Chapter 25: The Turmoil of Heishan

"Besides, we have seized the correspondence records between the Huang family and the Heishan bandits in the Huang Mansion." Li Dian reported while handing over a stack of letters.

Cao Cao quickly flipped through them and was overjoyed! He had originally planned to fabricate evidence of the Huang family's collusion with the Heishan bandits according to Lin Yu's strategy, but unexpectedly, he found these real letters, which now made the fact of the Huang family's collusion with the Heishan bandits an ironclad certainty!

"Take all these people to the city gate square!" Cao Cao ordered. Immediately, Li Dian and Yue Jin led the soldiers to escort the members of the Huang family and other noble clans to the city gate.

Both the Huang family and the other noble clans were prominent in Dongjun. Being escorted by the soldiers through the streets, they attracted widespread attention.

By the time Cao Cao and his entourage arrived at the city gate, a large crowd had already gathered there. Almost the entire city's population had come to witness this scene.

"Fellow citizens!" Cao Cao looked around and announced loudly, "Please be quiet. I, the Prefect, have an important announcement to make!"

His voice immediately silenced the noisy crowd, and all eyes were fixed on him.

"Today, I received a report that the Huang family, Hu family and other noble clans have colluded with the Heishan bandits who are causing chaos in Wei Jun and Dongjun. Therefore, I personally led a team to search their residences!"

As soon as Cao Cao finished speaking, a buzz of discussion broke out in the crowd.

"How could this be?"

"Master Huang is so wealthy. How could he have connections with the Heishan bandits?"

"Humph, why not?"

Listening to the people's comments, Cao Cao frowned. Seeing this, Dian Wei stepped forward and shouted, "Quiet!" His voice was so deafening that it immediately silenced the crowd.

Cao Cao nodded with satisfaction and continued, "These correspondence records with the Heishan bandit chiefs Yu Du, Bai Rao and others were found in the Huang Mansion! Now that the evidence is conclusive, they should be sentenced to death according to the law! Men, prepare for the execution!"

Li Dian and Yue Jin led the soldiers to quickly step forward and pushed all the members of the Huang family and several other noble clans to the ground.

With a series of beheading sounds, the air was filled with a mist of blood as heads rolled on the ground.

Whether they are ordinary mountain bandits or Heishan bandits, they all base themselves in the mountains and live by plundering, causing great harm to the common people. The Huang family, as a noble clan, had always oppressed the common people and now they had colluded with the Heishan bandits. Seeing them being wiped out, the common people not only showed no sympathy but instead clapped their hands with joy.

"From now on, as long as you abide by the law and live and work in peace and contentment, I, the Prefect, guarantee that you will not be disturbed by anyone!" Cao Cao said passionately.

"The Prefect is wise!"

"It is our honor to be the citizens under the Prefect's governance!" The common people cheered excitedly.

Cao Cao had first promulgated a series of policies to benefit the people and then executed the noble clans who had oppressed the people and colluded with the Heishan bandits, thus naturally winning the hearts of the people.

...

"Sir! Sir!" Cao Cao rushed in excitedly from outside, barging into Lin Yu's room without even knocking on the door.

Lin Yu, who was taking an afternoon nap, was startled awake. Rubbing his eyes, he hurriedly asked, "Prefect, has something happened?"

"Nothing has happened!" Cao Cao laughed heartily, dancing with excitement. "I just sent people to raid the Huang family and Hu family. Do you know how much property we seized?"

"I don't know." Lin Yu shook his head.

"Look, sir, see for yourself." Cao Cao handed him an account book.

Lin Yu casually flipped through it and his eyes widened in shock. "So much?!"

Just from the dozen or so noble clans in Puyang County alone, the property seized from their homes was close to five billion!

This was astonishing. Had he known this earlier, why bother with tomb raiding? Just raiding a few noble clans would have been enough! However, after the initial shock, Lin Yu thought to himself that when the Mi family sent Mi Zhen to marry Liu Bei, the dowry alone was two billion. The combined family wealth of these few noble clans in Puyang County was only twice that of the Mi family's dowry. Seen in this light, it wasn't too surprising after all.

"No wonder sir has always advocated suppressing the noble clans. Now it seems that these noble clans truly deserve to die!" Cao Cao said indignantly.

He had previously served in the imperial court and was naturally aware of the emptiness of the national treasury. Now that the imperial court was in decline and there were starving people everywhere in the world, yet these noble clans were sitting on such astonishing wealth. How could he not be angry?

"With this property, Prefect, you won't have to worry about military funds anymore, right?" Lin Yu joked.

"Sir is right! With this money, we can recruit another large army!" Cao Cao chuckled and then, as if remembering something, hurriedly said, "By the way, sir, we also found the correspondence records between the Huang family and the Heishan bandits in the Huang Mansion. Unfortunately, that fellow Huang Silang escaped!"

"Oh, is that so?" Lin Yu took the letters from Cao Cao's hand, pondered for a moment, and then said slowly, "Since Huang Silang has connections with the Heishan bandits, he will surely flee to the Chaoge area to seek refuge with the Heishan bandits this time. I'm afraid the Heishan bandits will soon come to harass Dongjun!"

"This is troublesome!" Cao Cao's face grew solemn. He had less than six thousand troops in his hands. If he were to defend Puyang County to the death, it might be barely possible. But Dongjun was not just Puyang County! Once the Heishan bandits attacked, with just these five thousand troops, it would probably be far from enough!

"Prefect, don't worry. If the Heishan bandits dare to come, we'll make sure they come but never go back!" Lin Yu smiled calmly, looking full of confidence.

Seeing Lin Yu like this, the tension in Cao Cao's heart immediately dissipated.

...

In the Heishan Mountains outside Chaoge City.

A horse was galloping from a distance. The man on its back looked flustered, glancing nervously back from time to time. This man was none other than Huang Silang who had escaped from the Huang Mansion.

Just then, the horse he was riding suddenly neighed pitifully and toppled forward. Huang Silang was thrown into a daze. Before he could come to his senses, a group of big men rushed out from both sides.

They held swords and knives and placed them on Huang Silang's neck. Huang Silang was shocked and quickly shouted, "Stop! We're on the same side! I'm here to see your chief Yu Du!"

The big men were slightly taken aback, but they still tied Huang Silang up tightly and carried him into the mountains.

Not long after, the group arrived at a mountain stronghold. Huang Silang was thrown heavily into a hall. When he came to his senses, he found a burly and fierce-looking man sitting on the dais, squinting at him.

"Master Huang, how come you're so free today to visit my stronghold?" The man speaking was none other than Yu Du, the chief of the Heishan bandits.

"Chief Yu, you have to help me!" Huang Silang, upon seeing Yu Du, pleaded for help as if seeing his savior.