Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 258 You're Forcing Me to Commit Murder (3)

Song Yan gave the Huang family a chance to survive.

Too many people have died in Pingyang today.

Outside the city, nine thousand souls lay dead.

Inside the city, there were the residences of 132 officials and thousands of corpses.

There are always more than ten thousand deaths.

When Song Yan burned down tens of thousands of Japanese pirates and the Wugulun tribe, his resolve only grew stronger. Yet, those he killed today were ultimately from Ningguo, Han Chinese. Of course, this was only a small part of the reason. The larger reason was that officials mostly hid their wealth in their homes, at most digging a basement or making a hole in the wall—easy and convenient to find. Families like the Huang family, having cultivated their power in one place for many years, had far more complex and secretive methods for concealing their wealth.

Many locations may only be known to the head of the household.

If the entire Huang family were rashly wiped out, a large sum of wealth might be buried forever.

So Song Yan gave Huang Tianyang a multiple-choice question.

One million taels of silver or your entire family wiped out!
A difficult choice.

Although the Zhang and Huang families could be considered powerful and influential families in Pingyang Prefecture, they were only second-rate in the entire Ning Kingdom. Compared with the truly behemoths like the Eight Great Families of Jin, the Fang, Yang, and Cui families, they were unimaginably inferior.

For a true aristocratic family with a history spanning hundreds of years, a million taels of silver is not a small sum, but it's just so-so. However, for the Huang family, a million taels of silver represents their savings of more than ten or even several decades, a loss that could cripple them.

If this money is given, the Huang family will decline rapidly and be completely overshadowed by the Zhang family.

If they don't give it to them, the Huang family will disappear completely.

Huang Tianyang is a smart man.

But at the same time, he is also an extremely ambitious person who likes to take a gamble.

Song Yan stared at Huang Tianyang with great interest, curious about what choice this complex man would make.

In the candlelight, Huang Tianyang's face was ashen, his eyelids drooping as if he were deep in thought. The rest of the Huang family members around him all had sinister eyes, like sharp swords, as if they wanted to pierce through Song Yan with a thousand holes. Huang Zhengcai, in particular, had a face that alternated between pale and red.

One million taels of silver, not one million copper coins! How dare a mere county magistrate make such an outrageous demand? Doesn't he fear choking on his own?
For a moment, an eerie silence fell over the spacious hall. But this silence didn't last long. Soon, Huang Zhengcai, perhaps unable to control his somewhat atrophied cerebellum, suddenly opened his mouth: "Song Yan, how dare you act so presumptuously in the Huang family..."

Song Yan frowned, annoyed by Huang Zhengcai's clamor: "Shut up."

As soon as he finished speaking, Luo Tianyang's massive and muscular body pounced on Huang Zhengcai like a cannonball. Despite his strong physique, Luo Tianyang was also incredibly agile. Even though there were Huang family bodyguards in the hall, they didn't have time to react at all. They could only watch helplessly as Luo Tianyang stretched out his large, fan-like hand and grabbed Huang Zhengcai's head.

boom.

His head slammed heavily onto the table.

The solid wood table was shattered and broken.

Blood instantly covered his face, especially his nose, where the bridge was clearly broken, and blood gushed out. His body lay on the ground, writhing like a maggot; his chin, neck, and chest were covered in crimson in a short time.

Unscrupulous.

Arrogant and domineering.

Huang Tianyang finally opened his eyes and looked at the miserable Huang Zhengcai on the ground. Although this eldest son was not very bright, he was still his own son. His appearance made Huang Tianyang's eyes flash with a coldness. He looked at Song Yan and took a deep breath: "Magistrate Song, do you really want to be so arrogant and domineering, and disregard the law?"

"Merchants, though lowly, are not people you can bully at will."

"You are merely a son-in-law of the royal family, not a prince. Do you really think you can do whatever you want within the borders of Ning Kingdom?"

"Overbearing, domineering, and doing whatever they want?"

"Disregard the law?" Song Yan rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. "Do you know what's most annoying about you people? It's that when you're gaining your own interests and facing the weak, you can trample on the law with impunity; but when your interests are harmed, or when you face a stronger enemy, you shamelessly pick up the law again as a weapon to protect your own rights."

"Trying to have your cake and eat it too, that's all there is to it."

"Law?"

“Come on, tell me, when you Huang fellows colluded with Qian Yaozu to forge property deeds and attempt to seize all the properties in Xinhou County, where was the law?”

The house deeds, like falling snowflakes, rained down on Huang Tianyang's head.

Huang Tianyang remained silent with a cold expression. He probably never expected that the trouble would start from here.

"Xinhou County is my territory. How dare you extend your claws into my territory? Do you really think I'm easy to bully? Oh, I forgot to tell you, your half-brother is dead. His head is outside the city. Go and collect it when you have time, if the Huang family still exists after today."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the Huang family present felt a chill run down their spines.

That was the patriarch's younger brother, and he's gone just like that.

"Just this one point alone, even if I slaughter your entire Huang family, I doubt anyone could say anything." Song Yan continued to tap his fingers rhythmically on the table: "Tell me again, what is the punishment for colluding with the Jurchens and transporting grain and ironware to them?"

"What is the punishment for embezzling grain from the granary?"

"Your foolish son forcibly took a woman; what is his punishment?"

"What is the punishment for ordering a servant to kill 127 villagers in order to seize land?"

"What crime should your brother be charged with, for riding his horse recklessly in the street and killing a toddler?"

One by one, the charges were laid out before Huang Tianyang, along with numerous indictments. Since Song Yan was already prepared to annihilate the Huang family, he would naturally be prepared. Although these were only a small fraction of the Huang family's crimes, they were enough to wipe them all out. Song Yan wanted to kill, take the Huang family's money and grain, and even use the Huang family's corpses to win over the hearts and minds of the people of Pingyang Prefecture.

Throughout, Huang Tianyang's expression remained indifferent, as if he hadn't heard Song Yan's words at all. After a long while, he sighed softly, "Young man, don't be too arrogant."

Song Yan blinked and said, "What kind of young person wouldn't be full of vigor?"

Unfortunately, it was very quiet around, and no one knew what the joke meant, which made Song Yan feel a little lonely.

Huang Tianyang picked up his teacup again and took a small sip: "You've probably forgotten that this is Pingyang City."

"Although the guards of the Huang and Zhang families cannot compare to the number of the government troops, they still have a good chance of fighting to the death and keeping you here forever."

Huang Tianyang's gambler nature began to take hold.

He didn't want the Huang family to be wiped out, nor did he want the wealth accumulated by the Huang family over a century to be handed over to others so easily.

He chose another path: to kill Song Yan.

Once Song Yan dies, the garrison will be leaderless and no longer pose a threat, and all problems will be solved.

Song Yan smiled but remained silent.

But Zhang Gong suddenly stood up: "Patriarch Huang, this is a matter for your Huang family. Don't involve our Zhang family."

Song Yan looked at the seventy-something-year-old man with great interest.

The reason why they didn't choose to go to the Zhang family was probably because the old man was more honest than Huang Tianyang. Although he couldn't escape some of the bad habits of merchants, at least he didn't sell ironware to the Jurchens. Even the members of his clan were more strictly disciplined. While there were things like bullying men and women, they were much less common than in the Huang family.

Huang Tianyang stared at Zhang Gong in astonishment, but Zhang Gong's gaze was already fixed on Song Yan. He cupped his hands in greeting and said, "My lord, Pingyang Prefecture is currently suffering from a calamity, with refugees everywhere. In order to restore peace to Pingyang as soon as possible, I, on behalf of the Zhang family, am donating one million taels of silver and three hundred thousand shi of grain!"

Song Yan smiled and nodded. The other party was intelligent, and Song Yan was willing to give this old man a chance: "Zhang Gong is righteous, I admire him."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Gong breathed a sigh of relief:

"In that case, I'll head back to the Zhang family to make preparations."

Song Yan nodded again.

Watching Zhang Ci's retreating figure, Huang Tianyang chuckled to himself: "Old fox... but you can't escape."

As Huang Tianyang spoke, the teacup in his hand suddenly fell to the ground.

With a loud crack, it shattered into pieces on the ground.

Just as the teacup shattered, the living room door burst open with a loud crack, and two figures appeared simultaneously as a gust of cold wind rushed in.

It was extremely fast, like a gust of wind.

With a whoosh, he crossed half the hall and headed straight for Song Yan.

Zhang Gong's expression changed drastically. This Huang Tianyang was extremely vicious. If Song Yan died now, he would be unable to clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

But just then, another unexpected event occurred.

Just as a figure rushed in front of Luo Tianyang, the burly man suddenly raised his right leg and kicked the assassin hard in the chest and abdomen.

All his brute strength erupted at this moment.

That was a seventh-grade martial artist, yet he couldn't withstand Luo Tianyang's brute force at all. His entire body was sent flying backward instantly, crashing heavily into the doorpost with a loud bang, causing the doorpost to break apart.

The spine of the seventh-rank martial artist was also broken, and when he fell to the ground, his body was already unable to move.

As for the other martial artist, he was even stronger, an eighth-rank expert. He silently passed Luo Tianyang and reappeared in front of Song Yan, holding a soft sword as thin as a cicada's wing. With a loud whistling sound, he aimed directly at Song Yan's brow.

Just as Song Yan's forehead was about to be pierced, a snow-white, delicate hand silently appeared from the side, two fingers precisely pinching the tip of the sword. The next second, with a flick of the wrist, the sword blade formed a 360-degree circle.

The tip of the sword touched the forehead of the eighth-rank martial artist.

puff.

A piece of his skull was blown off.

The corpse of the eighth-rank martial artist was also sent flying backward, with red and white substances gushing out from the gap in his head.

With my wife by my side, I feel safe.

Song Yan sighed. He had already given the Huang family a chance, so why did they still force him to commit murder?

"Do it!"

"Leave no one behind."

"From this day forward, the Huang family is expelled from Pingyang Prefecture!"

The next instant, the sounds of clashing weapons and screams suddenly rang out inside and outside the Huang family compound.

The Huang family is finished!
(End of this chapter)