A month passed in the blink of an eye, amidst the flashing of blades and the non-stop galloping of horses.

The Prefectural Governors Mansion of Yuyang Commandery, a residence that originally belonged to the former Prefectural Governor, had now been openly occupied by Zhou Ming.

The former Prefectural Governor did not suffer much.

On the day Zhou Ming brought his troops into the city, he was hugging his seventh concubine, listening to music in the back office. Hearing the clashing of armor outside the gate, he thought it was the servants of some noble family causing trouble.

When Zhou Ming pushed the door open and slammed the hand-written order from the Empress Su Mingyue on the table, the reaction of this Prefectural Governor was even more decisive than Zhou Ming had expected.

He pushed the official seal forward with both hands, packed his belongings overnight, and took his family out of the city.

In his own words, "This official is advanced in years and is looking forward to retiring to his hometown."

Zhou Ming did not make things difficult for him. After all, he had been in office for five years and had governed Yuyang Commandery quite peacefully, without any notoriety for extortion. There was no reason to kill him, and letting him go was the easiest thing to do.

Now, Zhou Ming sat behind the large rosewood desk in the main hall of the Prefectural Governors Mansion, flipping through a thick booklet.

The booklet was densely packed with records of the population, farmland, taxes, granaries, garrison troops, and noble families of Yuyang Commandery.

A half-foot-high stack of official documents lay on the desk—some requesting tax reductions, some complaining about neighboring counties occupying water channels, and others reporting suspected traces of the Zongsheng Sect in certain villages. It was all so overwhelming that it gave him a headache.

Since that day when he chatted with the Eldest Miss in the backyard of the Commanders Residence, Empress Su Mingyue had made a decision on the spot.

She gave Zhou Ming five thousand elite soldiers and told him to bring them back to Yuyang Commandery.

The order from the Eldest Miss was very simple, so simple that it consisted of only eight characters:

"Take Yuyang, protect the Yongning Marquis Mansion."

Zhou Ming wanted to ask a few questions about how to proceed, but Empress Su Mingyue had already turned back to the conference hall to discuss the defense of the Northern Territory with her generals.

She left Zhou Ming with a graceful silhouette and five thousand soldiers waiting for orders.

In fact, this matter did not require Zhou Ming at all.

One could randomly pick a lieutenant from the Northern border troops, lead five thousand elite soldiers south, and easily take Yuyang Commandery.

Yuyang Commandery was located in the hinterland of You Province, far from the borders, and had been peaceful for a long time.

Nominally, the garrison had two thousand troops, but how many were actually on the roster, how many were names of soldiers who were just drawing pay, and how many were old and weak who couldn't even lift a sword?

The former Prefectural Governor had no idea, and neither did Zhou Ming.

However, he didn't care, because the five thousand men he brought were not ordinary soldiers.

All of these men had Cultivated the Dushi Sutra, and the lowest cultivation level among them was the Skin Refining Realm.

The leading squad leaders had even touched the threshold of the Muscle Training stage.

An army composed of five thousand Martial Artists, in front of this inland commandery that had been peaceful for decades, was like a red-hot knife cutting into a piece of tofu.

On the day they entered the city, it was drizzling.

Zhou Ming rode on that chestnut gelding, wearing an oilcloth cloak, with five thousand armored and armed Northern border troops behind him. The horse hooves splashed water as they trod on the bluestone slabs.

When the city gate guards saw this formation from afar, they didn't even dare to close the gates.

To be precise, before they could even close them, the vanguard squad had already seized the sentry posts at the city gate.

The Prefectural Commandant lined up the two thousand garrison troops on the drill ground, but when Zhou Ming sent someone to deliver the hand-written order from the Eldest Miss, the two thousand garrison troops laid down their weapons on the spot.

The Prefectural Commandant who decided to surrender before the battle was actually a sensible man. He told Zhou Ming that he had been the Prefectural Commandant for eight years.

There were fewer than ten officers under his command who could simulate attacks and defenses on a sand table, and no more than fifty archers who could pull a three-stone bow. What could he use to fight the Northern border troops—his face?

Zhou Ming thought this man was quite interesting, so he not only didn't remove him from his post but also let him continue to manage city defense and public security.

Of course, not everyone was so sensible.

Several deeply rooted noble families were entrenched in Yuyang Commandery. Having operated on this land for generations, their Foundation was not much worse than the Yongning Marquis Mansion in the local area.

These noble families enclosed large manors in the commandery city, kept hundreds of private soldiers and retainers, and usually, even the Prefectural Governor had to look at their faces to act.

After Zhou Ming brought his troops into the city, the first one to jump out was the Sun Family from the south of the city.

The Young Master of the Sun Family blocked the gate of the Prefectural Governors Mansion with two thousand private soldiers, pointed at Zhou Ming's nose, and cursed him for relying on his troops to act arrogantly and disregarding the law. He threatened to send a message by falcon to An Province and let the imperial court send the Forbidden Army to exterminate him, this traitor.

Zhou Ming had just come out of the Prefectural Governors Mansion at that time, still holding a bowl of unfinished noodle soup.

He placed the bowl on the door stone, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, turned his head, and said to the squad leader behind him: "Arrest them."

Two thousand private soldiers against five hundred armored soldiers at the Skin Refining Realm—the outcome had no suspense.

That same evening, Zhou Ming raided the Sun Family on charges of "colluding with the Zongsheng Sect."

He sent troops to surround the Sun Family mansion under the cover of night, blocking the front and back three courtyards, and even the back door was blocked by three layers of men.

After breaking down the door, the soldiers searched out a statue worshipped by the Zongsheng Sect from the woodshed in the backyard, as well as several hand-copied volumes of the Dushi Sutra and a command flag embroidered with the symbol of the Zongsheng Sect.

The entire Sun Family of over one hundred and fifty people was rounded up. The men were sent to the army, the women were sold, and the family property was confiscated.

The next morning, the Prefectural Governors Mansion posted a notice detailing the crimes of the Sun Family, such as "colluding with the evil people of the Zongsheng Sect and plotting rebellion," with evidence for every charge.

The onlookers were packed three layers deep. Literate scholars stood in the front to read, and illiterate farmers stood on tiptoe in the back to listen.

When it was read that "Since the Zongsheng Sect uprising, the Sun Family has secretly provided provisions and weaponry, acting as an internal agent," a buzzing discussion broke out in the crowd. Some clapped and cheered, while others turned pale and quietly retreated from the crowd.

That statue and all the evidence were planted by Zhou Ming.

Moreover, Zhou Ming had scanned Yuyang Commandery with his Divine Sense.

He had clearly mapped out every residence, every secret room, and every secret letter hidden in hidden compartments in this city. His Divine Sense covered a radius of a thousand meters; no one could hide from his eyes.

The Sun Family really had no involvement with the Zongsheng Sect; they just happened to be in the line of fire.

This case was tried for two days and finally concluded publicly in the main hall of the Prefectural Governors Mansion in front of the entire city's citizens.

Zhou Ming sat high under the plaque that read "Clear Mirror Hanging High," listing the evidence "searched" out one by one on the hall.

The onlookers filled the hall, and those who couldn't fit stood outside the threshold, lining up all the way to the stone road outside the mansion gate.

Less than half an hour after the court was adjourned, the whole city knew that the new Prefectural Governor was a ruthless character.

In the tea houses on the streets and alleys, it was rumored everywhere that the new Prefectural Governor Zhou was a living Yama who killed without blinking.

He even dared to raid noble families; the silver found in the mansion's cellar took several carriage trips to haul away.

With the Sun Family as a precedent, the remaining noble families who were ready to make a move immediately became much better behaved.

However, they didn't have to wait long. Zhou Ming sent people to invite them one by one to the Prefectural Governors Mansion to "have tea."

No one knew what was discussed behind closed doors, but after these people came out, each one was more obedient than the last, voluntarily handing over the rosters of their private soldiers for the Prefectural Governors Mansion to register.

They also handed over fifty percent of their family assets to the Prefectural Governors Mansion for unified allocation.