Biodata
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Shen Family (沈) |
| Alias(es) | Wind-Chasing Shen Family 113 |
| Occupation/Role | One of Kuishan County’s four great families; owner of Hundred Herb Hall and extensive land and businesses 40 127 139 |
| Status | Its Tuancao Town holdings were seized and its rebellion defeated. Patriarch Shen Yixi and heir Shen Jinghui escaped after the defeat 142 154 156. |
| First Appearance | Shen Lian and Shen Jie attend the four-family banquet at Jinghua Pavilion 40. |
Holdings and Influence
| Holding | Extent |
|---|---|
| Outer City | General manager Shen Jinghong controlled the family’s properties and deployment of forces across its four quarters and sixteen streets 99. |
| Hundred Herb Hall | A Shen family enterprise headed by Shen Yifei. More than a dozen of Tuancao Town’s 23 pharmacies were its branches 127 134. |
| Tuancao herb fields | More than 3,700 mu, accounting for over 80% of the town’s medicinal fields 134. |
| Other Tuancao businesses | The family owned shares in or directly controlled more than half the town’s grain shops, inns, cloth shops, and blacksmiths 134. |
The family forced independent herb farmers to sell to Hundred Herb Hall at low prices, then resold their harvests in the county seat and Prefecture City at higher prices 133. Its Wind Chasing Guards served as an Inner Guard; four Bone Forging guards accompanied an envoy acting under Shen Jinghui’s authority 100.
History
Conflict with Yang Ning
Shen Lian, a collateral descendant, cooperated with the Benevolent Joy Heavenly Mother Sect in its plot to abduct Qin Yurong. After Yang Ning captured him, Shen Jinghong demanded his release for internal family discipline. The Qin Family and Patrol Bureau refused because Shen Lian held information needed to rescue Yurong 55 98 99. The ensuing standoff escalated when Shen Jinghui’s envoy, Fei Yan, brought the Wind Chasing Guards to confront Yang Ning; Yang Ning defeated the guards and killed Fei Yan 100 101.
As County Magistrate Sun Nian investigated the Heavenly Mother Sect, the Shen leadership publicly distanced itself from Shen Lian while maintaining covert ties to the sect. Shen Jinghui acted as a bridge between the family’s upper ranks and the sect, and later helped assemble a secret alliance with Black Hou Hall and Qin Minglie’s Qin Family West Courtyard 112 123 128 129.
Loss of Tuancao Town
After Yang Ning became mayor of Tuancao Town, he executed Hundred Herb Hall manager Fei Zhong, abolished the family’s heavy taxes, and opened an Official Herb Market that challenged its control of herb sales 133 136. Shen Yifei’s attempts to intimidate merchants and undermine the new market failed. With Sun Nian investigating the main family branch, Shen Yifei received no effective help from the county seat 136 137.
Shen Yifei then sent Shen Zhong to seek General Yin’s help against Yang Ning, offering treasure, medicinal herbs, and bound captives. General Yin led a beast tide against Tuancao Town, but Yang Ning defeated him. Yang Ning subsequently killed Shen Yifei and ordered the seizure of the family’s local fields, shops, accounts, and evidence of its crimes 138 140 141 142.
Rebellion
Evidence gathered by Yang Ning implicated the Shen Family and Black Hou Hall in the Four Officials Case 148. After Black Stone Town fell and the Shen family’s southern position deteriorated, Shen Yixi and his allies planned an uprising to kill Sun Nian and seize Kuishan County. Shen Jinghui used his access to the City Defense Battalion to help launch the rebellion 153 154. Yang Ning and Sun Nian trapped the rebel force, but Shen Yixi and Shen Jinghui escaped with other leaders after Heavenly Mother Sect and Mountain Barbarian forces intervened 156.
Notable Members and Agents
- Shen Yixi — patriarch who directed the family’s opposition to Sun Nian and joined the failed rebellion 127 153 156.
- Shen Jinghui — Shen Yixi’s eldest legitimate son and designated heir; organized alliances and coordinated rebel forces 99 127 129 154.
- Shen Yifei — Shen Yixi’s brother, head of Hundred Herb Hall, and the family’s principal figure in Tuancao Town; killed by Yang Ning 127 142.
- Shen Jinghong — general manager of the family’s Outer City properties and forces 99.
- Shen Jingyue — Shen Ward patrol commander who cooperated outwardly with Sun Nian’s Hualin Town operation while letting cultists escape 110 114 116.
- Shen Lian — collateral descendant whose cooperation with the Heavenly Mother Sect sparked the confrontation with the Qin Family and Yang Ning 55 99.
- Fei Yan — former Hundred Herb Hall steward who entered Shen Jinghui’s service; killed by Yang Ning 99 101.
Factional Relationships
- Benevolent Joy Heavenly Mother Sect — covert partner in plots against Yang Ning and Sun Nian; Shen Jinghui served as a link to the sect’s leadership 106 112 128.
- Black Hou Hall — ally in the anti-Sun Nian coalition and the later rebellion 129 153 154.
- Qin Family West Courtyard — Qin Minglie’s branch joined the secret alliance and supplied troops for the rebellion 129 153.
- Qin Yuwei’s branch of the Qin Family — opposed the Shen Family’s attempt to take custody of Shen Lian 99 100.
- Sun Nian and Yang Ning — dismantled the family’s Tuancao holdings, investigated its crimes, and defeated its rebellion 136 137 142 156.