Chapter 19: No Kneeling

As soon as Fang De's words left his mouth, the yamen runners behind the platform moved forward in unison. The qi fluctuations of several Postnatal Martial Artists merged into a single oppressive force, making the surrounding air feel heavy and stifling.

Tao Si walked at the front, his gaze as cold and venomous as a snake.

"Officer Lin, forgive the offense."

His hand shot out, his five fingers like iron pincers reaching for Lin Yuan's shoulder. Tao Si was a mid-stage Postnatal Martial Artist. With qi infused into his fingertips, if this grab landed solidly, Lin Yuan's already injured shoulder blade would be shattered into dust! Yet, a fanatical gleam exploded in Lin Yuan's eyes.

Perfect! Crush me!

But his hand never touched Lin Yuan.

A rougher hand had already interposed itself, five fingers spread wide, gripping Tao Si's wrist in a death lock.

It was Old Yu.

"What are you doing?" Tao Si's face instantly fell, his qi surging violently.

Old Yu didn't speak, merely holding Tao Si's wrist immobile. The joints of his fingers turned white, veins bulging. The vast, mountain-like internal energy of a peak Postnatal Martial Artist pressed down fiercely into Tao Si's meridians.

Tao Si tried to pull back, but he couldn't budge it. Old Yu's strength and depth of qi were more than a level above his own, sending numbness shooting through half his body.

"Let go!" Tao Si raised his voice, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

Li San and Zhang Meng squeezed out from the crowd, taking positions to the left and right behind Lin Yuan, their eyes filled with a bloodthirsty light.

Sun Erniu blocked the path of two other yamen runners, crossing his thick arms over his chest, refusing to yield a single step.

Fang De's gaze shifted from Old Yu to Li San, then to Zhang Meng.

These were Huo Qing's soldiers.

Fang De abruptly turned his head to look at the edge of the clearing.

Huo Qing stood there, hand resting on his sword hilt. Behind him, over a dozen soldiers stood in two neat rows, their iron armor cold and forbidding. His icy gaze met Fang De's.

The corner of Fang De's mouth twitched violently.

"Captain Huo." His voice was very low. "What is the meaning of this?"

Huo Qing didn't walk over, remaining where he stood. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried weight.

"Chief Clerk Fang, apprehend Lin Yuan? On what grounds?"

"Forging official documents, disrupting disaster relief order—"

"What documents did he forge?" Huo Qing interrupted him without ceremony. "Those papers in his hand are copies of the Luzhou Prefecture land registry. The land registry is an official document registered with the government. He copied it. Is that called forgery?"

Fang De choked, his face turning ashen.

"Disrupting order?"

Huo Qing continued, the blade at his waist pushed out half an inch, a cold glint showing. "He is an Inspector appointed by the court, with the authority to examine the accounts of disaster relief silver expenditures. The disaster verification data is the source of those accounts. For an Inspector to verify the data is within his duties. What charge are you having him arrested on?"

Fang De's expression was extremely ugly.

He wasn't afraid of Lin Yuan. A seventh-rank civil official with no soldiers or men under his command couldn't turn the sky upside down.

But Huo Qing was different.

Huo Qing was from the Dingguo Duke's Estate.

The Dingguo Duke's Estate held military power and was the backer of Third Princess Jiang Lingwei. In the Huainan region, while the forty-some soldiers Huo Qing commanded weren't many, they were all battle-hardened veterans. If a real fight broke out, Fang De's yamen runners wouldn't last a single exchange.

The situation had now changed.

This was no longer just a matter between Fang De and Lin Yuan.

This was Zhao Chong's people and the Dingguo Duke's Estate's people colliding head-on.

Fang De took a deep breath, his mind racing.

He couldn't afford to openly clash with Huo Qing here. If they clashed and fought, and the news got back to the capital, the first question Zhao Chong would ask was: 'How did you let things get to this point?'

The silver issue could be dealt with slowly later, but openly provoking a conflict with the Dingguo Duke's Estate was something Fang De couldn't shoulder.

"Captain Huo makes a fair point."

Fang De smiled again, his smile unbearably hypocritical.

He withdrew his gesture. The yamen runners stopped reluctantly where they stood.

"I was too hasty. Officer Lin has questions; we can go back and discuss them properly, no need to rush this moment. Come, come, let's finish the disaster relief distribution first. The victims are still waiting."

He returned behind the platform, giving Tao Si's shoulder a heavy pat.

"Continue the distribution."

Tao Si's face was flushed crimson, but with Fang De's order, he didn't dare disobey. He shook his wrist, which had been nearly dislocated by Old Yu's grip, and gnashed his teeth as he returned to the registry book.

Old Yu retreated, standing next to Lin Yuan, his voice extremely low.

"Officer Lin, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Lin Yuan spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, a flash of profound regret deep in his eyes.

So close... Why couldn't those useless bastards just finish me off!

Every part of Lin Yuan's body ached. The punch to his cheekbone had swollen up, and talking pulled at the skin of his face, sending waves of pain.

But from start to finish, he had remained standing.

When he was beaten and pressed down, he got back up. When Fang De ordered his arrest, he didn't retreat.

Now Fang De was smiling and saying "go back and discuss properly." Lin Yuan knew what Fang De was thinking.

Back at the camp, inside a closed tent, with no victims present, everything would return to Fang De's territory. Then he could manipulate things however he wished.

So he couldn't leave. Even though he hadn't managed to get himself killed today, he had to skin these corrupt officials alive!

"Chief Clerk Fang," Lin Yuan used his sleeve to roughly wipe the blood from his face, his gaze as fierce as a wolf's, "the disaster relief truly cannot be delayed. But I have a proposal."

Fang De's smile froze for an instant, the corner of his eye twitching. "Please, speak."

"When distributing to the remaining counties, I wish to observe from the side. I will record, entry by entry, how many households arrive and how much silver is distributed. Chief Clerk Fang won't object, will you?"

Could Fang De object?

He had just been silenced by Huo Qing, who said Lin Yuan was an Inspector and checking accounts was within his duties. Now, if Fang De refused Lin Yuan's request to observe and record, it would be slapping his own face.

"Of course not." Fang De said through gritted teeth, a smile plastered on his face. "Officer Lin, please, do as you wish."

Lin Yuan walked to the side of the long platform, finding a conspicuous spot to stand.

His entire body was in pain. His stance was slightly crooked, his left shoulder noticeably lower. The bloodstains on his official robes were a shocking sight.

Old Yu followed him over, looking at his teetering form and whispering, "Should we find a place for you to sit for a while?"

"No sitting." Lin Yuan's voice was hoarse but permeated with a maddened resolve.

Lin Yuan looked at the eyes of the victims below the platform. All those eyes were fixed on him.

He couldn't sit down.

Sitting would make him shorter; the victims wouldn't be able to see him. He had to stand. Even if he bled dry, he had to let every single person see that someone from the court was still standing, fighting for their lives!

Li San stood two steps behind him, silent.

This soldier, whose home in Chao County had been washed away, whose family of seven had only him left alive, stared fixedly at Fang De's back on the platform, his eyes so red they seemed about to drip blood.

The relief distribution continued.

But the atmosphere had completely changed.

The victims no longer queued with bowed heads and submissive eyes. They began staring fixedly at the registry book, loudly questioning, "Why is our village only reporting so few households?" They began whispering amongst themselves, the undercurrent of popular resentment surging violently.

On the platform, Tao Si and Qian Er were flustered and sweating profusely. Fang De's smile grew increasingly stiff.

Lin Yuan stood right there beside them, enduring excruciating pain, recording entry by entry like a vengeful ghost demanding a life debt.

By the time the sun began to set in the west, the distribution was more than halfway done.

Eleven counties had been covered in total. The actual number of victim households that arrived to receive relief was less than eight hundred. Fang De's disaster verification registry recorded four thousand two hundred households.

Between eight hundred households and four thousand two hundred households lay a blood debt of a full three thousand four hundred households.

Lin Yuan wrote down that final, blood-soaked number and slammed his small notebook shut with great force.

Fang De, on the platform, watched him from afar. His smile had completely vanished.