Chapter 732

That Yuan steward spent the first half of his life living in the ancestral home of the River Luo Yuan clan; the River Luo Yuan clan was a prominent clan of the Luo River basin, once illustrious for producing three dukes in four generations.

This Yuan steward, though a house slave, had ancestors who had rendered service to the family and were granted the surname Yuan; his whole family fared well in the Yuan household. Before leaving his hometown, he had not yet encountered any Yuan household that he could not afford to offend and that required him to tread carefully. Upon arriving in You Province, they had kept a much lower profile.

Upon hearing these playboys mention Bing Province and Liang Province with their mouths and speak of a big manor, he instantly straightened his back again.

As everyone knows, Bing and Liang Provinces have not had any respectable families for over a thousand years!

He without hesitation directed the artisans and guards he had brought to escort the Great King and others away.

The Great King, accompanied by his personal guards, could not be allowed to do so; the two sides immediately clashed in an all-out brawl in the fields.

"You you you… impudent!"

"Young Master Dong" flew into a rage, trembling as he pointed at the arrogant Yuan steward and issued an affected rebuke, then the whole person shrank back.

The Yuan steward, seeing his appearance, became all the more convinced they were a ruined household.

Liang Ben spat a mouthful of yellow dirt, supported the pampered Young Master Dong as he retreated two more steps, staring dumbfounded at the sudden dust‑filled battlefield. Being beside the Great King was…… every moment full of surprises.

The opposition were merely ordinary folk, no match for the personal guards, but today nobody had come to fight; they ended up fumbling about, all thumbs. The only thing these people were skilled at was killing techniques—lethal blows—really overkill for the situation.

On the contrary, the Great King was active all over the battlefield, throwing left punches and right kicks, kicking anyone who passed by twice; he could be called the battlefield's stir‑shit stick… uh, no, a commander who handled everything with ease.

After he had warmed up his limbs, that fellow smoothly flung himself to the ground, then just as smoothly bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"In broad daylight, under the clear heavens, with everyone watching! You rely on your numbers to resort to private violence and seize our Young Master's land! Is there any royal law left!?"

"Nonsense, this is our land!" The Yuan steward remained unflappable, letting you stir up trouble and twist facts to no avail.

The Great King pointed at the nearby crestfallen personal guards and said, "You, go report to the authorities quickly!"

Although the Mountaintop Head area logically falls under Tongshui County's jurisdiction, the king wanted to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, fearing the incident wouldn't be big enough, so they naturally went to Youzhou to report to the authorities.

Upon hearing they planned to report to the authorities, Steward Yuan, fearing they would suffer a loss, immediately sent people to tail them; they also intended to file a report.

……Just say that bandits have come to the manor!

Today the king rested as usual, and the central government offices operated as usual. Early this morning Li Xu again requested an audience with the king; this time, for the sake of Prince Guangling's face, Steward Zhao personally came out to dismiss him, saying the king had urgent business out of the city and would certainly summon everyone as soon as he returned and had free time.

Li Xu didn't believe it at all; he really couldn't figure out the king's intentions now.

In Youzhou, the only one who could be considered an old acquaintance of theirs was Liang Bian, but the Liang family had been the first to submit to Youzhou, and now they appeared as solid as ever. He simply took a stroll through the streets; Youzhou was still immersed in the joy of having eliminated the steppe's strong foe, and his walk grew increasingly worrisome.

Since Youzhou could score a great victory over the Xiongnu, we must find a way to establish a buffer between Youzhou and Guangling.

Smart people overthink things; avoiding a meeting, they merely assume this is the start of some conspiracy, utterly disbelieving that the king is truly absent from the palace—in fact, the king is busier than Zhao Bao claims.

The king's personal guards and Yuan family's servants successively blocked the Youzhou garrison, each vying to be the first to file a report.

"I want to file a report: outside the city, at Mountaintop Head, a powerful clan is indulging its wicked servants, who have seized my family's land and violently driven out my master!"

Yuan family's servant, a step behind, seeing the situation, hurriedly interjected: "Nonsense! That's our manor! They came to seize it by force!"

"You're the one talking nonsense; that land already belongs to our master. You rely on your numbers, turn hostile and refuse to acknowledge people, and even injure our folk!"

"You… you… fine, I won't argue with you. Just have the city guards go inspect the scene and you'll see—these people are committing robbery in broad daylight."

That guard, trained by the king in rhetoric, seeing the Youzhou troops losing patience, hastily steered the conversation back: "You rely on being a great clan from the He-Luo region to run roughshod over the countryside—let me tell you, Youzhou is no place for your great clan to run wild! Our young master is also the son of the Grand Marshal—who's afraid of whom? Don't you believe there's still justice under the emperor's feet!"

Yuan family servant: ……Huh?

Youzhou guards: ……!

The Youzhou garrison had been restraining themselves, about to interject and chastise them, but upon hearing the Grand Marshal's son, they exchanged startled glances.

Someone had seized the land of their immediate superior's family?

Anyway, they didn't believe that the consistently strict Grand Marshal would seize someone else's land.