What was the route taken by Cheng Danruo and the others? It was like this: Beiping Prefecture – Hejian Prefecture – Dongchang Prefecture – Yanzhou Prefecture.
On this road, traveling by boat would have been much more convenient, but everyone in their group had horses, and they also wanted to genuinely observe the conditions in Shandong, so they took the land route.
The place where they rested today was Yuqiu Post Station in Gaotang Prefecture.
The situation was beyond expectations. There were quite a few merchants coming and going, the families doing business near the post station did not seem to have closed their doors, and on the faces of the common people one could not see much of the shadow of war.
Guard Li struck up a conversation with a merchant caravan and asked where they had come from. Hearing that they were from Jinan, he hurriedly asked, “How are things in Jinan Prefecture now?”
“You gentlemen are worried about the Wusheng Cult, aren’t you?” The merchant smiled, his face full of understanding. “That’s in Qingzhou. Jinan is still fine, except that the price of rice has gone up.”
“The price of rice started rising last year, and this year it has risen even more sharply,” said someone traveling with them. “Fortunately, both Jinan and Jining have grain boats, so we can barely get by.”
“Qingzhou is not doing well. Otherwise, why would the Wusheng Cult rebel?”
“I heard that over in Dengzhou they are still fighting the pirates.”
“Drought and flood together – an unlucky year.”
The merchants traveled north and south, were well-informed, and after traveling all day, they blew off steam at the post station, discussed the state of affairs, and considered it a kind of mental relaxation.
While pouring wine for them, Li Bowu probed indirectly and collected quite a bit of information.
“Dongchang and Jinan are both still relatively stable. The common people have not flocked in large numbers to join the rebel army, but among the populace, more and more believe in the Eternal Venerable Mother.” He summarized the information. “The merchants all carry portraits of the Eternal Venerable Mother on them, just in case.”
Xie Xuanying asked, “What is the situation in Qingzhou?”
“There are a great many famine refugees.” Li Bowu sighed. “One merchant recently bought a maid, fourteen or fifteen years old, for only eight taels of silver.”
Cheng Danruo frowned slightly.
In the human trafficking of ancient times, the most valuable were women of childbearing age, especially girls around fifteen who could bear children and were still young. Their price was usually no less than ten taels, and those who were pretty or had talents could sell for twenty or thirty taels.
Eight taels of silver showed that the common people had already begun selling their sons and daughters.
Sure enough, the next day, traveling through Gaotang Prefecture, they could already see small-scale groups of displaced people.
But what reassured Cheng Danruo was that although the refugees were dragging their families along and dressed in rags, they had not yet reached the point of eating grass and bark, with corpses of the starved strewn everywhere, or even exchanging children to eat.
Along the way, wealthy households were providing disaster relief. Although it was all rice broth so thin the bottom could be seen clearly, it was better than nothing and at least gave people hope. By the time they reached Jinan Prefecture, the situation was even “better.”
Human traffickers openly picked out children and bought them at low prices to fill their stock. Young men were recruited by powerful clans and great households. They would give the refugees a bowl of food and a place to settle, and from then on, they became servants or tenant farmers serving them for generations.
If personal feelings were set aside, Cheng Danruo had to admit that the situation in Shandong was not bad.
Shandong had two major transportation arteries, the Yellow River and the Grand Canal. Even if local grain merchants hoarded grain, as long as rice and grain from elsewhere flowed into the market, the common people could always buy some grain to fill their stomachs and barely get by.
The surrounding regions were making efforts to absorb the refugees and share the pressure of natural disasters and war.
The Xia dynasty’s allotted span was not yet exhausted.
When entering the city gate, they suddenly heard someone in the crowd shout, “The granary is being opened to distribute grain!”
Boom – the line of several thousand people outside the city immediately fell into chaos, and there were even stampedes and fights. But no one paid attention; men and women, old and young, supported one another and desperately rushed toward the place where the voice had come from, shouting.
“Don’t push! Those who hit people won’t get any!” someone inside called out.
The commotion finally subsided a little.
After entering Jinan Prefecture, the city was orderly, and shops were open as usual -except that there was a long line at the door of the rice shop, and the clerk leaned lazily against the door, pointed at a sign, and said, “Sold out. Come early tomorrow.”
Someone asked angrily, “Only a hundred catties of rice are sold every day – who can even get any?”
The clerk picked his ear and said indifferently, “Buy it or don’t.”
Cheng Danruo and the others stayed in the city for two days to replenish consumed supplies and inquire about the situation of the Regional Military Commission. This time, Xie Xuanying’s direct superior was Jiang Yi, the Shandong Regional Military Commissioner.
He came from a family of military officials. His father was a vice commander of a guard station and fought alongside his father in Shaanxi, earning many merits. After his father’s death, he inherited his position and, because of his outstanding performance, was promoted to commander.
Speaking of it, he had some ties with the Xie family.
The Marquis of Jinghai, Xie Yun, was enfeoffed as a marquis for his merits in resisting the pirates, but he had not only fought the pirates. In his later years, he also went north with his son to drive out the Tatars. At that time, Commander Jiang’s father was one of Xie Yun’s subordinates.
After Xie Yun’s death, although the Jiang family could not be considered old subordinates of the Xie family, they had always maintained contact with the Marquis of Jinghai and never forgot to send a few cartloads of local gifts on festivals and holidays.
Thus, Jiang Yi was able to smoothly receive the title of commander and become the highest military officer in Shandong.
Therefore, theoretically speaking, when Xie Xuanying arrived in Jinan, he could openly enter the Regional Military Commission office, and Jiang Yi would certainly treat him more politely than Commander Xu of Jiangsu.
But… he did not do so.
The reason was quite simple.
Jiang Yi was too good at currying favor and had long since begun calling Second Young Master Xie “Young Marquis.”
Although Xie Xuanying did not go so far as to suspect that he would harm him, he was afraid that he might conceal something, so he decided to observe his style of conduct first before making a judgment.
However, after making inquiries all around, Li Bowu said that Commander Jiang was not in Jinan – he had gone out with troops to suppress the rebellion.
Xie Xuanying said, “He should have gone to Dongping.”
The military forces in southwestern Shandong mainly relied on the guard stations in Dongchang Prefecture and in Jining Prefecture and Dongping Prefecture of Yanzhou Prefecture. Judging from the terrain, if the bandits wanted to occupy Jining, they would have to go through the area south of Mount Tai and Mount Meng.
Considering that the rebel army would focus on occupying major cities and plundering goods and wealth, their next stop was very likely to be Qufu.
Once Qufu was occupied, they would be very close to Jining.
Concentrating troops at Dongping would be a considerable deterrent to the rebel army.
Xie Xuanying very much wanted to know the movements of the rebel army, but unfortunately, in Jinan Prefecture, apart from the dark clouds of an impending war, he could not obtain any more information.
After thinking for a while, he said, “We should still go to Yanzhou as soon as possible.”
The official road from Jinan to Yanzhou was almost a straight line running south, about seven days’ journey on foot.
Cheng Danruo had finally arrived at the final stop of her business trip.
She had already gathered most of the information she needed to inquire about along the way. Xie Xuanying had not concealed some things from her, while he had not explicitly told her others, but she did not mind.
Suppressing the rebellion, in the end, had nothing to do with her.
Do not be fooled by the heroes in historical romance novels who look so majestic on the battlefield – one general’s success is built on the bones of ten thousand soldiers. For an ordinary soldier to survive a war was already very remarkable.
She had not expected, however, that on the night before entering Prince Lu’s residence, Xie Xuanying would knock on her door alone.
“Do you know the situation of Prince Lu’s residence?” he asked bluntly.
Cheng Danruo said, “Not much.”
He nodded and patiently explained, “The late emperor had a total of four brothers: Prince Qi, Prince Xian, Prince Lu, and Prince Feng. Prince Cheng and Prince An were both the late emperor’s uncles.”
Cheng Danruo memorized it quickly.
The order of seniority among the previous generation was as follows: the late emperor, Prince Qi (the current emperor’s biological father), Prince Xian, Prince Lu, and Prince Feng (the grandfather of Commandery Prince Feng).
“Prince Lu was brutal by nature and killed his wives and concubines cruelly. He originally had three sons and two daughters. His eldest son and eldest son’s wife were killed, his second son was disabled and died very early, his third son died young in childhood, and his eldest daughter married out. Now it is said that only one young daughter is still in the residence.”
Xie Xuanying said slowly, “The person you need to meet is Princess Dowager, Prince Lu’s mother. She should be over seventy this year, and her spirits are probably not good, but since it is said that she was unharmed when Prince Lu was kidnapped, she should still be able to hold on for some time.”
Cheng Danruo answered and asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“I always find the matter of the rebel army kidnapping Prince Lu strange. These past few days I made some inquiries along the way. Prince Lu was fond of alchemy, and Yanzhou Prefecture once had many monks and Daoists. Because the Wusheng Cult rebelled, they were afraid of being implicated, so only then did their numbers decrease greatly.” He said, “I want to figure out what the rebel army’s true purpose was in attacking Prince Lu’s residence.”
Cheng Danruo immediately agreed, “I’ll give it a try.”
“Also,” he said after deliberating, “the prince’s residence has insufficient guards. I will leave you twenty men, but if anything is amiss, immediately persuade the consort dowager and set out for Jining.” Afraid that she would be frightened, he quickly lowered his voice and explained, “Jining is beside the canal and often has official boats going to the capital, with people, grain, and weapons all prepared.”
Cheng Danruo nodded silently. Suddenly remembering something, she handed him the medicine box. “Inside are medicines. How to use them, I have written in the notebook in the lining. Remember to read it.”
He took it, wanting to say something but hesitating.
Cheng Danruo: “?”
“Nothing.” In the end he said nothing, “Be careful yourself.”
Cheng Danruo said, “You too.”
Just like a spring breeze brushing across the heart, Xie Xuanying could not help but curl his lips slightly. “Mm.”
The next day, Cheng Danruo got up early, asked someone to heat water for washing and grooming, changed into a full set of official robes, and sat in a newly decorated carriage.
The eunuchs and guards also returned to their original appearance and escorted the carriage.
In Yanzhou Prefecture city there was Prince Lu’s residence. The common people were familiar with heavily armored guards and avoided them from afar when they saw them. After turning onto the street in front of Prince Lu’s residence, there was not a single person to be seen, and only the residence’s chief administrator was waiting at the gate.
The prince’s residence was towering and solemn, except that two white lanterns hung at the gate, and the servants were also in mourning clothes, looking genuinely bereaved.
When the carriage arrived, the chief administrator immediately ordered the central gate opened wide and invited her in.
On both sides knelt palace maids, eunuchs, and other servants of the princely residence. Looking around, one could see only all kinds of backs of heads.
Cheng Danruo held the imperial edict in both hands, her expression solemn, while in her heart she thought: an angel, an angel, a messenger of the imperial house – borrowing supreme honor for a second is already enough to make one feel as if floating in the clouds.
Upon entering the front courtyard, an incense table had already been prepared.
“His Majesty has an edict.” She asked, “Where is the Princess Dowager?”
“I am here.” The Princess Dowager, fully dressed according to her rank, supported on both sides by two palace maids, walked forward tremblingly and knelt.
She was not kneeling to Cheng Danruo, and Cheng Danruo had no right to tell her to rise, so she could only unfold the edict as calmly as possible.
“By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: …”
The wording of the edict was obscure and difficult, with many rare characters. Cheng Danruo had read it aloud dozens of times in advance to ensure that she would not suddenly stumble and could recite it smoothly to the end.
The gist was: I was grieved to hear of what happened to the Prince Lu’s residence, but knowing that Prince Lu would rather die than submit and firmly resisted the rebel army’s attack, I also feel comforted. The princess dowager already had outstanding character when she served Emperor Mu and was a model for women. Now she is also deeply principled and worthy of being a good elder of the imperial house, and I specially bestow a few things on you as commendation. Your great-grandson need not be worried about either; I intend to establish him as the heir of the principality, educate him well, and continue the Prince Lu’s line.
“I receive the edict.” The Princess Dowager rose with difficulty and respectfully took the edict.
Once the edict left her hands, the superiority borrowed from the imperial house also dissipated.
Cheng Danruo bowed and saluted. “Greetings, Your Highness.”
“Official Cheng.” The senior palace maid beside the Princess Dowager was very polite, immediately supporting her and quickly stuffing a purse into her hand.
Cheng Danruo had never imagined that she would actually be in the role of receiving a bribe. After a moment of mental preparation, she silently tucked it into her sleeve.
The senior palace maid secretly breathed a sigh of relief. “Please sit inside and have a cup of tea.”
“Thank you for the trouble.”
