Chapter 691
Fan Xian washed his hands seriously . It took three basins of clear water before the fresh blood was washed off his hands . The servants poured the bloody water onto the roots of the trees by the stone lions outside the front doors of the Fan manor . No one knew if it would raise some kind of evil spirit . The clothes on his body were still covered with bloodstains . He took them off nonchalantly to put on a fresh set of outer clothing . The sleeves of the robe fluttered slightly in the evening air .
This dramatic scene was performed outside of the front doors of Fan manor . Sun Jingxiu, a leading official of the Ministry of Justice, and an internal court eunuch sent by the Palace all came after hearing the news and saw all of it .
Fan Xian's hands left outside the sleeves were shaking slightly . He had burned through too much energy seven days . It was not something a night of sleep could recover . Additionally, under the cover of darkness, he had used the sword in his hand to kill all the people outside the manor responsible for keeping it under surveillance like an evil demon . It was another drain on his energy . It made his face slightly pale .
His handsome and slightly pale face, accompanied by the sword on the ground and stench of blood all around, made Fan Xian appear particularly terrifying .
He was the Director of the Overwatch Council and a killing machine of the darkness the Overwatch Council had raised for 20 years . Usually, people were fooled by his identity, noble title, powerful position, and glory . They did not realize that Fan Xian's most powerful ability was his skill in killing people .
He had not killed all the spies the Palace had sent to watch the Fan manor . Those that had escaped before Fan Xian could act and those who had revealed their identities had only been knocked out . As for those particularly far away from the Fan manor, within the boundary of streets and alleys, the spies disguised as various common folk and merchants did not have any chance to negotiate or surrender before they became a fleeing spirit on the blade of the sword in his hand .
After waking from the nightmare, and his eyes had left the blinding coldness of the snowy mountain, Fan Xian had taken countermeasures at the first opportunity . Such a counterattack could not help but seem overly bloody and unreasonable .
Fan Xian was not a bloodthirsty person . He knew the spies outside Fan manor had been sent by the Emperor and important officials in court . Those people did not know of Fan Xian's present state of mind . They had to be even more on guard . However, he had no choice but to kill them . His first accurate deduction after opening his eyes was that the Emperor would weaken his power . Furthermore, the Emperor would strictly control contact between him and the Overwatch Council subordinates loyal to him .
Although Yan Bingyun, with the help of the Royal Palace and suppression through military strength, had managed to take control of the square and sinister building in name, everyone knew that after Chen Pingping had died wretchedly in front of the Royal Palace, the sinister Council only had one master left: Fan Xian . If he could rebuild even the slightest connection to the Overwatch Council, then even the Emperor would not be able to stop Fan Xian successfully obtaining the power of the Overwatch Council .
At least for now, the Emperor would not allow Fan Xian to obtain the Overwatch Council's help again . Ye Zhong had led troops to "invite" Fan Xian back to the capital . With so many spies hidden outside the manor, it was clear the Emperor wanted to put Fan Xian temporarily under house-arrest .
Fan Xian could not give the Emperor time to make these progressive arrangements . Once Fan Xian lost contact with the Overwatch Council for too long, the court would gradually take apart the personnel structure within the Overwatch Council and clear out officials loyal to Chen Pingping and Fan Xian . They would then desperately fill it with spies, just like how the Imperial Censorate filled the Overwatch Council with spies two years ago .
Before the Overwatch Council left his control, Fan Xian had to, voluntarily, tidily, and readily, have the subordinates loyal to him return to the darkness and calmness to wait until he needed them once again . All of this relied on him making contact with the most loyal Qinian Unit .
The spies outside Fan manor had to die . Fan Xian would not risk carrying out this dangerous task while being followed . Under the Emperor's authority and suppression, the only way to find a flaw in the surveillance outside Fan manor was through the terror of blood and death . There was no other way .
The news that a First Bureau crow had risked death to come into the manor made Fan Xian's heart freeze . He steadied the hand grasping the sword .
Four Overwatch Council officials had already been hanged in the prison, but they weren't the heads of the eight bureaus . It looked like Yan Bingyun was still desperately protecting the Overwatch Council's survival, but he still could not save those officials .
The four officials were those who had tried to forcefully rescue the Director when he had been sent into the Overwatch Council's prison . The Emperor would not allow officials who disobeyed him to exist . So, they had died, cleanly and tidily .
For Fan Xian, this was a dangerous signal that the Emperor had begun to purge the Overwatch Council . So, he also had to take action . He had not used any of his inconsiderable powers or available subordinates . He personally stepped over the tall threshold of the Fan manor and pulled out the icy sword from behind him . He took a walk in the night and killed 14 people .
The lantern in front of the Fan manor front doors was hung high . All the torches were lit on Chang Street in the south of the city . Everything was illuminated like daylight . A few officials watched the bloody corpses being carried out from the streets and alleys all around . They met each other's eyes with cold hearts and pale faces, unsure of what to say . They had always known that Sir Fan junior was a powerful character who did not act according to common logic . They still could not understand why he would risk the Emperor's rage and danger of being thrown into prison to kill so many people in front of so many people .
The officials all knew that these bodies being piled into carriages were capable spies the Palace and their own yamens had sent out . Their target had been this little duke in Fan manor . It was no wonder he had become so angry, but was the follow-up strategy of this kind of violent killing?
Each of the yamens of the Qing court were probably used to sending out spies to find out the information and intelligence they needed . No one knew how many spies they had in each nobleman's manor and each official's manor in Jingdou . The Overwatch Council was an even older hand at doing such things . According to the rumors, the First Bureau was at the level where they could place a spy in the manor of each official in the capital above the sixth-level .
Concerning the matter of spies, they were not a secret in the Jingdou officialdom . The officials were all used to it . Even if an official one day discovered that there were spies from the Palace or the Overwatch Council in his manor through some strange events, he could only pretend to not know . If he really could not go on pretending, he could only look after them carefully, give the other party verbal reminders, and politely send them out of their manor and back to their yamen .
The officials knew these spies represented the Emperor's eyes and authority of the court . They had never thought that there would be an official like Sir Fan junior who would coldly and arrogantly kill all of these spies .
The vice director of the Ministry of Justice glanced at the uncomfortable Sun Jingxiu and said in a low voice, "Sir Sun, you'll have to ask the little duke about how we should report back on this matter . "
Killing people in the streets had already broken one of the Qing law's capital offenses . Even though Fan Xian was now of noble rank and within the boundaries of the Eight Deliberations, which enabled him to avoid the death penalty, he could not escape punishment . Furthermore, the people he had killed today were all secret subordinates of the court .
However, Fan Xian washed his hands under the bright light of the lanterns and changed his bloodied clothing in front of the officials with a cold and calm expression . Who dared to capture him?
Among the officials present, only the magistrate of the Jingdou Government, Sun Jingxiu, should be managing this matter . Furthermore, the crowd all knew that the Sun manor had close relations to the little duke . A few months ago, the little duke had battled it out with Scholar He of the Hall of Governmental Affairs for the sake of Sun Jingxiu's career prospects . It had ended with Scholar He in the dirt, so the gazes of all the officials landed on Sun Jingxiu's face .
Sun Jingxiu's heart was bitter like he had eaten ephedra . He knew what his colleagues were fearful of . In recent days, things had not been easy for him . The Overwatch Council had run into major trouble, old Director Chen had been sentenced to death by a thousand cuts, and he had personally seen Sir Fan junior ride alone into the execution field . He had broken out in cold sweat from the fear . He didn't know what role Sir Fan junior would play in court in the future . Would he pass into oblivion or be severely punished by the Emperor?
If Fan Xian lost power, Sun Jingdou would not be met with a good end . Thus, he had spent the entire day in the Jingdou Government waiting in fear for the Emperor's orders to remove him from his position . Unexpectedly, the Emperor's order had not arrived . His support, Sir Fan junior, had done another universally shocking and treasonous thing .
He made his way over to the front door of the Fan manor with his body slightly bent . He bowed deeply and formally to Fan Xian . He then quietly said some things .
Fan Xian was sitting tiredly on the long bench . He had thrown the Wei Emperor's sword to the ground by his feet . He was not surprised to see Sun Jingxiu approach him . He replied with a cold expression .
The other officials were too scared to move forward and did not know what the two of them said . They could only hold their impatience . After Sun Jingdou came down from the stone steps, the vice director of the Ministry of Justice furrowed his brows and said, "What did the duke say? Killing people in the street is not a minor matter . Even if it gets to the Taichang Temple, it still needs an explanation . "
The vice director did not have the courage to order the 13 yamens of the Ministry of Justice to send people into the Fan manor to capture him . However, the Qing laws were strict . These officials had seen all this and could not pretend they had not seen anything .
No one knew what Fan Xian had said to Sun Jingxiu, but the Jingdou Magistrate no longer wore an expression of fear . With a calm expression, he said, "The duke said that recently Jingdou has not been peaceful . The Overwatch Council has found that there are people coming into the capital to kidnap children . As you know, the Fan manor has two young children, so Sir Fan junior is nervous . Thus, he had walked around the various streets and alleys by the manor earlier and saw some suspicious figures . Seeing that they were not trustworthy people, he asked them a few questions . Unexpectedly, these bastards dared to take out weapons to attack the duke . Of course, the duke would not treat these scoundrels kindly . "
With these words, the officials in the center sucked in a cold breath . They had seen shameless and ruthless nobles, but they had never seen such a shameless and ruthless noble . Fourteen lives taken just like that . And, he had forced the suspicion of kidnappers onto them . If it was self-defense, it was understandable . To say that the Duke of Fan manor had ridden out alone to inquire as to the whereabouts of the kidnappers and had ended up being pursued by 14 people, no matter how often it was said, no one would believe it .
"Naturally, I do not believe it, but I also don't have any evidence . Of course, we can also invite the duke back to the yamen to record his confession or something . But, it's already late, and I am not interested in doing it . " Sun Jingxiu's back suddenly straightened . Looking at his colleagues around him, he said coldly, "You all have this authority in your yamens . If you are willing to take over this case, help yourself… However, I want to remind everyone that most of the people who died were from the Palace . The Palace has not spoken, so it is best to not act rashly . "
This was the most useless sentence ever . Everyone knew who had died outside the Fan manor . This had always been a matter between the Emperor and Sir Fan junior . Even if these officials were given some courage, they would not interfere . However, Fan Xian had been too excessive . The matter was about to reach the Palace . If they did not have some reaction before that, who knew what the Palace would think of them?
After saying this, Sun Jingxiu left with the bailiffs of the Jingdou Government, not bothering to deal with the matter anymore . In his simple conversation with Fan Xian, his mind had been put at ease . Although it had been a difficult pill to swallow, at least the duke had said that as long as he did not die, nothing would happen to the Sun manor . Since he had already said so, Sun Jingxiu had nothing else to complain about . Everything was up to fate .
Watching the people of the Jingdou Government leave the front doors of the Fan manor, Fan Xian rose from the long bench and glanced coldly at the officials below the stone steps . From beside his foot, he lifted the sword of the Wei Emperor that everyone saw as a treasure . As if he had picked up a wet mop, he casually slapped it a few times against the head of the stone lion .
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