Chapter 466

"Yes, sir!"

More than three hundred men cupped their fists and answered in unison, then one by one followed the rope down into the underground palace.

The underground palace had originally been pitch-black, but once torches, twenty-eight lampstands, oil lamps, and other lighting implements were lit, it immediately brightened considerably.

Su Qiao did not go in with them, simply waiting quietly outside for the result.

Meanwhile, the people of the other factions in Yangzhou also knew that today the court men were going to enter the underground palace to dig out the treasure.

Many of them were itching to move, ready to fish in troubled waters.

Su Qiao was holding the seat at Qiling Temple, and people kept coming and going to report that they had spotted sneaky figures heading this way.

But all of them were shot dead by the Embroidered Uniform Guard or the guarding soldiers.

Truly, not even a single bird could fly in—any sign of unusual movement and crossbow bolts would be loosed at once.

No government troops would be foolish enough to go investigate.

Because of this, the losses suffered by every faction were extremely heavy.

After a frantic bout of probing, they gained nothing at all and instead lost a great deal of manpower.

These people immediately quieted down.

There were currently no monks inside Qiling Temple at all; all the monks had been temporarily relocated out by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

So guarding the place was relatively convenient.

Every side hall, the front hall and rear courtyard, the rooftops and attics, plus the surrounding woods—all were manned.

And there were also patrolling personnel moving back and forth, as well as carrier pigeons and signal flares on hand.

Wherever a problem arose, reinforcements would arrive at the first moment.

One could say the defenses were as tight as an iron bucket!

Even Yangzhou city, which was not far away, had likewise been placed under martial law.

All four city gates were shut, and the garrison soldiers had set up layer upon layer of barriers within the city—no one was allowed out.

It was even stricter than a curfew!

Even if those faction men wanted to cause trouble and make some disturbance, they had no way to do so.

……

One hour, two hours, three hours…

From when the sun had just risen in the morning until now, late afternoon when it was nearly dark, there was still no movement from the people who had entered the underground palace.

Six or seven hours had already passed.

Su Qiao could hold his composure, but the others were starting to get restless.

Fortunately, at this moment there was finally some movement.

Someone inside the underground palace shook the rope and climbed out.

It was a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!

"My lord, there's news!"

Upon receiving the news, Luo Luo Yangxing informed Su Qiao at the first moment.

Su Qiao opened his eyes and asked, "What's the situation? Why has it taken so long to get word out?"

The Embroidered Uniform Guard who had crawled out drank two mouthfuls of water, caught his breath, and hurriedly explained, "My lord, we were very careful when we went in, but we still fell into a sealed chamber, and after that we ran into many trap mechanisms. Fortunately, thanks to your map, we wasted some effort but in the end made it out."

"You had the mechanism map and you still got trapped? Were there any casualties?" Su Qiao pressed.

"Two brothers were injured, no one died. It's just that the underground palace is very large, and there are two mechanisms inside that aren't easy to disable. Getting all the hidden treasure out is a bit troublesome."

"Oh, so you're saying you've seen the treasure?"

"Yes, the quantity is enormous! There's a hall inside, and right at the center of the hall it's piled full. Quite a few wooden crates have already rotted, and inside there are great amounts of gold and silver, as well as no small number of Treasure-grade gems and the like…"

"All right, no rush—take it slow!"

Su Qiao's expression did not change; he seemed to attach no importance to such a vast hoard of gold, silver, and treasure.

But Luo Luo Yangxing and the others, upon hearing of mountains of gold and silver and treasure piled to fill a hall, could not help but breathe a little faster.

Su Qiao asked the Embroidered Uniform Guard a few more questions about the situation and details inside the underground palace, then told him to go down and rest for the time being.

There were indeed quite a few trap mechanisms inside the underground palace, but the vast majority had been destroyed by them, and the ones remaining were no longer dangerous.

They only needed to be marked off, and at that point the danger was essentially gone.

The underground palace was designed to be very large, with quite a few structures inside and winding paths—in fact it relied on visual effects to deceive people, making it seem like a labyrinth.

As long as one followed the map, it was easy to find one's way out.

After resting for the better part of an hour, the men inside the underground palace had already begun hauling the treasure out.

First came the treasure that had not rotted and was easy to sort.

Box after box of treasure was sent up and piled in the great hall of the Buddhist temple.

When opened, they were found to be full of gold and silver.

Luo Luo Yangxing's Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot agents, plus the Yangzhou Prefecture garrison troops.

Each of the three contingents put up two men to register the goods separately.

This was done in accordance with Su Qiao's instructions.

One reason was to make it convenient for everyone to supervise one another; the other was to accurately estimate how much treasure there was.

Every box had to be opened, and the gold, silver, and jewels inside were dazzling—people couldn't help but swallow their saliva.

But no one dared reach out carelessly; everyone knew this was ultimately to be delivered into Your Majesty's private treasury.

Only Su Qiao remained perfectly calm, not taking these riches to heart in the slightest.

Even after an entire night, the more than three hundred men had not finished hauling everything out.

It was not until the morning of the second day that the treasure inside the underground palace was finally swept clean.

Those who entered the underground palace were also searched one by one, lest they had secretly taken anything.

Inside the great hall, three small mountains had truly been piled up.

One small mountain was heaped from the treasure of boxes that had not rotted.

One small mountain was formed from scattered gold and silver.

And the last small mountain was formed from scattered jewelry and jade wares.

All were priceless treasures!

Everyone roughly estimated that these things alone were worth at least a hundred million taels!

Such a sum was truly beyond everyone's expectations.

Su Qiao, right before everyone's wide-eyed stares, reached in and picked through the three piles of treasure.

He turned his head and said to Sun Youxu: "That box, and those two gold ingots, plus those few pieces of jewelry and jade — carry them away and deliver them to my place!"

Su Qiao spoke very casually, and Sun Youxu did not hesitate, calling out to people to step forward and move them.

The men of the Eastern Depot, along with Luo Luo Yangxing and the others, hurriedly raised their hands to stop them.

"My lord, these are all meant for Your Majesty. Wouldn't it be improper for you to just take them like that?"

322, I take the goods, you haul the treasure!

"What is improper?"

Su Qiao turned his head, glanced at them, and asked.

"My lord…"

"Enough, I know what you want to say. Whatever this official takes, just write it into your report to Your Majesty. Besides, this official hasn't taken anything especially rare — it's nothing, no need to make a fuss."

Su Qiao cut them off and said directly.

He had found such a huge pile of treasure for Zhu Youjian — surely he could pick a couple of things for himself?!

He did not hold Zhu Youjian in such great awe, nor would he worry about what would happen if Zhu Youjian found out.

Hearing Su Qiao's words, Luo Luo Yangxing and the others exchanged glances, unsure what was best to say.

If Su Qiao insisted on taking them, they were merely his subordinates and had no power over him.

Just as he had said, at most they could submit a memorial to impeach him and that would be about it.

How exactly it would be judged still depended on Your Majesty's disposition.

Judging by the degree of Your Majesty's favor toward him, impeaching him would likely yield no good outcome either.

Since they could not stop him, everyone could only stand by and watch.

Fortunately, Su Qiao did not take too much — just a little of each, looking as though he meant to keep them as souvenirs.

He waved his hand at the rest, telling his subordinates to seal them all up quickly.