At first light, Yang Jinzhou arrived at the General's Residence with a large procession of men.
"General Tang, I received a report accusing your household of corruption and secretly moving the Ouyang Family's illicit funds. I will now search the entire General's Residence. If the evidence is conclusive, I will handle this impartially and arrest everyone here!"
Shiba had called it.
To keep up appearances, Tang Cheng signaled for the servants to block Yang Jinzhou.
Yang Jinzhou raised an eyebrow, looking displeased. "General Tang, do you intend to obstruct my investigation?"
"Lord Yang, this is the General's Residence, not some public street. If you want to search it, fine. Produce an imperial decree. Otherwise, if any random nobody can walk in here, what do you take the General's Residence for?"
"An imperial decree? The Ministry of Justice investigates with His Majesty's tacit approval. We need no decree."
"I advise you to cooperate. Otherwise, if we do find anything in your residence, what you just did will count as an additional offense!"
Unlike Tang Cheng, the servants began to panic. "If the residence really is in trouble, what will happen to us?"
"General, an honest man has nothing to fear. Let them search."
"Exactly. The general is upright and incorruptible. How could he be involved in corruption? Someone must be slandering him."
But the onlookers thought otherwise.
"The General's Residence is in trouble again?"
"Corruption? Damn them! That's our hard-earned money! This household has no conscience."
"There have been rumors flying around the General's Residence lately. These accusations can't have come out of nowhere."
"Exactly. They even took in members of the Ouyang Family. Isn't that proof they're all in cahoots, birds of a feather?"
Hearing the crowd's comments, Tang Cheng closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, his