All the words of the Prince of Yizhou were stuck in his chest as he stared with widened eyes at Yin Li, who sat composedly on his horse across from him, returning his gaze with an expressionless face.
At this mont, the Prince of Yizhou rembered sothing was wrong. How could Yin Li be here?
He hadn’t seen him when he returned to the capital. Wasn’t it said that he had been impeached, and thus had left the capital to inspect the borders and avoid scrutiny?
The Prince of Yizhou recalled all the inconsistencies, but he no longer had the chance to speak out. He slowly collapsed under Yin Li’s gaze.
The Commandery Prince Xin’an and the Commandery Prince Xinping cried out in shock, catching the falling Prince of Yizhou. They looked up intending to surrender, but the soldiers, already blinded by rage, wouldn’t listen to them. Moreover, Yin Li did not raise his hand to call a halt, so the rebels who had laid down their swords to surrender were struck down in the next mont.
Clearly, Yin Li did not acknowledge their surrender.
With rage-filled eyes, the Commandery Prince Xin’an turned and glared at Yin Li, shouting, "Yin Li, I have already surrendered, how dare you kill ..."
Before he could finish, a sword chopped down from behind, severing half his head. His unfinished words died with him as he fell.
The Commandery Prince Xinping, lips trembling, looked at his father in his arms and then at his elder brother lying beside him. Tears and snot streaming down his face, he could only grope for a knife and, closing his eyes, committed suicide.
Yin Li watched all of this from horseback, waiting until all the rebel troops were wiped out before raising his hand to stop the slaughter. Soldiers from both the western forces and the governor’s office ceased their action.
Yin Li rode forward, looking down from his high position at the Governor of Zizhou covered in blood, holding a sharp sword, "Governor Su has shown remarkable bravery, I will report this truthfully."
The Governor of Zizhou, however, smiled with pale lips, indicating he understood.
Only then did Yin Li scan the governor’s soldiers, ordering the western forces to collect the corpses of the Prince of Yizhou and his two sons before departing.
The scattered deserters of the Prince of Yizhou still needed to be dealt with, or else, these people would inevitably beco bandits terrorizing the local residents.
It wasn’t until late at night, when all was silent, that he wrote down a military report detailing the deaths of the Prince of Yizhou and his sons in the midst of chaos, which he handed over to his subordinates, saying, "Send this back to the capital on fast horses first thing in the morning."
"Yes."
"Preserve the corpses of the Prince of Yizhou and his two sons well. Once we reach Maozhou, buy the finest coffins for their burial."
"Yes."
"Issue a command down the line, ordering all local counties to cooperate in repelling the renegade troops, declaring far and wide that any soldiers who surrender will not be killed, but instead recruited into the western forces. If anyone dares to further harm the local communities, once their registry is traced, their entire families will be enslaved."
"Yes."
With each military order sent out and with the assistance of Yang Heshu and Tang Zhihe, the chaos initiated by the Prince of Yizhou gradually subsided. Although a small number of deserters still holed up in the mountains, refusing to co out, most of the deserters erged to surrender. Others stripped off their uniforms and either returned to their villages as refugees or continued to live as vagrants.
The majority of this private army belonging to the Prince of Yizhou was originally gathered from displaced civilians, who now reverted back to being displaced, with the only slight differences being their complexion was rosier and their bodies were sturdier than that of the average displaced.
Such a flux of people entering Yizhou City would naturally be noticed by Tang Zhihe with his discerning eye. However, he said nothing, instead after investigating the estate of the Prince of Yizhou, he compiled so cases about the peasants’ lands previously seized by the Prince of Yizhou, issued legal decisions, and returned the land to the displaced civilians or the County Governntal Office.
Then, with the portion belonging to the County Governntal Office, he settled the displaced population, giving priority to those who appeared stronger. They received land and household registration, and as long as they weren’t utterly vicious, they wouldn’t resort to killing or unlawful acts again.
On the contrary, in order to conceal the fact that they were deserters, they behaved better and appeared more kind-hearted than the average displaced civilian.
Upon seeing Tang Zhihe’s bold actions, Yang Heshu couldn’t help but exclaim after a mont of silence: "You’ve got so nerve."
Tang Zhihe bared his teeth in a smile at him, "After this rit, you and I must return to the capital. The displaced within your jurisdiction have already been settled, but there’s still chaos under my watch. I need to finish my work before I can return at ease."
Yang Heshu, after a mont’s silence, said: "This isn’t right. By prioritizing the resettlent of these deserter civilians, the other displaced who have been waiting will surely have complaints. This will lead to chaos in the long run."
Isn’t this just creating trouble for the next person in charge?
Yang Heshu then taught him how to substitute labor for good farmland: the first people to receive good land would need to build roads, bridges, and water conservancies. After all, they’d been well fed and were strong from serving under the Prince of Yizhou.
"Now it’s just the ti for winter to set in. Those lands you divided, though called good land, have been abandoned by the Prince of Yizhou for several years, and it’s too late for winter wheat. So, why not repair the water conservancy..."
Yang Heshu advised him, "These displaced civilians have neither seeds nor farming tools. After spring, these will still need to be prepared, but by that ti you won’t be here anymore. The successor’s character is unknown. My advice is to take the opportunity to get all these things ready, and use labor in exchange for disaster relief, to ensure they have enough grain for the winter. Only then will the distributed seeds not be eaten."
When people are starving, they don’t care whether these are seeds for the next year; they will eat them when pushed to the brink of starvation.
"But you can’t leave the successor with no options at all. You must leave them sothing to work on; this way they can accumulate their own rits," said Yang Heshu. "When you report up, allocate a portion of the good farmland within the Prince of Yizhou’s fief to the County Governntal Office. Quite a few Yizhou officials have been implicated this ti; reclaim the good farmland they occupied from the displaced."
"With so much farmland under the na of the County Governntal Office, when your successor takes office, he will know to settle the displaced. Receiving such a significant rit upon just taking office, he will likely not skimp on new grain or farming tools and will settle this batch of displaced well."
Tang Zhihe felt a bit itchy, "So I just make arrangents for this group of displaced and then leave? Leaving such a gaping loophole while in office..."
Yang Heshu said indifferently: "You’ve already taken a bright broad avenue for yourself; you must leave a narrow bridge for others to cross. If you’ve traversed all the paths, leaving none for those who follow, the newcors will have no choice but to trouble the civilians under them, and it’s still the common people who suffer."
"Displaced civilians don’t just erge during great disasters; with heavy taxation and labor burdens, displaced civilians are also produced. So what you’re doing is not only for the next county magistrate but also for the welfare of the people under your jurisdiction."
Tang Zhihe couldn’t resist asking, "What if the newcor is a greedy official who embezzles all the land and wealth I have repossessed or turns around and gives it back to the wealthy of Yizhou?"
Yang Heshu chuckled and said, "Are you blind? Or do you think Uncle Tang is deaf? The person who cos to take over your position at this ti will not be bad; at the very least, they cannot be foolish."
Tang Zhihe then stroked his chin and asked, "Who do you think will take over my position?"
Yang Heshu shook his head, "Hard to guess. From our batch, both He Qing and Zhou Lingfeng are likely. From the last batch, maybe Xie Hengliang? Or presently, Minister Liu’s eldest grandchild Liu Yi."
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