The gathering was organized by two of Li Xuan's subordinates, both Chief Enforcers.
Lu, the Chief Enforcer, or rather, Lu, the Hundred-Household Captain.
Lu, the Hundred-Household Captain, felt that he was getting old and couldn't keep up, so he decided to retire and pass the position to his son.
His son, Xiao Lu, took over and was demoted, becoming Lu, the Chief Enforcer again.
There were also two Hundred-Household Captains from the north who had lost nearly all their men. Only a single surviving Marshal had risen to become a Chief Enforcer due to his contributions. He was transferred to Li Xuan's command as he couldn't handle the northern work alone.
A group of people were selected from the Northern Garrison to go north as reinforcements, and Bai, the new Hundred-Household Captain, was unlucky enough to be chosen.
“So, Lao Bai, you have to be careful when you go north. I don't want to see my two familiar subordinates replaced by two newbies.”
“It wasn't easy for me to get you promoted to Hundred-Household Captain. Now I have two Chief Enforcers under me!”
Bai, the Hundred-Household Captain, gave a wry smile as he listened to Li Xuan's complaints and concerns.
Although he was his superior, being reprimanded by a child still felt awkward.
The former Lu, the Hundred-Household Captain, was more understanding. He patted his son's shoulder and said with a smile:
“Head, I'll leave my son in your care.”
“I'm not worried about his safety, but he's a bit too honest. You'll have to take the time to mold him.”
“What are you waiting for? Quickly pour a toast to the leader!”
The last sentence was directed at his son.
Now retired, Lu, the Hundred-Household Captain, finally relaxed his serious demeanor, a smile gracing his face. He had become more smooth as well, even knowing to pay his respects.
His son was clearly a filial son. Even though he was thirty years old and had grown a beard, he still did whatever his father said.
Now that he was told to pour a toast, he obediently picked up his cup, raised it above his head, and bowed, saying:
“Your subordinate, Lu Jian Xing, is willing to die for you!”
Look at his attitude, it was definitely better than the newcomer who wouldn't let go of his black cat and just sat there with a poker face.
Wait…
Li Xuan dug his ear with his finger: “We’re all comrades, no need for all this formality. What’s your name again?”
Lu Jian Xing replied respectfully: “Jian is for sword, like a sword and a blade. Xing is for star, like the stars in the sky.”
Life was full of surprises, indeed.
Turning to the poker face, Li Xuan asked: “Newcomer, you don’t know how to integrate into the group? You need to be proactive.”
The poker face put down the cat and sat upright: “Shen Lian, Lian from ‘Interminable Hell’.”
Lu, the Hundred-Household Captain, chimed in: “Lu Chen Feng, Chen Feng from ‘Arranging Sharpness’.”
Bai, the Hundred-Household Captain, also said: “Bai Xing Zhi, Xing Zhi from ‘Knowing and Acting as One’.”
Looking at these two, Li Xuan rolled his eyes: “Alright, alright. You’re finally telling me your names after we’re about to leave? We’re drinking tonight until we’re all drunk!”
He glanced at two specific people out of the corner of his eye.
Since I have a Broadsword, does my Destined One System need to give me a new identity?
He silently checked the system and thought, “Holy cow…”
Bai Xing Zhi smiled cheerfully: “Leader, how can us subordinates take the initiative to introduce ourselves? We need a good opportunity.”
“The key is that you always use your age as an excuse and refuse to join us for fun. How can we introduce ourselves?”
Lu Chen Feng nodded: “I thought you came from some big family, just to pretend to be one of us and then leave, not even looking down on us poor folks. Why would we bother introducing ourselves.”
“It wasn’t until we got to know you that we realized you were here to really do something.”
“Without further ado, I toast to you!”
…
They had a great time and eventually dispersed.
On the way back, Li Xuan, feeling good after making Shen Lian, the sycophant, puke, saw the new information on the Destined One System and felt even better.
【Identity 2】: Imperial Guard
【Task 1】: Self-Execution of Tasks (random ability proficiency increase)
【Task 2】: Subordinate Execution of Tasks (random ability proficiency increase)
【Initial Reward】: Imperial Hound, Imperial Permission. As an Imperial Guard, you will not be suspected or doubted by those in power.
Before he could examine it further.
【Ding, subordinate Li Lei, the Force, has completed the patrol task.】
【Reward】: Depending on task difficulty and other factors, random ability proficiency will increase.
【Randomizing ability…】
【Host's only unmastered ability is Iron Shirt. Based on task difficulty, Iron Shirt skill level, and cultivation level, proficiency increases by 0.0…01%.】
【Ding, subordinate Zhang Huang Fei…】
Seeing that he was about to be dinged to death, Li Xuan quickly changed the settings, selecting “summarize” instead of “prompt” and “view details later.” He also made the system hide the numbers after the decimal point.
Li Xuan finally wiped his nonexistent cold sweat.
It seemed that this identity had two key points.
First, even if he was promoted or transferred to another department, he should ideally have a nominal position as an Imperial Guard. Otherwise, this newly added “special skill points function” would be useless.
Second, the more subordinates he had, the more proficiency he could gain.
In other words, the higher his position, the faster he could grow stronger.
This was linked to the previous identity's promotion task.
Do one deed, get two rewards, awesome!
After a moment of joy, Li Xuan finally shifted his attention from the system to the outside world.
Then he let out a surprised “Hmm”.
It was the Shen time when they left, and they had spent about two hours eating, drinking, and having fun. It was almost the Xu time, or the second watch of the night.
But there were still a lot of people on the streets.
Everyone knew that there was a curfew in Daqian at night.
If you were caught wandering around after the second watch, whether by the patrol soldiers, the Five City Garrison, or even the Imperial Guard on patrol, you would be in big trouble.
Whose family was so bold, or could everyone be bold at the same time?
He took a closer look, and Li Xuan's confusion grew.
They were dressed in rags in the middle of winter, many carrying baggage, making them look like refugees.
Even if the city gate officials weren't doing their job properly, they wouldn't just let refugees into the capital.
There was definitely something wrong!
He decided not to go home and turned around, heading towards the Northern Garrison.
Intelligence agencies never fully shut down.
It wasn’t exactly a three-shift system, but there were still staff on duty at headquarters.
Li Xuan was not polite, and he directly called out:
“Two clerks.”
“Get me all the relevant information about the increase in refugees in the capital.”
Everyone knew Li Xuan wore the Flying Fish Robe, in other words, he was in the Emperor's favor, so no one dared to question his actions.
Everyone who worked for the Imperial Guard, even the clerks, had a certain aura of efficiency and decisiveness.
Soon, someone had compiled the materials and placed them on Li Xuan's desk.
“Three provinces, Ji, Yan, and Qing, have been hit by a famine, coupled with the ongoing war against the Jurchen, Wa La, and Tartar in the Liaodong Garrison, Ji Prefecture Garrison, and Xuanfu Garrison, leading to massive grain requisition.”
“The inaction of officials in the three provinces has caused refugees to flood into the capital.”
Something was wrong, a big problem.
If there wasn't someone guiding them, how could the refugees run to the capital?
“The city gate guards ignored the refugees, and when the Five City Garrison discovered something was wrong, there were too many refugees entering the city, so they didn't dare to act.”