Xiong Taitou fled, the chaos in Kunpeng Ward finally settled.
Blood flowed like rivers, corpses littered the streets, and the great fire had died out, with black smoke still billowing high into the sky.
Fortunately, the worst hit was the Grand Chancellor’s Mansion.
The ordinary people of Kunpeng Ward had little to no involvement.
There were still about two hours before dawn.
At the Marquis of Lai’s residence, Lu Yu was sound asleep in a small warm pavilion next to his study.
A few days ago, he had gone to visit the Marquis of Tian’en’s mansion to lodge a fierce complaint with Lady Hu.
Regarding Lu Zhan’s matter, the two had reached a consensus.
Lady Hu swore to exile Lu Zhan from the clan records and expel him from the family.
Lu Yu fancied himself a ‘calm and collected’ scholar who didn’t worry about anything.
After Lady Hu promised this, he threw the matter out of his mind and returned leisurely to his residence.
He read books, practiced calligraphy, and his hired scholar-retainers somehow managed to acquire a few rare pieces of ancient porcelain.
The group gathered, organizing a literary appreciation gathering centered on these porcelain pieces.
The day was lively and filled with plenty of wine.
Looking toward the imperial city of Haojing, along the city walls, atop a row of one hundred and eight towering watchtowers, large tallow lamps were lit one by one.
Polished crystal mirrors reflected the flames up into the night sky.
One hundred and eight beams of light, as thick as water jars, shot straight into the dark clouds above, creating a dazzling display of shining spots.
On guard duty at the Marquis of Lai’s residence, a servant who was yawning glanced toward the imperial city.
Suddenly, he shuddered when he saw those radiant beams of light piercing the night.
Hurriedly, he stretched out his fingers and counted rapidly.
Having just counted a dozen or so, the loud tolling of bells rang from the imperial city.
Mixed with the bell chimes were the crisp, urgent sounds of jade chimes.
The servant trembled and jumped down from the high watchtower, shouting loudly: “Someone! Someone! Notify the lord! Quickly prepare the court robes… It's an urgent summons to the Grand Court Assembly! No delays! If late by even fifteen minutes, your noble rank will be demoted one level!”
In no time, the sleeping Lu Yu was forcefully dressed in a full set of ceremonial robes by his maid.
A cold towel pressed against his face made him shriek awake from the chill.
Weak as he was—so weak that he would fall off a horse even on flat ground—he was stuffed into a small warm sedan chair.
Two household commanders, each at the threshold of the Jingjing realm, carried the sedan at the front and back, sprinting out the main gate of the mansion straight toward the imperial city.
Behind them, over a hundred household guards on fast horses closely followed.
The whole Anle Ward was thrown into chaos.
Nobles and officials qualified to attend court jumped up like their pants were on fire, hastily donning their court robes and rushing toward the imperial city, breathless.
Groups of guards clustered around their masters like little streams converging on the main street, then charging at full speed down the central thoroughfare, howling as they thundered over the stone bridges spanning the canal.
Lu Yu sat limp in the sedan chair, clutching the armrests tightly.
Despite the two household commanders’ best efforts to steady the chair, the motion was so jarring he felt as if his insides might be shaken out.
“Damn it… This isn’t even the fifteenth day of the New Year Grand Assembly yet… What’s going on?” Lu Yu wailed, close to crying. “Not a bit of preparation, and they summon us at the last minute like this?”
According to the laws set by the Founding Ancestor of Dayin when the dynasty was established, once a hundred and eight beacon fires were lit atop the city walls and the golden bells and jade chimes sounded simultaneously, it meant the state had an emergency and all nobles and officials qualified for court must gather in Haojing immediately.
When the beacon fires are lit, ordinary officials taking longer than an hour to arrive could be excused with only a salary fine.
But for the nobles? If they were late even once, their rank would be reduced by a level—no exceptions.
Yet Lu Yu wanted to cry!
Back when Dayin was first founded, the first Marquis of Lai was a disciple who had broken the cosmic barrier—a cultivation beyond the Pit-opening realm.
He possessed divine abilities and extraordinary strength.
No matter where he was in Haojing, once the beacon fires lit up, he could arrive at the imperial city within the time it took to drink a single cup of tea.
But now, Lu Yu...
Even if a hundred savage dogs were chasing him down, it would be a great achievement if he managed to run ten miles in an hour.
“Reform! Reform! The law must be changed… the times are changing, the old rules of our ancestors can’t remain untouched. At the very least, the rules of this Grand Assembly must change. One hour? It’s nowhere near enough!”
Lu Yu stuck his head out the sedan window and yelled hoarsely, “Slow down! Slow down! Our mansion is the closest to the imperial city, so why the rush? Why the rush? Ah, go slower!”
Before he finished, a cold breeze blew over, and the remnant drunkenness from last night stirred a wave of nausea.
Without thinking, Lu Yu retched.
“Wah hoo…”
Lu Yu vomited thoroughly, and from some of the other noble sedan chairs nearby came similar sounds of embarrassed retching.
Feeling miserable, Lu Yu clutched his neck, utterly resigned.
At that moment, he fully became a devout follower of the Great Reformist, Master Gongyang Yao, longing for the law to change.
If only they could abolish this ‘evil law’ that docked noble ranks for being late to the Grand Assembly, it would be ideal.
Peak Expansion realm martial experts could travel five thousand miles in six hours.
The two household commanders, each a half-step into the Jingjing realm and specialists in light body technique, could run extremely fast.
Leaving behind the guards galloping on horseback far behind, in just fifteen minutes, while trying to keep the sedan stable, Lu Yu finally reached the southern gate of the imperial city.
Almost tumbling out, Lu Yu gasped for breath and patted his chest.
He accepted a warm tea flask from the lead guard and hurriedly took a few sips of fragrant tea.
Looking around, more officials from Wuyin and Kunpeng Wards had already arrived at the southern gate.
Clearing his throat, Lu Yu looked toward a group of nobles gathered in their own small circle nearby, then glanced at the clearly separate group of civil officials chatting among themselves.
He hesitated.
He had initially thought of sneaking over to the civil officials’ group to greet them, banking on his old connections with Bai Changkong, who had personally visited him once.
But still uneasy, he forced a few dry laughs and stuck with the nobles' circle instead.
He greeted the assembly energetically by cupping his hands and saying, “Greetings to all of you, happy new year.”
A drowsy group of nobles barely roused themselves and exchanged sleepy salutations with Lu Yu.
They chatted and asked around but no one knew why the Grand Assembly had been suddenly convened today—normally, it was held on the fifteenth day of the first month anyway, and that day was just a couple of days away.
Under the Dayin court, on ordinary days, if nothing urgent happened, administrative officials would privately visit the Empress Dowager or the Emperor for small meetings to handle business quietly.
The nobles only saw their faces at the quarterly Grand Assembly held on the fifteenth day of the first month.
Since most of them had little real role at court, they had no reason to suffer through the trouble of attending otherwise.
“This assembly today feels off. Something big must have happened,” whispered a marquis who had been too excited last night to sleep.
He had been gazing across the canal with a new concubine just before the New Year. “Last night I saw a great fire in Kunpeng Ward. I heard shouting and killing… Tsk!”
The nobles instantly lit up with interest, all of them turning to look at the civil officials standing quietly nearby, whose faces were gloomy.
“A shame they didn’t burn a few of them to death,” a duke sneered strangely. “But Kunpeng Ward got ablaze? Heh, that’s no joke compared to the fire in Siji Ward a few days ago!”
He blinked and then withdrew a slender square of white deer leather from his sleeve.
It was polished so thin and clear it resembled a mirror.
It measured about one foot square.
The white deer leather bore the imperial seal of Dayin’s Emperor, the official seal of the Palace Treasury Minister, and elaborate engravings.
At the center was a figure indicating the value: ‘Worth 100,000 qian!’
This was the ‘White Deer Money’ privately issued by Emperor Jiayou Yin Yuan, bypassing official court channels and backed by the royal treasury and the private palace vaults of his Jiuqu Garden.
The denominations branded on these white deer leather notes ranged from 100,000 to millions and tens of millions of qian, guaranteed by the royal authority.
In certain circles and channels within Dayin, ‘White Deer Money’ was extremely useful.
For example, when giving a bribe to a palace eunuch, slipping a thin white deer leather note into the sleeve made handing over 100,000, a million, or even ten million qian effortless.
But if you tried to give gold, silver, or even copper coins…
Well, how are you going to hand over thousands of jin (a very heavy weight) of copper coins face to face? Even gold or silver coins would be heavy and cumbersome.
The red-robed eunuch skillfully rolled up the white deer note into a small roll, smiled slightly, and subtly tucked it into his sleeve.
Then, under the questioning of the assembled nobles, he detailed everything that happened in Kunpeng Ward last night.
Lu Yu’s expression darkened.
“Ah, that fellow Lu Tai has struck again, huh? Hah! Our Jingyang Lu clan plans to pass down its scholarly tradition, not fighting and killing! What a shame, spoiling the younger generation!”
He shook his head in disappointment, then smiled at the group of longstanding noble acquaintances nearby, “But if rebellious troops really invaded Kunpeng Ward, then this assembly is justified. Hmph, I wonder how the Haojing Prefect, the Kunpeng Ward Chief, and the other officials will explain themselves.”
The nobles laughed heartily.
Not their problem, to shrug it off.
Watching the civil officials suffer was not their concern, but it brought a certain satisfaction.
Gradually, more officials gathered at the southern gate.
A muffled rumble sounded.
The southern gate of the imperial city slowly opened, and a purple-robed elder eunuch strolled out leisurely, waving to the nobles, “Ah, the time is nearly upon us. It’s a fair distance from here to Fuyao Hall. Esteemed lords, please hurry.”
Lines of young eunuchs dressed in blue followed behind, carrying litters in a neat procession.
Lu Yu and the other nobles straightened their backs and proudly stepped forward.
They took out stacks of white deer money, handing them to the young eunuchs, then settled comfortably onto the litters.
The young eunuchs ran nimbly, carrying them swiftly along the road behind the southern gate, heading straight for Fuyao Hall past the palace’s triple gates—a good twenty li away.
The civil officials, standing aside, spat with a mixture of envy and frustration.
Under the commands of the eunuchs, they formed lines and marched forward with great effort.
The young eunuchs moved briskly, all possessing some degree of cultivation.
The twenty li only took them fifteen minutes.
Lu Zhan stepped down from the litter, composed and calm, brushing off his robes.
Then, his eyes caught sight of Lu Xian standing under the grand platform of Fuyao Hall, chatting and laughing with several elder eunuchs.
(End of Chapter)