20demayo Chapter 57 Cleaning the Card Table
Chapter 57 Cleaning the Card Table
"Have our people suffered any losses?"
"...No...no, sir. Everything went well, not a single brother was hurt." Seamus answered somewhat haltingly, a rare occurrence for him.
Li Wei then nodded, as if he had completed a necessary risk assessment.
He took the list from Seamus and glanced at it.
The handwriting was somewhat messy, but the numbers were clear, recording the quantity and condition of each box of weapons. He handed the list to Fiona, who had been standing quietly to the side the whole time.
"Fiona, calculate the 'operating costs' and 'expected returns' for this operation." Levi's tone was as if he were instructing someone on a routine cotton transaction.
"Yes, sir."
Fiona took the list and walked to the small desk that had been prepared for her at the other end of the study.
She didn't start writing immediately, but instead took out the leather ledger that Li Wei had given her earlier from the drawer. She turned to the fourth page and wrote a title with a dip pen: "The Third Dock Project".
Her handwriting was neat and tidy, quite different from her aloof appearance.
On the left-hand page, she wrote down the word "cost" and then began to record the details item by item:
"Pay Abel, the bell ringer of the Old North Church, with an additional risk fee of ten shillings."
"The Seamus Task Force, seven men, payment and hush money, thirty-five pounds."
"Procurement of operational supplies: thick canvas, grease, crowbars, crossbows... totaling two pounds and three shillings."
She paused here, looked up at Li Wei.
"Sir, how can Mr. Andrew Gage's 'emotional compensation' be quantified?"
Li Wei's fingers began to tap lightly on the table again.
"He won't take the money; that would be an insult to him. What he wants is credit and novelty. He's already received the credit this time, and the novelty... has been satisfied for now. Let's keep this debt in mind and repay it in another way later. Record it as an 'intangible debt, a favor to the Gage family.'"
"Understood." Fiona lowered her head and quickly wrote it down.
Then, she turned to the right-hand page and wrote "profits".
"Seventy-two Brownbes muskets, along with ammunition, were seized. Estimated at black market prices, this is worth approximately £180."
"Captain Marcus's personal funds, 312 gold coins, and some jewelry and silverware were seized, pending valuation."
"Strategic benefit (1): The demise of the 'powerful' Jenny gang creates a power vacuum at the North District docks, clearing the biggest obstacle for our subsequent integration."
"Strategic Gain (II): Andrew Gage has earned merit in the Governor's Office and owes us a huge favor, opening up channels with the upper echelons of the Governor's Office."
"Strategic Gain (3): The core members of 'Sons of Liberty' have suffered heavy losses, their leader Samuel has suffered a mental breakdown, the organization's prestige has been lost, and it cannot pose a threat in the short term."
One-Eyed Finn stood to the side, watching Fiona calmly write in the ledger.
Last night's fire, the screams, the splattered blood and brains, and the despair of those dying in the warehouse were all transformed into lines of cold numbers that could be added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided in Fiona's writing.
Those lives, those sacrifices, seem less tangible than the value of those three hundred-odd gold coins.
Finn felt a chill on the back of his neck.
A month ago, this Irish maid had to use her influence at the North Wharf to force old Parker to submit. Now, however, she has become the most terrifying scheme of the mysterious Mr. Li.
A knife only kills, but an abacus decides who should die, who should live, and how much their lives are worth.
At that moment, Finn cleared his throat, and his loud voice broke the silence in the room.
"Sir, the docks are in complete chaos! With that bastard Jenny gone, his territories are like ownerless whores, everyone wants a piece of the action!"
"Those few insignificant gangs in Boston's northern suburbs have already had several fights tonight. Give the order, and I'll take men over right now. I guarantee that by dawn, the entire suburbs will only hear one voice!"
As he spoke, he habitually touched his leather eye mask with his large fingers, his single eye filled with excitement and longing.
Li Wei slowly shook his head.
"Finn, what happens when a lion charges into a sheep pen?"
"Is that even a question? Just kill all the sheep!" Finn answered without hesitation.
"No," Li Wei corrected him, "The lion will eat its fill, and then it will attract the hunter. The governor's mansion is that hunter."
"They can tolerate a pack of stray dogs fighting each other over a bone, because that only makes the suburbs more chaotic and gives them a reason to increase patrols and collect more 'security taxes.' But they will never tolerate a lion appearing and turning all the stray dogs into their henchmen."
Li Wei stood up, walked to the window, and pushed open the heavy window.
The cool morning air rushed in, carrying the moisture of the sea breeze and dispelling the stuffiness in the room.
"What we need is not a superficially unified suburb, which would immediately make us a thorn in the side of the Governor's Office. What we need is order, but it must be our own order, an order that is quietly established in places they cannot see, beneath the surface."
"Let the water murky for a few more days, let the little fish and shrimp jump out on their own, so that we can see clearly who are our friends, who are our enemies, and who can be turned into tools in our hands."
The sky was beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn, casting a grayish-blue hue over the distant sea.
"Now, the card table is clean." Li Wei turned around, his silhouette particularly clear in the morning light. "It's our turn to deal the second card."
"Now, it remains to be seen whether the 'Sons of Liberty' or the Governor's Office will take our place first."
……
three days later.
In the basement of a candle-making workshop in Boston's North Side, the air was thick with the smell of beeswax, lanolin, and damp earth.
This is one of the most secretive contact points of the "Sons of Liberty," but now it is so quiet that only the faint crackling of the candlelight can be heard.
Silas sat on a bench, one arm in a gray sling across his chest, the dark red blood seeping from the sling already dried.
His other good hand rested on his knee, his rough knuckles tightly clenched together, like a stone ready to be thrown at any moment.
Sitting opposite him was Samuel.
Three days seemed to have drained all the fire from this young man.
He was no longer wearing the hooded cloak that was meant to create an air of mystery; he was just wearing an ordinary linen shirt, and his face was as pale as a paper soaked in water.
The ideals and passion that once burned on his face are now nothing but a gloomy and lifeless silence after the shattering of ideals.
The wooden door to the basement creaked loudly as it was pushed open.
Li Wei walked in, followed by Fiona, who was like a shadow.
He was still wearing that dark silk robe that seemed out of place with his surroundings. He walked into the basement, which was filled with a musty smell, as if he were entering his own study.
Samuel looked up, his once bright eyes now bloodshot.
"You knew all along that the buyer was 'Strong Guy' Jenny, didn't you?" His voice was hoarse, devoid of its usual charisma, only sharp questioning remained. "You used us as bait, sending our men to their deaths in vain!"
Li Wei didn't look at him, but walked to the table on his own, picked up the dusty earthenware pot on the table, and filled the two equally dirty cups with water.
He performed these actions calmly and unhurriedly, as if he had not heard Samuel's accusations at all.
Until he pushed one of the glasses of water in front of Samuel, the glass slid across the rough wooden table with a screeching sound.
"I'm providing intelligence, not babysitting services," Li Wei finally spoke, his tone flat and without any inflection.
"The battlefield is ever-changing. Your intelligence system even got the trading partner wrong. I shouldn't have to bear the consequences."
He took a document from Fiona and gently placed it in the center of the table.
"This is a recap report of the conflict that occurred three days ago."