Chapter 50: The Inn Vault

Chen Yufeng said to Zhang Zhimu: "We must deal with everyone as soon as possible." Zhang Zhimu asked Meng Si'er: "How many people are there at the exit outside the tunnel?" "A family of five, and the property is in the name of the owner." "Let's go over there and get the people in control first. In front of the door here, let Meng Si'er's two brothers deal with it, they are people in the store, and outsiders will not pay attention. ”

Meng Si'er led Zhang Zhimu and the others down to the basement again. Removing the debris piled up in a corner of the basement, Zhang Zhimu and the others saw that there was no difference. Meng Si'er took out a steel needle, inserted it in an inconspicuous hole in the wall, and pushed a brick under the hole inward, and the brick went in. Meng Si'er put his hand in and twisted it, and a gap was separated between the joints of the green bricks paved underground. Meng Si'er pushed to the side with his hand, revealing a downward staircase, and it turned out that there was another floor underground. Meng Si'er held the lamp and went down first, constantly lighting the lamps on the wall along the way. Below is a, half smaller than the above hall, and the above, are all green brick repair, green brick arching, workmanship is very exquisite, there is no mud joint, it is completely grinding brick joints, it can be seen that the original workload is huge, the investment is huge. Meng Si'er pointed to the left wall and said, "The vault is there, and I haven't been in it, so I don't know how to get in." "On the right is the entrance of the tunnel, Meng Si'er used to light the lamps one by one, Zhang Zhimu looked at it, and was startled, this tunnel is still built with green bricks, and the green bricks are arched, and they are also grinding bricks to joints. The width can be rich enough for a cart, so it's no wonder there are so many carts in this hall. Strangely, the ventilation of the second floor is better than that of the first floor, which shows the ingenuity of the design. Walking all the way along the tunnel, Zhang Zhimu was thinking, this store can afford to build such a huge underground facility, it is impossible without huge financial support, so how much property can this store have, at least more than Wild Boar Ridge. After walking for more than a mile, maybe a little nervous, Zhang Zhimu was soaked, and everyone didn't talk much, only the sound of crackling footsteps and heavy breathing could be heard, which made the atmosphere a little weird. Finally came to the end, Meng Si'er pulled the rope a few more times by the door, and after a while, he heard a sound, and the door opened. Seeing Meng Si'er go up, a voice came, "There is a deal again, but there is no business for a few days, I am impatient to wait." But when he saw Zhang Zhimu and them coming up together, his face was definitely not impatient. First, the muscles in his face trembled constantly, and then he fell to the ground with a thud. Ignoring him, Meng Si'er led Liu Yun and the others out of this room. After a while, Meng Si'er came back and said, "Everyone is here." Zhang Zhimu asked everyone to be locked in a room, and then he came out and walked around. The yard is good, three tile houses, and east and west wings, the front and rear yards are not very big, but the courtyard walls are very high and strong, and they can also cover people's eyes and ears well, in the yard, there are two carriages, and there are five horses in the stable. There are several sparse and sparse families outside the hospital, and they are not close to each other. Zhang Zhimu said that it was good, so he left a few people here to take care of it, and led everyone back the same way. After going back, Zhang Zhimu said: "Leave the owner behind, and the rest of the people will be escorted to that small courtyard through the tunnel." Send more people to watch over them, and get some food first. ”

Zhang Zhimu said to Lu Chengxiang, we have to wait for the inn to open before leaving, and now we have to prepare for the opening, first go and do all the things that should be done such as the plaque, and think about it more thoroughly. Pots and pans, everything that should be replaced has been replaced. The bedding is washed when it should be washed. In short, it should be renewed. Lu Chengxiang agreed and went to get busy, and Zhang Zhimu found that Lu Chengxiang was very good at handling transactional matters and very thoughtful. Seeing that Liu Yun and they were also going to help, Zhang Zhimu left him. Let him and Meng Si'er go down and bring the owner up, leaving only Chen Yufeng, Li Jing, and Li Wei in the house, and tell everyone else not to come in if they are fine. The owner came up, Zhang Zhimu asked him to pour him some water, the owner was thirsty, and drank three glasses of water in a row. Zhang Zhimu said: "You can still drink water here, how many people can't drink water if they want to." Now I know what to say. The proprietor said, "Just let my family go, and I'll tell you everything." Zhang Zhimu said: "I must first have a reason to let them go." You have to say it first. "It's a bit of a stalemate. Later, Chen Yufeng asked Zhang Zhimu to go out. Zhang Zhimu went out, and when the people outside saw his ugly face, they all knew that things were not going well, and no one came to talk. Zhang Zhimu hugged himself in his arms, walked slowly, and thought about his thoughts. After a while, Li Jing came out and nodded at Zhang Zhimu, and Zhang Zhimu went in again. At this time, the owner was already sweating profusely and looking decadent. Chen Yufeng said: "He figured it out. Zhang Zhimu said, "That's good." "I was thinking to myself, these guys, I don't know what tricks to use against him. Then he said, "Then let's go." The proprietor said, "I want something." Zhang Zhimu nodded. The proprietor took out a key in one drawer and a steel needle in another. Say, "Let's go!" ”

Coming to the second basement floor, the owner carefully searched for the morning on the wall, and then used a steel needle to poke in a small hole, and the brick next to it popped out in half, took out the brick, put it down gently, put the key in his hand, put it into the keyhole in the brick hole and twisted it, and then took off a key from his body, stretched it into another keyhole and twisted it. Everyone heard a "pop" from inside the wall. The proprietor pointed to a wall and said, "Push it away." "Li Wei and Li Jing stepped forward to push, it didn't take much effort, the original tightly knit wall actually went in together, it turned out to be a door, and it was two feet deep when they entered, and they couldn't push it." The proprietor said, "Push to the right." The two pushed to the right, and the door opened suddenly.

Meng Si'er went in first and lit all the lights. Zhang Zhimu and the others all went in.

In the past, a commonly used adjective called shock, has been said to be rotten, but when Zhang Zhimu and others saw the rows of gold ingots and rows of silver ingots on the wooden shelves inside, they couldn't find any other adjectives except shock. The gold shone in the flickering light, making Zhang Zhimu look a little confused. After fixing his mind, Zhang Zhimu thought, could it be true that the legendary large amount of gold together can confuse people's hearts. This vault is divided into three parts, the wooden shelf on the left is full of gold, the middle is silver, and the silver that cannot be put is placed in the right part. On the right, several large boxes, when opened, are full of jade and jewelry. There are many porcelain, jade pieces, and bronze pieces on the wooden shelf on the right, although Zhang Zhimu doesn't understand it, he knows that it is an antique at a glance. There are also some ancient books, calligraphy and paintings, and what is even more surprising is that there are many bamboo slips. Zhang Zhimu didn't have time to study these now, but he was sure that the things that could be put here must be expensive. Seeing that Liu Yun began to count the number, the owner said, "Don't order, there are accounts here." It's all integers. Zhang Zhimu took the account and opened it to take a look. Here there are twenty-eighty-three thousand five hundred and sixty taels of gold. Four hundred fifty-two thousand taels of silver. Zhang Zhimu said to the owner: "Aren't you more tax than the Ming Dynasty?" The proprietor snorted and said, "It's all counted here, and the harvest of the Ming Dynasty will be two years." Daming was collected and had to be spent, and our family had only been in and out for a hundred years. "Zhang Zhimu is dizzy, he can't figure it out in Wild Boar Ridge, they are desperately trying to earn gold and silver, why? Could it be that he was really fascinated by gold and became a captive of gold?

Zhang Zhimu knew that now was not the time to deal with this, and under the guidance of the owner, it was easy to close the vault door. This grinding brick joint is good, because there is no mortar joint, and the brick cannot be seen as soon as it is closed. Those who don't know really can't see anything different. Zhang Zhimu said to everyone: "Only a few of us know about this matter, and we are not allowed to spread it anymore." Zhang Zhimu put away all the keys and steel needles and let the owner take them away. Strangely enough, from the moment it came down, the owner was very calm, as if it had nothing to do with him. In fact, the fact that one person keeps such a large amount of wealth is also a heavy burden in itself, and at this time, the proprietor is relieved.

Zhang Zhimu When they came out, the people outside knew that the matter was done as soon as they saw their expressions. But everyone understands people, and they don't ask what they shouldn't ask. Zhang Zhimu and Lu Chengxiang and others were busy with the opening of the business. There was nothing to do until the evening, but a few inns came to ask why they were closed, and the guy whispered: "The owner may not be doing it, and he is going back to his hometown." "People who come immediately understand that they generally earn enough money, and when they leave, they go quietly, for fear of causing trouble with their money, and the newly opened ones are generally afraid that others will not know.

Zhang Zhimu said to Chen Yufeng: "Send the owner over there and give them a good time." After Chen Yufeng and Liu Yun left, Lu Chengxiang and Li Zhi came over and said that the property in the account room had been counted, and there were a total of gold, two taels of gold, eight thousand six hundred and seventy-two taels of silver, and one thousand five hundred and thirteen copper coins. Sixty-three taels of gold, two thousand one hundred and five taels of silver, one hundred and sixty-six pieces of copper coins, and a number of jade jewelry were found in the courtyard of the family members. Zhang Zhimu said: "These things are recorded in the account and left to the inn as capital, and when the inn is running normally, let them buy the next store." In the future, we can use this as a base to develop to the south, to the east and to the west. ”

In the middle of the night, Chen Yufeng led people back. Zhang Zhimu asked, "Are you done?" "That's it." Chen Yufeng said. At this time, there was no one else in the house, so Zhang Zhimu and Chen Yufeng sat there drinking tea. Zhang Zhimu wondered if I was too bloody now. asked Chen Yufeng: "Uncle Chen, am I killing too much?" In the past few months, you have killed a lot of people? Chen Yufeng said: "If you don't kill them, we won't live." Don't think too much, everyone won't let you touch your hands when it comes to blood. During this time, everyone admires you very much, the soft ones can hold people's hearts, and the hard ones should be killed, and they should be cut. I used to be worried about you, I was afraid that you would be too soft-hearted. Now, I'm much more relieved. ”

"What do people do?" Zhang Zhimu asked.

"Don't ask the specifics, in the end they were all pulled by a carriage and thrown into the Yellow River. This is also their retribution. With such an inn as his family, he has so much property. Aren't they all earned by shady hands? How many people they have killed in a hundred years, probably they themselves can't remember. This time the debt will be repaid. Chen Yufeng said.

Zhang Zhimu said: "It's better to make black money quickly, this is a business without capital." If it weren't for Meng Si'er to save us, the horses and goods they got this time would have been sold for two or three hundred thousand taels here. ”