The moment the man holding the tube finished speaking, the Thunder Patterns beneath Wen Zhong's palm pressed onto the War Map.
Lightning lit up three places at once: the ropeworks, the smithy, and Cloth Alley in the western market.
"Seal the alley entrances."
"Not the streets."
"Let the families come and go as usual."
"Detain anyone carrying a Counterfeit Order."
"Detain anyone forcing people to give their thumbprints."
"Detain anyone going door to door questioning people with a list, too."
The Armored Guards of the Grand Preceptor's Residence split into three squads and headed straight for the West Market.
By then, dozens of people had gathered outside the Rope Workshop.
A Northern Border Counterfeit Order had been nailed to a wooden post.
A petition lay pinned beneath the Counterfeit Order.
The petition had already been written: "The forty-seven households of West Market Garrison Soldiers respectfully request that the Northern Border Third Beacon Battalion send troops back to the capital to protect our homes."
Below it were forty-seven spaces for thumbprints, with a dish of ink beside them.
A man in brown stood beside the post, holding a list of soldiers' families and calling out their names one by one.
"The Northern Border is stopping Family Letters."
"The Third Beacon Battalion is sending three hundred men back to Chaoge."
"Anyone with family at the Northern Border, come put your thumbprint on the petition."
"The Grand Preceptor's Residence will only let them return once enough people have signed."
The crowd outside the Rope Workshop erupted into a clamor.
Some asked whether their husbands would be transferred.
Some asked when the Family Letters would stop.
Others pushed toward the yellow paper with children in their arms.
The man in brown pushed the ink dish forward.
"Hurry."
"The urgent orders from the Northern Border