Chapter 1577: Public Order Squad! (I)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“It’s not something nice to talk about, but since Young Master has already seen it, I won’t hide anything.”
The young man tightly clenched his fists, and after a few moments of silence, he began to explain.
“A few days ago, my fiancée passed by this place on the way to buy some cosmetics, but she ended up running into these Hu. They showered her with obscenities and even groped her. She was so humiliated that she almost committed suicide.”
The young man’s words immediately caused Wang Chong to raise an eyebrow in surprise.
“…I was out at the time, so I didn’t know the whole story. I came this time to ask for an explanation, but to my surprise, these people admitted to the deed and showed no shame whatsoever. In fact, they even wanted to beat us up!”
The young man gnashed his teeth, his entire body trembling in rage. It was clear that he felt immensely humiliated over his inability to take revenge for his fiancée’s humiliation. If not for Wang Chong’s help, they would have probably been beaten black and blue.
Within the carriage, Wang Chong’s brows locked together. Although he hadn’t seen the quarrel between this pair and the Hu, he had never imagined that this would be the story.
“What’s going on? Shouldn’t this matter be under the purview of the City Guard? Why haven’t they intervened yet?” Wang Chong coldly said.
The capital had its laws, and its various areas were all under the administration of the City Guard. A large crowd causing a disturbance was simply impossible in normal circumstances, which was why Wang Chong had been rather surprised to see a crowd of intoxicated Hu in the middle of the street.
“It’s useless! The City Guard has no jurisdiction over this matter. I went to the City Guard earlier and they said that the Hu in the capital were the responsibility of the Secretariat Advisor Residence, and they had no authority over them,” the young man said in indignation.
Buzz!
Wang Chong’s expression sank when he heard ‘the Secretariat Advisor Residence’, and the carriage instantly fell into silence.
The young man’s friend suddenly spoke, a sense of helplessness in his voice. “Haaa, everyone is saying that now that the Great Tang and all the other countries have disbanded their armies and are peacefully coexisting, the situation is wonderful like never before in history, and the Great Tang has a chance of truly reaching peace with everyone else. They say that war won’t exist in the future and the world will be in harmony.
“The Imperial Court has also said again and again that the Hu have only recently arrived and don’t understand the customs of the Central Plains very well, and it hopes that we can tolerate them and teach them. This is so that we can all avoid any campaigns or wars in the future. This is why I’ve always advised him to just let these matters go.
“At the time, everyone talked about how great it would be for the world to be in harmony and said that there would never be any more fighting between countries, but who could have expected things to turn out like this? I now think about that book written by the King of Foreign Lands, ‘Might Makes Right’. Perhaps it wasn’t entirely unreasonable.”
The friend sighed.
His offhand, melancholy comment caused a subtle shift in the mood.
Old Eagle raised his head and instinctively shot a glance at his young master.
His young master had sweat blood and tears to write two books, ‘Might Makes Right’ and ‘Doctrine of War’. In the end, Li Junxian joined together with Master Zhu and had them both banned, but it now seemed like those books were still having an effect.
The pair quickly clasped their hands in gratitude and left.
“Old Eagle, what’s the current situation in the capital? How many incidents like theirs are taking place?”
Wang Chong looked at Old Eagle.
Old Eagle was living in the capital and responsible for handling all the spies and scouts. Wang Chong was sure that he knew about these incidents that were taking place in broad daylight.
“This…”
Old Eagle froze. He hadn’t expected Wang Chong to ask about this.
“With the Secretariat Advisor and Li Linfu in control of the court, the Great Tang has thrown open its gates and allowed large numbers of Hu into the capital. There are many more Hu in the capital than at any time previous, and crowds of Hu can be seen on every street.
“…So that they can settle down, Li Junxian has given them many privileges. They can buy storefronts in the capital so they can sell the specialties of their countries. But as more people come in, conflicts are inevitable, and for the sake of the overall situation, the Confucian Sect has opted for a policy of excessive toleration,” Old Eagle sternly said.
“Our subordinates have gathered many reports of this nature, but as these matters are inconsequential incidents of public safety for the City Guard to worry about, we did not report them.”
Old Eagle lowered his head. He had always believed this matter to be of too little importance and that Wang Chong’s attention was on the Imperial Court and Confucian Sect. It was now obvious that this was not the case.
Since Wang Chong had asked about it, he clearly cared about it. In other words, Old Eagle had failed at his duty!
“I understand. Once we return, give me a full report on the matter. In addition, you must report all similar incidents to me in the future!” Wang Chong sternly said.
“Yes!”
Old Eagle lowered his head even further.
The carriage slowly moved forward, and Wang Chong began to see more and more Hu in the crowd. The majority of the Han kept their distance, not daring to speak up. As the carriage continued, he even saw places where the signboards with gold-painted Han words had been replaced with signs in Hu.
Looking around, he saw that the most obvious spots were almost all occupied by Hu stores while the Tang merchants occupied the more out-of-the-way locations. The merchants of these stores glared furiously at the smug faces of the Hu merchants.
Wang Chong also saw several Hu running out of a store.
These people had taken items from a store and had refused to pay. Not only that, they had harangued the store owner while talking about how the Great Tang was at peace with all the foreign countries and they all belonged to the same people.
He even saw some Hu beating up a Han, but nobody cared about it. The City Guard passed by while keeping their distance, rage and helplessness in their eyes.
Wang Chong’s brows furrowed, and his expression darkened.
He had only been gone for a little more than a month, but so many things had happened in the capital; so much had changed.
After his meeting with Zhao Fengchen, Wang Chong had just chosen a street at random, but he could see Hu acting out with extreme brashness and arrogance. One could only imagine how many similar incidents were taking place throughout the capital.
The capital of the Great Tang was a critical area guarded by many soldiers, and it was still in such a state. The situation elsewhere in the empire was probably even worse.
Wang Chong had believed that Li Junxian only had a difference of ideals. He had never expected him to be this much of a buffoon.
A dam of one thousand li could be collapsed by a single ant hole. Perhaps he believed that since the concept of the Harmonious World and peace with the surrounding countries was at its peak popularity, he couldn’t treat the Hu entering the capital too harshly for fear of ruining his plans, but he was scarcely realizing that even though he was just sacrificing a few people, he was destroying the will of the people.
As an agricultural society, the Great Tang was only able to proactively expand and defeat its foes again and again because the entire country was united from top to bottom.
This place was the capital of the empire, the heart of the Central Plains, but the Hu were still able to act so recklessly and arrogantly. The City Guard who should have been protecting the people of the capital were helpless, and this could only have a chilling effect on the rest of the Great Tang’s subjects.
If the will of the people crumbled and the empire lost its unity, the empire’s foundation would be washed away.
Wang Chong could not permit this!
Wang Chong sat like a statue within the carriage, but Old Eagle knew that the more Wang Chong was like this, the more furious and uneasy he was.
Wang Chong suddenly opened his eyes and ordered, “Old Eagle, turn the carriage around! Take me to the Bureau of Military Personnel!”
In those bright eyes, Old Eagle could clearly see a sliver of cold and severe light.
Wang Chong spent an entire night in the Bureau of Military Personnel, only emerging to go home at daybreak.
Several days later, explosive news shook the capital.
Under the leadership of the Bureau of Military Personnel, a Public Order Office had been established, and the one who had established it was the man who had been missing for a little more than a month, the King of Foreign Lands.
Clopclop! A group of brightly-armored cavalry rode down the most prosperous street in the eastern part of the capital, Azure Dragon Street.
This cavalry group wore bright-red armor different from any other force of cavalry, and two words could be seen emblazoned on the front and back.
‘Public Order’!
“What’s this? What strange soldiers! I’ve never seen them before!”
“What have they come here for? Public Order? When did the capital ever have an army like this?”
The crowd immediately noticed this new group of soldiers and found it very curious and interesting.
But these cavalry ignored the looks of the crowd. Maintaining their orderly ranks, they exuded an extremely high level of discipline and training.
At the front of the group was an officer of twenty-some years of age.
His eyes were seething with killing intent as they scanned the dense crowds of Azure Dragon Street like a patrolling hawk.
“Hyah!”
While the surrounding crowd was still in a daze, a thunderous roar exploded through the air. A moment later, the young officer had locked onto a certain place and charged forward with his men.
“Seize them all!”
The crowd fell into disarray as everyone watched those horsemen charge forward with savage expressions at a group of intoxicated Hu who were cursing at bystanders and smashing up the wares of a Tang merchant.
Thumpthumpthump! Before the Hu could react, twenty-some horsemen had dismounted and charged at them.