Reign of the Phoenix

Chapter 16 – The Flower Boy’s Extreme Measure
Chiyun Yuexuan couldn’t care less about those accusations, he had his own explanation on this: Several months ago, several counties in the south of Huayan were met with one of the most severe floods in the last one hundred years. Amongst them, the most dire were Yuliang and Yanshan County. Chiyun Yuexuan was stationed at Fuling Pass, only a county away from Yuliang, so he immediately brought a troop to go assist upon hearing of the grave situation there. Since the area under his authority still had quite an abundant food stock, Chiyun Yuexuan decided to extract a portion for the refugees of Yuliang. On his way to supervise the cavalcade towards Yuliang, he received reports from his scouts that the Imperial Court had delivered a great amount of support silver to the disaster areas.

Chiyun Yuexuan was a short way from Yuliang when he could see that something was off. It was chaotic as numerous people were taking their children to run for refuge, the bodies of those who died from starvation could be seen everywhere on the road. On the way, Chiyun Yuexuan distributed the food to the refugees. He hadn’t even reached his destination when the food ran out. He knew the amount he brought was like a cup of water in the face of a burning cart, utterly inadequate. Most of the victims never got the help they needed.

When Chiyun Yuexuan finally arrived at Yuliang County, before him was a tattered scene. All houses were sealed shut as everyone had packed up and left their home. The situation was even worse than he’d imagined. After making visits to some commoners who lacked the power to escape, he figured that both the local and the prefecture officials had completely divided the support silver layer by layer amongst themselves. The local merchants joined hands with the officials to hoard up food and resell it at a sky-high price. In order to survive, the civilians had to sell their houses and even their children, exhausting their life savings, yet still unable to pass this difficult trial. On the contrary, none of the noble, merchant, and official families was affected by the disaster. Instead, they even took advantage to profit from the support money, forcing the commoners down a road to doom.

When the local officials got news that Chiyun Yuexuan had come to inspect the situation around here, they invited him to luxurious meals so that he would turn a blind eye to their deeds.

Chiyun Yuexuan pretended to join their alliance. Also, he rented out the biggest restaurant in the city, the Late Visitor Storeys, to hold a banquet for the prefecture and local officials in charge of handling the disaster. Famous squires and merchants were also on his guest list.

Only after these people entered the Late Visitor Storeys did they discover that the building had been tightly guarded by Chiyun Yuexuan’s soldiers, once entry was made, exit was prohibited.

Chiyun Yuexuan’s banquet had no meat nor wine, there were only gruel as plain as water and moldy corn bread. Seeing this, the guests knew that something was wrong.

While the local officials had heard of Chiyun Yuexuan’s ruthless and savage reputation, his young age and handsome face gave them the feeling that he couldn’t be that formidable. They surmised that Chiyun Yuexuan only wanted to take advantage the reap more benefits from them, so they started to negotiate the conditions with him.

Chiyun Yuexuan’s pretty face remained smiling. “If everyone has come, let’s eat first before we discuss about the important matter. It’s a pity that, because of the disaster, this general has nothing good to treat you with, but I think you should be as hungry as the refugees now and won’t fuss about it. Let’s begin.”

These people were used to having fish and meat for all of their meals every day, how could they swallow any of the things on the table? They all pleaded for Chiyun Yuexuan to let them have some good food and wine delivered over. Chiyun Yuexuan all approved with a smile and even told them to order the servants to prepare a full table of delicacies. Then, he leisurely accompanied them for tea and watched their eyes grow dull from hunger as time passed.

An hour later, the servants return to their masters with good food and wine. Chiyun Yuexuan ordered the waiters to set up over twenty long tables full of food outside the building entrance. The guests also urged Chiyun Yuexuan to start the party. Still full of smiles, he waved his hand towards downstairs, “Okay, let’s start.”

The Chiyun soldiers instantly stepped aside to open a path. The refugee onlookers all charged towards the tables and ate to their heart’s content. Thinking that the people came to steal their food, the county magistrate bowed to Chiyun Yuexuan to report, “These cunning commoners actually have the guts to steal from Grand General’s banquet. This subject shall order for them to be executed.”

Chiyun Yuexuan’s face darkened severely. “They are also my guests. These people are all the foundation of this country, they work hard so that our Huayan people and officials can enjoy a peaceful life being well-fed and well-clothed. Yet, when they are struck by disaster, you lot, who rely on them to provide for you, actually disregarded their lives and split all the support silver that the Imperial Court sent over to help them pass this difficult trial. Do you lot not have even a tiny bit of compassion?”

Seeing the general’s abrupt change of attitude, the noble and the wealthy immediately brainstormed for an escape. Chiyun Yuexuan continued, “In such a serious situation, not only did you bunch refuse to think of a solution, you even joined hands with the merchants to hoard food and raise the price. While you lot pass your days in luxury, do you know how many refugees this general saw starving to death on my way here? You find the meal I treated you to too disgusting, but such a meal has become a luxurious dream for the millions of commoners in this city.”

Chiyun Yuexuan grabbed a piece of moldy corn bread and took a bite. “Today, I only wanted to make you understand one thing: that food and wine should go to them, and the thing that you should eat, is exactly the food that I prepared for you today. Even I can eat it, so you lot can as well, right?”

Scared that they’d anger Chiyun Yuexuan, everyone followed suit and ate some corn bread. Unaccustomed to the food, some officials vomited on the spot. They finally understood that this boy who was as pretty as flowers wasn’t joking with them. Chiyun Yuexuan ordered his officers to press the vomiting ones on the ground and force them to eat their vomit to clean up. The scene was filled with wretched screams and dreary cries.

Chiyun Yuexuan wasn’t in a hurry. He leisurely sipped his tea and ground it out with these people. When it was dinner time, he once again made them have the food and wine delivered over. The squires and merchants refused, saying that they weren’t local officials and didn’t have to abide by Chiyun Yuexuan’s control.

Chiyun Yuexuan fiddled with an iron whip. “Although you lot aren’t court officials, you will be punished for cooperating with the officials to raise the price and disrupt the market order. If you are willing to repent for your crimes, though, I can consider letting you off.”

The squires just wanted to get themselves out of this as soon as possible, so they quickly asked how they should remedy it.

Chiyun Yuexuan said nonchalantly, “Everyone submit 200 stones of food. If there’s not enough food, cover with the same amount of silver or piece goods.”

The squires thought that was too much. They made a ruckus and tried to charge out of the restaurant, but were stopped by Chiyun Yuexuan’s subordinates. The two squires who still had some conscience left agreed to pay, provoking the other stubborn squires to scream and curse at them.

Chiyun Yuexuan slowly ground it out with them; he had many methods to handle people. On the battlefield, he beat up the enemy soldiers to flee for their lives in a sorry state. He could handle these corrupt officials and howling devils all the same.

Chiyun Yuexuan enjoyed his tea comfortably and slowly ate the white mantou that his soldiers offered him right before these people’s eyes. Up until night, an official could no longer endure the hunger and yelled out, “A person who grows up looking like a girl, no one even knows for sure if you’re a man or a woman, got to the rank of general all thanks to your sister. What grounds do you have to privately punish us? We are court-appointed officials, you don’t have this right.”

Chiyun Yuexuan didn’t even spare him a glance as he flipped a page of the book he was reading. Since he didn’t say a word, the official assumed this to be a lack of confidence and continued to yell while heading for the door. The others also took this chance to run for the door as well. The situation went out of control. Seeing as the soldiers couldn’t stop them, Chiyun Yuexuan grabbed the iron whip from the table and lashed the table in half. The yelling and cursing official instantly rammed his head at Chiyun Yueyuan’s chest and shouted, “Murderer! The grand general is killing innocent people!”

He hadn’t finished his words when Chiyun Yuexuan took one step back and coiled the iron whip about him with a whoosh. Then, the general swung his hand. The official was flung up due to the whip’s momentum. His body flew and broke the window before falling on the first floor with a heavy thud. The man spat out a mouthful of blood and didn’t move afterwards.

Chiyun Yuexuan swept through everyone with his charming eyes, his aura oppressive without even trying. The corrupt bunch were scared out of their wits, they shrank and trembled nonstop. Chiyun Yuexuan returned to his chair as if nothing had happened. Holding the book, he casually said, “If you lot honestly confess all the crimes you’ve committed, perhaps this general will lighten your punishment.”

The officials had heard of Chiyun Yuexuan’s ruthlessness in addition to having the first-hand experience of his extreme measures just now. From the nearest one, they owned up the amount of silver they took. Chiyun Yuexuan told the clerk official to record their confessions, then made the officials sign it. Everyone promised to return the silver and begged Chiyun Yuexuan to let them off. The general’s eyes were still fixed on the book, not even lifting his head. “How can there be such a convenient thing in this world? You shall spit out ten times as much the amount you’ve swallowed.”

Early the next morning, five, six merchants had sent tax grain and money to Chiyun Yuexuan. Outside the entrance of Late Visitor Storeys, he ordered the grain to be distributed to the civilians. The corrupt officials also called their family members to deliver the silver here and redeem their freedom. However, Chiyun Yuexuan wasn’t pleased by the amount they submitted. He sent men to grab a hostage from their houses, either their children or beloved concubines, then released the officials so that they could go out to raise money. As for the one who was heavily injured from being thrown downstairs, he was carried home for treatment.

In order to ensure their lives, the corrupt officials scraped up the last of their pennies, but Chiyun Yuexuan refused to let them off yet. He made them knelt in public stripped bare to the waist. Then, with an iron whip in hand and a handsome face clouded with malice, he whipped the corrupt officials. The sounds of his iron whip hitting flesh filled the scene alongside a series of wretched screams. Unable to endure the torture, an assistant of county magistrate rammed his head into the wall, escaping punishment by suicide.

Seeing the matter escalate, the squires and merchants all feared that this wouldn’t wind up easily for them. To avoid angering Chiyun Yuexuan, they promised to submit more money so as to not complicate this any longer. Chiyun Yuexuan distributed a portion of this silver to the refugees, then ordered Deputy General Wu Siyuan to take the rest to purchase food from some nearby counties.

Five days later, the deputy general brought back the support food from the neighboring counties to Yuliang. Chiyun Yuexuan posted an announcement that food shall be open for relief on the morrow at the entrance of the county office.

Meanwhile, the corrupt officials gathered in a secret discussion. They wanted to deal a counterblow