The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 199

The Tiger Warriors, like gods of war, charged into the crowd with long swords, and no one could withstand them. The weapons in the hands of these private soldiers could not even break through their defenses.

In an instant, shouts of killing and cries of agony echoed through the night sky.

Zhou Chu's home in Suzhou Prefecture was surrounded by residences, not open spaces, so before the war, Zhou Chu had already arranged for the Imperial Guards to block all the alleyways.

These private soldiers couldn't even scatter and escape; those who tried to flee were all killed by the Jinyiwei who had been waiting for them.

The entire war was not particularly complex; in fact, it could be described as one-sided. Once these men realized they couldn't possibly wound the army in front of them, their morale collapsed, and they began to flee.

Under the combined attack of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Tiger Legion, none of these private soldiers managed to escape; they were all annihilated by Zhou Chu's men.

"The Imperial Guards will stay and clean up the battlefield. The Tiger Legion will follow me."

Zhou Chu naturally wouldn't let such a good opportunity pass by. Since someone was taking the blame, he would be letting Cui Wenkui and Xia Yan down if he didn't take advantage of the situation.

Zhou Chu led the Tiger Legion and swept through almost half of Suzhou overnight. The mansions of wealthy merchants and officials in the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce within this area were completely ransacked by the Tiger Legion. The Tiger Legion led the way, with the Embroidered Uniform Guard following behind to help with the ransacking.

It was called ransacking, but it was actually looting, and the speed was many times faster than ransacking.

The wealth and treasures of these people filled carriages. Hearing the shouts of killing outside, all the people of Suzhou kept their doors tightly shut, and not a single one dared to come out.

Zhou Chu led the Tiger Legion to loot until dawn, then immediately stopped. Although they had looted as quickly as possible, it was only the latter half of the night, and they only managed to raid about twenty or thirty houses at most. But that was enough, enough to make Cui Wenkui and his men suffer for a long time.

Zhou Chu wanted to make these people feel the pain, to make them think carefully before they act against him again, and to consider whether they could bear the consequences of failure.

If they don't have to bear any consequences after each time they do something to themselves, they will keep trying to do it to themselves.

You can only commit a thief in a thousand days, but there is no way to guard against a thief in a thousand days.

After the house was searched, all the Imperial Guards returned to their posts and were searched. In such a chaotic and dark situation, it was inevitable that many people would tamper with the property.

Zhou Chu could even foresee that many of the Imperial Guards would probably hide some things along the way. He was too lazy to investigate each one of them, since everyone could only hide so much. It was a robbery after all, so there was no need to investigate too thoroughly. Let them hide whatever they wanted; they couldn't hide much anyway.

The amount of wealth obtained from this raid was so great that Zhou Chu didn't even bother to count it. He kept only the valuables, worth about ten million guan, to be used as military expenses. The rest was sent to the dock to be loaded onto ships and transported directly to the port of Tianjin, from where it would be shipped to the capital.

This route is the safest and fastest.

The stolen money must be sent to the capital as quickly as possible; otherwise, things may change.

Zhou Chu did not make a move against Cui Wenkui and Xia Yan. Firstly, he couldn't find out where the two were. Since they had already made their move, they must have been prepared for failure and would not have stayed at home.

Secondly, Xia Yan is more useful to Zhou Chu if he is alive than dead. There cannot be only one voice in the court. If everyone in the court is on Zhou Chu's side, then Zhou Chu will be in danger.

For the emperor, there needs to be different voices in the court; what the emperor needs is balance.

Keeping Xia Yan around gives Zhou Chu a lot of room to maneuver. Once Xia Yan dies, Yang Yiqing won't be able to hold office for long either. After Yang Yiqing retires, who in the court will still stand against Zhou Chu?

Therefore, Zhou Chu needs Xia Yan to live.

Political struggles are never simply a matter of life and death; often, political enemies are also interdependent.

Cui Wenkui and Xia Yan learned what had happened the night before early the next morning.

Xia Yan was so frightened that he almost ran back to the capital, but Zhang Cong stopped him.

"Why is this, Lord Xia? The matter His Majesty entrusted to us has not yet been completed. Now that such chaos has broken out in Suzhou, we should investigate thoroughly before we can give His Majesty an explanation."

Looking at Zhang Cong's self-righteous demeanor, Xia Yan wanted nothing more than to strangle him. Was this a question of whether or not to investigate? Xia Yan was genuinely worried that Zhou Chu's men would sneak over and kill him that night.

Xia Yan was scared, really scared!

Four or five thousand people vanished without a trace, without even a splash? Not a single survivor.

Xia Yan didn't even dare to think about it. Could it be that Zhou Chu was secretly hiding an army of tens of thousands of people? Looking around Suzhou, where could so many people be hidden?

Only now did Xia Yan truly realize how deep the murky waters of Jiangnan were—so deep that he could easily drown if he wasn't careful. Since becoming an official, Xia Yan had never felt such fear. This feeling of not having his own life in his own hands sent chills down his spine, making him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.

But Zhang Cong was preventing him from leaving this place.

In fact, it wasn't just Xia Yan who couldn't understand it; Cui Wenkui couldn't understand it either. What kind of army could so silently annihilate four or five thousand private soldiers without leaving a single survivor?

If such an army were truly hidden within Suzhou, wouldn't they be able to take his life at any moment?

Even if I were to mobilize the troops stationed in Jiangnan Province, I doubt I could be a match for this kind of force.

The more Cui Wenkui thought about it, the more uneasy he felt, and the more frightened he became. But unlike Xia Yan, who could run to the capital when he was scared, Cui Wenkui was the governor of Jiangnan Province and couldn't go anywhere.

Only then did Cui Wenku realize how terrifying Zhou Chu was. He discovered that he had never truly understood the extent of Zhou Chu's hidden strength.

As for the homes that Zhou Chu's men looted last night, Cui Wenkui and Xia Yan were helpless and even had to find a way to cover for Zhou Chu. Otherwise, once the truth of the matter came out, firstly, they would not be able to clear their names, and secondly, they were really afraid that Zhou Chu would overturn the table.

They dared to be so arrogant before because they thought they had an absolute advantage. Cui Wenkui controlled the military power of the entire Jiangnan Province. It would be easy for him to deal with Zhou Chu.

But now they realize they were wrong, terribly wrong; they underestimated Zhou Chu's strength.

At this moment, both Cui Wenkui and Xia Yan were afraid. They hoped that in the future, they could discuss matters concerning Suzhou Prefecture and Jiangnan Province with Zhou Chu and not take any action. They wanted to find a way to get rid of this plague god first.

The entire Suzhou Prefecture, and even the entire Jiangnan Province, seemed to be shrouded in a gloom.

"My lord, something terrible has happened! Zhou Chu has arrived with the Imperial Guards, and it seems they're here to interrogate us."

One of Cui Wenku's subordinates rushed up to him in a panic.