In the hall, Lin Yi looked at the wealth scattered on the floor and said quietly, "Since they know what's good for them, let's remove these two from the purge list. Ma Chao should be arriving soon; it's time to give the world a welcoming gift!"
"Understood!"
Wang Yue nodded and wrote it down.
He knew in his heart that the two men could remain uninvolved not only because they were sensible, but also because they were not heinous criminals, unlike the Carefree Mountain Manor. Therefore, they were qualified to become the sharp blade in the lord's hands.
Otherwise, even if they brought all their wealth, their lord probably wouldn't even glance at them.
As for money and such, as long as they are all wiped out, the money will still belong to the Crown Prince, and all of it will remain.
Lin Yi then thought of a question and asked curiously, "This Wang Chengfei didn't seem to have any hostility towards us from the beginning. Have you investigated his background? He seems a bit too indifferent to ambitions?"
According to intelligence, Wang Chengfei has always kept a low profile, quietly running his business and protecting his assets, which is clearly inconsistent with his status as one of the three powerful clans.
The same thing happened with his own people entering Xiliang this time. He didn't put up much resistance from the start and directly chose to cooperate with Net, which was obviously somewhat unreasonable.
It should be noted that the Net was not well-known at the beginning, and it didn't even operate under its own name. Wang Chengfei shouldn't have been so cowardly.
This is clearly unreasonable!
Wang Yue nodded and whispered, "My lord, we haven't found anything substantial yet, but someone saw members of the Wang Clan entering Old Master Bai's residence..."
Old Master Bai?
Lin Yi suddenly realized that if that was the case, then it would be acceptable.
No wonder Wang Chengfei was so sensible; he probably learned about the origins of the Net from Old Master Bai in the beginning, which is why he chose to comply.
Goodness, it seems this old man has been hiding his true abilities quite well.
The so-called one of the three great clans was nothing more than a pawn of Old Master Bai. It's truly astonishing; no wonder he was the White Asura of yesteryear.
It seems I need to meet with the old man.
This man is a living encyclopedia of Xiliang Commandery; with his help, I'm sure I can obtain a lot of useful information. This old man at least got some potato and sweet potato seeds; he shouldn't turn his back on me.
"And what about this Duan Yingxiong?"
"This..."
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Wang Yue's strange expression, Lin Yi couldn't help but frown. Could it be that Duan Yingxiong had some other problem?
Seeing the look in his lord's eyes, Wang Yue knew that his lord had misunderstood, and explained, "My lord, according to what we have found so far, the three powerful clans, including Duan Yingxiong, are natives of this place. However, he seems to have an extreme admiration for the Prince of Northern Liang of Prince of Northern Liang, and even wanted to follow him, but was refused, and ended up falling seriously ill because of it."
Forehead!
Lin Yi's lips twitched. No wonder that guy was acting strangely; it turned out he was a die-hard fan of his father.
It seems my old man is quite formidable; he even has die-hard fans.
"This Zhuo Feifan seems to be the most audacious; he's actually planning to form an alliance against us."
"This person is quite an extreme individual. Not only does he run shady businesses such as assassination, brothels, and human trafficking, but he also covets other forces and has swallowed up many of them. It is said that he is also connected to the Northern Region Barbarians, but the specifics are currently unknown!"
Forehead!
Lin Yi frowned deeply. This was nothing short of scum and a traitor. This man was from the Great Ning Dynasty, yet he had colluded with the Northern Region Barbarians. Zhuo Feifan absolutely could not be allowed to live.
How long until Ma Chao arrives?
"We should be able to get here by tomorrow morning, but according to the news, Ma Chao seems to have encountered assassins!" Wang Yue said bitterly.
assassin!!!
Lin Yi instantly snapped out of his daze. Ma Chao had initially come representing him, so if he encountered an assassin, it meant the assassin was after him.
This infuriated him. He had already been attacked by assassins once, and now they were coming again. It seemed he hadn't killed enough people.
He couldn't help but frown and ask, "Is Ma Chao alright?"
"Rest assured, my lord, Ma Chao has always been on guard. The enemy only launched their assassination attempt after Ma Chao had wiped out a mountain stronghold, but they were all captured," Wang Yue explained.
"It's good that you're alright. Have you found out who's behind this?"
"Based on the intelligence, the other party is carrying a curved sword, so they shouldn't be from the Central Plains. But whether they are from the Northern Region Barbarians is still uncertain," Wang Yue explained.
Not from the Central Plains!
Northern Region Barbarians!
Upon hearing these two sentences, Lin Yi's expression immediately turned ugly. The fact that the barbarians were involved was quite interesting.
Either it really was done by the Northern Region Barbarians, or someone wanted to use another person to do the dirty work.
However, it doesn't matter who makes the move now, since all enemies will die eventually anyway; we just need to eliminate some forces.
"Is it related to the Duan and Wang families?"
"These two companies haven't made any moves before, so they shouldn't be involved. The most likely culprit is Zhuo Feifan."
"In that case, let's send them on their way tomorrow!"
A murderous glint flashed in Lin Yi's eyes. "Since you want me dead, then you can die first."
The next day!
The news that Duan Yingxiong and Wang Chengfei had submitted to the Prefect's Office and become magistrates of their respective counties spread throughout Xiliang Commandery, causing a tremor throughout the entire Xiliang and stirring up a great uproar.
"My God, how did the young master do that? Those are two enormous creatures!"
"If they joined forces, they could easily muster nearly 40,000 troops, and yet they just surrendered to the prefect like that?"
"Hmph, what's so great about 40,000 people? Yesterday, more than 30,000 people were kneeling before the young master, begging him to take them in!"
"Holy crap, is it that amazing?"
"The young master is too amazing! He's even more terrifying than his father, the Prince of Northern Liang. To have 30,000 people willingly surrender to him is like being a sage from ancient times!"
The defection of these two powerful clans was even more explosive news than the previous annihilation of more than thirty mountain strongholds.
After all, those so-called mountain strongholds were actually just some insignificant bandits, but the Duan Clan and the Wang Clan were different.
These two families are two powerful clans in Xiliang Commandery, each with enough strength to dominate their respective regions. Now, they have actually taken the initiative to submit to the Crown Prince of Heir of Northern Liang, which is simply unacceptable.
Those smaller forces were all trembling with fear. Even the two powerful clans were willing to submit to Lin Yi, so there must be a reason why the two powerful clans had no choice but to submit.
This puts us in an awkward position.
Zhuo Feifan's face was particularly grim; he knew his time was running out and Lin Yi would make his move sooner or later.
He instructed the butler, "Butler, send men to strengthen the surrounding defenses. Lin Yi probably won't give up so easily; we'll be next."
"Yes!"
The butler nodded and quickly went to make the arrangements.