Chapter 740: When the Dragon‑Slaying Technique Is Unleashed, the People's Hearts Become the Executioner's Blade

The heavy wooden door was pushed open, and Zhang Wenqian walked out holding a freshly issued stack of notices.

The sealed decree of the Xiazhou Equal-Field Decree was quickly posted throughout the streets and alleys of Xiazhou City by the embroidered‑cloth emissaries of the Mingjing Department.

The crowd in front of the proclamation was filled with illiterate commoners.

A Cha Yi tasked with reading stood on the high platform, raising his voice to loudly recite the contents of the proclamation.

"All prominent families and powerful clans within Xiazhou must, within three days, voluntarily report any hidden lands and property to the authorities," the Cha Yi's voice echoed down the entire street.

"Those who fail to report in time or resist violently will be treated as traitors colluding with the enemy," after the Cha Yi finished the last sentence, the crowd erupted in an incredulous gasp.

Meanwhile, inside the vast Wang Family Mansion in the east of the city, the atmosphere was unusually oppressive.

Wang Shi Clan Head Wang Huairen sat on the main seat of the Zheng Hall, twirling two warm‑hued jade walnuts in his hand.

Several local powerful family heads allied with the Wang clan sat on the guest seats on either side, each with a pallid, iron‑colored complexion.

"This Chen Yan really thinks of himself as the local emperor of Xiazhou!" Wang Huairen sneered.

"He, an outsider who rose through nepotistic ties, dares to strike at our centuries‑old noble families," Wang Huairen slammed the jade walnuts onto the table.

The Li Family Head on the left sighed anxiously.

"Lord Wang, Chen Yan commands tens of thousands of tiger‑and‑wolf troops; if we confront him head‑on, we're unlikely to gain any benefit!" the Li Family Head rubbed his hands.

Wang Huairen lifted the blue porcelain teacup and blew on its steam.

"He certainly has troops, but he doesn't understand the local customs…" Wang Huairen took a sip of tea and set the cup on the desk.

"Without the assent of our noble families, he can't even collect a single grain," Wang Huairen's eyes were full of arrogant calculation.

He turned his head toward the Wang Family Steward standing nearby.

"Go inform the shops and all grain merchants under each household in the city," Wang Huairen began issuing orders.

"From tomorrow onward, all shall close their doors and cease operations; no one may harvest the grain in the fields!" Wang Huairen stroked his speckled beard.

"I'll be watching; when these hundreds of thousands of mouths are starving and wailing, what will Chen Yan use to finish this?" Wang Huairen smugly leaned back in his chair.

But Wang Huairen had no idea what kind of opponent he was actually facing.

The next morning, over a thousand one‑person‑tall iron cauldrons rose on the wasteland outside Xiazhou City.

The blazing fire cooked the millet in the pots into a rolling boil, and the rich porridge aroma drifted ten li downwind.

Tens of thousands of rag‑clad Liuren gathered around the porridge sheds, supporting each other, their hollowed eyes full of yearning from hunger.

Chen Yan, dressed in a plain coarse‑cloth robe without any ornamentation, walked to the very center of a large pot.

Zhang Wenqian handed him a long‑handled iron ladle.

Chen Yan took the ladle and vigorously stirred the scalding millet porridge himself.

The Liuren, seeing the lofty Duke of Wei personally serving porridge, were moved to kneel and kowtow.

"All of you, stand up," Chen Yan placed the ladle against the pot's rim and raised his voice.

He approached a gaunt old farmer and personally ladled a large, thick bowl of porridge and handed it over.

The old farmer, trembling, took the porcelain bowl, and tears mixed with the dirt on his face fell in large drops.

"I know you are all suffering people who fled the flames of war," Chen Yan turned to face the endless sea of Liuren.

"Great Zhou will not abandon any commoner," Chen Yan's voice echoed across the wasteland.

"If you are willing to work on repairing irrigation channels and reclaiming wasteland, the authorities will provide you with three meals a day," Chen Yan offered this decisive work‑for‑relief bargain.

The Liuren, hearing that labor would secure their survival, felt a blaze of hope ignite in their previously dead eyes.

Chen Yan, watching the excited crowd, continued to drop that class‑overturning bombshell.

"I hereby assure you that the channels you repair and the wasteland you clear now will become the fields that secure your future livelihood!" Chen Yan pointed toward the distant wasteland.

These words, like thunder on flat ground, fully ignited the Liuren's yearning for land.

While the porridge scheme was in full swing, the Mingjing Department's covert network had already spread through every corner of the city like a virus.

In teahouses and along streets, people disguised as fleeing merchants spread rumors.

"Did you hear? The great families in the city deliberately shut down the grain merchants to starve us!" a plain‑clothes operative squatted in a corner, loudly complaining.

"They hoarded hundreds of warehouses of grain, preferring to let it rot in storage rather than release it for the Zongguan Fu to aid the Liuren," another operative immediately fanned the flames.

This kind of public‑opinion war that instantly materializes class conflict is a dimensional‑reduction strike against those ancient noble families.

The Liuren's resentment toward the powerful families peaked within a single day, and some even began hurling stones at the doors of Wang Family shops.

But the one truly responsible for tearing down the noble families' defenses was the most insidious Gao Jiong.

Gao Jiong, leading dozens of embroidered‑clothed emissaries as fierce as wolves and tigers, kicked open the gate of a mid‑size powerful household.

The local gentry, dressed in nightclothes, fled in terror into the courtyard.

"Lord Gao, our family are good‑natured folk and have never defaulted on taxes," the gentry knelt and repeatedly kowtowed.

Gao Jiong, wearing leather gloves, twitched a finger on the hilt of his sword at his waist.

"I will neither inspect your fields nor collect your taxes today," Gao Jiong sneered as he approached the gentry.

"Someone has officially reported that your household hides Rouran horse‑blade weapons and leather goods," Gao Jiong's voice carried unmasked malice.

The gentry was terrified, his whole body limp; this is a capital crime of colluding with the enemy.

"Your insight is clear, Lord, those are just Chen goods we bought from Western Regions merchants last year," the gentry wailed, clutching Gao Jiong's leg.

Gao Jiong kicked him aside with a foot and waved at his subordinates.

"Enter the storeroom and search," Gao Jiong said, unwilling to hear any explanation.

He directly bound the obstruction of land measurement to the treason investigation.

This instantly stripped the noble families, who sought to argue on principle, of any moral high ground.

Complementing Gao Jiong's bloody suppression was Chen Yan's ultimate rallying of the Xiazhou troops' morale.

Chen Yan personally stood on the Dianjiang Tai and made a promise to the hundred‑thousand Xiazhou warriors.

"For any family members of soldiers who die in battle, the authorities will first allocate the most fertile lands from the measured hidden estates of the powerful to compensate them," Chen Yan announced loudly.

This maneuver directly made tens of thousands of veteran soldiers, just crawled out of the corpse mountain and blood sea, fully surrender.

At dusk, a suppressed wailing was heard from the back hall of the Zongguan Fu.

A ragged old farmer, his back covered with whip marks, knelt before Gao Jiong.

The old farmer trembled as he pulled a mud‑stained ledger from his bosom.

"Sir, this old man is a tenant of the Wang Family Farm; this is the true field deed ledger that the Wang Family has concealed for years." The farmer hammered his head, making a clattering sound.

Gao Jiong took the ledger, flipped through several pages, and a gleam of ecstatic joy flashed in his eyes.

"Good, very good." Gao Jiong laughed out loud.

He immediately ordered someone to bring a hundred taels of snow‑flake silver and placed it before the old farmer.

"This is the official reward for you; take this money and go Outside City to claim your new fields." Gao Jiong, using a thousand‑gold‑for‑bones method, completely tore through the Wang Family's defenses.

At the same time, Zhang Wenqian was not idle.

He organized a group of technically skilled officials proficient in arithmetic, and overnight drew red boundary lines on the large map of Xiazhou.

These parcels, called the Min Tian districts, are currently all hidden fields seized by aristocratic clans.

Zhang Wenqian hung this pre‑allocation map directly on the outside of the city wall.

Seeing the fertile lands they were about to receive, the common folk outside fell into a frenzy of wild celebration.

Chen Yan, meanwhile, secretly met several powerful Great Clans late at night.

"Those who voluntarily cooperate with the officials to survey and surrender hidden fields, I, the Duke, will personally waive two years of commercial tax for your families." Chen Yan pushed the warm tea cups before the clan heads.

Under the lure of huge profit and the threat of life or death, the iron plate of the aristocratic families began to rapidly crumble.

The clan heads signed the surrender contracts without hesitation.

A deafening clatter of horse hooves echoed through the midnight streets.

Lu Ming led a thousand fully‑armed iron‑clad cavalry straight to the district where the Wang Family Mansion stands.

The cavalry neither charged nor called for entry, but repeatedly drilled outside the Wang Family Mansion's gate.

The heavy hoofbeats rang like a funeral bell striking the hearts of the Wang family, shaking Wang Huairen so that he could not sleep through the night in his bedroom.

In the Shufang of the Zongguan Fu, candles burned brightly.

Chen Yan stood before the massive Shupan, a vermilion brush clenched in his hand.

He precisely located the position of Wang Shi Wubu on this map that represents authority.

Chen Yan drew an extremely conspicuous red circle on that terrain with the vermilion brush.

"Capture the thief by first capturing the king; seize the largest aristocratic banner of Xiazhou, and the rest of the small fry will naturally collapse." Chen Yan tossed the brush onto the ink slab.

Gao Jiong, standing nearby, wore a full set of black soft armor, his eyes filled with blood‑thirsty light.

Lu Ming shouldered the hundred‑jin heavy horse‑spear and strode into the Shufang.

"Brother‑in‑law, the brothers under my command are already prepared." Lu Ming reported in a low voice.

Chen Yan nodded, then turned his gaze toward the deep night outside the window.

At dawn the next day, the sky over Xiazhou would be dyed crimson, and the real Equal‑Field System would begin.