Looking at the prison yard littered with nearly a hundred bodies lying every which way, quite a few had not died immediately but lay there emitting piercing wails. Blood continued gurgling from their wounds, while others rolled and convulsed in the pools of blood.
Xue Ruogu, who usually considered himself quite courageous, now turned deathly pale. He hadn’t imagined that the dozens of household guards the Prefect had brought to Xuzhou were like killing gods—their murderous nature was so terrifying. Entering the prison yard for barely more than the time to brew a cup of tea, they had killed their way in and out, leaving the prison yard strewn with corpses and rivers of blood.
At this moment, apart from the narrow courtyard of the prison yard being covered with nearly a hundred bodies lying in disarray, the others had all been driven back into their cells, watching everything in the yard in terror. Zhao Kuo, Yang Qin, and Tian Cheng led the heavily armored warriors very decisively back to the open ground before the prison office to regroup, while Fan Xicheng led men to tightly close the second heavy gate again.
Xue Ruogu and the others could even see a pool of blood seeping out from the gap where the second gate met the ground.
Han Daoxun sighed quietly in his heart. He knew that among the thirty armored soldiers before the prison office, most were household guard descendants trained by Han Qian or fierce warriors selected from Dragon Sparrow Army military households. Their style of action already bore the deep imprint of Han Qian’s character. He didn’t understand when or what factors had caused Han Qian to act with such ruthless decisiveness.
Though the sight of corpses strewn everywhere was unbearable, Han Daoxun also knew the importance of suppressing the riot at the first opportunity, and knew they must thoroughly control the situation at the prison before the garrison side acted rashly and the situation spiraled further out of control.
Several head jailers and prison clerks were all detained for examination. But even without anyone commanding them, when Han Daoxun ordered jailers to enter the prison walls and yard to move out the corpses, carry wounded prisoners to the prison office for simple treatment, and commanded some to watch the cells, strictly forbidding prisoners inside from whispering together in conspiracy, no one dared express dissatisfaction anymore. The prisoners who had returned to their cells were also quite quiet.
The disturbance never spread beyond the prison.
Perhaps rioting had occasionally occurred before, and using torture on prisoners was even more common. Or perhaps blocked by the high walls, the brief sounds of slaughter in the prison yard and the intermittent wails afterward didn’t disturb the surrounding streets and residential wards.
The two camps where provincial troops were stationed also remained calm.
At this time, the four corner guard towers were replaced with Left Bureau scouts to monitor internal and external activities. The scouts and spies previously dispersed around the perimeter now gathered around the four corner towers as cores, forming four combat groups to prepare for any contingency.
Only then did Han Daoxun enter the south gate tower and walk into the prison office with officials like Xue Ruogu, Li Tang, and Qin Wen.
They had isolated the prison from the outside world and controlled suspicious figures—the situation appeared under control, but this was temporary. The deterrence of bloody slaughter could only work for a while. After all, they didn’t have the military foundation for long-term deterrence in Qianyang City. The situation they needed to handle next remained complex.
Han Qian didn’t follow his father directly into the prison office. In organizing the armored soldiers to charge into the prison yard to suppress the rioting prisoners, they had also suffered casualties—both deaths were from Feng Xuan’s subordinates.
Han Qian stared coldly at Feng Xuan and asked, “Do you still have doubts in your heart about what I said?”
Feng Xuan’s face was somewhat rigid. After being stared at by Han Qian’s piercing gaze for quite a while, he finally lowered his head.
Never mind all the external suspicious points—among the rioting prisoners, quite a few wielded homemade wooden spears and some had stones pried loose from the prison walls. Clearly, internal preparations for the riot had been made. They just hadn’t expected the new Prefect’s reaction to be so swift and decisive—not only controlling the prison office and guard towers at the fastest speed, but immediately dispatching armored soldiers into the prison yard for bloody suppression, preventing the riot from gaining momentum.
Seeing the disheveled, barefoot Shanyue tribesmen rioting most fiercely in the prison, Feng Xuan and his four subordinates ultimately couldn’t bring themselves to strike ruthlessly, resulting in one being stabbed in the throat with a wooden spear and another having his face smashed to pulp by a stone. Feng Xuan also relied on Tian Cheng leading armored soldiers charging in to rescue him before escaping danger.
Seeing Feng Xuan finally speechless, Han Qian called Lin Jingzong over and had him lead a team to immediately return to Lotus Garden with Feng Xuan and his men.
With the prison situation temporarily under control, Lotus Garden became their weak point and needed reinforced defenses.
Additionally, Feng Xuan and his two subordinates’ identities hadn’t been exposed yet. If they could avoid exposure, their future usefulness would be greater. Once exposed, Feng Xuan might be ostracized by Xuzhou’s Shanyue people, making it inconvenient to plant him as a nail. And having now felt the pain firsthand, the possibility of Feng Xuan wavering again was minimal.
Though many pine resin torches were inserted in the prison office courtyard walls, Feng Xuan wasn’t a particularly prominent figure in Xuzhou. Wearing armor and acting together with Zhao Kuo and Gao Shao, then quietly leaving first with Lin Jingzong and others, naturally no one noticed anything unusual.
After arranging for Lin Jingzong and Feng Xuan’s departure, Han Qian entered the prison office to see his father had already singled out with Xue Ruogu and others the thirty-six prisoners detained in the prison in the last three days, with Fan Xicheng leading men into the prison yard to verify them one by one.
They had to dig out those suspicious figures who hadn’t been suppressed on the spot and were currently still hiding among other prisoners in the cells, preventing them from continuing to incite prisoner riots when they let their guard down slightly here.
Han Qian walked behind his father and reminded him:
“Shouldn’t we now hand Zhang Xiaochuan and Liu Bin over to the Legal Advisor and Recording Advisor for interrogation?”
Han Daoxun looked up at Han Qian, then silently turned his head back toward Xue Ruogu and the others.
With no Censorial Inspectors stationed in Xuzhou, responsibility for monitoring local officials fell to the Recording Advisor. Currently, both Zhang Xiaochuan and Liu Bin were suspected of colluding with bandits, so naturally they should be handed over to the Recording Advisor and Legal Advisor for joint interrogation according to procedure.
However, Xuzhou’s Recording Advisor and Legal Advisor were both from the four clans, and the Legal Advisor was none other than Feng Changyu’s son Feng Jin. Before suspicious figures among the jailers and clerks had been completely identified, how could they hand over Zhang Xiaochuan and Liu Bin at this time?
Xue Ruogu and the others thought to themselves: Could the Prefect’s son be a fool?
But looking up to see the murderous intent in Han Qian’s eyes, Xue Ruogu and the others suddenly understood that the Prefect’s son was actually suggesting they forget all the rules and immediately string up Zhang Xiaochuan and Liu Bin for severe interrogation under torture to force out the suspicious figures among the prison clerks and jailers—only then could they ensure their initial control of the prison situation.
Otherwise, the prison holding over eight hundred prisoners, more than half of them barbarians, would always be a live volcano beneath their buttocks, ready to be detonated again at any time by those with ulterior motives.
The Prefect’s son had this intention but spoke in veiled sarcasm without stating it directly—clearly wanting them to proactively step forward and suggest to the new Prefect to act this way!
Seeing Xue Ruogu and other officials actually fall silent, Han Qian said gloomily to his father, “The journey by cart and boat was truly exhausting—I’m terribly weary. Father, let’s return to Lotus Garden to continue drinking wine and listening to ditties. We might as well let Xuzhou’s sky break even more thoroughly—it’ll be easier to clean up afterward. I brought a hundred elite troops this time. Even if several hundred more rioters kill their way out of the prison, we can defend Lotus Garden like an iron barrel. The four clans wouldn’t really dare lead troops to attack Qianyang City, would they?”
The officials looked at each other, thinking what kind of absurd talk was this from the Prefect’s son.
“I’m going out to withdraw the troops,” Han Qian made as if to leave. “While I’m at it, I’ll release Zhang Xiaochuan and Liu Bin too. They’re merely acting suspiciously, but we have no solid evidence of collusion with prisoners after all. We truly cannot disregard Great Chu’s laws and continue detaining them.”
“The traitors among the jailers haven’t been completely eliminated—we cannot easily release Zhang Xiaochuan and Liu Bin.” Regardless of whether Han Qian’s words were true or false, Xue Ruogu understood in his heart that if the new Prefect hadn’t controlled the situation in time, while Lotus Garden with over a hundred elite defenders could probably withstand the assault of several hundred rioting prisoners, it would be difficult for their wives, children, and elderly living in the city to escape catastrophe.
The four clans viewed them as ants and likely intended this time to eliminate them along with the several thousand migrants or migrant households living in the city. Could they continue to shrink back in fear?
“In Chief Clerk Xue’s view, what should be done?” Han Daoxun stared at Xue Ruogu and asked.
“Li Tang, Qin Wen, and I will interrogate them and strive to completely eliminate all traitors in the prison before dawn.” After speaking, Xue Ruogu looked toward Li Tang and Qin Wen.
These two took deep breaths, knowing that with the situation as it was, if they still wanted to sit on the fence and watch, they would likely die without a burial place in the future. They both stood and saluted Han Daoxun: “We should first eliminate all traitors in the prison!”
“Good. You three are only responsible for questioning.” Han Daoxun gestured for two household guards to accompany Xue Ruogu and the others to the barracks temporarily holding Zhang Xiaochuan and Liu Bin.
Han Daoxun didn’t want to violate Great Chu’s legal system, but Han Qian’s suggestion wasn’t wrong—the urgent circumstances before them required him to exercise discretion.
Xue Ruogu, Li Tang, and Qin Wen were all civil officials. To truly use torture to pry open Zhang Xiaochuan and Liu Bin’s mouths required professionals.
Han Daoxun had served as Judicial Officer in Chuzhou in earlier years, so his earliest household guards were naturally expert hands at interrogation. After moving dozens of corpses into the barracks holding Zhang Xiaochuan and Liu Bin separately, then directly applying finger-crushing torture devices, before all ten fingers of Zhang Xiaochuan and Liu Bin were crushed, they couldn’t withstand it and confessed. Cross-referencing their statements, four more traitors were pulled out from among the jailers and clerks—all descendants of the four clans.
At this time, Fan Xicheng also compared against the list of thirty-six suspicious new prisoners and pulled eight people out from the cells. Additionally, nine others had been wounded in the first suppression but hadn’t died yet.
Only now the biggest problem was: how to deal with these people?
“The disturbance is quelled. All other officials may temporarily return home to rest, but anticipating that rioting prisoners still have accomplices hidden in the city, after returning home you gentlemen had best not move about randomly.” Han Qian very considerately suggested to his father.
Han Daoxun also didn’t want to keep those officials who were still watching and hesitating at this point. Regardless of whether they were willing or feared that bandits still hadn’t been cleared outside, he now grimly gestured for them to leave first, keeping only Xue Ruogu, Li Tang, and Qin Wen to discuss what to do next.
“How should Zhang Xiaochuan and the others be dealt with?” With all irrelevant people having left, seeing that inside the prison office, apart from the new Prefect and the Prefect’s son, people like Fan Xicheng were all trusted confidants the new Prefect had brought, Xue Ruogu also spoke candidly and asked directly.
“What else can we do?” Han Qian sneered and said, “Unless we force the four clans to openly rebel, the best option is to lock all these people in the inner prison yard, let the prisoners riot once more, so I can dispatch men to conduct a second suppression!”
Though Han Qian spoke lightly, Xue Ruogu and the others felt their hearts leap with alarm, secretly sensing how heavy the Prefect’s son’s murderous intent was. These were twenty-one living human lives—would they truly create the illusion of a second prisoner riot and dispatch men into the inner prison yard to bloodily “suppress” all these suspicious people to death?