"Lord Lin, the brothers in the Cloud Dragon Army have so complaints recently!"
Upon hearing Liu Yuan speak up, Lin Kai imdiately turned to look at him.
"What’s going on?"
Liu Yuan cupped his hands with a bitter smile: "To be honest, it’s still the fault of those deceitful monsters. When we first opened up in July last year, my Cloud Dragon Army only needed to send one camp of brothers to patrol South City every day. As the monsters caused increasing trouble, it was increased to two camps, then three, and now five camps..."
Five camps!
Upon hearing about sending five camps to patrol South City every day, Lin Kai’s face instantly turned dark.
Patrolling is relatively leisurely, but it also takes a lot of ti, and once there is a patrol duty, it ans a sleepless night. Even if the soldiers of the Cloud Dragon Army have Cold Resistance Level cultivation, over ti it’s unbearable.
The Cloud Dragon Army has a total of ten camps, sending five camps to patrol South City daily, which essentially ans two groups taking turns without rest. Furthermore, soldiers are ant for combat; the Cloud Dragon Army ca to Hongn for garrison duty, maintaining security is not really their responsibility.
It’s quite remarkable that the soldiers haven’t started cursing by now.
"Commander Liu, rest assured, I will imdiately send soone to Bashang to find Director Yuwen Sizheng and have him deploy a large army to Hongn for assistance."
Lin Kai imdiately provided a solution, then said in a serious tone: "Those deceitful monsters must be dealt with. Otherwise, the impact will only grow larger. Chief of Punishnt Zhao..."
"I am here!"
Zhao Bao, who was feeling anxious internally for a while, instantly stood up when he was nad.
"Maintaining city security is the responsibility of your Prison Departnt. The current situation has escalated to this extent, and you cannot escape bla. However, considering that these monsters are indeed difficult to handle, and it’s indeed beyond your ability, I will temporarily not hold you accountable. But for the next few months, your Prison Departnt must follow my command. I will find a way to handle these deceitful monsters. Do you have any objections?"
Upon hearing Lin Kai’s words, the crowd’s expressions flickered lightly.
Though Lord Guardian is nominally the chief of one area, technically speaking, he is rely an inferior officer of the Garrison Departnt, supposedly on the sa level as these seven people.
Zhao Bao referring to himself as a subordinate was actually sowhat inappropriate.
Lin Kai’s proposal for the Prison Departnt to take his orders for the next few months, while aid at addressing the monster issue, also hinted at a power grab.
Obviously, Zhao Bao understood this. Despite feeling uncomfortable about it, he had to nod and say: "As long as we can eliminate those deceitful monsters, the Prison Departnt is willing to follow your orders."
"That’s good, I..."
"My Lord, Vice Chief of Punishnt Xiang Liang from the Prison Departnt has an urgent report!"
Just as Lin Kai was about to continue speaking, he was interrupted by a voice from outside the hall.
He frowned slightly but said: "Co in!"
Xiang Liang hurriedly walked in from the outside, aware of the ongoing discussion in the hall, instantly bowed to Lin Kai, and said urgently: "My Lord, the silver vault has been robbed again!"
Bam...
Lin Kai and the seven others inside the hall instantly jumped up from their seats in shock and anger.
"Lord Lin, lords, I’ll go check first!"
In charge of the silver vault, Camp Supply and Military Equipnt Director Li Longkai was so anxious that he didn’t even pause to ask questions, cupped his hands to bid farewell to everyone, and hurriedly ran out.
"Robbed again? Didn’t I instruct to light ten Yellow Candles daily in the silver vault to fend off that cat demon? How did this happen again?"
Upon hearing Lin Kai’s furious tone, Xiang Liang quickly cupped his hands and said: "I just ca from there myself and still don’t know the specifics."
"Everyone, follow to check!"
Lin Kai, unable to get any answers, directly got up and stood, and without needing to speak further, the other six people, along with Xiang Liang, imdiately followed behind him.
The eight of them jumped straight off the top floor and sped toward the North City Silver Vault.
Hongn’s trade volu is large, earning 15 to 16 million taels of silver every month, averaging at least 500 to 600 thousand taels daily. This is just the profit; the Hongn Supply Departnt also has to handle purchasing and acquisition, so it’s impossible to send all the earned silver back to Xia City. A portion must be kept in the city for circulation.
The opening has been more than half a year. The Supply Departnt roughly figured out that to maintain normal operations at Treasure Tower and all shops in South City, at least 5 million taels of silver must be retained in the city for circulation.
Of course, this is only theoretical retention of 5 million taels.
Firstly, due to Hongn’s substantial trade volu and daily earnings, they can’t send back the money imdiately after each transaction, as that would waste manpower and resources; secondly, silver is precious and easily targeted, hence frequent large-scale deliveries may cause issues, so the specific delivery ti varies—sotis ten days, sotis half a month, and if the Cloud Dragon Army is occupied, the silver piles up for two or three months without delivery as well.
This causes the amount of silver stocked at Hongn to fluctuate anyti.
Except for those few days when just sent off a batch, the stock usually exceeds 5 million; most of the ti, it’s at least over 10 million taels, occasionally reaching 20 to 30 million; during September and October each year, when trading with the Eight Towns, the stock can even reach billions.
Such a large amount of silver surely can’t be stored just anywhere.
Speaking of the safest place in Hongn City, it’s undoubtedly the barracks area occupied by the Cloud Dragon Army, even safer than the Ministry Building, so naturally, the Hongn silver vault is situated here.
At the core of the barracks area, a fifty-ter-wide Black Iron Warehouse made entirely of Thousand Forged Cast Iron, surrounded by hundreds of Cloud Dragon Army soldiers.
As Lin Kai and the eight others approached, the soldiers imdiately bowed in salute.
"Greetings, Lord Guardian! Greetings, lords!"
"Greetings, lords!"
"Greetings, Lord Guardian."
......
Lin Kai didn’t bother with the crowd, rather led the seven of them quickly into the warehouse without a glance at the piles of silver before him, directly heading for Li Longkai.
Li Longkai’s face was ashen, staring at the corner on the north side of the warehouse, where a human head-sized hole lay, with scattered silver blocks and ingots beside it.
Vice Military Preparation Yuan Ning of the Camp Supply Departnt was sweating profusely, clutching the ledger while leading over twenty people to count the missing silver. Lin Kai observed without interrupting, rely standing by the hole with a grim expression, waiting for results.
"M... my Lord, it’s been tallied."
Soon, Yuan Ning finished counting and approached Lin Kai, Li Longkai, and others, saying bitterly: "Just like last ti in December, another 3 million taels of silver have been lost."
Bam!
Lin Kai angrily slapped a nearby tal post, roaring: "Who was responsible for guarding the silver vault tonight?"
Yuan Ning trembled with fear, swiftly lowering his head and saying: "It was and Vice Commander Wang Yuan of the Cloud Dragon Army, alongside the Cloud Dragon Army’s First, Second, and Third Camps."
Wang Yuan quickly approached, standing alongside Yuan Ning.
"Weren’t Yellow Candles lit? How could that cat demon still get in? What’s happening?"
Yuan Ning said bitterly: "At dawn, I calculated that the burning ti of the Yellow Candles surrounding the silver vault was about to end, thus I pre-lit another batch of Yellow Candles, thinking it would be safer. However, as I moved to the north side of the silver vault, I discovered a large hole under the vault wall. Realizing the hole was freshly made and knowing that cat demon was still in the vault, I called Wang Yuan, Lord Wang, to help guard the hole..."
Wang Yuan took over, continuing: "The cat demon’s speed was incredibly fast. As it darted from the hole, I only saw its silver eyes and rough outline, couldn’t even discern its color before being swatted away."
Both Wang Yuan and Yuan Ning then unbuttoned their jackets.
Underneath their clothes, each had a black claw mark over 20 centiters long, carved deep into their flesh right to the bone. Clearly, they had already applied Solidified Fire Oil, and the wound continuously emitted a chilling black vapor, looking truly horrifying.
"Vile creature, what a wretched beast, truly treating our Hongn’s silver vault as its own ho!"
Lin Kai gritted his teeth with hatred, turning to look at the hole beneath the silver vault, and said solemnly: "Kong Xiu, have the craftsn from the Artisan Departnt thoroughly fix this hole, and additionally, Li Longkai, move all this silver to the top floor of the Ministry Building and store it in my room. I want to see what kind of skills this cat demon truly possesses!"
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