Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 146 Madman Song Yan (3)

Langya is the main territory of the Yang family. This statement may sound a bit ambiguous, but it is actually not a problem, because the city is almost entirely under the control of the Yang family.

In this city, there is only one outsider among all the officials: the prefect, who is appointed by the imperial court. Apart from the prefect, everyone else, from the vice-prefect, the military commander, and the deputy prefect, down to the constables, jailers, and errand boys, is either a member of the Yang family or someone with many connections to the Yang family.

The Yang family controlled everything in Langya, and here, the emperor's edict was far less likely to be obeyed than the Yang family's orders.

In Langya, the head of the Yang family was practically a local tyrant.

It's not an exaggeration to say it's a country within a country.

Of course, the Yang family's influence was not limited to Langya. Their influence extended to many counties and prefectures around Langya, making them a towering tree that blocked out the sun.

Within the Yang family, the highest authority is the patriarch, Yang Hexing.

This was an old man in his sixties. In name, Yang Hexing made all the decisions, big and small, in the Yang family. He did not inherit the title of Duke of Yang, nor did he serve as an official in the court. At first glance, he appeared to be just a kind-faced old man. However, only those who lived in the Yang family knew how terrifying this seemingly unsteady old man really was.

For a behemoth like the Yang family, the competition for the position of family head is almost as fierce as that for the throne. Those who can sit on the position of family head often have the bones of many cousins, or even biological brothers, beneath them.

The plan to bring Langya completely under the Yang family's control, using Langya as the Yang family's foundation and then spreading outwards like a spider web, was also devised by Yang Hexing. What the future holds remains to be seen, but currently, the plan is progressing very smoothly, and the Yang family's influence is steadily increasing.

Yang Hexing had five sons and seven daughters. One of his daughters was Yang Miaoyun, a concubine of the current emperor, and another daughter was Yang Miaoqing, who had already died.

As for Yang Siqi, who was as famous as Song Zhe, she was the great-grandson of Yang Hexing.

Below Yang Hexing were the Seven Elders.

Among the seven elders was Yang Hetong, the current Grand Secretary, and Yang Hexing's cousin.

Yang Hetong was considered the representative of the Yang family in the imperial court. He inherited the title of Duke of Yang and reached the pinnacle of his official career. Even his son, Yang Guochen, became the Minister of Rites.

Besides Yang Hetong, there are also Yang Heshun, Yang Hexiao, Yang Hezhi, Yang Heming, Yang Heli, and Yang Hexin!
All seven were brothers, both close relatives and cousins.

In the Yang family, the Seven Elders hold a position second only to the family head. Their combined power can even overturn some of the family head's decisions, serving as a check on him in some ways to prevent him from acting irrationally due to personal gain or feelings of hatred. When the family head's actions cause significant harm or loss to the family, the Seven Elders can even convene a family meeting to remove him from office.

This is a rule passed down through generations of the Yang family.

It is precisely because of these rules that the Yang family has maintained its glory for hundreds of years and prevented the family from declining because of a foolish patriarch.

Because of the Seven Elders' extremely important status and immense power, their descendants were also considered legitimate sons and daughters in the Yang family. Since Yang Hetong's lineage spent most of their time in the imperial court, the Seven Elders stationed in Langya were usually only six people.

For a power like the Yang family, planting spies, informants, and agents within other factions is standard practice; even the imperial palace is full of informants bribed by the Yang family.

Of course, the intelligence gathered by these informants would not be delivered directly to Yang Hexing.

Yang Hexing is an extremely capable person, a fact that even those who deeply hate the Yang family must admit. But no matter how capable he is, a person's energy is limited, and he cannot handle everything personally. In reality, Yang Hexing often just controls the overall direction and sets goals and plans for the Yang family for the next few years, or even more than a decade.

Unless it is something extremely important and has a huge impact, most of the tasks are left to the Seven Elders and those below them.

If such intelligence were to appear before Yang Hexing, it would mean that some of the previous plans had made extremely serious mistakes, or even failed, and urgently needed to be remedied.

The spacious council chamber was unusually quiet.

Unlike other buildings, this council chamber had ample soundproofing in its walls, and there wasn't even a single window in sight, so there was absolutely no risk of being eavesdropped on. Only the flickering orange flames of candles provided a meager amount of light.

Inside the council hall, there wasn't even a maid. Yang Hexing sat upright in the main seat, holding several sheets of paper in his hand, slowly flipping through them. The other elders below waited quietly. After a long time, Yang Hexing finally finished reading and handed the information in his hand to Yang Heshun.

After only a couple of casual glances, Yang Heshun frowned. As he passed the information down from person to person, almost every old man who saw the contents of the intelligence report had a somewhat gloomy expression.

There are actually two pieces of information.

One of them was sent by Yang Siyao.

The intelligence report contained only one piece of information: the assassination attempt on Luo Yuheng by the Six Villains failed. Luo Yuheng and Song Yan had learned that the Yang family was behind the Six Villains and were extremely indignant about the Yang family's rule-breaking behavior. They were preparing to retaliate in kind and launch a hunt for members of the Yang family.

As for the target, it is currently unknown.

The Yang family's elaborate schemes at the Duke of Song's mansion over the years ultimately failed due to Song Yan's existence, resulting in the deaths of Song Zhen, a member of the pure-blooded Yang family, and Yang Hexing's daughter, Yang Miaoqing.

Yang Hexing was a rather detached person, especially since he didn't like his daughter Yang Miaoqing. In his eyes, Yang Miaoqing had significant flaws in both her emotions and personality: she was irritable, impulsive, easily angered, lacked patience, couldn't pretend, and was prone to extremes. Such a personality was unlikely to lead to great things; her only value was her status as the eldest daughter of the Yang family. He married her to Song Hongtao based on the principle of making use of her resources. Therefore, Yang Hexing wasn't saddened by their deaths, only regretting that the Yang family's years of planning had all come to nothing. As for Song Yan, although he was just a nobody, he ultimately caught the attention of several people because of this incident.

They reviewed everything that had happened at the Duke's mansion and quickly gained a general understanding of Song Yan: patient, intelligent, good at disguising himself, and ruthless when necessary... Considering his age, it was quite remarkable that he possessed such a temperament.

Even if such a person outwardly accepts Yang Siyao, it's unlikely that he will truly trust her, making it difficult for Yang Siyao to obtain genuine information.

Therefore, the group did not doubt that Yang Siyao was unaware of the Luo family's assassination target.

The other intelligence report, sent by Zhang Yan, was much more detailed.

This intelligence report details the entire process of the six villains' defeat, as well as the capture of the beautiful widow Bu Yu and the death of Li Qingyue. It also explicitly states that the Princess's residence possesses at least one martial artist capable of easily defeating Ghost Face Mad Blade; considering Ghost Face Mad Blade is an eighth-rank martial artist, this person's level must be at least ninth-rank.

The intelligence also mentioned that the Luo family was preparing to retaliate, and their target was Yang Siqi, the eldest grandson of the Yang family.

Besides these, the records also detail how Song Yan resettled the disaster victims during this period, including the bloody massacre of thousands of people at the two city gates. Everything was recorded clearly without any omissions.

Upon seeing this, even these old men couldn't help but have a strange expression on their faces.

In front of tens of thousands of people, in public, beheading thousands of disaster victims... even the Yang family wouldn't dare to do such a thing.

Another word has been added to the evaluation of Song Yan: madman.

Madmen are the easiest to deal with.

What they did could easily become a handle to kill them.

But madmen are extremely dangerous.

Just like the assassination attempt on Yang Siqi, when I first saw this intelligence, I only thought that Luo Yuheng and Song Yan were bluffing to assassinate the direct heir of the Yang family. This was no different from completely breaking ties with the Yang family and starting a full-scale war. Even if Luo Yuheng was unconventional and acted unexpectedly, he would not dare to make such a decision.

However, when they learned that it was Song Yan who suggested assassinating Yang Siqi, they had to seriously reconsider their plan...

Because a madman is capable of anything.

(End of this chapter)