Chapter 208: Killing the King (V)

"Hah... finally made it." Song Jia panted heavily, holstering the P229 pistol in his hand and loading a fresh magazine.

By the time he looked up, the scene before him had already descended into utter chaos.

Several City Guards had long since been scared witless by the "pig monster," fleeing backward with wails of despair, while Commander Ding, who had been sent flying by a kick, clutched his stomach as he scrambled backward on the ground, bellowing with full force: "Rebellion! Rebellion! The pig monster is killing an official to become a rebel! Ring the bell, quick, ring the bell!"

Realizing he was being mistaken for a monster, Song Jia let out a hearty laugh and removed the single-hole night vision device from his face.

Seeing the pig monster take off its nose, the few City Guards calmed down slightly. The next moment, a black lacquered waist token flew toward Commander Ding: "Gentlemen, no need for alarm. This is a misunderstanding. We are from the Grand Coordinator's Office, here tonight to apprehend an important imperial fugitive."

Commander Ding caught the waist token, gave it a cursory glance, and then said with an expression of disbelief: "An official... official demon?"

Five minutes later, the still-shaken Commander and his brothers had all returned to the gate tower. The tower, however, was now much brighter, as the "pig monster" had complained about the dimness, forcing them to light several extra lanterns.

The soldiers, licking their lips, now stood in a half-circle, awkwardly staring at the hanging basket before them, its VIP passenger Lu Da, and the "Fuzhou Governor's Office Criminal Clerk" who was searching the corpse.

In truth, within the formal bureaucracy, the Grand Coordinator's Office had no such position as "Criminal Clerk." On this point, however, the lowly, insignificant Commander Ding had no knowledge.

There was a misunderstanding here concerning the Grand Coordinator.

In the Ming Dynasty, a Grand Coordinator, apart from the various ranks of military officers in the Governor's Standard Battalion, had no civil official establishment under his command.

The Grand Coordinator, in relation to the imperial court, was itself merely a work assignment, not a formal official post. For example, Lao Xiong's letter of appointment formally read: "Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief, Grand Coordinator of Fujian and Other Regions, Concurrently Supervising Military Affairs." Among these, Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief was his substantive office; Grand Coordinator of Fujian and Other Regions, Concurrently Supervising Military Affairs was his commission, without official rank.

No matter how long Lao Xiong stayed in the region, nominally he still belonged to the central establishment, not the local establishment; he was merely temporarily dispatched to the region for handling affairs, somewhat akin to a later-generation working group.

Therefore, the Grand Coordinator's civil subordinate officers, aside from clerks handling documents, had no other formal establishment. So, truth be told, for all his apparent grandeur as a high official, Lao Xiong was actually a Light Pole Commander — even a County Magistrate was assigned a deputy, the County Deputy, by the court.

But the work still had to be done, and people still had to be found. Thus, someone like Lao Xiong had to personally recruit a group of private advisors to help with official business, or temporarily commandeer some local alternate or auxiliary officials to handle affairs... ahem, and these wages had to be paid out of Lao Xiong's own salary.

In fact, it wasn't until the Guangxu period in the late Qing Dynasty that the court issued corresponding regulations, but even then, these were still personnel recruited by the Grand Coordinator himself, not officials within the establishment.

So, the title Song Jia and his men claimed for themselves — "Clerks of the Criminal Division of the Grand Coordinator's Office" — was a complete fabrication: the Fuzhou Governor's Office had no civil clerks corresponding to the Six Ministries at all.

Of course, the post could be made up, but the waist token had to be genuine.

In ancient times, all principal officials, and positions requiring waist token verification, such as the City Gate Guard Commander here, kept a vermilion-ink seal impression register on hand.

Much like the corporate and personal seal verification systems of later-generation banks, the gate tower held a ready-made register, compiled into a book, of the official seals and waist tokens of all departments — without this book, the Gate Officer could not distinguish the authenticity of the documents and waist tokens from so many different offices.

Therefore, the reason Commander Ding and his men returned to the gate tower and cooperated with Song Jia's group in examining the corpse was entirely because the Commander had verified that Fuzhou Governor's Office waist token.

The atmosphere remained icy cold.

The "Criminal Clerk" was in the process of pulling items, one by one, from Lu Da's body. In the empty gate tower, only the voice of that "official demon" drifted faintly — from the moment he entered, Comrade Pig Monster had darted alone into a dark corner, muttering incessantly into a black box.

Commander Ding and his brothers, meanwhile, couldn't help but shuffle two steps closer to the light, terrified that the official demon's sorcery might harm them.

Once all the items on the dead Lu Da had been retrieved, Song Jia, dressed all in black, finally ended his call and emerged from the darkness.

Plopping himself down onto the armchair, Song Jia first examined the items his subordinate presented: a purple lacquered plaque the size of a mahjong tile from Lu Da's person, then glanced at the other odds and ends, before nodding: "Correct, this is the man."

After saying this, he felt much more relaxed in that moment.

That had been far too close. Had he been even two minutes later, or had Lu Da not been a VIP customer and the hanging basket not descended slowly, he would have had to follow down the wall and pursue alone... just thinking about it was absurd; he was no 007.

"I haven't yet asked — might I inquire after the Vice Lord's honorable surname?" Having sorted out his thoughts, Song Jia turned his head and asked Commander Ding with a genial expression.

"I dare not claim honor, my surname is Ding."

"Ah, Commander Ding." Song Jia nodded. "The situation was urgent just now; seeing an imperial fugitive about to escape, I was somewhat rash. I must ask Commander Ding not to take offense."

"Not at all, not at all, think nothing of it, it's nothing..."

Although Commander Ding had by now clearly seen that the black hide on the pig monster was actually just a strangely textured black coat, he still dared not meet Song Jia's eyes directly... who could swear that garment hadn't been transformed from black hide?

"Good, then let's take things one at a time."

Saying this, Song Jia reached out and picked up the packet of loose silver from Lu Da's person, took out one piece, and casually tossed it to a nearby City Guard: "Trouble you to fetch some clean water, brother."

The skinny City Guard caught the silver in a conditioned reflex. After freezing for two seconds, he ran off, grinning from ear to ear. Soon, this skinny fellow returned to the hall carrying a large bucket of clean water, and Song Jia and his two companions washed their bloodstained hands in the bucket.

After that, things were simple. When Song Jia weighed the loose silver in his hand and asked, "Is there any oilcloth?", oilcloth was promptly delivered before him. And VIP Lu Da, in the next moment, was neatly and securely wrapped up like a zongzi and stuffed into the hanging basket.

Seeing everything smoothly settled, Song Jia stuffed the majority of the loose silver in his hand into Commander Ding's palm, and distributed the rest among the City Guards.

Looking at Commander Ding, whose expression had greatly improved, Song Jia smiled and patted his shoulder: "Before dawn, men from the Governor's Standard Battalion Battalion will come to clean up the scene. I'll leave one of my men here to handle the handover; I won't make things difficult for you, Commander Ding. How does that sound?"

What else could Commander Ding say? He could only nod desperately: since the other party was leaving someone here to hand over the corpse, he naturally wouldn't bear even half a share of the responsibility. Though he'd taken a kick tonight, in exchange he'd earned several dozen taels of silver on the side. Truth be told, it was a sweet deal...

And so, shortly after, Song Jia took one subordinate and returned the way they came via the gate tower's horse path, emerging onto the street. At this point, a certain someone once again pulled the single-hole night vision device from his waist pouch, restoring his terrifying pig-monster visage.

He first glanced a few times at the beggars lying at the street corner, then slowly scanned the circumference. Finding nothing unusual, Song Jia then said to his subordinate: "Let's go."

As he walked, he pulled out the walkie-talkie: "Group C, report position, over."

"Just got home, over."

"Very good, nothing more for you tonight. Get some rest, over."

... Group C was Xue Haiyuan's group.

Because the distance was short and they could deploy in advance, Xue Haiyuan's side had gone much more smoothly compared to Song Jia's. While Song Jia was still opening fire atop the city gate, Xue Haiyuan's group, disguised as patrol soldiers, had already intercepted Lu the Second beneath Jinglou Gate and, using a P229 pistol fitted with a silencer, shot Lu the Second dead on the spot.

While Song Jia was still haggling with Commander Ding, Xue Haiyuan's side had already thrown Lu the Second's corpse into a dry well and was on the way home.

... Hearing the news of Xue Haiyuan's successful return, Song Jia was very gratified. As of now, the majority of tonight's mission had been smoothly completed. All that remained was the final step: Hengguangkang.

So Song Jia once again adjusted the walkie-talkie's frequency: "Group B, report position, over."

"Group B is still 500 meters from the designated position, over."

"Very good, proceed with concealment and await my rendezvous, over."

"Group B, understood."

Walking as he spoke, Song Jia never noticed that among the beggars at his feet, one lying on his side at the alley entrance was trembling all over.

... Bai Yuer never imagined, not even in his worst nightmares, that he would encounter such a situation tonight.

Although Bai Yuer was not very old, only nineteen, he was already a seasoned veteran of the Edo through and through: he had been working under Zheng Sancai since the age of sixteen and had seen his share of storms.

When Lu Da passed the first checkpoint below the gate tower, Bai Yuer, following behind, had already instinctively found the best observation spot: the alley entrance closest to the gate tower, beside a few sleeping beggars.

After Lu Da ascended the City Wall, Bai Yuer, having watched everything unfold, hadn't actually planned to stay long. Unexpectedly, just as he was preparing to leave, three dark figures darted swiftly past him.

In that instant they brushed past, by the moonlight, Bai Yuer caught sight of Song Jia's terrifying appearance and was instantly frozen with terror, his limbs numb. And Song Jia, frantic with urgency, clearly hadn't noticed this person half-sprawled in the corner, indistinguishable from the other beggars. Thus, both sides passed each other by.

As the saying goes, what you fear most will come to pass: Bai Yuer then watched in panic as that monster ran up the gate tower... by this point, Bai Yuer had already understood that the monster was, in all likelihood, heading straight for Lu Da.

What followed was a long, drawn-out wait.

As if an entire year had passed, Bai Yuer finally waited until the monster went downstairs.

And Song Jia, wearing the night vision device, was once again deceived by habitual thinking, overlooking the few beggars sleeping soundly at the alley entrance. — Even though a single careful glance while bending down would have revealed that Bai Yuer, dressed in a fine cloth robe, was absolutely no beggar.

By such a bizarre twist of fate, Bai Yuer escaped a fatal calamity.

After a long while, though his heart was still filled with terror, Bai Yuer slowly climbed to his feet and headed in the direction of Hengguangkang. He had to report everything that had happened tonight to Zheng Sancai.