In front of Song Jiyun’s ship, the crowd watching the excitement was three layers inside and three layers outside.
"Where did this bumpkin come from, daring to hit the Inspection Division’s men at Xiaguan Dock? Is he not afraid to lose his life?"
"Still, it’s quite satisfying to see! These past few years, the Inspection Division’s people have become more and more unreasonable."
"In recent years, they themselves haven’t been working, instead recruiting lots of riff-raff and an idle gang to do their bidding, no wonder they’ve become so unreasonable! It’s about time they got a lesson!" 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
"I fear the lesson might not have been learned, and it will only make them more arrogant and domineering!"
"Isn’t the Five Armies Governor’s Palace supposed to do something about this?"
"How could they intervene? It’s likely that any meddling would end up implicating their own people. Who would want to undertake such a thankless task?"
The crowd chattered and pointed fingers in discussion.
Suddenly, someone shouted, "Lord Xu has arrived!"
The crowd’s chatter stopped abruptly, and the mass of people stirred, making way for a path to emerge.
A middle-aged man dressed in a blue seventh-rank official robe with hands clasped behind his back and a grave expression came to the front of the ship. Seeing the Inspection Division’s men lying on the deck moaning in pain and the people on the ship still not appeased, kicking them several times, his face grew even darker.
The men beside him hastily yelled out "Stop!" and rebuked, "How bold, to dare attack the Imperial Court’s appointed officials!"
Song Jiyun also felt a headache coming on.
She hadn’t expected her own people to be so strong as to beat the Inspection Division’s men to a bloody pulp, nor had she expected those men to be so cowardly, with only the capability to suffer beatings and no courage to fight back.
However, things had come to this point, and she was not about to shrink back like a turtle.
Song Jiyun stepped forward to reply.
But the Squint Eye who had been knocked onto the deck suddenly sprung to life.
He lay on the ground and wailed loudly, "Lord Xu, save us! We were merely ordered to re-verify the travel passes and goods, and they accused us of abusing our authority. They didn’t just disobey, they attacked without a word. You must stand up for us!"
In Nanjing, there were many homes with military exploits, and since it was far from the Capital City, times were hard for everyone. But the legitimate descendants of these families were all mingling in the Three Great Camps or the Five City Armed Forces Office. Those who ended up in the Inspection Division tended to be the side branches or bastards, and the Inspection Division only had one Lord Xu, who wasn’t related by blood within five degrees to the Marquis of Wei. His family had always maintained imperial favor and had influence in the Ministry of War.
Upon hearing this, Lord Xu’s eyebrows twitched, his face darkened, and with a sweep of his hand, he commanded with full official authority, "Arrest them all!"
His men surged forward, surrounding Song Jiyun and the others, drawing their sidearms or sticks.
Squint Eye, covering his injured waist, spat at Song Jiyun and her people and said with pride, "You hicks, daring to lay hands on the Inspection Division’s men, just wait to be stripped of your assets and have your homes broken into!"
However, no sooner had his words fallen, Lord Xu seemed to see something and, suddenly changing his expression, yelled at the Government Officials surrounding Song Jiyun and her people, "Stop!"
Everyone was stunned.
In the dead of winter, Lord Xu was sweating profusely.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and hurried over to Song Jiyun and her party, "Young Master Shao, when did you return to Nanjing? This is truly like a flood washing over the Dragon King Temple—family not recognizing family!"
Young Master Shao!
The gaze of Song Jiyun and the others turned toward Shao Qing beside her.
Shao Qing, however, rolled his eyes and arrogantly said, "And you are?"
Lord Xu smiled awkwardly, but still quickly responded, "I’m a nephew in the Marquis of Wei’s clan, my name is Xu Ye. The last time the Duke went to visit your grandfather, I was one of the nephews who helped deliver the ritual process. You were serving by your grandfather’s side at the time and might not have noticed me."
Shao Qing thought for a moment, "Oh," he uttered, glancing sideways at him, and said, "You could have just said that I was punished by the old master to squat in the horse stance, no need to mention serving; I nearly didn’t remember. But your memory is quite good, those events took place seven or eight years ago, yet you still remember!"
"How could I forget!" Lord Xu said, his words carrying a hint of sycophancy, "You were personally trained by the old master."
"Oh, I wouldn’t dare claim that honor!" Shao Qing noted his official uniform and said, "So you serve as an Official at the Xiaguan Patrol Inspection Office!"
"Yes, yes," Lord Xu said with an awkward smile, "not as promising as Young Master Shao, with a bright future ahead of you!"
As he spoke, he remembered the conflict that had just occurred and stepped forward to berate Squint Eye, who had forgotten to cry out in shock, and scolded, "What are all of you lying on the ground for? Are you waiting for me to help you up? All day long, you only know how to bully the weak by pretending to be strong. Have you learned your lesson today? Get up quickly and bow your heads to Young Master Shao. Ask for his forgiveness so he’ll be generous and let you off."
Shao Qing couldn’t let someone pin this mess on him.
He sarcastically said, "What do you mean by letting them off the hook? You’re pushing me into a pit of fire! Don’t you know how strictly our family’s old master rules his subordinates?"
Then he continued with dissatisfaction, "If you’re arresting pirates, then just do that. When it came to re-examining our travel permits and goods, we didn’t deny you the opportunity to inspect. But you came up and accused my goods of being overweight and wanted to fine me three times the tax,"
Pointing at the hull of the ship, he yelled, ensuring the onlookers would understand, "Look, look, does my ship look like it’s overweight?"
The ship sat heavy in the water, yet the amount of cargo found was only so much, which could raise suspicions of tax evasion—a serious crime.
The crowd all looked toward his grain transport ship.
Given the shallow water level, lighter than the surrounding grain transport ships, it was even less likely to be overweight.
Shao Qing, as if afraid of not being believed, continued to loudly address Lord Xu, "If you don’t believe me, bringing scales to weigh it would also be fine. I just can’t believe that in Nanjing City, there’s no place that will judge fairly."
Upon hearing this, Lord Xu felt as if he had swallowed a Squint Eye whole.
It was common for the Inspection Division to engage in such matters, but they usually targeted those rural boats and awning ships to exploit, who the hell would trouble themselves with grain transport ships—those ships, even if from other regions, were not to be trifled with; countless people had already capsized because of this.
"A misunderstanding! A complete misunderstanding!" Lord Xu hastily explained, turning his criticism toward Squint Eye, "He’s not from our Inspection Division at all. As the Spring Festival is approaching and the traffic of boats has greatly increased, we hired him temporarily to help out, but he doesn’t know how to judge the weight of ships."
He theatrically berated the man in the green official uniform, ordering him to expel Squint Eye, "Our Inspection Division cannot employ such people!"
He also ordered that Squint Eye’s uniform be stripped, "Bringing shame to our Inspection Division!"
He looked the very image of righteous indignation.
The crowd watched the spectacle in uproar.
Squint Eye was dumbstruck, disregarding his injuries, he crawled over and clung to Lord Xu’s legs, "My lord, spare my life! My lord, I beg for mercy! I won’t dare to do it again!"
Lord Xu was infuriated.
Was this the time to beg for mercy from him?
No wonder such errors had occurred if his head was merely for decoration!
He signaled the Official in Green Robes with his eyes.
The Official in Green Robes finally understood.
They had stirred up a hornet’s nest.
He stepped forward and kicked Squint Eye twice, whispering a suggestion, "Are you stupid? Who are you kneeling to?"
Squint Eye proved pliable; he turned and knelt before Shao Qing with a thump, his head banging the ground, "Young Master Shao, I beg you, spare my life! I realize my mistake! I won’t dare to do it again!"
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