Early morning of the eighth day of the Lunar New Year.
In the northwest corner of the imperial city of Haojing, just a stone’s throw from the Han Zhang Hall where the Son of Heaven typically held his studies and court affairs, stood a massive fortress city.
This fortress enclosed nearly two thousand acres.
Within its walls, countless palaces were coated in jet-black lacquer, appearing as if cast from iron.
Their imposing presence was like an iron-clad rampart, fierce and foreboding, as if the lair of demons from the depths of hell.
Looking over the sprawling complex, not a single blade of grass or tree could be seen.
Between each isolated palace, the ground was paved with giant square stones, about three feet across, polished smooth.
Iron was poured into the seams, making the surface airtight and the defenses impregnable.
The fortress had but one city gate, located directly on its western wall.
The gate was about two zhang high and three zhang wide, modest compared to the towering city wall rising over a hundred zhang above it.
The gate’s narrowness gave an overwhelming feeling of constriction and suffocation.
Lu Qin stood at the street corner.
Across a wide square spanning dozens of acres was the narrow city gate.
His eyes shimmered with a faint green light, focusing on a small black iron plaque above the gate, where three fierce characters were carved—‘Shougong Bureau’.
The sky was on the verge of dawn, still dark and cold.
From afar came the sound of patrol guards marching—footsteps pounding and armor scraping.
It was the time of day when people felt most weary.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed down the street, heavy breaths and low curses barely suppressed rose sharply.
Three figures stumbled as they dashed wildly down the southern street.
With every stride they took, they surged forward seven or eight zhang.
Their robes sliced through the air, producing sharp whooshing sounds.
Behind them, dozens of lean, tough men clad in black, wearing soft rhino leather armor on their torsos, wide-brimmed bamboo hats, and short cloaks, also ran at full speed.
In their hands gleamed the cold steel of leaf-shaped dao blades, while some carried compact crossbows.
In the pursuit, some of the chase leapt up onto the houses lining the street.
Raising their right hands, whizzing sounds rang out.
These hunters wielded powerful repeating crossbows forged from fine steel.
Each small bow shot three bolts at once, and with a dozen or so men firing simultaneously, dozens of half-a-chi-long, willow-leaf-shaped steel bolts sliced the air with sharp whistles, aimed straight at the three running men ahead.
The three culprits cursed as one.
Their three scorpion-tail whips, each uniquely styled, snapped through the air.
Three balls of black shadow accompanied the dull whoosh as the whips struck the incoming bolts.
Dozens of crossbow bolts exploded in fragments midair.
One of the trio, falling behind, suddenly staggered and cursed hoarsely.
“Damn you lackeys of the Sikoutai! May your ancestors rot in hell!”
Lu Qin kept his hands tucked inside his sleeves and shifted slightly back toward the street corner.
The Sikoutai was an official office under the great Danyin Martial Dynasty, overseen by the Grand Supervisor of Punishments.
Their specialty was hunting down criminals and crushing tyrants and bullies.
In short, Sikoutai only took on major cases.
They were too lazy to bother with petty thieves, arsonists, or common murderers.
If the Sikoutai was after you with such pomp outside the imperial city…
You could be almost certain you were a damned scoundrel, guilty beyond any measure, and deserving of death.
The man who cursed loudly had been struck by a bolt in the calf.
His pace abruptly slowed.
Hopping on one leg, he struggled forward a few steps, blood pouring down, leaving a vivid trail on the street.
His two companions suddenly whistled sharply and surged ahead, leaving him behind.
Like a gale, the Sikoutai pursuers swept past.
Four men wielding long blades flanked the wounded man with quiet commands.
The glint of blades flashed chaotically.
The Sikoutai men moved with seamless coordination.
The wounded man, hampered by his injury, quickly lost grip of his whip and was slashed seventeen or eighteen times.
He collapsed onto the ground, screaming and crying.
In just a few breaths, the other two had already sprinted past the long street, crossed the small square, and reached the Shougong Bureau’s town gate.
One of them kicked hard against the gate with a heavy thud.
Boom!
Above the city gate, about five or six zhang up, flickering flames appeared.
On the wall’s metal lamp brackets, over a hundred large tallow lamps suddenly blazed to life, flooding the square before the Shougong gate with bright, white light.
‘Click-click’ echoed mechanisms opening.
About six or seven zhang above ground, metallic doors in the city wall swung open, revealing a series of one-chi-wide shooting ports.
Nearly a hundred armored warriors, faces expressionless, half their torsos visible through the shooting ports, held powerful crossbows aimed at the Sikoutai men standing in the middle of the square.
“Stop!”
A Sikoutai man wearing a bamboo hat, his clothes stained with blood, suddenly raised his left fist and shouted a command.
The dozens of Sikoutai soldiers halted immediately, lined up neatly in the square, looking up at the armored warriors behind the ports.
“I am Tie Qianjun of the Sikoutai. We are here under orders to capture the notorious bandits known as the Three-Tailed Black Scorpion Brothers. I ask everyone to grant passage and cooperation.”
With a heavy thud, the two exhausted men who had reached the gate knelt deeply, bowing their heads and striking the hard door with their foreheads.
“We, the three brothers, sincerely pledge to join the Shougong Bureau. Willing to serve as your underlings and obey the directives of our overseers!”
“We understand the rules!”
Both men roared with near heart-wrenching determination.
Several Sikoutai men stepped forward abruptly.
From the wall openings came the sharp twang of bowstrings.
Several one-and-a-half-chi-long pure steel bolts shot out, thudding heavily on the toes of the Sikoutai men advancing.
The force of the bolts was tremendous— the bluestone paving was pierced deep by the bolts, which vibrated with a low buzzing sound.
Tie Qianjun barked a command.
The men who had stepped forward bit their teeth and reluctantly stepped back.
With a grating screech, the heavy iron-wood gate, two zhang thick, slowly opened.
Out bustled a small eunuch wearing a fine cyan brocade robe, holding a whisk.
His face pale, no beard, small nose, small eyes, he chuckled softly and hurried out, surrounded by a throng of men.
Behind the eunuch were men dressed in white brocade robes embroidered with the three-clawed pattern of the Shougong (Gecko), wearing square black hats, thick-soled black boots, and one-chi-wide black leather belts with three-chi six-inch wild goose feathered swords at their sides.
Some of the white-robed men also carried iron chains and shackles.
A dozen more had heavy crossbows and bows strapped to their backs, as well as arrow quivers by their waists.
Lu Qin even noticed that a few behind the main group carried long-range weapons—one chi eight-marshaled horse spears, gilded tiger-head spears, and bronze wolf-tooth clubs.
Compared to the Sikoutai men, these warriors of the Shougong Bureau were formidable, sharp, and full of menace.
Someone could say they were tigers and wolves, radiating killing intent from their bodies.
But among themselves, there was no harmony or teamwork—hardly more than a rabble thrown together.
The eunuch ignored the two brothers still kneeling on the ground.
Swinging his whisk with an easy swagger, he approached Tie Qianjun and gently tapped his shoulder with a smile.
“That’s enough. We will take over affairs here.”
“Go on now, don’t embarrass yourselves.”
Tie Qianjun ground his teeth so hard that the crunch echoed even to Lu Qin behind.
The eunuch jumped back two steps, feigning shock.
“Oh? Still want to fight?”
On the towering hundred-zhang-high city walls, more lanterns and torches blazed to life.
More ironclad warriors craned their necks over the ramparts.
A city wall this high stretched nearly a li in length.
It would take a normal person considerable time to walk from one end to the other.
At this altitude, it was impossible for an ordinary person to discern the faces of those atop the wall.
And a man dropped from such a height—even a mere egg—would be enough to kill someone.
A sharp twang sounded.
The archers on the wall nocked their heavy crossbows.
Tie Qianjun’s complexion pale, he bit his teeth.
“Fine, we… will go!”
Suddenly, the eunuch stepped forward two strides and grabbed Tie Qianjun’s shoulder.
“Wait, leave one behind. Leave him, or you all stay!”
Tie Qianjun trembled fiercely.
Through gritted teeth, he coldly said, “They are murderers beyond count, scourges who have harmed countless innocents!”
The eunuch said nothing but suddenly unleashed a palm strike—slapping Tie Qianjun’s face hard.
Smack!
The slap carried little force but immense insult.
Several Sikoutai men drew their blades in anger by Tie Qianjun’s side.
Arrows rained down like thunder.
Those drawing swords were each struck in the right shoulder by arrows shot with great force.
Their rhino leather armor failed to stop the bolts; the arrowheads pierced three cun deep through shoulders.
The Sikoutai men cried out and staggered backward several paces.
The eunuch smiled at Tie Qianjun leisurely and said, “If you dare lay hands on the Shougong Bureau’s people, are you trying to start a rebellion?”
Tie Qianjun coughed, fell silent a moment, and with difficulty bowed.
“No, no, my Sikoutai men are loyal to the court, would never dare… Please release them. We will leave. This case of the Three-Tailed Black Scorpion Brothers is closed. The case files will be handed over to the Shougong Bureau.”
The sharp edge in the Sikoutai men immediately vanished.
They lowered their heads and sheathed their weapons, following Tie Qianjun out, exhausted and dejected.
The man who had taken a dozen cuts and an arrow in his calf laughed wildly as he struggled to his feet, limping toward the Shougong gate.
“Big brother, second brother, looks like now we’ll be eating the emperor’s grain!”
“Hahaha! Sikoutai, and all those other government lackeys — none of them can touch us now!”
Amid the raucous laughter, Lu Qin quietly stepped forward from the street corner, silently approaching the eunuch and cupping his hands respectfully.
“Esteemed little eunuch, I am Lu Qin. I’ve long heard that the Shougong Bureau eagerly seeks able men, valuing strength over background. Today I come specially to join your ranks.”
“May I ask, what procedures must I follow?”
The eunuch was startled by Lu Qin’s sudden appearance, stepping back two paces, about to shout a rebuke.
But then, seeing Lu Qin’s resolute and masculine face, and his robust, upright figure, his eyes brightened suddenly.
“Oh? The Shougong Bureau doesn’t take just any lowly riffraff.”
“But looking at your build, you seem to be a capable man.”
“Come, come in with me!”
Note: Correction was made to ‘Sikoutai’ and ‘Shougong Bureau’ terms.
Thanks much to ‘Newspaper Boy Langjun’ for the generous tip!
(End of chapter)