Chapter 718: Desolate, Dreary, and Dismal

Just like that, the night passed, and when the twenty-third day of the seventh month arrived, the weather cleared up again. The previous sweltering heat was swept clean away, and there was even a faint hint of autumn's coolness in the air.

Just as the sun was rising, however, people arrived outside the manor. They were not household troops from the Zhao Character Camp, but constables from the Xuzhou Prefectural Magistrate's yamen. Over a hundred of them came at once, each with a vicious and menacing look. Paying no mind to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, they simply declared that the manor's steward had colluded with heretical cultists and needed to be arrested for interrogation.

Although the pretext given was the arrest of cultists, the scale of the operation was far too grand. This was not like going to the countryside to levy grain taxes, nor like hunting down and exterminating some bandit gang. It was over a hundred fully armed, able-bodied men. Ignoring the several dozen Embroidered Uniform Guards still inside the manor, they swaggered right in to make the arrest.

Watching those constables' brazen and provocative expressions, anyone could figure out with their toes that this was aimed squarely at the Imperial Guards. Yet if they resisted and started a fight, that was probably exactly what these people wanted.

Thinking this, who still had the mind to stop them now? Even the several dozen trusted confidants Ma Chonghao had brought did not move to obstruct them. So-called confidants still needed to be won over with silver and benefits. With everything now coming to nothing, and having learned just what kind of tiger the Zhao Character Camp truly was, even they had to consider their own future paths. No one wanted to be buried alongside Ma Chonghao, whose downfall was imminent.

As a result, the manor steward who had been crying and pleading for help was seized by the constables right before their eyes, yet not a single person dared to move.

The captured steward was not taken into the city. He was directly hanged from a tree right at the manor's gate. One constable shouted loudly, "This is the fate of those who eat from one bowl and steal from another!"

After the deed was done, the constables called over the manor tenants, who were scared out of their wits, told them to leave the body hanging for three days before burning it, and then swaggered off.

Were these constables ultimately the imperial court's men, or the Zhao family's? Did this Xuzhou ultimately belong to the imperial court, or to Zhao Jin? I'm afraid there was no longer any need to ask.

"Sixth Brother, as things stand now, it seems this Xuzhou case is hopeless. I reckon there's trouble in Nanjing as well, so we won't be following along. Please understand our position. We brothers have families too; we need to earn silver to support our wives and children. We can't just throw our lives away so easily. If we head back north now, we can still find work. We're sorry. If there's a chance in the future, we'll come back and repay the master's care."

Seeing the corpse hanging outside the manor gate, the trusted confidants Ma Chonghao had brought from the north no longer wished to stay. Fortunately, some old ties still remained. They politely said their farewells to Ma Liu and then dispersed on their own.

Ma Liu was originally of a steady temperament, but now he seemed more like a man whose heart had turned to dead ashes. He did not stop these "confidants" from leaving. He only said to the four remaining personal guards of his own household, "If Zhao Jin comes to arrest anyone, we'll throw our lives away if we must, but we must ensure the master's safety!"

Each man agreed with solemn gravity, but they all knew it was nothing more than laying down their lives here, which could be considered repaying their master's generous treatment.

Yet while they maintained a vigilant guard as if facing a great enemy, no one came to bother them at all. Instead, the manor's servants and tenants, who had previously been scared out of their wits, now eyed them with fierce hostility. They clearly hated them for bringing this calamity upon the manor and even wanted to seize their group to present to Zhao Jin as a meritorious offering. If not for their fear of the official uniforms and the blades in their hands, they probably would have attacked already.

Although the physician who had come earlier had made a hasty diagnosis, his medical skill was not poor. As he had judged, after sleeping for a full day and night, Ma Chonghao woke up just as the sky was turning dark. Even his fever had subsided.

When Ma Chonghao awoke, he startled Ma Liu, who was at his bedside, but joy quickly followed. Ma Liu hurriedly asked how the master's body felt, but Ma Chonghao was just as he had been before, utterly unresponsive. He just sat there in a daze with his head lowered, as if his entire person had become a fool.

"Master, Master..." This terrified Ma Liu, who urgently called out to him. The elders had a saying: after a sudden illness, a person's soul was easily lost, and it had to be called back. So he dared not stop, shouting loudly until his voice was nearly hoarse.

Under his persistent efforts, Ma Chonghao finally reacted. He slowly turned his head and glanced at Ma Liu with vacant eyes, his face completely expressionless.

Seeing the master in such a dazed and muddled state, Ma Liu could not hold back his tears. Just as he was about to ask anxiously, Ma Chonghao's expression began to stir. The vacancy turned to grief and despair. He opened his mouth, made two rasping sounds, and then cried out with a tearful voice: "This Great Ming realm... I fear it is finished!"

This sudden, nonsensical sentence from the master made Ma Liu freeze. Watching his master in such a soul-lost, dejected state, Ma Liu's tears flowed uncontrollably. Wiping them as he spoke, he said, "Master, they've all left. Those from our own Guard, those from Nanjing, from Wolf Mountain, from Xuzhou and Fengyang—all have scattered. Even among those we called back ourselves from the north, many heartless, ungrateful wretches have left..."

After shouting that sentence, Ma Chonghao drifted off again. Listening to Ma Liu rambling by his ear, he merely waved his hand: "All under heaven bustles for profit. They came here for profit in the first place. Now that everything has come to nothing, what else could they do but scatter?"

"Master, what do we do? This Xuzhou is a dragon's pool and a tiger's den! You don't know, but today the prefect even sent an official runner who, right in front of us, hanged that steward who had surrendered to us. Are those still government constables? Master, listen to me—this is no place for us to stay. We should leave!" Ma Liu said incoherently.

Ma Chonghao, sitting on the bed, suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the face. The blow was so forceful that half his face immediately swelled red.

This action stunned Ma Liu, who thought his master had truly lost his mind. But then Ma Chonghao took a deep breath, shook his head vigorously, and said in a solemn voice, "We cannot stay in Xuzhou. We must leave."

"Where do we go?" Ma Chonghao's sudden return to normalcy, and his agreement with Ma Liu's suggestion, filled Ma Liu with indescribable surprise and joy. Yet the moment he thought about where to go from here, Ma Liu was also utterly panicked.

"Back to Nanjing, of course!" Ma Chonghao answered with certainty.

"But we..." Ma Liu hesitated slightly. "Can we even go back?"

"What have we done wrong? It was merely faulty intelligence. Zhao Jin is not a rebel, so we won't arrest him. What's wrong with that?" Ma Chonghao said coldly.

Since when was the government a place for reason? Ma Liu felt a pang in his heart, but he shook his head, unable to find any words of rebuttal.

Then, Ma Chonghao gave a cold laugh and said, "I am still the Assistant Commander of the Nanjing Embroidered Uniform Guard. I merely led my subordinates out on a trip and am now returning. What's wrong with that? Is there any official document, any imperial decree that orders me to arrest Zhao Jin? There isn't! Now that I'm going back, no one can find fault with me. What Duke's manor, what Vice Regional Commander, what Defense Commissioner Eunuch—what does it have to do with me that they sent their men out? Can they even hold me accountable? If they pursue this, everyone will end up covered in dirt. Deploying troops recklessly—isn't that a fault? This official has the duty to investigate. We're going back. We're going back right now."

These words seemed like sophistry, leaving Ma Liu somewhat stunned. But Ma Liu, who had long handled affairs in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, understood immediately. Though tears still marked his face, a smile involuntarily surfaced.

Everyone had joined forces to come to Xuzhou to make an arrest, claiming Zhao Jin was plotting rebellion. No matter how they colluded and communicated in private, no matter what they said publicly, all of it was merely a private arrangement among themselves. There was no official document to prove any of it. At worst, this was just a private operation by a group of people. Since it involved no official duties, returning empty-handed carried no real crime. On the contrary, the Embroidered Uniform Guard could even seize on the missteps of the other parties. The bureaucratic games of shifting blame and passing the buck were perfectly suited for this moment.

Besides, with so many elite troops gathered, if Zhao Jin wasn't a rebel, then who was? The Embroidered Uniform Guard was absolutely not making a false accusation; they had merely underestimated Zhao Jin. If one investigated deeply, what fault could there really be?

"Master, should we leave tomorrow morning? Your body is still weak, and we must also guard against that villain Zhao Jin trying to harm you." Once he had thought through these key points, Ma Liu felt strength return to his body and quickly spoke up.

"Harm me? If he truly wanted to harm me, we would have all been dead last night. How would we have lived to see today? Get me something to eat. We'll leave as soon as we've eaten, so we're not an eyesore here." Ma Chonghao was already bracing himself against the bed frame to stand, speaking impatiently.

At this, Ma Chonghao gave a self-deprecating smile, stood up, and said, "Don't worry, he won't do anything. We are nothing but drowned dogs now. That Zhao Jin has great ambition and talent; how could we possibly be in his sights?"

"The master is right." Although Ma Liu did not entirely agree with Ma Chonghao's assessment, since the master had spoken, Ma Liu felt he had no choice but to obey.

"I really couldn't tell... that man is one of great ambition and talent after all..." Suddenly, Ma Chonghao gazed out the door and muttered another sentence to himself.

Although there was no wine or meat in this manor, things like soup and flatbread were prepared quickly. After giving them silver, the service was still reasonably attentive. Before long, meals for the few of them were delivered, and everyone wolfed down their food.

Ma Liu, however, did not eat much. He still had things on his mind and spoke up, "Master, our deficit this time is enormous. Even if we count the silver stored over in Qingjiangpu..."

Traveling light and fast, they certainly hadn't carried those tens of thousands of taels of silver with them. It had been left stored in Qingjiangpu, with men left behind from all parties to guard it jointly. According to the prior agreement, Ma Chonghao's share amounted to roughly twenty thousand taels. However, while twenty thousand taels sounded like a large sum, using it to cover the expenses of this fruitless expedition would probably still fall short.

Hearing this, Ma Chonghao merely gave a cold laugh and shook his head, saying, "You think there's still any of it left for us?"

After the master said this, Ma Liu first froze for a moment, then understood. His face instantly flushed bright red.

"Those bastard animals who left first must have swallowed up our silver too! No wonder every one of them left in such a hurry—they were all rushing off to grab the money!"

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