The man hadn’t even arrived in Daxing yet, but word that Yuzhou’s little tyrant Cao Du was coming had somehow spread on its own.
Nobody quite knew how it happened — but all of a sudden, this Young Lord whom almost no one had heard of became the talk of the capital over tea and dinner.
Some said he had traveled here sleeping on a bed made of gold.
Others said that along every stretch of road, he entered every pleasure house he passed, and upon entering would book every single woman — not for the usual reasons, but to have them sing and dance, or to sit four to a table playing mahjong, all on Cao Du’s coin.
With such ostentation along the way, the title of Yuzhou’s foremost ne’er-do-well was truly living up to its name.
These rumors produced several different reactions among the capital’s residents.
The first were the common folk, who simply wanted to see what this character who had been spending money like water actually looked like.
Then there were the capital’s own young wastrels. Even knowing that the Cao family stood behind Prince Wu, Cao Du — a person of this sort — hardly seemed intimidating enough to make them back down from a challenge.
The third group were those who harbored suspicion. This Cao Du was coming to the capital from territory occupied by the Ning Army — could he be harboring ill intentions?
Some were even saying that Cao Du’s visit to Daxing was very likely to serve as an envoy on behalf of Prince Ning, Li Chi.
Or perhaps as a spy, to probe the capital’s defenses.
Outside Daxing.
Li Chi, who seemed utterly unconcerned about what might await him inside Daxing, stood at the city gate and tilted his head back to look at the two characters for “Daxing” carved above the gate tunnel. He thought to himself that it looked rather less impressive than he had imagined.
Of course the capital was grand and imposing — yet a great city viewed from outside looked no different from any other.
Jizhou was a great city. Yuzhou was a great city. Neither could compare to the capital in sheer size, but how great was the difference, really?
A large crowd had already gathered at the gate, because he had been so conspicuous that his movements were entirely laid bare. Roughly when he would pass through the capital’s gates, many people already knew.
At the gate, even the imperious garrison soldiers felt a faint anticipation.
Rumor had it that this fellow had been scattering money like dirt the entire way here — who knew whether he would exercise any restraint once he reached the capital.
The guards certainly hoped not. After all, those who had benefited from Cao Du’s passage were not few in number, and if he suddenly became frugal upon reaching the capital, the soldiers currently on duty would be the ones losing out.
There was still some time before Cao Du’s arrival at the capital, and the garrison soldiers were already calculating which of them were on shift.
Miss the timing and a tidy sum of silver might fly right past them.
So at this moment, every garrison soldier standing at the gate felt a slight edge of anxiety.
They thought: what is there to look at? Just two broken characters on a gate, what’s so interesting about that?
Then Li Chi did something that left many people slack-jawed.
He turned to face the two characters “Daxing” above the gate, and bowed to them — deeply, with evident reverence.
Yu Jiuling watched the boss bow with such apparent sincerity and very nearly believed it himself.
Li Chi withdrew his gaze from the carved inscription, then immediately resumed the manner he had maintained throughout the journey.
“I’m entering the capital. Give each of them a red envelope.”
Li Chi waved his hand.
Yu Jiuling quickly stepped forward, with two guards carrying a large bamboo basket behind him — the basket brimming with gleaming silver ingots.
Ten-taels each. First come, first served.
In an instant, the gate erupted into chaos. Soldiers scrambled for the silver; onlooking commoners surged forward too.
Li Chi watched the mayhem and appeared somewhat impatient.
“What’s the rush? As if I can’t afford to give everyone a share.”
He waved his hand again. “Bring up another basket.”
He pointed to one side of the gate, and the moment the basket was set there, the crowd immediately shifted to that side.
Li Chi smiled, and strode through the gate.
Walking with arms folded in salutation, nodding to all those who called out their thanks — he looked every inch the satisfied man of leisure.
One shichen later. Shiyuan Palace.
In the imperial study, Emperor Yang Jing was reviewing the Heroes’ Assembly registration list presented from below.
Scattered individual registrations alone already numbered over seven thousand. Groups arriving with their own forces numbered over twenty units exceeding five hundred people, and seven or eight units exceeding a thousand.
Over the past two-plus months, more than a hundred thousand people had already reached the capital — some within the city, others encamped outside.
Those formally registered for the Heroes’ Assembly numbered around thirty thousand, and the peak was surely still to come. With a little over a month remaining before the Assembly, Yang Jing estimated at minimum another sixty to seventy thousand would register in that time.
Many people were still waiting to see how things unfolded, and the Assembly was still more than a month away.
And that was not accounting for the total number of arrivals — the stream of people heading to Daxing with their forces was unceasing even now.
A rough estimate put the total at potentially hundreds of thousands. Once the Heroes’ Assembly concluded, assembling a force of a hundred thousand would be no problem; two hundred thousand was not entirely out of the question.
So Yang Jing’s expression finally bore the faintest trace of relief. He had no one to call on now — Jingzhou’s forces were barely sufficient to hold their own. To resist the Ning Army’s advance south from Yuzhou, he would have to rely on these people.
“Your Majesty.”
An attendant bowed and entered. “Chief Justice Gui Yuanshu of the Grand Court of Revision requests an audience.”
Yang Jing glanced toward the doorway, thinking this was probably a report concerning that Cao Du — but truly, for a matter so trivial, he had no desire to hear it.
A man of vast inherited wealth and no useful learning or talent, who had simply made something of a spectacle of himself on the journey here, and yet the entire capital was now in an uproar over him.
If not for his connection to Prince Wu, he would have wanted to issue an edict on the spot to have the man casually thrown in a cell.
Never mind what he had come for — lock him up for ten days or two weeks, and see whether he remained quite so brazen.
Yang Jing was also not particularly fond of Gui Yuanshu. The man was careless in his conduct, loose in his bearing, and entirely unsuited for the post of Chief Justice. But this person had been recommended by Prince Wu, and the Emperor could not very well refuse Prince Wu face.
After all, the realm of Dachu still depended on Prince Wu to defend it. That old man had not returned to the capital in years, fighting ceaselessly in the field, with no title left to bestow and no further reward to offer — the Emperor could only treat those with ties to Prince Wu a little better.
So toward an official like Gui Yuanshu, negligent in his duties, he turned a blind eye.
Prince Wu had said before his departure that Gui Yuanshu possessed great talent — capable of governing in the civil sphere and commanding troops in the military — and that making him Chief Justice was doing him a disservice.
Just thinking of this made the Emperor somewhat irritable. A man who spent his days doing absolutely nothing, loafing about the Grand Court of Revision in complete idleness — and that was doing him a disservice?
The outrageous things this fellow had done probably weren’t too far behind Cao Du’s.
Legend had it that the very first thing he did upon taking office as Chief Justice was to assemble all his subordinates in the Grand Court’s main hall and order them to split into two groups and fight — whichever side won would be rewarded a thousand taels of silver.
That day, the Grand Court of Revision erupted into something akin to the collapse of mountains and seas. At first no one dared to really go at it, but once tempers flared, who was watching who.
By the end, a victor had been declared — whereupon this Chief Justice announced he had no money and gave the winning side a promissory note.
The Grand Court of Revision was genuinely broke.
After that, this fellow would stroll out at all hours to go fishing, and every time he went he brought a crowd of subordinates. When he couldn’t catch anything himself, he ordered his men to jump into the river to catch fish by hand — regardless of how undignified they looked or who might be laughing at them.
Later still, this fellow had a flagpole erected in the Grand Court of Revision’s courtyard, and declared that whoever could climb it fastest and highest would be permitted one full month free of reporting duties — free to go wherever they pleased, salary still paid.
No one knew how many people had filed complaints against this man, but whenever the Emperor saw a memorial impeaching Gui Yuanshu, he simply tossed it aside unread.
There was, of course, one other primary reason: the Grand Court of Revision genuinely had nothing to do.
According to its designated authority, major and serious cases adjudicated by local yamen across Dachu, including cases processed by the Ministry of Justice, were all to be forwarded to the Grand Court of Revision for review. But with Dachu in its current state, the Emperor’s edicts carried no weight beyond Jingzhou — calling them worthless scraps of paper was no exaggeration.
Who was going to forward cases to the Grand Court of Revision?
“Let him in.”
The Emperor slowly exhaled.
In his heart stirred a sense of helplessness — the feeling of a man striving to restore a dynasty while surrounded by a company of thoroughly useless subordinates…
Gui Yuanshu came in bowing, then dropped to his knees. “This minister—”
Before he could finish, the Emperor said, “Rise and speak. I’m somewhat busy. Please be brief and don’t waste time.”
Gui Yuanshu said, “This minister believes this Cao Du may genuinely pose a problem, and therefore requests Your Majesty’s permission to recall the Grand Court of Revision’s personnel so this minister may investigate this person rigorously.”
“Hmm?”
The Emperor frowned slightly, feeling that Gui Yuanshu truly lacked any sense of proportion.
“Do you realize that tens of thousands of martial world figures have gathered in the capital right now? Not just your Grand Court of Revision — even the Ministry of Justice’s people, the Ministry of Rites’ people, the Ministry of Works’ people have all been reassigned to assist with maintaining order. If you pull your people back… Gui Yuanshu, tell me — do you genuinely believe this Cao Du is more important than my Heroes’ Assembly?”
Gui Yuanshu quickly bowed his head. “This minister dares not suggest so. It is simply that this minister truly has no one at his disposal.”
The Emperor asked, “Then tell me — where exactly do you find him suspicious?”
Gui Yuanshu replied, “When this person distributed silver at the city gate, he used treasury ingots. This should not—”
“Enough.”
The Emperor waved his hand.
As for the extent of the Cao family’s influence in Yuzhou, could the Emperor not know?
Never mind one of the Cao family’s ne’er-do-well sons using official treasury silver — the Emperor couldn’t be bothered to look into it. Even if he had been spending silver minted by the Cao family itself, the Emperor would have been equally unbothered.
Because — could any rational person do something that stupid?
The man hadn’t even reached the capital yet and was already shedding incriminating evidence in great handfuls, even daring to scatter official treasury silver to onlooking commoners at the very gates of the capital…
In Dachu’s years of prosperity, this single act would have been grounds for the Emperor to issue an edict bringing charges against the entire Cao family.
A complete fool like this, and yet he still had the sense to bow before the gate of Daxing — was there truly any point in investigating him?
The Emperor asked Gui Yuanshu, “How many people do you still have available?”
Gui Yuanshu replied, “Four.”
The Emperor stared for a moment, thinking that was indeed rather sparse — an entire Grand Court of Revision reduced to four or five people.
The Emperor glanced toward the door. “Hui Chunqiu.”
Imperial Guard commander Hui Chunqiu entered and bowed. “Your servant is here.”
The Emperor said, “Assign him six men from the Imperial Guard. Ten in total. Let him take them to handle the case.”
Gui Yuanshu thought to himself: Your Majesty, dismissing this minister so casually — isn’t that rather too perfunctory?
Ten people…
The Emperor said, “If this is merely a matter of using official silver, you know I have no time for such things right now. But as Chief Justice of the Grand Court of Revision, if you believe there is cause to investigate, then go and investigate. Don’t come before me unless something significant turns up.”
Once the Emperor finished speaking, Gui Yuanshu understood — His Majesty was fobbing him off, because he genuinely did not care for him.
“This minister believes four people will suffice.”
Gui Yuanshu said, “This minister will lead them in the investigation. There will be no problem.”
The Emperor nodded. “Then go. If you need anything, send word to Hui Chunqiu and have him dispatch people to support you.”
Gui Yuanshu thought to himself — ask him for support?
Send six, round up to ten…
Better off working with just our own people.
He summoned his courage and looked at the Emperor. “This minister would request an imperial decree. With a decree, this minister can better carry out his duties.”
The Emperor thought to himself: this man is truly aggravating…
He turned and glanced at the wall, where a broadsword hung. He took it down and tossed it to Gui Yuanshu. “Take this sword of mine to conduct the investigation. More useful than an imperial decree.”
Gui Yuanshu caught the sword and kowtowed.
He didn’t find the Emperor’s perfunctory treatment particularly objectionable — after all, a Cao Du against the backdrop of the Heroes’ Assembly truly was beneath notice.
He also knew the Emperor did not care for him. But he didn’t care about that.
Emerging from Shiyuan Palace, his four subordinates were waiting outside.
He was still some distance away when he heard those four exchanging whispered conversation. He crept closer, and found the four men counting their money — one saying he had snatched three silver ingots at the city gate, another claiming two, and one who had only managed one.
Gui Yuanshu was immediately displeased.
“You four — Grand Court of Revision Senior Sixth Rank Associate Justices — went to scramble for silver that wastrel was throwing around, with the common people?”
The four men heard the chief’s voice and immediately lowered their heads.
Gui Yuanshu said, “Especially you — the one who only got one. You couldn’t even outgrab the commoners?”
He heaved a heavy sigh, then as if by sleight of hand, extended both hands from his sleeves, two large silver ingots in each palm.
He broke into a wide grin. “I grabbed four!”
—