Hot flashes

What followed was swift and decisive action.

Han Zhang did not linger in Jiangning for even a moment longer. He knew that time was of the essence, and the spies of the powerful families were all over Jiangnan. Every day he delayed, those who had been implicated by Zhao Mancang would have one more day to destroy evidence, transfer their assets, or even escape.

He had to cast the net before those people could react and catch them all in one fell swoop.

Suzhou was the first stop. Suzhou was the territory of the Lu family, whose roots in Jiangnan were even deeper than those of the Cui family. They had been operating in Suzhou for over a century, managing everything from textile manufacturing to canal transport to salt administration; there was almost no industry that the Lu family couldn't get involved in.

In Zhao Mancang's account books, records related to Suzhou accounted for one-third, involving no fewer than twenty shops, estates, pawnshops, and money exchanges, all owned by the same person—Lu.

It was raining the day Han Zhang arrived in Suzhou. The early winter rain was light, fine and dense, splashing a layer of white mist on the bluestone pavement.

Instead of going to the Suzhou government office, he went directly to the Lu family's trading company in the north of the city.

The Lu Family Trading Company was the main branch of the Lu family in Suzhou. It was a large three-courtyard mansion with a small facade, but the interior was surprisingly spacious. The front courtyard was the shop, selling silk, cloth, tea, porcelain, and everything else. The middle courtyard was the warehouse, filled with goods transported from all over the country. The back courtyard was the accounting office and storeroom, where account books, money, and correspondence were kept.

When the Imperial Guards arrived, half of the doors of the Lu Family Trading Company had already been removed, and the shop assistants were moving goods out in preparation for opening for business.

Seeing the armored soldiers rushing over, a waiter dropped his teacup, which shattered and spilled tea everywhere. He didn't bother to clean it up and turned to run inside, shouting, "The soldiers are here! The soldiers are here!" Before his shouts had even faded, the Imperial Guards had already stormed in.

The operation to seize the Lu family's business was swift and efficient.

The Imperial Guards were divided into three groups. One group controlled the front and middle courtyards, gathering all the staff and managers in one room, forbidding them from moving around or talking.

They went to the backyard, sealed all the account books and correspondence, registered them one by one, packed them into boxes and sealed them.

They guarded the front and back doors and all possible exits, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.

The captain leading the team was a man in his thirties surnamed Wei, who was very efficient.

He stood in the center of the front yard, rain streaming down his armor, but he didn't wipe it away. He just stood there, his gaze sweeping over the group of waiters and managers gathered together. His voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear: "By imperial decree, we are investigating this matter. All of you, remain where you are. Those who disobey will be punished for defying the imperial decree."

The manager of the Lu family business was a tall, thin man in his fifties surnamed Zhou. He had worked for the Lu family for thirty years and was the Lu family's most capable manager in Suzhou.

He stood at the front of the crowd, his face ashen, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his eyes bloodshot.

He watched the Imperial Guards going in and out of the courtyard, carrying out box after box of account books, their fingers clenched so tightly that their knuckles turned white.

He pondered in his mind whether there was any room for maneuver in this matter, and whether the Lu family could still get him out of trouble.

While the Imperial Guards were sealing off the Lu family's business, Han Zhang had already led another group to the Lu family's estate outside Suzhou.

That was one of the Lu family's largest properties in Jiangnan, covering thousands of acres, with fertile fields, mulberry gardens, tea plantations, and fish ponds—everything one could need.

The estate manager, surnamed Qian, was a fat man in his forties. He was the undisputed boss of the estate, and the tenants didn't dare to utter a sound in his presence.

When the Imperial Guards arrived, he was using an abacus in his tent. Hearing the commotion, he looked out the window and saw the armored soldiers pouring into the manor. The abacus in his hand fell to the ground with a clatter, and the beads rolled all over the floor.

He tried to run, but his legs were too weak. He tried to stand up several times by holding onto the edge of the table, but he couldn't. In the end, he was carried out of the tent by two imperial guards. His feet dragged on the ground, leaving two deep furrows in the mud.

The information Zhao Mancang provided was far more systematic and complete than Han Zhang had anticipated.

It was a network meticulously woven over decades, with someone guarding every node and someone holding every thread.

Zhao Mancang is just one knot in this web; the thread he holds connects to the Cui family, the Lu family, the Zheng family, and all the prominent families in Jiangnan.

Wu Huai-ren was just the tip of the iceberg. Those account books recorded everything that the three imperial envoys, two river management officials, and four grain transport commissioners before Wu Huai-ren had done in Jiangnan, every penny they had received, and every favor they had done for whom.

The case spanned twenty years, involved hundreds of officials, and involved countless sums of money.

Some of those officials have retired to their hometowns, some have been transferred elsewhere, and some have even died. But their protégés, old friends, and nephews are still on this network, still collecting the benefits they received back then, and still covering up the truth about what happened back then.

Han Zhang read through the account books and letters one by one, and his hands began to tremble as he read on.

It wasn't fear, it was anger. He had spent over a decade in the Hanlin Academy, studying the classics and believing in the principles of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. Yet, every page he turned told him a fact he didn't want to believe: the very foundation of this court had long been hollowed out by those people.

Zhao Mancang of Jiangning Prefecture, Lu's Trading Company of Suzhou Prefecture, Zheng's Grain Store of Changzhou Prefecture, and Cui's Money Shop of Songjiang Prefecture were all shut down one after another.

The seizure was carried out so quickly that the powerful families didn't have time to react.

Those managers and shopkeepers who usually wielded great influence in the local area suddenly became prisoners overnight.

Their houses were confiscated, their shops were sealed off, and their estates were surrounded. The silver, grain, silk, and medicinal herbs piled up in the warehouses were moved out box by box, registered, sealed, and transported to the government granary.

Scenes of ransacking homes were simultaneously unfolding in every prefecture and county in Jiangnan.