Zhang Yuan suddenly led his troops out of the house, and the first target was the Song family.

This time, when Zhang Yuan issued the call, there were five people who did not respond at all.

County Magistrate Song Jie was one of them.

At the same time, the Song family is also one of the prominent families in Dahuang County. Although it has not yet reached the level of an aristocratic family, it is also considered a local powerful family. Not only does it have thousands of clansmen, but there are also people in the family who have served as officials for generations.

Starting from Song Jie's ancestors, there were people who held the official rank of 600 stones. Today, Song Jie is still an official of 600 stones, which shows the status of his clan in the county.

This is also one of the reasons why Song Jie did not buy into Zhang Yuan's confidence.

Another reason was that Song Jie was more dissatisfied with Zhang Yuan and his own situation than with others.

Why?

First of all, generally speaking, inner counties have county magistrates, and border counties have chief officials. However, Dahuang County actually appointed a county magistrate even though it already had a chief official. This was certainly because Dahuang County was originally an inner county, but because of the existence of Dahuang Mountain, it was also similar to a border county.

Another reason is that there are no real aristocratic families in the county, but there are too many ordinary powerful people, and the 600 shi in the county are not enough to be divided.

That's why Zhang Yuan asked the court for permission to set up both.

It was originally a practice to satisfy everyone.

Ironically, this has diluted the power of both parties.

Instead, both of them were very dissatisfied with him.

So, although the chief official Lin Dongyuan and the county magistrate Song Jie were Zhang Yuan's closest subordinates, they both defected to Zhao He, and both were very determined and stubborn.

Even now that Zhao He has "left", Song Jie still ignores Zhang Yuan's call.

I didn't take it seriously at all.

Even when Zhang Yuan sent someone to appear directly at the Song family.

Song Jie still didn't care much.

"How come the prefect has time to come to Jie's house today?"

Song Jie stopped at the Song family's gate and asked with a smile, without any intention of inviting Zhang Yuan in.

His expression was also extremely disrespectful.

Zhang Yuan's face darkened upon seeing him like this. He was about to ask a few more questions, but just as he was about to open his mouth, Ma Jianming, who came with him, said bluntly, "Why bother arguing with him, sir? As an official, if he disobeys the order of the county governor, just arrest him!"

Ma Jianming is now considered Zhao Xin's confidant, so his words naturally carry more weight.

Zhang Yuan knew immediately that Zhao Xin had probably given instructions before coming. He immediately stopped talking and nodded, saying, "That makes sense."

Then he shouted to his attendants, "Come, help me capture this thief. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"

After he gave this order, the soldiers under his command naturally would not hesitate.

Although the Song family is a local tyrant, they have many strong clansmen and slaves.

Moreover, as a county magistrate, Song Jie already had some military power and naturally had his own private army.

However, including Song Jie, all the members of the Song family never expected that the usually weak Zhang Yuan would be so direct and strong.

He didn't even have time to react as a group of soldiers rushed over and broke into the mansion.

The Song family members finally reacted, and some fierce members of the clan wanted to resist, but in such a hurry they were no match for these organized and fully armored soldiers.

Although Li Cunxiao said that these people were still far from being elite soldiers, it depended on who they were compared with.

At least these slaves and private soldiers were definitely no match for them. Some of the stubborn ones were chopped to the ground in an instant.

When they saw the blood, Song Jie and the Song family realized the seriousness of the problem, but it was too late.

"Zhang Yuan, how dare you..."

Song Jie was shocked and angry, and actually called Zhang Yuan's name, but before he could finish his words, he was pinned to the ground by a group of soldiers.

He wanted to struggle, but suddenly felt a pain in the back. He looked down and saw a piece of gun tip piercing through his heart. Soon the gun tip retreated. Song Jie groaned again, and blood gushed out.

Ma Jianming put away his gun expressionlessly and said coldly, "Time is urgent, no need to take anyone alive!"

Without even glancing at Song Jie, he stabbed several more people with his spear before addressing the others, "Listen carefully, the prefectural magistrate Song Jie colluded with foreign invaders and committed evil, and he has now been executed.

The rest of you are mostly common people in the county, some are even soldiers. Now that the county governor is here, are you still willing to follow the bandits and die?"

Some of the people present were either slaves of the Song family or county soldiers who were originally used by Song Jie for personal gain. When they saw that Song Jie was dead, those members of the Song family who dared to resist were killed one after another.

After listening to Ma Jianming's words, he couldn't help but hesitate for a moment.

Zhang Yuan also said at the right time: "Listen, everyone, I came here today only because Song Jie followed the rebels. I will only execute the ringleader. The rest of you, who were originally county soldiers and surrendered, will be spared!

If you are not a county soldier, you will not die if you surrender!"

Although they were both surrendering, the treatment they received was completely different. The county soldiers were overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground, "Greetings, County Magistrate! We are willing to surrender!"

Upon seeing this, the other servants and private soldiers of the Song family hesitated for a moment and then dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground.

Only some members of the Song family were still shouting at this scene, "Asshole, asshole, you all eat the rice and salary of my Song family, how dare you sentence me?"

"Zhang Yuan, you have committed atrocities and dared to privately kill the county magistrate and the powerful people in the county. You will not die a good death!"

Zhang Yuan couldn't help but sneer when he heard these insults.

The private soldiers all lowered their heads and said nothing. Some even sneered and retorted, "What do you mean by 'eating the rice salary of your Song family'? We are originally soldiers in the county, but we were forced to be slaves and servants by your Song family. Do you really expect us to fight against the county governor for you?"

When this person spoke, others followed suit. Some were genuinely dissatisfied, while others took the opportunity to pick themselves off.

Anyway, everyone is criticizing the Song family.

Even some of the Song family's servants joined in cursing.

"We were originally good citizens with land, but we were robbed by your Song family. My poor sister was humiliated to death by your Song family's dogs. Today is the retribution for your Song family!"

"Retribution, retribution... Song family, your retribution has come!"

"My Lord County Magistrate, please make the decision for us!"

Zhang Yuan didn't expect that the scene before him would suddenly become a scene of seeking justice. These people had just been confronting the county soldiers with weapons, and now they wanted him to uphold justice.

And the Song family actually owes so many blood feuds.

I couldn't help but be dazed.

However, Ma Jianming was accustomed to these activities and knew that most of what these people said was true.

But there wasn't much sympathy in my heart.

Think about it, the Song family had a blood feud with you, yet you actually became their slave. What sympathy is there for such a person?

Moreover, the evil slaves of the Song family are also well-known in the local area. Many of them usually rely on the power of the Song family to bully others.

Some of them may have to compromise, but there are also many who are not good people.

Or those who were originally ordinary people but have now become slaves can only be described as pathetic and hateful.

He immediately shouted coldly: "Shut up!"

Then he clasped his fists slightly towards Zhang Yuan, and when he saw the latter nod, he said: "Those of you who have grudges against the Song family should stand on one side, and those who have no grudges against the Song family but are forced to be slaves should stand on the other side.

The same goes for the other private soldiers. Those with grudges stand on one side, those without grudges stand on the other. Even those from the Song family's distant branches stand on one side. Anyone who dares to stand on the wrong side will be killed without mercy!"