"There's a ghost!"

It's haunted!

Someone shouted that, and the morale of the troops instantly collapsed.

Seeing this, Lin Licheng felt a chill run down his spine, but he didn't believe in ghosts or gods: "Shut up! Where did this ghost come from! Someone did this on purpose! Find the person and catch them, and there's a reward of ten thousand gold pieces!"

Ning Yao, who was hiding in the shadows, sneered, wrapped her whip around his waist, pulled hard, and threw him to the ground.

Before Lin Licheng could react, a cold sensation came from his neck.

"Lord Lin, keep being arrogant!"

Ning Yao's figure slowly appeared behind Lin Licheng, and the next second she activated the signal.

A clear and loud whistle pierced the sky, reverberating in all directions.

Shen Wei's eyes lit up: "Let's do it, Prefect Wen."

Wen Yuan replied, "Your humble servant obeys!"

Upon hearing the whistle, Shen Ci'an, who was inside the post station, jumped to his feet and said with a smile, "She's here!"

The next second, his smile vanished, and he said with a stern face, "Take him with you, let's get out!"

Zhilan replied, "Yes, young master!"

The post station door opened, and Shen Ci'an and the others came out. Outside, the two sides were already engaged in fierce fighting, with no clear distinction between them.

Hua Yan brought up the rear, holding Lin Lixuan back. Annoyed that he was walking too slowly, she kicked him in the butt: "Walk faster!"

Lin Lixuan was already tied up, which made him lose his balance. He fell face-first to the ground, knocking out his front teeth and bleeding profusely. He screamed in pain.

Lin Licheng's thoughts were immediately drawn to this. He wanted to turn his head, but Ning Yao restrained him: "Swords and blades have no eyes, you'd better not move."

The girl, like a ghost, easily took him hostage.

"Who are you? Which company hired this assassin? How much did they pay? I'll pay double!"

Ning Yao chuckled lightly: "How come you captured my maid but don't recognize me?"

Lin Licheng was startled: "You are..."

"Shh..."

"You know kung fu?"

A girl's sweet voice rang out: "It seems they don't understand me at all!"

The fact that Ning Yao had someone in her hands made the guards hesitant to act. They watched as Ning Yao took Lin Licheng hostage and retreated towards the post station, but no one dared to make a move.

"You two brothers are reunited!"

Ning Yao handed Lin Licheng over to Shen Ci'an and threw herself back into the battle.

"Lord Lin is really living the life of a local tyrant. Even I, the young master, am envious."

Lin Licheng was shocked again: "You are..."

There is only one person in the world who can call himself the Crown Prince.

Shen Ci'an gave a forced smile: "Just stay put and see how your Lin family ends up in dire straits."

Lin Li's heart sank; no one had told him that the people from Prince Duan's mansion would be with Ning Yao.

No one told him that Ning Yao was a martial arts master!

Lin Licheng didn't bring many soldiers, and they were easily captured by Shen Wei and his men.

After Shen Wei came over, Shen Ci'an handed the items to him directly.

"An'er, you must be tired from your journey. Let's go into the city!"

"Yes, Father!"

At this moment, Lin Licheng had only one thought in his mind: Prince Duan's Mansion? It's over! Utterly over!

The item Shen Ci'an gave to Shen Wei was a military tally found on Lin Lixuan, which could mobilize all the troops in Nanjiang City.

Once the military tally was issued, all the military officers in Nanjiang City surrendered.

Now that the city lord and governor are both in Shen Wei's hands, the Lin family can no longer act arrogantly in Nanjiang City!

Shen Wei ordered Shen Ci'an and Ning Jin to each lead a team to seal off the city lord's mansion and the governor's mansion.

Led by Wen Yuan, the mansions of other officials, large and small, within the city were sealed off. Anyone on Wen Yuan's list was to be imprisoned along with their entire family to await further punishment.

Ning Yao, along with Zhi Lan, Lin Qing Yu, and Hua Yan, quickly inventoried the wealth seized from each prefecture and assessed the current situation in the city.

The city of Nanjiang was far from peaceful all night, and the prefect's mansion was brightly lit all night long.

Even as dawn broke, many people were still coming and going, busy with their work.

When Madam Ning and Shen Cile brought breakfast, Ning Yao was still engrossed in calculating accounts.

"Yaoyao, you've been busy all night. You should eat something and rest for a bit."

"You guys should also take a break first."

Zhi Mei couldn't find a place to put the food she was holding, and the study was filled with all kinds of files.

It was Hua Yanteng who stepped in and cleared out a small table so that Zhimei could put down her breakfast.

“I didn’t feel hungry until Madam mentioned eating, but now I do feel a bit hungry, so I won’t be polite!” Hua Yan said with a smile.

Madam Ning sensed something was different about her, but couldn't quite put her finger on it, so she simply said, "Eat quickly."

Ning Yao also put down the files in her hand and came over to have breakfast.

Ning Yao moved, and the others followed suit.

After breakfast, everyone got busy again, and it wasn't until the morning of the next day that they had a general understanding of the situation in Nanjiang City.

"Miss, Lord Wen is here."

Ning Yao looked up: "Perfect timing, I also need to speak with him. I'll go and invite the Prince, the Heir Apparent, and my father over."

"This servant understands!"

Inside the council chamber, Wen Yuan rose to greet her: "You've really worked hard, Miss Nanjiang, managing all this."

Ning Yao smiled and said, "Please sit down, Lord Wen. We can talk in detail after my father and the others arrive."

Wen Yuan nodded: "Of course."

Before long, everyone who was supposed to come arrived, and they got straight to the point.

Shen Wei said, "Brother Ning and I have inspected the military camps. There are 50,000 soldiers on record, and 20,000 soldiers temporarily conscripted. This includes the city gate guards, the military garrison, and the soldiers from various prefectures."

Shen Ci'an said, "Hundreds of taels of gold and silver treasures were found in the city lord's mansion, including countless paintings and rare toys. In addition, there is a granary in the city lord's mansion containing hundreds of thousands of catties of grain, much of which has become moldy and infested with insects."

"Lin Licheng's family consists of only four people: the city lord's wife, a concubine, and a legitimate son."

"In addition, hundreds of corpses were found in the backyard, some of which were already skeletons, and some of which had only been dead for a few days. All of them were women."

The news caused everyone to fall silent for a moment.

Ning Jin then said, "The governor's mansion is similar to the city lord's mansion, with countless gold, silver and valuables, and a granary. However, on the contrary, the governor has a large number of family members. In addition to the governor's wife and legitimate children, there are more than a dozen concubines and illegitimate children."

Wen Yuan explained the situation on his side: "All the names on the list in my hand have been wiped out, and the families of those officials have also been imprisoned."

"Have you finished talking? Now let me tell you about my situation." Ning Yao beckoned to Zhi Lan, who handed her a file.

"The first question is that my uncle said there are 50,000 registered soldiers in the military camp and 20,000 temporary conscripts, which would make a total of 70,000. However, the records I found in the prefect's office show that there are 100,000 registered soldiers plus temporary ones. That means there are still about 30,000 missing."

"Zhilan will pass around Volume One for everyone to read."

“Yes, Miss!” Zhilan presented the file to Shen Wei.

"This is the account of the military pay issued by Nanjiang City over the years, which Miss calculated overnight. She came to two conclusions: either the number of soldiers was falsified, or the military pay of the extra 30,000 soldiers allocated by the imperial court each year ended up in the hands of the relevant officials."