The "Smack-Smacking" at the Magistrate Office! When There's Work, the Flag Officer Does It; When There's None...

The roll call was underway at the Training Grounds, and the constables stood in orderly lines according to their ten departments.

As Chen Mo passed the Water Bureau, everyone gathered around him.

"Chief!"

"Lord Chen!"

Looking at all those familiar faces, their spirits weighed down, Chen Mo shook his head. "I'm only being transferred to another office. Why are you acting like we're parting forever?"

Everyone fell silent.

"Fine. Liu Mang, do a good job."

Chen Mo patted Liu Mang on the shoulder.

He had been transferred to the Ding Fire Bureau to fill Chu Zhuo's vacancy, while Liu Mang had been promoted to Flag Officer and was temporarily put in charge of the Water Bureau's affairs.

This taciturn man was highly capable, both in personal strength and in handling affairs. With some accumulated merits and experience, he had a very good chance of becoming a Centurion.

Liu Mang said in his usual low, muffled voice, "Chief, you'll always be our chief."

Just then, Shen Shuchou walked over, his expression somewhat grim.

Chen Mo's transfer to the Ding Fire Bureau had caught everyone completely off guard.

Lord Yun had flipped the table right there in Qilin Pavilion, pointed at the Fire Bureau's Thousand-Man Commander, and accused him of abusing his authority for personal gain. If the other Thousand-Man Commanders hadn't held Lord Yun back with all their might, blood probably would have been spilled on the spot.

In the end, the matter had even reached the Commander-in-Chief, but all they got in return was a breezy decree—

An order from the Eastern Palace.

"Did the Imperial Empress really disregard all propriety and forcibly interfere in the bureau's affairs?"

What worried Shen Shuchou most wasn't that the Water Bureau had lost a pillar of support. It was that Chen Mo had