Xia Jun was startled, thinking to himself that this was bad. But before he could speak, he heard someone among his own men already drawing their swords. He shouted loudly, “Put down your weapons!” However, that person acted as if he hadn’t heard him at all, continuing to hack and slash on his own.
The emotion of killing and drawing blades was contagious, like a signal. People around him one after another drew their swords and joined the slaughter. The crowd became chaotic, and for a moment only the sounds of weapons clashing could be heard. The official sitting high on his horse, seeing this scene, was both shocked and furious. He shouted, “Everyone listen to my command! Apprehend these arsonist madmen! If there is any resistance, execute them on the spot!”
With these words, the men Jiang Chao had brought became even more panicked, ignoring Xia Jun’s attempts to stop them and fighting back with even greater desperation. But so many people moving at night could hardly match the patrol Imperial Guards of the imperial court. In less than the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the men Jiang Chao had brought were subdued by seventy to eighty percent, leaving the ground in complete disarray. Meanwhile, the great fire in the granary was unstoppable. Even if people continuously carried water to fight the fire, it was like trying to stop a cart with a mantis – utterly useless. They could only watch helplessly as the great fire swallowed the entire granary, turning a hundred cartloads of military provisions into ashes.
This great fire burned throughout the entire night. That night, the common people of the Great Jin Dynasty’s capital slept sweetly, unaware of how many undercurrents were stirring within. No one knew how the granary had caught fire. It wasn’t until the next morning when shop vendors went to open their stores that they saw billowing smoke rising from where the granary stood. The carriages and horses were in complete disarray, and inside were nothing but ashes – clearly, there were no good provisions left.
By the first day, news had spread throughout the entire capital that Second Master Jiang Chao of the Jiang Manor and Second Young Master Xia Jun of the Xia Manor had burned the military provisions in the granary with a fire in the night. When Jiang Quan heard this news in his manor, his hand trembled and he nearly overturned his teacup. He stared incredulously at his newlywed wife Xia Yue beside him: “What did you say?”
Xia Yue looked at Jiang Quan with some trepidation. She was merely a daughter of a distant relative of the Xia Manor. Originally, she had her own childhood sweetheart, but the Xia family, in order to curry favor with the Jiang Manor and to prevent the relationship between the Jiang and Xia manors from breaking after Xia Yan’s death, had married her over. Xia Yue was now only seventeen or eighteen years old, in the prime of her youth. Being married to Jiang Quan, who could be her father, naturally filled her heart with resentment. Now, shortly after marrying over, such an incident had occurred in the Jiang Manor, making Xia Yue’s heart even more resentful. But being under someone else’s roof, she had no choice but to bow her head. Jiang Quan appeared gentle on the surface, but when he lost his temper, it was truly frightening. She said, “Master, this is true. It’s spread all over outside.”
She spoke so earnestly that even if Jiang Quan wanted to disbelieve, he had no choice. He said angrily, “This unfilial son! He absolutely must ruin the Jiang family!”
“Master, don’t just focus on being angry,” Xia Yue looked down on Jiang Quan’s way of only complaining and blaming others when something happened, hiding the contempt in her eyes as she said, “I heard that the Marquis has already entered the palace to have an audience with the Emperor. This matter is extremely serious. Burning the military provisions in the granary is a grave crime. The hundred thousand soldiers at the border are all waiting for those provisions for urgent relief. Yet Second Master chose this moment to do such a thing, inevitably arousing suspicion.”
Jiang Quan’s heart jumped with alarm. Earlier, in his dizzy rage, he had only been furious about Jiang Chao’s audacity. Now he truly felt a wave of fear. That’s right – a hundred thousand soldiers were still waiting at the border for urgent military provisions, yet Jiang Chao and Xia Jun had burned the granary completely clean last night. In the dead of night, if you said it wasn’t intentional, no one would believe it. If you said it was intentional, why would legitimate sons of official families do such a thing? The current war between the Tian Jin Kingdom and the Great Jin Dynasty was the Emperor’s most sensitive nerve. For Jiang Chao to cause trouble at this time was forcing the Emperor to think in that direction – to consider whether Jiang Chao was colluding with the enemy and betraying the country. Otherwise, why would he rather destroy the granary than let the Great Jin Dynasty’s soldiers fall into the danger of running out of ammunition and food?
Jiang Quan sat restlessly, feeling a cold sweat sliding down his neck to his back. The Emperor’s suspicion was like a blade hanging over the Jiang Manor’s head. But now he only had this one son left – he couldn’t not care about him.
He suddenly asked Xia Yue, “Why did Marquis Xia enter the palace?” Although Xia Cheng also only had Xia Jun as his one grandson, he shouldn’t have so quickly requested an imperial audience. Before the matter was completely clarified, Xia Cheng couldn’t possibly act rashly. For him to hurriedly request an audience now, something important must have happened.
Xia Yue glanced at Jiang Quan and said softly, “I heard that last night, when Second Young Master Xia appeared, he also brought the Xia family’s private army. Those soldiers fought with the city garrison commander, and His Majesty was extremely furious upon hearing this, throwing both Second Master Jiang and Second Young Master Xia into the imperial prison.”
Upon hearing these words, Jiang Quan nearly fainted. That high-ranking officials in the capital each kept some private armies in their manors was not a big deal – these private armies were no different from manor guards, and their numbers weren’t very large. The Emperor also tacitly permitted this. But the charges of two people committing arson versus bringing private armies to commit arson were vastly different. If it was just individuals committing arson, one could say it was Xia Jun and Jiang Chao’s own idea. But once private armies were involved, it implicated the entire manor in a major matter. Especially since this private army had fought with the city garrison – wasn’t this tantamount to making a scene under the Son of Heaven’s feet? What would the Emperor think? He would certainly believe they had long harbored rebellious intentions!
Jiang Quan grabbed Xia Yue: “Did you hear clearly – was it only the Xia Manor’s private army, with no connection whatsoever to the Jiang family?”
Xia Yue felt even more contemptuous in her heart. At this point, Jiang Quan’s mind was still only on himself, afraid of implicating the Jiang Manor. This was truly selfish enough. But on second thought, the relationship between the Xia and Jiang manors was maintained through a marriage alliance of convenience. After Xia Yan’s death, she had been married over specifically to maintain this relationship. They had come together for profit in the first place – what family affection could there be?
“There was no Jiang family private army, Master, please rest assured.” Though she thought this, Xia Yue still smiled and said so, but immediately frowned again: “However, Master, shouldn’t you enter the palace now to plead for Second Master? This is no small matter.”
Jiang Quan sat in place, the expression in his eyes changing uncertainly. If it were before, he would undoubtedly have found ways to rescue Jiang Chao without a second thought. But now the Jiang family was not what it used to be. Their reputation in the capital was already ruined, and the Emperor had considerable complaints about the Jiang family. This time Jiang Chao had caused such an enormous disaster – this matter was simply too big. Jiang Chao could never emerge unscathed. What was even more worrying was the Emperor’s attitude. If he entered the palace now to plead for Jiang Chao, would the Emperor then think that the Jiang family had also been involved in this matter? Originally, there was only suspicion that the Xia family harbored treasonous intentions, but now the Jiang family would also be implicated. What should he do?
“No,” After thinking for a long time, Jiang Quan finally made up his mind and said, “Now is not a good time. Write a letter for me and send it to Prince Jinying’s manor, telling Jiang Ruan to hurry back to the manor. Her second brother has gotten into such big trouble – she must also find a way to save his life.”
Before coming to the Jiang Manor, Xia Yue had already heard of Jiang Ruan’s deeds. Regarding how Jiang Ruan had dealt with the Xia family and Jiang Quan, she actually applauded. Now hearing Jiang Quan speak this way, she couldn’t help but feel another wave of contempt. Why did Jiang Quan need to speak so righteously? He didn’t dare show himself, yet instructed his daughter to do so. Jiang Ruan and Jiang Chao had never gotten along – Jiang Quan knew this perfectly well. How could Jiang Ruan willingly help Jiang Chao escape punishment? She wondered if Jiang Quan was too anxious now, making him so confused.
…
In the imperial prison, in the darkest cell, two prison cells were closely adjacent, separated by thick iron bars. The weak firelight not only failed to bring any brightness to the already gloomy prison but made it seem even more eerie.
On either side of the iron bars sat two people leaning against the walls – one hanging his head in dejection and wailing continuously, the other with cold eyes and a face so grim it could drip water.
Jiang Chao looked at Xia Jun, unable to hide his anxiety: “Cousin, what should we do now?”
“What else can we do,” Xia Jun laughed coldly: “Others are the knife and chopping board, we are the fish and meat.”
Seeing Xia Jun’s indifferent appearance, Jiang Chao became even more anxious and said, “How did things turn out this way? Where exactly did we go wrong? Damn it, why did the city garrison commander show up at this time?”
Xia Jun lowered his head, his eyes flickering. The ominous premonition in his heart since last night had finally been confirmed. He had felt everything was going too smoothly – so smoothly that it raised suspicion. For Jiang Ruan not to interfere from the middle was truly unreasonable. Now he finally understood where that inexplicable premonition had come from. It was because since three years ago when he began scheming against Jiang Ruan, in everything related to her, she had never lost. She wouldn’t lose – so how could they have won so easily? All of this was merely part of her scheme.
“We fell into a trap.” After a long while, Xia Jun slowly said, “This was a trap set specifically for us from the very beginning. The other party always knew what we were going to do, merely gave us a push along the way, and now it’s time to close the net.”
Jiang Chao looked at him in surprise, his mind becoming even more confused: “Cousin, what do you mean?”
“Last night’s granary fire came out of nowhere – clearly someone deliberately set the fire to pin the blame on you and me. And when the city garrison commander led troops there, I clearly gave the order not to let the private army act rashly, yet someone actively drew their blade. Looking back now, this was extremely suspicious – clearly someone mixed among them deliberately stirred up trouble.”
That person mixed among the private army and instigated conflict between the Xia Manor’s private army and the soldiers led by the city garrison commander, gaining the Xia Manor a reputation for letting soldiers run wild and committing insubordination. This charge of arson plus the charge of insubordination was truly heinous – it could indeed be called harboring obvious treasonous intentions.
“But… how could they know our plan to secretly switch the provisions?” Jiang Chao was shocked that there was actually someone playing mantis stalks the cicada while the oriole waits behind, but only five people knew about this plan. Where did the information leak from?
“Strange, isn’t it? I also find it strange. It doesn’t seem like they learned of our plan to commit arson, but rather as if they knew from the beginning what we were going to do, even gave us a push. Now that I think about it, the performance Zhang Ji put on in court that day was also too perfect. I think at that time, we had already fallen into someone else’s trap without knowing it.” Xia Jun said.
Jiang Chao shook his head: “Cousin, what you’re saying is really too incredible. If what you say is true, who is that person? Who has such great ability?”
“Who?” Xia Jun’s mind conjured an enchanting and beautiful face, with upturned seductive eyes slightly curved, as if mocking their self-righteousness. Was it her? Although it seemed too incredible, Xia Jun had an intuition that this matter must be connected to her. There are no prophets in this world, so why – how exactly did she learn of their plan? It was as if she had completely figured out their thoughts. This was truly terrifying. She had even arranged for the duty officer Zhao Yi to avoid last night’s inspection. The city garrison commander who caught them last night was another veteran official, famous in the Great Jin Dynasty for his incorruptible integrity. If it had been Zhao Yi, perhaps the Emperor would have suspected it was because of the grudge between the Zhao and Xia families that Zhao Yi acted this way. But with that veteran official instead, this possibility was almost completely eliminated. Jiang Ruan had even thought of this point – they had no chance of turning things around.
“Do you know what the most terrifying part is?” Xia Jun laughed coldly and said, “We burned provisions in the middle of the night, and if we’re not careful, we’ll be labeled as colluding with the enemy and betraying the country. Those provisions were for urgent relief at the border, and now they’re all burned to ashes in one fire. We cannot compensate. Now there’s only one solution.”
“What solution?” Jiang Chao asked urgently.
“Wait.” Xia Jun said, “Wait for the Eighth Prince to find some excuse to switch all the provisions back and tell the Emperor that what we burned was moldy grain, not military provisions. Then this matter can be easily resolved.”
“That would be good.” Jiang Chao breathed a sigh of relief: “The Eighth Prince still needs to use both of us, and the Jiang and Xia families cannot be discarded either. Naturally, he won’t sit by and do nothing.”
“I hope so.” Xia Jun looked at his hands. But… he thought to himself, did Jiang Ruan really only do this much? That woman struck ruthlessly and mercilessly. If all this was truly orchestrated by her, how could she take such heavy action only to drop it so lightly? Just to make them suffer a little? The vague uneasiness in Xia Jun’s heart surfaced again. He clenched his fists and said nothing more.
…
At the Eighth Prince’s manor, the advisors quietly retreated to the side, not daring to say a word. What should have been a foolproof matter had somehow gone wrong at this crucial moment, especially being caught red-handed. That city garrison commander was also famous for his rigid integrity, leaving almost no chance to cry injustice. The moldy old grain could not be transported to the border – this portion was lost, equivalent to losing everything.
Xuan Li’s expression was extremely ugly at the moment. Even though he had people placed everywhere, he still hadn’t figured out why the city garrison commander would suddenly lead troops there. He also didn’t understand where this plan had gone wrong, allowing someone to exploit the gap. Now the development of events was beyond his expectations, and he didn’t even know how to clean up the mess.
“Your Highness, should we find a way to rescue Xia Jun and Jiang Chao?” an advisor spoke up. “This matter now involves the Xia family as well. If we sit by and do nothing, His Majesty will definitely severely punish the Xia family. The Xia family is still useful to Your Highness and cannot be easily discarded.”
The Xia family’s private army had been caught on the spot – this was an undeniable fact. If things developed naturally, the Emperor would wipe out the Xia family entirely. Now that his great enterprise was not yet complete, he still needed to rely on the power in the Xia family’s hands. How could he easily discard this most important chess piece? If the Xia family was damaged because of this, it would not only disappoint those ministers following him but also cost him most of his strength. The Xia family could not be left unrescued.
Seeing that Xuan Li wasn’t speaking, the advisor continued: “Now the only way is to find a method to transport the original military provisions back and find an excuse to say that Xia Jun and Jiang Chao burned old grain to protect the military provisions. As long as we can round out the story and do it cleanly, it’s not impossible.”
Xuan Li was startled, seeming to realize something. His eyes darkened as he said, “No.”
The advisor looked at him in surprise.
Xuan Li laughed coldly: “If I really did this, I would be playing right into someone else’s hands. You can say Xia Jun was protecting the military provisions, but others might not be unable to say that Xia Jun wanted to switch out the military provisions to line his own pockets. I suspect that person behind the scenes is just waiting for me to find a way to explain to Father Emperor, and then he’ll have other evidence to confirm Xia Jun’s crime of switching military provisions. Then Father Emperor would be furious and blame me as well. Moreover…” He thought of something but didn’t finish speaking.
The advisor also became somewhat worried and asked, “Is Your Highness planning not to care about Xia Jun and the Xia family’s fate?”
“Sacrifice the soldiers to save the general.” A trace of cruelty flashed across Xuan Li’s face: “I have no choice now.”
…
Jiang Ruan put down the wolf-hair brush in her hand. Her beautiful small regular script with floral decorations was written elegantly and charmingly. The purple-clothed young man sitting across from her finally couldn’t help but ask: “What if Xuan Li finds a way to rescue him? The Xia family wouldn’t suffer much damage and would still harbor resentment toward you. After all this busy work, you’d only get such a result.” He had always been accustomed to using power tactics to scheme against everyone. Now it was the first time accepting someone else’s arrangements and manipulation. He didn’t even know every link of this plan, only following Jiang Ruan’s instructions, yet he was still confused, not understanding what exactly she wanted to accomplish.
“He and I are already mortal enemies. Isn’t talking about harboring resentment redundant?” Jiang Ruan unhurriedly lifted the writing paper and gently air-dried it in small movements, saying, “Why would Xuan Li rescue him?”
“If the Xia family falls, it would be of no benefit to Xuan Li whatsoever. His great enterprise still depends on the Xia family’s support. If the Xia family is hurt this time, it would be like cutting off his left arm and right arm. How could he be willing?”
Jiang Ruan looked at Qi Feng and suddenly smiled slightly: “Is that so, Young Master Qi? How about we make a bet?”
“What bet?” Qi Feng was slightly stunned by her action.
“Let’s bet that Xuan Li definitely won’t act to save the Xia family.” Jiang Ruan said.
“How could that be?” Qi Feng was surprised.
“Losing the Xia family, he only loses a left arm and right arm. Saving the Xia family, he might completely end his great enterprise.” Jiang Ruan said lightly, “Xuan Li is naturally suspicious. Having such an opportunity to save the Xia family, he would instead hesitate, thinking we had dug a pit behind the scenes, inviting him to enter the trap. The more he hesitates, the more he doesn’t dare make decisions lightly.”
“But that’s only suspicion. He wouldn’t dare not even attempt to test the waters.” Although Qi Feng was amazed by Jiang Ruan’s familiarity with Xuan Li’s thoughts, he still insisted.
“He naturally wouldn’t dare.” Jiang Ruan suddenly laughed, turning to look at Qi Feng, her eyes beautiful and full of deep meaning: “Do you know where those eight hundred carts of military provisions are now?”