My daily cultivation progress is calculated.

Chapter 19 The Golden Silk Scroll, Trouble in the Heavenly Prison

Shen Yan looked around; the space inside seemed quite large.

The stone wall was covered with chisel marks, and oil lamps hung all around.

A map of Bianjing City is hung on a stone wall, with the defensive forces deployed in various places marked on it.

In the middle is a sand table, which looks just like the general's tent in a military camp.

The stone chamber was about a hundred square meters in size, with some large wooden boxes and weapons piled up in the corner.

Shen Yan walked up and saw that there were all kinds of weapons, including swords, spears, halberds, bows and arrows, and crossbows, as well as some armor.

The weapons were shiny with oil, indicating that someone regularly maintained them.

Judging from its condition, it seems quite new.

He estimated that these armors and weapons could equip more than a thousand people, which was definitely not a problem.

This force is quite significant even in Bianjing.

Although there were many soldiers stationed in Bianjing, very few of them were actually able to wear armor.

Moreover, soldiers fully armored like these are even rarer; most are private soldiers kept by aristocratic families.

"Good heavens, who's trying to rebel?"

He opened the wooden box, which contained many silver ingots, all of which were official silver.

The silver ingots gleamed so brightly in the firelight that they were almost blinding to him.

Upon seeing this, how could he not realize that he had stumbled upon an extraordinary place?

This place is several dozen miles from Bianjing. If it were a cavalry unit, it would take less than an hour to get there.

With so much armor and weapons hidden there, even a fool would know that the purpose is not simple.

Shen Yan's heart was pounding. He regretted touching the mechanism.

They crawled into any hole they saw, and now they've gotten into trouble.

Then a small box in the corner caught his attention.

Upon opening it, I found something that looked like a scroll of scripture.

The object was icy cold to the touch, like golden silk brocade, covered with tadpole-like characters. Although Shen Yan had studied for several years and even held the title of a student in the imperial examinations...

He couldn't recognize a single character in the oracle bone script and couldn't understand its meaning at all.

But after getting his hands on it, Shen Yan knew that this thing was not simple, and greed overcame his reason.

Despite the abundance of gold and silver jewelry, he felt no greed whatsoever.

But when I came to this ancient scripture, for some reason, I couldn't control myself.

He tucked the ancient scripture into his robes and quickly left the secret chamber.

He turned on the switch and tightly closed the sealed room.

After cleaning up and checking all traces of himself, and finding nothing missing, he immediately left the cave.

Riding a horse through the roads, my heart was pounding and my adrenaline was soaring.

It was late autumn, and the landscape was full of autumn colors. The grass and trees along the roadside had turned yellow and withered, and the horses galloped swiftly along the official road.

After rushing for a long time, when they were halfway there and only a dozen or so miles left to reach Bianjing City, Shen Yan finally calmed down a little.

As the trees on both sides receded into the distance, Shen Yan felt extremely excited. Fortunately, there were not many people along the way until they reached the official road, where some caravans began to appear.

They were used to seeing people like Shen Yan hurrying along, and he didn't attract much attention.

Once they reached a secluded spot, Shen Yan took off his bundle, tidied it up, and put the silver notes and ancient scrolls into his pocket to avoid arousing suspicion.

After calming himself down, he rode his bicycle toward the city gate.

Instead of queuing like the others, he led his horse forward.

The head of the prison guards was on the same level as the constables in the yamen. If the prison guards were contract workers, then the head of the guards was equivalent to a permanent employee in the previous life, and already had some privileges.

After flashing his waist badge to the soldiers at the city gate, he led his horse into the city.

Having lived in Bianjing for a long time, he knew these city gate guards all too well.

If you behave yourself, they'll think you're easy to bully. On the contrary, revealing your identity like this can save you a lot of trouble.

After entering the city, Shen Yan returned the horses to the horse shop and walked home.

Back home, he began to sort out what he had gained from the trip.

He unfolded the brocade woven with gold thread, and saw that the oracle bone script written on it was completely unfamiliar to him.

For a moment, Shen Yan didn't know who to ask for advice, and he felt quite helpless.

Although unwilling, she could only carefully put it away.

Needless to say, the money was already decided on the way here.

Nearly ten thousand taels of silver—he had never seen so much money in his entire life.

"Five taels of silver can buy you a night at Chunfeng Tower. With that much money, you could book it for decades!"

They took out the small silver notes and loose silver, and put the official silver and gold ingots into the hidden compartment.

He took out a hundred taels of silver and handed it to Han Ningshuang.

She is just a vulnerable woman now; having too much money would only bring her trouble.

He would send her this money every now and then, as if it were sent by Lin Changfu from the northern desert.

He went to the brokerage firm and bought her a maid.

When Shen Yan visited her home this time, she saw that there was meat on the dining table, which was much better than before.

Han Ningshuang's brows furrowed with sadness, which Shen Yan noticed but did not point out.

He simply told him that if he encountered any difficulties, he could go to him for help.

Leave her.

Shen Yan sighed softly, thinking to himself.

"Shopkeeper, I have done everything I could, and the opportunity you gave me has not been in vain."

Shen Yan always repays kindness and avenges wrongs. Lin Changfu was kind to him, and now that Lin Changfu's only remaining bloodline is alive, Shen Yan will naturally take good care of him.

Bianjing, being the capital of the emperor, had relatively good public order and social customs.

Han Ningshuang doesn't seem to be the type to cause trouble, so she shouldn't run into any problems.

The next day, Shen Yan went to work at the prison.

The prison corridor was dimly lit, with the yellowish oil lamps flickering on and off.

The sounds of prisoners groaning and screaming could be heard from time to time.

However, the sound today seemed somewhat abnormal to Shen Yan.

The shouts of betting and the gamblers' revelry were gone.

When they arrived at the office, they saw that all the jailers were sitting obediently, holding books in their hands.

Shen Yan was very puzzled.

"These jailers are practically illiterate, and now they're actually reading books?"

In particular, Sun Fugui even held the book upside down.

I saw the eight-immortal table in the corner, completely empty, with no gambling equipment in sight.

Shen Yan's heart skipped a beat, and he knew something was wrong.

"Something must have happened. Even if we can't hear the sounds of gambling in this prison, it'll still be a mess."

He called Chen Xiaoshuan to a corner and began to ask him what had happened in the prison.

"Shen Tou, you were looking for me?"

"What's wrong with this prison today? The atmosphere is so strange."

"Hey, it's all their fault. There was a Ministry of Justice official in Prison A who was released a couple of days ago, and yesterday the Ministry of Justice issued a document to rectify the prison. It must be because they've been fighting amongst themselves these past few days, and these officials haven't been served well, so now they're getting into trouble."

Who's in trouble?

"That official was under Chen Song's jurisdiction. His head guard and all the jailers were given twenty strokes of the cane, and even the prison warden Xu was punished. Now, all the jailers in the prison must be made literate so they can understand reason."

"None of the five survived. This official wanted them dead. The executioner looked lenient, but he was ruthless. They were all dead before the twenty strokes were even finished."

Shen Yan was shocked after hearing this. He wondered what grievance the official had suffered that made him want to kill five people. Sure enough, no official was any good; their hearts were all black.

As a prison guard, he could empathize with Chen Song more. These officials really didn't value the lives of prison guards. Fortunately, he had told his subordinates to do their jobs with peace of mind a few days ago.

Shen Yan couldn't help but feel a little fortunate.

However, after this ordeal, the prison was somewhat calmer, much better than the open and covert struggles of the previous days.

The convicted officials stopped complaining, and the atmosphere in the prison gradually returned to normal.

However, Xu Shaogong has not yet been assigned the position of prison officer.

Shen Yan couldn't help but sigh, Xu Shaogong was truly ruthless. As far as he knew, those prison guards who wanted to be promoted had all spent a lot of money.

All the money extorted from prisoners during this period went into the pocket of Prison Warden Xu.

They didn't even keep records in the public accounts of the imperial prison; their audacity was extreme.