Chapter 558: So What If They

But the man behind the table was extremely agile — he flipped the table aside, retreated several steps in a flash, and stood there steady as a rock, his eyes now wide open.

"You've got some nerve dodging, you bastard! Trying to resist arrest and defy the law out of fear of punishment — is this rebellion?"

The moment those heavy charges — "the law," "rebellion," "resisting arrest" — came crashing down, even ordinary folk, let alone bold wanderers of the martial world, would feel their hearts tremble and their legs go weak. Yet the man's face showed not a trace of alarm. He only asked coldly, "To arrest a man, you need a warrant from the Punishment Office. Show me the warrant."

The agents who had come were all taken aback. It was rare to find someone so familiar with the yamen's regulations. But in truth, no one ever followed these rules. They were only trotted out for cases involving people with powerful backing, where loose ends might come back to haunt them later — only then would the full set of procedures be carried out.

At that moment, four men walked out from the deserted main gate of Cloud Mountain Cart Company. Spotting the government agents, they showed no sign of fear, just ambled over.

Qingjiangpu was different from other places. The local population was small; people converged here from all directions, from every walk of life. The agents, too, had seen their share of the unusual. When the man called out their procedural lapse, the one who had kicked over the table was left momentarily speechless. The two square-hatted agents in charge exchanged a glance, anger flickering across their faces. One of them said coldly, "A sharp tongue you've got there. Knowing yamen business this well — I suppose you've had a case or two before?"

The remark was deeply cutting. The group of agents, whose momentum had been flagging, now surged with renewed vigor, brandishing their weapons and shouting curses without pause.

"You've committed a capital crime! Every last one of you is to be bound and taken to the yamen. Come along obediently, or you'll be executed without mercy!" The lead agent bellowed these words with an imposing air, and a clamor of jeers rose from behind him.

The man behind the table glanced back and asked in a muffled voice, "Old Li, you broke that bastard's arms and legs yesterday, right? Did the wretch not hold up and end up dead?"

"Shouldn't be possible, logically speaking. Pass out from the pain a few times, maybe, but how could he die?" Li He said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

The man behind the table spat heavily on the ground and cursed, "Those grandsons really went at it hard. Good thing we sent him off — if he'd died here, it really would've been trouble!"

As they carried on their own private exchange, the squad of agents on the other side stared with eyes practically bulging out of their heads. The other square-hatted agent was so furious he drew his waist saber, brandishing it as he roared, "You murderous scoundrels! Aren't you afraid of the execution ground and the headsman's blade?"

"Submit and let yourselves be bound, or be executed without mercy!" Even as the words rang out, two bailiffs clutching iron chains had already dashed forward, swinging the chains to loop them over heads and shoulders.

"They're gonna get nabbed, they're gonna get nabbed." Li He clapped his hands and laughed heartily.

The man behind the table was starting to lose face, and his temper had already flared. But his movements were anything but slow. Before the chain-wielding bailiffs could even reach him, he lifted his leg and drove it forward with force, striking the man on the right square in the abdomen. The blow sent the bailiff flying backward, his body already curled into a ball while still in midair.

The other bailiff hadn't expected such ferocity. His movements slowed, and before he could react, the man behind the table slammed a fist right into his chest. The shock rattled his internal organs; he couldn't catch his breath. The chain clattered to the ground, and before he could even gasp for air, a sweeping kick sent him sprawling.

Who could have imagined that an attempt to capture "major criminals" would be met with such treatment? The two lead agents were now utterly enraged. Brandishing their waist sabers, they charged forward in great strides.

The man, who had seemed rather indolent, was now extraordinarily agile. In two steps he reached the overturned table, grabbed a leg with one hand, and hoisted the heavy wooden table into the air, swinging it like a weapon.

The tabletop came crashing down like a great shield, howling through the air. The square-hatted agents with sabers had no time to dodge. At least they had the sense to let go of their blades — otherwise, the consequences would have been far worse.

A muffled "Bang!" — or perhaps two. The two saber-wielding agents charging forward were sent flying back several steps, stumbling and landing hard on their backsides. The men who had come with them were already frozen in terror. Far from stepping forward to help, they retreated, leaving the two agents sitting dazed on the ground, blood streaming from their mouths and noses as they howled in agony.

These were government agents! Even a local magnate, if he held no official rank, had to treat them with deference. Even the boldest heroes of the martial world had to bow their heads and act meek before them. Because these men represented the authorities, and behind the authorities stood the imperial court. To resist the agents was to resist the authorities, to resist the court — it was rebellion!

"Y-you… are you people trying to rebel?" one of the bailiffs stammered, his voice trembling.

"Rebellion" — a word that on any ordinary day carried the weight of heaven itself — now drew a burst of jeering laughter from the men of the cart company. In just that brief moment, over a dozen men had emerged from the main gate, each gripping a waist saber or a wooden club, their expressions utterly indifferent, as if they were watching a play.

"Old Cheng, you're gonna rebel!" Li He chimed in, stirring the pot.

The big man addressed as "Old Cheng" set the table down with an exasperated grunt, turned his head, and said, "You lot leave the hard labor to me, while you take it nice and easy."

"That's what you get for losing at dice!" someone else in the crowd jeered.

This "Old Cheng" didn't continue the banter. He simply walked over to one of the downed agents, crouched, and delivered two sharp slaps, forehand and backhand, jolting the man back to full consciousness. Then he wiped the blood from his hand onto the agent's robe and asked coldly, "From Shanyang County town to here takes at least an hour and a half at top speed. How long has it been since the city gates even opened? Did you fly here? You must have prepared this last night, planning to pin a case on us. I'm asking you — where's the official document? Has the Punishment Office signed off on it?"

The agent who had been slapped was utterly dumbfounded. He couldn't make sense of the situation at all. All he could register was that the other party seemed to have a Xuzhou accent. His lips trembling, he could only stammer, "You… you people…"

"An agent without a warrant is worth shit. You really think wearing that uniform is enough to scare anyone?" The man gave a cold laugh, then seized the arm of the one he had knocked down. A lift, a twist.

A shrill, agonized scream rang out. The agent finally came to his senses, clutching his arm as he rolled on the ground, wailing in pain.

The one beside him scrambled up on all fours, stumbling and tumbling backward in retreat. The rest of the bailiffs were all struck dumb. What was going on? Yesterday they'd broken that thug's limbs — were they going to break an agent's arms and legs today? How could this gang of vicious brutes not fear the authorities…? Every man among them couldn't help but shiver.

"Spare me, kind sir, spare me!" The agent with the broken arm had also recalled the fate of that thug the day before. Fighting through the agony, he begged for his life.

The man called "Old Cheng" stepped forward and kicked him, sending him tumbling head over heels. He simply barked, "Killing you would dirty my hands. Now scram!"

That band of bailiffs had never imagined the words "Now scram" could sound so sweet. It was truly like receiving a great amnesty. Supporting one another, they turned and fled, not daring to glance back.

"Old Cheng" dusted off his hands, ignoring the teasing from Li He and the others. He glanced back toward the cart company's main gate, then set the table upright again and began hawking loudly, "Everything Boss Wang says goes! Come and sign up — cart fees paid in cash on the spot. A real bargain!"

Ji Xiang and Liu Yong were peering over from the cart company's main gate, their faces expressionless. Ji Xiang remarked, "Cheng Daqi's cousin is a real man — good fighting skills, and ruthless in his methods."

"He's lucky we took him in, too. Otherwise, this Cheng Dahu would still be drifting around the outlaw world. He struck a clerk while working as a runner at the yamen and nearly dragged his family into it. If he hadn't joined us, the Cheng family wouldn't even let him through the door," Liu Yong said with a smile.

Cheng Daqi was a local magnate from Pizhou, formerly affiliated with the Feng family. But he had been among the first to switch sides, and his ties to the Zhao Battalion ran very deep. This Cheng Dahu was Cheng Daqi's cousin. Years ago, his troublemaking had driven him to become an outlaw, and he'd been drifting aimlessly around the Pizhou area. The moment the Cheng family established a connection with the Zhao Battalion, they immediately sent the man over. He had a rough and forthright temperament and got along famously with the men of the Internal Guard. As Cheng Dahu himself put it: "Working for the Zhao Battalion feels good — no dirtying your conscience!"

After chatting a few lines, a look of mild discontent crossed Ji Xiang's face. He turned to Liu Yong and said, "Xiao Yong, Big Brother is just too cautious in how he does things. Taking Qingjiangpu would have been so easy, yet he waited until now to move. Think of all the time we've wasted."

Liu Yong didn't take the bait. He simply smiled and said, "There's more than one way to take a place. What Big Brother means is, he wants to make this place just like Xuzhou!"

The leader of the Shandong Cart Gang was named Zhang Yunxian — a name that, coincidentally, had some connection to the business of driving carts and hauling goods. The irony was, Zhang Yunxian had never learned to drive a cart in his life.

Zhang Yunxian had inherited the position of Cart Gang leader from his father, Zhang Dache. His father, Zhang Dache, had fought for his life wielding cart shafts and horsewhips. Zhang Yunxian, by contrast, was a rich man's son who had never known hardship growing up.

Yet under his leadership, the Shandong Cart Gang had surpassed the Henan Cart Gang. The reason was that Zhang Yunxian understood how to deal with officialdom. He knew that in Qingjiangpu, if things went smoothly on the official front, everything else would naturally fall into place.

The biggest slice of the carting business in Qingjiangpu was hauling grain. This grain came from the enormous quantities "consumed" or "lost at sea" from the annual tribute grain shipments — truly staggering amounts. This grain had to be transported everywhere, and for places not served by waterways, carts and horses were needed. It was by securing this business that Zhang Yunxian had made the Shandong Cart Gang flourish.

The reason he could secure it was that Zhang Yunxian had kowtowed to Lian Ping'an, the Granary Commissioner of the Ever-Full Granary, acknowledging him as his godfather. Zhang Yunxian was forty-six years old; Lian Ping'an was only forty-two.

The Ever-Full Granary was the largest granary along the thousand-li Grand Canal. The colossal flow of grain in and out all passed through this Granary Commissioner's hands. The wealth that churned through this post was truly mountains of gold and seas of silver.

Moreover, the highest-ranking official stationed in Qingjiangpu was a Vice Director of the fifth rank, junior grade. Right below him was this Granary Commissioner — despite the post being a mere unranked ninth-grade position.

But don't let the low rank fool you. This position was both inconspicuous and immensely lucrative — a prime spot for amassing a fortune. Anyone who could land this commissioner post had to have, at the very least, a powerful eunuch bearing the title of Grand Supervisor backing him, or else be connected to hereditary nobles of count rank or higher — the kind whose roots stretched back to the founding of the empire and the Jingnan Campaign. The current commissioner, Lian Ping'an, was rumored to be a relative of a eunuch in the Imperial Stables Directorate.

With such backing, and with vast quantities of grain and silver at his disposal, commanding over a thousand granary soldiers and laborers, this Granary Commissioner was effectively the second most powerful figure on the official scene in Qingjiangpu. He didn't have to bow his head even when meeting the Prefect of Huai'an. As for that Vice Director from the Revenue Branch Office, he couldn't do much about him either. The Vice Director's post rotated every few years, but this Granary Commissioner could stay on for ten, even twenty years.

Thanks to the two old friends "Sweet Sugarcane" and "Yuan Heng Li Zhen" for their tips. Friend Sweet Sugarcane is now a Grandmaster of this book. Thank you all for your subscriptions and monthly tickets.