Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne

Chapter 819: Chapter 3: The Ruthless Prince Han (Part 2)

The people of Lingnan are increasingly anticipating the arrival of Zhao Yao, but the officials of Lingnan do not want Prince Han to come to Lingnan.

The fate of the officials in Taichuan Prefecture did not frighten them; on the contrary, it made them more determined to eliminate Prince Han. These people have long swaggered about in Lingnan, considering themselves the sky of the region, and cannot allow Prince Han to step on their heads. Besides, if Prince Han comes, their financial avenues will be cut off.

To cut off one’s financial avenues is like killing one’s parents. Naturally, the officials of Lingnan view Zhao Yao, parachuted into Lingnan, as a mortal enemy and must kill him.

The officials of Swamp Prefecture learned that Zhao Yao wanted to set up the Prince Mansion there, and they were, of course, unwilling. When the Prince Han’s mansion was under construction, they obstructed and sabotaged in every possible way, causing Zhao Yao to arrive in Swamp Prefecture without the mansion being completed.

Zhao Yao has been in Swamp Prefecture for ten days. During these ten days, Zhao Yao was extremely busy because he did many things. In the first two days after he arrived in Swamp Prefecture, he merely had the workers continue building his mansion and didn’t do anything else.

The officials of Swamp Prefecture saw that he did nothing and assumed he was timid, thinking he was cowardly and useless, planning to bully him further. However, on the third day, Prince Han began to show his might.

On the third day of Zhao Yao’s arrival, he began to reckon with the officials of Swamp Prefecture.

Before he came to Swamp Prefecture, he had Zheng Qian investigate and gather evidence of the crimes committed by the officials of Swamp Prefecture.

Despite having both witnesses and physical evidence, the officials of Swamp Prefecture not only refused to admit their crimes but even shouted defiance at Zhao Yao.

After Zhao Yao pronounced their crimes, the next day, which was his fourth day in Swamp Prefecture, he personally supervised the execution of all the officials of Swamp Prefecture and their families.

All the officials of Swamp Prefecture committed crimes, and not one of them was innocent. Moreover, their families did all kinds of outrageous things in Swamp Prefecture. According to the laws of Great Zhou, they were all executed by beheading.

Zhao Yao understood that Swamp Prefecture shouted defiance at him, thinking he would not punish the crowd. Unfortunately, the officials of Swamp Prefecture did not understand Zhao Yao’s character; the law would not punish the crowd does not apply to Zhao Yao.

The officials of Swamp Prefecture and their families numbered in the hundreds, and it was impossible to execute them all in one day. Zhao Yao executed one or two hundred people each day, from morning till night, in front of all the citizens of Swamp Prefecture.

Of course, the elderly, women, and children in these officials’ families were not beheaded, but their fate was also very tragic. The old, women, and children were exiled to Qiongzhou Prefecture, not far from Lingnan.

Besides Lingnan, as a place of exile in Great Zhou, there are also Qiongzhou and Dianzhou. These two places are even more remote and barren than Lingnan. Being exiled to Lingnan still offers a thirty percent chance of survival, but being exiled to Qiongzhou and Dianzhou offers only a ten percent chance of survival.

It took three consecutive days of beheadings to deal with all the officials of Swamp Prefecture, their families, slaves, and accomplices.

The people of Swamp Prefecture did not expect Prince Han to be so ruthless. Previously, when they saw Prince Han arrive in Swamp Prefecture and do nothing, allowing the officials to bully him, they thought he was cowardly and fearful. They did not expect Prince Han to open such a massacre.

During the execution, Zhao Yao had his men announce each person’s crimes. The people were furious when they heard, and before the executioner beheaded them, they threw stones or vegetables or other things from their hands at the officials kneeling on the execution platform.

Although the people felt that Prince Han was ruthless, they believed Prince Han was right. When they saw the heads of those corrupt officials who ate people and spit out the bones getting chopped off, they felt immensely relieved.

The officials from other prefectures also did not expect Prince Han to be so ferocious, actually killing all the officials of Swamp Prefecture without leaving anyone behind! They were frightened by Zhao Yao’s methods and ruthlessness; for a moment, they were deterred and did not dare to act unscrupulously as before.

After finishing off the corrupt officials of Swamp Prefecture, Zhao Yao then began sending troops to attack several tribes in Swamp Prefecture. The chiefs of these tribes colluded with officials and committed many heinous acts. Also, many people in these tribes committed numerous atrocities against the populace, and not one of them would be spared.

The people attacking the tribes were those whom Zhao Yao had begun training more than a decade ago. They had since undergone rigorous training under He Lianfang and were then sent to other places to work. Over the years, they had become the sharpest blade in Zhao Yao’s hand.

Not to mention several tribes, they were even unafraid of facing well-trained soldiers.