In fact, he had only escaped life-threatening danger; his true recovery, and his rather dramatic appearance before the courtiers wearing a golden mask, would not happen until several months later. At this time, he merely received a few important princes and ministers and offered some encouragement to his sons. At the same time, he announced that during his convalescence, the crown prince would act as regent. He also commended the loyal ministers who had been injured while saving him—those who had acid thrown on them by Eric Bennett. Among them, the Commander of the Nine Gates, Evan Grant, had his merits and faults offset, so he was neither rewarded nor punished. However, the Minister of Personnel, Samuel Adams, who had his right hand so badly burned that it had to be amputated due to infection, received a heavy reward.

Not only was he promoted to Grand Scholar of the Wen Yuan Pavilion, but he was also enrolled into the Plain Yellow Banner, so that from now on, when he saw Kang Mazi, he could address himself as "your servant."

When the news spread, the entire court shouted "Long live the wise emperor!"

But immediately after, Kang Mazi issued another baffling order.

On the grounds that the crown prince was young and it would be difficult for him to handle so many state affairs alone, he decreed that several of his sons would each take charge of one of the Six Ministries: the eldest prince would oversee the Ministry of Personnel, the third prince the Ministry of War, the fourth prince the Ministry of Revenue, the fifth prince the Ministry of Rites, the seventh prince the Ministry of Works, and the eighth prince the Ministry of Justice. In short, since they were all brothers, they should all take responsibility and not leave all the work to the crown prince.

Brothers working together can cut through gold!

Poor James Walker really wanted to say, "I actually wish I could do all the work myself!"

It was obvious that the old man still thought his sons weren't fighting hard enough. He wanted these wolf cubs to keep going, to continue fighting until a final victor emerged, and then have the strongest inherit his eternal empire.

Of course, the main reason was also to prevent James Walker from growing too powerful and developing certain inappropriate ambitions. In this regard, Kang Mazi was very vigilant. After all, this crown prince had held his position for quite a while, and he wanted his son to understand: as long as I live, you will always be the crown prince, and with so many wolves around you, you'd better behave.

How Kang Mazi schemed against his sons had nothing to do with Eric Bennett. At this moment, he was traveling downstream on the Yangtze River straight to Songjiang. David Brooks was traveling on a sand boat—not one that carried sand, but a type of flat-bottomed boat widely used in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, which could also be used as a coastal vessel. He was from Jingzhou, and this time he was returning home to visit his seriously ill mother. After she recovered, he returned to Songjiang. This guy was quite wealthy. At this time, Songjiang Prefecture was a foreign trade port, much easier to make money than elsewhere. He had already served two years as a tongpan (assistant prefect), and was working to secure another term.

Kang Mazi's maritime ban was lifted after the Zheng family was eliminated, though it was closed again a few years later. But the girl idol opened it again, and as for the real, complete closure of the country, that was done by Qianlong. Right now, the ban was lifted, so one could imagine how lucrative it was to be a local official there.

Only now did Eric Bennett realize why he was being treated so warmly—not only did he not have to pay a cent to hitch a ride, but he was treated as a VIP with good food and drink, and the only thing missing was having a concubine sent to his cabin at night.

"Damn, this thing even has a mark!"

He stood in his cabin, holding a gold leaf up to the sun and muttering to himself.

He had only asked for gold leaves because he had seen them in too many TV dramas, but he hadn't expected such things to really exist: square gold foil pressed from gold, each piece weighing a standard tael at this time. Using these for spending was like a modern tycoon flashing a checkbook—one piece was enough to support an ordinary family for a whole year. More importantly, there was a bank mark on it. Like the ones he had, all bore the mark "Supervised by the Imperial Household Department." These were only used for imperial purchases and rewards. If he spent these, it would be strange if David Brooks didn't mistake him for a noble from Beijing!

Clearly, this guy was trying to climb the social ladder.

"The Bennett Brothers!"

As he was looking at it, David Brooks's voice called from outside.

Eric Bennett quickly responded, put the gold leaf back in his bag, but failed to notice that the gold leaf underneath, which he hadn't picked up, had four more characters than the one above.

David Brooks had come to invite him to a banquet.

He pulled Eric Bennett to the bow of the boat, where food and wine were already laid out, and it looked quite sumptuous.

"Come, come, The Bennett Brothers, there isn't much good stuff on this boat, so let's make do for now. Once we get to Songjiang Prefecture, I'll give you a proper welcome!"

David Brooks said, signaling a concubine to pour the wine.

"Mr. Brooks, you're too kind!"

Eric Bennett sat down boldly, casually glancing at the concubine as he spoke, completely putting on the airs of a spoiled young master. The more he acted this way, the more seriously David Brooks took it. After all, when the sons of the capital's nobility traveled to the provinces, this was exactly how they behaved. To them, even a sixth-rank tongpan was just a household servant, and even a prefect or circuit intendant was nothing in their eyes. Whatever was done for them was only natural; if he acted too grateful, it would actually seem odd.

"You're a tongpan, right? Sixth rank?"

Eric Bennett took a sip of wine and made small talk.

"That's right," David Brooks replied.

"Oh."

Eric Bennett nodded with an expression that even a sixth rank was nothing to him.

"What's your prefect's name?"

In fact, Eric Bennett didn't even know who the Viceroy of Liangjiang was, but even with his scripted identity, it would be impossible not to know that. Not knowing the prefect, though, was perfectly normal.

"Prefect Zhu, given name Zhongjun, Bordered Yellow Banner."