Three Hundred Thousand Taels of Official Silver Robbed

Around 2 p.m.

A fast horse came galloping up and stopped before the Imperial Guard office. A man in a guard's uniform leaped from the saddle and cupped his fists urgently toward the captain at the gate.

"I am a guard under the Prefectural Governor. I have an urgent matter and seek an audience with the Commander!"

Hearing this, the Imperial Guard Captain at the gate did not dare delay. He led the guard inside to report to the main hall.

He brought the guard to the main hall.

The guard dropped to one knee and cupped his fists in salute.

"A guard under the Suzhou Prefectural Governor pays respects to Commander Niu!"

Niu Ren raised a hand. "No need for formalities. Why have you come to see me?"

The guard said, "The Prefectural Governor has an urgent letter for Commander Niu."

With that, he rose and took a letter from his robes, presenting it.

The captain took the letter from the guard and stepped forward to present it to Niu Ren.

Niu Ren accepted the envelope and saw the words: "For Imperial Guard Commander Niu's eyes only."

Niu Ren tore open the envelope, took out the letter, and unfolded it to read.

A moment later, his expression changed slightly. He rose and shouted:

"Pass the order! Everyone is to assemble at the drill ground!"

"Yes, sir!"

Several captains hurried away.

A short while later.

At the Imperial Guard drill ground.

Several hundred Imperial Guards stood in neat formation. Aside from those who were out on duty, everyone in the office had assembled.

Huang Shaojie and Xiao Qiuyue were among them.

Seeing Commander Niu's grave expression, everyone secretly wondered what had happened.

Commander Niu had suddenly summoned all the Imperial Guards. Clearly, some major case had occurred.

Niu Ren swept his gaze over the several hundred Imperial Guards lined up below and said in a deep voice:

"Yesterday, three hundred thousand taels in tax silver being transported from Suzhou to the Capital City were robbed at Drum Camel Ridge. All five hundred soldiers escorting the silver were killed!"

The crowd was stunned!

Three hundred thousand taels of tax silver had been robbed?

What kind of bandits would dare be so brazen as to openly rob official silver from the imperial court?

Huang Shaojie's mouth fell open as well. Good lord, was the world this chaotic now? Robbing three hundred thousand taels of court silver in broad daylight and killing five hundred soldiers.

This was fucking rebellion in the making, wasn't it?

"The Eleventh and Twelfth Offices will remain behind to guard the office. Everyone else will follow me to the scene of the crime!"

Niu Ren shouted. Then he swung onto his horse and led three to four hundred Imperial Guards out of the Imperial Guard office in a mighty procession, galloping toward the western outskirts of Suzhou City.

They left through Suzhou City's west gate and raced along the official road leading to the Capital City.

An hour later, they arrived at Drum Camel Ridge.

Drum Camel Ridge lay some fifty li west of Suzhou City. Mountain ridges stretched continuously along both sides, covering dozens of li in every direction.

The official road to the Capital City ran straight through Drum Camel Ridge.

At this moment, over a thousand soldiers had already gathered on the official road through Drum Camel Ridge, along with more than a hundred constables and yamen runners.

Hundreds of Great Chu soldiers' corpses lay scattered across the road. Some had been beheaded; others had been disemboweled, their entrails spilling all over the ground. They had died horrific deaths. Blood had dyed the entire official road red, and it had already dried into a blackish purple.

Prefectural Governor Luo Dayong stared at the soldiers' corpses on the ground, his face full of fury.

"What bandits are so rampant that they dare openly slaughter soldiers and rob court silver? This is utter lawlessness!"

Prefect Liu Changqing and several officials under him all looked incomparably grim. When had these civil officials ever witnessed such a gruesome scene? Some could not help vomiting on the spot.

Hearing the sound of hoofbeats, the officials all looked up. Niu Ren rode at the forefront, leading several hundred Imperial Guards toward them like the wind and lightning.

Niu Ren arrived at the scene and dismounted. Huang Shaojie and the others also got off their horses.

Seeing that the Imperial Guard had arrived, Prefectural Governor Luo led the officials forward to greet them.

"Lord Niu." Prefectural Governor Luo cupped his fists and bowed to Niu Ren.

A Prefectural Governor was a high-ranking regional official, equivalent to both a provincial governor and military district commander, holding authority over a province's military and civil affairs. He was a Principal Third Rank court official.

Yet even so, Prefectural Governor Luo remained exceedingly courteous when facing Niu Ren, an Imperial Guard Commander of Principal Fifth Rank.

"This subordinate pays respects to Commander Niu!"

Prefect Liu and the several officials under him all respectfully cupped their fists and bowed to Niu Ren.

"Prefectural Governor Luo." Niu Ren returned the salute with cupped fists. Frowning, he pointed at the soldiers' corpses covering the ground and asked, "When exactly was this shipment of tax silver robbed?"

Prefectural Governor Luo sighed. "Judging by the schedule, it should have been robbed yesterday afternoon. Yesterday, I assigned Commandant Ma to select five hundred elite soldiers to escort these three hundred thousand taels of tax silver to the Capital City. They departed at the hour of Si in the morning and should have reached this place around the hour of Shen in the afternoon."

Niu Ren glanced at the officials and asked, "Who discovered that the official silver had been robbed?"

A county magistrate stepped forward and cupped his fists in salute. "Reporting to Commander Niu, it was discovered by a passing merchant. He came to the yamen early this morning to report the matter. Seeing the gravity of the case, this subordinate immediately reported it to Prefect Liu."

Prefect Liu cupped his fists and said, "When this subordinate heard that several hundred soldiers had been killed, I was shocked beyond measure! I immediately brought men here to inspect the scene, seal it off, and send word to Prefectural Governor Luo."

Prefectural Governor Luo continued, "The moment I heard that several hundred soldiers had been killed, my heart skipped a beat. I feared the tax silver had been stolen, so I personally came to investigate. As expected, they were the five hundred soldiers I had dispatched to escort the tax silver."

Although Prefectural Governor Luo had more than ten thousand soldiers under his command, he still needed the Imperial Guard to investigate the case and find the robbers.

Niu Ren asked, "How capable were the five hundred soldiers dispatched by Prefectural Governor Luo?"

Prefectural Governor Luo said, "Commandant Ma, who was in charge of the escort, was an Early Innate Realm expert at the Innate Fifth Level. Under him were two captains and eight guards, all of whom had reached the Early Innate Realm. The five hundred soldiers were also carefully selected elites, all martial artists at or above the Postnatal First Level."

"I believed that such a force would have no trouble escorting three hundred thousand taels of tax silver to the Capital City. After all, these are peaceful times. Who would dare kill soldiers and rob official silver? Yet I never imagined there truly would be bandits so audacious!"

Listening from the side, Huang Shaojie could not help feeling secretly astonished.

A commandant at the Innate Fifth Level, leading ten captains and guards at the Innate First Layer, along with five hundred soldiers who had all reached the level of martial artists—and every last one of them had been slain!

These bandits who had robbed the official silver were certainly no ordinary bandits!

Not only were they highly skilled in martial arts, but they must also have had great numbers.

Otherwise, merely transporting away three hundred thousand taels of silver would not have been easy.

Niu Ren looked over the official soldiers' corpses scattered across the ground and asked again:

"Were there any survivors? Have the bodies been counted? Are all five hundred soldiers among them? Were any bandit corpses found?"

Prefect Liu said, "This subordinate had the constables count the bodies. There are a total of 511 corpses, all dressed in soldiers' uniforms. No bandit corpses were found."

Huang Shaojie secretly did the math. One commandant, two captains, eight guards, plus five hundred soldiers—that made exactly 511 corpses.

It seemed that not a single one of the soldiers escorting the tax silver had survived.

Ruthless enough!

But was there a possibility that some bandits' corpses had been dressed in soldiers' uniforms?