Chapter 273: Each wave behind pushes the one before—the new surpasses the old

Chiliarch Li Youde of the Punishment Bureau, in full armor, gripped the handles of the twin sabers at his waist, pointing and shouting as he went:

"Quick, quick, quick—you lot seal off West Strip Street! You go keep watch on North Willow Street, you go to Chessboard Street and watch the inn area—if any prisoner jumps down from a back door or windowsill, stay on him, question him carefully, then apprehend him as the situation warrants."

"Though Ning Wanwo is the city garrison's responsibility, the Director has said our Eastern Depot has to keep an eye out for them too—if he slips away, we won't be able to answer to His Majesty!"

"Yes, sir!"

The agents answered in unison, asked no further questions, and leapt out the gate, racing off without pause to their various posts.

At the very same moment the city garrison soldiers were heading to Big Foot Supermarket on imperial orders to arrest Ning Wanwo, the Eastern Depot's headquarters outside Donghua Gate was also springing into action—at least a dozen squads of agents came shouting out the door and scattering in different directions, clearly off to seize prisoners as well.

So many agents moving at once got no small number of melon-eating onlookers quite excited.

Years ago, when Eastern Depot agents sallied forth with such fanfare, everyone would flee out of reach—after all, the depot guards' fearsome reputation preceded them, and who knew which literati or common folk they were off to persecute this time.

But now nearly every commoner in the capital had a newspaper in hand, had a good sense of the Donglin scholars' surface posturing, and knew that every time these depot guards went out, they had a purpose—they wouldn't harass the neighbors.

In time, people grew bolder.

At an open-air teahouse by the roadside sat all manner of idle folk, and seeing this scene, quite a few began discussing it with great interest—after all, as long as one didn't speak ill of the Emperor or the depot guards, one wouldn't be arrested, so there was nothing to fear.

Sure enough, the agents wore urgent expressions—though many had come out, at every intersection a number of small squads split off and ducked down side lanes, and the farther along the main thoroughfare one looked, the fewer agents remained running.

"Hey, you think—who are these agents off to arrest this time?" a waiter asked as he hurried over to wipe down a table whose tea-drinking customers had just left.

"You haven't yet figured out the court's Three Depots and One Guard? If it's the Eastern Depot, the Western Depot, and the Inner Depot that go out, that means the criminal they're after this time is a court official—but if the Embroidered Uniform Guard goes out, then it's a big affair, usually nobles and princes!"

At that, a young man in scholar's robes said with a smile.

"This one looks like a man of letters, but there's one thing you've got wrong—this lad still remembers last year's affair with the Duke of Cheng's nephew, and that time it was the Eastern Depot that went out." The waiter finished wiping the table, hurriedly served the customer a free cup of clear tea to quench his thirst, then said.

"My father is Xia Yunyi—he once served as magistrate of Changle County in Fujian." Before the scholar could finish, the waiter and many around them turned their heads and exclaimed in surprise:

"Lord Xia was a good official!"

"Yes, truly a good official. His Majesty is so sagely now—why not recall him to the capital? Wouldn't that be far better than those 'pure stream' gentlemen sitting in court?"

The speaker was a burly man clutching a just-printed newspaper, who bore even more resentment toward those officials who occupied posts without doing their duty. Hearing this, Xia Wanchun also waved his hand and said with a smile:

"This brother speaks most interestingly. When my father resigned from office, even the Governor tried to keep him—but alas, my grandmother passed away, and loyalty and filial piety cannot both be fulfilled." As he spoke, Xia Wanchun's expression darkened, clearly reminded of certain matters.

The burly man laughed a few times and remarked what a pity it was that good officials like Lord Xia couldn't stay in office, while bad officials filled the world.

Another scholar raised his teacup and said with a smile:

"Brother Xia speaks truly. Though a great many of the court's pure stream are filthy people, within their ranks there are also no few true gentlemen of integrity like Ni Yuanlu, and His Majesty has entrusted them all with heavy responsibilities—from this one can see that the Emperor appoints by ability, and is not the worthless figure rumor makes him out to be."

"Exactly—the Son of Heaven is so sagely, and yet there are those who commit treason against their superior and slander the imperial countenance; ten thousand deaths would not be enough for them." Mentioning this, Xia Wanchun grew somewhat indignant, and went on to ask:

"May I ask your honored name, brother, and where you hail from?"

"Oh, forgive me, forgive me." The scholar hurriedly rose and bowed, bending low as he said: "My surname is Qu, my given name Changwen. My father also once served in court—by that reckoning, you and I are truly fated to meet."

Hearing this, Xia Wanchun was greatly surprised and hastily rose to return the bow, saying: "So you are the descendant of a loyal minister—better to see once than hear a hundred times. A pleasure, a pleasure."

Qu Changwen smiled, pulled Xia Wanchun back down to sit, and asked eagerly: "Brother Xia, have you come to the capital this time also to sit for next spring's metropolitan examination?"

"Exactly so."

One a descendant of a famed scholar, the other a descendant of a loyal minister—Xia Wanchun and Qu Changwen hit it off as if old friends, and talked for the better part of a day, until finally the two decided to travel together, so they could look after each other.

Just as they were about to leave the teahouse to find an inn, they suddenly heard a commotion in the distance. Xia Wanchun, unable to contain his curiosity, immediately rose to look around and asked:

"Waiter, what's happened now?"

"You two are from out of town, so you wouldn't know—since last year, every time there's an execution, all the depot and guard offices put on this sort of show. They call it parading the condemned through the streets, so we common folk can see what these criminals look like!"

"Hey, don't you know—ever since the court moved the execution grounds to Caishikou, this teahouse of ours has come back from the dead. Rich households are always booking the whole place just to watch the beheadings—the boss can't stop grinning."

"How curious." Qu Changwen didn't quite register it at first, but after a moment asked: "Waiter, if I remember correctly, executions used to be held on Chessboard Street, and the prefectures still do it that way to this day—how is it that the capital has moved them to Caishikou instead?"

The waiter shook his head like a rattle-drum and said in rapid succession:

"That sort of thing, only the Emperor and the several Directors and Grand Secretaries would know—we little folk only hear marketplace gossip day to day, and can't get word from that high a level." With that, the waiter added slyly:

"But come to think of it, beheading at Caishikou has its advantages. If it were on Chessboard Street, we common folk wouldn't go—but we're always coming to Caishikou anyway, so every execution draws a crowd packed so tight you couldn't squeeze a drop of water through."

"I see." Qu Changwen, recalling his father's endless exhortations before he left home, nodded to himself in murmurs.

Just as they were speaking, the commotion drew closer—a band of Eastern Depot and Shuntian Prefecture yamen runners was escorting four men along. Xia Wanchun took one look and his eyes went wide—though some of these men he'd never seen, two of them he knew quite well.

Seeing the shocked expressions on Xia Wanchun and Qu Changwen's faces, the waiter assumed they didn't know who the men were—thinking to himself that being from out of town, even scholars didn't understand much about capital affairs—so he opened his mouth to explain:

"The one being escorted at the very front has quite the background—he's one of the current Grand Secretaries, named Liu Zhengzong. The ones behind him aren't small fry either, all high officials we common folk never get near. This time they've committed crimes, and tomorrow at dawn they'll be taken to Caishikou for beheading."

In truth, watching these high officials who usually lorded it over everyone being executed for one offense or another, quite a few of the surrounding commoners felt great glee—you squeezed the people's flesh and blood, and now look, karma's caught up with you.

"That's Mr. Song—I remember that His Majesty praised him in years past as 'his character could cast ancient bronze, his talent could robe the present age.' Could it be that the agents have framed him?"

"You two—words like that can't be spoken carelessly." The waiter suddenly grew nervous, and whispered: "Saying it on an ordinary day is one thing, but right now the street is full of agents. If you want to talk, you'll have to go outside to do it—if something happens, and the boss comes down on me, I can't bear that responsibility."

The waiter's face turning in an instant showed just how deeply the depot guards' fearsome reputation had sunk into people's hearts. Xia Wanchun, unable to swallow his indignation, immediately made to go out and plead for mercy, but Qu Changwen grabbed him and held him fast.

"Brother Xia, stay—Mr. Song has committed a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of his clan! For such a matter, how could His Majesty possibly heed only the Eastern Depot's word alone? The Embroidered Uniform Guard must have reported the same, and that's what produced this result."

"Then you tell me—what great crime could Mr. Song have committed to warrant the extermination of his nine generations?" Xia Wanchun, long accustomed to hearing of the reputations of Song Zhipu and his father, still hadn't quite wrapped his head around it.

"Secret communication with the Jianzhou barbarians—a crime of the utmost heinousness!"

"How could that be! Could the agents and the Embroidered Uniform Guard have joined hands to frame a loyal minister?" Xia Wanchun slumped back down in his seat, staring at the bloodless-faced Song Zhipu, and asked again, unwilling to give up.

"Stop your wild guessing—last year His Majesty had several hundred heads cut in the capital in one go. If you say there wasn't a single wrongful execution among them, would you believe it?" Qu Changwen said with a few cold laughs, then added:

"Besides, this lot brought it on themselves—they can't be saved. They enjoyed their blessings following their master, and when the master falls, naturally they must leave their lives behind as well. What's more, if they don't leave their lives behind, how are you and I to rise and take our seats at court?"