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"We are here to seek wealth. If you put down your weapons and obey my orders for the time being, I will guarantee your lives will be safe. If you attempt to resist, I will be sorry."
"Who are you?"
"Gu Jiang, right? I heard that you are well-educated, but I never thought you would ask such a stupid question. If you really want to know who we are, you can go to the King of Hell and ask for clarification. Are you sure you really want to know who we are?"
Zheng Sen and Gu Jiang looked at each other. Judging from the fact that the other party could call out their names, these people definitely did not come to Fushui Villa to rob on a whim. They had clearly found out the details of Fushui Villa first, and came prepared after careful planning.
The manor's guards and servants were being chased by numerous masked men and were forced to either flee in panic or surrender. Those who dared to resist were quickly shot and turned into hedgehogs. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Zheng Sen and Gu Jiang knew that it would be futile to continue resisting. The wise choice now was to find a way to escape and call for help, only in this way could the situation be reversed.
But then they saw Qian Qianyi and Liu Rushi being escorted out from the backyard. Zheng Sen and Gu Jiang couldn't help but sigh in their hearts. It was obvious that even Qian Qianyi in the backyard had been captured, which meant that Fushui Villa had been surrounded by this group of people. It would be impossible for them to escape and get help.
The entire Fushui Villa was quickly controlled by hundreds of masked men. The shouting stopped, and even the barking of dogs could no longer be heard. The guards and servants in the villa were driven into the courtyard. Hundreds of masked men were standing around holding torches, swords, bows and arrows, staring at them. The remaining two or three hundred masked men took the chief butler of the Qian Mansion, Lu Wensi, and the second butler, You Yuanren, to collect valuables.
The chief steward, Lu Wensi, managed the property accounts of the mansion, and the second steward, You Yuanren, was in charge of the overseas trade. With two people leading the way, this group of masked men were as familiar with the place as if they were entering their own home, and they collected the money and property of the mansion very quickly.
Zheng Sen and Gu Jiang, Qian Qianyi and Liu Rushi were detained separately. Qian Qianyi was already 62 years old this year. His hair was gray, and he had probably just gone to bed. He was only wearing a white shirt, shivering in the cold wind, with a look of despair on his face.
Liu Rushi is only 25 years old this year, a young lady in her prime. Her charming beauty is just like the poem, "When I see the green mountains, they are charming, and when the green mountains see me, they are the same." She is also wearing only a middle-length dress. Her hair is scattered on her head, and her clothes are messy, which makes people think of the bed at first sight.
The masked man in the lead probably thought that he might as well have nothing to do, so he slowly walked up to Liu Rushi. However, Liu Rushi was not as fearful and timid as Qian Qianyi. She stared coldly at the burly masked man in front of her.
The masked leader found it interesting and couldn't help laughing: "This world is really strange, the females are not afraid, but the males are scared to the point of peeing their pants..." At this point, he turned to Qian Qianyi and laughed. "Tsk tsk tsk tsk, Minister Qian is an old cow eating young grass, he is so lucky, but I don't know if Minister Qian is still good enough. Maybe he just touched her for pleasure, that would be too wasteful, he will be punished by God."
Qian Qianyi didn't know whether he was cold or afraid, he was shivering all over. His teeth were chattering. After hearing what the masked man said, Qian Qianyi's old face turned red. But he didn't dare to get angry, he was like a toad.
The masked man leading the group was actually Huang Lianshan, who was familiar with Qian Qianyi. Qian Qianyi was one of the assassins Qin Mu asked him to place. And robbing the Qian family was also Qin Mu's special order, so Huang Lianshan attached great importance to it and led the team here personally.
If you look closely, Qin Mu and Qian Qianyi once had some connection. Qian Shun, the father of his ex-wife Qian Wan, was Qian Qianyi's nephew. Huang Lianshan found out about this privately after he came to Nanjing. In his opinion, Qin Mu might have "turned from love to hate", so he specifically ordered him to deal with Qian Qianyi.
If the superior has hatred, the subordinates will feel even more hatred.
It was common sense that Huang Lianshan wanted to tease Old Man Qian. He laughed and said, "I was just asking for money tonight, but Minister Qian's beautiful concubine is so charming that I can't stop. But Minister Qian is wasting such a gift. I really can't stand it. Minister Qian, what do you say? What should I do?"
Huang Lianshan waved the goose-feather knife at Qian Qian twice. Qian Qian was so frightened that he fell to his knees and kowtowed repeatedly, saying: "You... you... can take whatever you want, but don't... don't..." He could not even finish a sentence. The gentlemanly demeanor of the past was long gone, and only a spineless person remained.
Zheng Sen and Gu Jiang on the opposite side exclaimed "Master!" and then turned their heads away, unable to bear to watch Qian Qianyi's ugly appearance of kowtowing and begging for mercy.
"Don't be afraid, Minister Qian. I've said before that we are here to seek wealth, not to kill people. But... How about this, there are code of conduct for thieves. I'll let you keep 20% of your wealth, and you give me this beauty, how about that?"
When Qian Qianyi heard that he would not kill anyone, he calmed down a little and looked at Liu Rushi hesitantly. Liu Rushi was also looking at him. Qian Qianyi's eyes flickered and he quickly avoided her. Liu Rushi's originally cold and arrogant face couldn't help but turn miserable. "Master." This soft call was permeated with a bit of helplessness, a bit of expectation, and a bit of sadness, but it finally aroused Qian Qianyi's sympathy for the woman. He trembled and said, "Brave man, you... just take all the property, but don't... don't... take the person away."
"Oh, I didn't expect that Minister Qian is a man who values women over money. How about this, in order to prevent Minister Qian from wasting the gifts of nature, I will give you some boy soup. I guarantee that you will be more vigorous after drinking it." Huang Lianshan pointed at a masked man beside him and said, "You, come here. Didn't you say you haven't touched a woman yet? Hurry up and make some boy soup for Minister Qian."
"Hehe, Boss, you've really found the right person." The masked man chuckled and immediately began to untie his belt.
"This is my unique secret recipe. Minister Qian, go and enjoy it, don't waste it." Huang Lianshan said as he swung the goose-feather knife in front of him. Qian Qianyi, who was lying on the ground, kowtowed repeatedly as if it was a conditioned reflex: "Please spare my life, please spare my life. If you like my concubine, just take her away..."
"Master!" Liu Rushi exclaimed again, tears welling up in her eyes. She never dreamed that Qian Qianyi was such a spineless person.
"Damn it, do you have the final say or do I have the final say? I have changed my mind now. Do you want to drink this boy soup or not?"
“I drink, I drink…”
Under the gaze of everyone, Qian Qianyi crawled in front of the masked man like a dog and opened his mouth tremblingly. The masked guy probably hadn't urinated for a long time, and he let out a refreshing "Hmm!". A stream of water poured down and shot accurately into Qian Qianyi's mouth with a tapping sound. Qian Qianyi was worthy of being the leader of Donglin. He really did what he said and swallowed the "boy soup" in one gulp.
Liu Rushi cried out in grief and tried to go over to pull him away, but was blocked by Huang Lianshan. Zheng Sen and Gu Jiang, who were on the opposite side and were being pointed at by arrows, were already stunned. As the saying goes, a scholar can be killed but not humiliated. What's more, their mentor was a leader of the literati and had a high reputation. However, when others threatened him, he actually crawled over like a dog and drank urine. As his disciples, how could Gu and Zheng feel
"Boss, it's done." At this time, the person in charge of collecting property hurried over and reported to Huang Lianshan.
"Are you sure you've finished searching?"
"Don't worry, boss. We have finished searching."
"Okay, you take the stuff and retreat first, I'll cover you."
"Yes, Boss."
Huang Lianshan brought nearly four hundred people this time. Except for a few backbone members who came from bachelor families, the others did not know Huang Lianshan's true identity. The property in Fushui Villa was quickly transferred out. Huang Lianshan also ordered everyone to be tied up and locked in a room to prevent them from asking for help immediately. Only after doing all this did he withdraw calmly.
Fushui Villa was well-known throughout Jiangnan. The news that it was looted overnight spread across Jiangnan at an alarming speed.
And it was not just the Fushui Villa that had a similar experience. The Jiangnan area was already wealthy and there were many suitable targets. Subsequently, officials, gentry and wealthy families in various places were robbed one after another.
This gang of gangsters was well-organized and their whereabouts were secretive. It was certain that they would find a secret place to hide the stolen goods before each crime. No matter how the officials checked them the next day, they could not find out where the large amount of stolen goods had gone.
Such a big case could not be solved and it kept happening. Soon the whole Jiangnan region was in a panic. Rich families were terrified and dared not live outside the city. They moved into the city one after another.
It turned out that moving to the city was not safe either. A big city like Yangzhou had tight defenses. As a result, someone pretended to be a Jinyiwei and raided the Shen family, the richest family in the city, overnight.
It was probably the first time in the Ming Dynasty that bandits pretended to be Jinyiwei to investigate a case. But because of this, the neighbors of the Shen family had no suspicion and closed their doors tightly for fear of getting into trouble. As a result, the bandits easily emptied the Shen family of valuables, and the Yangzhou government office did not even get notified.
Now, even the city is not safe anymore. Who knows what new tricks these gangsters will come up with? What should I do? Leaving money at home is like inviting disaster. What should I do
While the people of Jiangnan were in panic, Qin Mu of Yuezhou was in high spirits. Yang Zhi was pregnant, and the people sent to recruit the Yangtze River bandits received a reply. Although the largest bandit gang, Shui Shangjiao, was not recruited for the time being, the second and third ranked bandits both accepted the recruitment. Qin Mu's plan of using bandits to suppress bandits could finally be implemented. As long as the Yangtze River waterway was calm, silver and food from Jiangnan could be transported back continuously.
In addition, although Jin Shenghuan was defeated in the battle with Yuan Zongdi at Danshui, the losses were not great. Jin Shenghuan then retreated to Nanyang and defended the city. Yuan Zongdi's right camp attacked for several days but suffered heavy losses. Zuo Liangyu was mobilizing troops to prepare for internal and external cooperation to encircle and annihilate Yuan Zongdi. In this way, Qin Mu did not have to worry about his life being disturbed after the Dashun Army occupied Xiangyang.
Qin Mu thought that it was time to do something.
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.(To be continued..)
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