Chapter 480 — Remediation
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Everyone looked closely.
The young eunuch muttered, "I once received a kindness from Lord Wu. I was afraid Lord Wu would be dragged into this by you, so I spoke up."
By then no one cared about such things anymore. They seized the young eunuch and said, "What plan do you have?"
The young eunuch smiled. "Your Banner Guard storehouse has spares, and the Inner Treasury has spares too! It just so happens I have a fellow townsman serving in the Inner Treasury. But you must remember to return the things to me afterward."
Everyone's eyes lit up.
Others could not enter the Inner Treasury, but these eunuchs could swagger in under borrowed authority and fetch things from it.
The Chief Banner Officer searched himself all over and came up with only a few taels of broken silver.
Seeing this, the others also brought out the silver they carried, pooled it into a pile, and stuffed it into the young eunuch's arms, saying respectfully, "We've put you to trouble, Eunuch. I'll go with you now to move the things."
The young eunuch accepted the silver without the slightest courtesy, beaming, and led them to the Inner Treasury.
When the Inner Treasury's chief steward saw the waist tablet, he rose at once with a smile and offered to accompany the young eunuch in selecting the goods.
The young eunuch carried himself with great authority and waved the steward off. "Go attend to your business. The gentlemen of the Banner Guard will keep me company."
The steward bobbed and scraped, and indeed stayed outside the storehouse, looking for all the world as though they might take whatever they pleased.
The men of the Banner Guard exchanged glances, dared not delay a moment, took the items, and headed straight for the Banner Guard, finally plugging the hole.
Afterward, they discussed it among themselves in private: "Lord Wu usually keeps so quiet—when did he climb so high as to know such a formidable personage?"
So much so that many in the Banner Guard grew warmer toward Wu Liang than before.
But that is all a later matter.
When Song Yan received the news, he could not help sneering inwardly.
He had long since drafted more than a dozen contingency plans. With Wang Yuan wielding the Emperor's authority as his tiger skin, unless the Empress rolled up her sleeves and took the field herself, this trap was doomed to fail.
Even so, when the imperial procession was halfway along, another incident occurred.
On the already cleared street, a century-old tree with lush branches and leaves collapsed to the ground for no reason, blocking the road to the Western Garden completely and nearly crushing the Jinwu Guards standing guard nearby.
The Jinwu Guards were badly startled. They ran over to look—more than half the trunk had been sawn through.
Everyone began cursing.
Yet their hands dared not idle. Several men strained to drag the tree aside first.
But the tree was too thick and too sturdy; it would not budge at all. Some quick-witted fellow ran off at a gallop to find the patrols on the road, but after a long while found none. The imperial carriage would soon pass this way. Several Jinwu Guards stood there blankly, shoulders braced and hands pushing against the immovable tree, as though by doing so their guilt might be lessened when blame was apportioned later.
One of them—a youth who had spent most of his family's savings on bribes and had served in the Jinwu Guards less than a month—could not hold back and began to sob.
An older man, furious and ashamed, cursed their "ill luck."
The youth wept even harder.
Just then several men burst out from the nearby woods, saying, "We're from the Five Wards Military Command. Do you need help?"
The Jinwu Guards were overjoyed. "We serve under Lord Song of the Jinwu Guards—we're all one family. Please, brothers, lend a hand and move this tree aside."