I am the Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysterious-Chapter 170 - 143: Evil Suppression Bureau Lesson One
At dusk that day, Sang Que attended classes at the Merit Office for a whole day, feeling her head stuffed with so much that she couldn’t lift it, dizzy and lightheaded.
The Evil Suppression Bureau has many things that can only be listened to and memorized, all relying on memory.
Returning to the small courtyard assigned to her by the Evil Suppression Bureau, Sang Que happened to see Kou Yushan returning from work, looking troubled, not knowing what difficulty he had encountered.
The Night Traveler’s residence is larger than the Day Traveling Envoy’s, but Sang Que specifically requested the courtyard next to Kou Yushan’s for Little Chan’s convenience in visiting, with both courtyards of the same size; only a small gate needs to be opened in the middle wall to connect them.
Kou Yushan is currently an ordinary constable of Day Travel Envoy, with a monthly salary of three thousand coins, and when he formally becomes a Day Traveling Envoy, the monthly salary is four thousand coins.
As a formally appointed Night Traveler, Sang Que has a monthly salary of five thousand coins and was paid one month’s salary in advance upon entry. Within the Evil Suppression Bureau, there’s also a canteen where she can eat freely with her token.
The Night Traveler is exempt from all city taxes, not subject to mandatory marriage, conscription, or military service, in the Xuan Dynasty where a bushel of rice costs five cents, five thousand coins are simply unspendable.
Converted to modern currency, five thousand coins would be around thirty thousand units, with a unit-provided large four-sided courtyard, the canteen providing three meals a day, and seasonally supplied uniforms, weapons, and a horse, with the horse taken care of by the unit.
Staying at inns is free when out, sending letters through inns is also free and express, and every month you receive plenty of basic materials needed for work. The benefits are indeed excellent.
But it’s life-consuming!
Moreover, the Night Traveler supposedly follows a rotation system, three days on duty with one day off, and works only at night, but hahaha, there’s simply not enough manpower and vacations exist only in the system.
The most important rule is that if required by ghost cases, the Night Traveler has the right to mobilize the local government office’s constables for assistance, and anyone obstructing the Night Traveler from handling ghost cases can be executed on the spot.
The power can be considered quite significant, but Sang Que is not naive and understands that this applies only to ordinary citizens and low-level constables without power or influence.
If by any chance the wrong person is killed, the Inspection Institute within the Evil Suppression Bureau has the ’Rewarding the Good’ and ’Punishing the Evil’ departments to investigate and deal with the Night Traveler afterwards.
After nodding at Kou Yushan at the courtyard gate, Sang Que opened the gate and returned to her small courtyard, where Xia Chan was playing with Xuan Yu in the yard, with Xia Chan blindfolded and Xuan Yu launching surprise attacks from various places.
Previously, Xia Chan still used her eyes to see things, but now she was learning to sense with her hair.
Xuan Yu leaped down from the eaves, Xia Chan didn’t even look, her hair shot out like lightning, immediately wrapping Xuan Yu and pulling him into her arms for a good rub.
Meow-wu-wu——
Seeing Xia Chan, Sang Que suddenly felt troubled, as both she and Kou Yushan had to work, what would Xia Chan do during the day?
Tomorrow she would inquire if family members can dine at the canteen. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚
There’s also a benefit in the Evil Suppression Bureau; any children of those employed here, regardless of gender, can attend school for free, as the Bureau has established a special school.
This policy of treating boys and girls equally is also the idea of that Prime Minister of the Xuan Dynasty, and it has been well implemented for the last decade, leading many educated girls to be grateful to the Prime Minister.
Even with danger, some of these girls are willing to join the Evil Suppression Bureau in administrative roles, and it’s believed that in the coming years, there will be more and more female faces in the Bureau.
"Little Chan, do you want to go to school?" Sang Que asked Xia Chan.
Xia Chan pulled down the cloth from her eyes, full of innocence, "Is studying fun?"
Sang Que pursed her lips, after a moment forced a smile, "It’s very fun!"
Xia Chan laughed happily, "Little Chan wants to go play, and take Xuan Yu along."
Meow?
Xuan Yu paused in the action of licking his paws and tilted his head.
Sang Que nodded, "Alright, let Xuan Yu go with you."
It’s just right that Xuan Yu can keep an eye on Xia Chan, otherwise, she fears Xia Chan, being so innocent, might be bullied by other kids.
The water tank in the courtyard was full, presumably filled by Kou Yushan during the day, as there are three wells in the western city, each well being constructed with special brick similar to city bricks, at carefully chosen locations.
After washing her face, Sang Que returned to the room, lit all the candlesticks to ensure brightness, sat at the table, placing the mask, copper waist token, and the palm-sized black Ten Victory Stone Official Seal she received during the day on the table.
She took out her vermillion ink pen and draft paper, deciding to organize and record the content she heard today, lest she forgets.
Heaven knows, she’d never studied so diligently!
The position division in the Evil Suppression Bureau has some differences from the division of civil and military officials in the court, and when Sang Que had just finished understanding them today, she felt the organizational structure had drawn some inspiration from the modern Underworld system.
The top of the Underworld is the Emperor Fengdu, beneath are the Emperor Dongyue and the Womb of the Earth Bodhisattva, exactly corresponding to the Prime Minister’s Mansion, Taoist Sect, and Buddhist Sect currently managing the Evil Suppression Bureau.
Below the Underworld are the Five Ghost Emperors, and below them, the Ten Halls Yama.
The Evil Suppression Bureau does not have the Five Ghost Emperors, only the Ten Great Yin Generals, seven men and three women.
The Xuan Dynasty has Nine Great States; except for Jingzhou, which has both a male and female Yin Walking General, other states have only one, with the strongest stationed on the Sixth Level of the Nine Netherworld.
The weakest is the Yin Walking General in Qinzhou, previously due to the Fengning City Yin Child case, his controlled evil spirits were heavily injured and his level dropped.
Because Fengning City was entirely wiped out and he couldn’t capture the Yin Child, losing the people’s trust, his overall strength has currently declined to the Fifth Layer of the Nine Netherworld, and it will take some time to return to the Sixth Layer.
When Sang Que first heard about this, she was scared out of her wits; a brat capable of severely injuring a Sixth Level Yin Walking General must have been at the Sixth Level of the Nine Netherworld themselves at the time.
No wonder the brat always acted indifferent towards her and tried to kill her whenever there was a chance, as she is considered a disgrace and blemish to them.
If the brat’s friends in the Ghost Realm saw her being controlled, who knows how they’d mock the brat, so the brat never wandered far and avoided showing up when possible.
Below the Ten Halls Yama of the Underworld are the Six Cases Merit Officer, Reincarnation Bureau, Judicial Officer, Yin Cao Bureau, Ten Great Ghost Generals, Yin Ghost Envoy, Soul Capturing Envoy, Demon Nether Envoy, and so on.
The Evil Suppression Bureau has streamlined this, leaving only the Evil Ghost Bureau for imprisoning evil ghosts, the Merit Office for all logistical affairs, and the Inspection Institute to oversee ghastly cases and Bureau personnel in various locations.
Below them are the Day Traveling Envoy and Night Traveler, with the lowest level being ordinary constables, also known as White Servants.
The Day Traveling Envoy and Night Traveler are also subdivided, with the Day Travel Captain over all of Qinzhou being Cui Cheng, while the Night Travel Captain is He Buning.
Cui Cheng is over forty, formerly a general guarding the Yunzhou border, with countless battles fought and an aura full of Evil Qi; after losing an arm on the battlefield, he was transferred to Qinzhou to continue to shine in the Evil Suppression Bureau.
It is said he is a cold-faced killer, comparable to He Buning in strength, even excelling in martial arts over He Buning.
While learning about these today, Sang Que also heard some gossip about how Cui Cheng and He Buning don’t get along.
Cui Cheng looks down on He Buning, calling him a young pretty boy; behind his back, He Buning curses Cui Cheng as a scar-faced old cripple.
Both Day and Night Traveling Envoys form teams of three, with the Captain’s waist token being pure gold, known as Golden Travel.
The team members have silver waist tokens, known as Silver Travel.
Sang Que, who does not belong to a squad and moves wherever needed, holds a lower-level Night Traveler’s copper waist token, known as Copper Travel.
The Day Travelers are many, and Cui Cheng typically does not concern himself with his Copper Travelers, but those forming squads, each Golden Travel Captain and Silver Travel member is personally assessed and chosen by Cui Cheng, with strength equal to Night Travelers of the same level.
Thanks to Cui Cheng, his Day Traveling Envoys have managed to handle many ghost cases meant for Night Travelers; otherwise, He Buning would be even busier than now.
Both openly despise each other, creating a tense atmosphere full of competitive spirit between Day Travel and Night Travel, but who knows if they secretly drink together with arms around each other.
There are fewer Night Travelers, with a total of eight teams authorized, and currently only seven teams in Qinzhou, with each team lacking full membership.
Despite this, He Buning insists that she and Qin Ze start as Copper Travel and follow the Day Travel in Wangshan City for a month to handle miscellaneous affairs and learn ghost expulsion intricacies.
Sang Que has already been assigned to Yu Da, the chubby middle-aged man who first came with Xiao Liu to the Evil Suppression Bureau to snatch people.
Yu Da is a Copper Travel of the Day Traveling Envoy, and under normal circumstances, Day Traveling Envoys can apply for promotion after a year of service, but Yu Da has been a Copper Travel for eight years.
After recording the organizational structure of the Evil Suppression Bureau, Sang Que looked at the mask, official seal, and token at hand and began noting the usage and precautions for these three items.
