At the Survey Department’s headquarters, in front of the main hall, six large black lacquered coffins were lined up in a perfect row.
These were the six water-curved willow wood coffins, six feet long, which the little eunuchs had struggled through the night to procure, after knocking on many doors.
Last night, six fallen prison guards had their heads meticulously sewn back onto their bodies by expert craftsmen using fine silk threads, leaving a thin red line around their necks.
They had changed into clean battle robes, their bodies carefully tended, lying silently inside the coffins.
Silk quilts embroidered with copper coin patterns covered them.
Paper gold ingots lay piled on their heads, paper silver ingots stacked at their feet, and both hands tightly grasped thick bundles of paper money adorned with copper coin designs.
A squad of prison guards stood respectfully in the courtyard.
Upon seeing Lu Qian, they bowed their heads and saluted him deeply.
With these six coffins laid out, the prison guards felt reassured about following Lu Qian.
To receive such treatment after death was no small matter.
All the items used by these six comrades who died in battle were of good quality, bought from the open market.
The prison guards honestly felt that if they died fighting in the Yulin Army, their families wouldn’t be able to afford such fine funerary items.
That Lu Qian could spend his own money to provide his fallen brothers with excellent things showed this chief officer was generous and cared deeply for his comrades.
Working under such a commander was reassuring, making no one afraid to die without proper honors.
Lu Qian stood at the hall’s entrance, staring blankly at the six coffins lined up in a row.
A deep unease settled in his heart.
First, because of last night’s great fire, these prison guards had died for him.
He bore a heavy burden of guilt.
Therefore, he was determined to handle the affairs of his brothers’ funerals and provide for their families properly and splendidly.
Second, Lu Qian was a bit compulsive—he was sensitive about numbers.
Originally, the three hundred-man squads were so neatly arranged and perfectly uniform.
Suddenly losing six men meant that they absolutely needed to be replaced.
He would have to send people to the Shougongjian headquarters to keep an eye out.
If any underworld folks were willing to join, they had to be recruited immediately.
From outside came the noise of commotion.
Just now, hundreds had attacked the garrison, making quite a stir.
Officials from Yushun Ward had already arrived.
The prison guards had handed the bodies over to the Yushun Ward magistrate’s office to collect the corpses.
Those injured or crippled prisoners who survived were entrusted to Shougongjian’s men stationed in Yushun Ward, to be taken to the secret prison and await orders from Yu Changle’s side.
After some busy moments, Lu Qian’s prison guards entered the main courtyard in orderly procession.
A Shougongjian captain responsible for this neighborhood in Yushun Ward came inside, greeted Lu Qian briefly, then left with his men.
The heavy main gate shut behind him.
Lu Qian cupped his hands toward the subordinates lined up in the courtyard.
“All right, this is Ah Hu, my brother. From now on, he’s one of us. Ah Hu has some connections among the common folk in Gaojing, knows many people. He will be our eyes and ears on the streets of the Yushun Ward Survey Department.”
“Send a letter to headquarters. Get Ah Hu a full set of prison guard uniform. Then prepare a batch of identity tokens for the ‘ground ghosts.’ Start with a thousand copies.”
The prison guards, formerly soldiers of the Yulin Army, showed no reaction.
But the twenty little eunuchs, trained inside the imperial court and well versed in how things ran, were wide-eyed with shock at Lu Qian’s bold move—recruiting a thousand ‘ground ghosts’ for the newly formed Yushun Ward Survey Department?
The Shougongjian’s ‘ground ghosts’ were no mere street ruffians; they had to be familiar with the streets and maintain certain connections in the neighborhood, skilled in gathering information and intelligence, tailing and surveilling, even breaking and entering, administering knockouts, scattering white powder, and other all sorts of wild tactics.
Without a certain degree of combat ability and operational skill, the Shougongjian wouldn’t waste benefits on them.
In fact, these ‘ground ghosts’ were expected to give back to the Shougongjian, collecting a share of the grey income on the streets.
Only those who qualified in this way would be listed in the Shougongjian’s registry and issued identity tokens.
Even as ‘temporary workers,’ it wasn’t that easy!
To recruit a thousand at once… if Lu Qian wasn’t bluffing, then this newly risen favorite by the Emperor clearly had quite a few skills, young as he was.
The eunuchs inside the court were sharp, perfectly adept at aligning with power and climbing social ranks.
The twenty little eunuchs smiled brightly, slightly bending their already stooped backs even more respectfully, nodding repeatedly and obediently.
Noting this subtle change in their attitude, Lu Qian nodded and tossed the rough cloth package onto the ground.
The wrapping’s knot undone, “clatter, clatter,” a pile of finely cast small gold ingots spilled out from the huge bundle, sparkling and eye-catching.
Both the prison guards and the little eunuchs stared wide-eyed, their bodies stiffening at the sight of the gold ingots.
“My brothers who died in battle last night—this was my fault,” Lu Qian said loudly.
“Besides the official compensation from the Department, I am giving each bereaved family an extra ten taels of gold.”
Three company commanders stepped forward, knees bent, and saluted Lu Qian solemnly.
Ten taels of gold equal two hundred taels of silver, or two hundred guan of large copper coins.
When they were in the Yulin Army, the official compensation for a fallen soldier was only three years’ worth of salary.
Based on the Yulin Army rank and pay, that came to about sixty guan.
Lu Qian’s compensation was over three times the official amount.
Moreover, this was money given in addition to the official payout.
This kind of boss was truly humane, and it also showed Lu Qian was not short of money.
To follow such a commander, the men could rest easy.
“For brothers seriously wounded, three taels of gold each for medicine. Lightly injured brothers get one tael each. For the other brothers, I, as your superior, have no meeting gifts to offer, so half a tael of gold each, that’s five guan. Let’s all drink up!”
“Boom!”
Over two hundred prison guards kneeled on one knee, raising their right fists and pounding heavily on their chests.
Lu Qian said to the twenty squinting little eunuchs, “Your skills are better than the average brothers, so you deserve more. Hmm, take the same as the seriously wounded brothers’ share.”
Three taels of gold per person—sixty guan each.
These little eunuchs were raised deep in the palace, rigorously trained by the Shougongjian.
Apart from having enough to eat and drink, they earned no money at all, not one wen each month.
They were all orphans taken in by the Shougongjian, who fed and supported them, giving them a chance at life—yet still no pay?
In fact, their pockets were cleaner than the stone slabs of this pristinely swept courtyard.
Lu Qian handed them sixty guan right off the bat?
This was a fortune these little eunuchs had never seen before in their lives!
They all beamed with joy, their stiff backs suddenly softening.
In perfect unison, they knelt, thoroughly sincere, then kowtowed loudly to Lu Qian: “Ah, we humbly thank you, Master. We will serve you with our lives.”
Over two hundred prison guards shouted together, “Willing to die for Master!”
Archers standing on the elevated sentry points raised their strong bows and crossbows in salute and loyalty to Lu Qian from afar.
Meanwhile, Bai Changkong, with Bai Lang and several guards, rode large desert wind steeds hailing from the western Youzhou, crossing the canal and arriving at a quiet street on the west side of the Imperial City, in Wuyin Ward.
It’s worth mentioning that the desert wind steed is a special breed of warhorse—not as large or sturdy as the blood-hoofed Wuzhui horses Lu Qian had, but their legs were long and slender, capable of galloping at great speeds with lasting endurance.
Compared to Lu Qian’s blood-hoofed Wuzhui, these desert wind steeds could run faster, sustaining full speed for six hours, covering seven or eight thousand li.
Unsurprisingly, these desert wind steeds were more expensive than the star dog breed.
Of course, Bai Changkong wouldn’t have the idle money to purchase such horses himself.
These mounts were gifts from wealthy disciples of the Imperial Academy who came from the western Youzhou—tokens of filial piety to their teacher.
Among scholars, filial disciples presenting fine horses to their master was only natural.
Though Bai Changkong’s household had over a hundred desert wind steeds…
Well, that was because he was the Deputy Chief Instructor of the Imperial Academy.
Among the seven or eight thousand noble scions, wealthy merchants, and aristocratic sons attending the Imperial Academy, who was ever without a desert wind steed?
Having so many wealthy students, Bai Changkong’s mere hundred desert wind steeds showed just how honest and frugal he was.
Bai Changkong led his son and guards into a residence on this street.
This household’s official record said it belonged to a minor official at the Guanglu Temple.
If you traced this official’s record closely, you’d know that twenty years ago, when he first entered the Imperial Academy to study, Bai Changkong was his professor.
They had a genuine teacher-student relationship.
A teacher visiting the home of a disciple was perfectly reasonable, wasn’t it?
Leaving the guards in the outer yard, Bai Changkong entered the back garden under the friendly invitation of the official, then entered a side room and opened a secret passage.
The passage ran underground, crossing two major streets, leading to a mansion further inside.
Here was an underground cellar far larger than the Bai family’s underground rosewood office.
The cellar’s walls and floor were built with huge bluestone blocks, three feet thick, incredibly sturdy, making it nearly impregnable to ordinary people.
Within the vast space, countless huge chests were stacked.
At first glance, these chests, about three feet long and wide, and roughly two feet high, numbered at least two thousand.
Bai Changkong casually opened one chest.
Inside sparkled an array of exquisitely cast ten-tael gold ingots.
He opened several more chests in succession, each packed full of gold ingots.
Some chests were filled with yellow sand gold too, packed tightly between the ingots.
Bai Changkong scooped up a handful of fine gold dust, watching the tiny grains fall ‘ding ding ding’ like green beans, then turned to Bai Lang, who stood dumbfounded, and slowly said, “Father has toiled and schemed all his life; most of what I have earned is right here.”
Bai Lang swallowed hard.
More than two thousand large chests filled with gold ingots and gold dust—what an astonishing fortune!
“Surprised? Father has been deputy chief instructor at the Imperial Academy for many years.”
“You should understand, the Great Yin realm covers the nine provinces, such vast lands.”
“How many sons of princes and noble families come to study at the Imperial Academy, how many wealthy merchants’ children struggle tooth and nail to get in? And those graduates from the Imperial Academy—once they take office… heh heh…”
“So you think you understand why I have your brothers stay at the Imperial Academy so long, and never send you off to other government offices to gain experience? It’s to guard this territory with my life.”
“The Imperial Academy belongs to our Bai family. When I die, it will be yours, and when you die, it will belong to your sons…”
Bai Changkong took a deep breath, a satisfied expression on his face, grabbed a gold ingot, and gently rubbed it against his cheek.
“Pack up ten chests. Send them to the General’s Mansion.”
“That scoundrel Le Wu, his reputation for doing things in exchange for money is trustworthy.”
“To be honest, as long as the money’s right, Le Wu’s credit is more reliable than ninety-nine percent of the noblemen in Gaojing… the guy’s a real talent!”
“Chu Xiu, Chu Xiu? Heh, since Wei Shuang can’t enter the palace, fortunately I still have a niece, orphaned and far away, who came to seek refuge with us.”
“Changing a name, how hard can that be?”
(End of chapter)