Chapter 132: Curfew (Silver Alliance Leader Nuan Yang 1314 Bonus Chapter)

"Master, will you go or not? Make up your mind!"

Faced with Liu Rushi's pressure, Qian Qianyi had a headache as big as a bucket. "I can't go."

"Madam should know, inside and outside Jinling City, who doesn't know that I have a close relationship with Lin Zihou?"

"Even his Ju Bao Lou was established through my efforts."

"Now that the incident has happened," Qian Qianyi said shamefully, "there's no way I can hide."

"Not to mention being unable to leave the city, even if you truly left, you'd be arrested as a party member wherever you went."

Not all officials in Jinling City were arrested.

Qian Qianyi and others were not taken away, but placed under house arrest.

"Master," Liu Rushi stepped forward with wide eyes, "are you going to become a traitor?"

"Don't talk nonsense."

Qian Qianyi waved his hands repeatedly. "Zihou only had someone watch the gate; he didn't recruit me."

"That's because he has more important matters to attend to," Liu Rushi sneered. "If he had openly recruited you, would you have become a traitor?"

Qian Qianyi was about to argue, but he heard the steward calling from outside the door.

"Master, the military officer outside sent word that Master Lin requests you to go to Wei Guogong Fu."

"Good, good."

Qian Qianyi hurried out, but Liu Rushi stopped him. "Master, you are a subject of the Great Ming; you absolutely cannot become a traitor!"

"Good, good, I know."

Qian Qianyi gave a perfunctory reply, feeling his scalp itch, and scratched his head as he hurried out.

"I am a dismissed Third Rank Official; what loyalty do I owe the Great Ming?"

"The Great Ming Court still has an emperor; who remembers me?"

The entire Jinling City had entered curfew status.

Every household was forbidden to go out, otherwise they would be arrested directly; if they resisted, they might as well wait to die.

Qian Qianyi's horse cart, under the protection of a squad of soldiers, traveled along the silent streets.

This slightly eerie silence made Qian Qianyi feel slightly uneasy.

"I don't know if Lin Zihou is still willing to acknowledge our past friendship."

"Since they didn't kill or imprison me directly, I suppose they still acknowledge it."

"If they truly recruited me, should I politely refuse, or maintain some restraint?"

Noise came from the street ahead, startling Qian Qianyi.

Qian Qianyi pushed open the window and looked out, seeing more than a dozen men in short fighting attire fleeing in disarray down the street.

Behind them, a squad of armored soldiers chased.

The soldiers beside Qian Qianyi's carriage quickly stepped forward to block them; in a one-sided slaughter, all more than a dozen men were hacked to the ground.

The soldiers grabbed their hair, exposed their necks, and chopped them off with one stroke.

Soon, poles were erected by the roadside, with more than a dozen heads hanging from them.

"Master."

The steward traveling with the carriage explained softly, "They are thugs from a nearby beating gang."

"Looking at their clothes, bulging with things, they probably robbed the neighbors and were chased by government soldiers."

Sure enough, the soldiers found many valuables on the thugs.

One important purpose of the curfew is to prevent these people who take advantage of disasters to rob.

Whenever there is a great disaster, there are always such reckless people who jump out hoping to make a fortune.

For these people, kind words are useless; only the word 'kill' can deter them.

Delayed on the road, by the time Qian Qianyi arrived at Wei Guogong Fu, Ruan Dacheng and Ma Shiying had already arrived ahead of time.

The three met, feeling somewhat awkward and sighing.

No one expected that Master Lin would actually pull off such a big move.

This truly put them in a very difficult position.

Ma Shiying was the most awkward.

He was also one of those seeking restoration; he had put in great effort regarding the Jianghuai Guard and Jichuan Guard being incorporated into the Yongwei Camp.

Unexpectedly, news came from Jing City that he might be appointed Fengyang Governor.

But before the news was confirmed, Jinling City changed hands.

They now truly had no future at all.

Afterwards, when the court investigated, they had all done things for Lin Dao.

By then, forget about restoration; the whole family would have to follow along and disappear~

This was truly crying in vain.

Led by soldiers, the three entered Wei Guogong Fu all the way, climbing over walls and houses to the rear garden.

According to Ming regulations, a duke's residence covers one hundred mu.

But in fact, the entire Wei Guogong Fu area far exceeded one hundred mu.

Over two hundred years, they continuously annexed surrounding neighbors, and the area had expanded greatly.

Not only that, on the back street, two full streets were all houses of the various branches of Wei Guogong Fu.

After more than ten generations of reproduction, the family was truly extremely large.

"If he were to raise his arm and call out."

Lin Dao joked, "How much trouble would that be."

The Duke of Wei might surrender wild boar skin, but that doesn't mean he'd surrender himself.

If he's unwilling to surrender, he must surely harbor resistance.

Lin Dao had never held any expectations for these people.

His only plan was to squeeze them dry.

Just like squeezing soybeans dry, the leftover bean dregs could still be taken to feed large livestock.

Before Lin Dao lay boxes full of gold and silver ingots, even foreign silver coins and gold coins.

However, these things, to the Wei Guogong Fu, were nothing but a drop in the bucket.

Their family's true wealth lay in those stacks of land deeds, property deeds, and house deeds.

Lin Dao casually flipped through them; they covered every region of the nation.

Manors, shops, merchant caravans, ship fleets.

Some belonged entirely to the Duke of Wei, while others were shares earning interest.

"Mr. Mu Zhai has arrived?"

Seeing Qian Qianyi and the others approach, Lin Dao handed over a thick stack of IOUs with a beaming smile, "Look, these are the pillars of the Great Ming."

Issuing printed money was likewise an important source of income for the meritorious nobles.

"This is only a very small part."

Lin Dao said casually, "In their residence, even some prominent servants have their own manors and fields, shares in many shops, and countless IOUs."

"The various branches on Back Street haven't been checked yet; I imagine there will be even more."

Qian Qianyi and the others had embarrassed expressions.

Everyone knows this; that's just how it's done.

What do you want us to say?

"Jiao Lian," a guard came to report, "we've found a money vault, but there are too many copper coins inside to move them all at once."

"Go," Lin Dao greeted, "let's take a look."

Called a money vault, it was actually a cellar.

Inside were packed countless copper coins, piled high and full, looking like a mountain of copper at a glance.

Because they had been stacked for too many years, many copper coins had already oxidized and fused together.

Lin Dao picked one up to inspect, "Hey, there are even copper coins from the Xuande era."

"They always say the Great Ming has a currency shortage, yet the money is piled up like this—truly a shortage."

Throughout the entire Wei Guogong Fu, there were three such cellars.

Besides this, there were countless jewels, precious medicinal herbs and furniture, various spices, rare books, antique paintings, fine silks, overseas rarities, and so on—too many to count.

This was only what was in the residence; who knows how much was hidden outside.

"Gentlemen."

Lin Dao called over Qian Qianyi and the others, "I'd like to ask the gentlemen to establish a stolen goods recovery committee."

"Mr. Mu Zhai will be the committee director, and the two of you will be deputy directors."

"The work is to specifically recover these people's family assets."

"Please assist me, gentlemen."

Qian Qianyi instinctively lowered his head; this kind of thing that would offend people to death was something he truly didn't want to get involved in.

But Ruan Dacheng immediately responded without hesitation, "Since Zi Hou trusts us, we will surely repay with all our might!"

"Rest assured, Zi Hou, we will surely recover every bit of the people's fat and blood embezzled by these bastards!"

"Good," Lin Dao nodded with satisfaction, "since that's the case, you should cooperate well with Director Zhao of the interrogation committee."

Ruan Dacheng and the others were still wondering who Director Zhao was.

Then they saw Zhao Zhilong running over with a beaming smile, "Marshal, that old brat Xu Hongji has confessed."

"He has a shop in Suzhou, and beneath the shop he dug a cellar hiding over two hundred 'Mo Nai He'."

The so-called 'Mo Nai He' was melting down silver and recasting it into large silver balls weighing one thousand taels each.

This thing was too heavy; even if a thief found it, they couldn't do anything about it, hence the name 'Mo Nai He'.

"Well done."

Lin Dao nodded with satisfaction, even enthusiastically patting his shoulder, "Keep working hard."

"By the way, just record these things outside Jinling City for now, and bring them out after we recover the place."

Zhao Zhilong's bones went soft from the pat.

His face full of fawning smiles, he bowed and repeatedly expressed that he would devote himself wholeheartedly to the Marshal until death.

Qian Qianyi and the others beside him were all stunned.

Was this still a meritorious noble of the Great Ming?

Especially Ruan Dacheng, who thought he was already fawning enough, but compared to the Marquis of Xin City, he couldn't even catch up by flattering.

"Don't just focus on these powerful figures."

Lin Dao continued to instruct, "The merchants in the city, the officials of the prefecture and the imperial court, even the tax clerks collecting taxes at the city gate—every one of them must be thoroughly interrogated and investigated."

"Received your orders!"

"You all know each other," Lin Dao finally introduced the two sides, "from now on, cooperate in your work and get close to one another."

Several people returned the greeting with skin-deep smiles, unable to hide their embarrassment.

They didn't know Lin Dao's true strength, only thinking he had luckily obtained Jinling City.

Once the imperial court's great army marches south, it will probably be difficult to succeed.

Therefore, they weren't truly sincere in wanting to work for him.

It is purely that the current environment is such; they have no choice.

Amid the awkward conversation, an armored soldier came to report: "The Guozijian students are causing trouble in the streets."

The Guozijian's status is very high; the students here all belong to the reserve officials.

Even Lin Dao himself still bears the identity of a Guozijian student.

Upon learning that Jinling City was occupied by bandit troops, they quickly linked up and went out to cause trouble.

The Great Ming's years of generous treatment have made these scholars fearless.

Moreover, even if the dynasty changes, they still have to rely on these scholars to govern the world.

Lin Dao frowned slightly: "Why is this kind of matter brought to me?"

"Don't you understand what a curfew is?"

Curfew: all activities at night are prohibited.

Those who go out without authorization are arrested; those who disobey are killed!

No matter what your status, without a special permit, all are treated the same.

The armored soldier acknowledged the order, turned around, and left.

Qian Qianyi on this side grew desperate, hurriedly persuading: "Marshal, the students in the Guozijian are all scholarly seeds."

"So what?"

Lin Dao looked at him with doubt: "Not even understanding how to abide by the law — what use are such seeds? When they grow up they will be crooked melons and split dates."

"Marshal." Qian Qianyi was so anxious he nearly stamped his foot: "To govern the world, one cannot do without scholars."

"Master Muzhai, your words are mistaken."

Lin Dao simply shook his head: "In this world, a three-legged toad is hard to find, but people who want to be officials are everywhere."

"Enough. Since you care so much, then go persuade them to go back and stay put."

"Otherwise~~~"

Qian Qianyi hastily saluted in thanks: "Many thanks for the Marshal's magnanimity; I will go persuade them to go back at once."

(End of Chapter)