With a bang, the lidded teacup smashed onto the floor, scattering into pieces...
Zheng Michang glared and shouted, "This is outrageous! A mere county assistant magistrate and a registrar no bigger than sesame seeds actually dared to stir up something like this at a time like this? What are they trying to do? Huh? Old He, go arrest them!"
He was practically gritting his teeth as he spoke...
He Maocai looked equally miserable. "Can't arrest them, Old Zheng. Their official documents have already been sent to the Jinyi Guard. They say the Censorate has also sent people to deliver documents. They're riding at full speed—we can't intercept them at all. Everyone who ought to know already knows. What they did was within the rules, too. What grounds do we have to arrest them?"
The two of them sat there fuming like a pair of idiots.
"Don't just sit there drinking tea. Say something," He Maocai said irritably. "This has to be reported upward. Right now, all news from Zhejiang is sent by eight-hundred-li express. It'll reach Jingcheng in four days."
"You need to tell me that? You think I don't know?" Zheng Michang shot the impatient He Maocai a glare. "What we can do now is send people to investigate immediately. Arrest Hangzhou Assistant Prefect Luo Zhengwen first, then send men to Chun'an and destroy all the evidence they have."
"Old Zheng, if those two people in Chun'an dared to do this at a time like this, they're not people who'll listen to us. Otherwise, they could have simply sent the documents to us. Why send them to the Jinyi Guard as well?
"Didn't you see the Chun'an commoners mourning and wailing outside the yamen? If they didn't have the nerve, would they have sent people to the provincial capital