Chapter 189: Persistent Treasure Hunt
What a coincidence, Wang Youling, who was far away in Gongzhou, was also tossing and turning in bed.
After Wang Youling got the East Street building returned to her by Guo Chongma, she settled herself and her troupe down and went to her house to look for the treasure. The woman searched the house carefully but still found nothing.
At first, Guo Chongma suspected that Wang Youling was teasing him.
Because he lived in there with the column command center, and this kind of chaos would make people feel uneasy.
After Wang Youling searched for several times, he saw that her seriousness was genuine, so he asked his wife to persuade Wang Youling to stop looking, saying that perhaps there was no treasure hidden in her house. He would write a letter to the third young master to report her sincerity.
However, Wang Youling did not give up. She always felt that her family was prosperous in the past, with carriages and horses coming in and out, and businesses spread all over the place, so they must have kept gold and silver for emergencies. She had a dream in which she returned to her family's ancestral hall, and when she knelt on a cushion to burn incense and kowtow to her ancestors, a big lion suddenly jumped out in front of her and woke her up.
Wang Youling opened her eyes and saw that it was already bright outside. She touched her body and found it was wet with cold sweat. She got up and went to take a shower. While bathing and changing clothes, she recalled the clear dream and thought that she should go to the ancestral hall to have a look.
The old boss knew that she was going to disturb the ancestral hall, so he tried to dissuade her with kind words, saying that she had already tried her best. She had searched the Marshal's Mansion thoroughly three times, and if she wanted to search the ancestral hall again, it would be bad to disturb the spirits of the ancestors and would be a great act of treason.
If she couldn't find it after searching the ancestral hall, the people of Gongzhou would laugh at her.
But Wang Youling was a stubborn woman, she had to do what she decided to do, and no one could stop her. Seeing that he could not persuade her, the old master called his two senior apprentices to go to the ancestral hall to help.
The three people came to the ancestral hall. The gatekeeper was a distant nephew of the Wang family. He recognized the eldest daughter of the Wang family at a glance and immediately greeted her enthusiastically.
However, when he heard that the eldest daughter was going to go in and search for treasure, he stopped her. He would never let her disturb the ancestors, because this ancestral hall was not only the ancestral hall of the Wang Xian family, but also the ancestral hall of the Wang family of Gongzhou.
Although Wang Youling was eloquent and acted like the master of the Wang family, she still could not convince others. She had no choice but to make up a story that she was ordered by the Third Young Master, the commander of the Shenwei Army, to return to find the treasure. If she couldn't find the treasure, the Third Young Master would sentence her and the troupe to death.
The girl pushed the blame onto Zhao Yulin. The lives of more than a dozen people were at stake. The gatekeeper was helpless and opened the ancestral hall in tears.
Wang Youling immediately showed joy on her face, went in and knocked on the surrounding walls and the ground under her feet, but still found nothing, so she reluctantly returned to the ancestral tablet, thinking that this was the only part she hadn't looked at. She took out a stick of incense and paper money, knelt on the mat and burned incense and paper for the ancestors, muttered something to the ancestors, and then stood up.
The moment Wang Youling looked up, she vaguely saw a lion head on the wall below the shrine.
Wang Youling was puzzled and looked down. Sure enough, there was a large brick with exquisite patterns carved on it three bricks above the foot of the wall. The lion head was lifelike and vivid.
She was surprised and said excitedly that she had found it. She found it on the wall. She immediately stood up and moved the tablets and things on the shrine. After a while, she moved all the things away.
However, when her hand touched the lion's head, it could neither be turned, taken out, nor pushed in. It was tightly sealed without a single gap, except for a brick with a lion image carved into it and built into the wall.
Wang Youling was very helpless. Everyone restored the ancestral hall to its original appearance and left with regret.
After leaving the ancestral hall, Wang Youling stood on the dam outside, staring at the tall ancestral hall in a daze with some reluctance. Gradually, she discovered that the gable of the ancestral hall was different from other gables, and it felt particularly wide and thick.
She came back again and walked around the ancestral hall, carefully observing the gables at both ends. She felt more and more that the gable where the shrine was placed was different. Its width from inside to outside was at least ten feet, which was almost the same as the width of the old city wall of Gongzhou. If it was hollow inside, how much could be put in it?
She decided to tear down the wall.
After making up her mind, Wang Youling went straight to find Guo Chongma.
When Lao Guo heard that this woman was going to demolish her family's ancestral hall, he felt that she was crazy about treasure.
However, his wife thought that the eldest daughter of the Wang family was sincere in demolishing the ancestral hall in order to search for treasure for the Shenwei Army, which was also a righteous act and should be supported.
After discussing with several deputies, Lao Guo decided to support Wang Youling's decision and let Wang Youling take the brothers from the column's artisan camp to demolish the house. The government promised the Wang family that the house would be restored to its original state after demolition.
Later, a large group of people came to the ancestral hall. Following Wang Youling's instructions, they first removed the large brick engraved with the image of a lion, and then took out the bricks one by one. Oh, they found that they were indeed hollow inside.
After a while, a large hole was artificially opened on the wall. The brothers were pleasantly surprised to see the neatly arranged boxes inside. They immediately took one out and opened it. Wow, it was indeed a box full of silver ingots that had been sealed for a long time.
Everyone's spirits were boosted, and they were moving out one box after another. Guo Chongma walked forward and was dumbfounded to see the boxes of silver ingots piled up like a small mountain. He stammered to thank the eldest lady and praised her for her kind heart.
Wang Youling's face turned red and she said shyly that the Third Young Master was a kind-hearted person. If he hadn't saved her, she would never have discovered these hidden treasures.
Guo Chongma laughed so hard that he was dizzy, and kept saying yes, hehe, yes.
At this time, the third young master was taking a nap in the house.
Zhao Yulin couldn't sleep at night, so he got up to read and practice calligraphy, and then he fell asleep after being exhausted for a while. His chest felt stuffy, and he started coughing violently and woke up again.
Feihu dressed and packed him up with tears in his eyes. Zhao Yulin laughed at him, asking why a real man would cry.
He said that the brothers were worried about the young master's health, and they were guilty of not risking their lives to protect the young master in Hongyuan.
Then he cursed again: "It was all done by that damned foreign monk. Next time I see him, I will kill him one by one."
Zhao Yulin criticized him, saying that he was being foolish again. Our Shenwei Army does not kill innocent people. When two armies confront each other on the battlefield, it is either you die or I live, and no one can be blamed.
The young man was still muttering to himself as he took Zhao Yulin's empty medicine bowl and went out.
After taking the medicine, Zhao Yulin felt extremely exhausted and dozed off while reading a book on the couch.
In Lin'an, the emperor was also resting in the pavilion in the back garden. The eunuch who served him reported to him that the Sichuan-Shaanxi Administration Office had reported that a rebellion had occurred in Baoning Prefecture.
The emperor has no interest at all. How can such trivial matters in the corners bother him, the true dragon emperor?
The young eunuch continued to tell him that the key was that Zhao Qier, the commander of the Shenwei Army, happened to meet him. Although the rebellion was quelled, the commander was seriously injured and returned to Yibin to recuperate.
The emperor suddenly opened his eyes, glared at the eunuch and cursed: "You are looking for death, you can't even lie." If he was seriously injured, why could he still go to Yibin? Are the two places just separated by a wall?
The young eunuch then discovered the typo and hurriedly said that General Cao had reported that Commander Zhao had suffered internal injuries from being hit by a Sumeru hammer from a Tibetan monk, and the Imperial City Administration had determined that his life was in danger.
The emperor then connected the previous and subsequent stories and thought about it. Didn't the court want Zhao Qi'er to die? Now that this boy was injured and became a disabled person, he would not have to issue an order to kill him, and his obedient daughter would not have to marry a son-in-law and go to Xishu to suffer.
The emperor felt relieved instead. He picked up the tea bowl and took a sip. Then he waved his hand and continued to take a nap. The young eunuch hurriedly left in small steps.
The ministers in the public house already knew that a rebellion had broken out in Hongyuan, Zhao Yulin was injured, and Zheng Qingzhi and Shi's son were celebrating, thinking that they were truly blessed by heaven.
Moreover, the Hongyuan Rebellion just proved that their judgment was wise and accurate. Look, every place is unstable. The Shenwei Army marched westward and recovered useless lands, wasting money and manpower, and did not increase the income by a single ounce of silver.
I heard that their military salaries have been unable to be paid recently. Isn't it just that the imperial court has cut back on most of their expenses? Haha, they can't bear it anymore. Sooner or later, the Northwest will be finished off by Zhao Qier.
Someone suggested dismissing Zhao Qi'er from his post and sending someone else to the northwest to govern the Qingong area.
Shi's son felt that his strategy of draining Shu dry had worked. Hehe, as long as he continued to work hard, the financial resources of Sichuan and Shaanxi would be exhausted.
The purpose of being a soldier is to eat the emperor's food. Without military pay, the Shenwei Army will surely fall into chaos without fighting. Then he can deal with Zhao Qier at will.
While they were still chattering in the hall, the empress dowager had already summoned the emperor.
The Queen Mother suddenly changed her character these years. Although she fought for power with the Emperor, she still wanted to do something after winning it. She knew that she, a literary and artistic person, was too lazy to govern.
The Empress Dowager said that a secret letter came from Jiading, saying that the Shenwei Army only paid tribute to the court with earth, cement and glazed bricks, but did not send them to the Northern Barbarians. This is interesting.
The emperor knew about this matter; Prime Minister Zheng reported it to him early in the morning.
The Queen Mother said that although they seemed to be disobedient to the imperial edict, the world thought they were very strong-willed, which would make the court look down upon them. But at least they were sent to Lin'an, and the peace talks were not ruined.
She told the emperor to send an imperial envoy to select two more beautiful concubines and send them to Yibin with gifts to express concern for Zhao Aiqing and to show the emperor's great favor.
The emperor agreed immediately, wondering why his mother had suddenly become so concerned about Zhao Qi'er. Was she planning to marry Lan'er to him?
As soon as he thought of this, the Queen Mother sighed and said that this boy is also a member of our Zhao family, but he is of humble origin and did not take the imperial examination. Lan'er is also a bit stubborn. If someone guides him, this boy will definitely become the emperor's right-hand man.
This is all bullshit. If Zhao Yulin hadn't been injured, the emperor might have supported marrying Zhao Feiyan or another royal daughter to him. Now Zhao Qi'er was injured, and we didn't know how serious the injury was. What if she died before getting married, or couldn't have sex after getting married? Wouldn't that make his good girl suffer?
