When Dowager Consort Wang Chan’er returned to her quarters, she dismissed the serving maids. Her heart was still full of grievances about how Yao Xishui and the Palace Envoy had actually wanted her to swallow her anger and choose compromise during the deliberations just now. Unable to restrain herself any longer, she vented:
“Why must we let Han Qian concurrently serve as Xuzhou Governor? If we dragged out appointing a new Xuzhou Governor, would the heavens truly overturn in Yueyang?”
Wang Chan’er was certainly not lacking in intelligence—otherwise she couldn’t have survived until now. But she had spent half her life struggling under the shadow of Xu Hui of Anning Palace, struggling in constant fear that she would lose her son and perish. In the palace, she had been so cautious she hardly dared breathe deeply, her psychology twisted and suppressed to the extreme. Today, suddenly becoming an exalted Dowager Consort with real power in her hands, how could that part of her character suppressed for half a lifetime not become distorted and inflated?
Yao Xishui could somewhat understand Dowager Consort Wang Chan’er’s fixation. Patiently trying to persuade her, she said: “Back then, to deceive the Ma family, Han Daoxun and Han Qian governed Xuzhou with a ‘separatist’ posture, suppressing local dissidents. At this time, not only are the families of Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, Lin Haizheng and others there, but even the families of the retainers Han Qian has recruited these past years, plus over four thousand members and servants of the Feng clan, have all moved to Xuzhou. The great clans and tribal households in Xuzhou have also been mostly broken and subjugated by Han Qian. After taking Tanzhou, the generals and military officers controlling Xuzhou’s provincial forces are all Han Qian’s direct subordinates. Even if we don’t appoint Han Qian to concurrently serve as Xuzhou Governor, we cannot change the fact that Han Qian controls Xuzhou. We might as well first satisfy His Highness’s wishes. Only this way can we know what Han Qian is truly plotting.”
“What could he be plotting? He worked so hard to bring Princess Qingyang back—he surely can’t really intend to remain in Xuzhou observing the full three years of mourning. I think he’s using this matter to pressure Pu’er, yet Pu’er insists on falling for his trick! If we truly let this fellow concurrently serve as Xuzhou Governor, from now on won’t Xuzhou belong to the Han surname? You’ve all always said Shen Yang is upright and reliable—with today’s matter, are you certain he wasn’t already secretly bought off by Han Qian long ago?” Dowager Consort Wang Chan’er said indignantly. She took a sip of tea, found it somewhat cool, and anger rose from nowhere. But at this moment she couldn’t pull over the tea-serving maid to slap her twice across the face, so she could only forcibly swallow her anger.
However, thinking of how in all the contingency plans Han Qian had prepared for the Jinling upheaval, he had alone omitted her, and whenever she thought of what miserable fate she would have suffered falling into that slut Xu Hui’s hands, hatred for Han Qian surged irrepressibly in her heart.
Even though Xuzhou had in fact already fallen under Han Qian’s control, even though Xuzhou was a miasmic barbarian land with sparse population and fierce, difficult-to-govern local customs, the thought of letting Han Qian actually hold the Xuzhou Governorship, the thought that this time they were semi-officially acknowledging the fact of the Han family’s father-son succession in Xuzhou, still made her extremely displeased.
That she hadn’t dragged this fellow over to make him kneel and beg for mercy was already quite courteous—how could she willingly watch him turn around and become a regional commander-level figure controlling one territory?
Furthermore, Yao Xishui and the others all said Shen Yang was an upright minister of Chu. She never imagined it would be Shen Yang who stood up to pressure them into quickly determining the candidate for Xuzhou Governor.
Yao Xishui looked rather helplessly toward the lady who continued to accompany the Dowager Consort in the inner palace in her capacity as Envoy of Cishou Palace, hoping the lady could still suppress Dowager Consort Wang Chan’er into swallowing this bitter pill for now.
If they hadn’t anticipated that upon learning of the Jinling upheaval Han Qian would certainly find a way to rush back to Great Chu from Shu as quickly as possible, they wouldn’t even have needed to risk crossing through the River Fleet’s blockade to rush back to Yueyang.
In that case, there would have been no need to push Dowager Consort Wang Chan’er forward to contend with Yang Yuanpu on equal footing, causing the maternal affection between Yang Yuanpu and Dowager Consort Wang Chan’er to suddenly thin to the extreme at this moment.
However, this was also an unavoidable matter.
Previously they had also speculated that after news of the Jinling upheaval reached the Shu capital, even if their Lord of Shu Wang Jian didn’t break the marriage contract, he would delay the wedding date. But they still hadn’t anticipated that Han Qian would bring Princess Qingyang back to Great Chu.
Currently, the explanation Jiang Huo brought back from Xuzhou was that Princess Qingyang feared changes in Great Chu would affect the Prince of Tan, was excessively concerned for him in her heart, and so hastily left Shu before the departure date.
They naturally wouldn’t believe such a statement.
At minimum, the fact that Han Qian and the others didn’t take the more convenient and rapid Wuxia Gorges route indicated they worried about being intercepted by Shu forces when returning to Chu. But Han Qian sending Princess Qingyang to Yueyang was already a major headache for them to deal with.
This move had greatly weakened the initiative they held. Yao Xishui felt that for now, figuring out Han Qian’s true intentions was more important.
As for Shen Yang’s choice, it should also be because their side had pressed too urgently, forcing Shen Yang to compromise with Han Qian, right?
Zhang Ping stood to the side with hands at his sides, feeling somewhat desolate in his heart.
He had spent considerable time with Han Qian and clearly knew what a terrifying opponent Han Qian was. He truly couldn’t understand—if Marquis Li truly harbored apprehension toward Han Qian, why at Qiuhu Mountain had he conspired with Wang Wenqian to so hastily issue the proclamation against the rebels, leading to Han Daoxun’s death?
Or perhaps the Marquis, the Dowager Consort, and the lady’s understanding of Han Qian remained superficial, thinking Han Qian was merely gloomy in temperament, ruthless in methods, and daring to take risks?
Thinking of this, Zhang Ping couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. And thinking of how Han Daoxun had been wholeheartedly loyal yet died so tragically—Heaven had truly been too unfair to him. Allowing the Han family hereditary control of Xuzhou could be considered a kind of compensation.
“Even the Zheng family is unwilling to excessively antagonize Han Qian—we also shouldn’t entangle ourselves in this matter. Right now, we still need to quickly organize the Dowager Consort’s ceremonial guard and palace troops!” The Lady in Black Gauze stood beside them. Not knowing what Zhang Ping was thinking, she asked Yao Xishui calmly: “You’ve approached Chai Jian and Zhou Yuan about this—what did they say?”
As Envoy of Cishou Palace, the Lady in Black Gauze usually remained beside Dowager Consort Wang Chan’er and found it inconvenient to freely enter and exit the inner palace. Matters of liaising with Chai Jian, Zhou Yuan, Li Chong and others were mainly handled by Yao Xishui, Chun Shisanniang and the rest. Zhang Ping, as Prince Consort Administrator, usually attended Yang Yuanpu. At the same time, during this period he had become somewhat dispirited and listless in thought.
Yao Xishui said:
“Lady Shi has been detained in the capital by the rebel Empress Xu Hui. The Dowager Consort is the only elder beside His Highness. Matters of ceremonial guard and palace troops naturally cannot be treated carelessly. Chai Jian spoke with Shen Yang about this. Shen Yang didn’t particularly strongly object at the time, only delayed using the urgency of circumstances and difficulty of attending to everything as an excuse. With the Marquis not here, this matter still requires the Dowager Consort to personally summon Han Daoming, Chen De, and the two Lords Zheng to press them on it.”
……
……
When Yang Yuanpu left the palace and established his princely residence five years ago upon being enfeoffed as Marquis of Linjiang, he already had a guard battalion commanded by Chen De to protect his safety. After being enfeoffed as Prince and then Prince of First Rank, he further established the Office of Personal Affairs and Office of Inner Retainers, commanding over a thousand elite armored soldiers to handle ceremonial guard, attendance, and palace security.
Dowager Consort Wang Chan now participated in political deliberations from behind the curtain and possessed independent ceremonial guards and palace troops. This not only meant she would have more official status and power in Yueyang, but also meant they could directly control an elite fighting force within Yueyang that wasn’t restricted by the Provisional Bureau of Military Affairs or other departments and could be freely deployed at will.
As the legitimate mother of Prince of Tan Yang Yuanpu, regardless of perspective, the Dowager Consort’s ceremonial guard couldn’t be omitted, and specialized palace troops should be arranged to serve her comprehensively.
As Dowager Consort, Wang Chan’er couldn’t casually meet with officials and generals of insufficient rank like Chai Jian, Zhou Yuan, and Li Chong, but she could directly summon ministers like Zheng Yu, Zheng Chang, Han Daoming, and Chen De.
If she couldn’t summon ministers, how would her authority as Dowager Consort to participate in governance be manifested?
Even dowager decrees had certain regulations to follow regarding who drafted them, who affixed seals, and where they were filed and promulgated.
Furthermore, the current dynasty continued the previous dynasty’s system. Never mind dowager decrees—even imperial edicts had to pass through the Department of State Affairs, which could return those deemed inappropriate, with errors corrected by the Palace Attendants.
If Wang Chan’er could casually write a note for Yao Xishui to deliver and the departments below would execute it without question, the entire imperial system’s operation would be too much of a farce.
Therefore, dealings with Zheng Yu, Zheng Chang, Han Daoming, Chen De and others still had to be conducted by Wang Chan’er personally.
Wang Chan’er nodded in agreement, but thinking of that Princess Qingyang, her expression darkened again as she asked: “How should we deal with the Shu woman that Han Qian fellow sent here? That she dared follow Jiang Huo to Yueyang—she’s clearly no easy lamp to light!”
“The late Emperor’s death hasn’t yet reached three months. The realm doesn’t discuss marriages, and His Highness is no exception. First leave her cooling her heels there.” The Lady in Black Gauze said.
Standing to the side, Zhang Ping couldn’t help but show slight emotion hearing this. He thought to himself that in another month, three months would have passed since the late Emperor’s death. At that time, regardless of whether the Dowager Consort was willing, Shen Yang and the others would raise the matter of Princess Qingyang’s marriage to His Highness. And regardless of exactly how Princess Qingyang returned to Great Chu with Han Qian, Lord of Shu Wang Jian couldn’t very well ignore his own daughter, right? Calculating the time, would there be some reaction within a month?
The situation was too complex. Zhang Ping couldn’t sort out for the moment what Han Qian expected by sending Princess Qingyang into Yueyang, or rather, how Han Qian judged the situation would develop!
From his heart, Zhang Ping wasn’t willing to be enemies with a figure like Han Qian. But he bore the deep brand of the Divine Mausoleum Bureau and Wanhong Tower—in many matters he simply had no choice.
In this world, who could remain uniquely pure when all under heaven is turbid? Who could stay uniquely sober when all others are drunk?
Thinking of this, Zhang Ping bowed slightly and said: “If there are no other matters, this subject will first take his leave to attend His Highness and see if His Highness needs this subject to run any errands.”
“Go, go. Keep an eye on Pu’er for me. Don’t let him be so bewitched by people like Shen Yang and Wang Lin,” Wang Chan’er said. “Lin Haizheng, Feng Xuan, and that Du Qiniang are all nails Han Qian planted beside Pu’er. You need to find a way to drive them all away—that way everyone can have some peace and quiet.”
“Very well.” Zhang Ping replied impassively.