CH 54

Following the case of the missing children, the Southside Gang was inevitably pulled out by its roots. With the Western Depot and Northern Bastion Office jointly sussing them out, not even a common follower slipped past, let alone core members like Deng Xiucai and the third-in-command. All were arrested, taken away, and interrogated — the Gang had completely fallen apart.

This disturbance sent chickens flying and dogs jumping. All the gangs of the capital had the power of their decks reshuffled, where gang leaders like Boss Lai and Liu Zhili were also ‘invited’ for questioning. Everyone momentarily had to tuck their tails between their legs and behave, trembling in fear of having the misfortune to be linked to the Southside Gang.

Once this sweep was made, the capital immediately looked much cleaner. According to the intel sent back by Old Wang’s crew at Shuntian Prefecture, even the petty thieves that took advantage of crises had calmed down by a lot. Those that had just come to Beijing from elsewhere now believed that the capital’s security was consistently this good, sighing about how ‘being right under the Son of Heaven’s feet really is special’ and some such.

In another respect, Tang Fan and the rest had received quite some information about the White Lotus Society, straight out of Deng Xiucai’s mouth.

The Society’s history could be traced back to Northern Song. The end of Yuan and start of Ming, when the world was in chaos and a generation of heroes was cropping up, also happened to be the era where the Society was flourishing and expanding. Its nominal leader at the time had been Chen Youliang, a Han King that had contended with the Great Ancestor for supremacy over the realm.

Later on, Chen Youliang had died, power was gobbled up by the Great Ancestor, and said Emperor was expectant towards holding the land. Revolted by such an organization that was near-yet-far — plus not very obedient or disciplined — he not only refused their surrender, but ruthlessly wiped them out by force. From then on, the Society had gone from the light to the dark, their war banners laid down.

Of course, they had not truly vanished in their entirety. During Hongwu’s era, they had been too afraid to come out and cause chaos due to his strength. By the war of Jingnan’s time, when Yongle had been competing for the throne with his nephew, the Society had emerged to support Jianwen. In their view, the young and weak Jianwen would have been easier to control than his shrewd, powerful, war veteran uncle, but they had surprisingly pawned the wrong treasure once more; the nephew had been defeated, the uncle had become Emperor, and the Society had been forced to sink below the surface of the water yet again.

Hidden in shadows, it did not rest, instead continuing to silently grow its influence in wait for the right opportunity. Following that, the Emperors of Ren and Xuan had caused the country to move into a period of stable growth, where politics were still clean, and the citizens’ lives were getting better. There had been no leeway for the Society to be able to act, so they seemed to disappear completely from peoples’ sights, gone without a trace. Those a little younger had probably never even heard of its name.

During Yingzong’s time, the Emperor himself had been a disappointment, deciding on a personal campaign at the instigation of a eunuch beside him, then resultantly getting captured by the Oirats after running off somewhere far away. Later on, the truth would come to light that Wang Zhen, the instigator, had been inextricably connected to the Demonic Society. After him, said party had colluded with the Oirats, attempting to take advantage of the leaderless crowd of Great Ming dragons to attack Beijing in one go, thus swallowing up half the country.

Following that, many twists in the ways of the world had come to be. To be succinct, the second any general situation became stable with no opportunities to be taken at all, the Society would appear to vanish from the human world without a trace. The second there came to be a slight disturbance, they would show up out of nowhere again, stirring up the storm.

The Court was very vexed by this, but the power of its various factions grew mutual dissent, never tiring of infighting for years on end, while the Emperor himself had no mind for politics, assigning swindling slackers to the Court that would waste their lives away. No one could find the energy to deal with this enormous, tightly-undercover Society of evil.

That was, until the Li Zilong incident. The Emperor had been shocked and furious, and only then did the Brocade Guard and Depots cooperate with dispatching their ranks, increasing the strength of their strikes, and tracking down Society followers from all locations. However, the enemy was in the know, while they were not; despite their exacting means, the whole of the nation was too big. The fiends were difficult to find, even when only casually hiding amongst the commonfolk.

Like this time around, for example. Had Tang Fan not heard Lady Ninth’s confession with his own ears, he would have never thought that Wan Tong had been bribed, nor that the Southside Gang, local bully of the stately capital, had mixed up with the Society.

The Gang had gotten its support from the beginning. Their shady dealings were not any different than those of other underworld powers, with more than half of their profits needing to be transferred to the Overseer. Deng Xiucai had been an ambitious man, though; as time had passed, he felt dissatisfied, wondering to himself, Why am I doing all the hard work, yet you lot get all the benefits? He had purposefully tried to climb up onto a connection to Wan Tong, rely on the Court, and draw a boundary line with the Society.

In one aspect of that, he wouldn’t have been completely turning face with the Society. The money that had to be handed over had been accordingly handed over — he had merely claimed that business hadn’t been doing well, gradually lessening over the years. On the other aspect, he had bribed himself a connection with Wan Tong, even dividing half of the profits from Relaxation with him. Everything had been going his way; wasn’t that delightful?

Yet, since the Overseer had been receiving less money, they had sent someone to investigate: Lady Ninth. At the same unexpected time, Deng Xiucai’s underlings had been too presumptuous by kidnapping two that should not have been kidnapped, the resulting trouble so large, even Wan Tong couldn’t keep him safe. He thereafter had no option but to escape to the deserted village in wait for the wind to blow over.

Then, due to Lady Ninth and Deng Xiucai having been at loggerheads for a long time, she had exploited Tang Fan’s coincidental arrival to fight with him, only to end up paying for it with her own life.

That was the sum of the matter, but Tang Fan and the rest wanted to know more than just that. They wanted to know the situation of the White Lotus Society even more so, including where that alleged Overseer was, how many followers existed, where they were allocated, what schemes they had been prepping recently, and so on.

Unfortunately, Deng Xiucai knew nothing about all that inside info. He had headed the entire Gang, but, to be blunt, he had only been a peripheral member of the Society, unqualified for partixcipation in its major affairs.

Suffering the Western Depot’s tactics, the iron-boned Deng Xiucai was forced to obediently fess up to his share. He claimed that he only knew that the Society had a head honcho — in other words, the Leader — who was a complete enigma, their true face one he had never seen. Also, in addition to the main sanctum, separate sanctums had been established all over, as the Society’s influence had spread throughout the whole country.

On account of Beijing being where the Imperial City was located, as well as having the garrisons of the Brocade Guard and Depots, the Society didn’t dare to be too out in the open in it. There was hence no separate branch set up in the capital, only fostered peripheral powers like the Southside Gang.

The Gang sending periodic annual tithes to the Overseer had not been at fixed times; the Overseer would always send someone over for it, while Deng Xiucai’s group would be responsible for receiving them. Said envoy also wasn’t fixed every year, as the one from the previous two had been a man called Monk Zhu, while this one had been Lady Ninth. The two sides would use their token of command and spoken code as a means of contact.

The token would be the Overseer’s, which Deng Xiucai had snatched from Lady Ninth. It had supreme gold content and was able to command the Society’s members, but if someone had it without the secret code, it would be useless. Everyone else would come to know that you were a sham.

The code was very abstract, too. The Society had a set of corresponding ones within it, which Deng Xiucai had enumerated in full, but he also stated that in order to prevent turncoats from cropping up, the code set would be switched out on a regular basis. Each time the Overseer’s envoy had come over, they would instruct him on the new set needed for use next time, rather than continue the use of the same set.

So very interlinked, and strictly confidential… that was why the Society could evade the investigation and suppression of the authorities, getting passed down through generations.

What Deng Xiucai was able to explain was now completely exhausted. Someone who knew a bit more would have been Lady Ninth, but he had eliminated her and her two subordinates.

Wang Zhi and them weren’t able to wipe out the Society, but finally extracting a nail in the capital that it had hammered in was still a great achievement. Tang Fan felt, though, that since the Southside Gang once had a line connecting to the palace that allowed them to sell young children to it for eunuchism, them bribing Wan Tong probably hadn’t stopped there — they might have additional channels in the palace. He suggested that Wang Zhi conduct a deep investigation on it, but, of course, his proposal was rejected.

The grounds for Wang Zhi’s rejection were quite simple. He had only found the free time to come back here because of an assignment in the first place, so now that this assignment was done, he had to rush back to Datong. There was no time for him to blindly screw around.

On top of that, he informed Tang Fan that the palace had long been wholly combed through, following Li Zilong’s incident. People with even tiny scars on their bodies, let alone the mark of the Society, had been singled out and sent to the Depots for their turns at interrogation. All of the Society-affiliated spies had then been arrested, while others that had been fine were also getting inspected at regular intervals, since there was no Society mark left behind anywhere on their bodies.

In other words, while the Society mark was a real thing, it was only directed towards middle- or lower-layer followers. Main sanctum envoys similar to Lady Ninth wouldn’t have one at all. She had probably only been frightening him and probing out his mindset at the time, not taking it as an actual certificate for screening followers.

At the tail end of it, he also gravely warned Tang Fan: ‘Don’t go finding something when there’s nothing!’

His final statement had far-reaching implications. With Tang Fan’s wit, it wasn’t hard for him to hear the connotation amidst it.

The reason for Wang Zhi’s refusal to make a big fuss was pretty reasonable; even though he had sky-reaching power, the majority of it was gathered outside of the palace, and could not reach inside it. It wasn’t just him, either, as things were the same for Shang Ming of the Eastern Depot. There were only two who were currently able to speak in the palace’s internals: Huai En, and Liang Fang.

Within the Twelve Supervisories, Ceremony Management and Royal Steeds had the highest authority. Each division also had a Sealwielder and a Brushholder, which, in layman’s terms, were the big boss and the second boss.

Seniority had to be observed everywhere. Huai En and Liang Fang were both the big bosses of their respective Supervisories, whilst even the two upstarts of Wang Zhi and Shang Ming could only claim the titles of second bosses.

Said big bosses were relied heavily upon by the Emperor in no small measure, especially Liang Fang. Since he had taken the route of Consort Wan, he was all the more like a fish put into water, with a huge load of henchmen and immense influence inside the palace. Wang Zhi didn’t dare to provoke him rashly.

Even though the Southside Gang’s connection to the inner palace might not be directly related to Liang Fang, it certainly couldn’t be kept from his eyes and ears — maybe there would even be the benefit of filially respecting him for them. Deeper investigation of all this would inevitably drag him into it.

Wang Zhi and he were of the same trade, looking down on all from above; with the latter being his senior, the former didn’t want to offend him. Furthermore, this had already implicated Wan Tong — though the Emperor hadn’t done anything to him in regards to Consort Wan’s face, after learning that he had received bribes from the Southside Gang, he requested that Yuan Bin head the Brocade Guard. This was seen as a tiny warning that wrested Wan Tong’s power away, who thereafter sulked nearly to death. He was too afraid to do anything to the Emperor, naturally, but there was nothing stopping him from venting on Wang Zhi.

Despite the eunuch being someone of Consort Wan’s, he was her little brother. If a servant could be close to her, how close would a brother be?

Thus, Wang Zhi was summoned by Consort Wan for a chewing out, and he, too, became sullen. The Emperor had praised him, but then he had to turn his head and eat crap before the Consort. He certainly didn’t want to offend Liang Fang on top of that. After giving Tang Fan a warning, he headed straight for Datong the following day, setting his heart upon establishing military merits while putting everything else out of sight, out of mind.

Without the Western Depot’s support, Tang Fan couldn’t go investigate the palace by his lonesome. Thankfully, Ah-Dong and the rest of the children were perfectly fine, and all the culprits had been arrested — Deng Xiucai, the third-in-command, and the puppet gang leader Ding Yimu in particular. All of them were sentenced to execution, while the rest of the gang members were sentence to army exile.

In The Great Ming Code, human trafficking was called ‘human thievery’. Selling lawful civilians was a grade worse of a crime than selling servants, and those that lured, took, then sold civilians as slaves were to receive a hundred rods, then be banished three thousand li away. However, Deng Xiucai’s group had colluded with the White Lotus Society, so they were not of the same class as regular abduction. The charge of being related to a rebellion plot was the heaviest within every successive generation of the Dynasty.

Originally, Deng Xiucai had been set to be cut in half across the waist, but he was getting special leniency and kindness for being forthcoming; he could first kill himself painlessly via poison, and once that was done, be beheaded. Getting bisected was incomparably painful, so, in order to die a bit more comfortably, Deng Xiucai hadn’t neglected to spit out everything he knew.

Prior to Ah-Dong’s group, it was unknown how many children had fallen into their hands. Even Ding Yimu, an actual puppet that hadn’t done much himself, had an unfathomable amount of innocent blood staining his hands. The deaths of these three were not an injustice in the least.

The work everyone had done for over half a night had not been in vain. The whole event came to an end at last, with a conclusion that barely counted as satisfactory.

Apart from those wounded in the fight with the Gang, Tang Fan was the one that had suffered the worst injuries. First, he had been knocked out by a club to the head, which was later confirmed to have bled. Then, when in the cellars, his hands had bled from the binds. Then, he had gotten shoved by Xin Shitou, where his knees immediately bruised and bled because he couldn’t maneuver well with those bound hands. Later still, his neck had gotten sliced by the porcelain, and so on…

Despite his injuries generally not being grave, his body was still riddled with wounds. Since all them were caused by official work, Mister Tang was fortunately able to take half a month of recovery leave in good conscience, celebrating Sui Zhou’s credits in passing.

Yes, Sui Zhou had gotten promoted, yet again. This time was an accident, though.

After he had handled Huang Jinglong’s case, he had already been promoted to Deputy Millarch. Reasonably, there shouldn’t have been another promotion within such a brief timespan, but the Emperor had been unhappy with Wan Tong’s collusion with traffickers in the missing children’s case, thus having Yuan Bin head the Guard.

Who was Yuan Bin? He had the merit of ‘imperial rescue’, having saved the Late Emperor.

Back during the Tumu Crisis, Yuan Bin had followed by Yingzong’s side to protect him, even getting captured alongside him and looking after him well; as a monarch and a subject that had experienced trials together, the feelings between them had been incomparable to those of typical subjects. Later on, Yuan Bin had aided him in taking back his throne, which could be described as another eminent merit.

Due to this past history, the current Emperor held extreme respect for Yuan Bin following his ascension. Since the latter was getting older, he no longer managed anything practical, merely getting the title ‘Commanding Envoy of the Brocade Guard’ hung onto him. It was only because the Emperor had the mind to teach Wan Tong a lesson that he had asked Yuan Bin to step up, whose qualifications and prestige made even His Majesty be somewhat respectful to him. A low-grade consort-kin like Wan Tong’s flattery couldn’t keep up, even while whipping a horse.

Over recent years, the Brocade Guard’s atmosphere had been stirred afoul because of Wan Tong, vile people running amok. Those who had ingratiated themselves to him would become guests of the Wan family, and those who hadn’t clicked with him had been suppressed and struck down by him via the power of the Guard, similar to that censor Sui Zhou had spoken of before.

Now that Yuan Bin was here, the atmosphere had suddenly changed.

The man was older, yet still strong and healthy in his age. As soon as he had arrived, he took down the dual heads of the Northern Bastion Office, who were also known as Wan Tong’s trusted lackeys. The latter had clenched his teeth in hatred, but was powerless against him. He also couldn’t go complain to His Majesty, because the latter was the one who had sent Yuan Bin to reorder the Guard in the first place.

As that was so, no one dared to make a peep whenever they caught sight of Wan Tong. Any sort of nasty character inevitably had to make way for him, tucking their tails between their legs so that they wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire.

Even though none of this had been directly related to Sui Zhou, the word of ‘Deputy’ had quickly been removed from his title on the grounds of his trademark capability, and he became a genuine Millarch.

Millarchs were of truefifth rank. Their poor grade and military official status were irrelevant, as the authority they wielded was not minor. There were five Guard Centers affiliated under the Northern and Southern Bastion Offices, one of which was headed by a Millarch.

More pressingly, because Yuan Bin had just removed the Northern Office’s heads, no one was sitting in said position. He thus had Sui Zhou temporarily act as Bastion Envoy for the North. Upon consideration that this would be a leapfrog promotion, and out of fear that he wouldn’t be able to convince the masses, he didn’t promote him outright, instead having him be it in a concurrent-post manner.

An old general setting out on a horse was something not of the mortal realm, and Sui Zhou had been particularly selected therein. If he performed well, full acquirement would be just around the bend, but he could also get kicked off of it at any time. Many coveted his spot, which could be seen as an indirect encouragement for him to do all he could.

Now that he held the salary of a Millarch, the velocity of his promotions was really inciting red-eyed jealousy in fourth-rank officials. However, he was also facing unprecedented pressure. How to win over peoples’ hearts, how to convince the masses, how to make those below him obey whenever he sent them on assignments — each and every thing was a difficult problem.

Regardless, this was something worthy of celebration. In order to do so for him, Tang Fan, Xue Ling, and a group of Sui Zhou’s old subordinates arranged a feast outside… not at Immortal Cloud, though, because that was too expensive. Everyone was familiar with each other and the capital had a lot of food in it, so there was no need to choose that place.

Tang Fan picked out a time-honored restaurant called ‘Yang Ji’s Lamb’, which was most famed for its mutton. He booked a private room ahead of time, then called for some of his own Shuntian work-friends to come, as well as the group of Brocade Guards. They all sat around the table for lamb hot pot.

Four pots were on the table, as well as four large plates of fatty, tender mutton beside them. There were things of cabbage, mushroom, vermicelli, and all sorts of other complimentary dishes, as well as minced garlic, soy sauce, shallots, sesame oil, Sichuan pepper, and all kinds of other seasonings. There was an atmosphere of self-matching, self-preparing, and then eating.

It wasn’t just Sui Zhou, but even Xue Ling and the rest that had moved up a step thanks to Yuan Bin’s blessing. They were all ecstatic.

Conversely, Tang Fan had handled two major cases back-to-back, thus establishing two contributions. First, he had cleared away Consort Wan’s suspicion. Then, he had found the children of officials, infiltrated a den of thieves, and had a battle of wits and bravery with the Southside Gang, which could be described as a life-risking task where he had held back none of his strength. Yet, the higher ups had given him no reward whatsoever, his rank still in its original spot. He himself didn’t feel this to be a big deal, but his close friends were inevitably upset on his behalf.

Once drunk with wine and filled with food, Xue Ling stood up from his seat, walked over, then pat Tang Fan’s shoulder hard to comfort him. “Runqing, as I see it, you’re not someone destined for bad luck. You’ll definitely get promoted to high officialdom! Don’t get discouraged!”

“Right!” Pang Qi chimed in. “Your good fortune just hasn’t arrived yet! Don’t be disheartened.”

The two of them still worked for Sui Zhou, but they had since been promoted to Centarchs, their political careers going steady. It wasn’t just them, but the whole group of Sui Zhou’s old underlings that had pretty much all been promoted; that was how they all knew that there would be meat to eat if they stuck with their boss, thus becoming all the more loyal to him.

Seeing that Xue Ling had drunk too much, his entire body swaying as he half-leaned on Tang Fan, Sui Zhou couldn’t help but reach out and pull him away some. “Stand properly!” he scolded.

This wasn’t work, and literally everyone had been drinking, so Xue Ling wasn’t much afraid of him. “You’re really good to Brother Runqing, big bro. Even we, your underlings that follow you everywhere, can’t compare!”

Everyone agreed with a chorus of ‘yeahs’.

“I still have empty rooms,” Sui Zhou replied. “How about you move in so that I can treat you well everyday, too?”

Xue Ling immediately chuckled, saying nothing else.

What a joke. Even though he hadn’t taken a wife yet, he had a concubine at home, and frequently hung out around brothels. Making him meet with the frigid face of his boss every day would probably hurt him more than killing him would.

Tang Fan grinned. “Everyone else wants promotions, but I’m happy as-is.”

“Those sound like empty words! Who wouldn’t be happy with a promotion?!” Xue Ling bellowed.

“Yeah!” everyone uproared.

Tang Fan feigned bitter hardship. “Just think, you guys. I’m only at sixth rank right now, but I’ve gone deep into a thieves’ den, gotten knocked out, and almost died. If I get promoted up a level, would I not have to go fight to the death with the Leader of the White Lotus Society? This time next year, I might not even be able to sit down and have a drink with you all!”

With that amusing sketch, the crowd burst into roaring laughter. Those that had wanted to console him at the onset, upon seeing how overwhelmingly positive he was, also shut their mouths.

After the hosts and their guests had the utmost of merriment at the feast, they each returned to their respective homes, and each sought out their respective mothers, then had to do whatever it was they should have been doing.

On the road home, Sui Zhou noticed that there was gloom amidst Tang Fan’s eyes. Thinking to himself that he must have spoken freely in front of outsiders whilst actually minding it on the inside, he said to him, “Fortune and misfortune rely upon each other, and all the good and bad of the world is interdependent. Not getting promoted this time around might not be a bad thing. Maybe there’s something else good waiting for you up ahead.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about…”

“What is it, then?”

“It’s not even the middle of the month yet, but I’m about to run out of salary,” Mister Tang answered, embarrassed.

That was it? Sui Zhou was a little speechless, his cold face drawing down. “…Where did all your money go? It seemed like you only paid a few hundred wen when you all treated me out to eat, right?”

“Mister Pan sought me out yesterday. We both ate somewhere, but when it came near time to pay the tab, that senior of mine got a stomachache and went to the latrine. I had to pay it first. He wanted to pay after he came back, but how could I accept his money?”

“Couldn’t you two ever not go to Immortal Cloud to eat?”

“It wasn’t that, actually. It was at that dumpling stall not far from Shuntian’s bureau. Whether it’s the fish or cabbage-pork dumplings you’re eating, their craftsmanship isn’t any lesser than the wonton stall in the city’s north. It’s cold now, but when spring starts, they have jimao-mincemeat, and it’s delicious…”

“…You’re off track.”

“Oh. Well, after the meal, it was about a hundred strings. But…” He had a face of suffering. “The day before yesterday, I had paid a visit to someone of my same year, then discovered that he was so poor, he was about to run out of food. So, I treated him to a meal, which was another fifty strings spent… one time doesn’t feel like much, but why does it now feel like I spent so much all at once?”

The more Sui Zhou listened, the more he felt that something was amiss. “Didn’t you get five hundred taels from that Society woman? Even if you did give half to me, would the remaining two-hundred-fifty really be used up that quickly?”

Tang Fan had been pleased about the money for a long time, not telling anyone but Sui Zhou alone, and then split it in half with him under the beautified name of dividing up spoils. Sui Zhou had refused it, but the other had stubbornly stuffed it into his hands to force him to accept it.

With him saying that, Mister Tang was even more embarrassed. “My same-year’s family was destitute. His home still had four children crying to be fed, but the lease on the house he was renting was about to be due, and he couldn’t drum up the money. So… I gave him those taels.”

Sui Zhou had no expression. “You’re a very generous one.”

Tang Fan believed that he was praising him, thickening up his face to play modest. “How so? To aid those in need is the duty of those in my generations. That money didn’t require any effort for me to get, so spending it was no harm!”

Sui Zhou remained having no expression. “How was that ‘no-effort’ money? Did you steal it? Rob it?”

“…”

“Did you forget that you almost lost your life in that gang hideout? No matter what difficulties his family was having, you giving him a hundred taels would have been plenty. How can you be so shrewd when working, yet can’t apply that when it comes to yourself? You do things with no plan, spending money like it’s water!”

Sir Tang was scolded into looking like a child that didn’t dare to raise his head. “Yes, yes, yes. When I go back, I’ll have Ah-Dong help with supervising me,” he said, ashamed.

It really went without saying, but ever since Sui Zhou had risen up to be Millarch Sui and taken charge of the Northern Bastion Office, his majesty had flourished more by the day. His posture when admonishing had been plenty to start with, but now he was so board-faced, pretty much no one dared to make a peep to him at all.

“How would Ah-Dong be able to hold you back?” he asked. “From now on, after you get your salary of grains and cash from your paper money, hand half of it over to me. I’ll safeguard it for you. If you ever need to spend more after using up what you have on hand, you’ll need to justify that to me first. You can use it only after I agree to it.”

Sui Zhou had never been fond of meddling in others’ business. Almost all of said business that he had cared about in this lifetime had come from Tang Fan’s head.

It was fortunate that they had the kind of relationship they had. If someone else had been ordered to do this, they would feel it difficult to understand, and might even turn hostile. Someone like Mister Tang, who was different from the average person, just nodded with delight. “That’s great! With you stopping me, I won’t spend so recklessly!”

From that point on, Millarch Sui not only had a heap of things to look after in the Northern Bastion Office, but also had to help Mister Tang manage his money when he returned home. He truly did wield total power, both foreignly and domestically — how very envy-inducing!

Yet, right when everyone was thinking that Tang Fan would continue doing his job as a Judge, news from the Ministry of Appointments came in, stating that he was to head over to it.