C168. Why Shouldn’t I Dare?

C168. Why Shouldn't I Dare?

In Xiazhou County, soup distribution points were quickly set up in various locations.

The aroma of food spread throughout the city as refugees lined up to receive their rations. The remaining supplies were centered in Xiazhou and distributed to the surrounding counties and districts.

Yuan Li instructed others to assist with disaster relief efforts and assigned Chu Hechao to oversee the military. He stayed alone in the Governor's Mansion in Xuzhou to exchange a few words with Ouyang Ting.

Before they could speak much, local wealthy and influential families from Xuzhou came in unison to request an audience with him.

Ouyang Ting glanced at Yuan Li who nonchalantly placed his teacup on the table, "How many have arrived?"

"All those expected have arrived, waiting to meet you outside the mansion," a daring servant in the Governor's Mansion spoke up, "Some of them are even from families who previously refused our master's request for aid."

"Say no more," Ouyang Ting reprimanded the servant, then turned to Yuan Li, "Le Jun, do you wish to meet with these people?"

Yuan Li coldly smiled, "No."

Understanding that his disciple was upset on his behalf, Ouyang Ting soothed him and advised, "Their visit is to show respect to you, Le Jun. If you refuse them, they may have trouble sleeping and eating."

"If that's the case, let them have trouble sleeping and eating," Yuan Li remained unmoved, indifferently stating, "I have just arrived in Xuzhou, and yet they come rushing to see me, showing that they are aware their past actions may have angered me. Master, people are always hoping for the best, taking advantage of the weak and avoiding the strong. The more I avoid them, the more they will repent. The aristocrats in Xuzhou have been unruly for too long, it's time they learn to fear."

Ouyang Ting gazed deeply at his disciple, realizing that Yuan Li had changed significantly compared to his younger days in Luoyang. He had become more steadfast, strategic, and intimidating.

Without saying much more, Ouyang Ting instructed the servants to politely decline the noble families who wanted to visit Yuan Li.

Among those disappointed families was the Liu clan. The patriarch of the Liu clan had stood stiffly awaiting the verdict, and upon hearing the words "not meeting," a mix of fear and anger brewed within him.

However, he dared not show any sign of it on his face, promptly leaving his offering and departing.

The other families were also the same, not only sending gifts to Yuan Li and Chu Hechao, but also sending the grains and gold and silver that Ouyang Ting had previously wanted to borrow but could not.

Upon receiving the news, Ouyang Ting's emotions were incredibly complex, filled with deep sighs.

Such is human nature.

However, Yuan Li did not accept the things given by these noble families, returning all the grains, gold, and silver.

Ouyang Ting hesitated before quietly asking, "Lejun, although you have brought back a lot of relief grains, in the face of the disaster, one can never have too much food but only too little. Since these noble families have sent grains, why did you return them?"

Yuan Li shook his head, "Teacher, I cannot accept their things. Because once I accept their things, it will be difficult to settle scores with them."

Settle scores?

Ouyang Ting immediately focused his gaze, "What do you intend to do?"

"In our correspondence in previous years, you mentioned allocating funds to clear river silt and build river embankments in each county annually. With regular maintenance, the river embankments should not be so weak as to cause such severe flooding in Xuzhou. Even if there were floods, it would not have inundated most of Xuzhou so severely," Yuan Li had long suspected, "Moreover, while Xuzhou is severely flooded, there is no such calamity in Yangzhou or Qingzhou. Could it be that the rain only falls in Xuzhou, and the water only flows to Xuzhou?"

Ouyang Ting's face gradually darkened, "Are you suggesting that this flood may be man-made?"

Yuan Li nodded gently.

Ouyang Ting took a few deep breaths and calmly said, "The noble families in Xuzhou are deeply rooted and interconnected. Most officials in Xuzhou are from local gentry. If officials collude with the gentry, it was extremely difficult for me when I first arrived in Xuzhou. It is even more challenging for an outsider to control Xuzhou. If the provincial office allocates funds for building river embankments and clearing silt, if it truly is man-made, it must be the intention of the gentry. Officials may cut corners or pretend to comply with me, and I wouldn't notice anything."

Such was Yuan Li's thinking.

Ouyang Ting sighed, "If you want to settle scores, dealing with officials alone will not settle the matter. Lejun, if we investigate, we will inevitably implicate the powerful gentry in Xuzhou. But if we act against the gentry, Xuzhou will fall into chaos."

Disturbing one part will affect the whole. Confronting one gentry family will lead to resistance from other gentry families.

This was also the reason why Ouyang Ting faced difficulties in Xuzhou.

Firstly, when he took action, the officials would unite, and the gentry would fight back—the gentry families maintained private armies. Secondly, the powerful gentry families in Xuzhou had close ties to Prince Chen.

If Ouyang Ting acted, Prince Chen might use this as a pretext for military intervention. Thirdly, Ouyang Ting lacked a legitimate reason to act against the gentry.

Yuan Li naturally understood Ouyang Ting's concerns. They locked eyes, and he spoke earnestly, "Teacher, precisely because of these reasons, we cannot turn a blind eye. You may not be able to investigate Xuzhou, but I can. I am telling you the truth; I want you to temporarily transfer the authority over Xuzhou to me to thoroughly investigate the flooding in Xuzhou on your behalf."

Ouyang Ting was startled, "I can give it to you, but Lejun, do you really want to investigate?"

"It must be done," Yuan Li's eyes darkened, "Teacher, we encountered the Cai Ren Market as soon as we entered Xuzhou."

He recounted the gruesome scenes he had witnessed in plain words, causing Ouyang Ting to feel as if he had witnessed them himself. Ouyang Ting's hands trembled slightly as he murmured, "The counties outside Xiaoping have already reached such a dire state..."

The source of all these disasters may be due to manipulations in the struggle for political power.

Ouyang Ting felt a heavy heart, he opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word, his whole body was filled with powerlessness.

"Truly ridiculous..." Ouyang Ting closed his eyes, tears streamed down his aging face, "After the flood is the autumn harvest! They directly flooded the fields that the common people were about to harvest in the autumn, those were the crops that the common people had been growing for a year! Most of the fields in Xuzhou were flooded, how much food is that? How many people can it feed? Pitiful common people who dare not eat more than a mouthful of rice on ordinary days, the result of a year of hard work is destroyed in an instant... it's truly despicable!"

He hated it so much it made his teeth itch!

If it was a natural disaster, then so be it, but if it was man-made, who could accept such a thing?

Ouyang Ting's face hardened, showing sharpness, "Le Jun, you are right, this matter cannot be tolerated. But you must think carefully, your reputation has always been very good, you have always been known for your benevolence and righteousness. Forcefully dealing with scholars will only damage your reputation, you must know that the literati in our mouths are actually referring to scholars, the pen is held by scholars, the words in their mouths, all are invisible weapons to kill. If you move against the scholarly families, they will surely make a big deal out of what you have done, and your reputation for benevolence and righteousness will turn into a reputation for cruelty."

Yuan Li smiled.

In the dimly lit room, there was a faint dust floating in the air, undulating.

Within the closed room, with only the two of them, both of them relaxed a lot, and even some things could be said openly.

"Teacher, the reason why I pursued a good reputation in the past was because I needed a good reputation to move up, to have more power," Yuan Li's tone was calm, "But now I have three provinces, with an army of over fifty thousand, I am already the Duke of Wen. I have reached a point where I do not need to worry about my reputation to do things. I pursued a good reputation for career prospects, to save more people. But if I only care about reputation and tie my hands and feet, then I am putting the cart before the horse. They are just a scholarly family in Xuzhou, what can they do? At most, they can debate and criticize with their pens, they wouldn't even dare to say anything against me in front of me."

Yuan Li seemed to find it funny, and laughed again, "In chaotic times, whoever has the power, whoever has the food, has the power to overturn the table. Teacher, I have this power now."

Ouyang Ting did not speak for a while, he keenly discerned something from Yuan Li's words. Something that made his breathing quicken, after a long time, he finally said laboriously, "Le Jun, are you planning against the emperor?"

Yuan Li stared at him and asked, "Teacher, how many people in this world truly care about the common people? Do you think Prince Chen and the emperor are among them?"

Ouyang Ting hurriedly smiled, that was impossible.

He saw in Yuan Li's eyes the blazing flames of ambition.

But those flames were not fueled by personal desires, but by the well-being of the nation and its people.

Ouyang Ting's lips trembled as he said, "Alright, Xu Prefecture, Xu Prefecture is in your hands..."

Yuan Li took control of the county soldiers in Ouyang Ting's hands, swiftly controlling Xiapi and the surrounding cities, ordering the city gates closed, preventing anyone from entering or leaving, cutting off communication between Xu Prefecture's interior and exterior, and then began purging Xu Prefecture starting from Xiapi.

His arrival was quite grand, with Xu Prefecture, a vast place, already penetrated by the influence of Prince Chen. His actions would surely reach Chen Wang's ears soon, yet Yuan Li showed no fear.

On the contrary, he increased his pace, aiming to fully reorganize the officialdom and powerful gentry forces of Xu Prefecture, holding the territory firmly in his grasp before Prince Chen could react.

Upon hearing that Yuan Li had taken control of the governor's seal for Xu Prefecture and began investigating the flood and natures, the Liu family head was seized with fear. He immediately sent someone to secretly write to Prince Chen430, but to their surprise, the city gates were shut tight, preventing them from leaving.

The head of the Liu family was enraged, but helpless, so he could only anxiously wait for what Yuan Li would uncover.

As time elapsed, more and more officials and gentry were brought down. With the force of thunder, Yuan Li ruthlessly rectified Xu Prefecture, swiftly surrounding their mansions and warbands before the powerful gentry could react, executing them publicly.

After killing the gentry, he seized their grain and treasures for relief efforts and incorporated their warbands into his own.

His actions were as quick as lightning, with the county soldiers and militia in various parts of Xu Prefecture swiftly gathered under his command. Within a month, the powerful gentry in Xu Prefecture were all on edge, full of trepidation.

As Yuan Li continued his investigation, he uncovered more hidden layers to the flood and natures. Many river embankments had been deliberately sabotaged or constructed with substandard materials. Those involved were imprisoned one by one, as Yuan Li forcibly inserted himself into the secret network in Xu Prefecture, resulting in a bloody suppression, with the streets of Xiapi already cleansed multiple times of blood.

Yuan Li was not one to simply condemn without evidence, but the scheming gentry were deeply unsettled. They knew they had erred and anticipated Yuan Li's eventual retribution, but even as they banded together to resist, they were no match for Chu Hechao's army.

Yuan Li was resolute, unyielding, and unafraid of the backlash. The gentry, at a loss of what to do, could only turn to Prince Chen for help.

As a gentry family rooted in Xu Prefecture for centuries, when they tried to pass on the information to Prince Chen with the collective effort, not even Ouyang Ting could stop them, let alone Yuan Li, who had only been in Xu Prefecture for a month.

Upon hearing that the message had safely reached out, the head of the Liu family breathed a sigh of relief, feeling grateful that once Prince Chen learned of the situation, his life might just be spared.

After sending out the message, the head of the Liu family eagerly waited each day, hoping for Prince Chen's reply. However, several days passed without any response, and instead, Yuan Li arrived with his troops.

The soldiers forcefully pushed aside the household staff in the Liu residence, barbarically barged into the hall, and dragged the head of the Liu family into the courtyard.

In the courtyard, Yuan Li sat leisurely on a chair brought by the soldiers, his back straight as a pine tree, dressed in elegant and noble attire. He looked down at the head of the Liu family, who was kneeling in front of him under the soldiers' pressure, with a calm expression.

The head of the Liu family struggled desperately, sweat pouring down his head, "What does Duke Wen intend to do?"

As soon as he asked this question, cries of other Liu family descendants could be heard behind him: "Who are you? Where are you taking us? Do you know who we are?"

"How dare you?! Let go of me!"

"Grandfather, help me—"

When they saw the head of the Liu family in the courtyard, these Liu family descendants gasped in shock. Before they could even speak out for help, the soldiers rudely forced them to kneel behind the head of the Liu family.

The thudding sound of their knees hitting the ground was deafening, making them realize the gravity of the situation. Their curses and pleas for help were swallowed back, leaving only faint sobbing sounds.

The head of the Liu family was filled with fear and anxiety. He swallowed hard and said, "I-I don't know what Duke Wen's intentions are?"

Yuan Li looked at him with a smile.

Though his smile usually seemed gentle and amiable, it now made the head of the Liu family's scalp tingle, his heart filled with dread.

"Why do you think I've come to find the head of the Liu family? Don't you know?" Yuan Li said slowly, "Xiapi, Liangcheng, Huailing, Quyang... Were you not the one who bribed the county officials to sabotage the levees of these counties?"

The head of the Liu family's pupils dilated, a chilling sensation spreading throughout his body.

Yuan Li, Yuan Li knew.

His face turned pale. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

Yuan Li looked down at him, his calm demeanor sending shivers down the head of the Liu family's spine. "It doesn't matter if you don't know. I know."

He stood up and commanded, "Take them to the governor's office, explain the reasons to the people, then behead them publicly."

"W-wait!" the head of the Liu family exclaimed fearfully, "I am a subordinate of Prince Chen. How dare you kill me?! Duke Wen, do you really dare to challenge Prince Chen?"

Yuan Li paused, turned back to look at him, and smiled faintly, "Why wouldn't I dare?"