[PS: Sorry for the late update!]
After a while, the personal guard ran back with a pale face.
Song Wen raised his head and saw the expression on the guard's face. His heart turned cold.
"Speak!"
"Milord, the deputy was assassinated."
"Bada!"
The brush in Song Wen's hand fell powerlessly onto the table. Ink splattered everywhere, dirtying the unfinished letter. No one could read the contents of the letter anymore.
It was too much of a coincidence!
Song Wen knew that if something was too coincidental, then it wasn't a coincidence at all, but a conspiracy. Thinking back to the destroyed Teleportation Formation, it was clear that someone had deliberately sabotaged the Tianshuang County.
Who could it be?
During the war, Tianshuang County was heavily guarded, and no outsiders entered the city.
Could it be them?
Thinking of this, Song Wen's face turned gloomy.
"Guards!"
Song Wen's voice was low, but his tone was unquestionable.
"My lord!"
It was that personal guard who was also Song Wen's absolute confidant.
"Go and find out who went to the relay station in the past two days, especially from yesterday afternoon to this morning."
"My lord!"
"Hmm?"
The personal guard didn't move. Instead, he moved closer to Song Wen and said in a low voice, "Milord, when I went to the relay station to gather information, I specifically asked the relay station guards. The guard said that the steward of the Ruan family went to the courier station early this morning. "
"Bastard!" Song Wen angrily slammed the table, "Didn't I tell you? No one can enter the relay station without my warrant. What, a mere steward can't even stop him? "
"My lord, please calm down!" The guard cupped his fists. "According to the guards, it was Second Master's death order. At first, they didn't obey, and one of the guards was even slapped by Second Master."
When Song Wen heard this, his face turned gloomy. The brush that he had unintentionally held in his hand was actually snapped in half. The sound was abnormally ear-piercing, and it could be seen just how angry Song Wen was.
This modest gentleman was already on the verge of exploding and would explode at any moment.
The misfortune of the family!
Previously, Song Wen did not understand his father's ruthless methods in the clan. But now, his heart was completely cold. Who would have thought that Tianshuang County would fall into the hands of its own people?
If he could escape this calamity, it was time to reorganize his family.
"Gather men and tie up Lady Ruan and the others."
Song Wen's voice was cold and emotionless.
"Yes, sir!"
The guard's heart also trembled. This was the first time he had seen his master lose his composure like this. In the eyes of the civil and military officials, Song Wen was a gentle and refined lord.
This time, he had completely steeled his heart.
After the guards left, Song Wen began to plan his retreat. He knew very well that without reinforcements, Tianshuang County would never be able to hold on.
It wasn't wise to fight it head-on.
What they needed to consider now was how to minimize their losses.
The Song Family was not really in a desperate situation. How could an aristocratic family like theirs not leave a way out? When Tianshuang County was first built, the Song Clan had already prepared a secret escape route.
He didn't expect to use it so soon.
Song Wen walked out of the study room, met up with his father, and left the mansion.
As the lord, Song Wen had more important things to do. He first went to the territory's treasury and swept it clean.
Next, Song Wen went to the territory's treasury and swept it clean of rare materials.
Materials didn't take up storage space like gold coins. What Song Wen could take away were some talismans, manuals, and other items.
As for the rest, they could only benefit the enemy.
Finally, Song Wen walked into the Tianshuang County branch of the Bank of the Four Seas. He knew very well that the funds in the Bank of the Four Seas' treasury were probably more abundant than those in Tianshuang County.
Unfortunately, the people in charge of the Bank of the Four Seas were all NPCs. Without his help, he wouldn't be able to take away the funds. At this critical moment, Song Wen naturally couldn't forget about them.
Whether or not the Song Clan could rise again depended on Shanhai City.
Compared to the chaotic scene on the street, the Bank of the Four Seas was unusually calm.
Seeing Song Wen, the bank manager bowed slightly. "Greetings, sir."
At this time, Song Wen didn't bother with pleasantries and directly said, "Given the current situation, I'm afraid Tianshuang County will not be able to hold on much longer. I'll help you take away the funds in the treasury. You guys come with me."
"Thank you, sir!"
The manager was also a smart person. Without any nonsense, he brought Song Wen to the treasury at the back of the bank.
Inside the treasury, there was a small mountain of shiny gold coins.
The manager flipped through the ledger and said, "Sir, the treasury contains 67542 gold coins, 127580 silver coins, and 257300 copper coins."
Song Wen sucked in a breath of cold air. He knew that the Bank of the Four Seas was rich, but he didn't expect it to be this rich. Apart from the funds from the headquarters, most of the money in the bank came from the savings and profits of the commoners.
"Sir, don't worry. We won't take a single cent from the commoners' savings. When you return to Tianshuang County, the commoners will be able to exchange for the money immediately. "
The manager saw that Song Wen's expression was a little strange, but he misunderstood.
Hearing this, Song Wen nodded. No wonder the Bank of the Four Seas was able to operate to such a scale. With this kind of reputation and magnanimity, it was impossible for them not to do business.
If it were any other bank, they might have just run away with the funds.
When he left the bank, the manager of the bank told Song Wen something that surprised him again.
"Thank you, sir, for your good intentions. The employees of the Bank of the Four Seas in Tianshuang County will be stationed here. Even if Tianshuang County is taken by the enemy, the bank will still operate as usual. "
Hearing this, Song Wen remained silent for a long time.
"Good!"
With that, Song Wen left and merged into the bustling crowd on the street.
Seeing Song Wen leave, a worker behind the manager quietly walked up, "Sir, the information has been sent out through the hummingbird."
"En."
The manager nodded and turned to enter the bank.
So, the Bank of the Four Seas was secretly a stronghold of the Black Snake Guards.
The [Southern Alliance] members would never have thought that under such circumstances, the information in the city could still be sent to the command center of the Shanhai City army.
In less than two days, Bai Qi would be able to get the first hand information.
The manager of the bank decided to stay in Tianshuang County. Other than maintaining the operations of the Bank of the Four Seas, the most important reason was to continuously send the information in the city to the command center.
Of course, even if the Bank of the Four Seas was swept, the Black Snake Guards still had other secret strongholds in Tianshuang County.
This was something that even the Lord Song Wen did not know.
The information network that the Black Snake Guards had created was displaying shocking power.
Song Wen walked out of the bank and frowned when he saw the chaos on the streets.
The army was pressing on, and rumors were everywhere in the city. Anyone with a bit of knowledge knew that Tianshuang County would not be able to hold on. The scene that happened at the city gates spread throughout the city.
All of a sudden, the city was in a state of panic.
The commoners were trying to use their own methods to avoid the war. The most common method was naturally to stay in their homes and be ostriches. Some of the smarter ones hid in cellars, rice tanks, and other places that were even more secluded.
In the chaos, the dregs of society floated to the surface. Some hooligans actually took advantage of the situation, they smashed shops, harassed women, and committed all sorts of crimes.
The troops in the city were either waiting on the city walls or had other military duties, and did not have the energy to deal with these hooligans.
Seeing this, Song Wen frowned.
He checked the attributes of the territory and saw that the [Security] and [People's Will] attributes were constantly dropping. In less than an hour, it had dropped by more than ten points.
This could not go on.
Once the people's will was lost, it would be difficult to get it back.
"Guards!"
"Sir!"
One of Song Wen's personal guards walked up to him.
"Send a group of people to deal with these hooligans."
"Sir?"
The guard was a little puzzled. At this time, every soldier was very precious, but to use them to suppress the hooligans was a bit of a waste.
"Why aren't you going? Do my words no longer matter?"
"Yes!"
The guard's heart trembled. He no longer dared to delay and turned to leave.
Returning to the Lord's Mansion, the people of the Ruan family had already been tied up by the guards and were detained in the hall.
"Song Wen, why did you tie me up? Let us go."
When the old man of the Ruan family saw Song Wen, he immediately cursed.
"Hmph, old man, don't you know what you've done wrong?" Song Wen was no longer gentle and refined, and the first thing he said was old man.
Hearing this, the old man of the Ruan family was so angry that his face turned red.
"Pfft, ignorant child, what did I do? Tell me clearly. "
"Fine." Song Wen was so angry that he laughed. "Did you destroy the Teleportation Formation? Did you assassinate the deputy of the relay station? What, you dare to do it, but not dare to admit it? "
"You need evidence to speak. Do you have evidence?" The old man was still quite stubborn.
"You want evidence, right? Bring it here. "
The guard of the relay station walked into the hall and recounted everything that had happened in the morning.
"Don't slander me. I didn't ask anyone to send the letter."
When Song Wen heard this, he frowned. It seemed that this old fox had come prepared. He turned to look at the guard and asked, "Do you still recognize that manager?"
"Yes!"
"Take a look, which one of them is it?"
The people of the Ruan family and the other two families were all captured, not a single one was spared.
Hearing this, the guard looked up, and the more he looked, the deeper his frown became.
The old man of the Ruan family smiled proudly. "Is there? If not, then you're framing a good person. "
That damned old fox, that steward must be hiding.
Now that it was chaos, it was impossible to find him.
At this moment, the old man of the Song family walked into the hall, followed by Song Tianli.
"Wen'er, what's going on?"
"Grandfather!"
Song Wen didn't dare to be negligent and recounted the entire sequence of events from beginning to end.
Hearing this, the old man frowned. Although he was dissatisfied with his son's seizure of power, it was an internal matter of the family. Now, it concerned the rise and fall of the family.
If it was really the Ruan family's doing, it would be too despicable.
Such behavior could not be forgiven.
Thinking of this, the old man looked up at Song Tianli and asked, "Tianli, is what Wen'er said true? Did you let a steward into the station this morning? "(To be continued.)
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