Qi Pingwei followed without hesitation.
By then, Suo Qian, Qiu Dao, and the others had also gotten up. After hesitating for a moment when they saw what was happening, they followed as well.
When they were still several dozen yards away, Xie Nanxiao stopped and called out, “Who are you people? What brings you here?”
Once they drew closer, Qi Pingwei and the others finally got a clear look at them. There were more than a dozen of them, all with their faces covered—only their eyes were visible. Their heads were wrapped so thoroughly that not even a strand of hair could be seen.
“We’re here to do business today. We have 381 horses, 500 dan of grain, and some medicinal herbs. We’d like to trade these things for your prescription for treating the plague.”
Qi Pingwei was startled, his face filled with bewilderment.
Xie Nanxiao frowned. “Do you have plague victims among you? There’s no need to go to such trouble. You can simply bring them to us. We’ll treat them free of charge.”
The masked leader shook his head. “Our identities are inconvenient to reveal. Can we make the trade or not? If not, I’ll leave immediately.”
Xie Nanxiao looked the masked men up and down. After a moment, he turned to Suo Qian. “What do you think?”
Suo Qian stroked his beard. “We happen to be short of horses, grain, and medicinal herbs. These people look poor, too. Trading with them won’t hurt us. It’s just that…”
He looked at the masked leader. “This prescription was obtained by my lord only after great effort. I hope you’ll use it for yourselves and not spread it everywhere.”
The masked leader nodded. “Naturally.”
Suo Qian immediately fetched paper and brush and swiftly wrote out the prescription before handing it to the masked man.
The masked leader took the prescription and left with great ease, leaving behind the herd of horses and the supplies carried on their backs.
Qi Pingwei felt that something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. The transaction had simply been far too absurdly easy.
Xie Nanxiao, however, was delighted. “We were just short of horses and supplies, and now someone has delivered them right to our door. Wonderful! Hurry, take the horses back and unload the grain and medicinal herbs.”
In truth, he had been helpless about the matter. Horses were difficult to transport by water, and he had not brought many with him this time, leaving the relief force desperately short of them.
So he had never intended to let the Zhang family’s horses go.
However, every clan branded its horses with a unique mark, making them easy to identify.
In other words, if he wanted to use horses bearing the Zhang family’s brand in Tao Commandery, he needed to give the matter a legitimate appearance.
And that was exactly what he was doing now.
As for what others thought after the matter had been made official, that was unimportant!
All he needed was a respectable explanation that placed him on the moral high ground.
The previous night, Xie Nanxiao had dispatched more than five hundred men and over three hundred horses. Now, with the horses seized from the Zhang family added in, the entire group returned fully loaded.
From the Zhang family, they had taken more than 1,200 jin of gold ingots, over 5,000 jin of silver ingots, and a large amount of copper coins and bolts of cloth.
Altogether, it came to roughly two hundred thousand taels of silver.
Truly, robbery was addictive. The profits were simply astounding.
Unfortunately, they had only taken 500 dan of grain from the Zhang family. After the horses had been loaded down with gold, silver, copper coins, and other valuables, there was simply no room left for more grain.
Since they were not particularly short of food, they could only let the rest go.
The matter was soon reported by the city guards to the magistrate of Xiao County.
The magistrate stared in astonishment. “What did you say? A group of masked men traded horses and other supplies for a prescription?”
The soldier nodded. “Yes. I saw it clearly. There were three or four hundred horses, all fine animals. They were carrying supplies, and the whole lot was handed over to the Jinyang Army.”
The magistrate felt a headache coming on. “What on earth happened? Who were those masked men? Where did they get so many horses and so much grain?”
“I don’t know.” The soldier shook his head. “But they were all wearing masks. They were either rioters or bandits.”
The magistrate drew in a sharp breath. “Could those horses have been stolen?”
In Xiao County, the only people with so many horses were the government and the Zhang family.
So had the Zhang family been robbed?!
At that very moment, inside the Zhang family’s fortified manor, Zhang Balang listened to Steward Zhang’s report with a dark expression.
A bandage was wrapped around his neck. His forehead was bruised purple, perhaps from hitting it against something, and his eyes were ringed with dark shadows.
The previous night, he had been forced to open the secret chamber and watch helplessly as those people carried away every bit of his family’s money and valuables.
That wasn’t all. Hu Lai had then led his men to raid the Zhang family’s visible storehouse as well. Although the money and goods inside were nothing compared to what had been in the secret chamber, they were still a substantial loss.
Afterward, the group went to the stables and seized the horses, then raided the granary and took the grain.
Fortunately, there had only been a few hundred of them. Although grain had been stolen, they had taken only around 500 dan—an insignificant amount compared with the family’s reserves.
Steward Zhang’s face was swollen and bruised, but he endured the pain throughout his body as he reported the situation.
“We lost more than fifty men. They were all household troops who resisted fiercely or tried to fire arrows from hiding. Another four hundred were injured.”
Hu Lai’s men had been exceptionally formidable. The Zhang family’s household troops had been almost completely powerless to resist. Whether they were guarding the gates or patrolling at night, nearly all of them had been knocked unconscious.
To be fair, Hu Lai had shown them some mercy. Otherwise, the entire Zhang family’s fortified manor might have been wiped out.
Steward Zhang himself had been beaten the previous night. He had been sleeping in a daze when he sensed something was wrong. He had just lit a lamp and had not even gotten a clear look at the intruders before they subjected him to a savage beating. He had only regained consciousness after being beaten senseless.
Zhang Balang ground his teeth. “Did you send someone to report this to the county office?”
Steward Zhang hurriedly replied, “Already done. We’ve also sent a carrier pigeon to inform the family head.”
His voice carried a sobbing note. “Those men were highly trained and all exceptionally skilled. They definitely weren’t ordinary people.”
Zhang Balang lifted his eyes to him. “You suspect they were soldiers?”
His gaze turned vicious. “The Jinyang Army?”
Steward Zhang nodded. “When has Xiao County ever had bandits that fierce? If such people existed, how could we not have known about them? Yet the moment the Jinyang Army arrived, we were robbed. If it wasn’t them, then who else could it be?”
Zhang Balang slammed his hand onto the table. “How dare they rob the Zhang family!”
Steward Zhang sighed. “Our household troops had no chance against a regular army, and besides, we have no evidence proving that the Jinyang Army did it.”
Zhang Balang sneered. “Hah. Who says we have no evidence? The horses bear our family’s brand, and those gold and silver ingots all carry our marks as well.”
With that, he abruptly rose to his feet. “Come on. We’re going to the county seat right now. Let’s see how they plan to deny it!”
The gold and silver ingots bearing the Zhang family’s marks had already been loaded onto a ship and were slowly departing Bilan County.
Naturally, they had not been loaded at Bilan’s temporary wharf. Aside from the Jinyang Army, Qi Pingwei’s men were there as well.
So they had chosen a relatively secluded location not far from the temporary wharf.
At Bilan’s temporary wharf, Yan Ke stood on the deck, gazing at the calm surface of the sea. She quietly estimated that the ship carrying the gold and silver should have already departed.
When it came to robbery, Xie Nanxiao was indeed a professional. In just two or three days after arriving in Tao Commandery, he had managed to obtain two hundred thousand taels of silver. The money needed for disaster relief should now be more than sufficient.
If they acquired more later, it would simply be profit on top of profit.
Zhu Xiaoliu’s eyes curved into a smile, though a trace of regret showed on his face. Lowering his voice, he said, “It’s a shame I couldn’t take part.”
Yan Ke looked toward the distant Sizhou ships, which showed no sign of movement, and said with some concern, “Are we really sure transporting it this way won’t cause any problems?”
Zhu Xiaoliu shook his head. “What could possibly be wrong? The only naval fleet between here and Fengzhou belongs to the First Prince. As far as I know, the Sizhou fleet rarely ventures out to sea.”
“Besides, to be safe, our ship is going to take a detour around Xiaoyuan Island. The distance is roughly the same anyway.”
Only then did Yan Ke relax. She was about to speak when she spotted several ships slowly approaching in the distance.
