Chapter 174: The Gao Family Wealth

"Your Highness, the Rich Clans within the Fortress have all been captured and await your disposal."

On the open ground inside the Fortress, over a thousand Rich Clan officials and their family members knelt on the ground.

The Wangfu Army stood in a circle, surrounding them.

Seeing Zhao Xu arrive, Lv Chang stepped forward and spoke.

After the city gates were opened, he and the other Captains led their troops in to slaughter.

After a fierce battle, the Fortress was successfully taken.

Zhao Xu nodded, his gaze sweeping over the Rich Clans who were trembling with fear at this moment.

Toward them, he felt not a shred of pity in his heart.

Power struggles are often this cruel; it is either you die or I perish.

If he had not learned of these Rich Clans' conspiracy in advance and had been captured during the ambush,

he believed these Rich Clans would absolutely have killed him.

And if he were dead, Yuan Li would certainly lead the Yuan Family's army to slaughter his Personal Guards and everyone in the Wangfu to the last person.

"Kill them," Zhao Xu lightly spat out the three words.

Under Da Song Law, raising an army to rebel warrants the execution of the nine generations.

When they walked down this path with Gao Yuan, they should have expected that this day would come.

"Your Highness, spare our lives!"

"Your Highness, spare us, we were all bewitched by Gao Yuan."

"Your Highness, spare us, we will definitely be loyal to Your Highness."

"..."

Hearing this, the Rich Clans began to wail one by one, and some were so frightened they fainted on the spot.

Zhao Xu remained unmoved and walked straight past them.

Gao Yuan's residence was at the innermost part of the Fortress; he wanted to see what the soldiers had searched out from inside.

After he left, the Wangfu Army raised the blades and swords in their hands.

They hated these Rich Clans even more than Yan Wang did; whose hands among these people were not stained with the blood and tears of the commoners?

They deserved to die!

"Your Highness, the grain inside here is estimated to be enough for twenty thousand people to eat for a year," Liu Fu said.

In front of a large granary, Zhao Xu and the others stopped.

At this time, Wangfu Army soldiers were already guarding this place to prevent it from being destroyed.

After looking at every storage room, Liu Fu's expression was excited.

Gao Yuan had been plundering in Shanggu Commandery for many years, accumulating a massive amount of wealth and resources.

Now that he had been wiped out, these things all belonged to the Wangfu.

"This is just the Gao Family's; the grain in all the Rich Clan Fortresses in Shanggu Commandery combined is enough for the commoners of Shanggu Commandery to eat for a year or two," Chang Wei added.

Zhao Xu nodded.

The situation in Shanggu Commandery was the same as the situation in Yan Commandery back then.

Although they could distribute land and property to the commoners now, the autumn harvest had already passed, and the commoners had no surplus grain at home; they needed the Wangfu to provide relief until the wheat harvest next June.

And with these supplies, there was no need to fear the commoners going hungry.

After inspecting the Granary, the group continued to head west.

On the road, there were searching soldiers everywhere; although many Rich Clans had been captured, the Gao Family father and son were still nowhere to be found, and it was unknown where they were hiding in the Fortress.

Arriving at the Gao Family residence.

Zhao Xu saw the Wangfu Army soldiers busy at work, carrying boxes of items into the courtyard.

Coming to a box, Zhao Xu opened it casually and found it was filled to the brim with silver bullion.

He opened another box, and inside were bars of gold.

"These are all the blood and sweat of the people that Gao Yuan plundered over these past two years..." Liu Fu sighed.

Such boxes filled the courtyard, and soldiers were still continuously carrying them out from the house.

"All these things are to be turned over to the Wangfu treasury for unified allocation," Zhao Xu said, "and the supplies searched from the other Rich Clans' homes are to be stored together."

His purpose in doing this was to strengthen the centralization of the Wangfu and make financial distribution rational.

It was the same in Yan Commandery.

The taxes of each county were turned over in a unified manner, leaving only a very small portion for emergencies.

If a county needed silver, it had to report to the Government Office; after the Government Office approved it, the approved silver would then be sent to the county.

Although doing this was troublesome, it was a necessary means to strengthen centralization.

Otherwise, if a locality was not short of money or grain, it would invisibly lose its dependence on the Wangfu, like to act on its own, and adopt an indifferent attitude toward government decrees.

This was just like a head office and a branch office.

If a local branch office was not short of money,

and could operate independently in the locality, what would it need the head office for?

Although the head office had the power of appointment and removal, if the fundamental problem was not solved, who could guarantee that after replacing someone, they wouldn't establish their own interest group in the branch office and line their own pockets?

But turning over profits was different.

With no money in the accounts, the branch manager would have to look at the head office's face and beg the head office for money.

"Yes, Your Highness," Liu Fu agreed very readily.

He had already tasted the sweetness of it.

Now, none of the County Magistrates dared to delay or neglect the administrative orders he sent to the various counties of Yan Commandery.

If anyone dared, he would withhold their silver and funds, leaving the county unable to even pay the officials' salaries.

If they dared to stir up trouble, he would simply remove them from office and replace them.

This was just for the counties.

Now that there was an additional Shanggu Commandery, it was even more necessary to do so.

After all, he could hold the position of Commandery Governor for one Yan Commandery, but he could not hold it for two.

This time, it might be necessary to select two Commandery Governors from among the officials to be stationed in Yan Commandery and Shanggu Commandery respectively.

"Clatter, clatter, clatter..."

Just as they were speaking, the sound of urgent hoofbeats suddenly rang out from outside the courtyard.

A scout Cavalryman hurried in, "Your Highness, there are over twenty thousand Yuan Family troops heading toward the Gao Family Fort."

"Yuan Family troops!" Chang Wei and Mo Yu exchanged a glance, both of their eyes revealing a hint of anger.

Chang Wei said, "Yuan Li is becoming increasingly audacious; he actually dares to invade Your Highness's fief. Your Highness, this general will lead troops to annihilate them right now."

"According to Da Song Law, without the Prince's permission, no army other than the Imperial Clan army may intrude; otherwise, they shall be held accountable, and the Prince has the right to lead troops to kill them," Mo Yu said at this moment.

Zhao Xu nodded.

He still had not vented his anger over the time the Yuan Family burned the grain of the people of Yan Commandery.

Now, they actually dared to send troops to run wild on his fief.

Regardless of what these twenty thousand-plus men were doing coming to Shanggu Commandery, he had to show them what he was made of.

"Have the soldiers enter the city, climb the city walls, and pull the Artillery up as well," Zhao Xu said.

The Gao Family Fort was a ready-made fortress, and it could be put to good use.

He wanted to see first what this Yuan Family Army intended to do.

Leaving the Gao Family residence, Zhao Xu and the various generals climbed the city walls.

Before long, a black line appeared to the south.

As the black line gradually drew closer, Zhao Xu saw this Yuan Family Army clearly.

There were about five thousand Cavalry, and another fifteen thousand Infantry.

What surprised him, however, was that the soldiers of this army all had white cloth tied around their arms and heads, just like a funeral procession.

"Eh, isn't that Zhong Li?" Mo Yu exclaimed upon seeing the general in the lead.

"Zhong Li?" Zhao Xu looked at Mo Yu, revealing a puzzled expression.

Upon hearing this, and seeing this Yuan Family Army wearing mourning clothes, Liu Fu could not help but laugh out loud, "Your Highness, there is no problem this time; there will be no fight."

Chang Wei looked at Liu Fu with the expression of someone looking at a fool, "Since when did Tutor Liu also become a master of divination? How do you know there won't be a fight?"

Zhao Xu was confused at first, but upon thinking of something, he smiled and nodded.