Chapter 1021: Nothing but Dregs

No matter how fierce the resistance, at this point it was a dead end, and the water offered no escape either. Those who had been fighting to the death began to surrender. A few older men fought desperately and died in battle, but it looked more like they were fulfilling an obligation than trying to achieve anything. The heavy-armored household troops guarded every ship. The household troops who had been relieved earlier went aboard to seize people. Everyone, male or female, was searched, bound tightly, and escorted from the ships to a warehouse that had long since been emptied. Then they began moving the cargo off the ships. They didn't just move the goods in the cargo holds — nothing on the ships was overlooked.

At this time, a few thin, dark-skinned middle-aged men also boarded the ships. They weren't responsible for searching for cargo. Instead, they carried iron tools and wooden implements, tapping and prying everywhere. Behind them followed inner guard household troops, fully focused.

Zhao's Camp had brought many men, so the work was done with high efficiency. Before long, everyone on the ships had been captured and brought down, and the cargo was stacked neatly to one side. Men carried stretchers over and took away the dead and wounded household troops for treatment. Zhao Jin and a few others still stood on the dock, watching.

"Master, there are no hidden compartments or secret doors on the ships. We'll still need to interrogate the boatmen later to make a final confirmation."

"Master, on the passenger ship of this fleet's client, we found two hidden compartments. Inside were two wooden boxes. We brought them straight over. No one has opened them."

Several inner guard household troops came to report. Zhao Jin nodded and said, "Open them."

This was a hired passenger grain-transport junk, not their own vessel, so the hidden compartments were likely makeshift. The wooden boxes were two flat cases, reinforced with iron fittings at the corners and secured with fine brass locks. Right in front of Zhao Jin, several household troops carefully broke open the brass locks, then opened the boxes. Everyone was very worried there might be deadly traps inside.

After the boxes were opened, someone even sniffed the air around them. Then, using foot-long bamboo chopsticks, they picked out the contents piece by piece and placed them into a prepared bamboo basket, which was then brought before Zhao Jin.

Zhao Jin and the others looked over and saw a dozen or so brass plaques the size of half a palm. They were engraved with intricate patterns and inscribed with amounts in the thousands and tens of thousands. The moment he saw them, Zhao Jin couldn't help but laugh. Liu Yong reached out and sorted through the plaques, then said, "A little over two hundred thirty thousand taels."

"When did they deposit the silver in Qingjiangpu? This is really something to laugh at," Zhao Jin said, shaking his head.

These intricately patterned brass plaques were deposit certificates from Cloud Mountain Bank. Within the territory controlled by Zhao's Camp, plus Yangzhou Prefecture and wherever the Yu family of Songjiang was located, as long as you deposited silver at Cloud Mountain Trading, you received a certificate and could withdraw it elsewhere. Because its reputation was solid and reliable, it spared people the trouble of carrying large sums of silver. Merchants who regularly came to South Zhili had grown accustomed to depositing their silver here in Yutou Town, then taking the certificates to Qingjiangpu to do business. When they left South Zhili, they would return to Cloud Mountain Bank in Yutou Town to exchange them for ready silver. The salt merchants, too, were increasingly accustomed to using Cloud Mountain Bank's remittance services. For sums under three thousand taels, they issued paper drafts for transfer and withdrawal. For sums over three thousand taels, they issued brass plaques. The use of these plaques was extremely limited; only truly wealthy and powerful merchants ever came into contact with them.

Yet no one had imagined that the people they were trying to catch also used this method to store silver. Lei Cai, standing nearby, chimed in, "Those big shots in the outlaw world, and those shady figures on the ground, they're all used to depositing their silver with us. Then, when they wash their hands of it all or settle their families, they just bring the plaque to withdraw the silver. I just didn't expect them to use it too."

The other item was several account books. A quick flip through revealed writing in some unintelligible script. Liu Yong leaned in for a look and said, "The inner guard has examined accounts like these before. They're the addresses of hidden incense halls and branch societies of the Smelling Incense Sect, along with rosters of their leaders. It's all written in each group's secret code. Unless you're a leader yourself, you probably can't understand it."

Zhao Jin smiled and nodded, then called out to everyone, "Then let's have their leader come take a look."

When they returned to the tea shed, the arrangement of tables and chairs had been changed. An open space had been cleared. The tables and chairs that had been in front of the screen were gone, now lined up on either side of it. Zhao Jin and the others entered and sat down. Behind them, Nie Hei also walked in. He had originally gone to Jining with Zheng Quan, but unexpectedly he was back here in Yutou Town. Upon seeing Zhao Jin, he first saluted, then said with a hint of excitement, "Master, the man is right inside. But your subordinate only saw him from a distance that time and can't be certain."

Zhao Jin smiled and nodded, saying, "Bring him over. There's someone here who can identify him."

Nie Hei acknowledged the order, turned, and barked a couple of shouts. Someone came in, holding a middle-aged man under the arms, and brought him into the tea shed. The middle-aged man's face was full of terror. He just kept shouting, "In broad daylight! In broad daylight! Do you have no regard for the law?"

The man was thrown directly to the ground. Because his upper body was tightly bound, even trying to get up was a struggle. Only when someone yanked him up was he able to kneel. What's more, this man was fat. In these hard times, fat people were rare. This middle-aged man who had been captured was outrageously fat. His whole body looked like a steamed bun that had risen and split open, his entire frame swollen. His facial features were squeezed small by the bulk. Such a figure was rare anywhere, seen more often only in the capital and Jiangnan. Aside from his obesity, this middle-aged man's clothing and accessories were also the attire of the rich and noble of the capital and Jiangnan, and of the very highest grade at that.

After wailing and pleading a few times, the fat man also sensed something was wrong. He stole glances at everyone standing before him, then said, trembling with fear, "Sirs, take however much silver you want, just spare my life!"

While he was pleading and begging for mercy here, from another direction came angry shouts: "Have you eaten the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard? How dare you lay hands on us! Release us at once, or your whole family will die a miserable death! You'll die without even knowing how you died!" But this cursing was mixed with cries of pain. The household troops of Zhao's Camp were naturally not going to be polite with him.

"Excess in wine and women — truly bred in the lap of luxury. No wonder, being so close to the capital, no one ever paid them any mind. They're men who live off wealth, not men who plot rebellion," Ma Chonghao, standing to the side, remarked with a couple of sighs. The fat man had dark circles under his eyes, and his skin was fair and tender like a woman's, yet it carried a bluish, sickly pallor. At a glance, it was clear he was utterly spent, devoid of vitality. This type of person was also more common in the capital and Jiangnan — children of wealthy families who sought no advancement, indulging in extravagance and pleasure day and night. Nine times out of ten, this was their appearance.

Zhao Jin ignored the fat man's tearful pleas and the cursing from next door. He simply turned toward the screen and asked, "Is it him?"

"It's him. When we were young, the children of every family had to memorize his face. We also had to know that a stick of incense is tattooed on his back and a fox on the top of his foot, in case his face was ruined and he couldn't be recognized." The voice from behind the screen was Mu Shulan's. Her voice was very soft, but everyone in the tea shed heard it clearly. Zhao Jin smiled and turned back around.

The fat man kneeling on the ground had also heard these words. His face was filled with terror. His whole body went limp and collapsed to the ground. His lips merely quivered, and his voice had lost all coherence. "H-how... how do you know? W-who... who are you?"

"Knowing this was just to be absolutely certain. You fled for your life yet still flaunted yourself, carrying vast sums of gold and silver without the slightest restraint. Your exposed wealth stirred the hearts of every faction along the way. Did you think that if I didn't make a move, you could have safely reached Yangzhou and lived in comfort? Wang Haoxian?" Zhao Jin asked with a smile. The moment that name was spoken, the fat man on the ground began to tremble violently again. But with his upper body bound, he could only writhe and quiver on the ground, unable to rise, looking like some giant insect.

A look of disgust flashed across Zhao Jin's face. Liu Yong made a gesture, and the household troops hauled the man up again. From behind the screen, Mu Shulan's voice rang out once more: "Brother Jin, though he's a waste, he still has death-sworn warriors at his command. He also holds the title of direct heir to the Wang family. If we let him go, he'll be trouble himself. If he falls into someone else's hands, that's trouble too. Better not leave a future threat. Brother Jin, I'm feeling a bit tired. I'll go back and rest first."

"Rest well. You've seen the man, and the matter is settled. You can head back to Xuzhou first," Zhao Jin said. Mu Shulan replied, "I'll go back together with Brother Jin." There was a rustling sound behind the screen. A sedan chair had been carried directly into the tea shed. Mu Shulan boarded the sedan chair, which was then taken outside to a waiting carriage. During this movement, the people in the tea shed could not see her.

Ever since the physician had come to the house and confirmed her pregnancy, the tense and anxious Mu Shulan had suddenly relaxed. She also tired easily and felt drowsy, which was a normal phenomenon. Originally, she didn't need to come along this time, but Mu Shulan insisted on seeing it with her own eyes before she could be at ease. Now that she had seen, she was presumably at ease.

After Mu Shulan left, the smile on Zhao Jin's face grew even wider. Liu Yong, who knew Zhao Jin well, could see the relief in his expression. Zhao Jin pointed at Wang Haoxian, who had already collapsed in terror, and said with a smile, "Do you all know what this is? This is the final act."

Everyone, of course, understood Zhao Jin's meaning. They all laughed. Wang Haoxian, the direct son of Wang Sen, the founding leader of the Smelling Incense Sect, had also been captured. Now there was no one left under heaven who could pull together the Smelling Incense Sect's situation. Shandong was thoroughly stabilized. Moreover, the so-called hidden threat of the Smelling Incense Sect had completely dissipated with Wang Haoxian's capture. There would certainly still be many fanatical believers and followers, and no shortage of people who wanted to target Zhao's Camp. But with Wang Haoxian captured, there was no longer anyone with the name or status to unite the greater force of the Smelling Incense Sect. This banner had fallen, and all that remained was scattered sand.

"Spare my life! Spare my life! Take all the gold, silver, and jewels on these ships, just spare my life, I beg you!" Wang Haoxian could only wail and plead in a tearful voice. He had not been this terrified even when he was captured. Hearing the words spoken in the tea shed, his heart and gall were shattered with fear.

Everyone looked at him with contempt and disgust. Zhao Jin shook his head and said, "That Xu Hongru, though his head was turned the moment he tasted wealth, if I had captured him, he certainly wouldn't be as pathetic as you. Wang Haoxian, you are also a leader of the Smelling Incense Sect. Millions of followers under heaven still look to you as their master. At least show some dignity."

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