Han Qian circled around to an alley behind the Chuzhou Guesthouse, where a black carriage stood silently in the lane.
A dim yellow lantern hung from the front corner eave of the carriage. The household guard apprentice Guo Nu’er had deliberately dirtied his face, making him look like a slovenly young carriage attendant sitting at the front of the vehicle, waiting in the alley for his master to finish visiting guests and emerge from the compound.
Han Qian lifted the carriage curtain and climbed into the compartment. The dim yellow halo cast by the lantern filtered through the lifted curtain into the carriage interior. Yao Xishui and Zhao Ting’er sat inside. He asked, “What was Wang Wenqian’s reaction?”
Yao Xishui couldn’t even understand why Han Qian insisted on meeting Wang Wenqian at such a critical juncture, nor did she know what reasoning Han Qian could possibly use to persuade Wang Wenqian to agree that Chuzhou and their side would temporarily maintain peace.
However, since Han Qian insisted on this, and Li Zhigao’s side also worried that if Wang Wenqian stirred up trouble, his destructive power would be too great—yet on a day like today, Li Zhigao, Li Chong, and even Marquis Xinchang Li Pu truly couldn’t get away, and Chai Jian had taken people out of the city—they agreed to let Han Qian try.
After performing her sword dance, Yao Xishui had nothing else to do, so she accompanied Han Qian here.
“Chuzhou’s secret agents will immediately withdraw from the periphery of Taowu Settlement. Chai Jian’s side can now strike without any scruples,” Han Qian said.
Yao Xishui thought to herself, what kind of outcome was this?
Han Qian hadn’t hesitated to publicly humiliate the Wang father and daughter at the Marquis Linjiang’s mansion, and had secretly revealed his identity to them—essentially willing to act like a cornered dog driven to desperation in order to threaten Wang Wenqian into backing down.
At this point, no matter how resentful Wang Wenqian felt, he wouldn’t directly force their side into such desperate straits, resulting in mutual destruction that would allow the Anning Palace and the Crown Prince’s faction to reap the benefits as the fisherman profits from the snipe and clam’s fight.
Whether Han Qian met with Wang Wenqian or not, Chuzhou’s secret agents should withdraw tonight to temporarily avoid the sharp edge. So what significance was there in Han Qian insisting on coming to meet Wang Wenqian?
Han Qian was unwilling to explain further. Yao Xishui could only suspect that he insisted on meeting Wang Wenqian while Li Zhigao, Chai Jian, and others couldn’t get away in order to elevate his standing beside the Third Prince.
Because if this were the case, in the future if they truly needed to make contact with the Chuzhou side again, naturally it would be most appropriate for Han Qian to step forward.
Han Qian glanced at Yao Xishui but showed no intention of explaining. He reached out and tapped the carriage wall, signaling Guo Nu’er to drive the carriage out of the city.
As long as they didn’t pass through city gates controlled and defended by troops directly under the Crown Prince, the guard officer waist tokens from the Marquis Linjiang’s mansion worked better than travel permits issued by the Jingzhao Prefecture.
The carriage proceeded slowly along the muddy road on the north bank of the Qiupu River toward the southwest foothills of Baohua Mountain.
As the prosperous capital of six dynasties, and with Great Chu establishing its foundation here for thirteen years, Jinling—in addition to Jinling City itself and the eleven counties under Jingzhao Prefecture—had market towns large and small scattered like stars across the landscape.
Traveling eighteen or nineteen li eastward along the north bank of Qiupu River, there was a market town called Longhua Port.
Longhua Port was still fourteen or fifteen li from the Qiuhu Mountain villa, but only six or seven li from the west gate of the military garrison prefecture. It could be said to be the last densely populated settlement before entering the Dragon Sparrow Army’s garrison prefecture from the west, and could also be described as an outpost of the Dragon Sparrow Army’s garrison prefecture.
For nearly a hundred years, Longhua Port had been an extremely important market town outside Jinling City. Houses along the river stood in neat rows, and the riverside docks were crowded with boats—probably more than ten vessels of various sizes moored at the Longhua Port docks.
The main thoroughfare passing through the port had also been paved with stone slabs. Most of the wooden buildings along the street had two stories, with teahouses, wine shops, and gold and silver stores facing the street. There were also gorgeous women in colorful attire standing at building entrances and street corners soliciting customers.
In fact, a year ago, Longhua Port had been even more prosperous. To the east it connected to Jiangcheng County, to the north through Kuchaizi River it reached the Yangtze River, to the west it led to Jinling City, and crossing south from the ferry, roads led to Liyang, Lishui, and Yongyang, with waterways connecting as well, making it a convergence point for merchants and travelers.
At its peak, Longhua Port bustled with merchants and travelers, with over a hundred shops. Daily, the flow of people was endless and voices filled the air. But precisely because the court designated Taowu Settlement on the north shore of Chishan Lake east of Longhua Port as the Dragon Sparrow Army’s garrison prefecture for taking in plague-stricken refugees, merchants and travelers avoided Longhua Port and took other routes, causing the market conditions to suddenly become desolate.
Looking at Longhua Port’s dock now with over ten vessels of various sizes moored there, it was truly less than one-tenth of its peak prosperity.
Hearing Yao Xishui sigh softly as she looked out the carriage window, seemingly lamenting that Longhua Port was far from its former prosperity, Han Qian merely smiled inwardly. He secretly thought that if the historical trajectory didn’t change, four years from now Prince Xin, unwilling to sit and wait for death, would lead the Chuzhou army across the river to besiege Jinling for months, reducing this ancient capital that had stretched nearly seven hundred li for eight hundred years to ruins. Of the more than a million people within and outside the city walls and throughout the capital region counties, only one or two in ten would survive.
If that scene truly occurred, and if by then Yao Xishui hadn’t perished in the military disaster, what kind of reflections would she have?
The lantern at the carriage’s corner eave cast its dim yellow light through the carriage window. How could Yao Xishui know what Han Qian was thinking? She only saw the cold, slight smile at the corner of Han Qian’s mouth. Her heart grew displeased as she thought darkly that within a year, Longhua Port had experienced two contrasting states of prosperity and decline. Even if he had no particular feelings about it, his coldness was such that he could truly be called heartless and indifferent by nature.
The carriage finally stopped diagonally across from a teahouse. Yao Xishui saw from a distance that Chai Jian, who had left the city at dusk, was now openly sitting in the teahouse across the way drinking tea, and damn it, sitting facing the street.
However, upon reflection, Yao Xishui thought Chai Jian’s approach wasn’t inappropriate.
If the Privy Council’s Bureau of Military Geography had secret agents mysteriously disappear around the periphery of Taowu Settlement tonight, no matter how they tried to conceal it, Zhao Mingting’s side should realize there were problems with Taowu Settlement’s garrison prefecture.
Since Taowu Settlement could no longer remain hidden beneath the surface, they might as well use this fact to completely draw Zhao Mingting’s side’s attention over, as long as they could temporarily prevent them from seeing through Taowu Settlement’s true situation.
The Personnel Ministry’s memorial had already received Emperor Tianyou’s vermillion endorsement and been sent to the Chancellery for review. Its promulgation was a matter of these next two days.
In reality, regardless of whether Zhao Mingting had already spotted flaws in Han Daoxun and Han Qian father and son, the Anning Palace and the Crown Prince’s faction would still need to make an extremely difficult decision if they wanted to go through the Chancellery to directly reject the memorial that Emperor Tianyou had endorsed with his vermillion brush.
After all, if Anning Palace did this, it would also be directly opposing or defying Emperor Tianyou’s will, and the risks they faced would absolutely not be small.
What they needed to do was simply ensure that Anning Palace and the Crown Prince’s faction couldn’t make that decision.
“If Miss Yao also wants to enter the teahouse and sit, you’ll need to modify your appearance somewhat,” Han Qian said.
Borrowing the lamplight filtering through the small window adjacent to one side of the carriage shaft, Yao Xishui watched with wide eyes as Zhao Ting’er gently applied a soft wax paste to Han Qian’s face, making his cheeks become sallow and uneven. Then she used a deep yellow pigment paste to draw a few strokes on Han Qian’s cheeks, actually making his face appear sunken and quite sickly under the lamplight—truly remarkably skillful.
Seeing this scene, Yao Xishui realized that it was no accident that the maid beside Han Qian could trial-produce superior rouge that far surpassed Wanhong House’s products.
Of course, she also guessed that Han Qian wanting her to change her appearance at this moment and accompany him upstairs to the teahouse to meet Chai Jian was actually also meant for Zhao Mingting’s secret agents potentially lurking nearby to see. This would also help cover the flaw she and Chun Shisanniang had exposed at the Ningxiang House rouge shop, preventing Zhao Mingting from possibly noticing Wanhong House’s existence.
When Zhao Ting’er had disguised herself as a beggar child before dusk to meet Li Zhigao and Chai Jian at the archery range in the rear courtyard of the marquis’s mansion to notify them of Han Qian and Yao Xishui’s hiding place, seeing Han Qian now dressed in beggar’s clothing walk into the teahouse, Chai Jian signaled the several guards scattered in the corners of the teahouse to remain calm.
However, it was precisely because he guessed that the three people who had just entered were Han Qian, Yao Xishui, and the maid beside Han Qian in disguise that Chai Jian could discern some vague resemblance from their eyebrows and eye contours. He thought darkly that if Zhao Mingting truly had any subordinates lurking nearby, they would only recognize them as the suspects who had fled from the Ningxiang House rouge shop today, and wouldn’t be able to identify their true identities.
“General Chai, how is the situation here?” Han Qian sat down, propped one foot on a wooden stool, and seeing the several small dishes of five-spice beans and other snacks in front of Chai Jian, pulled them toward himself and began grabbing handfuls to stuff in his mouth. He said self-mockingly, “At the marquis’s mansion I was busy quarreling with Wang Wenqian and didn’t fill my stomach. General Chai, have the shop send someone next door to Er’s Donkey Meat Shop to buy two jin of sliced donkey meat.”
Chai Jian didn’t disturb the shop attendant and directly had one of the guards beside him go buy two jin of sliced donkey meat.
“The garrison has closed its encampment and will maintain heightened alert for three days. Currently, your Han family guards Fan Dahei, Lin Haizheng, and Zhao Wuji are leading people in scattered groups around the periphery. They’ve already discovered five suspicious individuals attempting to approach the garrison, but the other party is also very vigilant. Seeing the situation wasn’t right, they’ve fled into the depths of Baohua Mountain.”
With the Third Prince’s wedding, the Marquis Linjiang’s mansion couldn’t afford the slightest negligence. The Privy Council’s Right Bureau personnel, fearing intelligence leaks, had hurriedly dispersed and hidden themselves before dusk. Chai Jian could request Shen Yang to issue orders sealing the garrison encampment, but with only a dozen or so people at his side, he had no way to ambush and eliminate the secret agents who had infiltrated the garrison encampment’s periphery.
Chai Jian had no choice but to rely on Han Qian’s people. However, although the Left Bureau’s Military Office had seventy or eighty people, apart from the nine Han family guards and eleven household guard apprentices, the others were all new recruits recently enlisted from the garrison prefecture these past few days.
Chai Jian truly doubted whether Han Qian’s people could complete this counter-infiltration mission.
Han Qian wasn’t particularly worried. Fan Dahei, Lin Haizheng, and Zhao Wuji were indeed unprepared, but the secret agents Zhao Mingting had dispatched for infiltration were even more rushed than they were.
Furthermore, ordinary people wouldn’t casually venture into deep mountains without reason, but over the past few months, Han Qian had continuously utilized Baohua Mountain’s terrain and topography to teach the household guard apprentices how to conduct concealment, reconnaissance, and counter-reconnaissance—in this respect they held an absolute advantage!
As long as there were no major errors, he and Chai Jian just needed to wait here for results.
As night deepened, the teahouse owner sat behind the long wooden counter. Seeing that besides the swords at their waists, Chai Jian and his attendants sometimes inadvertently revealed armor beneath their robes when their garments shifted, he didn’t dare come over to urge them that the teahouse needed to close. Unable to help yawning, he said to Chai Jian:
“Should I send someone across to the brothel compound to call over a couple of girls to sing some songs? Otherwise sitting through the whole night like this will be very hard to endure.”
Chai Jian glanced at Yao Xishui. Yao Xishui’s gaze fixed sharply on Han Qian, thinking that after walking into the teahouse, his words and actions had been extremely crude and presumptuous, and now he was actually pushing his luck even further.
Han Qian said nonchalantly:
“If Miss Yao doesn’t want Zhao Mingting to connect you to Wanhong House, you shouldn’t care about this matter! Moreover, don’t think that changing your appearance will definitely allow you to deceive everyone. If Miss Yao cannot integrate into her new identity and everything about you appears incompatible with the role you’re playing, these will all be flaws. If someone like Zhao Mingting or Wang Wenqian personally rushed over here and saw Miss Yao like this, they would have no difficulty connecting Miss Yao to Wanhong House—after all, the traces Wanhong House has left on Miss Yao are too deep and too distinctive…”
Yao Xishui didn’t like hearing Han Qian say these words, but carefully pondering them, she found deep meaning and thought darkly that even if the annotation to the Art of Espionage was written by Han Daoxun, Han Qian was definitely one person who truly grasped its essence.
“Miss Yao seems able to listen to these words of mine,” Han Qian chuckled and said to Yao Xishui, “Then please go to the brothel compound, Miss Yao, and help us select two girls to come sing—if Miss Yao wants to learn the art of espionage from me, you must remember that obscuring the distinctively sharp characteristics on your person is the first step in being a spy!”