Chapter 471

Even if the Jiangdong aristocratic families sent people out with whip-cracking speed to request support, the reply they ultimately received was only a refusal from the two, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

In an instant,

an atmosphere of despair shrouded the entire Wu Jun.

The Jiangdong aristocratic families discovered that they were in a cage from which they could not escape.

Aristocratic families, aristocratic families, why could they become local emperors of a place?

Because their claws and teeth were numerous, and their appeal and influence on this land were great.

But now,

their claws and teeth had become the people who betrayed them.

The appeal they relied on for survival suddenly became a joke.

What else did the Jiangdong aristocratic families have left?

Yes, they still had their land, and their lives.

Therefore,

those rebelling retainers occupied their land and took their lives!

Of course,

rather than saying the land under the Jiangdong aristocratic families' names was their own,

it would be better to say it was land they had snatched from the hands of retainers and hidden households generations ago!

Land annexation, land annexation.

What kind of annexation method was it?

Naturally, it was to cause the common people to have their homes destroyed and families killed.

Forcing them, with nowhere else to turn, to sell their own "human rights" to the aristocratic masters.

In this way,

they could only work for the aristocratic masters for generations.

Receiving wages that could only provide enough for warmth and fullness, or perhaps no wages at all.

After all, everything on these retainers and hidden households, including their wives and children, all belonged to their aristocratic masters!

How could the aristocratic masters truly treat them as human beings?

Retribution had ultimately arrived.

The aristocratic masters paid with their lives as the price for their arrogance and bullying.

Especially the four great Jiangdong aristocratic families.

Overnight, over a thousand people died!

The raging fires burned their luxurious residences and mansions into ashes.

The only evidence proving they had been there...

perhaps only the dust covering the ground remained.

Chaisang

Outside the City Lord's Mansion

The leaders of the four great Jiangdong aristocratic families arrived together.

Because they had been staying in Chaisang, the four of them did not die in the riots in Wu Jun.

But the "riot matter" that occurred within Wu Jun,

the few survivors in their families had already informed them of it without missing a detail.

Regarding this,

the leaders of the four great Jiangdong aristocratic families were all panicked.

Looking back at thousands of years of history, such an absurd thing had never happened!

Retainers and hidden households rebelling?

What is this trying to do?

They, the aristocratic masters, were high and mighty, enjoying all high-quality resources; was this not something destined by heaven?

Why were those mud-legged ones rebelling?

This... was this not defying heaven?

However,

no matter how angry the leaders of the four great Jiangdong aristocratic families were,

they had no way to solve this matter.

They could only place their hope on their lord Liu Bei.

But,

the person who came out of the City Lord's Mansion to welcome them was not Liu Bei, but Zhuge Liang.

Using all his strength, he barely stabilized the emotions of this group of aristocratic family leaders.

Zhuge Liang's heart, however, was beating violently!

He finally understood

why Gu Yi would abandon the military conquest of Wu Jun and instead head straight south to Yuzhang!

Because compared to military conquest,

what was more terrifying was... destroying the roots of the aristocratic families!

In the agricultural era, for all strata, land was the most important thing, bar none.

For the common people,

land was the hope of their entire family, the expectation for the harvest fruits of the coming year.

For the aristocratic masters,

land was the symbol of their identity and status, the necessity for them to exploit and oppress the common people!

For the feudal emperor,

land was the manifestation of their "civil and military achievements," the authority with which they mastered the world!

But now,

this riot Gu Yi launched in Wu Jun was intended to completely drive the Jiangdong aristocratic families to their deaths!!

To tell the truth,

Zhuge Liang did not understand why Gu Yi had to do this.

Wasn't it fine to follow the original way?

Cooperating honestly with the aristocratic families to establish an "aristocratic dynasty."

That way, everyone would have much less to worry about.

But why did Gu Yi have to toss and turn like that?

Although Zhuge Liang was intelligent, he possessed the limitations of his era and could not figure out this problem.

And just as Zhuge Liang was puzzled,

the Jiangdong aristocratic families who had been waiting for him to speak

were anxious and irritable.

They asked in a questioning tone:

"Zhuge Kongming, where exactly is our lord?"

Zhuge Liang slightly shook his head and sighed:

"Everyone, the lord cannot solve this matter either."

"Wu Jun is already lost, although it was not captured by Gu Linzhi sending troops to attack it."

"But it has indeed been lost from your hands."

"Next, our military strength remains less than fifty thousand."

"This fifty thousand military strength should be used on the blade's edge and cannot be used randomly."

Hearing what Zhuge Liang said,

the leaders of the four great Jiangdong aristocratic families exploded on the spot!

Among them, the oldest, Lu Kang, even pointed at Zhuge Liang in public and cursed tremblingly:

"Zhuge Kongming, do you know what you are saying?"