Military officers led by Feng Hongde were arrested, while those guilty of lesser offenses who had followed him under duress could atone for their crimes through meritorious service.
All confiscated assets and farmland were assigned to the military colonies and distributed to military households whose colony fields had been forcibly seized or whose land allotments fell short.
If there was not enough farmland to distribute, part of the confiscated gold, silver, and jewels would be used to redeem, according to the account books, colony lands that had been forcibly sold by them within the past five years.
This was also one reason Xue Shao had not allowed the military colonies to handle all of this illicit wealth themselves. The local gentry had colluded with Cao Rong, Feng Hongde, and the others to buy up quite a bit of colony land at low prices.
To buy those colony lands back, the local county offices would need to step in and mediate.
Xue Shao was a good official. He wanted the County Magistrates to gather those gentry together and educate them, while Pan Yun simply sent An Chen to find the Prefects and County Magistrates of every prefecture. "Tell them they have three days to return every plot of land they bought from the military colonies exactly as it was. Otherwise, surely I don't need to explain to them what crime it is to bribe officials and embezzle military land?"
"If they lack a copy of The Great Proclamation at home, I don't mind sending them one."
The moment An Chen heard this, he immediately bought out every copy of The Great Proclamation in the bookstores. Then he sent them to the Prefects across the region, relayed Pan Yun's words, and added, "We Imperial Guards aren't as patient as Censor Xue. Or