The Splendor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 100 Catching National Thieves

Xiao Yi looked at Ge Yanyu and was surprised to find that the man had a kind and upright appearance, with three long strands of beard, and a scholarly air about him.

He was looking for someone to help him invest in property, but if he didn't know how to choose a good person, he might be scammed without even realizing it.

Ge Yanyu entered the hall, his eyes darting around to distinguish the main and secondary figures, before bowing deeply to Song Yanwo, who sat at the head of the table.

"This humble man, Ge Yanyu, greets you, Ah Lang."

"I am unworthy of being called your 'Ah Lang,' but do you know who he is?"

"This young man is exceptionally handsome; I was unlucky enough to have known him in the past."

Xiao Yi said, "Then take a look, do you recognize her?"

Ge Yanyu turned his head and saw that there were women beside him. He didn't dare to look closely and said, "I don't recognize you."

"Look again."

"I am blind and do not know who this young lady is?"

Li Zhaoning gritted her teeth and said, "You dog slave, you really don't remember me?"

Ge Yanyu's expression changed, his pupils suddenly contracted, revealing shock.

"Is...is it...is it the young lady from the Li family?"

“My grandfather saved your life, raised your family, and entrusted you with all his property and land, yet you colluded with villains, fabricated charges of treason, sent him to prison, and had his entire clan executed… Is this your way of repaying his kindness?!”

"No, no, it was Su Fengji who forced me, I had no choice..."

“My entire family has been stained with blood and died, yet you seek wealth and glory by framing your master’s family. You are such a treacherous and ungrateful wretch, worse than a pig or a dog. Let’s see if heaven and earth can tolerate you today.”

"No! That's not how it is..."

Ge Yanyu was horrified and suddenly knelt down in front of Song Yanwo, crying and begging.

"Save me, my lord! I am truly devoted to you. I am willing to offer up all of Su Fengji's land and shops, just so you can keep them safe."

"You deserve it too?!"

Enraged, Song Yanwo kicked Ge Yanyu to the ground and shouted, "How dare you, a traitorous scoundrel, tarnish the Song family's reputation that has stood for generations?!"

"My lord, the Su family's assets are worth a fortune, and it has always been tampered with by scoundrels..."

"Drag this filthy thing out and beat it to death with sticks."

"Brother Zhongjian, please wait a moment," Xiao Yi said. "Let me take him away and interrogate him, so as not to soil this place, Brother Zhongjian."

"Since we are going to interrogate him, steward, drag this traitorous slave to the kennel and torture him."

"No need, no need to go to the kennel, I'll confess now, I'll confess!" Ge Yanyu trembled and collapsed to the ground, his voice trembling as he said, "I'm willing to confess anything."

Where is Su Fengji now?

“I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you. He’s hiding it in the pawnshop vault in Yongtai Lane in the west of the city. Few people know that it’s Su Fengji’s property, called Yufeng Pawnshop…”

Xiao Yi asked, "If someone like you knew his whereabouts, why didn't you betray him sooner?"

Ge Yanyu wept bitterly and said, "I was forced into this situation. Li Ye detained my family and forced me to seek refuge with the royal army, to cover for them and gather intelligence."

Xiao Yi and Song Yanwo exchanged a glance and said, "We should inform Commander Wang about this matter and ask him to send troops to surround and capture them."

“Young Master Xiao has considered this very well. Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll send a few people to keep an eye on things.”

It wasn't that he needed troops; he was considering that it was not advisable to bypass Wang Yin.

Yongtaifang was a neighborhood surrounding the West Market, where merchants lived and half of the buildings were shops and warehouses.

Two wanted posters and portraits of Li Ye and Su Fengji were posted at the gate, with a reward of one thousand strings of cash for each.

More than half an hour later, the Imperial Guards surrounded Yongtai Ward, led by a deputy commander, with the sound of horses' hooves and footsteps in perfect unison.

Xiao Yi waited and stepped forward, saying, "I've been watching both the front and back doors, but I haven't seen anyone go in or out."

"Catch him."

The pawnshop is located in the south corner of the neighborhood and has three storefronts.

Four soldiers crept to the side of the door, gestured with their fingers, and then suddenly kicked the door open.

"Oh!"

"Traitor, surrender!"

"Those who resist will be killed without exception!"

"..."

"Report! No one found!"

Xiao Yi frowned and strode inside with Li Zhaoning. They found the shop in a mess, with many copper coins scattered around.

Pawnshops often have a storage room for valuables. They went through a narrow door and saw several rows of shelves against the wall in the back room. There were obvious traces of dust underneath. They squatted down and looked, and sure enough, there was a hidden door.

"It's been overturned."

The soldiers lifted the stone slab, revealing a hidden world beneath.

The pawnshop was very large, with more than a dozen rows of wooden shelves in the middle, on which were placed sealed boxes and cages with pawn tickets affixed.

Xiao Yi casually opened a chest, which contained various antiques and jade artifacts.

A few steps further in, you can see traces of many people living here.

As the firelight shone further forward, Li Zhaoning suddenly jolted awake, grabbing Xiao Yi's arm, but restrained herself from crying out.

There were many corpses lying haphazardly on the ground, including men, women, and children.

Ge Yanyu, who was being escorted over, suddenly cried out in grief, rushed forward, and embraced the corpse, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Mother! My children! How could you die? I did so much... just so you could have a good life, how could you die..."

"What are you howling about? Shut up."

The soldiers showed no sympathy and kicked Ge Yanyu relentlessly until he dared not utter a sound.

Xiao Yi then stepped forward and examined the body; it was still warm.

"Find it! They didn't go far; there's another exit."

"Here."

"found it!"

It was at the deepest part of the pawnshop. Pushing open the stone slab on top, we entered another shop. Cloths were displayed on the shelves, and there were traces of blood and footprints on the ground.

Following the trail to the shop's entrance, the cries of vendors reached my ears.

Xiao Yi looked around and saw people coming and going, bustling about.

This place is no longer in Yongtaifang, but in Xishi.

Vendors were shouting their wares, shops were crowded with people picking out New Year's goods, and the sounds of bargaining, donkey braying, and creaking wheelbarrows mingled together, interrupting the trail of clues.

"Is there a map?"

"No."

Xiao Yi took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and recalled the layout of Kaifeng City that he had seen at the Daxiangguo Temple. Suddenly, he heard various sounds mixed with work chants.

It sounds faintly, like "The cargo ships are docking!"

"Where is that?"

"Caohe River".

"Chase them! Split into two teams. One team searches along the south bank of the canal, keeping an eye out for anyone who looks flustered; the other team goes to the river wharf and keeps an eye on all the cargo ships waiting to depart."

Xiao Yi was not the commander of this Imperial Guard, but his orders were not subject to questioning.

Seeing that he had many tokens on his waist, the soldiers responded and immediately dispersed to search for him.

Xiao Yi chose to go to the riverbank. He had a gut feeling that Li Ye and Su Fengji were hiding in this area so that they could escape from the canal at any time, and that they must have prepared a boat.

Just as they reached the vicinity of the dock, they suddenly heard shouts and cries of killing coming from afar.

"Surround them!"

About a hundred paces away, on the bank of the Cao River, the Imperial Guards were quickly surrounding five or six men.

Those men were fierce, wielding single-edged swords, protecting two masked figures, and fighting the Imperial Guards fearlessly.

Just as he was about to go over, Xiao Yi was pulled by Li Zhaoning.

"Look there, Li Cheng!"

He looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a small boat on the canal that had sailed six or seven meters away, with a man in blue standing at the stern.

Who is Li Cheng?

“Ge Yanyu, Su Fengji’s general, conspired with him to kill my father.”

"Like a cicada shedding its shell, one remains on a boat."

Xiao Yi glanced around and saw a large cargo ship unloading cargo at the dock. He decisively rushed over.

He stomped his feet, and snowflakes flew from the soles of his boots.

He leaped into the air, using his waist and abdomen to stabilize his center of gravity, and landed with a "thump" on the large cargo ship.

He bent his knees in advance, and as soon as his boots touched the deck, he took two steps to dissipate the force, and at the same time grabbed the thick hemp rope attached to the mast and swung up, all in one smooth motion.

He held the canal rope in his hand, which was very strong, and his eyes were fixed on the awning boat that had gone further away. His body was raised high like a swing.

Behind me came the excited cheers of children.

"Look! He can fly!"

The wind brushed against my face, bringing a familiar scent.

Xiao Yi missed the feeling of flying so much.

Just a moment.

Let go, and fall into the covered boat.

He drew his sword in the heat of the moment.

The sword was intended for Li Fang; it was similar to the original one and quite handy.

Clang.

The moment the cold light was drawn from its sheath, Xiao Yi thrust out his sword.

Although he was in the air, the key to his power was to use his body to carry the sword, rather than his arm; accuracy lay in the unity of body and sword, that is, the direction of his body was completely consistent with the direction of the sword tip.

In terms of speed, he thrust out with the momentum of a falling attack; in terms of stability, his hand was very steady.

With a push from the waist and abdomen, the right arm extends straight out.

The sword's gleam reflected in the Caohe River, creating ripples on the water.

Where his gaze fell, Li Cheng's shoulder, not far from his neck, twitched, as if he wanted to draw his sword.

"puff."

A single sword strike to the throat, blood splattering on the boat's awning.

At the same time, Xiao Yi's feet landed on the awning boat.

The ship rocked violently.

Li Cheng's body slowly fell to the ground.

The old boatman stared blankly at Xiao Yi for a while, then suddenly jumped into the icy water and swam to the other side.

Inside the awning, Su Fengji turned around, his eyes filled with shock, his face instantly turning ashen.

"You...you? You!"

"Lord Su, it's been a long time."

Su Fengji burst into tears, crying out, "Your Majesty staged a palace coup, but you didn't even ask me about it! I was just caught up in it!"

“I believe you,” Xiao Yi said, “but I came for Li Song.”

"Wha...what?!"

Suddenly, the sound of oars was heard, and Li Zhaoning had hired a small boat to come this way.

As the two boats drew near, Xiao Yi reached out and helped her onto the covered boat, then gestured for the smaller boat to row away.

Then he handed the sword over.

"Let's take revenge."

Li Zhaoning took the sword and looked at Su Fengji with resentment.

"Young lady...who are you? Will you release this old man?"

"My grandfather's surname was Li, and his given name was Song."

Su Fengji was shocked. He took a few steps back to the side of the boat, as if he wanted to jump into the river. After hesitating for a moment, he sat down and cried out, "Spare me!"

Li Zhaoning sneered.

Xiao Yi had expected her to kill someone to vent her anger, just like last time, but after a while, she turned to look at him and asked, "If we hand him over, will Lord Guo let him go?"

"No, he's the mastermind, he's going to die."

"Then, we'll hand him over."

"Aren't you going to take revenge yourself?"

“Over the years, I’ve thought about how to get revenge day and night, but the more I investigate his background, the more I feel that killing him by hand is not enough. This kind of beast does not deserve to die peacefully.”

Li Zhaoning stared at Su Fengji, her hatred growing stronger.

"Since you became prime minister, besides accepting bribes, extorting colleagues, and selling official positions, you have done a great deal. You have been excessively exploitative, plundering treasures, imposing heavy taxes and levies, causing people across the land to be displaced; under the pretext of arresting thieves, you ordered the killing of hundreds of people from seventeen villages in Pingyin, Yunzhou, and in Weizhou, you had villagers impersonated thieves, severing their Achilles tendons and leaving them to die violently at the foot of the mountain; the land is filled with cries of injustice, and countless people have been forced into thievery by you. Emperor Gaozu sent you to review the prisons and clear the names of the wronged, but you killed them all without regard to the severity of the crime; you are heartless and unfilial, beating your half-brother to death, refusing to observe mourning for your mother after her death, and using the death of your wife as an excuse to plunder silk and satin. You have framed your colleagues, fought for power, harmed the public good for personal gain, disrupted the court, slaughtered the innocent, and misled the country and its people... Your crimes deserve to die a thousand deaths and are too numerous to count!"

Presumably, Su Fengji had committed too many sins, and Li Zhaoning could not recount them all at once; as she spoke, her voice became broken.

Xiao Yi watched as her eyes gradually turned red, tears streaming down her face and dripping onto her sword-wielding hand, which trembled incessantly.

"It would be a pity for a traitor like you to die by my hand, as it would not quell the hatred in the hearts of the people. You should be publicly executed, and let's see how many people want you dead. In the eyes of the world, is my grandfather wronged, or do you deserve to die..."

Upon hearing this, Su Fengji's face turned ashen, and his body trembled violently.

His eyes flickered with immense fear and despair, and finally he leaped into the Caohe River with a "plop".

Unfortunately, the Imperial Guards had already surrounded him in their boats and immediately scooped him up with fishing nets.

"We've caught Su Fengji!"

"It's made of Su Niu leather?!"

Hearing the shouts, the surrounding people gathered around.

Gradually, angry shouts arose from all sides.

"Kill Su Niupi!"

"Eat him raw!"

"..."

The covered boat is still drifting on the river.

Xiao Yi sighed softly and reached out to take the sword from Li Zhaoning's hand.

The sword suddenly fell to the ground, and a figure threw herself into his arms, bursting into tears...

(End of this chapter)