Chapter 45: The Eastern Depot Conducts Business; the Xiaoling Guard Rides to the Defense of the Throne

In a tavern in the capital, a squad of Embroidered Uniform Guard officers clad in red helmets and red armor sat eating and drinking with great clamor, their voices so loud that half the establishment could hear them clearly.

"What exactly have we done wrong, that His Majesty should treat us so?"

Hearing this, a disgruntled Colonel nearby said, "If you ask me, those literati weren't wrong — His Majesty may well have gone mad. Why else would he use those men from the Southern Office while casting us aside?"

The Northern Bastille officers of the Embroidered Uniform Guard were mostly hereditary, and possessed their own Imperial Prison; in the first year of Chenghua an official seal had even been cast for them. Though the Southern Bastille belonged to the same Guard, it was inferior to the Northern Office in every respect — like the gap between the poor and the rich.

The Northern Office officers were almost all hereditary, doing nothing at all while enjoying high rank, generous emoluments, and considerable prestige. The few men in this tavern were merely a microcosm of the many Northern Bastille officers; most of them harbored grievances against the Chongzhen Emperor.

But Luo Yangxing was already dead, and mounted agents had even been dispatched to Henan to arrest his entire clan. Though the Guard officers fumed and grumbled, they generally confined themselves to spreading rumors and stirring up trouble here and there — nothing that ever grew into a major storm.

"Hey now, Master Ma, you can't just say such things carelessly. If the agents hear you, it's off with your head."

This Master Ma had a loud voice; the other Guard officers were timid, having come here only to vent their frustrations. Fearing that the whole street might hear, they hastily reached out to stop him.

In the current situation of the Three Depots and One Guard, the Chongzhen Emperor appeared to have set all the depots and guards against the Donglin Faction with full force, but in truth he had kept a card in reserve.

The Eastern Depot could spy on the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Western Depot could spy on the Eastern Depot, and the Inner Depot held the greatest power of all — the Western Depot, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and even the Eastern Depot all fell within its surveillance scope. Who knew whether there were Inner Depot agents among their own ranks?

Originally the Northern Office officers had all been transferred to the Southern Office. To steady people's hearts, the Chongzhen Emperor had first ordered Eastern Depot agents to seize a batch of Guard officers who refused to submit — all said to be Luo Yangxing's confederates.

The Inner Depot had been stripped of its arrest authority, but its Director, Fang Zhenghua, could report intelligence directly to the Emperor by word of mouth. So long as the Emperor permitted it, the Inner Depot could directly deploy men to arrest Guard officers — even agents of the Eastern and Western Depots alike.

If the depots and guards were a sharp sword suspended over the heads of the Donglin Faction, then the Inner Depot was the sword suspended over the heads of the depots and guards themselves, constantly urging them not to harass or oppress the people, not to spread rumors and stir up trouble.

"Master Ma, say what you will, but keep your voice down — beware of eavesdroppers on the other side of the wall! Otherwise we brothers will be dragged down with you, and we won't even have a place to cry!"

"Actually, this isn't so bad. The waters of the Northern Office were never that clean anyway. Even if those Southern Office bumpkins gain imperial favor and get in, they won't last long."

"That's the truth of it. The Northern Office handled all the thankless, grudging work. Those Southern Office men have no connections at all — isn't going there the same as walking to their deaths?"

As the Guard officers were talking, a squad of men suddenly appeared at the door.

After all, this was the bustling heart of the capital — any number of people coming and going was normal. At first the Guard officers were wholly absorbed in their drinking and griping and paid no attention, but the tavern keeper, upon seeing the newcomers, looked as if pardoned from a death sentence. He hurried out to greet them, pointing at the Guard officers from a distance.

"Chief Liu, it's them — they've been eating and drinking here for days without a single copper coin coming in!"

Chief Liu nodded, placed his hand on his sword hilt, and advanced with his men, faces dark with menace.

Seeing this, the diners inside — regardless of rank or station — all made essentially the same choice: either clear a path and shrink into the corners without daring to breathe, or flee out the door as fast as their legs could carry them.

The clamorous tavern suddenly fell silent. Master Ma immediately sensed something amiss; the other Guard officers also caught on, and when they looked up, their eyes went wide.

A dozen or so agents clad in white qilin robes and pointed caps were closing in around them. Catching sight of the equipment at these men's waists, Master Ma's heart jolted, and he shouted in a trembling voice:

"Twin sabers — you're men of the Eastern Depot!"

Nowadays, white qilin robes, pointed caps, and twin sabers at the waist had become the standard kit of Eastern Depot operatives. Chief Liu stepped before Master Ma, crossed his arms over his chest, and said with a cold smile:

"Well now, Ma Kui, you've got a good eye. Come take a walk with us, why don't you? We used to work cases together once upon a time — don't make things hard for your brothers!"

"Bullshit! Everyone knows that once you go through the Eastern Depot's prison doors, you never come out alive. Not a chance!" Unwilling to sit and wait for death, Master Ma bellowed, flipped the table, and sprang up, planting one foot on a chair as he charged toward the railing.

The table went flying; Chief Liu and several Eastern Depot agents hastily dodged aside, but Ma Kui used the opening to dash to the outermost fence of the tavern.

"Take him!"

This Ma Kui was one of former Guard Commander Luo Yangxing's partisans. Chief Liu had come on the flying orders of Eastern Depot Chiliarch Li Youcheng to arrest him, and Regional Military Commissioner Li Ruolian of the Embroidered Uniform Guard understood full well that this was a purge of the Guard — and so turned a blind eye.

In truth, arresting Guard officers was a task with some challenge to it, since they still had some skill and generally put up a fight.

But those Donglin men, all talk and no action — the moment they caught sight of this uniform, they'd be scared speechless. Even when they resisted, their strength was about the same as a woman's. Utterly boring!

Ma Kui was quick on his feet. In a few large strides he vaulted from the fence out into the street — but when he looked up, the road was already packed with Eastern Depot operatives holding twin sabers. His heart sank.

"Heaven has abandoned me."

Just then, the sound of orderly footsteps rang out, followed by a great shout:

"Beneath the very feet of the Son of Heaven, the depots and guards grow this arrogant — where is the law of the realm!?"

Chief Liu and his operatives charged out of the tavern, about to deliver their customary threats — when his face suddenly changed drastically and he swallowed the words on his lips.

The man who had shouted was clad in scale armor, with a dignified bearing, a round face and bushy whiskers, appearing to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years of age. Behind him followed an entire army — at a glance, all were armored warriors in iron mail, bearing long spears, with steel sabers at their waists.

At a rough look, this troop compared to the Capital Camps was like heaven compared to earth. Chief Liu could not fathom why such a force of brightly armored, sharp-weaponed soldiers should suddenly appear in the capital.

After sizing them up, he still demanded sternly: "Who are you, that you dare show no fear of the depots and guards?"

The other Eastern Depot operatives also shouted: "The Eastern Depot is conducting business — anyone with sense, get the hell out of the way!"

That fellow hadn't known what had gotten into him when he'd blurted out that shout — he'd managed to put on his tough act, but he'd never imagined the other side would be the Eastern Depot. His tone immediately became far more deferential.

"I am Zhou Jingwu, holding the unworthy post of Guard Commander of the Xiaoling Guard, come to the capital by imperial order to defend the throne. What is going on here?"

Hearing that it was actually the Xiaoling Guard's troops who had arrived, and sensing the deliberate amicability in the other man's words, Chief Liu breathed a sigh of relief. He waved for his agents to lower their twin sabers, clasped his fists, and said with a smile:

"We are all one family — no need to stand on ceremony. We are operatives of the Eastern Depot, here on orders to arrest the confederates of the rebel Luo Yangxing. I trust you will hand him over."

It turned out that Ma Kui, in his panic, had tried to force his way straight through the Xiaoling Guard's marching column. The soldiers, sensing something amiss, had casually seized him. A truly miserable stroke of luck.

Zhou Jingwu pondered briefly, then said:

"Since it is all a misunderstanding — release him."

Watching the Xiaoling Guard soldiers hand Ma Kui over to the Eastern Depot operatives, Chief Liu secretly wiped the cold sweat from his brow, laughed heartily, and made a gesture of invitation with a sideways turn, saying:

"Excellent. Brothers, make way for the Xiaoling Guard!"