Not to mention the common people—even among the hundreds and thousands of officials in the Six Ministries and Nine Courts and various administrative offices, there were probably only a few who could immediately say where Sizhou was specifically located.
In the sweltering, steamer-like heat of Jinling City, it didn’t matter if a riot had broken out in Sizhou. Even the news that Li Zhigao, Left Vermillion Bird Army Commander-in-Chief, had been granted the additional title of Vice Minister of War and concurrent Governor of Shuzhou, leading his troops across the river to Shuzhou to oversee the campaign against the Anning Palace rebel forces that had withdrawn to Shou and Chao prefectures, as well as the news that Du Chongtao, former Left Martial Guard Army Commander-in-Chief and Governor of Shuzhou, had been transferred to Jinling to serve as Minister of War—even these matters were merely topics of conversation for most common folk.
Even though Jinling City had not yet completely emerged from the shadow of war.
Even though countless people were still struggling with the pain brought by the chaos of war—whether from the death and injury of relatives and children, or from the destruction of their homes—the grief in their hearts had not yet faded.
However, what could ordinary people do about such times?
Rather than worrying about national affairs, rather than struggling in fear of the chaos of war, it was more practical to hope that the end of the seventh month would pass quickly, and that after entering the eighth month, the weather would cool down as soon as possible.
Struggling to survive was the most actively optimistic attitude toward life that common people could have.
The battle to recapture Jinling lasted for over a month in total, but the main fighting centered around the struggle for the outer city walls.
Additionally, when the Anning Palace rebels fled, they set fire to many palace buildings and government offices within the Imperial City. However, the area between the Imperial City and the inner city walls suffered almost no damage.
The officials, new nobles, and descendants of aristocratic families who had moved into Jinling City and had fortunately chosen to stand with the Third Prince were restoring their luxurious lifestyle of song, dance, and prosperity at an even faster pace.
The connection between Wanhong Tower, the Marquis of Xinchang’s mansion, and the Divine Mausoleum Bureau had essentially become an open secret in the Great Chu court.
In addition to Li Pu and others holding the ranks of duke and marquis, Xu Jing, Yao Xishui, and others had respectively been assigned to the Bureau of Operations and palace duties. The Jinyun Bureau had become the only legitimate intelligence organization under the Emperor’s direct control, wielding the authority to investigate and prosecute treason.
From any perspective, Wanhong Tower’s historical mission was destined to end after the recapture of Jinling City.
It so happened that the Bureau of Music had been thoroughly burned down during the chaos of war, and reconstruction would take at least three to five months. The Bureau of Music therefore requisitioned the relatively well-preserved old site of Wanhong Tower to use as its Eastern Courtyard Office.
The Bureau of Music was under the Ministry of Rites and managed court music, dance, and the registry of entertainers. In addition to recruiting daughters from respectable families, it primarily took the wives and daughters of condemned officials and demoted them into the entertainment registry to serve as singing and dancing performers, while permitting nobles and gentlemen to consort with them.
Put plainly, the Bureau of Music was not only the court’s song and dance troupe but also an official brothel forbidden to commoners.
During the Anning Palace rebellion, although a considerable portion of the forces withdrew to the north bank, there were inevitably some left behind in the hasty retreat. With large numbers of boats capsizing while crossing the river, six or seven thousand people who fell into the water managed to flee in panic to the south bank. Among them, only a minority like Yang En and Shang Wensheng escaped punishment and could be reused and trusted.
Therefore, quite a number of officers, soldiers, and family members affiliated with Anning Palace and the Xu clan ultimately failed to escape and were detained, subjected to severe punishments such as beheading and exile.
There was also a large batch of female family members of passable appearance who were demoted into the entertainment registry, primarily placed in the Eastern Courtyard Office that had requisitioned the old Wanhong Tower site.
From the dark side of human nature, even if these women were slightly less attractive or somewhat older, they were actually more favored by patrons.
This made the Eastern Courtyard Office even more lively and bustling these past few months than Wanhong Tower had been in its heyday. The sounds of strings and bamboo instruments continued from dawn to dusk, concealing so much joy and sorrow, union and separation.
It was only afternoon now, but in the Wanhong Pavilion within the Eastern Courtyard Office, the windows on all four sides were covered with silk and velvet, preventing light from entering. Giant candles were lit inside, as if it were the intoxicating nighttime hours of lamplight and wine.
Beneath the thin gauze, skin that rivaled frost and snow was so delicate it could break at a touch. Under the candlelight’s reflection, it appeared so tender and alluring. There was no need to drink wine—those pairs of slender long legs alone were enough to intoxicate one.
Han Jun, whose father was the current Participant in Determining Governmental Matters and whose younger sister had just entered the palace as a consort, and who himself was an officer on duty in the Bureau of Martial Virtue, absolutely qualified as one of the new nobles in Jinling City.
However, at this moment, surrounded by warbling songbirds and swallows, he was somewhat distracted, even somewhat irritable, one could say.
Although the Emperor and the court officials were well aware of the various grievances between the Han family and that scoundrel, as well as what that scoundrel had done to various members of the Han family over these years, no matter how you looked at it, that scoundrel could still be counted as part of the Han clan bloodline, which inevitably led to people in court making snide remarks about the matter.
Especially with the old master still alive, when others insisted on saying that the Han family would ultimately reconcile with that scoundrel, could Han Jun jump out and say “no”?
This also placed the Han family in an extremely awkward position when the court dealt with matters involving Xuzhou.
This Sizhou civil unrest was no exception.
“The Sizhou civil unrest isn’t three to five thousand rabble stirring up trouble, nor can it be broken with three to five hundred elite troops. Even if the early battles don’t go smoothly, it’s because local military preparedness has been lax, slack, and incompetent. No matter how you look at it, is this little mess happening in some remote corner really worth the Political Affairs Hall officials carefully discussing around His Majesty for half a day without coming up with a plan?” Huang Lu, who had dragged Han Jun to the Eastern Courtyard Office tonight to amuse themselves, asked loudly, seeing Han Jun’s worried expression.
As the second son of Huang Hua, the former Governor of Huzhou, although Huang Lu had not participated in the battle to recapture Jinling alongside his father, he had inherited his father’s merits and was also the brother of Noble Consort De, barely qualifying as a National Uncle. He was also a genuine new noble. This time he had been transferred to serve in the Imperial Guard, working under Han Jun as a battalion commander.
During the battle to recapture Jinling, Huang Hua, as the overall commander of the Huzhou forces, had led from the front and suffered an arrow wound on the city walls. He was still recovering at his residence. In addition to being enfeoffed as Marquis of Jiaxun, he had not yet been assigned any concurrent duties in court.
However, no matter what, not only had Huang Hua’s daughter entered the palace as a consort, and Huang Hua and Gu Zhilong were both representatives of the Jiangdong aristocratic families, but it was also he who had led the Huzhou troops as a founding supporter, launching an offensive from the eastern front and creating a favorable situation for recapturing Jinling, thus earning great merit.
Now, even while Huang Hua rested at home, whenever there were major court matters, Emperor Yanyou would send palace envoys to seek his counsel.
In the eyes of the world, Huang Hua’s respected position was only above Han Daoming’s, never below it.
Therefore, Han Jun had no way to deal with Huang Lu’s thoughtless words.
Everyone served before His Majesty and the Empress Dowager, all directly receiving imperial favor as guard officers. Even if their ranks differed, the differences weren’t too obvious. As the nominal supreme commander of the Imperial Guard, when he saw everyone, he smiled broadly and was quite amiable.
Both of them had sisters who were consorts in the palace. Logically speaking, their relationship should be more distant.
However, Huang Lu had a clingy personality. In the two months since taking his new position, whenever he wasn’t on duty in the palace, he would constantly drag Han Jun out to eat, drink, and make merry. Han Jun was helpless against him.
The other guard officers whom Huang Lu had brought along to drink and make merry today were all comrades on the same duty rotation. But they weren’t as loud as Huang Lu. Their experience and positions enabled them to guess what His Majesty and the court officials were concerned about.
In the past, when tributary states caused such trouble, even killing and conquering each other, the court would only secretly rejoice. After all, being located in remote areas with sparse populations, no matter how much they struggled, it only damaged their own vitality and could hardly pose any threat to the directly administered prefectures and counties of the central government.
Now the Sizhou civil unrest made the situation somewhat delicate, and the delicate aspect lay in the fact that Xuzhou was located adjacent to Sizhou.
“You lords should leave the city quickly, lest there be delays on the road.” At this moment, a guard pushed open the door and urged Han Jun, Huang Lu, and the others to depart.
The Imperial City had been partially burned by the rebels. Only a few structures like Chongwen Hall and Changxin Palace remained intact, while other buildings were being hastily repaired, but this couldn’t be completed in three to five months.
When Emperor Yanyou wanted to be alone on ordinary days, he had to return to his former princely mansion to spend the night. The Empress Dowager had moved directly to Yongchun Palace outside the eastern city for temporary residence.
The rotating guard duty at Yongchun Palace was also arranged by the Bureau of Martial Virtue, assigning Imperial Guard personnel.
Han Jun, Huang Lu, and these several guard officers had returned to the city for rest and bathing. After resting for two days, before nightfall today, they had to return to Yongchun Palace to undertake a new round of rotating guard duty.
“How disappointing.” Huang Lu reached into the bosom of the singing girl beside him and groped the fine white thighs beneath her skirt fiercely a couple of times, but he didn’t dare to linger and refuse to leave. Muttering and grumbling, he stood up, and together with Han Jun and the others, pushed open the door. The fierce sunlight outside dazzled them so much they couldn’t even open their eyes.
With attendants serving them, Han Jun, Huang Lu, and the others changed into the gorgeous armor required for duty, sneaking out from the rear courtyard of the Eastern Courtyard Office. They rode fast horses through the newly repaired Donghua Gate out of the city, heading to Yongchun Palace estate east of Yandang Cliff. Along the way, they could see many disaster victims remaining.
Although the great battle hadn’t turned the entire Jianghuai region into ruins, Great Chu had also suffered considerable damage to its vitality. Currently, the money and grain transported from various prefectures and counties had too many places to be used, leaving little capacity to provide disaster relief. As a result, even the capital region was flooded with refugees.
This was somewhat different from when Emperor Yanyou first left the palace and large numbers of disaster victims infected with plague were blockaded outside the city.
Although the remnants of the Tower Ship Navy had withdrawn into Hongze Lake, they could return to the Yangtze waterway at any time. Yongchun Palace estate was too close to the river embankment, but the Empress Dowager insisted on living at Yongchun Palace. Therefore, they could only strengthen defenses around Yongchun Palace.
Yandang Cliff was currently a garrison point for the Five-Tusk Navy. More than ten warships were responsible for patrolling the estuary and the waterways on both sides. The remnants of Baohua Mountain to the west—Baima Mountain and Jilong Ridge—were respectively garrison camps for the Forbidden Army and the Imperial Guard. Within Yongchun Palace estate itself, there were three thousand elite Imperial Guard troops permanently stationed.
Guo Liang, the Left Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard, had set up his command tent at Jilong Ridge south of Yongchun Palace estate, and did not need to report to the Empress Dowager.
The Imperial Guard commanders responsible for closely protecting Yongchun Palace were the three Vice Commanders who rotated on duty, including Han Jun. Generally speaking, at least two Vice Commanders had to remain on duty at normal times.
When Han Jun brought his subordinate officers back to Yongchun Palace to report after leave, in addition to Li Chong being able to return to the city for rest to handle private affairs, there was another Vice Commander on duty named Du Tao, who was the son of Minister of War Du Chongtao.
The reason His Majesty was so eager to transfer Du Chongtao into the central government to serve as Minister of War was reportedly because Du Tao had been quite attentive regarding the Empress Dowager’s birthday, and the Empress Dowager had subsequently personally selected Du Tao to enter the Imperial Guard as an officer to serve at her side.
Therefore, in the eyes of the world, compared to Emperor Yanyou, who had not yet reached the age of twenty, Du Chongtao was closer to the Empress Dowager.
However, Han Jun had inadvertently heard the Empress Dowager mention that transferring Du Tao over was Lu Qingxia’s idea.
Seeing that after Du Chongtao, it was Li Zhigao who went to Shuzhou to take over responsibility for the campaign to suppress Shouzhou, Han Jun felt more or less that something was strange. But when he wanted to pursue the matter further, the Empress Dowager wouldn’t say anything, and he couldn’t possibly reveal these details to others.
When Han Jun came on duty this time, according to regulations, he had to first enter the palace to pay respects to the Empress Dowager. He didn’t bring other attendants and walked directly through the halls and courtyards. When he reached the corridor of the main hall, he saw Palace Attendant Director Zhang Ping seated upright inside the hall, speaking with the Empress Dowager.
Emperor Yanyou had transferred Shen Yang into the central government to preside over the Political Affairs Hall, procedurally closing off the channel for other participating ministers to directly report national affairs to the Empress Dowager. But as long as he was in the palace, he would come morning and evening to pay respects to the Empress Dowager.
Even though the Empress Dowager lived at Yongchun Palace outside the eastern city and Emperor Yanyou couldn’t constantly come out, he would send Zhang Ping, Jiang Huo, or Yuan Guowei to Yongchun Palace daily to pay respects. At the same time, he would also report to the Empress Dowager on the matters discussed that day in the Political Affairs Hall, demonstrating that his filial piety was without fault.