The Battle of Jinmen ended with the death of General Jackson.
This also means that the war has moved from the ground to the negotiating table.
There was a huge fuss in Yujing over the selection of envoys, and people were discussing and quarreling all day long.
In the Inner Forbidden Palace, the accounting room at the sticky pole of the Inner Master is also in full swing.
This place is called the accounting room, because there is indeed a large row of accounting books inside, stuffed full on the bookshelves as high as the ceiling.
The ledger is divided into two types, one red and one black. What is recorded on it is not numbers or accounts, but a personal name.
The ledger is divided into red and black, just like people are divided into good and evil.
The name is recorded in the red ledger, indicating that this person can be used by the court. As long as the court issues an order, these people will come to take orders immediately. Not to say that they are messy, at least they are loyal to their duties.
Those recorded in the black ledger were generally either imperial prisoners or rangers. These people were feared and hated by the court.
Each of these names and nicknames are people who have been in the world for a long time, have gained a reputation, and have made their mark in the tidal world.
Others call these people masters, and paying attention to the movements, life, death, and news of these masters is the job of Sticking Stick.
Sticky Stick Department collects information from the Jianghu, who is dueling with whom, and which person has a new grudge against whom. They sort these information into categories and record them under each person's name.
Although the information is often complicated and trivial, when the master inside really thinks of using it to deal with someone, the information on the stick becomes valuable and can become a powerful tool to analyze and figure out someone.
What the accounting office does is this sorting, collecting, and recording work.
Today's accounting room is very busy. The clerks are holding ink pens, checking information and names, and drawing circles on the account books.
Every time a name is circled in red, it means that the person is completely dead and has been removed from the ledger.
Later, the swordsmen and pen officials will be responsible for adding the cause of death, and from then on, the person's life will be finalized.
The clerks were immersed in their desks at this time, nervously recording a series of news, circling a name, and writing it off.
"The following people died in Jinmen due to the rebellion of the Eight-Power Allied Forces:
The white lotus protects the sage king Nie Huo, the bird in the forest Qin Lang, the golden sword emperor Xu Canghai, the ghostly shadow Yan Feng, the iron hand Ye San, the broadsword Zhang Wu, the iron gun and the iron soldier, the sick Zhao Yun and Sun Dingshan, holding Silk Girl Qingniang..."
The clerk recited a long paragraph eloquently, without stopping until the pot of cinnabar was used up, and he finally finished drawing the name on the account book.
When he closed the account book, he felt that the two heavy books, which were heavier than bricks, had suddenly become lighter and no longer weighed on his hands.
Almost as soon as the account book was returned to its place, his subordinates quickly placed four brown paper bags on the sandalwood tray and placed them respectfully in front of the case.
The clerk glanced at the plate, turned around and took down a brand new booklet from another shelf, which was specially prepared for the imperial prisoners.
Only these imperial prisoners can enjoy such courtesy.
"Oh, there are so many things going on today."
The clerk wiped his hands, picked up the first brown paper bag, slowly opened the rope on it, and took out the information from inside.
As soon as he saw it, he screamed in surprise.
"Hey! This is an old acquaintance!"
He called several people in the accounting room to come over and take a look. Everyone gathered around and expressed the same exclamation as him.
"Ren Qi, there is a reward of 120 million taels of silver, life or death."
"Record broken!" someone said.
As soon as he said this, an enthusiastic swordsman took down the wanted order from the shelf.
The secretary took it over and took a look, and immediately nodded and said: "Yes, Ren Qi's reward amount has been increased three times in total. This time, the next nine people on the reward list combined are not enough for him."
"It's time to make a career."
There was a sound of tut-tutting in the counting room, a mixture of surprise and sigh.
The clerk licked his pen and solemnly wrote the name of the most wanted criminal in history in his notebook. He felt that to some extent, he was honored to have witnessed history and become part of the legend.
After recording Ren Qi's name and the amount of the reward, the clerk threw the pen aside and leaned on the back of the chair with relief, as if he wanted to bury his whole body in it.
"There are still three names that have not been recorded, sir." Someone reminded.
"What's the point?"
The clerk asked him, "Do you think that after recording Ren Qi's name, the remaining three people still have any appeal to us?"
After witnessing the biggest and most shocking surprise, you still have to deal with the uninteresting records that follow. This is of course a frustrating thing.
However, what the clerk does is such a boring thing. He only records, does not participate, and is always a bystander.
He has to accept the fact that this is his job.
So the clerk waved his hand and signaled a knife and penman to open the next brown paper bag.
The penman was naturally not as frustrated as the secretary. He was still curious about whose fate the next paper bag would decide.
So he stepped forward briskly, took out a paper bag and took out the information inside.
"Liu Banxian, Liu Furong, the reward is two, two? Two..."
"Two million?"
The secretary nodded, "Who is this Liu Banxian? He has such a high bounty?"
The clerks all went over to take a look, but no one answered the secretary.
The secretary felt 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, he still handed the information to the clerk and said, "Read it for yourself."
The clerk took the information even more confused and read the words one by one.
"Liu Banxian and Liu Furong are offering a bounty of 200 million silver. They are only allowed to be captured alive and not harmed."
? ?
! ?
The secretary's eyes widened, "Twenty million?"
The clerks all nodded, indicating that the secretary was not mistaken.
"Ha! Big shot!"
The clerk took out a pen and wrote down Liu Banxian's name, adding a footnote at the end.
"Bring another one," said the clerk.
The knife and pen official was very nervous. He pushed his colleagues and motioned for others to go up and get them.
The colleague also felt that this task was important, took a deep breath, and picked up the paper bag.
"Yin Xiu."
This is also an unfamiliar name. When he looked down, he felt that he didn't even recognize the numbers.
"Yin Xiu, there is a bounty of 350 million taels of silver, first-class merit, a yellow mantle, life or death."
After reading it, he didn't even believe it himself, so he handed it to his companions to watch.
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 misread or mispronounce it.
The clerk felt that the pen in his hand was quite heavy, and his fingers were weak and trembling for a while, 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 secretary have some doubts, that is, whether the newcomers appeared too fast, or they were far behind the times and were about to be eliminated.
When the clerk was about to open the fourth cowhide bag, the clerk stood up and pushed him away. He was more concerned about the contents than others.
Who could be on the receiving end of a bounty along with these three terrible guys? Will he have a higher bounty?
The secretary was extremely curious, and even if he might have his eyes gouged out after reading this, he was willing to take a look at its contents.
He picked up the paper bag, untied the rope tremblingly, put his hand in and fumbled for a while, then turned the paper bag upside down, with the opening downward, and shook it.
There was nothing inside.
"What's going on?" he asked the official who delivered the paper bag.
The official said coldly: "It will be as it was when you gave it to me." Realizing that his attitude was somewhat disrespectful, the clerk quickly changed his tone.
"Sir, if something goes wrong, it will be very troublesome for us. Please help us, show your support and let go of the small ones."
The official then turned around and asked the attendant with the tray, "What's going on?"
The attendant lowered his body and said, "This is Qin Tianjian."
"Qin Tian Jian?"
Both the secretary and the official narrowed their eyes in confusion, "What does this have to do with Qin Tian Supervisor?"
The attendant who delivered the letter replied: "The Qi Master from Qin Tian Jian came here, checked the four paper bags, and then took away the contents of one of the paper bags."
"This matter needs to be reported."
The secretary touched his chin and said, "Qin Tian Jian has no right to interfere in this matter."
When he was about to send someone to report, the official stopped him and asked the follower: "Did anyone from Qintian Prison say what happened?"
"My subordinates also asked the same question, but the Qi Refiner didn't tell me. He only said that this was the order of the Grand Master."
"Great Imperial Master?"
The official and the clerk took a breath and looked at each other.
"What should we do?"
The two looked at the empty paper bag.
"Do you know whose information he took away belongs to him?"
"My subordinates dare not look at it."
"I don't know?"
The clerk put his hands on his hips and thought hard.
"Does anyone else know about this?"
"Only Mr. Hai who sent the letter knows, because he compiled and sent it."
Master Hai is Hai Fei. He is the leader of the Dauchi Master Sticking Department and has a high status.
"How about we pretend this never happened?" he suggested.
"Good idea."
The official nodded, "If it is the Grand Imperial Master, he naturally has his own reasons and does not need to explain them to us."
"As if you and I dare to ask?"
"That's it?" the official asked.
"Let's do it this way."
The clerk threw the empty paper bag back onto the plate and signaled to the attendant that they could be sent back.
The Grand Inner Forbidden Palace is very strict about files. They send out a few paper bags and take them back in a few paper bags.
Of course they can pretend they don't know about it. As for Hai Fei, even if he discovers something fishy, he probably won't come back to trouble them, because the people from Qintian Prison will naturally go and make it clear to him.
In other words, after the matter is cut off within the imperial court, there will no longer be Hai Fei in the Forbidden Palace.
"Send out the arrest warrants for these three people. They will be sent out of Yujing within today and spread throughout the world. Do you understand?"
"Yes!"
The clerk used the word "message", which made people uneasy and also made it clear to his subordinates that today's matter was a serious matter and could not be discussed with anyone.
They want to keep this matter rotten in their stomachs like many of Ouchi's secrets.
……
It only took three days for the wanted order to be sent to Tianjin.
Liu Banxian received the wanted order and said proudly, "I didn't expect that I would be so valuable, but..."
He complained a little: "Brother Gao Shang, didn't you say that I should have the highest bounty among our group? However, I am below Brother Yin."
"You have been booked by the court, what else is there to be dissatisfied about?"
Ren Qi pointed to the eight characters "Only captured alive, not injured" on the wanted order.
"There is no one like you who can be protected even if you become a wanted criminal. Doesn't his wanted warrant also become your gold medal to avoid death?"
"I see. It seems that I will have to wear a self-defense mask on my chest from now on."
Liu Banxian became happy again and "comforted" Ren Qida: "It doesn't matter that your reward is not that high. It will be there next time."
"I accept your good words."
In fact, Ren Qi didn't care about his bounty or his ranking on the wanted list, because he was used to being wanted.
However, Yin Xiu's high reward this time surprised him, "It seems that the imperial court is determined to eradicate you even if your identity is exposed."
Yin Xiu smiled and said: "Don't I let them go if they don't want me? It's the same."
"Until death, right?"
Chen Tianyou nodded and said: "Master, you guarded Jinmen, but the imperial court not only refused to give you any commendation or reward, but also covered up your achievements and made you the most wanted criminal in the history of Kyushu.
The subordinate suggested that as long as you give the order and send troops northward, tens of thousands of brothers may be able to capture Yujing and change the owner of the country. ”
"How can it be so easy?"
Ren Qi sneered unceremoniously, "Ten thousand people? Your total number is 30,000, which is good, but that's the Kyushu Association plus the official army, and the local martial arts total is 30,000.
Believe it or not, if you go out and tell others that you are going to attack Yujing, half of the people here will think you are crazy. Even if you can gather the army and leave Jinmen, they will all flee before they reach Yujing. ”
As he spoke, he said disdainfully: "Do you think anyone from the White Lotus Sect can easily pull an army to rebel? It's not that simple."
Chen Tianyou was speechless by his retort and could only stand there in embarrassment.
Yin Xiu smiled and had no intention of trying to dissuade Ren Qi. She just patted Chen Tianyou on the shoulder.
"I appreciate your kindness, but with so many people going to Yujing, the goal is too big. It is far less easy and effective than just a few people."
Chen Tianyou originally wanted to say something, but Yin Xiu was the one who said the right thing. He was the leader, so he couldn't refute, so he could only nod to accept.
But he asked again: "Then let's gather our brothers and help you outside Yujing?"
"No need."
Yin Xiu looked outside. Black smoke was still rising from some places in the devastated Jinmen, as if the clouds of war had not completely disappeared.
"You go back."
Chen Tianyou was stunned for a moment, "Where are you going back?"
"Return to where you came from."
Yin Xiu looked at him with a smile, "Is it possible that everyone is gathered here, waiting to be annihilated by the imperial court?"
Others also looked at him and agreed with Yin Xiu's opinion.
"I'll leave the Kyushu Conference to you from now on." Yin Xiu urged him to leave.
The sunshine from the window shone 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 a sense of loss in his heart.
He had a hunch 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, and that's it."
"Take care, everyone!"
Chen Tianyou clasped his fists heavily and turned to leave. (End of chapter)