Feng Liao didn’t believe Jiang Huo could persuade Marquis Xinchang Li Pu and the others. The situation was destined to worsen badly, so he could only proceed according to contingency plans for such deterioration.
Besides Prince of Tan’s mansion and Marquis Xinchang’s mansion, the Dragon Sparrow Army had quite a few officers’ families, including Shen Yang’s family and Grand Court of Revision Junior Minister Zheng Chang and others all within the city. To prevent these people from becoming hostages controlled by Anning Palace and the Crown Prince, Marquis Xinchang Li Pu’s side might not be able to look after them all.
Less than an hour remained until the city gates closed, and they weren’t certain how many troops among the four city garrisons were controlled by Anning Palace. With so many family members and elderly and young scattered throughout Jinling City, trying to have them leave the city dispersedly before the gates closed—first, there definitely wasn’t enough time. Delaying until tomorrow, who knew how much worse the situation would become.
Second, leaving the city in chaos would alarm Anning Palace too much. The only plan now was to notify all families to first rush to Lanting Lane to gather.
After Jiang Huo left, Feng Liao said to Zhao Wuji: “Wuji, personally go fetch Minister Zheng Chang. You must escort him to Lanting Lane at the first opportunity. I’ll go to the main Han residence—remember, when key personnel withdraw to Lanting Lane, don’t cause too much alarm.”
For ordinary officers’ families, sending guards and Qiang youths to notify them would suffice. But at Grand Court of Revision Junior Minister Zheng Chang’s location, without someone of sufficient standing going over, how could one or two ordinary family soldier retainers going to pass information possibly earn Zheng Chang’s trust?
Zheng Chang might still be handling official duties at the Grand Court of Revision office at this moment. Ordinary people had no way to enter the Grand Court of Revision office located within the Imperial City.
Furthermore, although Han Qian harbored deep resentment toward the Han Daoming and Han Daochang branches, how to ultimately handle relations with these two branches must be decided by Han Qian himself. Feng Liao couldn’t deliberately fail to pass information at such a life-and-death juncture!
At the Han family’s place too, someone of sufficient standing was needed to convince them to believe the situation had worsened, so they wouldn’t hesitate and delay, ruining major matters.
……
……
“Father, we’ve only lived in Jinling a few days. The matters submitted to the Finance Ministry and Commissioner of Revenue haven’t received replies yet. Why must we rush back to Chuzhou so urgently? What exactly is going to happen in Jinling?”
Wang Jun got off the carriage and saw two three-masted large ships moored at the riverbank dock. Besides her father who had arrived at the dock earlier and was staring pensively at the surging river waters, Chuzhou Hostel Administrator Yin Peng was also unusually wearing armor, currently directing people to load hundreds of heavy wooden crates onto the ships.
Just watching those strong men—two or three people struggling to carry a single not-very-large crate—Wang Jun knew the crates didn’t contain ordinary goods but rather gold, silver, or copper cash and other metal items. Her heart was even more shocked.
Although the contemporary economy also recognized gold circulation, buying and selling trade primarily relied on copper cash.
Large-scale commodity transactions required cash often weighing thousands or even tens of thousands of catties, extremely inconvenient to transport and easily attracting bandit attention.
Wang Jun knew her father, to facilitate Chuzhou merchants’ travel, issued flying notes at the Chuzhou Hostel for exchange.
Chuzhou merchants selling large quantities of goods in Jinling, finding the resulting large amounts of cash inconvenient to transport, could directly deposit it at Chuzhou Hostel. The hostel would issue flying notes, which could then be used back in Chuzhou to directly withdraw cash at the Defense Commissioner’s office, only requiring payment of a small guarantee fee. The reverse worked similarly.
Flying notes were extremely popular with merchants from Sheng, Chu and other regions. This also meant Chuzhou Hostel normally kept large reserves of cash for deposits and withdrawals.
Wang Jun secretly calculated—so many heavy crates, even if all contained only copper cash, would total seventy to eighty thousand strings of cash. If some were gold and silver precious metals, the value would be even higher.
This was almost completely emptying Chuzhou Hostel’s cash reserves in one go?
How could Wang Jun not guess that Jinling’s situation was about to drastically change, and Father was actually withdrawing all of Chuzhou’s openly stationed people and goods from Jinling at the first opportunity?
“Who knows when turmoil will arise—Jinling has become a place of strife. We should leave Jinling first.” Wang Wenqian turned around. Seeing his daughter’s shocked expression, he explained.
“Turmoil will arise?” Beyond her shock, Wang Jun could imagine what turmoil Father meant. Precisely because of this, her heart surged even more turbulently. Looking at her father, she asked almost pleadingly: “Uncle Han and Marquis Yang are both in Jinling. Why doesn’t Father seek them to discuss strategies for responding to the turmoil? Why must we definitely leave Jinling?”
“Only by leaving the city can we have response strategies. Staying in Jinling City, we’ll have difficulty accomplishing anything and will become turtles in a jar.” Wang Wenqian forcefully suppressed his inner turmoil.
Learning that Han Daoxun had rushed into the palace early in the morning, Wang Wenqian understood many things before the Capital Magistrate’s internal sources reported back, and then ordered Yin Peng to arrange their withdrawal.
Although after learning about Chamberlain Bureau Deputy Director Shen He’s poisoning, Chuzhou had made some preparations, deploying their most elite cavalry contingent north of Yangzhou, this cavalry numbered only over five thousand. Moreover, to reach the opposite riverbank at the first opportunity required traveling two hundred thirty or forty li.
What’s more, they still weren’t certain of Xu Mingzhen’s movements in Shouzhou. Before having complete confidence, better to let Jinling City fall into chaos first!
Seeing Father’s face show a trace of malevolence amid the gloom, Wang Jun’s heart filled with confusion.
How could she guess how terrifying the killing intent about to be unleashed in Jinling would be?
She only knew Father’s mind was made up, beyond her power to dissuade. At the moment she could only look back wistfully, watching the sun slant westward as Jinling City lay shrouded in light mist, so magnificent and difficult to part from.
“Should we send someone to inform Uncle Han and Marquis Yang?” Wang Jun asked again.
“They should also know turmoil will arise. We don’t need to superfluously send someone to notify them.” Seeing his daughter still hesitating, Wang Wenqian urged: “Jun’er, board the ship!”
Wang Wenqian gestured for the maidservants to help his daughter board. Right now Anning Palace couldn’t pay attention to them, but he also worried delay would bring changes. No matter what, he had to first withdraw north of Guangling to rendezvous with the vanguard cavalry camp before he could have the leisure to calmly observe events.
“Ahead there, could that be Chuzhou Chief Clerk Wang Wenqian, Master Wang?”
Just as Wang Jun reluctantly prepared to board, she saw three fast horses racing over. The lead rider shouted from far away, revealing Wang Wenqian’s identity.
Wang Jun hesitantly stopped. The arrivals quickly reached them—all three had familiar faces, all Han family soldier retainers. The leader was Zhao Kuo, a trusted aide serving at Han Daoxun’s side.
Wang Jun didn’t know what had happened and looked at her father in confusion. She saw Father also wore an expression of hesitation and gravity.
“Master Wang, could we speak privately?” Zhao Kuo removed his sword and handed it to Chuzhou Hostel guards, then walked forward alone and cupped his hands toward Wang Wenqian.
Wang Wenqian gestured for others to disperse, leaving only Yin Peng at his side. His face darkened as he stared at Zhao Kuo: “I don’t know what instruction brings Master Zhao racing after me on fast horses?”
“Master Wang already sent Zhou Zhi before my family’s master. Why would you yourself hastily leave Jinling City? Isn’t now precisely an excellent opportunity for Chuzhou to pull chestnuts from the fire?” Zhao Kuo stared at Wang Wenqian’s face, his eyes sharp as he asked.
“Ha ha, what joke is Master Zhao telling?” Wang Wenqian laughed heartily, absolutely refusing to admit Zhou Zhi’s street petition was his arrangement.
Wang Jun looked at her father in shock and confusion, not knowing who this Zhou Zhi was or whether this turmoil about to arise in Jinling had any direct connection to Father.
“Zhou Zhi has already revealed the truth to my family’s master and Director Zhong Yuli at the Capital Magistrate’s office. Why must Master Wang continue denying it? Moreover, matters are now urgent. Since Master Wang trusts my family’s master to be just and incorruptible, and has the intention to help Prince Xin secure the throne, why not stay to jointly plan grand strategy, rescue Jinling’s million people from fire and flood, and reverse Great Chu’s crisis?” Zhao Kuo pressed Wang Wenqian with his stare.
Chen Xingmo was the replacement who attended Emperor Tianyou after Shen He’s death.
As Chongwen Hall Attendant, when Emperor Tianyou received any outer court official at Chongwen Hall, they couldn’t escape Chen Xingmo’s sight.
Only inner court palace officials might possibly avoid Chen Xingmo’s view and contact Emperor Tianyou alone.
The Chamberlain Bureau had a total of five or six thousand eunuchs and palace maids serving in the palace. It was hard to say how many were completely loyal to Emperor Tianyou without connections to Anning Palace. But the Internal Affairs Bureau, organized and strengthened for the purpose of checking Anning Palace’s power in the Chamberlain Bureau, had as its commanding chief eunuch Zhong Yuli, who must necessarily be an absolutely trusted direct subordinate of Emperor Tianyou.
If even Zhong Yuli had problems, they might as well directly surrender.
Right before Chen Xingmo, Han Daoxun used the Internal Affairs Bureau’s illegal conduct as pretext to drag Zhong Yuli to the Capital Magistrate’s office. But mere words obviously couldn’t convince Zhong Yuli to believe Chamberlain Bureau Deputy Director Shen He had been poisoned and murdered by Anning Palace, and that Emperor Tianyou was now deeply poisoned, with his life hanging by a thread.
After all, when Shen He was in Jinling, his health was merely slightly indisposed. Only after going to Tanzhou to deliver the imperial edict did his condition worsen. When he returned to Jinling City, he died without treatment. Besides Han Qian and Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong, who understood toxicology and noticed suspicious points in Tanzhou, who else could detect problems?
After Han Qian noticed suspicious points in Tanzhou, not only did he conceal the information, he even deliberately used medicine to make Shen He’s symptoms more closely resemble miasma epidemic.
When Han Daoxun now said everything was Han Qian and the Third Prince deliberately deceiving the sovereign—the whole matter was enormous enough to pierce the heavens—how could Zhong Yuli dare believe it lightly?
Only after Zhao Kuo and trusted direct subordinates sent by Zhong Yuli retrieved a section of Shen He’s bones for examination was it already past noon. Bringing Zhou Zhi to the Capital Magistrate’s office to confirm Zhou Zhi had been instigated by Wang Wenqian—by this time all of Chuzhou’s openly stationed personnel in Jinling had already withdrawn from Jinling City.
Zhao Kuo rode hard out of the city, barely catching up to Wang Wenqian before the two ships weighed anchor.
Wang Wenqian laughed it off. Since Zhou Zhi had already confessed, further denial was meaningless. But he remained silent, ignoring Zhao Kuo.
Zhao Kuo continued: “My family’s master asked me to ask Master Wang one thing: Are Minister Wen, Marquis Zhenyuan, Marquis Liyang, and Director Zhong dependable? Could it be that joining forces with these lords, Master Wang still fears being unable to hold on until Chuzhou forces arrive to settle the overall situation?”
Han Daoxun and Zhong Yuli still didn’t know whether Anning Palace’s side had been alerted. But Wang Wenqian instigating Zhou Zhi to waylay Han Daoxun—his intention was now not difficult to guess.
Wang Wenqian instigated Zhou Zhi’s street petition to confirm whether there were hidden circumstances in Shen He’s death, to confirm whether Han Qian and the Third Prince’s side deliberately concealed the truth of Shen He’s death in order to gain more preparation time for Tanzhou.
After confirming these two points, Wang Wenqian extremely decisively led Chuzhou personnel to withdraw from Jinling City. His intention at this time was even easier to guess.
Even if Anning Palace hadn’t been alerted yet, Wang Wenqian wanted to tear this hole open at the fastest speed before the Third Prince was prepared in Tanzhou.
This way, Anning Palace and the Crown Prince would have to rebel even if they didn’t want to, would have to commit regicide even if they didn’t want to. With the Third Prince unprepared in Tanzhou, only Chuzhou forces could logically cross the river for loyalist rescue, suppress rebellion and eliminate traitors, obtaining righteous justification!
After Prince Xin had already controlled Jinling and gained most court officials’ support to ascend the throne, what could the Third Prince still do in Tanzhou? Could he raise troops in rebellion?
Having already guessed Wang Wenqian’s intention and that of Prince Xin standing behind Wang Wenqian, Han Daoxun needed even more to work hard to persuade Wang Wenqian to stay…