Chapter 340 Racing Against Time
Ouyang Rong strode out the gate and boarded the carriage with a cold expression.
As soon as he entered the carriage, he sat down, leaned back against the headrest, closed his eyes, and remained motionless.
The anger and indignation on his face temporarily disappeared.
"Prince, where are we going now?"
Ouyang Rong remained silent.
He leaned back with his eyes closed, recalling the reactions and expressions of Li Zhengyan, Wei Shaoqi, Du Shuqing, Wang Junzhi, and others when Yan Liulang and the others hurriedly walked by at the banquet.
Ouyang Rong frowned slightly.
Yan Liulang held the groom's reins, frowning as he waited, not wanting to disturb the magistrate who remained calm even in the midst of chaos.
The Guizhou mutiny was such a major event that it was like a bolt from the blue for the long-peaceful and harmonious southern regions.
The news has spread throughout the city.
Public opinion was in turmoil.
Ouyang suddenly opened his eyes:
"Let's go to the Xunyang Prince's Mansion first."
"yes."
The carriage sped toward Xiushui Workshop.
Half an hour later.
As the Chief Secretary of Jiangzhou, Ouyang Rong, as usual, visited the Prince of Xunyang to report on the preliminary construction of the Xunyang Grottoes and the recruitment of workers for the excavation of the Twin Peaks.
After the discussion was completed in the hall, Prince Xunyang, who was in charge of the construction in Jiangnan, inquired about the well-being of Ouyang Rong, the deputy official in charge of the statue making.
Before stepping out of the hall, the latter suddenly stopped and, looking calmly at Xunyang Prince Li Xian, whose eyes held worry and who had hesitated to speak several times, said:
"There are some rumors circulating in the city today, but their truth or falsehood has not yet been confirmed. Why should Your Highness worry and lose your composure?"
Even if it were true, Jiangzhou is not Guizhou. The officials of Jiangnan Circuit and the officials of the Divine Capital Court will handle it properly.
"This matter has nothing to do with Your Highness, nor with the Jiangzhou statues. Everything remains the same. Your Highness should focus on supervising the construction of the Donglin Buddha and share His Majesty's burdens. That is the greatest act of filial piety."
Li Xian paused for a moment, then nodded in understanding, impressed by the man's calm and analytical attitude.
"Thank you for your guidance, Chief Secretary Ouyang. I know what to do now."
Ouyang Rong nodded at the door, and before turning to leave, pointed to a half-full cup of hot tea on the sandalwood table in the hall:
"This osmanthus tea is excellent; the brewing technique is superb."
Under the watchful eyes of the surrounding officials and palace servants, Li Xian calmly said, "Chief Secretary, take some back with you."
Ouyang Rong shook his head and walked away.
He left the Xunyang Prince's Mansion and boarded the carriage.
Yan Liulang drove forward, and when he passed a small alley ahead, he turned into it.
The carriage waited for a while in an alley not far from the Xunyang Prince's Mansion.
Suddenly, the carriage curtain was lifted from the outside.
As Ouyang Rong glanced at the limited intelligence coming from Guizhou, he caught a familiar scent of orchids.
The rich fragrance of orchids is also mixed with the refreshing scent of osmanthus in April.
At that moment, a beautiful woman in red, carrying a small bag of osmanthus tea, quietly boarded the carriage and sat down next to Ouyang Rong.
In the center of the carriage is a small incense burner shaped like a white crane with its neck raised.
This was brought from the Prince's mansion by my junior sister and placed in the carriage to incense and refresh Ouyang Rong after each drinking session.
After getting into the car, Xie Lingjiang put down the osmanthus tea and tightly closed the car window.
With her fair, white hands, she picked up the small fire tongs and added two pieces of smokeless charcoal.
Wisps of fragrant smoke rose and filled the carriage.
Xie Lingjiang turned her head and stared intently at Ouyang Rong, who was frowning in confusion, glancing at the urgent document from Guizhou in his hand.
Ouyang Rong suddenly felt a "cold" sensation on his neck, followed by a slight itch. He looked down and saw the beautiful woman beside him, her starry eyes fixed on him, raising her hand to carefully straighten his collar.
Then, Ouyang Rong felt a soft, boneless, smooth hand quietly slip into his palm and tightly grasp half of his hand.
"Senior Brother, how is the situation? What are your instructions for calling me here? I hope nothing serious has happened."
"I've heard about what happened in Guizhou. It's all over the city now, with all sorts of rumors. Some say that Lan Changhao, the Prefect of Guizhou, is acting against the will of Heaven, while others say that the soldiers guarding the border are dissatisfied with His Majesty's construction of the Tian Shu Buddha statue, and that resentment has been brewing for a long time..."
Xie Lingjiang bit her lower lip, her face filled with worry.
Ouyang Rong grasped her soft hand in return, silently feeling the warmth emanating from her smooth skin. He shook his head.
"I am neither the official in charge nor the person responsible for this matter, and I don't know much earlier than the people of Xunyang. The news of the mutiny of the garrison troops in Liuzhou cannot be kept secret. It has now traveled all the way from the western border of Lingnan Road to Jiangzhou, and I don't know how long it has been delayed."
"The news we're hearing now is from about two weeks ago."
"I wonder where those 1,500 garrison soldiers and rebels are now, whether they have been stopped by the prefectures and counties along the way, or whether the local officials, terrified, have simply let them pass and are now rushing towards Hongzhou and Jiangzhou..."
Ouyang Rong rubbed his temples, his hand silently clenching the official document:
"The first news would definitely be sent to the military commanders of each state with great urgency, but the military affairs of Jiangzhou are all controlled by Wang Lengran, and the Zhechong Prefecture is almost entirely staffed by his people."
"Perhaps the news of the Liuzhou mutiny had already reached them two days ago, but they kept it from me and the Jiangzhou government for two days."
"Ha, of the 1,500 garrison soldiers, 300 are from the Jiangzhou Garrison Command. As the military commander of Jiangzhou, Wang Lengran cannot escape responsibility for negligence."
"Second only to Lan Changhao, the Prefect of Guizhou, and Zhu Lingxu, the Governor of Hongzhou."
Having calmly analyzed the situation, Xie Lingjiang sneered, a mocking smile playing on her lips:
"The key is the extent to which one is implicated. Perhaps Governor Wang is currently discussing with the generals of the Zhechong Prefecture how to exonerate himself and shift the blame."
"We should keep this from Senior Brother for as long as possible."
Ouyang Rong took a deep breath:
"I am not interested in whether they lose their official hats or not. I only care about how to appease and deal with these 1,500 border guards."
"In retrospect, they were forced into this rebellion by the delay."
"1,500 border guards from Hongzhou and Jiangzhou, affecting countless families in those two prefectures."
"It's one thing for Lan Changhao, Wang Lengran, and Zhu Lingxu to be foolish and court death, but to treat the mutiny as a joke and drag so many innocent people down with them."
"If things are handled poorly, conflicts may break out along the way, provoking these mutinous soldiers returning north, or if they are led by someone with ulterior motives, the returning soldiers may storm Hongzhou and Jiangzhou, which are the southeastern gateways of the Jianghuai region, and then go down the Yangtze River, penetrating into the southeastern part of the Great Zhou's tax-rich areas, and even Jinling, causing unrest..."
"That would be a huge disaster; it would be tantamount to rebellion!"
Xie Lingjiang straightened her back, her beautiful face filled with worry: "What do we do now?"
Ouyang Rong suddenly said, "We need to be quick."
"What's the meaning?"
"We can't let Wang Lengran and his gang monopolize the imperial court's hearing, evade responsibility, and put the garrison soldiers to death. But before that..."
Ouyang Rong suddenly calmed down and turned to give the order:
"Sixth Brother, drive to Xingzifang immediately, to the address I gave you, passing through Zhenguang Street..."
What are you going to Xingzifang for?
Upon hearing his senior brother recite the unfamiliar address of Xingzifang with practiced ease, Xie Lingjiang looked puzzled and asked curiously:
"Senior Brother, are you going to see your colleague Yuan Huaimin? He is indeed the Sima of Jiangzhou, but isn't that a nominal position? He's the one with the most free time."
“It’s not him.” Ouyang Rong shook his head: “You might know the person they’re looking for.”
Xie Lingjiang's eyes were filled with curiosity.
About half an hour later, in the afterglow of the setting sun, a carriage slowly drove through a street called "Zhenguang" in Xingzifang.
As the sun sets, street vendors and peddlers close their shops and head home one after another.
At the street corner, there was an unremarkable house where the owner rarely went out. On a wall close to the main street, the crabapple blossoms that the lady of the house used to display were nowhere to be seen.
Instead, a pot of bright red azaleas swayed gently in the evening breeze.
A carriage slowly drove past the house at the corner of Zhenguang Street without stopping, heading into the distance.
"What is Senior Brother looking at?"
As I passed inside the carriage, it seemed a woman's head popped up, her voice filled with curiosity.
"Shh." The man pressed her head down, paused, and then said, "Let's go have some tea."
"Tea? Where to?"
"The usual place."
"What old place?"
"Um, Yunshui Pavilion. I was just talking to Liulang."
"Oh, you men have quite a lot of secret codes and slang." She nodded.
"..." someone.
About an hour later.
On the third floor of Yunshui Pavilion, by the Xunyang River, at the door of a private room, Yan Liulang stood guard, sword in hand.
Inside the private room.
Two men and one woman were kneeling and drinking tea in front of a small tea table.
Ouyang Rong and Qin Heng met again and sat down facing each other.
Xie Lingjiang sat beside Ouyang Rong, not touching the cup of tea that her senior brother had brewed for her on the table. Her pretty face showed a slightly strange expression as she looked around the tea room, which contained a sleeping bed, a bathtub, towels, and neatly folded men's bathrobes.
Ouyang Rong and Qin Heng didn't have time to deal with these minor details and went straight to the point.
"Does Chief Secretary Ouyang know about the situation in Guizhou?" Qin Heng asked seriously.
Ouyang Rong glanced at Qin Heng, whose expression seemed somewhat dejected and troubled, and nodded slightly:
"I've heard a little about it. General Qin should know more. Could you tell me more details?"
Qin Heng nodded and sighed:
"I learned about it a little late. It was only last night when Governor Wang suddenly summoned us to discuss it that I found out about it. We argued about it all night in the military camp outside the city... As a result, the news spread throughout the city this morning. It seems that when the time came, Governor Wang had no choice but to speak up."
Ouyang Rong ignored all of this and asked directly:
"I just want to know, did those 1,500 garrison soldiers storm Guizhou Prefecture at that time?"
"No, they only wanted to return to their hometown in the north and did not commit any heinous acts."
"Are you carrying any weapons?"
"I brought them." Qin Heng closed his eyes and sighed, "I seized the weapons and armor from the Military Supervisory Office."
"What about Lan Changhao? Is he dead or alive after the mutiny he instigated?"
"They're still alive and well."
Qin Heng gritted his teeth and said in a resentful tone:
"This Lan Changhao is quite clever. He ordered Commandant Xu, who was in charge of the garrison, to go to the military camp outside the city to announce the postponement, while he stayed far away in his mansion inside the city, drinking tea and waiting."
"As a result, the soldiers guarding the border objected on the spot. They wanted to go back to their hometowns to reunite with their wives, children and elderly parents, but they were told that the severance pay was insufficient.
"So the garrison soldiers no longer believed the Guizhou government and were probably desperate to return home. At that time, no one knew who instigated them, but they rushed forward in a fit of rage, their eyes red, and killed Xu, the head constable, and two other officers on the spot. Finally, they elected a well-respected officer named Cai Qin as their leader, destroyed the camp, looted the warehouse, and returned north together."
Ouyang Rong immediately asked, "Who is this Cai Qin? Is he from Jiangzhou or Hongzhou?"
“Hongzhou was originally under the jurisdiction of the Fourth Zhechong Prefecture. Most of these 1,500 soldiers are from Hongzhou. Our 300 soldiers from Jiangzhou can only be considered as being swept along with them as they returned north.”
Ouyang Rong questioned him carefully:
"In our Jiangzhou Third Garrison Command, did that Captain Su Qian lead the instigation to kill his superior?"
"I don't know, probably not. I know Brother Su's personality; he's not the kind of troublemaker who sticks his neck out. This time he must have been forced to follow, but unfortunately, it's too late to turn back now."
Qin Heng sighed deeply:
"Lord Ouyang, you may not know this, but soldiers are naturally fond of drinking and martial arts. Once the army mutinis, being in that kind of atmosphere, they are sometimes capable of doing anything. By the time they sober up, it is too late to regret it."
Ouyang Rong remained expressionless and continued to ask:
Where are these soldiers returning north now?
"Latest news: It just entered Yongzhou territory ten days ago."
Ouyang Rong breathed a slight sigh of relief. Fortunately, Yongzhou belonged to Jiangnan Circuit, but it was located at the junction of Lingnan Circuit and Jiangnan Circuit.
Hongzhou and Jiangzhou are located in the northern part of the central part of Jiangnan Circuit, on an important waterway in the middle section of the Yangtze River.
These soldiers either became confused and regretful after regaining their senses, fearing being accused of treason, or temporarily lacked enough boats to transport 1,500 people by water.
Therefore, the speed is far slower than the urgent 800-li delivery service. It has only covered a small part of the distance between Guizhou and Jiangzhou, so there should be plenty of buffer time.
Moreover, most of the 1,500 mutinous garrison soldiers were from Hongzhou, so they would definitely return to Hongzhou first, while Jiangzhou would be placed later, as it would be less risky.
"Were there any conflicts along the way?"
"Lord Ouyang should know that in Lingnan Circuit, the local inhabitants are already powerful, and the local officials are short of money and food, so they mostly 'govern by doing nothing.' For now, no local official has dared to stop them, so things are going smoothly. In fact..."
"That's good. Even what?"
"I heard that when they were leaving the country in Guizhou and other places, the villagers along the way sympathized with them and gave them food and water."
Ouyang Rong remained silent.
Qin Heng couldn't help but say:
“Our soldiers of Zhechongfu are all from military households, and each one of them is a carefully selected good family. They have served the country and defended the borders against enemies in the past, and they have a strong sense of honor. How could they be the kind of bandits with poor military discipline? I believe that as long as they are not at their wits' end and have run out of water and food, they will not harass the people of the prefectures and counties along the way in the slightest.”
As if remembering something, he said with concern:
"Lord Ouyang, it seems that Governor Wang has already written his memorial. He summoned us today to have the generals of the General's Office sign it as his testimony. General Yang, Chief Secretary Sun, and Instructor Du have all signed it."
Ouyang Rong nodded in praise: "He's really fast in this aspect."
"I understand. Thank you for clearing up my doubts, General Qin."
Ouyang Rong lowered his eyes and pondered for a while, then slowly stood up, preparing to leave with Xie Lingjiang.
As the two reached the door, Qin Heng, who was sitting alone drinking tea, suddenly turned around:
"Lord Ouyang, will Captain Su and the others... be able to return safely?"
Ouyang Rong paused for a moment, "I can't guarantee that, but I can guarantee I'll do my best."
Upon returning to the carriage from Yunshui Pavilion, Ouyang Rong immediately addressed Xie Lingjiang:
"Come back to Huaiye Lane with me, I need to mail two letters."
One of the letters was a memorial to the emperor, which was sent to the imperial court in the capital.
"One letter is to be sent to the Master, and you must explain the details of this matter clearly. As for the Master's letter, you should go through the clan channels to send it to the Teacher and have him deliver it on your behalf."
Xie Lingjiang replied crisply, "Okay!"
(End of this chapter)
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