Chapter Thirteen: The Robbery of Donated Silver

  Master Zhou Shiming left the Quiet Moon Building where the Fifth Madam was, and walked in the corridor. At this time, he heard the sound of beating the night watchman's rattle from afar in the courtyard, "Close doors and windows, beware of fire..." It was just striking three o'clock. When he was about to approach his own room, a black shadow with a covered face suddenly appeared in front of him, startling him greatly. Just as he wanted to shout for someone, the person quickly came forward and covered his mouth. "Shh..." The masked person whispered, "Don't shout, it's me..." The person removed the mask from their face.

  Zhou Shiming carefully identified the person, seeing that he was in his early twenties, eight feet tall, with a square face and slightly thin... He recognized him, the person was indeed Liu Zongmin, the messenger of Li Zicheng's rebel army. They had met several times before and had exchanged a few words. Only then did Zhou Zhuang put down his guard. He hastily welcomed the visitor to his secret room, turned around and lightly pressed the button on the door mechanism, closing the door of the secret room.

  "How did you get here at this time? How did you get in?" Zhou Shiming asked eagerly.

  "This... hehe, don't forget, Master Zhou, in our line of work, it's not just the Zhou Manor, even the Imperial Palace wouldn't be able to stump us."

  "In the future, let's stick to our old way of meeting. You can't just barge in like this; there are too many people inside the mansion, and with so many eyes and mouths around, it's easy to cause a commotion... not to mention giving others something to grasp onto, which would be troublesome..."

  "I know the difficulties of the landlord, there is no particularly urgent matter, and I wouldn't do so either. Today, I brought a handwritten letter from General Liu Zongmin, please take a look." The visitor took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Zhou Shiming. Zhou Shiming carefully opened it and examined it under the lamp light...

  After reading the letter, Zhou Zhuang's face was filled with joy. "I am deeply gratified to see this letter. The rebel army has strict discipline and strong combat effectiveness, it can be said that they are unstoppable! Every time they arrive at a place, they open the granary to distribute food and relieve the people, forming a stark contrast with the Ming army! As for me, I have always been devoted to doing my best for the people. This time, our Dashun Army is facing some temporary economic difficulties, and I am willing to lend a hand to help. Although it's not much, I will first collect 10,000 taels of silver to contribute to the rebel army, doing my part."

  "It's nothing, it's nothing. Here I'll have General Liu thank the host first!" The newcomer stood up and bowed deeply.

  "I don't dare, I don't dare, the righteous army is a force that does things for the people, and even if I, an old man, help you, it's also indirectly helping the common people! General, please don't say such things. Is there any arrangement for the time and place of delivery?" Zhou Zhuang changed the subject.

  "Tomorrow at Hai time, at the old place in Mingwu County town's southwest, by the small woods, how about it?" the visitor asked.

  "Alright, everything will be done as the general said!"

  "Well, I'm off then! See you tomorrow night!"

  "See you tonight!" The master of Zhou opened the secret room door and sent out the person. The visitor clasped his hands together in a salute, turned around and disappeared into the night...

  The next night, Zhou Shiming had the housekeeper prepare 10,000 silver coins and put them on a cart. He chose several martially skilled men to protect it as they headed towards the small woods southwest of the county town, preparing to return it to Liu Zongmin's rebel army at midnight.

  Hai time, that is 21:00 to 23:00 at midnight. In ancient times, two hours were one hour, and 24 hours were exactly 12 hours. From 23:00 to 1:00 in the second half of the night was Zi Shi, and there were 12 hours in total: Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai. The Hai time is exactly when it's deep at night and people are quiet.

  Mr. Zhou was not at ease, so he personally escorted the carriage to the front. When he walked to the edge of the small forest, it was exactly the end of the tenth hour, and saw that there were already people waiting in front. The steward went forward and asked softly: "Who are you?" Then heard a person in front say: "We are the people sent by General Liu Zongmin to collect silver, are you the people sent by Mr. Zhou?" The steward was very happy when he heard this, turned around and said to Mr. Zhou: "Sir, the people in front are indeed General Liu's men." Mr. Zhou nodded slightly.

  "Has the silver been brought?" someone in front asked.

  "It's here." The butler replied.

  "Then just bring it over here!" someone on the other side said.

  "Alright!" The butler replied as he bustled about, eager to catch his train.

  Zhou Shiming hastily stopped him, "Wait! Xingchu, you called a messenger to come, I have something to say."

  "Alright." Liang Xingchu responded, walking forward, "Please ask the messenger to come forth, my master has something to say."

  "All I heard was someone on that side saying: 'The messenger has something important to attend to tonight and can't come. We were sent by him. This place is not safe, let's hurry up.'"

  Old Zhou heard this and thought it was wrong. Is there something more important than receiving silver? He then said to the butler, "Let's wait a bit, caution is better!"

  Liang Guanjia no longer made a sound...

  The people on the opposite side saw that this side was quiet and felt something was wrong. The leader whispered to his subordinates around him, "Proceed with the plan!" After finishing speaking, he waved his hand forward. Suddenly, dozens of horses rushed out from behind and galloped towards Zhou Shiming's side. Zhou Shiming took a look and saw that things were not going well, so he loudly shouted: "Retreat!"

  "Hurry, protect the master!" Liang Guan's family saw that things were not going well and quickly called on the servants to protect Zhou Shiming. Several servants quickly surrounded Zhou Shiming and retreated to the back. "You must protect the vehicles, I'm not in a hurry..." Zhou Shiming was concerned about the vehicles carrying silver ingots and ordered the servants to guard them. "Master, preserving one's life is most important. If we lose the silver, we can earn it again in the future! You few quickly protect the master and retreat, hurry..." The steward sternly instructed the servants. The servants resisted while covering the master's retreat.

  The other party came like wolves and tigers, and the several family servants escorting the silver ingot vehicles were no match for them, so they had to abandon their vehicles and retreat...

  At this time, a team of people appeared in the right front and rushed over quickly. The ones who robbed the silver saw someone coming and the leader waved his hand, "Quickly retreat!" They quickly pushed the vehicles into the small woods...

  The messenger from the front right is Liu Zongmin's envoy, who meets Zhou Shiming and knows that something is wrong, shouting: "Master Zhuang, what happened?" As soon as Zhou Shiming saw the messenger, he hastily said: "The silver car was intercepted halfway, hurry up and chase!" The messenger was shocked when he heard it, and hurriedly ordered his men: "Hurry up and chase!" He turned back to Zhou Shiming and said: "Master Zhou, you have worked hard all the way! It's not suitable to stay here for a long time, hurry back! We will try our best to get the silver back."

  "Alright, trouble you, General!" With that, Zhou Shiming turned around and headed towards the Zhou Family Village with his family servants...