“…What’s wrong? Is there some new irregularity in Jinling?”

Wang Jun sat opposite Han Qian, helping him organize documents. Seeing Han Qian open an urgent dispatch marked with the Southern Inner Secretariat’s insignia, his expression clearly froze for a moment. She could not help leaning over curiously to ask.

The northern front situation had temporarily eased, but whether they could obtain true recuperation and deploy for subsequent counterattacks on Guanzhong in the shortest time all depended on whether they could negotiate a Liang-Chu peace agreement before the ninth month.

Currently, any irregular news from the southern front touched everyone’s sensitive nerves.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Empress Dowager Changxin no longer trusts Lei Cheng and Cai Chen, suspecting they’ve distorted messages conveyed between us. She’s ordering me to write a letter in my own hand explaining the matter of dispatching troops to attack Ao Mountain Island,” Han Qian handed the report across to Wang Jun. “She’s not afraid that if my personally written letter to her encounters some mishap along the way and falls into someone else’s hands…”

Currently, Luoyang had hatched a batch of carrier pigeons. However, let alone messengers carrying letters traveling thousands of li back and forth—which could be intercepted at any time by enemy secret agents and assassins lurking about—carrier pigeon transmission brought even greater uncertainty.

Currently, their top-secret letters were all written using specific encryption codebooks, then translated at the destination. This way, if letters were hijacked or lost en route, they need not worry about leaking secrets.

For Han Qian to write letters to Qing Yang in his own hand while meeting time limits and ensuring transmission to Jinling via carrier pigeons, he would inevitably need to simultaneously write multiple identical personally written letters. Losing one or two personal letters en route was almost inevitable.

If personal letters were written in clear text, let alone falling into enemy secret agents’ hands—even falling into ordinary farming households’ hands, spreading the news would be a tremendous matter.

“Then specifically employ a new encryption codebook,” Wang Jun said.

The encryption codebooks currently used in the military, involving transmission of top-secret documents, absolutely could not be leaked. However, to avoid danger of Han Qian’s and Qing Yang’s letter correspondence being exposed, they could only specifically employ a new encryption codebook.

“Writing just one letter seems too wasteful,” Han Qian said with distress.

Compiling any codebook was extremely painstaking. Currently, the military only had two encryption codebooks in reserve.

“It seems in future you’ll need to write this deep palace melancholy empress dowager many more letters, preferably writing more poetry to comfort her lonely heart…” Wang Jun said with a laugh.

“Then my sacrifice would be too great! I never imagined that conquering all under heaven would include a day when I’d have to sacrifice my masculine charms,” Han Qian said, patting his forehead in mock suffering. “However, today you’ve worked so hard helping me organize documents. I have no other meritorious rewards for you—I can only personally sacrifice my masculine charms a bit…”

Seeing Han Qian stand to cross the low table to catch her, Wang Jun laughingly dodged aside.

In midsummer season, Luoyang City also grew hot. Wang Jun wore a thin gauze skirt. As she dodged, she revealed crystalline jade-like, snow-white skin. After giving birth to Wen Cong, her figure had also become more voluptuous and alluring than in her maiden years, her appearance soft and charming. Han Qian wanted to first catch Wang Jun into the sleeping chamber to sacrifice some masculine charms before handling official business.

Wang Jun, face flushed and heart racing, pushed Han Qian away, saying, “People have set a limit of five days to see your letter. You must hurry and write it. I still need to help you convert it to cipher text—I might not even sleep at night. Don’t keep fooling around with me. Go fool around with Zhao Ting’er instead—of course, if you feel there are some things to write to that person in the Chu palace that I shouldn’t see, and you want someone else to convert them to cipher letter, then I’d actually save myself trouble…”

Besides reviewing memorials from officers and officials, formal edicts and directives were all drafted by the Left Inner Secretariat for his decision. It was impossible to spend too much effort personally writing cipher letters.

Now when he wrote personal letters to Qing Yang, he would first write in clear text, then have specialists convert them to cipher letters. He would then personally transcribe them once more, counting as personal letters. After transmission to Jinling, Lei Cheng would carry the new encryption codebook to deliver to Qing Yang for her to compare and translate character by character herself.

Thinking that suddenly using entirely new cipher text meant Wang Jun truly could not rest at night, he also stopped his playfulness. Spreading out paper and ink, he wrote down one by one the necessity of Liang-Chu peace negotiations and his thoughts on using force to promote peace. To reduce Wang Jun’s workload, he deleted some portions, making it as concise as possible.

“This letter is written too coldly,” Wang Jun nestled in Han Qian’s embrace, saying seriously. “Qing Yang is a descendant of the Shenling Bureau. She and her elder brother Wang Yong did not receive their father’s favor, and they grew up for years living under the shadow of their half-brother Wang Hongji. In her youth, her heart inevitably became lonely and cold. After entering the palace, she spent years accompanying someone like Yang Yuanpu—fickle, capricious in thoughts, suspicious and mistrustful. She’s only twenty-six years old this year—precisely a woman’s flowering years—yet occupying the most lonely, most treacherous position. Perhaps few people could avoid becoming darkly ruthless. She currently relies on you, but perhaps she’s thinking of your past support and affection, wanting to see you personally write letters explaining all this. If so, this letter written so coldly will likely leave her greatly disappointed.”

Han Qian recalled the not-too-many yet not-too-few past interactions between him and Qing Yang. Secretly feeling Wang Jun’s words had some merit, he picked up the letter to revise it again…

Great Chu followed previous dynasty old systems. Both the Court of Judicial Review and Censorate established prisons to incarcerate officials from central government offices who committed crimes—they were the central government’s highest prisons. However, after the Chongwen Hall deliberations in early third month, all cases involving collusion with remnant Liang and lurking secret agents were arrested and interrogated by the Palace Administration Office—equivalent to continuing the precedent Emperor Yanyou established when he set up the Jinyun Bureau.

The Palace Administration Office prison was originally the compound the former Palace Administration Bureau used to interrogate and detain eunuch officials and palace maids who committed offenses. It was also where Han Daoxun had been imprisoned before his execution, perpetually exuding an atmosphere of bloody cold.

Wang Wenqian and Yin Peng sat on piles of hay, looking through the narrow window opening at a patch of clear-washed blue sky outside, completely at ease without half a trace of impending disaster’s panic.

The very night Tangyi’s naval forces raided Ao Mountain Island, runners from the Capital Prefecture burst into Lanting Alley to arrest them both and deliver them to the Palace Administration Office prison.

Regardless of anything else, with Liang and Chu currently formally entering a state of war, as the birth father of Great Liang’s Imperial Consort, he naturally no longer had the leisurely days of previously living hidden in the marketplace. However, after six consecutive days passed without interrogation, Wang Wenqian also felt somewhat puzzled, unable to guess what Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, and others were thinking. He also did not know where Han Wenhuan, Han Daoming, Feng Yi, and others were being detained.

The Palace Administration Office prison occupied considerable space, with over a hundred large and small prison cells divided into different compounds.

“…”

Hearing footsteps approaching—quite a number of people—Yin Peng stood and walked to the iron bars, looking toward the cell corridor and telling Wang Wenqian:

“Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, Zheng Chang, and Yang En have finally remembered us…”

Yang En, following the edict, established prisons in the Palace Administration Office but insisted on borrowing jailers and torturers from Censorate prisons and Court of Judicial Review prisons for duty. He even advocated that for interrogating major cases, the Court of Judicial Review Director and Censorate Vice Director should serve as chief interrogators.

In his heart, Yang En understood very clearly that before the new emperor matured and possessed sufficient authority, central government powers were most easily exploited by those with ulterior motives. Therefore, he would rather not hold this power than damage established systems, though sometimes he could not help himself.

Of course, this did not mean Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, Zhou Qinian representing Huang Hua, and others could not interfere with Palace Administration Office prison interrogations.

When Shen Yang and Yang Zhitang approached the cell and had someone open the barred door, only then did Wang Wenqian straighten his clothing and stand, cupping his hands and asking, “Have Prime Minister Shen and Prince Shou already exhausted their skills to the point of making difficulties for an irrelevant person like me?”

“Huaixi naval forces unauthorized initiation of military hostilities against Forbidden Army naval camps is a crime worthy of exterminating nine generations of kin—how is this making difficulties for you?” Yang Zhitang said with an iron-blue face. Thinking of Ao Mountain Island’s naval camp burned in one fire, with thousands of Right Dragon Martial Army officers and soldiers besieged on the island while they, though close at hand, could not rescue them—at this moment seeing Wang Wenqian in such a completely carefree appearance, no matter how good his temper, he could not help sarcastically mocking a few sentences with barbed words.

“Han Qian succeeded to Great Liang’s sovereign position through abdication, yet the Chu court also has not accepted his submission and tribute. Prince Shou wants to use Chu laws to govern the Liang sovereign—would this not invite ridicule?” Wang Wenqian said with a laugh. “If you truly want to retaliate for Liang forces’ surprise attack on Ao Mountain Island, just directly send Han Wenhuan’s head to Luoyang—wouldn’t everything be resolved? Of course, if you absolutely must borrow the head above my neck for use, that’s also not impossible. It’s just a pity that using my head cannot trap Han Qian in accusations of disloyalty and unfilial behavior, nor will it necessarily touch Han Qian in any way. It will only make Tangyi naval forces’ next step of attacking Great Chu’s riverside naval camp facilities even sharper…”

Yang Zhitang’s face twitched several times. With great difficulty, he suppressed the rage in his heart. He was not unwilling to chop off Han Wenhuan’s, Han Daoming’s, and others’ heads, but this matter was not his alone to decide.

At this moment, Zheng Chang stepped forward and asked in a deep voice, “Does Minister Wang know Han Qian’s next plans?”

Seeing Zheng Chang proactively step forward to engage Wang Wenqian’s conversation, Shen Yang and Yang En’s brows furrowed slightly, but they said nothing. Zhou Qinian, who followed everyone into the Palace Administration Office prison, also frowned, secretly feeling that Han Qian’s decisive attack on Ao Mountain Island still greatly moved the Zheng family.

“I’ve roughly guessed one or two things, but even if I don’t speak, can Prime Minister Shen, Marquis Yang, Prince Shou, and Minister Zheng truly not guess at all?” Wang Wenqian said this, then turned to look behind him.

Yang En signaled jailers to bring a bench for Wang Wenqian to sit and speak.

“If my expectations are correct, after Han Qian attacked Ao Mountain Island, he again sent people to deliver peace negotiation documents, right?” Wang Wenqian sat calmly and said. “Han Qian fights precisely for peace, and must negotiate peace agreement before the ninth month. You gentlemen in your hearts probably also hope to drag things out until autumn and winter, continuing to watch Mongols and Eastern Liang Army jointly attack Heluo. After autumn and winter, you even more hope to see Eastern Liang Army cross the Ying River to attack Chen, Xu, Ru, Cai, and other places, right? You’ve all settled on such plans—what choice can Han Qian make?”

“If we persist in not negotiating peace agreement, will Han Qian ultimately dispatch troops to attack Chuzhou to threaten the court?” Zheng Chang, as Censorate Vice Director, rushed to ask at this moment.

“Minister Zheng tests Wenqian with such a simple question—isn’t this looking down on Wenqian too much?”

Though Wang Wenqian gave sufficient respect to Zheng Chang, Yang En, and others, this did not mean that when Zheng Chang probed with such a simple question, he absolutely had to endure without exposing it. He laughed:

“Minister Zheng, you also understand very clearly—after winter arrives, when the Ying River freezes, if Eastern Liang Army coordinates with a portion of Mongol cavalry to cross the Ying River and attack Xu, Chen, Cai, Ru, Ying, and other prefectures, it will be most distressing for Liang forces. Even if Han Qian can seize Huaidong at that time, it would only lengthen contact defense lines with Eastern Liang Army—what’s the point? If my expectations are correct, Han Qian’s next step should be increasing forces at Deng, Jun, Guang, Huo. If truly dragging until the eighth month with peace negotiations still not settled, they should spare no cost to seize Suizhou, Yingzhou, Huangzhou, plus regions of Xiang and Fu prefectures east and north of the Han River. This is not Han Qian breaking faith and abandoning righteousness, or being treacherous and greedy—rather, circumstances force them to do so. He must seize eastern and northern Jing regions, withdrawing military and civilian populations from Cai, Ru, Xu, Chen, Ying, and other prefectures over there, then having these regions become buffer zones between Liang forces and Eastern Liang Army, preventing their flank soft ribs from being controlled by enemies… Prince Shou not seeing this point is unsurprising, but can Minister Zheng truly not see this point?”

Hearing Wang Wenqian openly praise Zheng Chang while being filled with contempt for him, Yang Zhitang’s face could not help twitching twice. He shouted harshly, “Zhou Bingwu, Zhang Xiang, and Zhao Zhen have ninety thousand great troops in Jing-Xiang. Huangzhou is also the Zheng family’s foundational territory—is it truly something this scoundrel Han Qian can seize at will? Minister Wang, you’re overestimating Han Qian too much, aren’t you?”

Wang Wenqian smiled indifferently and said, “The Pacification Army at Xiangfan, Sui, and Ying does have ninety thousand troops, but may I ask Prince Shou one question—how many months has it been since you’ve sent grain provisions to Jing-Xiang? Among the Pacification Army’s ninety thousand troops, the Right Martial Guard Army and Right Military Guard Army are Forbidden Army elite forces, but they also only number thirty thousand, still having to divide forces to guard both banks of the Han River. Does Prince Shou truly believe that once the Han River is blockaded by Tangyi naval forces, the Pacification Army on the Han River’s eastern and northern shores, lacking clothing and short on provisions, can truly hold for two months? At this time, Han Qian absolutely does not want to tear relations with Great Chu, but Prime Minister Shen and Prince Shou—you want to sit and watch Liang forces be exhausted to death yet don’t allow Liang forces to struggle desperately—isn’t this making somewhat unreasonable demands? Taking one more step—if Prince Xin requests an edict to transfer Zhao Zhen from Suiyang and Fancheng back to Yangzhou, should the court grant it or not?”

“How can you be certain Prince Xin wants to transfer Zhao Zhen out of Jing-Xiang?” Zheng Chang asked, frowning slightly.

“Prince Xin requested to attack Huaixi in the third month. You refused in every way—wasn’t it precisely because you worried Prince Xin had other thoughts?” Wang Wenqian laughed. “Could you truly believe Prince Xin cannot see at all the dilemma facing Liang forces—that before the Ying River freezes, they inevitably must dispatch troops to seize northern Jing? Though I’m not by Prince Xin’s side strategizing, Ruan Yan will inevitably advise Prince Xin to sit and watch the court’s great army and Liang forces mutually destroy each other north of Xiang. Moreover, the reasoning is ready-made: First, currently Yang, Tai, and other prefectures face greater threat from Liang forces, requiring troop transfers over to increase defenses. Second, grain provisions from Hunan and Jiangxi cannot be transported by water to Xiangfan. The Pacification great army’s supplies at Xiangfan, Ying, and Sui have become problematic, causing soldiers to miss home with mutiny fears at any time…”

“Having spent half your life assisting Prince Xin, how can your heart be at peace now?” Yang Zhitang sneered.

“If Prince Xin truly remembered old affections, I would not be sitting in this great prison,” Wang Wenqian sighed lightly. “Moreover, regarding these matters I speak of—Prince Shou cannot turn the corner, but how could Prime Minister Shen and Marquis Yang possibly not understand? Whether I speak or not, what difference does it make? What reason do I have to be uneasy?”

“With the Yangtze waterway blockaded by Tangyi naval forces, if Zhao Zhen wants to withdraw to Yangzhou, how would he withdraw?” Yang Zhitang asked.

“Even if Han Qian knows Prince Xin has thoughts of watching tigers fight from the mountain to eventually gain fisherman’s profit, if Prince Xin insists on withdrawing Zhao Zhen to Yangzhou—will Han Qian choose to yield passage, or will he insist on keeping Zhao Zhen’s forces at Suiyang and Fancheng, first fighting them to mutual destruction?” Wang Wenqian asked.

Seeing Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, Yang En, and Zheng Chang all fall into silence, Wang Wenqian stood, signaling jailers to remove the bench from the cell. Sighing, he said, “That’s right—since Han Qian rose to prominence, he has always chosen the path of unorthodox strategies. This time will absolutely be no exception. However, Prime Minister Shen, Marquis Yang, Prince Shou, Minister Zheng—think about it: all these years, besides unorthodox strategies, has Han Qian had any other choices? This time also depends on whether Prime Minister Shen, Marquis Yang, Prince Shou, and Minister Zheng give him another choice.”

Yang En glanced at Shen Yang. Seeing him remain silent without speaking, he signaled jailers to lock the cell door again.

Zhou Qinian, Zhang Xian, and Xue Ruogu—who after Qin Wen’s identity was exposed had no choice but to avoid suspicion by resigning from Yangzhou Military Commissioner to return to Shen Yang’s side for service—all remained silent.

They all had vague speculations about some matters, but no one imagined Wang Wenqian’s thoughts were so thorough. If they were not certain Wang Wenqian had no contact with Liang, and Wang Wenqian and Yin Peng were extremely easily captured by them, they would suspect Wang Wenqian had long colluded with Han Qian.

Thinking it over, Wang Wenqian’s reputation as Huaidong’s foremost strategist was ultimately not empty.

Leaving the compound where Wang Wenqian and Yin Peng were detained, Shen Yang and others entered the adjacent compound.

The compound had already cleared other prisoners. Currently, it was specifically used to detain Han Wenhuan, Han Daoming, Feng Yi, Chen Jingzhou, Yun Puzi and his sons Chen Yuanchen, Chen Jixian, and others.

Watching Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, and others enter, Feng Yi stood behind the barred door, saying, “In past years, Prince Shou used Ao Mountain Island as collateral to borrow one million two hundred thousand strings of cash from Xuzhou Official Currency Bureau, agreeing to pay monthly interest. By agreement, if defaulting, Ao Mountain Island would be taken by Tangyi. Prince Shou has defaulted on half a year’s interest unpaid. Tangyi naval forces attacking Ao Mountain Island this time also followed the agreement to recover interest. Prince Shou, your conduct in affairs is truly somewhat dishonorable, isn’t it?”

Clearly Liang naval forces unauthorized initiated military hostilities, yet Feng Yi kept insisting he defaulted first. Yang Zhitang’s temples throbbed. He wanted nothing more than to kick this scoundrel over.

Feng Yi did not care how ugly Yang Zhitang’s expression was, continuing on his own, “Let alone you, Prince Shou—Prince Xin has also defaulted on Official Currency Bureau interest for half a year. Debts must be repaid—this is natural principle. Next, when our sovereign dispatches troops into Chuzhou to collect debts, Prince Shou and you others should be more accommodating!”

“Will you truly deploy troops against Huaidong rather than dispatching troops to invade north of Xiang and occupy Huangzhou?” Yang Zhitang laughed in fury, asking coldly.

“Minister Zheng and our sovereign are harmonious together. Our sovereign has no reason to dispatch troops to seize Huangzhou,” Feng Yi shook his head repeatedly like a rattle drum. “Prince Shou, you’re overthinking…”

Yang Zhitang paid no attention to Feng Yi’s shameless appearance. Looking toward Han Wenhuan and Han Daoming seated cross-legged in the adjacent cell, he asked coldly, “Old Master Han, do you truly think of using the head above your neck to establish Han Qian’s reputation for disloyalty and unfilial behavior?”

“This old man is already eighty-six this year. Daoming is also over sixty. Could we possibly not see through life and death?” With Han Daoming’s support, Han Wenhuan struggled to stand, walking to the cell’s barred door. “Since you’ve all seen through Qian’er’s deployments, this old man has nothing more to hide—over all these years, regardless of whether Qian’er likes unorthodox strategies, has he wronged you in the slightest? Can each of you pat your chests and say you’ve been completely selfless toward Great Chu, that your sacrifices and contributions to Great Chu match Qian’er’s? If you truly wish to see true treacherous villains succeed, sitting to gain fisherman’s profit, this old man can lend you the head above my neck…”

“What peace agreement terms does Han Qian require?” Zheng Chang asked in a deep voice.

“Minister Zheng…” Seeing Zheng Chang actually lose composure and show weakness at this moment, Yang Zhitang shouted in alarm and fury, drawing out his voice.

“Han Qian’s succession to Great Liang’s sovereign position through abdication was not betraying the state to defect to enemies, but rather having no choice but to stand forth to turn the tide, resisting barbarian invaders. After Han Qian’s succession, he immediately dispatched envoys presenting memorials declaring vassalage, remaining utterly loyal to Great Chu. We delayed without response, thus causing the Ao Mountain Island disaster. The blame cannot be attributed to Han Qian,” Zheng Chang said calmly in a steady voice.

Just now, when Zheng Chang proactively spoke so much with Wang Wenqian, Zhang Xian and Xue Ruogu realized the Zheng family’s attitude might be changing. However, they did not imagine Zheng Chang would so decisively change sides at this moment.

Zhou Qinian also painfully patted his forehead.

Zheng Chang’s words could not be clearer. If Liang and Chu ultimately completely broke relations, to preserve Huangzhou’s foundational territory from loss, even if the Zheng clan would not directly submit to Liang forces, they would choose neutrality—very obviously, Zheng Yu and Zheng Chang had already seen from Tangyi naval forces’ surprise attack on Ao Mountain Island Han Qian’s determination to dispatch troops to seize Jing-Xiang if peace negotiations were not concluded before the ninth month.

“Exactly what benefits has Han Qian given your Zheng family?” Yang Zhitang demanded furiously.

“Prince Shou, my clan elder brother and Zheng Chang remain utterly loyal to Great Chu with unwavering resolve—how could we waver for the meager benefits Han Qian promises? However, Liang and Chu contending while allowing fishermen to gain profit is even less what my clan elder brother and Zheng Chang desire,” Zheng Chang bowed indifferently. “The will of my clan elder brother and Zheng Chang—Prime Minister Shen and Marquis Yang understand most clearly…”

Shen Yang and Yang En both sighed deeply. In fact, in the third month, though Zheng Yu and Zheng Chang did not publicly state positions, when privately exchanging opinions, they both agreed with directly dispatching troops against Huaixi at that time.

At this moment, the Right Vermillion Bird Army could not obtain miasma-dispelling wine supplies. Epidemics bred along the Xi River. If Liang and Chu truly tore relations, the Zheng clan’s foundational territory Huangzhou was destined to be first engulfed in warfare flames. This left the Zheng clan no choice but to shift direction.

However, precisely in the third month, it was Yang Zhitang who most firmly opposed directly dispatching troops against Huaixi, insisting on observing Heluo warfare developments before making decisions.

The reason was also very simple. Directly dispatching troops against Huaixi in the third and fourth months meant the Right Dragon Martial Army was destined to be first to kill into Huaixi. Yang Zhitang was unwilling to take the painstaking efforts he had accumulated these years to fight wars of attrition with Tangyi elite forces.

Each family calculated separately, resulting in today’s situation. The Zheng clan became fence-sitters first—what could be done?

Yang Zhitang’s heart harbored anger he could not vent no matter what. Saying furiously, “If the Zheng clan truly assists tyrants in their evil, though I Yang Zhitang perhaps cannot stop it, I will immediately go see the two Empress Dowagers. In all matters, I request the two Empress Dowagers make final decisions…”

What Yang Zhitang meant was that he still wanted to force Empress Dowager Changxin and Empress Dowager Mingcheng to state their positions first, using leverage to pressure the Zheng family into submission. Zheng Hui was currently leading the Right Vermillion Bird Army on distant campaigns in Lingnan, with even grain provisions depending on Hunan supplies. He refused to believe the Zheng family truly dared to pat their butts and directly submit to Liang!