Chapter 610: The Hidden Dragon’s Wealth

The accumulation of wealth by the Hidden Dragon Society began during the Zhenguan era. Eighteen loyal generals escorted the crown princess to Suiye, bringing with them vast amounts of wealth. Although these devoted generals swore to reclaim the throne, without an army, strength, or support, and far away from home, it seemed like a fool’s dream to take back Li Shimin’s firmly established throne. Yet they never gave up on their dream. Instead, they sought to build what they believed could overthrow Li Shimin—wealth.

With wealth, one could organize an army, buy off officials, and build influence. Starting from the third year of Zhenguan, these generals began a long process of amassing wealth. They established the core Hidden Dragon Society and a peripheral organization called the Han-Tang Society. Under the guise of the Han-Tang Society, they engaged in business and acquired assets in the Central Plains, participating in highly profitable Silk Road trade. At one point, they even monopolized the trade of tea, wine, and spices along the Silk Road.

Over a hundred years passed. Although each family had accumulated huge wealth, they still strictly followed their ancestors’ oath, giving 90% of their profits to the Hidden Dragon Society every year. Year after year, decade after century, despite continuously expanding their membership, the society’s wealth continued to grow at an astonishing rate. By now, the extent of the Hidden Dragon Society’s wealth has become a mystery—where is it hidden? How much wealth has been accumulated?

Some speculate that the wealth is hidden in Suiye, but when the Tocharians occupied Suiye, the Hidden Dragon Society retreated to Anxi without taking much wealth with them. This led many to conclude that the wealth is not in Suiye.

Others estimate that the society has accumulated at least ten million guan in wealth over the years—more than the annual revenue of the Tang Dynasty, a sum equivalent to the wealth of a nation. Yet every member of the Hidden Dragon Society leads a simple and disciplined life; their personal standards are even lower than those of the wealthy in Suiye.

How much wealth does the Hidden Dragon Society actually possess? Where is it hidden? These secrets, hidden for a century, are known only to a few core members of the society.

When the Hidden Dragon Society is disbanded, the biggest challenge will be deciding what to do with the wealth they have accumulated over a century. Three months ago, Li Qing’an generously offered Chang Jin, Luo Pinfang, and others that the society’s wealth, accumulated over a hundred years by eighteen families, would not be taken by him at all. Instead, it would be given to those eighteen families as capital to establish new financial groups, as a reward for their century-long loyalty.

But Li Qing’an’s proposal was unanimously rejected by all members of the Hidden Dragon Society. Their reason was simple: the wealth of the Hidden Dragon Society was meant to achieve its grand ambitions, not to enrich the families of the eighteen generals. If they accepted all of it, they would have no face to face their ancestors. They decided to leave at least half of it for Li Qing’an. Eventually, Li Qing’an accepted their decision. Today, on his first day back in Chang’an, aside from offering sacrifices to Pei Zunqing, the most important thing for him was to inspect the century-old wealth of the Hidden Dragon Society. Chang Jin led Li Qing’an and Hu Peiyun to the back courtyard. He pushed open door after door—something that had puzzled Li Qing’an for many years. Rehaiju covered a considerable area; its doors seemed small from the outside, but it actually spanned dozens of acres, equivalent to a mansion belonging to a high-ranking official. Its tavern area, however, was only five acres in size, with the rest being densely packed rooms. Back then, Li Huichun had told him that the back area consisted of warehouses, but he found that only a small portion of the rooms contained goods, while the rest remained empty. He couldn’t figure out what those rooms were for. Now, Li Qing’an had guessed that the Hidden Dragon Society’s wealth was hidden in Rehaiju. Hu Peiyun shared the same confusion. Although he was a member of the Hidden Dragon Society, he also didn’t know what Rehaiju’s purpose was. He tried to ask several times but saw that Chang Jin was too focused on opening the doors, so he stopped asking. The three of them entered a courtyard that was in poor condition, with five or six rooms filled with broken tables and chairs covered in dust, as if no one had been in there for years. Chang Jin led them into the farthest room. The room was empty except for a row of iron frames against the wall, with nothing on them. Chang Jin smiled mysteriously, knelt down in a corner, took out a copper key, and reached into a wall hole that resembled a mouse hole. After fiddling with the key for a while, a faint sound was heard. “Done!” Chang Jin stood up and pushed the iron frames hard to the left. The frames creaked as they moved aside, startling Hu Peiyun. Only then did he realize how thick the wall in front of them was—while other walls were at most a foot thick, this one was as thick as five feet. Behind the frames was a rectangular recess, and on the ground was an iron ring. Chang Jin stepped forward and pulled the ring, revealing a large, dark hole in the ground. Li Qing’an smiled slightly. As he had guessed, this was the entrance to a tunnel. The iron frames served as a door. It turned out that the hundreds of rooms on the surface were all there to conceal this tunnel entrance—the true mystery of Rehaiju lay underground.

“The land at Rehaiju was purchased by the Yinlong Society in the year Emperor Li Shimin passed away. For over a hundred years, it has been the society’s stronghold in the Central Plains. It wasn’t until twenty years ago that, for security reasons, the stronghold was transformed into the Huichun Tea House in Xishi. Yet, all the wealth accumulated by the Yinlong Society over these centuries is hidden here, guarded by our three families—Chang, Li, and Luo—through generations.”

Chang Jin lit an oil lamp and smiled, saying, “Everyone has already visited last night. I thought our lord wouldn’t arrive for several months, so I went to great lengths to restore everything to its original state. If I had known, I wouldn’t have worked so hard. Lord, please follow me. Pei Yun, you should come and take another look as well.”

Hu Pei Yun was somewhat excited. For over a hundred years, the Yinlong Society had used business as a cover, owning more than three hundred properties across various places, most of which generated substantial profits. They also engaged in highly profitable trade in the Western Regions. Through the reigns of the Zhenguan and Kaiyuan eras, they must have accumulated immense wealth—certainly enough to rival a nation’s wealth. But exactly how much? He had guessed for years, and now the answer was finally about to be revealed.

Chang Jin led the way with the oil lamp, while Li Qingan ordered his guards to stay outside. They followed Chang Jin inside. The tunnel wasn’t long, narrow on both sides, and low overhead, forcing them to bend forward and hold onto the stone walls. After about a dozen steps, it ended. The basement was dim and gloomy, but the air was fresh, with no sense of suffocation—seemingly due to some hidden ventilation.

Yet Li Qingan was stunned. This was just a basement slightly larger than an ordinary household, filled with thirty or forty wooden chests. Was this really the Yinlong Society’s treasure vault? It was completely different from what he had imagined.

Seeing doubt in their eyes, Chang Jin smiled and said, “Last night, everyone was as surprised as our lord. There are thirty-six large wooden chests here, containing a total of 100,000 guan in cash and land deeds. For a tavern like Rehaiju, this amount of money is normal. If the entrance were discovered during a raid and the raiders took away those 100,000 guan, the basement would be empty. But this is just one access point to the Yinlong Society’s treasure.”

Li Qingan perked up. So that’s how it is! He smiled and said, “Let me see—where could the real entrance be?” He searched everywhere, including the floor, but found nothing unusual. Hu Pei Yun also searched for a long time with no results.

Chang Jin shook his head and laughed, “Lord, you can’t find it with your eyes. You need to use your hands.”

Chang Jin took an iron pick from a box, walked quickly to the wall in the northwest corner, and used the pick to pry slowly along the cracks in the wall. The entire structure was built with square stones, making it extremely sturdy.
“Pei Yun, come help me.”
Hu Pei Yun rushed over and carefully removed one of the square stones. Chang Jin smiled at Li Qingan and said, “The last time the wall was sealed was five years ago, and it was our three Chang brothers who handled the lifting. Li Hui Chun and Luo Pinfang are too old now; they just supervised and kept records. Only the five of us know this secret.”
The wall was very solid, so Li Qingan also came to help. It took the three of them a while to remove over thirty bluestone bricks, placing them aside. Behind the bluestones was a normal mud wall with nothing unusual. The only suspicious thing was that the mud had been freshly applied—just last night.
Hu Pei Yun glanced at Chang Jin, who spat on his palm, swung the iron pick, and dug fiercely into the mud wall. He made dozens of cuts in one go; the mud was about a foot thick. Just as Hu Pei Yun wondered if he had chosen the wrong spot, there was a sharp “clang!”—the sound of the pick hitting metal. Hu Pei Yun’s spirits lifted as he saw a dark iron door. Then, Chang Jin used a small shovel to scrape away the yellow mud from the door, and after some time, an iron door was revealed. He was out of breath from exhaustion, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said with a bitter smile, “If we had known the lord would come today, we wouldn’t have done this last night.”
Li Qingan laughed and said, “This is the last time. I’ll send troops to guard Rehai Residence tonight, so there’s no need to build the wall anymore.”
“Thank you, lord!”
By then, Hu Pei Yun had cleaned the iron door thoroughly. It was about six feet tall and four feet wide. Under the dim light, it appeared dark with a faint blue glow—it was a solid piece of pig iron coated with a special oil, without a single rust spot.
Chang Jin took a large key from behind his back, inserted it into the lock, and turned it. There was a “click” sound.
“Pei Yun, help me again.”
The two of them pushed together with their shoulders, and the iron door slowly swung open silently. Everything ahead was pitch black. Li Qingan touched the door—it was a full foot thick. He silently marveled that it was even thicker than the vault doors of banks in later times.
“Be careful where you step. Follow me!”

Chang Jin descended cautiously, holding a oil lamp to light his way, while Li Qingan followed, leaning on the wall—its surface cold and also made of stone. There were steps beneath their feet. Chang Jin lit an oil lamp on the wall, and a circle of light spread out, revealing a stone path five feet wide and ten feet high, sloping forward for about twenty steps. At its highest point, it was twenty feet high, surrounded by smooth stone walls. Five lamps were lit along this stone path.

“This underground treasure vault was built over ten years by 300 stone masons brought from Khwarezm. Unfortunately, after it was completed, they were all poisoned, though their families were compensated generously.”

Chang Jin sighed and continued, “The Yinlong Society stipulates that every ten years, the Li Huichun family and the Luo Pinfang family must jointly conduct an inventory, with the Li, Luo, and Chang families signing to confirm the accuracy of the inventory. Originally, only the Chang family had the key to the top iron door, the Luo family held the key to the second door, and the Li family had the key to the third. Each time goods were added, all three families had to be present. Eventually, our Chang family took charge of managing this treasure—this is how Rehaiju came into being.”

Chang Jin walked to the third door and used another key to open an iron door at the end of the passage. A smell of copper hit them.

One by one, the oil lamps were lit. Although Li Qingan had imagined the grandeur of the underground vault, what he saw still stunned him. Hidden two feet underground, this vault resembled an underground palace, with an arched ceiling made entirely of huge stones, no beams or columns, yet it appeared incredibly sturdy, as if naturally formed. Having seen the architectural skills of Khwarezmian masons, Li Qingan couldn’t help but marvel. Such a underground palace even had ventilation—it was very dry, not damp at all, completely different from the dark and humid other underground vaults.

The underground palace gradually became brighter. It was rectangular, about sixty steps long and forty steps wide, with a long passage in the middle. On both sides of the passage were half-open stone rooms, simply separated by stone walls—fifteen on each side, totaling thirty stone rooms.

Most of the rooms contained neatly stacked large boxes, densely packed in a spectacular sight. There were iron boxes as well as wooden boxes. Many wooden boxes, despite being a hundred years old, had not rotted.

Chang Kuan explained, “Although there are many boxes, they’re not really valuable. Inside are high-quality copper coins—six hundred guan per box. There are three thousand boxes in total, worth 1.8 million guan. What’s truly valuable are the four warehouses at the back.”

Li Qingan walked up to one of the large boxes and saw a copper plaque on it that read, “In the 15th year of Zhenguan, Luo Ying donated 500 guan.”

There were over a dozen chests around, all donated by him, though from different years—some from the eighth year of Zhenguan, some from the thirteenth year. One chest even read, “Fourth year of Yonghui, Luo Xun donated 500 guan.”
“Luo Ying is Luo Pinfang’s grandfather, and Luo Xun is his father, that is, the lord’s…”
Chang Jin didn’t finish the sentence. What he actually wanted to say was that Luo Xun was the lord’s great-great-grandfather.
Li Qingan nodded silently and followed Chang Jin to keep looking. Each compartment was filled with densely packed chests of copper coins. The Tang Dynasty minted 300,000 guan worth of coins in a year, and here there was the amount minted in six years—quite substantial indeed.
“We also realized this issue later on. Copper coins are heavy and take up too much space. Starting from the Xianheng era of Emperor Gaozong, we changed the way we stored wealth. We used money to develop industries and stored wealth in real estate. We own over 300 properties across the Tang Dynasty, worth tens of millions. Here, only some gold, silver, and precious treasures are stored.”
Chang Kuan walked to the last four compartments and pointed to one of them, saying, “Lord, please take a look here!”
Li Qingan saw many small iron chests inside, completely different from the large chests earlier. He picked up one casually—it was very heavy—and asked with a smile, “Is this gold and silver?”
“Yes! There are 600,000 taels of gold here, mainly from Persia and Byzantium. At ten guan per tael of gold, the value of this gold is 6 million guan. And over there…”
Chang Kuan pointed to two more compartments filled with large chests, saying, “There are 2 million taels of silver here, all in ingots, mainly from Persia.”
At this point, they reached the last compartment, which contained three rows of shelves, each with individual items on them.
“This side contains antiques and treasures of immeasurable value.”
Li Qingan walked up to a palace lantern, seeing it adorned with various gems and pearls that shone brilliantly under the light.
Chang Jin stepped forward and said with a smile, “It is said to be the Seven-Colored Thousand-Treasure Lantern that hung in Emperor Yang of Sui’s bedroom. It was made with 108 precious gems, but the rarest part is the seven night pearls at the bottom, each of a different color. Lord, please take a look.”
Chang Jin lifted the lantern high, and Li Qingan looked down and indeed saw seven pigeon-egg-sized night pearls, seven different colors, emitting a magical glow.
He asked in astonishment, “Where did this lantern come from?”
Chang Jin replied with a smile, “Lord, you might not believe it, but this lantern was obtained from a Turk. Li Huichun exchanged it for 500 sheep thirty years ago.”
“Just 500 sheep!”

Li Qing’an laughed. “A sheep is worth one guan, so that’s five hundred guan. But just one gemstone on it is worth at least a hundred guan. If this Turk found out, wouldn’t he be devastated?”
“That’s not necessarily the case. The Turk might think this lamp can’t be eaten or used, it’s only for show. In their eyes, it might not even be worth five hundred guan. They might even think they’ve made a profit.”
“That makes sense! What else?”
“This is a Immortal Travel Pillow, carved from top-quality Yutian jade. It’s said that using it as a pillow allows one to dream of traveling to the Three Mountains and Five Peaks. This is a luminous cup, inlaid with three hundred small diamonds. Inside this iron box are over a dozen authentic works by Zhang Xu, purchased from his son after his death in the ninth year of the Tianbao era…”
There were at least a hundred treasures on the three rows of shelves. Chang Jin knew them all by heart and introduced them one by one. Hu Peiyun listened with great interest, but Li Qing’an didn’t have time to continue listening. Zhang Yun was coming to meet him formally that night.
Yet all this wealth was indeed useful to him. Li Qing’an quickly did some calculations in his mind. If he ignored these priceless treasures, just considering gold, silver, and copper coins, it was already ten million guan. If he also took into account the Hidden Dragon Society’s three hundred properties, its wealth was at least twenty million guan or more. Even if he took half of that, it would still be enough for him to use to smooth out the grain transportation.