Governor Hu raised his head in shock: "You, how could you..."
Fang Zhiyi looked down at him and said, "Do you think the Xuan Jing Division is just a decoration? Hu Lai, your family doesn't take you, a bastard, seriously."
Governor Hu's legs went weak when Fang Zhiyi actually knew what was going on in his family!
"If you can't explain it clearly, I will spare your life. If you can't explain it clearly, you can go down and keep Wang Shouhe company." Hu Lai turned around and saw the staring head of Wang Shouhe, and he almost peed.
That night, a fresh list was placed on Fang Zhiyi's desk. Fang Zhiyi tapped the table and had a plan in mind.
The Heavenly King's righteous army continued its rampage across the south. Sometimes they disguised themselves as people with the surname Qu and infiltrated cities, seizing the gates. Sometimes they even attacked them directly! The thirteen southern cities, which had enjoyed years of peace and tranquility, had never seen such scenes before. One after another, they were overwhelmed. Fortunately, these rebels seemed driven mad by poverty. When they entered the cities, they didn't kill people with the surname Qu. Instead, they targeted the wealthy. And not just any wealthy family, but those with a prominent surname! They entered, looted, and then arrested them.
As soon as they ran, the Feixiong Army arrived and immediately posted an imperial edict to appease the Qi family and take over the city defense.
Most of the noble families in the south were looted by the rebels, and the younger generations of the families were also captured. Fortunately, their lives were temporarily safe, but several large families suffered miserably. For example, the Li family, whose influence spread across seven cities and whose second uncle was a first-rank official in the court, were all wiped out. It was said that the eggs in the kitchen were shaken so that the yolks were loose. No one knew how they had offended the rebels.
The Hu family, the Yang family and more than a dozen other families suffered the same fate.
Someone noticed that these families seemed to have one thing in common: they had all initially planned to abandon the capital and support the King of Dai as emperor. However, before this speculation could be confirmed, news spread throughout the south that the Heavenly King's righteous army had been annihilated in the southernmost forest. As for the hostages, the Flying Bear Army would bring them back to the capital to report to the emperor.
So in March of the following year, a group of houses were built in the north of the capital to accommodate these children from wealthy families.
The treasury was overflowing with wealth. The Minister of Revenue smiled as he slept every night. Emperor Shunying's private treasury was even richer than the treasury. He happily lay on the hill of gold, silver and jewels and laughed heartily: "Zhiyi, how did you come up with this idea? Send people to pretend to be bandits, break in and steal things, then take off their clothes and turn into imperial soldiers to recover the lost territory."
Fang Zhiyi replied calmly, "You can't kill all the aristocratic families. Even if you kill them, they will appear again in the future. In this case, why not give them a warning and let their nephews stay in the capital as hostages? Your Majesty, your rule will be more stable."
Emperor Shunying pretended to meet with the children of noble families who were abducted by the "rebel army", and then, under the pretext of compensating them, he conferred some worthless titles on them, and gave them houses so that they could settle down in the capital.
Smart ones from the southern noble families had already figured out the source of the disaster through various sources of information, but they were helpless. Not only were all their property and money looted, but even their nephews and nephews were held hostage in the capital. The most crucial thing was that the original local officials were charged with negligence for the disaster and were all thrown into prison, while the new officials who came to take office were newcomers selected by Fang Zhiyi and some of the peasants from the original bandit army!
Their private soldiers were completely slaughtered when the "rebels" stormed in! The garrisons were completely disbanded, and the city defenses were completely taken over by the troops sent by Fang Zhiyi. They no longer had any trump cards to play! The old man from the Wang family did have some tricks hidden, but I heard that he was killed on the spot by the Xuan Jing Division just as he had someone dig them out. All seventy-three members of the Wang and Li families were exiled to the far north.
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