Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 40: Arrested for Accepting the Post
"Knock on the door!" Lu Zhongqiu ordered, and then the shield soldier closest to the gate stepped forward, grabbed the door knocker and knocked on the door.

The doorman opened the door and saw two dozen heavily armed men. He immediately knew what was happening. But he still asked, "Which yamen are you from? Are you the Jinyiwei?" (Only high-ranking Jinyiwei wore flying fish uniforms when accompanying the emperor, so identification still relied on documents and waist badges.)
"Western Investigation Bureau, here's a warrant!" Lu Zhongqiu, riding the sole horse of flag number 13210, led the team forward, the execution team members in front of him automatically making way. "Lu Zhongqiu, flag chief of the Western Investigation Bureau, here's a warrant."

Lu Zhongqiu handed the invitation to the shield soldier, who took it and handed it to the doorman.

"Please ask Captain Zou Kaiyun and Captain Zou to come with us."

"Western Jishichang?" The doorman opened the letter and saw that there was more than just Zou Kaiyun's name on it. He took a quick look and saw at least forty names. "That's against the rules! When you send a letter to capture someone, you only need one letter per person. What do you have with all these people on it?"

"This is the new rule of the Western Depot. It's a special post for each job." Lu Zhongqiu didn't mention the emperor, but he still bowed toward the Forbidden City. "It has the signature of the Criminal Department, the seal of the Imperial Household Department, and the seal of my Western Depot. How could it be fake?"

"Go and invite Captain Zou. When you go in, tell him that the suspect has fled because he's afraid of being punished, and he won't be convicted without trial! If there's a legitimate son, then he'll be punished; if there's no legitimate son, then the whole family will be punished." Lu Zhongqiu's tone was unfriendly. In his view, a suspect was half an enemy. And as a farmer's son, he had a deep dislike for corrupt officials.

"Western Factory?" Zou Kaiyun felt that he was in such a trance that he began to hear hallucinations.

"Master, this is a letter from the emperor." The doorman knelt on the ground and handed over a folded booklet with "Letter from the Emperor" and "Operation Autumn Arrow" written side by side on the cover.

Zou Kaiyun snatched the post and opened it. Over forty names were listed in the "Persons to be Retrieved" column, with "Zou Kaiyun" prominently listed first.

"Sir, Mr. Qi outside said this is a new rule." The doorman thought Zou Kaiyun had the same doubts as him.

"General? Not a small flag?" A letter of honor was a letter of honor. Whether the rules were new or not was irrelevant. The emperor's word was law, so it wasn't surprising that he had tailored new rules for the New Western Factory.

"It's both the flag chief and the small flag. The flag chief is the official title of Lord Lu Zhongqiu, and the small flag is their organization." The doorman had a good memory.

"It's over!" Although Zou Kai didn't know how the Jinyiwei official title "Xiaoqi" became the organizational name of the Xichang guards, he was very clear that "Qi Zong" was an officer's title. This meant that the people outside were not from the Jinyiwei.

"It's all the fault of those damn sour guys! They must have asked the emperor to select men from outside the Jinyiwei to form the Western Factory!" Zou Kai kicked the doorman over, and then started punching and kicking the doorman to vent his anger.

He was now filled with fear, but when his fear reached its peak, it was not trembling, but anger that was expressed towards the doorman closest to him.

Zou Kaiyun thought of escaping. As the saying goes, a cunning rabbit has three burrows, and Zou Kaiyun was no exception. There was a secret passage in the Zou Mansion that led to the house next door.

The entrance to the secret passage was in the backyard well. He had dug a U-shaped tunnel underneath the well. Diving through the U-shaped curve and surfacing revealed a straight path to the well next door. The advantage of this design was that the entrance to the secret passage would be invisible from the wellhead unless the groundwater level dropped significantly.

But after a moment, Zou Kaiyun gave up the idea of ​​escape. He had a son in his old age; he couldn't take him with him to become a bandit, or to the bitter cold of Liaodong to join the uncivilized barbarians. As the doorman was beaten black and blue, nearly unconscious, Zou Kaiyun finally calmed down. After calming down, he thought again and realized that his death was not certain.

In Zou Kaiyun's view, only embezzlement of the imperial treasury was a capital offense, but the East Factory's treasury was indeed rich. No matter who came to interrogate or investigate, the money was there and it wouldn't just disappear. As long as he could firmly prove that he hadn't embezzled or taken anything, everything else wouldn't matter. After all, extortion had always been the East Factory's traditional business, and it had never been disciplined for such trivial matters.

Thinking of this, he felt a surge of admiration for the factory director. "The factory director is truly foresighted!"

"I'm just going to meet this damn Western Factory!" After feeling relieved, Zou Kaiyun actually began to believe that the "Eastern Factory embezzlement and extortion case" was just the result of a fight for favor between two eunuchs in the palace.

Zou Kaiyun picked up the fallen letter, dusted off his clothes, and walked toward the gate. During this process, he didn't even glance at the doorman.

"You are the Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Chief of the Eastern Depot, Lord Zou Kaiyun, right?" He has not been convicted and removed from office yet, so Zou Kaiyun is still the Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

"That's right. Are you going to put me in shackles?" Zou Kaiyun looked up at Lu Zhongqiu who was riding a horse, with a hint of provocation on the corner of his mouth.

"He hasn't been convicted or sentenced yet, so of course he won't be shackled." Lu Zhongqiu was startled by the cold murderous look in Zou Kai's eyes. Two years ago, he would have been intimidated by the power of the Chief of Punishment to the point of kneeling down and begging for mercy.

But things are different now. As an elite soldier who has been promoted based on his own strength and a seventh-rank military officer bestowed by the emperor, Lu Zhongqiu regained his composure in just a moment.

Damn it! The criminal officer is still so arrogant! Lu Zhongqiu cursed in his heart, but his face remained calm. "Retreat!"

After the third team retreated from the back door, Lu Zhongqiu's executive flag team turned around and returned to the West Factory.

This arrest was made with great fanfare, and they didn't disperse the crowd. So when Lu Zhongqiu led a small group of black-armored soldiers to the Zou residence, many Beijing citizens, watching the excitement, followed from a distance. By the time Zou Kaiyun emerged with the imperial edict, the nearby second-floor tavern was already packed with onlookers.

Lu Zhongqiu then realized he had made a mistake. He ordered his full 36-man flag to surround the suspect, Zou Kaiyun, while he himself rode ahead. This measure was not only to prevent the criminal from escaping during the chaos, but also to prevent his accomplices from bribing assassins to kill him and silence him.

However, there was no accomplice in this case, as most of Captain Zou's colleagues had also received imperial edicts. And Admiral Cui, the man most likely to have committed the murder, was still kneeling in a room specially designated for him at the Imperial Household Department headquarters, anxiously awaiting the emperor's "next act."

Cui Wensheng's heart was riven with anxiety. What was going on? What was going on? His thoughts were in a tangle. His biggest fear was that the Emperor would use his head to stage a "Ma Su execution" scene.

Ma Su was beheaded because he lost Jieting after signing a military order, but I, Cui Wensheng, didn't sign any military order. As long as I'm not hanged, beheaded, or crucified (the punishment of crucifixion includes lingchi, also known as inch-chopping), I can accept it. I can even guard the tomb of Taizu. But then again, what else can I do if I don't accept it? Cui Wensheng knelt on the ground and thought to himself.

(End of this chapter)