The journey of Yang Hong back to the imperial palace was uneventful.
Everyone's attention was fixated on the breeding base, and no one paid heed to two young eunuchs scurrying back and forth, relaying messages.
Upon returning to the Hall of Deliberate Ignorance, Yang Hong did not alert anyone. Not even Dugu Galuo was aware that he had left.
Within the imperial palace, the eunuchs of the Inner Bureau, led by Zhou Neng, conducted another thorough purge.
According to Old Wang, over six hundred eunuchs were beaten to death.
More than five hundred palace maids and governesses were also slated for execution, but the Retired Emperor had them all banished to the imperial farms to become wives for the peasants.
Furthermore, these imperial farms were planted with the special crops cultivated by Yang Hong. Yang Zhong, in particular, had deliberately sent these individuals, who might be spies, to these outwardly ordinary imperial farms.
Through them, he could relay certain messages,
messages he wished to convey.
Concurrently, Yang Jian abruptly sealed the nine gates of the imperial capital and issued a general warrant, searching the entire capital of Daxing for "escaped" rebel bandits.
The subordinates of the Eastern Bandit King, guilt-ridden, were the first to be exposed.
However, before the Imperial Guards defending the capital could intervene, these bandits were silenced by various noble families seeking to demonstrate their loyalty.
Yang Jian was fully aware of this but chose to feign ignorance.
Even the slow deployment of the Imperial Guards was intentional on his part.
Subsequently, other bandits who had infiltrated the capital of Daxing were discovered and eliminated.
For a time, the security level of the capital of Daxing surged.
Moreover, Yang Jian announced that the Special Imperial Envoy of Da Sui, the wise master who cultivated high-yield crops, had been assassinated, and it would be difficult for Da Sui to have such abundant harvests in the future.
The common people, draped in white mourning attire, expressed their grief, and even the great noble families conveyed their sorrow and vowed to pursue those responsible.
Yang Jian seized the opportunity to announce an expansion of the army to prepare for the annihilation of the "escaped" bandits the following year.
It appeared that the imperial family of Da Sui had identified the attackers of the breeding base as mere江湖 bandits.
As for the personnel dispatched by the noble families, they had not returned to their respective factions, who assumed they were lying low.
Just as the numerous noble families believed Yang Jian intended to downplay the incident and let it pass,
forty-seven Grandmaster heads were displayed outside the Meridian Gate.
The assembled noble families watched with trepidation.
Forty-seven Grandmasters!
These were not forty-seven pigs!
The Da Sui imperial family openly possessed only twelve Grandmasters, and even with the addition of various experts loyal to the imperial family, they did not exceed thirty Grandmasters.
These forty-seven Grandmasters theoretically possessed the power to overthrow the imperial Yang family.
Yet, these forty-seven Grandmasters had inexplicably perished!
Just half a month prior, Yang Jian had been vigorously searching for these forty-seven individuals.
Unexpectedly, they had now become forty-seven "preserved" specimens.
...
In Daxing capital, in the eastern part of the outer city, in the same basement.
However, fewer people were present today.
Only eight were in attendance.
Li Chongshan cast a grim look at the other seven.
Of the forty-seven heads, thirty-five belonged to notorious bandits and were easily identifiable, while the remaining twelve belonged to noble families, two of which were from the Li family.
"Old fox Yang Zhong has set a trap for us; we must retaliate!"
Li Chongshan remained deeply resentful.
"Patriarch Li speaks wisely, and I fully support him."
The head of the Wang family, from the Five Great Clans, immediately agreed. Although the Wang family had not dispatched any Grandmasters, a total of eight hundred innate Grandmasters from their family had been killed.
This pained him immensely.
These eight hundred innate Grandmasters had been cultivated by the Wang family with great effort.
Their annihilation had caused him profound heartache and extreme anxiety about being exposed.
In that event, given Yang Jian's cruelty, the Wang family might face annihilation.
Therefore, it was either strike first,
or surrender and pay a heavy price!
Dugu Qiuhong said, with a hint of exhaustion, "I've instructed my family to lay low for a while."
The head of the Cui family's voice trembled slightly, "I, I plan to have the family's shops lower the price of salt."
"My family's grain stores will also begin to lower prices."
"Some of my disciples may undergo personnel changes recently."
"My family..."
The others also expressed their intentions, stating they would pay a price and concede benefits to the Da Sui court.
They had backed down.
"Alas..."
Li Chongshan sighed powerlessly.
After all, forty-seven Grandmasters, coupled with the deaths of two thousand innate Grandmasters,
represented a formidable force capable of easily annihilating any one of their families!
Their inexplicable demise had instilled fear in them.
"I will enter the palace to gauge the intentions of that unfilial daughter; perhaps it's not as dire as it seems."
Dugu Qiuhong, seeing the somber atmosphere, suddenly gritted her teeth and said,
clearly reluctant to face the "unfilial daughter."
"Grandmother Dugu, please try to ascertain the terrifying trump card of the Yang family then."
"Yes, yes, we must know what hidden power the Yang family possesses. Forty-seven Grandmasters, thirty-five of whom had their heads pierced. Judging by the wounds, it wasn't caused by arrows.
Such strength is terrifying."
"This is the greatest threat to our undertaking."
"Mm~ I understand."
...
The next day, Dugu Qiuhong requested an audience with Empress Dugu. After waiting for two days, she was finally summoned to the inner palace.
After all, Dugu Qiuhong was Dugu Galuo's paternal grandmother. Despite their existing conflicts,
in this era that placed great importance on etiquette, Dugu Galuo, as Empress, could not refuse.
Moreover, after consulting with Yang Jian, she also needed to relay certain messages.
On the very day Dugu Qiuhong departed, a piece of news began to spread like wildfire throughout Da Sui.
Emperor Yang Jian was to hold another selection of imperial consorts.
The reason given was that many palace maids had reached an age where it would be difficult for them to conceive if they did not marry soon. These palace maids were to be gradually dismissed from the palace.
Therefore, it was necessary to select some young palace maids.
Empress Dugu, virtuous and benevolent, intended to concurrently select some imperial consorts from among these palace maids to enrich the harem.
Instantly, the public's impression of the imperial family improved.
Coupled with the fact that a large number of palace maids had indeed been dismissed from the palace a few days prior, no one found this news to be unusual.
However, the message received by the great noble families was different.
The two great lineages, the Four Great Clans, thirty-six influential families, and fifty-four major clans were each to send their contemporary嫡女 (eldest daughters of the primary wife) into the palace, and further select the most outstanding women from their families to enter the palace.
Although in feudal times, women were not highly valued, and the嫡女 of large families were mere tools for alliances,
these嫡女 still required considerable investment to raise.
Furthermore, the phrase "most outstanding" was the greatest trap set by Yang Jian.
In the future, if any woman from these families proved to be exceptionally outstanding, Yang Hong would have an excuse to suppress that family.
This was a long-term plan.
Just as the families involved in the attack on the breeding base breathed a sigh of relief, another piece of news emanated from the imperial palace.
Two imperial consorts who had entered the palace years ago and had given birth to imperial princes were discovered to have engaged in improper conduct and were banished to the Cold Palace.
Along with them were sent two imperial princes and one imperial princess.
Upon hearing this news, Li Chongshan of the Li family fainted from rage, and Cui Donghang, the head of the Cui family, smashed an entire room full of porcelain.
When selecting family women, they became even more cautious.
However, the minor machinations of these great noble families became even more covert.
Ordinary citizens felt little about these developments,
only families with clean backgrounds were trying to send their daughters to the palace.
They harbored a sliver of hope.
If their daughter were to ascend to the Emperor's dragon bed, would they not also become imperial relatives?