CHAPTER 473: CHAPTER 473: WE’RE DOOMED

Zheng Ying said to Shangguan Zhuo, "Magistrate Liang need not thank us, as this matter was not handled by the two of us."

It was managed by our grandfathers and fathers who are officials in the Capital.

To secure this grand gift, the Zheng Family and the Shangguan family wore out multiple fine horses rushing from Jinling Prefecture all the way to the Capital to obtain the transit documents and the joint documents for encircling the Huai River pirates from three Prefectures.

Magistrate Liang astutely responded, "Yes, I am very grateful for the grand gift from Elder Shangguan and Assistant Minister Zheng."

With the government army’s transit documents and document for joint encirclement of pirates, the extermination of the river bandits was essentially assured.

However...

Zheng Ying smiled and said, "Since Magistrate Gong and Magistrate Tan do not value this minor merit, we need not bother them anymore. Magistrate Liang, send a message to General Guo immediately, have him bring half of He’an Prefecture’s garrison army, and we two families will prepare the other manpower for you."

Magistrate Liang was overjoyed, and reminded them, "Are the two young masters going to utilize both families’ Protectors? Will there really be no issue?"

In Great Chu, Protectors are equivalent to the private soldiers of the former dynasty, and many of the former dynasty’s private soldiers were annihilated when Great Chu was established. If the Zheng Family and Shangguan Family used too many Protectors, could it possibly arouse suspicions from His Majesty?

Shangguan Zhuo smiled and responded, "Thank you for your reminder, Magistrate Liang. However, this time we are not using our families’ Protectors, but the Commanders of Jianghuai and Jiangnan regions."

Magistrate Liang was astonished, "The Commanders of Jianghuai and Jiangnan will deploy troops to eliminate the river bandits?!"

Shangguan Zhuo nodded, "Yes, each of the Commanders from the two regions will deploy three hundred soldiers, combined with half of the He’an Garrison, as well as a hundred Protectors from our two families, the encirclement of the bandits is destined to succeed."

Grandfather is a cabinet minister and has the authority to command Commanders of various provinces to deploy troops for eradicating bandits, but there are limits on the number of troops; each province’s Commander can only deploy up to five hundred. Anything exceeding that requires approval from the Emperor.

Grandfather is a cautious man and knows the importance His Majesty places on military power. Therefore, upon receiving the letter and copied evidence of the pirates’ crimes from the Shangguan Family, he immediately submitted a petition to His Majesty. The deployment of troops from both regions’ Commanders was sanctioned by His Majesty and has proceeded openly.

His Majesty does not care about deploying merely three hundred soldiers in each instance and readily approved it.

However, our actions this time must be swift and decisive; otherwise, once the Marquis Ruyang Mansion gets the news, they will certainly try to clear their name thoroughly, and by the time we come to settle accounts, things will not be as clear-cut.

Now that the troubling issue Magistrate Liang fretted over for days had been resolved, he was utterly delighted and even in the mood to observe others. He asked the young man standing behind Zheng Ying and Shangguan Zhuo, who bore a graceful composure, "Are you a young member of the Gu Family?"

Gu Jin’an stepped forward, bowed, and saluted to Magistrate Liang, "Junior Gu Jin’an of the Gu Family, pays respects to Lord Magistrate."

Magistrate Liang smiled and said, "No need for such courtesy. I must thank you, for you have truly helped me greatly twice."

The first instance was the removal of half of the village chiefs in Great Chu, and this time, it involved soliciting assistance from the Zheng and Shangguan families in extinguishing the bandits, both of which enabled him to gain considerable benefits and achieve great merit.

Upon hearing this, Gu Jin’an showed the apprehension expected of a young person and replied, "Lord Magistrate is too kind. I dare not accept such praise... I merely made a suggestion; the true effort was made by the officials. I dare not claim credit."

After saying this, he bowed deeply once again to Magistrate Liang.

Magistrate Liang was very pleased with Gu Jin’an’s modesty and understanding of decorum, without any greed for recognition. He nodded and said, "In that case, I shall say no more. When you achieve widespread renown, we will share a drink together and rejoice."

His use of the word ’we’ was very astute, indicating that Magistrate Liang already regarded Gu Jin’an as one of his own.

Gu Jin’an smiled brightly and bowed again to Magistrate Liang.

Magistrate Liang did not stay on the painted boat for long. After a brief conversation with Zheng Ying and Shangguan Zhuo, he, along with Steward Wu, disembarked and hurriedly left in a small boat.

Returning to the post station, he immediately called his trusted guard and instructed him to deliver the transit document to General Guo’s hands, and then to visit Assistant Magistrate Ding, County Magistrate Xu, and others to deliver messages.

Knowing the importance of this transit document, the guard had it on him at all times. While crossing the Huai River, he was extremely careful, fearing that river bandits might attack him and steal the documents.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly. After crossing the Huai River, the guard rode fast and managed to deliver the transit document into the hands of General Guo late that night.

General Guo had long wanted to eliminate the river bandits. Upon receiving the transit document, he immediately ordered Deputy General Lan to dispatch half of the Prefecture garrison and some officials from Tianfu County. They moved quickly and reached the gates of Linhe Prefecture by dawn the next day, frightening the guard soldiers who thought that a new uprising in Great Chu was marching toward Linhe Prefecture.

Deputy General Lan first introduced himself, then presented the transit document to the gatekeeping garrison commander for inspection before quickly tucking it away and commanded, "Open the gates wide, let us in."

The gatekeeping garrison commander, despite his title, was of low rank and was terrified seeing so many soldiers requesting passage through Linhe, he pleaded nervously, "General, Deputy General, such a major affair of government troops requesting passage requires me to report to the Prefecture Government Office. Otherwise, I dare not make such a decision on my own."

With a smack, Deputy General Lan slapped the garrison commander across the face, "Open your blind eyes and look properly, this is the transit document sent from the Capital, stamped with the seal of the Capital’s cabinet and even has the Emperor’s approval. How dare your Linhe Prefecture Government Office be so audacious, disregarding the Cabinet and the Emperor. Do you wish for your whole family to be executed?"

The scared garrison commander knelt down instantly, "...Your lowly subordinate dares not!"

Behind him, all the guard soldiers also knelt down trembling like leaves.

Upon his horse, General Guo commanded, "Open the gate."

"Yes, yes, yes." The gatekeeping garrison commander and the guard soldiers quickly got up and opened the Linhe Prefecture City Gate, allowing General Guo and his forces to pass through.

Before leaving, General Guo pointed at the gatekeeping garrison commander and said, "Tell that Mister Gong, if he doesn’t want to endanger his entire clan, he should refrain from passing information to the river bandits."

Thump—

The garrison commander was frightened into kneeling again... What did General Guo mean by that? Could it be Magistrate Gong? Oh no, the sky is falling!

After General Guo and his men left, the garrison commander took a moment to gather his strength before going to report to Magistrate Gong.

However, Magistrate Gong, who in recent years had become increasingly arrogant due to his connections with Marquis Ruyang’s Mansion and Magistrate Tan’s hints at securing him a position as the Magistrate of Jinling after returning to the Capital heard that the gatekeeping commander requested an audience and disdainfully said, "A mere head of the city gate warrants my presence? Tell him to leave his message and not disturb my morning meal."

Magistrate Gong was currently infatuated with his new concubine, Aunt Yue, and wasn’t yet satisfied with her affection to bother seeing a rough man from the city gate early in the morning.

"Yes." The housekeeper who came to report immediately left and conveyed Magistrate Gong’s words to the garrison commander.

However, after hearing the garrison commander’s message, he rushed back to Bright Moon Garden in a panic, "My lord, there’s trouble!"

Magistrate Gong, who was happily being fed breakfast by Aunt Yue, angrily exclaimed, "What’s all this noise about? I am perfectly fine."

The housekeeper almost cried, "My lord, General Guo from He’an Prefecture brought the transit document from the Capital, bringing a large group of military officers through our Linhe Prefecture. Before leaving, he instructed the gatekeeping commander to leave a message for my lord, warning not to notify the river bandits if you wish to keep your family safe!"

"What!" Magistrate Gong was so terrified that he stood up, then thudded back to the ground, "We’re doomed... We’re absolutely doomed this time."

Now that He’an Prefecture had obtained the Capital’s transit document, and with General Guo leaving such a message... not only was he finished, but even Marquis Ruyang’s Mansion in the Capital was doomed.