Volume 1: Mission in Danger Chapter 81 Fire Threat
This banner army was the army that Jishan asked the Guangzhou general to dispatch. There were not many people, only 30 cavalry and 200 infantry. When the leader, Lieutenant General Shu, heard that the gang claimed to have Jishan's warrant, he was very surprised and said on the spot: "That's fake."
If it was really an order under the supervision of Guangdong Customs, why would Jishan let him do it?
He then called Lao Zhou over and asked, "What's going on? This squad leader said you know the bandit leader ?"
Old Zhou stepped forward and said, "General, allow me to report this. The man in the warehouse claimed that he was here on the orders of Master Jishan. He said that they were not bandits. This man is the legal advisor of the Third Young Master of the Wu Family of Yihehang. His name is Zhou Yijin. Although not many people have seen him, at least half of the people in Xiguan know him."
Lieutenant General Shu waved his hand and said, "Stop talking nonsense. I am a soldier transferred from the Guangzhou general by the Guangdong Customs Supervisory Office. How could Master Jishan send someone to do something and ask me to arrest his people at the same time? The people in there must be fake."
"Master Lieutenant General is wise!" Xie Yuanli said, "I think there's something wrong with that gang of bandits."
Old Zhou said, "What if they really were ordered by the Guangdong Customs Supervisory Office?"
"Then ask them to show me the warrant!" Xie Yuanli said, "Without a warrant, they are all fake."
Lao Zhou said, "They said that his warrant is on the way and will be delivered soon."
Feng Dutou sneered at the side and said, "Old Zhou, how many years have you been a police chief? Do you believe such nonsense?"
Old Zhou said: "If this kind of talk is a lie, it will be exposed with a single poke. Why would they lie? What's the point of lying?"
Feng Dutou said: "Who knows what the bandits are thinking, maybe they are stalling for time."
Old Zhou said, "What's the point of stalling for time? I think the warehouse is difficult to attack anyway, so why not just surround it and wait and see if there is really a warrant."
One of them insisted that the people in the warehouse were not bandits, while the other kept saying that everyone in the warehouse was bandits. Lieutenant General Shu was overwhelmed and waved his hand impatiently: "Take it to Master Jishan and he will find out."
Xie Yuanli and Feng Dutou said happily: "Master Lieutenant General is wise."
Seeing that he couldn't stop it, Lao Zhou could only sigh secretly: "Brother, I can only help you up to this point."
In the Supervisor's Mansion, Wu Chengjian was led into a small room. The room was simply furnished with only a few armchairs and the floor was covered in dust, as if it had not been cleaned for a long time. He could still hear the sound of Kunqu Opera in his ears. Wu Chengjian had just looked at the road carefully and guessed that this small room was actually to the right rear of the opera garden. After watching the opera in Jishan's place, or saying goodbye, he could turn around and walk a few steps to come here.
It had been a while since anyone had come here. After Gailu brought Cai and Wu in, he pointed at the dusty ground and said, "Kneel down."
Mr. Cai walked over and knelt down at the position designated by Galiu. He bowed his head towards the chair in the middle, and his breath from his nose could spray dust.
Ga Liu pointed to the side of General Merchant Cai and said, "Go, kneel there."
The two servants behind him were eager to try. Wu Chengjian knew that if he didn't know what to do, he would be beaten before he could see Jishan, so he went over and knelt down. Seeing that he was kneeling casually, he slid over and kicked him, shouting, "Kneel down and be honest!"
Wu Chengjian thought to himself, "A wise man never suffers a loss in front of him." So he knelt down properly.
Galau then went to wipe the chair in the middle very carefully, but when he finished wiping, there was still no sign of Jishan.
Mr. Cai seemed extremely patient. Although he was kneeling on the ground with his face almost touching the ground, he even managed to control his breathing very steadily. However, Wu Chengjian started to yawn again.
Brigadier General Shu ordered an attack on the warehouse, but naturally their bannermen did not take action first. Instead, they drove the civilians to be the vanguard - this was what their bannermen were accustomed to doing.
Feng Dutou was very servile, and he worked hard to drive the militia forward. The warehouse was built very solidly, and there were no loopholes around it. The only way in and out was the warehouse gate, and there were iron horses outside the gate. If a fight really broke out, as long as the people in the warehouse had some weapons, the militia would not be able to capture the warehouse gate without killing some of them. But Shu Lieutenant General didn't care how many militiamen died.
At this moment, the warehouse door suddenly opened a line, a person was pushed out, and then the warehouse door quickly closed.
"Wait a minute!" Feng Dutou raised his hand to stop the crowd and sent someone to pick up the man. When he got closer, he saw that it was Xie Laosi.
Xie Laosi was covered in wounds and had a broken hand. He was in a very miserable state. He was taken to Lieutenant General Shu and Xie Yuanli. Xie Yuanli had a lot of questions to ask him, such as why he let the thieves succeed so easily. But at this time, he could only hold back and asked, "Laosi, what's going on! Why did they let you out!"
Admiral Shu asked, "Is he your man?"
"Yes, yes," Xie Yuanli said, "This is the head my family sent to look after the warehouse."
Xie Laosi calmed down at this time, endured the pain, and said in a crying voice: "Master, it's bad, they filled the warehouse with sulfur and vegetable oil..."
Xie Yuanli was slightly surprised: "What are they going to do?"
Xie Laosi said, "The leader of this gang of thieves is Wu Chengjian's master Zhou Yijin, and his lackey Tietou Junba. Before I came out, Zhou Yijin told me not to go forward. If we must attack the warehouse, they should first set fire to the tea in Yihehang, and then come out and surrender."
Lieutenant General Shu said, "Okay, let them burn the tea leaves and let them come out and surrender."
Suddenly Xie Yuanli shouted, "No! You can't burn the tea leaves!"
Lieutenant General Shu frowned, and Xie Yuanli called out, "Master Lieutenant General, do you know how much this batch of tea is worth?"
Shu was ordered to suppress the bandits. What did the loss of tea in the process have to do with him? He just sneered: "That's your business!" and still ordered the bandits to surrender.
Xie Yuanli shouted, "Commander Shu! Master Jishan asked me to put this batch of tea in my warehouse. I have been told not to lose it. If the tea is burned and Master Jishan blames me, Commander Shu, will you be held responsible?"
Shu Canjiang was a general under the command of General Guangzhou, and it was not Jishan's responsibility. Even though Jishan was a high-ranking official, he was still a layer away from him. Although he was acting on orders to help the Supervisory Office, he was a high-ranking bannerman. When he heard that Xie Yuanli, a Han Chinese merchant, dared to threaten him, he could not help but get angry and shouted, "I was only ordered to suppress the bandits. General Guangzhou did not tell me to protect your goods. What loss of the goods has nothing to do with me!"
Xie Yuanli was forced into a corner and had to bite the bullet and say, "Well, even if Lieutenant General Shu is not afraid of Master Jishan's blame, what about Heshen and the Lord?"
Shu was startled and shouted, "What nonsense are you talking about! What does this have to do with He Zhongtang?"
Xie Yuanli pointed at the warehouse and said, "That batch of tea belonged to... that person..." He didn't dare to bring up He Shen for the second time. "The one from Beijing who put it in our warehouse is really going to be burned. If my Xie family doesn't explain, I'm afraid that Lieutenant General Shu won't be able to escape."
The Thirteen Hongs were under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Department, and the head of the Imperial Household Department was Heshen. It was very possible that He Zhongtang let a guarantor handle some goods. When Admiral Shu heard that tea was actually related to He Zhongtang, he became cautious all of a sudden.
Feng Dutou and Lao Zhou were shocked when they heard the word "Heshen". They took two steps back at the same time. They never expected that tonight's events would be so involved! This was not what they wanted to hear. The gods were fighting, and any thunderbolt would kill them without a burial place!
Lieutenant General Shu was annoyed and a little helpless. Suddenly he thought, "That's right! How could the Guangzhou general agree to send troops overnight so easily in the middle of the night?"
Jishan had the face to ask General Guangzhou to send troops, but to make the General Guangzhou act so quickly without any delay was not something Jishan had the authority to do.
Thinking of this, he dared not act rashly. He sent people to ask Jishan and General Guangzhou for instructions on what to do, and ordered: "Let the militia retreat and surround them . No one is allowed to escape!"
Xie Yuanli also quickly sent someone to the Supervisory Office to report.
Leader Feng Du received the order and ran as far away as possible. He didn't want to hear anything about the matters involving the upper echelons.
Lao Zhou also said: "I will go and talk to the people inside and ask them not to act rashly."
Admiral Shu said, "Go ahead."
Old Zhou walked to the small window and called out, "Master Zhou, I'm Old Zhou."
The small window was opened a little, and Zhou Yijin's voice came out: "Captain Zhou."
Old Zhou said: "Master Zhou, you are really bold!"
Zhou Yijin smiled and said, "Captain Zhou, there is no need to ask any more questions. Anyway, now that things have come to this point, our Wu family has already won more than half of the battle. As long as you stick to your original intention, I promise that nothing will happen to you."
Lao Zhou briefly described what happened outside, and then said, "They have already sent people to ask Jishan for instructions. What if they order a violent attack on the warehouse..."
"No." Zhou Yijin said: "As long as Jishan knows the situation here, he will not dare to move. If you really want to attack by force, then you can tell the lieutenant general to rest assured that we will do what we say. There is no need to bother Lieutenant General Shu to do it. We will burn the tea leaves first, and then come out and surrender."
Old Zhou went back and reported Zhou Yijin's last words to Lieutenant General Shu. Lieutenant General Shu frowned when he heard it. The people inside were indeed not bandits - this was not the way thieves acted at all. It seemed that this batch of tea was indeed involved in some power struggle above. As military generals, they were most vigilant about such matters. They decided to stay out of it as much as possible and just follow orders.
