Chapter 194 It's Over

The two teams split into two groups. The soldiers from the Fire Gun Battalion went directly to the West Lake by ferry, while the soldiers from the Military Affairs Battalion surrounded the prefectural mansion and did not allow anyone to leave.

On the other side, Zhao Xiao was still dealing with those guys in Changsheng Building. Maybe his luck had changed, as he won a few rounds in a row and won back all the chips he had just lost.

Li Fu was probably tired from playing, so he leaned back in his chair and dozed off. His friends were probably used to it, and they still dragged Zhao Xiao to continue gambling.

When it was almost three o'clock in the morning, a man hurried in from outside, woke Li Fu up, and whispered something in his ear.

Li Fu lost his sleepiness instantly and said in astonishment: "Is this true?!!"

"Really, sir, hurry up and leave! It will be too late if you are late!"

The others looked at Li Fu in confusion. He stood up and said, "You guys go play first. Something happened at home."

No one paid attention to it, but Zhao Xiao knew in his heart that reinforcements must have arrived.

He also stood up and followed behind, but someone stopped him and said, "Hey! Where are you going?"

"convenient."

After leaving the house, Li Fu almost trotted towards a hidden staircase at the back, asking as he walked: "Did you see clearly? Are you sure it's someone from the military camp?"

"Look carefully, those people are wearing military uniforms, they must be soldiers from the barracks!"

"How dare they come? Does my father know about this?"

"Someone has been sent to inform the adults, so he should know by now."

Li Fu spat angrily and said, "Ding Daqian dared to send troops without permission. When I get back, I will make my father severely punish him!"

"Mr. Li, don't leave in such a hurry."

Li Fu turned around and saw that it was the businessman who had just gambled. He said disdainfully: "Who allowed you to follow me? Get out of here!"

Zhao Xiao blocked his way: "Don't you want to continue playing?"

"Get lost, I don't have time to play with you now!"

"But I haven't had enough fun yet."

"How dare you! How dare you speak to our young master like that!" The followers rushed up to hit him. Zhao Xiao no longer pretended, raised his foot and kicked the man away.

Li Fu screamed in fear: "You, what are you going to do?! If you dare to touch me, my father will not let you go!"

Zhao Xiao sneered: "Your father can't save himself, you should worry about yourself!" After that, he pulled his collar and brought him back to the room.

Li Fu struggled as he walked, but the privacy of the fourth floor was very important, and even the servant who served him tea and water could not see him.

Back in the house, Zhao Xiao threw Li Fu to the ground and said, "Continue playing."

Several people nearby stood up immediately in fear: "Are you crazy? This is the son of the prefect. If you dare to attack him, you are asking for your life!"

Li Fu shouted: "Catch him quickly!"

Those idiots had long been drained of their bodies by alcohol and sex. How could they be a match for Zhao Xiao? In less than a cup of tea, they were beaten black and blue. They squatted on the ground and dared not say a word.

The soldiers from the Fire Gun Battalion finally came ashore, rushed into Changsheng Tower and started arresting people, taking everyone away. During this period, some people wanted to resist and escape, but they were no match for the officers and soldiers. After a few were killed by the fire guns, the rest of them behaved themselves and dared not to do anything else.

Ding Daqian and his men searched the whole building for someone, and finally found Zhao Xiao and Li Fu, who had a bruised face and nose, on the fourth floor.

Li Fuyi saw him and shouted excitedly: "Uncle Ding, please save me! This man is trying to kidnap me!"

Ding Daqian didn't even look at him, he knelt down in front of Zhao Xiao and said, "I pay my respects to the general. Everyone in the building has been taken away."

"General...what general?" Li Fu looked at Zhao Xiao and then at Ding Daqian. His face slowly turned pale and he had a bad feeling in his heart.

Zhao Xiao threw down the chips in his hand and stood up and said, "Take these with you as well."

"Yes!" Ding Daqian waved his hand, and the soldiers behind him quickly tied up several people.

*

At the same time, Song Yuzhu in the inn also changed her clothes and prepared to go out.

It was just past the hour of Chou, and the sky was turning pale. Five soldiers sent from the military camp followed behind him, silently protecting him.

Song Yuzhu had seen on the map that the East Island of West Lake was surrounded and that everyone in Changsheng Tower was escorted ashore. He planned to interrogate the prefect of Hangzhou in person.

Because the number of people arrested was so large and the commotion was so loud, it startled many of the people who were watching the fun.

Everyone stood by the lake in groups of three or four, talking in low voices.

"The people on East Island were arrested?"

"Well done for catching them! I think they should have been punished long ago. They are all corrupt officials and wealthy businessmen who prey on the people!"

"I heard that the government is backing them. Are they having a falling out?"

"Who knows..."

Song Yuzhu quickened his pace and finally saw Zhao Xiao on the last boat.

Zhao Xiao also saw him and waved at him from a distance. Ding Daqian, who was on the same boat, looked in the direction he was looking and his head buzzed, he almost fell into the lake.

He rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Although he had never seen His Majesty in person, hadn't he seen the money he spent on weekdays? Who else could make the general wave his hand except the one who went to the capital?

After getting ashore, Ding Daqian knelt down and kowtowed: "Your humble servant pays respect to the emperor..."

Song Yuzhu raised her hand and held him back: "Get up, and do your business first."

"Yes!" Ding Daqian stood up excitedly. He didn't expect that His Majesty had also come to Hangzhou!

Zhao Xiao walked up to Song Yuzhu and said, "As you expected, the Chamber of Commerce is colluding with the government, and the backer behind Changsheng Building is Hangzhou Prefect Li Tingyi."

"Let's go and meet this Lord Li."

Song Yuzhu got on the carriage and soon arrived at the gate of the Hangzhou prefect's house.

Li Tingyi was woken up in the middle of the night. Seeing Ding Daqian leading his troops over, he hurried forward and asked, "Sir Ding, why are you sending troops to surround my house for no reason?"

Ding Daqian had never stood so straight in his life. "I am here on the orders of the Emperor to arrest those who are related to Changsheng Tower. Sir Li, I don't need to say more."

"Someone, take him down!"

Li Tingyi was shocked and angry, "How dare you! I am a third-rank official appointed by the emperor himself. How dare you, a mere garrison commander, falsely spread the emperor's message? Are you planning a rebellion?"

He didn't believe that Ding Daqian was following the emperor's orders, because he had several good friends in Shangjing and they had been exchanging letters frequently over the years.

If the emperor really wanted to investigate him, it would be impossible for him not to hear any rumors at all, so Ding Daqian must be talking nonsense.

Seeing that he didn't cry until he saw the coffin, Ding Daqian walked to the carriage next to him and asked, "Can I arrest Li Tingyi directly?"

"Yes." Song Yuzhu responded in the car.

Ding Daqian shouted, "Catch them! Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"

Li Tingyi panicked. He was put in shackles by several officers and soldiers and put on a carriage. All the people in the mansion were also taken to the military camp.

Along the way, Li Tingyi was wondering why Ding Daqian suddenly attacked him. Although they didn't interact much on weekdays, he had never offended him.

Now the only plan is to wait until we get to the military camp. If you come here for money, you can spend hundreds of thousands of taels of silver...

Half an hour later, they arrived at the military camp. Li Tingyi no longer had the anger on his face. He asked the officers and soldiers around him to call Ding Daqian over, saying that he had something important to discuss.

Ding Daqian came over and asked, "Master Li, what do you want to say?"

"Brother Ding, we have been officials together in Hangzhou for three years. I really don't know how I have offended you, but I want to express my apology." Li Tingyi stretched out his hand and said, "How about this amount? Let my family go and pretend that this incident never happened?"

"What is this number?"

"I'll have someone deliver the five hundred thousand taels of silver to you safely, and no one will know about it."

Ding Daqian thought to himself: "This bastard is really rich!"

"I dare not take this money, you should keep it for yourself."

Ding Daqian turned around and walked out. Li Tingyi shouted anxiously, "One million taels, one million taels is not enough!" This amount of money was the annual income of Changsheng Building. Although it was not enough to break his bones, it still made him feel painful for a long time. After he was out of danger, he would find a way to kill him!

Two people walked in from outside the door, and Ding Daqian knelt down and said to them, "Your Majesty and the general, Li Tingyi, the prefect of Hangzhou, has captured him."

Li Tingyi stared at the two men in amazement, unable to speak, as if he had been hit on the head with a stick, stars appeared in his eyes, and his ears were buzzing.

"Lord Li, I haven't seen you for three years. I am really impressed by you."

"Your Majesty, I… Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you…" He knelt on the ground with a plop, his face pale and sweat pouring down. He finally understood what Ding Daqian meant by "following the emperor's will".

Li Tingyi was originally the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works. He was promoted and transferred to Hangzhou as a third-rank prefect because of his outstanding performance.

"Confess yourself, and I will leave your body intact."

Li Tingyi closed his eyes, knowing that he had no chance to argue anymore. He sighed and kowtowed, saying, "I have failed the Emperor's grace and deserve death. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

Song Yuzhu waved his hand, Ding Daqian handed him paper and pen, and Li Tingyi lay on the ground and began to write down his guilt.

When he first came to Hangzhou three years ago, he was full of ambition and wanted to achieve achievements and get promoted as soon as possible.

But when I got here, I found that not everyone can resist the white, glittering, countless gold and silver treasures.

From a painting and a jade Buddha at the beginning, to a box of gold and silver and a land deed later...gradually he was obsessed with money, and he became involved in corruption with the Chamber of Commerce and made huge fortunes.

As his money grew, his ambition grew, and he even thought of raising a private army.

The muskets swindled from the military camp were the first batch of experimental products. He had worked in the Ministry of Works before and knew how powerful these things were. If he could build a musket army, he would not be afraid even if the truth was revealed.

Unfortunately, plans cannot keep up with changes. He did not expect that the emperor and the general would come to Hangzhou incognito...

Li Tingyi wrote down all the private property he had accumulated over the years, and also implicated all the officials who had had financial dealings with him.

After writing the last stroke, he lost his strength and fell to the ground, his body twitching.

Ding Daqian picked up the paper and presented it to Song Yuzhu.

Song Yuzhu looked at the number written above and his brows twisted into knots. In three years, 17 million taels of silver, the wealth of Hangzhou was far beyond his imagination.

Song Yuzhu said: "The guilty minister Li Tingyi, who has been corrupt and accepted bribes, has been idle and idle, and has failed the Emperor's grace, so I have bestowed upon him the white silk."

"Thank... Your Majesty..." Li Tingyi murmured his thanks, and two soldiers stepped forward to carry the man out.

All male members of the Li family who were sixteen years old or above were executed, and all female members under sixteen years old were exiled to Lingnan.

The president of the Hangzhou Chamber of Commerce was also beheaded in public, and all the assets accumulated by the Chamber of Commerce over the years were confiscated.

A few days later, the government posted a notice that merchants who had been defrauded by the Chamber of Commerce could present receipts to get their money back.

When the news reached Yu Sanming at the dock, he quickly contacted Deng Fangyuan to see if he could get some of the silver back.

Deng Fangyuan said, "Let's forget it. It's been so long, the money will definitely not be returned."

Madam Deng was eager to try and said, "Go ahead and give it a try. The more you can retreat, the better."

Yu Sanming also nodded: "I heard that the Chamber of Commerce has an account book, maybe they can return the one hundred taels we spent on the visiting cards." Now that both families are having a hard time, this one hundred taels can solve many problems.

Several people entered the city together and went to the government office to explain their purpose. Soon an official received them.

"I, we bought a visiting card once at the Chamber of Commerce, and it cost us one hundred taels of silver."

The officer asked as he recorded it: "Anything else?"

Deng Fangyuan hesitated for a moment and then told the story of how he had secretly opened a shop that was burned down.

The record-keeping official took out another booklet and asked, "What is the name of the shop?"

"Qingye Tea House."

"Well, I found it. The Chamber of Commerce sent people to burn it. How much silver was paid in compensation? Do you have a receipt?"

Deng Fangyuan nodded excitedly: "Yes! Yes!" He took out an oilcloth bag from his arms, inside of which was the receipt for the compensation the two had received that year, totaling two thousand three hundred taels of silver, which was all their belongings.

The official took it and looked at it carefully. After making sure that there was no forgery or alteration, he circled the account book and took out the official seal and pressed it on the receipt.

"Take this and go to the Chamber of Commerce to withdraw money."

Xu Sanming asked in disbelief: "Can you really return our money?!"

The officials probably saw a lot of people like him, “Yes, yes, yes, go quickly, the bank will be closed if it’s too late.”

Deng Fangyuan took the receipt with trembling hands. The three adults burst into tears. They didn't expect that the money could really be returned.

Little Deng Zhong held his mother in one hand and his father in the other, his face full of joy, they could finally go home!

(End of this chapter)