Wang Chong had never expected to be so popular. He saw that these prefectural chief constables either had bulging waists or carried bundles in hand, and guessed the things must be gifts for him—he was simply too embarrassed to bring them out in front of Li Qingge.
Li Qingge, however, had long anticipated this. After all, the scene Wang Chong had caused was simply too great. She lingered only a moment, then took her retinue and headed back to her residence.
That left only Wang Chong and the six prefectural chief constables, and the atmosphere immediately warmed by several degrees. Wang Chong said with a smile, "How is it that only six of you have come, when there are sixteen prefectures? Surely the rest don't have some objection to me?"
"That's true, no wonder..."
This remark put the six chief constables in very different moods. Some were given a fright—after all, they had once held this immediate superior of theirs in contempt—while others secretly rejoiced, ready to say a few cutting words to a certain rival of theirs. Tongzhou Prefecture's chief constable Lu Mingyuan cupped his hands in salute and said, "Songcheng's chief constable Ma You is still in the prison, and truly cannot come to pay his respects to Chief Constable Wang."
This Tongzhou Prefecture chief constable, Lu Mingyuan, also came from Wudang, and considered himself somewhat closer to Wang Chong. But he was already past fifty this year, and quite slippery; he had said only something bland and harmless. The matter of Songcheng's chief constable Ma You was known to all—even Wang Chong knew of it—so it was pure nonsense.
Another one, Liucheng's chief constable Wang Bupo, hurriedly said, "Chief Constable Wang arrived so suddenly that the three—Sun, Liu, and Wang—had no time to prepare. They'll be here shortly." He was on the closest of terms with those three chief constables, and so explained on their behalf.
Wang Chong watched, smiling, as these "subordinates" all spoke up, vying to flatter him, and he actually felt a kind of giddy sense of "holding great power."
No matter what these people said, he treated it all as nonsense. He listened for a while, enjoyed the flattery, then cut them off, saying, "We can talk of such trifles later. You colleagues have come—surely there's some important matter?"
Tongzhou Prefecture's chief constable Lu Mingyuan read his expression and immediately grasped Wang Chong's meaning. He hurriedly took something from his robe and handed it to Wang Chong, saying, "On the occasion of Chief Constable Wang taking office, we subordinates have nothing worthy to offer as congratulations. This is a family heirloom of this old one—not worth very much—but please take it to play with day to day, to while away the boredom."
Wang Chong looked closely and saw it was an ancient piece of jade. He had no idea what it was worth, but he accepted it with a smile, planning to let Yu Zao appraise its quality.
Having taken the item, he suddenly rather missed that little maid. The days with Yu Zao at his side had been truly comfortable—far nicer than jousting with this pack of old fogeys.
Seeing that Lu Mingyuan had taken the lead, the others one after another produced their own gifts. Wang Chong was willing to accept gifts, so he must be a good superior.
These men were especially well-informed, and had long known that Wang Chong enjoyed an excellent reputation within the Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance, and treated the constables who pledged allegiance to him quite "open-mindedly." And especially after that victory outside Pengshan County, the court was bound to hand out rewards no matter what, so the young sons and nephews of those constables were sure to have great prospects. They regretted only that they hadn't come to pledge allegiance sooner.
Seeing that Wang Chong had accepted the gifts, Lu Mingyuan said with a chuckle, "I heard long ago that the Chief Constable scattered the great army of the Yaglakar clan outside Pengshan County, and then hunted down the fleeing Yaglakar Yehu and the others. The whole way, exposed to wind and dew and camping out—it must have been hard on you."
"Tongzhou Prefecture is the foremost of Tongzhou's sixteen prefectures, and its affairs are tangled—a thousand threads to untangle. The Chief Constable can scarcely be bothered to trouble himself with it all. I have two nephews who are also studying martial arts at Wudang; though their skills are not especially refined, they are quick and capable in handling matters, and I would be willing to send them to serve at Chief Constable Wang's command."
Wang Chong laughed heartily. "Excellent. It's just that—only two..."
At these words, the group of chief constables were overjoyed. They had been cursing Lu Mingyuan inwardly for being a cunning old fox who had grabbed the lead and pushed his two nephews to Wang Chong's side. Now, hearing that with Wang Chong the more the better, they all immediately began frantically recommending their own young juniors. They all knew that following Wang Chong was bound to bring benefits—the cautionary precedent was just a few days old.
These juniors of the prefectural chief constables were far more "outstanding" than those of ordinary constables—more than half of them had a proper sect background. There were twenty or thirty Wudang disciples, seven or eight from Shaolin, and even one from Qingcheng.
Wang Chong gladly accepted all these beasts of burden delivered to his door. Although a chief constable for an entire prefecture recruiting "retainers" on such a large scale did not conform to the court's rules, what did he—a transmigrator—care about rules?
He hadn't rebelled—only because his strength was insufficient!
After half a shichen, two more chief constables came to present gifts. These two latecomers' gifts were especially lavish. Though Wang Chong's face still wore only a smile, inwardly he had long since burst into bloom with joy, and he only regretted that there were too many people present—it would not do to dance and fling his arms about to vent such happiness.
Before the two chief constables had even settled in their seats, more visitors arrived—this time some jianghu heroes.
They were all men of the various gangs and societies across Tongzhou, who had been conscripted to protect the Prince of Yan and did not dare refuse. But as men of gangs and sects, at most they colluded with the local yamen runners and constables; they had no way to connect with anyone who held a proper official post. Fearing they would be oppressed, and having heard of Wang Chong's excellent reputation, they came to pledge allegiance.
Wang Chong was overjoyed and immediately took these men into the Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance.
The eight chief constables, seeing that Wang Chong had not, as with their own sons and nephews, directly recruited these men as his subordinates, all breathed a sigh of relief.
Had Wang Chong truly accepted everyone who came, taking in men of any sort, they would inevitably have suspected Director Wang's motives. It was not that they feared he meant to accomplish some grand enterprise—they feared he might start a rebellion.
These gang men had also been worried that Wang Chong might seize the opportunity to swallow up their forces, but hearing that they were joining the Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance put them at ease as well. The Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance was a temporary alliance formed by a bunch of young lords; it did not even have a leader, could be disbanded at any time, and carried no binding obligations. They themselves were only pledging allegiance for the time being, and had no wish to run about serving Wang Chong for a lifetime—so everyone was pleased.
Wang Chong spent the whole day receiving guests, one after another coming and going, and only by evening did he finally catch his breath.
Those prefectural constable-chiefs had handled matters briskly, and had long since sent over several dozen young men. Now that he had people to order around, he immediately picked a quick-witted one, told him the location, and had him go first to repay the money for the meal he had eaten without paying at that shop a few days earlier. With this matter that had weighed on his heart now settled, Wang Chong was just about to turn in when he heard someone report that a woman had come to visit.
Wang Chong's heart gave a startled thump. He hurriedly took out the personal rouge and powder he never left behind, smeared some onto his face, then took up a bronze mirror and looked—sure enough, he seemed three parts Yuanyuan, seven parts Aibi, nothing at all like his usual self. Only then did he have the woman brought in.
This woman wore a conical bamboo hat with light gauze hanging all around it, concealing her features, but her bearing was lofty and refined—by no means an ordinary jianghu woman. On seeing Wang Chong, she said leisurely, "Director Wang, please dismiss the people around you. I have something important to say."
Wang Chong chuckled and duly sent his subordinates away. He was not afraid of being assassinated—if someone really did come to assassinate him, this bunch of temporary subordinates would be utterly useless anyway.
Mm. He played the high-level matches; these young men could not keep up.
Only after everyone had left, leaving just her and Wang Chong, did she say coolly, "I am Wen Zhiwei! I have come to find Young Master Wang Chong about a great matter."
Wang Chong was slightly surprised—he had never heard the name Wen Zhiwei. But this woman acted as though it were entirely a matter of course, so he did not point this out, and instead asked, "What great matter?"
Wen Zhiwei said in a low voice, "I have never once heard of you anywhere near the Heavenly Empress, so I presume you must be a disciple of the secret lineage, carefully cultivated by the Bitter Tea Daoist."
"Nowadays Wudang and our Wen family can be said to share the same affliction—both are troubled over how to deal with Wen Zhengchun, this Prince of Yan."
Wang Chong thought to himself, "Wen Zhengchun?! Good heavens—truly the equal of my dharma name, Xuan De!"
Seeing that Wang Chong showed no reaction, Wen Zhiwei said composedly, "Our Wen family is one of the foremost great clans of this age, with a heritage a thousand years old and no end of famous figures. If someone of our family were to take the realm by force of arms, that would indeed be a fine thing, to be gladly accepted—but the realm today is the realm of the Jiang surname. The Heavenly Empress herself can have her phoenix carriage grace the court and hold sway over the realm only because she bears the surname Jiang. Wen Zhengchun can absolutely never ascend the throne!"
Wang Chong thought, "That is the logic of it—but what does any of this have to do with me?"
Wen Zhiwei said slowly, "And so, at the bidding of the elders of the Wen family, my cousin Wen Zhengxi and I devised a kill-the-chrysanthemum plan..."
Wang Chong's face filled with shock—fortunately, the thick rouge and powder on his face concealed a good deal of it. He said in disbelief, "So you first frame the Prince of Yan as White Chrysanthemum, and then use that as a pretext to kill him?!"
...White Chrysanthemum: I told you, I've been framed...
...Prince of Yan: Where's the Italian cannon? I want these bastards blasted to death...
...Wang Chong: There is just one small problem now—who is the Prince of Yan?
Chapter 73