Chapter 1 Aftermath

After checking everything, Jiang Chen moved directly into the Su residence.

Such a huge commotion caused many aristocratic families in Jinling City to feel uneasy, fearing that the next one to be uprooted would be their own.

"Your Majesty, the Huang, Zheng, and Qiu families have come to pay their respects."

Stone Ping, the commander of the Imperial Guards, reported.

"Hmph!"

Jiang Chen snorted coldly. These people were still clear-headed enough to know the principle of yielding when necessary.

He signaled Shi Ping to bring some letters from the table and then went to the main hall.

Inside the hall, the heads of the Huang, Zheng, and Qiu families stood there trembling with fear.

Even though the chairs were empty, they dared not sit down.

The great changes in the Su family made them feel as if a sword was hanging over their heads, ready to fall at any moment!

"His Majesty has arrived!"

Shi Ping shouted loudly.

Before they even saw Jiang Chen, or even heard his footsteps, the three family heads hurriedly knelt down, kowtowing like pounding garlic, shouting, "Long live Your Majesty!"

Jiang Chen strode into the hall, not even looking at the three men, and sat directly in the highest seat.

Only after drinking a cup of tea did he seem to notice them.

"You three, what brings you here to see me?"

The three family heads had been left there by Jiang Chen, and they were already in a state of chaos. Hearing Jiang Chen's question, the Zheng family head quickly said, "Hearing that Your Majesty has arrived in Jinling, we wanted to come and pay our respects."

"If Your Majesty needs anything, please feel free to ask," the Huang family head added.

Seeing that the other two family heads had said everything, the Qiu family head racked his brains and said, "If Your Majesty is not comfortable here, the Qiu family has a vacant residence..."

Before the Qiu family head could finish speaking, Jiang Chen raised his hand to interrupt him and looked at the three men askance.

"You came to see me just for this?"

The hearts of the three family heads immediately rose to their throats.

At the same time, their brains were racing, trying to figure out what Jiang Chen meant.

Could it be that His Majesty wanted them to do something?

What to do?

Seeing that the three family heads had no reaction, Jiang Chen glanced at Shi Ping.

Shi Ping nodded and walked to the three family heads, throwing the letters in his hand to them.

"When we were inventorying the Su family's property, we found these things. Take a look, you three, and see if you wrote them," Shi Ping said with a sneer.

The three family heads only glanced at the letters before they were struck by lightning, their faces as white as paper.

These secret letters were naturally written by them to the Su family head.

But they destroyed the Su family head's secret letters every time, yet the Su family kept them all!

That old bastard!

They cursed the Su family's ancestors for eighteen generations in their hearts, but returning to reality, the three men broke out in cold sweats.

It's over!

They were going to follow in the Su family's footsteps!

Looking at the three men trembling like sieves, Jiang Chen smiled with satisfaction.

Then he said coldly, "Have you seen clearly? Did you leave these with the Su family?"

Faced with irrefutable evidence, how could the three family heads dare to quibble?

But just as they were about to admit it, the three men suddenly realized that there seemed to be a special meaning in Jiang Chen's words.

Left with the Su family?

Did this mean that he wanted to let them off the hook?

Although they didn't know why, this discovery made the three men, who had already fallen into the abyss, suddenly feel as if they had grabbed a life-saving straw.

"Your Majesty, these letters were indeed accidentally left with the Su family by us."

The three men said quickly, looking at Jiang Chen with anticipation.

"Oh."

Jiang Chen revealed a smile and nodded slowly.

Then, he changed the subject and said, "While inventorying the Su family's property, I discovered that the Su family had seized a large amount of fertile land. What do you three family heads think of this evil deed that undermines the foundation of my Great Wei?"

The three family heads were still rejoicing, feeling that they had received a special pardon because they were the first to pay their respects to Jiang Chen, but upon hearing this, the joy in their hearts came to an abrupt halt.

Having become heads of aristocratic families, they were not fools, and they naturally understood the meaning in Jiang Chen's words.

He wanted them to spit out the fertile land they had seized!

This was the "effort" of two generations!

The three men resisted from the bottom of their hearts, and for a moment, the hall fell silent.

Jiang Chen's eyes turned cold, and he stood up and walked outside.

At the same time, he said to Shi Ping indifferently, "See which aristocratic families in Jinling City have seized land, and arrest them all."

These words made the three family heads shudder involuntarily.

The current emperor was not easy to deal with.

Whether it was the Mei family, who could single-handedly dominate the world, or the Su family, who dominated Jiangnan, they had all been completely overthrown.

If their three families did not cooperate, they would only suffer even worse than the Mei and Su families!

Seeing that Jiang Chen was about to walk out of the hall, the three men hurriedly shouted, "Your Majesty, we are willing to offer our land to Your Majesty!"

Jiang Chen stopped, turned his head, and smiled faintly.

"Shi Ping, since the three family heads are so understanding, go and help them deal with it."

After saying that, Jiang Chen strode away.

"Farewell, Your Majesty."

The three family heads kowtowed on the ground, feeling extremely uncomfortable in their hearts.

So much land, just like that, was gone!

"You three family heads, time waits for no one. Let's hurry up and deal with the matters Your Majesty has instructed," Shi Ping said at this time.

No matter how unwilling they were in their hearts, the three family heads could only squeeze out a smile in order to save their lives: "Yes, please, General."

The other aristocratic families in Jinling had been observing the results of the first batch of visits to Jiang Chen.

Seeing the three family heads walk out unharmed, they all revealed expressions of joy.

So, His Majesty's visit was only aimed at the Su family?

They were happy for a short while before they saw Shi Ping leading people to the three great families, and soon they came out carrying several large boxes.

This action caused the hearts of all the aristocratic families to hang in the air.

What was going on?

Several aristocratic families that had good relations with the three great families quickly received the news.

Hand over the seized fertile land, and there will be peace!

This condition was difficult for all the aristocratic families to accept.

After hesitating again and again, several insightful family heads took the initiative to take the deeds of all the fertile land and went to pay their respects to Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen did not show his face this time, but just let Shi Ping accept the land deeds, without even giving a definite answer.

As the second batch of people who "surrendered" ended, the third batch, the fourth batch... more and more aristocratic families made their decisions.

Some honestly handed over all the land deeds seized by Jiang Chen.

Some played a trick and only handed over a portion.

There were also some aristocratic families that did not take any action, holding on to a fluke mentality.

Having already collected so much fertile land, perhaps His Majesty did not care about the fertile land they occupied?

Just as these aristocratic families were feeling uneasy, anxious, or lucky, Jiang Chen was in the main hall of the Su family, talking to Xu Changqing, who had been summoned by carrier pigeon.

"Minister Xu, what do you think about the issue of land annexation?" Jiang Chen directly threw out the question.

"Land annexation?"

Xu Changqing was stunned at first, then he understood the meaning of the word, and couldn't help but reveal an expression of shock.

This word, used to describe the current situation of land circulation in Great Wei, was simply too appropriate!