According to the confession, a month ago, Zhao Bo had withdrawn hundreds of thousands of taels, or even more.
As for the assets, they amounted to even more: over a thousand properties, more than 100,000 acres of landholdings, over 500,000 bushels of grain, over thirty workshops and stores, and outstanding debts of 140,000 taels documented by IOUs. A rough estimate put the fixed assets at over two million taels.
However, these fixed assets were of no concern to those who ransacked the house.
Of course, not all were to be confiscated.
According to Ning Yuchan, who mentioned offhandedly, they would draw out two-tenths of the fixed property, with the bulk going to the Taoist Institute and the smaller share to the Government Office and county guard.
What concerned Xu Jin and other participants in the seizure were the cash assets.
Estimated at a hundred thousand taels.
This gave Xu Jin a bit of a surprise, as it was completely an unanticipated fortune, and a substantial one at that.
Even by the previous calculation, where the chief officials took fifty percent, and if he were to share with Ning Yuchan, each would have over 20,000 taels of silver. Even if Ning Yuchan took the lion’s share, Xu Jin could still get more than 10,000, possibly 20,000 taels.
Yet, during the division of spoils, Ning Yuchan handed out an amount that startled Xu Jin.
It was much less than expected.
Only eight thousand taels, which surprised Xu Jin.
Much less than he had anticipated.
But since it was the share allocated by Ning Yuchan, Xu Jin dared not complain, only giving Ning Yuchan an extra glance, which earned him a rap on the head.
"You youngster, have you forgotten about those three?"
Xu Jin then suddenly realized.
Out of the hundred thousand taels of silver that could be distributed, twenty thousand were taken off the top by the Mountain Master, Superintendent, and Governor respectively. This was only normal; otherwise, the idea that the junior members would become wealthy while their superiors would be left out in the cold was inconceivable, wasn’t it?
Of the remaining forty thousand taels, five thousand had already been distributed.
Despite its simplicity, raiding a house was a complex task. In addition to the twenty Star Patrol Guards led by Xu Jin, the endeavor included dozens of Government Officials, criminal clerks from the Government Office, and over three hundred county guard Government Officials.
Otherwise, such an array of tasks could not be accomplished by merely twenty people.
Out of the remaining thirty-five thousand taels, Xu Jin and Ning Yuchan shared sixty percent, while the other twenty Star Patrol Guards divided the remaining forty percent.
In the end, Ning Yuchan got 13,000 taels while Xu Jin took 8,000 taels, with the average ordinary Star Patrol Guard pocketing about 500 taels each.
It was considered a windfall.
Now, Xu Jin had just over 22,000 taels of silver in total.
On Thousand Leaf Island, Xu Jin had rummaged through corpses, but the Baidou Divine Sect’s believers were all destitute, with hardly a few possessing more than 2,000 taels in total, yet he obtained three Star Weapons.
Today, Xu Jin had five surplus Star Weapons on hand, which counted as another unexpected fortune.
Striding through the night, Xu Jin hurriedly returned to the Taoist Institute and went straight to the small courtyard.
Jiang’er was already awake, and upon seeing Xu Jin return, she flung herself into his arms, bursting into a torrent of tears.
While sobbing, Xu Jin held his sister and listened to her weeping out her grievances.
Crying and speaking it all out meant everything could be left in the past.
After Xu Jiang’er was taken away, at first everything seemed normal, as they taught them the rules. But a day later, when they started to teach them a prayer, Jiang’er realized something was off.
Yet Jiang’er was clever, knowing resistance was futile, so she devoted herself to memorization.
During that time, those who resisted or thought of fleeing were punished with death; some were even hanged alive.
Later, it was just daily kneeling before the Divine Statue and praying for eight two-hour periods before they were allowed to sleep in shifts.
The only boon was that food was never short; they had full provision.
Until she was finally rescued.
After listening to the story, Xu Jin looked at his father, Xu Dajiang, who wore a rueful expression mixed with lingering fear.
Had something happened to Jiang’er, he would have likely spent his life in regret.
"We should have listened to you at that time and gone to Zhao Mansion earlier to pick up your sister," Xu Dajiang regretfully said, "From now on, I’ll heed your advice more." In saying so, Xu Dajiang was indirectly giving authority to his son.
According to the behavior of Jinshan Taoist Institute’s upper echelon, picking her up earlier would have been possible.
As soon as they got concrete information, the Taoist Institute’s high-ranking members would have stormed out in full force, a fact which Xu Jin had misjudged.
Xu Jin hadn’t expected the high ranks of the Jinshan Taoist Institute to be so resolute.
Leading troops straight into the jurisdiction of another county without notifying their superiors and, in the end, succeeding.
Only one word for it—steely!
"Father, I would like you and Jiang’er to move into the city, to live near the Taoist Institute. It’s safer," Xu Jin suggested, holding Jiang’er and speaking to his father Xu Dajiang.
"It is possible, and I’ve had a change of heart after what’s happened, but living in the county city is expensive, and then there’s the rent to consider, and..."
"Father, go buy a house tomorrow. I understand what you mean. Then I’ll buy a suitable property, and once Yueyue has a source of income, you’ll have nothing to worry about."
Before Xu Dajiang could reply, Xu Jin slapped down a silver note worth 5,000 taels, shocking Xu Dajiang speechless.
In his lifetime, when had he ever seen so much silver at once?
That evening, Xu Jin arranged for his sister and father to sleep in his own courtyard, while he found an unoccupied courtyard to make do for the night.
There were many empty courtyards in the Jinshan Taoist Institute.
Qi hadn’t arrived yet, and seeing that no one was around, Xu Jin eagerly began testing his strength.
First was the Star Arrow.
A Star Arrow was fired off with the speed of lightning, but immediately after, Xu Jin was disappointed.
There was not that significant of an increase.
Originally, the Star Arrow could fly out seven feet; now it reached ten feet, approximately 3.3 meters.
An increase of about forty percent.
Theoretically, it was considerable.
But the problem was, last night Xu Jin’s Divine Soul Power had increased not just several-fold, but several dozen-fold.