The Ming Dynasty: Starting with bandits, it swept across the land.

The afternoon sun was scorching hot, and the area in front of the Zhao residence was crowded with people.

The long queue stretched from the gate all the way to the street corner, filled with farmers who had come to pay their summer taxes, their faces blank with indifference.

The steward, Zhao Fu, sat in the shade under the porch, humming a tune as he fiddled with his abacus: "Zhang Laosan, your wheat has too many impurities. You have to reduce it by 30%, you're still short two bushels."

The old man whose name was called knelt down with a thud: "Master Zhao, this is the best grain in my family, the last bit of food left!"

"The officials won't acknowledge it," Zhao Fu glanced at him. "I remember you still have two bungalows, right? Use those to make do, and you might even get some extra money back."

"Huh? The house?" Upon hearing this, the old man was momentarily bewildered, then knelt down and begged, "Please, Master Zhao, grant me this much time."

Just then, a voice came from the middle of the group.

"What's wrong with this grain? I think it's the best!"

Zhao Fuxin felt a surge of anger, thinking to himself, "Who's got the nerve to cause trouble?" He looked up and saw a somewhat familiar face: "Hey? Aren't you Li Chengye? Didn't you come here to sell land this morning? What are you doing here again?"

Li Chengye swallowed hard, then slipped his right hand into his shirt, where Yang Chongwang had given him the dagger. He glanced at the people around him.

Yang Chongwang nodded at him, but the others did not respond; their hands were clenched so tightly they turned white.

Their eyes were filled with both fear and excitement.

"I came here this morning, but I think your price is too low, so I don't want to sell it anymore."

"Don't want to sell anymore?" Zhao Fu laughed angrily. "You've already signed and sealed everything, it's all in black and white, and now you're telling me you don't want to sell anymore? Kid, are you looking for death?"

"I just don't want to sell anymore, so what?"

Li Chengye took a step forward and shouted, "You're using the Zhao family's power to drive down the price; that's unfair!"

Zhao Fu was both amused and annoyed, feeling like he was dealing with a complete idiot. "Fairness? He actually dares to talk to me about fairness?" He waved his hand and shouted to the three or four servants beside the door, "Come on, seize that brat!"

The head of the household guards, Zhao Hu, was clearly prepared. He hadn't dared to make a move earlier because of the master's instructions that morning, but now that Zhao Fu had given the order, he grinned and led two of his men, wielding their weapons, to charge at Li Chengye.

The farmers who had been lined up in a long queue scattered with a "whoosh," and Yang Chongwang and his group squeezed around the crowd.

Li Chengye looked at the three burly men in front of him and felt his heart skip a beat.

Although I was mentally prepared, I was still a little nervous when it came to actually doing it.

"You dare to go back on your word? You're asking for death!" Zhao Hu lunged at him, brandishing his sheathed longsword and smashing it towards his face.

Li Chengye hurriedly dodged, but the scabbard still slammed into his right shoulder, causing him to stagger.

This attack, however, completely woke him up: he wasn't living in a peaceful era, and what he had to do was risk his life! There was no time to hesitate!

Despite the excruciating pain in his shoulder, he retaliated and pounced on Zhao Hu.

Seeing this, the two servants tried to push Li Chengye away, but suddenly they heard Zhao Hu scream, and then they saw a pool of blood seeping from his body.

The two were stunned for a moment. Before they could react, seven or eight people surrounded them, with Yang Chongwang leading the way.

He brandished a fish-head knife, a standard military-style weapon.

With a single blow, he cleaved a servant's face in two.

The other servant was terrified and turned to run away, but was hit hard on the leg by a stone that rushed up from the side with a carrying pole. With a crisp "crack", he was crippled on the spot and fell to the ground screaming.

Zhao Fu, who had been expecting a good show, was completely dumbfounded and screamed, "You bunch of poor bastards, how dare you kill someone!"

Before he could even get up from the ground, Li Chengye roared, "Quickly, break down the door! Don't let them close it!"

He had observed long ago that Zhao Shouren's family lived in a large courtyard house with walls two meters high.

If the door is closed, the only way for them to break in is by climbing a ladder, and then the people inside can just use a bamboo pole to stab someone.

The initially excited crowd rushed towards the gate after Li Chengye reminded them.

Zhao Fu rushed into the room in a panic, shouting, "Murder! There's a rebellion!"

Instantly, the entire Zhao family compound was thrown into chaos.

Li Chengye got up from the ground; the matter was settled.

When Zhao Fu rushed into the inner courtyard, the remaining servant could have taken the opportunity to close the gate, but he was obviously frightened and followed Zhao Fu into the inner courtyard, so the gate was left open.

According to the pre-arranged plan, they first created a disturbance at the gate to attract attention, lured the servants out and killed them, and then took the opportunity to turn the tables and kill their way back in.

So far, the operation has achieved its intended results.

Although Zhao Shouren's family was a prominent family in Qingshi Village, with a proper grand gate and courtyard from the outside, it was not very deep, with only two courtyards. After entering the gate and passing the main hall, one would enter the inner courtyard.

If his family were to pass down their wealth for several more generations, with courtyards connecting to each other, and granaries and water sources built inside, surrounded by high walls, it would become a fortified stronghold. Don't even think about it without a thousand or eight hundred men.

However, his rise to power only began in his generation, and his business was short-lived, allowing Li Chengye to break into the house with just ten men.

What's even more problematic is that while Zhao Shouren's household had many servants and maids, there were only six or seven guards to watch over the house.

In Zhao Shouren's view, these servants and maids could at least serve tea and water, do some farm work, and earn money for him.

But the servants who guarded the house and property were only useful for watching the granary when collecting taxes and showing off their power; in fact, they would only consume the family's own food supplies.

After all, the seventh year of the Tianqi reign was not yet the year of the great battle between officials and bandits that would follow the third year of the Chongzhen reign. It was only then that everyone understood what it meant to "store up grain in one's neighbor's storeup of guns, and one's neighbor's storeup of weapons."

It wasn't just Li Chengye and his eleven men who planned this in advance; many other villagers who were originally queuing to pay their summer taxes also rushed in after seeing them storm into the Zhao family compound, intending to take the opportunity to loot.

Li Chengye's chest was covered in bright red blood, and the smell of rust filled his nostrils. Zhao Hu, lying on the ground, was still twitching slightly. Li Chengye glanced at him, his heart unusually calm.

This was his first time killing someone, and he felt nothing unusual. Apart from a slight pain in his wrist from using too much force when he stabbed the person with the knife, he felt no other discomfort.

"Am I born a killer?"

"How could that be? I come from a good family, it's all because of this world that I've been forced into this situation!" he muttered to himself.

Then, Li Chengye picked up the sheathed longsword beside Zhao Hu. It was this very sword that had just struck his shoulder. It was a goose-feathered saber, its blade snow-white, clearly indicating that Zhao Hu had taken great care of maintaining it.

Stepping back into the Zhao family compound, only two hours after his last visit, his state of mind was completely different. The first time he came, he was filled with trepidation and caution; now, only a sense of calm remained.