Chapter 138 The Princess of Yunzhou is assassinated; Chen Liangyu sneaks into Yunzhou at night. ...
Xie Wenjun and his party traveled north to inspect the fields. They first went to Yunzhou, where they measured the fields, and then went to Shanggu County via Zhongwu City.
Yunzhou is located between Yongdu and Suzhou.
Yunzhou City is located on the central plain of Yunzhou. As far as the eye can see, there are vast and boundless farmlands stretching for hundreds of miles.
The crisp sound of copper bells came from the south, and first eighty riders in black chainmail armor pierced the sky, gradually revealing the outline of the Imperial Princess's entourage. Though they moved slowly, their majesty was imposing.
In early summer, April, the midday sun shines brightly, but it doesn't carry the scorching heat of midsummer.
In the fields, several strong young men with thick arms pulled apart hemp ropes and drew straight lines on the ridges.
"Stop!" Yuan Rong raised her hand.
Upon hearing the sound, the young strongman immediately steadied himself, keeping the rope taut and vertical.
Xie Wenjun bent down and, without hesitation, reached into the soil, pulled away a few weeds, and pressed her hand onto the shallow mark left by the end of the rope ruler.
She looked up and gazed at an old farmer a few steps away, dressed in coarse brown clothes, with dark hands and face.
“Old man,” Xie Wenjun asked the old farmer, “according to the land register, this is the eastern boundary of your family’s land, is that correct?”
The old farmer, his back hunched, glanced quickly at the several high-ranking officials in their robes standing beside him. The officials were expressionless, their eyes lowered, fixed on his feet. The old farmer's lips trembled a few times, and he finally managed to utter a muffled sound.
"It should be...right?"
Xie Wenjun pointed to a short, stout man dressed as a clerk with fair skin.
"Tell me," her voice suddenly turned a fraction lower, "whether it's yes or no?"
“Your Highness, I am Wang Cheng, the Registrar of Yunzhou Prefecture,” he said, holding a thick, dark blue cloth-bound booklet, looking around with a smile on his face. “This is the eastern boundary of this field.”
Xie Wenjun frowned slightly and asked the old farmer again, "Old man, is what he said true?"
The old farmer trembled, lowering his head so low he almost buried it in his thin chest, and stammered, "Yes...it's the Eastern Boundary...this sir is right..."
"Bow!"
Xie Wenjun stopped questioning the old farmer and decisively gave the order.
Changning Wei stepped forward and presented a wooden bow. Xie Wenjun took it herself, held the pivot, and opened the triangular wooden bow used for surveying, placing the crossbar against the ground. She used the mark at the end of the measuring rope as the starting point and began to draw the bow.
"one!"
Xie Wenjun took a step forward, and Yuan Rong, who was accompanying her, immediately made a heavy stroke on the unfolded land register. Several officials from Yunzhou also moved their feet and followed behind in silence.
"two!"
"three!"
...
The number of steps accumulated on the pages of Yuan Rong's book. When Xie Wenjun finally stopped and nailed the marker stake at the other end, the brows of several state officials on the ridge were glistening with sweat.
Yuan Rong's pen hovered above the booklet. She quickly calculated the number of steps, converted them into the number of acres, and repeatedly checked the dark blue cloth booklet in Wang Cheng's hand before raising her head. "Your Highness, the actual measurement is five acres and seven fen of land."
"How many acres are recorded in the land register?"
"Your Highness, it is eight mu and nine fen, which is a difference of three mu and two fen."
Three mu and two fen of "ghost land" that was concealed.
Xie Wenjun repeated, "Eight mu and nine fen," her voice rising slightly at the end, carrying a hint of coldness, "Three mu and two fen of land have disappeared out of thin air. Could these few mu of ghost land have really been eaten by ghosts?"
No one answered.
A sultry heat, a mixture of earthy smell and rotting straw, rose from the field.
Governor Jiang Wende of Yunzhou knelt on the edge of the field and bowed. “Your Highness, perhaps the clerk in charge of recording the land made a careless mistake during the measurement. I will order an inspection of the fields immediately.”
Xie Wenjun nodded slightly, as if confirming a trivial detail, then turned around and instructed, "The accounts of land tax, poll tax, and miscellaneous items of Yunzhou for the past three years shall be sent to my desk before sunset."
Jiang Wende kowtowed on the ground, saying, "Your humble servant obeys."
The inn was located in a fairly well-maintained official residence within Yunzhou City. After a hasty dinner, Xie Wenjun went straight to the study that had been temporarily set aside. The room was already lit, the light from a few rough porcelain oil lamps dim and yellow, casting flickering shadows.
The desk was piled high with records of measurements taken during the day and copies of past field registers.
These are all field records that have been kept.
She didn't flip through them immediately. Her gaze lingered among the cloth-bound booklets for a moment before she looked up out the window.
The wind picked up outside.
Outside the bright window, the shadowy trees swayed and rustled in the wind as the wind swept through the branches, making Xie Wenjun feel somewhat uneasy.
Only Xie Wenjun and Yuanrong remained in the study. Xie Wenjun did not immediately open the general ledger sent by the Yunzhou government. Instead, she picked up the daytime measurement records and compared them with several old land tax collection ledgers.
The land register of Yunzhou recorded 8.9 mu of land, so taxes had to be levied on the people based on 8.9 mu of land. However, the land tax report submitted by the Yunzhou government to the Ministry of Revenue stated that taxes were paid based on the actual measured 5.7 mu of land.
He embezzled the tax on three and a half acres of land from just these few plots of farmland.
Yuan Rong said, "Your Highness, Jiang Wende, the Prefect of Yunzhou, is a relative of Jiang Andong, the Commander of the Imperial Guards."
"I know."
Yuan Rong said, "Perhaps it is because Jiang Andong has the Empress Dowager's backing that Jiang Wende dares to be so arrogant. Ever since the Emperor took over the Agriculture and Sericulture Bureau from the Secretariat, there have been constant problems with grain tax. Now Your Highness still has to personally deal with the mess."
Xie Wenjun examined the land tax accounts and noticed that the tax amounts for certain years seemed to have been deliberately smoothed out in minor details compared to the years before and after. Most of the land registers in Yunzhou matched the actual measurements, but a few accounts had significant discrepancies, as if they were indeed due to carelessness during the registration process.
The smiling face of Wang Cheng, the registrar of Yunzhou Prefecture, flashed through her mind.
Perhaps those miscounted fields were clues deliberately left by someone, or perhaps they were hooks to lure her into some kind of trap.
Xie Wenjun's gaze lingered on one spot. She had checked the land records of Yunzhou during her field inspection in the second year of the Zhenyuan era. Four or five years had passed in the blink of an eye, and she didn't remember some of the entries very clearly, but she vaguely sensed that something was amiss. The numbers themselves were fine, but the density of the ink and the subtle movements of the brushstrokes gave them an odd feel compared to the other entries on the same page.
It's very faint, so faint that it's almost negligible.
"Bring the lamp closer," Xie Wenjun said.
Yuan Rong hurriedly moved an oil lamp closer to the desk. The light from the rough porcelain oil lamp was not good, and considering the frequent wars in the past two years and the tight budgets of local governments, Xie Wenjun did not pay much attention to what kind of oil the inn was using.
Upon closer reflection, it seems as if someone did it on purpose.
Xie Wenjun leaned down, almost bringing her nose to the worn paper. She carefully ran her fingers along the edges of the suspicious ink stains, then stopped. In the lamplight, where the ink touched the paper, Xie Wenjun noticed a very faint, almost imperceptible scratch mark. It was extremely subtle, as if a thin blade had carefully scraped away a layer of ink before rewriting and covering it.
It would have been difficult to discover this if she hadn't been suspicious.
“Clatter.”
A very faint, almost imperceptible click of a mechanism was heard. Xie Wenjun and Yuan Rong both looked toward the bookshelf from which the sound came, and both felt a chill run down their spines.
"Rong Jun!"
Upon hearing the noise, Rong Jun kicked open the study door. Inside, Yuan Rong was holding Xie Wenjun in her arms, protecting her, and staring in horror at the half-walled jujube wood bookshelf in the study.
Rong Jun strode to the bookshelf in a few steps, not noticing anything amiss. "Your Highness, what's wrong?"
“There’s someone there.” Yuan Rong stared intently behind the bookshelf.
Rong Jun went forward to investigate. The bookshelf was against the wall, making it impossible to hide anyone. He ordered a few people to come in and move the bookshelf aside, revealing a solid wall behind it.
When they moved to the third section, the bookshelf became immovable, and even the combined efforts of several Changning guards could not move it.
Yuan Rong dismissed them, saying, "Everyone, get out."
Several Changning guards who were moving bookshelves left the study.
Xie Wenjun held up the oil lamp to examine the carvings on the bookshelf closely. Her fingers slowly moved along the wood grain, finally stopping at an inconspicuous carved meander pattern near the wall. The carving of that pattern was somewhat crude, with some paint chipped off. She pressed down hard with her fingertips.
"Clatter." Another sound.
Rong Jun pulled her aside and stood in front of her, saying, "Your Highness, be careful!"
Below the side panel close to the wall, a wooden board about half a foot square silently slid inward, revealing a narrow and dark hidden compartment.
No hidden weapons were launched from the □□.
Xie Wenjun reached inside and touched a thick stack of things. She took them out, placed them on the table, and brushed off the thin layer of dust that had just settled on them.
There are several booklets.
The paper was rough and yellowed, with badly worn edges, clearly indicating it had been stored for several years and frequently handled. The cover of the booklet had no title or label, only some unidentified ink dots. It was a genuine record of the Yunzhou government's annual financial transactions.
This is the real meat account.
The oil lamp flame suddenly leaped up, bursting into a slightly larger flame with a crisp "crack," which sounded particularly startling in the deathly silent study.
The wind howled and whistled through the corridor outside the window, and in the distance, one or two crows cried out mournfully and briefly.
Rong Jun immediately ran to the courtyard, shouting, "There's someone behind the house! Chase them! Changning Guard, strengthen the defenses! They're not on duty tonight, so everyone be on high alert and keep watch!"
When the patrolmen chased the man to the back wall of the study, the person who had left the account books had already vanished.
A dark shadow suddenly flashed across the outer wall. It was gone in an instant, but Rong Jun still caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye.
"Who?" Rong Jun asked.
Then, sounds of fighting and killing rang out from the outer courtyard.
Dozens of men in black, their faces completely hidden by masks, leaped over the high wall of the outer courtyard and broke through the paper-thin window of the official's study. The night wind instantly extinguished the two oil lamps closest to the desk.
Yuan Rong moved to the oil lamp on the desk, which swayed wildly, the light and shadow flickering violently, shrouding Xie Wenjun in darkness.
A blade flashed towards Xie Wenjun, but Rong Jun swung his sword, knocking the assassin's single-edged sword to the ground. The assassin then drew a short dagger from his sleeve and lunged for Xie Wenjun's throat.
A close call!
Xie Wenjun raised her arm, and several short arrows shot out from her sleeve, killing the assassin right before her eyes.
"Protect the Emperor!"
The Changning Guards instantly surrounded the study, making it impossible to move. Rong Jun picked up his sword, stepped on another black-clad assassin who had broken through the window, and held the sword to his neck. "Who ordered you to assassinate the Princess?"
"I was following orders, Lord Rong. I apologize!"
The assassin held several thin blades between his fingers and slashed towards Rong Jun's calf. The blades were blackened, indicating they were poisoned.
Rong Jun quickly dodged, forcing the assassin out of the study and back to an open area in the courtyard. But as soon as he retreated to the courtyard, several assassins, like vultures attracted to carrion, rushed towards him.
Yuan Rong embraced Xie Wenjun and shielded her in a corner, saying, "Your Highness, these assassins seem to be after Lord Rong."
***
Suddenly, the sound of galloping hooves echoed through the dense forest outside Yunzhou City, reaching the city walls.
The fluttering wings of birds in the forest startled a large flock of birds into flight.
The sound was deafening; there were at least a thousand heavily armored cavalrymen.
Chen Liangyu's undergarment was already soaked with sweat and stiffened by the night wind.
The torches on the Yunzhou city tower flickered, illuminating the surging guards behind the battlements.
"Open the door!"
After a moment of silence on the city wall, the garrison captain shouted, "Curfew has passed, the city gates are closed, and they will not be opened until the morning bell tomorrow. Who goes there?"
"Chen Liangyu of the Northern Frontier!"
The person on the city wall asked again, "General, what brings you into the city?"
Chen Liangyu suddenly raised his voice, "I have urgent military intelligence to report. I need to pass through Yunzhou to return to Yongdu and report to the Emperor."
"General, the curfew is late. Has the Ministry of War reported any military intelligence?"
Chen Liangyu was practically cursing. "The military situation is urgent, and there's no time to report to the Ministry of War. If the city gates aren't opened soon, all the guards on the Yunzhou city wall will be punished according to military law for delaying military operations!" She held up a seal. "This is the commander's seal. I will leave through the south gate in half an hour and will not disturb the people of Yunzhou."
The city gate finally slowly opened.
The thousand-horse Eagle Head Army rode in, but instead of heading towards the south gate via Zhongzhi Street, Chen Liangyu led his cavalry straight to the official residence where Xie Wenjun was staying.
Author's note: Thank you for reading this far!
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