Chapter 532: Back Street

Outside the Thousand-Step Corridor, Zhang Dahui walked slowly out of the Ministry of Personnel. He had just gone to visit Qian Yuanke, an old connection of Chen Xin's. Back when Chen Xin was cursing Cui Chengxiu at the Ministry of War, Qian Yuanke was still Director of the Bureau of Military Appointments. Riding that political gamble, Qian Yuanke's official career had sailed smoothly ever since, and he was now a Director in the Ministry of Personnel, overseeing the Bureau of Civil Appointments. Although he could not decide high-level appointments himself, all appointment documents passed through his hands, making his office the most well-informed place in officialdom.

From what Zhang Dahui had gathered, the court had now settled on two candidates: one was Chen Xinjia, the other Zhu Dadian. Since Chen Xinjia was already a Provincial Governor, the most likely choice was Zhu Dadian.

Zhu Dadian had previously been Provincial Governor of Tianjin and was later transferred to the Ministry of War as Vice Minister. He was a man of considerable ability. In the original history, he would have taken over Xu Congzhi's post as Provincial Governor of Shandong early on and should now be leading troops from Shandong and the Grand Canal in the joint campaign against the roving bandits. But because Chen Xin had swiftly crushed the Dengzhou rebellion, Zhu Dadian never encountered that opportunity, and his official path had been far more tortuous as a result.

If not for the Zhangjiakou debacle last year, Zhu Dadian might have been transferred to serve as Provincial Governor of Fengyang. The previous Fengyang governor, Yang Yipeng, had been dismissed after Fengyang fell — a truly lucrative post, since the Fengyang governor concurrently held the office of Viceroy of Grain Transport, with an annual income in the tens of thousands.

The court was well aware of Dengzhou Garrison's domineering ways. Zhu Dadian had once served as Provincial Governor in Tianjin and understood the influence of the Tianjin Four Seas Trading Company very well. A considerable number of people in Tianjin city made their living off that trading company, and ships coming from Dengzhou and Laizhou were extremely numerous. Their strength had been formidable even then; now, several years later, with the Dengzhou Garrison's might shaking the entire realm, its power was only greater, not less.

The last time Chen Xin came to the capital, Zhu Dadian had met him. But they were only casual acquaintances, and Zhu Dadian could not quite see through Chen Xin. He was therefore unwilling to wade into the unfamiliar murky waters of Dengzhou and Laizhou.

After the roving bandits ravaged Fengyang, they scattered and fled once more under the encirclement of the court's various grand armies. Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang returned to Henan; the Sweeping King went to Haozhou; the most ferocious of them, Zhang Xianzhong, continued to rampage through Southern Zhili, fighting all the way to Anqing Prefecture. With only two prefectures separating them, Nanjing was thrown into utter panic.

The areas along the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal were economically developed, the common people relatively well-off, and the local gentry's power was also strong. The peasant army could not obtain the same manpower replenishment there as in Henan or Huguang; instead, they had to contend with an endless stream of local armed forces. Southern Zhili had a dense network of waterways, and the northern roving bandits possessed no naval forces whatsoever, making maneuver extremely inconvenient. The government troops, on the other hand, could move swiftly via the well-developed water network. It was precisely for these reasons that the late-Ming roving bandits were never able to affect the Grand Canal region or sever the grain transport to the capital — not because they were unwilling to raid the wealthy Southern Zhili region.

After rampaging through Southern Zhili for a time, the roving bandits found it too difficult to gain a foothold there and had already begun moving toward other regions again. Under these circumstances, taking the post of Fengyang Provincial Governor was clearly far more reliable than the bottomless murky pool of Dengzhou and Laizhou. Zhu Dadian was personally lobbying for the Fengyang governorship and did not wish to go to Dengzhou and Laizhou. Wang Tingshi's people were also lobbying, hoping he could remain in the Dengzhou and Laizhou post.

The Intelligence Bureau had little leverage over Zhu Dadian, but they had some understanding of his character. He was a man fairly adept at being an official, with a rather fierce and unyielding temperament. He was one of the more capable traditional officials — though of course, the more capable he was, the more trouble he posed for the Dengzhou Garrison, much like that Zhu Wannian before.

Zhang Dahui ran this information through his mind, pondering where he should go to stir up trouble, then immediately recalled Chen Xin's instruction not to provoke the court. Lost in thought, his eyes habitually turned eastward. One of his operatives was there, disguised as a peddler selling pellet drums. At that moment, the man did not exchange glances with Zhang Dahui; instead, he placed his hand on his straw hat, curled his index finger, and adjusted the hat.

Seeing the signal, Zhang Dahui's mind instantly sharpened to full alertness, all other stray thoughts driven from his head. Ever since relations with the court had changed, he was always covered by three men whenever he went out. This peddler was the team leader of his cover group. The hand signal just now indicated a major threat, and the direction the middle finger pointed was the direction the team leader had arranged for cover.

Zhang Dahui's outward appearance showed no abnormality. His gaze drifted casually away from the peddler, scanning the other pedestrians and hawkers as he walked at a normal pace west toward Qipan Street. That area was a bustling tide of people and an excellent place to shake off a tail. As long as he could reach his own backup point or safe house, it would be very difficult for his opponents to find him again. The crisis today had arisen because Zhang Dahui had not been on high alert.

Zhang Dahui monitored both sides of the street from the corner of his eye and indeed spotted several suspicious individuals. Although those people were not staring directly at him, Zhang Dahui could keenly sense that their attention was all fixed on him.

There were still a hundred paces to Qipan Street, and the street was fairly crowded. This stretch was also the most dangerous, because Zhang Dahui did not know what method the other side would use — tailing, assassination, or arrest. If it was just tailing, that would be fine; since he had already spotted them, he could use many methods to slowly shake them off. The most feared was a direct assassination.

On the left was a farmer selling watermelons. From the man's movements and expression, Zhang Dahui quickly determined he was a genuine melon farmer. He walked straight up to the farmer, then suddenly turned and asked amiably, "How do you sell these watermelons?"

The farmer, seeing a scholar addressing him, assumed he was a high official or clerk from a nearby government office and hurriedly replied with deference. Zhang Dahui used this moment, as he shifted position, to observe the situation behind him. From the spots where he had noticed anomalies earlier, people at two of those locations had already risen and were following behind.

"I'll buy a few large ones." Zhang Dahui produced a piece of silver. "Wait here a moment. I will come out and take them once I've finished my business."

The farmer hastily waved his hands. "My lord, such a large ingot of silver — this old man could never make change for it."

"Give me all your copper coins and loose silver. Whatever is short, consider it my reward to you." Zhang Dahui urged him. "If you say any more, I won't buy them after all, and I'll have someone confiscate your melons too."

Frightened by Zhang Dahui, the old farmer hurriedly pulled a grimy cloth from his bosom. Unwrapping it revealed several dozen copper coins of various kinds and a few tiny bits of loose silver.

Zhang Dahui snatched it up and instructed the farmer, "You head east. Keep walking past the main gate of the Ministry of Personnel, and wait for me at the third gate. Wait there for me to come get the melons. Don't you dare run off."

The farmer immediately hoisted his carrying pole and left. Zhang Dahui continued forward, the packet of loose silver still in his hand. This unrelated melon farmer would draw off roughly two of the enemies behind him, because they had all seen Zhang Dahui exchange something with the man, who was now walking in the opposite direction. The enemy would follow the farmer in hopes of uncovering other Dengzhou safe houses. If they discovered some court official in the process, that would be even more interesting for those runners from the Depot and Guard — they could extort a hefty sum from that person.

After walking ten paces, Zhang Dahui spotted another cover operative more than twenty paces ahead. He shot the man a glance, then suddenly quickened his pace. He wanted to test the enemy's true purpose this way. If they intended to assassinate him, they would be unable to resist making a move now.

Zhang Dahui moved swiftly through the crowd, using the taller people around him to block the view from behind. This would render the enemy's long-range weapons — throwing knives, powerful crossbows — useless. Even as he moved rapidly, he kept scanning both sides for any new enemies.

Several men in black close-fitting attire appeared in the gaps between people. They came from the side, their eyes fixed undisguisedly on Zhang Dahui's position. Zhang Dahui drew the short musket from inside his robe and concealed it in his sleeve. The weapons he carried on him were just one short musket and one dagger — both small, defensive weapons.

Zhang Dahui's pace was quick. By the time the men in close-fitting attire confirmed it was him, Zhang Dahui had already passed their position. The men immediately broke into pursuit; two of them even had knife handles visible in their hands.

At this point, Zhang Dahui confirmed that these people intended to kill him, and the most likely candidates were men from the Depot and Guard. They made no effort to hide themselves, their expressions carrying that characteristic arrogance of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. These men were the main force for assassination or arrest. The ones behind were meant to cut off his retreat. By that logic, there would also be men blocking the entrance to Qipan Street, and likewise men in the other direction from the Ministry of Personnel's main gate.

They had already made their deployments while Zhang Dahui was inside the Ministry of Personnel. They had merely found it inconvenient to act right at the ministry's main gate, which had given Zhang Dahui a small window of opportunity.

The men were about ten paces behind Zhang Dahui, roughly shoving aside anyone in their way as they chased. Zhang Dahui extended his left hand from his sleeve and flung the loose silver and copper coins he had just exchanged into the air.

"Grab the money!"

At his shout, the copper coins came fluttering down from the air. The nearby pedestrians froze for an instant, then swarmed over in a mad scramble. Others all around rushed toward the spot, and the street became jam-packed.

In the brief moment the pedestrians stood stunned, Zhang Dahui moved away from where he had thrown the money. The jostling crowd behind him quickly cut off the runners' path, buying Zhang Dahui time to escape.

Angry shouts from the runners rang out behind him. Zhang Dahui quickened his pace to get away. There was still one more checkpoint ahead; he had to break through that intersection and enter the chaotic crowds of Qipan Street.

Taking advantage of the confusion, he shed his long outer robe and discarded it. Underneath was a short-cut old garment, similar to the clothes of many commoners around him. As a chief who had spent years in the capital, he met with many intelligence agents every year, and his own preparations were quite thorough.

Zhang Dahui tore off his square cap and slightly hunched his back. Instantly, he transformed into an ordinary capital commoner. But he did not recklessly burst out of the crowd; instead, he blended in with the others.

Bang! A short musket roared behind him, followed immediately by a scream of agony.

"Murder!" a male voice shrieked. The packed commoners scattered in all directions like a nest blown apart. Zhang Dahui kept his head down and followed the crowd, running toward Qipan Street. All around, many stalls and carrying-pole hawkers were trampled, their goods and melons scattered across the ground.

Amid the panicked crowd, Zhang Dahui maintained the same speed as those around him. Another gunshot sounded from behind, intensifying the chaos. Through gaps in the crowd, Zhang Dahui spotted several other runners in close-fitting attire. Those men were likely the ones meant to block the intersection; now they were being jostled so badly by the crowd they could barely keep their footing, let alone observe carefully.

This wave of chaos spread all the way to the entrance of Qipan Street. Once Zhang Dahui blended into the surging sea of heads on Qipan Street, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He no longer kept his head down but walked like the other pedestrians around him. A squad of runners in flying-fish robes rushed past, heading in the direction of the Ministry of Personnel.

In the chaos, Zhang Dahui had also lost contact with his several operatives. He could, of course, have stopped to look for them, but instead he walked straight to a certain teahouse. This was a rendezvous point he had set up. Because Qipan Street was close to the Six Ministries, many officials and clerks came here daily to drink tea and eat, so this teahouse ordinarily served the function of gathering intelligence on the Six Ministries.

Looking in from the doorway, a blue rag was laid on the counter, signaling that this location was safe. Zhang Dahui scanned Qipan Street; there were still some runners in flying-fish robes searching everywhere. After a brief hesitation, he entered the teahouse.

When the waiter inside saw him, he immediately gestured and led him to the back door. Zhang Dahui gave the waiter a meaningful glance, then walked straight out the back door. He would follow the back streets to Xijiaomi Lane, then turn into Biandan Hutong, where one of his safe houses was located.

Quite a few people were coming and going on the back street as well. This street had multiple hutong entrances, none far apart. Zhang Dahui hurried along while observing the pedestrians around him. After just over twenty paces, he suddenly stopped at a lane entrance. A familiar figure appeared before his eyes.

Zhang Dong stood by the street ten paces away, watching him quietly. (To be continued...)