Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 233 I do not want any survivors, much less any public executions.

The moonlight, cool and clear as water, flowed down from the high sky, gilding the pavilions and towers of the Suzhou Imperial Palace with a frosty silver edge.

The lanterns under the eaves swayed with a dim yellow light, casting dappled shadows on the ground, moving with the wind and dancing like ghosts.

Qin Liangyu held the sandalwood box, still warm from the emperor's reign, inside which was the commander's seal, and at her waist was the imperial sword bestowed upon her.

The interplay of the cold metal and the warm wood caused even her battle-hardened heart to pound uncontrollably.

What an earth-shattering appointment, and what extraordinary trust!
Having spent her life in the military, fighting against enemies amidst the loess soil and mountains, she now sets her sights on the vast, blue ocean.

The emperor's promises seemed to still echo in her ears, burning like a raging fire in her heart.

Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Revenue who was walking alongside her, had a mixed expression of joy and worry.

Unlike Qin Liangyu, who was full of military passion, this chief steward of the empire had nothing but money on his mind.

As Bi Ziyan walked, he stroked his gray beard and muttered to himself, as if he were manipulating an invisible abacus.

"The cost of building a new navy is three thousand taels for a single Fujian-style ship. If it's a galleon-style behemoth, it'll probably start at ten thousand taels... The cannons, they need breech-loading cannons, each one will cost at least eight hundred taels... The sailors, their rations, their pensions... sigh, this..."

His voice was soft, but it couldn't hide the anxiety that went deep into his bones. For Bi Ziyan, the emperor had given him a treasure trove, but also a bottomless pit.

Walking at the very back was Tian Ergeng, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

He was like the most inconspicuous shadow in the night, silent and without any sense of presence.

He cared neither about the navy's grandeur nor about the calculations of money and provisions.

In Tian Ergeng's world, there are only orders and loyalty!

The three walked through the covered walkway and were about to enter the courtyard, each with their own thoughts, preparing to return to their own lodgings to process the earth-shattering conversation they had just had that night.

However, at this moment.

At the other end of the courtyard, a figure shot out like an arrow from the moon gate.

The man was dressed in the flying fish uniform of the Imperial Guard, and his face showed undisguised anxiety. He did not make a sound, but the urgent and murderous aura emanating from him made Qin Liangyu and Bi Ziyan stop in their tracks.

The Jinyiwei's target was clearly Tian Ergeng.

When he was still ten steps away from Tian Ergeng, he suddenly stopped and knelt down on one knee without any hesitation. The whole movement was swift and silent.

"Commander!" He lowered his voice as if afraid of disturbing the tranquility of the night, yet it also carried an urgent sense of crisis. "Lord Li Ruolian has sent an urgent secret report from Yangzhou!"

Upon hearing the name "Li Ruolian," Tian Ergeng's perpetually expressionless face showed a slight change in emotion. The use of a "fast-track" message meant the situation had spiraled out of control and was at a critical juncture.

Qin Liangyu and Bi Ziyan exchanged a glance, both seeing seriousness in each other's eyes.

They immediately realized that the night was probably not over yet.

Without wasting words, Tian Ergeng stepped forward and took the thin, finger-like wax pellet sealed with sealing wax from the commander's hand. With a seemingly casual flick of his finger, the wax pellet shattered, revealing a finely rolled piece of oiled paper.

He unfolded the oil paper and held it up to the glow of the lanterns under the eaves.

With just one glance, Tian Ergeng's usually calm and collected eyes suddenly narrowed, revealing the cold and murderous look in a hunter's eyes when he discovers his prey is about to escape the trap.

Without the slightest hesitation, and without even offering any explanation to Qin Liangyu and Bi Ziyan, Tian Ergeng abruptly turned around and strode toward the inner study door that had just been closed.

Tian Ergeng stopped three steps in front of the door. Without waiting for an announcement, he bowed down, like a fully drawn bow.

"His Majesty!"

His voice was hoarse and urgent, like a sharp blade slicing through the tranquility of the courtyard.

"Something's changed in Yangzhou. The fish... are about to escape the net."

He spoke the word "offline" very lightly, yet it contained immense power.

Qin Liangyu's grip on the sword hilt tightened suddenly, and Bi Ziyan's expression turned extremely ugly.

"Squeak-"

The door behind him opened with a click.

The emperor reappeared at the door, his gentle and expectant expression gone. His gaze swept over Tian Ergeng, who was bowing deeply, and then fell on Qin Liangyu, who was holding the commander's seal, and Bi Ziyan, who looked bewildered.

"Qin Qing, Bi Qing, come back."

His voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable command.

When the heavy nanmu door closed again, the air in the inner study had completely changed.

The expectations and visions for the future that Qin Liangyu had just held, along with the command seal in her hand that represented the future of the navy, seemed to be covered by a thick layer of frost by this sudden change.

Instead, a thunderous killing scheme that had been brewing in the shadows for a long time but had been suppressed because the time was not right was coming!

The four people stood in place again, but their positions had subtly changed.

Tian Ergeng stood at the very front, and the chilling aura unique to the Embroidered Uniform Guard became the dominant tone of the room.

Zhu Youjian did not sit back down behind his desk, but instead walked back to the center of the huge map, lowered his gaze, and stared at a certain point on the map—Yangzhou.

It was as if everything before was just a prelude.

Tian Ergeng silently took a step forward and took out a thick scroll tightly wrapped in black oilcloth from his pocket.

He clearly carried this file with him at all times, ready to report it at any moment, but he did not present it directly to the emperor. Instead, he gently unfolded it on the emperor's desk.

The moment the case file was unfolded, the oppressive stench of blood seemed to intensify even further.

"Your Majesty," Tian Ercheng's voice was hoarse and low, "the Southern Garrison of the Embroidered Uniform Guard spent half a year working on this, mobilizing 372 spies to infiltrate 110 large and small families of salt merchants in Lianghuai. These are the most heinous criminals, the ringleaders, eight families in total, known as the 'Eight Pillars of Lianghuai'."

His fingers lightly traced the dossier, each name on the list seemingly shrouded in ominous darkness.

"The ringleader is Wang Zonghai. He privately kept three thousand salt smugglers, calling it the 'Salt Protection Team,' but in reality, they were river bandits who ran rampant on the Grand Canal, robbing merchants and travelers. His mansion had a secret passage that led directly to the docks outside the city. He had close ties with many important officials in the court and local officials such as the prefect of Yangzhou, and there is evidence of their correspondence."

These pieces of evidence were already known to everyone present.

But what Tian Ergeng said next was the most crucial touch on to tonight's thunderous debate.

"Li Ruolian secretly reported that three days ago, Wang Zonghai secretly sent his eldest son, Wang Shifan, onto a merchant ship bound for Tamna and then on to Hirado in Japan. According to our informants in Hirado, the Wang family had already purchased land, shops, and even built a mansion in the style of a garden in Jiangnan."

"In addition, the Huang and Cheng families, both Huizhou merchants, are secretly contacting Portuguese people, intending to purchase estates in Malacca. They... want to run away."

Tian Ergeng's tone was flat, but his last sentence hit the nail on the head.

The fish are about to scatter; the net must be pulled in!

Qin Liangyu's fingers tightened unconsciously around the sword hilt once again.

Those in the military value military law most. In her view, these traitors who colluded with the enemy, fled abroad, and emptied the national treasury were more hateful than the Jurchens in Liaodong.

The Jurchens were an external threat, which could be dealt with by arms, but these insidious pests were lingering within the empire, relentlessly draining its vitality day and night.

"His Majesty!"

Bi Ziyan could no longer contain himself and took a step forward. This civil official, who was over fifty years old, was now flushed and his voice was trembling slightly with extreme excitement.

He even pulled out a thin ledger from his sleeve, held it with both hands, and raised it high, as if presenting a tearful eulogy.

"This is the account of the salt tax of our Great Ming Dynasty! The salt tax of Lianghuai is nominally 12 million taels of silver per year! But after layers of exploitation and profit sharing, less than 900,000 taels actually enter the national treasury, Your Majesty!"

His voice suddenly rose, tinged with a hint of lament: "More than 11 million taels! Every year! This amount of silver is enough to feed and clothe the soldiers in Liaodong! It's enough for our newly built naval academy to build giant ships like those of the Westerners! But all this money has been turned into these people's gardens, concubines, and treasures, and into their funds for fleeing overseas!"

"They are traitors to the country, suckers of its marrow!"

As Bi Ziyan spoke, his knees buckled and he knelt down, kowtowing to Zhu Youjian. His aged body trembled violently with excitement.

"Your Majesty! If we can seize all the wealth of this barbarian, I will solemnly pledge my life and make a military oath: for the Ming navy and the Liaodong campaign, the national treasury will have no worries about money or food for three years!"

Three years of peace of mind!

These words carry immense weight.

Qin Liangyu's breath hitched slightly; she knew the weight of those words.

How many people did she have to beg for military pay?
How many times have we watched fighter jets slip away before our eyes, all for the sake of supplies?
Tian Ergeng remained expressionless, but his eyes, hidden in the shadows, shone with an eerie light.

Confiscating property has always been a favorite pastime of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Inside the study, there was a deathly silence.

All eyes were focused on the young emperor in black robes.

Zhu Youjian slowly raised his head, a pleased smile appearing on his face.

“Bi Qing,” he said gently, looking first at Bi Ziyan kneeling on the ground, “get up. I have seen your loyalty. I have settled your score for you.” He did not help Bi Ziyan up, but walked slowly to Qin Liangyu, looking intently at the female war goddess.

"Qin Qing, if I were to entrust this matter entirely to you, how would you proceed?"

Without the slightest hesitation, Qin Liangyu drew half of her sword with a "clang," the sword's light illuminating her resolute face like a pool of autumn water.

"This humble general requests the order! I am willing to personally lead my eight thousand soldiers to Yangzhou immediately! Within three days, we will raze the Wang family mansion to the ground, capture all the 'Eight Pillars of Lianghuai,' and hand them over to His Majesty for public execution!"

Her words were forceful and resolute, full of the iron will and directness unique to soldiers.

This is the most direct and effective method. In the face of absolute power, all schemes and tricks are nothing but a joke.

However, Zhu Youjian slowly shook his head.

He reached out and gently pressed Qin Liangyu's sword, which was about to be drawn, back into its sheath.

“No,” the emperor’s voice was soft, yet clear to everyone present, “Qin Qing, your method is too slow and too merciful.”

kindness?

A hint of confusion flashed in Qin Liangyu's eyes.

Raze the mansion to the ground and capture the ringleader; this is already a thunderous act. How can there be any talk of mercy?
Zhu Youjian's gaze returned to the enormous map, and the cold smile on his lips became even more pronounced.

"I do not want any survivors, nor do I want any public executions."

His voice suddenly turned cold, like a chilly north wind, causing the temperature in the entire room to drop several degrees.

"Trial is the law I left to the people of the Ming Dynasty. For these parasites who have long lost the hearts of the people and only know how to suck the brains of the nation, the only way to deal with them is to crush them and then burn them, leaving no trace."

Upon hearing this, even Qin Liangyu, who was used to seeing life and death, couldn't help but feel a chill.

Bi Ziyan was so shocked that he forgot to breathe. He had expected the emperor to use ruthless methods, but he never imagined that it would be so... merciless and cruel.

Only Tian Ergeng was unaffected.

This was the emperor he knew.

That emperor who uprooted the eight major Shanxi merchants and slaughtered countless people, leaving a trail of blood and gore!

"This operation," Zhu Youjian's voice rang out again, filled with the passion unique to a planner, "is neither a siege nor a capture operation. Qin Qing, Tian Qing, Bi Qing, you must remember, this is—a war of annihilation!"

He picked up the vermilion brush on the imperial desk, dipped it fully in bright red cinnabar, and, like a master painter, was about to add the most vibrant, yet bloodiest, stroke to the painting of Jiangnan.

His gaze first fell on Tian Ergeng.

"Tian Ergeng".

"Your subject is here." Tian Ergeng bowed, his posture extremely humble, like a falcon awaiting its master's command.

"I want you," Zhu Youjian said, lightly tapping his vermilion pen on the file, "to redistribute this list of yours to me."

"The list of the dead."

The emperor's voice was calm, but the words he uttered carried the chill of hell.

"Wang Zonghai, Huang Mengyu (head of the Huang family), Cheng Yun (head of the Cheng family)... These eight families, totaling thirteen core leaders, along with Zhang Guang (prefect of Yangzhou) and Li Yandong (salt transport commissioner of Lianghuai), who colluded with them most deeply and whose crimes are irrefutable, are all included here. I do not want to see the people on this list in the imperial prison, nor do I want to hear any of their explanations."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over Tian Ergeng's lifeless eyes, and said, word by word:

"Where the Embroidered Uniform Guards go, they create an inescapable net. Anyone on the list, whether they are enjoying themselves at home, feasting in a restaurant, or plotting in a secret room, will be killed on the spot once their identity is confirmed, without needing to ask for permission!"

"After killing them, collect their bodies, but do not place them in coffins. Hang them all on the city tower of Yangzhou! I want the entire Jiangnan region, no, the entire Ming Dynasty, to see the fate of these people!"

"Your subject... obeys the decree!" Tian Ergeng's voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement.

For the Embroidered Uniform Guard, this decree that required no trial and no survivors was the most exhilarating reward!
Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, seemingly quite satisfied with his reaction, and then said, "The other one is the list of confiscated goods. It includes salt merchants whose crimes are less serious, whose families are wealthy, who are usually fickle, and who are now filled with fear. These people are used to appease people's hearts, and also to... squeeze every last drop of profit out of them."

"I believe that your Embroidered Uniform Guard can distinguish who deserves to die and who can be used as dogs."

"Your subject understands." Tian Ergeng lowered his head deeply.

He fully understood the emperor's intentions: kill the most stubborn ones, intimidate a large number of wavering ones, use fear to pry open their mouths, and empty their pockets.

Then, Zhu Youjian began to wield his vermilion brush on the huge map.

"In this war of annihilation, I will ensure they have nowhere to go, neither to heaven nor to hell!"

His brushstrokes first drew a huge encirclement outside Yangzhou city.

"Here you go, Qin Liangyu! Personally lead your three thousand elite White-Spear Cavalry and five thousand newly recruited Shaanxi soldiers, a total of eight thousand men, and break camp immediately! Within three days, you must be at the gates of Yangzhou! Forming an overwhelming force!"

His gaze shifted to Qin Liangyu. "I want your eight thousand troops, so that every person in the city can see your imposing, dark formation the moment they open their eyes! I want this pressure to completely crush the courage of those with ulterior motives! To turn them into frightened birds, and to make them make the choices I want them to make in despair!"

Qin Liangyu was startled and instantly understood the emperor's intention.

This is a psychological battle!

By using absolute military deterrence, coupled with the killings within the city, the enemy's will to resist was completely destroyed from both inside and outside the city.

"Your humble servant obeys the order!" She clasped her hands in acceptance.

Zhu Youjian's vermilion brush then drew a sharp red line upwards along the Grand Canal on the map.

"By imperial decree, Lu Xiang-sheng is ordered to immediately lead his 5,000 newly trained troops from the capital garrison to board ships and head north! Blockade all canals and waterways surrounding Yangzhou! I demand only one result: not a single sail shall be allowed to leave the waters around Yangzhou!"

His voice suddenly turned stern: "Any vessel, whether official, merchant, or fishing, attempting to leave port without authorization, fire warning shots! Any further reckless actions will be scuttled on the spot without further permission!"

Finally, Zhu Youjian drew an unexpected arc on the map with his vermilion brush.

That line bypassed Yangzhou and Zhenjiang, like a sharp boomerang, pointing directly at the Taizhou, Tongzhou, and Haimen areas on the eastern coast!
Upon seeing this line, even Qin Liangyu couldn't help but shrink her pupils.

Zhu Youjian raised his head and looked around at the three people.

"The most valuable assets of these salt merchants and the desperados they kept were not in the grand mansions of Yangzhou."

The emperor sneered: "What's in Yangzhou is just their facade. Their true roots, their lifeline, and the reason they dare to challenge the court, all lie in those inconspicuous coastal salt fields!"

"Wang Zonghai's salt protection team, Huang's sea sand gang, their stronghold, their warehouses where they hoard smuggled salt and silver, it's all there!"

"A direct assault on Yangzhou would only give them the opportunity to destroy their account books, transfer their assets, or even resort to desperate measures. Therefore... I will personally lead 5,000 Han and Mongol cavalry as the third and most crucial force!"

"I will detour through Taizhou and launch a swift and unexpected attack on the salt fields along the coast! Minister Qin's army will form a deterrent on the front, Lu Xiang-sheng will blockade the waterways, and I will stab them in the heart from behind, first severing their roots so that they become rootless trees! Then I will take their trunks so that they wither completely!"

"At that time, with the three armies closing in, Yangzhou will be a coffin from which there is no escape!"

The emperor is going to personally lead another expedition!?

"Your Majesty, you mustn't!" Bi Ziyan exclaimed first, his face turning ashen. "A wise man doesn't stand under a dangerous wall! Your Majesty is of inestimable worth; how can you personally risk your life? This matter can be left to the general!"

Qin Liangyu immediately clasped her hands in greeting: "Your Majesty, while the surprise attack on the salt fields is a brilliant plan, it is a long-distance raid and the enemy's situation is unclear. This humble general requests to lead the vanguard and deliver this thunderous blow on Your Majesty's behalf!"

Zhu Youjian waved his hand, stopping their advice.

"This matter requires my personal attention," he said calmly.

His gaze became deep and distant, sweeping across the faces of everyone present.

"I want everyone in Jiangnan—gentry, merchants, officials…—to see for themselves. I am not merely an emperor sitting in the Forbidden City reviewing memorials; my hooves can flatten the fortresses of Shanxi, just as they can flatten the gardens of Jiangnan! My sword can cut off the heads of the Jurchens, just as it can cut off the heads of anyone who dares to challenge my authority!"

"What I want is not just a victory, not just a sum of money. What I want is to instill a deep-seated fear throughout the entire Jiangnan region! Absolute reverence for the laws of the Ming Dynasty, and for me!"

At this point, he gently placed the vermilion brush back on the brush holder.

On the map, three blood-red vermilion lines crisscross, like a large net woven from blood, tightly covering Yangzhou!

"Tian Ergeng, go prepare your list."

"Qin Qing, go and reorganize your troops."

"Bi Qing, get your abacus and accounts ready. I will soon send you a gift you never dared to dream of."

The emperor gave his final command, his voice returning to its initial calm, as if the earth-shattering plan he had just made was merely a casual remark.

However, the three ministers in the inner study were still deeply shocked and could not calm down for a long time.

As they looked at the figure in black robes standing before the map, a thought simultaneously arose in their minds.

This is no longer the young emperor who had to feign compliance with the civil service and was constantly constrained.

This is a tiger that has long since grown strong, sharpened its claws and teeth, and is now personally hunting...

Yangzhou, and indeed the entire Jiangnan region, became yet another hunting ground he chose!
(End of this chapter)