Zhao Qi was preparing to leave Qingshui County, but he didn't expect that Tang Tianxiang would do it before him.

Tang Tianxiang sent Li Desheng, the city's garrison commander, with more than 3,000 men to begin searching each house one by one—in reality, to confiscate their property.

If you are honest and do not resist, you can let the soldiers move your things and hand over your treasures and you can save your life. If you resist, you will be killed without mercy.

Zhao Qi had just gathered his family's guards and private soldiers when Li Desheng and his men surrounded him.

"Li Desheng, what are you trying to do?"

"What are you doing? Don't you understand?"

Zhao Qi could easily understand that Tang Tianxiang was abandoning the city and fleeing, and before fleeing, he was trying to make a quick buck.

How ruthless Tang Tianxiang was.

He only has a little over six hundred men in total. If they resist, they will probably face a nine-out-of-ten chance of death.

But if they didn't resist and just handed over all their belongings to Tang Tianxiang, they would be unwilling to accept it.

Moreover, if they hand everything over and their own family has nothing left, they're more likely to be beaten to death if they think about what the future holds.

The common people's resentment towards powerful families was no less than that towards officials, but because these families generally had ties to the government and possessed guards and private armies, ordinary people simply couldn't afford to offend them.

But without money, they can no longer support their guards and private armies, and the people's resentment towards them will be amplified infinitely, to the point that they might even be devoured alive.

Having figured this out, Zhao Qi gritted his teeth and quietly instructed the guard leader, Zhao Bai, "Take men and protect the two young masters. You must break out no matter what."

Zhao Bai was startled. "Master, what about you?"

"Don't worry about me. Take the silver notes you've collected, along with some light and valuable treasures. Protect the two young masters and leave immediately."

Zhao Bai could only nod; given the tense situation, he could not hesitate any longer.

He led his fifty most skilled guards, along with cavalry from his private army, and his two young masters, and charged out.

Zhao Qi also led the remaining men, dragging down most of the government troops from the rear.

Li Desheng did not expect Zhao Qi to rise up in resistance. Of the previous few, only one family resisted, but because the other party was unprepared, it was easily wiped out by Li Desheng.

He hadn't expected Zhao Qi to be prepared, having gathered his guards and private soldiers here.

Therefore, this battle was quite large in scale.

This information was then discovered by other powerful families who had not yet been searched or surrounded.

This was like stirring up a hornet's nest. When these aristocratic families learned that Tang Tianxiang wanted to abandon the city and flee, and that he wanted to seize their wealth, they immediately gathered their guards and private soldiers and all fled towards the city gate.

Each family's private army is different.

Zhao Qi's family had the most members, with over six hundred people, while most other aristocratic families only had one or two hundred.

Some wealthy families only have twenty or thirty guards.

All the prominent families, large and small, as well as wealthy households, gathered their forces and rushed towards the city gate.

Everything went completely wrong.

Furthermore, some scions of noble families were still in the military camp. This operation was conducted in a way that avoided them, and people had been sent to monitor them.

With such chaos, it would be difficult for the scions of noble families in these military camps not to know.

They killed the people monitoring them and each led their men to join the battle.

These powerful families had no intention of fighting to the death; they simply wanted to escape, since none of them had the military strength to contend with Tang Tianxiang.

Finally, seeing that the situation was getting out of control, Tang Tianxiang mobilized all his troops to hunt down and kill the powerful families.

When these powerful families realized they couldn't leave the city and that the city gates were too heavily guarded, they all eventually rebelled.

Since we'll be killed anyway if we don't resist, resisting might give us a chance to survive.

Tang Tianxiang never expected things to turn out this way.

The guards and private soldiers of aristocratic families, if you add them all up, are quite numerous.

There were more than three thousand people in the group. At first, because the group was scattered, it was easier to deal with.

Later, under Zhao Qi's leadership, they actually united and formed a force to deal with him.

Tang Tianxiang was somewhat dissatisfied with having only amassed half of the aristocratic families' wealth. In the end, he ordered his soldiers to rob ordinary people. Only after the robbery was over did he give the order to withdraw from Qingshui County and head directly to Jianming Prefecture.

These powerful families, however, dared not leave.

After all, Tang Tianxiang led a team of more than 5,000 people directly to Jianming Prefecture. Where else could they go?

Moreover, they have also suffered heavy losses, with most of their men killed or wounded.

If they go to Jianming Prefecture, Tang Tianxiang, being Tao Feng's confidant, will certainly not spare them.

As for Zhao Peng, who had fought with Tao Feng, they weren't familiar with each other, and it was uncertain whether Zhao Peng would even take them in. Besides, even if he did, the conditions wouldn't be small.

After discussing it together, they decided to simply open the city gates and surrender to Chenxi.

So when Shenxi's group arrived, they were welcomed into Qingshui County without lifting a finger.

Zhao Rong couldn't muster any strength at all.

I thought that Qingshui County might be a big battle, but who knew that we took it over without even fighting.

"Commander, is this how it ends?"

Shenxi was secretly overjoyed. She had gained Qingshui County without suffering any losses, and she was delighted with the outcome.

"This is great. Soldiers won't be killed or injured. They also have parents, wives, and children."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Rong felt discouraged; he naturally felt sorry for the soldiers he led.

"Yes, it's great that we can get this place without fighting."

Shenxi chuckled, "That's called subduing the enemy without fighting. I'd be happy if it were always like that."

These surviving aristocratic families had lost all will to live at this point.

Tang Tianxiang still managed to seize a portion of the wealth, and his men suffered heavy losses. It would take them at least several lifetimes to recover.

They're only slightly better off than rich old men these days.

Shenxi was quite satisfied with the current situation. Without the constraints of powerful families, it was much easier for her to manage.

However, these powerful families were still uncertain, so they held a meeting at the Zhao family's residence and unanimously decided that each family would contribute half of their wealth to buy peace of mind.

When Shenxi received this considerable sum of money, he was overjoyed.

This property is enough for Shenxi to begin developing Qingshui County.

At least the people no longer lack food.

These aristocratic families were quite sensible; they handed over the money themselves before she could even begin to plunder it.

Since that's the case, as long as they haven't done anything particularly heinous and won't do it again, then we can give them a break.

However, if there is something particularly heinous, then no amount of money can buy peace.

Shenxi ordered his men to investigate these aristocratic families in detail, and indeed some of them had gone too far.

Chen Xi showed no mercy; those who deserved to be beheaded were beheaded, and those who deserved to be sentenced were sentenced.

The remaining aristocratic families were even more afraid to speak out, but after observing for a while, they found that as long as they did not commit crimes, Shenxi did not make things difficult for them, and they gradually calmed down.