Therefore, some ordinary people buy grain at high prices but dare not file a complaint.
Shenxi was well aware of the tricks these powerful families were up to, but if he simply destroyed them and seized their food and wealth, it would make future conquests much more difficult.
Furthermore, it is inevitable that some law-abiding aristocratic families will be harmed inadvertently. After all, not all aristocratic families rose to power through bloodshed, nor do all aristocratic families exploit the common people.
Furthermore, in this era, many scholars and talented individuals, those capable of governing the world, came from aristocratic families, making the need for talent a top priority for Chenxi.
After all, in this era, the vast majority of ordinary people were illiterate, had not received education, and had very narrow horizons. If they were to be nurtured, they could only start from childhood.
But by the time a child is trained to be ready to use, it will take at least ten years or even longer.
When Bian'ai County was established, Shenxi faced the embarrassing situation of having a shortage of talented people.
If it weren't for the later opening up and the influx of a large number of people, which allowed for the selection of a group of usable individuals, there would be no stability in Bian'ai County later on.
Therefore, the only options are to crack down on the ringleaders of wrongdoing, suppress those with minor problems, and win over law-abiding citizens.
Those aristocratic families who had always followed Cao Changgeng had not suffered much damage and had not been purged by Tao Feng and others.
Furthermore, the aristocratic families outside Tao Feng's army territory also suffered relatively little loss.
There are hundreds of these large and small aristocratic families.
Shen Xi, Dou Yong, Di Yingxue, and the others thoroughly examined these aristocratic families.
Those who truly abide by the law do not exceed three or four percent.
In other words, of these hundreds of families, only three or four are likely to be law-abiding, and further investigation is needed.
The rest are all large and small holes, and every family has unfilial descendants and wicked people.
Especially in the Zeng family, from top to bottom, very few people are clean.
Just like the Jia family's East Mansion in Dream of the Red Chamber, it was rotten to the core.
Shen Xi pointed to the Zeng family and several other equally corrupt families, saying, "Let's start with these families. I heard that the Zeng family owns the largest underground grain depot."
Di Yingxue nodded, "We sent people to investigate in detail, and it is indeed true. His family's underground grain depot can feed the entire city for a year."
"Alright, let Cui Guang and Rong Xuan take action and seize these people."
Shen Rongxuan was in charge of logistics, and Cui Guang led the troops. They could confiscate their supplies and use the money and grain from the logistics department.
The Zeng family never expected that Chen Xi would dare to target them.
They followed Cao Changgeng to join Zhao Peng, and at that time they provided a lot of money and food, so they should be considered meritorious officials.
Shenxi doesn't care about any of that. The more powerful families there are who commit crimes, break the law, and disobey government orders, the more unstable things become.
Originally, Shenxi thought that if she could behave herself after entering the city, she would only punish those who had committed serious crimes. Even with the Zeng family, she would punish a few of the most heinous criminals and make them suffer heavy losses, and then she could let it go for the time being.
After all, the situation had finally stabilized somewhat, and directly arresting and capturing the families who had contributed to this effort would inevitably cause unrest again, which would be detrimental to their future control of certain territories.
But who would have thought that these were the very people who would lead the way in disobeying her orders? If she tolerated this and granted some power to these powerful families, she would be raising a tiger that would cause endless trouble in the future.
Therefore, Shenxi adopted this swift and decisive approach.
It is better to make a painful sacrifice than to live a life of dishonor.
Such a family is nothing but a cancer. We cannot avoid removing this cancer just because we are afraid of the risks of surgery.
The Zeng family was caught completely unprepared and was protected by Cui Guang's troops.
Although Cui Guang is not old, he has been fighting all along and has grown a lot.
They immediately ordered men to surround the Zeng family's residence, enter and take control of all the people inside, then began by confiscating the property and account books, sealing all the accounts, and seizing all the land deeds, gold, and silver treasures.
They also seized all the shops owned by the Zeng family, including the underground grain store.
After this investigation, the true nature of the Zeng family was fully exposed.
The common people became even more aware of the Zeng family's despicable nature and the various evil deeds they had committed.
The Zeng family's private soldiers and guards wanted to resist, but before they could be mobilized, they were surrounded by Cui Guang's men.
With few guards, Cui Guang and his men easily wiped them out without much resistance.
Zeng Guotai, the head of the Zeng family, launched into a tirade of insults, calling them ungrateful, bullying, and wishing them a terrible death—he used every nasty insult imaginable.
Finally, Cui Guang ordered his men to gag him.
Dou Yong was in charge of the interrogation and investigation. The crimes of the Zeng family were announced at the same time, and Zeng Guotai was sentenced to immediate execution.
The remaining members of the Zeng family were sentenced according to the severity of their crimes.
As for the women of the Zeng family, Shenxi also had Dou Yong interrogate them. If the women were innocent, they were to be assigned work according to their own abilities and to support themselves through their own labor.
Some innocent servants were granted freedom. If they lacked the ability to live outside, they could register with the government, learn a skill, and then support themselves through work.
Of course, this skill is not free; you need to pay for it after you get paid for the work.
Shenxi believes in the saying, "There is no such thing as a free lunch."
What falls from the sky isn't necessarily a pie; it might be a metal disc, and hitting it could result in death or serious injury.
Besides the Zeng family, there were seven or eight other families that met the same fate.
Then Chenxi sent a form to the remaining aristocratic families, recording the evil deeds and wrongdoings they had done and were doing at present.
Let them hand over the perpetrators and turn themselves in.
Then, different punishments are given according to the severity of the wrongdoing and the impact it causes.
Of course, these punishments inevitably involve monetary penalties.
Seeing the fate of the Zeng family and the other families, these powerful clans dared not engage in any more reckless actions. Those who needed to hand over their people did so, and those who needed to be punished accepted their punishment.
Then obediently follow Chenxi's policies.
I dare not entertain any more wicked thoughts.
After all, this can be considered a lenient approach; they didn't seize all the property and shops, and they didn't wipe them out like they did with the Zeng family.
After a thorough investigation, it was found that there were indeed three families with clean records, but they were not very powerful.
Two of these three families are renowned for their scholarship and have specialized in running bookstores, pharmacies, and the like.
There was also a grain shop that never raised prices excessively.
However, they did provide assistance to many poor families.
Such a prestigious family was naturally courted and employed by Shenxi.
This proves that the family has a good family tradition and that no one in the family has committed any crimes.
Shenxi selected a few people from these two families, and after assessment, appointed them.
Other aristocratic families also appointed suitable personnel based on their character and abilities.
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