Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Time for XX Has Come, Please Return to Your Position, Chief Overseer!
At this moment, all the heads of the Western Depot wore dark circles under their eyes, their faces wan and spiritless—a picture of utter exhaustion. When they had set out to suppress the Autumn Wind Bandits in Qizhou, they had traveled through the night with barely any rest. Upon arriving in Hongyang to report, they realized the Chief had set them a test; to prove their loyalty, none of them slept a wink that night. Now, gathering once more at their stronghold and exchanging glances, all they could do was shake their heads in dejection.
They were, after all, the elite of the Eastern Depot, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the military—a network of spies second to none in Daliang. Yet now, faced with the Chief’s ‘test,’ they seemed so powerless and inept that a bitter sense of defeat welled up within them.
Where on earth was the Chief?
Just then, a spy disguised as an old farmer came sprinting into the stronghold, using light footwork. As he ran, he panted out, “Chief… Chief, I have… I have something to report…”
Seeing his breathless state and his inability to speak clearly, Jiang Jin frowned and rebuked him, “A spy must carry himself as such. Why are you so flustered? What sort of example is this?”
“I’ve found the Chief,” the man managed.
A collective gasp seized the room. In one voice, the heads demanded, “Where is the Chief!?”
“At Siqing Brothel…”
Some of the heads were eunuchs; the rest were not natives of Hongyang and did not know what Siqing Brothel was, so they asked, “What sort of place is Siqing Brothel?”
“A pleasure house…”
“A… pleasure…”
Jiang Jin stood agape, his lips parting, unable to find words. The other heads instinctively exchanged glances, each recognizing the same confusion in the eyes of his peers.
“Hiding in plain sight! Hiding in plain sight!” Jiang Jin murmured, closing his eyes and drawing a deep breath. Once he had regained his composure, he sighed in admiration, “The Chief is truly the Chief. His grasp of human nature is unparalleled!”
“Such a brilliant move—simply ingenious!”
Kong Qing echoed him, clicking his tongue in amazement. “The Chief’s mind is beyond our reckoning. With this simple trick of hiding in plain sight, he has played us in the palm of his hand!”
The other heads, realizing this, hastened to add their own praises of the Chief’s wisdom. After all, none of them could admit their own folly.
Jiang Jin, now at last collected, questioned the spy closely about every detail of his encounter with the Chief.
The spy recounted honestly all he had witnessed at Siqing Brothel. When the heads heard that the Chief had been accosted and berated by a few shrewish women, their faces turned green.
“Lead the way!”
With the spy at the fore, the heads of the Western Depot rushed toward Siqing Brothel. From a distance, as they saw its sign, they worried how they would explain themselves and accept their penalties when they faced the Chief.
As they drew closer and saw a crowd of officers and soldiers surrounding the Chief with weapons, cold sweat broke out on their foreheads.
Jiang Jin and Kong Qing were the first to react. With a shout, they leapt forward in a blur of light footwork. The remaining heads cursed under their breaths and followed suit.
“Me, a demon?” Xu Boqing sneered at the officers and soldiers gathering around him. He thought to display his Chief’s waist plaque, but upon reaching for it, he remembered he had left it with Jiang Jin for convenience’s sake, along with his golden whip.
Just then, two voices—one shrill, one gruff—rang out from afar: “How dare you!”
Two figures soared over the crowd—Jiang Jin and Kong Qing, landing atop the weapons of the officers. With a flurry of kicks, they sent the soldiers surrounding Xu Boqing flying.
The sudden turn of events left all present in confusion.
“Seize them!” The magistrate of Hongyang blanched, thinking these were the criminal’s accomplices. “This fiend has partners—arrest them all and await my judgment!”
“Are you blind, you dog?!” Jiang Jin, seeing the officers close in, produced the gold token from his person and shrilled, “I am the Second Commandant of the Western Depot, acting under imperial command!”
Kong Qing, knowing this was his moment to impress the Chief, glared and bellowed, “Who gave you the gall?!”
The scene fell instantly silent. When the magistrate heard the title “Second Commandant of the Western Depot,” he shuddered. When he saw the words “Bestowed by the Emperor” on the gold token, his legs buckled, and he nearly collapsed.
One by one, the other heads leapt into the fray. One of them planted a kick that sent the magistrate sprawling.
“You call yourself a magistrate in that green robe? Don’t you know that seeing the gold token is as seeing the Emperor himself?!”
The magistrate crawled forward on shaking limbs, prostrating himself. “Your servant, Magistrate Li Lezhi of Hongyang, welcomes the imperial envoy.”
The shrews who had started the commotion quaked with fear, while the surrounding soldiers, bewildered, exchanged looks and then, one after another, dropped their weapons and knelt.
At that moment, the Western Depot’s spies arrived, weapons in hand, sealing the brothel’s perimeter.
Seeing the threat gone, Jiang Jin turned and knelt on one knee, shamefaced. “This subordinate has failed in his duty, allowing such scum to disturb the Chief’s pleasures. I beg for punishment.”
The other heads quickly followed suit, kneeling and crying, “This subordinate has failed in his duty, begging for punishment!”
Realizing that the man he had called a “demon” was in fact the Chief of the Western Depot, the magistrate’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed in a dead faint.
Xu Boqing, seeing this, nearly smirked in salute, but his mouth twitched and he couldn’t quite find the feeling—so he waved his hand, dispirited.
“Get up…”
Seeing the undisguised disappointment on the Chief’s face, Jiang Jin, Kong Qing, and the others felt their hearts sink.
The Chief had been testing the Western Depot’s abilities from inside a brothel, yet they had searched all day without finding him; surely he was utterly disappointed in them.
The heads exchanged mournful glances, cursing their own stupidity in silence.
Jiang Jin, face burning with shame, said, “This subordinate has failed in his duties and is unworthy of the Chief’s trust. I beg for punishment.”
“Hm?” Xu Boqing made a sound of surprise. Seeing that none of his subordinates dared rise, he frowned and said, “What? Must I invite you to stand?”
“We dare not…”
The heads of the Western Depot shivered, forcing themselves to their feet, but though they stood, each hung his head like a quail, daring not to meet the Chief’s gaze.
Xu Boqing frowned, wondering what had come over them. Had they failed in what he ordered?
“How did you carry out my instructions?”
“Chief!” Jiang Jin straightened, quickly reporting, “All 138 bandits of Autumn Wind Village have been put to the sword—none escaped. We have also brought the heads, as you instructed.”
Xu Boqing nodded, but was puzzled—if the orders had been carried out so thoroughly, why did his men look so mortified? Could it be… they wanted a reward? Was this their way of reminding him?
He seemed to grasp the situation. The matter of Autumn Wind Village was, after all, a private affair. His men had helped him; it was only reasonable they expected a reward.
He patted his pockets, but his face froze. He had come on official business and carried only a little loose silver and petty banknotes for daily expenses, not a single large note.
His gaze fell on the unconscious magistrate, and his eyes lit up—a ready source of funds right before him.
“Jiang Jin, Kong Qing…”
“Your subordinate is here!”
“By imperial order, I am to oversee all officials. I have now discovered that Magistrate Li Lezhi of Hongyang has abused his power for personal gain, seized property from the people, and incited unrest—his crimes are many and unspeakable…”
Xu Boqing paused a moment, then continued, “Send men to bind him and hang him at the city gate. Make his crimes known to the public, then confiscate his family’s property for the state treasury.”
“Yes, sir!”