The night gradually darkened.
The team stopped by the river to rest. Jiang Sheng walked towards Jiang Ling and whispered, "Brother, after three days, we need to find a way to return to the capital. I need to go and collect my things."
"Hmm? What are you going to collect?"
"The national treasury is related to the survival of the people and disaster relief, so it naturally cannot be touched. I will take over the emperor's private treasury, and I will also clean out the treasuries of those corrupt officials."
"When the capital is robbed, everyone will know that the Jiang family has been gone for three days. They will definitely not suspect us. It would be better to let them fight each other."
Jiang Ling's eyes flashed, and he smiled and said, "Yes, but we need to think about it carefully. Who can disguise us without being discovered by Dad?"
"By the way, we can spread rumors of divine punishment to cover up the theft. This way, it will naturally be safer."
After some planning, the two brothers pretended to be sick the next day, stayed in the carriage and slipped away in disguise.
No one knew that the two men rushed back to the capital with their assassins.
After successfully entering the city, he found a small inn and waited until late at night to sneak into the palace, came to the emperor's private treasury, and tricked the guards into getting in.
Without taking the time to look closely, they put everything into the space. It took only a cup of tea to get in and out. Jiang Ling nodded slightly, and luckily took people away. The two brothers were busy all night.
With Yang Yi and several of his loyal men guarding in the dark, things went smoothly.
The next day at dawn
A few people changed into strong horses and rode out of the city as fast as they could, otherwise if the emperor came to his senses, he would have to seal off the city and search it.
Even if nothing is found, what if my identity is exposed?
＊
A scream echoed throughout the mansion, waking many people up. They came out cursing and shouting, "Who is this? You're calling out to your soul! You're not letting us sleep this early in the morning. Are you crazy?"
The guard guarding the warehouse was so frightened that cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He stumbled to the door and shouted, "Master, something's happened. The warehouse has been robbed."
"Everything is gone. Not even a basin is left. It must be a ghost."
With a bang, the man fell straight down and the whole yard was in chaos.
The same scene was repeated in several other places in the capital. For the first time in history, several ministers attended the morning court wearing only white robes.
The conspicuous white color caused other officials to turn their heads frequently, staring at them with strange eyes and whispering something.
"Lord Wang, are you crazy? This is the imperial court, and you're not wearing your official uniform to attend the morning court. If you anger His Majesty, you'll probably lose your head."
The Minister of the Central Secretariat, Wang Xian, was in tears and had no words to express his grievances. He had no idea that when he woke up one night, not only was the storehouse missing, but the whole mansion was in ruins.
His official uniform, they actually stole his official uniform!
Perhaps she was upset and started to sob. The sobbing continued in the court, and the officials looked at each other, confused as to why.
Someone advised, "Stop crying! The morning court is about to begin. If you anger His Majesty, you will have more heads than you can chop off."
Wang Xian wiped away his tears, but they wouldn't dry up. He choked up and said, "Master Liu, you don't understand my pain. Everything is gone overnight. All these years of work have been in vain."
"Death is nothing, it's better than living a life worse than death. It's over, everything is over."
Some people burst into tears and couldn't stop crying.
The military officers' lips twitched as they turned their heads to look: "Civil officials are so... reckless. They are already old, yet they have no sense of propriety. Why are they crying like this?"
"Ah, who knows? I'll definitely ask when His Majesty arrives. Then I'll know what happened."
The eunuch's shrill voice sounded. Jinzhong followed behind the emperor. After the emperor sat down, he raised his head and glanced at him. His eyes were instantly fixed.
“…?”
Emperor Gan looked down, and saw several glaring white spots. He raised his eyebrows and said, "Lord Wang, Lord Meng, what's wrong with you?"
Wang Xian came out trembling, fell to his knees, and cried, "Your Majesty, please save me. My storehouse was robbed last night and I have nothing left."
"Not to mention the storehouse, even the palace was looted, and the official uniform was stolen. I have no choice but to wear this. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."
Other ministers came out one after another, crying so sadly, even if their parents had died, they were not so heartbroken. Some even fainted from crying.
Emperor Gan's eyes swept over them and he said in a deep voice, "My dear ministers, are you kidding me? How could you steal from so many houses in one night? How did you get the things out of the warehouse?"
The look in his eyes was indescribable. "And what Wang Aiqing said, that all the basins and spittoons were stolen? No, why would a thief steal your basin? It doesn't take up any space if you carry it on your back. You know this is a crime of deceiving the emperor!"
"I think you guys are all still half asleep. What are you talking about? Even if you were robbed, they should have stolen the gold, silver, and jewelry..."
Seeing that the emperor did not believe it, several ministers fell down crying in the hall.
The other officials tried to suppress their laughter when they saw this, their shoulders trembling, and they simply turned their faces away to avoid laughing out loud.
Emperor Gan waved his hand impatiently: "Okay, let's talk about today's events. Don't bother me with these trivial matters."
Not long after, the young eunuch came and whispered in Jinzhong's ear. Then he quickly stepped back, fearing that he would be implicated, and his body trembled slightly.
Jinzhong's pupils shrank when he heard this. He swallowed and leaned over to whisper in the emperor's ear.
"Your Majesty, perhaps what those ministers said is true. Everything in the private vault was stolen, not even a blade of grass was left. Many concubines in the harem were also stolen..."
"There's not even a pot left in the imperial kitchen. This is truly bizarre and doesn't seem like it could have been done by human hands."
Emperor Gan slammed his hand on the table, raised his voice, and said with a ferocious expression, "What? Stolen? How could my private vault be stolen? How could the guards have kept it safe?"
When Emperor Gan thought about those treasures being gone, he felt a pain in his heart, spit out a mouthful of blood, and felt a little dizzy.
He put his hand over his heart to calm down, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and stood up, his face gloomy: "The court is dismissed, everyone leave!"
The courtiers stared at the emperor as he left, looking at each other in shock. They whispered, "Did you hear that? His Majesty's private vault was robbed, and the harem's was also robbed."
"Oh my God, this is not a ghost, it's really unbelievable."
There was a lot of chatter in the court.
The military officers also gathered together and asked one by one, and found something very strange: none of their families had suffered any theft, only the corrupt officials among the civil servants had suffered theft.
"Tsk tsk, this must be God's fault, so he must have sent down divine punishment. Otherwise, why don't others steal, but only the corrupt officials' houses are stolen."
"Hush, how come His Majesty's private vault was also stolen?"
"...Perhaps only His Majesty knows this. Let's not talk about it any more. Let's quickly leave the court and return to the palace to see if anything is missing."
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