The day An Jixiang returned to Jinling from Xuzhou bearing the imperial edict happened to coincide with the grand ceremony for establishing the Empress. The Imperial Palace was in a complete uproar, and momentarily no one paid attention to An Jixiang’s whereabouts.
Before ascending the throne, Yang Yuanpu had already married Li Yao, daughter of Marquis Xinchang Li Pu, as his consort, and later took Princess Qingyang, daughter of Shu Ruler Wang Jian, as a secondary consort.
After ascending the throne, he further took as consorts Han Shuhui, daughter of Han Daoming; Zheng Zhao, younger sister of Zheng Hui; and Huang E, daughter of Huang Hua. Even though these three women were simultaneously elevated to consort status alongside Princess Qingyang, according to protocol, separate wedding ceremonies could not be held for them individually—these matters could only be handled together on the day of the Empress establishment ceremony.
The reason the grand wedding for taking Princess Qingyang as secondary consort was held in Yueyang was mainly because Princess Qingyang was the daughter of Shu Ruler Wang Jian, and Yang Yuanpu at that time was still Prince Tan with an unstable foundation, not to mention that their marriage nominally carried the expectation of an alliance between the two states.
Although the journey between Xuzhou and Jinling was made by boat, aside from stopping for two days in Xuzhou, spending over a month total living in cramped cabins—even though he could stand on deck at any time to gaze at the beautiful scenery on both banks, even though attending young eunuchs served him—it was indescribably exhausting.
When An Jixiang returned to the palace and saw the continuous bustle from Chongwen Hall to Chengyun Hall to Changxin Palace, thinking His Majesty must also be worn out from today’s exceptionally tedious ceremony, he decided to wait until tomorrow to report to Chongwen Hall about delivering the edict. He first led two young eunuchs back to rest at the duty courtyard on the west side of Chengyun Hall.
Although when the Yueyang forces had not yet breached the inner city, Anning Palace and the Southern Bureau Imperial Guards chose to withdraw from the northern city, the defending troops set massive fires throughout the Imperial Palace when withdrawing, causing severe damage to Cishou Palace, Chengyun Hall, Chongwen Hall, and various bureaus including the Bureau of Military Affairs south of the palace gates, leaving behind scenes of devastation and ruin.
At this time, barely two months had passed since the recovery of Jinling. Even with tens of thousands of military personnel and civilians conscripted to repair the palace buildings, the palace compound was full of desolation, with only the most essential palace halls restored and put into use first.
For security reasons, Yang Yuanpu usually conducted official business at Chongwen Hall during the day, then spent nights at his former princely residence.
The duty courtyard where An Jixiang now rested adjoined the side hall of Chongwen Hall. Even though the buildings had been renovated once, scorch marks could still be seen everywhere. An old elm tree that had grown for over a hundred years had its branches blackened by fire, yet several thick old branches still stubbornly burst forth with vibrant greenery.
The palace currently had very few available personnel.
At this moment, most people were busy at Changxin Palace with matters for the grand ceremony. In the vast duty courtyard with two rows of side rooms—nearly thirty rooms total that could originally house over a hundred attending eunuchs of various ranks working in three shifts exclusively serving Chongwen Hall—only two old eunuchs remained on duty, making it seem particularly desolate.
Before the Jinling incident, the palace had nearly ten thousand attending eunuchs and palace maids combined.
After the incident occurred, the attending officials who had served the late Emperor as well as the eunuchs and palace maids of Cishou Palace were purged once.
Some people who had attended the late Emperor were directly executed or imprisoned, while a considerable number of palace attendants considered not entirely reliable were expelled from the palace.
The remnants of Anning Palace and the Southern Bureau Imperial Guards fleeing north of the Yangtze also took a group of eunuchs and palace maids with them.
Additionally, some unimportant palace maids and eunuchs—either elderly, or newly entered and not yet properly trained in protocol, or of humble status, or just punished for offenses—were all abandoned and left in the palace.
However, after Emperor Yanyou ascended the throne, even without purging these people, he would worry that Anning Palace spies and assassins might be mixed among them, making it impossible to keep them employed in the palace.
Male palace servants were sent to the Directorate of Construction to serve as laborers, while palace maids were directly dismissed and sent home.
The eunuchs and palace maids initially accompanying Emperor Yanyou into the palace were merely those used in Prince Tan’s residence in Tanzhou and Yueyang—fewer than a hundred people total.
Although the first batch of eunuchs and palace maids expelled from the palace after the Jinling incident should have been reliable, they still needed careful screening. Even by this time two months later when An Jixiang returned to Jinling and summoned the two duty eunuchs to inquire, he learned the palace currently employed only four to five hundred people.
“Senior Brother, we’ve been eagerly awaiting your return! Why did you come back and hide here instead of showing your face before His Majesty and the three new Noble Consorts?”
An Jixiang had someone bring out a reclining chair and was just about to close his eyes and rest in the tree shade, properly enjoying the sensation of solid ground without rocking, when he heard a familiar and somewhat shrill voice from the courtyard entrance. Opening his eyes, he saw Chen Ruyi walking in wearing a brand-new dark crimson official robe.
Although knowing he would surely be valued highly in the Palace Attendant Bureau upon this return, seeing Chen Ruyi wearing the dark crimson official robe representing a fourth-rank eunuch official first, An Jixiang couldn’t help his expression turning cold.
The Palace Attendant Bureau had one Director, third rank, who could wear purple robes.
These years, his master Zhang Ping had worked diligently and conscientiously beside His Majesty. Not only had he lost an arm saving His Majesty while defending Xichuan, but during the campaign to eliminate feudal lords and the Jinling campaign, he served as Supervising Commissioner on the front lines participating in commanding military operations during the most difficult times.
If His Majesty had ascended by receiving the succession edict and there were other palace veterans present, Zhang Ping naturally couldn’t rise in one leap but would need to climb step by step from Inner Bearer, Inner Attendant, and Deputy Director to gradually complete his credentials.
However, in the current situation, the old eunuchs loyal to the late Emperor had been purged once by Anning Palace, and any old eunuchs loyal to Anning Palace who by chance escaped couldn’t escape this side’s reckoning. Besides Zhang Ping, who else was qualified to wear purple robes within the Imperial Palace?
Besides the Palace Attendant Bureau Director, the palace’s senior official ranks included two Deputy Directors, four to six Inner Attendants, and Palace Commissioners serving the Empress Dowager, Empress, and various Noble Consorts—all fourth-rank and senior fourth-rank eunuch officials.
Although Wang Lin’s death was accomplished by him and Chen Ruyi personally, relieving His Majesty’s worries and counting as a great merit, in terms of seniority, neither he nor Chen Ruyi qualified to compete for those two Deputy Director positions. Palace Commissioners mostly used female officials, so seeing Chen Ruyi now wearing dark crimson official robes, An Jixiang thought he must have seized one of the senior fourth-rank Inner Attendant positions first.
As an Inner Attendant, one might assist the Palace Attendant Director in managing the Inner Court, Imperial Treasury, Servant Bureau and other departments, or might exclusively serve His Majesty, the Empress, or the Empress Dowager.
Even if all involved service duties, the master An Jixiang truly wanted to serve was only one person.
That was His Majesty.
Thinking that during his month-plus absence from Jinling delivering the edict to Xuzhou, His Majesty’s side absolutely couldn’t have lacked personal attending eunuchs, An Jixiang’s heart couldn’t help being shrouded in shadow.
Seeing An Jixiang’s expression suddenly turn cold, Chen Ruyi seemed able to guess what he was thinking. Grinning with a sinister smile, he said: “What are you thinking? If I could serve beside His Majesty, how could I possibly have time to come find you to reminisce about our brotherhood after being apart so many days?”
An Jixiang thought this made sense. Today was the grand ceremony for establishing the Empress and simultaneously taking three women as consorts. His Majesty would go through the complete set of rituals with absolutely no possibility of breaking away. If Chen Ruyi truly became an Inner Attendant of Chongwen Hall, at other times he might have leisure moments, but today he absolutely had to remain by His Majesty’s side without leaving for a moment.
“How could I be thinking anything? I was just thinking that after over a month of travel by carriage and boat, having just returned exhausted, if I forced myself to His Majesty’s side to serve and made some mistake, it would actually be inappropriate. Even if you don’t normally serve by His Majesty’s side, on such an important day as today, how can you have time to come chat with me?” An Jixiang narrowed his eyes, sat up straight in the reclining chair, and signaled the attending young eunuch beside him to bring a chair from inside for Chen Ruyi.
Chen Ruyi sat down without showing emotion, signaling the green-robed young eunuchs on both sides to withdraw, before asking: “Senior Brother, do you still remember when we were young begging for food on the streets of Yangzhou to survive?”
“How many years ago was that—nineteen or twenty years? I can barely remember anymore. I just recall I was seven years old then, and you were six or seven?” An Jixiang’s eyes, containing restrained sharp light, narrowed even more. Unable to figure out Chen Ruyi’s true intention in blocking him today, his speech became more cautious.
“Back then we were so hungry we’d eat anything, starving to the point of stuffing dirt in our mouths. Suddenly a goddess-like beautiful woman came and took us to a magnificent estate where we were kept for half a year, given food and drink and taught to read. Then she ruthlessly had our manhood cut off, and those of us who didn’t die from infection were sent to Master’s side to be raised. I’m a year younger than Senior Brother and remember these past events clearly—how could Senior Brother not remember?” Chen Ruyi asked with a smile.
“If I don’t remember, I don’t remember. I never had as good a brain as you from childhood,” An Jixiang said.
“Senior Brother saying he doesn’t remember is probably because he doesn’t trust this younger brother, or perhaps doesn’t want to recall exactly how many children like us were collected from the streets at that estate, or how many children like us were successively sent into this Great Chu Imperial Palace?”
“What exactly do you mean by suddenly saying this, Ruyi? Are you here asking me questions on His Majesty’s behalf?” An Jixiang at this moment felt as if stared at by a venomous snake, making him shudder. Restraining the severity in his eyes, he stared at Chen Ruyi and asked.
“I don’t mean anything. His Majesty asked me about this earlier, and I told His Majesty everything I knew truthfully,” Chen Ruyi said. “I’m just afraid my memory has deviations, so I came to verify with Senior Brother.”
“…” An Jixiang wouldn’t easily believe Chen Ruyi’s words. He said, “I wonder what exactly you still remember, Younger Brother?”
“Here’s a list—I don’t know if there are any omissions!” Chen Ruyi took a list from his breast and handed it to An Jixiang, saying, “Senior Brother, please help me check for errors and omissions.”
An Jixiang skeptically accepted the list and examined it.
Although after being sent into the Great Chu Imperial Palace, because he and Chen Ruyi were young, they spent quite a long period only serving beside Zhang Ping, learning boxing and combat techniques from Zhang Ping, learning palace protocol and various historical texts and commentaries, never having direct contact with other Wanhong Tower disciples who had infiltrated the palace.
During that period, among the two to three hundred homeless orphans collected from the streets and kept at the estate like them, most were not sent into the palace. But over these years lurking within the Great Chu Imperial Palace, An Jixiang had successively recognized at least nine familiar faces that had appeared at the estate back then.
An Jixiang hadn’t made this public or attempted to verify anything, just silently remembered it in his heart.
Examining the list Chen Ruyi drafted, he found it actually included all nine people he had recognized, and even included one additional person, showing Chen Ruyi had also been secretly observing everything all these years.
“I truly don’t remember well. With Younger Brother’s reminder, these several people in the palace might indeed have been faces seen at the estate outside Yangzhou,” An Jixiang said.
“Senior Brother accompanied me to assassinate Wang Lin and leave a letter clearing Shen Yang’s name, enabling His Majesty to transfer Shen Yang back to the central administration. Having done this with me, why are you still speaking so evasively? Do you really expect that Lady and the Empress Dowager will be merciful to us in the future?” Chen Ruyi stared at An Jixiang, asking with a severe expression.
“Since Younger Brother has already told His Majesty everything he remembers from the past truthfully, why aren’t you serving by His Majesty’s side now?” An Jixiang wasn’t so easily fooled. He thought to himself that if Chen Ruyi had really revealed Shenling Bureau’s arrangements in the palace, why wouldn’t His Majesty keep him close for personal service instead of letting him have leisure on such an important day to come intercept him?
“His Majesty rewarded me with another assignment to handle.” Chen Ruyi removed a token from his waist and handed it over.
An Jixiang accepted the newly cast bronze token and saw it engraved with clerical script characters reading “Jinyun Bureau Left Commander.”
“Jinyun Bureau?” An Jixiang was momentarily stunned, looking at Chen Ruyi with some disbelief. He thought that if Jinyun Bureau was transformed from Jinyun Tower, after Han Qian withdrew to Xuzhou, shouldn’t it be the domain of Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei? How could Chen Ruyi possibly insert himself, and moreover immediately occupy what appeared to be the topmost position of “Left Commander”?
An Jixiang knew that after His Majesty recovered Jinling, all things awaited renewal. New official titles and rewards could emerge every day, and subtle changes could occur at court with each passing day. But he never expected such a change.
What had Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei done to simultaneously lose His Majesty’s trust?