Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 692 A good show

In the backyard, Chen Hengchang was awakened by the commotion. He walked out of the bedroom with a gloomy face and asked in a cold voice, "What's wrong?"

"Your Highness, there's a fire in the front yard!" a eunuch reported nervously.

Chen Hengchang could already see the flames rising in the front yard.

"Fire? Fire in the heavy rain?"

Chen Hengchang felt like he had been fooled.

It's not impossible for a fire to start in the rain, but it definitely wouldn't burn this big.

This fire is likely to set the entire front yard of the Prince Qing's mansion ablaze.

"Someone, go and invite these esteemed officials here!"

He had a bad feeling, but he didn't know where it came from.

Upon hearing this, several eunuchs immediately went to fetch someone.

The fire in the front yard was still burning.

"Your Highness, something terrible has happened! The fire is spreading towards the backyard!" someone ran in to report.

Chen Hengchang had already seen it; his face was so gloomy it looked like it could drip water.

This is not a normal fire at all; a normal fire would never be this intense in such rainy weather.

Before Chen Hengchang could respond, a loud explosion suddenly rang out from the fire.

With a loud bang, the fire suddenly exploded, and countless fire snakes shot in all directions, while the houses and the ground trembled.

The explosion came too suddenly, and Chen Hengchang was caught off guard and was almost knocked down by the shockwave.

Several eunuchs quickly helped him up. Chen Hengchang stared blankly at the rising flames in front of him.

The fire was terrifying; it had almost completely surrounded them.

Just then, Lin Fu'an arrived, grabbed Chen Hengchang, and fled the fire.

However, after Chen Hengchang left his palace, he was shocked to discover that the fire was not limited to his palace; fires were burning both inside and outside the city.

"That is!"

His expression changed drastically as he looked at the firelight in the south of the city.

"The granary is on fire?"

Lin Fu'an pulled him to a safe location, nodding as he said, "Yes, the entire granary has been engulfed in flames!"

"How could this happen?" Chen Hengchang could no longer remain calm.

That was the grain he had painstakingly accumulated, the grain he had seized after slaughtering countless local gentry and powerful families, the grain he had prepared for his northern expedition.

He has no shortage of money, but he is short of food.

He maintained an army of hundreds of thousands, which consumed a large amount of food and fodder every day.

Although they have more than one granary, the granary in the south of the city is their largest granary at present.

"Not only the granary, but also the armory and the government office are on fire!" Lin Fu'an said coldly.

"Someone buried a large amount of kerosene underground beforehand, and also poured a lot of kerosene before setting the fire!"

Chen Hengchang was a little confused. They had buried kerosene underground and poured a lot of kerosene before setting it on fire.

Other places might be one thing, but his palace and granaries were heavily guarded. Who could do that so quietly?

This is not something that one or two people can do, nor can it be accomplished in a day or two.

"Who is it!" Chen Hengchang asked hoarsely.

Lin Fu'an's expression was equally gloomy and uncertain as he swept his gaze over the people around him.

Although the Prince Qing's mansion was not newly built, it had been renovated before Chen Hengchang moved in, while the granary outside the city was newly built.

The idea of ​​burying a large amount of oil underground means that preparations had begun long ago.

The people who set the fire tonight were not just a few individuals, but rather someone who had premeditated and organized the act.

It's even possible that the soldiers guarding the palace and granary will need to help.

Most of the soldiers responsible for guarding the palace and granary were members of the Shenyang Sect.

What does this mean? It means that there are problems within their Shenyang Sect.

The thought sent chills down Lin Fu'an's spine.

At this moment, all the high-ranking members of the Shenyang Sect arrived, including the four guardian kings of the Shenyang Sect: Ji Feiyu, Fei Mingyue, Wang Chongzhen, and Ling Bufu.

Ji Feiyu was also observing his surroundings, and he suspected that there were problems within the Shenyang Sect.

But suddenly he stopped and asked sharply, "Where is Lü Hua?"

Only then did everyone realize that Lü Hua was not there.

With such a commotion in the city, Lü Hua couldn't possibly be unaware of it. Even if he wasn't, they would have sent someone to invite him.

But Lu Hua hasn't come yet, so it's obvious that Lu Hua did all of this.

"Damn it, you ungrateful wretches!" Chen Hengchang cursed angrily.

Lu Hua betrayed him, which made him extremely angry.

He believed he valued Lü Hua fairly much, and he genuinely wanted to win Lü Hua's heart.

"What are you waiting for? Bring that ingrate back to me now! I'm going to tear him to pieces!"

Where is Lü Hua at this moment?
He was on the east gate tower of Jiangning Prefecture, admiring the raging fires.

"Haha, the show has only just begun! I hope you won't be disappointed!"

He had been planning this grand scheme for a long time, but initially it wasn't for today. The oil burial was just a precaution.

His infiltration of the Divine Sun Sect was just routine. It should be noted that the Secret Martial Guard's greatest strength is not in targeting external forces, but in monitoring internal forces.

In his eyes, the Divine Sun Sect was a flawed entity.

The Shenyang Cult, hidden in the shadows, is impenetrable because it is very difficult for outsiders to discover its location.

However, the Shenyang Sect, as it is exposed to the world, is riddled with flaws.

The Shenyang Sect itself is not harmonious, and many Shenyang Sect members are full of resentment towards the sect. Not everyone is willing to become a ferocious beast that may lose its mind at any time for the sake of cultivation.

Some Shenyang followers were forced to join the Shenyang Cult, and these people are the biggest loophole in the Shenyang Cult.

If Lü Hua can find this loophole, he can infiltrate the Shenyang Sect like a sieve.

"My lord, they're here!" Another figure approached Lü Hua and reported.

Without any hesitation, Lü Hua said, "Let's go!"

Before he finished speaking, he had already jumped off the city wall, and the warhorse that had been prepared on it galloped eastward in the heavy rain.

The heavy rain continued to pour down, and Lin Fu'an and Ji Feiyu relentlessly pursued Lü Hua.

They didn't ride horses; they flew directly through the rain. However, while this method of traveling by relying on their own lightness skills was fast, it couldn't be sustained for long.

With Lin Fu'an's cultivation level, flying dozens of miles was no problem, but any more than that was impossible.

Ji Feiyu was even less capable than Lin Fu'an. However, they were followed closely by hundreds of cavalrymen.

This was a long chase.

Lu Hua went too far. It wasn't just Chen Hengchang who was furious; Lin Fu'an and Ji Feiyu were also enraged and wished they could tear Lu Hua to pieces immediately.

However, it won't be easy for them to catch up with Lü Hua and his group, because Lü Hua had already made thorough preparations.

After galloping a hundred miles, Lü Hua and his men changed into the warhorses they had prepared beforehand and continued their eastward escape.

Although Lin Fu'an and Ji Feiyu continued to pursue relentlessly, their warhorses were beginning to tire.

However, it seemed that Lü Hua was keeping them on tenterhooks. Instead of fleeing all the way, he would stop from time to time and wait for them, keeping them close behind him, neither letting them catch up nor letting them lose hope.

And so, the two groups raced one after the other throughout the night, until dawn, maintaining a distance of two or three miles between them.

As dawn broke and the rain stopped, Lin Fu'an stared at the blurry figure ahead and suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Ji Feiyu tightened the reins and stopped.

By this time, their warhorses were exhausted, their manes soaked with sweat, panting heavily, looking as if they might die of exhaustion at any moment.

Lin Fu'an's face darkened. "We've been tricked?"

Ji Feiyu was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

He hasn't reacted yet.

Lin Fu'an wasn't sure either, but he was certain that Lü Hua was in the line ahead.

But here's the problem.

Why was Lü Hua in the front of the line?

If Lü Hua wanted to escape, wouldn't it have been more convenient to travel by water? Why did he choose to flee on horseback?

Traveling by boat from Jiangning City down the Song River is slower than riding a horse, but it allows one to conceal their whereabouts for a short period of time.

There's no need to go downstream to the sea; the Jiangnan region has numerous waterways, rivers, and lakes, making it incredibly easy for a boat to hide.

On the contrary, riding a horse is inconvenient, as it requires crossing bridges and taking a long detour.

Although they traveled more than 200 li in one night, they were actually not far from Jiangning City, only about 100 li away.

But it was too late for Lin Fu'an to realize this.

Inside Jiangning City, the fire burned all night without being extinguished. Everyone's attention was drawn to the Prince Qing's mansion and the granaries outside the city, and no one noticed that small boats were sailing away from Jiangning City in the moat north of the city.

The small boats were not big, about the same size as ordinary fishing boats, only about ten feet long, but there were over a hundred of them. Each boat had three large boxes and two boatmen.

The moat of Jiangning City is connected to the Song River, and there is a wharf outside the north gate. This wharf used to be the most prosperous area of ​​Jiangning City. However, now that the wealthy merchants and gentry of Jiangnan have suffered a devastating disaster, trade has become extremely desolate, and the once bustling wharf is now very deserted.

Although there were soldiers on duty at the dock, they all jumped onto small boats and rowed away from the dock.

As dawn broke, Chen Hengchang, who hadn't slept all night, sat in a hall in a courtyard, his eyes bloodshot and his face unusually pale.

This courtyard was his temporary residence. It was originally the mansion of a wealthy merchant, whose entire family was killed by Chen Hengchang, so the courtyard fell into Chen Hengchang's hands.

Chen Hengchang owns many courtyards with such beautiful scenery and gorgeous decorations, so he has no shortage of places to live.

However, the burning of his palace still filled him with immense anger.

Just now, he received the results of tonight's losses: 800,000 shi of grain and fodder, and as many as a thousand houses were burned down, all of which were important mansions such as princely palaces and government offices. Not a single ordinary house was burned.

It's not that Lü Hua cares about the poor, but the poor can't live around those important mansions anyway. No matter how badly those mansions burn, they can't reach ordinary houses.

Besides grain and houses, a lot of property was also burned. Gold and silver were not burned, but precious calligraphy and paintings, jade, jewelry, medicinal materials and so on were burned. Even the warehouse in the front yard of the Prince's Mansion was burned to the ground. You can imagine how big Chen Hengchang's losses were this time.

However, this was not the whole story. Lü Hua's goal was not just to set a fire. He had prepared for so long, wasted so much of his cultivation technique, and even risked his own life as bait. Naturally, he did not simply want to play tricks on Chen Hengchang and the others.

"Your Highness, Your Highness, something terrible has happened!"

A hurried voice came from outside the hall, and Yan Huichun, Ling Bufu, Fei Mingyue and the others frowned and looked towards the door.

They had received too much bad news that night, and now hearing such shouts, they couldn't help but feel irritated.

Soon an official rushed into the hall, his face filled with panic, and said, "Your Highness, the treasury has been robbed!"

"What?" Chen Hengchang jumped up.

A gold and silver vault, as the name suggests, is a place for storing gold and silver.

"Which gold and silver vault?" Yan Huichun's expression changed, and he quickly asked.

“The one in the north of the city!” the official said.

Chen Hengchang's face flushed red, his eyes filled with boundless rage.

"How much was stolen?"

The official's face turned deathly pale. "All the gold and silver ingots have disappeared!"

With a bang, his words had barely left his lips when he was blasted out of the hall like a cannonball.

With a spurt, a mouthful of blood gushed out, and then he crashed heavily onto the bluestone ground outside, clearly struggling to breathe.

This punch was thrown by Chen Hengchang, and the reason for it was naturally because he was extremely angry.

The gold and silver vault in the north of the city was their most important vault, containing a large number of freshly smelted gold and silver ingots, totaling one million taels of gold and three million taels of silver.

This time, they seized a huge fortune from the house. If all the valuables were converted into silver, it would be worth hundreds of millions.

The problem is that most of the wealth they obtained was not gold or silver; gold and silver only accounted for a small portion, amounting to approximately 30 million taels.

Of that, there were only a little over one million taels of gold, and now all of those one million taels of gold have been stolen.

Chen Hengchang now desperately wants to kill people—to kill Lü Hua, and to kill those who betrayed him.

Needless to say, Chen Hengchang was furious. Let's first talk about how Lü Hua stole so much gold and silver.

it's actually really easy.

All we need to do is win over some guards of the gold and silver vaults, some soldiers at the north gate, and a group of Shenyang Sect followers, and then prepare ships in advance.

While everyone's attention was drawn to the fire, they brazenly carried away one million taels of gold and three million taels of silver.

The phrase "penetrated like a sieve" means that Lü Hua's men are everywhere in Jiangning City.

In fact, Lu Hua didn't have many people under his control, only a little over a thousand in total.

But these thousand-plus people were enough for him to turn Jiangning City upside down.

He wasn't trying to fight Chen Hengchang; his goal was to create chaos and then take the opportunity to smuggle away the gold and silver.

Two days later, more than a hundred small boats docked on the north bank of Nan Chao Lake. The people on board had already entered the Wanshan Mountains. As for the gold and silver on board, Lü Hua naturally would not transport them out of Jiangnan.

Despite his ability to steal so much gold and silver from Jiangning City, he was unable to transport it out of Jiangnan.

Chen Hengchang's navy was incompetent, but it was still able to blockade the Songhe River, preventing ships from entering the sea.

As for land transportation, that's even more impossible.

Therefore, Lü Hua never intended to transport those gold and silver out of Jiangnan.

In fact, the gold and silver were still within the territory of Jiangning Prefecture, but they sank to the bottom of the Songhe River.

(End of this chapter)