Through investigation and observation during this period, Han Bao and his group had determined that Guanjiang House, quite similar to Wanhong House which had operated brothels and warehouses in earlier years, was actually the core organization established and operated by Wang Jingrong, the Internal Administrator of the Chengde Army Provincial Military Governor, and the remnant forces of the Shenling Bureau in the Hebei and Hedong regions.
In earlier years, with the support of Jin Crown Prince Shi Chengzu, Guanjiang House had shared monopoly rights over salt and alcohol sales with over a dozen aristocratic clans in Jin Kingdom, becoming a major salt merchant and alcohol merchant in Jin Kingdom. Through this they secretly cultivated trusted followers and supporters throughout Jin Kingdom’s major prefectures and counties.
Speculating that Guanjiang House was related to Wang Jingrong wasn’t particularly difficult.
A type of strong liquor that Guanjiang House had begun selling externally four or five years ago, which was especially popular in the northern territories, tasted similar to the Yandang Spring of earlier years. Han Bao could easily deduce that Guanjiang House had actually obtained the distillation method from Wanhong House.
Once they focused intently on watching Guanjiang House, over the past month-plus they had discovered many more clues both obvious and subtle.
The four-story tall building across from the teahouse was Guanjiang House’s main building in Dingzhou.
Besides the fact that all wine shops and taverns large and small in Dingzhou City, as well as officials and common people, had to purchase alcohol here with private brewing strictly forbidden, this place itself was also the most magnificent inn and restaurant in Dingzhou City.
Never mind ordinary powerful people in Dingzhou City—even Chengde Army Provincial Military Governor Wang Yuankui and his son Wang Mao, the Chengde Army Administrator and Guard Army Commander, frequently hosted officers and guests here.
Han Bao had entered Dingzhou for a short time with few available personnel. In the early phase he could only investigate the remnant forces of the Shenling Bureau in the Hebei region and their internal-external collusion by focusing on Guanjiang House.
However, the teahouse wasn’t a place for talking. Now that he had made contact with Huo Li and Wang Zhe, to avoid attracting attention, Han Bao didn’t exchange many pleasantries with them in the teahouse. He directly told them his current lodging location, then left the teahouse first, crossing through streets and alleys, walking back to a dilapidated courtyard behind Guanjiang House.
After quite a while, Huo Li, Wang Zhe and the others arrived separately to rendezvous. Han Bao then led them through two hidden doors into a collapsed, abandoned ruined courtyard next door. Only then did they formally sit down in a hidden chamber to mutually introduce recent developments in Dingzhou and Tangyi.
Han Bao had secretly monitored Guanjiang House for half a month. Three days ago he had also just successfully sent two subordinates who had just established cover identities in Dingzhou to work at Guanjiang House. However, in the early phase at Guanjiang House they merely served as restaurant attendants, unable to contact core people and matters.
What could currently be confirmed was that in earlier years Guanjiang House had established commercial and trade connections with regions controlled by the Mongol Uighurs through trade in alcohol, furs, iron goods and other commodities. It was also with Wang Jingrong’s secret support that Mongol Uighur merchant caravans in recent years could enter and trade in Hengzhou, Dingzhou, Cangzhou and other areas controlled by the Chengde Army directly from the You and Tan state regions.
Although the merchant caravans that Mongol Uighurs sent into Dingzhou mainly hired many Han people from You, Tan and other regions, the forces controlling the caravans behind the scenes were not indigenous clans from You, Tan and other states that had been occupied by Mongol Uighurs over ten years ago, but rather more from that portion of scholar-gentry who, when the previous dynasty fell, directly fled north from Guanzhong to submit to the Mongol Uighurs to escape pursuit by the Liang army.
It could be deduced that the Shenling Bureau’s remnant forces in Hebei had long established close connections with the previous dynasty’s scholar-gentry who fled north over twenty years ago.
Although Han Bao temporarily lacked sufficient personnel to send to Tanzhou, Youzhou and other places to gather intelligence, through observation of Mongol Uighur merchant caravans and listening to rumors among Dingzhou households about Mongol Uighur caravans, he deduced that portions of the “Heavenly Craftsman’s Manual” had also long ago been transmitted through Guanjiang House into You, Tan and other regions.
Because Mongol Uighur merchant caravans had been regularly entering Dingzhou for seven or eight years now, many matters in Dingzhou were not particularly secret—with Han Bao grasping deeper-level information, it wasn’t difficult to connect numerous fragmentary pieces of information.
The forces controlling these Mongol Uighur caravans behind the scenes were primarily the Xiao clan of scholar-gentry who fled north from the previous dynasty.
Xiao clan ancestors Xiao Wending and Xiao Jun had both served as prime ministers of the previous dynasty—they could be said to be first-rate scholar-gentry of the mid-to-late previous dynasty.
After the Xiao clan fled north to submit to the Mongol Uighurs, they received great attention and trust from Wusu Dashi, who was then still the crown prince of the Mongol Uighur Grand Protectorate.
At that time, Xiao clan young master Xiao Yiqing had an extremely close friendship with Wusu Dashi. After Wusu Dashi succeeded and established the kingdom, Xiao Yiqing first served at his side as Cavalry Attendant and Grand Scholar, assisting Wusu Dashi in imitating Central Plains dynasties to establish Yingzhou and Shizhou deep in the great grasslands to settle scholar-gentry who fled north and Han people plundered and brought back during Mongol Uighur cavalry’s repeated southern invasions. They developed iron casting and agriculture in Yingzhou and Shizhou, mining pool salt.
After the Mongol Uighurs seized over a dozen states including Yun, Yan, You, and Tan south and north of Yanshan from Jin Kingdom, Xiao Yiqing again strongly advised Wusu Dashi to govern according to local customs, establishing South and North Courts within the Mongol Uighurs to separately govern Han people in the southern states and counties and Mongol Uighur tribespeople on the northern grasslands.
Within a short twelve to thirteen years, Xiao Yiqing assisted Wusu Dashi in recruiting Han officials on a large scale, promoting the Mongol Uighur Kingdom’s development from a tribal system toward centralized power, and moving the Mongol Uighur political, cultural, and economic center south to Youzhou.
As Southern Court Grand Preceptor and Minister of War of the Mongol Uighur Kingdom, Xiao Yiqing could already be said to rank among the Mongol Uighur Kingdom’s princes and great ministers. His daughter Xiao Qiang married Crown Prince Wusu Lü as consort.
Huo Li and Wang Zhe’s mission in coming this time was mainly to remind Han Bao to pay attention to the connection and collusion between the Shenling Bureau’s remnant forces in the Hebei region and the previous dynasty’s scholar-gentry who fled north. They hadn’t expected that in less than two months in Dingzhou, Han Bao had already roughly traced out the context here. It was truly hard to imagine that four or five years ago he had merely been an illiterate low-ranking slave under the Shang clan, a Lishui aristocratic family. They secretly thought to themselves—they considered themselves highly, but if they truly swapped into Han Bao’s position, could they accomplish this step?
“There’s a Mongol Uighur merchant caravan of over a hundred people who moved into Guanjiang House two months ago, but over these two months we haven’t seen them coming and going much, nor have large amounts of commercial goods been transported to other prefectures and counties. They should be envoys representing the Mongol Uighur Kingdom’s ruler negotiating with Wang Yuankui. Unfortunately our people cannot penetrate into Guanjiang House’s core area. We don’t know who exactly the Mongol Uighur envoys are, nor do we know what stage their negotiations have reached.” Han Bao said with no small regret.
“Is Liang Kingdom closely monitoring Dingzhou’s movements?” Huo Li asked.
“Among the peaks and ridges near Jingxing, we noticed traces of people passing through. There should already be Liang Kingdom secret agents traveling between Lu and Ding states. However, we haven’t yet discovered traces of Liang spies’ activities in Dingzhou. Presumably they arrived earlier and are hiding deeper. We also don’t dare alert the snake by beating the grass, startling them…” Han Bao said.
Huo Li nodded. After all, their main task was still to monitor the major movements of the Chengde Army and Mongol Uighurs, ensuring that when Mongol Uighur cavalry marched south, they could transmit the report to Tangyi at the first opportunity with the fastest speed. They didn’t even need to specifically investigate what conditions the Chengde Army and Mongol Uighurs had exactly reached.
In that case, once they alerted the snake by beating the grass, it would be even more disadvantageous for completing their basic mission.
To ensure this point, they had another task—establishing hidden outposts and bases all along the route through Dingzhou, Hengzhou, Qizhou, Xingzhou, Weizhou, Caozhou, Songzhou and other places southward. Only this way could they ensure information could be relayed and transmitted at the fastest speed.
From Dingzhou to Chaozhou was over two thousand miles in a straight line. If only one group of men transmitted information, concealing their identities along the way and avoiding numerous inspections, it would take at least a month to deliver the news, with tremendous risk of interception along the way.
With established outposts along the route for relay transmission, they could at least shorten the time by half.
Whether news of dramatic changes in Hebei was transmitted to Tangyi after one month, or shortened to within half a month—the significance was entirely different.
Of course, Huo Li and Wang Zhe also brought several carrier pigeons along on this trip.
However, from Dingzhou to Tangyi was over two thousand miles. Whether a few carrier pigeons could smoothly cross such a long distance to transmit messages back to Tangyi truly had no guarantee.
They needed to establish multiple information transmission channels.
In the hidden chamber, Han Bao first introduced the current situation in Dingzhou to Huo Li and Wang Zhe, then according to more specific materials Huo Li brought regarding the Shenling Bureau’s remnant forces in the Hebei region and the scholar-gentry who fled north, conducted new sorting of fragmentary information collected over these two months. Before they knew it, the evening colors had deepened. Through cracks in the ruined window, they saw the snow in the courtyard had already diminished.
At this moment light knocking “tap tap” sounded on the door. Han Bao opened the door and saw Zhang Shigui, who was standing guard in the courtyard, walk in holding a bronze telescope, saying, “Over a dozen people disguised as merchants entered the city from the south gate. They just entered Guanjiang House’s rear courtyard and met with the leader of the Mongol Uighur merchant caravan…”
Han Bao had chosen this ruined courtyard as a secret outpost mainly because the courtyard had several ancient cypresses three to four hundred years old that remained densely crowned with foliage even in the cold winter season.
They could hide in the tree crowns rising five or six stories high, borrowing the telescope to see the situation in Guanjiang House’s rear courtyard seven to eight hundred paces away.
Han Bao could basically confirm that the Mongol Uighur merchant caravan staying at Guanjiang House’s rear courtyard during this period were envoys sent by the Mongol Uighur Kingdom to negotiate with Wang Yuankui.
At this moment, if Wang Yuankui and his son Wang Mao entered and exited Guanjiang House to secretly meet with Mongol Uighur envoys, they wouldn’t be surprised. But with over a dozen people in disguise entering Dingzhou City from the south and meeting with Mongol Uighur envoys at Guanjiang House, all three—Han Bao, Huo Li, and Wang Zhe—stood up startled.
“Are Jin generals garrisoning Qizhou or Zhaozhou also submitting to the Mongol Uighurs, sending people to secretly meet the Mongol Uighur envoys?” Huo Li asked in alarm.
Han Bao was also somewhat dizzy and confused, unable to guess for the moment what this new discovery represented. He and Huo Li and Wang Zhe walked toward the courtyard.
At this moment there was still one person persisting in the tree crown, constantly watching the movements of Guanjiang House’s rear courtyard. But those meeting with the Mongol Uighur envoys had all entered indoors—temporarily there were no other new discoveries.
Wang Zhe, who had been quite silent and inconspicuous after rendezvous, now furrowed his long brows tightly and shook his head, saying, “Qizhou and Zhaozhou are located in the Hebei heartland. Although positioned on the route of Mongol Uighur cavalry marching south, the garrison forces in these places number only three to five thousand. Even if they’re willing to submit together to the Mongol Uighurs, if Wang Yuankui and Wang Jingrong don’t want to alert the snake by beating the grass and leak information, they wouldn’t directly invite them to participate in such confidential negotiations at this time!”
“Exactly so. Zhao, Qi and other states have very few garrison troops with weak combat capability. The morale of generals guarding these places is also not firm. If Wang Yuankui submits to the north and welcomes Mongol Uighur cavalry marching south, he can send people to negotiate the surrender of these cities then. There’s no reason to alert the snake by beating the grass now.” Han Bao said.
He felt Wang Zhe spoke very reasonably and couldn’t help taking a few more looks at Wang Zhe.
Wang Zhe was much more refined and weak than Huo Li who had practiced fist and foot kung fu since childhood and later led family soldiers.
After nearly a month of long-distance travel, Wang Zhe also appeared much more haggard and weary than Huo Li. Han Bao had heard he normally preferred literature and was better at political affairs. He secretly felt that at such a moment, for His Lordship and Lady to send such a figure to travel north with Huo Li without fearing hardship clearly showed they valued his wisdom more highly.
Thinking of this, Han Bao then humbly asked again, “Commissioner Wang Zhe, which faction’s forces do you think these dozen-plus people could possibly represent, coming to secretly meet the Mongol Uighur envoys?”
“I’m afraid they came from Wei and Bo.” Wang Zhe said with tightly furrowed brows.
“Prince He of Liang Zhu Rang’s people?” Even with firm resolve, Huo Li couldn’t help asking in alarm and fear at this moment.
Wang Zhe looked up at the tree crown and asked, “At this time, borrowing the telescope from here to look at Guanjiang House’s rear residence, how clearly can we see?”
“Guanjiang House’s rear residence is brightly lit at this time. Borrowing the telescope, we can faintly see people’s faces.” Han Bao said.
“In my youth I traveled through Liang territories and saw quite a few Liang Kingdom generals and ministers. I don’t know if climbing the tree I might see one or two familiar faces.” Wang Zhe said. If Prince He of Liang Zhu Rang truly harbored rebellious intentions and was determined to collude with the Mongol Uighurs to strike at Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang’s rear, he would definitely send core direct subordinates in disguise rather than sending unknown small fry to negotiate.
“Good. If that doesn’t work, I’ll immediately arrange a noodle stall to guard Guanjiang House’s back gate to see if there are discoveries. Additionally, beside the official road from Dingzhou to Weizhou, I’ll also arrange informants in advance…” Han Bao said.
Wang Zhe had not practiced fist and foot kung fu. With clumsy hands and feet, he was just about to borrow the rope ladder to climb the tree when Shi Ruhai, hiding in the tree crown standing guard, called out, “Someone is fleeing over the wall from Guanjiang House’s rear courtyard and has been discovered by guards…”
At this moment Han Bao and Huo Li couldn’t wait for Wang Zhe’s slow pace. They directly climbed the tree like apes and looked toward the distant streets and alleys. They saw a black shadow running desperately through the alley behind Guanjiang House, with over a dozen agile figures leaping over Guanjiang House’s rear residence wall in pursuit.
Han Bao and Huo Li looked at each other face to face.
This ancient cypress was three to four hundred years old. Wang Zhe borrowing the rope ladder to climb up wasn’t crowded at all. Borrowing the telescope to look into the alley behind Guanjiang House, he asked, “Could it be that Liang army secret agents who infiltrated Guanjiang House discovered something and had no choice but to risk leaving Guanjiang House to report, then were discovered by guards inside Guanjiang House?”
Han Bao could think of exactly this point.
Although two or three days ago he had also successfully sent people to infiltrate Guanjiang House, the two informants they sent in were merely low-ranking attendants with absolutely no opportunity to contact the core area of Guanjiang House’s rear courtyard. Even if they had discoveries, they wouldn’t rashly alert the snake by beating the grass. It shouldn’t be their people.
Moreover, their contact point with Guanjiang House informants was on another side, not fleeing in panic without choosing the route toward this side’s alley.
Of course, Liang Kingdom secret agents weren’t rash either. As Wang Zhe said, they must have seen something incredible that had to be transmitted out at the first opportunity, only then forced to risk sneaking out to report, exposing their traces.
If Liang Kingdom secret agents had successfully infiltrated Guanjiang House, if even Mongol Uighur envoys couldn’t alarm them greatly, what other matter could suddenly catch them off guard and throw them into panic?
Han Bao and Huo Li exchanged glances, thinking of Wang Zhe’s earlier speculation.
Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang had anticipated Wang Yuankui submitting to the Mongol Uighurs, so Liang army secret agents lurking in Dingzhou wouldn’t be greatly alarmed. But the matter of Prince He of Liang Zhu Rang, who replaced Liang Shixiong as Wei and Bo Provincial Military Governor, colluding with the Mongol Uighurs was enough to make Liang spies suddenly become panic-stricken upon detecting it!
They had just thought of this point and were so shocked—how much more so Liang Kingdom secret agents?
“Someone is setting fire inside Guanjiang House…” At this moment Shi Ruhai standing at the top spoke again.
Han Bao and Huo Li turned to look and saw flames shooting out from a window on the third floor of Guanjiang House’s main building. If Shi Ruhai hadn’t been watching that spot, at night it wouldn’t be very distinct and would be easy to miss.
At this moment people were successively fleeing in chaos to the long street on the south side of the main building. The fire inside the building must be considerable, just not yet burning through the windows.
During this period Han Bao and his group had mainly observed the movements of Guanjiang House and the Chengde Army Provincial Military Governor’s office from the periphery. They hadn’t penetrated too deeply inside, much less rashly risked infiltration to investigate. They also weren’t clear how deeply Liang army secret agents had penetrated Guanjiang House and the Chengde Army Provincial Military Governor’s office.
However, watching the movements inside Guanjiang House, Han Bao and his group understood it definitely wasn’t just one or two Liang spies who had successfully infiltrated Guanjiang House. Very likely the person who earlier fled over the wall and the person who subsequently set fire both had the sole purpose of creating chaos or diverting the attention of Guanjiang House guards.
To prevent spies from escaping mixed in the crowd fleeing the fire, Guanjiang House guards at this moment had one hundred fifty to sixty people divided into two teams. Emerging from the side door in single file from the side alley, they sealed off both sides of the long street.
These guards all wore solid armor bearing sharp weapons and held bows and crossbows. At this moment one could also see how strong the military equipment secretly hidden by Guanjiang House was.
“Could it be that Wang Yuankui may have long ago secretly reached agreement with the Mongol Uighurs on conditions, delaying all this time actually waiting for Zhu Rang to send people over?” Seeing Guanjiang House guards openly equipped with armor and weapons, holding bows and crossbows to seal off the long street, Wang Zhe said with furrowed brows.
Han Bao and Huo Li also nodded in agreement.
It was true that Guanjiang House was a major merchant force in Jin Kingdom. Establishing contact points and footholds in Jin Kingdom’s various prefectures and counties, making its minions spread throughout Jin Kingdom—all this was fine. But secretly hiding organized armored military forces in such an important city as Dingzhou changed the nature—this was “secretly maintaining private troops” with ulterior motives.
Never mind today openly bypassing official institutions to brazenly use these forces on the long street.
Even though armed merchant ships under the Chishan Association, despite receiving special permission to possess armored troops to guard commercial goods against bandits, had to report in advance when passing through local prefectures and counties.
If people wanted to go ashore and enter prefecture or county cities, they could only carry short blades for self-defense. Long bows, crossbows and other weapons couldn’t be casually brought into cities.
Guanjiang House’s status in Jin Kingdom was at least openly no higher than the Chishan Association’s status in Great Chu with the Tangyi army and Han family backing it up. The Chishan Association in Huaidong, in Xiangbei and other places faced even greater restrictions. Yang Yuanyan and Li Zhigao wished they could send people to watch closely every boat and every caravan team of the Chishan Association entering their territory.
Even if Wang Yuankui wasn’t affiliated with the Shenling Bureau, these years receiving Wang Jingrong’s overt and covert assistance to sit in the Chengde Army Provincial Military Governor position, he should long ago have understood the relationship between Guanjiang House and the Hebei remnants of the Shenling Bureau. He should also understand Guanjiang House’s entanglements with scholar-gentry who fled north and the Mongol Uighurs.
Previously when Mongol Uighur envoys disguised as a merchant caravan entered Dingzhou and moved into Guanjiang House, one could still say that because Guanjiang House had contact with both sides, it was suitable to serve as intermediary between the Mongol Uighurs and Chengde Army.
However, at this moment with it clear that Guanjiang House possessed organized armored troops in Dingzhou and could even use these forces openly without hesitation, this showed that Guanjiang House and Wang Jingrong in Dingzhou actually possessed higher status and power than the outside world imagined.
That went far beyond being merely a go-between.
“Is it possible that Wang Jingrong and Guanjiang House had long ago secretly submitted to Xiao Yiqing and submitted to the Mongol Uighurs?” Seeing the scene before his eyes, Han Bao thought of a possibility and asked in shock.
Wang Zhe nodded and said, “His Lordship and Lady were somewhat worried about this point. That’s why they sent me over to see if we could find more obvious signs. We didn’t expect that just after arriving in Dingzhou, such a thing would happen.”
Previously it was merely a bit of worry, but everything occurring before their eyes indicated this speculation was closer to the truth. Otherwise many doubts they had seen couldn’t be explained clearly.
Though young and mature beyond his years, Han Bao at this moment also couldn’t help showing shock on his face.
If Guanjiang House was dependent on Jin Kingdom, secretly supporting forces like Wang Yuankui, or secretly colluding with Mongol Uighurs to seek opportunities for restoring their country and taking revenge—this was their initial speculation. This was completely different from their current speculation that Guanjiang House had long submitted to and become vassals of the Mongol Uighurs. For the subsequent Hebei situation, these were also completely different concepts.
If the former, even if Wang Yuankui negotiated submission conditions with the Mongol Uighurs, the Mongol Uighurs couldn’t immediately have complete trust in Wang Yuankui. They might even need Wang Yuankui to send family members and relatives as hostages to Youzhou before Mongol Uighur cavalry dared concentrate on a large scale to march south.
If the latter, as long as Wang Yuankui resolved to submit, the Mongol Uighurs could through Guanjiang House immediately control the Chengde Army’s military-political system and the family members of major officers. The Mongol Uighur cavalry that had extremely likely already completed concentration north of Dingzhou only needed to wait to further reach agreement on conditions with envoys sent by Prince He of Liang Zhu Rang. Then they could unhesitatingly drive straight in. They wouldn’t even need to consider provisions along the way.
With the former, Mongol Uighur cavalry would at the fastest also need to first spend over a month or even longer completing numerous precautionary work. Only afterward would they dare to jointly push south with the Chengde Army into Qi and Zhao states territory. Pushing further south into Weizhou territory to jointly use troops with Prince He of Liang Zhu Rang would require even more time.
With the latter, Mongol Uighur cavalry could gallop day and night, taking just two or three days to pass through the Chengde Army’s control area into Qi and Zhao states territory. The Chengde Army had also extremely likely already secretly completed military mobilization, ready to coordinate by dispatching troops south at any time.
At this moment if Prince He of Liang Zhu Rang further confirmed colluding with the Mongol Uighurs in rebellion, one could say that in as little as four or five days, they could jointly cut off contact between the Liang army main force currently besieging Luzhou via Zezhou and Bianjing.
No matter what heaven-reaching earth-penetrating capabilities Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang possessed, with one hundred thousand elite troops trapped deep in the mountains of southern Hedong old commandery, they would become isolated and helpless lone troops—giving him absolutely no time to deploy troops and generals or adjust deployments.
Even if Zhu Yu could escape Mongol Uighur cavalry pursuit from the southwest of Hedong old commandery to flee to the Guanzhong region, how much time would Zhu Yu need to return to Bianjing by borrowing passage through Guanzhong?
But after Prince He of Liang Zhu Rang formally rebelled, once Mongol Uighur cavalry sealed off the route for the Liang army main force to return to Bianjing from Weizhou, he could dispatch troops directly from Weizhou—in just four or five days he could attack to beneath Bianjing City…