Yuan Long narrowed his eyes at Ji Mingchen.

They were soldiers. They liked to speak plainly, but that didn't mean they were actually stupid.

All the talk of storming the Ministry of Justice was an act, meant to force Li Zhixing to hand over Feng Qizheng.

If Her Majesty heard they'd surrounded the Ministry, she'd give them a dressing-down, thirty or fifty strokes of the rod at worst.

They were thick-hided and built tough. Thirty or fifty strokes would be no big deal.

But actually storming the Ministry of Justice would be rebellion.

If Her Majesty didn't have them killed, the whole court, civil and military, would never stand for it.

Yuan Long turned to Li Zhixing to pile on the pressure and said sharply, "Lord Li, hand over the marquis, and I'll pull out right away.

If not, don't blame this general for getting rough."

Li Zhixing was beside himself. "General Yuan, don't you understand plain speech? This minister has said it eight hundred times. The marquis is not at the Ministry of Justice.

You think you're the only ones who care about the marquis's safety? We may not be close to the marquis... but we're very close to the prince.

For the prince's sake alone, we'd never make things hard for the marquis."

Yuan Long looked thoughtful. What Li Zhixing said made some sense.

But these scholars were the craftiest of all, especially an old hand at officialdom like this one. Nobody was better at lying.

And he'd had clear word that Feng Qizheng had been taken to the Ministry of Justice.

Just then came the clatter of hooves.

Everyone turned to look. Twenty or thirty fast horses were galloping toward them.

At their head, in a purple coat, rode Geng Jing.

Besides Geng Jing, Pan Yucheng, Chen Chong and Gao Ziping were all there... along with a dozen-odd silver coats from the first department.

That morning Pan Yucheng had gone to the Inspectorate to see his old colleagues, and only then heard that Feng Qizheng had been arrested for causing trouble and was locked up at the…