A Battle of Wits

"Lord Tang, if you keep this up, something terrible is bound to happen!"

The courtyard outside the Dali Temple's inner offices was vast—so vast that even more than a dozen blazing torches could not illuminate every corner.

Yet the flickering firelight cast the faces of the dozen or so Ministry of Revenue officials in a particularly sinister light.

Still, their feverish, crazed manner, paired with the soft tones of Wu Dialect, gave them an oddly comical air.

But Tang Weishan, standing in their midst, found none of it amusing. In fact, his head felt as big as a bucket.

Fortunately, these Ministry of Revenue officials were all recent appointees, mostly seventh- and eighth-rank officials. Even the two Assistant Ministers leading them were half a rank below him, a fifth-rank Judicial Administrator. Otherwise, he truly would not have known how to deal with them.

"Ahem!"

It was truly a case of fearing what came next. Tang Weishan had only just begun to feel relieved when someone cleared his throat at the courtyard gate and called out, "Who is in charge here?!"

Tang Weishan turned toward the voice, and his heart immediately sank—it was none other than Zhou Chang, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

And one look at Zhou Chang's dark expression was enough to show that he had come with hostile intent!

Tang Weishan instinctively stepped forward to greet him, but then halted and cupped his hands from where he stood. "Please wait a moment, Vice Minister. This subordinate will fetch Vice Minister Sun to speak with you."

At this dead hour of night, and without irrefutable evidence, Tang Weishan had never supported summoning more than a dozen Ministry of Revenue officials all at once.

Now that the backer of the aggrieved parties had come knocking, he naturally had