Chapter Thirty-Seven: A Big and Fat Sheep

  "Looking for death!"

  Yang Meng has already said this, and Zhou Shi Qing also understood that the case of Yiliang Dianshi was aimed at himself, but he wanted to let him surrender, and Yang's little brat was not enough.

  "What a joke!"

  Blocking Zhou Shi Qing's punch that was meant to rip out his heart and lungs, Yang Meng used a "sticky mountain lean" technique and instantly closed the distance into Zhou Shi Qing's chest.

  This week, Shi Qing's age is not small, but his hands are extremely agile, and he dodged Yang Meng's powerful and heavy mountain-leaning move with a few slides.

  Zhou Shiqing was after all older in years, and compared to Yang Meng, he was somewhat slower. Dodging was no problem, but escaping would be difficult.

  "Get lost!"

  As Zhou Shi Qing let out a loud roar, Yang Meng only felt a surge of dizziness in his chest and suddenly retreated a big step. What kind of thing did this old man hit him with? Fortunately, he had carefully worn armor, otherwise this thing would have been fatal.

  "Go to bed!"

  Yang Meng's sudden movement caught Zhou Shi Qing off guard, and while he was still in a daze, Yang Meng took advantage of the opportunity to launch a sneak attack, kicking out with one foot. Zhou Shi Qing's calf snapped loudly in response.

  Zhou Shi Qing can't die yet, this old thing has a hidden weapon that Yang Meng didn't think of, who knows what else he has on him, to be safe, Yang Meng knocked him out with a hand knife.

  "Got it! Hold on!"

  Zhou Shi Qing was handed over to Wei Tuo Zi, and Yang Meng led his men to start sweeping the Zhou family's farmhands.

  The number of people in the Zhou family's estate is not small, apart from a hundred or so guards and dozens of members of the Zhou family, most of the rest are slaves. In order to prevent mistaken killings, Yang Meng had also instructed that those who do not resist should not be killed.

  But this is ultimately a robbery, and there are always some who are not awake. It's impossible to avoid mistaken killings, and these people can only make amends afterwards.

  The strong men of the Zhou family, are indeed quite impressive, in their thirties or forties, at the peak of their strength, with high-quality swords and knives in hand, often requiring several knife-wielding hands to take down just one Zhou family guard.

  Fortunately, Yang Meng's plan was meticulous, and many of the elite Zhou family guards were killed by arrows and crossbow bolts. Those who could engage in close combat with the Yang family's knife-wielding men were considered lucky.

  It's not without trouble, the biggest trouble is that among the ten good hands in Zhou Shi Qing's courtyard, only three were killed in a surprise attack, and the remaining seven are still resisting stubbornly. Twenty or thirty knife hands surrounded Zhou Shi Qing's small courtyard, but they couldn't do anything about the last seven good hands of the Zhou family.

  To protect their own safety, Zhou Shiqing also spent a lot of money. The clothes of these seven people were all golden armor, which reflected dazzling light in the firelight.

  The knife-wielding hands that pounced on them, although they also had armor, but the good hands of the Zhou family, with rich experience, only targeted the arms and thighs, in just twenty or thirty minutes, had already disabled more than a dozen of Yang Meng's knife-wielding hands.

  "Out of my way!"

  Yang Meng gripped the Ghost Head Knife tightly in his hand, pushed aside the outer knife hands, and was about to go up for a bloody battle.

  "Third Master, I'm going!"

  Ma Qinghu grabbed Yang Meng tightly. The several masters of the Zhou family were too powerful, and if San Ye made a mistake, these knife hands would not be able to gain any advantage.

  "Let's go together!"

  Seizing the opportunity, Yang Meng rushed up and kicked one of them flying, then swung his ghost-headed knife and slashed at the back of another's head.

  The several good hands of the Zhou family are indeed extraordinary. In the midst of the melee, they can still see six roads and hear eight directions. The one who was ambushed had his single knife directly guarding the back of his head.

  The single knife in his hand was not bad, but Yang Meng's ghost head knife was even better. After the collision, first a spark of fire, then this single knife was chopped off, and then it was flying half a brain.

  They say the Qing dynasty has no good swords, but this one in my hand is indeed a good sword. When cutting through objects, there's some resistance, but when it comes to human flesh, it's surprisingly smooth, beheading someone doesn't even require effort.

  The one kicked flying by him had already been chopped, the remaining five, facing a few more knife-wielding hands, couldn't withstand the pack of wolves. These good hands from the Zhou family were pounced on one after another, then dismembered.

  "Search every room carefully, don't let anyone escape, take out all the ammunition from the tiger squatting cannon and fire gun, be extra careful, it's almost done, don't lose your life!"

  The Zhou family compound gradually calmed down, except for the countless torches swaying in the darkness, the Zhou family, which had just been bustling with people, suddenly fell silent.

  "Have them identify one by one, find all the people from the Zhou family, and find all the guards from the Zhuang Ding estate. Not a single servant or helper can be missing. If anyone is missing, find that person. Anyone who tries to run away will be killed on the spot!"

  Now is the crucial moment, and news cannot be leaked. Although Yang Meng doesn't want to kill many people, if anyone is not obedient, he is also not afraid of mistakenly killing them!

  It's not the farming season, nor is it the time to collect rent. The Zhou family's household is still quite complete, except for a few servants who have business at home. From Zhou Shiqing down to the slaves, everyone in the Zhou family is in the courtyard.

  "Qin Zikui, find a few large houses and let them expose each other. Those who have done evil deeds, as well as Zhou Shiqing's iron rods, not one will be left! As for those who sell people, they can stay, I have use for them!"

  The Zhou family has many servants and helpers. Killing them all would be a sin. It's enough to kill Zhou Shi Qing's iron rods and those who have done evil things.

  Things have settled down in the Zhuangzi, and those responsible for surrounding it should also withdraw. Otherwise, the bright lights outside the manor will attract attention.

  "Bring all the horses in, leave fifty people behind, hide in a secret place to continue surrounding the village, don't light fire torches, if there's an unusual situation report immediately, send a few people to Kunming to inform Ding Guan Jia, let him send an accountant over."

  Fighting, killing and looting are Yang Meng's strong points, but when it comes to managing property and goods, he is not good at it. The industries of the Zhou family will have to be handled by the accountants of the Yang family. Some things involving imperial laws can only be understood clearly by them.

  "Mei! Let's go! Go take a look at Zhou's big cow!"

  The big frame thing is done, it's time to deal with Zhou Dabao too, this old thing should pay back the principal and interest.

  "Third Master! What's on your body?"

  The Zhou family's gate was decorated with lanterns and torches. Tang You noticed that Yang Meng had something pinned to his chest.

  "What's this? Zhou Dabao's hidden weapon! This old thing still has a lot of tricks up its sleeve, almost knocked me out!"

  Thinking of the heavy blow to his chest, Yang Meng also had a lingering fear, out of caution he wore armor, his armor was specially made, double-layered copper plate and double-layered leather, the weight of over 10 kilograms was not a burden for him at all, if it were another swordsman, they would definitely not wear such heavy armor.

  "But Zhou Shiqing's sleeve arrow? That thing is poisonous!"

  As for Zhou Shi Qing's methods, Tang Mei Yi was well aware of them. As soon as she heard that Yang Meng had been hit by a hidden weapon, her heart tensed up immediately.

  "This son of a bitch!"

  As soon as he heard the poison, Yang Meng was also startled, and should not have hurt his skin! He bowed his head to take a closer look, five or six exquisite small arrows were inserted in the chest position.

  Entering the Zhou family's mansion, they found a room. With Tang You's help, Yang Meng removed his clothes and armor, revealing his sturdy chest. Tang You held a candle and carefully examined Yang Meng's chest, but didn't find any wounds, and finally let out a sigh of relief.

  Yang Meng was lucky to be holding a leather armor, just one layer of leather armor away from the arrows piercing his chest. The small arrows looked black and oily, definitely not something good on them.

  "House search!"

  Yang Meng was furious, nearly losing his life. This damn Zhou Dasao had many tricks up his sleeve, and the power of these sleeve arrows was almost as strong as a handgun.

  Now let's just take a look at Zhou Shi Qing's family background, and Yang Meng's anger in his heart will be resolved. If Zhou Shi Qing doesn't have any oil or water, then let Qin Zi Xi turn him into a human-shaped candle and light it up.

  Confiscate Zhou's family property without using Mr. Accountant, just in time to sort out the goods while waiting.

  Several of the Zhou family's men were rounded up and taken away by Yang Meng's henchmen, who began to seize the Zhou family's openly held assets.

  Box after box of gold and silver, piece after piece of silk, under the leadership of the steward of the Zhou family, were moved out from the warehouse of the Zhou family. Yang Meng also knew that all his men were poor fellows who had never seen the world, so in order to protect these things well, Yang Meng let the stewards of the Zhou family direct the swordsmen to gather up these valuables.

  Good fellow, Yi Liang Zhou Shi Qing, just the silver ingots alone, packed in boxes, there are over a hundred boxes, nearly five hundred thousand taels, and gold bricks also have over a million taels, as for other foreign currencies, such as eagle dollars, they are piled up in big bags.

  This week, Shi Qing relied on the strong fortification of his mansion and piled all these things in the treasury. To be honest, if it wasn't for a well-planned plan, Yang Meng thought that forcibly attacking the Zhou family's mansion was basically impossible.

  There were also more than a dozen large wooden chests filled with land deeds, porcelain, paintings, and gold and silver ornaments. Because they were fragile, perishable, or easily damaged, Yang Meng did not let the porters touch them.

  Two old hands have already been killed, and Yang Meng doesn't want them to make mistakes again. The accountants in the Yang family are all old men, who must be better at this than these knife-wielding killers.

  Zhou Shiqing's estate was also built with great effort, the central main hall has nine bays and one water feature, with fine workmanship on the green glazed tiles, the mountain walls of the houses are all made of clear water carvings, clean and tidy, with even seams.

  Surrounding the Jiuzheng Hall is a circle of two-story flat-roofed small buildings, with doors opening inward. These small buildings look ordinary at first glance, but upon closer inspection, they are actually city walls.

  Each transparent flower window is a shooting hole, and the nearly one-meter-thick mountain wall has an absolutely strong defensive power, with all loopholes on top. The defensive power of this Zhou family manor far exceeds that of Yang's martial arts village.

  No matter the Zhou family's fields, just the floating wealth and this manor in hand, he would have made a huge profit. This manor can completely serve as a military camp! With this manor, who among those with no vision would dare to covet his belongings? Of course, except for the imperial army.

  No matter how strong this villa is, it's just a villa and not a fortress. Even if cannons are mounted on the framework, even the thickest city walls can't withstand the imperial army.

  "Third Master, there are quite a few warehouses and stables behind the manor, why don't you go take a look."

  The speaker was Ma Qinghu, had he made another major discovery? Down the small building, Yang Meng brought Tang Youwu and followed Ma Qinghu through the door and into the warehouse behind the manor.

  "Third Master doesn't know what's inside, and none of you brothers have opened it. Do you think we can open it now?"

  Ma Qinghu is not bad, obedient, cautious, and desperate in battle. Yang Meng decided to cultivate him well from now on. This thing was done quite well, the warehouses of the Zhou family are better than ordinary people's houses, and they definitely won't be used to store miscellaneous things.

  "Get someone from the Zhou family's household staff over here and have these landlords give me a tour."

  In no time, Ma Qinghu dragged the steward of the Zhou family over, and the sudden slaughter thoroughly frightened this steward of the Zhou family, who still hasn't recovered to this day.

  "Get up! Tell Master Three what's stored in these warehouses. If you haven't committed any great evil, you won't die!"

  This coward won't budge without some benefits, Yang Meng doesn't want to kill more people either, as long as they haven't done evil deeds, letting them off is also a merit.

  As soon as he heard this, the steward of the Zhou family immediately became energetic and got up by himself without anyone pulling him.

  "Third Master, these are all grain warehouses and salt warehouses. These warehouses were built according to the imperial standard, not only solid but also with minimal loss of grain and salt. These granaries can hold 100,000 dan of grain, and the salt warehouses can store 5,000 dan of salt goods. The granary and salt warehouse are all full, and the Zhou family's grain from last year is all here."

  Wow! One million dan of grain, that's 50-60 thousand tons! Although it may not be worth much silver, but with this reserve, we can make a fortune in troubled times!

  "What's stored in those wooden warehouses?"

  At the end of these brick and tile warehouses, there is also a row of more than ten wooden buildings, but it's unknown what they store.

  "That's mountain-produced tobacco soil, Master has stored all high-quality Yun soil, now there are over 50,000 dan."

  One dan of tobacco is one hundred jin, five thousand dan is five million jin, it's issued! This time it's really issued, the Zhou family is indeed a big fat sheep.