After Yao Xishui and Chun Shisanniang left, Han Qian spent the entire afternoon at Ningxiang Tower monitoring the movements and stirrings within the city. Near dusk, Shen Yang sent someone to fetch him.
Shen Yang was waiting in the Eastern Manor’s public hall. When Han Qian entered, he saw Zheng Hui and Wang Lin also sitting in the hall drinking tea.
Seeing Han Qian enter, Shen Yang said in a suppressed voice, “The Feng family illegally logging trees, causing a mountainside collapse that killed tomb construction craftsmen—this is indeed a crime. But how to determine the punishment, the court has its own laws. As ministers, even if we cannot dissuade His Majesty from arbitrarily destroying legal principles, we shouldn’t have thoughts of fishing in troubled waters! Otherwise, this is absolutely not a blessing for Great Chu!”
Han Qian smiled bitterly. He didn’t refute Shen Yang. Actually, Shen Yang was right. In this entire matter, everyone was speculating on Emperor Tianyou’s intentions and thinking about whether there were benefits for themselves. Not one person considered handling it according to Great Chu’s laws—this was absolutely not a blessing for Great Chu.
If Emperor Tianyou truly wanted to move against the Feng family this time, his intentions were still too obvious. Though there would be people at court and in the countryside who would gloat, more people would only feel the wind and cranes stirring in alarm, making already existing conflicts even more tense.
However, if Emperor Tianyou believed everything was under his control and was determined to do everything according to his will, wouldn’t anyone who ran to remonstrate at this time be seeking their own death?
What Han Qian had painstakingly worked to change these past two years was the tragic fate of his father being beaten to death at court and himself being torn apart by carts in the marketplace. He wouldn’t engage in other futile efforts. What he needed to do was make as many preparations as possible when the situation truly deteriorated.
Han Qian had no way to refute Shen Yang’s questioning, because Shen Yang really wasn’t wrong. Shen Yang should have already realized at this time that Emperor Tianyou was obstinate and self-willed, actually already on the edge of losing control.
Seeing Han Qian remain silent, Shen Yang also sat back behind his desk rather dejectedly.
Although Han Qian felt somewhat awkward, he was curious in his heart how Shen Yang, having just returned from outside the city, knew about this matter so quickly.
Han Qian glanced at Wang Lin, seeing him with eyes observing nose, nose observing heart, looking upright and unashamed. He cleared his throat, looked toward Zheng Hui and asked, “Minister Zheng, when you accompanied His Highness to the palace, did Investigating Censor Zhang Han’s memorial also reach His Majesty?”
“Yes,” Zheng Hui nodded and said. “His Majesty, learning of the imperial tomb landslide, flew into a thunderous rage and summoned Director of the Imperial Clan Court Yang Tai and Right Works Bureau Materials Officer Yang En into the palace to question them about the matter. Afterward, Marshal Chen and I left the palace first. His Highness had the Princess Consort remain in the palace for dinner.”
In the tenth year of Tianyou’s reign, Emperor Tianyou had issued an edict to build an imperial tomb at Jiming Mountain. At that time, Jingxiang had already been brought into the fold, so building his own tomb should be put on the agenda.
Emperor Tianyou had initially been rather restrained, placing tomb construction under the jurisdiction of the Directorate of Imperial Manufactories’ Right Works Bureau, and only conscripting three thousand official slaves to quarry stone, excavate the mountain, and build tomb roads at Jiming Mountain.
Over these four years, no matter how abundant the treasury’s grain and money, the slaves and craftsmen conscripted for tomb construction had never exceeded ten thousand people.
This was not only because Emperor Tianyou had risen from humble origins and was quite sympathetic to the people’s circumstances, but also because he had sufficient confidence in his own health and didn’t feel tomb construction was an urgent matter.
Whether it was Investigating Censor Zhang Han’s memorial or the Third Prince’s memorial, even if Emperor Tianyou wanted to move against the Feng family, he still had to first summon Yang Tai, the Director of the Imperial Clan Court specifically responsible for supervising this matter and currently the only surviving Yang clan elder of a generation senior to Emperor Tianyou, along with Yang En, the Right Works Bureau Materials Officer specifically responsible for supervising tomb construction, into the palace to inquire about the details.
Han Qian speculated that Shen Yang could know the details so quickly because Yang En must have found him after leaving the palace.
They were all intelligent people. When this matter first showed signs, they all realized something was very wrong.
“If Feng Wenlan truly has a death-seeking path, then His Majesty moving against the Feng family would be natural and proper,” Wang Lin suddenly looked toward Han Qian and said. “Minister Han is on good terms with the Feng family and has controlled the Left Bureau for over a year. You must know the Feng family’s background better than outsiders, right?”
“Minister Wang jests,” Han Qian said with lowered eyes, staring at Wang Lin with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “This Han is young and ineffective. The so-called Left Bureau is just playing house. What background could I know?”
Feng Wenlan’s deal with their side had the condition that after the Third Prince ascended the throne, the Feng family could obtain restoration and rise again. So at this time they could confiscate the Feng clan’s property, but the crime couldn’t be definitively established.
If they now established some heinous crime for the Feng family, what reason would the Third Prince have to restore the Feng clan after ascending the throne?
Of course, politics had always been dirty. The Prince’s Manor’s purpose this time was to secretly obtain a portion of the resources the Feng family controlled. In the future, they might not necessarily honor their promises to the Feng family.
Wang Lin had no friendship or involvement with the Feng family. He advocated that the Left Bureau continue gathering criminal evidence against the Feng family before the imperial tomb case to completely establish the Feng family’s guilt. Naturally, he had no psychological pressure.
However, though Wang Lin spoke easily, unless Feng Wenlan was secretly pursuing another arrangement behind their backs, Han Qian wouldn’t agree to this matter.
If Feng Wenlan cooperated well with this side and he acted to completely destroy the Feng family, what benefit would that bring him?
Wang Lin had anticipated Han Qian’s refusal. He looked toward Shen Yang and asked, “Minister Shen, what do you think?”
Seeing Wang Lin inciting Shen Yang to pressure him, Han Qian snorted coldly and said, “It’s getting late. Forgive this Han for not keeping the three ministers company here. If there’s anything, we can discuss it after His Highness returns from the palace.” He directly stood up, flicked his sleeves, and walked out of the public hall with his hands behind his back.
Wang Lin’s fair face flushed red. He hadn’t expected Han Qian to show him such disrespect. He complained to Shen Yang and Zheng Hui, “I’m only doing this for His Highness’s good. Minister Han is really too unreasonable.”
Zheng Hui laughed it off, stood up, and took his leave from Shen Yang. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll also take my leave first.”
……
……
Han Qian returned to Lanting Lane. Feng Yi and Kong Xirong were still anxious and uneasy. The people Gao Shao had dispatched and the hidden agents planted in various manors had transmitted no unusual information.
Han Qian consoled Feng Yi and Kong Xirong for a while. The next day before dawn, he and Xi Ren disguised themselves as beggars and left the city, running to Jiming Ridge. They climbed the rocks from the back mountain and infiltrated the tomb construction site. They saw that the collapsed area had already been sealed off by a squad of Imperial Guard soldiers.
However, there wasn’t just one collapse. A stream channel had apparently been blocked by mud and rocks from the mountainside collapse during the heavy rain the night before last, causing the mountain flood to divert its course and rush into the tomb construction encampment. At the mountain’s base, a village had been swept into chaos by the sudden mountain flood. Even now, the entire village was still submerged in water, with many human corpses or the corpses of pigs, sheep, chickens, and cattle floating in the turbid floodwater—a tragic sight.
Of course, these things weren’t mentioned in Investigating Censor Zhang Han’s memorial. Perhaps Zhang Han felt all this was far less serious than the damage to the imperial tomb under construction.
During the previous dynasty, Jiming Ridge had been the back garden of the Shengzhou (Jinling) Military Commissioner. After a hundred years of mountain closure for forest cultivation, the entire mountain was full of large trees. Its selection as the imperial tomb site, apart from geomancy considerations, mainly took into account the convenience of obtaining timber on site.
Over these three or four years, the vast majority of timber used for tomb construction had been logged from Jiming Ridge. It was actually very difficult to define how much of this involved collusion between insiders and outsiders for illegal private logging.
During the day, Han Qian found gaps to take Xi Ren through the entire front and back situation of Jiming Ridge. They only returned to the city near dusk.
After Han Qian returned to Ningxiang Tower’s back courtyard, his backside had just touched the seat, and before he could change out of his tattered, ragged clothes reeking of sour odors, Tian Cheng ran over to find him, saying the Third Prince urgently wanted to see him. He had already sent people to Jinyun Tower to inquire several times and was on the verge of directly sending people out of the city to find him.
Han Qian didn’t know what new development had occurred. In haste, he rushed to change into casual robes and went through the side door into the Eastern Courtyard’s public hall. He saw the Third Prince and others sitting in the hall, waiting for him to arrive.
Since Shen Yang already knew about submitting the memorial, there was no need to continue concealing this matter. Apart from Guo Rong being excluded, Zhang Ping and Li Chong were also present.
“Imperial Father’s reaction is much weaker than imagined. What do you think is going on?” Seeing Han Qian enter, Yang Yuanpu grasped Han Qian with somewhat lost composure and asked.
Han Qian asked and learned that Emperor Tianyou had summoned Feng Wenlan into the palace this morning before noon and given him a scolding, but had no intention of making things difficult for Feng Wenlan. He only ordered Director of the Imperial Clan Court Yang Tai to investigate the illegal logging and mountain destruction matter, to be handled according to regulations after investigation was complete.
This was completely different from what everyone, and even what Feng Wenlan himself, had previously anticipated.
If the Feng family ended up receiving just a few light taps on the backside, wouldn’t their excitement yesterday have become a joke?
They might as well have come forward to vouch for them when Investigating Censor Zhang Han impeached Feng Wenlan!
Looking at everyone sitting there with worried faces speculating on Emperor Tianyou’s thunderous machinations, Han Qian smiled bitterly in his heart, secretly thinking this was perhaps the manifestation of absolute strength. Their strength was too weak—even their emotions were completely driven by Emperor Tianyou’s elusive and unpredictable will.
Even though Emperor Tianyou was becoming increasingly obstinate and self-willed, he hadn’t lost his reason. He knew the complexity of matters and couldn’t possibly, just upon learning of the imperial tomb incident, bite the entire Feng family old and young to death on the spot like a mad dog!
However, when everyone placed more hope for the succession struggle on Emperor Tianyou’s personal will, having such gains and losses was also normal.
Honestly speaking, Han Qian also couldn’t escape the interference of this negative emotion.
Of course, this might also be Emperor Tianyou’s test of their side.
“If His Highness has a heart to share His Majesty’s worries, that is the highest filial piety. As for how His Majesty ultimately wants to handle this matter, we shouldn’t presume to speculate,” Han Qian advised the Third Prince.
Yang Yuanpu looked toward the others with some uncertainty. He trusted Han Qian greatly, but he hadn’t yet reached the state of mind where he could let go of gains and losses, so naturally he found it difficult to grasp the essence of Han Qian’s words.
“For now, we should still wait and observe the changes,” Shen Yang sighed lightly and said.
Wang Lin had originally wanted to say something, but seeing even Shen Yang agree with Han Qian’s words, he didn’t want to say more.
“What does Feng Wenlan’s side say?” Yang Yuanpu looked toward Han Qian and asked.
They were counting on the Feng family to transfer a batch of goods and wealth over before truly convicting and confiscating the Feng family’s property. Now that the situation had become confusing and uncertain, this was very difficult to say.
“I’ll go see Feng Wenlan tonight to see what the Feng family thinks. If they’re unwilling, we should temporarily refrain from rash action and simply act according to His Majesty’s will in everything,” Han Qian thought. With Emperor Tianyou’s attitude becoming ambiguous, Feng Wenlan might harbor a trace of hope. He didn’t think pressing the Feng family too urgently at this time was a good strategy. At this moment, he could only advise the Third Prince to slow the pace.
“Alright then.” Yang Yuanpu felt some gains and losses, but with both Han Qian and Shen Yang saying so, he could only first suppress his impatient nature.