Regarding the topic of success, Yun Ye had discussed it with Lingdang very early on. Clearly, little Lingdang hadn’t listened at all. Xiao Miao now had no relatives to turn to. To live well, she had to rely on herself. From the looks of it, she was very clear about this, practicing again and again. Such good opportunities weren’t available to everyone. Though illiterate, her harsh life had already carved this principle into her bones. He took Lingdang away, not wanting to disturb her. When others were suffering misfortune, the fewer people who witnessed it the better.

Those returning land deeds had already formed a wave. Even the people who came from Chang’an could no longer sit still. They learned of it latest—the fifty thousand water bandits had already been exaggerated by the common people into three hundred thousand. If they remained indifferent any longer, they’d be standard fools. Those unwilling to be fools crowded the prefectural governor’s office, waving land deeds demanding Yun Ye come out and give everyone an explanation. The deep affection from days before had instantly turned into bone-deep hatred.

While Yun Ye sat trapped in his city of sorrows, those people wouldn’t give up either. They insisted Yun Ye follow the contract and give them the thirty percent compensation. Han Cheng opened the empty official granary to show them, which only drew even greater hatred.

“Marquis Yun, back then we established the contract looking at your face. Now, this old one doesn’t demand full refund. You only need to compensate us with thirty percent of the principal according to the contract. This can’t be considered forcing you, right?”

Yun Ye rested his hand under his chin, looking coldly at the Xue Family’s steward and said: “I remember it was you people who got me drunk and begged me to sign the contract, right? What, seeing the situation turn unfavorable, you want to pull out?”

“Marquis Yun, circumstances change. Back then there weren’t hundreds of thousands of water bandits attacking the city. You’re the prefectural governor with responsibility for defending the territory. No matter how much the Emperor favors you, you still cannot escape the crime of losing your army and humiliating the nation. Don’t try to frighten this lowly one. At this time, you’d better compensate the silver coins first—that’s the real business. You’ve used up all our silver. This is official business. Privately, you’re not lacking this bit of silver. Otherwise, that residence your Yun Family has in Chang’an’s Xinghua Ward—my family’s princess is very interested in it. How about using it to settle the debt?”

Yun Ye laughed. Xue Wanche truly was worthless. With such a princess wife, don’t blame this old fellow for being black-hearted. Without saying anything else, he just clapped his hands and went back to the rear hall by himself.

The Xue Family’s steward was just about to open his mouth and shout when someone viciously slapped him across the face. Old Cheng Family’s head steward withdrew his hand and said to the steward about to explode: “This old one is beating you today for your black heart and disrespect for superiors. It’s just a few thousand silver coins—give this old one the land deed, take the money and scram quickly. If you dare say one more sentence, this old one will tear apart your stinking mouth.”

The old man hadn’t been sleeping well these days either. Watching Yun Ye being besieged, as an ally he naturally couldn’t sit still. Finally, after consulting with stewards from a few close families, they decided to take on these debts for Yun Ye. One family bearing these debts would be on the road to bankruptcy. But with the Yun, Cheng, Niu, Qin, and Yuchi families united, it wasn’t so strenuous.

Yun Ye watched coldly as they acquired those debts from people’s hands at thirty percent price. Though his heart felt warm, it also gave him a headache. This way, these five families would profit too much. No good—this kind of large-scale transaction could only be done by the imperial family. If they bought away half the city’s land, Li Er would go crazy.

Very strange—those people who had clearly lost a lot of money were celebrating joyfully. They held grand feasts on the military review tower, saying this was Yueyang’s last supper. A large group of people gorged themselves there as if there truly was no tomorrow.

“My Lord, from now on our several families will probably have to conduct ourselves carefully. The old duke has spoken—as long as you’re short of money here, even if we have to sell houses and land back home, we must supply you. We absolutely cannot let you be short of money. This old one has calculated—there will be a total shortfall of four hundred thousand. If our five families are frugal, life can still go on. You need not worry so much.”

Niu Ben was the old head steward of Niu Jinda’s family. To deal with this crisis, the five families without prior agreement all dispatched their families’ great stewards. The Niu Family sent Niu Ben.

At this time, these several families in the capital also had complaints. After all, with large families and estates, there were always discordant voices appearing. The Niu Family was easy to deal with—Old Niu without a second word firmly supported Yun Ye. Though Niu Jianhu was in another region, he was also unambiguous about supporting his own brother. As long as the main family didn’t speak, no one would say much.

The Cheng Family was also easy to handle. Old Cheng was the old heavenly lord of the family. Cheng Chumo would rather sell his underwear to help his brother. The property had little relation to other brothers. Even if there were complaints, they didn’t dare speak them. Speaking them would result in a beating at minimum. The Yuchi Family’s situation was the same as the Cheng Family. With that family’s style, even if Old Yuchi exchanged all the family property for wine and drank it, his wife would still cheerfully accompany him to beg for food.

The Qin Family was harder to handle. These years Qin Qiong no longer managed family affairs much. This time when the wave of contract returns reached Chang’an, Old Qin used violent suppression on the family, forcing the old steward to personally come preside over purchasing land deeds. For this, family punishment had not stopped recently.

Adding the grief-stricken Old Qian, the five great stewards had firmly swallowed most of the land deeds. The Crown Prince’s Palace aide who came late only purchased a little. As for the Prince Wei’s Palace eunuch, he purchased even less.

Han Cheng and Qian Sheng—both men’s eyes were about to roll up. If not for these people causing trouble, the government office would have recovered most of the land deeds. Now it was fine—they made money yet each wore an expression of “I’ve shown you grace, you should remember it.” Who knew if the prefectural governor would line them up and slap them silly in embarrassed fury?

Yun Ye was also very troubled. He knew it was goodwill. Of course, Li Chengqian, that fellow preparing to make a windfall, didn’t count. After pondering a long while, he said to Old Cheng Family’s steward: “Pick the good ones from the land deeds in your hands and keep them. Sell all the rest to the government office at forty percent price. After all, you’ve all done business once. Can’t let you take losses—just profit one tenth. Profiting too much isn’t good. Even heaven will be unable to watch. If disaster truly descends, that would be bad.”

“My Lord, the Old Cheng Family won’t suck blood from the Yun Family, nor will we suck blood from the government office. Rest assured, the family won’t have half a complaint. If this old slave doesn’t handle this matter well, you also know the old duke’s temper—skinning alive is ordinary.”

Not only did the Old Cheng Family say this, the other stewards said the same. The Crown Prince’s aide was even more indignantly demanding that the Old Cheng and Niu families distribute some more to him. The loss was too small, the money wasn’t all spent—when he returned, the Crown Prince wouldn’t spare him.

The words were spoken boldly. Hearing them, Old Qian kept bowing and saluting to the Crown Prince’s aide. The Yun Family greatly valued such friendship and loyalty.

“Uncle Cheng, I’ve said it—the land deeds in your hands are a huge sum of money. We can’t earn all this money, nor should we. If most of the land in a great city becomes ours, it’s inappropriate. Pick better plots and keep them. Return the rest to the government office. You’ve already made the government office lose quite a bit of money. Can’t be insatiably greedy.”

Yun Ye’s words stunned them all. They didn’t know what these words meant. They looked at each other. Old Qian knew his family’s marquis’s temperament best. He asked quietly: “My Lord, you’re saying this transaction won’t lose money and will even make big profits? Then are the water bandits in the lake fake? There aren’t as many as fifty thousand?”

Seeing Old Qian ask this, the other stewards even held their breath, wanting to learn from the marquis’s mouth that this was his trap. These days watching silver coins flow out from their hands like water, their hearts truly ached terribly.

“Not fake. The water bandits number fifty-six thousand four hundred plus. They’re still increasing now.” Yun Ye put down the tea bowl in his hand and said matter-of-factly.

This sentence immediately deflated them. They shared the same view as local merchants—that the court would definitely win, but Yuezhou would be finished in the flames of war. If they couldn’t catch them all in one net on the lake surface, no matter what was said to heaven, this city couldn’t be built. Already turned into white land—could there still be a new city?

“Uncle Cheng, do you know where your family’s eldest Cheng Feng went?” Yun Ye lowered his voice to ask Old Cheng’s steward.

“This, this old slave truly isn’t clear. That stinking boy is always mysterious. Don’t know what he’s doing. But he’s the Emperor’s man. This old slave never asks what he’s doing. You know, can’t let this matter affect his future.” The old steward became like a laughing Buddha whenever he mentioned his family’s eldest. This was the family’s most promising child. Without relying on the Cheng or Yun families’ help, he forcibly tested into the academy himself. After graduation, who knows what the Emperor dispatched him to do—can’t see him once a year.

“Don’t know? I know. Right now Cheng Feng is the great chief of the Left Patrol Third Stockade of the water bandits, commanding three thousand water bandits, preparing to fight me decisively. The Qin Family’s Qin Zhan, though not born of the principal wife, is now the great chief of the Sixth Stockade. The Yuchi Family also has a distant relative who’s a stockade chief. All are fierce and aggressive figures.”

Old Cheng’s steward, Old Qin’s steward, and the Yuchi steward’s legs trembled when they heard this. Especially Old Cheng’s steward—his legs went soft and he knelt on the ground. Just as he was about to say he’d go to the bandit camp to drag out his son and execute him on the spot, he suddenly realized something was wrong. He knew his own son—having mixed his way out with such difficulty, how could there be any reason to become a bandit? To be able to enter the bandit camp, unless the Emperor arranged it.

Old Qian was first to understand. His expression flickering between light and dark, he asked Yun Ye: “My Lord, our family wouldn’t also have someone who entered the bandit camp as a leader, would we? This old slave has never seen Little Ying come out. Could he also be a great water bandit chief?” Dan Ying was the most suitable person in the family to be a bandit. His family originally did exactly that. Even when Daya gave birth to a child, he wasn’t seen. There was only one possibility—Dan Ying also went to the bandit camp and became a leader.

“Yes. He went to the bandit camp to serve as guard for the water bandits’ greatest leader Liu Fang, Master Liu. Can’t return for a while.”

“My Lord, are you saying the water bandits’ great leader is Master Liu Fang?”

“Correct. It’s this old bandit who became the leader and even gathered the water bandits together for your marquis.”

“You mean the water bandits are ours?” Old Qian asked in astonishment the question everyone wanted to ask.

“Can’t say they’re ours. However, they’re all laborers I’m going to use…”