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墨書 Inktalez
Before him, the position of Prefect often changed hands before the term was completed, with many not lasting even three years. However, this Li Ren, who took office at the age of forty-three, is now seventy-three and has served three full terms as Prefect, completing a remarkable ten terms. As of this March, he is beginning his eleventh term.
For these thirty years, he has maintained peace by knowing when to intervene and when to refrain. If it was not his business, he would not meddle; if it was, he would navigate the situation skillfully to satisfy all parties involved, mastering the art of balance. Those in the martial world held him in high regard, both openly and secretly, without any thoughts of replacing him.
As for the court, they did not wish for him to leave either. In his role as Prefect, doing no harm was considered an achievement; however, they felt compelled to show some form of recognition. Thus, when he completed his third term, an edict was issued for him to serve in the Capital with a promotion in rank and a substantive position. Yet, he was reluctant, believing that things were going well as they were and had no desire to enter the capital. The court respected his decision.
This situation sounds somewhat similar to that of Huzhou's Prefect. Not wanting a promotion—could there be other plans at play? The court had its suspicions about his intentions and sent the Office of Censors to investigate. They found that he posed no significant issues; he was loyal and patriotic but had some minor flaws—nothing too serious. For instance, he liked to indulge in small amounts of money, enjoyed slacking off by sneaking out of the state office occasionally, made friends regardless of their status, and disliked being bound by rules. Sometimes he even mingled with the kitchen staff and dined with them.
Hearing this made me think better of him. Qi Xiaomian smiled and shared another piece of news: his pen name is Meng You San. Several popular series from the Great Jing Dynasty's martial arts genre, such as Ranger's Record and Heroes' Chronicles, were written by him.
He wrote those?! I’ve read them before; his writing is truly excellent! Especially the fight scenes—they are so vivid that it feels like you are right there in the action. I initially thought he might just be a wandering hero.
His true identity is indeed surprising but perfectly explains how he could write so well. If Old Vine found out about this, he would go crazy; he's a die-hard fan of Meng You San and has bought multiple editions of the same book for his collection.
Let’s keep this from him for now; we wouldn’t want him getting overly excited and ruining things. Qi Xiaomian continued, saying that when Li saw me, it was as if he knew I would come looking for him eventually—he didn’t need me to ask anything; he just shared everything outright.
The troops outside the city included those from our state as well as several surrounding states. Qi Hao's plan was to deceive both sides by telling several Prefects that he had noticed unusual movements in the martial world and informed me about it. I dispatched the Office of Censors to investigate, which confirmed there was indeed something happening. Thus, I secretly asked him to help contact several Prefects' troops to be prepared at any moment.
Chen Yan acted early because my appearance might raise suspicions; he wanted to gather Jianghu people quickly and inform them that the court intended to clean up their ranks. Sang Qingxiao shook his head and said: "You think those Prefects will believe your message without proof? They need some sort of verification; your letters aren't enough—they require official documents from the Office of Censors or orders from the court itself. Can Qi Hao really forge something convincing enough for them?"
There are indeed official documents from the Office of Censors; they bear their seal and my name. The name isn’t written by me; there are skilled imitators in this world who can replicate handwriting quite well. The seal is genuine—Li has confirmed that.
Thus, he had no choice but to mobilize troops while keeping a wary eye on things by sending only those who were most obedient to him. He had also advised them that if trouble arose, they should hide or escape—preserving their lives was paramount.
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