Fortunately, he encountered a superior officer like Lu Bing who was magnanimous and protective of his subordinates. Otherwise, an ordinary superior couldn’t handle this—the best outcome would be suspension and thorough investigation to determine whether he was an enemy spy. Even if it was confirmed that he had initially been deceived by Jin Ying’s act due to naivety in trying to save a courtesan from her dusty life, the Brocade Guard would never dare use him again. His future would be ruined—forget about promotion and wealth, being able to return home and inherit his father’s title for self-preservation would already be a blessing from Buddha.
Ever since Wang Daxia joined the Brocade Guard, everything had gone smoothly, and he had risen rapidly. Now suffering a major setback, Wang Daxia was young and spirited after all. After a brief moment of dejection, he immediately channeled his anger into strength and said:
“Thank you for your assistance, Lord Lu. This subordinate failed to judge people clearly and fell for the White Lotus Sect’s beauty trap. When the entire city was hunting for the sect master, this subordinate thought Jin Ying and the **Palace had fallen out over the redemption matter, so I lent her money for redemption. I naturally assumed Jin Ying had nothing to do with the **Palace, so I didn’t search her home, missing a golden opportunity.”
“Later, when she and her fiancé left the city to return home for their wedding, she even wrote me a farewell letter. At that time, Dr. Wei had fallen into water and was ill, and I was busy caring for her, so I paid no attention and just sent a servant with a gift. Now thinking back, I missed another chance to catch the sect master. If I had personally seen them off, I might have discovered that the sect master was hiding there.”
“I missed both opportunities. I beg Lord Lu to give this subordinate another chance—let me go to Fengcheng and bring back the White Lotus Saint Jin Ying to the capital.”
Lu Bing asked: “What would you arrest Jin Ying for? She has already withdrawn from the White Lotus Sect and is no longer a saint. Saints must maintain their purity and can never marry for life. To marry, they must first withdraw. At this time, she should be busy with her wedding ceremony, marrying into the Ordos tribe.”
Wang Daxia said: “Jin Ying is the daughter of the Qilagu tribe chief, An Da Khan’s granddaughter, and the fiancée of the Ordos tribe. Since she’s so important, we could use her as a bargaining chip to exchange for several White Lotus Sect ringleaders, especially that Tie Niu who manages the firearms.”
“Absolutely not!” Lu Bing broke out in cold sweat. Young people were just too reckless, not considering the overall situation and consequences. “Jin Ying has a noble status—touching one hair could affect the whole body. What you’re suggesting could very well trigger a war between our two nations. The Ming Dynasty is already busy fighting Japanese pirates along the coast and is quite strained. We simply cannot fight on two fronts, south and north.”
Wang Daxia said urgently: “We can’t just let the sect master escape like this. How about this—let this subordinate go to Fengcheng, disguise myself as a sect member, and find an opportunity to assassinate Sect Master Zhao Quan to achieve merit and redeem my mistakes.”
Young people certainly dared to think big. Lu Bing said: “The White Lotus Sect has deep roots. If you kill Zhao Quan, there will be a new sect master, and those believers will still follow the White Lotus Sect.”
Wang Daxia said: “Ding Wu is already one of the four great leaders and is highly valued by An Da Khan. Let him become the sect master—that way we could control the whereabouts of the nine hundred firearms stolen from the Royal Gunpowder Factory.”
Lu Bing still shook his head. “You’re too hasty. Ding Wu has just become a leader, and that was through the merit of the death warrant. His position is unstable—how could he become sect master? This matter shouldn’t be rushed. Now that Ding Wu has infiltrated the enemy camp, everything must be done according to his judgment. He’s currently investigating the trace of the firearms—you cannot act on your own and disrupt his plans.”
Wang Daxia’s three suggestions were all rejected, and he clenched his fists in frustration. “Am I to do nothing after making such a grave mistake and just wait for news from Ding Wu? My conscience is uneasy, and I really can’t sit still.”
Though the young man was somewhat impetuous, he was willing to take responsibility—he could be taught. Lu Bing said: “You’ve only been doing this for four months, while I’ve been at it for thirty-nine years—after New Year, it will be a full forty years. Many things cannot be solved by being anxious. You need to learn to keep calm, observe changes quietly, find the right moment before acting, and once you act, give it your all for certain victory. People cannot avoid making mistakes forever. Making mistakes when young is better than making them when old, and it just so happens I’m here to cover for you. It’s fine—just remember this lesson firmly and be more careful in the future.”
Wang Daxia was about to recommend other remedial measures when Lu Bing’s personal guard entered: “My lord, battle report from Cengang!”
The Ming army had been fighting Japanese pirates along the southwestern coast for years. Compared to the occasional friction and minor conflicts with An Da Khan on the northwestern border, the pirate troubles along the coast were nothing. The Ming court’s policy in the north was mainly stability maintenance, with the entire national defense budget tilted toward eliminating pirates in the south—this was the top priority.
The Ming army and pirates had been fighting over the Zhoushan Islands and Cengang for years. The opponents had evolved from the great pirates Wang Zhi and Xu Hai to the current Mao Haifeng, like clearing lice—batch after batch. When old pirates were eliminated, new ones would collude with pirate remnants and make a comeback. The Ming coastal people suffered from pirate raids, burning, killing, and looting year after year, enduring unbearable pain.
After years of effort, the Ming navy had also forged strong generals like Hu Zongxian and Yu Dayou through warfare, finally surrounding the pirates at Cengang, planning to annihilate them in one stroke. The war against the pirates had reached the decisive moment.
Wang Daxia also understood the gravity and immediately fell silent.
Lu Bing looked at the Cengang battle report, initially calm, but his expression grew increasingly grave as he read. A murderous look flashed in his eyes, and the battle report in his hands trembled.
Though Wang Daxia didn’t know the report’s contents, judging from Lu Bing’s expression, the Battle of Cengang must have gone poorly.
Indeed, when Lu Bing finished reading, he flew into a rage and slammed the report onto the table. “Ridiculous! At such a crucial moment, still playing hard to get! This backfired completely—turning victory into defeat, years of hard work destroyed in an instant!”
As Lu Bing spoke, his right hand began shaking uncontrollably—a sign of impending stroke.
The guard quickly produced medicine pills while Wang Daxia brought hot water to dissolve them, fed Lu Bing the medicine, and called for Imperial Physician Song.
After Lu Bing took the medicine and lay down, Wang Daxia used massage techniques learned from Wei Caiwei to work on his entire body, then conversely consoled him: “Lord Lu, you just repeatedly taught this subordinate not to be anxious, to take things slowly and wait for the best opportunity. When instructing me, you had everything figured out, but when it comes to yourself, you’re so anxious you nearly had a stroke? The Ming Dynasty has fought pirates for so many years—this one battle doesn’t matter. If we lost, we lost—we’ll fight again next time. Please don’t get so worked up, my lord. Your health is what matters!”
Lu Bing was everyone’s solid support and couldn’t fall. Especially after Wang Daxia learned that Jin Ying was both a White Lotus Saint in the Khan’s court and a county lady, without Lu Bing’s protection, he would have to pay with his entire family’s lives. This protective umbrella was even more crucial.
Lu Bing lay on the couch, sighing and shaking his head. “You’ve only been at this for four months—the Ming Dynasty has been fighting for decades, spending countless military funds. Just when we were about to close the net, two generals made command errors and let the pirates escape from Cengang. As you said, if they escaped, they escaped—we’ll fight again. The pirates suffered heavy losses this time, so it shouldn’t be hard to fight them again. But court officials are all impeaching the two generals Hu Zongxian and Yu Dayou, demanding they be sentenced to death.”
“Hu Zongxian is better off—he’s been sending money to Yan Shifan for years, has Yan Shifan as his protective umbrella, and belongs to the Yan faction. Yan Shifan gave him a strategy to shift all responsibility to Yu Dayou. Hu Zongxian followed this plan, and now Yu Dayou alone bears all responsibility for the Battle of Cengang. He’s been stripped of office and imprisoned in the War Ministry jail, sentenced to death. The Ming Dynasty hasn’t eliminated the pirates yet but is about to execute its own general—how can I not be anxious?”
After hearing this, Wang Daxia inwardly criticized: Yan Shifan really had one trick that worked everywhere, playing the blame-shifting game to perfection.
He had shifted all responsibility for the Gengwu Rebellion to Ding Rukui, who sat in death row for ten years. Now he was teaching Hu Zongxian to shift all responsibility for the Cengang defeat to Yu Dayou. He was truly a master of scapegoating, using the same strategy repeatedly with unfailing success.
Like a newborn calf unafraid of tigers, Wang Daxia gave Lu Bing a terrible suggestion: “Lord Lu values talent and doesn’t want to lose a military genius like Yu Dayou. Why don’t you go to the emperor to plead for Yu Dayou? The emperor will surely not sentence him to death out of respect for you.”
Lu Bing said: “Impossible. First, it was the emperor who issued the decree to prosecute Yu Dayou and throw him in the War Ministry’s death row. Second, Yu Dayou and I have always had a good relationship—I was a military jinshi in the eleventh year of Jiajing’s reign, and he was a military juren in the fourteenth year. When he passed the examination, I was an examiner and thought highly of him then. We’ve been close friends ever since. My relationship with Yu Dayou is too good, which actually makes it inappropriate for me to plead for him. The emperor would think I’m deliberately showing favoritism.”
Wang Daxia still wouldn’t give up: “Besides you, does Yu Dayou have other backers? If the lords join forces, surely you can protect Yu Dayou?”
This really touched a sore spot. Wang Daxia would have been better off not mentioning it—once he did, Lu Bing felt his stroke symptoms returning. “You don’t understand. After Yu Dayou became a military juren, I recommended him to one of my current in-laws, Grand Secretariat Xu Jie. Xu Jie also appreciated Yu Dayou greatly and often promoted him. You could say Xu Jie is his patron. Yan Shifan and Xu Jie often disagree politically in court, sometimes like fire and water, irreconcilable enemies.”
“My two in-laws have been at odds in recent years. Yan Shifan wants Hu Zongxian to shift all responsibility to Yu Dayou partly to take this opportunity to cut off one of Xu Jie’s arms. If Yu Dayou weren’t Xu Jie’s man, things might be somewhat better.”
Lu Bing’s second and third daughters had married into the Yan and Xu families respectively. The two in-laws’ court battles affected innocent bystanders.
This left even the usually optimistic Wang Daxia feeling depressed. So Yu Dayou had actually offended Yan Shifan—he was surely doomed.
Just as Lu Bing was worrying, Lu Ying came rushing in, startling Lu Bing. “Why are you back? Aren’t you supposed to be in Yongping Prefecture assisting the Ceremonial Directorate with maiden selection?”
Lu Ying said: “When I heard news of my master’s defeat and impending dismissal for investigation, I immediately handed the maiden selection work to my subordinates and rushed back to the capital alone overnight. I went home first and had Li Yiren (her birth mother) send some good things for father.”
“Bring the items in!”
At Lu Ying’s command, over a dozen Lu family servants carried in five heavy chests.
Lu Ying opened all five chests, and the brilliant light emanating from them nearly blinded Wang Daxia.
Wang Daxia rubbed his eyes and looked carefully—good heavens, they were all filled with gold!
Lu Ying said to her stunned father: “This is a thousand taels of gold. Li Yiren says this is all she can manage right now—she’s emptied all the gold from home. Father, quickly take these thousand taels of gold to bribe Yan Shifan. Right now, only Yan Shifan can save my master.”
Author’s Note: Wang Daxia still needs to grow. Following the Lu family father and daughter is quite an education—taking gold to pull strings for someone.