Chapter 271 Treasure Chamber
Chapter 271 Treasure Chamber
Xiao Xia came to Anyifang, which was located just south of the metropolitan city. The Fang Gate faced the South Gate of the metropolitan city. The South Gate of the metropolitan city was a special gate for the entry and exit of goods, also called the freight gate.
Therefore, the most famous thing in Anyifang is the mule and horse shops, of which there are more than a dozen of them, large and small. It is also a gathering place for martial arts schools. The Baokang Martial Arts School that had a conflict with Xiao Xia last time is here. In addition to the Baokang Martial Arts School, there are also the Tianzhen Martial Arts School, the Baoquan Martial Arts School, and the Zhenwei Martial Arts School. They all do business in the metropolitan city.
These martial arts schools were different from the later escort agencies. The escort agencies would deliver the goods to the designated places after the goods were handed over to them, while the martial arts schools were not responsible for the goods. They were only responsible for providing escort. The goods were still transported by the merchants themselves, and the martial arts schools would send warriors to follow and protect them.
During the war years, there were countless thieves everywhere, so the martial arts school did very good business, guarding goods, escorting people, etc.
Tianzhen Martial Arts School is the martial arts school of Xihai Trading Company. In addition, there is also a Tianjun Martial Arts School in Yanshoufang next to Liren City, and there is also a Tianyan Martial Arts School in Dayefang in the south of the city. Xiao Xia's thirty warriors are temporarily scattered in these three martial arts schools.
Xiao Xia came to Tianzhen Martial Arts School, the owner of which was Sun Lei. Another leader, Li Luming, became the owner of Tianyan Martial Arts School. Tianyan Martial Arts School recruited more than one hundred female students. Li Luming and eight female warriors lived in Tianyan Martial Arts School.
Xiao Xia sat down and said to Sun Lei, "Go find Sister Li for me!"
Sun Lei agreed and immediately sent someone to Tianyan Martial Arts School.
Xiao Xia added: "I want to go see the golden Buddha!"
Generally, martial arts schools will build underground warehouses to store weapons and other items. Martial arts schools are allowed to store and use long weapons, usually by registering with the county government, but the number of weapons is not allowed to be too large.
The twelve golden Buddhas brought back from Yique County are currently stored in the underground warehouse of Tianzhen Martial Arts School. The total weight of the twelve golden Buddhas is 1,080 kilograms and is worth 170,000 strings of cash.
The underground warehouse is built with large bluestone, is ten feet high, and covers an area of about three hundred square meters. It has two rooms in front and back. The outer room stores twelve golden Buddhas and hundreds of various weapons.
The warehouse inside was Xiao Xia's private warehouse, where the wealth transferred from the Great Zhou storehouse was stored, including the Zhanlu Sword and the Baibao Colored Glass Lamp, as well as 200,000 taels of gold and a large amount of jade, jewelry and other treasures.
There are two iron doors leading to the underground warehouse, both of which require two keys to open. One key was given to Sun Lei, and the other key was in Xiao Xia's hand.
Xiao Xia entered the basement alone. Twelve golden Buddhas were wrapped in thick cloth and placed neatly against the wall. All the gems on the golden Buddhas had been peeled off. Xiao Xia awarded the gems to thirty warriors. Each person received a gem worth thousands of strings of cash. This was also the principle that Xiao Xia always followed: he ate meat and his men drank soup.
But Xiao Xia did not come down for the golden Buddha today. He came directly to a wall. This wall was very deceptive. If no one knew it in advance, no one would have thought that there was a secret room inside. Not even the previous owner of the museum knew about it.
It was after Sun Lei took over the martial arts school that he accidentally discovered a copper key hidden in the basement. They searched for a long time before finding the keyhole. They opened the secret room and found a large number of weapons stored inside. They were stored in the fifth year of Kaihuang, including 3,000 swords, 10,000 spears, 2,000 crossbows, and 1,000 sets of armor.
This martial arts hall was originally the property of Helou Zigan. It is estimated that the weapons were secretly hidden by Helou Zigan. In the 13th year of Kaihuang, Helou Zigan passed away. This martial arts hall was awarded to his retainer Helou De by his son Helou Shanzhu. Helou De died in the first year of Renshou. Helou De had no sons, only two daughters, so the martial arts hall was inherited by his second son-in-law.
The second son-in-law was a charcoal merchant who converted the martial arts hall into a charcoal mine. The second son-in-law was very hardworking but passed away at the beginning of the year. His son took over the charcoal mine, but he was idle and did not do his job properly.
Ma Yue spent 13,000 strings of cash to buy this martial arts hall from his second son-in-law's son. At that time, the basement was used as a charcoal warehouse. After the charcoal was moved away, the ground was covered with charcoal powder. When Sun Lei and others were cleaning up the charcoal powder, they found the iron box containing the key.
The walls were covered with charcoal powder, and the iron door was built with large bluestones outside, which fit tightly with the stone wall. Even if you knocked on it, the sound was exactly the same as the surrounding stone walls. Unless Sun Lei and the other two warriors who knew the truth confessed, no one would have thought that there was a secret room inside.
Xiao Xia found the keyhole from the lower right corner and opened the inner lock. He pushed the stone wall hard, and the stone wall slowly turned, revealing a two-foot-wide door. Xiao Xia slipped in with a lantern in hand.
Inside were all kinds of treasures transported from the Great Zhou counter. Along the wall were iron racks, which were originally used to store armor, but now held all kinds of treasures.
Xiao Xia took the Zhanlu sword and the mutton-fat jade seal blank, then left the secret room and restored it to its original state. With a "click", the stone door was locked.
Xiao Xia returned to the ground, locked the iron door, and said to Sun Lei: "We have to find a way to disassemble the golden Buddha and cast it into one tael and ten taels ingots, and use them to buy supplies in the future!"
Sun Lei smiled and said, "Young Master, you own the Xihai Jewelry Shop, one of the three largest jewelry shops in Chang'an. We sold all the gems to the jewelry shop, and they also smelted gold."
Xiao Xia patted his forehead, "If you hadn't told me, I would have forgotten it!" Sun Lei said again, "I will take care of this matter!"
Xiao Xia nodded, "Is Sister Li here?"
"I'm already here, waiting in the living room!"
Xiao Xia came to the guest hall, and Li Luming stood up and bowed, "Greetings, sir!"
Li Luming is an extremely skilled martial artist. Her internal strength has reached the seventh level. Her swordsmanship and hidden weapon skills are particularly powerful. Even Sun Lei is no match for her.
Xiao Xia sat down and said to Li Luming, "I'll give you a task. Take a few capable female disciples to Wei County and kill a man. Don't kill him directly, but let him die in an accident. This man bullies men and women, and the people are very angry. He is a local bully and his death is not a pity!"
Prince of Han Yang Liang once again escaped danger by luck. His father called him over, threw the three letters in his face, and scolded him severely. Although he felt ashamed, he finally returned the three letters to him.
His father always favored his youngest son, causing Yang Liang to make big mistakes time and time again, yet he was able to escape by luck time and time again.
Although the emperor forgave Yang Liang this time, he also deprived him of the Ministry of Revenue, which he had just given him, and transferred it to Prince of Jin Yang Guang.
However, Yang Liang did not care. He was not very interested in the Ministry of Revenue. What he wanted more was the Ministry of Personnel. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Personnel was still firmly controlled by the Crown Prince, and he could not get it.
Inside the mansion, Yang Liang was listening to his subordinates' report with an annoyed look on his face. Zhao Chu, the magistrate of Wannian County who had just joined his service not long ago, was assassinated.
Yang Liang was so angry that he slammed his fist on the table, "This bastard!"
Of course, Yang Liang was scolding Crown Prince Yang Yong. He knew very well that it was definitely the Crown Prince who did it. When the Crown Prince found out that Zhao Chu had turned to be loyal to him, he killed him, this despicable guy.
Yang Liang gritted his teeth and said, "It's rude not to reciprocate. He dared to assassinate my people, so I will kill his people too!"
Qiao Huan, a nearby staff counselor, was startled and quickly advised: "Assassinating a court official is a serious crime. Once the emperor finds out that it was the crown prince who did it, he will no longer be the crown prince. It's a good thing that he likes assassination, but there will always be times when he fails. But the prince must not follow suit. If the prince is discovered, there will be no hope for him to succeed the throne."
"But I feel unwilling to accept that Zhao Chu died in vain!"
Qiao Huan whispered, "Your Highness, as I said before, the most urgent task is to obtain military power. If Your Highness wants to obtain the throne, it is absolutely impossible without military power."
Yang Liang nodded, "You are right, military power is the most important thing. If there are conditions, we must fight for it. If there are no conditions, we must create conditions to fight for it."
He took two steps with his hands behind his back, then turned around and asked, "Have the members of the Northern Qi National Defense Association come to Chang'an?"
Qiao Huan nodded, "They have already arrived in Chang'an, and I have contacted them. Your Highness, do you want to meet them?"
Yang Liang needed to create turmoil so that he would have the opportunity to lead the troops, and the Baoguo Association had great influence in Hebei. If they were willing to cooperate with him, then he would be halfway to gaining military power.
Yang Liang pondered for a long time and said, "Arrange the time and place. I want to meet them secretly!"
"I humbly obey my orders!"
(End of this chapter)