Taoist priest in the foggy capital

The Battle of Tianjin ended with the death of General Jackson.

This also means that the war has moved from the ground to the negotiating table.

Yujing was in a state of uproar over the selection of envoys, with people discussing and arguing all day long.

In the Forbidden Palace, the accounting office of the Forbidden City Master's Sticky Rod Department was also bustling with activity.

This place was called the counting house because it was filled with rows of account books, which were piled up on bookshelves reaching to the roof.

The account book is divided into two parts, one red and one black. What is recorded on it is not numbers or accounts, but a personal name.

Account books are divided into red and black, just as people are divided into good and evil.

The name recorded in the red account book indicated that this person could be used by the court. As long as the court issued an order, these people would come immediately to receive the order. Even if they were not willing to sacrifice their lives for the emperor, at least they would be loyal to their duties.

Those recorded in the black account book were usually either imperial criminals or knights-errant. These people were feared and hated by the imperial court.

These names and nicknames all represent people who have been in the underworld for a long time, have gained fame and reputation, and have emerged from the turbulent underworld.

Others call these people masters, and paying attention to the movements, life and death, and news of these masters is the job of the Sticking Rod Department.

The Sticking Rod Department collected news from the underworld, including who was dueling with whom, and who had a new grudge against whom. They sorted the news into categories and recorded them under each person's name.

Although the information is often cumbersome and fragmentary, when the masters of the Imperial Palace really want to use it to deal with someone, the information from the Sticky Rod will become valuable and can become a powerful tool for analyzing and controlling someone.

The job of an accountant is to organize, collect and record information.

The accounting office is very busy today. The clerks are holding red pens, checking news and names, and circling them in the account books.

Every name with a red circle around it meant that the person was completely dead and had been removed from the account book.

Afterwards, the clerks would be responsible for adding the cause of death, thus putting an end to this person's life.

The clerks were busy at their desks, nervously recording a series of messages, circling a name and checking it off.

"The following people died in Tianjin due to the Eight-Nation Alliance Rebellion:

Nie Huo, the White Lotus Protector, the wise king; Qin Lang, the bird in the forest; Xu Canghai, the golden sword king; Yan Feng, the ghostly and magical; Ye San, the iron hand; Zhang Wu, the broadsword; Tie Bing, the unrivaled master of the iron spear; Sun Dingshan, the sick Zhao Yun; Qing Niang, the silk-pulling girl..."

The clerk read a long paragraph in an eloquent manner, and did not stop working until the pot of cinnabar was used up, and then he finally finished marking the names in the account book.

When he closed the account book, he felt that the two thick books that were heavier than bricks had suddenly become a lot lighter and no longer weighed him down.

Almost as soon as he put the account book back in place, his men quickly brought up four brown paper bags on a sandalwood plate and placed them respectfully on the table.

The clerk glanced at the plate, turned around and took out a brand new booklet from another shelf, which was specially prepared for the criminals.

Only these imperial prisoners can enjoy such courtesy.

"Oh, there are a lot of things to do today."

The clerk wiped his hands, picked up the first brown paper bag, slowly untied the rope, and pulled out the documents from it.

As soon as he saw it, he cried out in surprise.

"Hey! This is an old acquaintance!"

He called several people in the accounting office to come over and see, and everyone gathered around and expressed the same exclamation as he did.

"Ren Qi, I offer a reward of 120 million taels of silver, regardless of life or death."

"Record broken!" someone said.

As soon as he said this, an enthusiastic clerk immediately took the previous wanted poster down from the shelf.

The clerk took it and looked at it, then nodded immediately, saying, "That's right. Ren Qi's bounty has been increased three times. This time, the bounty of the other nine people on the list combined is not even a fraction of his."

"It's time to make a career."

There was a burst of clicks of the tongue in the accounting office, with expressions of surprise and admiration.

The clerk licked the tip of his pen and solemnly wrote the name of the most wanted criminal in history in the notebook. He felt that to some extent, he was honored to have witnessed history and become a part of the legend.

After recording Ren Qi's name and the reward amount, the clerk threw the pen aside, leaned back in his chair with a sense of relief, as if he wanted to bury himself in it.

"There are still three names not recorded, sir," someone reminded.

"What's the point?"

The clerk asked him in return, "Do you think that after recording Ren Qi's name, the remaining three people will still be attractive to us?"

After experiencing the biggest, most shocking surprise, it is certainly a boring thing to have to deal with those boring records afterwards.

However, what the clerk does is such a boring thing, just recording, not participating, always being a bystander.

He has to accept this fact, and this is his job.

So the clerk waved his hand and signaled a clerk to open the next brown paper bag.

The clerk was naturally not as frustrated as the secretary. He was still curious about whose fate would be determined by the next paper bag.

So he walked forward briskly, took out a paper bag, and took out the information inside.

"Liu Banxian, Liu Furong, reward of two taels, two? Two taels..."

"Two million?"

The clerk nodded. "Who is this Liu Banxian? How could he have such a high bounty?"

The clerks all looked over, but no one answered the clerk.

The clerk sensed something was wrong and looked at them, "What's going on?"

The clerk was afraid that he had read it wrong, although this was impossible, but he still handed the information to the clerk and said, "Please read it yourself."

The clerk took the document with even greater confusion and read the words on it one by one.

"Liu Banxian, Liu Furong, the reward is 200 million silver, you must capture him alive, no harm is allowed."

? ?
!! ?
The clerk's eyes widened. "Two hundred million?"

The clerks all nodded, indicating that the clerk was not mistaken.

"Ha! Big shot!"

The clerk took out a pen, wrote down Liu Banxian's name, and added a heavy footnote at the end.

"Bring another one," said the clerk.

The clerk was very nervous. He pushed his colleague and motioned for others to go up and get it.

The colleague also felt that the task was of great importance, took a deep breath, and picked up the paper bag.

"Yin Xiu."

This was also an unfamiliar name. When he looked down, he felt that he didn't even recognize the numbers.

"Yin Xiu, the reward is 350 million taels of silver, and I will be awarded the first-class merit and a yellow jacket. I will not care whether I live or die."

After reading it, he didn't even believe it himself, so he showed it to his companions.

However, the numbers written on the paper were capital letters, not Arabic numerals, and there was no need to count zeros, so no matter how nervous he was, he could not read or misread them.

The clerk only felt that the pen in his hand was quite heavy, which made his fingers weak and trembling for a moment, but he had to cheer up and write it down.

After taking a deep breath, the clerk wrote his name on the paper.

This made the clerk wonder again, that is, are the newcomers appearing too quickly, or are they far behind the times and are about to be eliminated?

When the clerk was about to open the fourth leather bag, the secretary stood up and pushed him away. He was more concerned about the contents of the bag than others.

Who is the person wanted together with these three scary guys? Will he have a higher reward?

The clerk was extremely curious, and even though he might have his eyes gouged out for it, he was willing to take a look at the contents.

He picked up the paper bag, shakily untied the rope, reached his hand in and fumbled around for a while, then turned the bag over with the opening facing downward and shook it.

There was nothing inside.

"What's going on?" he asked the official who brought the paper bag.

The official said coldly, "It should be in the same condition as it was when it was given to me." Realizing that his attitude was somewhat disrespectful to the other party, the clerk quickly changed his tone.

"Sir, if something goes wrong, it will be very troublesome for us. Please help me and let me go."

The official then turned to the attendant carrying the tray and asked, "What's going on?"

The attendant lowered his body and said, "It's the Imperial Observatory."

"Qin Tian Jian?"

The clerk and the official narrowed their eyes in confusion, "What does this have to do with the Imperial Observatory?"

The attendant who delivered the letter replied, "A Qigong practitioner from the Imperial Observatory came and checked the four paper bags, then took the contents of one of them away."

"This matter must be reported."

The clerk stroked his chin and said, "The Imperial Observatory has no right to interfere in this matter."

He was about to send someone to report, but the official stopped him and asked the attendant, "Did the people from the Imperial Observatory tell us what happened?"

"I asked the same question, but the Qigong Master didn't tell me. He only said that this was the decree of the Grand Master."

"Grand Master?"

The officials and clerks gasped and looked at each other.

"What should I do?"

The two looked at the empty paper bag.

"Do you know whose information he took?"

"I dare not look."

"I don't know, right?"

The clerk put his hands on his hips, thinking hard.

"Does anyone else know about this?"

"Only Mr. Hai, who sent the letter, knows, because he was the one who compiled and sent it."

Mr. Hai, that is, Hai Fei, is the leader of the Imperial Palace's master sticking department and holds a high position.

"How about we just pretend this never happened?" he suggested.

"good idea."

The official nodded. "If it was the Grand Master, he would have his own reasons. He doesn't need to explain them to us."

"You're saying it as if you dare me to ask?"

"That's it?" the official asked.

"Let's do it this way."

The clerk threw the empty paper bags back onto the plate and signaled to the attendant that they could be taken back.

The Forbidden City is extremely strict with files. Files are sent out in several paper bags, and files are taken back in several paper bags as well.

Of course, they could pretend they didn't know about this. As for Hai Fei, even if he found something strange, he probably wouldn't come back to cause trouble for them, because the people from the Imperial Observatory would naturally explain it to him.

In other words, after this matter is cut off within the imperial court, there will no longer be a person named Hai Fei in the Forbidden City.

"Issue the wanted order for these three people. Send it out of Yujing today and spread it to the world. Do you understand?"

"Yes!"

The clerk used the word "proclamation" to make people feel uneasy and to let his subordinates know that today's incident was a serious matter and they could not tell anyone about it.

They wanted to keep this matter, like many other secrets of the Palace, to themselves.

……

It only took three days for the wanted warrant to reach Tianjin.

Liu Banxian took the wanted order and said proudly, "I didn't expect that I could be so valuable, but..."

He complained again: "Brother Master, didn't you say that I should have the highest bounty among our group? But I am lower than Brother Yin."

"You have already been reserved by the court, what else are you dissatisfied with?"

Ren Qi pointed at the eight big words on the wanted poster: "Capture alive, no harm allowed."

"No one is like you. You can be protected even if you become a wanted criminal. Isn't this wanted warrant also your golden ticket to avoid death?"

"I see. Looks like I'll have to put a piece of self-defense tape on my chest from now on."

Liu Banxian became happy again and "comforted" Ren Qi: "It doesn't matter if your reward is not that high, there will be one next time."

"I accept your good words."

In fact, Ren Qi didn't care how much his bounty was or what position he ranked on the wanted list, because he was used to being wanted.

However, he was surprised by the high reward offered by Yin Xiu this time. "It seems that the court is determined to eliminate you even if your identity is exposed."

Yin Xiu smiled and said, "If they don't put me on the wanted list, will I let them go? It's all the same."

"A fight to the death, huh?"

Chen Tianyou nodded and said, "Master, you defended Jinmen, but the court not only did not give you any recognition or reward, but also covered up your achievements and made you the most wanted criminal in the history of Jiuzhou.

I suggest that as long as you give the order and send troops north, tens of thousands of brothers may be able to capture Yujing and change the country's master."

"How can it be that easy?"

Ren Qi sneered rudely, "Several tens of thousands of people? It's true that you have 30,000 people in total, but that's the Jiuzhou Association plus the government troops, and the local warriors together only make 30,000.

Do you believe that if you go out and tell others that you want to attack Yujing now, half of the people here will think you are crazy. Even if you can gather the army and leave Jinmen, they will all run away before they reach Yujing. "

He then said disdainfully: "Do you think everyone is a member of the White Lotus Sect and can easily gather an army to rebel? It's not that simple."

Chen Tianyou was speechless and could only stand there awkwardly.

Yin Xiu smiled, with no intention of dissuading Ren Qi, but just patted Chen Tianyou on the shoulder.

"I appreciate your kindness, but sending so many people to Yujing would make the target too big. It would be much easier and more effective than sending just a few people."

Chen Tianyou originally wanted to say something, but Yin Xiu was a man of his word, and since he was the leader, he could not refute, so he could only nod to show his acceptance.

But he asked again: "Then we should gather our brothers and provide you with support outside Yujing?"

"no need."

Yin Xiu looked outside. In the devastated Tianjin, black smoke was still billowing from some places, as if the shadow of war had not yet completely disappeared.

"You guys go back."

Chen Tianyou was stunned for a moment, "Where to go back to?"

"Go back to where you came from."

Yin Xiu smiled at him and said, "Are you all gathered here, waiting to be wiped out by the imperial court?"

The others also looked at him and agreed with Yin Xiu's opinion.

"Jiuzhou will be handed over to you from now on." Yin Xiu urged him to leave.

The sunlight from outside the window poured in, shining on the faces and shoulders of Yin Xiu, Ma Xiaoyu, Ren Qi and Liu Banxian.

Chen Tianyou looked at this scene and felt lost.

He had a premonition that if he turned around and left the room, he might never have the chance to see them again in his life.

Yin Xiu saw his melancholy and smiled: "Everyone has something to do, you have done it, that's enough."

"Take care, everyone!"

Chen Tianyou clasped his fists and turned to leave. (End of this chapter)