Chapter 192: Using Strategy

"Where is it?" The Dagger in He Yuzhu's hand lightly scraped against Zhao Laizi's face; the icy touch made Zhao Laizi tremble all over.

Zhao Laizi stammered as he pointed toward the Houyuan: "Grain... the grain is all in the granary in the Houyuan. The vault is... in the water well in the west side courtyard."

Just as He Yuzhu was about to take a dozen soldiers to find the vault, a burst of noisy sounds suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

"Not good!" He Yuzhu's heart tightened, and he hurriedly signaled everyone to stop.

The previously listless Zhao Laizi suddenly regained his spirit and laughed loudly: "My brother has come to save me..."

He Yuzhu kicked him in the stomach, and Zhao Laizi rolled on the ground in pain.

Zhao Laizi shouted crazily: "My brother is here, you are all going to die! You are all going to die!"

The chaotic footsteps grew closer and closer, having already entered the front courtyard.

He Yuzhu pulled out his Box Cannon and led the soldiers to hide behind a wall, standing guard.

Zhao Laizi took the opportunity to shout: "Zhao Xikui! Zhao Xikui, be careful, there are people in the house!"

He Yuzhu saw the group of people entering and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

It turned out to be He Daqing leading soldiers into the courtyard, a dark, dense mass that filled the entire space.

"Dad, you scared me to death." He Yuzhu put away his gun and said with a hint of complaint, "Before you came in, you could have at least let my men report it!"

"Sorry, sorry, I was so happy that I forgot!" He Daqing apologized to his son for once, his face full of smiles.

"Dad, why did you bring so many people? Shouldn't they be following the Regimental Commander to set an ambush?"

He Daqing patted his son's shoulder and laughed: "Silly boy, do you think the Regimental Commander is really that stupid? These people are all under my command now, specifically here to transport the grain. This time we brought over forty large carts and more than two hundred head of livestock; I guarantee not a single grain will be left behind."

Only then did He Yuzhu set his mind at ease, a smile appearing on his face. Just a moment ago, he had been worrying about how to transport so much grain; now, everything was fine.

"Dad, I have a request," He Yuzhu leaned into He Daqing's ear, "If there is plenty of grain, leave some for the Qin Family Village too. I see that quite a few families over there are having a hard time."

He Daqing waved his hand: "You don't need to worry about that. The political commissar has come along, and he will arrange it properly."

The group arrived at the Houyuan, and after checking the granary, everyone gasped.

In the twenty-plus large granaries, the sacks were stacked completely full.

He Daqing used a bayonet to puncture a sack, and golden wheat poured out with a rustling sound, casting an alluring luster under the dim light.

"We've struck it rich!" He Daqing was so excited he rubbed his hands together, revealing a rare, childlike smile.

He called the two bookkeepers over and asked excitedly: "Hurry and calculate for me, how much grain is there exactly?"

Lao Cui smiled from ear to ear: "It's really hard to calculate in a short while, but I dare say, this grain is enough for us to eat for more than a year!"

He Daqing immediately gave the order: "You grain transport team, load the carts overnight. Load as much as you can; I don't think we'll even finish moving it all in one trip."

A dozen team leaders immediately gathered people to load the grain.

He Daqing turned his head and asked He Yuzhu: "The grain has been found, has the old landlord's money been found yet?"

"Dad, pick ten men, and let's go take a look next door together," He Yuzhu said.

He Daqing understood his son's meaning; he selected ten capable old subordinates and followed He Yuzhu to the west side courtyard.

The ancient locust tree in the courtyard rustled in the night wind, and the moonlight cast mottled shadows on the ground through the branches and leaves.

He Yuzhu quickly found the well. With the help of the system, he detected that one meter below the water surface at the bottom of the well, there was a stone door, and behind it, many Big Ocean coins were indeed hidden.

"Dad, the money might be in this well," He Yuzhu said, pointing at the wellhead.

"What? Putting money in a well, this person is truly strange!" He Daqing poked his head into the well to look, feeling a bit troubled: "This, how do we get down?"

He Yuzhu tied the Rope around his waist and said: "Just lower me down."

Three minutes later, He Yuzhu reached the bottom of the well. The well walls were slippery and covered in moss.

He turned on his flashlight to examine it carefully and soon discovered a cleverly designed stone door.

Lowering this stone door caused it to catch perfectly on the opposite well wall, forming a circular flat surface.

He Yuzhu walked into the opening and saw a second door, with a large copper lock hanging on it.

He Yuzhu pried open the large lock, opened the door, and found a space of about thirty square meters inside, with twenty-plus boxes neatly stacked.

After investigating, he discovered there were twenty boxes of Big Ocean coins, and five boxes of jewelry and antique calligraphy and paintings.

He quietly collected the five boxes of antiques into his space before calling the soldiers above to come down and move the rest.

In any case, if these things were given to the army, they would just sell them for peanuts; it was better to keep them himself to facilitate his own accumulation of wealth, so he could get more guns and ammunition for the army later.

The group moved the Big Ocean coins to the top, and after counting them, they discovered there were a full one hundred thousand Big Ocean coins.

He Daqing's eyes went wide: "Zhuzi, this time I will definitely have the Regimental Commander record a great merit for you. If it weren't for you, I really wouldn't have dared to persuade the Regimental Commander to make this trip."

"Dad, my work is done. Leave the rest to you; I'm going back to sleep."

He Yuzhu said he was going back to sleep, but in reality, he did not.

He always felt that today's events were a bit strange. The old landlord knew the vault would be found, yet he was still so anxious to seek death; there must be a secret hidden within this.

He interrogated Zhao Laizi again, asking clearly about the locations of the Zhao family's other properties, ancestral hall, and ancestral grave.

After searching these places in the village one by one, he found nothing. The Zhao family had so much grain, they were clearly in the grain business. One hundred thousand Big Ocean coins were actually not much for such a wealthy family. He Yuzhu figured these things out and decided to go to the last place—the ancestral grave—to take a look.

The night was deep, and the Zhao Family Ancestral Grave was located in a small mountain hollow three miles away.

This place was nestled against the mountains and near the water, originally a prime spot of geomancy, but in the night, it appeared exceptionally eerie.

The night wind passed through the pine and cypress forest, making a "woo-woo" sound, like weeping and complaining, which made even him feel a chill down his back.

He Yuzhu walked up along the dirt slope, using the system to detect the situation inside the graves.

The moonlight was sometimes bright and sometimes dim, making the handwriting on the tombstones appear and disappear.

The further up he went, the tighter the wind blew, and the surrounding tree shadows swayed like countless hands waving, which was a bit hair-raising.

He walked to an especially large grave mound, and the system indeed detected gold.

He Yuzhu did not stand on ceremony and immediately collected all the gold into his space.

Upon entering the space to count, there were nearly three hundred Big Yellow Fish. It seemed this Landlord Zhao really knew how to hide money.

After finishing the task, He Yuzhu left the eerie graveyard without looking back and returned directly to Chen Qingshan's house to rest.

In fact, one hour ago, He Yuzhu had already sent the news of controlling the Zhao residence to Regimental Commander Yang and Xiao Wang.

At this moment, Xiao Wang was guarding the messenger Wang Qiang with two soldiers.

Knowing the news that the compound had been successfully taken, they deliberately gathered near the tree where Wang Qiang was tied up and "whispered" to another soldier.

"How many men did we bring this time?" one soldier asked.

"Two hundred," Xiao Wang replied.

"So few? I heard Landlord Zhao is extremely wealthy; just his family's wealth alone couldn't be moved by two hundred men, right?" the soldier said.

"Hey, a local rich man, how much family fortune could he have?" Xiao Wang said.

Wang Qiang heard these words clearly.

Once he heard the three of them start snoring, he struggled hard to break free from the Rope and quietly slipped away. After running a few hundred meters, he began to sprint at full speed.

In the Regimental Headquarters of the Changping County Security Regiment, Zhao Xikui was fast asleep.

"Bang, bang, bang..." A burst of urgent knocking on the door startled him awake.

"Which bastard is it?" Zhao Xikui climbed up and cursed.

"Eldest Young Master, it's me, the guard Wang Qiang! Bandits have entered Zhao Village, the house has been raided, more than two hundred people came..."

"What? Say that again!" Zhao Xikui roared.

"I came to deliver a letter this afternoon, and they had set up sentry posts on the road..."

"Adjutant, wake the brothers up immediately; we must reach Zhao Village before dawn!" Zhao Xikui had completely lost his reason.