Once the banquet ended and Wei Nisheng left, an uproar broke out in Xu Zhen's rear hall.
"Pah!" Ma Tianlu was the first to slam the table and leap to his feet, his dark face swelling purple.
"Some wet-behind-the-ears brat exposed my secrets in front of everyone! Those fourteen hundred households...
"Where-where did he find the accounts?! How did he manage to dig them up?!"
"General Xu!" Han Biao raised his voice to a shout.
"I cannot swallow this insult!
"He made an issue of the receipts, but once that military pay reaches the Garrisons and gets handed down through layer after layer, how much actually ends up in the soldiers' hands?
"What the hell does some official gentleman from the Capital know about the difficulties involved?!"
"General Han is right!" He Yong pounded the table.
"If you ask me, we should simply make sure he never leaves Xi'an!
"On those western roads, the mountains are high and the forests dense. If a bandit or two turns up, who can say what really happened?!"
"He Yong! Hold your tongue!" Xu Zhen barked.
Unfortunately, the whole hall had already caught fire.
His face dark, Dong Wenqian said slowly, "General, it is not that we mean any disrespect.
"But Wei Nisheng came here today determined to put us under the knife.
"If he dares question us about the Military Households today, tomorrow he will dare inspect the Grain Registers, and the day after, he will strip the Garrisons bare."
"General, if we still do not act..."
"Act how?" Xu Zhen swept him with a cold glance.
"What do you intend to do? Follow He Yong's example and finish him off along the road?"
"Then you can wait for Zhou Quan's blade to reach the walls of Xi'an!"
"Zhou... Zhou Quan?" Ma Tianlu's