Methods Simple and Brutal

The Earl's gaze softened, and he spoke with earnest concern, "Lang-er, you cannot do it. The times have changed. Under the New Policy, we old-guard nobles are teetering in the wind, terrified that one misstep will give our enemies a handle against us. In these last three years alone, three noble houses have had their fiefs seized and titles stripped, and one man even lost his life."

At this, the Earl's expression turned sorrowful.

He only wished to protect the legacy of his ancestors; what crime was there in that?

He continued, "In the past, I could have dealt with a man like Tian Heng with a flick of my wrist. But now, let alone you, even I would find it difficult to take him down in one stroke. After all, he holds an official post from the imperial court, and nobles are forbidden from interfering in local administration. Once we break that rule, the consequences would be unthinkable."

At this moment, Young Master Shen deeply felt the helplessness in the Earl's heart.

Whether this New Policy was good or bad for the Yue Kingdom was irrelevant; at the very least, it was currently working against Young Master Shen's interests, which made it bad.

The Earl said earnestly, "Lang-er, I promise you, within six months at most, I will take down Tian Heng and secure justice for you!"

With the power at the Earl's disposal, destroying Tian Heng was certainly not difficult.

The difficulty lay in doing so within the bounds of the law, without leaving any evidence for others to exploit—that was the true challenge.

Yet, the Earl still gave his word to Young Master Shen.

Young Master Shen's expression was grave, his gaze sincere as he said, "Father-in-Law, Tian Heng, the Xu Family, and the Lin Family have wronged me. I must take this revenge myself; otherwise, I will never be able to hold my head high for the rest of my life. By marrying into the Earl's Manor, I have already gained a massive advantage, as these three families dare not touch a single hair on my head."

Young Master Shen paused for a moment before continuing, "I have not made any contributions to the Earl's Manor, so I have no right to squander any of its resources, especially its political capital. If I require you to fight my battles for me, then I am not worthy of being MuLan's husband, and I might as well go home and live off my parents."

Hearing this, the Earl felt a sense of relief.

He felt that this was the first time Young Master Shen had truly opened his heart to him.

"I admire your spirit," the Earl said. "However, you truly cannot defeat them. Child, Xuanwu City is no longer our territory; it belongs to the imperial court, to Liu Wuyan and Zhang Jin. Both of these men are Tian Heng's backers. You cannot win against him."

Young Master Shen asked, "Then do they dare to kill me? Do they dare to strike me?"

"Who would dare?" the Earl replied coldly. "While we cannot stir up trouble, our house still commands two or three thousand soldiers. If anyone dares to harm a member of the Xuanwu Earl's Manor, they can wait to be trampled and slaughtered by our troops."

Young Master Shen bowed in salute and said, "Father-in-Law, I promise you here and now that I will force Tian Heng to cut off his own arms and lose all his prestige while remaining strictly within the law, and I will leave no evidence behind. Please, trust me."

The Earl asked, "Then what is your plan?"

"I cannot say, it is not easy to explain," Young Master Shen replied. "Some things can only be done, not spoken of."

In truth, Young Master Shen didn't dare to say it, fearing his father-in-law would beat him.

The Earl asked, "Do you realize the consequences if you fail?"

Young Master Shen said, "My reputation will be ruined, and from then on, I will be mocked every time I set foot in Xuanwu City."

The Earl hesitated for a long, long time, then gritted his teeth and said, "You are a man with a plan. If you are determined to go, I cannot stop you."

Young Master Shen said, "Thank you, Father-in-Law."

The Earl said, "You must remember: never violate the laws of the land, and do not leave any handles for them to grab. Do not worry about winning or losing. You are young; losing once is no great matter. If your reputation is tarnished, so be it; there is no shame in that."

Young Master Shen bowed once more and said, "I will strictly follow your teachings, Father-in-Law. Furthermore... I will win. Even with the City Lord's Manor and the Prefect's Manor backing him, this time I will make him suffer a crushing defeat and lose every shred of his prestige."

"I take my leave," Young Master Shen said.

As the sun rose, he boarded a carriage and left the Earl's Manor, heading toward Xuanwu City.

What method should one use to deal with a man like Tian Heng? What strategy? Honestly, it was difficult! Even the Earl had said that toppling Tian Heng while remaining within the law and leaving no evidence was extremely hard.

True, Tian Heng was riddled with crimes; no one knew how many lives were on his hands, and these crimes were enough to send him to the guillotine.

However, the Earl's Manor could not interfere in local government affairs.

Arresting Tian Heng and putting him on trial were the powers of the Xuanwu City Lord.

Unless Tian Heng committed a crime within the fief of the Xuanwu Earl's Manor, he could be taken down easily.

But the man wasn't that stupid.

That was why the Earl said Young Master Shen couldn't win or fight Tian Heng—because he had the Xuanwu City Lord and Zhang Jin behind him.

Young Master Shen had thought of many methods and strategies, profound and complex, some of which seemed as brilliant as those of Zhuge Liang from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with a wisdom that bordered on the supernatural.

Yet... they were all useless.

The more complex the strategy, the higher the chance of failure.

What kind of method worked best?

Simple and brutal was the best!

And the method Young Master Shen prepared to use against Tian Heng was simple and brutal enough to be considered shameless!

Tian Heng operated many businesses: gambling dens, brothels, usury, and so on.

Which one was the most profitable?

Naturally, the gambling dens. They brought in money by the bucketload, accounting for over sixty percent of his income.

His luxurious lifestyle and the hundreds of brothers under his command relied, to a certain extent, on the profits from these dens.

Throughout Xuanwu City, Tian Heng operated five gambling dens, maintaining a complete monopoly.

If anyone else wanted to open a gambling den? Before Tian Heng's brothers could even show up, the City Lord's men would arrive to seal the place.

Prosperity Place was the name of Tian Heng's gambling empire.

It was decorated with opulent splendor, spanning three full floors, and contained everything one could eat, drink, or play.

Even the pawnshop and the brothel were located inside the gambling house.

Therefore, Young Master Shen's method for dealing with Tian Heng was simple: go to his gambling house and win money—keep winning, keep winning, and keep winning!

Win until it far exceeded Tian Heng's bottom line, and exceeded the tolerance of the backer behind him.

For a man like Tian Heng, what was most important?

Loyalty?! Don't make me laugh; it was obviously money!

Only money could allow him to bribe the City Lord's Manor and bribe the garrison.

With money, there was a backer; without money, there was no backer.

Young Master Shen dared to conclude that the Xuanwu City Lord, and even the Nujiang Prefect, were taking money from Tian Heng's gambling house.

Once the money Young Master Shen won exceeded the psychological defenses of these big shots, everything would be out of Tian Heng's control.

Before this, if Young Master Shen hadn't even won a hundred Gold Coins, he would have had his limbs broken and been thrown into the river to drown.

But now, with the status of the Earl's Manor's Live-in Son-in-Law protecting him, winning any amount of money in Xuanwu City was not a problem.

The only thing to worry about was whether he would get a beating from his Father-in-Law.

Of course, what Young Master Shen wanted to do was not just win money; the performance after winning was even more important—he had to drag everyone into the trap.

The Earl sent four warriors to protect Young Master Shen.

He wore gorgeous brocade robes, a jade crown on his head, and sat in a magnificent carriage; the moment he entered the city, he became the focus of everyone's attention.

Countless people pointed at him.

In Xuanwu City, Young Master Shen was already a legendary figure, even if he was a legendary figure of ill repute.

A good-for-nothing wastrel who first became the Live-in Son-in-Law of the wealthy Xu Family, only to be kicked out and become the son-in-law of the Earl's Manor less than three days later? Was that not impressive? A leap to the heavens!

So, seeing Young Master Shen, who was dripping with wealth, countless people felt so jealous they could spit blood, turning away to spit in disgust. "This wastrel is truly arrogant; he just became the Earl's Manor's son-in-law and is already flaunting it through the streets like this."

"Indeed, indeed. Look at the clothes on his back; that's enough to feed my family for three years."

"Shameless to the extreme, truly shameless. He doesn't study hard, doesn't farm, and only thinks about sponging off others and clinging to power. The Earl must be blind to have chosen such a wastrel as a son-in-law."

"Just you wait, he'll be kicked out of the Earl's Manor in half a month at most. He's too arrogant!"

Listening to these remarks, Young Master Shen remained completely indifferent, even shifting to a more comfortable position as he reclined in the carriage.

Arriving at the entrance of Prosperity Place, Young Master Shen stepped out of the carriage and walked into the gambling house.

The four warriors from the Earl's Manor behind him couldn't help but change their expressions.

The Live-in Son-in-Law actually wanted to gamble?

This, how could this be allowed? The Earl's Manor had very strict family rules; even a playboy like the Young Lord wouldn't dare step half a foot into a gambling house, or he would have his legs broken by the Earl.

Who would enter a gambling house? A prodigal son! And Young Master Shen, you are merely a Live-in Son-in-Law of the Earl's Manor; you should have been cautious and behaved yourself, yet not only are you flaunting your brocade robes through the streets, you are also openly entering a gambling house.

However, the four warriors from the Earl's Manor only had the authority to protect Young Master Shen, not the authority to admonish him.

Crucially, they didn't want to admonish him either.

How could a wastrel like Young Master Shen be worthy of Lady MuLan? Since he wanted to court death, let him go!

It would be best if he lost everything, then had his legs broken by the Earl and was kicked out of the house.

In the eyes of these warriors, only Jin Shiying was the best husband for Lady MuLan.

Because Jin Shiying was their idol, and also the Earl's Adopted Son.

At this moment, the one overseeing the floor at Prosperity Place was Tian Shijiu, one of Tian Heng's Adopted Sons.

Seeing Young Master Shen enter, Tian Shijiu was stunned at first, then ecstatic!

What was a gambling house? A den of devils! Young Master Shen had actually taken the initiative to step into the Black Clothes Gang's den—wasn't this courting death? "Oh my, isn't this the Earl's Manor's Young Master Shen? Welcome, welcome!" Tian Shijiu said. "Someone, bring tea, the best tea."

Soon, a servant brought a pot of the finest tea.

Young Master Shen sat down and slowly sipped the tea.

"Young Master Shen, are you here to look around, or do you want to play a few rounds?" Tian Shijiu asked.

Young Master Shen said, "Since I'm here, of course I want to play a few rounds."

"Welcome, welcome!" Tian Shijiu was incredibly excited.

His Foster Father, Tian Heng, had already formed a blood feud with Young Master Shen, and they were just worrying about how to kill him. The other party was the son-in-law of the Earl's Manor; who dared to touch him? He never expected Young Master Shen to come to their door and offer his life! Let him lose ten thousand Gold Coins, then send the IOU to the Earl's Manor, and Young Master Shen would be finished. At best, he'd be kicked out of the Earl's Manor; at worst, he'd have his legs broken before being kicked out.

As for the possibility that Young Master Shen might win?! Tian Shijiu hadn't even considered that possibility.

This was his gambling house, his territory; even if the King of Heaven himself came, he would still lose!