The sudden turn of events came too fast, like a tornado. In the blink of an eye, two bloody corpses lay before them, catching everyone off guard. Neither Empress Ma’s earnest written advice nor the Shangfang sword the Hongwu Emperor had bestowed as a precaution had been put to use. Plans could never keep up with changes. Everyone had thought Ma Ye was obsessed with official position and had gone astray, but who knew Ma Ye was merely coveting, while the real instigator of military-civilian conflicts was someone else entirely?

Mu Chun took over Guizhou Guard with the imperial edict and galloping horse token. When Ma Ye died, a hundred thousand stationed troops all wore mourning for him, showing that Ma Ye had always enjoyed an excellent reputation in the military. To stabilize military morale, Mu Chun requested temples to perform religious ceremonies for Ma Ye for three days and nights, then transported his coffin to the capital for burial.

Ji Gang led the Embroidered Uniform Guard in searching Ma Ye’s and the staff advisor’s residences. Ma Ye was indeed incorrupt – everything he used was old, his undergarments even had patches, and he had virtually no private wealth.

Ji Gang found nothing at Ma Ye’s place, but under the floor tiles beneath the bed in the staff advisor’s residence, he discovered a loose brick. Below the floor tiles was a hidden compartment containing several letters written in inexplicable coded language. Ji Gang, being in intelligence work, identified this as cipher from the Northern Yuan Privy Council.

The Ming’s secret agents had penetrated the Privy Council like a sieve, so they quickly decoded the letters. All were reports from the staff advisor about Guizhou Guard’s movements, along with mission instructions to exploit Ma Ye’s desires to incite conflicts between Guizhou’s military and civilians. Once Guizhou fell into chaos, Northern Yuan would seize the opportunity to deploy troops, reclaim Guizhou, and restore the Great Yuan, and so forth.

Comparing handwriting confirmed without doubt that these were the staff advisor’s characters. Ji Gang was overjoyed – the case was solved so quickly! The staff advisor was a Northern Yuan spy who, seeing his divisive scheme had failed and facing certain death, simply killed the great general Ma Ye to eliminate a formidable enemy for Northern Yuan.

Ji Gang publicized the news that the staff advisor was actually a Northern Yuan spy. Military morale was grief-stricken and furious, swearing to avenge Ma Ye. Mu Chun led daily military drills to let them vent their anger, and military morale was thus stabilized through hatred.

It was currently summer with sweltering heat. Ma Ye’s corpse was given antiseptic treatment by Yi shamans, and the horrible throat wound was sewn up with needle and thread. They specially made high-collared burial clothes for him so he would look better lying in the coffin.

On the day staff advisor Cheng Pengju’s corpse was whipped, Hu Shanwei sat in her room with her chin in her hand, deep in thought. She always felt things weren’t so simple. Ji Gang’s case investigations relied thirty percent on beatings, thirty percent on scolding, thirty percent on luck, and only ten percent on brains. Would spy letters be so easily found? Even if written in code, wouldn’t they normally be burned after reading? How did Ji Gang find them so easily?

But she couldn’t voice such doubts publicly, because at that time Guizhou Guard was in an uproar, desperately needing Ji Gang’s “timely case solving” to give a hundred thousand officers and soldiers an explanation. Otherwise, mutiny might have erupted.

The staff advisor’s name was very familiar – she seemed to have seen it somewhere, but Pengju was such a common name that her impression wasn’t deep. Hu Shanwei sat like a monk in meditation all afternoon, constantly thinking about Cheng Pengju’s background: “Jiangxi native, passed the imperial examination in the third year of Hongwu…”

Suddenly her mind flashed with inspiration – yes, that’s it!

She ran to find Madam She Xiang: “Madam She, could you lend me the court bulletins from the third year of Hongwu?”

Local officials far from the capital mostly learned about court developments through official bulletins. Madam She Xiang, as Assistant Administrator of the Pacification Office, certainly collected these bulletins. To understand previous dynasty affairs, Hu Shanwei also often browsed old bulletins for entertainment. The Great Ming had only been founded fifteen years ago, so the bulletins filled just one chest. Reading them repeatedly, she gradually memorized the contents.

Staff advisor Cheng Pengju was a successful candidate in the imperial examination. After the Great Ming’s founding, desperately needing talented people, they resumed the imperial examination system in the third year of Hongwu, beginning the first regional examinations since the nation’s founding. These were held in the capital Yingtian Prefecture and various provincial locations, even allowing tributary states like Annan, Champa, and Korea to hold regional examinations. Those who passed became successful candidates, and new candidates from various regions rushed to the capital in the fourth year of Hongwu to take the metropolitan examination. This cohort was called the Xinhai Class, with a total of 120 new jinshi graduates passing.

This was the Great Ming’s first class, and these 120 new jinshi graduates were now pillars of the state. Even successful candidates were in high demand – because the following year, the Hongwu Emperor suspended imperial examinations due to the country’s rapid territorial expansion requiring large numbers of practical civil servants. He adopted a recommendation and assessment system based on practicality as the standard. As long as one had ability, background didn’t matter – one could become an official without imperial examination credentials. Even monks, Taoist priests, and other religious figures could receive official appointments if willing to serve the court. This was the most distinctive feature of early Hongwu court politics.

Only when the realm was initially pacified – this year, the fifteenth year of Hongwu – was the imperial examination system for selecting officials restored.

So the Great Ming had gone a full ten years without producing new successful candidates. The number of previous candidates who failed the metropolitan examination and didn’t become jinshi wasn’t large.

Passing the scholar examination got one recorded in county annals; passing the imperial examination got one’s name in official bulletins. Hu Shanwei searched for successful candidates from Jiangxi examination sites according to Cheng Pengju’s native place and indeed found Cheng Pengju’s name.

Additionally, there was a Jiangxi candidate named Liu Hai, who was now a censor at the Censorate. It was this minor censor Liu Hai who petitioned the Hongwu Emperor requesting that he erect a memorial stele for Prince Xuyang Guo Zixing and place his spirit tablet in the Imperial Ancestral Temple alongside the Great Ming’s founding heroes, to forever receive incense offerings from imperial descendants.

The Hongwu Emperor agreed to the stele and personally wrote the inscription, but refused the suggestion to place the spirit tablet in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

Due to Guo Zixing’s memorial stele, Consort Guo in the rear palace was eliminated from competition for the noble consort position without a fight.

Liu Hai and Cheng Pengju were both Jiangxi candidates from the third year of Hongwu. Liu Hai’s memorial caused Consort Guo’s elimination; the silkworm mother who assassinated Empress Ma was also from Jiangxi; Cheng Pengju incited Ma Ye and after failing, killed Ma Ye…

Could Cheng Pengju’s persuasion of Ma Ye actually be related to the rear palace, with those letters communicating with Yuan being just a smokescreen?

What was the relationship between Liu Hai, Cheng Pengju, and the silkworm mother?

Which rear palace consort had such great ability to recruit the silkworm mother (a Han King remnant), plus the two Jiangxi candidates Liu Hai and Cheng Pengju under her banner for her use?

For this person to have such great influence outside the palace, her natal family must be distinguished. Among the “Two Li and Two Guo,” only Consort Guo Ning best fit Hu Shanwei’s speculation. Her two brothers were both marquises – a distinguished family indeed.

Hu Shanwei urgently needed to return to the capital to tell Empress Ma her discoveries and speculations. Besides this, she also had to bring Madam She Xiang and Ma Ye’s corpse back to the capital to report.

Ma Ye, a dignified military general, had been schemed against by a scholar and stripped of his position before death. If Empress Ma learned her nephew died so ignominiously, she would surely be devastated. Empress Ma’s health wasn’t good to begin with – under such heavy blows…

Hu Shanwei didn’t dare think further, wanting only to return to the capital quickly.

Liu Shuzhen agreed and caught a pair of green peacocks to present to Empress Ma: “The eighth day of the eighth month is Her Majesty the Empress’s fifty-first birthday. I heard that in the Central Plains, you call green peacocks phoenixes, and only empresses are worthy of phoenixes. This is a birthday gift from our Shuidong family.”

Mu Chun suddenly took charge of a hundred thousand stationed troops, with all military and state affairs passing through his hands. Busy all day to the point of distraction, he felt fighting was still more straightforward – grab weapons and fight, then return triumphant after victory. How could there be so many troublesome matters?

But with no new commander coming, he couldn’t abandon his post and leave. The Ming southern expedition army continued advancing ahead while he held the rear – he had to maintain stability.

Hu Shanwei was leaving. He found time to see her off, noticing not only was her expression subdued, but her eyes harbored deep anxiety. Knowing she was in a bad mood, he didn’t venture to “get handsy” and probe, immediately restraining his expression: “Are you feeling bad about explaining Ma Ye’s tragic death to Her Majesty the Empress? Don’t worry – Her Majesty doesn’t blame others unreasonably. She won’t blame you.”

Involving court matters, many things couldn’t be clearly stated to Mu Chun, an external minister – it might backfire and harm him. Hu Shanwei went along with the misunderstanding and hummed agreement: “I understand. This journey to Guizhou made me realize how vast the world is. The Yunnan-Guizhou region isn’t the barren mountains and evil waters filled with miasma and poisonous fog as rumored – this is actually a treasure land. No wonder His Majesty wants to launch the southern expedition. When the southern expedition ends, we’ll meet again in the capital.”

Mu Chun raised his right hand: “We will definitely be victorious. When the southern expedition army returns triumphant, we’ll meet again in the capital. Let’s clap hands as an oath.”

Hu Shanwei raised her hand for a light touch like a dragonfly skimming water. Mu Chun was immediately satisfied, deciding not to wash the right hand that Sister Shanwei had touched tonight.

The journey was long and difficult. To arrive in the capital before Empress Ma’s birthday to present gifts, except during nights of strong winds and waves, the fleet never anchored, traveling day and night.

Upon reaching the capital, summer had ended and autumn begun – it was the first day of the eighth month. In seven more days would be Empress Ma’s birthday. When the official ship docked, quite a few tributary state envoy ships loaded with tribute and birthday gifts were already waiting to present them to Empress Ma during the Thousand Autumn Festival.

When the large ship docked, Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander Mao Qiang, who had been waiting at the port early, boarded the ship: “The Empress says Ma Ye’s coffin need not enter the city. Transport it directly to his hometown in Suzhou for burial in the Ma family ancestral cemetery. Only summon Guizhou Pacification Office Assistant Administrator She Xiang for an imperial audience.”

Why was Her Majesty the Empress in such a hurry?

Hu Shanwei was puzzled. Everything would have to wait until she saw the Empress. She brought She Xiang, who had changed into official robes, to Kunning Palace. During these three months, Shen Qionglian had replaced Hu Shanwei in the Palace Official position. Seeing old friends again, Shen Qionglian was much more composed than before, not showing emotions on her face. Seeing Hu Shanwei return, she showed no joyful expression and said routinely: “Please, Palace Official Hu and Madam She, wait in the side hall. I’ll go announce you.”

Nearly half an hour passed before Shen Qionglian came belatedly: “Please, Palace Official Hu, accompany Madam She for the audience.”

Empress Ma sat upright in phoenix robes. Not having seen her for three months, she seemed even more gaunt, probably due to the shock of Ma Ye’s death. However, her eyes were bright and she appeared to be in good spirits.

She Xiang performed the four-bow ceremony according to the etiquette Hu Shanwei had taught beforehand. Empress Ma granted her a seat, and She Xiang detailed the causes and consequences of Ma Ye’s death.

Hearing of her nephew’s death, Empress Ma showed no change of expression: “Regardless of who harmed Ma Ye, he ultimately did wrong. You are an official of the Great Ming and also a lady with imperial honors – how could you be arbitrarily humiliated by Ma Ye? His incitement of conflicts between the Shuixi family and Guizhou Guard was adding crime upon crime. People are like this – one wrong step leads to wrong steps everywhere. Fortunately, he retained some reason at the end, confessing guilt and accepting the edict, sparing the hundred thousand officers and soldiers of Guizhou Guard from mutiny disaster. Therefore, I permit this criminal minister to be buried in the Ma family ancestral cemetery – this is the utmost benevolence and righteousness.”

Empress Ma was indeed as kind and upright as Hu Shanwei had said, not showing favoritism or protecting family, and not blaming others even though Ma Ye was assassinated.

She Xiang was deeply moved and said: “The agricultural tools, farming manuals, spinning wheels, and looms Her Majesty the Empress bestowed, plus sending officials familiar with agriculture and craftsmen to teach Shuixi people hands-on – these are gifts more precious than gold and silver mountains. For a long time, the Yunnan-Guizhou region has been blocked by heavy mountains with difficult roads. This journey gave me deep feelings about this. I am a Shuixi family leader and also an official of the Great Ming Guizhou Pacification Office. To benefit the Great Ming people inside and outside the mountains, I make a vow today: I’m willing to mobilize my entire clan to cut through mountains and carve through dangers, establishing post roads to turn natural barriers into thoroughfares. From now on, the Shuixi family and the Central Plains will no longer be separated by heavy mountains.”

One road could change everything. Places that previously took the Ming southern expedition army a month of trekking to reach could now be reached in three days, directly controlling Yunnan-Guizhou. The Shuixi family was about to change their thousand-year-old unchanging state of ignorance and isolation.

She Xiang made her vow, and Empress Ma and the Hongwu Emperor richly rewarded her, enfeoffing She Xiang as Lady Shunde and Liu Shuzhen as Lady Mingde.

She Xiang returned to Guizhou and consulted with Pacification Commissioner Liu Shuzhen about building post stations. The two led the Shuixi and Shuidong families in cooperative division of labor, building roads together.

The Foolish Old Man Moving Mountains was just a legend, but She Xiang and Liu Shuzhen’s grand “mountain moving” was reality. Cross one mountain, pass one river – traversing thousands of mountains and waters without loneliness, a great road spanning Guizhou connected with the Qian-Shu Zhou Road built during the Yuan period, linking Guizhou with Yunnan and Sichuan.

They built nine post stations on the great road: Longchang, Luguang, Guli, Shuixi, Shexiang, Jinji, Geya, Guihua, and Bijie, with Longchang Post Station as the head, commonly called the Nine Posts of Longchang. These benefited people for thousands of years, forever preserving the legends of Madam She Xiang and Lady Mingde.

The Hongwu Emperor praised highly: “She Xiang’s allegiance is worth more than a hundred thousand elite troops.”

Of course, these were all later events. Let’s say She Xiang pledged allegiance and swore to build roads, extinguishing the flames of war Ma Ye had ignited in their cradle, turning danger into safety. She Xiang and Liu Shuzhen were about to begin the greatest and wisest undertaking of their lives. In the palace, Hu Shanwei hadn’t exactly completed her mission perfectly, but was restored to her original position.

Shen Qionglian, who had been temporarily filling in, felt no relief. Taking advantage of work handover when no one was around, she pulled Hu Shanwei close to whisper: “The Empress… it’s bad.”

“What do you mean?” Hu Shanwei was very puzzled. “She clearly looked quite spirited when receiving She Xiang.”

Shen Qionglian sighed: “Originally she was so weak she couldn’t get out of bed, but because receiving Madam She Xiang involved major military and state affairs and she couldn’t neglect She Xiang who had come from afar, the Empress forced Pharmacist Ru to use strong medicine. She still has needles in her neck and waist, hidden under her clothes so you can’t see them. She could only sit in a chair and talk with Madam She Xiang for a short time without assistance. Now her body has been hollowed out by that strong medicine – I’m afraid it’s reached the point where the lamp oil is exhausted.”

Hu Shanwei’s heart sank heavily as she shook her head repeatedly: “Impossible! Her fifty-first birthday is still seven days away. Her Majesty the Empress isn’t old yet. How could she reach the point of lamp oil exhaustion in just three short months? Something must be wrong. I must see the Empress.”