Chapter 166: Thunderbolt Measures

"Jiang Xingqiu, just now, something happened at the workshop."

Liu Liu Yifei's brows were tightly knit, her face pale, looking utterly panicked.

"What happened?" he asked lightly.

Liu Liu Yifei hurriedly told him the whole story, word for word.

It turned out that after Zhu Ge Yu led the army back to Huicheng, news of their uprising had spread like wildfire through the city. Half a shichen ago, fully eighty percent of the merchants who had been working with them had swarmed into the workshop in one rush. They claimed that, fearing a stained reputation, they refused to cooperate with rebels and wanted all the ordered glazed tiles and ore returned. Now that noon had passed, they would likely come to collect the deposits paid earlier at any moment. These businesses were tied to the soldiers' pay; if provisions and pay were cut off and the army mutinied, that would be trouble. Liu Liu Yifei had originally wanted to find her father and Uncle Zhang to think of a solution, but upon hearing Jiang Jiang Mingyu had returned, she had called him over.

"Don't want to cooperate with rebels?" Jiang Jiang Mingyu scoffed with a laugh. "These lackeys of the Marquis really are something."

Saying so, he stood up, walked to the window, and pushed it open.

Outside the window was a scene of uproar.

The street was packed with people, carriages and horses weaving through.

Not far off was their workshop. There too, the noise was deafening.

A group of merchants were crowding around the workshop's main gate, shouting to get in.

At the door stood several soldiers, long blades in hand, blocking them.

Jiang Jiang Mingyu narrowed his eyes, watching this scene. A surge of fury rose in his heart.

These merchants had offered help in their most difficult hour.

But now, after Zhu Ge Yu returned to the city, they had changed their faces.

Not only did they want to return the goods, they wanted their deposits back too.

This was nothing less than a blow to their confidence and morale.

Jiang Jiang Mingyu was not an easy man to bully. Since these merchants wanted to play games with him, he would play along.

"Liu Yifei, don't worry." He turned around and said to Liu Liu Yifei, "This isn't hard."

Liu Liu Yifei looked at his somewhat chilling smile and asked, even more worried: "What do you plan to do? This concerns tens of thousands of soldiers and our great plan of revenge—you must handle it carefully."

She always felt there was something off about Jiang Jiang Mingyu's smile. Even a hint of danger!

Jiang Jiang Mingyu waved a hand and called to the soldiers guarding the door: "Bring the list of partners, and go summon all those stubborn merchants here for me. I'd like to see what grand reasoning they can come up with in front of me, the leader of these rebels."

Liu Liu Yifei wanted to say something, but seeing his expression, swallowed it back. She could only stand silently to one side, waiting to see how things unfolded.

And just then, the sound of hurried footsteps suddenly came. Then a man's voice.

"You must be Jiang Jiang Mingyu, right? No need to send anyone—we're already here."

Jiang Jiang Mingyu, who had turned his head sharply, curled another dangerous smile at the corner of his lips.

"Perfect timing!"

Jiang Jiang Mingyu, now turned around, gave a cold laugh at the dozen or so merchants who had entered.

The group of merchants were blustering arrogantly before him, demanding he hand over their deposits.

Their eyes were full of greed and contempt, as if Jiang Jiang Mingyu were their defeated underling, free for them to carve up.

The leader, a swarthy, corpulent middle-aged man, shouted: "Jiang Jiang Mingyu, hand our deposits back this instant! Otherwise don't blame us for being merciless!"

Jiang Jiang Mingyu narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice: "My army needs pay and silver; the deposits cannot be returned."

The merchant gave no ground, roughly sweeping the account books off the table onto the floor, and said arrogantly: "Rebel! You think you can keep rebelling forever? Hand the money back, and we'll be off as far as the mountains and rivers!"

The other merchants egged each other on, pawing through the accounts with hands and feet, some grabbing bolts of cloth and dragging them outside.

Liu Liu Yifei anxiously urged them to stop, but they turned a deaf ear, acting even more rudely, tearing down the banners on the wall and trampling them.

They grabbed tools and materials, tossing them carelessly onto the floor, some deliberately stomping them to pieces.

Their movements were rough and uncouth, showing no respect for Jiang Jiang Mingyu at all.

Jiang Jiang Mingyu watched all this, fury blazing in his heart.

Jiang Jiang Mingyu was by nature a calm man, but faced with these scoundrels, he could not hold back.

He commanded in a low voice: "All of you, stop!"

"Please hear me out—the deposits cannot be returned, but I can offer you all compensation..." Jiang Jiang Mingyu was about to speak when the merchant leader suddenly scrambled up from the floor, his smile twisted, and loudly cut him off: "Compensation? What we want is our deposits! You think waving the banner of justice as a rebel lets you fool us?"

"Who do you think you are? You're nothing but a rebel! You owe us money, and you must pay! If you don't, we'll smash this whole place of yours!"

"Yeah! Smash it! Smash it!"

"Listen here! Hand over the money today, and from then on you be your rebel and we do our business—never see each other again."

The other merchants let out contemptuous laughs and continued rummaging through the workshop. Liu Liu Yifei saw Jiang Jiang Mingyu's expression growing uglier and felt an ominous premonition stirring in her heart.

At this moment, a few more merchants walked in from outside, shouting about smashing the shop.

Jiang Jiang Mingyu's face had turned cold as iron, and a terrifying killing intent began to emanate from his eyes......

"There's no need to say what Jiang Mou's current status is. Being this wild—aren't you afraid Jiang Mou will chop you down?"

The fat merchant at the head said with a grin: "Jiang Jiang Mingyu, don't think that just because you're a rebel, we'll be afraid of you. I'm a person of standing in this Regional Military Commissioner city of Yasmo. If you dare touch me, by tomorrow the common folk will trample you into mud!"

Jiang Jiang Mingyu retorted coldly: "I command a heavy army and have defeated forty thousand Other Xi Xia cavalry. What do you few merchants amount to?"

The fat merchant's face suddenly changed. He gave two dry laughs and said: "Well, ahem, that was all just a joke—don't really get angry. We're talking nicely here."

Jiang Jiang Mingyu smiled faintly, sending a chill through everyone: "My greatest flaw is that I never believe in threats. Since you've refused to cooperate, I have only one path to offer you—the road to death!"

"You!" The fat merchant's eyes went wide, his face deathly pale.

"Guards!" Jiang Jiang Mingyu barked. Several burly soldiers responded and rushed in, seizing and subduing the merchants one by one.

"What are you doing? We're all people of standing—how can you treat us like this!" the fat merchant struggled and shouted.

Jiang Jiang Mingyu said coldly: "I want you to know that Jiang Jiang Mingyu is no pushover! Since you've refused to cooperate, don't blame me for confiscating your family properties as well—drag them out and behead them!"

The fat merchant collapsed to the ground, like a mouse that had seen a cat.

When Jiang Jiang Mingyu said the merchants would be beheaded, the fat merchant's face instantly turned ashen pale. Sweat rolled down from his brow, soaking his thick brows, and trickled through the corners of his eyes into his mouth, filling it with a salty taste.

His thin frame trembled without cease; kneeling on the ground, even his knees were knocking together with a steady thump-thump.

When he heard that Jiang Jiang Mingyu would also confiscate their family businesses, the fat merchant's body shook like a withered leaf in the autumn wind, his face turning even whiter, like a sheet of paper.

"You, surnamed Jiang, so cruel, even to seize our family's estate—you deserve to die ten thousand deaths!" the fat merchant shouted angrily, pointing at Jiang Jiang Mingyu, his voice trembling with agitation. His teeth chattered, his lips quivered, and he was filled with uncontrollable rage.

"Even if you kill us today, when the Emperor's great army arrives, they will surely cut you into a thousand pieces!" the fat merchant cursed viciously, his eyes bloodshot as if ready to spit fire. The veins on his neck bulged like a fine steed; he gasped for air heavily, his fists clenched tight.

Jiang Jiang Mingyu sneered, "As for my fate in the future, at least you few will not live to see it." His tone was cold and confident, as if his great enterprise was certain to succeed, and he no longer cared about the lives or deaths of these merchants.

"By the way, you do not yet know: just the day before yesterday, I, Jiang Mou, personally ordered men in Tenglong County to dig up Fei Hou's ancestral graves." Jiang Jiang Mingyu deliberately slowed his voice, speaking this earth-shattering news one character at a time.

Everyone was stunned after hearing this, their faces filled with shock and disbelief. This news was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue, catching the merchants completely off guard.

"If they cannot even protect their own ancestral graves, do you not think you are overthinking it by expecting him to avenge you, my lords?" Jiang Jiang Mingyu mocked, not giving these merchants a single glance.

Even Liu Liu Yifei, who had remained silent all along, could not help but widen her eyes, her delicate face covered with unmistakable terror. She never expected that Jiang Jiang Mingyu, who usually spoke to her in gentle, soft words, would personally order the ruthless leveling of Fei Hou's ancestral graves; such a cruel and ruthless method made her spine chill.

Everyone was still struggling to digest this news, their spirits seeming somewhat dazed. But Jiang Jiang Mingyu was already tired of dealing with these people; he glanced sideways at the crowd, his eyes cold as knives, and directly commanded, "Enough, no more words. Men, drag all of them out and behead them in the street!"

Jiang Jiang Mingyu's tone held no hesitation, his stance firm; clearly, he was determined to put these people to death. This sudden bad news caught the merchants completely off guard, and their faces instantly turned deathly pale.

Seeing squads of fully armed soldiers arriving in a mighty rush, the fat merchant and the other merchants immediately became so terrified that their limbs went limp, and they fell to their knees with a thud.

"My lord, calm your anger! We were wrong!" the fat merchant pleaded with a trembling voice. "We are willing to cooperate with you; please show mercy and spare our lives!"

The other merchants followed suit, kowtowing fiercely; the thudding sounds rose and fell as they all begged Jiang Jiang Mingyu to show mercy and spare them.

Upon learning that Jiang Jiang Mingyu had personally ordered the leveling of Fei Hou's ancestral graves, this group of merchants completely lost the courage to resist; they knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly, begging for Jiang Jiang Mingyu's forgiveness.

But Jiang Jiang Mingyu let out a cold sneer, his eyes devoid of warmth: "It is too late; your fate is already sealed. Men, take them away and behead them!"

The merchants were roughly dragged away by the soldiers. Knowing death was inevitable, Pang Zhang continued to curse loudly: "Jiang Jiang Mingyu, you beast! I curse you to hell!"

Jiang Jiang Mingyu did not even listen to his curses; with a blank expression, he commanded, "Confiscate their property and arrest them! Male descendants shall be exiled to the frontier; female relatives shall be sent to workshops, never to rise again!"

Seeing his cruelty, Liu Liu Yifei could not help but urge, "Jiang Lang, spare the innocent family members."

But Jiang Jiang Mingyu declared firmly, "We must punish them severely; only then can we establish my authority. The most urgent matter now is finding a buyer for our goods; you need not worry about these things."

Though Liu Liu Yifei had doubts, she could only obey Jiang Jiang Mingyu's decision.

Liu Liu Yifei hesitated and said, "It would be better to have Wang Zhe make contact; his connections are extensive, and he should be able to find a buyer."

Jiang Jiang Mingyu, however, shook his head slowly and calmly: "Wang Zhe indeed has connections, but we cannot bet everything on a single throw. I have another idea; we might as well try it."

As he spoke, he took Liu Liu Yifei's hand and said in a gentle voice, "I plan to post a proclamation inviting all the great merchants in the city to come and bid for our goods. What do you think?"

"Bid?" Liu Liu Yifei stared at Jiang Jiang Mingyu in confusion, her face full of bewilderment.

Jiang Jiang Mingyu smiled affectionately: "Let them compete against each other; whoever offers the highest price, we sell to. This is called bidding."

"We sell to the highest bidder, and he becomes our agent. We only need to sell the goods to him; he will be responsible for the actual sales. This way, we earn more money, and it is very convenient."

Liu Liu Yifei suddenly understood and nodded repeatedly: "So that is how it is! Jiang Lang is truly clever; this way, we only need to worry about making money."

Jiang Jiang Mingyu chuckled and said, "Once the proclamation is posted, I believe many people will rush to bid. At that time, silver will come in full boxes; we will have so much we cannot spend it all!"