61: Chapter 61 I only care about killing and ransacking homes, leaving Old Zhu to clean up the mess.

Jiang Wan acknowledged the order, pressed his hand on his sword, and turned around.

The door to the private room opened and closed, muffling most of the faint screams from outside.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong picked up his ivory chopsticks, plucked a piece of golden-hued Hongwu Tofu, chewed it slowly, and then lifted his wine cup to take a sip.

"Everyone, eat." He didn't even lift his eyelids as he spat out those two words indifferently.

The second-generation nobles standing on both sides looked at each other. The table was full of delicacies and steaming hot, yet no one dared to move a chopstick.

Fu Zhong swallowed hard; he, who usually loved to eat more than anyone else, had no appetite at this moment.

Prince Consort Guo Zhen coughed dryly and silently put his hands behind his back.

Thinking that this entire table was paid for with the blood and sweat of the people, even this group of reckless bullies felt a sense of unease.

"Chang Sen." Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong spoke suddenly.

Chang Sen, who had been shrinking behind the others, shuddered and poked out his bloodless face.

"Come here and sit next to me." Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong pointed to the empty seat beside him.

Chang Sen's legs felt like they were filled with lead as he shuffled step by step to the table and sat down stiffly.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong personally ladled a bowl of lamb bone soup and pushed it in front of him. "Drink it. It will warm your stomach."

The rich aroma of meat mixed with the lingering scent of blood in Chang Sen's nostrils, causing his stomach to spasm. He gritted his teeth, held the porcelain bowl with both hands, closed his eyes, and gulped it down.

As the boiling hot soup went down, a hint of color finally returned to Chang Sen's pale face.

"Do you feel better?" Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong asked.

"Answering Your Highness, mu... much better." Chang Sen's voice was hoarse.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong nodded, ignored him, and glanced at the Duke of Cao. The Duke of Cao understood and hurriedly pulled everyone to take their seats.

Time slipped away as everyone buried their heads in their food.

Magistrate Zhang Deguang finally couldn't withstand the psychological pressure, which felt like being sliced by a thousand knives. He suddenly straightened his body and began slamming his head against the floor with a thudding sound.

"Your Highness! This humble official will confess! I will confess everything! The Liu Family has an iron mine outside the city where they forge weapons privately! In the secret compartment of my study, there is also an account book detailing dealings with the salt merchants of Yangzhou! I beg Your Highness for mercy; please spare this lowly official's dog life!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Jin's eyes split with rage. He lunged forward and choked Magistrate Zhang Deguang's neck. "Zhang! You will die a horrible death! I'll fight you to the death!"

The two tangled together on the carpet like two desperate mad dogs.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong didn't even glance at them; he was focused on picking the bones out of a vinegar-steamed fish.

An hour later. "Creak—"

The door to the private room was pushed open. Jiang Wan strode in, the dark red stains on the hem of his flying-fish robe particularly eye-catching. He walked to Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong and knelt on one knee. "Answering Your Highness. It has been investigated clearly."

"In the Liuhe County government office, from the assistant magistrate and registrar to the three classes of bailiffs, a total of seventy-two people have all accepted bribes from the Liu Family and acted as their protective umbrella."

"Eleven wealthy merchant families in the city are of the same mind as the Liu Family. They secretly annexed over six thousand mu of military farmland and forced more than thirty tenant farmers to their deaths."

"We confiscated two hundred and forty thousand taels of silver, forty thousand shi of grain, and a stack of land deeds. Additionally, in the backyard cellar of the Liu Family, one hundred sets of standard military armor were found."

After the data was reported, a collective gasp of cold air filled the private room.

A mere Liuhe County, right at the feet of the capital, had rotted to this extent. Two hundred and forty thousand taels of silver was more than the annual tax revenue of many impoverished prefectures in the Great Ming!

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong put down his chopsticks, took a snow-white silk handkerchief to wipe his mouth, and concluded nonchalantly, "The officialdom of Liuhe County has been wiped out in one fell swoop."

Jiang Wan retreated to the side after reporting, waiting for Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's final verdict.

"Sit down." Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong pointed to the seat below. "You've been running around for an hour; eat something hot."

Jiang Wan was stunned, then clasped his hands. "This subject dare not."

"I told you to eat, so eat. Why so much nonsense?"

Jiang Wan stopped declining, sat down boldly, picked up his bowl and chopsticks, and shoveled food into his mouth like a whirlwind.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong leaned back in his chair, his gaze sweeping over the standing young nobles.

"You all heard it. Over a hundred people involved, two hundred and forty thousand taels of silver, and one hundred sets of military armor." Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong tapped his fingers on the table. "Tell me, how should we handle this?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Fu Zhong jumped out first, a fierce glint in his eyes. "Your Highness! Privately storing military armor is tantamount to treason! Corrupt and lawless, they preyed on the people! According to the great ming code, they should be skinned and stuffed with straw, and their nine generations of kin executed! Cut them all down!"

"Right! Cut them all down!" Prince Consort Guo Zhen echoed. "These bastards are undermining the Great Ming right under our noses. If we don't kill them, it won't be enough to appease the public anger!"

Imperial Envoy Feng Cheng narrowed his eyes and remained silent.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong turned his head and looked at Chang Sen beside him. "Third Uncle, what do you think?"

Chang Sen gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist, blue veins bulging on the back of his hand. He suddenly raised his head, his eyes devoid of any cowardice. "Kill."

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong nodded and looked at the Duke of Cao, who had been silent. "Jiujiang, what about you?"

The Duke of Cao sighed softly and bowed. "Your Highness, this subject believes that we cannot kill them all."

As soon as these words were spoken, Fu Zhong and the others glared at him.

The Duke of Cao ignored the surrounding gazes, looked straight at Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong, and spoke in a solemn tone. "Your Highness, this subject is not pleading for them. It is just that Liuhe County is the gateway to the capital and the first stop on our journey south. If we behead all seventy-two people in the county government and the eleven merchant families, by tomorrow morning, the Liuhe County government office will be an empty shell."

"With the county administration paralyzed, who will pacify the people? Who will allocate grain and supplies?"

"More importantly, Your Highness is traveling south this time to clear up the three provinces of the Jiangnan region. If you start by slaughtering all the officials and merchants in one county, once the news reaches Suzhou and Hangzhou, those Jiangnan gentry will surely be terrified. In order to save their lives, they will definitely band together to resist, or even incite civil unrest and collude with the garrisons to rebel!"

The Duke of Cao paused and put forward his plan. "This subject suggests executing the ringleaders like Magistrate Zhang Deguang and Liu Jin to establish authority. For the remaining accomplices and those who followed blindly, we should confiscate their property, remove them from office, and hand them over to the Ministry of Personnel for subsequent determination. In this way, we can deter the petty scoundrels while stabilizing the overall situation in Jiangnan. This is the foolproof strategy."

Clear logic, considering the big picture—this was standard top-tier political thinking.

Prince Consort Guo Zhen and Imperial Envoy Feng Cheng nodded silently after hearing this. The Duke of Cao was right; killing is easy, but dealing with the aftermath is difficult. If you really kill all the officials, who will run the place?

Everyone's gaze converged back on Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong, waiting for his decision.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong listened quietly to the Duke of Cao's statement and nodded with satisfaction. "Jiujiang, you have thought this through very thoroughly."

Just as the Duke of Cao was about to be humble, Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong's tone shifted sharply.

"But you have forgotten what I said before we left."

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong turned around, his eyes as sharp as knives, making the Duke of Cao's heart tremble. "My trip to Jiangnan this time is not to audit accounts, not to pacify the hearts of the people, and certainly not to play any political balancing games with those Jiangnan gentry!"

He walked a few steps to Magistrate Zhang Deguang and Liu Jin, looking down at the two piles of mud from a high position.

"Consider the big picture? Keep them alive? Hand them over to the Ministry of Personnel for investigation?" Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong sneered repeatedly. "If handed over to the Ministry of Personnel, those civil officials will just cite classics to minimize big issues and ignore small ones! In the end, it will just be replacing one batch of people with another to continue sucking blood from the bones of the Great Ming!"

"The Jiangnan gentry will band together to rebel? I wish they would rebel!"

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong turned around abruptly, speaking every word clearly, filled with murderous intent. "If they dare to rebel, I dare to kill my way through! I will kill until no one in Jiangnan dares to wear silk, and kill until the gentry are terrified to the core at the mere mention of the Prince of Wu!"

These words were like a thunderclap exploding in the private room.

The Duke of Cao stood frozen on the spot. He finally understood that when His Highness said before, 'I am going to kill people!', it was the truth!

"Jiang Wan, hear my order!"

"This subject is here!" Jiang Wan, who had just finished his last bite of food, sprang up.

"Tomorrow morning, at the vegetable market in Liuhe County. All involved personnel, along with Magistrate Zhang Deguang and Liu Jin, regardless of whether they are principal or accessory, shall all be beheaded and displayed for the public!"

"As you command!"

"The confiscated two hundred and forty thousand taels of silver, forty thousand shi of grain..." Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong paused and threw out the profit distribution. "Thirty percent will remain in Liuhe County, to be distributed tomorrow on the spot to the people whose land was annexed; thirty percent will be loaded onto carts and sent by horse to the capital to fill The Emperor's national treasury; the remaining forty percent, bring it back to the Eastern Palace for me!"

After speaking, he turned his head to look at Eunuch Sanbao. "Eunuch Sanbao, grind the ink."

Eunuch Sanbao spread out the paper and pen with nimble hands.

Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and began to write vigorously on the paper. As he wrote, he said, "The Emperor gave me the task of clearing the fields. I have done the dirty work for him and sent the money back. Now that Liuhe County has no officials to manage it, he will naturally have to send someone to take over. I only care about killing and confiscating property; I'll let the old man worry about cleaning up the mess."

After finishing, Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong folded the letter paper, stuffed it into an envelope, and threw it to Jiang Wan. "Send someone to deliver it back overnight and hand it to The Emperor."

The young nobles in the private room watched this display of decisive action and clear division of power and responsibility by Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong. They were stunned at first, and then a fanatical light burst into their eyes—following such a master who dared to act and didn't play by the rules, why worry about not having a chance to make contributions and get ahead?

The Duke of Cao saw this and shook his head with a laugh, his fingertips rubbing the edge of the cold wine cup, but the excitement in his eyes could not be hidden—His Highness is indeed a madman capable of accomplishing great things. Following him, the prosperity of the Duke of Cao's family for generations is secure.

"Alright, everyone disperse. Get some rest." Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong straightened his sleeves and walked out the door.

"See you at the vegetable market tomorrow morning."