Chapter 404 Thunderous Means

Chapter 404: Thunderbolt Tactics

Besides Jiang Yan, the other scholars had also come to turn in their own family members—either their elder brothers, fathers, or uncles.

Before Li Xiuwen could pass judgment, their families rushed over upon hearing the news. Every one of them was one of Suzhou's most prominent families, and the Jiang family were imperial merchants.

"Unfilial son! Are you trying to drag the entire family into utter ruin?" Jiang Yan's father, Jiang Hongye, trembled with rage, pointing at his kneeling son, his voice hoarse with fury.

Another clan head, from the Yun family, was far more violent with his younger brother. He slipped through the ring of guards and kicked the brother who was about to turn him in, shouting, "You animal! You're trying to destroy the Yun family! I'll beat you to death today, you traitorous wretch!"

Though Fifth Master Yun was senior in the family hierarchy, he was only nineteen, two years younger than Jiang Yan. Even as he was kicked to the ground, he wasn't backing down, saying, "The emperor's grace is boundless—he sent Lord Song to implement the land redistribution policy for the people of the south. The people of Yangzhou have already begun buying back and reclaiming their land. How can Suzhou fall behind?"

"Yun's got a point! The family lands should go back to the poor households. First, if there's grain, someone has to farm it. Second, the double taxation on tenant farmers violates all divine justice. As scholars who have read the Confucian classics, how can we sit idly by while our families hoard wealth that isn't rightfully theirs and our fellow villagers are driven from their homes under oppressive policies?"

"Lord Song said that everyone is equal under the law—even imperial relatives are no exception. The law is clear, so how can we try to find loopholes?"

"Father, I know this act is unfilial and will destroy a hundred years of the Jiang family's legacy. But every night, I think of the tenant farmers who work themselves to the bone on our estates, yet cannot even afford a single decent meal. I think of how after paying rent, their families can only gnaw on bark and roots. Father, I..."

"You feel pity? Then you go gnaw on tree bark!"

The clan heads' ears were ringing. These were the pride of their families—raised to be virtuous and capable heirs. Who would have thought they'd gone too far the other way? If they'd known this would happen, they might as well have raised them as good-for-nothing playboys.

The judge's block was struck weakly on the hall table. Li Xiuwen rubbed his throbbing temples, his voice tinged with exhaustion, "Order! This is a courtroom—no shouting or fighting!"

His gaze swept over the agitated clan heads, then fell upon the kneeling scholars, his expression complex and unreadable.

If ordinary people had stormed into the courtroom like this, they would have been accused of disturbing the court and dragged out for a beating. But these great families had members serving as officials at court and had given him generous gifts over the years. He couldn't have them beaten; he could only tell them to leave.

Moreover, Lord Song had ordered him to hear this case—was he really supposed to throw these people in prison?

Li Xiuwen hesitated, and his clerk beside him noticed his indecision, so he didn't go down to collect the complaints from Jiang Yan and the others.

"Judge Qiao, collect the complaints and bring them to me."

A cold voice came from the back of the hall. Song Tingzhou said in an unmistakable tone, "Lord Li, since you cannot handle this case, step down. I will hear it myself."

A corner of his crimson official robe came into view. Li Xiuwen didn't hesitate for a moment—he immediately rose and gave up his seat with deference, "Lord Song, please, take my seat."

The scholars below, including Jiang Yan, had still felt guilty about their families, but the instant they saw Song Tingzhou, their eyes lit up. All guilt vanished, as if they'd found their champion, and they all clamored to have their own fathers tried first.

Jiang Hong had already fainted from rage and was carried off by servants to see a doctor. The others weren't far behind.

Song Tingzhou had no ties to these great families. After taking over the case, he wasted no words. Once he sorted through the complaints, he immediately ordered Qiao Xingyuan to cross-reference them with the annual tax registers, and dispatched the Assistant Prefect and Qiao Xingyuan together to survey the fields in the countryside, investigating irregular land holdings throughout the Suzhou area.

Ge Quan also sent several imperial guards to protect Qiao Xingyuan, serving as a deterrent as well.

This was a massive undertaking that couldn't be completed overnight—for instance, Wang Zan was still sorting through the land holdings in Yangzhou.

But with the "pledges" from Jiang Yan and the others in hand, the land information they provided was far more detailed than what the government records showed, including "entrusted estates" hidden under temple and clan names, and "fraudulently registered lands" acquired through various schemes.

With these, the surveying and verification could be targeted, saving many detours.

In just over ten days, the land holdings of the Jiang, Yun, Zhou, and other great families were sorted out with perfect clarity, and the clan heads were thrown into prison one after another.

Jiang Yan and the other young nobles, no matter how favored they'd been at home, became criminals once family interests were involved. They were subjected to family discipline upon returning home and given a sound beating.

The clan heads were dragged into the prefectural prison by the guards, and the young scholars were beaten again. Some even faced the threat of being cast out of their families entirely.

"Lord Song is not an unreasonable official. The Yangzhou families voluntarily surrendered, which is why they got a chance at survival. Although my father was arrested, as long as our family pays our taxes with land and compensates accordingly, my father's crime can be settled by paying the redemption fine according to the law—then he'll be safe!"

Jiang Yan lay face-down on his bed, unable to move, his buttocks a bloody mess. His mother applied medicine while sobbing into her handkerchief, "My good son, stop being so stubborn. If your uncles drag you into the ancestral hall for another beating, you'll lose your life."

Jiang Yan could barely speak, but he still reminded his mother, "Uncles don't understand my good intentions. Mother, go to the yamen tomorrow morning with the redemption silver to bail out Father. You'll definitely be able to bring him out."

Jiang Yan's mother thought he'd lost his mind. She was both angry and heartbroken, not knowing what to do with him. But in the end, her love for her son won out. The next morning, she truly took the redemption silver and nervously went to the yamen—and not just a few taels as Jiang Yan had said, but a full thousand taels of gold carried by servants.

When she arrived at the yamen, she happened to witness the guards arresting criminals. Jiang Yan's mother stole a few glances and found the arrested faces all familiar—all members of Suzhou's great families, including two clan heads from even more prominent houses than the Jiang family.

She stood to the side, clutching her handkerchief tightly, the chest of a thousand taels of gold carefully guarded behind her by servants. An uncontrollable dread surged within her. These families' sons hadn't reported their own clans, so why were their relatives still being dragged into the yamen?

"Madam, are you here to redeem Lord Jiang? Our master has instructed us to handle matters strictly by the rules. Fourteen taels of silver will suffice. These... Madam should take them back." The clerk from the Household Office said with visible reluctance, not daring to look at the gold, afraid that a single glance would breed greed.

The one calling the shots at the prefectural yamen now wasn't Lord Li, but Lord Song, who wouldn't tolerate a single grain of sand in his eye. If he wanted to keep his minor post, he needed to flush the murky thoughts from his mind!

"Fourteen taels? You'll really let our master go?" Jiang Yan's mother thought it was some new trick of the yamen, trying to deceive her because she was a woman.

It wasn't until she actually saw Jiang Hong unharmed that she seemed to wake from a dream. "Husband, you're really fine? They... they actually let you go?"

Jiang Hong hadn't been tortured during his time in prison, but he'd been terrified, unable to eat or sleep well. After leaving the prison, he breathed a genuine sigh of relief, though his expression remained tense. He didn't answer his wife, instead looking around at his surroundings, observing the bustling area outside the prison for a moment, then immediately said, "Let's go home first."

The first thing he did upon returning home was go see his son Jiang Yan. Jiang Yan lay on the bed, thin bloodstains seeping through his plain undergarments—clearly the family discipline had been harsh indeed. Hearing his father's footsteps, he turned his head with difficulty, a look of surprise on his face, "Father, you're out?"

"Mm." Jiang Hong stood by the bed, looking at his son in this state, his heart a jumble of emotions. He reached out a hand, wanting to touch his son's wounds, but stopped an inch from the skin, withdrawing it with a slight tremble. "Er Lang, you've suffered."

Jiang Yan's eyes grew hot. He didn't fear these hardships—only his family's failure to understand his actions. "Father, the emperor is determined to implement land redistribution. Lord Song's trip to Yangzhou seemed gentle as a drizzle, but every step was fraught with danger. Yangzhou was the beginning, a test. Now that it's Suzhou's turn, things won't be so simple."

"Father understands. You rest and recover well. I know what to do about the rest." Jiang Hong had seen with his own eyes in the prison that members of other great families were also being locked up—and those families had no rebellious sons to blame. He managed such a large household; he wasn't a fool. What more did he need to understand now?

Song Tingzhou showed not the slightest fear of their families' prestige. He intended to implement the new policies with thunderbolt tactics, and anyone who stood in his way would likely lose their life.

Leaving Jiang Yan's room, Jiang Hong immediately summoned all clan members in Suzhou to the ancestral hall for discussion. The oil lamps in the hall burned through the night, replaced one after another, until dawn when people filed out—some with grim faces, others with eased expressions.

News that the Jiang clan head had been redeemed spread to others, and suddenly the prefectural yamen was busier than a marketplace. Carriages queued from one end of the street to the other, silver in chests glinting coldly in the sunlight, the air thick with the smell of money.

The great families that once ruled Suzhou with impunity now shed their arrogance. The stewards and clan elders they sent wore carefully cautious smiles, treating even the lowliest yamen clerks with utmost courtesy.

Unfortunately, only the families of the scholars who had written complaints alongside Jiang Yan had their elders released. Everyone else remained imprisoned, no matter how much silver they offered.

The eldest master of the Yun family flew into a rage upon returning home, mocking the uncles who had cast his younger brother out. He found his fifth brother, skin flayed open, at an inn, and personally carried him home on his back. From then on, he treated him to fine food and drink, doting on him as if he were a precious treasure.

The other families were in similar situations. Seeing more and more people locked up, they felt infinite relief.

At first, no one was too worried. After all, with the Jiang and Yun families as cautionary examples, Song Tingzhou couldn't possibly offend all of them at once, could he?

They held this hope and waited a few days. What they got in return was this: the two most prestigious clan heads in Suzhou, along with Guang Zishun, the Commander of the Suzhou Guard, were all paraded to the execution ground at the vegetable market and beheaded in public.

Song Tingzhou's journey through the south had drawn blood for the first time—three figures of immense importance dead in one stroke. The two families were century-old prestigious clans with deep roots in Suzhou, and Guang Zishun held military power over the Suzhou Guard as its Commander. Killed just like that, without a shred of room for negotiation, so fast that no one could react in time.

The blood at the execution ground stained the bluestone pavement red. The heavy stench of blood seemed to hang frozen in the air for days, and it utterly shattered the last shred of hope in every great family's heart.

Countless memorials from the south were submitted to the emperor, the fastest being from the Provincial Administration Commissioner's office in Yingtian Prefecture, which rivaled Shuntian Prefecture.

"Gao Siyu is panicking now? Hah... too late." Wen Zhao slammed the memorial back onto the desk with a crack. An invisible pressure filled the entire imperial study, so suffocating that no one dared breathe too hard.

At times like this, only his close minister Gou Zhengfang dared to speak up: "Your Majesty, although Lord Song's actions have cowed the petty schemers, the southern great families are deeply entrenched—pull one thread and the whole web moves. Lately, more and more memorials impeaching Lord Song have been submitted, and some have even approached the censors at the Censorate, hoping to impeach him at the morning court."

Of course, he had suppressed them all, but the Suzhou families had cultivated many talented scholars who now held power at court. There would always be those he couldn't suppress.

Wen Zhao raised an arm, the five-clawed golden dragon on his bright yellow robe seeming ready to leap forth. Seated on the dragon throne, every move he made radiated imperial authority. "So what if they impeach him? Those who defy the law deserve death. My decree to Lord Song was 'act at your discretion, to warn the rest.' If he lacked even that much resolve, what use would I have for him?"

He'd like to see which was tougher—those aristocratic families' roots, or his own grip on the throne!

---

Black-canopied boats were moored along the water's edge, oil-paper lanterns swaying gently at the bows in the rain, casting a hazy glow. The weeping willows on the shore, washed by the rain, appeared even more verdant, their long branches dipping into the water and rippling softly with the waves. Occasionally, pedestrians passed by holding oil-paper umbrellas, their silhouettes fading in and out of the misty rain, their steps unhurried, as if the continuous drizzle were merely part of everyday life, not throwing off their pace one bit.

Meng Wan sat in a teahouse with a fresh, fragrant scent, holding a delicate tea cup, his mind at peace, the worries that had been nagging him seemingly soothed by the misty Jiangnan rain.

"We finally made a trip to Jiangnan, and you won't even taste Suzhou's famous Dongting Biluochun tea. Instead, you bring your own tea leaves and even your own tea set every day—what's that all about? When Zhifan went to boil water just now, the waiter gave us a look that was anything but normal." Fang Jinrong sat beside Meng Wan, his gaze reproachful.

He was about to go stir-crazy. Finally out on a trip, yet aside from climbing a mountain once with Ge Quan, Meng Wan kept him on a short leash every day, not letting him run off—even less free than back in Shengjing.

Meng Wan merely smiled dismissively at his complaints. "This is a critical moment. You think half of Suzhou is full of people itching to take me hostage to get at my husband?"

And perhaps some who would rather see me dead.

"Husband, I'm back." Chi Yu jumped straight in through the window, his clothes slightly disheveled, and there was even a sword wound on his cheek.

Meng Wan frowned deeply. "How did you get injured?"

Chi Yu casually wiped it with the cloth Zhi Mao handed over, and sure enough, a streak of blood appeared. He said nonchalantly, "I was careless and nearly took a sword strike. Two of today's group had decent skills. If not for the Embroidered Uniform Guard lurking in the shadows, I might have suffered a real loss."

Chi Yu's martial arts were already top-tier among the second rank, and it had been a long time since anyone had made him bleed. It seemed someone had truly spared no expense—if they couldn't touch Song Tingzhou, they would strike at Meng Wan instead.

Fang Jinrong pulled a bottle of medicine from his pocket and tossed it to Chi Yu. "This works well. Try applying it."

"Thanks, Brother Fang." Chi Yu grinned as he expressed his gratitude.

Fang Jinrong mulled something over this time. "Should we retreat back to the government office while Lord Song is handling business?"

Meng Wan smiled faintly. "You think the government office is safe?"