Chapter 1944: Sharing the Meal

Under the sunlight, before the imposing and majestic office of the Patrol Inspectorate, several contingents stood in stark formation—Luoyang Prefecture constables in square caps and black robes, Palace City Office investigators in round caps and brown garments, and Wude Battalion soldiers in pointed caps and hawk-emblazoned uniforms.

Naturally, the Patrol Inspectorate guards were not to be overlooked—outside the office alone, a full battalion of patrol troops was assembled. Though the crowd was large and mixed, order prevailed; each man stood erect and alert, waiting under the leadership of his respective superior officer, all attention fixed on the wide-open office gates.

Before long, a figure appeared in everyone's view—walking hurriedly, somewhat thin of build, but the conspicuous embroidered robe marked his identity: the chief eunuch, Commissioner of the Palace City, Wang Ji'en.

It was plain to see that Wang Ji'en was in a foul mood at this moment, his aged face entirely overcast. The subordinate officials of the Palace City Office, seeing this, hastily rushed forward to greet him obsequiously, reading his expression and offering their salutations with considerable caution.

The Palace City Office's turnout was still quite grand—three of the four adopted sons had arrived, and seven or eight of Wang Ji'en's adopted grandsons as well, all prepared to win merit and establish themselves under the leadership of their "old ancestor."

As the foremost figure beneath the Commissioner of the Palace City, Wang Shouzhong personally supported Wang Ji'en and asked carefully: "Father, has the discussion concluded? What is the plan, and how shall we proceed?"

"Bring me my horse!" Wang Ji'en said with a cold face.

"Yes!" Not daring to be slow, the groom nearby immediately led over a sturdy, powerful horse—this was an imperial steed bestowed upon Wang Ji'en by Emperor Liu himself.

Though Wang Ji'en was a eunuch and nearly sixty years of age, his physical skill had not diminished in the least. He mounted the horse with ease, pulled the reins with both hands, turned it around, let his cold gaze linger briefly on the plaque of the Patrol Inspectorate office, then gave the order: "Pass the command—to the Kang residence!"

The dense sound of hoofbeats and footsteps gradually faded down the avenue before the office. Under the personal leadership of Commissioner of the Palace City Wang Ji'en, the claws and fangs of the Palace City Office descended directly upon the Kang residence within the Western Capital.

And Wang Ji'en's anger stemmed precisely from this. Just now, in the Patrol Inspectorate office, the principal officials of the four offices—the Patrol Inspectorate, the Palace City Office, the Wude Battalion, and the Luoyang Prefecture—had held a meeting to coordinate a joint operation for the arrest of the "Kang clan rebels." As for why the Patrol Inspectorate office was chosen, the reason was simple: the current commander of the Patrol Inspectorate was the Marquis of Zhending, Cao Bin, whose rank was the highest.

It was less an operational meeting than a feast of dividing spoils, for all the "Kang clan rebels" in the capital region were essentially already under control—especially the core figures of the Kang clan, who had long been watched without respite.

In the distribution of operational tasks, Wang Ji'en felt himself to have been suppressed, because the Palace City Office personnel were only assigned to search the Kang residence within Luoyang city...

This could not be called a bad assignment, after all—the splendor of the Kang residence was something Wang Ji'en had witnessed with his own eyes. However, it also depended on what one compared it to. Regarding the Kang family's situation, the Palace City Office had investigated it to within a hair's breadth—at least half of the entire clan's wealth in the capital region was hidden away in the numerous estates outside the city.

As for the Kang residence within the two capitals, while it certainly did not fall short of a wealthy merchant's splendor, with many eyes and mixed crowds, it served more as a front. Moreover, ever since Kang Ning's incident, the core members of the Kang clan had basically taken refuge in the estates outside the city, directing operations from afar; what remained in the city were only peripheral hangers-on.

Under such circumstances, one could imagine where Wang Ji'en would rather go. However, with four people conferring on the matter and reaching a three-against-one conclusion, Wang Ji'en—even if unwilling and resentful, even furious—could not defy the "collective decision."

Cao Bin was both a first-rank marquis and a weighty court minister. Unlike the Palace Command and the Imperial Guard, the Patrol Inspectorate's Chief Commander was a position of real military power, one that generally could not be offended.

Moreover, Cao Bin served as patrol commander only because no other suitable position could be found for the moment, so he had to be temporarily "accommodated" there—after all, this was a veteran minister and seasoned general who had served as Commissioner of Military Affairs for many years. Not to mention his close relationship with the Guo family and his important position within the Guo-Chai aristocratic bloc—he truly could not be provoked.

As for Luoyang's Governor Lü Mengzheng, in Wang Ji'en's view, he was somewhat deep, especially skilled at false cordiality, slippery as an eel. Though his seniority was shallow, imperial favor was at its peak, so making an enemy of him was inadvisable.

As for Wang Xuanzhen—that was the brute! Outside Chuigong Hall, he had still been proclaiming that the Palace City Office and the Wude Battalion should cooperate closely and work together to complete the tasks His Majesty had assigned.

Who would have thought that this brute would turn around and stab him in the back, joining with the Patrol Inspectorate to snatch away the tasks outside the city. As for what remained inside the city—the Kang family's businesses, warehouses, and storage grounds in the markets and wards—he still had to split those with the Luoyang Prefecture...

Musing back and forth, burning with fury, his adopted son Wang Shouyi, upon learning the situation, offered a suggestion that nearly gave Wang Ji'en a stroke. The equally indignant Wang Shouyi, in a fit of hot-headedness, proposed to Wang Ji'en that since the other three offices were not acting like human beings, jointly suppressing his adoptive father, they must not let it rest—why not secretly send word to the Kang estate outside the city, let the Kang family prepare, whether to resist or flee, and ruin the plans of Cao and Wang...

The moment this "brilliant" proposal was voiced, Wang Ji'en directly rewarded Wang Shouyi with two slaps across the face and gave him the assessment of "idiot." Wang Ji'en was a man with no shortage of flaws—the higher his position and authority, the more they were exposed; he could well be called one who "grows arrogant upon achieving his ambitions."

But at critical moments, his mind was always clear. The Kang clan had already been personally branded "rebels" by the old emperor. Under such circumstances, letting personal grudges interfere with official matters, or even sending word to tip off the Kang clan—such thoughts were not merely stupid, but deadly.

However, Wang Shouyi's suggestion was not entirely without use—at least it brought Wang Ji'en out of his fury. And once he calmed down, the Commissioner of the Palace City became far more formidable.

On the one hand, he silently plotted how to counterattack, how to take revenge—especially against that wretch Wang Xuanzhen. On the other hand, he vented his rage upon the "Kang clan rebels."

Within Luoyang city, in the joint operation of the Palace City Office and the Prefecture office, none of the Kang clan's businesses escaped—they were taken over easily and swiftly, personnel placed under control. As for the Kang residence, there was nothing more to be said; as a key surveillance target, it was the first to be seized, though of course, the inventory and confiscation were completed last.

There was little resistance; only small fry were arrested. But the property within the Kang residence—gold, silver, pearls, jade, and various valuables—amounted to several hundred thousand strings of cash in value, a truly bountiful haul.

Yet precisely because of this, Wang Ji'en's heart burned all the more fiercely. He naturally did not dare to embezzle all the goods seized from the Kang residence, but handing a portion to the imperial treasury and dividing the remainder between himself and his subordinate officials was only proper.

And as for the Kang clan's other enterprises—how could Wang Ji'en and the Palace City Office not covet them? Those still had to pass through the Luoyang Prefecture's hands once more. This matter was not merely about the size of one's merit, but real, tangible profit within...

As a merchant clan that had become renowned throughout the realm, admired by ten thousand traders, the Kang clan had flourished in the Great Han for several decades. Yet once again, facts proved that no matter how thick or tall a tree, it cannot withstand the axe of power. When the tree falls, it happens in an instant—dazzling and overwhelming to the eye.

With the joint operation of the four offices, within a mere two days, the Kang clan's power in the capital region was almost completely uprooted. Some fish inevitably slipped through the net, but of the Kang clansmen in the capital, fewer than one in ten remained.

The Kang family's estates in the capital region numbered seven in total, with over ten thousand servants, hired hands, and tenant farmers. During the search process, armed resistance inevitably broke out, which further corroborated the grave crime of "the Kang clan's rebellion."

The Kang clan's downfall triggered a series of repercussions inside and outside the capital, but at the same time, a feast of wealth—gnawing at the Kang clan's "corpse"—also commenced.

This was truly a great slab of fat meat. From the moment Emperor Liu branded the Kang clan, aside from the few who were intimately connected, most people's concern had already turned to how to take a bite out of this fat. Figures like the emperor's maternal uncle Li Ye and his ilk had long since bared their fangs and opened wide their jaws, waiting to sink in.

The Emperor and the court naturally took the lion's share, while the relevant offices and nobles took the smaller portions—eating it all clean, leaving not even a scrap of bone. Moreover, it was not just the capital region; the Kang clan's enterprises spread across the entire realm were naturally targeted by officials and powerful clans alike, and the Kang clan's sons and retainers became targets for lower-ranking soldiers, officials, and even commoners to win merit and rewards...