A Visit

Before the eyes of several thousand people on the main street, Hu Xinzhu simply sauntered away in carefree style. The two-person sedan chair sped forward with a creak and groan, its body swaying lightly up and down in a rhythmic motion. Several guards followed briskly beside the sedan, and the party vanished as abruptly as it had arrived.

"Did Lord Hu uncover something?" Ying Qin asked thoughtfully, looking at the Red Dragon City Commandant.

The Red Dragon City Commandant spread his hands and looked pleadingly toward the three command officers of the Upper, Middle, and Lower Three Court Commands. The three officers, dressed in blood-red robes embroidered with the image of a Pixiu devouring the sun across their chests, exchanged glances and shook their heads at the same time. Without a word, they seized Long Lian and Xing Tianyao, while a crowd of Iron Catchers surrounded the two young masters and hurried toward the palace city.

The command officers of the Three Court Commands under the Grand Minister's authority were divided thus: the Upper Court Command investigated all cases large and small involving the imperial family; the Middle Court Command investigated the civil and military officials and their families; and the Lower Court Command investigated the common people. The Three Court Command officers wielded immense power, handling criminal investigations and manhunts throughout the Blood Qin Empire. Their Iron Catchers were spread across the entire empire, and when all ranks of Iron Catchers were added to their personally hired aides and hangers-on, their numbers reached into the tens of millions.

Thus, the Three Court Commands had always been the ironclad trusted men of successive Grand Ministers. Unless someone was as close as flesh and blood—a diehard confidant—no Grand Minister would ever place him in a Three Court Command post.

This affair