The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 104 Kill them all

Lin Qiandao pressed against Lin Zhishu's back and coldly stared at his father.

"The silver vault is in the Buddhist temple..."

"You can't say it!" Lin Zhili shouted, his words slurred despite the pain on his face. "He's having an affair with Concubine Li!"

In the crowd, Aunt Li's body trembled.

With a single glance from Lin Qian, a crew member stepped forward and delivered a heavy punch to Lin Zhili's abdomen. He curled up in pain, and the crew member put his muzzle back on.

Lin Jiren looked at his eldest son in disbelief, then looked behind him. When he saw that Aunt Li's clothes were disheveled and her eyes were darting around, he understood everything.

Lin Qian ordered Lin Zhishu to be released and said to her subordinates, "Go and investigate the Buddhist hall!"

"Yes!"

Lin Qian sat down and watched the grand spectacle unfold before her with leisurely composure.

When Lin Zhishu saw his father looking at him, tears streamed down his face as he shook his head. He wanted to explain, but his mouth was gagged, and he couldn't speak.

Lin Jiren's eyes went from surprise and doubt to confusion and then to anger, until his face turned a deep liver color.

"You had an affair with your aunt? You beast!" Lin Jiren squeezed out the words through gritted teeth.

"Waaah..." Lin Zhishu cried bitterly, shaking his head desperately, his chin pointing repeatedly at Aunt Li.

Although he didn't open his mouth, judging from his actions and expressions, it was clear what he wanted to say: nothing more than the same old cliché about how Aunt Li had seduced him first.

"You beast who disregards human ethics!" Lin Jiren slapped his eldest son across the face.

Footsteps approached quickly from the backyard, and the person bowed before the hall, saying, "Ship owner, we've found a hidden door beneath the altar in the Buddhist hall. Inside are dozens of silver chests."

Lin Qian said to Lei Sanxiang, "Take some men and move the silver onto the ship, give me an approximate amount, and report back to me."

Lei Sanxiang accepted the order and withdrew.

Lin Qian jokingly said to the Lin family, "Your family is truly devoted to Buddhism, digging a silver vault under the Buddha altar."

Lin Jiren turned around and looked at Aunt Li with resentment and venom. His cold gaze made Aunt Li tremble uncontrollably.

Old Master Lin was utterly despondent, tears streaming down his face as he murmured, "A four-hundred-year-old family, fallen in a single day, how could this be?"

"Hehehe..." Perhaps heartbroken by her lover's betrayal, or perhaps stunned by the shock, Aunt Li chuckled softly upon hearing this.

The laughter was particularly jarring in the blood-soaked hall, sending chills down one's spine.

"You wretch!" Lin Jiren's expression was as cold as a snake.

"A noble family? What a filthy, rotten family of adultery!" Aunt Li laughed maniacally as she spoke. "Lin Jiren, you forced me into your household back then, causing my father to die of anger, my mother to throw herself into a well, and my family to be destroyed. You should have known this day would come. Hahahaha... A scholar having an affair with his concubine, what's the point of taking the imperial examinations if word gets out? It's a miracle he's not being exposed behind his back! Hahahaha..."

"Shut up! Shut up!" Lin Jiren roared furiously, but with the thugs around him eyeing him menacingly, he dared not cover his mouth. He growled in a low voice, "I'll settle accounts with you after this is over!"

Aunt Li trembled with excitement, her face contorted in a ferocious grimace: "If we're talking about settling scores, it should be the heroes who settle accounts with your Lin family first. All those good deeds you speak of, every single one of them, weren't they all for your own benefit?"

They shamelessly talk about destroying farmland and diverting floodwaters, but they just want to use the flood to kill the people around your fields so they can seize your land!

Your family has harmed countless lives, yet you hypocritically run soup kitchens and free schools, hoping to gain a good reputation. Dream on!
Everything you have today is retribution for your family!

"It's only right that the heroes killed you all, hahahaha...kill them all! Kill them all!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Jiren shrank back and looked at Lin Qian, saying, "Don't believe her, sir. This slut has gone mad."

"Is that so?" Lin Qian took out a stack of land deeds from the box and read them slowly, "Changpu Du Huangqingtu Sanjiaping, land of six mu and three fen, date of signing: the eighth day of the tenth month of the forty-seventh year of Wanli."

After reading it, he pulled out a new land deed: "Date of signing: October 16th, 47th year of Wanli".

He picked up another one: "November 9th, 47th year of Wanli".

Lin Jiren had nothing to say and hung his head in dejection.

A crew member came to the front hall to report: "Ship owner, a group of local militia are coming this way."

Lin Qian asked, "How many people?"

"More than a hundred people."

"Guard the gate and protect the courtyard walls."

"Yes."

The people from the Lin family in the hall were all invigorated upon hearing that the local militia had come to their rescue.

Lin Qian then sent someone to inquire about the progress of moving the silver in the backyard. After a while, a crew member reported: "About half of the silver has been moved. There is another group of people outside the mansion heading towards the back gate."

Lin Qian pondered for a moment, then said to Bai Qing, "You stay here and keep an eye on these people. I'll go check the back."

"Yes."

Lin Qian followed the crew up the courtyard wall and saw a group of torches heading towards the back gate in the distance.

They're too far away to see the number of people clearly.

Judging from the direction they came from, they should be people from the county town, not local militia.

The bird boat was moored at the riverbank behind the back gate. Without the courtyard wall to block it, once this group occupied it, they would have a hard time getting away.

People must be stopped.

Lin Qian ordered her subordinates to bring the crossbows to the back gate wall.

After half an incense stick's time, twelve crossbowmen arrived.

When they entered the mansion, there were only five crossbows; the extras must have been seized inside the mansion.

After the crossbowmen took their positions on the wall, the torchbearer team also arrived in front of the wall.

The first man stepped forward, holding a torch, and shouted, "I am the clerk of Huangyan County. What kind of thieves are causing trouble here? Come out now, and you can still save your life."

Having just engaged in a direct battle with the Lin family's guards, the noise must have carried far, which attracted the attention of the local militia and the clerk.

Lin Qian didn't answer, but gestured for her men to hide behind the parapet.

One of his men poked half his head out, counted for a moment, and reported, "There are over two hundred people."

Including the more than one hundred local militiamen at the front gate, more than three hundred people had gathered around the Lin residence. Lin Qian's men, however, numbered only seventy-five, putting them at a significant disadvantage in terms of numbers.

To move with ease, they did not bring firearms, and their only ranged weapon was the crossbow. The front ranks of the magistrate's men all carried shields, so they were not at a disadvantage in terms of weaponry.

It would be best to find an opportunity to eliminate the leading official.

Seeing that no one answered from the wall and that he could not see anyone by the moonlight, the clerk ordered someone to fetch a ladder and climb the wall to investigate.

"Clap!"

A bamboo ladder was placed on top of the wall. A person carefully climbed up, and when he reached the top, he saw that no one was around and was about to climb up the wall.

Suddenly, under the moonlight, a goose-feather blade flashed with a cold light.

The man clutched his gaping neck and fell from the wall, spraying blood into the air.

"Release!" Lin Qian shouted.

More than ten crossbowmen emerged from behind the wall, aimed at the clerk, and fired their arrows.

Unfortunately, the clerk was very wary and had already retreated behind his shield.

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

In the distance, the sound of an arrow piercing a shield could be heard. The magistrate was unharmed, while only two of his men were shot through the thighs and were rolling on the ground howling in pain.

The clerk thought to himself that the number of the bandits from the Lin family was unknown, and they had crossbows and arrows. They also had the advantage of occupying the top of the wall, making it difficult to launch a strong attack.

He was merely a minor official, a lowly clerk whose monthly salary was only one tael of silver. Why would he risk his life for such a paltry sum?

We might as well surround them from a distance and prevent the thieves from escaping.

Anyway, someone has already gone to the patrol office and garrison to ask for help. Once the troops arrive, someone will go to kill the thief and rescue the people.

"Retreat!" The clerk ordered, and his troops retreated slightly.

"Look, sir," the foreman said, pointing into the distance.

By the moonlight, the clerk saw seven bird boats moored by the riverbank outside the Lin residence, with figures moving silver out of the residence.

They were river pirates!
That has even less to do with the clerk of Huangyan County. If there are bandits on the water, the higher-ups should hold the garrison and the patrol office accountable.

However, as the clerk, having already seen the thieves outside the mansion, how could he not arrest them? If he stood by and did nothing, he would be implicated if others found out.

The clerk glanced to his side and saw that none of the constables or militiamen around him had noticed what was happening in the distance. He had a sudden idea and immediately said, "The walls here are too high to be breached by force. Let's go to the main gate!"

(End of this chapter)