RPAGF Chapter 60 The Extinguished Flame of Ideals
Chapter 60 The Extinguished Flame of Ideals
Samuel felt like a slave who had been stripped naked and thrown into a slave market to be appraised.
Everything he cherished—ideals, freedom, the sacrifices of his comrades—was worth only fifty guns on the other side's scales.
Just as he was about to be overwhelmed by this immense sense of powerlessness, Li Wei spoke up again.
"Since you're our first 'value customer,' I can add a clause as a token of our sincerity for our first collaboration."
He looked at Fiona, who pulled a piece of paper from a stack of documents and handed it to him.
Li Wei pushed the paper to the edge of the table.
"The Governor's Office is secretly preparing a raid on all printing presses in the city, with the aim of tracing the source of all inflammatory leaflets. The operation will be carried out by Lieutenant Hank's patrol and a group of plainclothes officers."
Levi's gaze fell on Samuel's face.
"Your printing shop behind the 'Green Dragon Tavern' is a key target. If I'm not mistaken, they'll make their move no later than the day after tomorrow."
This news instantly shattered all of Samuel's hesitation and struggle.
The alley behind the Green Dragon Tavern is their most important propaganda base and communication center, known only to their core members.
Li Wei, an outsider, not only knew about the secret operation that the Governor's Office was about to launch, but also about the operation.
Samuel knew exactly what this meant.
This Eastern merchant's reach has extended to depths they could never have imagined.
Refusing him not only means not getting the weapons, but also means the entire organization will suffer a devastating blow within three days.
A long silence.
Samuel slowly walked back to the table and picked up the piece of paper with the intelligence written on it.
The paper was light, but in his hands it felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the last embers of idealism within them had been completely extinguished.
"make a deal."
He squeezed out those two words through gritted teeth.
That evening, fifty Brownbes muskets and their ammunition were packed into a dozen flour sacks and salted fish barrels and transported in batches to the Sons of Liberty through the intricate alleyways of the city's outskirts.
The militiaman codenamed "One Minute Man" who received the gun did not cheer; the atmosphere was as somber as if attending a funeral.
Everyone knows that they traded the soul of the organization for the steel in their hands.
In the study of Oak Bay Manor, Li Wei held a rough parchment map and a thick stack of intelligence records.
The map is marked with a dozen or so safe houses scattered throughout Boston, from dockworkers’ lofts to rural farmers’ barns, in hastily written handwriting.
Fiona was standing nearby, using her neat and tidy handwriting to categorize and copy the messy information onto a new page of the ledger.
Li Wei's finger lightly traced a red dot on the map marked "Green Dragon Tavern".
He had no intention whatsoever of handing the map over to the governor's office in exchange for a reward.
In his view, selling eggs all at once is far less profitable than raising a hen that can lay eggs consistently.
He carefully rolled up the map and handed it to Fiona.
"Make a copy of this map. However, neither the original nor the copy is intended for sale."
Li Wei walked to the window and looked at the dark sea in the distance.
"This diagram is our risk mitigation manual and also a new market map. 'Sons of Liberty' is now our downstream supplier, and I want to ensure that my supplier does not go bankrupt easily."
He turned around, his features clear and calm in the dim candlelight.
"Fiona, pass on a message to Finn."
"Tell him to stop trying to take over territory; let those stray dogs do the biting. Have him pick a few of his most reliable men to 'protect' these places on the map, starting tomorrow. Not the people inside, but these places from being harassed by other starving stray dogs."
"Yes, sir."
"Furthermore," Li Wei added, "have his men record who enters and leaves these places each day, what they bring, and what they take away. Turn all of this into quantifiable numbers."
……
Andrew Gage's name spread throughout the streets of Boston overnight.
The newspapers used exaggerated headlines to praise the young nobleman's "extraordinary courage" and "superb swordsmanship."
He became a hero in the salon, the topic of conversation among the ladies behind their fans.
At a negligible cost, he cleanly and efficiently thwarted a "despicable conspiracy" orchestrated by dock thugs and traitors before the Governor's House was utterly disgraced.
As a reward, Andrew was officially appointed as the governor's private military advisor, a respectable position with little real power but free access to the core of power.
Andrew has not forgotten who brought all of this upon him.
He personally arrived at Oak Bay Manor in a brand-new four-wheeled carriage, the door of which was even embossed with the coat of arms of the Gage family. His entourage consisted of two guards borrowed from the Royal Infantry Regiment.
Andrew did not go through the main gate, but instead had the coachman go around to the stables at the back of the manor. He knew that Levi did not like to be ostentatious, and also wanted to let the "unseen people" witness his intimacy with Levi without any regard for etiquette.
When Andrew got out of the car, he still looked as lazy as ever. His new uniform looked like an expensive borrowed theatrical costume on him.
"My Eastern friend, you've made me attend boring meetings every day now."
"Andrew, this is a reward from the people of Boston!"
Amidst the laughter and conversation, Andrew handed over a letter made of thick beige paper, sealed with the Governor's seal in wax, and the text written in cursive English, concise and to the point.
"General Thomas Hutchinson, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Province, cordially invites Mr. Levy to have afternoon tea at the Governor's residence at 3 p.m. tomorrow."
The governor himself signed the document.
This was not merely a social invitation; it was a formal summons from the highest authority in this land.
"Li, the Governor you're talking about would like to invite you for tea tomorrow. He says he'd very much like to meet this 'loyal citizen' who has contributed to the stability of the colony."
Li Wei had no choice but to accept the invitation.
Fortunately, their conversation that followed had nothing to do with politics or the current situation; they simply talked about Eastern martial arts and Western swordsmanship.
Both sides had an amazing tacit understanding and did not mention the matter of the third dock again, especially the whereabouts of the guns in the wooden crates.
After Andrew Gage left, Fiona, who had been standing by, asked a rare question:
"Sir, the guns in the warehouse were clearly replaced with stones by Seamus. Andrew should have..."
"My dear Fiona, he won't open it. Whether there are stones inside or not, or even if the wooden crates are gone, the report will still say 'guns intact.'"
"Only then will the performance be perfect!"
"What if he actually brings it up?"
"Then he's no longer a good trading partner, but a foolish Boston aristocrat in military uniform!"