I Only Stomp on Weaklings

The Great Jin’s system separates civilian from military affairs. Although the Six Gates lead at the local level, they only handle military matters, while civilian affairs are managed by the civil servants, specifically the governors’ office.

The governor is considered the deputy of the governor of the Six Gates.

Of course, the Six Gates offices at the state level are very large, naturally requiring officials to manage logistics, which is considered a civilian role.

People like Gu Xianyu from aristocratic families are often arranged to take on civilian positions; this is an unspoken rule.

Chen Ming had heard about this from Wu Zhenhang.

At that time, he already had an idea of what position he wanted to choose, believing the senior members of the Six Gates would give some face to the Gu Family.

Sure enough, he successfully became a Fifth Grade Prison Director.

To him, this was a dream position.

Back in Qingfeng City, when he was at the Seventh Grade, through his connection with Zhao Xiyan, he practiced with prisoners in the Six Gates’ prison, experiencing for the first time the benefits of a surge in experience points.

He once thought about joining the Six Gates and becoming an official in the prison.

Unexpectedly, it came true now.

...

Led by that civilian official, Chen Ming completed the onboarding procedures and went to meet his direct superior, only to find that the person wasn’t there.

Instead, there was an old man with white hair, wearing the uniform of a Fifth Grade Captain, dozing off. Upon hearing a new colleague had arrived, he perked up, looked, and laughed, "A young master? What a rarity."

"Old Zhang, I’ll leave him to you. Show him around."

The civilian official left abruptly, as if unwilling to stay a moment longer.

The old man remained seated, saying, "It’s just the prison. You can take a look later. How should I address you, young master?"

"Gu Xianyu."

Old Zhang sized him up, asking, "From the Capital City?"

Chen Ming was curious, "How did you guess?"

"There’s no Gu family in Xiazhou that matches your noble demeanor; you could only be from the Capital City."

"Old Zhang, you truly have keen eyes."

Old Zhang laughed, a bit smug, saying, "I have no other strengths, just been in government office long enough to have some insight."

After exchanging some pleasantries, Chen Ming asked, "Where is our prison director?"

"Not here today."

"When will he be around so I can pay my respects?"

"You’ll have to wait; Grand Master Ruan only comes by once a month, right after the start of the month."

Chen Ming was shocked, "Is that allowed?"

Old Zhang chuckled, "Why not? Grand Master Ruan has long not wanted this prison director position. Coming once a month is already in consideration of Lord Duan."

"..."

Chen Ming was momentarily speechless, sensing his superior was no ordinary person.

Lord Duan likely referred to that supreme figure in the red robe.

Old Zhang added, "But, if Grand Master Ruan knew you arrived, he’d likely be pleased."

"Why is that?"

"Grand Master Ruan, like you, is also from the Capital City."

"Ah?"

...

Chen Ming discovered that this highest-grade prison of the Six Gates in Xiazhou was woefully understaffed.

The highest authority, the prison director, only came once a month.

Two deputy positions were long vacant.

Six prison directors were appointed, each responsible for three areas. But three of them rarely showed up for work.

Thus, the daily operation of this prison relied on two prison directors.

One was Old Zhang.

The other was slightly younger, in his sixties, surnamed Li. He was off today and didn’t come.

Now there was one more: Chen Ming.

Each prison director had five Prison Supervisors under them, all at the Seventh Grade. These were the ones who truly got things done. All affairs of this massive prison were handled personally by these people.

The work of a prison director was to manage these Prison Supervisors.

Nearing noon, Old Zhang gathered all the Prison Supervisors and introduced the new Prison Director, Gu.

Then, he assigned five of them under his command, becoming his direct subordinates.

Among these five, there were four men and one woman, all in their thirties or forties, with composed expressions that marked them as grassroots managers.

The five bowed to him, "Greetings, Lord Gu."

Chen Ming could tell they were only superficially respectful to him. This was unsurprising since he had parachuted into the position and was so young.

"Alright, off to work now."

He didn’t lecture, directly announcing his intention.

In his past jobs, he detested when leaders pulled this kind of routine. Now that he was the leader, he managed not to become what he once despised most.

...

In the following days, Chen Ming went to work at the prison daily, first to familiarize himself with the environment and understand the scope of a prison director’s duties.

Then he realized why those three prison directors were unwilling to come to work.

As a prison director, he was merely a steward, primarily responsible for receiving commands from the office each day, such as which official wanted to interrogate which prisoner, a new prisoner being delivered, with numerous procedures to follow.

Furthermore, after a prisoner was interrogated, if punishment was administered, he had to ensure they didn’t die. If they did, he’d be blamed.

This position offered virtually no opportunities for merit, entailing dirty, tiring work, and constantly risked taking the blame. Such a lousy position, few were willing to take it on.

That night, Chen Ming invited his five subordinates for drinks and asked them, "How did you end up being transferred here?"

In the past few days, he’d been taking them out to meals daily to understand the running system of the prison, getting quite familiar with them in the process.

"Didn’t complete a task, got demoted here."

"Offended someone."

"Me too, back then I was naive..."

"At that time, my boss wanted to drug me unconscious, but I cut off his testicles." This was the only female subordinate. Sure enough, those who can stay in the prison aren’t ordinary people.

Finally, only one person remained silent, the one who usually spoke the least among the subordinates.

Chen Ming called his name and asked, "Deng Wei, what about you?"

Deng Wei smiled and said, "I volunteered to come."

"Why?"

"It’s the safest here."

"Insightful."

Chen Ming toasted him with a cup, and Deng Wei was somewhat flattered, "Thank you, my lord."

After eating and drinking their fill, Chen Ming parted ways with them and left.

On the way back, that outspoken female subordinate, Lei Chun, suddenly said, "I feel that this Lord Gu is different from other lords."

Deng Wei said, "Indeed, he’s different. People of his noble birth, yet so approachable, are rare."

Another person said, "It’s a pity; he won’t stay here for too long."

The others remained silent.

They had served here for a long time and had seen many children of noble families sent to the prison, usually leaving after a few months or half a year.

Or they would slack off like those three Prison Directors and the Prison Director himself, hardly ever coming to the prison.

How long can this Lord Gu persist?

...

When Chen Ming returned to Jiang Wushuang’s residence, it was already dark.

Greeting him was a maid named Xiao He, who had arrived at Xiazhou City with the Jiang family’s servants a few days ago.

He asked, "Where’s Wushuang?"

"Master Jiang seems to have gone out."

"Go ask where he went."

"Yes."

Xiao He went to inquire, naturally from the Jiang family members.

Before long, she returned, "They say he went to see friends and might not be back until late."

Chen Ming frowned, inevitably feeling a bit worried.

Since he reported to Six Gates, he hadn’t seen Jiang Wushuang; every time he came back, Jiang Wushuang was not there. By morning, he had already gone out.

Before arriving in Xiazhou City, he said he was here to kill someone.

In recent days, Chen Ming had understood the strength of Six Gates in the city and the situation in Xiazhou City, so he was quite worried.

Xiazhou City has two giants, Six Gates and the Eight Righteous Sect.

Six Gates needn’t be mentioned; they may not necessarily get involved in vendettas in the martial world. Eight Righteous Sect people, however, love meddling in affairs. Previously in Ten Thousand Thunder City, the one named He Zhixing was like that.

Within the Eight Righteous Sect, there are Eight Righteous Paths, the most representative being the Bitter Righteous, Killing Righteous, and Life Righteous paths.

The Bitter Righteous lineage follows ascetic practices, so the disciples are ascetics, wearing old clothes, living in broken houses, and eating simple vegetarian meals.

Some clan members even appear like beggars.

The Killing Righteous lineage emphasizes stopping killing with killing; its disciples will stop at nothing to find the murderer once they know someone has been killed, and kill them. To warn the world, no killing!

The Life Righteous lineage is completely different, believing in equality among all beings and that everyone has the right to learn martial arts, so they teach anyone with talent everywhere.

One must say, there are many extremists in the Eight Righteous Sect, acting very radically, yet these people hold tremendous power.

Xiazhou has today’s atmosphere largely due to the Eight Righteous Sect.

Xiazhou City has always been the base camp of the Eight Righteous Sect. Jiang Wushuang trying to kill someone here is extremely dangerous. If found by the "Killing Righteous" disciples, he will surely die.

"Killing Righteous" disciples act recklessly, even if a Six Gates person kills, they will retaliate regardless. In Xiazhou, they are definitely feared by everyone.

Chen Ming decided to find an opportunity to talk to Jiang Wushuang; revenge can wait ten years, there’s no need to risk oneself just to kill someone.

...

That night, Chen Ming was in his room contemplating the visualization map, immersed in the map’s mood when suddenly he heard a voice, "Master!"

That voice seemed to come from another world.

His mind snapped back to alertness, gripping the "Breaking Army Sword" beside him, soon hearing some noise in the yard.

He stepped out the door, seeing Jiang Wushuang with half his body stained with blood, the "Dragon Abyss Sword" in his hand was dim, barely holding himself up.

It was clear he was severely wounded.

Xiao He was about to step forward to support him.

Chen Ming moved swiftly, holding Jiang Wushuang and returning to the house, while instructing, "Xiao He, keep watch outside; notify me immediately if there’s any disturbance."

"Yes." Xiao He stayed outside.

Chen Ming first checked Jiang Wushuang’s pulse; from the pulse, his condition was terribly bad. A destructive force was rampaging within him, destroying his vitality.

The attacker must be at least Second Grade!

Jiang Wushuang had a sword wound near his shoulder and chest, with blood continuously flowing out.

He must be stopped from bleeding first.

Chen Ming placed him on the bed, forcefully ripping his top open.

Suddenly, Jiang Wushuang’s face turned pale, weakly shouting, "Don’t—"

He wore a silver decoration around his neck, threaded with a red string that had been severed by Sword Qi. Chen Ming’s rip removed that silver piece as well.

He suddenly felt dazzled, focusing his gaze, (·)(·)!

Chen Ming was stunned; wasn’t he male? How could he have these things?

He looked up at Jiang Wushuang’s face, seeing features as exquisite as a painting, skin like congealed fat, exuding feminine charm and beauty at every inch.

Clearly she was a woman, a beauty rivaling Su Zhining and Yu Haitang!

"Was I blind before? How could I have thought she was a man?"