Chapter 1015: Returning to the Capital Midway

An Chen looked at him with contempt: "Xue Wen? His name is Xue Shao, courtesy name Wenshao, the Touring Censor of Jiangnan!"

Feng Hongde's face went deathly pale in an instant. After a long while he finally found his voice: "He's a civil official, coming to investigate us military officials… our affairs should fall under the Five Armies' Commander Office."

An Chen: "Go on, you may complain slowly, be angry slowly. I wonder whether Cao Rong next door will wait for you."

Feng Hongde's shoulders slumped. After a long while he said, "What do you want to know?"

What An Chen wanted to know was plenty: where all had Feng Hongde been getting money from, where the money was sent, and where his money was currently hidden?

Unlike Cao Rong, Feng Hongde liked to buy land.

Cao Rong's family was in Jingcheng, so he liked to convert his money into gold, silver, and jewels, easy to transport back to Jingcheng;

Feng Hongde, however, had his family in Chaozhou.

Feng Half-City was not called that for nothing—besides seizing fields by force, the rest of his land was all bought.

Whether through fair dealing or forced purchase, anyway, whenever he had money, he got land.

So Feng Hongde didn't have much cash on hand, but he had plenty of land and mansions.

This had one advantage too—when ransacking his home, once you got his asset list and his land deeds and house deeds, most of his assets were already in hand.

An Chen handed his confession over to Pan Yun.

Pan Yun took two Embroidered Uniform Guard and whooshed straight to Chaozhou city, slipped right into his room, and felt around according to the directions he had given. Sure enough, she found a mechanism and opened his hidden chamber.

Pan Yun and the two Embroidered Uniform Guard walked in: "Why do all corrupt officials like to build hidden chambers?"

Embroidered Uniform Guard A: "Too many good things, probably?"

Embroidered Uniform Guard B: "Could also be to save their own skins."

Feng Hongde's hidden chamber also had gold and silver, box after box, every one packed full.

The silver was official silver in fifty-tael ingots, the gold was all palm-sized gold bricks.

Each box was so heavy the two Embroidered Uniform Guard together barely lifted it.

Pan Yun only ran a hand over the gold and silver, then began rummaging. Soon she found a box in the drawer under the only table.

She opened it—inside was a stack of land deeds and house deeds, with over twenty large-denomination banknotes pressed at the very bottom.

Pan Yun's heart burned with desire as she looked: "Looks like Feng the Thousand-Household really trusted the banks. But Lord Cao, clearly a high official and a Jingcheng man, well-traveled and knowledgeable, actually preferred gold."

Embroidered Uniform Guard A: "Probably because banknotes are easier to carry. Feng Hongde only has one daughter—if something happened, she could stuff the notes on her and run."

And now all of this came cheap for the imperial court.

That's right, truly cheap for the imperial court.

Pan Yun separated the banknotes, land deeds, and house deeds, entering them one by one into the register. The two Embroidered Uniform Guard also tallied the gold, silver, and jewels in the hidden chamber. After everything was recorded, Pan Yun emptied the hidden chamber out.

According to Feng Hongde, his main assets were in this hidden chamber. Once this place was ransacked, the rest could be left for An Chen and the others to handle afterward.

When the three walked out of Feng Hongde's bedroom, the sky was already pitch dark.

Pan Yun said to the two, "I need to make a trip back to the capital. You two stay here and make contact with the military households. I'll be back the day after tomorrow at the latest."

Embroidered Uniform Guard A and B nodded in agreement, their eyes full of envy and admiration.

Pan Yun caught Pan Xiaohei as he leapt down from the rooftop. After the two Embroidered Uniform Guard had safely left, she took out the Three Treasures Cauldron, enlarged it, leapt inside, and shot straight up into the sky, flying directly toward Jingcheng.

The Emperor had spent the whole day with the yellow-talisman book tucked in his bosom, waiting. By the time he had finished approving all his memorials, his eyes were sore and his whole body reeked of office work as he returned to his sleeping quarters, the National Preceptor still had not replied to him.

The Emperor felt a little wronged, sitting in his chair somewhat displeased.