The prince himself is leading the arrest team; this is going to be quite a show.
Seeing this, Xun Yu and the others naturally knew what Liu Fu was going to do next, and immediately began to get busy with what needed to be done.
"Men, follow me to the granaries ahead and send extra men to clean up the empty granaries in advance."
At Xiao He's command, the people below cautiously inquired:
"Prime Minister, we don't have that much grain to store. Will we need it to clean up the granary now?"
Xiao He stroked his beard and laughed, looking like an old man suddenly feeling youthful again, and said proudly:
"Your Majesty's journey will surely achieve its purpose. Hurry and come with me to clean the granaries, for I'm afraid these granaries will not be enough."
Meanwhile, Xun Yu led his men straight to the Ministry of Justice. He ordered the prison cells to be cleaned, and if nothing unexpected happened, these empty cells would soon become extremely sought-after and would be overcrowded.
Working with smart people is so convenient. They quickly know what to do next, and they will prepare everything in advance without you having to say anything. This really saves time and effort.
As for Liu Fu, he led three thousand soldiers straight to the east of the city.
This eastern part of the city is the Huang family's main base. The entire Huang mansion covers an area of more than 2,000 acres, and the Huang family members, including adults and children, number no less than 2,000 to 3,000. With the addition of servants, the total number of people is as high as 7,000 to 8,000.
Such a large scale is comparable only to the other three major families in the entire Liaodong region.
Upon seeing the massive army heading straight for the Huang family and quickly surrounding the entire mansion, the steward immediately rushed to see the patriarch.
"Master, something terrible has happened!"
It was already late at night, and the head of the Huang family, who was over sixty years old, had already gone to bed to rest.
Suddenly, upon hearing the butler rush in to report, he angrily said:
"You are nothing but a lowly person, disturbing an old man in the dead of night. What is your punishment?"
The butler, with a mournful face, knelt down on the ground with a thud:
"Grand Ancestor, please come quickly! It's not that I'm in a panic to disturb you, but our Huang Mansion is completely surrounded by soldiers!"
The head of the Huang family was slightly taken aback, then asked:
Who is leading the troops?
"Reporting to Your Majesty, our King is personally leading the troops, and Prince Zhongwu is also carrying the imperial sword bestowed by the Emperor!"
The head of the Huang family thought to himself, "This is bad."
I thought that if someone else had mobilized troops to surround the Huang residence, I could send people out to gather information, find out the specific reasons, and then take appropriate action.
But today, Liu Fu himself led his troops here, carrying a sword bestowed by the emperor.
Such a large-scale mobilization shows that Liu Fu has made ample preparations and is about to take action against the Huang family.
The head of the Huang family was a shrewd man. Knowing that Liu Fu currently had no troops under his command, with only a few thousand men in the entire fiefdom, he immediately said to his trusted confidants:
"Quickly dig a secret passage and wait for me to send a message, then go and inform the other three major families."
After saying this, the head of the Huang family quickly got up, put on his brocade robe, and went to the gate of the mansion to greet Liu Fu.
"This humble old man greets Your Majesty. Your Majesty's presence at my humble abode is truly an honor. However, I cannot understand why Your Majesty, a person of such high rank, would not dare to disobey Your Majesty's summons and rush to pay homage. I am truly humbled and trembling with fear that Your Majesty, a person of such high rank, would deign to come to the Huang residence."
With this series of words, the head of the Huang family immediately lowered his posture to an extremely humble level, both praising Liu Fu and inquiring about the purpose of Liu Fu's visit to the Huang residence.
Liu Fu nodded and cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, saying:
"It's alright, it's alright. Old Master Huang's ancestors included several generals who defended the country's borders. My coming here so late at night is indeed quite presumptuous."
"However, the matter is far too complicated, and I have no choice but to ask the Huang family to explain it clearly."
Upon hearing that the matter was too serious, Old Master Huang immediately began to ponder.
What exactly happened?
Could it be... that the things the Huang family did before have been exposed?
While secretly thinking to himself, Old Master Huang remained outwardly calm and bowed to Liu Fu, saying:
"Your Majesty, why don't we come to my humble abode for a chat? It's windy and cold here, and you might easily catch a chill."
Liu Fu waved his hand dismissively:
"No need, let's get down to business. Mr. Huang, do you recognize the handwriting in this letter?"
Liu Fu threw out a letter written in the handwriting of the third young master of the Huang family. This letter was originally written by the third young master of the Huang family to a relative in the capital.
After reading the letter, Old Master Huang nodded:
"It is indeed a letter from my third son, but it only contains casual conversations with his sister about everyday matters. I wonder what law he has broken?"
Liu Fu snorted coldly:
"The law?"
"That letter didn't break the law, but you'd better read this one carefully."
When Old Master Huang opened the new letter that Liu Fu had thrown over, he was so shocked by just a few words on the envelope that he trembled all over.
The envelope clearly stated:
"Huang Jingxian's letter is respectfully addressed to Ouyang Fang, the leader of the Pingding Army."
Upon seeing the envelope, Old Master Huang trembled with fright and dared not open the letter any further.
Liu Fu then said coldly:
"What's the panic about Patriarch Huang? Open it."
"I order you to open the letter and read it carefully!"
Liu Fu had already given the order, and the Huang family head trembled as he opened the seal. Inside, he saw that the handwriting was exactly the same as his son's.
In the letter, Huang Jingxian, the third son of the Huang family, wrote to Ouyang Fang of the Pingding Army, saying that he would start an uprising in Liaodong and coordinate with the rebels in Dongjun. At this time, the Huang family had already contacted the other three major families in Liaodong. They were going to raise an army together to overthrow Emperor Liu Laowu and then support Ouyang Fang, the leader of the Pingding Army, to sit on the throne.
Not only that, Huang Jingxian also explicitly mentioned in the letter that he had obtained the consent of the four heads of the four major families in Liaodong to raise an army with all his might and cooperate with Ouyang Fang. His only goal was to divide the entire Liaodong and Beijun region among the four families after the success of the uprising, and to enfeoff all four families as hereditary princes, who would no longer have to pay taxes to the court.
When the head of the Huang family finished reading the letter, he almost fainted from anger.
He knew, of course, that something was amiss.
As the head of the entire family, he believes that his subordinates must consult with him on everything they do, especially since his third son, Huang Jingxian, is one of his most capable right-hand men.
Who would believe that such a person secretly colluded with Ouyang Fang of the Pingding Army?
But even though he knew there was something wrong with Liu Fu's letter, the head of the Huang family was completely helpless at the moment, and he was already complaining bitterly in the letter!
"Alas! I thought that my Huang family was acting in accordance with the laws of the Han Dynasty, secretly seizing land and closing markets. Liu Fu should have been unable to do anything to me, but who would have thought that he would pull such a stunt?"
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