The Demon Lords

The Jingnan Army from the camp outside the city suddenly entered the city, a scene that was beyond the expectations of the heads of influential families within Ying Capital City.

The political struggles everyone was accustomed to were like a game of chess,

regardless of how much they hated each other,

they still maintained a courteous demeanor when facing each other across the chessboard.

This was a style that was both recognized and preferred by everyone.

Even when the Situ Family was still in its heyday,

after Situ Lei had sidelined his two brothers from the central leadership, he didn’t strike a finishing blow. Instead, he exiled them far away beyond the Snow Sea to guard the city.

Ji Chengjue once commented on Situ Lei, saying that he was wise throughout his life, except for this act, which was the epitome of stubbornness.

Indeed, from the hindsight’s perspective, if Situ Lei had executed his two brothers directly back then, or imprisoned them until death, the subsequent rebellion might have been avoided.

With Situ Lei’s capabilities, without the treacherous cooperation from his two foolish brothers early on, and having the Snow Sea as a strategic base, it is likely that the Wild People’s King would have found it difficult to rise.

But who can foresee the future?

One must remember that at the time, Situ Lei’s father, the old head of the Situ Family, was still alive, held great power, and Situ Lei’s "fraternal loyalty" could comfort his father, showing that he wouldn’t harm his siblings, and also demonstrate his benevolence to the major powers of Cheng State.

Had Situ Lei truly wielded absolute power back then, he wouldn’t have needed to have Zhang Pinghang borrow the sword from the Sword Saint to assassinate his father later on.

In any case, the situation in Ying Capital City wasn’t accustomed to such military-led political maneuvers.

On the contrary, the Yan people inside Ying Capital City were not so surprised when they heard the news.

After all,

the current Emperor once treaded over the aristocracy on horseback,

which was arguably the most extreme and largest-scale use of military force in politics.

Compared to the Yan Emperor hiding two lords and their elite forces in the imperial garden, using the capital as the starting point, and sweeping the nation with military might, Lord Zheng just mobilizing some Jingnan Army into Ying Capital City seemed rather insignificant.

Furthermore,

the Yan people in Ying Capital City felt safer compared to the Jin people, and after all, Lord Pingye is also a Yan, isn’t he?

The East Gate had long been under Zheng Fan’s control, yet he did not order the division of troops to seize control of the other three city gates.

In fact, when the Jingnan Army was forcibly mobilized, theoretically, he could have also maneuvered the forces from the Three Major Camps of the north, south, and west, easily marshaling nearly twenty thousand troops outside the city to assist him, no matter the consequences.

But doing so would have caused too much commotion.

Everything must have a limit; no matter how strong the wind blows, even if it extends all the way to Yanjing, it remains merely a gust of wind in concept;

However, if you start thundering, the nature of the affair changes.

So it stands to reason that not dividing forces to take the other three gates is the same principle. Lord Zheng was merely here to "arrogantly" and "domineeringly" assert himself, not to rely on Ying Capital City to rebel.

As for what to do next,

actually, it’s not something Lord Zheng needs to worry about anymore; he has done what he needed to do.

So,

after the troops entered the city,

they went straight to the Governor’s Mansion, which is the official residence of Master Mao Mingcai.

Under the forceful entry of the armored soldiers, the guards at the official residence’s entrance didn’t dare obstruct them, allowing them to enter willingly.

Lord Zheng dismounted from the Pixiu,

and walked into the main hall of the Governor’s Mansion,

Typically, behind the main hall, there’s another rear hall, a place convenient for the host to attend to other matters while entertaining guests.

Lord Zheng entered the rear hall,

the layout and decor of the rear hall were the same as the main hall, but just half the size.

Lord Zheng lounged on the principal long chair,

and said to the trembling steward of the Governor’s Mansion in front of him:

"Tea, serve the tea you promised me, for it was Master Mao who invited me here for tea."

...

At almost the same moment, both the blind man and the Wild People’s King also entered the Governor’s Mansion.

The blind man sat with a table on either side of the front hall,

each holding a list,

they each began writing notes,

when a note was placed down, an officer would promptly collect it and dispatch troops to apprehend the individuals.

The blind man’s handwriting was elegant, favoring the Slender Gold Script.

The Wild People’s King’s handwriting, true to his name, was like chicken scratch.

Initially, the notes from the two were actually few.

The blind man had three, while the Wild People’s King had two.

Last night after entering the city, the chairman of a local business association in Ying Capital City was summoned to the inn, where he was greeted by the blind man and the Wild People’s King.

This business association had existed for a long time, even before Yan annexed Jin, and behind the scenes, it was actually one of the Sixth Prince’s industries.

The Sixth Prince truly had many informants and arrangements.

On one hand, doing business naturally expands quickly if managed well, on the other hand, businessmen in one area often have to interact with all classes of society, blending into their circles, thus being far superior to ordinary people in terms of information.

After receiving instructions, this chairman delivered five names the next morning.

These five names represented five small families, either local kingpins of Ying Capital City or those who currently held official positions and indeed had arranged for family members to vie for entrance into the examination academy.

Of course, the actual scope involved would likely be much larger, but it was quite an achievement for the chairman to produce five names in the half-night’s haste.