jdhmnovel Chapter 193: Tax Silver, All Goes to Zhenxi Marquis Mansion
Chapter 193: Tax Silver, All Goes to Zhenxi Marquis Mansion
As the night deepened, a group of soldiers and horses gradually appeared from far away outside the city of Chaisang!
The man in the lead wore a golden helmet, a blood-red cloak and golden armor. He was none other than Baili Luochen, Marquis of Zhenxi.
"My Lord, three miles ahead is the west gate of Chaisang City!"
The captain on Baili Luochen's right pointed to the city ahead and reported.
"Zhao'er said that he has completely subdued the defenders in the city. Our army should not stop and head straight for the government office!"
Baili Luochen galloped on his horse, and the sound of his voice was carried behind him by the wind.
"As ordered!"
The cavalrymen following him responded loudly at the same time.
……
Chaisang government office.
There were more than 20 bodies with their heads and bodies separated piled up in a mess at the door, and the Gu family members were cleaning the bloody road.
At this time, Wen Yanzhao and Gu Jianmen were waiting for the arrival of the troops of Zhenxi Hou. They sat in the main hall and chatted idly.
"Jian San'er, do you feel good about killing Xue Futai, the man who has oppressed your Gu family for so many years?"
Wen Yanzhao raised his eyebrows and asked.
Gu Jianmen rolled his eyes at Wen Yanzhao and said in a feigned indifference:
"What's so good about that? Now our Gu family has truly become the murderer of an imperial official!"
"I'm afraid I won't be able to do business in the future. When the time comes, I'll have no choice but to pack up my belongings and go find my master to make a living..."
Wen Yanzhao laughed and said teasingly:
"Master? Your master, Mr. Li, is elusive. I don't think it'll be easy for you to find him in this lifetime. Even if you do find him, he won't take you away!"
Gu Jianmen asked in surprise, "Why?"
Wen Yanzhao put his feet up on the long desk in the prefectural office and said with a smile:
"Because he's taking my cousin to Snow Moon City right now, so don't count on him!"
"Follow me closely and I'll make sure you have nothing to worry about!"
Gu Jianmen snorted and said:
"To hang out with you? I'm afraid I'll go hungry nine times out of three days. You're full of bad intentions. We, the Gu family, don't want to hang out with you!"
Wen Yanzhao was about to fight back when he heard his ears move and realized that the troops outside the government office were approaching.
He stood up and said to Gu Jianmen:
"They're here!"
He rushed out of the government office and jumped onto the street outside the government office.
Looking up, Baili Luochen, in blood-stained robes and golden armor, was riding his horse towards the government office. Wen Yanzhao waved his hand:
"Grandpa Baili, it's not even the hour of Xu yet, you guys are here so fast!"
Baili Luochen pulled the reins, reined in the Fire Dragon Horse, dismounted, and walked towards Wen Yanzhao:
"Haha, Zhao'er, you're really fast. You must have arrived a long time ago, right?"
Seeing the Marquis dismount, the more than 300 cavalrymen behind him also dismounted and positioned their horses, forming two teams and following not far behind Baili Luochen.
Wen Yanzhao bowed to Baili Luochen
Baili Luochen took off his helmet and tucked it on his arm. He then frowned and looked at the Gu family servants who were cleaning up the corpses and asked:
"Were all these yamen runners killed by Gu Jianmen?"
Wen Yanzhao nodded:
"These are the local yamen runners who are causing trouble for the people. They've done a lot of bullying and oppressing men and women. They deserve to be put to death!"
After saying this, he saw that there were only two or three hundred people behind Baili Luo, so he asked doubtfully:
"Grandpa Baili, you only brought these cavalrymen. Why didn't you see my uncle? The treasury of Chaisang alone has millions of silver. I'm afraid we don't have enough manpower!"
Baili Luochen smiled and said:
"Ghostly cleverness, saving you is very thoughtful!"
"Grandpa was afraid things might change, so he led the cavalry here first!"
"These people are all strong soldiers who followed me to conquer the world. With them by our side, we don't have to worry even if people from the surrounding counties come!"
Wen Yanzhao immediately understood, and immediately pulled Baili Luochen's arm and smiled:
"Grandpa is right. Even without these three hundred cavalrymen, other counties would be too frightened to move once they heard of the reputation of the Marquis of Zhenxi!"
Baili Luochen patted Wen Yanzhao's head lightly and said with a smile:
"Stop flattering me, little brat! Let's go! Take me to see if Chaisang City is as prosperous and wealthy as people say..."
Wen Yanzhao immediately stood up straight and said loudly, imitating the appearance of a lieutenant in the army:
"Your subordinate, Wen Yanzhao, will obey the Marquis's military orders!"
Just as the two were about to set off to check the treasury for the silver, a young man in white walked out of the government gate. It was Gu Jianmen.
When Gu Jianmen saw Baili Luochen, he immediately clasped his fists and said:
"Junior Gu Jianmen greets Lord Zhenxi!"
Baili Luochen looked Gu Jianmen up and down for a while, then nodded and said:
"This young master must be Lingyun, one of the Eight Young Masters of Beili... I've heard Dongjun talk about you!"
"I've heard that your Gu family is the most prestigious family in Chaisang City. I didn't expect that you, the head of the family, are so young and promising. Not bad!"
Gu Jianmen was somewhat flattered, his handsome face flushed slightly:
"Thank you for your praise, Lord. I am truly honored!"
Baili Luochen waved his hand and said with a smile:
"No need to be so long-winded. I'm here to suppress you, the Gu family's lunatic. Haha, aren't you afraid of me?"
Gu Jianmen naturally knew that Baili Luochen was joking with him, so he responded:
"Gu Jianmen is solely responsible for his own actions. I will leave it to the Marquis to decide!"
Baili Luochen was very satisfied with Gu Jianmen's temperament and character. He nodded and said with a smile:
"These are just jokes, don't take them seriously! With such a major incident happening in Chaisang City this time, the imperial court will surely be shocked and will send out troops to suppress it in no time!"
"You just need to manage the Gu family's business and trade well. With me, Baili Luochen, here, the four southwestern states will be safe for the time being. There's no need to explain the rest. I'm sure Zhao'er has already told you!"
Gu Jianmen nodded in understanding:
"Thank you for your protection, Lord Marquis. From now on, the Gu family is willing to stand side by side with the Zhenxi Marquisate!"
……
Without further ado, Wen Yanzhao took Baili Luochen and Gu Jianmen to Chaisang Treasury.
After inventory, it was found that there were more than 1.2 million taels of minted official silver in the treasury, 460,000 taels of other loose silver and broken silver, more than 30,000 taels of gold and hundreds of land deeds and farm deeds managed by the government!
In addition, the home of Xue Daocheng, who was killed by Gu Jianmen, was also found to contain gold, silver, and jewelry worth over 200,000 taels of silver...
After the inventory was completed, Baili Luochen dispatched three hundred officials from Xilin into two groups to guard the treasury and Xue Daocheng's compound respectively.
In the early morning of the next day, Baili Chengfeng also arrived in Chaisang with two thousand cavalry, five thousand infantry, and carriages and supplies.
The soldiers sealed the boxes and loaded the tax silver in an orderly manner. They were busy until dusk that day and finally emptied the treasury of Chaisang City and Xue Daocheng's house.
Wen Yanzhao and Baili father and son stood on the west gate tower of Chaisang City, looking at the convoy of people and horses escorting tax silver back to Qiandong from afar.
Baili Luochen stroked his gray beard and smiled:
"The last time I saw so much silver was when we captured the capital of Western Chu... Chaisang City is indeed the richest city in the Southwest Road. Seeing it today, it is indeed true!"
"Zhao'er, with this silver, Grandpa can raise another army!"
Wen Yanzhao smiled and said:
"Grandpa, don't be too eager to satisfy yourself. Bingzhou still has Luofeng City and Panyang City..."
"Besides Bingzhou, there are also Zizhou, Mengzhou, and Jianzhou. Even if the other three states are not as prosperous as Chaisang, at least we can collect tens of millions of taels of tax silver, right?"
"So... the men and women my uncle brought to transport the silver are far from enough!"
Baili Chengfeng felt a little embarrassed when he heard this:
"Zhao'er, you're talking without any worries, but this is all the carriages and horses in Qiandong!"
"It seems we can only requisition local horses and carriages. Don't leave out mule and donkey carts either... I was worried when we didn't have military pay, and now that we have money, I'm even more worried. Sigh..."
Baili Luo Chenyuan looked at the rising sun and said earnestly:
"The other three states have over a hundred thousand troops in total. They won't just give us the silver in their treasury!"
"Zhao'er, you'll be needed to lead the charge later. Your uncle and I will gather the troops in the back in case of emergency!"
Wen Yanzhao patted his chest and said:
"Don't worry, Grandpa. I'm used to this kind of thing the first time, but I'm very familiar with it the second time!"
"You and your uncle will just wait to receive the money!"
……