Shuntian Prefecture
At night, the place felt even more oppressive than when Zhou Liang had come to report in secret. Rain was falling, and none of the several hundred constables gathered in the courtyard carried torches. Only the lanterns beneath the distant eaves swayed in the wind, their faint light barely revealing the expressions on their faces.
In the deathly silence, each of them endured the fierce wind and cold rain, wearing bamboo hats and straw rain capes, long sabers hanging beneath the capes. The scene was solemn and forbidding.
After a moment, an official emerged from the rear courtyard building. It was Prefect Tan Ping, his face ashen.
Dragged from his warm bed in the middle of the night and forced to work in the rain—there was no way that could make anyone feel pleasant.
"What is Prince Dai doing? He does nothing during the day, then spends the middle of the night tormenting people for fun?"
Grumbling inwardly and deeply dissatisfied, Tan Ping could not voice such words to anyone. He could only stand there gloomily as he saw more than a hundred people salute in unison. "Greetings, my lord!"
"Rise!" Tan Ping stood before a servant holding an oiled-paper umbrella and swept his gaze over them, his voice hoarse. "You are the key officers of this prefecture and the Ministry of Justice."
"Each of you has a reputation as a skilled catcher. Otherwise, you would not have been transferred here."
"A major case must be solved tonight. Water Cloud Shrine is harboring the notorious bandit Shen San. Tonight, all of them are to be apprehended..." Tan Ping did not even blink as he immediately pinned a charge on Water Cloud Shrine—what, was he supposed to announce that Water Cloud Shrine was a den of vice and drag