Chapter 129: The Great Ming Demolition Crew

With only the last twenty li remaining, Lu Xiangsheng no longer spared his horse's strength and pushed ahead at full speed.

Through the swirling dust, the towering, majestic gate tower of Guangning Gate was already faintly visible in the distance.

(Attached image: an AI color-restored gate tower — not Guangning Gate itself, but it should look roughly the same.)

A short while later, Lu Xiangsheng arrived outside Guangning Gate.

He raised his head and, sure enough, spotted a reporting platform atop the gate tower, identical to the one at the Lugou Bridge relay station.

Lu Xiangsheng swung down from his horse and walked toward the city gate.

It was already the hour of the sheep, and the area inside and outside the gate was sparse, with barely a soul in sight.

This was normal enough.

Vegetable farmers and peddlers, scraping for a living, mostly had to queue at the gate before dawn, rushing in to secure a good spot.

As for merchant caravans, no matter which direction they came from, they all had to detour to Chongwen Gate to pay taxes and register — the capital's Nine Gates Tax Bureau was stationed there for good reason.

Lu Xiangsheng was traveling light, with only a bundle on his person containing two changes of clothes and a few books, so naturally he counted as an ordinary traveler.

He dismounted, walked with practiced ease to the gate, and fished two copper coins from his sleeve to hand over.

This had been the customary fee when he left the capital years ago, long since ingrained in his memory.

The gate officer, however, did not take the money.

Lu Xiangsheng frowned and glanced instinctively to either side, but in the end his mind remained unsettled.

The gate officer was in a foul mood, and his tone was equally harsh: "Just get in there and be done with it! As of a few days ago, pedestrians are tax-exempt!"

The voice was not loud, but it carried a current of irritation and stifled resentment.

Lu Xiangsheng was briefly taken aback, somewhat surprised.

He asked no further questions, simply withdrew his hand in silence and led his horse through the gate.

When traveling away from home, he had always disliked revealing his official status.

Only in this way could he part the clouds and mist and see the truest reality beneath.

Years ago, when Lu Xiangsheng was reassigned to the Linqing granary, regulations allowed him twenty days to arrive — he pushed his horse hard and reached it in seven.

But he did not take up his post at once; instead, he observed in secret within Linqing County for a full ten days, until he had thoroughly mapped out every tangled root of corrupt under-clerks.

Precisely because of this, the moment he assumed office he could act with thunderous decisiveness, sweeping away all the maladministration and ultimately earning a "superior" evaluation.

Now, returning to the capital after five years, this habit of traveling incognito had become impossible to shake.

Watching Lu Xiangsheng's receding figure as he led his horse away, the gate officer finally could not hold back and spat a thick wad of phlegm onto the ground.

"Bah!"

That single sound seemed to flip some kind of switch, and the several privates standing guard nearby immediately crowded around, their faces full of misery.

"Chief, when will this bitter life ever end!"

"Yeah, the head tax — gone, just like that! Our take has shrunk by seventy or eighty percent in one go!"

Another private sighed even more wretchedly: "No money in the belt, and when you get home, the wife looks down on you — can't even get the pole to stand up!"

Listening to his men pour out their grievances, the gate officer felt his own chest tighten even more.

He glanced warily around and, seeing not a single soul about in the midday heat, lowered his voice and heaved a long sigh.

"Damn it all, these days really are hard to stomach!"

He spoke with bitter resentment: "This whole Nine Gates tax business — the Ministry of Revenue had it running perfectly well, and then out of nowhere it was handed over to Shuntian Prefecture!"

"That new Assistant Prefect Li — he's like a rock in a latrine pit, hard and stinking, impervious to everything! Anyone who goes to bribe him ends up dead fast; the more you send, the more gruesome the death! I've never in my life seen an official like that!"

At this point, as if recalling something even more terrifying, his voice dropped another notch, tinged with a quaver.

"And the most hateful of all are those damned Eastern Depot thugs! They don't go after the big officials in the court, but they fixate on small fry like us! That commissioner at Chongwen Gate — what virtue or ability does he have?"

"A minor official of the ninth rank, lower grade — in this capital city, the foremost seat of virtue, he doesn't even count as a scallion — and he was dragged straight into the Northern Provost Prison! Still hasn't been released even now!"

The moment the words "Eastern Depot" were uttered, the surrounding privates all shivered in unison, the resentment on their faces instantly replaced by terror.

After a moment of dead silence, one private still could not resist asking: "Chief, so... is it going to stay like this from now on?"

The gate officer shot him a sidelong glance, the corner of his mouth curling into a cold smirk, and said darkly: "Just wait and see."

He seemed to be speaking to his men, and also to himself.

"A new official lights three fires — we'll bear it for now. If Assistant Prefect Li wants to use our Nine Gates tax office as a stepping-stone to scheme for his own promotion, let him scheme!"

"A stubborn character like that — how could he be willing to stay long in a mere sixth-rank Assistant Prefect post? Half a year at the shortest, a year at the longest, and he'll be promoted out in the end."

He paused, and a flash of worldly-wise shrewdness flickered in his eyes.

"Once he's gone, and they swap in an Assistant Prefect Wang or an Assistant Prefect Qian, you think they won't take a bite of this greasy prize? In this world, where's the official who doesn't love money? Just wait!"

This speech made everyone feel as if they could see hope again, and they all began to flatter him.

"The chief really has vision!"

"Well said — the chief sees further than any of us!"

The gate officer was just beginning to feel pleased with himself when his expression suddenly changed and he barked harshly: "All of you, get back to your posts and stand straight! Not a shred of sense among you! If by any chance... those people... get hold of something against us, I won't live to see my day in the sun, and none of you will get off easy either! Scram, scram, scram!"

Jolted by the scolding, the men instantly scattered like startled birds and beasts, each returning to his post, staring straight ahead as if the earlier complaints had never happened.

Inside and outside the city gate, that bleak silence settled once more.

Turning now to the other thread: once Lu Xiangsheng entered through Guangning Gate, he had set foot within the southern ward of the capital.

From here, heading straight east, one passed through Vegetable Market Street and Mule-and-Horse Street in succession, then turned north to reach Xuanwu Gate.

The bleakness from outside the walls was swept away in an instant, replaced by a thick, pungent odor — a blend of boiling human voices, livestock dung, and assorted foods — rushing straight at his face.

On both sides of the road, what should have been broad streets were squeezed and encroached upon by every kind of stall and hawker.

Only crisscrossing lanes remained in the middle, barely wide enough for two horse-drawn carts to pass.

Vegetable sellers, sundry goods peddlers, and manual laborers all stretched their stalls outward as far as possible, as if seizing one more inch would earn them one more copper coin.

Lu Xiangsheng led his horse, picking his way carefully through the crowds and the filthy water. The ground was pitted and uneven, pooled with black water that had sat for who knew how long, giving off waves of sour stench.

Several children were chasing and roughhousing in the narrow street. As Lu Xiangsheng sidestepped a child who suddenly burst out, his foot slipped slightly and he stepped straight into a deep puddle that submerged his ankle.

The icy, filthy mud-water instantly flooded his entire boot, and the bone-chilling wetness made him frown deeply.

The children, seeing this, scattered in fright.

Only one, who looked a bit slow, about six or seven years old, stood barefoot where he was, watching him timidly, his body trembling slightly.

Lu Xiangsheng looked at the child, then at his own bedraggled state; the anger that had flared in his chest subsided as quickly as it had risen.

He shook his head helplessly, waved his hand, and signaled "forget it."

The child, as if granted a great pardon, cupped his hands in a solemn salute, turned, and ran, vanishing in an instant into the depths of the tangled alleys.

Lu Xiangsheng sighed inwardly. He had been so impatient and flustered today that he had lost his usual prudence; he deserved this mishap.

In the past, when officials and gentry entered the capital, even if coming from the west, they would mostly take the long way around and use Fucheng Gate to the north.

Once inside that gate, one was in the Inner City, where the streets were clean, and a short walk led to the City God Temple. Though also a market, it was far better than the filth and squalor of the Southern City.

But he, in a moment of carelessness, had actually entered through Guangning Gate — so of course he had only himself to blame.

Lu Xiangsheng led his horse and shuffled along for a long while through the packed crowd before finally passing through that worst stretch of road.

He glanced back at that scene of chaos and let out a long breath of relief.

He could thank the heavens for being kind; the rain from a few days ago had not materialized.

Had it truly poured, with water pooling on the ground and excrement and debris floating on the surface — that would have been true despair!

Walking further and turning north, the towering Xuanwu Gate came into view.

Like Guangning Gate, no gate tax was levied here; pedestrians could pass straight through.

Yet the instant Lu Xiangsheng passed through the archway of Xuanwu Gate, a wave of noise, even greater than the clamor of the Southern City market, crashed violently against him.

The main street inside Xuanwu Gate was a sea of bobbing heads, packed shoulder to shoulder — several times more bustling than the Southern City!

A contingent guarded by a squad of soldiers was clustered around a minor clerk, who held high a huge placard reading "Street Clearing by Imperial Order," advancing slowly along the left side of Xuanwu Gate Street.

Further out, a dense, dark mass of onlookers crowded around, their chatter, exclamations, and curses mingling together and soaring to the heavens.

Lu Xiangsheng's taste for gossip stirred again. Leading his horse, he pushed his way forcefully into the crowd.

He saw the minor clerk stop before a shop whose front slightly overhung the street. Expressionless, the clerk picked up a brush heavily laden with ink and, with a slashing yet forceful gesture, painted a large circle on that household's wall, then wrote a glaring character inside the circle: "DEMOLISH."

"Next!" The clerk's voice was not loud, but carried an authority that brooked no doubt.

The contingent moved on, and the crowd immediately erupted in an uproar.

"It... it's being demolished? But this is the shop of the Imperial Son-in-law's family!"

"You meddling green-coats, you damned dogs! Sticking your noses in! Truly sticking your noses in! I'll fuck your..." A muffled voice came from the side, apparently from another shop being demolished, daring only to mutter a few curses under its breath.

Yet someone nearby echoed in agreement: "Good riddance! Look at this Xuanwu Gate Street — originally over thirty paces wide, but encroached upon day by day, month by month by these insatiably greedy people, now it's not even half that! If it's not brought under control, soon even horse-drawn carts won't be able to pass!"

"Well said! If these illegal structures aren't torn down, how can flagstone paving be laid later? I've heard that this newly appointed Prefect Xue is a stubborn official who won't bow to anyone!" An old man in a Confucian scholar's robe said, stroking his beard.

"A stubborn official?" A sneer came from the crowd. "Tearing down noble estates is nothing. Wait until he gets to the residences of those eunuchs — then we'll see if he's just a pewter spearhead that looks like silver! I bet he won't dare!"

All manner of commentary drilled into Lu Xiangsheng's ears, making his brow furrow deeply.

Flagstone paving?

He stopped the old man in the scholar's robe, cupped his hands, and asked humbly, "My apologies for troubling you, venerable sir. I am a scholar newly arrived in the capital. May I ask, is the capital rebuilding its roads? But the national treasury is empty, and the expenses of the Nine Frontiers are enormous. Would paving the capital's roads not cost a colossal sum of a million taels? How can the court undertake such a project?"

The old man, seeing his refined manner and scholarly appearance, politely returned the salute and shook his head. "You are unaware, young sir. This matter does not use silver from the national treasury. It is funded by donations from the capital's nobles, eunuchs, and high ministers — it is said to total over five hundred thousand taels!"

"And it is not a city-wide project. This first phase of the 'Capital New Deal' only covers the paving of Xuanwu Gate Street and Chaoyang Gate Street to the east."

"The Capital New Deal?" Lu Xiangsheng's confusion deepened.

"Heh heh, it seems you have only just entered the capital, young sir; it is natural you do not know." The old man smiled. "Turn right and go to Zhengyang Gate Street. Buy a copy of the Great Ming Times that came out the day before yesterday and read it. Everything is explained clearly in it. Every newly arrived scholar in the capital now has a copy in hand!"

The contingent with the placard-bearing clerk moved off northward into the distance.

Suddenly, a passerby shouted, "They're demolishing the shop belonging to Eunuch Wang of the Eastern Depot!"

Ho! Now the real show begins!

The crowd that had lagged behind instantly burst into noise. The old man could no longer contain himself; he cupped his hands toward Lu Xiangsheng and hurried after them.

"Ah..." Lu Xiangsheng failed to call him back and had to let it go.

His heart clouded with doubts, he decided not to rush to the ministry to submit his documents. He would settle in first and get to the bottom of these matters.

At that moment, as the crowd of demolition-watchers surged north, the view around Xuanwu Gate suddenly opened up considerably.

Leading his horse, Lu Xiangsheng instinctively looked in the direction of Cheng'en Temple as he remembered it...

The next instant, he stood completely frozen.

Where was my enormous Cheng'en Temple?

How could it be gone?

Where the temple should have stood, there now remained only an open stretch of ruins. Amid the broken walls and rubble, weeds grew thickly — a scene of utter devastation.

After stopping another passerby to ask, Lu Xiangsheng finally understood the reason.

Why had Cheng'en Temple vanished?

This had to be traced back to the Wanggong Arsenal explosion.

When that earth-shattering catastrophe occurred last year, he had still been in Linqing, Shandong, and had only heard rumors of it, never imagining it had been so devastating.

The elephant stables beside Xuanwu Gate had half collapsed, and the elephants, panicked, had fled in all directions.

As for Cheng'en Temple, which stood right next to the Wanggong Arsenal — it had simply lifted off on the spot and departed together for the Western Paradise.

Now, the old site of the Wanggong Arsenal was a field of rubble. The new gunpowder works had been relocated far to the northwest of the city and renamed the "Pacifying the People Works," frightening away every household in the vicinity that could afford to move, and causing land prices to plummet.

And here at Xuanwu Gate, the core of the disaster zone, after a simple clearing of the rubble and corpses, no one was willing to build houses or structures here anymore.

Rumors of ghostly wailing often heard at midnight had further turned this place into an ominous ground that everyone shunned.

As for Cheng'en Temple, some nobles and wealthy gentry had originally wanted to organize its reconstruction, but later, word spread from an unknown source.

It was said that the temple's abbot had normally shown no reverence for the Buddha, devoted himself solely to amassing wealth, and in private was even more avaricious and lecherous — and that this was why he had brought down the punishment of a thunderbolt from heaven.

Once those words were spoken, truth and falsehood became impossible to separate — the abbot could hardly crawl out from underground to refute them — and the matter of rebuilding was never raised again by anyone.

Lu Xiangsheng stood before the ruins, his heart filled with a surge of melancholy.

Leading his horse, he pondered for a moment, then decided to head first for Zhengyang Gate.

Passing by, he could conveniently buy a copy of that damned *Great Ming Times* and see what on earth was written inside it.

Afterwards, he would turn off to Chengshou Temple in the eastern district to settle in.

The Tea Voucher Inspection Office was nearby, where merchants gathered in abundance.

He could conveniently ask about the current market price of horse fodder in the capital at the same time.

His mind made up, Lu Xiangsheng delayed no longer. Leading his horse, he merged into the stream of people heading for Zhengyang Gate.

(Attached: a map of young Lu's itinerary today. Because the eastern district is close to Chongwen Gate, the imperial storehouses and the Tea Voucher Inspection Office are all located there, so I figured there must be many merchants in that area.)