Chapter 278: A Rich Haul

This storehouse before them was actually located directly beneath the residence where Zhao Jin lived. It looked quite spacious, the floor filled with wooden and iron chests stacked up to three layers high. That had been Ruhui's reminder the night before — he'd said that at this weight, stacking any higher would crush the chests, and moving them would also be very inconvenient. By the light of the lanterns, they could see the wooden chests were all nailed shut with iron nails, while the iron chests were sealed with poured tin.

"Your subordinate hasn't much strength, so I helped by holding the lanterns," Ruhui said with a smile.

Shi Manqiang and Ji Xiang both handed him their lanterns. Zhao Jin pointed at the nearest chest, and Liu Yong stepped up and pried it open with an axe.

The moment the lid came off, everyone couldn't help but draw a sharp breath. The chest was packed full of silver ingots, their surfaces somewhat blackened — clearly they had been stored for a long time.

"This has got to be nearly three thousand taels!" Zhou Xuezhi's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"Chests like this one — about two thousand taels each, give or take," Ruhui said with a smile.

After that, when opening chests, they chose ones of roughly the same size to work on. One chest after another was opened, and with each one, everyone sucked in a sharp breath. In some chests the silver surfaces were darker, in others they were very bright, but the weight was substantial in all of them. Twenty-seven chests in total.

"Sixty thousand taels of silver — more, not less," Ruhui said with a smile.

Zhao Jin and his brothers had already stripped off their upper garments. Every chest was far from light, and each of them was drenched in sweat from the exertion. While they were at it, they also sorted and organized everything.

Once the wooden chests of roughly the same size were all opened, Liu Yong was about to start on the other wooden chests, but Ruhui pointed at an iron chest and said, "Would you mind opening this one first?"

Liu Yong swept a glance around and saw there were about twenty iron chests of similar size. The iron chests weren't large, and he moved to carry one himself, but at that moment Shi Manqiang quickly shouted, "Two people together! Otherwise you'll hurt your back — these iron chests are very heavy."

They carried down an iron chest and smashed it open with an axe. The crowd, already somewhat numbed by shock, still gasped at the sight, and Zhou Xuezhi even let out an "Ah!" In the lantern light, the gold ingots neatly arrayed inside the chest gleamed with a golden glow.

Every iron chest was the same, the gold ingots inside each one radiating brilliance. Once all nineteen chests were opened and organized, Ruhui again said with a smile, "About two thousand five hundred taels of gold. Would you all like to know why they look so brand-new? That Yuanxin would open and polish every single one, every night."

"Good heavens, the temple and the Xue family combined — that's nearly over a hundred thousand taels of silver..." Ji Xiang exclaimed in amazement.

"The Grand Canal no longer runs through Xuzhou, but the Yellow River still does, and the official roads still do. Xuzhou still connects Henan and Shandong. Southern goods and northern goods must pass through Xuzhou. Smuggled salt must pass through Xuzhou. This temple's branch cloisters are spread everywhere, our official connections are ample, and we have plenty of manpower. None of these trades can avoid this temple — they can only let this temple take a cut. Not to mention, the bold heroes of Shandong, Henan, and the Huai region all fence their stolen goods through this temple as well. This temple is also one of the largest fences north of the Yangtze..." Ruhui spoke with ease and assurance. Everyone listened very attentively, while over on the side, Zhou Xuezhi looked rather disheartened.

Zhao Jin nodded repeatedly. What Ruhui was saying was less an explanation of where this gold and silver came from, and more an introduction to the paths of generating wealth. Xuzhou was a land transportation hub. The canal had declined, but the Yellow River's water transport still existed, and the neighboring Huai'an Prefecture was a production center for Huai salt. There was far too much to exploit here.

"... However, in the few days your subordinate has been abbot, I took advantage of the position to look over the accounts. The largest business of Cloud Mountain Temple these past few years has been iron trading. This left your subordinate a bit confused — I don't know if Yuanxin and the others tampered with the account books. If you go by the books, this temple made nearly over sixty thousand taels of silver on iron alone..." Ruhui's tone was very hesitant; he didn't quite believe it himself.

Liu Yong wiped the sweat from his head and cut in, "Iron trading — trading iron in Xuzhou. Isn't that just buying iron from the Xu family and then selling it off?"

The Xu family of Xuzhou — this was the foremost power in Xuzhou, with able-bodied men under them numbering in the thousands. By all rights, such a power should have long since run rampant across Xuzhou, and their relationship with Cloud Mountain Temple and with Zhao Jin should have been either conflict or alliance. But in reality, there was hardly any relationship between them. Zhao Jin and the Xu family had no conflicts either; their only intersection was that Zhao Jin had bought quite a bit of iron stock from the Xu family, and the Xu family had bought quite a bit of Zhao Jin's liquor.

The strong preyed on the weak; there was no benevolence or righteousness to speak of between powerful houses. The reason the Xu family had coexisted peacefully with Cloud Mountain Temple for so many years, and why no conflict had arisen after Zhao Jin's rise, was very simple: the Xu family was north of the Yellow River, while Zhao Jin and Cloud Mountain Temple were both south of the Yellow River. The mighty, rolling river was a natural dividing line, keeping the two sides apart. In this era, though crossing the Yellow River was no impossible feat, it was no easy matter either. With this separation, anyone thinking of conflict had to consider whether it was convenient.

Those thousands of able-bodied men of the Xu family were not for military preparation, but were needed for their family's enterprises. Xuzhou's coal mines and iron mines were all on the north bank of the Yellow River, in the triangular zone between Tea Market, Boundary Mountain, and Zhenkou Lock. Digging coal, digging iron, smelting and forging — every step required a massive input of manpower, and that manpower could only be able-bodied young men. However, although these able-bodied men only did labor, if they picked up weapons and went out to brawl, it wasn't impossible — that naturally constituted strength.

Xuzhou's ironware was sold across the realm, so the Xu family was naturally wealthy and powerful. But ironware, after all, was not an exceptionally rare commodity. No matter how you traded it, how could it yield such outrageous profits?

Even Ruhui was this baffled; the others were even more in the dark. But no one lingered on this thought for long. The storehouse held nearly a hundred thousand taels of silver in wealth and goods — that completely captured everyone's attention.

Zhao Jin and his brothers were all stripped to the waist, busy at work. Although they trained and tempered their bodies daily, each of them robust and strong, these chests were truly heavy. Carrying them down one by one, they were all drenched in sweat.

Tired as they were, everyone was exhilarated, and all looked at the remaining chests with intensely fervent eyes. The ones in front held real gold and silver — so what were these? The disheartenment on Zhou Xuezhi's face had turned into a bitter smile. He had originally thought the advisor position would be his; he never expected this Ruhui to overtake him from behind. Of course Zhou Xuezhi felt terrible about it, but seeing this much wealth, and seeing so many chests still unopened, he could only accept it wholeheartedly. The other man had placed a heavy wager; getting this position was only right and proper.

The next chests were larger and longer than the ones opened before, but in the process of moving them, they didn't feel as heavy.

"Your subordinate never imagined Cloud Mountain Temple's armaments would be this complete. This item here should be called padded armor — forty sets," Ruhui said from the side.

One chest after another was opened, revealing the armor inside. At the sight of this padded armor, everyone exclaimed in admiration. Though this thing was heavy, it could truly defend against arrows and blades. Charging into battle wearing padded armor was utterly unstoppable — it was a serious piece of equipment on the battlefield.

Zhao Jin, however, looked quite indifferent. Armor improved from plate armor designs was already being forged. That kind of armor was lighter and more convenient than padded armor, yet its protective capability was not inferior. The importance of padded armor was no longer so great.

"Fine goods, fine goods!" Shi Manqiang exclaimed in praise, reaching out to touch it.

At that moment, the flame in the lanterns dimmed somewhat. They had been down here a long time, and the candles were nearly burned out. Zhao Jin's eyes narrowed. He walked up to the opened chest, reached out and lifted the entire set of padded armor, and said, "Bring a few more lanterns over — we need it brighter."

Zhou Xuezhi immediately hurried out of the storehouse. Once Zhao Jin had the lanterns brought close, he examined it carefully for a few moments and said, "Do you all see anything? Doesn't it look very similar to our padded armor?"

"Padded armor is padded armor — of course it looks similar..." Ruhui said with a smile, but then immediately sensed something was off and quickly stopped.

"It should have been made by the same workshop," Chen Sheng said, stepping over.

Dong Bingfeng also leaned in for a few looks, nodded, and said, "Very similar."

Shi Manqiang handed his lantern to Ji Xiang, went over and studied it carefully for a long while, then said, "The copper studs and several iron fittings really do resemble ours. At the very least, the ironwork came from the same forge."

"I heard from those cavalry instructors that padded armor is labor-intensive and material-intensive to make, and it's hot and heavy to wear, so few people wear it, and there's a lot of cutting corners in its production. Armor made with this kind of care is rare to begin with, so any similarities are easily spotted," Zhao Jin explained briefly. Ruhui nodded.

Zhou Xuezhi had already come running back with the lanterns, and the underground storehouse brightened considerably. Zhao Jin asked, "Xuezhi, when He Weiyuan brought these armors and weapons into storage, did you know about it?"

"I only saw the chests and crates; I didn't know what was inside them. But these padded armors haven't been in storage for very long," Zhou Xuezhi answered with a bitter smile.

"Then were these chests and crates frequently moving in and out of the He household?" Zhao Jin pressed.

"They should have been. Aside from the sect's items, everything else in the underground storehouses and cellars was inventory — coming and going was very common," Zhou Xuezhi quickly answered.

Zhao Jin shot a glance at Zhou Xuezhi. He himself couldn't possibly ask about every single detail; who knew how many more things Zhou Xuezhi hadn't mentioned, things he himself might have thought irrelevant but which could actually explain a great deal.

But this matter could be set aside for now. Zhao Jin put the padded armor down and said, "Continue opening the other chests."

"One hundred twenty sets of chainmail." Ruhui also sensed the shift in atmosphere and no longer spoke in a tone of presenting treasures.

A chest was opened, and sets of chainmail were taken out one after another. Dong Bingfeng understood these best. He poked at them with a fingertip and said in admiration, "This is truly exquisite craftsmanship — even a fingertip can't fit through the links. My father said the links on the chainmail in the government armories nowadays are as big as bracelets; wearing them, you look about the same as a street performer."

The smaller the links, the finer and denser the armor, and the stronger its defensive capability. Chainmail with links as big as bracelets — blades, spears, and arrows would just stab right through the links; it offered no protection at all.

Only ten sets of chainmail were kept in this storehouse; the rest were in another underground storehouse. They locked this one up and all went to the other. This second storehouse had two doors; one door could be accessed from Zhao Jin's residence.

"Two hundred goose-quill sabers, six hundred spearheads, fifty axe heads, fifty halberd heads, one hundred daggers..." Ruhui recited the numbers. He had long since committed these items to memory and rattled them off casually.

The expressions on the faces of Zhao Jin and his companions no longer held the joy of a windfall, but were instead somewhat grim. These weapons were all crafted with great care, absolutely not comparable to the junk in the government armories.

The inventory was complete. Zhao Jin sat down on a chest, wiped off his sweat, steadied his breathing, and then said, "Mister Cao, I can more or less guess the source of these tens of thousands of taels of gold and silver. Don't think these weapons aren't worth money — with this many items, they're worth tens of thousands of taels as well. Who you sold the iron to — I have a rough idea now."

The smile had long since vanished from Ruhui's face. He slammed a fist onto the lid of a wooden chest and said through gritted teeth, "Those bald donkeys really had nerve — daring to earn silver like this!"

Among those present, some faces showed dawning shock and realization, while others were still blank with incomprehension. Zhao Jin spoke again, "Ironware isn't hugely profitable, and weapons aren't hugely profitable either. What kind of person must spend a huge sum to buy weapons?"

"Someone who can't buy them openly?" Ji Xiang chimed in.

"Correct. Never mind the buyer — the seller's risk is losing their head. So Cloud Mountain Temple bought weapons at a low price, then sold them at a high price. Cloud Mountain Temple runs rampant in Xuzhou territory — who would dare investigate them? Who would dare control them?" Zhao Jin continued.

"Cloud Mountain Temple sold them to the Smelling Incense Sect?" Shi Manqiang said in a muffled voice. Cloud Mountain Temple, He Weiyuan, the Smelling Incense Sect, weapons, outrageous profits — Zhao Jin had already laid out the whole sequence of events clearly.

"What does the Smelling Incense Sect need to stockpile so many weapons for?" No one expected that the one to say this would be Zhou Xuezhi. He looked somewhat dazed and despondent.

"What do they want to do? They want to do great things. From Tang Sai'er until now, the sects thinking of rebellion number not a thousand, then eight hundred," Ruhui said irritably.

Ever since the founding of the Great Ming, the White Lotus Sect and its derivative sects had launched countless revolts and uprisings — the large ones wreaking havoc across one or several provinces, the small ones plaguing the countryside. Although the final outcome was always suppression by government troops, they kept coming wave after wave. The Smelling Incense Sect had no essential difference from the White Lotus Sect; it was not strange at all that they would do such a thing.

Everyone had been moving things for a long time and was somewhat exhausted. They simply sat down directly on the wooden chests. After piecing together the truth through their back-and-forth comments, everyone's mood had grown considerably heavier. They were silent for a while before Dong Bingfeng finally spoke: "Doesn't that mean we've brought disaster upon ourselves?"

Chen Sheng, who rarely spoke much, let out a scoffing laugh and said, "What's there to fear? On Xuzhou turf, do we even need to be afraid?"

Those words would be seen as arrogance anywhere else, but spoken here, they carried a powerful confidence. Dong Bingfeng smiled as well. Zhao Jin was there putting on his outer coat and said with a laugh, "Everyone put your clothes on so you don't catch a chill. Just now we said these things were sold by Cloud Mountain Temple acting as a middleman to the Smelling Incense Sect. Have any of you considered that these things might also have been for Cloud Mountain Temple's own use?"

The moment Zhao Jin raised this possibility, everyone was stunned. Ruhui, however, shook his head and smiled, though the smile carried a hint of helplessness. Sitting there, he shook his head and said, "Well fed and well drunk, lovely wives and beautiful concubines, halls filled with gold and silver, so many men under your command, and so many properties — naturally, crooked thoughts arise. Play the local emperor in Xuzhou long enough, and of course you'll want to be the real emperor."

Hearing Ruhui toss out the word "emperor" so flippantly, the faces of everyone in the underground vault except Zhao Jin changed color. Those words were a grave taboo — even being overheard saying them was a crime punishable by beheading and the extermination of one's entire clan.

After speaking these words, Ruhui swept his gaze around, studying each person's expression. Just at that moment, the candle in the lantern burned out, and the vault plunged into darkness.

"Take the armor and weapons up top. Fit handles on whatever needs handles. The few of us brothers will set up shifts. That treasury needs to be checked inside and out every day — too many things inside, too critical. We must be cautious. Everyone, head up now!" Zhao Jin changed the subject.

Everyone groped their way out by the light filtering in from the passageway, acting as if those words just now had never been spoken.

The group returned above ground. They didn't rush to leave but all went into the house. Everyone's clothes were soaked through with sweat and needed to be changed.

Sitting down in the main hall, everyone was silent. For a moment, no one spoke. Ruhui sat there somewhat puzzled, not knowing what was going on. Shi Manqiang suddenly opened his mouth and said, "Actually, my family's circumstances were considered decent in the city. My father was a blacksmith — at least he had his own trade. It's just that there were many mouths to feed at home, and getting something good to eat wasn't easy. We'd only see a trace of oil or fat during the Mid-Autumn Festival and New Year's. Back then I thought, if I ever had money, I'd eat meat every single day, and wheat flatbread with sugar on it."

Chen Sheng smiled. The others wore focused expressions and listened very intently. Shi Manqiang himself grinned and said, "Back then, I won first place at the freight yard martial contest and brought home a big bundle of pastries. My younger brothers and sisters ate happily, and I was happy too. I even thought about saving some for Grandpa and Grandma to eat that evening. Back then I thought, if I ever had money, I'd eat these every single day."

At this point, Shi Manqiang scratched his own head and said, "Just now it suddenly hit me — now I have money, I can eat whatever I want. Last time I heard my father say that my younger brother eats so much meat now he finds it greasy and asks my mother to make vegetable soup instead."

Everyone burst into laughter. Shi Manqiang went on by himself, "Now that I'm already this rich, I suddenly don't know what to do. This silver is enough for all of us to spend for a lifetime, isn't it?"

"It is enough. This money is sufficient for us to live in wealth and honor for a lifetime. Managed well, our descendants won't have to worry either." Zhao Jin said with a smile.

The moment these words left his mouth, Chen Sheng and Ruhui both looked over. Dong Bingfeng, Ji Xiang, Shi Manqiang, and Liu Yong all had a trace of bewilderment on their faces, while Zhou Xuezhi kept his head lowered.

Zhao Jin looked at each person and added with a smile, "It's just that, having come this far, don't you all feel this is far too little?"

Everyone jolted. Such an enormous amount of gold and silver, and it was being called too little? Those looks of bewilderment all vanished, replaced by confusion and yearning.

"How much territory do our words carry weight in right now? Inside the prefectural city and a fifteen-li radius around this He Family Village. We want our words to carry weight across the whole of Xuzhou. We want to amass wealth that our sons and grandsons for generations to come cannot exhaust. Compared to that, isn't what we have now far too little?" Zhao Jin said leisurely.

Shi Manqiang clapped his hands together heavily and said with a chuckle, "The moment big brother put it that way, I figured it out right off. My eyes were still too small, only able to see that tiny bit. Just now, after seeing so much gold and silver, my brain was all muddled. Now I'm clear-headed."

Zhao Jin looked around at the people in the room and found that everyone's expression had returned to normal. Ruhui, sitting to one side, wore a faint smile. Just as they were about to head out and get busy, Ruhui stood up with a smile and said, "Master, everyone, this subordinate still has one great gift yet to be presented. Now is the time to offer it."