Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 96 Damn it, the Emperor is serious!

same day.

The summer heat in Jiangnan had not yet completely subsided. The afternoon sun shone through the thin clouds onto the ancient city walls and crisscrossing waterways of Suzhou, bathing everything in a lazy and warm golden hue.

The air is filled with the sweet fragrance of osmanthus and the slight fishy smell of river mud. Painted boats glide leisurely on the blue waves, leaving shallow ripples. The sounds of silk and bamboo instruments and the soft Wu dialect from the restaurants and teahouses on the shore intertwine to create a scene of prosperity and gentleness that has remained unchanged for thousands of years.

This is heaven.

At least until today, everyone thought so.

However, the tranquility of this peaceful haven was ruthlessly shattered that afternoon by the heavy, rhythmic hoofbeats and footsteps of horses.

An army, completely out of place in the Jiangnan region, was silently marching along the wide official road toward the Chen Family Manor outside Suzhou.

Leading the way were the elite troops of the Nanjing Thousand-Household Division of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the sharpest blade the Ming emperor wielded in Jiangnan.

Behind the Imperial Guards were a thousand infantrymen dressed in brand-new mandarin duck battle jackets; they were the newly formed capital garrison army that the emperor had built with the silver of Shanxi merchants.

Most of these young soldiers were leaving the capital region for the first time. Their faces showed the weariness of a long journey, the longing for the legendary Jiangnan region, the tension of facing the unknown, and a hint of excitement that was deliberately suppressed.

The leader was Tian Ergeng.

He simply tied his hair up, and wore a well-fitting outfit that made his weathered face appear even more stern.

His gaze did not fall on the people on both sides who were fleeing in fear, nor did he admire the scenery of Jiangnan that was famous throughout the land. Instead, it was fixed on the outline of the huge manor in the distance that resembled a fortified city. His eyes were filled with the focus and ruthlessness of a wolf staring at its prey.

As the Chen Family Manor drew ever closer, its eaves and brackets, carved beams and painted rafters, and its three-zhang-high courtyard walls, constructed of blue bricks mixed with glutinous rice juice, were exceptionally sturdy. The tops of the walls were even inlaid with broken porcelain, gleaming eerily in the sunlight.

This building, more like a small fortress than a manor, silently testifies to the immense power and influence its owners wielded on this land.

The Chen family, a century-old clan, dominated Suzhou and possessed immense wealth. They were major grain merchants in Jiangnan, influential figures in the Grand Canal transport, and unseen financial backers of countless officials.

On this prosperous land, they were the true uncrowned kings. In the Chen family's mind, the small official seal of the Suzhou Prefect was far less useful than the private seal of the family head, Chen Wannian.

At this moment, Chen Wannian, the head of the Chen family, was leaning back on a sandalwood recliner in the inner hall, with two beautiful maids massaging his legs on either side.

He squinted, enjoying the pleasant afternoon, while pondering what price to set for the next batch of grain to be shipped north.

Two months ago, an imperial edict from the capital spread throughout the land, sternly warning grain merchants, especially those from Zhejiang and Anhui, that hoarding and price gouging was strictly prohibited at a time of severe drought and widespread displacement in the northwest. Violators would be treated as treason and would be severely punished.

This imperial edict caused a minor stir in the business circles of Jiangnan, but it quickly turned into a laughing matter at the dinner table.

How could a mere greenhorn, barely out of his teens, sit on the dragon throne and dare to dictate to these powerful families who control the economic lifeline of the Ming Dynasty?
Innocent!

He could even imagine the young emperor in the Qianqing Palace, utterly overwhelmed by the empty treasury and the deluge of urgent disaster reports.

In his eyes, this imperial edict was nothing more than the clamor of the weak, a last-ditch effort of bluster when all other options were exhausted.

Chen Wannian, along with the gentry and powerful families of Jiangnan, had long seen through these Ming emperors!

He himself secretly formed an alliance with some audacious families to outwardly comply with the imperial edict but inwardly defy it. Instead of opening the granaries to stabilize grain prices, he took advantage of the heightened tensions to quietly buy up another 20% of the grain on the market.

They are waiting.

When the disaster in the north worsens, when the court's finances become even tighter, when the young emperor takes the initiative to send officials from the Ministry of Revenue to humbly discuss the matter with them.

At that time, the price of grain will no longer be determined by the imperial court, but by them!
As for the charge of "treason"?

joke!

If he dares to touch the entire Jiangnan region, then the world will not be far from falling apart.

He didn't even bother to think about the fate of the Shanxi merchants; they were foolish, their treasonous acts were exposed.

And what about them?

They were loyal subjects of the Ming Dynasty, simply conducting their business according to the rules and experience passed down from their ancestors.

"Master," the butler bowed and reported softly, "the kitchen has just received several plump Taihu crabs, just in time for their roe and fat. Paired with our family's thirty-year-old Shaoxing wine, what do you think..."

"Okay, we'll use this tonight." Chen Wannian waved his hand lazily, without even opening his eyes.

"boom--!!!"

An unprecedented, thunderous roar, like a bolt from the blue, came without warning from the direction of the manor's main gate!
The sound was so loud that the ground of the entire manor trembled!
Chen Wannian's obese body suddenly sprang up from the recliner, startling the maids and butlers around him into letting out piercing screams.

"What's going on?!" Chen Wannian roared in terror, his face full of surprise and disbelief, his fat bulging out of his body.

His answer came from the direction of the front yard, where a tidal wave of desperate wails surged forth!
The sounds didn't resemble a fight at all; they were a one-sided massacre!

Before Chen Wan'an could figure it out, a black arrow whistled through the air with a sharp sound, piercing through the wide-open hall door and traveling dozens of feet to accurately strike the plaque behind him that read "Wealthy and Powerful in Jiangnan"!
The arrow was so powerful that it almost completely sank into the hard wooden plaque, leaving only the trembling fletching emitting a buzzing sound!

Chen Wannian's pupils contracted to the size of pinpoints in an instant!
He rushed out of the inner hall like a madman, ran into the courtyard, and looked towards the manor gate.

With just one glance, it was as if all the blood in his body had been drained and frozen into ice in an instant!
The once indestructible ironwood gate of the manor, a symbol of the Chen family's century-old prestige, has now been reduced to a pile of charred, black-smoking wood fragments!
From the breach blasted open by violence, countless standard-issue soldiers, with a silent and ruthless demeanor, formed tight attack formations and poured into the manor like a torrent! At the forefront of the formation, hundreds of Imperial Guards in flying fish robes, like a pack of hungry wolves released from their cages, were mercilessly slaughtering the panicked guards who had rushed to the scene upon hearing the news!

This time, a thunderclap truly exploded in Chen Wannian's mind!
Jinyiwei? !

The imperial edict from two months ago, and the warnings he had taken as a joke, were now branded into the depths of his soul like a red-hot iron!
Damn it, the emperor is serious!

He wasn't joking, he wasn't just asking for money, he really... wanted to kill! To wipe out the whole family!
The fate of the Shanxi merchants, those bloody details he had deliberately forgotten, now appeared vividly before his eyes: being skinned alive, their entire families wiped out, and all their wealth going into the emperor's pocket!
That's not a story, that's the reality that's about to happen to him!
"what--!!!"

An overwhelming, uncontrollable fear gripped his throat, causing him to let out a scream that was not human. His obese body trembled violently, and his legs gave way, causing him to collapse to the ground with a thud.

Tian Ergeng bypassed the Jinyiwei at the forefront and landed on the Chen family guards who were beginning to gather and try to resist. He slowly drew the Embroidered Spring Blade from his waist, the blade flashing a dazzling cold light in the blazing sun, and pointed it forward.

"By imperial decree, anyone who resists with weapons, regardless of whether they are master or servant, shall be killed without exception!"

"Exterminate their clan and cut off their lineage!"

"kill--!!!"

This order ignited the killing intent in everyone!
"kill!"

The oppressive silence that had been building up to its limit suddenly erupted into a volcanic eruption!

Whether they were imperial guards or new recruits, they rushed towards every corner of the manor like a floodgate opened!
The empire's violent machine has finally revealed its incredibly sharp fangs!
The manor had been completely transformed into a living hell.

The Imperial Guards at the forefront were highly efficient killing machines.

They moved in groups of three to five, like red-hot daggers, easily cutting through the chaotic crowd. The cold glint of their embroidered spring knives flashed through the crowd, bringing not screams, but a moment of deathly silence.

Meanwhile, the new recruits of the Beijing garrison who followed closely behind were undergoing a bloody baptism.

A young soldier, facing a servant who was charging at him frantically wielding a machete in despair, was so frightened that he trembled violently and, relying on his trained instincts, thrust his spear forward with all his might!
"Pfft-"

An unprecedented sense of resistance came from the gun barrel. He stared in horror as the servant looked down in disbelief at the large, bloody hole in his abdomen.

His stomach churned violently, and he could no longer control himself and vomited on the spot, vomiting only sour water and bile.

But the veteran beside him was already used to it. He kicked the still-warm corpse aside as if it were an inconvenient obstacle, grabbed the recruit by the collar, and roared at him in a voice loud enough to shatter eardrums, almost face to face:
"What are you staring at! Do you want to die?! If you don't kill him, he'll kill you! Open your eyes and take a good look at where you are!"

The veteran suddenly swung his arm, pointing to the ornately decorated pavilions and the incomparably luxurious buildings.

"Look at their pavilion! It's bigger than your house! Look at the carpets they're walking on! They're worth more than all the clothes in your family! And think back to what His Majesty told us before we set off!"

His Majesty's voice...

The recruit remembered.

Just before they set off from the capital garrison, the most honorable person in the world, the young emperor, personally came to their training ground, his voice filled with anger that could pierce to the bone.

“I know that many of your families have run out of food! Your parents, wives and children may be spending a few coins to buy a bushel of rice mixed with sand. They dare not fall ill because they cannot afford medicine. They toil day and night but are still poorly clothed and hungry.”

"why?"

"Because someone has locked up the grain that rightfully belongs to you, to all the people of the world, in their warehouses! They'd rather let the grain rot than let the price skyrocket! They're sacrificing your families' hunger for the wine in their cups and the fine silks on their bodies!"

"Do you know what I want you to do this time? I don't want you to rob and plunder, I don't want you to become bandits!"

"I am sending you to collect debts! Go and pull these rotten rats and parasites that suck the marrow of the Ming Dynasty out of their fat holes one by one! Use the swords and spears in your hands to tell them what the punishment is for those who profit from the national crisis!"

"You didn't kill people! You killed man-eating beasts!"

……

"brute!!!"

The veteran's roar and the Emperor's voice from his memory resonated in the recruit's mind, eventually merging into a raging inferno!

He suddenly raised his head, and on his young face, still stained with vomit, all the fear and confusion he had felt before were instantly replaced by a deep-seated hatred!

He thought of his younger sister, who was emaciated from hunger, and he thought of the despair in his father's eyes when he had to sell the last half-acre of their meager land to raise money for his journey to the capital.

The culprits behind all this are these "people" who wear fine silks and satins, live in magnificent mansions, and whose ornamental fish in the courtyard eat better than his sister!
Rewards! A hearty meal! Military merit!

These words, in his mind at this moment, were no longer just a desire to survive, but the spoils of revenge!

The light in his eyes, which had been mixed with fear and fanaticism, completely transformed into a crimson red that wanted to tear apart all the injustice before him!

When another servant wielding a club charged forward with a roar, the recruit stopped retreating. He let out a beastly roar, neither dodging nor avoiding the blows. Facing the opponent's club, he thrust his spear forward with even greater ferocity and determination!
"puff--!"

This time, the spear pierced through the enemy's chest.

He drew his spear, wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve, and charged toward his next target!
Killing is the best catalyst.

Driven by both hatred and reward, these young soldiers transformed from naive recruits into imperial executioners!
(End of this chapter)