A single silver ingot was regarded as precious as a jade disk, yet inside this bundle were silks, satins, and valuables far surpassing those mere two taels of silver—so why did this fellow act so indifferent about it?

But the two of them had no mind to ask about it now; they only cared about what he’d said regarding not being able to take the side street through the firewood market to the cotton market. How should they detour to Yongqing Avenue? Only by getting onto Yongqing Avenue could they find a slim chance to reach Yongqing Gate and seek entry into the inner city.

“Then do you know how to get to Yongqing Gate?” Philip Brooks asked, glancing around nervously.

At this moment, fires were still breaking out all over the city. Every shop along the streets had shuttered its doors, and groups of ruffians, beggars, and vagrants were mixing together, shouting as they smashed up storefronts. Their eyes were bloodshot, and they had begun to indulge themselves like madmen.

“Run along the riverbank this way, take Drum Tower Street. That’s where the grain guilds are based. No one in the city dares provoke the Shanxi-Shaanxi grain guild people—they’re fierce. Maybe we can find some safety there.”

The Shanxi-Shaanxi grain guild was made up of the grain merchants among the powerful Shanxi merchants in Linqing Prefecture. Even Philip Brooks and Brian Brooks, who were unfamiliar with the situation in Linqing, knew that there were two major merchant guilds in the city, both with enormous influence.

The founding emperor of this dynasty came from a merchant background, so after ascending the throne, his attitude toward merchants differed from that of the previous Ming dynasty.

Although the gentry still looked down on merchants as before, the court’s laws had relaxed considerably, and many local gentry took the opportunity to engage in commerce and reap huge profits.

The Shanxi merchants, mainly from southern Shanxi and based at the Shanxi-Shaanxi Guild Hall, and the Huizhou merchants, mainly from southern Zhili’s Huizhou and based at the Huizhou Guild Hall.

These two major merchant guilds basically controlled the main commercial trade in Linqing Prefecture. Even the local Linqing merchants and the Dongting and Shaoxing merchant guilds from southern Zhili found it hard to compete with them.

The Shanxi merchants mainly dealt in salt, grain, silk, timber, medicinal herbs, coal, ironware, and banking, while the Huizhou merchants focused on cotton cloth, tea, fruit, salt, southern goods, pawnshops, and medicinal herbs—especially dominating the cotton and tea trades.

“You mean these rioters don’t dare provoke the Shanxi-Shaanxi grain guild people?”

Although Philip Brooks had been to Linqing a few times, it was always to deliver letters or people for the master, coming and going quickly, at most staying a night in the city. Sometimes he’d go out to relax with the servants, but he wasn’t familiar with the city’s situation.

But he’d heard that the grain trade in Linqing was mainly controlled by the Shanxi-Shaanxi merchants, whose influence was great.

“Hard to say. But almost every grain guild family has guards, and everyone’s armed with blades and spears. Some masters even have muskets!” The skinny, dark youth clearly knew Linqing inside out. “If I were them, why bother messing with those people? There are plenty of other places to loot on Zhongzhou Street.”

“Fine, we’ll take Drum Tower Street. You lead the way!” Seeing the youth still a bit reluctant, Philip Brooks barked, “If you can get us to Yongqing Avenue, you’ll be well rewarded in silver!”

“I don’t care about your silver. You helped me kill my enemy, so I’m willing to help you!” The skinny youth hesitated before replying.

“But you want to get into the inner city through Yongqing Gate? I advise you to give up on that. The garrison troops left the city two days ago—there are hardly any soldiers left in the inner city. They definitely won’t open the gates now, no matter who you are! Earlier, I saw Master Xi of the Xi family try to enter through Guangji Gate. On a normal day, the city soldiers would have welcomed him in, but today they just wouldn’t open the gate, no matter what…”

The youth’s words made both Philip Brooks and Brian Brooks feel as if they’d fallen into an ice cellar.

Section Six: The Lotus Just Begins to Show Its Tip

The garrison troops had left the city—this must be the outer city.

They’d left just two days ago, and now there was chaos. The sense of conspiracy was overwhelming, and with attacks inside and out at the same time, only a fool would believe there wasn’t something fishy going on.

“How do you know the garrison troops have left?” Philip Brooks was still unwilling to accept this reality.

If the main force of the garrison had really left, disaster was truly at hand. The problem was, he’d been in the city these past few days and hadn’t heard a word about the troops leaving.

“Hmph, believe it or not, the garrison left overnight, taking boats from the east gate dock in batches,” the skinny youth said, seeing Philip Brooks’s disbelief. “These past few days, the garrison officers’ mistresses haven’t been seen at all. If it were any other time…”

“Then is it possible to seek shelter with the grain guild?” Philip Brooks’s heart was sinking, and for a moment he didn’t know what to do.

“I’m afraid not. The grain guild people always protect their own, but they only care about their own families. They’d never help outsiders.” The skinny youth shook his head like a rattle-drum.

“Forget it, Uncle You, let’s just go that way for now!” Brian Brooks said in a low voice. “If it really doesn’t work, we’ll go back to the old house and make plans.”

Philip Brooks hadn’t expected Brian Brooks to suddenly become so decisive, but he didn’t think much of it. With a wave of his hand, Brian Brooks and Ruixiang had already gotten out of the carriage and followed Philip Brooks, with the skinny youth leading them out of the side street and running east.

By now, smoke and fire were already rising throughout the city, and gangs of people kept appearing from who knows where, running into each other on the streets.