bookcurios Chapter 284 Jade Fall 21 Sword Slashing Jiangnan
Chapter 284 Jade Fall 21 Sword Slashing Jiangnan
Fifty thousand bandits howled and rushed onto the river like mad dogs out of a cage, boarding the warships and charging straight towards King Kang's army.
More than 200,000 conscripted soldiers were forced by the steel knives of the supervision team to board simple boats and rafts and rushed to the river in a disorderly manner, like fallen leaves caught in a huge whirlpool. From time to time, rafts and rafts collided with each other, and people fell into the water!
The winner will be decided as soon as the battle begins!
King Kang's army stood firm on the shore. When the bandits' warships approached, they were greeted by a rain of precise arrows that covered the sky!
Under the powerful crossbow fire, many bandits screamed and fell into the icy river. Some also drew their bows to resist, but many warships were not fully equipped with bows and crossbows! The general commanding the army was still on the other side, and the orders conveyed by the flag could not be carried out. Most of the bandits acted on their own!
The few who bravely rushed onto the beach were immediately caught in the well-prepared enemy lines and easily strangled! The bandits usually faced ordinary civilians; how could they have ever experienced the real fighting of a battlefield? Their initial courage was frightened away by the tragic scenes around them, and some immediately hesitated to move forward, even showing signs of retreating!
"Hold on! Hold on! Supervisory team! Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed without mercy!"
General Jiangnan Xin stood on the rear platform, shouting at the top of his lungs, sweat pouring down his face. His command was completely disorganized. He waved his banners in vain, unable to mobilize a single unit! Many of the elite mounted soldiers, seeing the situation was dire, fled with their own men!
However, the real collapse has just begun.
When the content of the manifesto was combined with the brutal scene of massacre before their eyes, and when they saw the ferocious "own people" falling like wheat in front of King Kang's army, the long-suppressed fear and anger of the conscripted men completely erupted.
"Run! It's not worth it to work for the dog emperor!"
Someone shouted first, and it was like lighting the fuse of dynamite. The conscripts in the rear instantly blew up the camp!
They dropped their weapons, those on the rafts and rowboats paddled sideways, and those on the shore turned around and ran desperately, just wanting to escape from this bloody river.
The supervising team immediately rushed towards the fleeing soldiers with ferocious expressions, wielding long whips and broadswords! They tried to suppress the rebellion, but it was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. They were instantly overwhelmed and drowned by the surging tide!
The chaos spread like a plague, and among the fleeing crowd, there suddenly broke out even more shrill roars and the sound of weapons clashing!
An even more shocking scene happened!
Some young men, with red eyes, looked at the officers and supervisory teams who abused their power and whipped them on a daily basis, and looked at the "masters" who forced them to go to the battlefield. The hatred that had accumulated for a long time found an outlet at this moment!
"Fight them!"
"It's all caused by these bastard officials!"
A young man with a dirty face suddenly stabbed the rusty spear in his hand into the back of an officer of the supervision team who was wielding a knife to kill deserters!
"Kill the dog official! Submit to King Kang!"
Like a chain reaction, more and more soldiers swung their weapons at the arrogant senior officers and supervisors! Internal strife spread like a plague throughout the vast, chaotic camp!
The massive battle ended within a day.
On the riverbank, littered with corpses, the Eighth Prince's 300,000-man army had collapsed like an avalanche. Banners fell, armor lay scattered on the ground, leaving only scattered resistance and desperate cries. Prince Kang reined in his horse and stood aloft, his gaze indifferent as he scanned this battlefield of ambition and power.
Qin Tao, who witnessed the whole scene, was filled with shock! Although he had never experienced a real war, he was determined to fight on the battlefield and was naturally familiar with military affairs!
They were able to defeat the enemy with fewer troops despite such a huge disparity in strength! King Kang's casualties were only a hundred!
"Cousin...did you know that there would be defeated soldiers, so you hurried south with only 20,000 people?" Qin Tao couldn't help but ask.
King Kang turned his head and looked at the man who had always called him cousin. His eyes couldn't help but become complicated. After a moment's silence, he said calmly, "How many of today's wealthy families in Jiangnan didn't retreat to the south when the northern tribes invaded during the previous dynasty? How many of these cowards, who only know how to live in a petty and cowardly way, have the determination to fight to the death? And their profit-seeking behavior from top to bottom is bound to unpopular. It's natural that the people who were temporarily recruited are unwilling to fight..."
When Qin Tao was greatly shocked, King Kang suddenly paused what he was saying... He could foresee the result in a trance, but was there no "talented man" in the Jiangnan family who could have thought of it?
"Report! Your Highness! The Eighth Prince is still in the palace in Jiangnan and has not been to the battlefield in person!" A messenger brought the news, interrupting the confusion in King Kang's heart, and anger occupied his mind!
If it weren't for these noble families headed by the Prime Minister, and if it weren't for these scoundrels fanning the flames, how could Chu Shiqi have killed his father!
At this time, a group of men in tattered uniforms and covered in blood, led by their personal soldiers, came to the front of the battle nervously and with a hint of fanaticism. They were holding bloody packages in their hands. When they opened them, they saw several hideous heads with eyes open after death - they were the officers of the supervision team and those bandits whose clothes were obviously different from theirs!
The leading youth's voice trembled, but he managed to straighten his back. "Your Highness! We...we will follow the instructions and abandon the dark and join the light!"
King Kang's gaze swept across those faces filled with hope yet mingled with fear, and across those heads. He nodded slightly, and his voice, low but clear to everyone's ears, said, "You have abandoned darkness and joined the light, slaying the evil leader. You have done a great service! You shall be rewarded!"
As soon as the words came out, the personal guards around King Kang came forward, counted the heads, recorded the merits, and distributed the rewards on the spot! Those who received the rewards held the silver in their hands, trembling with excitement, their eyes shining with hope!
"You've received your reward. Now, I want to know..." His sharp gaze slowly swept across each face, finally landing on the young man with the straightest back. "In Jiangnan, which noble families have been the most dedicated to serving the false emperor? Which have contributed the most money and the most ruthless effort to coerce and drive you here? Or have they aided the tyrant in his cruelty and persecuted loyal officials?"
The crowd fell silent in an instant, the ecstasy of receiving the reward just now replaced by a deeper, long-suppressed resentment. The brief silence was like the calm before the storm.
"Your Highness!" The leading young man suddenly raised his head. His eyes were no longer filled with fear, but were instead burning with the flames of revenge and revelation. His voice was hoarse with excitement, but unusually loud: "I know! The Wang family in the east of Jinling City! They colluded with the government to embezzle and pervert justice! They bully the weak and dominate the market! Recently, they even violated the law and forcibly conscripted men! My neighbor's uncle was tortured to death by them!"
Someone took the lead, and the accusations that had been suppressed for too long burst out like a flood that broke through a dam!
"And the Li family in the west of the city! The silver they paid piled up like a mountain! That bastard general bought his position!"
"The Zhou family! That old thief from the Zhou family personally led his servants to arrest people! My father tried to stop him, but they broke his leg!"
"The Wu family! They've taken over the docks along the river and are taking 30% of the 'military pay' from all the grain ships! How many people have starved to death!"
"The Zhao family! They..."
The names of the prominent families that were once like local tyrants were roared out by these "heroes" who were once the most humble and regarded as ants.
Behind every surname were bloody charges: forced expropriation, land grabbing, forced prostitution, selling official positions, and extortion! These accusations were no longer vague designations, but bloody indictments bearing specific dates, locations, and lives lost!
Prince Kang listened quietly, his face expressionless, his eyes growing colder and colder, like frozen ice! These cries from the lowest classes, filled with piercing pain, would become his sharpest, most irrefutable blade against the Jiangnan aristocratic families!
"What you have confessed has been recorded in detail by the officials! Those who have made meritorious contributions will be rewarded again! Now listen to my orders and reorganize your work, and then follow our army to hunt down the rebels!" He turned to the trusted general standing solemnly beside him, who had already understood his intention.
"Order!" King Kang's voice suddenly turned stern, like the clanging of metal, echoing across the corpse-strewn riverbank. "Immediately blockade Nanjing! Arrest the ringleaders of those who are treasonous and causing chaos in Jiangnan! Confiscate their property and investigate any remaining culprits! Besiege the false emperor's palace, but do not attack it..."
"This prince wants to personally interrogate Chu Shiqi!"
The order was decisive and unquestionable.
The guillotine of reckoning fell with a bang.
The elite cavalry were divided into several groups, and with the young defector who had taken credit for the victory, they volunteered to lead the way. Like a sharp blade drawn from its sheath, they charged straight into the mansions, estates and fortresses of the major families in and around Jinling City!
Some well-informed commoners, hearing that they could be rewarded for their contributions, rushed to the scene and were temporarily recruited by King Kang's men as militia, following closely behind! They might have been less disciplined, but the rage burning in their eyes and the long-suppressed anger became their sharpest weapons at this moment - they recognized the doorposts of those wealthy families and the faces of those who had once acted tyrannically!
Iron hooves crushed the bluestone slabs in front of the aristocratic family's gate, and heavy battering rams blasted open the vermilion lacquered gate with carved beams and painted rafters. The once tranquil and elegant courtyard was instantly filled with the cold gleam of armor, the blazing flames of torches, and the cries of brutal shouting.
Resistance? Before King Kang's battle-hardened troops, the private guards raised by the aristocratic families—those who might have bullied the good guys but were weak in the face of real battle—were like paper. The sporadic resistance was like snowflakes thrown into a fire, instantly crushed!
The knife flashed, blood splattered in the courtyard, adding a few more corpses and filled the yard with panic and cries!
Begging for mercy became the only way out! However, all those excuses seemed so pale and ridiculous under the cold blade and the indifferent gaze of the soldiers!
A middle-aged family head in a brocade robe, his face pale with fear, was dragged out of the fake cave by the soldiers. He knelt down in front of the captain leading the team, tears streaming down his face: "General! General, please understand! I have never been truly loyal to that false emperor... No, no, the traitor Chu Shiqi! When he collected grain, I only gave him 30%! When he recruited soldiers, I only sent a few old, weak and sick people to make up the number! My heart has always been with His Royal Highness Prince Kang! I beg the general to show mercy! Show mercy!" He kowtowed like crazy, and secretly looked up to observe the captain's expression, trying to catch a hint of relaxation.
In another luxurious hall, an old man with white hair and beard, who seemed to be of high moral character and prestige, forced himself to remain calm and bowed to the general leading the troops, but his voice trembled uncontrollably: "General, I... I have no choice! It's all because of the Prime Minister Zhou's family, and the Wang and Li families! They are so powerful that they control the whole of Jiangnan! They force us to do things. If we don't contribute money and effort, they will frame us, seize our property, and wipe out our entire family! How dare we, a small family, disobey? We are really coerced and have no choice! I hope the general will understand my situation and say a few good words in front of His Highness!" He spoke sincerely, pushing all the responsibility onto the so-called three upper families of Jinling.
The entrance to the dark cellar was opened, and a fat merchant was pulled out. He collapsed on the ground, shaking like a sieve. When he saw the bloody knife in the soldier's hand, he immediately grabbed a life-saving straw and screamed, "Don't kill me! Don't kill me! The Wang family is the real culprit! His family strongly supports the false emperor! They can't stop him even if they invest tens of millions of taels! And there is also the Wu family! The old dog of the Wu family, he has secret letters with the traitor prime minister hidden in the secret compartment of his study! I'm afraid the Wu family is also involved in the poisoning of the late emperor! I know all the Wu family's manors in Jiangnan, I am willing to lead the way! I am willing to testify! I only ask the general to spare my life! I am willing to donate all my family wealth as military supplies!" He spoke very quickly, his eyes flashing with cunning and fear. In order to survive, he did not hesitate to push his former ally into the abyss.
What's worse, some people tried to bribe soldiers with gold, silver and jewelry, and some pushed out beautiful women in their families in an attempt to seduce them... The lords and sons of the noble families who used to be high and mighty and looked down on the common people were now in a disgraceful state, with their dignity gone to the ground, hoping only to survive under the cold blade.
However, all they got in response were the soldiers' impatient gazes and merciless scolding:
"Shut up! His Highness has ordered that anyone who colluded with the rebels will be punished accordingly!"
"take away!"
"Search! Search thoroughly! Anyone who dares to hide will be killed without mercy!"
The elite soldiers acted as swift as the wind, ransacking homes, sealing warehouses, and arresting prisoners. Everything was done according to military orders, efficiently and ruthlessly.
Those temporarily recruited militiamen became the most active "gravediggers".
They rushed into the granary and looked at the mountains of rice. They thought of how they had been starving year after year and often had no food to eat, and their eyes were blazing with anger. They smashed open the warehouse and looked at the room full of gold, silver, jewelry, silks and satins. They thought of the few taels of silver they had embezzled and the land that had been stolen, and they were filled with hatred.
That night, the entire city of Jinling was shrouded in fear and a bloody aura. The centuries and millennia of accumulation, so proud of the aristocratic families, were crumbling and disintegrating at a visible rate beneath the web of weapons and evidence.
On the bank of Qinhuai River, a magnificent palace stands half on the river, revealing faint lights. If you only look at the palace, an uninformed person might mistake it for peace.
However, if you take a quick look around at the layers of tents and the two armies vaguely facing each other, you will feel the solemn and murderous atmosphere.
In the outer military camp, Prince Kang commanded the center. Lists of confiscated property, laden with tearful accusations and irrefutable evidence, and preliminary confessions were rapidly being brought before him. He would decide life and death for each aristocratic family. However, the reckoning had only just begun; it was merely the prelude to confronting the true culprit...
King Kang had mixed emotions churning in his heart, and these things happened to help soothe him a little.
In the palace, Chu Shiqi and his grandfather must have heard the approaching death knell, right?