The Wall is Knocked Upon, Revealing the Secret of the Hidden Granary; Cold Blades Arrayed, the Killing Intent Lengthens

From then on, things clearly went much more smoothly.

Before long.

The account books had been checked. Wang Ji flung those greasy fake ledgers onto the desk, jolting several black droplets from the inkstone.

His gaze swept around the deathly silent courtyard of merchants, his voice clanging like iron striking steel.

"The books are false; the goods must be fraudulent.

Now, open the warehouses and inspect the goods!"

Those four words crashed into the stagnant water like four massive boulders.

Every merchant in the courtyard went pale at once.

If checking the accounts merely meant flipping through books, then opening the warehouses meant striking at their very foundations.

What warehouse in the market district did not hide some shady trick?

Smuggled salt, inferior iron, untaxed silks, smuggled bronze wares, and goods whose origins could not be explained at all—all of it was piled inside those warehouses.

In the past, Du Heng had not even dared ask which way a warehouse door opened, yet today this Sha Star wanted to inspect them one by one?

"Open the warehouses?"

The owner of that fake ledger suddenly raised his head, the flesh on his face twitching. "Your Excellency, warehouses are vital grounds for merchants. Outsiders are not permitted inside—that is the rule..."

"The rule?"

Wang Ji sneered and strode toward the row of storehouses on the western side of Myriad Profits Trading House's rear courtyard. "Great Qin's laws are the rules.

Since you make your living on Qin soil, your stored goods are subject to inspection by the Qin court.

Get over there and open the doors!"

There were five storehouses in that row, built with thick blue-brick walls and iron-plated doors. Heavy brass locks hung from every door, their keyholes thick with rust, as though no outsider had looked upon them for