Chapter 1447: A Small Fortune Overnight [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

"Oh, junior sister, why didn't you remind me?"

Not long after Tu Rong hung the body up, the Corpse Vine withered and shrank, revealing a white, gritty thing wrapped beneath the vines. Caught off guard, his eyes were subjected to a brutal shock. He guessed that there were corpses inside, and that they died in an unsightly manner, but he never expected that there would be two unsightly corpses, in such a gruesome way.

Lin Feng countered, "How should I remind you?"

Tu Rong choked for a moment, realizing that the condition of the two corpses was indeed difficult to describe in words. He turned to look at the bodies: "Were they like this when Junior Sister left?"

"No, I'm not that kind of person. I'm about to take his life, I wouldn't be so stingy as to not let him enjoy the last bit of happiness in his life." Lin Feng considered himself very kind. Tu Rong neither confirmed nor denied this, but there were some things he just had to say.

"If something like this happens again, just ask your senior brother to run errands for you."

It's not worth suffering so much just to get revenge.

Lin Feng agreed: "Okay, I'll do my best if you need anything."

When the two senior and junior disciples returned to the battlefield, they were hardly needed anymore. The city gate defenses had been redeployed by Lin Feng, and Shen Tang's side broke through the city gates with little effort, allowing their army to advance unimpeded.

By the time the defending general received the message and prepared to go into battle, the enemy had already completely surrounded the area. Shouts of battle, screams, and pleas for mercy echoed throughout the city, and the night was stained with the light of fire.

The garrison commander was shocked: "How could this be?"

Lin Chun has already appeased those bandits outside the city, hasn't he?

Have the two sides reached a preliminary agreement to hold a second round of negotiations?

Why did they turn their backs on us overnight and launch a strong attack?

That was bad enough, but when the garrison commander heard the enemy's current location, he felt as if he had been doused with a bucket of cold water, his heart turning cold: "How could the traitors have broken in so quickly? Where are the guards on duty today? They couldn't even fire a sentry arrow?"

If the whistle had been fired in time, I wouldn't be only finding out now.

The trusted confidant, who had fought his way out of the encirclement to deliver the message, cried out in anguish, "General, we have all been deceived by that scoundrel Lin Chun! It was him, he was clearly colluding with the traitors from the inside to bring us to this point!"

The garrison commander stared in disbelief, his eyes wide with astonishment.

"You mean Lin Chun? How could he possibly have the guts?"

Or rather, how could Lin Chun possibly have such great abilities?

Now that things have come to this, there's no way to deny it.

The defending general gritted his teeth, still hesitating about his next move.

Should he lead his troops out to fight, or flee with his family? The former would be suicide; no matter how brave and skilled he was, he couldn't escape death, and even risking his life wouldn't prevent the city's fall. If he took advantage of the chaos to escort his family to safety, perhaps there would be a chance of survival. Of course, he could also choose to surrender.

However, he had already missed the best opportunity to surrender.

Without political value, they will become a laughing stock.

The garrison commander ground his teeth together as if he wanted to crush them: "Fine, fine, fine. I knew Lin Chun's background was shady. I never imagined he was a pawn planted by the traitors."

His trusted aide urged, "General, please make a decision quickly!"

The garrison commander gritted his teeth and made a firm decision. He turned around and went back to the backyard, ordering his men to pack their belongings quickly and leave within half an incense stick's time. By this time, most people were already fast asleep, and when they were awakened by the noise, they were still groggy. They were not even properly dressed when they were told to flee for their lives.

Inside and outside the courtyard, people and horses were thrown into chaos.

Servants and maids hurriedly fled in the chaos, while the wives and concubines rushed to grab their children and rejoin the garrison commander. The news the commander received was increasingly dire; he couldn't wait even for half an incense stick to burn. He gave a cursory glance at the wives, concubines, and children already squeezed onto the carriage, and without caring who was missing, mounted his horse and rode away. Those who were a step too slow and missed were left to die, their cries and screams deafening.

There were even pregnant women who tried to chase after it barefoot.

No matter how desperately the guards cried out behind them, they did not soften their hearts.

The streets were in chaos, with commoners fleeing with their families. Ironically, this disarray made things easier for the garrison commander and his party. The commander prepared to leave through the south gate, but halfway there, he spotted a group of unfamiliar soldiers stationed at the street corner. The commander steeled his resolve: "Charge out!"

Seeing this, the confidant gritted his teeth and said, "General, I will cover the rear! You take the ladies and gentlemen and leave!"

The garrison commander didn't argue with his confidants: "Alright!"

The troops split into two groups: the trusted men led the delaying force, while the general and the others escorted the carriage out of the enemy lines. However, shortly after breaking through the encirclement, the general's heart suddenly tightened, a strong sense of crisis washing over him. He instinctively looked up and saw a flying sword hurtling towards him, striking him squarely in the middle of the road. His warhorse neighed incessantly, becoming restless and agitated.

"Why run?" The main force of the night raid was led by Luo Sha and a few others, so Shen Tang slept in for half a day longer. He even had a late-night snack of barbecue before setting off, and came here with a skewer in his mouth. Because the south gate was quiet and less crowded, Shen Tang entered the city from there after the gate opened. As a result, he heard a series of rapid hoofbeats and cartwheel sounds from afar, guessing that some wealthy family was fleeing, a fat sheep.

Shen Tang's favorite tactic in battle was to capture those who packed up their belongings and fled. The larger the group, the more people and wealth they had. Even the things they hastily packed were worth a fortune, not to mention the precious treasures they hadn't had time to move: "Arrest them all!"

Why would the defending general simply surrender?

He was even more indignant that this woman had treated him so disrespectfully.

He was about to attack, wielding a strangely shaped long-handled steel fork.

The accompanying soldiers lined up in perfect unison to prepare for a fierce battle. However, to their utter surprise, their general charged head-on at the enemy blocking their path. Before his steel fork could even touch the enemy, he was struck in the breastplate by a rapidly growing spear and violently thrown off his horse.

The defending general rolled and tumbled to dissipate most of the impact, a slight pain still lingering in his chest. He didn't show it on his face, but inwardly he was in turmoil. No one knew better than him that he had just been struck head-on by a mountain, utterly unmoved!

Shen Tang wouldn't give him time to think.

The second shot pierced the man into the ground, and the horse's hooves trampled over the guard's waist. Shen Tang didn't even glance at it and laughed, "Surround all these people, and don't let them lose a single coin of gold or silver!"

The spoils she sets her sights on are hers!

Thanks to exploiting a bug, her avatar was far luckier than the original, a complete slacker. She had a huge stash of money hidden away and didn't have to worry about Xun Hanzhang causing trouble, enjoying the legendary financial freedom. In this chaotic world where morality had collapsed, no one thought her robbery was wrong.

Shen Tang, sword in hand, commanded: "Everyone in the carriage, get off! Pay up if you have money, or pay with your life if you don't. Don't try to fool me!"

The guard, whose internal organs had nearly shifted, was bound hand and foot by the surging soldiers and coughed up blood several times before he could recover.

He opened his eyes to find all his men captured, his wives, concubines, and children forced off the carriage, standing in a row, weeping and wailing. The woman who had speared him off his horse was beaming with delight: "...What's the background of this guy we captured? My god, so many silver bars?"

Shen Tang held a silver bar in one hand.

More soldiers brought over and opened them.

Inside, besides silver bars, there were also bright orange gold bars.

As for other jade and jewelry, they filled several boxes.

"...Tsk tsk tsk, these are the fruits of many years of hard work by corrupt officials, and one of them even has a hoarding habit."

Without this habit, how could so many boxes be loaded onto the carriage in an emergency? The cleanup on site was overwhelming. Shen Tang's words drew an angry glare from the guard: "You scoundrel, don't make false accusations! These are all innocent!"

Shen Tang tossed the silver and gold bars back and clapped his hands: "Keep them all. When Lingde comes back, we'll record them in the books and put them into our private treasury!"

The real person is always manipulated by the Ministry of Revenue, but she is different.

She manipulated Gu De, Xiahou Yu, and the others as easily as breathing. She would give three or five percent of the spoils to the public treasury and keep the rest in her private treasury. They wouldn't complain at all; on the contrary, they would shout that their lord should not treat her too badly.

She said it with such confidence, it felt incredibly satisfying!

The guard struggled, but a hard kick to the back of his knee caused his right leg to buckle, and he collapsed to his knees with a thud. His face was contorted with shame, and he wanted nothing more than to tear Shen Tang's flesh to shreds. Shen Tang: "Come on, if you don't want to die, tell me now where the money you've been holding at your house is hidden!"

"Bah! I swear I'll never let you have your way!"

The consequence of being stubborn was that he got several large sinus punctures from Shen Tang.

"What kind of loyal and devoted persona are you trying to portray?" Shen Tang hates people who are two-faced and stubborn. She's the one who deserted with her family and abandoned the city, and now she's trying to argue with her while clinging to a facade of loyalty.

"Hehehe, what do you mean by 'I'll never let you have your way'?" Shen Tang pinched his chin and turned his head back, saying sarcastically, "You think you can take medicine when you're halfway into a coffin and no one's breaking the pot?"

The guard was slapped so hard that he heard the sound of water in his ears and his vision went blurry.

Shen Tang then focused his efforts on the accompanying family members.

The general's wives and concubines had never seen anything like this before.

Seeing their husbands, whose mere frown could frighten anyone to the point of holding their breath, treated like this, they felt even more terrified, tears streaming down their faces. As the wives of the garrison commander, their fates as prisoners were essentially one of two—the young and beautiful ones might be used as rewards for meritorious soldiers, while the rest would be thrown into the military camp as camp prostitutes, where they would die within a few months.

Shen Tang didn't want to delve into their thoughts. At first, she would waste her breath explaining and comforting them, but after a while, she realized that it was hard to break the old impression. Instead of explaining, she thought it was better to finish the job quickly: "He's ungrateful, but you two should be, right?"

The wives and concubines were all ordinary women confined to their homes, and they couldn't withstand being frightened.

The old wife of the garrison commander barely managed to maintain some composure, while the youngest concubine, only fifteen or sixteen years old, immediately confessed while crying, and even the old wife's scolding couldn't silence her. Shen Tang said, "Good child, you have done a great service. I'll reward you with a few taels of silver to settle down later."

After saying that, she turned around and kicked the guard twice more.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became: "You old geezer!"

Shen Tang knew this man was from a wealthy family in the city, but she never expected him to be such a big fish. The concubine was originally the daughter of the steward in charge of purchasing for the household. Before being taken in, she often went out and thus knew the way.

Shen Tang led his men over and happened to see Gong Xi Chou there as well.

What are you doing here?

Gong Xichou said, "To capture the thief, first capture the king."

He pointed with his thumb to the large courtyard behind him.

The "king" is right here; he's going to catch the turtle in the jar.

Shen Tang: "...Then you've made a wasted trip."

The "King" that Gong Xichou wanted to capture walked right into her hands.

After hearing the whole story, Gongxi Chou felt ashamed for the man. Running away without even seeing the enemy's face—did he have no courage as a warrior at all? And to make matters worse, he ran right into Mama's hands and was thrown from his horse with a single spear thrust. Even if the two sides were vastly different in strength, surely he shouldn't have been unable to escape in just two rounds?

To put it bluntly, they were so engrossed in pleasure that they neglected their martial arts skills.

"How embarrassing! So incredibly embarrassing!"

Gong Xichou circled the garrison commander twice, clicking his tongue in disdain.

If the defending general had any backbone and led his troops to defend to the death, even if he eventually surrendered, he would still earn some respect. Losing a battle isn't shameful, but fleeing without a fight and failing to escape is truly shameful!

The guard was so angry that he vomited blood several more times.

Shen Tang swaggered into his house.

It was like a locust swarm passing through; they wanted nothing more than to dismantle the precious timber from the roof beams and carry it away. In less than fifteen minutes, the place was completely empty. The servants who had taken advantage of the chaos to loot and run away were also brought back, and they had to return everything except their own savings.

Shen Tang said, "These are all mine."

If they behaved themselves and didn't run away, they would be law-abiding citizens, and Shen Tang wouldn't have broken into people's homes to rob them. But if they ran away with the property and were caught by her people, then sorry, these people would become mobs, and the ownership of their property would be transferred.

When Lin Feng arrived, the master was sitting on a trunk, whistling a northern folk tune, his mood visibly cheerful. She stepped forward to greet him, but Shen Tang waved her off, saying, "See if there's anything you like?"

“I like everything the Lord gives me.”

"That's good. Take two back and make a pure gold crown."

Shen Tang tossed two gold bars, each weighing four or five pounds, into her arms.

Lin Feng easily accepted the reply: "My lord, on our way here, my senior brother and I also encountered six or seven groups of suspicious-looking rioters."

Shen Tang raised an eyebrow: "And then?"

Did they encounter six or seven groups of suspicious-looking rioters?

Lingde's luck is indeed a bit too "good".

Lin Feng replied, "I'll trouble you, Senior Brother, to go and take stock of the stolen goods."

"Remember to hand in the ledger."

The implication is that as long as Lin Feng doesn't cross any lines or violate any principles, she doesn't care who gets revenge on whom during the chaos.

Shen Tang only accepts spoils of war.

Lin Feng smiled broadly: "Yes, sir!"

Finally, Shen Tang asked her, "How many enemies does Lin Chun have?"

Lin Feng said, "Six or seven."

Shen Tang chuckled and poked her forehead: "You really are stingy."

Lin Feng is usually kind and rarely makes enemies. Shen Tang was worried that she might lack experience in this kind of situation, so she specially sent Xiahou Yu to clean up the mess. Some people are easy to offend because they lack the ability and courage to hold a grudge. But some people should either not be offended at all, or if you do, don't leave them any way out!

"Make it cleaner."

Only by eliminating the root of the problem can one rest easy.

Xiahou Yu: "..."

To be honest, he had never seen anything cleaner than this. Lin Feng's Corpse Vine crawled over it, leaving only bones of the culprit.

Before dawn, the streets and alleys were filled with the swishing sound of brooms sweeping, and the air was still filled with the lingering stench of burning and blood.

Hearing the shouts of battle that continued for most of the night, Lin's father didn't sleep a wink. Several servants, having been ordered not to go out to observe the situation, locked the main gate and side gates. Trembling with fear, they finally endured until dawn.

(*｀)

Last year, I gave my dad a bottle of perfume for his birthday. I don't know how he finished it, it was 100ml! And it hasn't even been a year yet, right? Then yesterday he told me I could buy a new one. I asked him if he wanted the old one, and he said he wanted something for mature men, because the old one was too sultry... So, do you have any recommendations for a sophisticated men's fragrance?