Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 172 Zhao Rui
Just as Yan Yi led his troops to sweep through Danfengzhuang, the townships and pavilions in Qiantang were also carrying out a weeding operation in full swing.

As the saying goes, weeds must be removed to benefit the seedlings. If the weeds are not removed, how can the seedlings grow?

The weeds are several powerful people headed by the Zhao family.

The He Miao people are the new military and political elites who follow Yan Yi.

These new nobles can be divided into three categories. The first category consists of loyal ministers who followed Yan Yi in establishing his empire, such as Xu Sheng, Fan Yan, Cao Qiu, and Chen Gan. The second category consists of wealthy and powerful families, such as the local officials, whose reputation and abilities were recognized by Yan Yi. The third category consists of talented individuals of humble origins and official positions, but with outstanding moral character and ability.

These three types of people will gradually fill the power and interest vacuum left by old-established powerful families such as the Zhao family, reshape the power structure of various places under Yan Yi's jurisdiction, and become an emerging force to consolidate the foundation of his rule.

As for some powerful families in Quan Rou and other places who had defected to Yan Yi, although Yan Yi left them a certain amount of room for benefit, he was also gradually putting shackles on them to limit their development speed.

As time went on, the details of the "weeding operation" became clearer to the people of Johor, making them terrified.

In the face of insufficient troops, in order to completely eliminate the excess weeds, Yan Yi did not attack several major cleansing targets at the same time. Instead, he first used nearly half of his troops to block the entire Qiantang area, cutting off the escape routes of various ethnic groups, and then eradicated them one by one.

The first to bear the brunt was of course the Zhao family.

After the fall of the Zhao family, this cleansing operation will probably continue for several days, steadily progressing at the rate of one clan per day.

After weeding, even the roots were removed.

His methods were so fierce and ruthless that they frightened the surviving tribe leaders into becoming as obedient as trained dogs.

When Yan Yi went out of the city for inspection in the morning, he was only the master of half of Qiantang. But when he returned to Qiantang in the evening, the whole Qiantang was under his control.

"Young Master, would you like to return home first?"

After the carriage entered Qiantang City from the west gate, Yin Li asked respectfully.

Yan Yi was resting with his eyes closed. Upon hearing this, he said calmly, "Go to the Zhao Mansion and see Zhao Rui."

After conquering Qiantang, in order to avoid alerting the various ethnic groups, he did not imprison Zhao Rui, but only imprisoned him in his mansion and isolated him from the outside world.

Now that the overall situation has been determined, it is time to squeeze out every last drop of value from Zhao Rui.

Call!
A quarter of an hour later, the driver gently pulled the reins and stopped the carriage steadily in front of the gate of Zhao's mansion.

Yan Yi got off the carriage and walked into this Qiantang iconic luxurious mansion and came to the secret room where Zhao Rui was imprisoned.

From the outside, the Zhao Mansion was brightly lit and magnificent, just as it had been in the past. However, inside, the mansion was completely silent and heavily guarded, like a prison.

Of course, Zhao Rui could not enjoy the same treatment as Yu Fan and Zhou Xin. He was just a dying man.

On the day the city was captured, he was imprisoned in a secret room and experienced terrible experiences that ordinary people could hardly imagine, and his body and mind were severely damaged.

When Yan Yi entered the secret room, Zhao Rui was lying naked on the wooden donkey, his lower body covered in blood. A fierce-looking man stood beside him, using a sharp knife to cut off pieces of flesh from his arm. After each piece, he asked, "Will you tell me?"

Seeing Yan Yi and his group walk into the secret room, the big man quickly put the knife on the wooden table beside him and stood with his hands hanging down.

Yin Li looked at the big man and asked expressionlessly, "Have you confessed everything?"

The big man said in a muffled voice: "We still haven't given out the list of death squads raised by the Zhao family." Yin Li frowned. Zhao Rui refused to provide the list of death squads, which clearly showed that he wanted to assassinate Yan Yi in the future. This guy has a strong revenge mentality.

A cruel smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. He faced Yan Yi and bowed, saying, "Young Master, could you give me another half hour?"

Yan Yi glanced at Zhao Rui's body, turned around and walked outside: "No need, bandage his wounds, prepare some food, and take it to the side room."

More than a quarter of an hour later, Zhao Rui, wearing a clean robe, was carried to a side room and placed on a couch. The table next to the couch was filled with wine and food.

"Yin Li stays, everyone else leaves." Yan Yi sat down on the couch, holding up a glass of wine with both hands and said, "Mr. Zhao, I offer you a glass."

Yin Li picked up the wine cup and handed it to Zhao Rui's mouth.

Zhao Rui glanced at Yan Yi with a complicated expression, then slowly drank the wine and said weakly, "I just want to die quickly."

Yin Li scooped some meat sauce into the bowl with a spoon.

Zhao Rui had been hungry for two or three days and was already starving, so he ate in small bites.

Yan Yi waited until he had almost finished eating, then said calmly, "Mr. Zhao's wish will be granted. However, the Zhao family is a century-old clan. If they are destroyed, Mr. Zhao will probably have trouble resting in peace in the underworld."

Zhao Rui was silent for a moment, then said in a hoarse voice, "If I tell you the list, can you let my grandsons go and let them leave Qiantang?"

Yan Yi's expression remained calm, seemingly unconcerned with the list. He chuckled and said, "This list from Zhao Jun is of no importance to me. There are many people who want to take my life, not just you. However, I have two things I would like to ask Zhao Jun. If your answers satisfy me, I will agree to your request."

Zhao Rui's breathing quickened a little, and he whispered, "You say."

"I heard that Mr. Zhao's fleet has been trading with the countries of Southeast Asia. Could you tell me the details?"

Zhao Rui was slightly stunned, as if he did not expect Yan Yi to ask such a question. Then he realized that the other party wanted to expand overseas trade.

He pondered for a moment and said, "The largest power in Southeast Asia today is undoubtedly Funan, followed by Linyi, and then Langyaxiu, Dandan and other countries. In addition, there are also some small countries and tribes."

Zhao Rui took a few breaths and continued, "Our fleet trades more with Funan and has been cooperating for several years. As for countries like Linyi, we have less contact with them. Funan's gems, ivory, agarwood, pepper, palm sugar, etc. are all in high demand and have extremely high profits."

Yan Yi listened to Zhao Rui's story calmly, but sneered in his heart.

Funan is the later Cambodia, and Linyi is located in central Vietnam. Both are great powers in Southeast Asia.

From a geographical point of view, if one were to trade with Funan from the ports of Jiaozhou, it would be difficult for the route to bypass Linyi's sphere of influence.

There were many conflicts between Linyi and Funan. If the Zhao family had little contact with Linyi, how could Linyi easily allow the Zhao family to trade with Funan through the sea area under its jurisdiction?
Zhao Rui was clearly hiding something.

"Many small countries in Southeast Asia are dependent on Funan. If you want to trade with them, Funan is undoubtedly the best partner."

Zhao Rui didn't know that Yan Yi had already noticed something was wrong, and he continued talking.

If Yan Yi had not relied on his memories from his previous life and had not known a little about the geography and history of Southeast Asia, he would have been fooled by him.

(Brothers, please read along on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday next week, especially the chapters on Tuesday. Thank you very much.)
(End of this chapter)