175: Chapter 175 Killing the Chicken to Warn the Monkey

Tietou also had a violent temper; seeing this, he didn't dodge or evade, instead roaring in kind and swinging his fist to meet the attack!

"Bang!" A muffled thud!

Two fists, both brimming with power, collided fiercely!

A minor quarrel had, at this moment, completely escalated into a brutal brawl!

With Wang Balian and Tietou starting the fight, the new recruits and veteran soldiers behind them were like gunpowder barrels with their fuses lit; instantly, with bloodshot eyes, they began to fight frantically.

In an instant, the entire water supply area turned into a chaotic battlefield!

Punches were thrown, kicks were landed, and heads were bloodied!

Roars, screams, and the clashing of weapons rose and fell in succession!

The long-standing conflicts and grievances between the new recruits and the veterans were, at this moment, completely ignited and exploded!

"All of you, stop!"

Just then, a terrifying roar filled with endless violence and chilling Killing Intent exploded like a clap of thunder on a clear day!

It was Grand Governor Du Wei, leading a squad of menacing enforcement troops, charging into the chaotic crowd like tigers descending from the mountain!

His eyes, like copper bells, were burning with raging fury!

"Very good! You all have really grown capable, haven't you! The enemy hasn't even attacked yet, and you're already fighting amongst yourselves!"

Du Wei's voice was icy and devoid of emotion. Pointing at the soldiers still brawling, he roared at the top of his lungs: "Men! Seize everyone involved in this fight! New recruits or veterans, regardless of rank, all shall be dealt with according to military law! One hundred military lashes each! Anyone who resists is to be executed on the spot!"

One hundred military lashes!

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone gasped!

With the enforcement team's specially made military cudgels, one hundred lashes would leave a man bedridden for a year or more, even if it didn't kill him!

Just as the enforcement team was about to make arrests, two figures, equally full of authority, stepped quickly out from behind the crowd.

"Grand Governor Du, wait a moment!"

The newcomers were none other than Zhao Yu and Ma Qianli, who had hurried over upon hearing the news!

Zhao Yu's expression was grim. He cupped his fists at Du Wei from a distance and said in a deep voice, "Grand Governor Du, the fault in this matter lies with my personal guards; I am willing to take the punishment on his behalf. However, a penalty of one hundred military lashes is far too severe. They are all elites of my Panshi Army; if they are incapacitated by their own people, wouldn't that just grieve our friends and gladden our enemies?"

"That's right, Grand Governor Du," Ma Qianli added from the side. "Soldiers are hot-blooded, so some friction is unavoidable. In my opinion, it would be better to punish them lightly as a warning; fifty lashes each should suffice."

However, Du Wei gave them no Face at all.

He snorted coldly, his dark Face filled with unquestionable authority.

"Military law is as firm as a mountain! How can it be open to negotiation?!"

"If I don't punish them severely today, tomorrow they will dare to turn their blades against each other on the battlefield!"

"There is no room for discussion on this matter!"

Du Wei's unyielding attitude completely enraged Zhao Yu and Ma Qianli.

They were peerless generals who were naturally proud and arrogant. Now, being refuted so ruthlessly by Du Wei in front of so many people, how could they possibly save Face?

"Du Wei! Don't push me too far!" A cold glint flashed in Zhao Yu's eyes. "I respect you as a founding veteran under the Prince's command, which is why I've shown you deference! Do not think that I, Zhao Yu, wouldn't dare point my spear at my own people!"

"What? Do you intend to rebel?!" Wulu, standing nearby, suddenly stepped forward upon seeing this. His massive, mountain-like frame blocked Du Wei's front. His eyes, like those of a starving wolf, stared fixedly at Zhao Yu, his entire body exuding a terrifying, predatory Aura!

It looked as though a larger-scale clash between the commanders was on the verge of erupting!

Just at this critical moment!

A calm yet supremely authoritative voice, like a divine decree from the Nine Heavens, drifted slowly from behind everyone.

"All of you... stop."

The voice was not loud, but the supreme domineering Aura it contained—as if it could trample the very heavens and earth underfoot—made everyone freeze instantly, as if struck by lightning!

Everyone subconsciously turned to look in the direction of the voice.

They saw Gao Feng, dressed in a simple black martial outfit, accompanied by the tower-like giant "Big Fool," walking slowly towards them, step by step.

There was no expression on his Face.

There were no ripples in his eyes.

Yet, wherever he passed, everyone—whether they were arrogant soldiers or founding veterans—lowered their proud heads as if they had encountered the most feared natural predator of their lives, and then, in unison, dropped to one knee!

"Prince!"

"Long live the Prince!"

The shouts, filled with endless awe and fanaticism, merged into a wave of sound that soared into the sky, echoing throughout the entire military camp!

Gao Feng ignored the crowd kneeling on the ground and walked straight to Wang Balian and Tietou, who were already pale with fright.

He did not say a word of reproach, nor did he ask for any explanation.

He just looked at them quietly, then spoke slowly, his voice calm and devoid of any ripples.

"Are you done fighting?"

"If you're done, get up for this Prince."

Wang Balian and Tietou trembled all over. Not daring to disobey in the slightest, they quickly scrambled up from the ground, looking like two children who had done something wrong, heads bowed, not daring to even breathe loudly.

Gao Feng's gaze slowly swept over the dozens of soldiers who had participated in the brawl, and then over Du Wei, Wulu, Zhao Yu, Ma Qianli, and the others who were still glaring at each other.

A playful smile curled the corners of his lips.

"Very good, you all have plenty of energy. It seems the training volume I've given you daily has been too little."

He paused, and his voice suddenly turned cold!

"Someone! Bring me twenty sand baskets! Fill each one with one hundred catties of iron sand!"

"All those who participated in the brawl, whether new recruits or veterans, regardless of rank, send out ten men each to compete in a twenty-mile mountain cross-country race with heavy loads for me!"

"The side that reaches the finish line first within one hour will have their rank promoted by one level and be rewarded with one hundred taels of gold!"

"And the losing side..." A sly, fox-like glint flashed in Gao Feng's eyes.

"Will have to clean every single latrine in the entire army, thoroughly, for me for one month!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole scene was shocked!

Everyone looked at Gao Feng with eyes like they were looking at a monster.

They had never dreamed that Gao Feng would use such a... unique way to handle this serious conflict that could have triggered a major disturbance in the army!

Zhao Yu and Ma Qianli exchanged a glance, both seeing a trace of wry smiles and helplessness in each other's eyes.

As for Du Wei and Wulu, after a brief moment of astonishment, a trace of genuine admiration and understanding appeared on their dark Faces.

They knew that their Prince's methods were far more brilliant than they had imagined!

The competition soon officially began under the curious and expectant gaze of all the soldiers in the army!

Twenty strong and sturdy soldiers, carrying the terrifying one-hundred-catty sand baskets, rushed frantically toward the rugged and steep mountain road like twenty crazed bulls!

This was a pure contest of will and physical strength!

For that ridiculous, yet incredibly important, collective honor!

To avoid having to clean those disgusting latrines themselves!

Everyone gave it their all!

They all gritted their teeth, unleashing every ounce of their strength without reservation!

Sweat had long since soaked their clothes!

Their breathing had become like an old, wheezing bellows!

Their legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead!

However, not a single person chose to give up!

"Faster! Keep up! Don't embarrass our Panshi Battalion!" Tietou gasped for air while cheering on his companions at the top of his lungs!

"Charge! For General Zhao's honor! We absolutely cannot lose to this bunch of country bumpkins!" Wang Balian roared, equally unwilling to be outdone!

However, just when the race was halfway through and everyone was at the end of their rope, looking like they were about to collapse.

A veteran from the Panshi Stockade, due to exhaustion, had his legs give out and fell heavily to the ground!

He struggled to get up, but his already numb legs simply wouldn't listen to him!

Just then, a large hand, filled with scars and brimming with power, suddenly reached out and pulled him up from the ground!

The veteran looked up and saw, to his surprise, Wang Balian's fierce Face, which, while still full of arrogance, now held a trace of concern!

"Useless! Get up! Don't act like a woman!" Although Wang Balian was cursing, he extended his broad shoulder, letting the veteran lean half his weight onto him!

After a brief moment of astonishment, the veteran's eyes, already blurred by sweat, instantly turned red.

He didn't say a word of thanks; he just nodded heavily, then gritted his teeth and moved forward with Wang Balian, side by side, step by step, struggling toward the distant finish line.

And such scenes were also happening in other parts of the team.

New recruits supported fallen veterans, and veterans massaged the calves of new recruits suffering from cramps.

The estrangement and conflict that had originally existed between them were, under the shared goal and heavy pressure, silently worn away, and replaced by a sense of Fusion, bit by bit, by the sweat they shed and the arms they used to support each other.

On the high platform, Gao Feng watched all of this quietly, a satisfied smile appearing on his Face.

He walked down from the high platform himself and handed flasks of cool spring water, which had been prepared in advance and mixed with diluted spirit spring water, to the soldiers who were already lying exhausted at the finish line.

Then, he spoke slowly. His voice was not loud, but it felt like a spring breeze bringing life-giving rain, clearly reaching the ears of every soldier present.

"This Prince knows that some of you are founding veterans who followed me, killing your way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood."

Some of you are battle-hardened elites who have just joined our big Family.

You have your pride, and you have your persistence; I, your Prince, understand this.

However, today, here, I must tell you one thing.

His voice suddenly became incomparably solemn and grave!

From the very first day you donned this armor, took up this steel blade, and swore allegiance to my Panshi Land!

You no longer have any distinctions between old and new! No more factional divisions!

You have only one common name—

—Panshi Army!

You have only one common identity—

—Brothers!

In my Panshi Army, we only judge by merit, not by old or new! Whoever has the greatest merit, whoever has the hardest fists, that person shall receive the respect and glory they deserve!

And whoever dares to destroy the unity between our brothers, dares to stab their own people in the back!

Then he is the enemy of everyone in my Panshi Army! He is a sworn enemy of me, Gao Feng, irreconcilable!

Effective immediately, the 'Panshi Army Regulations (Draft)' are officially promulgated for trial! Anyone who violates them, regardless of who you are, regardless of how many meritorious deeds you have achieved, I, your Prince, will never tolerate it!

Gao Feng's words, like the morning bell and evening drum, struck hard at the heart of every soldier!

They looked at that towering figure, who in their eyes was already no different from a deity, and their hearts, already filled with hot blood and passion, were at this moment completely filled with an unprecedented sense of belonging and honor!

Long live the Prince! Long live the Prince!

Panshi Army! Ten thousand victories!

Panshi Army! Ten thousand victories!

That shout, filled with endless fanaticism and loyalty, gathered into a torrent of steel strong enough to make heaven and earth change color, echoing for a long time over the entire military camp!

In the corner, the little beggar named Douzi watched the group of soldiers who had just been fighting until their heads were broken and bleeding, but were now arm-in-arm and calling each other brothers, watching their young Faces filled with fanaticism and worship, and in his big, dark, glistening eyes, an unprecedented, brilliant light flickered.

He clenched his tiny fists, which had long been frozen red, and for the first time, a thought, incomparably firm and intense, sprouted in his heart—

He, too, wanted to become one of them!

That night, inside the study of the Yan Kings Residence.

Gao Feng once again summoned all the core generals.

He did not mention anything that happened during the day, but simply officially promulgated the thick 'Panshi Army Regulations' that had already been drafted.

It detailed all the reward and punishment systems, promotion systems, and the authority and responsibilities of generals at all levels within the army.

Everything had laws to follow and evidence to check.

Looking at the brand-new military regulations, which were detailed to the extreme yet fair to the utmost, whether it was veteran generals like Du Wei and Wulu, or newly surrendered stars like Zhao Yu and Ma Qianli, they all bowed deeply and sincerely to Gao Feng.

They knew that from today on, this army, full of vitality but also hiding turbulent undercurrents, had finally been put under the most solid and reliable 'tight-fitting spell.'

And just when the internal contradictions of the Panshi Army were cleverly resolved by Gao Feng in an almost artistic way, and he took the opportunity to establish iron laws, initially molding this complex, battle-hardened army into a whole.

Another war, without gunpowder but even more dangerous and more related to the future national destiny of Panshi Land, had already quietly begun in another part of Yan King City.

The Department of Finance, this brand-new government office that had only been established for a short time but had already become a thorn in the side of all the old aristocratic families in the three northern provinces, was now brightly lit, as bright as day.

Hundreds of top mathematical talents, carefully selected from the Business School of Panshi University, were burying their heads in the mountains of old accounts from Suzhou Province and Jizhou Prefecture, each one frowning and sighing.

These accounts, seemingly clear, were actually intricate and complex, full of all kinds of traps and loopholes.

'Fraudulent entrustment,' 'scattering,' 'assets gone but taxes remain,' 'false reporting of disaster losses'... all kinds of unheard-of and unseen tax evasion methods were being played to perfection and reached the pinnacle by those old aristocratic families who had entrenched themselves in the local area for hundreds of years.

They were like a group of the greediest parasites, using these seemingly legal means to slowly encroach upon and transfer the huge tax revenue that should have belonged to the national treasury, turning it into the golden mountains and silver hills of their own Families.

'Minister, it's no use, this... this simply cannot be investigated!' An old accountant with gray hair, who had been immersed in the field of mathematics for decades, put down his abacus, shook his head with a bitter smile, and looked dejectedly at the stunningly beautiful woman sitting in the main seat.

'The accounts of the Li Family in Jizhou Prefecture are simply a tangled mess! They 'entrusted' 90% of their land under the name of 'sacrifice' to the long-dilapidated City God Temple, and by paying only a symbolic amount of incense money each year, they could be exempted from all land taxes! Such methods are simply unheard of!'

'Yes, Minister!' Another young auditor also stood up, his Face full of anger and unwillingness, 'And the Zhang Family of Suzhou Province! They are even more audacious! They dared to 'scatter' and swap the barren mountains hundreds of miles away with the ten thousand acres of fertile land under their name on the Fish Scale Register! In this way, they only need to pay the insignificant taxes according to the standard of barren mountains, and they can comfortably encroach upon the huge amount of grain that should have been turned over to the national treasury! This... this is simply daylight robbery!'

Listening to the helpless and angry complaints of her subordinates, Li Qingzhao's cold, moon-like, and stunningly beautiful Face, which did not look like a Mortal's, did not have the slightest ripple.

She just sat there quietly, her eyes, as bright as autumn water, focused on the annual general ledger in front of her from the largest royal merchant in Youzhou—'Chen Clan Grain Firm.'

In her hand, there was no abacus, only a slender wolf-hair brush.

In front of her, there were no mountains of complicated account books, only a huge chart drawn by her own hand, filled with all kinds of strange symbols and complex formulas.

That was a brand-new, terrifying auditing method she had created herself, based on the advanced concepts of 'double-entry bookkeeping' and 'balance sheet' that Gao Feng had occasionally mentioned, combined with the actual situation of this era, which was enough to make any account have nowhere to hide!

'Found it.'

A long, long time later.

Li Qingzhao slowly put down the wolf-hair brush in her hand, and a cold, cruel smile, like a hunter seeing prey finally fall into a trap, appeared on her cold, pretty Face.

She slowly stood up, and her cold, pleasant voice echoed clearly in the silent hall.

'Pass my order, immediately summon all members of the Department of Finance law enforcement team to follow me to the Chen Clan Grain Firm.'

'Tell them that I suspect them of tax evasion and plotting rebellion. From this moment on, seal all their accounts and grain warehouses. Anyone who dares to obstruct will be treated as an accomplice and killed without mercy!'

'In addition, in my name, invite representatives of all aristocratic families in Jizhou Prefecture and Suzhou Province to attend this case at the Yan King City courtroom at noon tomorrow.'

'I want to kill the chicken to warn the monkey!'

Li Qingzhao's order sounded like thunder in everyone's ears!

Everyone was completely shocked by her swift, decisive, and iron-fisted methods.

They knew that this Princess Consort, who looked weak but actually had heaven-reaching means, was going to use this hardest bone to sacrifice the flag for the fiscal and tax reform she was about to implement!

An economic storm that would shake the entire northern region had begun!

The next day, early morning.

When the law enforcement team, wearing the uniform of the Department of Finance, rushed like wolves and tigers into the Chen Clan Grain Firm headquarters, which had stood in Youzhou City for a hundred years and symbolized wealth and status, everyone was stunned.

'You... who are you?! Such big guts! Do you know what place this is?!'

A middle-aged fat man who looked like a manager rushed out, bullying and blustering, pointing at the noses of the law enforcement team and cursing.

However, what greeted him was a cold and powerful slap!

'Slap!'

A crisp, loud sound!

The manager was slapped so hard that he spun around three times on the spot, spitting out a few bloody teeth, and fell heavily to the ground!

Li Qingzhao, wearing a dark blue official robe symbolizing the highest authority of the Department of Finance, walked in slowly from outside, surrounded by dozens of law enforcement team members filled with Killing Intent.

Her cold, pretty Face was covered with icy frost.

She looked down at the manager who was already scared silly, her voice cold and without a trace of emotion.

'I am Li Qingzhao, Minister of the Department of Finance. By the order of the Yan King, I am thoroughly investigating the tax evasion case of the Chen Clan Grain Firm. From this moment on, this place is taken over by my Department of Finance. All accounts, money, and grain shall be sealed and await investigation!'

'Anyone who dares to hide, destroy, or transfer them will be treated as plotting rebellion, and their entire Family will be executed!'

'You... you...' The manager was trembling all over, scared by the terrifying Aura of Li Qingzhao, which was awe-inspiring without anger, and could not even speak clearly.

And just at this moment, a laugh full of hypocrisy and flattery came from the back hall of the grain firm.

'Oh my! I didn't know the Princess Consort was visiting, and I failed to welcome you in time, forgive me, forgive me!'

I saw a fat man wearing gorgeous silk, with a bloated figure and a Face full of smiles, walking quickly out of the back hall, surrounded by a group of servants and guards.