Xie Ying regained some strength and took out a brown paper package from her bosom—a brocade pouch she had hidden earlier. She dared not lose something His Highness had given her, so she had added an extra layer of protection on Twin Islands.
Fortunately, the kraft paper was waterproof, so the inside didn't get wet.
She carefully compared the red paper Tai Sui amulet. There was another piece of paper.
Xie Ying was immediately puzzled. Where did this piece of paper come from?
The old man's ambiguous smile flashed through her mind. She immediately shook her head: "How could that be?"
She carefully unfolded the paper and found it was indeed a silver note. The vermilion seal on it gleamed brightly, bearing the four large characters: "Tianjing Tongxing" (Tianjing Pass).
Moreover, the amount of silver notes was forty million taels.
Xie Ying: ? ? ? ? ?
Could it be fake? She wasn't sure, and she'd never heard of a bank called Tianjing Tongxing. Tianjing didn't have such a bank. Could it be in Weidu? Xie Ying was stunned again. She sat cross-legged in front of the fire, and in the golden firelight, the banknote with a denomination of forty million taels of silver was clearly visible, with genuine gold thread around the edges, and the other side reflecting the firelight, highlighting its rarity.
Xie Ying almost dropped the silver note into the fire because her hand trembled.
It's true!
There's no such thing as a silver note worth forty million taels of silver. Xie Ying was very skeptical, but the note was just too realistic; judging from the material alone, it was worth a fortune. Who would spend thousands of taels of gold thread for a piece of paper? And there was a seal at the bottom, which looked like Si Lei's seal.
How could Si Lei possibly stamp such a large sum of money? It's practically a treasury.
Xie Ying couldn't understand why Si Lei's seal was on the banknote, and what about the Tianjing Pass? Was it located in Weidu?
No, she has to return to Weidu tomorrow to report this to her third uncle. She needs to have him go to Tianjing Tongxing as soon as possible to confirm whether this ten million silver note can really be withdrawn.
If it's a huge sum of 40 million, can Tianjing Tongxing come up with it?
Meanwhile, a storm was brewing within the capital. Si Lei was deeply disappointed in his eldest son. He reprimanded Si Tang, seizing the opportunity to reclaim his power.
The magistrate claimed that he had made contact with Tianjing and had the support of Marshal Xie.
Si Lei was dissatisfied and that night informed the officials that he intended to dismiss the Crown Prince, declaring him no longer the Chief Minister. The officials immediately submitted petitions to withdraw their requests. Internal strife erupted once more within the capital.
While facing external pressure, Si Tang also had to deal with Si Lei. At first, he was mindful of their father-son relationship and endured Si Lei's relentless pressure. But Si Lei threatened to strip him of his title as heir apparent.
Si Tang finally lost his temper and lashed out at Si Lei. He then brought up Si Lei's past misdeeds against his brothers, especially against the Emperor of Xicheng. As long as this incriminating evidence was brought back to the old Fenjin territory, even if Fenjin currently had no prince, if Si Lei remained unruly, Tianjing would definitely replace him with a prince. Besides, the former Marshal Yuan had said he wanted to leave two Fenjin princes.
Only one remained. It's hard to guarantee that the former Si clan, who had divided Jin, wouldn't take a share. Now that the new capital is ruled by Princess Feng Ning, if she learns that the late emperor was left to die without Si Lei's help, she will certainly not rely on Si Lei again. She might even retaliate.
Although Si Lei was furious, he wasn't so foolish as to give up the throne. Si Tang used these leverages to temporarily suppress Si Lei.
At worst, we'll just give up and do whatever we want. What Father has done over the years will be punished, it's just that the time hasn't come yet.
When Xie Lanzhi learned of the power struggle between the Si father and son, she lost interest after hearing just one listen.
Little Phoenix also sent a secret agent to deliver a message to her.
Xie Lanzhi repeatedly checked the contents of the letter, then asked the secret agent, "Qiqi and Qianqian?"
The spy said, "There was a kidnapping incident at the palace before, but luckily we laid an ambush in advance."
So, the next stand-in should be either Qiqi or Qianqian. Xie Lanzhi paced back and forth in the hall, meaning that the other party had other purposes besides taking the stand-in.
Other purposes are not important for the time being; what is important is that she wants to eliminate Aqina's substitute.
This matter cannot be delayed any longer.
“I’m not worried about those two children for now,” Xie Lanzhi said. “You stay near Weidu and help look for Xie Ying.”
She could sense that Xie Ying was still alive.
Then I thought of Si Hong's faked death. The hole in that corpse.
Xie Lanzhi's expression was serious, and her eyelids twitched, giving off a sense of danger.
He's a substitute who has taken over the mantle of destiny. He's no ordinary mortal.
The thought that Anshan might be a woman came to mind. If the hole in the corpse was made by her, then even if they found her, they might not be able to capture her bare-handed.
Capturing her is also a difficult task.
The spy later revealed another piece of information: "His Highness ordered us to guard the banks in various places with utmost care, precisely to prevent a repeat of the same mistake."
"Moreover, such a large sum of money cannot be easily moved out of Weidu."
"As long as the money remains in Weidu, the initiative is in our hands." Xie Lanzhi thought about how Weidu was a mixed bag, and some forces might not even listen to the imperial court. So even if they knew about the money, there was a possibility that they might embezzle it.
That old man wouldn't be so foolish as to leave the money in the hands of local officials. If it's not in the hands of the government, there's only one possibility: it's in the hands of ordinary people.
"There's also new intelligence revealed by the fake Anshan," the spy said. "He said that Anshan has a peculiar smell of smoke on him. It has a refreshing effect."
Xie Lanzhi's face darkened, and she quickly thought of menthol tobacco. The characteristics provided by the spy matched Marilyn's perfectly.
Then she could deduce Anshan's identity.
The spy left.
Tianjing Tongxing, a money exchange in the suburbs of Weidu City, now only has two young servants and a deputy manager left.
The assistant manager's surname is Lin.
Seeing that the manager was still waiting for the head manager to return, the two servants couldn't help but say, "Manager Lin, the head manager might not be coming back today either."
"Why don't we just close down?"
Manager Lin said, "No, the head manager has treated us well. He instructed that no one can bring money unless they have a banknote personally printed by him."
"But we've already offended the Huns." The two servants thought of how, just two days ago, some Huns had dared to show their faces in Weidu and even asked for money.
They refused without hesitation, even when presented with silver notes stamped with the shopkeeper's seal. The Huns, enraged, stormed the place, but fortunately, a passing soldier came to investigate and scared them away.
Otherwise, how could the three of them possibly hold out?!
Manager Lin said, "Don't be afraid. We Central Plains people have completely surrounded Weidu. The Huns dare not do anything to us."
"We just need to wait for the head manager to appear."
The two servants couldn't persuade him otherwise. The scene of the two servants and Manager Lin guarding the shop was witnessed by one person, whose sinister aura lingered for a long time.
Soldiers kept pouring into the royal city, and Si Lei, upon hearing this, assumed that Si Tang had brought them there. Si Tang knew what was going on, but he didn't say anything.
He was repaying a favor to the marshal, so he turned a blind eye to Xie Lanzhi's actions. Occasionally, officials would report that Xie Bing was occupying their important positions and might seize power. The head of the department would proactively provide subsidies to the occupied areas to appease those people.
The officials all assumed that the Crown Prince had asked the Xie family for help in order to oppose the Prince. Now that Xie Bing had appeared in the capital, it was an open provocation of the Prince, an attempt to support the Crown Prince.
Just when everyone thought that a power transition between Si Lei and his son was inevitable.
At night, a bombing raid in the royal city drew the attention of Xie soldiers. In the eastern district of the city, one of Xie soldiers died. Strangely, there were no signs of bombing wounds on his body. Instead, most of his ribs were shattered, with bones piercing his lungs, causing massive internal bleeding, leading to suffocation.
Xie Lanzhi changed into Xie Bing's military uniform and personally examined the body. She discovered that Xie Bing had been beaten to death.
That was truly cruel. She closed the corpse's eyes.
Xie Lanzhi's expression was cold and stern, and she clenched her fists.
Soon, the spies pointed out that the cannon fire came from the backyard of the Prince's mansion.
Although it's unknown who fired the cannon, it conveniently gave the Xie family a reason to send troops.
Xie Lanzhi immediately ordered, "Send troops to surround the Prince's mansion, especially the backyard. Capture every single person."
Five hundred Xie soldiers rushed into the Prince's mansion. Si Lei, wearing an overcoat, came out and saw the Xie soldiers. He was about to yell at them when one of the soldiers immediately clasped his hands in a fist and said politely, "Your Highness, for your safety, please go to the General's mansion to hide. Also, the Heir Apparent has already gone there."
Hearing that his rebellious son had also gone, Si Lei didn't want to go, but the sound of the explosion still frightened him.
He asked, "Where is the Princess?"
Xie Bing replied, "The Princess Consort has already been taken to the General's Mansion by the Crown Prince."
After saying this, Si Lei's disgust for his son lessened somewhat. Si Lei followed Xie Bing out without suspicion.
Once Si Lei left, the entire palace was immediately surrounded.
Every maid in the Prince's mansion's backyard escaped being apprehended and interrogated by Xie Bing. Xie Bing even kicked down the door and brazenly went looking for the Princess. The Princess's room was empty; Xie Bing even searched the bed. This group of roughnecks couldn't find even a mouse.
One of the soldiers, Xie Bing, took the opportunity to rummage through drawers and cabinets, finding many cigarette holders, all inlaid with jade. He was immediately overcome by greed.
Seeing this, another Xie Bing quickly reminded him, "Let's stop today. I heard that the Marshal has infiltrated our ranks tonight, and he might see us."
"What are you afraid of?!" Xie Bing, who was holding the cigarette holder, had just put the jade mouthpiece into his pocket when the door closed and the room went dark.
A disreputable figure descended from the beam, grabbing Xie Bing by the neck with one hand and twisting it gently, causing a cracking sound from the bones.
The two Xie soldiers' legs, which were kicking in the air, suddenly dropped.
Chapter 191 The Battle of the Substitutes
"Have you finished searching the house?" Xie Bing, who was guarding outside, had no idea what was happening inside. He only saw that the door was closed and assumed that the search had not been completed.
The leader ordered his men to rush in and take a look. Just as Xie Bing reached the door, there was a loud bang—not the sound of a cannon, but the tightly closed wooden door was smashed into pieces, and two corpses were thrown out from inside.
It hit Xie Bing, who was standing at the door, right on top of him.
Everyone exclaimed in surprise, "Something's wrong!"
The soldiers retreated, weapons raised against the door. An irregular hole had been smashed through the two doors, its dark opening resembling a giant eye in an abyss. Inside, a chilling and murderous aura filled the air.
Upon hearing the noise, Xie Lanzhi rushed into the courtyard. Holding a long halberd in one hand, she glanced at the corpse on the ground. Its neck had been twisted to the other end.
Her face darkened: "Everyone, retreat outside and stand guard."
"Yes!" Xie Bing and his men immediately cleared the courtyard. They knew very well that the people inside were no ordinary people. They weren't blind; the corpses that had just been thrown out had their heads facing backward.
Xie Bing wasn't unfamiliar with dead bodies; they'd seen arms and legs chopped to pieces. They were used to it. But this kind of killing, like twisting a chicken's neck, sent chills down their spines and made their scalps tingle. It showed the extent of the killer's cruelty.
Xie Lanzhi stood alone at the doorway, feeling a gaze fixed on her from inside. It seemed someone was quite interested in her.
This feeling was similar to when she encountered Artur. Only this time, the Stand was a little different. The other person wasn't like Artur, a person who kept promises and followed the rules. To be precise, Artur was a truly honorable enemy.
But the stand-in in front of him was the opposite.
"After Artur, I met Aqina's double again." Xie Lanzhi tentatively asked, "You are Anshan?"
The people inside remained silent. Xie Lanzhi continued, "If you don't mind, we can sit down and talk. Perhaps we can resolve this through non-violent means."
"When I was chasing the double you arranged, I also learned that you did not die willingly in place of Archina."
"This shows you want to live. Since you want to live, why don't we...?"
Before she could finish saying the word "cooperation," another piece of furniture was smashed out of the room—a stool. Xie Lanzhi picked up the stool and put it aside.