Chapter 346: A Woman's Heart

"Captain, seems like we burned a bit too much."

A man in a fur hat said to Wu Jianzhong. They were hiding behind a crowd of onlookers at the west gate. On the main street by the east gate, flames blazed fiercely, many figures within beating at them with hemp swatters, while even more people screamed and fled their homes — the whole street was chaos.

"I only care that the job gets done. Since we traced the main office of the Anqiu Bookshop, of course we root it out completely." Wu Jianzhong replied coldly. He was actually not very satisfied with this subordinate, though the man was quite skilled at petty thievery, scaling walls and entering houses as if walking on flat ground. In his view, the few Yi retainers he had brought originally were better — they did things without ever asking why — but they had all been transferred by the Special Service Team and Blue Team to teach the Jurchen language and combat habits. His current men were all new.

Even Wu Jianzhong himself, whenever he was in Dengzhou, would be transferred to the Laiyang training base to teach the Yi language. Yet he bore no resentment toward this busy life. Watching Dengzhou Garrison grow stronger and stronger, he felt the hope of recovering Liaodong was greater than ever, and the news of the great victory at Fuzhou had made him jump with excitement.

Wu Jianzhong had been in Qingzhou lately, investigating the number of Liao soldiers among the bandits in the southern mountains. This bookshop operation was just something he did on the side. Destroying a bookshop like this was actually very simple for him — with a bunch of crooked underlings, each time they'd cobble something together, come up with a plan, and once it was done, just report the plan and results back to Dengzhou.

"Too many people burned to death cuts into my allotted lifespan. My mother told me that." The subordinate was still muttering.

Wu Jianzhong grabbed the man by the collar and lifted him, pressing his forehead against his and growling low: "I'm the one who pulled you out of the prisoner squad. When you were looting during the chaos in Dengzhou, you think I didn't know? You weren't afraid then? Keep yapping, and I'll finish you right now. Let's see which cuts more off your lifespan — the burning, or me."

The subordinate immediately begged for mercy. Wu Jianzhong flung him aside and beckoned another man over. "You go help put out the fire. Check if anything was missed inside the bookshop. If anyone slipped away, tail them and find where they're staying."

Once that man had gone far, the fur-hatted petty thief from before sidled up again. "Captain, what about the silver I grabbed on the side just now? Should we split it among the brothers?"

"Half gets split, half gets turned in."

The fur hat beamed. "Captain, how much is your share?"

"I don't want any." Wu Jianzhong added, "And you don't get a share either, so you don't cut into your lifespan."

The fur hat's face immediately crumpled. He pleaded with Wu Jianzhong, "Captain, I have an eighty-year-old mother at home, and a three-year-old..."

"Your mother is barely fifty. It's very clear in your file. Now you want a share of the silver?"

"I do. From now on I'll listen to the Captain in everything, not my mother."

Wu Jianzhong gave a cold laugh. "Then you take half of what the others get. If you mutter again after this, I'll send you back to the prisoner squad."

"This humble one understands." The fur hat had at least salvaged some of his loss. This captain was normally not easy to deal with at all — getting anything back was already good enough.

"You understand jack. Linqing was supposed to be our field team's job, but because you lot kept muttering and dragging your feet forever without getting it done, now Qin Rong has gone. Qin Rong is the internal affairs action team. Do you even know what kind of target Linqing is? A counterfeit cigarette factory! The silver in this bookshop isn't even a tenth of Linqing."

The fur hat froze for a moment, then slapped himself across the face, looking furious and chagrined. Two other men nearby also began grumbling under their breath.

Wu Jianzhong's face was dark. He was a true outsider, relying entirely on Chen Xin's backing within the Dengzhou intelligence system. Zhou Shifa was polite enough to him on the surface, but behind the scenes he still threw up obstacles, mainly over the spoils from each operation.

When the Intelligence Bureau conducted field operations, they were usually in other territories, often small-scale ad hoc actions with a high degree of spontaneity and secrecy. It was impossible to bring along military judges from the Adjutant Office. So Chen Xin had always been lenient in his demands — since there was no way to monitor them, and field work carried high risk, the thrill of spoils served as a kind of indirect incentive.

Originally, Wu Jianzhong had forbidden his men from splitting any silver at all — everything had to be turned in to the bureau to await distribution. Later he discovered that the silver returned was less than half of what the internal affairs teams got, and his men were full of complaints, so now he had no choice but to compromise. Each time they split it, he recorded the amounts and reported them in his secret dispatches to Chen Xin, but Chen Xin had never once questioned him about it, never even brought it up.

Zhou Shifa had designated the strike on the Linqing cigarette factory as a top-priority mission, requiring a deputy director or higher to lead the operation, so he assigned Qin Rong to Linqing. The ostensible reason was that Wu Jianzhong was in charge of the Qingzhou bandit matter, but the real reason was that the Linqing counterfeit cigarette factory had more profit in it, and Qin Rong always gave Zhou Shifa a bigger cut. Wu Jianzhong understood all these tricks, but he simply wasn't willing to play that game, so naturally he wasn't much in Zhou Shifa's favor. Now he could only focus on doing his job well, to avoid leaving any loose ends for Zhou Shifa to grab hold of.

"Let's see how ruthless you can be, Qin Rong."...

Outside Linqing city, the bright moon hung high. Amid the layered courtyards and rooftops, all was silent, broken only by the occasional bark of a dog. In a compound not far from the docks, though it was deep into the night, a faint light still shone through from the main hall.

"This place here — that's the Dongyue Cigarette Factory. Fifty paces from the west wall of Linqing, three hundred paces from this courtyard where we're staying, and two hundred paces from the courtyard serving as our cover point."

A cluster of heads crowded over the table, gathered around a rough map. Qin Rong's finger moved across the map as he pointed. "To the north of the cigarette factory is a brothel. There are five men from the street-fighter gangs inside. Once the factory catches fire, they'll likely be the first to come out and help fight it, to keep the flames from spreading to the brothel. They're very likely to run into our withdrawal team. The first cover team will be positioned here, carrying sleeve darts coated with poison. That should be enough to deal with these unarmored men."

The circle of men were all burly and brutish-looking, many of them former street fighters from around Dengzhou and Laizhou, or the more ferocious sorts among mountain bandits and brigands. Given their backgrounds, they were either too slick and cunning or too wild and unruly to ever be reformed into combat soldiers, but they were all skilled in street assassinations, ruthless and cruel, with decent individual martial skills — perfectly suited for the action teams.

Qin Rong pointed to the brothel and said, "Tomorrow evening, the proprietor of the cigarette factory will likely be hosting a banquet for a group of Linqing Subprefecture officials at this brothel. If the Vice Prefect comes, then this proprietor will definitely attend as well. If the cover team spots him, take him out right at the brothel, and burn the factory along with it — do it all at once and save trouble."

A squad leader with a hooked nose stared at the map and asked, "The proprietor definitely gets taken out. Do we take out the Vice Prefect or not?"

"That... let me think about it some more. Let's first go over the withdrawal route." Qin Rong hesitated.

"There's nothing to think about." A woman's voice sounded from the corner. The group of rough warriors all turned to look. A woman wearing a jade hairpin rose from the corner and walked slowly to the map. Several action team members hurriedly made room for her.

Qin Rong asked the woman politely, "Does Deputy Manager Erya mean we should kill them both together?"

Wang Erya swept her gaze over the group. Facing these vicious thugs, she showed not the slightest timidity. Her eyes finally settled on Qin Rong. "All of you hold shares in the trading company. This year, the Dongyue Cigarette Factory colluded with the local gentry and brokers here, causing the Linqing cigarette trade to fall two hundred thousand taels short of our projections. That is stealing money from the purse of our Dengzhou Garrison. In Dengzhou, we could take them to court and argue reason, but in Linqing, there's no reason to be argued. Sending someone to plead on our behalf doesn't work either — that Zhou Hongmo just passes the buck every time. Lord Chen ordinarily is not inclined to such methods, but this time he specifically sent all of you to Linqing precisely to kill whoever you run into. If Captain Qin still needs to think about this matter, then I will also need to think about whether I should ask Lord Chen to send someone else."

At the words "Lord Chen," everyone secretly gulped. They were men who had traveled the rivers and lakes. The garrison farmers only saw Lord Chen's smiling, genial side, but as the hidden blade, they understood best just how ruthless this Lord Chen was. Perhaps you could curse him and it wouldn't matter, but the moment you harmed his interests, he went straight for the kill.

The hook-nosed squad leader quickly said to Wang Erya, "Shopkeeper Erya, don't be impatient. Captain Qin was only saying he's thinking about how to carry it out..."

Wang Erya cut him off. "How to carry it out is your business. I don't want to hear it. I'm staying up late waiting here not to listen to you dawdle and dither over how to approach and how to withdraw. This young lady only needs to know when you will make this Dongyue Cigarette Factory disappear, and ensure it cannot be rebuilt. I've also made it clear just now: what they're stealing is the silver of the entire Dengzhou Garrison. No matter how formidable your action team is, can you beat the entire corps of combat soldiers? If the combat soldiers come to me demanding accounts over missing silver, I'll just have to send them to find you."

"We wouldn't dare, we wouldn't dare. Tomorrow night it will disappear." Qin Rong wore a fawning smile. He certainly didn't dare fight the combat soldiers. Ever since joining the Intelligence Bureau, Qin Rong had always been ruthless and merciless, but this year he had carried out three operations for the trading company, two of them in coordination with Wang Erya. Every time he stood before this woman, he felt an overwhelming force of presence from her. Her speech was always aggressive and overbearing — very much like a female version of Chen Xin.

After the restructuring of the Four Seas Trading Company this year, it had been divided into five commercial districts. Wang Erya was in charge of the Grand Canal and Jiangnan districts, stationed permanently in Linqing, frequently traveling between Linqing and Yangzhou. After arriving in Linqing, she had tried every means to compete for business with the Dongyue Cigarette Factory, but the other side operated entirely like local bullies, using official connections to monopolize the brokerages. Even when some merchants came specifically to buy Wendeng incense, they were still subjected to heavy taxes, and faced all manner of obstacles when shipping out. Although Wang Erya had gained some business by bribing low-level brokers, it was all done furtively, at very high cost, and she was always at a disadvantage. She had been forced to send repeated urgent appeals to Zhou Laifu in Dengzhou, stating plainly that there was no solution other than violent means. After Zhou Laifu sought instructions from Chen Xin, the request was forwarded to the action team — which was why Qin Rong was here now.

"So the Dongyue Cigarette Factory is this despicable. Tomorrow we'll kill that proprietor and vent Shopkeeper Erya's anger."

Wang Erya said expressionlessly, "Remember the warehouse at the back. There are tens of thousands in tobacco leaves stored there — you must burn it. The proprietor's residence in the city — leave no one alive. And remember this: in the factory there is a group of workers who use cigarette-rolling machines, living next to the warehouse. Among them is one who ran away from my Wendeng Cigarette Factory to come here and make his fortune, and helped them build hand-operated cigarette rollers. If a single one from that courtyard is missing, Captain Qin, I will mark your operation evaluation as 'Inferior.'"

The group of old jianghu veterans sucked in a cold breath. Even when they had been street fighters and bandits, making money came first, and they rarely did extermination jobs. This Shopkeeper Wang, no matter how you looked at her, didn't seem like someone from the street-fighter trade, yet her heart was even more ruthless than theirs.

Qin Rong hesitated again and said carefully to Wang Erya, "Shopkeeper Erya, is this — is exterminating the whole family really necessary? Kill the proprietor, and the Dongyue Cigarette Factory won't be able to operate anymore."

"Without the Dongyue Cigarette Factory, there are plenty of gentry. The only reason they haven't opened cigarette factories now is because they can't compete with Dongyue. Since you've made the rare trip here, if you're going to do it, make sure it leaves a deep impression on everyone."

"But Shopkeeper Erya, if the factory is burned and the proprietor killed, someone will surely suspect our trading company did it. You still have to be stationed here long-term — aren't you afraid they'll retaliate against you? Especially those officials."

Wang Erya smiled, a rare occurrence. "That's precisely why you need to be ruthless. If you dare kill even the Vice Prefect, everyone will be too afraid to retaliate."

Qin Rong was speechless for a moment. After Wang Erya opened the door and left, the group looked at each other. The hook-nosed man edged closer and said with a hint of fear, "Captain, whatever you do, don't ever offend this woman. Whatever she wants, just let it be. She looks so refined and genteel, but she's even more ruthless than my old boss. Now I finally understand — 'the most vicious thing is a woman's heart' — that saying didn't come from nowhere."

(To be continued)