Catching Monsters

Chapter 616 Breaking the promise

Hua Zhongqian was quite efficient; after all, someone who could reach the rank of commander within the Embroidered Uniform Guard was unlikely to be incompetent.

Not long after, a man who looked to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old and dressed in shabby clothes was brought in from outside by Hua Zhongqian.

“My lord, this man is named Xiang Yuhu, and he is an outside agent of our Embroidered Uniform Guard.” Hua Zhongqian then said to Xiang Yuhu beside him, “This is our Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander.”

Xiang Yuhu was rather thin. Upon hearing this, his eyes lit up, and he looked at Jiang Yun with a hint of flattery, saying respectfully, "Commander Jiang, what are your orders?"

“Xiang Yuhu.” Jiang Yun, who was sitting at the table, nodded and asked, “Are you a member of the Xiang family?”

"Yes." Xiang Yuhu nodded.

Seeing the other party's shabby appearance, Jiang Yun couldn't help but frown. In this Yanzhou City, many ordinary people are dressed quite well, so why is the Xiang family dressed so poorly?

Hua Zhongqian, who was standing to the side, seemed to have guessed Jiang Yun's thoughts and explained, "My lord, you may not know this, but the Xiang family is a large and complex family. Xiang Yuhu's branch separated from the main family about two hundred years ago."

"Now I'm just trying to make a living down here."

Jiang Yun said in a deep voice, "Since you're here, please sit down."

Then, Jiang Yun took out a hundred-tael silver note and placed it on the table.

Upon seeing such a large sum of money, Xiang Yuhu's breathing became somewhat rapid.

"Don't rush me. I'm not interested in the Xiang family's ordinary affairs. You have to tell me something that interests me before the money is yours."

Upon hearing this, Xiang Yuhu's face showed a thoughtful expression, and he looked somewhat troubled: "Lord Jiang, this..."

"Although I also share the surname Xiang, our family split up two hundred years ago. As for what secrets you're talking about, I would find it difficult to ascertain them."

Seeing Jiang Yun frown and show dissatisfaction, Xiang Yuhu quickly added, "But I know the internal structure of the Xiang family very well, even where people are imprisoned. I know all of that."

"You know all this?"

"Although the Xiang family mansion has been repaired and patched up over the years, its overall condition should not have changed much."

“I would also go to the Xiang family's house on weekdays to do chores for them.”

To be fair, the Xiang family treated these down-on-their-luck clansmen quite well.

Although the servants recruited in the mansion are not from the same clan as the Xiang family, since they are all from the same family, how could they be treated as servants?

However, during busy holidays such as the Spring Festival each year, some of the Xiang family's less fortunate descendants would be invited to enter the mansion to do some menial tasks.

The work is not strenuous, and the reward for just a few days during the Spring Festival is one or two taels of silver.

It can also be considered helping one's own clan.

Although Xiang Yuhu is nominally a spy for the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he was actually someone Qi Da had been keeping an eye on not long ago.

The entire city of Yanzhou is under the control of the Xiang family, so it is not an easy task to plant a spy within it.

Xiang Yuhu was a gambler. In his early years, his father had actually left him a considerable fortune, but he squandered it all on the gambling table.

Later, when he was in dire financial straits, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and work for the Xiang family. However, the Xiang family steward made them line up to receive their pay after they finished their work, just like he paid his servants, which made him quite unhappy.

Just then, Qi Da came to him and, upon hearing that he was doing something for the Embroidered Uniform Guard, gave him ten taels of silver as a deposit, so he agreed without hesitation.

He was panting heavily, staring at the silver notes on the table, his mind racing, trying to think of something that could be useful to the important person in front of him.

Finally, his eyes flashed and he said, "I do know something that might be helpful to you, sir. The current head of the Xiang family has no sons, only a daughter, and he has been racking his brains over this matter for years."

"According to the Xiang family's rules, if there is no male heir, the lineage of Xiang Hui's younger brother must inherit..."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Jiang Yun, as if asking if this would work.

Hua Zhongqian, standing to the side, glared at him and said, "Xiang Yuhu, everyone knows about this mess. Do you think Lord Jiang will be satisfied? You need to say something..."

"Yes, I have it."

“But…” Xiang Yuhu shrank back and whispered, “I also know a secret about Xiang Hui.”

"Rumor has it that Xiang Hui is impotent..."

"Drag him out." Jiang Yun shook his head in disappointment.

"Hey, hey, no, Lord Jiang!" Xiang Yuhu finally shouted as Hua Zhongqian was grabbing him and about to throw him out the door, "I also know a secret of the Xiang family, something from before my ancestors divided the family."

Jiang Yun said impatiently, "This is the last chance."

After being brought back, Xiang Yuhu touched his hair. He wasn't sure if the story was reliable or not, as he had only heard about it from his father.

He took a deep breath and said, "About two hundred years ago, the Xiang family encountered a great calamity..."

Upon hearing this, Hua Zhongqian was about to drag him out: "My master is asking about the Xiang family now, what are you talking about two hundred years ago?"

“Let him continue,” Jiang Yun said. Xiang Yuhu took a deep breath before continuing, “The head of the Xiang family at that time, for some reason, offended His Majesty the Emperor.”

"His Majesty the Emperor is furious and has dispatched a large number of troops and experts to our Yanzhou City."

"There are strong signs that they intend to destroy the entire Xiang family."

"But just as a great battle was about to begin, a man suddenly appeared. At that time, my great-grandfather was only thirteen or fourteen years old."

"All I saw was that everyone present knelt down and addressed the man as 'Ancestor'."

"Then that ancestor stepped in and actually made the Zhou emperor withdraw his troops..."

"From then on, no matter what the Xiang family did, the imperial court turned a blind eye."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yun was shocked. So that's how it is.

This finally cleared up Jiang Yun's doubts.

No wonder the Xiang family has survived for thousands of years and become a prominent clan.

Even the fact that the Xiang family secretly invested in rebels, turning a blind eye to their double-dealing, was ignored by the Zhou court.

So it turns out that an ancestor of the Xiang family is still alive?

"Let him out."

Jiang Yun waved his hand, clearly indicating that it would be difficult to get anything more out of Xiang Yuhu.

Of course, the hundred taels of silver were also given to the other party. This news was well worth the money, costing a hundred taels of silver.

"Sacred Realm?" Linglong, standing to the side, stared at Jiang Yun with a serious expression: "What do you think?"

"I'm afraid so." Jiang Yun took a deep breath and said slowly, "If it's just a first-grade expert, the imperial court has no shortage of them, so they won't be afraid of the Xiang family."

Jiang Yun tapped her fingers lightly on the table and couldn't help but say, "Once we figure this out, things will be much easier. At least we'll know what their trump cards are."

Linglong, standing beside her, asked in surprise, "You knew the Xiang family had a Saint Realm expert, yet you were still planning to make a move?"

Jiang Yun rolled her eyes at Linglong, then said, "Whether the Holy Realm is here or not is another matter. Think carefully about what Zhang Yuhu said just now."

"Two hundred years ago, when the Xiang family was on the verge of destruction, our ancestor appeared."

“If the Holy Realm has to get involved in every little thing, then it’s impossible that this has only happened once in the last two hundred years.”

Jiang Yun refused to believe that the Xiang family hadn't encountered various crises in the past two hundred years.

Of course, just to be on the safe side, we should conduct an experiment first.

Having figured this out, Jiang Yun had a plan in mind. No matter what, he had to find a way to rescue Qi Da first.

"Hua Zhongqian, how many men have we secretly dispatched?"

Hua Zhongqian respectfully reported, "Reporting to the Commander, there are approximately two thousand people in total."

"Notify the Yanzhou City government to cooperate and send yamen runners to surround the Xiang family residence."

Linglong, standing nearby, whispered, "Jiang Yun, what reason should we use to surround them?"

“If we really use the excuse that the other party captured Lord Qi, then it is indeed true that Lord Qi wanted to bring people in to steal the meteorite, and then the other party discovered it... We are not in the right in this matter,” Hua Zhongqian said awkwardly.

Jiang Yun calmly said, "Isn't their eight-courtyard mansion already an overreach? Let's use that as an excuse to surround it first."

……

The interior of the Xiang family mansion was exceptionally large, a typical princely residence, even more luxurious than the residences of ordinary princes.

At this moment, in the main hall of the Xiang family, the patriarch Xiang Hui was sitting at the head of the table.

Xiang Hui looked to be in his early forties, a time of sharp wit and powerful eyes. He sat at the head of the table, sipping his tea.

Meanwhile, Xiang Yeyun said from the side, "Father, this Commander Jiang is younger than we imagined. He threatened that if we don't release the people before dark, he will be ruthless towards our Xiang family."

Xiang Hui remained calm, put down his teacup, and said in a deep voice, "This Lord Jiang is making such big promises, isn't he afraid of biting off more than he can chew? He wants us to release the people before dark."

"This is Yanzhou City, not their capital."

Xiang Yeyun thought for a moment and said, "Father, in my opinion, that Jiang Yun is quite unusual. Unlike the officials we have met before, he seems... he doesn't seem to be afraid of our Xiang family."

"That's because he's too young and impetuous. Young people don't know their own limitations..."

Before the words were finished, a steward rushed in from outside: "Clan leader, something bad has happened! A large number of Imperial Guards have surrounded the Xiang family."

Xiang Hui's face darkened upon hearing this: "We agreed to wait until dark, but this person seems to be untrustworthy."

(End of this chapter)