The Rebellious Officials and Traitors of the Late Han Dynasty

Chapter 575 Bloodshed in Jiangnan

Seven days after the meeting in the Taiji Hall, the memorial submitted by Gu Yong, the governor of Yangzhou, had already spread throughout the three provinces and six ministries. The neat regular script was particularly dazzling in the sunlight, each stroke like a knife mark etched into the hearts of powerful families.

"Gu Yong, you old scoundrel!" Kuai Liang slammed his teacup to the ground, shards of porcelain splashing at Cai Mao's feet. He sneered, "Twenty thousand hidden households! He's trying to drag all the powerful families of Jiangnan down with him!"

Cai Mao bent down and picked up a shard of porcelain, his fingertips gently tracing the sharp edge. He said slowly, "Brother Zirou, why be angry? Gu Yuantan is cutting himself off from the gentry of Jiangnan. However, Sima Yi is already on his way."

The spring rain pattered outside the window, hitting the banana leaves in the backyard with a muffled sound that made one's heart pound.

"What brilliant idea does De Gui have?" Kuai Liang lowered his voice, a ruthless glint flashing across his wrinkled face, and sighed, "We can't just sit here and wait to die."

Cai Mao took out a scroll of letters from his sleeve and slowly unfurled it, saying, "This is a memorial jointly submitted by seventeen families, including the Huang family of Jiangxia and the Huan family of Changsha, impeaching Sima Yi. The charges? Unauthorized alteration of ancestral rules and oppressive rule."

Kuai Liang's eyes lit up, but he hesitated and said, "These alone are probably not enough to sway His Majesty's resolve."

“Of course not.” Cai Mao clapped his hands, and a thin man dressed in coarse linen emerged from behind the screen, smiling broadly. “This is the steward of the Zhang family of Wu County, who has brought some interesting news.”

The thin man bowed and said in a hoarse voice, "My master has learned that Sun Si, a powerful figure in Wu Commandery, has already gathered three thousand private soldiers, waiting only for Sima Yi to enter the territory."

Kuai Liang gasped, exclaiming in surprise, "Sun Si? That's the salt smuggler?"

“Exactly.” Cai Mao stroked his beard and said smugly, “The Sun family made their fortune through smuggled salt and has over five thousand hidden households in Wu County. This man is audacious; why would he hand over his men?”

The rain suddenly intensified. Kuai Liang looked out the window at the gloomy sky and murmured, "Things have gotten worse."

A light drizzle enveloped the mountains and rivers of Wu County. The bamboo groves along the official road rustled in the rain, like countless whispers. Sima Yi lifted the carriage curtain, gazing at the hazy mountain silhouettes in the distance, his brows furrowed slightly.

"Zhongkang, have you noticed anything unusual?" Sima Yi beckoned Xu Chu over and asked in a low voice.

Xu Chu said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, my lord, he's just a clown."

Sima Yi sighed deeply. He knew this day would come. When he presented the memorial, he knew he had severed ties with those powerful clans.

Before the words were even finished, an arrow pierced the air and embedded itself in the carriage door frame, its fletching still trembling. Immediately afterward, shouts of battle erupted from all directions, and thousands of men dressed in coarse cloth rushed out from the bamboo forests and mountain valleys, their weapons gleaming coldly.

Xu Chu's tiger-like eyes widened, and he roared, "You're courting death!"

Three hundred Imperial Guards instantly formed an impenetrable formation, their black armor gleaming coldly in the rain. He drew his ring-pommel sword with a backhand motion, the blade slicing through the rain and cleaving the second arrow in mid-air.

"Leave them alive!" Sima Yi's voice came from inside the carriage, only to see Xu Chu charging into the enemy ranks like a tiger. His heavy iron broadsword, weighing eighty pounds, swept across, severing three private soldiers and their spears into six pieces, the blood mist mingling with the rain and splashing onto the bamboo leaves.

Suddenly, a muffled drumbeat like thunder echoed along the mountain path. More than a hundred crossbowmen appeared from behind the private army, raining down arrows. Xu Chu swung his scabbard to parry, but more than ten Imperial Guards were still struck by arrows and fell to the ground, blood flowing freely.

"It's a military-made crossbow!" Sima Yi's pupils contracted sharply. Xu Chu roared like a tiger, his muscles bulging, yet he seemed unaffected by the three crossbow bolts stuck in his black armor. He suddenly hurled his broadsword, a flash of cold light, and the drummer thirty paces away was cleaved in two, drum and all.

"Form ranks!" Xu Chu snatched the sword from his personal guard, and the three hundred Imperial Guards immediately changed formation into a wedge formation, their black armor clanging. In the torrential rain, this iron cavalry pierced the private army's formation like sharp blades, leaving limbs flying in their wake.

As Sima Yi heard the sound of arrows whistling through the air gradually subside while inside the carriage, he suddenly lifted the curtain and stepped out. The scholar in the blue robe snatched a horn bow and fired three arrows in quick succession, felling the crossbowman leader.

Sima Yi was not a weak scholar.

When the private army was thrown into disarray, a banner reading "Wu Commandery Commandant" suddenly appeared on the western hillside—it turned out that Sima Yi had ordered the commandery troops to lie in ambush there.

Five hundred soldiers from the prefecture surged down like a tide, their iron armor and spears gleaming coldly in the rain. Sun Si's private army was immediately routed, fleeing into the depths of the mountains, abandoning their armor and weapons.

Sima Yi slowly walked towards Sun Si, who was forced to kneel in the mud, his blue robe stained with blood and mud. He bent down and picked up the ring-pommel sword that the other had dropped; the inscription on the blade was faintly visible in the rain—"Zhang of Kuaiji".

"A fine blade." Sima Yi lightly flicked the blade with his fingertips, his clear, resonant voice startling crows in the treetops. "The weapons privately forged by the Zhang family are even three times better than those in the imperial armory."

Sun Si suddenly lunged forward, but Xu Chu pinned him down by the back. The salt smuggler, his mouth full of blood, grinned maliciously, "Old man Sima! Kill one of my men today, and tomorrow there will be thousands upon thousands of Sun Sis!"

"Who said I wanted to kill you?" Sima Yi suddenly spoke softly in Wu dialect, startling Sun Si into widening his eyes. He turned to the commander of the county troops and ordered, "Change Master Sun into clean clothes. I'm taking him to Chang'an to meet the Emperor. Tsk tsk, you probably haven't seen the Emperor before! I'll give you a chance this time."

Sima Yi felt a surge of disdain. These powerful families were truly foolish. They thought it was the previous dynasty, but they didn't know that Emperor Qin Shou of Tang was a ruthless killer. Overthrowing his empire would be extremely difficult, and it was simply wishful thinking.

Xu Chu wiped the rain from his face, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and said, "My lord, should we report this to the court first?"

"No need." A sharp glint flashed in Sima Yi's eyes. "His Majesty has granted me the authority to act expediently. The evidence of Zhang's collusion with salt smugglers is conclusive; their property should be confiscated immediately."

Three days later, the morning in Kuaiji County was broken by the rapid sound of horses' hooves. Three hundred Imperial Guards charged into the Zhang family mansion like a whirlwind, startling all the birds in the courtyard. Zhang Fan, the head of the Zhang family, was practicing calligraphy in his study when he heard the noise and looked up to find Sima Yi already standing at the door.

"Sima Yi!" Zhang Fan's brush slammed onto the rice paper, the ink spreading like a hideous ghost face as he roared, "You...you dare to trespass!"

"Master Zhang has quite the refined taste." Sima Yi slowly stepped inside, took out the ring-pommel sword from his sleeve, gently placed it on the table, and chuckled, "Do you recognize this?"

Zhang Fan's expression changed drastically, but he forced himself to remain calm and said, "This knife is of ordinary design; any blacksmith in the world could forge it. Why does Lord Sima say this?"

Sima Yi didn't answer, but simply clapped his hands. Two Imperial Guards escorted the battered Sun Si into the study. Upon seeing Zhang Fan, Sun Si immediately cried out, "Lord Zhang, save me! You promised!"

"Shut up!" Zhang Fan roared, veins bulging on his forehead, "Where did this madman come from, daring to slander this old man!"

Sima Yi sneered, "Why is Lord Zhang so angry? Master Sun has already confessed that over the years, the Zhang family has not only provided him with weapons, but also used him to hide six thousand hidden households. Tsk tsk, what great abilities they have!"

(End of this chapter)