Chapter 215: Forcible Seizure

Zhu Yunhui walked out of his younger brother's courtyard, fully satisfied, savoring the memory of Lady Mao moaning and writhing beneath him as he went, a lewd smile creeping onto his lips.

Li San fawned as he stepped forward to smooth Zhu Yunhui's robes, his face wreathed in smiles as he said, "Congratulations, Your Highness, on your mighty display of prowess. Your Highness, where shall we go now?"

Zhu Yunhui's eyes rolled as he asked, "I hear the Third Brother is frail and sickly—does his wife not spend every night alone in an empty chamber? I shall go pay my respects to Third Brother. Let's go!"

Li San hurried to keep up: "Your Highness, the mother of the Prince of Hanyang is fiercely protective. This humble one thinks Your Highness should not go knocking on their door in person—better to wait for an opportunity!"

The mother of the Prince of Hanyang, Lady Ma, lived together with her son precisely to care for Zhu Yunlong, who had been frail and sickly since childhood—and also to guard against that lecher Zhu Yunhui. Zhu Yunlong's Princess Consort, Lady Qin, was exceptionally beautiful as well, and Lady Ma knew in her heart that if Zhu Yunhui came calling, none of the maidservants or attendants would dare stop him, and her son was no match for Zhu Yunhui. So a year earlier, she had moved into the side hall where Zhu Yunlong resided, on the pretext of caring for her son.

Hearing this, Zhu Yunhui found it reasonable and temporarily abandoned the notion of going to Zhu Yunlong's place.

Across one street from the Wuchang Prefect's yamen sat the former office of the Jiangxia Guard Commander, which was now the seat of the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Wuchang Centurion Station.

The Jiangxia Guard Commander, Assistant Regional Commander, Assistant Commanders, and others who had not reported for duty in years received a directive from the Ministry of War: the Jiangxia Guard was about to be disbanded. If they were willing to continue in military service, they would be transferred to the Xuan-Da front line for garrison duty; otherwise, they were to await further instructions from the court.

These several high-ranking officers of the Jiangxia Guard, who had long since become wealthy men of leisure, had no desire to continue serving in the army. The Jiangxia Guard had long been a shell of its former self—hereditary military households openly and covertly plied all manner of trades to support their families, and the guard had not mustered troops for training in years.

The court had long since stopped issuing military pay and provisions to the Jiangxia Guard. These high-ranking officers all lived off the fields originally allotted to the hereditary military households, and no longer bore the slightest resemblance to official soldiers.

Upon receiving the Ministry of War's directive and learning that the Embroidered Uniform Guard was coming, the high-ranking officers hastily sent word to the dozen or so elderly and infirm hereditary soldiers who lived in the compound, quickly disposed of the chickens, ducks, pigs, and geese they had been raising, then thoroughly cleaned the entire premises, waiting for the arrival of the capital's men.

To be fair, these high-ranking officers of the Jiangxia Guard still had some human decency—they knew that if they drove away these dozen or so elderly and infirm soldiers, the men would have nowhere to go. So they secretly instructed them: once the Embroidered Uniform Guard arrived, kneel at the gate to welcome them, then play the pitiful beggar and plead, begging the masters from the capital to take them in.

This trick worked.

Although the Embroidered Uniform Guard had a fearsome reputation, they had themselves just emerged from hard times, and seeing these hereditary soldiers who looked like beggars, they felt compassion. Moreover, with over a hundred men needing servants to attend them, the leading Centurion readily agreed to keep these elderly and infirm men on. In daily affairs they were assigned tasks like sweeping, cooking, and running errands—giving these poor wretches a way to survive.

Dong Cheng had formerly been a Deputy Centurion in the capital's Western City Chiliarch Station. Upon learning that the Embroidered Uniform Guard was to leave the capital and be stationed across the realm, he worked his connections through Assistant Guard Commander Li Ruolian to secure the post of Centurion for the Wuchang Centurion Station, then led the hundred and twenty officers and guardsmen drawn from various chiliarch stations into Wuchang.

Accompanying him was Zhou Jie, a clerk from the Records Office of the Court of the Imperial Clan, who also hailed from the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Records Office. Though the two were not well acquainted, coming from the same department and having no conflicts of interest, they quickly became familiar.

Before leaving the capital, Luo Yangxing and other senior officers gathered together the Centurions and clerks departing for their posts, and issued the primary mission: keep close surveillance on the imperial clansmen in their jurisdictions—anyone who violated the court's laws was to be dealt with severely.

Luo Yangxing emphasized one point in particular: "Do not forget your identity. As the Son of Heaven's personal troops, if there is any person or matter that threatens the Son of Heaven, you must destroy or eliminate it—do not concern yourselves with anything else."

Over a month had passed since arriving in Wuchang, but Dong Cheng had not been eager to send his men swaggering through the streets. Instead, he dispatched them in plain clothes, gathering intelligence under various identities, so as to form a general picture of the situation in Wuchang.

From the intelligence gathered, most of the imperial clansmen in Wuchang—the distant branches and lesser lines who made up the vast majority of the clan population—had, after the Emperor issued the edict lifting the ban on clansmen engaging in the four common professions, mostly set aside their pride and found occupations to support their families. Some clansmen with various fine skills, who previously could only work in secret, had even come to live quite comfortable lives.

Previously, among the distant branches and lesser lines, there had been plenty who, driven by necessity, robbed openly, stole in secret, and even dug up their own ancestral graves. And the authorities, constrained by their status as members of the Zhu family, could only release them after a short time in prison even if they were caught and locked up.

Now that situation had greatly improved—if one could support one's family through honest labor, who would willingly bear the stigma of theft and robbery?

Since these people were no longer of consequence, the Embroidered Uniform Guard could focus its energy on clansmen of the rank of Commandery Prince, Defender-General, and above. As for the behemoth that was the Prince of Chu's establishment, they could only slowly search for its weaknesses.

One day, Dong Cheng received word that Zhu Yunxu, the Commandery Prince of Chongyang, wished to expand his princely residence on Chongfu Mountain, and had come into conflict with the commoners living around the residence. The Chongyang estate's steward had rounded up a gang of street thugs and was preparing to forcibly seize commoners' homes, pressuring the residents to give up their own houses.

Upon receiving the news, Dong Cheng assembled fifty embroidered guardsmen and, together with Zhou Jie, led the force to the scene.

Since he knew of His Majesty's intention to excise the tumor of the imperial clan, all his actions should be aimed at driving in the knife. The Guard Commander had already made it clear: do not forget that you are the Son of Heaven's personal troops.

Dong Cheng thought to himself as he rode on horseback.

Outside the south wall of the Chongyang princely residence, a cacophony of noise and shouting filled the air. The estate steward Li Jiang stood with one hand on his hip, pointing at several yamen runners a few paces away, cursing at the top of his lungs: "Are you dogs blind?! How dare you meddle in the affairs of a commandery prince's household! Li Ji of Wuchang Prefecture doesn't dare show his own face, so he sends you lowly trash to put on a show! You take a chicken feather for a command arrow and think you're somebody! Get out of here now, or I'll have my men lay you flat!"

Because the matter involved the seizure of homes belonging to over thirty households of commoners, Wuchang Prefect Li Ji, after receiving the collective complaint from the people, had no choice but to send the Assistant Prefect to dispatch several yamen runners to handle and suppress the situation, lest it escalate.

Li Ji knew that if the authorities did not send someone to hold the line, these commoners would suffer who knew how much hardship—lives might even be lost.

As the chief local official, Li Ji naturally detested the misdeeds of these imperial clansmen, but was helpless against their status—especially at the level of Defender-General and above, he had absolutely no recourse against them. But he did represent the court after all—how could he simply ignore the welfare of the people under his jurisdiction?

The several yamen runners had come under orders. Seeing Li Jiang's overbearing manner, and the gang of thugs who normally fled from them like mice from cats now emboldened by the backing of the princely household and itching for a fight, while among the hundred-plus commoners behind them there were also familiar faces—they found themselves caught between a rock and a hard place.

One older yamen runner put on a smiling face and clasped his hands in salute: "Steward Li, this humble one thinks perhaps we could do it this way—the princely household could offer some silver to these poor wretches, and we'll have them find another place to build new homes. That way both sides can save face. This is also the Prefect's instruction. What do you think?"

Li Jiang rolled his eyes and sneered, "Fine then—for your sakes, our princely household will take a loss! Five taels per household! They must move out today, or else I'll have men come and tear the houses down!"

Li Jiang's words left the yamen runners exchanging helpless glances.

Five taels? These people had house and courtyard—you couldn't rebuild for less than thirty or forty taels. Was this charity for beggars? If they went back and told the commoners that, wouldn't they curse us to death?

The older yamen runner kept his smile and pressed on: "Steward Li, isn't that a bit too little? Could you perhaps give a bit more? These poor wretches have families to feed—it's not easy for them!"

"Not easy for them? Is it easy for the princely household? Six taels at most! If you think that's too little, then even those six taels are off the table! Go tell those paupers! I'm a busy man—don't delay my important business!"

Li Jiang said impatiently.

The Prince had long anticipated that the paupers would demand silver, and had set a price of ten taels per household. These paupers would get six taels each—the remainder would go into his own pocket.

Seeing how overbearing Li Jiang was, the yamen runners knew further talk was useless. Helpless, they turned and went to the crowd of commoners, relaying the princely household's offer. The result was as expected—how could the commoners accept such harsh terms? The moment they heard, an uproar erupted, with shouting and clamoring as they firmly refused.

Before the yamen runners could even come back to explain things to Li Jiang, he had already given the order, and several dozen thugs wielding clubs and staves came surging forward with shouts and curses.

Seeing the situation turn bad, the yamen runners quickly dodged aside, shouting, "Wang Laosi! Zhang Fugui! Zheng Biao! You lot listen here! If you dare commit violence, watch out—we'll catch you and settle the score later!"

The thugs who had been named by name immediately hesitated. The county magistrate is no match for the man on the spot—although the princely household's name was intimidating, in daily life these constables and runners were their nemesis. If they truly provoked them, these men would find an excuse to throw them in jail, where they'd be beaten within an inch of their lives.

The other thugs also slowed their pace. They were all minor followers of the ones who had been named—if even their leaders were afraid, they shouldn't be showing off.

"Beat them for me! If anything happens, I'll take responsibility! Finish this business and you'll all enter the princely household to serve! I'd like to see who dares do anything to the people of this household!"

Before Li Jiang could even rally them, a gloomy voice came from behind the thugs—Zhu Yunxu, the Commandery Prince of Chongyang, had arrived in person.