Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 270, Extermination of the Clan and Confiscation of Property

"Destroy the three tribes!"

Fang Yong's words sealed Cheng Fan's fate.

Cheng Fan shook the iron bars in terror.

"No, no, Your Highness, you promised me you would be lenient!"

Fang Yong turned and left, saying coldly:

"Isn't exterminating three generations of their family a lenient punishment?"

Yizhou, Shanxi.

Jia Lian led his men to use ropes to pull away the tall statue of Confucius.

Due to the uprising of the Jin rebels, the statue of Confucius was not fully completed. Currently, only a rough outline of the body and a head that has not been finely sculpted exist.

With a loud crash, the statue of Confucius fell to the ground, its body severed from its head.

The head rolled three times on the ground before finally coming to rest face down on the yellow earth.

Beneath the stone statue, an opening appears.

Jia Lian led his men inside, and in an instant, the mountain of gold and silver shocked everyone present so much that their legs went weak and they could hardly stand.

In the capital, with the downfall of Cheng Fan, the position of Minister of Personnel became vacant.

The Ministry of Personnel held immense power and responsibility, possessing authority over the appointment, evaluation, promotion, demotion, and transfer of officials. It was the highest-ranking department among the Six Ministries.

Minister of Rites Meng Shen, Vice Minister of Revenue Gao Jing, and Minister of War Guo Bai all stared intently at this position.

However, Fang Yong did not select from these people, but directly appointed Jia Yucun as Minister of Personnel and ordered him to start rectifying the officialdom in the capital.

Jia Yucun was ruthless and showed no mercy. He directly fabricated charges against officials and dismissed a large number of them, replacing them with his own people.

In a short time, a large number of officials in the capital were implicated, their homes were confiscated, some were imprisoned, and countless official families suffered persecution.

The people and drummers cheered.

The officials, however, felt a chill to the bone.

They originally thought Fang Yong was a benevolent ruler.

After all, Fang Yong had always acted with benevolence and righteousness, had no hatred towards powerful families, and rarely committed murder. It was precisely for this reason that they were willing to actively cooperate with Fang Yong's rule.

However, unexpectedly, Fang Yong brought up old grievances after consolidating his rule, completely disregarding their previous contributions.

For a time, many people couldn't help but reminisce about the era when the Longqing Emperor was in power.

But now everything is irreversible.

All the troops inside and outside the capital were in the hands of the traitor Fang Yong. Emperor Longqing was under house arrest in the palace. Except for the grand court assembly held every half month, the officials could not see Emperor Longqing at all.

Unable to shake Fang Yong's rule, they could only use words and public opinion to slander him.

For a time, the public was filled with insults and abuse directed at Fang Yong.

Just a month or two ago, Cheng Fan and his associates had mobilized a large number of their cronies to compete for the position of Grand Councilor, showering Fang Yong with praise.

Now, those who once praised him seem to have lost their memory, remembering nothing of what they said, and all they do is hurl endless insults.

At that time, Jia Yucun was in charge of rectifying the officialdom in the capital. During this period, some officials inevitably became desperate and tried to make a quick buck, so they became even more unscrupulous.

This has led some people to mistakenly believe that things are worse after the rectification than before.

Coupled with the overwhelming barrage of insults directed at Fang Yong, his reputation quickly became tarnished.

For example, spending the night in the palace and sexually assaulting concubines.

For example, there are cases of fabricated charges and forced confiscation of property.

There are also those who usurp the throne, those who betray the emperor's favor, and so on.

Of course, these things are too far removed from ordinary people, and most of them just follow the crowd without actually caring much about them.

There is only one thing that is truly remembered by the people.

That is, some people say that Fang Yong was secretly controlling the salt trade, raising salt prices, and plundering the people's wealth. This is the one that is truly related to the lives of ordinary people. Over the years, many people have lost their families and lives because they could not afford salt. Therefore, they were very angry after learning about this and harbored deep resentment towards Fang Yong.

Fang Yong did not respond to this, because that was what he did.

Fang Yong knew that in order to salvage his reputation, he needed to quickly find a scapegoat.

So he secretly instructed Jia She to investigate the smuggled salt in the capital.

At the same time, there was another very important thing for Fang Yong.

That means Su Guangxiong has returned to the capital.

With Su Guangxiong's return to Beijing, the territory of Shanxi was successfully acquired.

Fang Yong conquered this land without losing a single soldier!
In fact, Su Guangxiong's choice to return to Beijing was indeed understandable.

The Jin rebels in Shanxi almost wiped out all of Shanxi's fighting force. Su Guangxiong inherited a complete mess, and he had little ability to resist the approaching Huaiyin army.

However, even so, if Su Guangxiong really chose to resist to the end, it would still cause Fang Yong a lot of trouble. Therefore, Su Guangxiong's willingness to obey orders and return to the capital was the best thing for Fang Yong.

Therefore, Fang Yong treated Su Guangxiong extremely well. He persuaded the Longqing Emperor to grant Su Guangxiong a marquisate and bestowed upon him several prestigious honorary titles, providing him with ample treatment.
Fang Yong did not confiscate the huge amount of property that Su Guangxiong brought back from Shanxi, but instead allowed Su Guangxiong to return to his hometown of Suzhou with his title and family property.

As for the matter of Xue the Cripple from back then, Fang Yong also inquired about it indirectly.

Su Guangxiong appeared bewildered, seemingly unaware of the situation.

I don't know if he was faking it or if it was really true.

However, considering that the person behind the scenes disposed of Su Guangxiong's father and brothers but not Su Guangxiong himself, Su Guangxiong may genuinely be unaware of the situation.

Afterwards, Fang Yong ordered Zhai Xun to lead 60,000 troops to garrison Shanxi.

As his territory expanded, Fang Yong's military strength began to become somewhat stretched thin.

Fang Yong then ordered Zhai Xun, Ma Laohei, and Zhang Yuan to recruit soldiers in Shanxi, Shandong, and Zhili respectively, each recruiting 50,000 soldiers to expand their strength.

There's no need to worry about money and food. After spring planting, rice and wheat seedlings have already started to grow, and the early rice in the south will be ready for harvest in a few months, which will be enough to replenish the food supply.

In addition, the money and grain confiscated from the Cheng family were so much that they were enough to sustain them for a long time.

Shaoxing, Zhejiang.

A major battle has just taken place here.

The city was in ruins, and there were casualties everywhere.

The Huaiyin army occupied the city, but unfortunately, Xu Shaobao escaped again.

Lin Lin led his troops in hot pursuit, but they were still a step too late.

Watching Xu Shaobao lead eight hundred remaining soldiers away by boat on the Pingshui River, Lin Lin angrily drew his sword and struck the water.

why why?
He had anticipated the enemy's escape route.

But Wei Xing kept dragging his feet and refused to adopt his advice, causing the enemy to escape time and time again.

Once is a coincidence, but what about twice or three times?
Suspicion gradually rose in Lin Lin's heart.

Upon returning to Shaoxing, Lin Lin was surprised to find that the entire city was filled with the wails of the people.

The Huaiyin Army, which was known for its strict military discipline in the past, has for some unknown reason broken into people's homes and wantonly confiscated their property after breaching the city.

Lin Lin watched as a troop of Huaiyin soldiers stormed into a civilian's home.

The dozen or so guards in the village desperately tried to stop them, but the Huaiyin army fired a volley of bullets, killing most of them and binding the rest.

The head of the household put up a slight resistance and was killed by the Huaiyin army with a single blow. All the boxes of gold and silver treasures were searched and taken away.

Is this still the Huaiyin Army he knows?
Lin Lin could hardly believe it.

He rushed forward and questioned:
"What are you doing? Why are you breaking into people's homes and looting their property?"

When the Huaiyin army saw Lin Lin, they bowed and said:
"General Lin, this is General Wei's order. These powerful families participated in the Yue rebels' rebellion, and their crimes are unforgivable. According to the law, all of them should have their property confiscated and be executed!"

(End of this chapter)