Xu Wuyou was still holding the receipt, the ink barely dry, his mind calculating how to provoke these veterans into stirring up a bigger commotion, when a sudden commotion arose beside him.
Old Zhou had somehow moved to the front without anyone noticing.
That old accountant, who usually only ever rattled his abacus, hooked his foot and kicked out, striking the edge of the lead lacquered wooden chest.
The chest hadn't even been locked, held shut only by two copper corner brackets. Under this hidden force, it toppled over with a loud crash.
A flood of pure white silver ingots spilled out, glinting harshly under the scorching midsummer sun.
A few of the official silver coins rolled to a stop right at Qian Zhongwen's feet.
Their gleaming undersides faced up, clearly engraved with four deeply stamped characters—Ministry of War Pensions.
Those four characters, struck deep into the metal, exuded the unassailable authority of imperial decree, not to be defiled.
The retired veterans standing nearest had been waiting with folded arms for the Waterway Office to assign them work.
Now, as they happened to glance down and saw those characters on the base of the official silver, their already weathered, dark faces twisted with fury.
The lead man, a fellow named Old Guai, had lost his left leg years ago fighting on the northern frontier and relied on an iron-tipped crutch to get around.
He stared at that ingot of silver, then, without a moment's hesitation, threw aside his crutch. Dropping to his single knee on the scorching stone slabs, his calloused hands trembling, he lifted the ingot to his nose.
"Corrupt dog of an official! We brothers ended up crippled, disabled, barely able to afford a single meal to live on back home. And you? You even dare to forcibly seize the pension silver the Imperial Court sent down to support the orphans of fallen soldiers, calling it some damned 'screening fee'! Aren't you afraid the countless wronged souls will come at night to flay your hide?"
That shout, filled with endless blood and bitterness, explosive as a thunderclap, ignited the hundred-odd silent veterans like gunpowder.
Every one of them was a walking dead man clawed out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Though their blades were sheathed, their tempers had never been tamed.
Hundreds of men let out a single, animalistic roar. An overwhelming, murderous aura surged upward, and it looked ready to tear the awning and everyone inside it to bloody shreds.
Just a moment ago, Qian Zhongwen had been daydreaming about embezzling the eight-thousand-tael fortune and buying fertile land back home come year's end. Now, the greedy light in his eyes went dark, replaced by nothing but boundless terror.
He looked down at the scattered official pension silver on the ground, then raised his eyes to the receipt he had cheerfully stamped with his vermilion seal.
He felt as if he had fallen into an ice chasm. A few strange gurgling noises came from his throat, followed by a piercing, desperate scream.
Embezzling military pay. Inciting troops to mutiny.
Either one of these charges, if presented before the Emperor, would be enough for the Imperial Guard to lock up his entire family, drag them to the capital, and have them skinned alive at Caishikou market for three full days and nights.
It wasn't just the veterans. The boatmen waiting for their vessels to pass the locks at the pierhead, the dockworkers unloading cargo with their bare backs—everyone there had long suffered the bone-marrow-sucking exploitation by the Granary Office.
Now that they heard this Revenue Bureau Secretary had dared to swallow even the soldiers' blood money, the crowd exploded like boiling oil set aflame.
"No... not this official! This official absolutely knew nothing!"
Qian Zhongwen was so terrified his legs buckled. He collapsed into his grand armchair, a puddle of reeking yellow liquid dripping down the legs of his green official robes.
His face was deathly pale. He shakily pointed a trembling finger at Xu Wuyou, screaming through sobs.
"It's him! The Watery Hall set me up deliberately! Xu Wuyou, you dare craft such a poisonous plot to frame an Imperial official! How brazen you are!"
Only now did Xu Wuyou fully understand what had happened.
He never imagined his own barely-speaking old accountant, who couldn't squeeze out a single harsh word three times in a row, would wield such ruthless means—directly using the Ministry of War's treasury silver to lay this perfect trap.
Although the process had completely deviated from his original intention to just start a fight, the noose had been drawn into an inescapable knot, leaving no room for the other party to struggle.
Now that the stage was set to this level, if he didn't finish the play, he would be doing this pile of silver ingots an injustice.
Without the slightest panic, he took the receipt stained with the blood-red seal, folded it neatly, and tucked it securely into his inner pocket, letting out a long, cold laugh.
"Lord Qian, this is barking at the wrong person."
"I didn't lock the chest, you saw the silver with your own eyes! Besides, the receipt was written in your own hand and the seal stamped by your own fingers. There were thousands of eyes watching under this sun, plain as day—so which part of this is a false charge?"
"Skin this blood-sucking beast alive!"
At that moment, Old Guai let out a shrill roar, lunging forward like a tiger breaking out of its cage, his rusted broken knife aimed straight at Qian Zhongwen's heart.
At this edge of life and death, Xu Wuyou stopped.
By now, Qian Zhongwen’s official hat had rolled away to the side, his hair disheveled, snot and tears smearing his fat face.
He mustered the last shred of strength left in his body and thumped his head repeatedly against the top of Xu Wuyou's boot, wailing.
Young Master Xu! Hall Master Xu, save me! This official does not wish to die... I am willing to confess! Whether it is the accounts of the Granary Office or who in the Ministry of Revenue gave the nod, I will confess everything! I beg you, for the sake of your father and I serving as court officials together, pull me out of this and grant me a path to live!
Xu Wuyou looked down from his height at this mangy dog writhing at his feet, utterly devoid of dignity, his gaze cold without a trace of warmth.
He knew better than anyone that if he allowed these enraged old soldiers to slice the Ministry of Revenue official to pieces right there on the street, the satisfaction would be momentary.
But the crime of assembling a mob to kill a government official would immediately recoil upon the Waterways Hall.
Once the imperial court was provoked into dispatching the Capital Army to suppress the situation, the wily old fox Shang Qitai would still slip away in the chaos.
Now that this drama had reached its climax, it was time for him to step onto the stage, cast the net, and use one force to counter another—nailing this ironclad case shut beyond any chance of reversal.
He lifted his foot and kicked Qian Zhongwen, who was sprawled like mud, half a yard away.
Then he turned to face the murderous band of crippled soldiers, pressing both hands downward while drawing a deep breath from his diaphragm, and bellowed a command to halt: “Everyone, stop, by order of this Hall Master!”
The sharp shout carried an authority that could not be defied, just managing to freeze the few blades that had been raised at the front and were about to fall.
Xu Wuyou assumed an air of righteous urgency and swift action, sternly reprimanding the people around him.
“Killing a court-appointed official has always been a capital crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations.”
“If you wield your blades today and find your satisfaction, are you going to drag the hundreds of elders, brothers, and comrades here onto the execution block with you?”
“These vermin of the state—secretly withholding pension funds for soldiers, and manufacturing fraudulent official grain measures—should be handed over to the proper authorities of the imperial court for open and just punishment!”
He turned to look at Pang Yu and the others, still stunned and not yet recovered, and issued a command as solemn as a military oath.
“All members of the Waterways Hall, hear my order!”
“This Hall Master came today under the secret orders of the Ministry of War, intending to use this public ground at Tongzhou Wharf to distribute the eight thousand taels of silver directly to these retired and disabled veteran soldiers.”
“Yet I never expected that Qian Zhongwen, bold as brass and driven by greed, would dare to openly rob the pension pay of the veterans right on the street and forcibly impose it as the exorbitant fee for Ministry grain inspection passes!”
Xu Wuyou’s words were forceful and decisive.
With this statement, he forcefully added an unbreachable layer of ironclad protection to the entire event.
In just a few sentences, he not only instantly cleared the Waterways Hall of any suspicion of “using military funds to set a trap” but also redefined the incident as “the Ministry of War legally distributing funds, which was then robbed by a Ministry of Revenue dog official on the street.”
With this premise, not only could the imperial court not hold the Xu family responsible, but the Minister of War would also have no choice but to step in and shield the Waterways Hall!
“To ensure no mutiny breaks out at the granaries and to uphold the laws of the imperial court, tie up Qian Zhongwen and every granary overseer involved here securely!”
“Load the eight thousand taels of stolen silver and those four official grain measures packed with iron blocks in secret onto carts, and send them directly under escort to the capital, to be tried jointly by the Three Judicial Offices!”
