Chapter 29

"They say it's packed in several large chests.

I'd estimate it must be at least a few thousand taels?" The petty clerks didn't know the exact amount either, so Song Xianggong could only make a rough estimate.

Still, with several chests as a baseline, and since it was transfer silver issued by Geng Jimao, the sum was bound to be substantial.

"Several thousand taels!"

Song Xianggong's estimate overjoyed Zhou Shixiang. It truly was seeing the sun and moon after the clouds parted — just when he was fretting over having no silver, a huge sum had dropped from the sky.

Damn it all, heaven had finally opened its eyes! This silver had come at the perfect time, and it was far too useful!

"Where is the silver now?" Zhou Shixiang could not wait to go find it. As long as there was silver, no problem was a problem.

Song Xianggong spread his hands helplessly. "That's the tricky part. The silver was hidden by Kong Guoliang, and now that you've killed him, we can hardly go ask him in the court of the King of Hell."

"That much silver — could Kong Guoliang have hidden it all by himself? Hmph, it doesn't matter that he's dead. Someone else must know."

With that, Zhou Shixiang strode off toward the jail. Song Xianggong paused, then caught on: Kong Guoliang was dead, but his three personal guards and his trusted Company Commander Shao Jiugong were still alive!

A sum that large, hauled all the way from Chaozhou — Kong Guoliang could not possibly have hidden it alone. He must have had trusted men helping him.

When they reached the jail, they saw Boss Hu leaning a chair against the wall, his ring-pommel saber in his right hand, swinging it about from time to time while Ge Liu, Baldy, and the others cheered him on.

"Master Song! Brother Zhou!"

Seeing Zhou Shixiang and Song Xianggong arrive together, Ge Liu and the others hurriedly greeted them. Baldy had taken a saber wound the night before — a Qing soldier had slashed his left shoulder — and it was now wrapped in a cloth band.

Fortunately the cut had not been deep, or he would likely have lost his life. Perhaps from the loss of blood, Baldy's face was deathly pale, without a trace of color, and looked rather ghastly.

Seeing Zhou and Song approaching with urgent expressions, Boss Hu paused, quickly set down his blade, and stepped forward. "What brings you two here? Has something happened outside?"

"Nothing's wrong outside. Everything's fine. We came because..."

Zhou Shixiang told Boss Hu and the others about the several thousand taels of silver Kong Guoliang might have hidden. Boss Hu showed little reaction, but Ge Liu and the rest listened with gleaming eyes, gulping hard, their faces full of greed.

Once Zhou Shixiang had finished, Song Xianggong said, "The urgent task now is to bring the prisoners out and question them thoroughly. Otherwise none of us will know where the silver is hidden.

Brother Dazhu's men searched half the day and didn't find so much as a copper coin. We can't afford to delay."

"Damn right. Don't you worry, Master Song — this is right up our alley. I'll go bring them out now. Even if their mouths are made of iron, the brothers will pry them open!"

Spurred on by the silver, Baldy ignored his wounds and eagerly went in to drag out Shao Jiugong and Kong Guoliang's three personal guards.

Before the four men had even steadied themselves, Ge Liu barked, "You Tartar dogs! Out with it — where did your Battalion Commander hide the silver?"

Shao Jiugong, who had assumed the Ming troops were bringing him out to interrogate him about military intelligence or to recruit him, groaned inwardly at the shout. How did they know about Battalion Commander Kong's silver?

"What silver? This humble one knows nothing about it!"

Shao Jiugong put on a baffled expression, inwardly resolved not to reveal where the silver was hidden. True, the Prince of Jingnan had tossed them this bit of silver as if throwing scraps to beggars, but it was no small sum — a full four thousand-plus taels!

At current land prices, back in his home village he could buy at least five or six hundred mu of good farmland. And if he lent it out at interest in the city, he'd never be able to spend it all in a lifetime!

While Kong Guoliang was alive, Shao Jiugong had not dared covet the silver. But now that Kong Guoliang was dead and few people knew about the money, he could not help his mind turning to it.

He figured that as long as the Ming troops didn't kill him, he'd have a chance to escape. Once the Manchu troops in Guangzhou drove those old rebels back to Guangxi, the transfer silver Kong Guoliang had embezzled would belong to him — Company Commander Shao!

A windfall was right before his eyes. No one would willingly let the fat meat in his mouth be eaten by someone else!

Shao Jiugong was set on not talking. He'd rather die than speak!

"We were always at Battalion Commander Kong's side. We know all his affairs, but we truly know nothing about any silver."

Kong Guoliang's three personal guards were sharp customers too. Seeing Shao Jiugong deny the silver existed, they rolled their eyes and all chimed in with denials.

They understood perfectly the principle that whoever sees it gets a share. With the three of them present, Shao Jiugong wouldn't dare swallow it all himself — otherwise they'd report him to Regional Commander Kong and make the old bastard regret it!

"Damn it, you won't shed tears until you see the coffin, is that it?"

Seeing how tight-lipped the lot of them were, Baldy swung his scabbard into the face of the nearest of Kong Guoliang's personal guards. The man let out a shriek — "Aiyo!" — clutched his face, and crouched on the ground, groaning in agony.

"Are you going to talk or not?"

Still not satisfied, Baldy went on to beat the other two guards. Ge Liu stepped in as well and kicked Shao Jiugong several times, cursing as he beat him — a terrifying racket.

But no matter how they threatened them, Shao Jiugong and the three guards would not loosen their lips. They held out stubbornly, insisting they knew nothing.

They'd beaten them and cursed them. Did they really have to kill someone?

Ge Liu and Baldy could not decide, and together looked to Boss Hu. Boss Hu was also at a loss, and raised his eyes to Zhou Shixiang and Song Xianggong.

Song Xianggong's mouth twisted in a cold sneer at Zhou Shixiang, who gave a slight nod, walked up to Shao Jiugong and the other three, and asked in a low voice, "Do you truly not know, or are you pretending not to know?"

As expected, all four shook their heads like rattle-drums. The tall guard even pointed to the sky and swore, "Heaven above, if I, Wang Youfu, have spoken a single false word, may lightning strike me five times and thunder blast me — may I die a wretched death!"

"In that case, I'll grant your wish!" The words had barely left his mouth when Zhou Shixiang drove his long blade savagely into Wang Youfu's chest, snarling, "Since you wish to die a wretched death, I'll make sure you die a wretched death!"

After the curse, he yanked the blade back out, did not spare a single glance at Wang Youfu, whose mouth was frothing blood, and flashed the blade before Shao Jiugong's face, then laid it directly against his neck.

"If you also wish to die a wretched death, then keep silent.

I'll grant your wish all the same!"

"No! No! No!"

Shao Jiugong's scalp went numb. Only now did he remember that this scholarly-looking fellow, who resembled a xiucai, was the very fiend who had slain Kong Guoliang in a single stroke.

In utter terror, he collapsed to the ground on his backside, pleading desperately, "Don't kill me, brave hero! I'll talk, I'll talk..."

With Shao Jiugong collapsed on the ground, the two remaining guards were even more terrified. They dropped to their knees and kowtowed frantically, all scheming gone from their minds, and spilled every detail of where the silver was hidden.

The silver had not been hidden anywhere else — it was right in the department magistrate's yamen. Not in any room, though: it was buried in the stables of the rear compound.

In fact, when Geng Jimao had been in Chaozhou, he had given Kong Guozhi more than eight thousand taels of silver in total.

But the elder brother, Kong Guozhi, had given only half to his younger brother Kong Guoliang, instructing him to distribute the four thousand-plus taels to the soldiers under his command as a reward for their merits in storming Chaozhou.

Unexpectedly, the younger brother Kong Guoliang, seeing that his elder brother had swallowed half, followed suit and embezzled the other half outright.

Had he not feared Geng Jimao and the Manchus finding out, Kong Guoliang would have long since smuggled the silver back to his hometown of Ganzhou in Jiangxi. Why would he have hauled it all the way to Luoding?

Once in Luoding, he also feared the Ming army in Gaozhou to the west might attack. Worried that the silver would be too heavy to carry if he had to flee, Kong Guoliang had Shao Jiugong and a few personal guards bury it in the stables under cover of night.

He thought it was hidden so well that no one would find it. Even if the Ming army attacked in the future, the silver would still be there even if the men fled.

When the Qing army counterattacked and returned, they could retrieve it — no rush.

He never imagined that despite all his calculations, Kong Guoliang had failed to foresee one thing: he would get his head chopped off in a daze, and the silver he had so painstakingly buried would fall into another's pocket. If he knew this in the underworld now, he would surely be sick with regret.