He started by killing his abusive father, and from then on, he embarked on the road to wealth.

Chapter 83 Reconnoitering Troops, Collecting and Retrieving

In the dead of night, Xie Jin and Meng Fuqing rode swiftly along the official road, followed by Mu Shengling and five others. They were all dressed in black with black masks covering their faces, looking like they were about to commit murder and robbery.

Shortly after they left, another convoy also turned onto the official road.

The seven men left their horses in the mountains outside Changping Prefecture, leaving one person to look after them. Then, Meng Fuqing, who could not display his special abilities, was once again carried by Xie Jin to use his lightness skill to scale the city wall.

As Meng Fuqing had predicted, the city had been breached by the Hu people. It was already late at night, and the Hu people guarding the city gate were drinking and making merry in a house on the city wall, speaking a language that was incomprehensible. If you sniffed closely, you could even smell the aroma of meat.

Because they were drunk, the slight noises they made went unnoticed by the others.

After quickly flying away from the city gate and avoiding the Hu people's patrols, the group arrived at a dark alley.

Xie Jin released his hand from Meng Fuqing's waist, made a gesture to his four subordinates, and the four immediately dispersed, their figures quickly disappearing into the night.

He looked at Meng Fuqing and said, "I told them to first investigate the troop strength in the four directions of the city, and not to make too much noise before they regroup."

Meng Fuqing nodded in agreement.

“I went to the government office to investigate and found that one of my father’s former subordinates has been transferred to Changping Prefecture as a garrison. I plan to take this opportunity to find out where he is. Would you like to come with me?”

This was the first time Meng Fuqing had heard him talk about his family after knowing him for so long.

She shook her head. "No, I'll go find out where the Hu people's provisions are."

As if he had expected her to answer this way, Xie Jin suddenly smiled, leaned down and whispered, "Meng Fuqing, I know you don't want me to travel with you."

Despite having his thoughts exposed, Meng Fuqing remained composed, saying, "You say you want me to be with you, but you don't really mean it, do you? We're alike."

With the Hu people occupying the prefectural city, the garrison soldiers were either killed or imprisoned unless they fled. She didn't believe Xie Jin would go to the prefectural government alone to break into the prison for someone who didn't know what was going on.

Xie Jin gave her one last look, "Remember to be careful in everything you do."

After saying that, his figure disappeared into the darkness.

Meng Fuqing stood still for a moment before walking out of the alley. With vines guiding her way, she easily evaded the Hu people's patrol and arrived at the official granary of Changping Prefecture.

After confirming that the grain inside had not been emptied by the Hu people, Meng Fuqing hid in a dark alley next to the granary, used vines to enter the granary and search for the Hu people. She killed the Hu people guarding the granary one by one. After confirming that there were no omissions, she picked up a dagger, slipped in and finished off the Hu people one by one and picked up the corpses.

After inspecting the supplies in the official granary, it was discovered that there were not only grains and weapons, but also cloth, money, and medicine.

There were signs of recent moving inside, especially weapons and money. The weapons were scattered all over the ground, and only scattered copper coins remained of the money.

In comparison, they actually have more food supplies left over, which must be because they haven't had time to transport them away yet.

Apart from the copper coins and a small amount of grain, the rest were stored in Meng Fuqing's spatial storage.

Even if she doesn't accept it, their carts and horses can't transport that many, so why let others benefit from it?

After leaving the official granary, Meng Fuqing made his way to the government office.

Compared to the official granary, the security outside the government office was much tighter. Fearing that Xie Jin and his men might also come here, she didn't kill them directly. Instead, she seized the opportunity to climb over the wall into the backyard and found the storeroom at the deepest part of the government office from there.

After dealing with the guards, Meng Fuqing unlocked the warehouse door and went inside.

The Hu people probably moved all the money that hadn't been transported away to this place. As soon as she entered, she saw chests full of gold and silver treasures. In addition, silk, coal, timber, stone, paper, writing brushes and ink were all gathered together.

She stored the gold and silver jewelry in her spatial storage, leaving only some copper coins. She also left a small portion of the remaining silks, coal, and other valuables, which she then scattered around carelessly.

While they were busy working, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the courtyard.

Meng Fuqing slipped behind the tent flap, and the voices of the Hu people could be heard outside.

She couldn't understand the Hu people's language, but she could tell what they were saying from their tone. The voices stopped abruptly, and through the vines, she sensed that they were cautiously approaching the door.

Just as she was about to manipulate the vines to eliminate the patrol team, the sound of a gong being struck suddenly rang in her ears.

During the pause in the gong's sound, Meng Fuqing deliberately made noise inside the room.

Sure enough, upon hearing the commotion inside the room, the Hu man didn't check the sound coming from the gong; instead, he rushed into the room without a second thought.

The instant they stepped into the warehouse, Meng Fuqing manipulated the vines to soar into the air and simultaneously burrow into the mouths of the loudly shouting Hu people, stirring their brains upwards. The men died extremely quickly.

After dealing with these people, Meng Fuqing took out a dagger and made obvious and fatal wounds on their bodies, then searched them and took their belongings.

Standing in the storeroom filled with corpses, she manipulated the vines to probe towards the second hall of the government office where the commotion had just occurred.

She worried that if the sound of the gong attracted all the Hu people in the city to the government office, she might face the risk of her supernatural abilities being exposed if she wanted to achieve her goal.

Thinking this, the vines transmitted images of the second hall of the government office.

The second hall was brightly lit. On a small couch in the study, a man dressed as a general lay fully clothed. His once peaceful sleeping face was now contorted with rage. There were no wounds on his body, only his eyes were wide open and blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth, but he was clearly dead.

She subconsciously suspected that Xie Jin was behind it, but then she remembered what Xie Jin had said before they parted and felt something was off.

Xie Jin shouldn't be so reckless.

Furthermore, using poison is not Xie Jin's style.

As if knowing her question, Meng Fuqing heard a slight noise from the roof, and then she heard someone fly to the warehouse door.

In the instant he quickly retracted the vines, Meng Fuqing recognized the newcomer as Xie Jin.

She slipped away and hid behind the curtain again, pretending not to know who the person was.

Xie Jin stepped into the storeroom and saw corpses everywhere. His heart tightened, and his sharp eyes swept over every corner of the storeroom until he saw the shadow under the moonlight before he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Come out,” he said. “I am Xie Jin.”

Meng Fuqing emerged from behind the curtain.

"What's that noise up ahead? Did you make it?"

Xie Jin appeared helpless, but his eyes seemed to be covered with frost. "If it weren't for me, I wouldn't have killed him at this time. What a pity."

It's a pity he didn't do it himself.

Meng Fuqing didn't intend to ask further questions, and only said, "Let's go, let's meet up with your men first."

After the two left the government office, they returned to the dark alley, where three people were already waiting.

After the six men met up, they quickly compared the troop strength in the east, west, south, and north, and then realized that the main force had probably gone to the front line, and the situation in Changping Prefecture was already settled. The entire prefecture city was almost a ghost town, with only one or two hundred Hu people, most of whom were gathered in the prefectural government office, probably to guard the prefectural city's supplies.

"With so few people, we can handle them all if all our men are here," Mu Sheng said.

Xie Jin recalled the corpses in the storeroom and looked at Meng Fuqing, "It's not that we can't solve it, what do you think, Miss Meng?"

"You'll only know if you try," Meng Fuqing said. "Let's go."