"My lord..." Jiang Sheng murmured, interrupting Shen Tang's embarrassing attempt to bite a gold nugget to see if it was real.
"What?"
"We're not a band of violent thugs."
"Of course not." Shen Tang looked confused. "And?"
"My lord, that saying of yours—'Kill and loot, and gold belts await'—isn't quite appropriate." They might not be an army of righteous men, but they certainly shouldn't be hurting people for a little gold and silver.
Otherwise, how were they any different from the likes of the Ten Crows?
Once Jiang Sheng had finished, Shen Tang understood. She gave an awkward laugh and wiped the gold nugget against the side of her clothes.
"First Ascendant makes a good point."
Jiang Sheng: "..."
Reputation was important.
But his lord's image mattered even more.
He'd spoken up purely to stop his lord from doing something so shamefully bandit-like as biting a gold nugget...
He shot Gu Chi a pointed look, but the man kept his head down, stacking gold nuggets for fun. He'd look anywhere but at Jiang Sheng.
Jiang Sheng: "..."
Of the gold and silver vessels plundered from that tribe, nearly seventy percent clashed completely with Ten Crow culture, except for a small portion that bore its style. Some were clearly quite old; no one knew whether they'd been acquired through trade or taken on some hunting trip.
There was nearly half a chest of silver and gold pieces clipped off with a small scale weight.
They melted all of those down and left the other culturally valuable items untouched for the time being. After sorting everything, they packed it into chests. These would serve as military pay in the days to come. Lin Feng took after his teacher, Chu Yao. He stayed up all night registering each item and sealing the chests.