Qin Dynasty: Who offended my frail and sickly minister?

——Chen Commandery——

As the sun dipped westward, the pale light filtered through the wooden lattice windows and quietly fell upon the main hall of the prefectural governor's mansion.

This place was originally a solemn place for the administration of a prefecture. The chestnut wood desks were neatly arranged, and the bamboo slips and scrolls were placed in an orderly manner. The surroundings were quiet and orderly, and even the air was filled with the solemn atmosphere unique to government offices.

Yet, in this solemn place, sits a person who is completely out of place.

Prefect Song Yun slumped on the armchair, his casual clothes loose and baggy. His slightly plump body was half-sunken into the soft cushions of the seat. He casually held a cup of warm wine in his hand, his eyelids drooping, looking like he was still hungover and too lazy to attend to his duties.

Several wanted posters were scattered on the table, the ink still wet. The names of Liu Bang, Xiao He, Cao Can, and others were glaringly circled in vermilion ink, but he didn't even bother to look at them.

In this world, every now and then, a few ignorant and arrogant rats will inevitably appear, sneaking around and digging deep. He's seen it all before, but a rat is still a rat, and no matter how much trouble it causes, it can't make any big waves.

If it weren't for that damned delegation wanting to pass through his territory, he wouldn't have bothered getting up from his comfortable couch in his mansion to come to this courtroom so late at night to deal with such a trivial matter.

"Those traitors outside, we've had them captured for so long, and still no sign of them?"

He spoke in a lazy tone, with a slight dragging at the end of his words, showing no anger or urgency whatsoever, as if he were casually asking about some trivial matter.

The officials and soldiers kneeling below the hall to answer questions dared not relax their vigilance in the slightest.

His back was stiff and rigid, a thin layer of sweat beading on his forehead. He hurriedly bowed his head and shouted, "Reporting to the Prefect, the man... has not yet been captured, but—!"

Fearing his superior's anger, he quickly changed the subject, rapidly adding to his story: "I have already located their trail; they are hiding in the abandoned city area west of the city! All four gates are now tightly closed and under martial law; not even a bird could escape. I have also deployed three times the manpower to completely surround and seal off that area. Tonight, I will surely capture them all; I will not dare to let anyone slip through!"

Upon hearing this, Song Yun maintained his nonchalant and relaxed demeanor, even gently swirling his wine cup.

"Oh? The abandoned city wall in the west of the city... You know how to pick a place."

He knew that place; it was a wasteland left behind by the collapse of the old city walls, with crisscrossing ruins and several hidden alleyways. Once someone crawled in, it would indeed take a lot of effort to search every inch of it.

The clerk quickly bowed his head in agreement, and was about to reiterate his determination to bring the person to justice as quickly as possible, when he heard Song Yun scoff lightly and hurriedly looked up.

Song Yun merely raised his eyelids slightly and said, "Since they've already chosen their locations, why should we bother searching for them?"

His voice was calm and even, as if it were just a casual remark: "Save your energy, seal off all the entrances and connecting passages, send people to guard them firmly, and don't let a single person out. Then set the ground on fire and burn it all down, that will solve everything."

He paused, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his lips: "I'd like to see if these rats can dig their way out."

Upon hearing this, the officers and soldiers felt a jolt in their hearts, and a cold sweat instantly broke out on their backs.

He knew better than anyone that the place was overgrown with weeds and filled with broken walls and ruins. If a fire were set on the ground, the entire ruined city would be engulfed in flames, and those hiding there would have no chance of survival.

But there were far more than just a few "rats" mentioned by the prefect there.

Homeless beggars, displaced refugees, and destitute people with nowhere to live—these are the kinds of people that Chenjun has no shortage of, and countless people have long lived among those broken walls and narrow alleys.

A single fire would reduce them all to ashes!

He merely swallowed hard, daring not to voice any objection, and bowed his head in response with a "Yes," before preparing to go and do as instructed.

"No!"

With a low shout, Xu Kun, the supervising censor who had been sitting silently on the side seat, finally couldn't hold back any longer and suddenly stood up and spoke.

"This is too much of a commotion. Don't you know the delegation is almost here? What if they discover us now?"

His face was tense, his brows furrowed with barely suppressed anxiety. He paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, his steps hurried and disordered, like an ant on a hot pan.

After circling around several times, he finally stamped his foot, faced Song Bin, and spoke rapidly, each word filled with imminent fear. His voice was extremely low, yet it couldn't hide the panic in his heart:

"They've been raiding and plundering people and providing aid to children all the way from Luoyang. They've probably been eyeing Chen County with predatory intent for a long time. If anything goes wrong at this critical juncture, aren't you afraid that all the dirty tricks you've been up to will be exposed?!"

"What do you mean by those dirty tricks I did in secret?"

Upon hearing this, Song Yun slowly straightened up and casually put down his wine cup. His face still held a smile, but that smile was cold and gloomy, heavily pressed against the corners of his lips, with no trace of languor or nonchalance left.

"Imperial Censor Xu, you should think carefully before you speak. Over the years, you've married beautiful wives and taken in concubines, and your mansion has become increasingly grand. Are these bulging pockets just inflated?"

He picked up his wine cup, took a slow sip, and looked coldly at Xu Kun over the rim of the cup.

"Xu Kun, you need to understand, we're all in this together, like grasshoppers tied to the same rope. We share the same fate, and we share the same fate. How can you distinguish between 'you' and 'me'?"

"you--!"

Xu Kun's face turned deathly pale instantly. He abruptly raised his hand and pointed at Song Yun, his chest heaving violently. A surge of anger and shame choked him, and he couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal.

I regret that when I first arrived, I underestimated this person and was deceived by his mediocre, smooth, and easily manipulated appearance. That's how I unknowingly got caught in his trap, got stuck in the mud, and sank deeper and deeper until I could never pull myself out.

Xu Kun angrily flung his sleeves, turned around and sat back down in his seat, suppressing his surging anger. His face was pale and flushed, filled with resentment and frustration that he had nowhere to vent.

Seeing his furious expression, Song Yun's coldness softened slightly, and his tone became gentler:

"Alright, alright, why get so angry? It's not worth ruining your own life. Since I dared to do this, I've already prepared a complete escape route. It won't implicate you or me in the slightest. Doesn't Imperial Censor Xu trust my methods?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Kun let out a heavy snort and turned his face away from him, but his tense shoulders and back did indeed relax a bit.

He had to admit that Song Yun was a master at concealing his talents and biding his time.

He looks muddleheaded, seemingly full of flaws and lacking in cunning, but secretly he is meticulous and cunning, with a sinister mind and ruthless methods that are far beyond the reach of others.

He dared not break ties with this person.

"What foolproof methods do you have to completely cover up such a massive commotion as arson and burning of the wasteland?"

"There's no way to cover it up," Song Yun chuckled softly. "But who said I, Song, started this fire?"

He leaned forward slightly, speaking in a leisurely tone, his words carefully crafted: "Those traitors were cunning and vicious to begin with. We led our troops to besiege them and did our duty. Seeing that they had no way out and were at their wits' end, they did not hesitate to set fire to themselves, attempting to drag innocent people into a desperate breakout. Their crimes are truly heinous."

He sighed softly, a perfectly timed expression of regret and sorrow appearing on his face, a performance that seemed entirely natural: "This prefect's failure to suppress the bandits has led to the traitors' desperate actions and this disaster. I am deeply pained and filled with remorse."