Chapter 52: The Military's Dark Conspiracy

  Bai Jingzhou had been twice defeated by Lin Chunhong, losing both his wife and soldiers, and the resentment in his heart was hard to dispel, always thinking of revenge.

  He pondered that Lin Chunhong's power was hard to control, the key lay in the mutual growth of official position and business. To bring down Lin Chunhong, it was nothing more than starting from these two aspects, he prepared to first cut off Lin Chunhong's deep and long hands from business. After thinking for a while, he ordered his personal guard to summon the local tyrant Ma Xiang from Yiling State City.

  Ma Qiao had always been in a silent struggle with Wang Erming, and just as he thought his power was about to surpass Wang Er's, Wang Er suddenly transformed into Lin Chunhong's right-hand man. The pressure on Ma Qiao immediately increased, greatly affecting his income. When Ma Qiao's men went to collect protection fees from merchants, they would always get beaten up by the guards if they were caught. Those merchants had found a powerful backer and gradually stopped listening to Ma Qiao; some even sought out the guards' protection when Ma Qiao came to extort them. Now Ma Qiao no longer collected protection fees, his income plummeted, and his underlings lived like beggars, struggling to get by day by day. If things continued like this, Ma Qiao would soon be kicked out of Yiling's gang. On this day, Ma Qiao was sunbathing in a corner when he heard that Commander Qian had summoned him. Ma Qiao was shocked and didn't know what he had done to offend Commander Qian, so he nervously followed the guards to the White Mansion.

  Asa made a bow, seeing that Hakuchou's expression was still normal, she felt relieved. She humbly asked: "Your humble servant Asa greets you, sir. I don't know what orders you have for me?"

  Bai Jingzhou was playing with a jade horse in his hand, not even glancing at Ma Xiao, nor answering her question. Ma Xiao had no choice but to kneel down with her head bowed. After a long while, Bai Jingzhou carefully put the jade horse back into its box and asked absent-mindedly: "You probably have around 70 or 80 people in your hand, right?"

  Ma Xiu opened his eyes wide and cautiously replied: "Lord Bao, I have 56 brothers, we all make a living together."

  Bai Jingzhou nodded and said: "Not bad. How are all of you brothers doing?"

  Ma Xiang heard this and felt a deep sorrow in his heart. He sighed and said, "Brothers can only eat their fill, it's really not satisfying."

  Bai Jingzhou smiled slightly: "If this Yi Ling City didn't have Lin Chunhong's warehouse, your good days would be over!"

  Ma Xiu didn't know what Bai Jingzhou meant, and responded: "That goods warehouse has deep roots, how can it be said to have disappeared just like that?"

  Bai Jingzhou said with a smile: "That warehouse will be taken down soon, Lin Chunhong turned five hundred white pole soldiers into useless people, do you think Qin Zhuguo will let him go?"

  Ma Xiu was shocked and asked: "Qin Zhu Guo?"

  "It's not possible, even the Emperor himself has praised Qin Zhongguo! How ridiculous, and you thought you were well-informed!"

  Ma Xiu was overjoyed, but thinking of the well-trained and well-equipped guards, his expression turned gloomy again. Ma Xiu's expression did not escape Bai Jingzhou's eyes, and Bai Jingzhou said: "Really no guts, now it's time to beat the dog in the water, you Ma Xiu don't even have this little bit of vision?"

  Ma Xiao was also a quick-witted person, secretly pondering Bai Jingzhou's words and connecting them to the rumors from before. He finally understood what Bai Jingzhou had in mind: this guy wanted revenge on Lin Chunhong, but didn't dare take action himself, so he incited Ma Xiao to charge forward instead. Ma Xiao secretly despised Bai Jingzhou: just because he was born into a good family, he thought he could get away with being a useless pretty face. But Ma Xiao also harbored deep hatred for Lin Chunhong, and the opportunity to sabotage his warehouse was exactly what he had been waiting for. Now that Lin was ill, it was the perfect time to take his life. Conveniently, Bai Jingzhou was supporting him now, so he bowed his head even lower and asked: "I don't know how to proceed, please instruct me, sir!"

  Bai Jingzhou looked down on Ma Qian, if it weren't for the fact that he had 50 or 60 brothers familiar with Yiling in his hands, he wouldn't even bother to look at Ma Qian, let alone call him to speak at the White House. Bai Jingzhou was a bit annoyed by Ma Qian's impertinence, and coldly said: "You can use all your usual tricks like kidnapping, slander, and harassment, don't worry, with me backing you up, you can do whatever you want, I'll support you!"

  After finishing speaking, he waved his hand and ordered Ma Xiu to withdraw. After Ma Xiu withdrew, he thought all the way, feeling that for the time being, it's still not good to play too much with fire, otherwise, if Lin Chunhong is enraged, his own life will be hard to preserve. He decided to adopt a most stable method: spreading rumors. Let's see how the warehouse reacts first.

  In just a few days, rumors began to circulate in Yiling City: Lin Chunhong didn't actually save the White Pole soldier last time; it was all his doing that the White Pole soldier fell into the water!

  Qin Zhuguo organized a force of 20,000 in Shizhu County and was advancing downstream to capture Lin Chunhong.

  Do you know? Lin Chunhong's mentor Zheng Tiancheng saw that Lin Chunhong was about to be finished, so he quietly took the silver and ran away. I heard it was tens of millions of taels of silver! The Lin family is done for this time, they can't even pay out dividends!

  What's this, Lin Chunhong's fiancée Zhou Feng heard about it and has been making a fuss to change her marriage. Fortunately, his mother is formidable and manages Zhou Feng...

  All sorts of rumors and strange tales were circulating, leaving people speechless. This not only made the people of Yiling believe 70% of it, but also the workers in the warehouse were skeptical and asked Peng Xin one after another. Peng Xin was shocked when he heard this and quickly consulted with Zhou Shiliang. The two discussed it back and forth and felt that there must be someone secretly pushing this matter, and they believed that the person pushing it was either Ma Sui or Bai Jingzhou, or maybe both of them were involved.

  Apart from the workers' inquiries, some merchants or officials who had purchased shares also came to ask what was going on. Peng Xin carefully responded and spoke kindly, persuading each of them to leave with good words. Seeing that this approach would not work in the long run, Peng Xin hastily reported the matter to Lin Chunhong and suggested distributing dividends ahead of schedule to calm the merchants' nerves.

  At the same time, Peng Xin and Zhou Shiliang decided to take drastic measures against Ma Qian. Originally, Peng Xin thought that although Ma Qian was suspicious, there was no conclusive evidence, so it wasn't good to take action. But Zhou Shiliang was a person who was used to using thunderous methods to quickly cut through tangled situations. He believed that Ma Qian was a small fry, and getting rid of him would not only intimidate others but also because this guy himself was highly suspicious. Peng Xin agreed with this approach under Zhou Shiliang's instigation.

  On the fifteenth day of the first month, Yuanxiao Festival is a day to make noise with flower lanterns. After a year of hard work, the common people have passed today and will start another year of labor. So, the common people take this opportunity to go into the city to see the flower lanterns, and also bring their children to broaden their horizons and be happy. Every year at this time is the most prosperous time in Yiling City, and businessmen take advantage of this opportunity to make a lot of money, thinking only of squeezing every last copper coin from the common people. In Yiling City, people are crowded together, everywhere is full of people, and everywhere is an ocean of lanterns. Whether rich or poor, households will light several lanterns at their doorsteps to express their hopes for this year's harvest. On Yuanxiao Festival, government officials are the busiest, not only maintaining law and order but also preventing fires. Indeed, every year on Yuanxiao Festival there are several fires, and several children get lost and are sold to other places by human traffickers. Not only are government officials busy, but also the underworld figures are very busy, having lost their income from protection fees, and their usual sneaky activities become especially important. Therefore, in places where people gather, you can't miss their presence.

  But this year they were a bit unlucky, every time they made a move, they were caught by the warehouse guards and thrown into the big prison in the provincial city. The common people looked on with curiosity, when did the guards become constables, handling the capture of thieves? Although the common people couldn't see through it, but seeing the thieves being caught, they were all overjoyed and thanked the guards. Some even dared to ask why the guards were doing this, and someone replied: "These scum, anyone can catch them, let alone our guards!"

  Since Ma Chao spread rumors under his command, he would send a few people to keep an eye on the warehouse every day. As soon as the guards left the door, they would rush to report to him. He was worried that Wang Er would take drastic measures against him at any time. On the fifteenth day of the first month, before it got dark, someone reported to Ma Chao that the guard team had left the warehouse, which shocked him and made him run all the way to the vicinity of Qian Hu's residence, ready to ask for Bai Jingzhou's protection at any time. However, the guard team did not take any action until nightfall, which relieved him a lot. But bad news kept coming, saying that more than 20 brothers were caught in the government office, and Ma Chao finally realized that Peng Xin wanted to use this opportunity to blackmail him.

  He wasn't worried about the brothers who were caught and thrown into prison, they would just be beaten up a bit and let out after a few days. At the same time, he deeply resented Peng Xin for using this method to intimidate him. While hating Peng Xin, he also completely put his mind at ease, it was just intimidation, no big deal, in a few days we'll play even more fiercely!

  He had put his mind at ease and was humming a little tune, leading the three brothers back to their old nest. But they were still far from the old nest when they heard a commotion coming from inside, Ma Chao was shocked, quickened his pace, wondering what had happened. As soon as he turned around the corner of the wall, he saw several guards standing at the door with long guns in hand, Ma Chao's legs suddenly went soft and almost couldn't stand still. Peng Xin, you're too ruthless, actually daring to raid Laozi's home!

  Ma Chao was so furious that he trembled with rage and could hardly utter a word, when one of the guards shouted: "There is Ma Chao! Pursue him quickly!"

  As soon as the words fell, five guards rushed over with guns, Ma Chou was helpless, and took three followers to rush to Bai Jingzhou's place, shouting for help while running. The old people were shocked and surrounded by onlookers, the five guards chased after them relentlessly, until Ma Chou ran into the White Mansion, only then did they give up and return dejectedly.