Volume One: The Hidden Dragon in the Abyss Chapter 157: Made of Paper

At this point, quite a few people knew that Xu Qing had smashed up the shops, but very few knew that these properties belonged to the Wu family.

As it happened, Yang Hao had looked into the background beforehand, so he was certain of it.

Xu Qing had actually gone and smashed all of their properties, and he had done so while leading the Martial Guard?

How could he find this so absurdly unbelievable? What kind of situation was this?

Struck as if by lightning, his mind remained in chaos for a long time as he finished listening to the full report.

Xu Qing—so after being assassinated, he went straight into the palace; then the Stone Sea Whistle sounded, he led troops out of the palace, and directly smashed up their shops...

No matter which link in the entire chain one looked at, it was... utterly audacious!

"Has he lost his mind?" Yang Hao's face turned ashen. "What on earth does he want to do? How could he treat the Wu family like this?"

Whether it was sounding the Stone Sea Whistle, leading troops out of the palace, or smashing and looting shops, these were all wildly overstepping actions.

An ordinary person doing this would have died a thousand times over, but right now, the entire capital of Yangcheng knew he had only become the Commander because of the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince simply could not wash his hands of this.

That was the logic of it!

"Master, we cannot sit here and wait for our doom. What should we do now?" His trusted subordinate asked him.

"Right, right, let me think." Yang Hao forced himself to remain calm.

He was currently holding down the fort at the Crown Prince's Residence; it was not yet time to panic, and unless absolutely necessary, he could not implicate His Highness the Crown Prince.

Everything he did right now represented the will of the Crown Prince's Residence.

"Be on guard. Do not let anyone disturb the Crown Prince's Consort and the little princess." Yang Hao looked back toward the inner courtyard; no matter what happened, defending the Crown Prince's Residence came first.

If anyone acted against the Crown Prince's Residence, he would, as an absolute last resort, ask Gu Yunqi to deploy troops for protection.

"By the way, where has Lord Gu Yunqi gone? Go find out immediately!" Yang Hao decided resolutely.

With the Emperor ignoring state affairs, the Prime Minister was currently directing matters, and the various ministries and departments each performed their respective duties.

However, Yang Hao had no wish to seek them out just yet; things hadn't reached that stage.

He had to find Gu Yunqi first!

There were only three armed forces in the capital, excluding the private guards of various estates, imperial relatives, and ministers—those were all private forces.

The official ones numbered only three: first, the Forbidden Army, which had now been reorganized into the Martial Guard, guarding the imperial city.

Second was the Xiang Army. Even the Xiang Army of the capital garrison was primarily used for defending the city, and they usually drilled at training grounds outside the city walls. Since the capital rarely saw warfare, any such occurrence would mean a crisis of national annihilation.

Occasionally, the Xiang Army would be dispatched to support the front lines as the most elite force in the entire country!

It had been over twenty years since His Majesty first handed the capital's security over to Gu Yunqi.

This also involved the bailiffs of the Capital Magistrate's Office, nearly ten thousand strong, who cooperated with the Xiang Army in maintaining public order, making arrests, patrolling, and other duties.

Regardless of which force it was, Gu Yunqi could directly mobilize and take command of them; this was the imperial decree and tally bestowed upon him by His Majesty.

Officials in the capital could not possibly be unaware of this. He was the one entity who truly held control over the entire city.

Therefore, he felt he had to locate him first.

He had laid countless eyes and ears throughout the city, and feedback soon arrived.

"Gu Yunqi entered the palace long ago!"

Yang Hao was startled, then calmed down to think it over, combining it with the other intelligence.

"That's right. The Stone Sea Whistle blew in the palace; Gu Yunqi must have entered the palace immediately to take over the Martial Guard. A matter of heaven-shaking importance is still His Majesty's safety. But Xu Qing has already led troops out of the palace... and they didn't even use the same gate. Gu Yunqi couldn't possibly have known what Xu Qing was doing so quickly... Damn it! Could it be that he planned this all along? Did Xu Qing scheme against Gu Yunqi as well? Has he lost his mind?! What does he want to do? What can he gain from this besides making an enemy of the Crown Prince's Residence? Even if he deals a blow to the Wu family, so what?"

He was mad, completely mad!

Because of his entanglement, the entire city was in chaos that night, and many people found themselves unable to sleep.

"You sent people to assassinate Xu Qing? Have you lost your mind?!"

Wu Song had just received the news when the Heir came over in person to interrogate him.

"Heir, it truly wasn't me! No matter what, I would never dare to do such a thing. Why would I lie to you of all people?" Knowing he couldn't wash himself clean, Wu Song said speechlessly, "I dare swear upon my Wu family and my parents! Heir, you must believe me!"

The Heir stared at him for a long time. "Alright, I believe you! If it wasn't you, and someone took the opportunity to throw mud and frame us, who could it be? I will use all my resources to find out."

"Thank you, Heir," Wu Song said with gratitude. "It's just such a coincidence that at this very time, following your advice, I even intended to host a banquet to apologize to him, and then this happened. No matter who is behind the scenes, we must not let them off!"

Only then did he heave a sigh of relief.

"Young Master, this is bad! Xu Qing has led people to smash all of our shops in the capital!"

At that moment, a subordinate rushed in frantically to report.

"Pfft—"

Wu Song was drinking wine at the time, and on the spot, he spewed the wine from his mouth, followed immediately by a mouthful of fresh blood.

So many things had happened recently, leaving him utterly aggrieved to the point of suffocation. He had already been bullied to this extent.

"Are you pigs? Couldn't you have stopped them?"

Wu Song kicked out, directly flipping the table and sending cups and plates crashing into a messy heap.

By then, the Heir had also received the report.

"Young Master, the people he brought are the Forbidden Army! Many of our people have already been beaten and injured. He insisted on accusing us of harboring criminals, and started beating us indiscriminately without asking right from wrong. When we resisted, he claimed we were committing treason. We simply couldn't hold out; we did our best."

The subordinate wailed miserably.

Whenever members of their Wu family had gone anywhere in the past, people would treat them with the utmost respect. Every year, they paid so much tax to the state and made so many contributions.

Yet today, they were bullied simply because someone felt like it.

"Xu Qing!" Wu Song slammed his fist hard onto the table. "I will never let you go!"

"How could he mobilize the Martial Guard? How could he lead troops out of the palace?" The Heir was shocked upon hearing the news.

The organization of the Forbidden Army differed from other armies, yet it shared similarities.

For Xu Qing to lead troops out of the palace without the Emperor's decree—that was the biggest problem of all.

He was practically courting death!

"Find out where Xu Qing is right now; I am going to see the Prime Minister! This time, no matter what, we must eradicate him!" The Heir was also consumed by rage. "How dare he order the Forbidden Army to do such a thing, acting with such audacity and committing all kinds of outrage? He cannot be allowed to live."

The most bustling place that night was the Prime Minister's Estate, followed by Gu Yunqi's residence, as people swarmed to them demanding justice, and then the Capital Magistrate's Office.

In a short span of time, all the victims and implicated merchants had gathered.

Apart from the Emperor, these two men were the most powerful figures holding actual power—one civil, one military.

It was through their efforts that the capital had continued to operate peacefully.

The Prime Minister only met with a few individuals, and later, the arriving Heir.

The Prime Minister was already over sixty years old. In the past, he had some friendship with Duke Yun; having experienced three demotions and three promotions, he had since firmly secured his position.

The common people might not know much about him, as he kept a very low profile—arguably acting as if he accomplished nothing at all.

Within official circles, however, he was secretly nicknamed the "Paper-Paste Prime Minister."

His greatest trait and capability lay in catering to the Son of Heaven, deeply winning the imperial favor. He never went against the grain, and his actions closely matched the Emperor's desires, making him presumably the Emperor's favorite subject.

Especially for a monarch like the ruler of Jin, having such a subordinate was truly perfection.

"Prime Minister, Xu Qing's actions are simply too outrageous. The Forbidden Army leaving the palace violates ancestral system! I feel the Prime Minister must step forward. Tomorrow, join the hundred officials in impeaching Xu Qing; he must be stripped of his office and severely punished," the Heir said earnestly.

Sun Xinchong, this amiable and gentle old goodman, did not seem to be listening to what was being said at all. Indifferent to these matters, he asked his subordinate, "Where is Lord Xu right now?"

Xu Qing.

His first concern was the other party's whereabouts; where was the main protagonist?

"The Forbidden Army has already returned to the palace; Lord Xu cannot be seen," the subordinate reported. "Our people are also keeping watch at the Crown Prince's Residence, but they haven't seen him return yet."

Useless!

If someone like Xu Qing didn't want to be found, who could possibly find him?

After all, that man was Wang Chuan's junior martial brother.

Although he himself didn't understand martial arts matters very well, he had some concept of just how terrifyingly formidable Wang Chuan was.

"Prime Minister, he is trying to flee from justice to avoid punishment! Why don't you hurry up and stop him?" the Heir said.

Do not make a fuss over such minor matters—Sun Xinchong glanced at him sideways.

Besides, speaking of arresting him, who else in Yangcheng could possibly arrest him?

Did he expect to ask Wang Chuan to step in and capture his own junior martial brother?

Flee from what crime? Whether a crime had even been committed hadn't been determined yet.

He himself lacked the qualification to do so; if he overstepped his bounds, the Emperor would surely finish him off, and quite miserably at that.

Xu Qing had already done such a thing; was he, Sun Xinchong, expected to play the fool as well?

The one person capable of calming the situation and influencing Xu Qing was, crucially, Gu Yunqi; everything rested on him.

As the head of the hundred officials and the master of the city's armed forces, he himself felt that the two of them must meet and discuss this once.

Especially while the Emperor was in seclusion.

If the Emperor could come out, he would be the happiest and most excited person of all, sparing him from all this annoyance.

Instead, he was constantly faced with these matters that were bound to offend people.

Urgent though it was to see Gu Yunqi, Sun Xinchong first went into the palace to seek an audience with the Emperor.

The Heir hurriedly followed along with him.

Though they both understood the Emperor would not see external ministers, a flock of eunuchs and palace maids peered out with eager hope every day, let alone the two of them.

They waited for a full half-hour.

Then they went to request an audience with the Crown Prince. The gates of the Crown Prince's Residence were already blocked by many people, and Yang Hao had kept them several yards away, refusing to let them approach.

The result, naturally, was that the Crown Prince would not come out of seclusion for such a matter.

Though Sun Xinchong secretly suspected the message hadn't even been reported upward.

Sun Xinchong waited there for another half-hour before finally leaving.

At last, it was time to see Gu Yunqi. The Heir had tagged along the whole way, growing so impatient he nearly fell asleep several times before forcing himself awake.

He simply couldn't understand how this old man managed to endure it.

During this interval, a minor incident occurred: Wu Song sent someone to secretly inform him that a few of the heavily injured individuals had been quietly finished off, and those few lives would now be pinned directly on Xu Qing.

After hearing this, the Heir was startled for a moment—quite a ruthless fellow, daring to do such a thing.

It was good of him to give a heads-up, but the Heir wisely pretended to know nothing; after all, it had nothing to do with him.

Then came another small twist: Gu Yunqi had already returned to the military camp outside the city.

Sun Xinchong sent word asking to leave the city to see him, but Gu Yunqi replied that the curfew was already in effect and no one was permitted to leave the city.

Whereupon the Prime Minister simply turned back—clean and decisive.

The Heir watched in utter bewilderment. By the next day, Sun Xinchong reported himself ill.

Finally, he understood why he was called the "Paper-Paste Prime Minister."