Deep into the night, several palace lanterns before the Yongán Palace hall illuminated the corridor below as bright as daylight. The two early-blooming plum trees in the courtyard had already opened their blossoms to the wind. Under the deep night’s lamplight, they took on an even more graceful appearance. Song Chuyi stood on the steps wrapped in a cloak, waiting for Zhou Weizhao. The wind was strong, and plum blossom petals fell continuously onto her hood, only to be blown to the ground moments later by the wind, spreading a layer of pink carpet.
The row of lanterns under the corridor formed a winding fire dragon, swaying in the wind into extremely beautiful shapes, like a sea of lights. Qing Yīng couldn’t afford to appreciate the beautiful scenery, however. She softly called out “Your Ladyship” and moved close to Song Chuyi, saying: “Your Ladyship, Qing Zhuo has returned to report that His Highness likely won’t be able to return so late. He requests that Your Ladyship retire early.”
This was the second time since Emperor Jianzhang had summoned the cabinet elders that he had called Chief Grand Secretary Chang again, and had Zhou Weizhao attend as an observer. Ziyun handed Song Chuyi a hand warmer to hold, while unable to help feeling somewhat anxious: “Has something happened?”
Song Chuyi would soon learn what had happened. She had just finished washing up when Zhou Weizhao returned. He first went to the washroom to change his clothes, then got into bed and embraced Song Chuyi. Seeing her lightly dressed, he held her in his arms and wrapped them both in the quilt before telling her about why the elders had been summoned today: “News has finally come from Jin territory—Prince Zhennan’s vice-general escaped with his life and returned to report that Prince Gong had secretly colluded with Wu Qianli and the Taiyuan Prefectural Magistrate, setting up a Hongmen Banquet to deal with Prince Zhennan. Prince Zhennan narrowly escaped with his life, but his current whereabouts are now unknown—when the vice-general left, he heard Prince Zhennan say he would go to Jinzhong to seek refuge with the Cui family. However, at this moment, we don’t know what the actual situation in Jin territory is.”
He paused, somewhat worried: “With Jin territory’s situation deteriorated to such an extent, Chen Ping going there will likely face danger at every turn.”
Chen Ping had been ordered to go to Jin territory to deal with Hong Fa who had assassinated Prince Gong. But now that Prince Gong had already established his position, going there would serve no purpose and might very likely result in being caught red-handed by Prince Gong.
Hearing that Prince Zhennan still had his life, Song Chuyi first breathed a sigh of relief: “No matter what, the fact that His Highness could escape from such an intricately designed death trap proves he’s no ordinary person.” She got down from the bed and took a roll of parchment from the display cabinet, unrolling it for Zhou Weizhao to see: “Your Highness needn’t worry too much. Look…” She pointed at the map for Zhou Weizhao: “Didn’t Prince Zhennan tell his vice-general earlier that he would go to the Cui family? Why do you think he would go to the Cui family? Could it be he doesn’t know that after Prince Gong gains power, the Cui family will also become a thorn in Prince Gong’s side, and they’ll be the first to suffer? Given Prince Zhennan’s cunning, for him to still choose to go to Jinzhong—first, it’s because the Cui family are local powers in Jinzhong and are my maternal family, utterly loyal to Your Highness. Second, it’s because Jinzhong Prefectural Magistrate Hu Yingming also has deep connections with Your Highness. Third…” She paused, her face showing a slight smile: “Third, it’s because my uncle guards the Great Northwest and is the Three Borders’ Commander-in-Chief.”
Though Han Zhengqing certainly commanded over a hundred thousand troops defending the city, so what? Cui Shaoting was the Three Borders’ Commander-in-Chief. When all was said and done, Han Zhengqing was merely a garrison general defending Datong.
Zhou Weizhao’s brow unconsciously relaxed as he listened. Seeing Song Chuyi standing barefoot on the carpet, he quickly lifted her back onto the bed, while smiling: “Your thinking is exactly the same as Chief Grand Secretary Chang’s and Old Master Song’s.”
Song Chuyi smiled and glanced at him: “Could it be Your Highness wants to tell me that Your Highness hadn’t thought of this?” While naturally placing her feet in Zhou Weizhao’s arms to warm them, she asked: “Then what do Chief Grand Secretary Chang and my grandfather mean to do?”
Chief Grand Secretary Chang and Song Chengru could certainly see the current situation clearly. Since Prince Gong had already successfully taken over military authority in Taiyuan, his next move would certainly be to conduct a major purge of Jin territory, then unite with Han Zhengqing and raise the banner of rebellion.
Under such circumstances, with Chief Grand Secretary Chang and Grand Secretary Song’s deep cunning and foresight, they would naturally advocate urgently summoning Han Zhengqing back to the capital.
In fact, Chief Grand Secretary Chang, Grand Secretary Song, and even Minister Cen all shared this view. Zhou Weizhao told Song Chuyi about the three men’s discussion in the imperial study: “You’re right. All three elders unanimously advocated urgently summoning Han Zhengqing back to the capital. The pretext they’re using is that the Japanese pirate troubles in Fujian are severe and the coastal areas are in crisis.”
If Han Zhengqing returned, needless to say, it would be a death sentence for him.
And if he didn’t return, the court could immediately dismiss him on charges of defying orders. Cui Shaoting, as the Three Borders’ Commander-in-Chief, would naturally be duty-bound to take on the role of punishing him.
Song Chuyi relaxed somewhat, feeling her cold feet had warmed considerably. She sighed: “It’s just that I heard His Highness’s health isn’t very good?”
She didn’t know if Prince Zhennan could hold on until he reached the Cui family.
Zhou Weizhao couldn’t help but sigh as well: “It’s just unfortunate that the information channels from Jin territory have now been cut off by Prince Gong. We cannot learn of the situation in Jin territory. Right now, we’re not afraid of anything else—we’re just afraid that Hong Fa will use the Imperial Guard’s name to make things difficult for the Cui family.”
Song Chuyi’s face showed a trace of cold mockery: “We should fear he’ll act like a turtle pulling in its head. If he dares to make a move, the Cui family isn’t completely defenseless either.”
Prince Gong couldn’t hide behind the scenes for much longer. If he didn’t raise the banner of rebellion to prove his identity, he would forever remain a dead man in the hearts of the people. But if he raised the banner of rebellion now, he would be a disloyal, unrighteous, unfilial, and unfraternal traitorous subject that everyone would have the right to execute. He simply couldn’t win popular support. He was in an awkward position right now. If he wanted to move against the Cui family at this moment, he could only act from the shadows or look for faults with the Cui family. But the Cui family had also operated in Jin territory for many years—how could faults be so easily found? If her guess wasn’t wrong, Prince Gong would indeed have the Imperial Guard employ some underhanded methods, such as framing the Cui family for harboring remnant parties with treasonous intentions.
But since these were underhanded methods, with the Cui family’s strength, they needn’t fear these things. Moreover, after discovering Hong Fa was problematic and Ma Yongfu and Ma Wangkun had sent messages back, Song Chuyi had already had Qing Yīng dispatch Ma San to rush to Jinzhong at full speed to report. After going through the incidents with Cui Shaoying and Cui Yu, Cui Yingyun and Cui Yingtang were no longer the kind of scholars who only knew noble virtue and understood nothing of the world’s dangers.
If Prince Gong was counting on Hong Fa to deal with the Cui family and obtain Prince Zhennan, he would likely come up empty.
Far away in Jinzhong, the Cui family’s Cui Yingyun and Cui Yingtang first received Hong Fa—this person claimed he had come to search for and arrest the remnants of Ma Yuantong’s party who had ambushed and killed Prince Gong. He even righteously declared that these remnants had now changed their names and identities to infiltrate escort agencies under the Cui family’s name, working as escort masters to disguise their identities, and demanded the Cui family cooperate with the Imperial Guard in investigating the case.
The Cui family had no fools, and moreover, Ma Wangkun and Ma Yongfu were there. The two of them conferred and immediately knew Hong Fa had come with ill intentions—the news of Prince Gong being ambushed could only fool ghosts. The two of them understood the trickery involved most clearly. Now Hong Fa was actually using this pretext meant to deceive the world as an excuse, clearly harboring malicious intent.