Chapter 124: The Master Has Come to Meet Us

A cavalry charge, let alone for rural landlords, would strike terror even into the hearts of the Great Yan Kingdom's own soldiers, causing them to break ranks and flee in an instant!

Zhao Hengyi and his men exuded an overwhelming aura. Every one of his guards looked fierce and imposing, sitting tall upon their powerful steeds. This sight alone was enough to keep the gates of the Zhou family manor bolted shut. Had they not been terrified of provoking these mysterious riders, the gong used for sounding alarms would have been ringing within the walls long ago.

"Do you think you’re safe just by hiding? Where is that courage you had when the Zhou family colluded with mountain bandits to plunder my Yushu Bay? Zhou Xingwang is still locked up in Yushu Bay, and by that calculation, your family still owes me two hundred taels of silver!"

Zhao Hengyi truly sneered at the Zhou family’s cowardly, quail-like behavior. "Dahu, those stone lions at the gate are an eyesore. Smash them for me!"

In front of the Zhou manor stood two stone lions; they weren't particularly large, having stood there for decades. Wang Dahu grunted his acknowledgment, urged his horse forward, and drew a meteor hammer from the side of his saddle.

The meteor hammer, the size of two fists, was forged from tungsten steel—incredibly hard and terrifyingly heavy. Attached to a two-to-three-meter iron chain, it was a lethal weapon typically reserved for the battlefield. Wang Dahu exhaled sharply, gripped the chain, swung the hammer twice at his side, and then unleashed it. Like a shooting star chasing the moon, it smashed into one of the stone lions with a thunderous crash!

With a booming sound, one of the lions guarding the Zhou gate was shattered. Two strikes later, only rubble remained; there was no telling what had originally stood before the manor gate.

"If no one comes out, I’m breaking down the doors!"

Without needing further instruction from his master, the one-armed Wang Dahu wrapped the chain around his arm and bellowed. The main gate creaked open, and the Zhou family steward peeked out through the crack, his face twisted in an expression that was neither laughter nor tears—a pathetic, agonizing sight.

"Good heroes, whatever silver or grain you want, just name your price..."

"Shut your mouth, you dog! We are the Yushu Bay guard unit; who cares about your silver or grain! We are here today to collect a debt!"

Wang Dahu’s booming voice made the tiles on the Zhou manor roof vibrate, and the people inside the three-courtyard mansion heard every word clearly.

The Zhou family intended to play dead to the end. Within the only brick-and-tile manor in the entire village, there was dead silence; even the guard dogs had their muzzles tied shut, not daring to make a sound.

"I’ll go get the silver for you gentlemen right now! Every cent of the two hundred taels, I won't dare fall short!" The old steward slammed the gate shut, his footsteps scrambling toward the back of the house.

Sitting on his horse, Zhao Hengyi sneered. Did they really take him for some mountain bandit looking for a handout?

"Dahu, find someone and get the truth about where Ergou’s wife is hidden. While you're at it, find out how many others in this village have signed loan agreements with them, and round them all up!"

Last night, Ergou’s wife wasn't the only one who had tried to flee the Zhou village for Yushu Bay. The others were simply lucky; they had been delayed at home and avoided capture by the Zhou stewards. Now, seeing the guard unit and Zhao Hengyi arrive, the women who worked in the Yushu Bay workshops and had been forced to sign debt contracts found their backbone!

Strange as it was, the people of Zhou Village had been born and raised there, fearing their clan elders to death, yet they held deep trust in Master Zhao, the man who forced them to work to pay off their debts. This world was truly a baffling place.

The fate of Ergou’s family had left many who wished to move to Yushu Bay feeling deeply anxious. All day, the Zhou family’s servants had been prowling the village. Forget about moving out with their elderly and young; even those trying to leave the village to forage for wild vegetables were driven back.

But with Master Zhao and his guards arriving, those bullying, dog-like servants of the Zhou family scattered like ghosts seeing a judge. Anyone who stayed hidden in their homes now would be a fool. Bold villagers immediately pointed out the location of the ancestral hall to Zhao Hengyi’s men, then turned back home to grab their elders and children, ready to march out of the village.

A few dim-witted lackeys still tried to intervene, but Wang Erhu, riding his horse with a whip in hand and a wicked grin, spotted them from afar. He charged over, and his whistling whip sent the Zhou lackeys rolling on the ground, wailing and begging for mercy.

"Those who work in Yushu Bay, move quickly! The Master and the guards are here to cover us!"

In an instant, seven families were supporting their elders and children, carrying their meager belongings in ragged cloth bundles as they headed out of the village. The other villagers stood stunned on the side of the road, unable to comprehend why these people would risk offending the Old Master Zhou just to go to Yushu Bay. Didn't they understand the hardship of leaving one’s home? Did they not care about their own houses?

"Bah! What home? It’s just a broken nest! In Yushu Bay, those who work can apply for a thatched cottage for emergency shelter, and after three months of work, they get low-rent housing! The cafeteria provides meals every day, you eat your fill, and you keep your wages. Save for a year or two, and you can build your own big house with red bricks and green tiles! The Zhou family? They are cannibals who leave no bones behind; staying here is a dead end!"

The words of those leaving were particularly piercing, especially the promise that one could build a house—a real tiled house—in just a year or two of working in Yushu Bay. The dull, listless eyes of the villagers began to flicker, and they exchanged suspicious glances, wondering if the claims of the departing families were true.

From the direction of the ancestral hall, shouts and weeping erupted. Within the Zhou manor—where no one had dared to make a sound even when their stone lions were smashed—a warning gong began to ring.

The ancestral hall had been breached!

The villagers instinctively gathered toward the hall, where it was said the Zhou ancestors were worshipped. However, most villagers felt only fear toward that place. They had no qualifications to worship the ancestors enshrined there, nor did they know if their own fathers or grandfathers even had tablets inside. If they weren't qualified to enter while alive, they likely wouldn't be allowed in death either. Under normal circumstances, villagers only entered the ancestral hall when they were being punished by the clan elders—and usually, they went in alive and came out dead.

The weeping came from the high-and-mighty clan elders. The second grand-uncle, who had just ruined the daughter of Old Man Zhou last month, was among them. Five or six elders were tied to the tree trunks in front of the hall, and Ergou’s wife, her face bruised and swollen, was slapping their faces with the soles of her shoes.

Zhao Hengyi arrived, and as he looked at the so-called Zhou ancestral hall, his face was cold enough to frost over. Water dungeons, axes, spiked boards, guillotines, pig-cages... nothing was missing!

"By the laws of the Great Yan Kingdom, those who set up private prisons and use lynch law shall be executed on the spot! Dahu, tear this place down and burn it to the ground!"