Chapter 862: House Cleared, Clan Annihilated, Blood Floods the Streets; the Underground Vault Shocks the World

"Even if you capture me, as long as my Underground Vault stays intact, Chen Yan can forget about getting a single coin from the Chamber."

When Qian Wansan finished speaking, a few of the kneeling stewards and accountants in Zheng Hall actually raised their heads.

Gu Yuci lifted his Chang Qiang and stepped before him; the spear tip struck the blue brick with a crisp crack!

"Qian Wansan, you're already kneeling here, and you're still thinking about your vault?"

Qian Wansan's face was smeared with tears and snot, yet a hint of madness flickered in his eyes.

"General Gu, you don't understand."

"That Gold Vault was built by me over twenty years with silver; its outer layer is refined steel, its interior is Broken Dragon Stone, the whole stone weighs thirteen thousand jin. Not even the few men you have, let alone a siege hammer, could smash it open."

Gu Yuci let out a cold sneer.

"If it can't be smashed, burn it; if it can't be burned, explode it."

Qian Wansan knelt on the ground, his shoulders trembling twice, and actually laughed.

"Explode?"

"Go ahead and explode it."

"The mechanism inside the Gold Vault is linked to a Fuel pool; if the Broken Dragon Stone shatters, Fuel will flood in, and the red gold, white silver, ledgers, contracts, Secret Letters, and hidden accounts will all turn to ash."

"Chen Yan wants my money? Dream on!"

Lin Xin, hearing this, lifted his head that had been hanging low.

"Chamber Head Qian, does the vault really have a self‑destruct mechanism?"

Qian Wansan turned his head and glared at him.

"Shut up!"

Wu Hongyuan also grew frantic.

"Inside there are also my Wu family's gold tickets and contracts. Qian Wansan, if you want to burn it, you must first take my things out!"

The flesh on Qian Wansan's face trembled even more violently.

"We've come this far, and you're still thinking about your contract?"

"We're all about to die; no one may think of taking the money away!"

Yang Huairen knelt at the far end, mud still clinging to his robe hem; he glanced at Qian Wansan, then at Gu Yuci, and lowered his voice by half.

"General Gu, the Broken Dragon Stone he mentioned is real."

Gu Yuci turned his face aside.

"You know?"

Yang Huairen swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"When the Gold Vault was built, my Yang family also contributed some silver. The entrance has three gates: the outer gate is iron, the inner gate is stone, and the innermost contains a winch mechanism."

"There are three keys: one for Qian Wansan, one for Lin Xin, and one for Wu Hongyuan."

Lin Xin hurriedly shook his head.

"My key was taken by Qian Wansan; it's not on me."

Wu Hongyuan also shouted.

"Mine's also missing; the day before, he claimed to inspect the vault and took all the keys."

Gu Yuci looked toward Qian Wansan.

"Where are the keys?"

Qian Wansan tilted his head.

"Even if you kill me, it won't help."

Gu Yuci thrust his Chang Qiang forward, and the spear tip pierced the fabric on his shoulder.

"I, this general, don't like hearing nonsense."

Qian Wansan winced in pain, inhaled a cold breath, yet still grinned through clenched teeth.

"Kill me then."

"If you kill me, the keys will be lost forever."

"If you dare touch the Gold Vault, everything inside will be buried together."

Gu Yuci turned and looked at the deputy general.

"Send a squad down to inspect."

The deputy general replied, dispatching twenty Beiwei Dead Guards, who descended the stone steps behind the Secret Chamber into the underground.

Qian Wansan heard the footsteps recede, and his smile grew even uglier.

"Go then."

"I actually want to see whether the troops raised by Chen Yan truly have ironclad fates."

From below, the sound of an iron door being pried open quickly echoed.

The deputy general's voice rose from the Secret Tunnel.

"General, ahead is the first door; it has three rows of lock holes."

Gu Yuci stood at the mouth of the stone steps.

"Don't touch the locks; first examine the walls on both sides."

The deputy replied, "There are holes in the wall; they must be hidden weapon openings."

Gu Yuci's eyebrows twitched slightly.

"Use a shield."

A moment later, a muffled thud echoed from below, followed by the dense clatter of metal striking the shield.

Someone let out a muffled groan.

Gu Yuci's expression darkened.

"Retreat!"

Two short, plaintive cries sounded from below.

When the deputy commander led his men back up, four of the twenty were missing, and three others had tiny iron darts lodged in their arms, the wounds turning blue around them.

Gu Yuci walked over and pulled a soldier's sleeve open.

The soldier's face went pale, his teeth chattering.

"General, the darts are poisoned."

Gu Yuci's face went cold.

"Carry them down for treatment."

Qian Wansan sat on the ground, laughing with a hoarse voice.

"I've said it before: whoever touches it dies."

"General Gu, do you still want to try again?"

Gu Yuci stepped forward to his side and kicked his chest.

Qian Wansan rolled out two circles, then lay on the ground coughing, his face turning purple.

Gu Yuci raised his spear and pressed it against his nape.

"I'll hang you at the gate now, so you can watch the Gold Vault explode before your eyes."

Qian Wansan lay on the ground, still smiling.

"Detonate, quickly detonate."

"If you dare to blow it up, not a single item inside will remain."

"Chen Yan worked so hard to set this grand scheme, and in the end can't even get a single coin."

A hush fell over Zheng Hall.

Gu Yuci raised his hand.

"Fetch the gunpowder."

The deputy commander's expression tightened.

"General, if there really is a Fuel pool..."

Gu Yuci said, "Prepare it first."

"I still don't believe a ruined vault can stop five thousand Iron Cavalry."

As soon as the words fell, a wave of sound came from outside the Chamber of Commerce's great gate.

The wave rolled in from the far end of Zhuque Avenue, layer upon layer, shaking the dust off the lintel of Zheng Hall's gate.

"Pillar of the State Qiansui!"

"Chen Qingtian has arrived!"

"Living Yan King Chen Qingtian!"

Gu Yuci turned and walked to the doorway.

On Zhuque Avenue, commoners knelt along both sides, a sea of heads stretching to the end of the street.

Five Hundred Beiwei Death Guards cleared the way, their dark armor forming a continuous mass in the morning light.

The carriage in the middle had no canopy, but bore the Xuanhu Banner of the Duke of Wei.

Chen Yan sat in the carriage, wearing a Purple Robe Gold Belt, a Great Cloak draped over his shoulders, his fingertips resting on the Horizontal Blade's hilt, his gaze sweeping over the kneeling crowd.

A woman holding a child knelt by the roadside, her voice hoarse from shouting.

"Pillar of the State, a civilian woman bought official salt at fifteen coins per jin yesterday; the child finally gets flavorful porridge."

Chen Yan gave her a glance.

"Go back, the child is young; don't kneel at the windward spot."

The woman froze, then knocked her head against the Qingshi slab while holding the child.

"Pillar of the State, great mercy; a little woman will remember it all her life."

An old man beside her raised the broken salt jar in his hand.

"Pillar of the State, the Chamber of Commerce caused my grandson to go three days without salt; they deserve death!"

Chen Yan didn't stop the carriage; he simply raised his hand and pressed down.

"Those who deserve death, I, the Duke, will not spare a single one today."

The words spread, and the commoners on both sides of the street shouted again.

Gu Yuci looked at the carriage halted outside the Chamber of Commerce, hurried forward, and punched the chest armor.

"Pillar of the State, the Chamber of Commerce has been seized; Qian Wansan, Lin Xin, Wu Hongyuan, and Yang Huairen are all present."

Chen Yan stepped down from the carriage.

"What about casualties?"

Gu Yuci's expression darkened a little.

"The Gold Vault's mechanisms injured seven people, four severely, and the hidden weapons were poisoned."

Chen Yan paused his steps.

"No one dead?"

"Their lives are hanging for now."

Chen Yan nodded.

"Send the wounded to the military infirmary, using the finest medicine."

"Compensation will be prepared according to the war dead regulations; if they are saved, the silver reward will be issued accordingly."

Gu Yu Ci lowered his head.

"Shuyi, I receive the order."

In Zheng Hall, Qian Wansan heard Chen Yan's footsteps and recoiled half a chi.

Chen Yan walked in, his gaze swept over the papers covering the floor and the line of kneeling trade association heads, finally landing on Qian Wansan's face.

Qian Wansan opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Chen Yan's boot sole was already pressing against the side of his face.

His half‑exposed face was pressed onto the blue bricks, his lips distorted, words forced out through his teeth.

"Chen Yan, you cannot get the Gold Vault."

Chen Yan lowered his eyes to look at him.

"I, the Duke, haven't even asked, yet you are already hurrying to announce a death."

Qian Wansan forced a strained smile.

"Inside the Gold Vault there is a Broken Dragon Stone, mechanisms, and Fuel."

"Without a key and the opening password, no one can open it."

"If you dare to force your way in, everything inside will burn to ash."

Chen Yan's boot pressed down another half‑inch.

Qian Wansan let out a painful scream, his facial skin scraping the rough blue bricks, leaving a bloodstain.

Chen Yan said, "Qian Wansan, your greatest flaw in this life is always believing that silver can buy absolute safety."

"But you forget, the people silver can buy, I, the Duke, can also purchase."

Qian Wansan's smile broke at the corner of his mouth.

Chen Yan turned around.

"Gao Jiong."

Gao Jiong stepped out from behind the Beiwei Dead Guards, cradling a yellowed sheepskin scroll in his hands.

He said nothing more, and directly spread the sheepskin in the center of Zheng Hall.

The sheepskin depicted the Gold Vault's layout: three doors, twelve mechanisms, four hidden channels, and even the gear positions of the winch behind the Broken Dragon Stone were marked clearly.

Qian Wansan's face was being stepped on, yet his eyes still strained desperately toward the sheepskin scroll.

After he saw the diagram clearly, the blood color drained from his entire face.

"Impossible."

"This diagram was burned long ago."

Gao Jiong pressed the sheepskin onto the table, his fingertip tapping a tiny signature in the lower‑right corner of the diagram.

"The master craftsman who built the vault for you back then was named Lu Tianheng."

"You thought that wiping out the entire Lu family would erase all knowledge of the vault's structure."

"Unfortunately, Lu Tianheng had a disciple who was only twelve that year; your household steward deemed him too young and expelled him from the Workshop."

"He survived."

Qian Wansan's lips trembled.

"Where is he?"

Gao Jiong said, "You cannot ask."

"He took the silver I gave, and took his whole family to Xiazhou."

"Before departing, he handed over this diagram and said that the fate of the thirty‑one members of the Lu family could finally close their eyes."

Qian Wansan forced a strange cry from his throat.

"Dog thing!"

"Even a lowly craftsman dares to sell me!"

Chen Yan lifted his foot and kicked his chin.

Qian Wansan's teeth clacked together, his mouth full of blood taste.

Chen Yan bent over, his fingers gripping his back of the neck, pulling him up to raise his head.

"Qian Wansan, the despicable one is you."

"The craftsman repaired the vault; you are repairing a tomb."

Gu Yu Ci looked at the sheepskin scroll, his brows easing a little.

"Minister, with the diagram everything is manageable."

Chen Yan said, "Don't be hasty."

"First, disable the mechanisms."

Gao Jiong gestured to the engineers behind him.

"Take the Lu family's descendant's testimony map and follow the positions I indicate."

"For the first door, don't touch the lock; press the third blue brick on the left wall inward by half an inch—no more, half an inch is enough."

"For the second door, first cut off the right hidden channel; the channel contains Fuel—seal it before dismantling the winch."

"The Broken Dragon Stone must not be detonated; wind it up."

The Engineer Colonel took the diagram and led the men down the secret passage.

In Zheng Hall, Qian Wansan was pressed down by two soldiers, kneeling on the ground, his facial flesh twitching.

He kept muttering.

"Can't open."

"The Broken Dragon Stone winch requires three keys."

Gao Jiong pulled three copper keys from his sleeve and placed them on the table.

Lin Xin and Wu Hongyuan looked up at the same time.

Wu Hongyuan exclaimed, "How did my key end up in your hand?"

Gao Jiong gave him a glance.

"Your steward at the outer residence was already summoned last night."

Lin Xin's voice trembled.

"My key was clearly hidden behind the Tablet in the ancestral hall."

Gao Jiong said, "The secret compartment in your family's ancestral hall is too shallow; the Mingjing Department's people found it with ease."

Qian Wansan stared at the three keys, only a breathy sound left in his throat.

"Impossible…"

From below came the sound of a mechanical lock being dismantled.

One sound after another.

Each strike hammered at Qian Wansan's chest.

The Engineer Officer's voice came from below.

"The first gate has opened."

Gao Jiong turned and said, "Step three, don't step on the blue bricks behind the door; beneath the blue bricks is a flip board. Take the right‑hand stone beam."

After a moment more.

"The secret passage of the second gate is sealed."

"The fuel pool has been found."

"The self‑destruct mechanism has been cut."

In Zheng Hall, the accountants knelt in the corners; hearing this, terror filled their faces.

Qian Wansan's body tilted to the side; if not for a soldier holding him, he would have collapsed.

Chen Yan sat on the main seat, lifted the unfinished tea cup, glanced at it, then set it down.

"Qian Wansan, do you want to see with your own eyes how your tomb gate opens?"

Qian Wansan moved his lips.

"Chen Yan, you cannot take my money."

Chen Yan looked at him.

"Your money?"

"I, the Duke, ask you: the Political Commissar who died at Black Wind Pass, whose money bought his winter clothes?"

Qian Wansan dared not answer.

Chen Yan asked again, "The rations seized from the Suizhou army in the fourteenth year, whose money is that?"

Qian Wansan's sweat rolled down from his temples.

Chen Yan's third sentence fell even more slowly.

"The salt that costs six hundred wen per jin, which the Yinzhou peasants cannot afford, whose money is that?"

Qian Wansan finally shouted out.

"The Chamber of Commerce has been operating for years; that is my skill!"

Chen Yan let out a laugh.

"You call sucking blood a skill?"

"I, the Duke, will show you today how a blood debt is repaid."

From below came a heavy winch sound.

The sound was so muffled it resonated up the Stone Steps, causing the floor of Zheng Hall to tremble gently.

The Engineer Officer shouted.

"The Broken Dragon Stone has risen!"

Gu Yu Ci lifted his Chang Qiang and followed Chen Yan down the tunnel.

Qian Wansan was dragged by two soldiers all the way to the Gold Vault door.

All three gates opened.

The innermost Broken Dragon Stone was suspended by iron chains, hanging above the doorway, its surface still bearing the Qian family crest.

The darkness inside the door was gradually illuminated by torches.

First appeared a row of Red Gold Cakes.

Further inside were whole boxes of silver, lids open, silver ingots piled densely.

Deeper, on wooden racks, Western Regions jewels, jade, coral, ivory, rare medicinal herbs, stacked layer upon layer, filled half of the underground space.

Gu Yu Ci stood at the doorway, his Adam's apple bobbing.

He had fought battles, raided bandit hideouts, seen treasury vaults, but had never seen a merchant's Gold Vault so rich.

When Zhang Wenqian arrived in a hurry, he saw the scene inside the door and stopped in his tracks.

"Minister, these…"

Chen Yan stood before the golden light, with not a hint of joy on his face.

He raised his hand and pointed to the deepest part.

"What is that?"

Gao Jiong held a torch and walked inside; after a moment, his voice deepened.

"Minister, it's a weapon."

The others followed inside.

At the end of the Gold Vault, an entire wall of weapon racks.

Horizontal Blades, Chang Qiang, strong bows, hard crossbows, Armor, arrow clusters, military Shields, and even disassembled bed‑crossbow components.

Gu Yuci walked over, took a crossbow, and tested its arm.

"Standard issue in the army."

"Possessing even a single one privately among civilians is a death sentence; there are at least three hundred here."

Gao Jiong opened another box beside it.

"Five hundred sets of Armor, over a thousand crossbow strings, and tens of thousands of arrow clusters."

Zhang Wenqian's complexion turned sour.

"Qian Wansan, you hoarded these—are you planning to sell them to the Grassland, or to rebel yourself?"

Qian Wansan crouched on the ground, his lips trembling.

"It's not mine."

Gu Yuci jabbed a spear shaft into his shoulder.

"The Gold Vault is beneath your house, and you still dare say it's not yours?"

Qian Wansan curled up in pain.

Chen Yan walked to the weapon rack, reached out and took an arrow cluster.

The arrow cluster glowed with a cold light, its tail etched with the hidden pattern of the Great Zhou Military Equipment Bureau.

He pinched the arrow cluster between two fingers, turned, and faced the others.

"The blood‑sweat money of Great Zhou's common folk, the lifesaving rations of the border troops, ultimately produced this wall of weapons."

"Qian Wansan, your appetite is even more filthy than I imagined, Duke."

Qian Wansan scrambled up twice and knelt at Chen Yan's feet.

"Pillar of the State, I am willing to surrender all my property; I beg the Pillar of the State to spare my life."

Chen Yan lowered his gaze.

"Too late."

He tossed the arrow cluster in front of Qian Wansan.

"From the day you sold Great Zhou's iron to Rouran, your life was already forfeit."

Zhang Wenqian clasped his hands.

"Pillar of the State, how shall the Gold Vault's assets be dealt with?"

Chen Yan replied, "Leave not a single coin; confiscate everything."

"Silver goes to the Northwestern New Government Treasury, red gold to Military Supplies, grain, cloth, and medicinal herbs are to be catalogued immediately, with priority given to the border army and the poor households."

"Suizhou's overdue military wages, compensation for fallen soldiers, and the grassroots funds of the One Heart Society all come from here."

Gu Yuci said in a deep voice, "Shuyi, at your command."

Chen Yan looked at Gao Jiong again.

"Continue the search."

"Someone like Qian Wansan would never leave the truly vital items out in the open."

Gao Jiong responded, bringing a Hidden Agent of the Mingjing Department to scour the Gold Vault.

After half a stick of incense burned, a row of silver boxes on the lowest level of the Gold Vault was moved aside, revealing a slightly darker Shiban at the base of the wall.

Gao Jiong crouched, his fingertips brushing the edge of the Shiban.

"Pillar of the State, there is a hidden compartment here."

Chen Yan walked over.

"Open it."

An iron pick was driven into the crevice, and the Shiban was pried up.

Below lay an Iron Chest.

The Iron Chest's surface was stained with dry black blood, and a half‑torn cloth still clung to its copper lock.

Gao Jiong lifted the Iron Chest and placed it before Chen Yan.

"The chest bears blood."

Chen Yan stared at the chest, the chill in his eyes deepening.

"Pry it open."

The copper lock was cut off.

The lid swung open.

There was no gold or silver inside.

Only a dozen or so Secret Letters sealed with Huojian.