Deposed Crown Prince: After three years of service on the frontier, the entire court knelt and begge

Before they could finish speaking, Xiao Ce's soldiers pressed them firmly to the ground.

Xiao Ce snorted coldly: "You really don't have any memory at all! I'll ask you, who controls these four prefectures in the northern desert!"

As soon as Xiao Ce finished speaking, all the soldiers and nobles shouted.

"King of the Northern Desert! King of the Northern Desert!"

The shout that resounded through the sky.

The three powerful clansmen, who were being held firmly to the ground, turned deathly pale with fright.

"You can't kill me! You can't kill me... We have the Emperor's secret decree! If you kill me... you're disobeying the decree..."

Xiao Ce sneered and walked to their side.

He snatched the letter from their hands.

He then continued loudly, "I recognize Father's notebook, but this is not Father's notebook. It has neither Father's handwriting nor the imperial seal! How could it be Father's imperial edict?"

"You falsely conveyed the imperial edict; your crime is compounded!"

"Put everyone up there!"

The soldiers took all of these people up.

"You and your remnants of the traitorous generals attempted to starve out our people of the northern desert, and you even tried to persecute the northern army that was about to fight against the Turks! Your crimes are even more heinous!"

"Not only that, you also plotted to murder our nation's pillar, the King! You deserve to die!"

"Execute the entire families of Kan Zongye, Liu Xuan, and Lin Shou!"

Xiao Ce spoke each word with heavy emphasis.

"Long live the Prince! Long live the Prince! Long live the Prince!"

...

Kan Zongye and his group were completely terrified.

"Xiao Ce, we are a prestigious family in the Northern Desert. If you kill us, the Northern Desert will surely descend into chaos!"

"That's right, Xiao Ce, you dare to touch us... our guards will definitely come to avenge us!"

"Not only that, His Majesty will also seek revenge! You dare to kill us! You will also suffer a terrible death."

"You blind noble families, you support this good-for-nothing! Open your eyes and see... this good-for-nothing is determined to stay with these lowly people. I am today, and you will be tomorrow!"

"Look! This piece of trash is taking us down one by one. First, he kept us occupied while killing Cai Tianming, and now he's coming to kill us. You're next! Just you wait... Hurry up, get up and fight back with us!"

"At that time, I will accompany His Majesty to petition for your merits!"

These family heads were so anxious that they were spitting and shouting, trying to get those other prestigious families to follow them.

...

Xiao Ce looked at these people's hysteria with a faint smile on his face.

"If His Majesty personally issues the decree ordering my death, I will never live. But if you attempt to harm me, I will not comply!"

"You parasites from all the counties! Without you, the people of the four northern counties would be much better off!"

"My esteemed families, do not be afraid! I have said it before! If you do not commit a crime, I will not harm you! I truly care about the people! But you must know that you are also ordinary people! As the tide rises, so will the boats rise; when the people prosper, you will prosper even more!"

"I have said that everything you have is the result of your ancestors' accumulation. I am not a robber! I will not plunder or extort. The confiscation of Cai Tianming's property was entirely due to his collusion with foreign enemies to exploit the people. All the money confiscated from their home will not go into my pocket. I will have a public announcement made! Even a single copper coin will be used for the benefit of the people!"

"These people have brought this upon themselves! I was originally going to forgive them and give them a chance to start over! Since they have chosen their own path to death, then let them start over!"

"cut!"

They shouted and cursed, trembling.

puff!puff!

These guys are clearly veterans; they swiftly and decisively brought their knives down.

The heads of these powerful nobles fell off like watermelons.

No one could believe it!

Many of these people from prestigious families felt that Xiao Ce was just talking.

After all, killing them would involve too many issues!

However, Xiao Ce always acted unpredictably. He managed to kill all the people from the four major clans. Although he didn't exterminate the entire family, he wiped out their entire lineage.

The four powerful clans probably never imagined that their path would lead to their doom.

Seeing this, Xiao Ce said, "I hereby appoint Kan Shanyue of Qingshan County as the new head of the Kan family, and concurrently as the prefect of Qingshan County!"

"Liu Qi of Ping'an County is hereby appointed as the new head of the Liu family, and concurrently as the Prefect of Ping'an County!"

"Lin Nan of Wushan County is hereby appointed as the new head of the Lin family, and concurrently as the Prefect of Wushan County!"

"Cai Yong, the new head of the Cai family, is appointed as the Prefect of Chanda County!"

"At the same time, the guards of the powerful clans will be abolished and incorporated into the county soldiers. The county soldiers will be used by the county magistrates under their jurisdiction and funded by the county government! At the same time, the maximum number of guards for each family will be one hundred!"

"You prefectural officials, in accordance with my new decree, shall carry out land reform and register the households of farmers!"

"Follow the same policies as those in my domain, abolish the policy of enslavement! Encourage the reclamation of wasteland!"

"Most importantly, the land that originally belonged to each family must not be touched! I have said that I will not engage in any form of extortion and tyranny! Land that belongs to its rightful owner will remain its rightful owner!"

The four people came out and knelt down to express their gratitude.

Xiao Ce issued a series of policies, and the noble families breathed a sigh of relief after he spoke.

After all, simply listening to Xiao Ce's policies wouldn't harm them.

After the crowd shouted "Long live the Emperor!"

Xiao Ce ordered that all these people's heads be hung outside the city and displayed on the city wall as a warning to others.

Immediately afterwards, it was announced that the state banquet would continue.

Subsequently, troops entered from outside the city and circled the city, allowing not only the civilians to witness the military's prowess.

It also made all the prominent families see it.

After finishing his work, Xiao Ce's voice was a little hoarse, so he drank some water to moisten it.

He saw Yin Pan'er staring straight at him.

Xiao Ce felt a little uneasy under Yin Pan'er's gaze: "Pan'er, what's wrong?"

Yin Pan'er asked with admiration, "Your Highness, how did you know?"

Xiao Ce glanced at Nie Bing subconsciously: "I still have to thank Nie Bing!"

Yin Pan'er looked puzzled, and Nie Bing was equally confused.

Xiao Ce said to Nie Bing, "Didn't you hand over Fei Du to me?"

Nie Bing nodded, just about to ask, "What does that have to do with this matter?"

Xiao Ce looked at Nie Bing, still not quite understanding Fei Du.

“Fei Du isn’t just raising ravens for us here! He’s also set up a raven association called the Flying Slave Association in Maoming City. Because ravens become unsuitable for the environment once they reach the four northern prefectures, all ravens from the Central Plains to the four northern prefectures are replaced with ravens.”

"And the real person behind this transit station is Fei Du! This organization was arranged by your father, and it is also the largest intelligence organization in the four prefectures of Mobei! In other words, all the letters will go through the Fei Nu Society! As long as they want to see them, they can see all the letters."

After listening to Xiao Ce's words, Nie Bing was clearly learning about the Flying Slave Association for the first time.

Didn't Fei Du tell you?

Nie Bing thought for a while and suddenly remembered that Fei Du had indeed mentioned that they had a Flying Slave Society in Maoming City when he was talking to Nie Bing. However, Nie Bing did not ask further, so Fei Du did not elaborate.

Later, Nie Bing suggested that Fei Du could serve Xiao Ce. After Fei Du observed that Xiao Ce was indeed people-oriented and worked for the common people.

Previously, they had intercepted a letter from Kyoto and learned of their plan.

Fei Du went straight to Xiao Ce.

Upon learning the news immediately, Xiao Ce instructed Fei Du to keep it a secret. He also learned through Fei Du that the internal power struggles within their clan were also intense.

Kan Shanyue, Liu Qi, and Lin Nan are actually very capable, but because they are pro-war and their ideas differ from those of most people and higher-ups, they have been sidelined.

Now Xiao Ce is personally writing to them, trying to persuade them to surrender, all so that they will take over the family.

They also secretly contacted many of their former subordinates, and once they were absolutely certain, they agreed.

They arrived here secretly yesterday. After Xiao Ce met with them and confirmed that there would be no problem in the four prefectures, he decided on today's action.

Xiao Ce had given them a chance, but after sending Night Cat to eavesdrop on their conversation yesterday, Xiao Ce was certain that they were a bunch of ungrateful wretches who could never be tamed, which is why he decided to kill them.

After Xiao Ce finished speaking, Yin Pan'er and Nie Bing both admired Xiao Ce's cunning.

"So, you knew all along!"

Xiao Ce nodded and said, "They've always treated me like a fool. If they were even a little smarter and stood by my side like Zhang Yunqing, they wouldn't be dead!"

"Some people always harbor wishful thinking, little do they know that here, there is nothing I don't know, only things I don't want to know!"

After Xiao Ce finished speaking, he glanced at Nie Bing, his expression shifting slightly, then looked away and changed the subject, saying, "Your Highness, these people aren't exactly innocent either!"

Xiao Ce said with a smile, "At present, they are the best solution! Moreover, people admire strength. As long as I am strong enough, even dragons will coil up and tigers will lie down!"

As they were talking, several heads of the new four major clans returned.

He bowed to Xiao Ce and said, "Your Highness, you truly are a kingly army. You will surely utterly defeat the Turks!"

Xiao Ce smiled and said, "Please don't flatter us too much. Our troops are not weak, but when it comes to cavalry, the Turks have grown up on horseback for generations, so they are not so easy to deal with. If they were so easy to deal with, it wouldn't be my turn, right?"

The crowd bowed again: "Your Highness, you are different from them. We are confident that the great cause of resisting the Turks can be accomplished under Your Highness's leadership!"

Xiao Ce said to them, "Haha, that's for sure! This is why I came here, and of course I need your help."

The men were extremely humble, bowing deeply: "We are willing to go through fire and water for Your Highness!"

Xiao Ce smiled and asked them to sit down, then said, "After you return, you will definitely encounter some troubles in various places. If you have any problems, you can come to me."

Everyone nodded, then looked at each other, and then at Kan Shanyue.

Xiao Ce looked at them and said, "What's wrong? Just say what you want to say."

Kan Shanyue cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness, this humble subject..."

Xiao Ce said with a smile, "You're a prefectural magistrate now, not a commoner anymore..."

Kan Shanyue gave an awkward smile and changed his words, saying, "Your Highness, there is something I don't understand, and I would like to ask Your Highness for clarification."

Xiao Ce took a sip of tea, gesturing for him to speak frankly.

Kan Shanyue seemed to have mustered his courage and said, "Your Highness, you say you won't ask those prestigious families to hand over their land, yet you want to distribute land to the common people. These two things are contradictory. Ninety percent of the land in our various prefectures is in the hands of local prestigious families. Even if our Kan family were willing to hand over our land, it wouldn't be enough for the common people to have... Moreover, there isn't much arable wasteland in our various prefectures! Therefore, I'm afraid your policy will be difficult to implement!"