Chapter 1023: A Huge Haul of Wealth

Among the seized goods this time were also title deeds for several large residences and prime shop-fronts in Yangzhou. To everyone's surprise, the Wang family had also sunk a fair bit of capital into several salt merchants' businesses. It seems this arrangement had been in place since Wang Sen's generation — as the saying goes, a cunning rabbit has three burrows, always ready to flee here and live out their remaining years in comfort should their schemes fail.

Most of the canal transport troops and laborers burned incense and followed the faith, and the Smelling Incense Sect they believed in was closer to the Luanzhou Wang family's branch. Wang Haoxian and his trusted aides dared to take the canal route precisely because of this connection. Moreover, every year the canal carried many wealthy and noble figures, who also transported their riches. If anyone tried to murder for profit, they'd have to consider whether they could still survive on this canal afterward — they might very well be attacked by a united mob. For one, it violated the sect followers' taboos; for another, it broke the canal's own rules.

Wang Haoxian's status within the Smelling Incense Sect was simply too high. With that status, even outside his own faction, he could still command the service of many. Beyond this, the Wang family's people were also very confident in the guards escorting them. These martial arts experts were all fanatical believers — utterly loyal, and all well-fed with silver. With nearly a hundred such elite guards, they wouldn't go stirring up trouble along the way, but neither did they need to worry about anyone provoking them.

They had all these layers of assurance, yet they never accounted for human greed. All their assurances, that Squad Commander Zhou knew full well. And this Squad Commander Zhou could even be considered fairly close to the Luanzhou Smelling Incense Sect branch. But what was loyalty, what were rules, what was deterrence? When Squad Commander Zhou roughly calculated that swallowing even a tenth of this fleet's wealth could secure great riches for his family for generations, he cast everything else aside.

In Northern Zhili, few knew of the Zhao Character Battalion, but on the canal, they were thoroughly familiar with the details of Zhao Jin of Xuzhou's exploits. Squad Commander Zhou racked his brains and could find no one else who dared take the job — only Zhao Jin of Xuzhou might be able to handle it. And the Xuzhou troops had just suppressed the Shandong Smelling Incense Sect rebellion; they'd surely be even more interested in this legitimate Smelling Incense Sect Hierarch. After arranging for the Wang family members to board the boats, Squad Commander Zhou immediately rode at full speed to Linqing, then took a boat south. Since only the canal waterway was safe to travel in Shandong at the moment, he rushed the whole way, having instructed trusted contacts to keep an eye on that fleet. Squad Commander Zhou reached Xuzhou and proposed the deal.

It went roughly as Squad Commander Zhou had imagined. The Zhao Character Battalion was uninterested at first, but the moment they heard Wang Haoxian's name, they immediately made arrangements. The reason Zhao Jin came in person was so that people by his side could confirm Wang Haoxian's true identity. And by coming here himself, he could coordinate the various elements of the Zhao Character Battalion more quickly and effectively. Wang Haoxian had to be captured — at this moment, this was the most important matter.

As for what to do with Wang Haoxian, from Mu Shulan to the partners and trusted aides outside, the attitude was unanimous: kill him and be done with it. Though Wang Haoxian was a worthless waste, he was still a banner — the direct-line inheritance of the Smelling Incense Sect. Those with ambitions could prop him up to realize their schemes, and could use this banner to mobilize vast resources.

But Zhao Jin did not approve of acting immediately. "Believers are beyond reason, let alone followers of a cult like the Smelling Incense Sect. There are always fanatics who don't fear death. We know Wang Haoxian is useless, but how would outsiders know? They might even worship him as a living immortal. If he dies at our hands, who knows how much trouble we'd invite. Better to hand him over to the authorities — let them direct their hatred at the imperial court!"

Once this reasoning was laid out, everyone agreed. And seeing Wang Haoxian's behavior, they felt even more that Zhao Jin's decision was correct. Killing a waste of a man worse than a pig or dog would truly dirty their own hands.

Zhao Jin and his group walked into the warehouse compound where the seized goods were being inventoried. Two stewards stood on a high vantage point watching below, with household troops monitoring the perimeter. Reliable hands — shopkeepers and stewards transferred from Cloud Mountain Trading and the Sun Family Trading Company — were conducting the inventory. The moment they saw Zhao Jin arrive, someone immediately came forward to report, his face brimming with excitement: "Master, it's all valuable business — gold, silver, jewels, antiques, calligraphy, and paintings. Even the women's headdresses and clothing can fetch a good price."

"Catalog everything by category and register it. Today, everyone's regular pay is multiplied by five. But keep your mouths tightly shut — any leak will be severely punished," Zhao Jin instructed. The man acknowledged and hurried back to work. The opened chests and crates drew everyone's gaze: inside, gold and silver ingots were stacked in perfect order, and the pearls, jadeite, and gemstones glittered with dazzling brilliance.

"With millions of followers in the Smelling Incense Sect, this isn't so surprising. It's just that the Wang father and son did it for their own wealth, and Xu Hongru's vision was just as narrow. I only pity those foolish commoners who bankrupted themselves to make offerings," Zhao Jin said.

Accountants clutching ledgers wove between the goods, recording each item the moment it was tallied. Hearing Zhao Jin's words, the previously excited group gradually sobered. Looking at those chests, crates, and bundles, they now saw not just wealth, but a congealed mass of blood, tears, and bitter suffering. Liu Yong said in a low voice: "Brother, the silver ingots are all so uniform in purity, so fine. They must have been exchanged from the scattered copper coins and bits of silver offered by the followers below, then converted into ingots elsewhere. Who knows how much was lost in that exchange? The people below scrimped and saved, even bled and died to make their offerings, yet the Wang family didn't care at all about the loss in the exchange."

Copper coins and broken silver circulated daily, stained with sweat, grease, and even rust — filthy things. Some large trading firms and shops, especially those in the jewelry trade, offered gold and silver exchange services, taking a cut as profit. When the followers below made offerings to pray for blessings, the Wang family, solely for their own convenience in amassing and storing wealth, cared nothing for the loss in the exchange. That callousness alone was enough to chill the heart.

"Xu Hongru had Shandong and several surrounding prefectures pretty much under his control — how did the Wang family still have so much silver coming in?" Ma Chonghao was somewhat puzzled. This question, Zhao Jin could answer, because Mu Shulan knew the inside details very well: "What they collected from Northern Zhili alone was more than enough. Not to mention, the canal transport also made offerings to their family."

Ma Chonghao let out a "Heh" and shook his head. "That silver sure is easy to earn."

Just then, Squad Commander Zhou's shouting rang out again from outside: "Let me in to take a look! If you keep everything sealed up like this, what if you skim off the silver? Ten percent of what's in there is mine!"

Zhao Jin frowned slightly and said in a deep voice: "Deal with this man quickly. Don't let anyone trace it back to us. This Squad Commander Zhou is far too greedy — utterly unreliable."

Ma Chonghao nodded, then turned and called out. The household troops outside let the man in. Squad Commander Zhou, with two attendants, strode eagerly into the compound. The moment he saw those open chests and crates, he blinked, then his face broke into a beaming smile. He didn't even bother to greet Zhao Jin and the others. Zhao Jin couldn't be bothered with him either, and led his group straight out the gate.

The boats blocking the river had been moved away by afternoon. The waterway, which hadn't accumulated much of a backlog, resumed navigation. The dock area returned to normal — the bloodstains had long since been washed clean, and no one could tell what had happened. Zhao Jin didn't rush back to Xuzhou. The journey here had been too hurried, so he decided to rest a day before leaving. This was also to look after Mu Shulan's health and avoid overtiring her.

That evening, a rough tally of the inventory came out. All goods converted to ready silver amounted to roughly over four hundred thousand taels. The local trading house shopkeeper even specifically noted that if certain goods could be sold overseas through the Yu family, their value would double. Adding in those several dozen Cloud Mountain Bank universally redeemable bronze tokens, this haul actually reached seven hundred thousand taels in income. When they heard that figure, everyone was stunned speechless. During the entire Shandong Smelling Incense Sect rebellion, the Zhao Character Battalion's total seizure had been just over a hundred thousand taels. Yet intercepting boats just once had netted this much.

"I wonder how much that Shandong hidden treasure Xie Mingxian mentioned could be. If it's this much again, then our suppression of the Smelling Incense Sect this time will have been hugely profitable!" Ji Xiang arrived at Yutou Town at dusk. Zhao Jin hadn't mentioned his business in Qingjiangpu. Hearing this figure, Ji Xiang was beside himself with excitement, and the others wore much the same expression.

Zhao Jin merely smiled and shook his head. "If you throw all this gold and silver out to buy goods, you'll buy up whatever you buy and drive prices up. By then, these several hundred thousand taels will shrink in value. This money needs to be dispersed, spread across various provinces for purchasing — that's the only way to truly put it to use. As for the hidden caches in Shandong, don't get your hopes too high. Xu Hongru was muddled in the end, but at the start, he genuinely wanted to achieve things. To achieve things, you have to scatter silver by the fistful — he couldn't have saved much."

Liu Yong, standing nearby, glanced at the smiling Zhao Jin and the excited yet uneasy Ji Xiang, and merely thought to himself: Ji Xiang will probably never get another chance to be sent out on his own. But then Liu Yong reconsidered — for Ji Xiang, this might not be a bad thing. Staying by Zhao Jin's side, with someone to manage and restrain him, was ultimately for the best.

The next morning, ten percent of the inventoried goods in ready silver was separated out for Squad Commander Zhou. The rest was loaded onto boats. The Zhao Character Battalion's household troops and the Cai family fleet's escort vessels headed upstream. Once they reached the Xuzhou ferry, the goods would be unloaded and sent to various locations. Those items needing to be liquidated — jewelry, antiques, calligraphy, paintings, clothing, silks, and satins — were sent to Qingjiangpu to be handed over to the Yu family shipping firm for sale.

Liu Yong and Lei Cai returned to Xuzhou first, while Zhao Jin and Ji Xiang waited at Yutou Town for Shi Manqiang and Li He. The matter of expansion and reorganization had to be discussed face to face. Ma Chonghao led a squad of men north together with Squad Commander Zhou, claiming they were traveling the same way. Squad Commander Zhou had no suspicions, and was even quite obsequious. Now that he had his silver, he at least knew enough to flatter and curry favor with the Zhao Character Battalion, hoping for future accommodations.

Arriving together with Shi Manqiang and Li He were the head shopkeeper of Cloud Mountain Trading from the village on the eastern shore of Lake Luoma and others. But their discussions didn't last long — many matters had already taken shape and only required input on some details. What Zhao Jin and the others hadn't expected was that, after being delayed here only a few days, Wang Zhaojing in Xuzhou had actually sent a rider with an urgent message, asking Zhao Jin to return quickly — there was an important person requesting to meet him.

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