Chapter 98: The New Four Great Clans

Chapter 98: The New Four Great Clans

As soon as their voices fell, they were pressed firmly to the ground by the soldiers brought by Xiao Ce.

Xiao Ce gave a cold snort. “You really have learned nothing at all! Let this prince ask you, who owns the Four Northern Desert Prefectures?”

Right after Xiao Ce finished speaking, all the soldiers and nobles began to shout.

“King of Northern Desert! King of Northern Desert!”

This roar that reached the sky

made the three Great Clans’ people pressed to the ground turn deathly pale with fear.

“You cannot kill me! You cannot kill me… We have the Emperor’s secret decree! If you kill me… you are defying the decree…”

Xiao Ce sneered and walked up to them.

He snatched the letter from their hands.

Then he continued speaking loudly. “This prince recognizes my Imperial Father’s handwriting. This is not his handwriting. It lacks both my Imperial Father’s personal writing and the Imperial seal! How can this be my Imperial Father’s Imperial Edict?”

“You have falsified an Imperial Edict, a greater crime!”

“Take them all to the execution ground!”

The soldiers dragged all these people to the execution ground.

“You attempted to trap and starve our Northern Desert people together with remnants of rebel generals, and also wanted to persecute the Northern Desert Army which is about to fight the Turks! You have committed an even greater crime!”

“Not only that, you wanted to harm the Prince of Zhenguo, our nation’s great pillar! You deserve death ten thousand times over!”

“Behead the entire families of Kan Zongye, Liu Xuan, and Lin Shou!”

Xiao Ce’s words were shouted out, heavy and clear.

“Long live the Prince! Long live! Long live ten thousand years!”

…

This completely terrified Kan Zongye and his group.

“Xiao Ce, we are prominent families of the Northern Desert. Kill us, and the Northern Desert will surely fall into chaos!”

“That’s right, Xiao Ce, if you dare touch us… our Manor Guards will surely come to avenge us!”

“Not only that, His Majesty will also come for revenge! If you dare cause our deaths, you will also die a terrible death!”

“You blind noble families, you now support this waste! Open your eyes and see… this waste is determined to stand with these lowly commoners. The fate that befalls me today will be yours tomorrow!”

“Look! This waste is defeating you one by one. First, he stabilized you and killed Cai Tianming, and now he comes to kill us. You are next! Just wait… quickly, rise up with us and revolt!”

“At that time, I will ask His Majesty to reward you for your merits!”

These family heads frantically shouted, spittle flying, trying to get those noble clans that previously supported them to join them.

…

Xiao Ce watched their hysteria, a faint smile on his face.

“If His Majesty personally issued a decree ordering my death! I would not cling to life. But you wanted to harm this prince, and this prince will certainly not comply with you!”

“You parasites of the various prefectures! Without you, the people of the Four Northern Desert Prefectures will become better off!”

“All noble families, do not be afraid! This prince said it! If you commit no crime, this prince will not touch you! This prince truly considers the welfare of the people! But you must know, you are also people! A rising tide lifts all boats; when the people prosper, you will prosper too!”

“This prince said, all you have was accumulated by your ancestors. This prince is not a robber! I will not seize things by trickery or force. We confiscated Cai Tianming’s property solely because he colluded with external enemies and exploited the people’s wealth. Every coin taken from his family will not end up in this prince’s pocket. This prince will issue a public account! Even a single copper coin will be guaranteed to be used for the people!”

“They brought this upon themselves! This prince originally intended to let bygones be bygones, to give them a chance to start over! Since they seek their own destruction, then let them start over!”

“Execute!”

They trembled and shouted, cursing.

Thwack! Thwack!

These executors were clearly experienced; with a swing of the blade, the heads of these clan nobles fell like melons.

Everyone was disbelieving!

Among them, many from the prominent families mostly thought Xiao Ce was just talking.

After all, killing them involved too many complications!

But Xiao Ce always acted unpredictably. He actually killed all the people from the Four Great Clans. Though it wasn’t extermination of the whole families, he basically wiped out their main bloodlines.

The Four Great Clans probably never imagined that this road they took would lead to a dead end.

Seeing this, Xiao Ce announced, “This prince appoints Kan Shanyue of Qingshan County as the new head of the Kan Family, and also as the Prefectural Assistant of Qingshan County!”

“This prince appoints Liu Qi of Ping’an Prefecture as the new head of the Liu Family, and also as the Prefectural Assistant of Ping’an Prefecture!”

“This prince appoints Lin Nan of Wushan County as the new head of the Lin Family, and also as the Prefectural Assistant of Wushan County!”

“This prince appoints Cai Yong of Chanda County as the new head of the Cai Family, and also as the Prefectural Assistant of Chanda County!”

“At the same time, the Manor Guards of the clans are abolished and reorganized into prefectural soldiers. These prefectural soldiers are to be used for each Prefectural Assistant’s jurisdiction, funded by the prefectural government! Also, the upper limit for each family’s Manor Guards is one hundred men!”

“You, the Prefectural Assistants of each prefecture, are to carry out land reform and register farmer households according to this prince’s new laws!”

“Following the policies of this prince’s own territory, abolish the Bonded People policy! Encourage the cultivation of wasteland!”

“Most importantly, the land originally belonging to each family cannot be touched! This prince said, this prince does not practice harsh taxation and plunder! The land belongs to whoever it rightfully belongs to!”

The four men came forward one by one, kneeling to give thanks.

Xiao Ce issued a series of policies. After Xiao Ce’s words were spoken, the prominent families couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Just hearing Xiao Ce’s policies, they seemed to cause them no harm.

After shouts of “Long live”,

Xiao Ce ordered the heads to be hung outside the city on the city walls as a warning to others.

Then, he announced the state banquet would continue.

Afterwards, troop after troop entered from outside the city, circling the city. Not only did the common people see the might of the army,

but all the noble families saw it too.

After finishing his tasks, Xiao Ce’s throat was a bit hoarse. He drank some water to moisten it.

He saw Yin Pan’er staring straight at him.

Xiao Ce felt a bit uneasy under Yin Pan’er’s gaze. “Pan’er, what is it?”

Yin Pan’er was full of admiration. “Prince, how did you know?”

Xiao Ce instinctively glanced at Nie Bing. “I must thank Nie Bing!”

Yin Pan’er looked a bit puzzled, and Nie Bing was also confused.

Xiao Ce said to Nie Bing, “Didn’t you hand Fei Du over to me completely?”

Nie Bing nodded and was about to ask, “What does that have to do with this matter?”

Xiao Ce looked at Nie Bing, seeing she still didn’t fully understand Fei Du.

“Fei Du not only helped us raise Message Crows here! He also established a Message Crow association called the Feinu Society in Maoming City. Since homing pigeons become unsuitable after arriving in the Four Northern Desert Prefectures due to the unfamiliar environment, all messenger pigeons from the Central Plains to the Four Prefectures are replaced with Ravens.”

“And the person truly running this relay station is Fei Du! This organization was arranged by your father and is the largest intelligence organization in the Four Northern Desert Prefectures! In other words, everyone’s letters pass through the Feinu Society! If they want to see them, they can see all letters.”

After hearing Xiao Ce’s words, it was clear Nie Bing was also learning about the Feinu Society for the first time.

“Didn’t Fei Du tell you?”

Nie Bing thought for a moment and suddenly remembered. When Fei Du was speaking to Nie Bing, he did mention they had a Feinu Society in Maoming City. However, Nie Bing didn’t press for details, so Fei Du didn’t elaborate.

Later, Nie Bing suggested Fei Du could serve Xiao Ce. After Fei Du’s own observation, this Xiao Ce was indeed people-oriented and working for the people.

Previously, they intercepted a batch of letters from the Capital. After learning of their plan,

Fei Du directly went to find Xiao Ce.

As soon as Xiao Ce knew, he immediately told Fei Du to keep it secret. Through Fei Du, he also learned that the internal strife within the clans was very intense.

Kan Shanyue, Liu Qi, and Lin Nan were actually very capable. However, because they were part of the war faction, and their views differed from most of the previous higher-ups, they had been sidelined.

Now, Xiao Ce personally wrote letters to them, persuading them to switch sides, with the goal of having them take over their families.

They also secretly contacted many old subordinates. After being fully confident, they agreed.

They secretly arrived here yesterday. Xiao Ce met with them and confirmed the Four Prefectures would have no issues, then decided on today’s action.

Xiao Ce had given them a chance. However, after sending Night Cat to eavesdrop on their conversation yesterday, Xiao Ce confirmed they were a pack of ungrateful wolves who could never be tamed, and only then decided to kill them.

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

“So, you knew about all this from the beginning!”

Xiao Ce nodded. “These people always treated me like a fool. If they were a bit smarter and stayed on my side like Zhang Yunqing, they wouldn’t have died!”

“Some people always hold onto a sliver of hope, not realizing that here, only this prince doesn’t want to know, there’s nothing this prince doesn’t know!”

After speaking, Xiao Ce glanced at Nie Bing, his expression shifting slightly, then he looked away and changed the subject. “Prince, these people aren’t exactly good characters either!”

Xiao Ce smiled and said, “For now, they are the optimal solution! And people admire strength. As long as this prince is strong enough, even if they are dragons they must coil, if they are tigers they must crouch!”

As they spoke, the heads of the new Four Great Clans returned.

They saluted Xiao Ce. “Prince, your royal army is truly worthy. It will surely defeat the Turks until they flee in panic!”

Xiao Ce smiled and said, “Gentlemen, do not flatter me to death. Our troops are not weak, but in terms of cavalry, the Turks grew up on horseback for generations. They are not so easy to deal with. If they were, it wouldn’t be up to this prince, right?”

Everyone still bowed. “Prince, you are different from them. We are confident that the great cause of resisting the Turks will certainly be accomplished under your leadership!”

Xiao Ce said to them, “Haha, that is certain! This prince came here precisely for this, though of course it also requires your help.”

The men were very humble, bowing. “We are willing to go through fire and water for you, Prince!”

Xiao Ce smiled and asked them to be seated, then continued, “After you return, there will surely be some trouble in your respective areas. If there are problems, you can come to this prince.”

Everyone nodded, then looked at each other, and their gazes fell on Kan Shanyue.

Xiao Ce saw they had something to say. “What is it? If you have something to say, speak directly.”

Kan Shanyue cupped his hands. “Prince, this commoner…”

Xiao Ce smiled. “You are now a Prefectural Assistant, not a commoner…”

Kan Shanyue gave an awkward smile and corrected himself. “Prince, this humble official has a question and seeks your clarification?”

Xiao Ce took a sip of tea, signaling him to speak directly.

Kan Shanyue seemed to gather courage. “Prince, on one hand, you say you will not demand those noble families hand over their land, and on the other hand, you want to distribute land to the people. These two things are contradictory. In all our prefectures, ninety percent of the land is held by the various noble families. Even if our Kan Family were willing to surrender our land, it would be far from enough to distribute among the people… Moreover, the cultivable wasteland in each of our prefectures is not plentiful! So, your policy might be difficult to implement!”