Fish Meat – Chapter 182

by Little Panda

The Fourth Year of Zhao Wu

Secrets in the Sleeve (2)

While Li Yanyi swiftly stripped Wei Tingxu of her power over the Path of Ten Thousand Directions, she also abolished the Tingwei Department that had existed since Emperor Jing’s time, establishing the Dali Temple to handle criminal cases involving central officials and the capital. Lin Qi was appointed as the Minister of the Dali Temple.

This Lin Qi was the younger brother of Lin Quan, who had served as the Minister of Revenue during the early Shenchu years. The Lin and Zuo families had supported Li Yanyi since her days as the Grand Princess. Both Zuo Xu and Lin Quan had died in power struggles, and after ascending to the throne, Li Yanyi posthumously honored them both while continuing to place their family members in key central government positions.

The Imperial Secretary Zuo Yun acted with swift decisiveness, quickly establishing the Dali Temple, while the former Minister Guan Xun of the Tingwei was reassigned as the governor of Huaiyang Prefecture.

Guan Xun came from a military background, having achieved numerous merits on the battlefield before being recalled from the frontline due to severe injuries. Now that Li Yanyi wanted to establish a prison system completely under her control, Guan Xun’s apparent closeness to Zhen Wenjun made her suspicious, and she could no longer trust him. Being banished to Huaiyang instead of being executed was already considered merciful.

Huaiyang was located in Yunan, adjacent to Nanya, a mountainous region that was hot year-round and difficult to access, even more remote than Nanya. The Path of Ten Thousand Directions didn’t pass through there, and the mountain paths were treacherous, so despite its proximity to Nanya, development remained poor.

Several governors there couldn’t bear to stay and tried every means to get transferred elsewhere. Now that Guan Xun was assigned there by imperial decree, others who might have been posted there felt greatly relieved.

Guan Xun fell from his high position as the second-ranked Minister of Tingwei to become a governor in Yunan’s remote mountains, a drop as dramatic as falling from the clouds into the mud.

As the Dragon Boat Festival approached, in previous years there would have been an endless stream of gift-bearers, though everyone knew this Minister Guan was as pure as ice and would never accept any gifts. Whether he accepted or not was up to him, but gifts had to be sent. Even if the gifts were rejected at his door, making oneself known to Minister Guan was quite necessary.

Before the transfer papers were even issued, his residence was already deserted during the Dragon Boat Festival.

Jiang Wang held a cup of realgar wine [雄黃酒 | xiónghuáng jiǔ | traditional Dragon Boat Festival wine], laughing: “Look at this, look at this, Guan Fengdian! You’ve served as Minister for so many years, taking all the blame and criticism for the emperor, and now that you’re no longer useful, they’ve tossed you aside. Even your servants have all run away. All these years with such meager salary that you had to think thrice about having a good drink, and now you’re being sent to that southeastern backwater without even anyone to see you off. Tell me, what was the point of being Minister?”

Guan Xun replied, “My dedication to this position was never about receiving a high salary or having a grand farewell.”

“Then what was it for? Guan Fengdian, are you saying everyone in the imperial prison was truly unforgivably evil? Wasn’t it just the emperor imprisoning whoever they wanted with a single word? Back then, Emperor Jing established the imperial prison just to eliminate his royal brothers and secure his throne. How ridiculous! The Tingwei Department existed for torture and forced confessions, and the imperial prison was where lives were carelessly taken! ‘Imperial grace is boundless, the emperor is never wrong!’ For all these years, the imperial prison has been the emperor’s weapon to eliminate thorns in their side, and you were their bloodstained blade!”

Jiang Wang slammed his wine cup on the table, shattering it with a “bang.”

Seeing this, Guan Xun wasn’t angry at all, but instead gave him a smile.

“What are you smiling at?” Jiang Wang’s heart stirred at this sudden smile, knowing that in all the years he’d known him, he’d rarely seen Guan Xun smile.

“How can you say there’s no one to see me off?” Guan Xun looked at him. “Aren’t you here?”

The transfer papers arrived, personally delivered to Guan’s residence by Guang Shaoling. Li Yanyi was pressing for him to depart tomorrow.

Jiang Wang wanted to say something, but Guan Xun gave him a look, and he barely managed to hold back. After the Zhuiyue Army soldiers left, Jiang Wang asked:

“You’ve given away all your belongings to your servants, and yesterday you even gave your last carriage to Old Zhang who’s returning to his hometown. Now the emperor’s lighting a fire under your a*s to get you out quickly, but how will you travel? With just thirty taels left, if you buy a carriage, what will you eat and drink along the way? Don’t starve to death before reaching Huaiyang—that would be the joke of the century.”

Having roughed it out in the field for so many years, Guan Xun didn’t consider such matters important: “When we fought side by side back then, didn’t we eat wild vegetables and sleep in trees? Has being an official made you too delicate? Let’s go!”

Guan Xun gave Jiang Wang a slap on the back that nearly sent him flying.

“I must have been blind to stay in Runing and follow you back then. I should’ve gone home to farm instead of ending up like this, ah…”

“What, it’s not too late to regret it now.”

“Forget it, you’ve spoiled me too much to farm now. I can only follow you and let you take care of me for life.”

The two walked out of Runing City, each carrying an empty bundle, chatting and laughing. Behind them stood the towering, somber Runing City; ahead lay vast lands and a brilliant sunset. Guan Xun looked back once at the city where he had lived for over a decade. Just one glance, and without any lingering attachment, he walked side by side with Jiang Wang toward the free wilderness.

“Brother Fengdian, please wait!”

Someone was calling for Guan Xun. He turned to see Zhen Wenjun rushing out of the city with a carriage.

“General Zhen.”

Zhen Wenjun jumped down from the carriage and clasped her hands in greeting to both of them: “The journey to Huaiyang is long, how can you manage without a carriage? This horse is from the Northern Frontier, a rare fine steed. The carriage is also sturdy and durable, capable of withstanding the bumpy journey. Brother Fengdian, your transfer to Huaiyang was because of my involvement…” Zhen Wenjun then took out a heavy pouch filled with silver, “I’m tied up with urgent matters and cannot see you off properly. This is a small token of my appreciation, please accept it.”

Just as Guan Xun was about to refuse, Jiang Wang, knowing his personality too well, immediately stepped in front of him and accepted the pouch of silver that could cover their expenses for a whole year, thanking Zhen Wenjun with great delight.

Zhen Wenjun handed over the carriage, and they bid farewell. She watched the carriage travel forward until it disappeared into the endless distance…

After Zhen Wenjun, Ah Qiong, and the others moved out of Ji Xue Mansion, Ah Xin moved in.

There were no servants in the mansion; she did everything herself.

Having spent years campaigning and fighting in the field, Ah Xin was used to taking care of herself. Having people watching over her would only make her uncomfortable.

Li Yanyi gave her a token pass that allowed her to freely enter and exit the Forbidden Garden despite having no official position. Ah Xin knew her current status was very special. Li Yanyi had always wanted to grant her an official position, but the current political situation was tense, and Li Yanyi feared one wrong move could prove fatal, especially given that her enemy was the cunning Wei family. Li Yanyi needed to maintain the utmost vigilance.

Ah Xin could understand Li Yanyi’s difficulties, and she had never aspired to become an official anyway. She had seen and heard too much of the scheming and deception in official circles since childhood, and she could never forget how the Xie family had been completely destroyed. Even though she had prepared herself from the beginning for the possibility of losing either her loved ones or her family, she still couldn’t convince herself to dedicate her life to the Li family.

Rebuilding the Zhuiyue Army, investigating Ruan family’s Ah Qiong’s whereabouts and rescuing her, settling the Ruan mother and daughter… these things were for her only sister, and also for Li Yanyi. She remembered all of Li Yanyi’s kindness from their youth, and she had spent these years repaying those favors. Once she ensured Li Yanyi’s safety, she would leave Runing and go into seclusion somewhere Li Yanyi could never find her.

High summer arrived, and Ji Xue Mansion was full of green shade. Ah Xin sat on a grass mat under a tree, holding a heavy bamboo scroll, frowning as she made marks on it stroke by stroke. Though young, she already had two faint lines between her brows.

The tree shadows flickered before her eyes, but she remained oblivious to them.

Recently, while secretly counting the personnel in the Zhuiyue Army and central military forces, Ah Xin suddenly discovered that the total number of troops had decreased by sixty thousand compared to the second year of Zhaowu. This reduction was quite strange. Peacetime was usually when armies built up their reserves, and in recent years, apart from the one real battle against the Lanwan bandits, there had only been minor rebellions that couldn’t have caused such losses. Why were so many soldiers missing? Each year, as soldiers completed their service, new ones would replace them—numbers should only increase, not decrease.

There must be something wrong.

She sent Zhuiyue Army members to secretly investigate where the missing soldiers had gone.

A month later, reports came in.

Ah Xin discovered that these armies directly under the emperor’s command had been dispatched by the Grand Marshal Wei Lun to various locations over two years, supposedly to suppress local rebellions. However, these rebellions were extremely minor, insignificant incidents that local lords could have easily handled. Why send central troops thousands of miles away?

The revealed truth was shocking.

Each military deployment from the Grand Marshal’s office should have records documenting specific troop numbers, battle details, and remaining numbers after returning to court. However, in the twelve deployment records from the second year of Zhaowu, the troop numbers were extremely vague. What angered Ah Xin even more was that upon verification, several of these suppression campaigns were fabricated. When spies visited the recorded battle sites, local residents had no knowledge of any fighting ever taking place!

These were all false deployments!

With each deployment, a batch of soldiers would disappear. On the surface, these missing armored soldiers appeared to have died in battle, which seemed reasonable. But lifting the curtain revealed the Wei family’s wolfish ambitions!

These soldiers were likely hidden away by Wei Lun, being trained as Wei family troops, just waiting for the day of rebellion!

During the second year of Zhaowu, when Li Yanyi hadn’t yet grown suspicious of the Wei family and still fully trusted them with important responsibilities, Wei Lun was doing such things behind her back…

Just as Ah Xin was agonizing over this, suddenly there came the sound of chaotic footsteps outside the courtyard gate, followed by a loud “bang” against the door.

Ah Xin quickly drew her sword and silently approached the door.

“Sister…”

A weak voice came from outside, and Ah Xin naturally recognized it as belonging to Ah Wen.

Ah Xin opened the door slightly and only let Ah Wen in after confirming no one else was outside.

“Why have you returned to Runing from the Northern Frontier?” Ah Xin asked.

Ah Wen was dressed in tatters, looking completely like a beggar. Her leg was twisted and terribly swollen. Though nearly starved to death, seeing Ah Xin seemed to give her some strength, and she smiled foolishly:

“Sister, are you that unhappy to see me? I risked my life to find you! I’ve been sleeping rough on the road, anyone would’ve thought I was a real beggar!”

Ah Xin remained unmoved by her excitement, standing firmly in place as she asked:

“How did you know I lived here?”

Ah Wen’s smile vanished instantly as their eyes met.

Li Yanyi was particularly happy today.

With Wei Tingxu kicked out of the Path of Ten Thousand Directions, Bo Lan would now be fully in charge of expanding this trade corridor. The Bo, Zuo, and Lin families were the three major families she could rely on heavily. With these three families leading the charge at the front, and the imperial in-laws of the Geng family and royal clan as backing, Li Yanyi’s years of anxiety finally eased somewhat.

Although Geng Bai had been mentally unstable for a while, fortunately he settled down after being disciplined. Li Yanyi couldn’t give the Geng family too much power, but she had to keep them bound to her side. Should the Wei clan and the Zhangsun clan cause trouble, the Geng family would be a significant fighting force.

As for the royal Li clan, they were the last ones Li Yanyi wanted to employ.

She knew all too well how she had killed Li Ju as Grand Princess and seized his throne. Therefore, she was extremely wary of the remaining princes of the Li family and would never give them a chance to gain power. However, if the Wei clan and Zhangsun clan were to rebel, the Li clan would still stand with her. All things considered, with their family head dying, the Wei family’s chances of success were low.

Having suppressed the Wei family, Li Yanyi was in excellent spirits and found an opportunity to disguise herself as a noble family’s young master, slipping out of the Forbidden Garden with two Zhuiyue Army soldiers.

She couldn’t remember when she had last left the Forbidden Garden. As emperor, going anywhere was extremely complicated, with a large group of guards always following her, making her feel suffocated. Back when she was Grand Princess, she had traveled across half of Da Yu. Now, confined in the small Forbidden Garden, every step was difficult, and the confinement had given her aching muscles in her back and legs.

Today she was determined to go out for a walk, without telling Ah Xin, wanting to give her a surprise.

“How did you know I lived here?”

Ah Xin asked Ah Wen expressionlessly. Feeling the coldness in her words, Ah Wen’s previous excitement instantly vanished.

“I asked around Runing City for a long time before finding this place. All the Xie family’s former residences were sealed except this one, so I came to look. Sister, could you let me eat something first? I haven’t eaten for several days.”

Ah Xin fell silent for a moment, went inside and brought out two pieces of flatbread for Ah Wen. Ah Wen clutched the bread and tore into it frantically, as if she were trying to bite an enemy to death.

“Leave after you finish eating.” Ah Xin gave her a bag of silver.

Ah Wen quickly finished the bread and returned the silver.

“I have nowhere to go. Sister, please let me stay by your side to serve you, even as a lowly servant, or anything else. I’ll do anything. Don’t make me leave you.” Ah Wen was like a little dog who had searched thousands of miles to find its master, only to discover the master didn’t want her, dejectedly wagging her tail, whimpering, holding onto a faint hope that the master would show mercy and take her in.

“I don’t need servants,” the “master” replied heartlessly. “Runing is very dangerous; you could lose your life at any moment. Go take a bath and change clothes, then take the silver and leave.”

“Sister…”

Ah Xin stopped looking at her, went inside, tossed out a set of clothes, and closed the door again.

Ah Wen wiped her tears and took the clothes to wash herself clean in the pool.

0 Comments