Regarding what Deng Guang’s family did for a living, he blurted it out himself on the road while trying to cozy up to Wei Yu.

“My family has been in business for generations. We deal in grain trading. To exaggerate a bit, two-thirds of all the grain in Pingnan Prefecture is supplied by my family—even the neighboring Qian’an Prefecture too.”

Qian’an Prefecture was in Jiaozhou, right next to Pingnan Prefecture.

This “splash of muck” unexpectedly revealed a major grain merchant. Not only Wei Yu, even the Eighth Prince was a little surprised.

He asked, “Your family trades grain—have you ever sold in Ji Prefecture?”

The moment Ji Prefecture was mentioned, Deng Guang shook his head and avoided the topic, saying, “Forget Ji Prefecture. You all look like merchants too, so let me give you a word of advice: never go there!”

Since he was hiding his identity, Wei Yu introduced himself to outsiders as someone from the Wang family merchant house in the Western Capital, traveling with his older brother for business.

From Deng Guang’s words, he clearly knew Ji Prefecture well.

Wei Yu couldn’t help but smile and asked on purpose, “Why not? Sure, merchants worry about bandits, but we have numbers. Why not give it a try? Don’t tell me Ji Prefecture is a den of wolves and tigers?”

“Hey, you nailed it!”

Deng Guang slapped his thigh, the fat on his face trembling. “Ji Prefecture is a den of wolves and tigers! Just by the way you said that, I can tell you’ve never been there. You have no idea how rampant the mountain bandits are there—so bold that even the government can’t control them. Any merchants traveling through that place are guaranteed to get robbed. It’s terrifying.”

When officials collude with bandits, of course no one can control them.

Wei Yu suddenly grew curious about how his Second Brother was doing in Ji Prefecture.

If he remembered right, his Second Brother had already been in Ji Prefecture for about a month. If the situation with official-bandit collusion was really this bad—so widely known that even merchants from other places talked about it—then his Second Brother must be having a tough time.

Poor guy.

Wei Yu gave his Second Brother a silent two-second prayer in his heart.

Let’s hope Second Brother can hold out.

—

While Wei Yu was relaxing in Pingnan City, the Second Prince, far away in Ji Prefecture, was indeed having a rough time.

Inside a modest courtyard in a back alley of Qiling County, the plainly dressed Second Prince sat indoors, reading intelligence reports handed to him by a subordinate.

After a while, the Second Prince solemnly set down the report and passed it to the other two men in the room.

Second Prince: “Within a five-mile radius outside this county, nearly every hilltop has a bandit hideout. Altogether, they number over a thousand men.”

As the Second Prince spoke, a refined-looking young man with elegant features quickly read through the report, then passed it to the man next to him.

Recalling what was in the report, Gongsun Yi frowned slightly. “Ziyang, Heyang, Lingbei, Qiling—these four counties are practically surrounded by bandits. Their numbers are so great that the garrison under the Prefect’s command won’t be nearly enough.”

After all, a prefect’s force typically numbered only a bit over a thousand troops.

“Hah! Guo Xiu must really have a death wish, raising this many bandits. Isn’t he afraid they’ll turn on him one day?”

A burly man built like Du Xing slapped the report on the table and growled, “They normally rob passing merchants and villagers—that’s bad enough. But now they’re even teaming up to raid the county towns every month? The bandits are living better than the soldiers! Don’t those four county magistrates worry about getting their throats slit in their sleep?”

As a member of the Du family and Du Xing’s nephew, Du Rulin was just as hot-tempered.

After spending a month in Ji Prefecture—visiting a different county each week—the reports they gathered in every town said the same thing: rampant banditry, useless government, and suffering, helpless civilians.

As a military man, Du Rulin had tolerated it for a month, but now he couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Your Highness, let me go chop off that county magistrate’s head tonight. I can’t stand it.”

He jabbed a finger at the intelligence report, seething. “Look at what the Qiling magistrate has done—he’s no better than a kidnapper! He’s got more than a dozen boy toys kept at home like pets. Doesn’t he care if he ends up childless?”

Gongsun Yi glanced at him. “Lord Du, don’t get so worked up.”

Everyone had read the report. The Qiling magistrate was scum, but were the other three counties any better?

All cut from the same cloth, each corrupt in their own way.

If assassinations could solve everything, then what need would there be for justice? That would just bury the truth and throw the court into chaos.

The Second Prince massaged his brow. “We’re in the shadows while they’re in the light. What’s most important now is collecting evidence of the officials’ crimes. The bandit issue can wait until we’ve investigated the whole prefecture. Then we’ll coordinate with the Prefect’s garrison and wipe them out one by one.”

Knowing that was one thing. But thinking about the still-suffering people made Du Rulin feel awful.

He held back—barely—and then couldn’t help applying again.

“Your Highness, how about I just castrate that magistrate tonight?”

Second Prince, Gongsun Yi: …

Seriously? Are all Du family members like this?

The Second Prince clamped his legs shut a little and forced a calm voice. “Young Lord Du, we’re still gathering evidence. If you actually do that, won’t it alert them?”

Du Rulin grumbled, “What’s the big deal? What if it’s just some chivalrous soul acting out of justice, sick of that scumbag’s ways, and took action? Right? They wouldn’t necessarily think it was us.”

“Us”? It’s just you!

They weren’t crazed butchers who casually talked about castrating people.

Gongsun Yi cleared his throat. “If you really want to do something, take your men outside the city and deal with a few bandit leaders. His Highness and I won’t interfere with that.”

Du Rulin’s eyes lit up. “You mean it?”

Meeting his gaze, the Second Prince thought for a moment, then nodded. “Go ahead. Bandits aren’t like officials. With how many there are in Ji Prefecture, taking out a few won’t be a problem.”

That made Du Rulin genuinely excited.

He’d been stuck in the capital for so long and never had a chance to personally wipe out bandits. Now, finally, a chance to show his skills—something every general dreams of!

“Great! I’ll go right now! Your Highness, Lord Gongsun, stay in the city and wait for my good news!”

With that, Du Rulin dashed off.

After he left, Gongsun Yi turned to the Second Prince. “The bandits are fierce and act independently. They only unite when dealing with the government. If Du Rulin takes out a few leaders and disguises himself a bit, they might think it was the government’s doing.”

The Second Prince gave a cold smile, eyes glinting. “Officials and bandits are natural enemies. No matter how long they’ve colluded for profit, I don’t believe they truly trust each other.”

He didn’t expect Du Rulin to wipe out all the bandits—there were simply too many. Unless a war god walked the earth, no one could fight off hundreds alone.

What the Second Prince wanted was to slowly dismantle the trust between the bandits and the government.