The World Online
Page 445Chapter 445- Song Wen's reply
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
A short while later, the guard returned, his face ashen white.
Song Wen raised his head. His heart stilled upon seeing the guard’s expression.
"Speak!"
"Lord, the relay manager was assassinated."
Bada!
The brush in Song Wen's hand fell to the table, the ink splattered everywhere, making the unfinished letter messy and dirty.
It was too much of a coincidence!
Song Wen knew that if something was too much of a coincidence, it was not a coincidence but a plot. Thinking back to the broken teleportation formation, it was obvious that someone purposely tampered with it.
Who would it be?
During wartime, Tianshuang city was on high alert; no outsider could enter the city.
Is it them?
Thinking up to this point, Song Wen's expression turned cold.
"Men!"
Song Wen's voice was really low, filled with disgust.
"Lord!"
The same guard replied; he was Song Wen’s right-hand-man.
"Go check. In these past two days, who went to the relay? Especially from last afternoon to this morning."
"My Lord!"
"Oh?"
The guard did not move. Instead, he approached Song Wen and said softly, “Lord, when I went to the relay to check, I asked the guard there, and he said that a butler of the Yuan Family had entered."
"Bastard!" Song Wen was furious, as he smacked the table, “Didn't I say, without my orders, no one can enter? You can’t even stop a simple butler?"
"My Lord, please don't be angered."
"Based on the guard’s words, second elder ordered them to listen, and he even slapped one of the guards."
When Song Wen heard this news, his face turned so dark that water was about to drip out. The brush in his hand had snapped into half, resulting in an ear piercing pa! sound, showing the anger in his heart.
This Lord was on the verge of exploding, merely moments away.
A traitor in the family!
Before this, Song Wen could not understand his father’s actions in the family. He thought that his father was too cold. He did not expect Tianshuang County to fall because of his own family.
Even if they managed to survive, it was time to settle family matters.
Song Wen's voice was icy and completely emotionless.
"Yes, my Lord!"
The guard felt shocked; this was the first time he saw his Lord so angry and emotional. In his eyes, Song Wen was a calm and polite Lord.
This was the first time he had completely closed up his heart.
After the guard left, Song Wen started to plan. He was clear that without reinforcements, Tianshuang County would definitely fall.
To fight head on was not a smart idea.
He needed to consider how to minimise their losses.
The Song Family was not truly lost. For such an aristocratic family, they obviously had a way out. When he first built Tianshuang County, the Song Family had already prepared an escape route.
Who knew they would need to use it so quickly?
After Song Wen walked out of the room, he met his father before leaving the Lord's Manor.
His father would naturally inform the family members. Song Wen, as the Lord, had better things to do. He arrived at the treasury and emptied out all the gold and resources.
Following which, he went to the storage room and swept up all the rare resources. The resources were not like gold, which took up space. As such he chose to take away items such as tokens, secret manuals, and technical manuals.
He could only leave the other items for the enemy.
Lastly, Song Wen walked into the Four Seas Bank branch. He was clear that the gold inside the bank branch was a lot more than the gold in the treasury of Tianshuang County.
The worst part was that NPCs were in charge of The Four Seas Bank branch. Without his help, they could not move the money. Most crucially, Song Wen would not forget them.
Whether the Song Family would rise up, it all depended on Shanhai City.
Compared to the scenes on the streets, the bank was really calm.
Upon seeing Song Wen, the treasurer respectfully bowed, “Greetings, my Lord."
At this time, Song Wen did not have time to worry about greetings, so he directly said, “Based on the current situation, we can’t defend Tianshuang County, so I'll help you to bring all the gold out. You guys also follow me."
"Thank you, Lord."
The treasurer was also a smart person, so he did not say any useless words. He directly brought Song Wen to the gold vault.
Inside the vault, glittering gold coins were stacked up like mountains.
The treasurer opened the books and said, “My lord, there's a total of 67,542 gold, 127,580 silver and 257,300 copper."
Song Wen sucked in a cold breath. He knew that the Four Seas Bank was rich, but he did not think they would be so rich. The gold, apart from the sum the main branch provided, was largely composed of the commoners’ savings.
"My Lord, don't worry. The savings of the people, we won't take a single cent. When you return to Tianshuang County, we can exchange all of their money back."
The treasurer misunderstood Song Wen when he saw the weird expression on the latter’s face.
When Song Wen heard these words, he nodded. No wonder the Four Seas Bank could expand to such a scale; they relied on honor and reputation.
If it was other banks, they would have just taken the money and ran.
When they left the bank, the treasurer said something to Song Wen that surprised him.
"Thank you, my Lord, for your good intentions. The workers in the bank will stay in the bank. Even if Tianshuang County falls, the bank will still operate normally."
"Great!"
As he said that, Song Wen left and blended amongst the people on the streets.
Seeing Song Wen leave, a worker behind the treasurer walked over, “Sir, the intel has been sent through the Feng Bird."
"En."
The treasurer nodded and turned around, walking into the bank.
Who knew that the Four Seas Bank branch was one of the hidden locations of the Black Snake Guards?
The South Alliance members would have never expected that under such circumstances, the enemy could still relay information out.
In less than two days, Baiqi could receive the news.
The treasurer decision to stay in the county, apart from continuing the operations of the bank, the main reason was to spread the intel in the city to the commanding force.
Of course, even if the enemy destroyed the Four Seas Bank, the Black Snake Guards still had other locations.
This point was something even Song Wen did not know.
The intel network that the Black Snake Guards had stitched up was shockingly wide and powerful.
When Song Wen walked out of the bank and saw the chaos, he could not help but frown.
With an army bearing down on them, rumors would naturally spread. Those who saw the situation would know that Tianshuang County was about to fall. What happened at the city gate had spread around the city.
All of a sudden, a sad and worried atmosphere enveloped the city.
The commoners all tried to use their own methods to avoid the battle. The most common method would be to lock themselves up and be an ostrich. The smart ones would choose to hide in more obscure hiding spots like rice vases.
Amidst the chaos, the scums of society emerged. Some took the chance to rob, stealing from stores, raping women, and deeds of the like.
The guards in the city were either defending the city walls or had other duties. They did not have any time or effort to care about such matters.
When Song Wen saw this situation, he frowned yet again.
He looked at the stats of the territory, only to see that the law and order stat and the people’s sentiment stat dropping. In less than an hour, it fell 10 over points.
This could not do.
The moment he lost the hearts of the people, it was too hard to win them back.
"Men!"
"Lord!"
The other guard following behind Song Wen walked over.
"Use a squadron of men to settle these scums."
"Lord?"
The guard could not understand. At this time, each soldier was precious, yet the Lord wanted to use them to suppress scums?
"Go quickly. Are my words useless?"
"Yes, my Lord!"
Back in the Lord's Manor, the guards had captured the Yuan Family and the others.
"Song Wen why do you capture me? Let us go."
Grandfather Yuan immediately scolded out.
"Hen, what despicable acts you committed, you guys should know." Song Wen was not polite anymore. He scolded back in retaliation.
When Grandfather Yuan heard such a response, his face reddened with embarrassment.
"Hen, what did I do? Say it clearly."
"Ok." Songwem was furious, but he smiled, “Didn't you sabotage the teleportation formation? Didn’t you kill the relay manager? You dare to commit the act, but you don't dare to admit to it?"
"What proof do you have?" The Grandfather insisted his innocence.
"You want proof? Bring him up."
The guard who protected the relay walked in and repeated everything that had happened in the morning.
"Don't sprout nonsense. I didn't let anyone send a letter."
These words made Song Wen frown; it seemed like this fox was prepared. He turned his head and looked at the guard, “Do you remember which butler it was?"
"Yes!"
"Take a look, which one is it?"
The members of the Yuan Family and the other families were all captured and present.
When the guard heard this command, he raised his head to look, but he could not help but frown.
Grandfather Yuan laughed gleefully, “Is there? If there isn't, you are blaming a good man."
This damn fox, that butler must have hidden himself.
Now that it was so chaotic, they definitely could not find him.
At this very moment, his grandfather walked in, with Song Tianli in tow.
"Wen'er what's this?"
"Grandfather!"
Song Wen did not dare to be slow, so he repeated everything to his grandfather as it happened.
When Grandfather Song heard the details, he frowned. Although he was not happy with his son vying for power, it was a family matter after all; this pertained to the survival of their family.
If the Yuan Family had actually committed such acts, they were truly evil.
Such an action was not something that they could take sitting down.
Thinking up to this point, Grandfather Song asked Song Tianli, “Tianli, is what Wen'er said true? Did you allow a butler into the relay?"