Yang Ge rushed to the dock and from a distance, he saw Li Jincheng swinging his knife, chopping at people.
He casually flicked a copper coin, knocking Li Jincheng’s knife askew, then leaped onto Li Jincheng’s boat. After a quick glance around, he saw several bodies of Lianhuan Fort deckhands already lying on the deck...
Three million taels of silver had flown away, yet it hadn’t stirred any emotion within him.
However, seeing these bodies, he suddenly felt weary at heart...
Li Jincheng’s face was terribly somber, his gaze fixed tightly on the underlings before him, one hand gripping the steel knife so tightly it squeaked.
"It’s okay, I’m here."
Yang Ge gently patted his shoulder, slowly took the steel knife from his hand and threw it to the ground.
He then turned his head and said to Wu Eryong, who was running up, "Er Yong, arrange for some brothers to clean this place up. Take the rest into town to have a good meal and rest."
Wu Eryong, struggling to control his breathing, instinctively looked at Li Jincheng.
Li Jincheng bit his lip forcefully, took several deep breaths to suppress his rage, and said stiffly, "We’ll do as Er-ye commands."
"Yes."
Wu Eryong breathed a sigh of relief, then waved to the crowd, "Liu Da, Zhang Er, take your men and clean this place up. Wipe up the blood and after it’s done, stay on your own ships. We’ll bring some food back for you. The rest of the brothers, follow me into the city to feast..."
The underlings huddled together felt relieved and were tearfully grateful as they bowed to Yang Ge and Li Jincheng saying, "Thank you, young master, thank you, Er-ye."
Li Jincheng grimaced silently, while Yang Ge could only wave on his behalf, "Go on, eat well and fill yourselves up. This meal is on your young boss."
The underlings were cautiously about to say something, but Wu Eryong had already loudly called them off the boat, fearing they might say something wrong and provoke the young boss to start chopping again...
Yang Ge stood beside Li Jincheng, watching as Wu Eryong’s men efficiently handled the bodies and cleaned the deck’s blood before bowing and retreating.
"This mess is my fault for not managing things properly, a loss of face for our brothers!"
After ensuring they were alone on the boat, Li Jincheng spoke through clenched teeth harshly, "I’ll take the loss this time. I’ll ask Yang to organize a handover, and your share will be returned eventually. You don’t need to worry about it; Lianhuan Fort will give everyone an explanation!"
Yang Ge opened his mouth as if to say something but decided against it, pushing Li Jincheng into the cabin to sit down, and spoke soothingly, "You and I are brothers, not outsiders. I’m not going to sugarcoat this... This incident was clearly targeting me. Whoever did this was either confident I wouldn’t trace it back to them, or they weren’t afraid of me retaliating. Either way, it’s not something Lianhuan Fort can handle on its own, so don’t try to take this on yourself!"
Li Jincheng’s head lowered, his eyes blazing, "I don’t care who they were targeting. The silver was lost from a Lianhuan Fort boat, so it’s a Lianhuan Fort matter... The men of the Li Family are not yet extinct!"
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
Yang Ge wanted to persuade him further, but he swallowed his words and instead said, "Alright then, tell me, how do you plan to investigate? I used to work in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, I specialize in this; let me give you some pointers."
Li Jincheng fell silent for a long while before speaking vehemently, "No matter how clever their tricks are, even if they can use the Five Ghosts Transport Skill, without an insider collaborating, they couldn’t possibly move the money right under my nose without making a sound!"
Yang Ge retorted, "So you just slash wildly without clear evidence? Without proof, you act ruthlessly; I’m afraid you won’t recover the money, but Lianhuan Fort will fall apart first!"
He knew well that among the underlings he had just let go, most likely some were insiders.
Three million taels of silver, weighing over one hundred tons, and Li Jincheng had brought four or five boats. Without insiders colluding, how could thieves spirit away so much silver silently?
But the problem now was that there were no clues, how to investigate? Surely they couldn’t just detain all the underlings for severe interrogation, right?
Such crude methods might work against those who are easily swayed by money, but they were useless against the truly stubborn!
Li Jincheng could say nothing in response, yet he was boiling with rage inside, "So tell me, where should we start the investigation? Do we start from every dock and port along the way? We can’t possibly send people to search all 3,000 miles of waterway, can we?"
Yang Ge chuckled and replied calmly, "See, this is the difference between you handling it and me handling it. If you do it, you must find evidence proving who did this, whereas if I handle it, I can make those capable of this crime produce evidence themselves proving they didn’t do it."
Li Jincheng, stunned, suppressed his anger with his confusion, his head full of question marks as he looked at him, "Huh?"
Yang Ge extended a hand, "I know exactly who in Wei would dare provoke me openly: the court, the Four Elders, plus one Towering Pavilion."
"As for the court, I’m sure it wasn’t the emperor who made the move. With the emperor’s temperament, if he acts, he will go directly after me. This act, which poses no harm to me but only increases my dissatisfaction with the court, is definitely not his doing."
"As long as it’s not the emperor’s doing, I can ask the emperor for people from the court side. If he doesn’t hand someone over, that’s fine too. If I find out it was someone from the court, they better not blame me for being ruthless!"