Mythical Three Kingdoms

"Clang clang clang!" The heavy knocking on the door clearly indicated the person was somewhat overly urgent.

"Coming." A not-so-pleased reply came from within the courtyard.

"Creak!" The gatekeeper peered through the door crack, but in the dark illumination, saw nothing strange, and thus slowly opened the main door, only to have a crowd rush in.

The Zhang family’s protectors immediately poured forth to block the courtyard, their warnings sharp and pressing as the entire Zhang family estate sent out a large number of escorts to confront those entering.

"Who are you, daring to trespass into our Zhang Clan of Nanyang?" Seeing that the others merely stood still at the entrance, once the Zhang family guards were assembled, a person in charge stepped forward to question the leader.

"The Zhang Clan of Nanyang, descendants of the former General of Chariots and Cavalry, former Grand Commandant Zhang Wen?" The leader calmly surveyed the formation-standing, imposing escorts before him without a shred of fear and peacefully inquired about the opposite party.

"Since you know of our Zhang Clan of Nanyang, yet dare a night raid! Arrest them all for me!" The Zhang family head had already emerged at this point, coldly staring at the opposition standing on the steps.

During the Qin and Han era, let alone trespassing into a great aristocratic family’s estate at night, even if officials forcibly entered a civilian’s home at night and were killed, the civilians would be blameless. Naturally, the Zhang family now held both the legal and moral high ground, and thus faced the intruders with no fear.

"Kill them all," Li Youu ordered calmly.

With Li Youu’s command, a massive legion attack was unleashed from outside, followed by a rain of arrows sweeping the ground. The Zhang Clan of Nanyang had no clue what was happening until they saw a swarm of pure black cavalry charging directly, crushing through, tearing down walls and rooftops, and rushing twice through the courtyard.

"See if there’s anyone still alive, finish them off, drag everything away, let Wan Peng pour the kerosene and burn this place to the ground!" Li Youu pulled out a document, circled the Zhang Clan of Nanyang with a vermillion pen, then left with Hua Xiong and the others.

"Three hundred and seventy-one members of the Zhang family lineage, all executed," Li Youu’s steward promptly confirmed the numbers and reported expressionlessly to Li Youu.

"Go, to kill the next family, the three sinful branches of the Deng Family of Nanyang!" Li Youu turned and left with the army, the firelight behind nearly as bright as daytime, yet no one in Guangchang stepped in to intervene.

Perhaps because of Chen Xi’s virtue and his years of conduct, the great aristocratic families constantly maneuvered, but never imagined Chen Xi would take action. Besides, they were now on their migration northward, and though they had annexes in a large city like Guangchang, how could they compare to the carefully arranged setups at home?

With Li Youu’s actions involving even the Military Spirit Legion, providing no survival path at all, the habit of exterminating to the root was Li Youu’s usual practice for many years.

"These are the landlords and gentry from all over Chen Commandery, it seems a bit few," Jia Xu observed the powerful landlord and local tyrants gathered by the Prefectural Governor of Chen Commandery, active recently with good and bad reputations, but those were irrelevant now.

"Indeed, these are all the landlords currently in Chen Commandery," Chen Xinn replied humbly and a bit awe-struck to Jia Xu, sensing a great terror emanating from him.

"Alright, let’s proceed then," Jia Xu did not pay much attention, promptly stepping out from the rear hall, causing all the loud discussions among the landlords and local tyrants in the front hall to cease immediately.

All the landlords and local tyrants present felt a chill seeing the middle-aged man emerging before the Prefectural Governor of Chen Commandery, as Chen Xinn was the highest official they usually encountered, so seeing Jia Xu arrive first meant an even higher authority had come.

Their constant yearning had now arrived, yet with it came a turmoil of fear.

Jia Xu’s cold, merciless gaze was like a knife sweeping over everyone, creating an instantly tense atmosphere.

"You all should know, the aristocratic families in Chen Commandery have already moved away, now you have two choices: one, retract your ambitions, or two, migrate along with them," Jia Xu, after letting the tension build for quite some time, finally spoke slowly.

Having said so, Jia Xu offered no time for discussion, "Those choosing to migrate with the aristocratic families may rise and sign the document, for those staying, the government needs to reclaim one thousand acres of your land."

Immediately the landlords exploded in uproar, feeling their very lifeblood threatened, but Jia Xu disregarded them, and the noisy commotion quickly ceased.

"I suggest you choose to migrate," Jia Xu coldly stated, once silence prevailed, "My advice stands; distribute the preparation materials to them."

On saying this, Jia Xu proceeded with the distribution of materials and documents, leaving directly, issuing the command, "You have one incense stick’s time to complete that!"

After Jia Xu left, the landlords erupted once they read the document, some storming off, and as the first one left, most of the landlords and local tyrants followed suit. By the time Jia Xu returned, only about a dozen landlords remained waiting.

Jia Xu was unconcerned about the departures, gathered the documents filled by those remaining, and sent them off. As these dozen family heads passed through the city gates, the sight of deliberately uncleaned corpses along the road left them shivering in dread.