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In the underworld, the strong fist is the real truth. Many members of the Suhuai Salt Gang are not presentable. Although their gang leader Ruoqi also has the identity of a salt merchant, in fact most of what they do is smuggling salt. To put it bluntly, they are salt smugglers. Compared with those big salt merchants with assets of millions of silver, the biggest flaw of the Suhuai Salt Gang is that they have no real backers of their own, because those big salt merchants usually have relatives who are high-ranking officials in the court. The Suhuai Salt Gang only relies on money to win over some officials. If there is really anything big, no one will stand up for them.
Su Daming knew the hardship in his heart. It was because he had no strong backing that Su Da had thought of relying on Prince Fu. In Heipi's eyes, he, Su Da, was a remarkable figure. But in front of officials, even a county magistrate, what was Su Da? In front of a commander-in-chief, he, Su Da, was even a small figure. What's more, this Tangdu commander-in-chief had deadly weapons under his command, muskets.
Although Su Da was a skilled martial artist, he was suppressed by Tang Qi's soldiers and did not dare to have any thought of resistance. He was no longer the kind of person who had just entered the martial arts world, nor was he the kind of young man who could rush forward with boiling blood. The older one gets in the martial arts world, the more afraid of death one becomes. What's more, Su Da and his men had enjoyed a lot of blessings in the past, so how could he be willing to die easily?
The six hundred soldiers under Tang Qie surrounded the Jinling branch of the Suhuai Salt Gang. The black muzzles of their guns blocked all escape routes. It was almost midnight at this time, and there were not many Suhuai Salt Gang disciples in the branch. Soon, a team of soldiers broke down the door of the branch and disarmed the dozens of Suhuai Salt Gang disciples who stayed inside.
Tang Chen looked up at the crescent moon in the sky, his face expressionless. Su Da Chen also looked at the bright crescent moon. He stood beside Tang Chen, but his mood was completely different from Tang Chen's. He now regretted very much why he came to Changzhou, and even more why he regretted why he was obsessed with doing the trafficking of young girls. The father and son of Prince Fu were a pair of beasts who liked to do such unscrupulous things, but he still wanted to please them in this way. What he had done was also unscrupulous, and now this was his retribution.
Some people, when they are in high spirits, will never think about whether what they do is unscrupulous. Only when they are in trouble will they reflect on their behavior. However, this reflection is often too late. Take a rich man for example. He usually ruined many other people's wives and daughters, but he never regretted it. Until one day, a group of thugs broke into his house and ruined the rich man's wives and daughters, the rich man realized that this behavior was very wrong.
Tang Chen was such a strong man now that he didn't bother to waste time talking to people like Su Da. He had Su Da's wife, concubines, children, and even a little prime minister hanged up with ropes. Then he shook the IOU in his hand and said to Su Dadao: "Su Da, you know my patience is very limited. I will find out whether you have 100,000 taels of silver. If you really can't bear to part with the money, then I will have to auction them off tomorrow. By the way, I will clean up this house and the things inside. I will try my best to sell what needs to be sold, and I will also keep the valuables for you. I believe it will be easy to raise 100,000 taels of silver."
All of Su Da's personal property and the property of his gang were in here. There were tens of thousands of taels of silver in cash alone, plus nearly 200,000 taels of silver notes. If Tang Qi really searched through it, Su Da would have cried himself to death.
"Sir Tang, one hundred thousand taels of silver is too large an amount. It is really difficult for me to come up with it. Sir Tang, please be merciful. I am willing to give you twenty thousand taels of silver as a tribute." Asking Su Da to come up with the one hundred thousand taels of silver at once was more painful than cutting his flesh, but he had no room for resistance and could only beg softly.
"Twenty thousand taels of silver? Su Da, are you kidding me? I don't run a charity, and I'm not a fool. You owe me one hundred thousand taels of silver, and you want to fool me with twenty thousand taels." Tang Qi raised his eyebrows slightly, and looked at Su Da with cold eyes. Tang Qi looked fierce since he came, and this posture was naturally murderous.
"Tang, Lord Tang, even if I can come up with this 100,000 taels of silver, Lord Tang, you have to give me some time to collect it." Su Da saw the fierce light in Tang Li's eyes and felt a chill in his heart. He also knew that the amount of 100,000 taels might not be escaped. He changed his mind and came up with other ideas.
"In that case, I feel there is no need to trouble you, Su Da, any further. I'd better let my brothers search... By the way, listen up, you people from the Suhuai Salt Gang. Whoever tells me where this gang hides the silver will be rewarded with 10,000 taels of silver and promoted to the rank of centurion under me." Tang Qi turned his head and ignored Su Da. He spoke to the disciples of the Suhuai Salt Gang.
As soon as Tang Qi said this, the eyes of the disciples of the Suhuai Salt Gang almost lit up. A reward of 10,000 taels of silver and an official position of a centurion were all there. With such benefits, let alone betraying Su Da, even if they were asked to betray their own parents, some would agree without hesitation.
When Su Da heard Tang Qi say this, he immediately understood that something bad was going to happen. There were many of his confidants among these people, and they knew a lot. In the face of such a powerful person, there would definitely be someone who would betray them. Although these people did not know the specific location of the silver and banknotes, they knew the general location, and Tang Qi would be able to find it out as long as he searched.
Su Da could no longer care about so much. He knelt down in front of Tang Chen with a plop, crying, "Sir, Mr. Tang, I admit defeat. I am willing to give you the 100,000 taels of silver."
"Hey, people will never give up until they reach their goal. Sanlang, take a few soldiers with you to take this guy away for the silver." Tang Qi shook his head and gave orders to Yagyu Saburo, then signaled a soldier to bring him a chair to sit down.
Yagyu Saburo and several soldiers took Su Da into the room to get the silver. They came to Su Da's bedroom. Su Da was helpless at this time and had to open the secret room where he hid the money. Yagyu Saburo was very careful not to let Su Da in, but let three soldiers in. After a while, the three soldiers came out excitedly and told Yagyu Saburo that there were tens of thousands of taels of cash and 70,000 taels of silver notes in the room. The soldiers took out these silver notes and handed them to Yagyu Saburo.
In fact, this was just one of the secret rooms where Su Da hid his money. There was another one where more money was hidden. In order to keep that place where he hid his money, Su Da had to sacrifice the silver in this place.
Tang Qi had everything inside counted. There were 70,000 taels of silver notes, 30,000 taels of cash, and 1,000 taels of gold. Tang Qi accepted them without hesitation. The economy of the Ming Dynasty was a silver-based currency system, and gold was rarely circulated. Therefore, generally speaking, not many people collected gold.
Seeing these gains, Tang Yu was very satisfied. He patted Su Dadao, who was standing beside him with a sad face and said, "That's right. I like obedient people. If you have any difficulties in the future, you can come to me. If you want to make a fortune, I can also provide you with opportunities. By the way, I personally think that the leader of the Suhuai Salt Gang should be someone like you, Su Da. That Fang Ruo is actually not as good as you, Su Da. If you are willing, I can help you with this."
Tang Qi smiled pleasantly, without any of the murderous intent from before, but Su Da still couldn't help shivering. What Tang Qi said was undoubtedly very tempting, but Su Da also knew in his heart that once he accepted Tang Qi's temptation, he would have to listen to the words of this evil Tang Da in everything he did in the future.
After Tang Qi gathered his troops and left with his soldiers, Su Da's mind was still echoing with Tang Qi's last words. There was always a voice in his heart telling him that this might be an opportunity, because in this world, the one with the hardest fist is the one with the hardest truth. Although the evil Tang Da was evil, his fist was undoubtedly hard enough. He was the commander-in-chief in the court, with 2,000 well-trained soldiers armed with muskets and countless industries under his name. It can be said that this evil Tang Da had power, status, and money. Maybe he was really a good backer.
"Xiang, what should we do? Should we report it to Fang Bang?" A close confidant of Su Da asked from the side.
"Are you blind? You are reporting this kind of thing to your superiors. Do you think I am unworthy of being a concubine?" Su Da slapped the man viciously. He was so angry that he took out his anger on the man.
The man was hit and quickly dodged to the side. Su Da turned his head and looked in the direction of Tang Lili. A complicated look flashed in his eyes, just like the crescent moon covered by clouds in the sky, flickering.
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