novelAbuy Chapter 62 Conditional Swapping
Chapter 62 Conditional Swapping
The back hall of the Jinan government office was now chaotic, suffocating, and filled with an atmosphere of desperate, death-defying struggle.
Beneath the usually solemn and dignified plaque inscribed with "A Clear Mirror Hangs High," large and small mahogany chests and boxes were now piled up. Several concubines were wailing and crying, clutching their valuables, while maids and servants were running around like headless flies, some even taking advantage of the chaos to stuff silver candlesticks into their bosoms.
Prefect Wang slumped in his armchair, his official hat long gone, his gray hair plastered messily to his sweat-drenched forehead. He clutched the prefectural seal wrapped in red silk tightly in his hand, his knuckles white from the force, as if he were grasping at the last straw in the world.
"Report—!"
A scout, covered in blood, stumbled in, tripped over the threshold, and fell flat on his face. He didn't dare get up, lying on the ground and screaming, "Sir! The south gate...the south gate is in chaos! The garrison commander was killed by the rioters, and the remaining soldiers are running back, saying...saying that Xu the Demon Lord knows magic, and we can't defeat him at all!"
"Damn it! Damn it!" Prefect Wang jumped up, kicking over the tea table beside him, shards of porcelain flying everywhere. "We've raised soldiers for a thousand days, only to use them for one! When it comes to collecting their pay, they're all fiercer than wolves, and now the bandits haven't even climbed the wall, and they've already run away? Execute them! Execute them for me!"
"My lord...who will go and execute them?" The deputy prefect beside him was ashen-faced, his voice trembling like a leaf. "The personal guards were just sent to quell the riots, but...they were scattered by the mob. Now we...we have no soldiers!"
Despair, like a black tide, overwhelmed the officials in the room.
In the suffocating silence, a steady, even rhythmic, sound of footsteps broke through the clamor of the front hall and came in clearly.
"Da, da, da."
That wasn't frantic running, but rather a kind of precisely calculated pace.
The curtain was lifted by a long, steady hand. Against the pale afternoon sunlight, Lu Yan walked in.
He wore his signature blue robe, not a single wrinkle on the hem, and even the square headscarf on his head was worn neatly. At this moment of utter disgrace, his neatness itself was a tremendous act of violence, a sharp slap in the face to the disheveled officials in the room.
"Lu...Lu Juren?" Prefect Wang looked as if he had seen a ghost, or as if he had seen a god.
Lu Yan did not bow, nor did he humbly refer to himself as "student" as usual. He simply stood at the door, his gaze sweeping coldly over the group—the prefect, the assistant prefect, the sub-prefect, the judge, and several prominent local gentry, including Fan Renfu, who was huddled in a corner.
This is a complete "decision-making body," and also a group of "shareholders" awaiting bankruptcy liquidation.
"Your Excellency," Lu Yan spoke, his voice calm and even, as if he weren't in a besieged city but rather presiding over a project progress report meeting, "On my way here, I saw a group of defeated soldiers looting civilian homes at the South Gate. To avoid affecting morale, I had them dealt with; their heads are hung on the archway at the street corner. Your Excellency doesn't mind, does he?"
"I don't mind! I don't mind!" Prefect Wang scrambled out from behind the chair, grabbed Lu Yan's sleeve, and shouted, "Good riddance! Good riddance! Lu Hanzhang, how many men do you have left? Quickly! Take them to the South Gate! As long as you can hold it, I'll give you anything you want!"
Lu Yan glanced down at the hand gripping his sleeve, a hand covered in sticky sweat and age spots. He didn't rush to agree, but gently, yet undeniably, pulled his sleeve away.
He walked to the desk, where there were writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.
"Your Excellency, I am both a scholar and a businessman," Lu Yan said slowly as he ground ink. "Businessmen value contracts. If a contract isn't signed and responsibilities aren't clearly defined before construction begins, I dare not take on this job."
"What kind of time is this to be signing a contract?!" The magistrate beside him jumped up and down in frustration. "The bandits are about to enter the city for dinner!"
Lu Yan suddenly raised his head, his gaze as cold as a newly drawn scalpel, piercing directly into the magistrate's throat, forcing him to swallow the rest of his words.
"It is precisely because it is this time that we must sign it."
Lu Yan's voice wasn't loud, but it resonated like metal in the empty hall. "I am just a student, without any official position. To lead troops into the city is 'usurpation'; to kill officials to establish authority is 'treason'; to levy taxes on the people is 'plunder'. Your Excellency is now in a hurry to send me to my death. Once the rebels retreat, any censor can impeach me, and my entire family will be wronged souls under the laws of the Ming Dynasty."
He turned his head, stared at Prefect Wang, and a mocking smile curled at the corner of his mouth: "You want to use me as a chamber pot, thanking me profusely while using me, and then kicking me under the bed because I smell bad afterward? I won't do that kind of losing business."
Prefect Wang was stunned. He hadn't expected this usually gentle and refined young man to be so shrewd, so ruthless, and even... so terrifying in a life-or-death situation.
"Then... what do you want?" Prefect Wang asked in a trembling voice.
"I need a copy of the Wartime Special Authorization Letter."
Lu Yan picked up his brush, dipped it in thick ink, and wrote with flowing strokes on the rice paper. In his previous life, as a project manager, drafting such "disclaimer clauses" and "emergency authorization letters" was a fundamental skill of his.
"First," Lu Yan wrote and read aloud, each word ringing out, "I hereby appoint the scholar Lu Yan as the 'Commander-in-Chief of Jinan City Defense.' Although he has no official rank, he has the power of 'decisive action on the spot.' All officials, soldiers, and civilians within Jinan City are under Lu Yan's command. Anyone who disobeys orders, regardless of rank, will be subject to Lu Yan's 'execution first, report later.'"
When he wrote the four characters "execute first, report later," his pen strokes were sharp as knives, penetrating the paper with force.
"Secondly, Lu Yan has the right to requisition all materials needed for the city's defense—grain, timber, stone, cloth, medicine, metal, and iron. All expenses and losses incurred will be fully borne by the Jinan Prefectural Government, which promises to compensate for them at market prices after the war. Anyone who obstructs the requisition will be considered a traitor."
This clause was to prevent the local gentry from suing him over a few bushels of grain after the war.
"Third, and most importantly."
Lu Yan put down his pen, picked up the still-wet paper, turned to face the crowd, and said, "This is because His Excellency the Prefect has suddenly fallen ill and is unable to attend to affairs of state. He has specially requested Lu Yan to temporarily assume military duties. All consequences arising from military actions—including but not limited to murder, destruction of houses, sealing of gates, and burning of the suburbs—will be considered as orders from His Excellency the Prefect. If the court holds him accountable after the war, His Excellency the Prefect must vouch for Lu Yan in the Ministry of Justice hall, proving that everything is within His Excellency's authorized scope."
The lobby was deathly silent.
This is no authorization letter; it's clearly a pledge of allegiance that would risk the prefect's official position and even his life!
"This...this is too..." Prefect Wang stared at the paper, his face turning deathly pale.
"boom--!!!"
A loud bang came from the south of the city, making the paving stones tremble. It was the sound of the city gate being hit, or the boom of some kind of homemade explosive.
This sound became the final straw that broke the camel's back.
Lu Yan, expressionless, made a gesture as if to tear up the paper: "Since you find it difficult, sir, then I will return to the carriage and horse stables. With the fortifications there, holding out for ten days or half a month is no problem. As for this government office..."
"No! Don't tear it!"
Prefect Wang let out a pig-like scream, lunged forward, and snatched the paper. His will to survive overcame all official etiquette and future concerns. At this moment, as long as he could keep his head, he would do anything—sign it, even call Lu Yan his father.
"I'll sign! I'll sign! I'll sign right now!"
Prefect Wang, trembling, picked up the pen and signed his name crookedly. Then he took out the seal from his pocket, which was still warm from his body, and slammed it down.
"Snapped!"
The bright red ink spread across the paper, resembling a pool of blood.
"And you all."
Lu Yan did not give up. He turned around, his gaze like that of a hawk, locking onto Fan Renfu and several other local gentry who had been trying to hide themselves in the ground.
"This document needs a few 'guarantors' of sufficient standing. Fan Shibo, and also Master Li and Master Zhang, we're all ants in the same boat; if the boat capsizes, no one will survive. Please proceed."
Looking into Lu Yan's cold eyes, Fan Renfu suddenly realized something: this young man was never the "pawn" they thought he was. He was a wolf that had been sharpening its teeth all along, and now, the wolf wanted to eat its prey.
"Sign!" Fan Renfu gritted his teeth and was the first to step forward. "Nephew Lu, as long as the Fan family's business can be preserved, my life... is tied to yours!"
With a leader in place, the rest fell into place. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a "Subcontracting and Liability Exemption Agreement"—unprecedented in the history of the Ming Dynasty—was born in this hall filled with an atmosphere of despair.
Lu Yan picked up the paper, carefully examined every signature and fingerprint, then folded it with utmost seriousness, put it into his inner pocket, and patted his chest.
The procedures are complete, and the contract is now in effect.
The next second, the shrewdness and mercenary air about him vanished without a trace. In its place was a suffocating aura of coldness and professionalism.
He grabbed the prefectural seal, a symbol of power, from the table and held it high.
"Zhao Changying!"
"Here!" Zhao Changying, who had been standing guard outside the door with his hand on his sword, strode in, followed by two black-clad guards holding crossbows, exuding a murderous aura.
"Pass on my orders!"
Lu Yan's voice was no longer calm as before, but carried a resounding clang of steel: "The entire Lu Family Guard, don your armor, proceed to the city walls! From this moment forward, the south gate of Jinan City is under 'Level One Combat Readiness Control.' Anyone attempting to breach the defenses or undermine morale, whether soldier or civilian, will be executed without mercy!"
He then looked at the magistrate still sprawled on the ground: "Magistrate, please take some men to the treasury and bring me the complete inventory list. Also, have all the blacksmiths and carpenters in the city bring their tools and report to the south gate within half an hour. Anyone late will be executed!"
The magistrate was startled by Lu Yan's imposing manner and instinctively straightened his back: "Yes... this humble official will go immediately!"
After he finished speaking, he realized that he, a dignified fifth-rank official, was being lectured like a grandson by a scholar. But as he watched the tall, straight figure stride out of the hall, the oppressive aura emanating from his very bones prevented him from having the slightest thought of resistance.
Lu Yan walked out of the government office gate, where the sky was covered with dark clouds.
He knew that the real test had only just begun.