Su Hao and his party entered the city smoothly, and under the guidance of Ma Wu, they headed straight for Huguang Bank.※r />
Arriving outside the bank door, Xiong Minyang made a gesture, and the soldiers quickly dispersed and surrounded the bank. Then, Xiong Minyang kicked Ma Wu in the butt and said, "Go and call the door."
"This... uncle, what should I call the little one?" Ma Wu asked Xiong Minyang tremblingly.
"I don't know how to call you. As long as you can open the door, you don't have to worry about the rest." Xiong Min said admiringly.
Ma Wu hesitated for a moment and asked: "Uncle, are you really officers and soldiers? Are you not a strongman pretending to be a soldier?"
Xiong Minyang almost made Ma Wu laugh. He took out the musket from his arms angrily, put it against Ma Wu's head, and said, "Do you want me to give you a shot to make you believe that we are really officers and soldiers?"
"Don't dare, don't dare!" Ma Wu was so frightened that he quickly followed Xiong Minyang's instructions and ran forward to call the door. He remembered that Xiong Minyang's request to him was to open the door. He had an idea and patted the door knocker.
He shouted: "Shopkeeper Xia, shopkeeper Xia, the county magistrate invites you!"
Ma Wu shouted several times, and the door creaked open, and a head poked out from the door, cursing and saying: "Who is it? You don't let anyone calm down so early in the morning."
Ma Wu was considered a relatively active person in the county. He recognized that the person at the door was Mr. Ren Zonghui, the accountant of Huguang Bank, and asked with a smile: "Mr. Ren, is Shopkeeper Xia here?"
Ren Zonghui looked at Ma Wu and felt vaguely familiar, so he said, "Are you the Xiaoqi named Wu? Shopkeeper Xia is still sleeping. What do you want to do with him?"
"Yes..." Ma Wu couldn't help but look back at Xiong Minyang, because Xiong Minyang said that as long as he tricked the door open, he wouldn't have to worry about the rest.
Before Ma Wu could say anything, Xiong Minyang stepped forward. He grabbed Ren Zonghui's collar with one hand and whispered, "A certain family is looking for Xia Shushen. Be honest and lead the way."
"Ah! There are strong people..." After Ren Zonghui was stunned, he shouted in a high voice. What he wanted to shout was "There are strong people robbing", but as soon as he uttered these two words, Xiong Minyang's other hand was already stuck.
It cut into his throat, causing him to completely lose his voice.
"What's going on? Why are you so strong?" Two guards from the bank ran out of the room when they heard the sound. Xiong Min kicked the door of the bank open, and a dozen Kanyu camp soldiers rushed in like tigers.
Before the two nurses could figure out what was going on, they were already pinned to the ground and tied up, with a walnut stuffed in each mouth to prevent them from shouting.
"Control all rooms, especially the accounting room and Xia Shushen's bedroom!" Su Hao gave the order decisively.
The layout of the houses in those days were similar. Huguang Qianzhuang was just a house with several entrances. Within a few minutes, the soldiers from the survey camp had taken control of all the rooms. Xia, the manager of Qianzhuang, was only wearing underwear.
The scribe was also pulled out from under the covers and escorted to Su Hao.
"Are you the bank manager?" Su Hao asked Xia Shushen.
Xia Shushen raised his head and glanced at Su Hao. He asked coldly: "Who are you?"
"Bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, with experience in the Imperial Academy, Su Hao." Su Hao replied.
"You are Academician Su?" Xia Shushen didn't seem surprised. He asked calmly: "What laws did ordinary people break? Why did Academician Su break into the bank and detain innocent people?"
Su Hao said: "You are suspected of colluding with strong men to murder the imperial official. I chased the murderer thousands of miles to your house."
"Conspiracy to kill an official of the imperial court?" Xia Shushen was stunned. He had long heard the news from people above that Su Hao wanted to harm everyone, and he was prepared to deal with various incidents. But he never expected that Su Hao
To actually arrest him on such a charge is simply irrelevant.
"Is Hu Dengjia your associate?" Su Hao asked.
"Uh...yeah." Xia Shushen replied, this Hu Dengjia is the loan shark shopkeeper Hu who was captured by Xiong Minyang at Xinglong Casino. In fact, his true identity is just an ordinary clerk at Huguang Bank. Something happened at Xinglong Casino.
Xia Shushen knew the news about Hu Dengjia, but because the Kanyu camp completely blocked the news in the gambling house, Xia Shushen didn't know Hu Dengjia's life and death, nor did he know what he said inside.
Su Hao said: "Last night, a group of strongmen brought gunpowder and attacked Xinglong Gambling House, intending to rescue Hu Dengjia. At that time, I was staying in the gambling house and was almost injured by the strongman's gunpowder. Do you dare to say that these strongmen have nothing to do with your Huguang Bank?
"
"Last night? How is this possible?" Xia Shushen was really scratching his head. Hu Dengjia was just a little boy, so there was no way he was worthy of colluding with strong men to rescue him. But to say that this was a lie, it was not like, this Su
What the bachelor said is so true, could it be that someone was sent there from above?
How did Xia Shushen know that the so-called strongman and gunpowder were just a drama compiled by Li Zhi, with the purpose of pouring dirty water on trading houses such as Huguang Bank so that the survey camp could arrest people. As early as
Before the gunpowder exploded, the troops sent to each county had already set off quietly. Otherwise, even if Su Hao and his party had wings, they would not be able to reach Xixian County so early in the morning.
"Take Shopkeeper Xia away, and we will interrogate him slowly when we go back." Su Hao was too lazy to chat with Xia Shushen. He waved his hand, and the two soldiers left with Xia Shushen in their arms.
There were accounts in the bank, including clerks, wives, maids, etc., and there were about seventy or eighty people of all sizes. Facing the bright spears, few of them dared to resist. They were all quickly captured and taken to a circle in the middle of the yard.
Locked up. Su Hao took Xiong Minyang directly to the bank's accounting room and began to look through various documents and account books.
"That's not right. How come there are so few account books for such a big bank?" Su Hao said in confusion as he looked at the several account books that the soldiers found.
"In my opinion, they hid the account books," Xiong Minyang said.
"It makes sense." Su Hao came to his senses. Now the Runing Mansion is in trouble. How could a sensitive place like Huguang Bank not make preparations in advance?
"Bring over the accounting clerk named Ren." Su Hao ordered.
Several soldiers agreed, turned around and escorted Ren Zonghui over. Someone kicked Ren Zonghui in the crook of his knee, and Ren Zonghui knelt down with a grunt.
"Steward Ren, let me ask you, where are the bank's account books hidden?" Su Hao walked up to Ren Zonghui and asked condescendingly.
"Back to Bachelor Su, these are the account books of the bank." Ren Zonghui pointed at the account books that Su Hao had just read and replied.
"Who are you lying to?" Su Hao said, "I've seen it. These account books are nothing but things to hide from others. Where are your secret account books hidden?"
"The villain doesn't know there are any secret account books." Ren Zonghui replied.
"You bastard!" Xiong Minyang stepped forward and gave Ren Zonghui a slap in the face, "When my master of defense asks you, you can only recruit him from the truth. His teeth are not even, and I will kill him or bury him."
Ren Zonghui was slapped so hard that the corners of his mouth bleeded, but he still insisted: "Returning to the military master, I really don't know what secret account books there are."
"Do you really want to fight to the end?" Xiong Minyang said, took out his musket again, pointed at Ren Zonghui's lower body, and said: "If you don't say anything, I will blow your balls."
"Master Jun, I really didn't lie. Even if there are some secret account books, I don't know about it." Ren Zonghui pretended to look pitiful, but his mouth didn't loosen up at all.
Xiong Minyang beat Ren Zonghui a few more times, but still failed to make Ren Zonghui surrender. Of course, it was impossible for him to actually shoot Ren Zonghui. After all, the Ming Dynasty still had laws against indiscriminate punishment, so Xiong Minyang did not dare to go too far.
Su Hao asked the soldiers to take Ren Zonghui into custody and summoned Xia Shushen. As a result, Xia Shushen, like Ren Zonghui, insisted that there were no secret account books. The bank's clerk was also summoned for questioning. The bones of these people
Not as tough as the boss. During the interrogation, someone confessed that the bank had indeed done a lot of shameful things, but as for the secret account books, they probably existed, but given their position, they really didn’t know where they were hidden.
of.
"Go, get some pickaxes and dig three feet into the ground. I don't believe you can't dig it out." Su Hao ordered bitterly. The bank only has such a big place in total, and the place where the account books can be hidden is also limited. Xia Shushen
It's impossible for these people to hide their account books outside the bank, right? That means they have to go outside every time they record an account, which is definitely unrealistic.
"Haha, Su Guard, there's no need to look for a pickaxe. We'll see what happens after a while." Xiong Min said to Su Hao with a smile.
"What do you mean?" Su Hao asked. During this period of time, he had been staying in Runing City to confuse Liu Qichang. He only heard some reports and didn't fully understand what these people outside were doing. Judging from what Xiong Minyang meant, it seemed like
What is left behind is normal.
"Report! Daochang Chen is here."
Following the sergeant's announcement, the sanctimonious Chen Guanyu walked in from the door. He walked up to Su Hao, saluted, and said "Infinite Heavenly Lord", as if he was a Taoist master.
It's cool.
"Old Chen, what have you been doing these days?" Su Hao asked Chen Guanyu with a smile.
Chen Guanyu also smiled and said: "Returning to the boss, Xiaodao has been busy working as a staff for various wealthy families during this period. With this amount of money, he has made quite a profit."
"Well, you old Taoist Chen, you are taking a share of my salary and running out to earn extra money." Su Hao laughed and scolded, "Could it be that this Huguang Bank is also your proprietor?"
Chen Guanyu said: "Exactly. Shopkeeper Xia's concubine suffered from convulsions, and Xiaodao used a talisman to rescue her. Did Shopkeeper Xia hire Xiaodao as his staff and even hide some secret documents?
The location is not hidden from the trail."
Su Hao was overjoyed: "So, do you know where the secret account books of Huguang Bank are hidden?"
Chen Guanyu pointed with his hand and said: "Actually, the secret lies on that pillar. Boss, haven't you noticed that there is a hidden grid embedded in that pillar?"