Starting from the imperial palace guards, his clones spread all over the world

#409 - Blame me if things don't work out?

The night was as dark as ink. Meng Wei's hand, carrying a fierce gust of wind, was about to grab Liang Jin's shoulder, the air seemingly torn apart by this ruthlessness.

It was at this critical moment.

Yan San Niang frowned, intervening once again, her voice urgent and firm:

"Meng Wei, don't hurt innocent people!"

But Meng Wei's mind was solely focused on giving Liang Jin a hard time; he wouldn't stop just because Yan San Niang was trying to stop him.

His face was gloomy, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes. With a nimble twist, he skillfully avoided Yan San Niang's obstruction.

Yan San Niang clearly hadn't expected Meng Wei to suddenly dodge, and her block missed, causing her to almost stumble forward a few steps due to inertia.

Meng Wei missed his strike and was preparing to attack again, his poised hand once more reaching towards Liang Jin.

However, at this critical juncture, a burst of rapid hoofbeats suddenly rang out, breaking the tense atmosphere.

The rider frantically spurred his horse onward, shouting anxiously:

"Yan San Niang! Something bad has happened!"

"The team transporting the official silver is here!"

"They're only two li east of here and will reach the village soon!"

This news was like a bombshell, instantly exploding among the crowd. Everyone was stunned, their faces showing a mixture of shock and surprise.

Even Meng Wei, who was about to attack, subconsciously stopped his hand reaching for Liang Jin, his eyes filled with astonishment.

Yan San Niang couldn't help but exclaim:

"Why are they so fast?"

Clearly, their arrival speed far exceeded her expectations, leaving them with very little time to prepare, not even enough time to set up traps.

Yan San Niang, as the backbone of the group, quickly calmed down and decisively ordered:

"Send all the civilians who are helping us transport the goods to hide behind the hillside."

"The rest who know martial arts, quickly come with me to make arrangements."

As she spoke, she straightened her back and loudly addressed everyone with a stern voice:

"Everyone, remember, this operation is not for ourselves, but for the countless people of Changzhou!"

"The imperial court had already allocated disaster relief silver, but those corrupt officials embezzled it, causing countless people in Changzhou to be displaced and even die in this famine."

"We received intelligence that those corrupt officials will be transporting this batch of disaster relief silver through this area tonight, to their underground money houses."

"And tonight, we will seize this silver and distribute it to all the affected people!"

"Brothers, if this is successful, I, Yan San Niang, will be eternally grateful to you all!"

Upon hearing Yan San Niang's impassioned words, the fire in everyone's hearts was instantly ignited. They immediately raised their weapons and shouted in unison, expressing their full support for Yan San Niang.

With Yan San Niang's command, everyone immediately sprang into action.

In an instant, the entire desolate village was filled with noise, the sounds of footsteps and shouts intertwined, creating chaos.

Liang Jin and his two companions, however, stood quietly by the window in the house.

Through the window, they could clearly see everything that was happening outside.

With things having developed to this point, the three of them naturally couldn't sleep peacefully; they could only watch this good show with great interest.

Liang Jin hadn't expected to be right; the desolate village where they were staying overnight was actually the place where Yan San Niang and her group were planning to rob the official silver.

But they were actually robbing embezzled disaster relief silver?

Liang Jin's expression was calm, and he replied unhurriedly:

"Let them rob it first. If they can't rob it, then we'll step in and rob it."

"If they succeed, then we'll see how things go and act accordingly."

Although the situation didn't seem right, Liang Jin had too little information to make an effective judgment.

If this was truly a trap, then with Liang Jin and the others present, they would be able to handle it.

At this moment.

Accompanied by a low shout from outside, Yan San Niang and her group quickly hid themselves.

The entire desolate village seemed to be shrouded in an invisible net of silence, instantly plunging into darkness and stillness.

It was as if nothing had ever happened here, only the occasional sound of the wind, gently brushing past, causing people's hearts to beat faster involuntarily.

And on the road in the distance, a team of people was slowly approaching.

This team was large, with at least three hundred people, and more than a dozen carriages.

Each carriage carried large wooden boxes, which seemed to hold endless secrets under the cover of the night.

If these wooden boxes were filled with silver, there would probably be tens of millions of taels. Such a huge amount of wealth would tempt anyone.

The people escorting these carriages were all dressed as soldiers, their steps were neat, and the weapons in their hands shone with a cold light under the moonlight.

The group marched mightily, breaking the silence of the night with the sounds of hoofbeats and rolling wheels.

With the appearance of this group of soldiers, a faint killing intent began to permeate the desolate village, like the oppressive calm before a storm.

As the soldiers' team approached, Liang Jin and his companions could see more details.

Lei Zhen, who was experienced in the ways of the martial world, spoke first, his voice carrying a hint of vigilance:

"Big Brother, why do I feel like something's not right?"

Liang Jin also frowned slightly and pondered:

"Yan San Niang and her group are probably being deceived."

"This is either bait, or a conspiracy."

Liang Jin could see very clearly that the wheel tracks of the carriages were very shallow, not at all like carriages carrying heavy objects.

The large wooden boxes being transported on the carriages were probably empty.

Besides, there was also a problem with this group of soldiers.

Among the soldiers, the highest-ranking officer in terms of martial arts was only a seventh-rank official.

And among the soldiers, there were few martial artists; most were just ordinary people.

How could such a team bear the heavy responsibility of transporting official silver?

Moreover, as this group of soldiers approached the desolate village, the expressions on their faces became tense and fearful, as if they already knew what was about to happen here, and they took each step carefully, for fear of triggering some mechanism.

As they entered the central area of the desolate village.

"Kill! ! !"

With a shout of killing, Yan San Niang, Ji Yan, and Meng Wei led a group of ambushing martial artists and rushed out like tigers descending the mountain.

The scene instantly became chaotic, with shouts of killing and the sounds of weapons clashing intertwined, deafening.

The group of soldiers, however, didn't hesitate and turned around to flee, their figures appearing particularly disheveled in the night.

This led to the battle to rob the official silver ending quickly, almost before it had even begun.

The soldiers fled with their heads in their hands, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

The martial artists' target was the carriages and wooden boxes, and after defeating the soldiers, they didn't rashly pursue them.

So this operation to rob the official silver was particularly smooth, so smooth that it was hard to believe.

After everything was over, Yan San Niang counted the spoils of war and found that no one on their side had died; only a few people were injured.

Meng Wei couldn't help but exclaim:

"The intelligence this time was really accurate! As expected, there were no experts among these soldiers."

"We effortlessly secured this batch of government silver," Meng Wei said triumphantly, ready to call over the porters they had hired to disperse and transport the silver, his face beaming with the joy of victory.

However, someone noticed something was amiss.

Ji Yan couldn't help but say:

"This time, it was too easy."

"Even suspiciously easy… unusually so."

Yan San Niang also felt the same way, her brow furrowing slightly, a sense of unease rising in her heart.

She went straight to the large wooden crates on the carriage and forcefully opened one.

The others quickly crowded around, peering into the crate.

The next second, they were all dumbfounded, the smiles instantly freezing on their faces.

The crate was completely empty, with no government silver to be seen, only the bare wooden interior, as if silently mocking their naivety.

Seeing this, Meng Wei couldn't help but exclaim:

"What… where's the government silver for disaster relief?"

“Quick! Someone, open all the wooden crates!”

“We must find the government silver that the imperial court intended for disaster relief!”

The other martial artists snapped out of their daze and hurriedly stepped forward to open all the wooden crates on the carriage.

However, every single crate was empty, without any sign of the so-called government silver.

At this point, everyone was stunned, their faces filled with shock and confusion.

"What's going on… there's no silver at all!"

"Have we fallen into a trap? This must be a trick by the government!"

"What should we do now? Should we run?"

…

For a moment, everyone panicked, like ants on a hot pan, at a loss for what to do, their voices filled with fear and despair.

Even Yan San Niang looked bewildered at this moment, her eyes revealing confusion and helplessness.

Meanwhile, in the abandoned house, Liang Jin and the others quietly watched everything unfold.

Lei Zhen couldn't help but whisper:

"Could this convoy be bait? Luring these martial artists out to annihilate them in one fell swoop?"

"But… if the government soldiers really knew that the martial artists were hiding in this desolate village, wouldn't it be simpler to just surround them? Why go to all this trouble?"

"Even if someone really set this trap to be absolutely certain, shouldn't it be time to close the net now?"

Lei Zhen was clearly somewhat perplexed and confused.

Liang Jin, on the other hand, was carefully sensing his surroundings.

He was certain that there were no signs of a large-scale force appearing near the abandoned village.

This made him sigh:

"Such a familiar tactic."

Back then, Black Jia Stronghold, along with Liang Jin's group, had robbed the new prefect's grain.

But the new prefect reported the loss as ten times the amount, the reason for which was self-evident.

And in the Western Desert, Liang Jin's doppelganger had also encountered a similar situation.

The Western Desert's treasury had long been embezzled, resulting in a severe deficit, and those officials, in order to make up for the deficit, deliberately had the Liu family army escort the treasury silver back to Great Qian, only to discover halfway that the so-called treasury silver was all stones.

Those corrupt officials not only sold the Liu family army's marching information to the enemy, attracting the enemy to besiege the Liu family army.

But who would have thought that the Liu family army would actually break through the encirclement and successfully return to Great Qian, only to inexplicably mutiny upon entering Great Qian territory, and then be annihilated by the Great Qian army as rebels.

And now, the situation was so similar.

The government silver was robbed by bandits, and the bandits became scapegoats.

And the whereabouts of the real government silver had probably already flowed into the pockets of certain people.

Of course, all of this was just Liang Jin's guess.

He was too lazy to delve into the specific truth.

Liang Jin couldn't help but feel a pang of bitterness and emotion in his heart, and he sighed softly:

"In years of great disaster, there must be great thieves."

In these difficult times of rampant disaster, great thieves can be roughly divided into two categories.

One category is the Green Forest bandits who occupy the mountains and forests and live by robbery. They take advantage of the people's suffering and social turmoil to plunder wantonly, bringing more suffering to the already struggling masses.

The other category is the corrupt officials who sit high in the halls of power, wield power but are greedy and insatiable, and frantically amass wealth. They abuse their power for personal gain, and pocket the people's hard-earned money and life-saving money.

These two types of thieves, one hidden and one in the open, one far away in the Jianghu and the other high in the imperial court, both bring heavy disasters to the world.

Combined, they are the heartbreaking man-made disasters.

"It's just a farce."

"Alright, let's rest early."

Liang Jin shook his head slightly and said to Lei Zhen and Xiao Liu.

He knew in his heart that if everything was as he had guessed, he should be able to sleep soundly tonight.

After all, the masterminds who embezzled the disaster relief silver would never attack Yan San Niang and her group so quickly.

They would definitely report the robbery of the disaster relief silver to the imperial court first, and after obtaining a legitimate arrest warrant, they would openly encircle and kill Yan San Niang and others in order to cover up their crimes.

Once the culprits are dead, then this matter will be settled.

So the three of them tidied up a little in the abandoned house, preparing to rest well and dispel the fatigue of the journey.

However, while they wanted to rest, others did not intend to let them go easily.

At this moment.

Meng Wei's gaze shifted, and he glared fiercely at the abandoned house where Liang Jin and his group were staying.

His eyes widened with anger, and he strode to the door of the abandoned house, roaring at the top of his lungs:

"You three bastards inside, get out here!"

Meng Wei's sudden action puzzled everyone, and they looked at each other, wondering what he was going to do.

Even Yan San Niang couldn't help but step forward and ask:

"Meng Wei, what are you doing?"

Meng Wei's face was full of anger, and he explained plausibly:

"There's nothing wrong with the information we received, but the disaster relief silver has disappeared out of thin air. And these three guys just happened to show up here tonight. What a coincidence?"

"So the problem must lie with these three guys!"

"I must find out their identities and force them to reveal the whereabouts of the disaster relief silver!"

Meng Wei's words sounded somewhat far-fetched and illogical.

But with the disaster relief silver indeed missing, everyone, in their anxiety and unease, urgently needed an outlet to vent their emotions and find the most likely "culprit."

Immediately, under Meng Wei's instigation, many martial artists stood by his side.

Some even quickly surrounded the abandoned house, standing ready to prevent Liang Jin and the others from escaping.

Yan San Niang was about to speak again to persuade Meng Wei to calm down.

Suddenly.

Liang Jin and his group were seen walking steadily out of the abandoned house.

As soon as Liang Jin appeared, he seemed to be surrounded by an invisible aura, an aura that was like a giant stone thrown into a calm lake, causing everyone to subconsciously turn their heads and focus their gazes on him.

"Which bastard is shouting and yelling?"

Liang Jin's voice was low and deep, as if wrapped in the frost of the twelfth lunar month, slowly spreading in the air.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, his face as gloomy as water, and looked at Meng Wei.