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

Chapter 361

Zhang Wensan knew very well that as long as he transported the silver to Xi'an Prefecture, which was not far away, where there were Shanxi merchants' money shops, he could deposit the silver into the treasury of the money shops in Xi'an Prefecture, and it would be safe.

Afterwards, the silver could be transported back to Shanxi in batches from the treasury.

Tongzhou Prefecture is very close to Xi'an Prefecture, only 120 li away, but it is precisely this 120 li that Zhang Wensan feels as if it is an insurmountable chasm, making him feel immense pressure.

Zhang Wensan dared not let these eight hundred men transport millions of taels of silver to Xi'an Prefecture. Although it was only a little over a hundred miles away, the silver transport carts were very slow at this time. To make a round trip overnight was nothing short of a pipe dream.

In fact, Zhang Wensan was also weighing a problem: if he exchanged all 20 million taels, and then gave 10 million taels of that money to these 800 people, he would still have 10 million taels left over.

However, this idea only flashed through his mind for a moment. Thinking of his family, Zhang Wensan abandoned the idea.

There was a reason why he was chosen by those Shanxi merchants to be in charge of this matter. Zhang Wensan was very filial and was a well-known filial son in their area. Those Shanxi merchants had his family and parents under their control, so they were not afraid that he would turn against them.

It wasn't just him; the other eight hundred private soldiers were in much the same boat. Their families were all in Shanxi, and if they dared to covet the silver, their families would be doomed.

Zhang Wensan thought that it would be convenient to transport all 20 million taels at once after they were all exchanged.

The main reason was that he really didn't dare to leave the city at night. The darkness was the best protection for those robbers, and at night, many ordinary people would probably turn into robbers.

The next morning, Zhang Wensan left 600 men to guard the more than 20 silver-carrying carts, while the others followed him to the Royal Bank to continue the exchange.

When he arrived, the entrance to the money shop was already crowded with onlookers. The news that someone had exchanged 20 million taels of silver at the Royal Money Shop had spread like wildfire throughout Tongzhou City the previous night.

After receiving the news, many bandits sent scouts to Tongzhou City to investigate.

The manager of the Royal Bank was already waiting for Zhang Wensan, since the exchange hadn't ended yesterday, so there was no need to queue again today.

Compared to yesterday, the manager was much better prepared today. The ten million taels of silver transferred from Xi'an Prefecture had already been delivered. As an important town, Xi'an Prefecture naturally had more silver in its royal bank vaults than Tongzhou, but the manager had transferred most of it over.

As for the silver from the other prefecture, it will probably take another half a day to reach Tongzhou.

Even the number of people responsible for stacking the silver ingots has increased significantly compared to yesterday, which ensures that at least ten million taels will be stacked today.

Since a three-day exchange was promised, it must be kept.

So, surrounded by countless onlookers, the Royal Bank staff began carrying out boxes of silver to Zhang Wensan for exchange.

Meanwhile, in Yangzhou, someone Zhou Chu recognized appeared. It was none other than Li Xian, the president of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce, who had been out of sight for a long time.

Ever since Zhou Chu began his sweeping reforms in Jiangnan, Li Xian realized something was amiss and began plotting a grand scheme against Zhou Chu.

Li Xianneng's ability to become the president of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce is no simple feat; however, he has been deliberately hiding himself, making it impossible for others to focus their attention on him.

After learning about Zhou Chu's past deeds, Li Xian immediately realized that this was an opportunity for him to rise to power. Zhou Chu had investigated and punished countless people, and even if he didn't mention anything else, the clansmen of the thousand officials in the capital alone would form a terrifying force.

It should be noted that those officials were not insignificant figures; many of them were officials of the fifth rank or above, and there were quite a few officials of the fourth and third ranks.

These were all important figures in the past; Li Xian didn't believe they didn't have some background or connections.

So for a year, Li Xian traveled to the border to find the exiled clansmen of these officials. These people all had a common enemy, Zhou Chu. Li Xian selected some of the most capable young people from among them and secretly trained them, in order to find a suitable opportunity to assassinate Zhou Chu.

Yes, Li Xian wanted Zhou Chu dead more than anyone else. Only when Zhou Chu was dead could Jiangnan return to its original state, and only then could he truly control Jiangnan.

Li Xian was very patient. He knew very well that he had no chance, whether Zhou Chu was in Datong or Jiangnan.

Because Zhou Chu had troops around both of these places.

But then Zhou Chu appeared in Yuyao and even set up some kind of academy, which made Li Xian sneer. He thought to himself that Zhou Chu had finally been careless and thought that Jiangnan was no longer a threat.

At this moment, Zhou Chu probably didn't have many people around him, making it the perfect opportunity for an assassination.

"Your chance for revenge has come."

Li Xian looked at the more than one thousand young people he had trained and spoke loudly.