The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 196

But now, after hearing Zhou Chu's explanation, he finally understood what was going on.

In the past, this wouldn't have been a big deal. Back then, Zhang Ziyi ran rampant in Suzhou Prefecture, and a mere Jinyiwei garrison could easily have surrounded him.

Unfortunately, during this siege of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Zhou Chu happened to arrive in Suzhou Prefecture.

"Mr. Zhang, is there any truth in what I have said?"

Zhou Chu looked at Zhang Ziyi and sneered.

Zhang Ziyi opened his mouth, but couldn't utter any words of rebuttal.

He wasn't stupid; he understood that things had come to this point, and no matter how he tried to argue, he couldn't change the outcome. Despite having so many officials around, Zhou Chu was determined to arrest him, and these people were completely useless.

"There is nothing untrue about it."

Zhang Ziyi seemed resigned to his fate, his face full of dejection.

"Do it."

Zhou Chu had been waiting for Zhang Ziyi to say this. Since he admitted to the matter, there was nothing more to say. Those who should be arrested should be arrested, and those whose homes should be confiscated should be confiscated.

Zhou Chu knew very well that Zhang Ziyi, as the largest raw silk merchant in Jiangnan, controlled about 30% of the raw silk in the entire Jiangnan region, and the value of the raw silk he controlled on a daily basis was about ten million strings of cash.

The amount of money that such a person possesses is absolutely terrifying. However, Zhou Chu is even more aware that Zhang Ziyi's money is only temporarily his, and he doesn't know how many people are eyeing it.

Zhang Qinshun is clearly one of them.

Even Cui Wenkui and Xia Yan are keeping an eye on Zhang Ziyi. To them, Zhang Ziyi is an ideal money bag, and they can discard him when the time is right.

They never expected that Zhou Chu would snatch it away, and they were powerless to do anything about it.

With a face full of excitement, Zhang Zhao led the Imperial Guards to start ransacking Zhang Ziyi's house. It must be said that Zhang Ziyi's house was very large, extremely large. It was precisely because it was large enough that it could store enough money, antiques and calligraphy and paintings.

Zhang Qinshun watched as the Imperial Guards pulled carts in and out of the Zhang family compound, his heart bleeding, yet he couldn't find any reason to stop them. In the end, he simply turned away and left, wanting to avoid seeing them and getting annoyed.

The Zhang family was so wealthy that the Imperial Guards started raiding their home in the afternoon and continued until the very end of the night. Hundreds of people worked all night to finally raid the entire Zhang family's property.

However, the Jinyiwei in Suzhou was not as disciplined as the Beizhenfusi in the capital. In order to prevent his subordinates from embezzling, Zhang Zhao ordered that each Jinyiwei officer be thoroughly searched after the house was confiscated. Anyone found to be hiding something would be dismissed from their post.

After a whole night, they finally finished ransacking the entire Zhang family's house.

The next morning, Zhou Chu looked at the documents confiscating Zhang Ziyi's house and was shocked by the wealth in his home.

There were 50,000 taels of gold, more than 13 million taels of silver, more than 80 million strings of copper coins, and countless antiques, paintings, jewelry and jade artifacts.

Murder and arson bring wealth; no business is as lucrative as robbery.

Zhou Chu couldn't help but sigh.

He then waved his hand and took out 100,000 strings of copper coins, instructing Chen Zhao to distribute them among all the Imperial Guards.

The Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards) in the entire Suzhou Prefecture numbered only a few hundred. With 100,000 strings of cash, each person could receive more than 100 strings, which was considered a small fortune.

As for the rest, Zhou Chu took out three million taels of silver and ten million strings of copper coins to repay his first IOU. As for the second one, Zhou Chu had no intention of keeping it, since all this money belonged to the emperor. If he took more, the emperor would take less.

Of the remaining amount, Zhou Chu divided it equally, sending 90% to the emperor to be loaded onto carts and transported to the capital, while the remaining 10% was used for military expenses and the construction of dikes.

In reality, Zhou Chu never intended to use the Ministry of Revenue's funds to build the dike. The Ministry of Revenue's funds were merely a hook that Zhou Chu and the emperor had set up to catch the corrupt officials hiding within.

Of course, it's not necessary to arrest everyone; if the water is too clear, there will be no fish. But at the very least, it must be ensured that the remaining people stand on the emperor's side.

Cui Wenkui and Xia Yan then realized that one of the reasons Zhou Chu had so openly raided the Zhang residence was probably to raise money for the construction of the dike.

Once they understood this, they couldn't sit still any longer. Once the dam was repaired, they would hardly have such a good opportunity to deal with Zhou Chu and Yan Song again.

"The news has already made its decision, Lord Cui."

Xia Yan looked at Cui Wenkui with a sinister gaze.

In fact, when Xia Yan first arrived in Jiangnan, he suggested to Cui Wenkui that they concentrate all their efforts to kill Zhou Chu once and for all and eliminate future troubles, but Cui Wenkui kept hesitating.

The army is definitely not an option. If they want to take action against Zhou Chu, they would have to gather the household slaves of various families. Not to mention the household slaves of wealthy merchants and officials throughout Jiangnan, even just gathering a few would require several thousand people.

In Cui Wenkui's view, this was more than enough to deal with Zhou Chu.

Cui Wenkui had been hesitant, because if he really did this, things would be far worse; several thousand people couldn't be covered up by simply saying it was Japanese pirates causing trouble.

However, the matter was urgent, and Cui Wenkui slammed his hand on the table.

“Tell them that each household should provide fifty servants, who must be strong and able-bodied.”

Xia Yan's eyes lit up immediately upon hearing this.

"We can set a fire first."

Xia Yan still fondly remembers his old craft.