Chapter 104: Kill Them All
Lin Qian pressed his knife against Lin Zhishu’s back, coldly gazing at his father.
“The Silver Vault is in the Buddhist Hall…”
“Can’t say!” Lin Zhili endured the pain on his face and shouted indistinctly, “He had an affair with Concubine Li!”
Amid the crowd, Concubine Li’s body trembled.
With a glance from Lin Qian, a Crew Member stepped forward and punched Lin Zhili hard in the abdomen. He curled up in pain as the Crew Member put the muzzle back on him.
Lin Jiren looked incredulously at his eldest son, then behind him. Seeing Concubine Li’s disheveled clothes and evasive gaze, he understood everything.
Lin Qian ordered his men to release Lin Zhishu and said to his subordinates, “Go check the Buddhist Hall!”
“Yes!”
Lin Qian sat down and leisurely watched the drama before him.
Seeing his father’s gaze turn toward him, Lin Zhishu shook his head with tears streaming down his face. He wanted to defend himself but could not speak with his mouth blocked.
Lin Jiren’s expression shifted from shock and doubt to confusion to fury, turning his entire face the color of pig liver.
“You had an affair with the concubine? You beast!” Lin Jiren forced the words through gritted teeth.
“Woo woo woo…” Lin Zhishu wept bitterly, shaking his head desperately while jabbing his chin repeatedly toward Concubine Li.
Though his mouth was closed, his gestures and expression made clear what he wanted to say—nothing but the tired cliché that Concubine Li had seduced him first.
“You beast who defies human ethics!” Lin Jiren slapped his eldest son across the face.
Footsteps hurried from the backyard to the hall entrance, where the man cupped his hands and said, “Ship Master, we found a hidden door under the altar in the Buddhist Hall, with dozens of silver boxes inside.”
Lin Qian said to Lei Sanxiang, “Take men to move the silver onto the ship, count an approximate amount, and report back to me.”
Lei Sanxiang accepted the order and withdrew.
Lin Qian teased the Lin Family, “Digging a Silver Vault under the Buddhist altar—your mansion truly worships Buddha devoutly.”
Lin Jiren turned around, glaring venomously at Concubine Li. His icy gaze made her body tremble uncontrollably.
Old Master Lin’s hopes shattered; he stared blankly in tears and said, “A four-hundred-year noble family falls overnight—how could this happen?”
“Hehehehe…” Perhaps heartbroken by her lover’s betrayal or scared senseless, Concubine Li let out an eerie laugh upon hearing this.
In the blood-soaked hall, the laughter was exceptionally piercing, sending chills down spines.
“Bitch!” Lin Jiren’s expression turned as cold as a scorpion’s.
“Noble family? What a filthy, corrupt noble family of incest!” Concubine Li laughed as she spoke, her expression deranged. “Lin Jiren, you forcibly bought me into the mansion back then, enraging my father to death, driving my mother to drown herself in a well, destroying my family. You should have seen this day coming. Hahahaha… A fine Xiucai carrying on with a concubine—if word spreads, forget the imperial examination; it’d be lucky if your backbone isn’t spat on! Hahahaha…”
“Shut up! Shut up!” Lin Jiren raged, but with burly men glaring around him, he dared not cover her mouth and growled lowly, “Once this is over, I’ll settle with you!”
Concubine Li trembled all over in agitation, her face contorted savagely. “If settling accounts, these good men should settle with your Lin Mansion first. Those good deeds you boast of—every one for your own gain?”
Shamelessly claiming to destroy fields for flood diversion—just to drown the people bordering your lands with the floodwaters and annex their fields!
Your family ruined countless lives, yet you hypocritically run congee stalls and charity schools for a good name—keep dreaming!
All this today is your family’s retribution!
It’s only right for these good men to kill you all, hahahahaha… Kill them all! Kill them all!
Hearing this, Lin Jiren cowered, shrinking his head as he looked at Lin Qian. “Good man, don’t believe her—this bitch is mad.”
“Is that so?” Lin Qian took a stack of deeds from the box and read slowly, “Changpu Du Huangqing Tu Sanjiaping, land six mu three fen, deed dated Wanli forty-seventh year, tenth month, initial eight.”
After reading, he drew out another deed: “Deed dated Wanli forty-seventh year, tenth month, sixteenth.”
He took another: “Wanli forty-seventh year, eleventh month, initial nine.”
Lin Jiren had nothing to say and hung his head dejectedly.
A Crew Member came to the front hall to report: “Ship Master, a group of local braves is heading this way.”
Lin Qian asked, “How many?”
“Over a hundred.”
“Guard the main gate and secure the courtyard wall.”
“Yes.”
The Lin Mansion people in the hall perked up upon hearing the local braves had come to rescue them.
Lin Qian sent someone to check on the silver transport in the backyard.
After a while, a Crew Member reported: “Silver moved about half. Another group of men and horses outside headed for the back door.”
Lin Qian pondered briefly and said to Bai Qing, “Stay here and watch these people; I’ll check the back.”
“Yes.”
Lin Qian climbed the courtyard wall with the Crew Member and saw from afar a cluster of torches indeed approaching the back door.
Too far to discern the numbers.
From their approach direction, they seemed to be from the county seat, not local braves.
The Bird Ships were docked at the river wharf by the back door, unshielded by the courtyard wall. If seized by this group, escape would be difficult.
Must block them.
Lin Qian ordered his subordinates to summon all with crossbow bolts to the back door courtyard wall.
In half an incense stick’s time, twelve crossbowmen arrived.
They had only five crossbows entering the mansion; the rest must have been captured inside.
Once the crossbowmen were in position atop the wall, the torch-bearing group reached the wall.
The leader raised a torch, advanced, and shouted, “I am the Clerk of Huangyan County. Which thieves dare make trouble here? Come out now and you might keep your lives.”
The clash with the Lin Mansion guards must have echoed out, drawing the local braves and Clerk.
Lin Qian said nothing, signaling his men to duck behind the parapet.
A subordinate peeked out halfway, counted briefly, and reported: “Over two hundred.”
Adding the over hundred local braves at the front gate, over three hundred now surrounded Lin Mansion. Lin Qian’s seventy-five subordinates were utterly outnumbered.
For mobility, no muskets were brought. Remote weapons limited to crossbow bolts, while the Clerk’s front ranks held shields—no weapons edge either.
Best to seize a chance and take out the leading Clerk.
Seeing no response from the courtyard wall and no figures in the moonlight, the Clerk ordered ladders fetched to climb and scout.
“Pa da!”
A bamboo ladder hooked the wall top. One man climbed cautiously; reaching the summit, he saw no one around and prepared to crest it.
Suddenly, under the moonlight, a Wild Goose Feather Saber flashed coldly.
The man clutched his gashed throat and tumbled from the wall, spraying blood midair.
“Fire!” Lin Qian bellowed.
Over ten crossbowmen rose from behind the wall and loosed bolts at the Clerk.
But the Clerk was wary, already hunkered behind his shield.
“Thump! Thump! Thump…”
A barrage of bolts thudded into shields from afar. The Clerk emerged unscathed; only two subordinates took thigh hits, writhing and wailing on the ground.
The Clerk mused inwardly: Unknown thief numbers at Lin Mansion, armed with crossbows, holding the wall’s advantage—force unviable.
He was just a lowly Clerk, unregistered petty official; monthly pay one tael of silver—what life risked for that?
Better to surround from afar, prevent escape.
Reinforcements already sought from Patrol Office and Garrison anyway; once soldiers arrived, others would handle killing thieves and rescues.
“Withdraw!” The Clerk commanded, his men pulling back slightly.
“Master, look.” His subordinate head pointed distantly.
By moonlight, the Clerk saw seven Bird Ships docked beside the river wharf outside Lin Mansion, shadowy figures alongside busily hauling silver from within.
River bandits after all!
Even less his Huangyan County Clerk’s affair. With river bandits, superiors’ blame fell to Garrison and Patrol Office.
Still, as Clerk, having spotted the mansion’s outer thieves, he could hardly ignore capture; idle watching would invite trouble if known.
The Clerk glanced aside, saw constables and militia yet unaware of the distance, and hit on an idea. “This courtyard wall looms high—force too hard. To the main gate—move!”
