Chapter 598: Reunion
After parting ways with He Tieshou—now known as He Qing—Song Qingshu made his way toward his former residence. Along the way, Song Qingshu pondered over financial issues. Although the Golden Serpent Camp had gained substantial wealth when they captured the prefectural city, the daily expenditure for the camp’s tens of thousands of soldiers was astronomical. The funds and supplies seized from the government could only sustain them for a year.
Establishing an intelligence network was also a costly endeavor. The startup funds for Sang Feihong’s Five Lakes Sect initially came from bribes Song Qingshu had collected during his tenure as an official in the Qing court. However, after Song Qingshu assassinated Kangxi, that source of income was cut off. As the Five Lakes Sect’s intelligence network expanded, Song Qingshu’s personal savings could no longer support it. Ultimately, he turned his attention to the illicit wealth embezzled by Wei Xiaobao.
In the original story, Wei Xiaobao embezzled over three million taels of silver. Although he had passed away prematurely in this version, leaving him with less time to amass wealth, there were still close to one million taels hidden away. Wei Xiaobao guarded this secret closely; not even Kangxi or his wife, Shuang’er, were fully aware of it.
After Wei Xiaobao’s death, the Tong family sought revenge, and the chaos caused by Divine Dragon Island further disrupted the Wei household. Shuang’er, nominally the mistress of the Wei estate, relocated to the Medicine King Manor at Dongting Lake, leaving the viscount’s mansion under Song Qingshu’s covert control. Naturally, Song Qingshu appropriated Wei Xiaobao’s secret treasure. He felt no guilt about it, reasoning that the funds Wei Xiaobao embezzled were ultimately the fruits of corrupt officials exploiting the people. Using this money to drive out the Manchus could be seen as benefiting the common folk.
For the past two years, the Five Lakes Sect had relied on this embezzled wealth for its operational funds. However, this money was only enough to sustain a single intelligence network. Additional funds were needed for He Qing’s brothel intelligence network.
Song Qingshu’s current plan was to temporarily use funds from Kangxi’s imperial treasury to kick-start the project. However, relying on the treasury was a risky and unsustainable solution. He needed to find other ways to secure funding quickly.
Naturally, this led Song Qingshu to recall the famous treasures mentioned in Jin Yong’s universe. The treasure of Emperor Liang Yuan was located in Jingzhou, while the treasure of the Gaochang Kingdom was nothing more than a myth. The treasure of the Daguang Workshop had already been taken by Yuan Chengzhi, leaving only the treasure of the rebel king and the Qing Dynasty’s dragon vein treasure.
‘I wonder how that eunuch from the Sunflower Manual is faring after absorbing the dragon Qi…’
Strangely, ever since the Sunflower Eunuch began absorbing the Qing Dynasty’s dragon vein Qi, the Qing Empire’s fortunes seemed to have dimmed. Once thriving and powerful, even rivaling the Mongols, the Qing now appeared riddled with hidden crises beneath its strong facade.