Imperial guards surrounded a Taoist temple in Changle Ward. In the front courtyard, fierce soldiers pinned down several Taoist priests who had been chanting sutras and some worshippers. When one priest tried to resist, the soldier restraining him knocked him unconscious with the back of his sword. The worshippers huddled trembling, covering their heads, while brief sounds of fighting came from the back courtyard.
Similar scenes were unfolding in several residences in Fengle Ward, Jude Ward, and Fuxing Ward.
Nearby civilians scattered, though they couldn’t resist peeking and asking questions – what was happening? Was there an uprising?
Simultaneously, the city gates were closed, and large contingents of imperial guards surrounded Prince Zhao’s residence in the capital, his villas, shops, and other properties, including the Yunlai Tavern in Chongxian Ward.
Such a large commotion meant those who needed to know already knew. Several ministers, the Minister of Justice, the Chief Judge of the Court of Judicial Review, and other officials involved in criminal matters hurriedly dressed in their official robes to enter the palace while sending people to investigate. Other officials were either inquiring, fearful, or speculating…
The evening drums had already sounded – tonight’s Chang’an was destined to be restless.
In the Daming Palace, the emperor asked the Prince of Heyang about some details. After hearing about the “Palace Gate Ambush” section, the emperor’s face turned cold as water. “To think I’ve been sleeping with venomous snakes every day.”
The Prince of Heyang grinned, “No wonder you’ve been complaining about feeling chilly while sleeping these past few days…”
The emperor’s fury was half-doused by his brother’s frivolous “chilly” remark.
The emperor pressed his lips together, “Why are you still wearing those clothes? Go, change into a set of my regular clothes!”
“I can’t wear your clothes—”
The emperor thought he was speaking of presumption and was about to say something, but heard the Prince of Heyang continue: “Your waist is so thick, it wouldn’t look good on me.”
The emperor: “…”
The emperor truly found his brother irritating, but just as he was about to send him away, he remembered something important. “It’s not peaceful outside, and you just took a hit meant for me. Don’t let those desperate traitors harm you. Go rest in Mingde Hall, and leave in a few days.”
“Thank you, brother, but my beauties—” Seeing the emperor’s expression, the Prince of Heyang didn’t dare jest further. He pouted, bowed, and left.
At the hall entrance, he encountered Imperial Guard Commander Qin Xiang and Junior Governor Lin Yan.
The three had been “comrades” who had crawled through the same trench. Seeing Qin Xiang’s expression, the Prince of Heyang raised an eyebrow, “What’s wrong? Not going well?”
Just as Qin Xiang was about to speak, the Prince of Heyang raised his hand, “No need to tell me, His Majesty is waiting for you.” With that, he walked away leisurely with his hands behind his back.
Qin Xiang was indeed frustrated. The report had just come in – they had failed to capture Prince Zhao’s fourth son, Li Meng! What had been a smooth operation became imperfect, and significantly so. Though not particularly farsighted, Qin Xiang knew capturing Li Meng was crucial for dealing with Prince Zhao in the future. These useless fools!
Facing Lin Yan, Qin Xiang felt somewhat embarrassed. The entire ambush and arrest operation had been proposed to the throne by Junior Governor Lin, with the Imperial Guards cooperating with the Capital Prefecture. With the Prefecture’s limited manpower and the Imperial Guards’ expertise in tracking and surveillance, Lin Yan had handed over the initial two locations they had tracked and the intelligence network to the Imperial Guards, who then found another of the enemy’s hideouts. They had seen a richly dressed young gentleman in one of the hideouts and assumed it was Li Meng, just waiting for the final capture – who knew it was a body double! That Qiao Hai truly lived up to his reputation as Prince Zhao’s capable strategist.
Having missed this best opportunity, to find someone in such a large capital city…
“He escaped?” After hearing Qin Xiang’s report, the emperor frowned and paused briefly before saying, “Since he came here, he won’t hide far away. He must have been in the capital when this happened. The city gates are closed, so he can’t escape. Just search the entire city.”
Qin Xiang and Lin Yan both bowed and acknowledged the order.
Since the Imperial Guards were still searching Prince Zhao’s residence and properties, and Qin Xiang still held hope of capturing Li Meng, after reporting on the search progress and Li Meng’s situation, Qin Xiang returned to supervise, leaving Lin Yan alone to report to the emperor.
The emperor was very satisfied with this young Junior Governor of the Capital. Whether it was this rescue ambush and arrest, handling the capital region rumors in summer, or the daily operations of the Capital Prefecture, everything showed decisiveness and discipline, yet with strategy, not just brute force. The capital was a place with many nobles and many disputes – if the Capital Prefecture was weak or foolish, the capital would descend into chaos.
In recent years, the Prefect and Junior Governor positions have changed frequently. The emperor felt he had finally found someone who could serve long-term – perhaps he should make some moves, let Old Master Bai retire to Luoyang as he had been seeking an outside post, promote Lin Yan to Capital Prefect, and assign him an assistant official.
Looking at Lin Yan, the emperor smiled – everything was good, just a bit too young…
While the emperor was considering the appointment and transfer of Capital Prefecture officials, Lin Yan was thinking about – reopening the Prince Wu case.
Investigating the Shen family’s files inevitably involved the Prince Wu case. From the files, from conversations with Chu Di and other informed people, from various bits and pieces found in the Capital Prefecture and Ministry of Justice, Lin Yan had some theories about the Prince Wu case – many were implicated in it, and among them, the most famous wasn’t Lord Shen but Huo Chen, the Military Governor of Hedong.
However, could it be that Prince Wu was implicated by Huo Chen? Prince Wu was merely an idle prince, while the Military Governor of Hedong commanded Taiyuan and governed multiple prefectures and counties, with troops to guard against the Hu people – his position was too important.
Who benefited from Huo Chen’s downfall? Prince Zhao was ordered to take over Huo Chen’s military authority in Taiyuan Prefecture and had controlled it for all these years…
Coincidentally, last summer when rumors spread through the capital, how similar it was to the end of the previous emperor’s reign! A Qi’s deduction pointed directly to the northern capital of Taiyuan. Those criminals smelled of preserved meat, and in the ward, the place connected to the northern capital that might store large amounts of preserved meat was the Yunlai Tavern – Prince Zhao’s property.
At that time, Lin Yan had secretly sent people to investigate the Yunlai Tavern’s storeroom. It was very clean, with no traces, but sometimes such cleanliness itself was a trace.
But based on these deductions and the little confession extracted from the death squads, it wasn’t enough to convict a prince who governed a frontier region.
But they couldn’t remain patient, and this winter and spring, they started again, doing something even bigger. Crucially, they chose Shen’s tavern as their location, where there was an A Qi who could become an official in the Ministry of Justice or Court of Judicial Review…
Involving the Imperial Guards and the Hu people, their actions were hasty and urgent, making it too easy to set up an ambush for them.
Thinking of Shen Shaoguang, Lin Yan smiled slightly, then seriously took out from his sleeve the preliminary interrogation report of those captured at the tavern. Time was short, and they were all members of death squads, so the results were limited – they would still need the people from the Ministry of Justice and Court of Judicial Review to slowly grind them down.
Lin Yan simultaneously submitted the findings from his secret investigations in the northern capital and the hometown of the “Great Virtuous Clear Wonderful Assistant Primary True Person” in Wei Prefecture and his religious order.
Lin Yan first apologized to the emperor: “Without Your Majesty’s permission, this subject privately investigated the Prince Wu case from years ago. Please punish this subject.”
The emperor waved his hand dismissively. In the past, he would have been displeased with such action, but now he just found it shrewd and capable.
“Your Majesty, please look at what this subject found in the northern capital.”
“After the previous emperor’s death, that Great Virtuous Clear Wonderful Assistant Primary True Person disappeared like the wind. Some who knew him said he ascended to immortality in broad daylight, some said he went wandering, but in fact, he went to, or rather, returned to the northern capital. Here is testimony from a Taoist priest at the Qingjing Temple in Taiyuan, stating that a ‘noble person’ from Prince Zhao’s residence would spend several days at the temple every year, reportedly fond of the stone tablet behind the temple. This ‘noble person’ died two years ago and was buried in the mountain behind the temple, with the name ‘Wang Qingmiao’ on his tablet.”
“Your Majesty, please look at the Wei Prefecture section. This True Person’s secular surname was ‘Wang,’ with no given name, known only by his childhood name ‘First Son’ among his fellow villagers. The Clear Wonderful True Person and Qiao Hai, whom we captured today, were not only from the same hometown but also from the same religious order. Qiao Hai’s original name was Hei Shi. As a child, while catching fish in the river, he was bitten by a fish, his flesh festered, and it had to be cut out with a knife, leaving a large scar – according to their childhood playmate, old man Liu, it was that True Person himself who operated. This subject has seen this scar.”
“Your Majesty, please look further below…”
Prince Wu’s conviction began with that Taoist’s “prophecy,” and as more people became implicated, more “evidence of crimes” emerged. Lin Yan started from this fundamental point – that Taoist was actually a person with evil intentions, let alone any “prophecy”!
Faced with such evidence, the emperor truly couldn’t say “Just investigate the present matter, let the past be the past.”
The emperor smiled at Lin Yan: “Such thorough investigation couldn’t have been done overnight. What made Anran think of investigating the Prince Wu case?”
“Not for Prince Wu, but for this subject’s father-in-law, Lord Shen,” Lin Yan said calmly.
The emperor took a moment to react, “Vice Minister of Rites Shen Qian?”
“Yes.”
The emperor frowned slightly. Shen Qian angrily denounced how the Taoists had harmed the country and spoke up for Prince Wu’s injustice. The previous emperor had been furious and imposed severe punishment – Shen himself was beheaded, his son strangled, his wife and daughters… sent to the palace?
“This subject’s fiancée, Lady Shen, was a palace lady released the spring before last. I don’t know if Your Majesty has met her – she is the female proprietor of Shen’s tavern in the East Market.”
The emperor suddenly understood. He had only heard that Shen’s tavern owner discovered clues, and he had only suspected they were friends, that he was the one who wrote the preface for the poetry collection…
The emperor smiled and asked, “Was that preface in the poetry collection written by you?”
Lin Yan smiled, “It was written by this subject.”
The emperor laughed, “I thought there was hidden talent somewhere, but it turns out they were already in my court.”
Lin Yan also laughed.
Thinking of Shen’s tavern’s cautious refusal to serve the Imperial Guards, and the pot, menu, poetry collection, and entertainment, Miss Shen was truly a – the emperor hesitated, saying “talented” didn’t seem quite right, as capital’s talented ladies weren’t like this, saying “interesting” also didn’t seem complete…
The emperor playfully hinted, “Anran has good taste.”
Lin Yan smiled and nodded: “She is indeed wonderful.”
The emperor had never seen someone so shamelessly praise his lady and didn’t know how to respond.
“Last summer, when the criminals in the rumored case attempted to kidnap her to threaten this subject, she remained fearless in the face of danger, handed this subject her fish-cutting knife, and later she deduced from the criminals’ smell and food preferences…”
Hearing him circle back to Prince Zhao, circle back to the Prince Wu case, or rather the Shen Qian case, the emperor smiled slightly – well, justice, this thing, should be given when it’s due.
Hearing the emperor’s approval, Lin Yan solemnly bowed.
Seeing him already considering himself half a son to Shen Qian, the emperor suddenly felt somewhat sour – he had so many beauties in his harem, which he had always thought was quite good, but seeing Lin Yan like this, he felt as if he was missing something.
“How far along are the six marriage rites between Anran and Miss Shen?”
Lin Yan pressed his lips together: “Still waiting for the Shen family elders to come to the capital to preside.”
The emperor’s sourness disappeared – ha, so it was just his excitement…
Author’s Note:
Changed Prince Zhao’s son’s name, suddenly realized it rhymed with Minister Li’s name.
————
Today is Junior Governor Lin’s day to show off his love.
Emperor: …Haven’t seen anyone like this before!
Prince of Heyang: Learned something, my beauty’s Hu bread is delicious!