Cheng Danruo was invited into the main hall of the principal courtyard, where the senior palace maid personally served tea. “You have traveled a long and dusty road. Thank you for your trouble.”
“I am only doing business on His Majesty’s behalf. I would not presume to speak of trouble,” Cheng Danruo replied politely. “The palace has been concerned about the Princess Dowager. May I ask how her health is?”
“Thanks to the grace of heaven, Her Highness, though grieved and pained, has managed to hold on.” After a few pleasantries, the senior palace maid could no longer restrain herself and probed tentatively, “May I ask how the heir is doing?”
Cheng Danruo weighed her words carefully. “The palace is strictly guarded. I have not seen the heir.” She distanced herself cleanly from the matter, then smiled slightly and, extending goodwill, added, “I have heard that His Majesty often summons the heir to accompany him, so I imagine all is well.”
The senior palace maid’s smile grew more genuine. “Her Highness has been thinking of the heir all along.”
“With His Majesty’s care, the heir will surely be safe,” Cheng Danruo said with certainty. This sort of all-purpose remark cost nothing to say, and in any case all the other party wanted was reassurance.
To put it in the most extreme terms, if anything happened to Prince Lu’s heir, could they really hold her accountable? They had all said it was His Majesty’s care.
The senior palace maid was not unaware of the reasoning behind this, yet she still felt considerably more at ease.
At this point, the Princess Dowager had already enshrined the imperial edict and changed out of her court attire. Sitting somewhat more relaxed in the seat of honor, she exchanged formal pleasantries with Cheng Danruo. “Having been away from the capital for many years, is His Majesty still in good health?”
Cheng Danruo replied, “The Sage is in perfect health.”
The Princess Dowager asked again, “Is the Empress Dowager still in good health?”
Cheng Danruo replied, “Her Highness is also well.”
Only after these formal questions and answers had concluded did the Princess Dowager inquire with concern. “Was your journey here smooth?”
Cheng Danruo detected the shift in her tone and deliberately abandoned the official manner, speaking instead like one chatting about everyday matters. “All went well, except that we encountered heavy rain halfway and were delayed for a day.”
“Autumn is indeed a rainy season. In the first few years after I first came to the fief, I found it quite hard to get used to as well.” The Princess Dowager chatted for a while about the weather in Shandong, then abruptly changed tack with a sigh. “I am aged and frail, and I find many affairs in the household burdensome, so omissions are unavoidable. If you do not mind, I hope you might lend some assistance for a time.”
Cheng Danruo was prepared for this.
Palace Matron Hong had told her that the Prince Lu’s household would certainly ask her to stay temporarily, and might even trouble her to help manage household affairs. She need only agree readily at such a time, because there was no need for her to actually do anything at all.
She was merely a mascot.
The emperor was displaying the affection of the imperial family, and the princely household was showing weakness in this way – our family has the old and the young, and even holding up the household is difficult; we must rely entirely on His Majesty – hoping to diminish the negative influence brought by Prince Lu and preserve the princely title.
After all, by seniority, Prince Lu’s grandson no longer qualified for the rank of commandery prince and could only be a Protector-General of the State.
Now the emperor had established Prince Lu’s grandson as heir apparent as a gesture of reassurance, but after all, no actual investiture had taken place, so the Princess Dowager naturally had to act more cautiously.
Having clarified this point, Cheng Danruo felt no pressure at all. She immediately rose and bowed. “I am at Your Highness’s disposal.”
The Princess Dowager let out a slight sigh of relief, her face showing weariness.
Cheng Danruo tactfully indicated that she would not intrude further and asked her to be sure to take care of her health.
The Princess Dowager readily agreed, ordered the chief administrator to entertain the honored guest well, and then, supported by palace maids, returned to the rear courtyard to rest.
Next, the chief administrator assigned four palace maids and four eunuchs to tidy up a quiet courtyard for Cheng Danruo to stay in. He also ordered a meal to be prepared to welcome the guards and wash away the dust of their journey, and incidentally to gather information.
As for Cheng Danruo herself, she was neither quite a host nor could she be treated as a servant, so the most respected old matron by the Princess Dowager’s side was sent to keep her company, and a banquet was laid out.
Abalone and sea cucumber, bird’s nest and white fungus – everything that should be there was there. It was a first-class banquet.
The old matron warmed a pot of Shaoxing yellow wine and poured her a small cup.
“My capacity for liquor is shallow, so I can only show my respects in token form,” Cheng Danruo said, unwilling to drink much. After barely touching it to her lips, she switched to hot tea.
The old matron did not mind and chatted casually with her about this and that.
After three rounds of wine, the atmosphere grew warmer.
Cheng Danruo seized the opportunity to ask, “I see the princely household is in good order, with no shortage of attendants anywhere. I imagine what is said outside is all baseless rumor.”
“You mean the matter of the mutinous soldiers rushing into the household, I suppose?” The old matron sighed and, seizing the excuse of drink, said, “What is said outside is not entirely wrong. That night, at midnight, people really did come in.”
Cheng Danruo feigned astonishment. “They were far too bold. Where were the guards?”
“His Highness the Prince has a somewhat impatient temper and does not care for attendants to wait on him ordinarily. He usually lives in the Hall of Long Life in the East Garden.” The old matron chose her words cautiously. “And it was nighttime then. We who serve below did not dare to disturb him.”
Cheng Danruo translated inwardly: Prince Lu was hot-tempered and liked to beat and kill servants, so the servants did not dare to risk his displeasure when there was no need.
“I remember it was nearly the second watch then, and the household was very quiet. I was just getting ready to sleep when suddenly I heard someone in the East Garden shouting, ‘Fire!'” the old matron said. “You know how it is – in autumn and winter, with things dry and combustible, someone might carelessly knock over a candlestick or spill some wine. At first no one took it seriously.”
She sank into recollection, and fear appeared on her face. “But before long, someone said the rebel soldiers had broken in and were killing people. Many people died over in the East Garden, and everyone fell into chaos at once. To be frank with you, it was fortunate that Her Highness the Princess Dowager had been away at a temple outside the city for quiet cultivation and was not in the household. Otherwise, if anything had gone wrong, who could have borne the responsibility?”
Cheng Danruo asked with concern, “Were you all right?”
“We servants all live in the rear servants’ quarters. The rebels were only in the front courtyard. Once they found the Prince, they left.” Here the old matron paused slightly and lowered her voice. “I heard that the ground in the East Garden was covered with blood everywhere, with corpses lying every which way. It was too horrifying for words.”
“Alas.” Cheng Danruo showed a measure of genuine sorrow. “They were all pitiful souls.”
This sigh, coming from the heart, moved the old matron slightly. The dead palace maids and beauties were all lowly people like herself, and anyone who saw it would feel a measure of the grief of the fox mourning the hare and the sorrow of kindred beings wounded by the same fate.
Her voice suddenly became clearer. The deliberately vague drunkenness of moments before disappeared, replaced by a sympathetic sigh. “Isn’t that so? They were just a little short of making it through to better days…”
Cheng Danruo’s heart stirred. “What sort of people were they?”
“What else could they be? Those who served the Prince, of course.” The old matron did not dare to accuse Prince Lu directly, so she spoke vaguely. “The Buddhists say that cause and effect run in cycles. One can see there is some truth in it.”
“Yes, do more good deeds and good returns will surely come.” Cheng Danruo voiced agreement a couple of times, but inwardly she thought: Xie Xuanying had not been mistaken – there did seem to be something a little strange about Prince Lu’s household.
But just what was strange about it, she could not say for the moment.
That night, Xie Xuanying stayed in Yanzhou Prefecture but did not enter the princely household with Cheng Danruo. He left several of his own people among the guards to relay messages at any time.
He himself put up at an inn and ordered Li Bowu and Centurion Zheng to go gather information.
What Li Bowu brought back were rumors about Prince Lu.
In Yanzhou Prefecture, Prince Lu’s reputation was utterly notorious. He was fond of alchemy and had built a Hall of Long Life in the princely household, where he searched everywhere for Daoist priests to refine all sorts of elixirs for him. At the same time, he did not neglect Buddhism and often invited monks into the household to expound scriptures.
The common people all said that his conscience was guilty and that he feared the wronged spirits of those who had died unjustly in the household would come to demand his life, which was why he desperately sought monks to suppress the female ghosts.
Whether this claim was true or not was beside the point for now, but one thing was certain.
People often died in the Prince Lu’s household.
“At the mass grave north of the city, corpses turn up every few days – all young women,” said locals in the know. “Many families whose sons died young cannot afford to marry wives for them, so they secretly drag the bodies back and bury them in the same pit as their sons, arranging a marriage. The matchmaker at the old street corner specializes in this trade and has made a great fortune at home – tsk, all thanks to her man, who carts night soil at the princely household.”
Such atrocities were enough to make even Li Bowu say, “Retribution never fails.”
Xie Xuanying asked, “What about the Wusheng Cult?”
“It has been popular in these parts for many years,” Li Bowu said quickly. “Few in the city believe in it, but many rural households worship the Eternal Venerable Mother. However, after the rebels caused trouble, many families secretly burned their idols and switched to worshipping Guanyin.”
He nodded and said no more.
Next, Centurion Zheng brought news about the princely household’s guards.
In the early days of the Xia dynasty, princes of fiefs had household guard command offices with about three thousand men, but after the rebellions, their numbers were repeatedly reduced, ultimately cut down to a ceremonial guard office of five hundred men responsible for the household’s daily protection and travel processions.
Generally speaking, princes would raise a few private soldiers of their own. As long as the number was not large, the emperor would turn a blind eye and not make much of it, but once it exceeded two thousand, a pretext would be found to deal with them.
Centurion Zheng belonged to the personal guard. Having socialized with the guards of the Prince Lu’s household, he quickly discovered the specifics.
The Prince Lu’s household had originally had nearly a thousand guards, but because of his cruelty he often beat and killed guards, so some died, some fled, and gradually only seven or eight hundred remained.
On the night of the incident, roughly three or four hundred men were on duty in the household, and the rest had been taken away by the Princess Dowager.
The number of bandits was not large – at most only a few dozen. But they first set fires in the household, tricking most of the guards into going to fight the flames, then slipped into the poorly defended East Garden and abducted Prince Lu.
When the guards later realized something was wrong and returned to rescue him, they were constrained by the hostage situation and could only watch as the bandits took Prince Lu and fled.
Xie Xuanying asked, “How many were killed or wounded that night?”
“Nearly a hundred or more, all of them the Prince Lu’s confidants,” Centurion Zheng said. “The newly promoted ceremonial guard commander is the Princess Dowager’s man. He was originally a master of ceremonies.”
“And the principal and deputy commanders?”
The princely household’s ceremonial guard office had one principal and one deputy, with ranks equivalent to principal and deputy chiliarchs, and below them six masters of ceremonies, equivalent to centurions.
Centurion Zheng answered concisely, “They died fighting to save Prince Lu.”
Xie Xuanying frowned.
“There is something odd about this.” As a guard of the marquis’s household, Li Bowu had no difficulty perceiving the abnormality. “Even if the bandits caught them off guard, with the princely household’s fine armor and weapons, it should have been impossible for so many to die.”
Centurion Zheng asked, “Does the young master suspect they were silenced? To what end?”
Xie Xuanying shook his head. For the moment he could not say clearly either.
“Guard Li, pick two sharp ones and leave them behind to keep an eye on the princely household at all times,” Xie Xuanying said. “Have them watch over Official Cheng as well. After all, we came under her name, so we cannot let anything happen to her.”
Li Bowu pretended this order was entirely normal and nodded. “Yes. Then let Qian Ming and Zhao Wang stay behind.”
“Guard Zhao’s brother?”
“His cousin,” Li Bowu said. “After Zhao Xin died, you said to look after their family more, so I recruited Zhao Wang. The young man is sharp and can be of help.”
Xie Xuanying nodded and made up his mind. “Tomorrow we go to Dongping to join Commander Jiang.”
Three days later.
Dongping County, Dongping Guard Chiliad Office.
Using his credentials, Xie Xuanying obtained a meeting with Commander Jiang Yi.
Jiang Yi was very surprised, not having expected him to arrive so quickly, and hurriedly had someone invite him in.
Like everyone meeting him for the first time, Jiang Yi was stunned for quite a while before asking hesitantly, “You must be the third young master of the Marquis’s household? I have long heard of your name.”
Xie Xuanying saluted. “I pay my respects to Commander Jiang.”
Jiang Yi was indeed very adept at handling people. He solicitously helped him up and said with a smile, “Young Master Xie is far too formal. My father once served under the Marquis of Jinghai, so our families were old acquaintances. If I may presume, shall I call you ‘nephew’?”
Xie Xuanying said coolly, “Since this is official business, private ties should not be invoked.”
Jiang Yi, having been rebuffed once, was not angry. Instead, he felt somewhat uneasy. The “nephew” address was, of course, his own deliberate attempt to elevate his family; only with the Marquis of Changping would calling him “nephew” count as intimacy.
But he was also smooth and tactful. He nodded repeatedly, showing nothing on his face. “Indeed. With the enemy before us, we should not speak of private matters.”
Only then did Xie Xuanying’s expression ease slightly, and he asked in a businesslike manner, “May I ask the Commander, what is the situation with the rebel army?”
