?"
Zheng Tong half-covered his mouth and said quietly: "I can introduce you to a few."
………
Qin Kuo led several dozen men and followed the Sixth Prince's personal cavalry guard out of the city.
However, with his sharp eyes, he quickly discovered markers left on the ground.
Following these markers should be the direction the prominent families fled.
Moreover, they could basically catch them all in one net.
Without family retainers accompanying them and weapons at their sides, if they encountered even a small group of refugees alone they'd be killed—they could only stick tightly together and hurry to find refuge.
Also, at most only one shichen had passed since they left the city.
They couldn't have gotten far at all.
"Your Highness." After Qin Kuo caught up on horseback, he asked, "This matter—it was all that Song Shi'an's idea again, wasn't it?"
Wei Wusheng smiled, then asked: "How does this compare to directly taking control and forcibly requisitioning?"
"Much better. Although forced requisition is justified and proper in wartime, after the war, you'd definitely face impeachment."
When aristocratic families saw other aristocratic families suffer military calamity, they wouldn't gloat unless there was a grudge. Generally, they'd think: if I encountered such unreasonable iron fists, what would I do?
If people like the Sixth Prince and Song Shi'an gained great power, would they have any path to survival?
"Doing it this way, although those with discerning eyes can still see through it, the bribery is real, leaving the city without His Highness's permission is real. The moral high ground is on our side."
Regarding this, Qin Kuo was extremely satisfied: "Moreover, with such a huge sum of money in Your Highness's hands, there's so much that can be accomplished."
Such profit.
"That's good then."
Though Wei Wusheng said with his mouth that he'd relinquish power once he returned, how could he truly think that in his heart?
He wanted to stride boldly into the court together with Song Shi'an.
The speed of the prominent families was completely incomparable to light cavalry. So in less than half a shichen, they'd already caught up to their procession.
Seeing these people arrive, everyone froze in terror.
Duke Zhang's pupils contracted in shock.
"Gentlemen, you bribed the military officers guarding the city to leave—could it be you're unwilling to weather difficulties together with this prince?"
Reining in his horse, Wei Wusheng sat atop his mount as it pranced in place, face bearing a smile, in high spirits.
"Your Highness!" Seeing this, one of them immediately lodged a complaint, "It was that Song Shi'an who extorted us and promised we could leave the city..."
"Do you have evidence?" Qin Kuo extended his hand, "Physical evidence, witness testimony—either will do."
"..."
"Without evidence, slandering a court official—what crime does that carry?" Qin Kuo revealed a solemn expression.
Leaning on his walking stick, Duke Zhang raised his head and closed his eyes with a heart like dead ashes.
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