"You're going to strip them of their land? That's a reckless decree! It'll bring disaster!"
The first to react was, unexpectedly, Chen Fangtai.
The fear had vanished from his face. But after blurting that out, he caught Chen Cuo's expression and immediately lowered his posture and voice, though his words came faster. "Second Younger Brother, you... you don't know what kind of backlash seizing these people's land will cause!"
When Chen Cuo's expression did not change, Chen Fangtai hesitated, then went on. "Your elder brother has plenty of experience with this! When I was in the south, I seized land from several households. They weren't even great families, merely well-off, with few men at their disposal. Yet the moment their land was taken, they went to extremes. Some even tried to assassinate me! In the blink of an eye, they'd become outlaws. Things only quieted down after I condemned them all as rebels and had them killed."
The three gods listened, their eyelids twitching. Wasn't that obvious? You took away their lifeblood. How could they not fight back?
No wonder the new Lord of the Huai River kept saying Chen Fangtai had run amok in Lingnan.
But that only left the three gods more puzzled. If Chen Cuo knew this was reckless, why do it?
The Shouchun City God hesitated several times before finally speaking. "My lord, this is rather rash. One misstep could spark a People's Uprising, and the common people would suffer!"
Chen Cuo smiled. "Which people?"
All three gods froze.
Chen Cuo continued, "The Huai Region originally belonged to the Southern Dynasty. When the Chen Kingdom replaced Liang, Qi took advantage and seized it. Yet barely a month later, everything had settled down. Why?" He turned to the Land God.
The Huai-Si Land God answered at once.