At the Imperial Guard Commander Hei Ningqi’s command, Finance Minister Sof’s residence instantly became a living hell.
Anyone running around was killed. Anyone cursing was killed. Anyone carrying money was killed. Anyone holding weapons was killed.
In short, anyone who wished to survive could only kneel on the ground motionless, waiting to be arrested. Otherwise, they would be killed without mercy.
In just a short while, the entire residence was littered with corpses.
After more than half an hour, all thirty-some members of Sof’s clan were arrested, and over three hundred people were killed.
Finally, when everyone was loaded onto prison carts, the sound of weeping shook the heavens.
The nobles and high-ranking officials of the kingdom lived on this street. Seeing this scene, they were instantly struck dumb with fear, hiding in their homes and trembling.
Over an hour later, Finance Minister Sof’s entire family was escorted to the imperial prison.
The civil eunuchs of the Shadow Pavilion began entering the residence to carry out the confiscation of property.
Throughout the entire process, the Shadow Pavilion and the imperial guards supervised each other, preventing anyone from embezzling during the confiscation.
And the Hidden Continent young lord Fang Qingyi coldly watched all of this.
When everything was over, he came before Imperial Guard Commander Hei Ningqi and said coldly, “Please tell Sauron that everything he has done today will come at a price.”
“Scram!” Hei Ningqi said coldly. “I await the day when I carry out the regent duke’s order to arrest you.”
“Dream on!” Fang Qingyi sneered coldly. “A bunch of ants, nothing more!”
His lofty, superior demeanor was exactly the same as that of the Demon Continent princess Wanyan.
The Kingdom of Fury Waves had not yet become a colony of Hidden Continent, yet he already looked upon everyone in this country with the gaze one reserves for natives.
Then, Fang Qingyi turned and left.
Sauron’s arrest of Sof was equivalent to formally declaring war on Hidden Continent!
Since the other side had struck first, Fang Qingyi would strike back even harder.
He would retaliate, delivering a fatal counterattack!
…
“Your Grace the Duke, Sof’s entire clan has been successfully arrested.” Hei Ningqi came before Sauron and knelt on one knee.
Sauron glanced at Hei Ningqi and discovered that his gaze was incomparably fervent. Even now, his hands were trembling.
He could somewhat understand Hei Ningqi’s feelings!
The relationship between the Hei family and the royal Zhi family was equivalent to the relationship between the Ye Jingyu family and the Suo family.
Before the Zhi family had claimed kingship, the Hei family had already served as the Zhi family’s retainers for generations.
Over a hundred years ago, the Hei family had already changed their surname to Zhi. Just as many of Sauron’s family warriors had changed their surname to Suo.
It was only later, when the Hei family’s merits grew great, that they restored their original surname and became one of the kingdom’s nobles.
Fifty years ago, the Hei family began walking on two legs, one civil and one military.
So now, the civil leader of the Hei family was Minister of Personnel Hei Mu. The military leader was Hei Ningqi, Imperial Guard Commander!
As a retainer of the royal family, Hei Ningqi was naturally a true patriot. He had endured for several years, and now his pent-up indignation was finally being vented. Of course he was incomparably excited.
Toward Sauron, who had defended the dignity of the royal family and the Kingdom of Fury Waves, he was naturally incomparably worshipful and fervent.
Compared to Hei Ningqi, Minister of Personnel Hei Mu appeared somewhat overly rational.
Scholars, they are prone to overthinking.
Over these years, although Minister of Personnel Hei Mu had not gone along with the Zili faction’s corruption, he had always claimed illness and stayed home, far too concerned with preserving himself.
“Good.” Sauron said, “How are things at the Royal City Gold House?”
Hei Ningqi said, “Imperial Guard Vice Commander Li Ruofei has led ten thousand troops to take over the Royal City Gold House. There should be no problems. Good news should come soon.”
The headquarters of the Royal City Gold House was in the suburbs of the royal city Zidu, a separate castle.
Sauron nodded and said, “Let’s go. I will meet Sof again, this imperial commissioner of Hidden Continent.”
“Please, Your Grace the Duke.” Hei Ningqi bowed.
Sauron left the palace, protected by Grand Eunuch Gao Yin and Hei Ningqi, two top-tier experts, with over three thousand elite warriors at his side.
Sauron’s life was now too important. At any moment, countless people surrounded him for protection. His security specifications even exceeded those of King Zibian.
Inside the Black Dragon Platform’s imperial prison, Sauron once again saw Finance Minister Sof, now reduced to a prisoner.
At this moment, Sof was long gone from his former appearance as a handsome middle-aged man. His entire right hand was gone, and his whole body was trembling, but his gaze was incomparably frenzied.
Upon seeing Sauron, he immediately hissed, “Sauron, you will regret this, you will definitely regret this! My milk brother Grand Inquisitor Balong will come to save me. The master of Hidden Continent will come to save me. You are about to meet with great disaster, you are about to meet with great disaster!”
Sauron asked, “Hei Ningqi, what are the results of the confiscation at Sof’s residence?”
Hei Ningqi said, “Your Grace the Duke, although the confiscation is not yet complete, it now appears the results may not be great. Most of Sof’s money is not in his home. Perhaps it is in the Royal City Gold House.”
Regarding the Royal City Gold House, Sauron had already dispatched Imperial Guard Vice Commander Li Ruofei to lead ten thousand troops to take it over.
Sauron came before Sof and said, “Lord Sof, the treasury now has a deficit of over seven million gold coins. And you people have embezzled over ten million gold coins. I want this money back. When you represented Hidden Continent in corrupting and bribing the kingdom’s nobles, you must have had a ledger. Can you hand it over to me? I will use this ledger to confiscate property and demand money!”
“Hahaha…” Sof laughed loudly and said, “You cannot get it back, because this money has all become immovable property. It has all become large tracts of land, large estates, large mines. And wanting me to hand over anything to you? You are dreaming!”
Having said this, Sof spat a mouthful of saliva toward Sauron.
“This ledger is very important. Without this ledger, how can I recover stolen goods, how can I confiscate property, how can I arrest people, how can I know which people are important members of your Hidden Continent interest group?” Sauron said, “So please try to recall. Where is this ledger?”
“Ptooey…” Sof spat another mouthful of saliva.
“Bring his son over.” Sauron said.
Instantly, a warrior brought over a profligate young man in his twenties.
“Haha, you want to use my son’s life to threaten me…” Sof laughed heartily.
However, before he could finish laughing, it came to an abrupt halt.
Because Sauron slashed down with one sword, and Sof’s profligate son was instantly separated from his body, his head chopped off.
“Bring his father over.” Sauron said.
Then, two warriors brought over an elderly man in brocade clothing.
“You little thief, how dare you. Grand Inquisitor Balong is my adopted son…” the old man roared at Sauron.
“Pfft…” Sauron stabbed one sword into his mouth, directly piercing through his skull.
“Next!” Sauron beckoned.
Sauron did not look at who it was and directly slashed down with one sword, chopping off the person’s head.
“Next…”
“Next…”
“Next…”
In this manner, Sauron killed over a dozen of Sof’s family members in one breath, killing until Finance Minister Sof’s face turned livid, his entire body trembling, nearly soiling himself in terror.
“I do not kill because of personal hatred.” Sauron said indifferently, “Tu Lingduo was utterly insane, offending me so gravely, nearly harming my son. I did not torture her much, but rather executed her according to proper law. That is because I am not cruel and bloodthirsty. But… if I kill for a certain purpose, I can kill a thousand, ten thousand in one breath, and my expression will not change one bit!”
Sof’s entire body trembled continuously, and he said in a trembling voice, “Grand Inquisitor Balong will come to save me. Hidden Continent will come to save me.”
Sauron nodded, beckoned, and said, “Next!”
Instantly, two warriors pushed forward a person, a child in his teens. This was Sof’s youngest son, somewhat older than Ashi Yuanba.
Sauron’s heart softened slightly. The hand holding the sword hesitated for a moment, then lowered.
“Forget it. Sof is heartless and unrighteous, selfish to the core. Even if his entire family is killed, he won’t furrow his brow.” Sauron said, waving his hand to let the two warriors take Sof’s youngest son away.
Immediately after, he suddenly noticed that this teenaged boy was looking at Sauron with a gaze full of venomous hatred.
Sauron walked forward and said to Sof’s youngest son, “I know you hate me, because I killed your family. But killing one more person today is so that a hundred fewer people will be killed tomorrow.”
“Young master remembers you, remembers you.” That boy said in an incomparably venomous tone, “You wait until I get out alive, until I go to Hidden Continent, go to the Dragon Temple. When I come back, I will definitely kill your entire family.”
“Hidden Continent, Dragon Temple?” Sauron said, “You are a person of the Kingdom of Fury Waves. When did you become a person of Hidden Continent?”
“Ptooey! Young master is a superior person of Hidden Continent, not a lowly person of Fury Waves!” The boy spat a mouthful of saliva.
Sauron’s brows furrowed. He fell into struggle, hesitated slightly, then walked forward, embraced the boy’s head, and gently twisted.
“Crack…” The boy’s neck was directly twisted broken, instantly killed!
Releasing the boy’s corpse, Sauron came before Sof and discovered that the other person’s eyes held only fear, not much grief.
“You are a bad person. Faced with the tragic deaths of your family members, you do not show much sorrow.” Sauron said, “It seems that threatening you with family members will not make you talk. Then let’s change to another method!”
Then, Sauron waved his hand.
A Shadow Pavilion warrior brought over a red-hot branding iron and placed it beside Sof’s face.
Sof felt his face burning incomparably hot, completely unable to open his eyes.
His heart was truly filled with terror, but he knew that once he spoke, he would certainly die. Hidden Continent would definitely not let him off.
And if he persisted in not speaking, although it would be very painful, at least he would not die.
Sauron asked, “This is very painful. You should not suffer. Where is the ledger?”
“There is no ledger!” Sof said.
Sauron waved his hand.
That Shadow Pavilion warrior directly pressed the red-hot branding iron onto his face.
“Ahh…” Sof let out an incomparably miserable scream.
The smell of burning flesh filled the air.
Finance Minister Sof directly soiled himself in terror, fainting from the pain.
A basin of cold water was directly splashed over him, waking Sof up.
“Where is the ledger?” Sauron asked.
Sof cracked open his mouth and gave Sauron a fierce grin, saying, “Grand Inquisitor Balong will come to save me. Hidden Continent will come to save me. Sauron, you are about to meet with great disaster.”
Hei Ningqi at the side flew into a rage and was about to personally administer torture!
Sauron waved his hand and said, “No need. The pain he just endured already exceeded his limit. If we torture him further, he will no longer feel pain. He harbors hope in his heart, so he will not talk. Find the best doctor to treat his wounds. Do not let him die.”
“Yes!” Hei Ningqi said.
Sauron turned and left the imperial prison.
Hei Ningqi said, “Your Grace the Duke, what should be done next? How do we make Sof talk?”
Sauron said, “Rest assured, he will talk. He is not talking now not because his will is firm, but because his desire to survive is too strong. He knows that once he confesses, he will certainly die. When he feels that life is worse than death, he will talk. Look at Yin Du, the vice minister of the Black Dragon Platform. He is completely confident!”
Yin Du, vice minister of the Black Dragon Platform, bowed with a smile and said, “Yes, this subject has seen this kind of situation many times. At most three days, and he will talk.”
Sauron said, “We don’t have three days. I will go find Princess Zhiyan and have her use mental techniques to suppress and crush his will!”
…
Sauron was completely racing against time!
Hidden Continent would definitely retaliate, and it would definitely be extremely fierce and fatal!
But Sauron still had to uphold one principle. You fight your way, I fight mine.
He absolutely could not passively fall into defense just because Hidden Continent was about to attack. Absolutely not!
Now there were two things he needed to do.
First, thoroughly seize control of the Royal City Gold House, and not let the situation deteriorate further.
Second, obtain a large sum of gold coins in the shortest possible time to deal with the enormous crisis about to come!
With Hidden Continent’s retaliation, the Kingdom of Fury Waves’ money supply would instantly be cut off.
By then, let alone repaying debts, even the money to maintain the kingdom’s operations would be gone. Over a million troops would not receive their wages. Countless officials would not receive their salaries. The entire state apparatus could stop functioning at any moment.
Once it reached that point, the consequences would be completely fatal!
Sauron was formidable, but he could not order others to work without money.
Moreover, with the exposure of the Royal City Gold House scandal, there would definitely be a run on the bank.
If the feudal lords and nobles came to withdraw money, Sauron could refuse, even threaten them with blades, because these people’s money was not clean.
But a large portion of the Royal City Gold House’s money belonged to the kingdom’s wealthy class and middle class, and even ordinary commoners.
When these people came to withdraw money, Sauron definitely had to pay them out.
Because these people’s money was clean, and it was essential for their livelihoods. If they too could not withdraw their money, then the Kingdom of Fury Waves’ public trust would be completely ruined, and the entire country would fall into utter chaos.
In Sauron’s eyes, during this crisis, the nobles could be in chaos, the feudal lords could be in chaos, but the commoners could not be in chaos!
The hearts of the people are like water. When the people move, it is like smoke!
Popular sentiment is often worthless, but at critical moments, it is the most fatal.
At this critical moment, once the commoners were in chaos, the entire kingdom would almost completely collapse.
Because this was a country after civil war, a country where the ruling stratum had not yet smoothly transitioned!
On the surface, the treasury only had a deficit of over seven million gold coins. But once the crisis erupted, that would be a massive hole of over ten million gold coins.
At this time, there were still large amounts of gold coins in the Royal City Gold House. As long as he thoroughly took over the Royal City Gold House, half of the foundation would be stabilized. Because according to Sof’s previous account, Zili had only misappropriated about thirty percent of the Royal City Gold House’s gold coins.
A few days ago, after Zili’s failure, Sauron immediately sent people to take over the Royal City Gold House.
But the Hidden Yuan Association was the Royal City Gold House’s largest shareholder, and at that time Sauron had not yet completely fallen out with Hidden Continent, so he could not use military force.
But now they had completely fallen out. Sauron acted decisively, immediately dispatching troops to seal off and take over the Royal City Gold House.
Seizing control of the Royal City Gold House was not enough. Sauron also needed a sum of gold coins to deal with the impending run on the bank and to maintain the state apparatus’s operations.
This sum of gold coins did not need to be too much. Three to four million would suffice.
But even three to four million was not something he could fill. The gold coins currently in his hands only amounted to a few hundred thousand.
So he could only obtain this money through confiscating property. But whose property specifically should be confiscated?
This completely depended on Sof’s ledger, because only he knew how much black money the nobles and officials within the royal city had received, how much ill-gotten wealth they had embezzled.
Sauron could not confiscate property indiscriminately. That too would be a fatal blow to the country’s public trust.
…
Sauron went to the princess’s residence to find Zhiyan, to have her use mental suppression techniques to break down Sof’s will and make him reveal that ledger.
This ledger definitely existed. It was Sof’s leverage over the kingdom’s nobles, the most fatal weapon in his hands. He would definitely treasure it like a gem and hide it somewhere.
Before Sauron had reached the princess’s residence, fatal news arrived!
The Imperial Guard Vice Commander dispatched to take over the Royal City Gold House galloped up at full speed and directly knelt on the ground.
“Your Grace the Duke, the Royal City Gold House has been burned down. All the ledgers and archives inside have been completely destroyed by fire.”
Imperial Guard Vice Commander Li Ruofei knelt on the ground trembling.
This news was to Sauron like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.
Li Ruofei said, “When our troops surrounded the Royal City Gold House, they burned down the entire Royal City Gold House at the fastest speed. Every place inside was doused with oil! Once the fire started, there was no way to extinguish it.”
The Royal City Gold House was the foundation for Sauron to stabilize the situation and deal with the impending enormous crisis!
Now it had actually been completely destroyed by fire!
He knew Fang Qingyi would retaliate frantically, but had not expected it to be so resolute, completely burning down the entire Royal City Gold House. One must know that doing this was also a tremendous blow to the Hidden Yuan Association’s reputation.
At this moment, Sauron could almost feel the sinister grin of the Hidden Continent young lord Fang Qingyi.
Burning down the Royal City Gold House had almost driven Sauron into a desperate situation.
By then, the exposed deficit would not be a few million gold coins, but ten to twenty million gold coins.
Even more terrifying was facing the run by countless people, the complete collapse of the kingdom’s finances, the complete collapse of the state apparatus.
Sauron closed his eyes!
The most dangerous moment, the most fatal moment had arrived!
A moment later, Sauron opened his eyes and said calmly, “Transmit the order. Have the imperial guards surrounding the Royal City Gold House charge in and massacre all Hidden Yuan Association members inside! Hei Ningqi, you immediately lead the great army to completely surround the Hidden Yuan Association headquarters!”
Hei Ningqi violently trembled. The Hidden Yuan Association headquarters was truly a place outside the law.
It was equivalent to the Hidden Continent embassy in the Kingdom of Fury Waves, truly belonging to the Dragon Temple’s sphere of influence. Once troops were dispatched to surround the Hidden Yuan Association headquarters, that would set off a monstrous upheaval.