Chapter 1389: The Eastern Depot

"Hmph! At this stage you still dare slander the court — you truly don't know the difference between life and death!" After a moment, Qi Wang cursed. "Wasn't the realm's ruin brought about by your own hand? And now you come here playing innocent? If not for you, His Majesty would never have had to..."

"Brother Wang!" At that moment, Liu Songping cut him off, then shot him a look.

Qi Wang caught himself then and said no more.

The courier-station attendants' expressions, however, shifted slightly; they exchanged a few glances.

Earlier, seeing two Embroidered Uniform Guard escorting an old man with no beard, they had already grown deeply suspicious. After this latest disturbance, they could now more or less guess the identity of this party.

"Just now, was that... was that Eunuch Wei?" the old attendant asked hesitantly. "And you two sirs are the officers escorting him out of the capital?"

Lowly though their status was, they worked at a courier station where traveling officials came and went, so news traveled extremely fast. They had long since learned that Wei Zhongxian had fallen from power and was to be exiled from the capital.

"Yes," Liu Songping answered in a low voice. "This is an imperial assignment. Ask no more."

Seeing his stern expression, the attendants' faces all stiffened. Saying nothing further, they simply cupped their hands in salute and withdrew.

Just as they were about to leave, Liu Songping suddenly called them back, then produced a piece of silver and handed it to them.

"The three of us are travel-weary. We will rest here for a day and resume our journey tomorrow morning. You lot prepare food and drink for us — it must be good. Understood?"

At the sight of that silver ingot, the attendants' expressions had already shifted. Hearing his instructions, they agreed repeatedly, their manner far more attentive than before, anxious not to displease these men any further.

"Third Uncle, that silver... was it issued by the higher-ups?" After the attendants had left, Qi Wang asked Liu Songping with some hesitation.

He knew Liu Songping was not well-off — especially since Third Aunt had passed away these last few years, leaving no one to help him manage his affairs. How could he suddenly be so generous as to hand over a whole ingot of silver?

"Eunuch Wei gave it to me," Liu Songping lowered his voice. "Heh... you know full well how the higher-ups operate. Skimming at every level, top to bottom — tossing you a mosquito's leg counts as great charity. Where would they get this much money to give you? He gave it to me just now, said we've endured hardship accompanying him on this journey, and this bit of money was so we could eat well along the way... I see it as road toll, really — telling us not to be too harsh on him!"

Qi Wang was momentarily stunned.

As an escort, taking money from a prisoner was improper — all the more so when the prisoner was someone like Wei Zhongxian.

Yet he had served in the Embroidered Uniform Guard for many years and long understood the inner workings and unwritten rules. Besides, the journey ahead was long and far, and relying solely on his own meager funds would never sustain him.

"Even if I take his money, I will not bow and scrape before him!" After hesitating a moment, he muttered.

"Ah, you!" Liu Songping gave a bitter smile, then patted him on the shoulder, but said nothing more.

To think that an imperial assignment escorting a prisoner should instead require accepting favors from that very prisoner. The court sent him on a mission and wanted to give him nothing, yet a eunuch who had brought calamity to the state and the people opened his purse instead...

Seething with indignation, he stomped heavily down the stairs.

By now, the attendants below had busied themselves. Some had already gone out to buy provisions, and the rest were making preparations. In times like these, it was indeed silver that moved men best.

"Good thing Eunuch Wei came, or I don't know how we'd have gotten through lately. The higher-ups still haven't sent our wages down — my wife's been shrieking nonstop!" they chatted among themselves as they bustled about cleaning.

"True enough, my family's fed up too!" Another middle-aged attendant nodded. "You really have to say, Eunuch Wei is certainly generous on this journey — such a grand gesture the moment he makes a move! A pity they're only staying here one day. If only they could stay a while longer..."

At this, Qi Wang thought that Liu Songping giving them that silver ingot might well have been because he heard their plight and pitied them, wanting to let them share in the benefit too.

He made no sound, only drew a little closer in that direction.

"You really have to say, I never imagined that was the rumored Eunuch Wei. He looked rather kindly to me... didn't seem like some great villain either?" one attendant suddenly murmured. "I thought he was nearly in tears just now when he spoke... and what he said truly made sense. The court has no money? So many corrupt officials go unpunished, yet they single us out? We've served the court so many years — how can we be treated like this!"

"Let's not say too much about court matters!" Another cut him off. "But if you ask whether Eunuch Wei is wicked, I'd say he's really no different — how many of those lords up at court are any good anyway..."

"True, true..." The man nodded repeatedly. "Wei Zhongxian, being a great villain, would naturally disguise himself. Don't be fooled by his pretenses!" Seeing that they were actually speaking well of Wei Zhongxian, Qi Wang could not help stepping forward. "If Wei Zhongxian had not brought ruin to the realm, how could there be such chaos? Now he tosses you a few petty favors, and you've already forgotten his crimes?"

"Sir!" The moment Qi Wang interjected, the two conversing attendants instinctively turned to look at him, and both were momentarily stunned. "Sir, forgive us — we were just talking nonsense. Please don't take it seriously! What do humble folk like us understand!"

"Since you eat from the court's bowl, you should think for the court. How can you speak well of Wei Zhongxian?" Qi Wang's anger still had not fully subsided; he continued glaring at the two men. "Look at those Xuzhou bandits — weren't they bred by Wei Zhongxian's tolerance and indulgence? Without those Xuzhou bandits, how would things here have grown so desolate, how would it have come to this?"

Seeing how stern he was, someone inwardly defiant muttered under his breath.

"We serve the court, toiling our whole lives, yet how does the court treat us? It's all but cast us aside — are we still supposed to be overflowing with gratitude? Those Xuzhou bandits passed through without looting; they even paid for what they took. I'd say they're far better than government troops. I'd rather the Xuzhou men garrisoned here permanently... The court abolishes courier stations and won't support us in our duties, so we'll stop heeding the court and find another way out. What, should we wait for our whole families to starve?"

"Who said that!" Qi Wang, who had already walked away, grew even angrier upon hearing this. He shouted and spun around. "Who just said that? Step forward!"

Yet the attendants only stood there cowering; not a single one answered.

That silence conveyed both fear and a sense of keeping others at arm's length — as though this was already the shared conviction in these men's hearts.

Chilling.

That was Qi Wang's sole feeling in this moment.

Among these attendants, he could no longer see a shred of loyalty to the Great Ming. Ever since word came that the court planned to abolish courier stations across the realm, they had sensed their livelihoods were about to be cut off, and so they now harbored not the slightest attachment to the Great Ming!

From the final years of the Wanli reign onward, the court had suffered repeated setbacks both beyond the passes and within them. Not only had manpower and resources been drained enormously, but even the people's hearts had begun to scatter. With the Great Ming's sheer scale, one or two setbacks meant little so long as the people's hearts remained — merely a loss of some coin and grain. But if the people's hearts scattered, how could the realm be sustained?

If this went on, what was the court to do? His mind raced with urgent worry, and for a moment he even forgot to stay angry at these attendants.

His third uncle Liu Songping had urged him to be content with his station — he was only a Squad Leader, he should not dwell on so many things. Yet he could never stop himself from thinking, because he faintly sensed that if he did not think about it, the Great Ming court that had looked after his family for generations truly might not pull through!

He could only hope His Majesty and the court would rouse themselves swiftly.

Even as he was consumed with worry for the Great Ming's realm, a dense clatter of hoofbeats sounded from outside the courier station.

The hoofbeats grew louder and louder, finally halting at the gate, and then a burst of urgent knocking rang out.

As if granted a great reprieve, the attendants shouted as they came and rushed out of the station hall to the gate, then opened it.

There they found over a dozen large men standing outside, every one of them lean and tough-looking, their expressions stern. Each held a horse by the reins, and each wore a weapon at the waist.

"Hah..." The attendants all drew a collective breath.

For they saw that these men all wore uniforms of a dark brown color — unmistakably Eastern Depot agents!

The Eastern Depot! This was no small matter.

Though Wei Zhongxian had just fallen from power and the newly enthroned emperor intended to curb the Eastern Depot, the terror this secret-police agency had imprinted upon the Great Ming, high and low, was simply too deep. In that instant, every attendant lost the ability to think, merely staring at them blankly.

The large men likewise sized them up. Then, the leader — a burly man with a full beard — gave a cold snort and tossed his riding crop down beside one of the attendants.

"Hmph. Good that you know where your lords hail from." He pointed at that attendant, then lightly brushed aside the hem of his coat to reveal his waist token. "Get our horses settled and rooms prepared, and be quick about it. Delay your lords' business, and you'll have a fine time of it!"

His tone was overbearing and arrogant, utterly unlike the low-key manner Qi Wang and his companion had shown earlier — a contrast that revealed something of the difference in status between the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot.

At that moment, Qi Wang also spotted this group.

Why would a band of Eastern Depot agents show up at a time like this? A faint suspicion stirred in his mind.

The lead man had also spotted him, and a sharp glint flashed through his eyes.

Judging from the intelligence he had received earlier, the escorts were two Embroidered Uniform Guard — one old, one young. This one, it seemed, was the younger.

Perfect — we caught up just in time.

Carrying a joy hidden deep in his heart, he slowly walked toward Qi Wang, his subordinates naturally following along with him.