"The target is about to break into the Imperial Court and disrupt the new emperor's enthronement ceremony. We absolutely cannot let him succeed. If we fail, we won't say anything about punishing you, because by then, the rebels from the outer districts will be the ones punishing you!"
"Here are the key points you must remember—"
"No firearms. No killing or crippling. Do not retreat even half a step!"
"Capture him alive above all else. Intercept him if you can't. If even that is impossible, slow him down!"
"Repeat after me—absolutely! Do not! Allow Qin Leyin to suffer irreversible injuries! This is the Four Ministers' seal order from the Cabinet—the Oath of Stone and Gold!"
Every decree issued by the Cabinet had to bear the seals of the assistant ministers. In most cases, there was only one seal. The more seals there were, the more importance the imperial court attached to the decree. The highest rank was naturally the six-seal decree—the Radiance Cabinet could have no more than six assistant ministers at a time. If every assistant minister in the Cabinet signed a decree, it represented the unified will of the imperial family and the court. The imperial family was gold, and the court was stone; thus, it was called the Oath of Stone and Gold. Anyone who violated it was deemed to be resisting the imperial court!
But even without this Oath of Stone and Gold, every member of the Statistics Department knew they could not harm the person who had just escaped from the Blood Prison. Along with the news of Shuiyun Palace's enthronement, another piece of news had spread throughout Yanjing: Shuiyun Palace had an intimate relationship with her follower, Qin Leyin.
At first, everyone had merely regarded Qin Leyin as one of those treacherous ministers and