But Song Chuyi soon learned the reason Zhou Weizhao wanted to see her—it wasn’t because he had made contact with Ye Jingkuan and gotten word through to Cui Shaoting, but rather because he had intercepted another batch of messages.
“Zhang Tianhe actually embezzled two hundred thousand taels of military provisions?!” Even as experienced as Song Chuyi was, she was shocked into widening her eyes: “Does he not want his life?! Does he know how grave this crime is? If the northwest mutinies…”
But immediately after, she sat up straight in dejection and terror—under the premise that Old Master Chen’s plan succeeded, even if Zhang Tianhe had embezzled these two hundred thousand taels of military provisions and caused a mutiny, they could still pin the blame on the Cui clan and Cui Shaoting, claiming they had embezzled these provisions which led to the mutiny. After all, embezzling military provisions wasn’t something Zhang Tianhe could accomplish alone, and the officials of all ranks over there would only speak with one tongue and say the same thing. As for whether the Tartars would take advantage of the chaos to invade—that wasn’t something they would worry about.
But Song Chuyi’s disgust and revulsion toward Zhang Tianhe involuntarily rose another level. Being forced to collude could still be excused, but to scheme so deliberately to line his own pockets while expecting others to take the fall for him was truly too despicable. Moreover, as the Northwest Governor-General, he completely didn’t care about the lives of soldiers and common people. First he obstructed Cui Shaoting from building the Great Wall and reinforcing city defenses, and now he wanted to embezzle military provisions. His audacity couldn’t be called anything but enormous, his appetite couldn’t be called anything but voracious.
Zhou Weizhao’s expression was also rarely unpleasant. A faint layer of disgust floated in his usually calm and placid eyes: “People have been reaching into the northwest military provisions every year. Only after your uncle was transferred as the Three Borders Commander-in-Chief did things completely settle down for three years. Now I understand why your uncle currently finds it so difficult to accomplish anything alone in the northwest. One person wanting to block a whole group’s path to wealth inevitably becomes a thorn in everyone’s side. Those people in the northwest have probably wanted him dead for a long time. But his three-year term ended and the court showed no intention of transferring your uncle away, so they rose up to attack him en masse.”
Cui Shaoting in the northwest had probably truly walked every step with extreme difficulty. Thinking back to when they were at the hunting grounds, contacting Cui Shaoting seemed to be a very difficult matter—the content of his letters was always ambiguous. Looking at it now, Cui Shaoting had probably anticipated his predicament long ago.
Having figured this out, the anxiety in her heart strangely calmed instead. Since Cui Shaoting wasn’t truly kept in the dark and naively oblivious, but rather was constrained by others and had no choice but to be cautious and careful, she felt much more at ease.
Song Chuyi picked up that letter and read through it from the beginning again. Suppressing the anger almost boiling in her heart, she asked calmly: “Is this the original letter? It still has Zhang Tianhe’s private seal on it. With this evidence, Zhang Tianhe can’t escape. Does Your Highness plan to impeach him with a memorial now?”
If Zhang Tianhe’s side didn’t receive a reply, they would naturally know the message had been leaked and would only counterattack even more frantically—they might even disregard Old Master Chen’s plan entirely and directly frame Cui Shaoting with the crime of embezzling military provisions and inciting a military mutiny, execute him on the spot, and then report it after the fact.
Zhou Weizhao looked at her and shook his head: “I’ve already had someone forge his letter and send it out as usual. That messenger is Zhang Tianhe’s trusted confidant. Since he didn’t notice anything amiss and took the letter as genuine, the person who receives the letter will naturally also consider it genuine. It won’t arouse their suspicion, so set your mind at ease.”
Song Chuyi breathed a sigh of relief. Though she knew Zhou Weizhao wasn’t the type to go back on his word, and knew that given Zhou Weizhao’s status it wouldn’t be appropriate to claim credit using Zhang Tianhe’s matter, knowing in her heart was one thing while hearing the answer still brought much more peace of mind. She sat quietly for a while, only feeling her mind was very chaotic. Looking up, she asked Zhou Weizhao: “Then according to Your Highness’s meaning, what should be done about this matter?”
How could they rescue Cui Shaoting from such an enormous quagmire, and how could they make any moves right under the Chen family’s nose?
Zhou Weizhao looked at Song Chuyi without blinking, meeting her gaze for a long moment before revealing a slight smile: “Whatever you want to do, do it.”
Song Chuyi couldn’t help but open her mouth in some surprise. Zhou Weizhao always seemed able to see through what others were thinking—this truly was a terrifying skill. She lowered her head, then after a moment raised it again, fearlessly and openly meeting Zhou Weizhao’s eyes directly: “The northwest has been rotten to the core for over a decade, since before Chief Grand Secretary Chang became Chief Grand Secretary. The Chief Grand Secretary also transferred Zhang Tianhe and my uncle to the northwest one after another because of this, didn’t he? Unfortunately Zhang Tianhe himself is also covered in filth. Since there are always people coveting the northwest and they’re even crying thief while playing thief, trying to deceive His Majesty, why not just make them reveal their true forms?”
The northwest was an abscess. One poke would hurt the flesh, but if it wasn’t lanced and was left to keep growing, it would only rot in patches until finally reaching an unmanageable state.
In her previous life, the Tartars breached the northwest and fought all the way to the capital, which was sufficient proof of just how hard these parasites’ teeth were. No matter how strong external enemies were, that wasn’t frightening—what was frightening was rotting from the roots. When the wind blew, without anyone needing to push, a gentle blow would topple everything.
Zhou Weizhao deeply understood this principle as well, which was why he had desperately urged the Crown Prince not to plant people in Yangzhou—otherwise what difference was there from the likes of Prince Duan and Prince Gong? The money still wouldn’t enter the Ministry of Revenue; it would still flow into others’ pockets.
“Ye Jingkuan will send me a reply within five days at the latest. At that time I’ll tell him of your plan, and he will naturally inform your uncle.” Zhou Weizhao looked at Song Chuyi, neither agreeing nor disagreeing: “Go home and discuss it with your grandfather and uncle. Calculate the timing before taking action.”
Given Zhou Weizhao’s status, it truly wasn’t appropriate for him to interfere further in what came next. Song Chuyi suddenly felt she should give some return to this Highness who had repeatedly saved her from dire straits. Racking her brains thinking and thinking, her fist clenching and releasing, releasing and clenching, she finally told him softly: “Your Highness should know that once this trip to the northwest stirs things up, it will definitely be much bigger than the Yangzhou matter. And cutting off Zhang Tianhe’s and the former Prince Duan’s and others’ financial path also means that the trade market Zhang Tianhe and Elder Chen and the others promised to the Tartars will fall through. The Tartars won’t let this go easily. Although Your Highness has already been enfeoffed as Imperial Grand Grandson, your footing has never truly been stable. His Majesty favored martial prowess in his youth. Your Highness might as well seize this present opportunity to make a resounding name for yourself.”
Zhou Weizhao seemed somewhat shocked. He raised his eyes to look at her for a long moment, then suddenly revealed a mouthful of white teeth, smiling so broadly that two dimples appeared beside his cheeks.