Chapter 15: Daddy Daddy~
Xie Chong mentally calculated for a moment, then turned his expressionless face after a while: “Figure out how much silver it is.”
He hadn’t studied and didn’t have that kind of mental calculation ability.
Military Advisor: ………
He was wondering when the General would be able to do mental calculations.
The Military Advisor mentally tallied it up and blurted out the correct number: “General, it’s thirty thousand five hundred and fifty taels in total.”
Xie Chong’s eyes lit up.
Little treasury +N
“Pfft…”
This time, the Prefect was truly so angered that he vomited blood, his eyes rolled back, and he directly fainted.
Seeing this, Xie Chong frowned, his voice carrying a hint of sharpness.
“Why didn’t you vomit blood earlier or later, but fainted just as I mentioned the silver? Are you trying to renege on the debt?!”
“Uh, General, he seems to have really fainted.”
He was angered by you.
Xie Chong frowned: “With this kind of constitution, he’s still an official? Then get it from his family. They’ve already taken so much bribe money, and they still can’t produce that little bit of silver? I’ll give you a discount, give me forty thousand taels of silver.”
Everyone: ………
You really know how to give discounts.
Xie Chong felt that he had practically given a fracture discount. After all, he had obtained so many silver mines, and he was only asking for forty thousand taels of silver, which was not excessive at all.
These corrupt officials, each one of them is fat and bloated, yet they cry poverty every day. He is the one who is truly poor.
He, a General, has to be so frugal every day, wishing he could make one copper coin into two.
He wouldn’t leave until he got the silver.
In the end, the Prefect’s butler nervously retrieved the silver from the accounting room, and only then did he leave contentedly with the silver.
It’s a pity that the bribe money the Prefect had taken couldn’t be taken away; it was all recorded in the ledger.
However, the silver and gold seized from the bandits could be taken away.
The Prefect’s mansion was still surrounded, and even the city gates were sealed, allowing entry but not exit.
It was mainly to prevent those three noble families from causing trouble outside.
Some people from the noble families tried to feign ignorance and force their way through, but they were beaten half to death and carried back.
This made the commoners of Ansui City feel very relieved, and after learning the full story and the news that the bandits had been completely wiped out, their resentment towards the city’s lockdown diminished considerably.
The three great noble families were in a frantic state, like ants on a hot pan, while others were happy.
“General Xie truly has a thunderous approach. Who would have thought he would go and suppress bandits?”
This was said by the father of the young master who had been sent home.
The young master excitedly said: “It’s good that they were suppressed, those bandits deserve to die!”
General Xie is now definitely the person he admires the most, even more than his biological father!
………
Meanwhile, upon returning to the main troop, Xie Chong ordered the Military Advisor to lead people to clear out everything that could be taken from the bandit lair.
The items on the ledgers had to be left behind; otherwise, it would be difficult to explain when the envoy from Shangjing arrived.
After giving the orders, he immediately went to look for that little brat, but the person wasn’t there.
“What do you mean he can’t be found and hasn’t returned? With so many grown men, you can’t even keep track of one little brat?”
Xie Chong exuded a chilling aura, the joy of having seized a large amount of silver and resources from the bandits completely vanished.
“General, I forgot to mention, Miss Wanwan is also at the silver mine.”
The messenger only remembered what he had forgotten when Xie Chong pressed him for information.
Xie Chong: “Why did she run off there?”
Such a dangerous place! How could Colonel Lin have taken her there!
No one knew.
Xie Chong, with his men, rushed towards the silver mine.
Upon arriving at the silver mine, Qin Wanwan and the others were eating roasted wild pheasant.
The wild pheasant was hunted by Colonel Lin and his men because everyone was hungry.
Qin Wanwan had Keke, who found many edible wild mushrooms, wild vegetables, and wild fruits.
Apart from the captured bandits, everyone else got to eat.
Qin Wanwan also shared a chicken leg and sat on a moderately sized stone stool, holding and gnawing on it.
Her already slightly grubby little face, with her rosy little mouth, was now greasy.
The crucial issue was that there was no paper for her to wipe her mouth and hands.
Hearing the sound of someone approaching, Colonel Lin was the first to become vigilant, fearing it might be bandits.
Fortunately, it was their own people.
“General!”
Xie Chong had arrived.
Qin Wanwan also happily got up and ran over with small steps.
“Daddy, Daddy~”
Xie Chong’s heart relaxed upon seeing Qin Wanwan unharmed.
Qin Wanwan ran over and was picked up by him.
The little one shoved the half-eaten chicken leg into his mouth.
“Daddy, eat quickly, Wanwan saved it for you.”
She was truly a filial child.
Looking at the chicken leg with its gnawed-upon nicks, Xie Chong: ………
He didn’t show any disdain, but he frowned and grabbed Qin Wanwan’s dirty, greasy, little chubby hands.
“Don’t rub on my clothes.”
Qin Wanwan said “oh” and looked at him, holding up her little chubby hands.
“Daddy, wipe your hands, and your mouth and face too. They need to be clean.”
“If they need to be clean, why did you run over here?”
Xie Chong put her down and his eyes swept over to see a subordinate holding a piece of clothing.
It was taken from the Bandit Leader.
Although they were all dead men’s clothes, the soldiers were accustomed to seeing the dead and were not afraid at all.
Moreover, the fabric of the bandit’s clothes was better than theirs!
“Bring the clothes over.”
Xie Chong directly used a clean part of the clothing to wipe Qin Wanwan’s greasy little chubby hands until they were white and tender, but the oil stains couldn’t be completely cleaned by just wiping; they would need to be washed later.
Then, he used a handkerchief to clean her little face.
“Alright, go play by yourself.”
Qin Wanwan said “oh” but didn’t run off. Instead, she trotted along beside him like a little tail.
“Daddy, my candy, pastries, and preserved fruits are all gone.”
As she spoke, she opened her sachet for snacks and showed it to him.
Xie Chong felt a pang of pain: “Why are they gone so quickly? I just bought them for you.”
It had cost him five taels of silver!
Those pastries and preserved fruits were all extremely expensive.
“I gave them to them, they were super hungry.”
Following the direction Qin Wanwan pointed, Xie Chong saw those emaciated laborers who looked like skin and bones.
Fine.
At least she did a good deed.
“Wait, I’ll buy you more when we go out.”
The little one’s eyes immediately curved into a smile.
Xie Chong walked to the front of the mine tunnel, looking at the excavated silver ore with a beaming smile.
“Take all these silver ores and people back. Leave two squads here to guard this silver mine. When the Imperial Court’s people arrive for acceptance, you will continue north.”
Colonel Lin: “General is leaving just like that? Who will come to receive the silver ore?”
Let’s hope it’s not another corrupt official, lest they be working for someone else to line their pockets, which would be infuriating.
“I’ve sent people to present all the evidence directly to the Emperor. As for who the Emperor will send to take over, that’s not something we can control. As for this batch of silver ore, you tell your men and the informed miners not to spread it around. If anyone suspects us, we’ll deny it to the death.”
Hmph, it’s already a favor that he didn’t have people excavate the mine himself; shouldn’t he be allowed to profit a little from what’s already dug out?
It seemed like there were still a few baskets that weren’t full. Xie Chong stared at those partially filled baskets, his mind calculating with a clatter.
