Chapter 76

The frenzied mob stormed into every room of the Huang family's house, carrying away everything they could see, from porcelain and jade to gold and silverware, as well as the calligraphy and paintings on the walls, the small screens on the beds, and even the copper basins and porcelain spittoons.

The Huang family had long been known as the "earthly emperors" in Tanggu, and their residence was often described by ignorant peasants as grand as the Grand View Garden in *Dream of the Red Chamber*. Today, they could finally plunder it freely, and no one cared about the fate of the fat woman.

"Put it down... that's my fur coat... oh, what a sin, that's our master's Xuande incense burner, you can't take it..." The fat woman was now covered in mud, her face a mess of tears and snot. She struggled to crawl through the crowd, trying to grab the looters, but she couldn't catch any of them.

"Mom... what should we do? These people are all crazy..." A man, as fat as her, stumbled from the back yard, fell to his knees, and wailed, "Mom, my concubine Qiao was taken by them, these bastards even took people... Where's Dad? Dad, come and save us..."

The fat woman slapped him hard. "You useless thing, you're still thinking about women when we've lost all our money. That cheap woman, bought for a few taels of silver, is a harbinger of misfortune. Nothing good has happened since she came in..." The slap was so fierce that the fat son was stunned for a moment, then the mother and son hugged and cried bitterly.

The entire Huang family compound was now in chaos. The visible wealth was plundered in no time, and in the end, even the women in the house became targets. Red-eyed men and bachelors from the countryside carried the women away.

At that moment, many people decided to find a secluded village, marry the women, and have children. Once the women were pregnant, they wouldn't be able to escape or complain.

The scholar Huang and his son had a total of fourteen concubines, and over twenty maids in the house. All of them disappeared that day and were never found for the next ten years. However, there was one exception: the fat wife of the scholar Huang. No one wanted her. She ate a lot, slept a lot, and did no work. Was she supposed to be raised like a pig?

"Son, don't be afraid. We just need to survive. We have treasures. As long as we survive, we can turn things around..." The mother and son hid in a corner, watching their wealth disappear, but they did not lose hope.

At this moment, the back yard of the Huang family's residence was surrounded by over a dozen men, led by the man in gray who had incited the riot.

"The Huang family's confession is in the stable, but we can't dig straight down. This old fox dug a slanted underground vault, and the silver is actually buried under the street outside the wall..."

"Good grief, if we didn't know, we would have dug straight down. Who would have thought to dig slanted? Damn, it's a good thing the strategist's plan was brilliant, or we would have lost a big piece of meat..."

The man in gray threw a bundle of shovels from the side room onto the ground. "Come on, hurry up. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can rest." The shovels flew, and the earth was thrown up. In no time, a deep pit was dug. Just as everyone was about to dig slanted, two large meatballs rushed in from the front yard.

"Heaven and ancestors, I'll fight you to the death... you beasts, why doesn't heaven strike you with lightning? You're so wicked..." The fat woman and her son, seeing the rioters gradually disperse, cautiously explored the back yard stable.

To their horror, the Huang family's most secret treasure, accumulated over a hundred years by three generations, had been discovered by the bandits. This was their last hope.

"Stop, all of you, stop... I'll fight you to the death..." The two meatballs rushed forward, but with two sharp slaps, they were sent rolling back to the ground.

The man in gray stuck his shovel into the ground and sneered, "Damn, I'm a bandit, and I've been robbing for a lifetime. I've never seen heaven strike me with lightning. Tie them up, and let them watch their wealth disappear..."

It was too cruel. Xiao Letian had chosen his soldiers well, just as ruthless as he was. Watching the miser's wealth be taken away in front of him was a torment no one could bear.

The mother and son were now in despair, lying on the ground and crying.

In no time, the slanted tunnel touched a hard object. Upon closer inspection, it was a wall of blue bricks. When the bricks were smashed with a hammer, a pile of wooden chests appeared.

"Great, these are the silver chests..." Opening a damp chest, they found silver ingots, densely packed and slightly blackened, clearly old.

Picking up one and flipping it over, "Damn, Kangxi 35th year? The Huang family are real misers, storing money since the Kangxi era? Is this the accumulated wealth the strategist often mentions?"

"That's right. The strategist's book clearly states that the wealth accumulated in China over thousands of years far exceeds that of all of Europe. But the Chinese suppress commerce, so the wealth can't circulate, and much of it is hidden underground... Oh, the strategist's explanation is too complex, I don't understand it, but I know he's always right..."

"Right, the strategist is a celestial being. If he says hiding silver is wrong, it's wrong. We're helping to circulate it, doing a good deed... Hey, you two pigs, we're doing you a favor by spending your money, so stop wailing..."

"Ahh... wail... wail..." The fat woman and her son were so angry that they kicked their legs on the ground, unable to speak.

The Huang family's compound had ready horses and carts. The thirty-odd wooden chests, still damp with mud, were loaded onto the carts, covered with straw, and driven out of the city under the cover of dusk, with dozens of strong men guarding them.

When it was completely dark, the fat woman and her son stopped crying. After struggling for a while, they managed to untie the ropes.

"Mom, what do we do now? We have nothing left..."

"Don't worry. We've lost money, but the Huang family still has connections. I know who caused this. We'll go to Beijing and ask the big shots to avenge us." She pulled her son and walked out.

"Want to leave? That's not so easy. If you leave, we're in trouble..." A group of familiar faces appeared, the constables and lackeys from the sub-prefect's office. They used to be respectful to the Huang family, but now they looked at them like they were dead.

"Brothers, we've suffered a great disaster. Our wealth is gone. Please, for old times' sake, let us go..." The Huang family's son took out the jade pendants and his mother's jewelry.

The constable took the valuables and tossed them to his apprentice. "Keep them, this is evidence of bribing the police... Huang Shao, don't blame me for being unsentimental. I'm here personally because I want you to understand."

The constable leaned in and whispered, "Don't dream. The sub-prefect has to submit a confession. If you don't die, we do... Arrest them!" The constables and lackeys rushed forward, tying them up so tightly that their fat flesh bulged.

"Goodbye, the prison is waiting for you..."

It was pitch black, and Tanggu was in a sleepless night. Survivors cautiously cleaned their damaged homes, managing their limited possessions, and even dared not cry out loud.

The streets were filled with the sound of hooves and the shouts of messengers. The sub-prefect's office had become a hell. All the constables and clerks used their family skills, interrogating one criminal after another. Under torture, they confessed to even the smallest sins from their childhood.

The scholar Huang was now unrecognizable, confessing to bribing examiners when he was a scholar, as well as his bullying and oppression of the people. He even confessed to the two uprisings in Tanggu, how he had harmed Uncle Qing, and the instructions he received from Beijing. He confessed to everything.

Confessing meant death, not confessing also meant death. But confessing meant no more beatings. The old man couldn't bear the pain any longer. Finally, Zhou Mingkui, holding the confession, trembled as he read the names on it, each one capable of scaring him to death. He wanted to destroy the confession, but the eagle from the Ninth Marshal's camp and Xiang Shaolong from Xiao Letian's camp were there, so he didn't dare hide anything.

At midnight, the troops sent by the Tianjin general finally arrived, but to everyone's surprise, the Ninth Marshal ordered the three thousand soldiers not to enter the city. Only a dozen cavalry from the Ji camp were enough to deter them. They couldn't take advantage of the chaos to influence the trial.

The night was sleepless. At dawn, a small sailboat carrying a joint memorial from the Ninth Marshal Zeng Guoquan and the sub-prefect Zhou Mingkui set off for Beijing, along with evidence obtained by Xiao Letian from the foreigners.

A memorial and a foot-thick confession were the final outcome of the Tanggu riot. Ironically, the Forbidden City had no idea about the severe riot in Tanggu.

At the same place as yesterday's massacre, the harbor dock was once again crowded with people. Today, they were here for one purpose: to witness the execution of the ringleaders of the Tanggu riot.

The blue stone slabs of the harbor had been washed three times with seawater, and the bodies had been cleared away, but the heavy smell of blood remained, and black bloodstains could still be seen in the cracks.

The merchants and people of Tanggu were reluctant to return to this place so soon, but the soldiers who invited them were so fierce that no one dared to refuse.

The scholar Huang, Ma Bao, and the descendants of Little Braid Sun, along with the scholar Huang's family, were bound and brought in, about thirty or forty in total. They were so beaten that they could barely speak, with only Ma Bao suffering less, being a Manchu.

But being a Manchu didn't help. Unless he was from one of the upper families of the Eight Banners, no one could protect him from Zeng Guoquan.

"Ma Bao, the scholar Huang... conspiring to incite a riot, their crimes are heinous and must be punished to appease the people. The Ninth Marshal orders... execute!" Zhou Mingkui trembled as he spoke, and with a flash of the blade, the scholar Huang's head rolled to the ground, and a gush of blood spurted three feet high.

Surprisingly, Ma Bao was not beheaded. Just as Xiao Letian was puzzled, a series of rapid bowstring sounds echoed, and over a hundred arrows flew from all directions, turning Ma Bao into a pincushion.

Standing on the second floor of a warehouse at the dock, the Ninth Marshal Zeng Guoquan said to Xiao Letian, "He is a Manchu, so I wrote in the memorial that he died fighting bravely, to give them some face..."