After seeing off Fu Mo and the accompanying Fu family disciples, Han Daoming personally helped the old master back to Mingju Hall. He had all the concubine-born children, collateral nephews, and attending servants and maids withdraw from the courtyard, leaving only his second brother Han Daochang as well as Han Jun and Han Duan in the hall to talk.
“No one from our household participated in those messy affairs in Guangde Prefecture, right?” Han Daoming asked Han Daochang with a grave expression.
He had some understanding of what had occurred in Guangde Prefecture, and he usually paid little attention to clan property and private business matters—all these things were the second brother’s responsibility, a habit maintained for more than twenty years. Now, worried there might be some oversights, he naturally focused his questions on the second brother.
“How could there be? No matter how blind anyone in our household might be, they wouldn’t get mixed up in those matters,” Han Daochang said, shaking his head. But seeing Han Daoming’s exceptionally grave expression, he emphasized with certainty, “This afternoon I specifically called over several people who handle affairs below and asked them. There definitely was no reckless involvement with matters in Guangde Prefecture. However, quite a bit of land was occupied in Chuzhou, Tangyi, and Nanqiao. Some personnel are in Tangyi, some fled to Chuzhou—we still don’t know their current situation.”
Truthfully, when Han Qian had initially taken nearly two hundred thousand acres of Han family land and property in Xuanxi and other areas to compensate for the land losses of the local gentry and notable families who had fled Langxi, Guangde, and Anji counties, Han Daochang’s heart had bled. After the assassination case occurred, when the compensated local gentry and notables swarmed back to Langxi, Guangde, and Anji to seize property and land, Han Daochang had indeed considered reclaiming the estates Han Qian had lost.
On one hand, the old master had ruled that this portion of estates be allocated to the third brother’s household. On the other hand, Han Qian’s many past actions had made Han Daochang deeply wary, so he hadn’t dared act rashly.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t know how to clean up this mess now.
Receiving such a definite answer from his second brother, Han Daoming looked at his father, who still squinted with eyes seemingly drowsy. Stroking the long beard beneath his chin, he said, “As long as we haven’t gotten involved in Guangde Prefecture affairs, that’s good. If any individuals don’t understand the rules and meddled recklessly, even if we know about it, we shouldn’t cover for them—let them turn themselves in to the authorities. As for Chuzhou and Tangyi, if we can withdraw our people, that’s best. For now, don’t get involved in other matters…”
“Ahem…” Hearing this, Han Wenhuan coughed, shifted his body, and knocked the walking stick at his side to the floor.
Before others could react, Han Daoming bent down, picked up the stick, and placed it securely beside his father. Lowering his voice, he said, “From when news of the main navy’s destruction at Hongze Lake reached Jinling until now has only been half a month. Logically speaking, even if the Empress Dowager sent the edict then, the Xuzhou River Forces shouldn’t have arrived this quickly…”
Eight hundred li express—that was only a theoretical figure.
The journey from Jinling to Xuzhou covered two thousand three to four hundred li through mountainous and water-obstructed terrain, naturally far different in speed from transmitting messages across plains. No matter how fast, it would take at least eight or nine days to deliver news to Xuzhou.
Adding the time Han Qian would need to assemble troops, war supplies, and equipment in Xuzhou, then travel by water down the river—how could it take less than about twenty days to arrive beneath Jinling?
In other words, calculated strictly by time, the Empress Dowager’s secret edict should have been sent out when the main navy departed north from the Han Canal—only then would the timing barely work.
“Are you saying that when the main navy headed north, the Empress Dowager had already anticipated this defeat?” Han Wenhuan opened his turbid eyes and asked. “Even if that’s so, what’s the problem? Didn’t Prime Minister Shen and Marquis Yang both strongly oppose the navy’s raid on Hongze Lake early on? My mind is a bit muddled, but I still remember that the night Marquis Yang came to see you, your Chengmeng happened to return to the estate as well, didn’t he?”
“The routed soldiers who fled south say that both Wen Ruilin and the Liang Emperor’s personal cavalry guards appeared at Zhongli at the time. There’s something subtle and unclear about this,” Han Daoming said in a low voice. “When we attacked Tanzhou initially, wasn’t Wen Ruilin among the first to fall into Han Qian’s hands? And with Wang Lin as a cautionary precedent, it seems rather difficult to say Han Qian was also deceived by Wen Ruilin, doesn’t it?”
Hearing Han Daoming say this, Han Daochang, Han Duan and the others sat bolt upright in alarm.
Until now they had still been immersed in the tremendous shock of Han Qian leading the Xuzhou River Forces back to Jinling, their emotions not yet settled—how could they have thought of such deep, minute details in such a short time?
“Every one of you is blind—why couldn’t Han Qian have misjudged? Besides, every one of you wished you could set fire to Guangde Prefecture. Even if Han Qian had long recognized that Wen Ruilin was problematic, who among you would have believed his words? Could he have prevented you from throwing the Great Chu navy into Hongze Lake to die?” Han Wenhuan snatched the walking stick from Han Daoming’s hands, and supporting himself with it, walked shakily toward the exit. When Han Duan and Han Jun moved to assist him, he angrily pushed them away.
…
…
Watching the old master walk out of Mingju Hall, it took Han Daochang quite a while to recover. He asked Han Daoming, “What exactly does Han Qian want to do?”
Han Jun and Han Duan sat there watching eagerly. At this moment, this was the question in their hearts as well.
“Who has been able to know his true thoughts these years?” Han Daoming sat there looking dejected and lost. “One thing is certain—Han Qian probably won’t return to Xuzhou easily this time.”
Although he, Han Daoming, also had merit in supporting the dragon, since His Majesty’s ascension, he knew deeply that the Han family’s circumstances were extremely delicate.
Previously, with Han Qian far away in Xuzhou, he had believed that with sufficient caution, he could still respond to the situation’s myriad changes, not to the point where one wrong move would make him a target for all. But now the situation had become even more strange and complex, with even more turbulent undercurrents—he felt somewhat overwhelmed.
From learning yesterday of the Xuzhou River Forces advancing east, in barely two days, Han Daoming already felt he had aged to the point of exhaustion and depleted energy.
If there were no old grievances, if the Han family internally didn’t have so many complicated resentments, with him holding government power in court and Han Qian commanding military authority outside—the situation would truly be as simple as could be.
The complexity lay precisely in the fact that outsiders would never believe they had long severed all ties with Han Qian and Xuzhou, yet they also didn’t know when Han Qian might recall old grudges and suddenly stab them, stabbing them until they were in unbearable pain, bleeding profusely.
“Since Han Qian has regained the Empress Dowager’s favor, if we show our position first, perhaps past matters aren’t so important anymore…” Han Duan said without confidence.
Han Duan’s meaning was clear—they had wronged Han Qian in many ways before, but if Han Qian truly was an ambitious person, he should see more clearly the enormous benefits the Han family could bring him rather than fixating on previous conflicts.
And since Han Qian could reconcile with the Empress Dowager and Prince Xin’s side, Han Duan felt that if they showed their position first, matters might not be without room for reconciliation.
“How should we show our position to be considered sincere?” Han Jun asked eagerly.
Han Daoming looked at his legitimate son with considerable doubt, thinking to himself that if Han Qian held any irreconcilable grievances against the Han family, first was the third brother’s death, second was that the beloved maid he doted on in his youth had been violated by Jun’er, and third might only then count toward the second brother—how could Jun’er be the one most eager for room to reconcile with Han Qian?
Han Daoming didn’t know what torment and fear Han Jun had endured these past few months.
Especially watching Emperor Yanyou’s power grow ever greater, Han Jun’s dread deepened.
He knew well that once the scandal was exposed, the Empress Dowager might be confined to deep palace seclusion without fear for her life, but Yang Yuanpu would absolutely not allow him to live. He might even randomly assign some charge and have the entire Han family exterminated.
Not knowing Han Jun’s previous dread, one couldn’t appreciate how wildly joyful he had been to hear that Han Qian was advancing east under the Empress Dowager’s secret edict, and that Li Zhigao was withdrawing from Chaozhou under the Empress Dowager’s secret edict.
Regardless of old grievances with Han Qian, the Empress Dowager regaining power—even possibly going further to directly interfere in government—determined that he no longer had to worry sleeplessly about losing the head on his shoulders.
The pride in his heart had long been completely worn away by the terror of death. Compared to losing his head, what did bowing in apology amount to?
If Han Qian wanted to dominate the court, he couldn’t possibly exterminate the entire Han family. He might even need the Han family to assist him, and Han Jun himself might even return to serve at the Empress Dowager’s side.
Thinking of the Empress Dowager’s jade-white, soul-stirring body, Han Jun couldn’t help but feel heat rising in his lower abdomen.
Seeing even Han Jun advocating submission to Han Qian, Han Daochang said, “Should I go find Feng Liao and Guo Rong, and make a trip to Tangyi with them?”
Right now the court hadn’t made a final decision on Han Qian’s memorial. His hurrying to Tangyi would also demonstrate an attitude. The key point was that him representing the Han family in crossing the river to Tangyi to meet with Han Qian—others couldn’t point fingers and criticize. In fact, not sending someone might instead invite gossip.
Han Daoming pondered for a moment and said, “Perhaps first have Zhiyong find Feng Liao and the others to make a trip to Tangyi.”
Chen Zhiyong was Han Daoming’s second son-in-law. He, along with Qiao Weihan and the concubine-born Han Chengmeng and Han Jianji, had not received much attention or important positions in the Han family in earlier years, and thus had no conflicts with Han Qian. In fact, after the Jingxiang campaign, Han Chengmeng and the others served in posts in Shaozhou and other places, maintaining fairly harmonious relations with Han Qian and Xuzhou.
Currently, Han Chengmeng and Qiao Weihan were serving in posts outside the capital, while Chen Zhiyong held a sinecure position in the capital, living quite carefree and at ease. Han Daoming thought that having his second son-in-law go to Tangyi to see Han Qian would, first, not attract so much attention, and second, Han Qian probably wouldn’t avoid meeting him or simply send him back…