In the Dayin Martial Dynasty, there was the Honglu Temple, with a chief officer known as the Honglu Temple Minister, responsible for managing diplomatic relations with the neighboring states, as well as overseeing the corresponding court rituals and ceremonies.
Back in the previous dynasty before Dayin, there was still some exchange between the various countries.
Envoys and trade caravans from those countries often showed up in Haojing, the imperial capital.
At that time, the Honglu Temple was still considered an important government office.
More than eighteen hundred years ago, the Dayin Founder overthrew the former dynasty and established his regime.
Continuing the previous dynasty’s governmental system, the Honglu Temple remained a standing institution of the court.
For several centuries after, it continued handling diplomatic affairs of greeting and seeing off foreign emissaries.
But after another thousand years, the world kept changing.
The martial path declined and withered.
The bloodlines of humans and all sorts of beasts faded away little by little.
Where foreign envoys and trade caravans had once easily traveled tens of thousands of miles in just a day and night, now they could barely make it a thousand miles, even a few hundred.
Because of this, all relations between the states broke off.
Foreign emissaries vanished altogether.
The Honglu Temple’s position within the court became more and more awkward, its importance steadily declining.
As of today, the Honglu Temple has turned into a service office with no real power.
The grand garden mansions in the Siji District of Fengdiao Ward belong to the current Honglu Temple’s holdings.
The Shou Gong Bureau naturally paid no mind to what the Honglu Temple was today.
If they wanted to bully them, so be it—how could a powerless Honglu Minister risk banging his head against the Shou Gong Bureau’s gate?
However, the people living inside the Siji District were a different story.
The Shou Gong Bureau didn’t want to provoke them at all.
The Dayin Martial Dynasty carried on the former dynasty’s division of Dayin territory into nine great states.
Among them, Haojing sat in the central land called the Ancestral State, the core of the nine states, the eternal and unchanging place of origin.
Outside the Ancestral State were Dongshen State to the east, Xiyou State to the west, Nanman State to the south, and Beiming State to the north.
Further out beyond Dongshen to the east lay the Far Eastern Ocean State; beyond Xiyou to the west, the Far Western Desert State; south of Nanman was the Far Southern Wilderness State; north of Beiming was the Far Northern Vast State.
When Dayin Martial Dynasty was first established, martial power was at its peak.
The elite legions within Haojing still held extremely high martial cultivation.
These vast legions could travel thousands of miles a day.
The four great outlying states—Ocean, Desert, Wilderness, Vast—were firmly under Dayin’s control.
Later on, as the martial path decayed and martial cultivators found it harder and harder to break through their limits, Haojing gradually lost grip on those four great states.
Eight hundred years ago, when the last Dayin military garrison city in those distant states fell, Haojing lost the ability—and the strength—to deploy large-scale field armies there.
The local powers in those four states then announced their independence from Dayin’s rule and happily set themselves up as kings.
Three hundred years of endless warfare later, martial cultivation in the world had reached its nadir.
Today, Haojing can barely maintain control of the central Ancestral State.
The other four states, while nominally still recognizing Haojing’s emperor as the common sovereign, actually operate independently—warring, allying, betraying—in a lively and chaotic “Warring States” period.
The Dayin Martial Dynasty’s founding ancestor had, besides the Ancestral State, appointed eight hundred lords across the other states.
Their ranks, from highest to lowest, were Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron.
During the three centuries of chaos, many once high-ranking Dukes saw their entire families wiped out.
On the other hand, some lowly Barons fought their way up and became mighty powers shaking the lands.
Still, since these lords nominally upheld Haojing’s emperor as sovereign, they had to show some formality.
Like the collective tributes offered every twelve years.
Like requiring the heir of a lord to receive imperial investiture.
Like sending some unimportant sons or daughters to Haojing as hostages.
The thousands of garden mansions in the Siji District’s streets and alleys are rented by these precious sons and cherished daughters of the various lords from the distant eastern, southern, western, and northern states.
What are these people like?
Each and every one a troublemaker—not a good one among them.
The Dongshen State is the most cultured and refined, with the most complete legacy of classics and civilization from successive dynasties.
The lords’ children from Dongshen always have one favorite phrase—“You barbarians, ugh, spit!”
Xiyou State is rich in resources, especially known for their specialty, the “Golden Sand.” These lords are rich beyond measure, and their children like to say—“Hehe, you bunch of poor wretches!”
Beiming State needs no introduction; its people are fierce and strong warriors.
Their land is rich with glaciers and grasslands, breeding many cavalry troops.
Theirs is a style of swaggering through the streets with large groups of followers, preferring action over talk.
Their common sayings are—“You’re all a bunch of spineless sissies,” “Believe it or not, I’ll kill your whole family!”
As for Nanman State, their people are not just fierce, but cruel, evil, ruthless, and brutal—born killers skilled especially in various secret witchcraft and poison arts, with cruel and cunning methods.
They are all practical doers.
Their nature is silent and taciturn, quick to resort to deadly violence at slightest offense.
They form the biggest threat to law and order inside Haojing.
These people together have turned the Siji District into a huge hornet’s nest.
Almost every day there are clashes between them, often affecting Haojing’s innocent citizens.
The city’s major government offices scramble to clean up their mess.
However fierce their disputes, if the Haojing officialdom dared to intervene, they instinctively united in defiance.
Once, when detectives from the Sike Department were investigating a murder, they traced it to a marquis’s son.
As a result, over twenty Sike officers were brutally beaten to death in broad daylight, their bodies dumped into the streets.
The imperial justice authorities were furious and ordered a massive crackdown.
But the thousands of hostages of the lords rose up in protest, banging bronze gongs and silver drums at the imperial palace gates to alarm the Empress Dowager and the Emperor.
They mustered over ten thousand thugs and guards to violently resist the law enforcement, leaving the Sike Department utterly humiliated.
In the end, the matter was settled by sacrificing a “worthless” slave as a scapegoat on behalf of that marquis’s son.
After the slave was beheaded, the Empress Dowager, aiming to appease the marquis’s child, secretly ordered the Honglu Minister to pay a condolence sum equal to a hundred times that slave’s worth in silver!
Old He rambled on, explaining the special situation of Siji District within Haojing to Lu Xuan.
Lu Xuan asked, stunned, “Is that really allowed?”
Old He looked around, lowered his voice, and said, “Nineteen years ago, when the Empress Dowager was ruling behind the curtain, all the heirs represented their lords from the four directions and submitted a memorial urging her to do so, wholeheartedly supporting her regency.”
“If not for the backing of the lords from all directions, how could the Empress Dowager have...”
The topic was too sensitive, so Old He swallowed a mouthful of stinky tofu and dared not continue.
Lu Xuan understood, “So, this Siji District, we dare not touch it. Even if Liu Wu is hiding somewhere inside one of these courtyards?”
Old He stuffed two cold pieces of stinky tofu into his mouth and chewed heavily.
Looking at Lu Xuan, he said gravely, “Unless we catch him red-handed, or else... Besides, Siji District isn’t even our jurisdiction. No government office can manage those lords' children; they have always done as they please.”
“So, this matter, let's set it aside for now,” Lu Xuan sighed helplessly. “Since they already made a move to kill and cover their tracks, Liu Wu won’t leave any easy traces unless he’s a complete fool.”
“We can only have the local ghosts keep watch around Siji District and try our luck.”
“But for the other fifteen brothers who died, especially the one killed just two days ago, we can investigate properly,” Lu Xuan murmured. “It has to be a big fish behind this. They probably uncovered some clue while going after Liu Wu, which drew the strongest reaction from that big fish.”
“But who in Haojing would dare recklessly attack the Shou Gong Bureau’s men like this?”
According to the notes, Lu Xuan took a charcoal stick and circled the spots where those fifteen officers were killed on the map.
He pointed gently on the map and muttered to himself.
“Most likely, the killers stumbled upon something, saw people, saw something. But what exactly could it be?”
“Especially on that day, the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month last year, when seven officers were killed overnight.”
“Based on testimony from the neighborhood residents, from the order of screams and fighting sounds heard, the first officer was killed right here, then at this point, this one, and here…”
“One is attacked and screams, then brothers who hear the noise rush to investigate.”
“They encounter the killers unexpectedly, and are killed on the spot.”
“So, the killers’ escape route must have been along this line.”
Lu Xuan traced a line on the map with the charcoal.
His soul flickered as he instinctively drew a circle.
“There’s a seventy percent chance their lair is within this area.”
“Specifically, this section of Youlouzi Street.”
“What kind of shops are here?”
“Gold smiths, silversmiths, ladies’ cosmetics and handkerchief shops... ha, these specialized places have too much foot traffic, too much exposure. If a bunch of killers hid here, they’d be found out quickly.”
“What kind of shop could hide a group of people without arousing suspicion?”
“There are two coffin shops here!”
“One sells high-end coffins for the wealthy noble families. The other sells mid-to-low grade coffins meant for ordinary folks.”
“What a coincidence, they’re right across from each other.”
“Old He, coffins really are a good business. Aren’t you scared?”
Lu Xuan looked up, smiling cheerfully at Old He.
“If you’re not scared, come with me to check out those two coffin shops. This very moment, let’s go get the lay of the land!”
Old He and the five local ghosts twitched their faces fiercely.
Old He looked at Lu Xuan and chuckled, “After our brothers got killed, we ransacked those two streets and alley, but found no useful clues. Lu Xuan, don’t tell me you just waved that charcoal around on the map and found the killers?”
Lu Xuan pulled out a string of coins and tossed them on the table, grinning as he stood.
“Well, just think of it as helping digest the meal. We go take a look, no harm done. But we should change our clothes first—these Shou Gong white robes are way too conspicuous.”
Old He hesitated, then gritted his teeth and nodded.
He stood, grabbed the coins Lu Xuan had thrown down, and handed them back.
“When we eat around here, we give them enough face. They wouldn’t dare charge us, right?”
“Come on, come on, Lu Xuan, mark my words: on our turf, we don’t owe these little girls any money for their beds and skins, but for food and drink, we don’t have to pay a dime!”
“The Shou Gong Bureau eats and drinks from them, and they still try to get money? Doesn’t make any sense—absolutely not!”
(End of chapter)