CHAPTER 474: CHAPTER 474: EXTERMINATION

The housekeeper saw Magistrate Gong acting this way and was even more terrified, tremblingly asking: "My lord... what should we do now? Why not go to Jinling Prefecture immediately and seek help from Magistrate Tan."

Magistrate Gong shouted, "Seek help my ass, the Tan Family can barely protect themselves, how can they help me? I was ruined by that Tan Family."

Now, he wished he had never known Magistrate Tan. Seek help from him? The more he pleaded, the more he associated, the more miserably he would die.

"What, what should we do? My lord, we can’t just sit here and wait for death." The housekeeper was nearly in tears. If his master was struck by misfortune, then their fate as servants would be to be sent to the mines to work.

Was the work in the mines fit for humans? In less than a month, his entire family would be worked to death.

And his daughter, a maid in a criminal official’s household didn’t have the good fortune of an official’s daughter and would be sold into prostitution, a fate worse than death.

"What should we do? What should we do?" Magistrate Gong was drenched in cold sweat, he stood up leaning on the corner of the desk: "I must not just sit here and await death, I must think of a way."

But his mind, clouded by indulgence in wine, women, and wealth, couldn’t come up with any solution at this moment.

"Old Master, what’s wrong with you? What are you talking about? Is there something wrong with our house? Ohhh..." Aunt Yue was scared and angry, having married a fat pig of an old man only to find out he was incompetent, and now it seemed a huge disaster was looming, potentially threatening his entire lineage.

Slap! Slap!

Magistrate Gong slapped Aunt Yue twice, scolding, "Bitch, why are you crying? I’m not dead yet and here you are mourning. Let me tell you, you better behave properly for your master, don’t try any tricks. Otherwise, I’ll kill you before I die myself."

Aunt Yue was a famous prostitute from a painted boat in Jinling Prefecture, and she had many patrons. He had spent a lot of effort and money to win her over. If Aunt Yue dared to find another patron while he was facing trouble, he wouldn’t let her go even in death.

Aunt Yue dared not cry anymore, but had to muster up the energy to comfort Magistrate Gong. After seeing him out of the courtyard, she quickly went to count her own hidden money, thinking that if things went south, she had to escape immediately.

Magistrate Gong went to the front courtyard study and summoned his trusted staff to discuss the matter.

But his staff had no solutions.

"General Guo brought transit documents sent from the Capital, not only bearing the cabinet’s seal but also approved by His Majesty’s decree. This shows it’s not just some cabinet minister’s idea but agreed upon by His Majesty."

"My lord, even Heaven itself has heard, there’s no chance of turning this around. We must quickly push all blame onto Magistrate Tan, claiming you were coerced by him and acted only under duress, to seek the lightest punishment possible."

Magistrate Gong collapsed onto the chair, trembling after a long while, he asked: "Really, is there no other way... to get out of this unscathed?"

His staff shook their heads: "My lord, if you still hope to leave something behind for your family, this is the only way."

Hoping to get out of this unscathed? That’s laughable. You are doomed, let’s see if your underage grandson can survive.

After crying in the front courtyard study for half an hour and grieving, Magistrate Gong resigned himself to his fate and immediately started collecting evidence of Magistrate Tan’s crimes, preparing to accuse him.

...

Magistrate Tan was merely using Magistrate Gong as well, planning to secure the position of Jinling Prefecture Magistrate for him once he himself was reassigned back to the Capital. He intended to pin all his actions during his tenure onto Magistrate Gong. That way, even if things came to light, he would be in the clear and only Magistrate Gong would suffer.

But he hadn’t anticipated that Magistrate Gong was already collecting evidence of their dealings to accuse him. Nor had he expected that Magistrate Liang, whom he looked down upon, had solid backing from two major supporters and had directly received transit documents from the Capital, now actively hunting down river bandits.

...

Night deepened, fog cloaked the Huai River, under each sheepskin buoy was a soldier.

Among them were subordinates of General Guo, the government officials of Squad Leader Yang, and soldiers from the Jianghuai Commander’s Office.

These soldiers had been specially selected for their excellent swimming skills and expertise in combat.

Vice General Lan and Vice General Ren of the Jianghuai Commander’s Office led the soldiers, slowly and orderly submerging under a cliff.

Atop the cliff, people from the Water Bandit Village were keeping watch. It was just past the third watch of the night, the time when the bandits who were changing shifts drank themselves into a stupor, their defenses most lax.

This intelligence had been relayed by Qin Er Lang.

Qin Er Lang, eager to achieve merit, had lurked in a small cave on the clifftop for several days, thoroughly familiarizing himself with the bandits’ routines.

Once Vice General Lan and Vice General Ren arrived, Qin Er Lang emitted three cries from the cave that resembled those of a cormorant.

Hearing this, Qin San Lang in the water whispered to Jiang Qi, "Uncle Jiang, that’s Er Ge’s secret signal. Three cormorant cries mean we can attack, let’s hurry and climb up the cliff."

Their attack was timed to coincide with the Jiangnan Commander’s Office across the river, and the timing could not be off by more than a quarter of an hour.

Jiang Qi was right beside Vice General Lan.

After hearing the signal, Vice General Lan immediately relayed the message to Vice General Ren, and together they ordered all the soldiers to gather in batches in the water below the cliff, then use hook and rope to scale the cliff and attack from above.

Clang, clang, clang~

The sound of iron claws hooking onto the cliffside rang out. A river bandit on guard, dozing off, nudged his companion, "Cao Shunzi, did you hear any clinking sounds?"

Annoyed, Cao Shunzi cursed, "Stop disturbing me, I was dreaming of sleeping with Lady Taohua in Jinling Prefecture, just about to succeed, and you had to wake me... What noise? It’s just wild cormorants fighting each other... With cliffs this steep, who could climb up here? Don’t disturb me again, or I’ll make you regret it!"

After cursing, he went back to sleep and continued to dream about romancing Lady Taohua.

The river bandit who had asked the question listened intently to the sounds from the cliffside, and indeed heard cormorant sounds. Shaking his head, he decided he was overthinking and went back to sleep.

Qin Er Lang and Qin San Lang were almost at the top of the cliff. Hearing the bandit had no further doubts, they breathed a sigh of relief. In the next moment, the brothers’ gazes hardened, and with a few swift climbs, they swiftly flipped onto the cliff.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

Four sounds of weapons slicing through flesh.

The brothers, agile and quick, first slit the throats of the two bandits closest to the cliff edge, then swiftly silenced two more bandits that had been awakened but hadn’t had a chance to shout.

Their movements were too quick; by the time Vice General Lan and the others climbed up, they saw four corpses, while Qin San Lang and the others had already stripped off the bandits’ outerwear and hats, putting them on themselves, well-disguised.

Vice General Lan and Vice General Ren, pleased, gave them a thumbs-up.

But before their joy lasted long, Qin San Lang and Qin Er Lang, like arrows, dashed towards one direction and made slashing motions.

Following that, a shout for help rang out, "Someone come! There are knives attacking the village..."

Before the call could be completed, Qin Er Lang and Qin San Lang swiftly ended the speaker’s life with a slash, and with a thud, he fell to the ground.