Han Qian stayed at the Prince’s Mansion to dine with the Third Prince, waiting until the moon rose high in the sky before leaving with Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, Lin Haizheng, Zheng Tong, and the others.
Returning to the Han family estate, Old Zhao walked over and obsequiously led away the purple-maned horse.
Han Qian told Zheng Tong to go rest first. He stood in the front courtyard, looking up at the crescent moon atop the tree branches. After a long while, he turned around and spoke to Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, and Lin Haizheng:
“In two more days, you’ll officially have positions in the government. These next couple of days, look around the city to see if there are any suitable vacant residences for sale. I’ll give each of you a courtyard residence—it won’t be a waste of your time following me.”
“If there are vacant courtyards in Lanting Alley, please grant them to us, my lord, so that Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, and Lin Haizheng can forever remain by your side to serve you.” Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, and Lin Haizheng dropped to their knees with a thud, speaking earnestly.
“I have a bad temper, and sometimes my luck is rather poor. If you truly wish to remain by my side, you may not necessarily have opportunities to distinguish yourselves,” Han Qian said calmly.
“We don’t seek to distinguish ourselves, only to follow by your side, my lord,” the three men said.
Han Qian stared at Tian Cheng, scrutinizing him.
Gao Shao and Lin Haizheng were one thing, but Tian Cheng, along with Zhao Wuji and Xi Ren, had witnessed his meeting with Prince Yong Zhu Yu.
Although Han Qian had a clear conscience about this matter—indeed, the disruption of the Liang army’s intentions to seize Jing and Xiang was largely due to him—if this matter got out and someone with ulterior motives manipulated the narrative behind the scenes, even a hundred mouths wouldn’t be enough to explain himself clearly.
However, Tian Cheng’s life experiences had been far more difficult than Lin Haizheng’s. He had seen through many things. If not for his wife and children falling ill to the plague and being reduced to wandering the jianghu, forcing him to be conscripted by the garrison military office, he would have had no intention of pledging loyalty to Great Chu.
Therefore, Han Qian believed Tian Cheng should still be trustworthy.
“Alright, alright, enough of this sentimental talk,” Han Qian waved his hand, having them all stand up, and said, “These are troubled times. Being able to look out for each other is always good. If you want to live in Lanting Alley, I’ll have Old Zhao look tomorrow to see if we can free up three courtyards.”
“What’s going on here?” Zhao Ting’er emerged from inside just then. Seeing Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, and Lin Haizheng all kneeling there so solemnly, she was startled, thinking something had happened.
“You should all go rest for today. You’ve all had a long day.” Han Qian waved his hand, dismissing Tian Cheng and the others before walking with Zhao Ting’er toward the inner courtyard.
“Why did you suddenly call Lin Haizheng back this afternoon and have all the money shop’s account books moved to the Prince’s Mansion?” Zhao Ting’er still didn’t know what had happened and asked.
Seeing Du Qiniang and Du Jiuniang still in the courtyard, Han Qian told them to go rest first. He called Xi Ren over as well and recounted to them everything that had happened at the Prince’s Mansion today.
“Those three still have some conscience. They didn’t forget, after receiving official positions, that all this was fundamentally granted to them by you, young master,” Zhao Ting’er was fairly satisfied with Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, and Lin Haizheng’s performance. They hadn’t become conceited after receiving their positions today, forgetting their roots and thinking they now belonged to the Prince’s Mansion. She clicked her tongue and added, “The Princess Consort is truly a formidable person, isn’t she?”
Han Qian hadn’t even met the Princess Consort face to face. It was difficult to fathom what the temperament had become of a woman who bore a son at seventeen, harbored such great secrets, yet struggled for so long under the shadow of Anning Palace—now thirty-two years old and in her prime. He thought this might perhaps be the most uncertain factor behind the Third Prince.
Xi Ren didn’t know what Han Qian was thinking. Her attention was mainly focused on the Left Office’s liquidation. She complained, “The workshops, warehouses, and money shop—these were all accumulated through your hard work. Shouldn’t they be separated from the Left Office and placed under your personal name?”
Reasonably speaking, the Military Affairs Section and the Intelligence Section indeed weren’t forces that Han Qian should personally control at this time. Their formal merger into the Prince’s Mansion was expected. But even the Linjiang money shop had merely borrowed the Third Prince’s name. The workshops and warehouses were things Han Qian had managed through his own abilities—in Xi Ren’s view, Han Qian had performed meritorious service defending Jing and Xiang. Even if he received no reward, these things shouldn’t be taken from his hands.
Now Emperor Tianyou hadn’t even made a sound, sending out two insignificant lackeys to strip the workshops, warehouses, coal yards, and even the Qiuhu Mountain villa from the Han family name. What kind of treatment was this?
Could the estates granted by the Princess Consort compensate for even a tenth or twentieth of these?
“The greatest taboo for people is insatiable greed!” Han Qian smiled and said.
In fact, after two failed audiences with the Emperor and the entire journey back from Xiangzhou to Jinling, Han Qian had been more worried that upon returning to Jinling he would receive nothing at all, yet still have to accept it with a smile.
Currently, besides preserving his affairs with the Xuzhou shipping association and Xuzhou, he still had three hundred gold ingots in circulation and an estate granted by the Princess Consort located on the south bank of the Qiupu River outside the Eastern City. He was satisfied with today’s outcome.
This was perhaps the condition Emperor Tianyou offered to father and son.
Of course, more troubling than all this was that Han Qian wasn’t entirely certain how much Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei actually knew about the Xinchang Marquis’s mansion and the Wanhong House affair.
That was the truly life-threatening matter.
Han Qian now appeared to have severed ties with Wanhong House. He no longer needed to follow the ridiculous orders of the Xinchang Marquis or the woman in black gauze. But if Wanhong House’s secrets were completely exposed, forget about him emerging unscathed—the Third Prince would likely be deposed, with no hope whatsoever of ascending the throne.
“The Great Chu Emperor has arranged both Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei for the Third Prince. Does this mean he’s determined to support the Third Prince to replace the Crown Prince and ascend the throne?” Xi Ren, born into the Xi clan of barbarian origins, had no loyalty to Emperor Tianyou. In her mind, since Emperor Tianyou had arranged for Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei to serve under the Third Prince’s command, this should be a fairly obvious signal.
“How could it be that simple?” Han Qian shook his head with a bitter smile. “The Emperor’s mind is unfathomable. Even if Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei serve at His Highness’s side and truly become loyal only to His Highness as they claim, it only means His Highness has just now qualified to compete for succession—it doesn’t indicate anything more. When it comes down to it, Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei are merely two bargaining chips, two chess pieces in Emperor Tianyou’s hand. From now on, we can only scramble about on Emperor Tianyou’s chessboard. As chess pieces ourselves, how could we possibly truly fathom what the player moving the pieces is thinking?”
Xi Ren pouted her cherry lips, completely unable to comprehend how many more machinations all the various forces would play before the succession struggle was resolved. And Han Qian’s words sounded so cryptic—she didn’t know whether he’d been stimulated by something, or if he was talking nonsense from the genuine heartache of having the workshops, warehouses, and money shop taken away.
Seeing Xi Ren’s confused expression, Han Qian smiled bitterly to himself. The Third Prince had previously been merely an idle, neglected chess piece for Emperor Tianyou. Even if Emperor Tianyou never had any expectations for the Third Prince from the start, they had great flexibility operating behind the scenes. But once Emperor Tianyou truly had expectations for the Third Prince, who could or would dare compete with Emperor Tianyou for control?
And Emperor Tianyou, as the founding emperor, necessarily had a strong personality.
The changes involved here were difficult to explain in just a few words.
“Who’s there?” Just then, Zhao Wuji’s suppressed yet clear shout came from the adjacent courtyard.
Simultaneously, the distinct sounds of several bowstrings snapping rang out clearly.
Han Qian moved the sword at his waist to the front, staring in the direction Zhao Wuji was guarding, wondering who would try to enter his residence so late at night.
After a short while, Zhao Wuji climbed directly over the wall and said quietly, “It’s Miss Yao and Chun Shisanniang wanting to see you, young master. Should I let them come over?”
“I was just looking for them. Let them come,” Han Qian said.
After Zhao Wuji left, two figures soon leaped onto the courtyard wall—Yao Xishui and Chun Shisanniang, not using the main entrance but jumping in from the adjacent courtyard.
“I was just thinking of sending someone to invite Miss Yao over for tea. I didn’t expect Miss Yao and I to be so spiritually connected,” Han Qian stood in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, signaling Zhao Wuji to watch the surroundings and prevent anyone else from approaching.
Seeing no one else in the courtyard besides Zhao Ting’er and Xi Ren, Yao Xishui asked directly, “What kind of people are Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei from Jinyun House? Has Master Han figured it out by now?”
Han Qian smiled faintly. “Only finding out today that Jiang and Yuan aren’t ordinary clerks at Jinyun House—aren’t you being a bit slow?”
“You delayed and dragged your feet refusing to return to Jinling. Who could have known in advance what arrangements would be made for the Left Office, or would have paid attention to such an inconspicuous corner as Jinyun House?” Yao Xishui said with displeasure.
Han Qian didn’t bother arguing with Yao Xishui. Now wasn’t the time for such debates. There were too many gaps that needed patching. He said:
“His Majesty has very likely already noticed Wanhong House’s existence, but the one thing you can feel fortunate about is that His Majesty currently believes Wanhong House is a force secretly cultivated by the Xinchang Marquis’s mansion, probably used specifically for accumulating wealth and planting informants—not yet considered outrageously audacious. Jiang and Yuan are attendants His Majesty directly arranged at His Highness’s side. Henceforth, the Left Office will be under their direct supervision. What you need to do next, I presume I don’t need to tell you?”
Yao Xishui and her people had already clearly realized that under Shen Yang’s leadership, many of the Prince’s Mansion’s actions were directly restricting or even suppressing the Xinchang Marquis’s mansion’s control and infiltration of the Dragon Sparrow Army.
Now, confirming Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei’s identities, Yao Xishui was even more alarmed. She instinctively lowered her voice and asked in shock, “Are you certain His Majesty’s attention to Wanhong House is limited to this?”
“It should be for now, but even if Wanhong House is exposed further, it doesn’t matter much,” Han Qian pulled over a chair and sat down. “Before the new emperor ascends the throne, everyone is a bargaining chip, a chess piece in His Majesty’s hand—myself, Jiang Huo, Yuan Guowei, Marquis Li, even Shen Yang and His Highness are all the same. Whether we’re willing or not, at least His Majesty believes this in his heart. And in His Majesty’s chess game, all the pieces should serve to maintain Great Chu’s lasting peace and stability, to maintain the Yang clan’s eternal reign over Great Chu’s empire. Even if Wanhong House is exposed further, as long as you’re willing to jump into His Majesty’s chess game and become this piece, what does it matter? Who says the Third Prince can’t use forces outside the court to ascend to the throne? Even if these external forces have their own vigorous ambitions and intentions, it’s not a major problem—as long as they don’t overturn His Majesty’s chess board. Only those who might overturn His Majesty’s chess game are, in His Majesty’s mind, deserving of death and dismemberment!”
“Is this the understanding and enlightenment you gained from sightseeing and delaying over a month before returning to Jinling?” Yao Xishui stared into Han Qian’s eyes and asked.
“Isn’t the fact that His Majesty doesn’t mind my father and I having a bit of ambition sufficient proof of this?” Han Qian asked. “His Majesty has crossed more bridges than we’ve walked roads, eaten more salt than we’ve eaten rice. He won’t be naive enough to believe there’s truly such a thing as unconditional loyalty in this world. All forces and power, in His Majesty’s eyes, probably fall into only two categories: those he can control and those he cannot. Do you understand everything I’m saying now, Miss Yao?”
In Han Qian’s view, Wanhong House probably hadn’t been completely exposed yet, which was directly related to Wanhong House’s intentional blurring of its boundaries with the Xinchang Marquis over the years.
For instance, Li Zhigao, Chai Jian, Zhang Ping, and others all had official positions. Over these many years of integration, most of Wanhong House’s core members had essentially become elite household troops and retainers of the Xinchang Marquis’s mansion, which made Wanhong House’s existence extremely well-hidden.
This also meant that even if Emperor Tianyou’s informants had already noticed the connection between the Xinchang Marquis’s mansion and Wanhong House, they currently only viewed Wanhong House as a tool for the mansion to accumulate wealth, plant informants, and gather intelligence.
Of course, Han Qian suspected it was very likely that after he sought an official position in Xuzhou for his father, all aspects related to the Dragon Sparrow Army truly drew Emperor Tianyou’s attention.
And slightly before that, on the day of the Third Prince’s wedding, Yao Xishui nearly exposed her identity before Zhao Mingting and Wang Wenqian. Afterward, persuaded by Han Qian and Li Zhigao, Wanhong House had all its hidden agents go even deeper underground, concentrating scouts and investigators in the Left Office.
This should also be a key reason why Wanhong House hadn’t been completely exposed.
However, now the Left Office was directly under Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei’s supervision. Going forward, the two would further plant several of their own disciples in the Left Office.
The Left Office’s existence in the future would not only monitor external matters, monitor Anning Palace, and monitor Prince Xin’s mansion’s activities, but would also monitor the internal activities of the Prince’s Mansion and Dragon Sparrow Army.
This was the true significance of a covert force’s existence.
If Wanhong House didn’t restrain itself now and erase certain traces, it would be very difficult to escape the extremely shrewd eyes of Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei.
Although the two claimed that after leaving the Inner Bureau, they would only be loyal to the Third Prince personally, Han Qian would never believe such words.
When it came down to it, the Third Prince currently wasn’t the player—he was just another chess piece on Emperor Tianyou’s succession game board. As long as everyone remained properly on this chess board competing for power and position, Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei would be loyal to the Third Prince. Beyond that, nothing else could be said with certainty.
Yao Xishui pondered for a long while before digesting what Han Qian had said. She asked, “Since the Left Office will be under Jiang and Yuan’s supervision, what about Chun Shisanniang?”
Han Qian said, “We can only report her truthfully. Otherwise, the gaps would be even bigger. Currently, His Majesty should believe the Left Office was secretly established by Marquis Li and myself. Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei have explicitly asked me to hand over the list of those not on the military office roster. This is also an opportunity for Wanhong House to come out of the shadows into the light. So not only Chun Shisanniang—Miss Yao, you must also come with me tomorrow to meet Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei.”
“What about my foster father?” Yao Xishui asked in alarm.
“Manager Zhang cannot be exposed. If His Majesty learns that Marquis Li has placed people in the palace, at the Princess Consort’s side, and even knows the Princess Consort is one of Wanhong House’s people, we’ll all face capital punishment,” Han Qian said calmly. “Marquis Li arranged Chun Shisanniang beside General Kong, and I conspired with Marquis Li to place Miss Yao beside Manager Zhang. The methods were somewhat underhanded, but given the Third Prince’s previously isolated and helpless situation, it was understandable!”
“I need to go back and report this to Madam,” Yao Xishui said, her delicate brows bearing what seemed like a thousand pounds of weight.
“At the latest, I must submit the list of hidden personnel tomorrow afternoon,” Han Qian said.