Jiang Yi said, “The day before yesterday, the bandits besieged Xintai. The Xintai county magistrate defended the city to the death and unfortunately died in the line of duty. Now Xintai has also fallen into the bandits’ hands.”
Xintai is adjacent to Mengyin County, with no mountain ridges blocking the way in between – it is flat, open ground. Cavalry passing through is as easy as reaching into a bag to take something out; not being able to hold it is not the county magistrate’s fault.
But what comes next will not be so easy.
Jiang Yi led Xie Xuanying into the hall and gestured over a map. “Between Xintai and Dongping, there is very little mountainous terrain to serve as an obstacle, making it easy for cavalry to maneuver. I imagine the bandits wanted to rely on this point, which is why they were in such a hurry to take Xintai.”
Xie Xuanying nodded and listened intently.
“They have horses, but no boats.” Jiang Yi, even if he was fond of flattery, was a general who had risen through military merit and naturally had a keen eye for warfare. “If the naval forces move east, they won’t be able to stop them.”
Dongping has a river called the Dafen River, which flows north to connect with Dongping Lake and meets the Yellow River. Another tributary extends south to connect with the Grand Canal, and to the west it splits into two – one called the Chaifen River, right at Xintai’s doorstep.
And in Shandong, in order to prepare against pirates, the naval forces were still passable.
Xie Xuanying understood the implied meaning as soon as he heard it and asked, “What orders does the commandant have?”
Jiang Yi deliberated and said, “Are you familiar with naval warfare?”
Xie Xuanying said calmly, “I am not.”
Jiang Yi sighed inwardly. If he remembered correctly, Marquis Xie had arranged for the Second Young Master Xie to enter the Naval Guard precisely to have him inherit the old marquis’s naval foundation. He must be familiar with naval warfare, and going on this expedition would be free credit.
What a pity – such a great favor could not be delivered into Marquis Xie’s hands.
“Warfare is all about timing, terrain, and harmony among the people. Now that we hold the advantage of terrain, there is no reason not to use it.” No matter what misgivings he harbored inwardly, Jiang Yi’s expression was flawless as he said earnestly, “I intend to use cavalry to lure them, draw away the bulk of the bandits’ forces, and then launch a surprise attack with the naval forces to retake Xintai. At that point we can strike from both east and west and wipe out their main force.”
The straight-line distance from Dongping to Xintai is roughly 140 kilometers.
This area is flat, with no natural strongholds to rely on, which allows the advantage of cavalry mobility to be fully utilized. If the government troops were to face the rebels head-on here, they would certainly win, but the casualties would inevitably be heavy.
Jiang Yi wanted to rise in rank and make his fortune, not lose his post and his life, so although he was confident in his forces, he still wanted to win in a presentable fashion.
So his plan was simple: use the personal troops Xie Xuanying had brought as bait to draw the rebels’ main force into the vast plains. Then, relying on a naval surprise attack to the rear, retake Xintai County directly.
By then, the rebels would have the Xia dynasty’s most elite troops in front of them and the naval forces behind them, cut off from their rear base, and could only be destroyed.
Once the most troublesome cavalry bandit unit was dealt with, the rest of the Wusheng Cult would be nothing to worry about.
Xie Xuanying asked, “What if the bandits are cowardly, get frightened off by the main army, and head straight south?”
“Haven’t troops been transferred from Jiangsu?” Jiang Yi said with a smile. “I’ve already coordinated with Commandant Xu. The two thousand elite troops transferred are stationed at Linyi. They have nowhere to retreat.”
Xie Xuanying silently worked through it for a while, then nodded. “I am at your disposal.”
Jiang Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Since receiving the order, what had troubled him most was not how to fight the rebels -if the government troops truly meant to fight them, the rebels had no chance of victory; victory was only a matter of time. What he feared was Xie Xuanying leaning on imperial favor to meddle in military affairs and insist on claiming the great merit of wiping out the rebel leader.
That would be troublesome.
No matter what, this was Marquis Xie’s own son. He could not let him actually run into the enemy’s nest. If he were injured or something went wrong, it would be hard to explain to His Majesty.
Now it was best that he was willing to follow orders. As long as the rebellion was suppressed smoothly, even if Xie Xuanying ran off to Jinan to indulge in pleasure and idle away his days, Jiang Yi could still deliver the merit into his hands.
However, having dealt with this young ancestor, there was still another old ancestor.
“I wonder where Eunuch Liang of the Imperial Horse Administration is?” Jiang Yi had already prepared a chest of gold, silver, and treasures, just waiting to bribe the garrison eunuch.
Xie Xuanying replied, “He has not arrived yet.”
Jiang Yi immediately straightened his expression. “Eunuch Liang handles everything personally and attends to every detail himself – truly admirable.”
Xie Xuanying: “…”
Cheng Danruo had been at the Prince Lu’s residence for three days.
As a mascot, there was actually nothing she needed to do – Prince Lu’s funeral had already been completed. The coffin had been buried the day before she arrived.
The princess dowager was overcome with grief and needed rest, and the commandery princess had to observe mourning. The entire Prince Lu’s residence had closed its doors to visitors, and there was nothing to do at all.
The daily task consisted of nothing more than first going to the princess dowager’s residence each day and asking, “Is the princess dowager well?”
The palace maid would answer, “Her Highness is well.”
Then she would go to the main hall and ask once more, “Is there anything to do today?”
The chief administrator would reply, “Thanks to imperial grace, there is nothing to do in the residence.”
Work was over.
The people of the princely residence were also very enthusiastic and arranged some entertainment for her – such as strolling in the garden, reminiscing with the old palace attendants by the princess dowager’s side about the customs of the capital, or doing needlework with the senior palace maids.
Cheng Danruo was very sensible. Whatever they proposed, she nodded and agreed.
The residence’s garden was very beautiful – Taihu stones, Luoyang flowers, brocade towers, emerald bamboo pavilions – one glance was enough to tell that huge sums had been spent. After all, the feudal prince was trapped in his fief and could do nothing else, so he could only fleece the people in every possible way and live a life of drunken dreams.
Thanks to being on official duty, Cheng Danruo quite enjoyed several days of leisurely life.
Because of her cooperative attitude, the people around her gradually became less tight-lipped.
That day, while she was admiring the chrysanthemums in the garden, she heard a clamor behind the wall and casually asked, “Why are there so many men’s voices? Won’t it disturb the princess dowager’s peace?”
“The second gate is locked. Outsiders can’t get in,” the palace maid said. “This is the renovation of the East Garden. The original buildings were more or less burned down, so it has to be finished before the heir returns.”
Cheng Danruo hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back.
“If you have something to say, Auntie, please speak freely,” the palace maid said warmly. “Is there something we have done improperly?”
Cheng Danruo said with concern, “With all these people coming and going, could there be rebels among them?”
The palace maid was startled, and a look of tension appeared on her face. “That should not be possible. His Highness has already…”
“Better to be careful all the same. The princess dowager is advanced in years and cannot withstand a fright,” Cheng Danruo suggested earnestly.
The palace maid thought it over and found it reasonable. She summoned a young eunuch and gave him a few instructions, telling him to inform the chief administrator to screen the craftsmen strictly and not let rebels slip in again.
Cheng Danruo carefully observed her every move and felt that her nervousness and vigilance were not feigned.
In other words, the rebels really had been here – it was not the Prince Lu’s residence staging a performance.
That was very strange.
Several dozen rebels had infiltrated a heavily guarded princely residence and abducted a feudal prince? Although an emperor commanding a hundred thousand troops could also be captured, that was in a confrontation between two armies.
In the princely residence, only the buildings in the East Garden had burned; the outer walls were intact. This did not look at all like there had been a fierce battle.
Could it be that someone inside the residence had colluded with the Wusheng Cult and deliberately killed Prince Lu? But then so many people should not have died. With Prince Lu’s character, even the palace maids despised him – would the guards really have fought to the death to protect their lord?
Also, the rebels had abducted Prince Lu rather than killing him outright. What exactly was the reason for that?
In the evening, the palace maid returned to the courtyard where the princess dowager lived and entered quietly.
The princess dowager was reclining on a beauty couch, and two young palace maids were gently massaging her shoulders with beauty mallets. The palace maid stood to one side with her hands lowered, holding her breath and waiting.
After a moment, the princess dowager slightly opened her eyes, waved her hand, and signaled the two young palace maids to leave.
Only then did she speak slowly, “How is it?”
The palace maid took the beauty mallet and continued massaging the princess dowager’s shoulders while quietly reporting what had happened that day.
The princess dowager pondered and said, “She only asked that one question? Did she inquire about anything else?”
“Only on the day she arrived did she ask Matron Zhang about that day’s events, and afterward she never mentioned it again,” the palace maid said. “These past few days she has only talked about Shandong’s local customs and which shop’s ejiao is good.”
The princess dowager gave a slight nod. “Have the things all been delivered?”
“They have been delivered,” the palace maid reported in full detail. “She did not accept a single banknote, saying ‘one should not accept rewards without merit.’ She did accept the bird’s nest, but she does not eat much of it – Xiao Hong, who serves her, says she gave it all to the few of them.”
After thinking a moment, she added, “However, today she asked me whether the residence had a library and said she wanted to borrow a couple of books to look at. I told her there is a small study in the front courtyard and said I would answer her after reporting to Your Highness.”
Another palace maid said, “The manner of this female official really is different from that of the eunuchs.”
A year earlier, the emperor had sent eunuchs to reprimand Prince Lu, and they had all seen how those eunuchs behaved – if there was no good wine and fine food, they put on cold faces; only after several hundred taels of silver had been stuffed into their hands did they greet people with smiles, acting more like ancestors than ancestors.
By comparison, the female official sent this time truly deserved to be called cultured and reasonable, content to keep to her place and observe the rules.
“Eunuchs are rootless men; in their eyes there is either money or power,” said the princess dowager. Her son was worthless and her daughter had died young, so the people she could actually talk to were none other than the palace maids and matrons around her, and she was quite willing to say a few more words. “In the early years, the rear palace mostly had female officials assisting in administration. They were cultured and reasonable and often explained poetry and prose to us. I was the daughter of a butcher and barely knew a few characters; thanks to the female historians teaching me to read and compose poetry…”
In that instant, she briefly sank into memory, recalling her girlhood when she rose to the heights in a single step.
“That was all decades ago; afterward it was worse year by year. By the time I came to the fief, only one Bureau of Palace Administration was left in the rear palace to hold things together.” The consort dowager sighed softly and suddenly came back to herself. “I did not expect Hong Yuexia to actually have some ability.”
She thought for a moment and said, “Let her go to the study; there is no need to block her.” Then, unable to hide her sarcasm, she added, “The Four Books and Five Classics are nothing but decorative flourishes – the Buddhist and Daoist scriptures in the East Garden have all been burned clean, yes?”
The palace maid said, “Rest assured, Your Highness, the chief administrator has handled it all properly.”
The princess dowager gave a slight nod.
Cheng Danruo was permitted to enter the study in the front courtyard to borrow books.
The princely residence’s study certainly had no lack of books – it contained all kinds of rare editions, as well as some newly published collections of essays and commentaries on the classics, and every volume was brand new; one glance showed that no one had ever leafed through them.
What Prince Lu usually read was certainly not these Confucian classics and commentaries.
But that did not matter – coming to the study was not for the sake of reading. She mainly wanted to take advantage of the study’s favorable position to steal a look at the burned-down East Garden.
The result was that there really was nothing worth seeing – it had all burned clean, and now it was piled full of timber, with craftsmen going in and out, leaving no trace behind.
Regretting this, she had no choice but to actually borrow two books.
Classical commentaries and ancient texts were out of the question, so she chose two newly published poetry collections. Afraid of arousing suspicion, she did not linger either, and soon took her leave and returned.
As she passed the garden, several people came toward her. Crowded in the middle was a girl of about ten-some years, pale-faced and frail, whose expression suddenly became agitated when she saw Cheng Danruo approaching.
Cheng Danruo’s heart stirred, and she looked at the palace maid beside her.
The palace maid crouched in salute. “Commandery Princess.”
“Your Highness.” Cheng Danruo stepped aside to make way but did not kneel.
There were distinctions even among commandery princesses. For example, of the two daughters of feudal princes raised in the rear palace, Commandery Princess Jianing had a formal title and was a proper commandery princess; although Prince An’s daughter was also called “commandery princess,” she had in fact never been formally conferred the title.
Female officials generally did not need to kneel when meeting them.
“There is no need for such courtesy, Official Cheng,” the commandery princess said hurriedly. “Do you, do you have free time? I would like to ask for guidance – um, ask for guidance on matters in the capital.”
Stammering and with a somewhat casual manner – this commandery princess… was a little strange.
