"Guards! There's an assassin!"

"Help! There's an assassin!"

Wanli craned his neck and shouted for a long time, but no one came.

"Lord Wan, don't push your luck."

“I’ve already taken care of your family. You can shout yourself hoarse, but it won’t do you any good.”

Wanli stood up in alarm. He found dozens of people dressed in flying fish robes and holding embroidered spring knives standing in the courtyard.

At that moment, his family members were all bound hand and foot, kneeling on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs.

"Heroes, who are you? What do you want?"

"I only beg you to spare my life, my lord. My family has plenty of money. Take whatever you want, however much you want."

"Hand over the military tally."

"Are you His Majesty's men?" Wanli sized up the unfamiliar faces in front of him.

Just then, Wanli was surprised to find their steward and servants among the crowd.

"You beasts! I fed you and fed you, and you betrayed me!" Before the Nine Gates Admiral Wan could finish speaking, he was heavily knocked to the ground.

"Don't dawdle."

Wanli nodded.

...

Inside the main hall of the imperial palace.

The civil and military officials all shouted loudly.

"Let me out. How long are you going to keep me locked up?"

"All I want to do right now is go home."

"Where is that kid surnamed Jiang? Get him to come see me right now."

"We can't stay here."

Chen Ping'an and his group pushed open the door of the palace hall and were about to leave.

When they got outside, they found the Imperial Guards heavily guarding the area.

The main hall was guarded not only by the Imperial Guards, but also by Jiang Tian's personal bodyguards.

"Let us go home!" Chen Ping'an roared at the Imperial Guards.

"Lord Jiang has ordered that no one is allowed to return home until your family's assets are thoroughly investigated, or they will be courting death," Ling Yunzhi said coldly to the crowd.

Everyone was stunned when they heard this.

Some of them were in the imperial court, and some were prepared to donate one hundred taels of silver.

Some people were prepared to donate 50 taels of silver, but the highest donation did not exceed 200 taels of silver.

As a result, Jiang Tian decided to investigate their family assets.

Zhou Chaoxian immediately became furious: "I am a member of the cabinet. Now that Pang Daren has committed a crime, I am the Grand Secretary. What right does that Jiang fellow have to investigate my assets?"

Chen Ping'an: "General Ling Yunzhi, you used to be one of our Ministry of War. You can't be siding with outsiders now. You should be helping our people in the Ministry of War, not an outsider."

Zhou Jian: "General Ling, we are all officials in the same court, there is no need for us to become enemies."

"General, let us out, and we'll still be friends."

Ling Yunzhi snorted coldly: "Everyone, don't waste your breath. The lord told you to stay here, so just stay here."

If you're hungry, eunuchs and palace maids will bring you food; if you're thirsty, eunuchs and palace maids will bring you food.

"You want us to let you out? That's wishful thinking, a pipe dream."

When everyone saw Ling Yunzhi's firm and decisive attitude, they understood that if soft tactics didn't work, they would have to resort to hard ones.

Zhou Jian and Dong Dahai, both self-proclaimed military officers, said, "Since you don't consider us your friends, then we don't need to be polite with you."

"No one can stop me today, I have to get out of here." Before Dong Dahai finished speaking, an arrow shot out at his feet.

The arrow was deeply embedded in the floor tile.

You can tell how powerful this arrow was just by the force of its shot.

"All of you, step back! If you take another step forward, the next arrow will be aimed at you."

Upon seeing this, Dong Dahai burst into laughter: "Today, I, Dong, refuse to believe in this evil. If you have the guts, shoot me in the head."

With a whoosh, another arrow shot over and pierced Dong Dahai's forehead.

Dong Dahai never imagined that he, the dignified General Dingyuan, would be so worthless, killed at will.

Before Dong Dahai could even let out a scream, everything went black before his eyes, and his entire body crashed backward.

The others were immediately taken aback when they saw this.

Everyone quickly assessed their own worth.

"Anyone else want to go back? If you do, you can go back as a corpse."

Those who had been making a ruckus and wanting to go back immediately quieted down.

Chen Ping'an glanced at Ling Yunzhi.

“You can’t do that. Dong Dahai is a second-rank official in the imperial court.”

"Dong Dahai has made great contributions to the country and the nation."

Ling Yunzhi retorted, "What merit do you have? You're just a good-for-nothing."

When the rebels rose up, was Dong Dahai charging into battle?

"When the Liao, Khitan, Xiongnu, and the 16 northern kingdoms invaded our grassland borders, did that man surnamed Dong take up his spear and ride into battle to fight the enemy?"

“My lord asked you to donate silver. How many taels of silver did that man surnamed Dong contribute? That should be enough for him to have a meal.”

Upon hearing Ling Yunzhi's words, everyone lowered their heads.

Chen Ping'an continued, "But when will we be allowed to leave? We are all ministers; we can't eat, drink, and relieve ourselves in the palace hall, can we? That would be disrespectful."

Ling Yunzhi: "Everyone, don't worry. You must trust in the abilities of my lord, Lord Jiang."

"My lord said to investigate your assets thoroughly and send those who should be sent to prison to prison."

Those who deserve to be executed by slow slicing should be executed by slow slicing.

"Those who should be executed along with their entire families should be executed along with their entire families."

"Once everything is cleared up, you can go back if you have nothing else to do."

Upon hearing this, everyone was filled with dread.

Not a single person present had a clean record.

Once investigated, none of them can withstand scrutiny.

“Brother, tell your lord,” Zhou Chaoxian held up two fingers, “I’m willing to give him two million taels of silver if he’s willing to release me.”

Jiang Tian gave this guy a chance.

He was asked to donate one million taels of silver.

As a result, that bastard Zhou Chaoxian was only willing to donate one hundred taels of silver.

Now this guy is scared.

They are willing to offer two million taels of silver.

Even a fool would know that his willingness to take out two million taels of silver means that he has far more silver at home than that.

Others also expressed their opinions.

“If Lord Jiang releases me, I am willing to offer 3 million taels of silver.”

“I am willing to offer five million taels of silver.”

"Lord Jiang, you want money, right? I'll give you everything I own, even if it means going bankrupt and selling everything I own. I wonder how much you want?"

These guys have been locked up for less than a day, and they've all already made statements.

Everyone present was willing to offer at least one million taels of silver, and the highest offer was as high as 10 million taels of silver.

It's easy to imagine how corrupt these officials were.

Ling Yunzhi snapped his fingers, signaling the eunuch to bring him writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

"We adults naturally welcome your donations. Just write down how much you want to donate."