Zhao Ya was at a loss, torn between laughter and tears, "Are you really short of those few hundred taels of silver?"
"Of course, who isn’t? Would you ever complain about having too much silver?" Shang Luoluo replied with a smile.
Zhao Ya was somewhat helpless.
He never had any way to deal with this quirky woman.
"Oh, by the way, now that Wei Hongbin is dead, how do you plan to deal with the Martial Arts Halls that had once pledged allegiance to him?" Shang Luoluo asked.
Zhao Ya immediately understood, smiling subtly, "What, has someone asked you to intercede?"
Shang Luoluo nodded, "Sort of, but you don’t have to worry about it, this matter is not related to me. I’m just asking for someone. How to handle it is up to you."
Zhao Ya understood.
Those Martial Arts Halls that had once pledged allegiance to Wei Hongbin couldn’t hold on any longer and were trying to test his attitude through this approach.
After all, although they hadn’t openly betrayed, their absence during the battle night was already the clearest statement.
But they never expected the seemingly unstoppable Wei Hongbin to fall so quickly.
Overnight, the situation reversed dramatically.
Wei Hongbin was killed, his cavalry were either dead or surrendered, his power crumbled, and Zhao Ya’s side was greatly victorious.
In this way, their situation naturally became very awkward.
Many Martial Arts Halls were so frightened that they shut their doors, waiting nervously at home for a decision.
But after a few days, they found that Zhao Ya and the Martial Artists seemed to have forgotten about them.
No one paid attention to them for days.
Faced with this situation, some people were secretly delighted, thinking perhaps Zhao Ya was simply too lazy to deal with them, and thus they might have luckily gotten away this time.
But others felt it wasn’t that simple.
Zhao Ya dared to kill the Direct Lineage of the Capital City Wei Family, so what did they count for?
So the current calm was definitely not a good sign, and it was very likely that a major upheaval could come soon.
Because of this, they were full of anxiety and fear.
But they didn’t dare to approach Zhao Ya, so they racked their brains trying to find a breakthrough from people around Zhao Ya.
Shang Luoluo was one of them.
However, this always clever woman was very clear-headed and did not plead for mercy but merely inquired about Zhao Ya’s attitude.
Zhao Ya smiled, "To be honest, if it were up to my master, none of those Martial Arts Halls would escape, all would be wiped out."
Zhao Ya was not just making scary threats; Hall Master Lu actually thought so.
Shang Luoluo also knew the temperament of this Hall Master Lu, so she smiled with her lips, "It’s hard to believe your master’s still so bloodthirsty despite his age."
"It might just be his nature, but this time I managed to persuade him."
Zhao Ya took a sip from his teacup and continued.
"Indeed, the actions of those Martial Arts Halls were a bit despicable, but most of their disciples are innocent."
"Moreover, given that they are all part of the Commandery’s Martial Dao community, they are somewhat interconnected. If we were to go to war against these Martial Arts Halls, the hard-won unity would surely be shattered, which would be a loss outweighing the gain."
"So what do you plan to do?" Shang Luoluo asked.
"It’s simple, dismantle them."
"Dismantle?"
"Exactly!"
"Although most of these Martial Arts Halls are small halls with no more than fifty disciples, there are a few medium-sized ones, so we can take this opportunity to completely dismantle them, nullifying all previous hall masters as a form of punishment."
"But after dismantling, what will happen to their disciples?"
Zhao Ya chuckled, "That will depend on the capabilities of the various Martial Arts Halls in the city."
Shang Luoluo suddenly understood and then also started laughing.
"So, you’re essentially uprooting these Martial Arts Halls!"
"You could say that, but since they did wrong, they should accept punishment. Besides, this result is already the best, far better than my master killing them all."
Shang Luoluo nodded, "Indeed, it’s quite face-saving for them. Do you need me to keep it a secret for you?"
"No need, you can tell them everything I said, so they can prepare in advance." Zhao Ya said carelessly.
He didn’t care if the people from the Martial Arts Halls knew about this in advance, because what could they do even if they knew?
Would they dare to resist?
Ridiculous.
If they had such courage, they wouldn’t have secretly surrendered to Wei Hongbin in the first place.
"Alright, I’ll relay your message to them."
While saying this, Shang Luoluo’s phoenix eyes slightly narrowed, her lips curled slightly, like a schadenfreude little fox.
It seemed she could already see their expressions of mourning after hearing Zhao Ya’s words.
And it was likely that this matter would cause the just-calm Commandery to stir up again.
Sure enough.
Within two or three days, the news that Zhao Ya intended to dismantle all the Martial Arts Halls that had secretly pledged allegiance to Wei Hongbin spread like wildfire in the Commandery.
Countless people were shocked.
What kind of effort and determination does it take to do something like this?
Is Zhao Ya not afraid of these Martial Arts Halls rebelling?
Moreover, wouldn’t this newly stabilized situation be disrupted again by this matter?
For a while, many hearts began to stir.
Especially those Martial Arts Halls identified as targets, where the atmosphere was restless, and many people began to secretly band together, intending to form cliques for self-protection.
Zhu Family.
Since Wei Hongbin’s downfall, the long-silent Zhu Family finally turned over a new leaf.
With Zhu Zihao’s prior arrangements, the Zhu Family’s businesses quickly returned to normal operations, and the once desolate mansion became lively again.