After failing the imperial examination, he began to wield immense power after entering the palace!

"We're only letting you in to search our house, inventory our valuables, and look for evidence!"

"Who gave you permission to kill someone? Who gave you permission to kill a child?!"

"you!"

Xu Biao's face turned deathly pale instantly.

He finally understood.

From the very beginning, that dog of a eunuch was plotting against him.

He said he'd confiscate their property and exterminate their entire family, but that was all just talk to himself; he was telling him to actually do the killing!

After you've killed someone, he'll deny everything and pin all the blame on you!

"You...you did this on purpose!"

Xu Biao's voice trembled, and his eyes were filled with terror and anger.

"You told me to kill him! You wanted to get me killed..."

"Miss Zhang!"

Li Fan didn't give him a chance to explain. He turned around, looked at Zhang Miaozhen, and said in a pained voice:

"While we weren't paying attention, Xu Biao led his men into the Wu residence and slaughtered Wu Zheng's entire family of thirty-seven!"

"This included the elderly, children, and women; the cruelty of the methods used was appalling!"

"If this person isn't killed, it would be an outrage against Heaven!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Miaozhen's phoenix eyes erupted with fury.

Looking at the corpses in the courtyard, the murderous intent in her chest erupted like a volcano.

"Xu Biao! You deserve to die!"

She took a step forward, drew her longsword, and the sword light shot straight at Xu Biao's face like a bolt of lightning.

"Wait! It wasn't me! It was Gao Jin who told me..."

Xu Biao retreated frantically, his mouth spewing words like a machine gun, trying to tell the truth.

But he hadn't finished speaking.

"Pfft!"

A long sword pierced his throat.

Blood gushed out, splattering all over Zhang Miaozhen's face.

Xu Biao's eyes widened, he covered his neck with both hands, and made a "hoarse" sound in his throat.

His eyes were filled with resentment and fear, and his lips were still moving as if he wanted to say something, but he could no longer make a sound.

"thump."

The body collapsed to the ground with a thud, twitched twice on the blue brick floor, and then remained still.

Zhang Miaozhen stood with her sword sheathed, blood dripping from the tip.

Her phoenix eyes still held lingering anger, her chest heaved violently, and the two full curves beneath her tight-fitting clothes trembled gently with her breath.

Behind him, all the eunuchs from the Eastern Depot were dumbfounded.

Xu Biao, the centurion of the criminal justice department, was killed by a single sword.

They looked at each other, their faces pale, each one looking worse than the last.

Looking at the corpse on the ground, Li Fan's grief and indignation slowly faded, replaced by a deep calm.

He turned around and faced everyone present.

"Remember what happened today."

"The Eastern Depot is a place that performs duties for His Majesty, not a slaughterhouse for indiscriminate killing."

"From now on, anyone who dares to commit murder without our permission will suffer the same fate as Xu Biao."

The audience was silent.

The barbarians lowered their heads, not daring to utter a sound.

A centurion in charge of criminal justice was executed without hesitation.

This newly arrived admiral is not someone to be trifled with.

Chen Tie stood aside, sighing inwardly.

He knew that from this day forward, no one in the Eastern Depot would dare to underestimate this Admiral Gao.

Li Fan stood on the gate steps with his hands behind his back, looking at the bloodstains and corpses in the courtyard, his face expressionless.

"Chen Tie."

"Your subordinate is here."

"Go and move the boxes of gold and silver that were counted at the Cao residence here."

Chen Tie was taken aback, but didn't ask any further questions. He clasped his hands in a fist and said:

"yes."

He turned and walked away quickly.

The foreigners looked at each other, their eyes filled with confusion.

Moving gold and silver?

Why did you move here?

Is this admiral up to something again?

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Chen Tie returned with a dozen or so Imperial Guard brothers, pushing three carts.

The truck was piled high with heavy wooden crates; when the lids were opened, they gleamed with gold and silver light.

The guards' breathing suddenly quickened.

Some people's Adam's apples bobbed, some people's pupils dilated, and some people subconsciously took half a step forward.

That's real money!

The guards present only earned a few taels of silver a month, and had never seen anything like this before.

Just looking at all that gold and silver makes my legs weak.

Li Fan glanced at the guards present and counted their heads.

There are forty-seven guards who came out on this errand today.

Including Chen Tie and a dozen or so Imperial Guard brothers, there were a total of about sixty people.

He walked up to the first cart, reached into the box, took out a gold ingot, and weighed it in his hand.

"Everyone, come here."

The guards exchanged glances, hesitated for a moment, and then slowly gathered around.

Li Fan looked around, then held up the gold ingot and waved it in the setting sun.

"Thank you for coming along on this business trip with us today."

"We know you harbor resentment."

"Today, when we searched the Cao family's house, we forbade you from touching a single penny, and we even publicly flogged one of our brothers."

"You may not dare say it aloud, but you've probably cursed our family countless times in your hearts."

The guards looked at each other, a hint of embarrassment on their faces.

This admiral dares to say anything.

Li Fan smiled, casually tossed the gold ingot aside, and then caught it again.

"We didn't let you take the money before because of discipline."

"Today is our first day in office, and everyone's watching us from every angle."

"If we let someone steal our silver on the very first day, what will people think of our family? What will they think of the Eastern Depot?"

"At that time, not only will our family be disgraced, but you will all be disgraced too."

The guards looked at each other, some nodding, others still looking completely bewildered.

What exactly is this admiral up to?

Li Fan looked at their bewildered expressions and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"But my family is very fair in its rewards and punishments."

"You've all worked hard with us today, we won't let you go home empty-handed."

He turned around and waved at the boxes.

"We've already counted and registered all this gold and silver."

"But when you confiscate property, there will always be some loose change that's hard to account for."

"These spare change, we'll decide, and distribute them among the brothers who came out with us on this errand today."

The words fell.

The entire venue was deathly silent.

The spies stared wide-eyed, their faces filled with disbelief.

Give...give it to them?

Is this admiral going to distribute the confiscated silver to them?

"Ten taels of silver per person."

Li Fan raised a finger, his voice neither hurried nor slow.

"Fifteen taels for those of squad leader and above."

"Those who perform well will receive an extra five taels of gold."

He took a silver ingot out of the box and casually tossed it to the nearest guard.

The porter hurriedly caught it, and when he looked down, he saw ten taels of silver, heavy and substantial.

"Admiral Gao, is this true?"

"When have we ever lied about what we say?"

Li Fan took another silver ingot from the box and tossed it to the next person.

Then came the third ingot, the fourth ingot...

"Come on, one by one, line up, everyone gets a share."

The guards were stunned for a moment.

next moment.

"Whoosh..."

Everyone surged forward, forming a long, crooked line.