The sound of a needle dropping could be heard throughout the hall. The guard captain's wine belch reverberated in the empty hall.
Lan Liqun's anger, which had just subsided, suddenly came back to his head.
He stood up in the blink of an eye, pulled up the chair behind him, rushed to the guard captain, and hit him on the head.
Seeing that the chair was about to hit his head, the guard captain wanted to dodge, but he did not dare to move at all.
Seeing the other party's bearish look, Lan Liqun swung the chair to the side and fell to the ground with the sleeves attached to his shoulders.
With a "crash", the huge wooden chair made of solid wood was not as hard as the bluestone floor after all. When it came into contact with the ground, it fell apart into sections of wood.
The captain of the guard who was responsible for this incident was trembling all over and did not dare to say a word.
As if he had finished venting his anger, and as if he knew that beating him to death would not solve the problem, Lan Liqun lowered his head, walked to the chair on the other side of the table, and sat down.
He held his forehead with his left hand and rested his elbow on his leg, not knowing what to do.
After being silent for a long time, Lan Liqun slowly raised his head.
"How much have we collected in the city over the years?" Lan Liqun asked slowly.
"About two hundred thousand taels." The guard captain clasped his hands together and whispered.
"I don't want a rough estimate, give me an exact number." Lan Liqun yelled.
"Including the first month, there are more than 217,400 taels in total." The guard captain said hurriedly.
Lan Liqun raised his head, with a wry smile on his face, and said softly: "That's enough, that's enough."
"Enough? What is enough? Sister, no, do you want to buy something?" the guard captain asked in a low voice.
"What are we going to do? Let's take care of the funeral arrangements. This money is enough to behead us all." Lan Liqun's eyes had lost any luster.
This is just a part of the captain of the guard. His share of the business with the Ouyang family has tens of thousands of taels of silver. According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, there is so much corruption and perversion of the law, even if he voluntarily turns it over, he will still be dead.
The only advantage is that if you hand it over voluntarily, you will only be killed and your family will survive.
If Mr. Xiao is really a member of the imperial court, he may be able to survive by handing over the money to him privately.
"Let's take a gamble." Lan Liqun said secretly in his heart.
When he heard that he was going to be beheaded, the guard captain sobered up from alcohol, turned pale, and slumped to the ground.
"I don't want to behead, I don't want to behead." He looked at Lan Liqun and muttered quietly.
"Stand up. Even if it means beheading, what's the use of just lying limp on the ground? Besides, we haven't reached the stage of beheading yet. Get up." Lan Liqun stepped forward and kicked the guard captain directly on the waist.
"Ah." The guard captain shook his big head helplessly, put his hands on the ground, stuck out his butt, and stood up slowly, "That's right, no one wants to kill my head yet."
Seeing the other party's bearish look, Lan Liqun wished he could gouge his own eyes.
"Where's the money?" Lan Liqun asked.
"According to your instructions, we took them all to Baoding Mansion and exchanged them for banknotes." The guard captain answered hurriedly, holding his trembling legs with his hands.
"Go, go back, take out all the banknotes, and come with me to Tianyi Inn."
...
Two days later, the sun rose as usual, illuminating this northern state city with its less-than-warm eyes.
In the early morning, at the gate of the city, there were people carrying baskets made of tree branches and starting to pick up livestock excrement on the official road to use as fertilizer in their fields.
Xiao Chen had already gotten up early, dressed neatly, and gathered all the captains in the lobby of Tianyi Inn.
"Today is the day when Ouyang's workshop delivers goods, and it is also the day when we have been setting up for a long time and closing the net. Everyone cheers up and is ready to go." Xiao Chen said loudly to more than a dozen Dongchang captains.
Seeing everyone leaving quickly, shopkeeper Xu stood at the door of the back hall, a little confused: "Is Mr. Xiao a fisherman? He is really diligent in collecting the nets so early."
At Ouyang Workshop, Butler Zhang had already packed five hundred Yi Shui Inkstones and was waiting for Xiao Chen to pick them up. Because of Xiao Chen's identity, the head of the Ouyang family also came to Ouyang Workshop, ready to take the opportunity to please him again.
At the gate, Xiao Chen walked at the front, followed by all the Dongchang captains.
Except for Xiao Chen, everyone had knives hanging on their waists and their sharp eyes were intimidating.
Seeing Xiao Chen, the servant at the door hurriedly opened the door and bowed: "Master Xiao, everything is ready. Butler Zhang has packed it in the living room and is waiting for you."
"Well, okay." Xiao Chen smiled and walked in.
In the living room, five hundred Yi Shui inkstones were packed in two wooden boxes. The head of the Ouyang family and others stood aside, waiting for Xiao Chen's arrival.
"Butler Zhang, the head of the Ouyang family is here too, hehe, everyone is here." Walking into the hall, Xiao Chen glanced at everyone's faces, especially when he saw Ouyang Qianhu and Zhao Qianhu dressed as servants, their faces were full of confusion.
Full of smiles.
"We promised to deliver the goods to Mr. Xiao today, how dare we neglect it. The box has not been sealed yet. Mr. Xiao, please inspect the goods." Butler Zhang bowed and said respectfully.
"Yeah." Xiao Chen responded, walked forward, picked up a Yishui inkstone, looked at it, and put it into the box.
"The condition is not bad." Looking at Butler Zhang, Xiao Chen chuckled.
"Ouyang Workshop has always put its reputation first, especially since this batch of goods is customized by Mr. Xiao, so we don't dare to be careless." The owner of the Ouyang family on the side said with a smile.
He has a very natural smile on his face and looks friendly.
After circling the wooden box, Xiao Chen raised his head and said, "This batch of Yishui inkstones is quite large. Can the Ouyang family owner issue the documents for me, please?"
"This is natural." The head of the Ouyang family said, and then nodded to Butler Zhang next to him.
Taking a step forward, Butler Zhang raised the document in his hand and said, "Mr. Xiao, the state government document is here."
After taking the document and looking at the red state government seal on it, Xiao Chen had a bright smile on his face.
Putting the document in his arms, Xiao Chen walked to the head of the Ouyang family with a smile: "Master Ouyang, may I ask, is the eldest son a member of the Thousand Households in Yanqing Guard?"
Seeing Xiao Chen walking towards him with a smile, the head of the Ouyang family also hurriedly greeted him with a smile. He thought that Xiao Chen was very satisfied with the transaction and was ready to say some words of thanks to him.
To get Xiao Chen's approval, Ouyang's workshop has been working hard all day and night to make it, so it can be considered that the effort was in vain.
However, the words Xiao Chen asked shocked the head of the Ouyang family, and his legs shook involuntarily.
Mr. Xiao, why did he suddenly mention this matter?
