Chapter 54 September Mystery "On the ninth day of the sixth month of the twenty-ninth year of Jianwu, Zhonglang..."
Fu Sui sat on the couch, her shoes and socks all off. Kou Yun was carefully holding her ankle and applying an ice pack.
Today, during the festival, everywhere is crowded with tourists. Baiqu has been clearing private weirs recently, and now that the canal is clear and there are no powerful families or servants to stop people, many people come to the canal to enjoy themselves.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, a stone tablet suddenly appeared in the Baiqu Canal. The stone floated on the water, and many people took it as a manifestation of the river god, and in the blink of an eye, the news spread like wildfire.
By the time Fu Sui learned of this, it was already too late to stop or contain it.
Fu Sui leaned against the low table and soft pillows, carefully considering the matter.
Given the scale of the incident, Fu Sui simply couldn't believe that the Wang family had nothing to do with it. But if it were the Wang family's doing, Fu Sui was suspicious.
Every word on the stone tablet praises the merits of the Prince of Jin. Given the relationship between the Wang family and the father, the Wang family must have lost their minds to praise the father.
Even if the line "The Jin River is filled with sorrow, and the spirit of the dead remains unrevealed" seems to have some hidden meaning, the death of the Prince of Jin was ultimately the work of the Wang family. Does the Wang family have to admit their own guilt?
If neither of these applies, what exactly is the Wang family's purpose?
From an outsider's perspective, the person who would do such a thing must be connected to the Prince of Jin. To be able to tamper with Bai Qu right under the nose of the Jingzhao Prefecture and have such a close relationship with the Prince of Jin, it can only be her or Qin An; no third party is an option. It's unlikely that few people trusted the Prince of Jin while he was alive, but more than ten years after his death, some powerful and influential members of the Prince of Jin's faction have suddenly emerged.
Could it be that the Wang family is targeting her?
Fu Sui rested his chin on his hand and thought through the words on the monument again, word by word.
Her relationship with the emperor was indeed not intimate. The emperor needed an assistant who wasn't constrained by the court, and she needed the stability and wealth of the princess's household. She and the emperor were merely using each other, and they were both well aware of their past.
Using such methods to sow discord between her and the emperor would be far too simplistic. The emperor desires a reputation for benevolence and wisdom, and wants to flaunt his deep friendship with the Prince of Jin, who "died for the people." What could be more suitable for the emperor to express his grief and compassion than Fu Sui, a living advertisement?
After Wang Yifu's death, Wang Bochang took over most of the Wang family's affairs and relationships.
Compared to Wang Yifu's tact and composure, Wang Bochang was more impetuous. Wang Yifu could remain hidden in Hedong for less than thirteen years, while Wang Bochang would feign illness and refuse to attend court at the slightest rumor, demonstrating the difference in their temperaments. If it were Wang Yifu, he would never have lost his position due to a fit of pique, nor would he have brought his feud with Fu Sui to the emperor's presence.
With the establishment of the imperial family and the appointment of officials by imperial decree, and the involvement of Tao Yunzhong, the Wang family had been at odds with the emperor in every way since Wang Yifu's death. What exactly did Wang Bochang take over that gave him such confidence?
Kouyun was worried that applying ice for too long would cause frostbite, so after a while she switched to applying an ice-cold cloth instead.
The imperial physicians from the Imperial Pharmacy were summoned again. A mere sprain could be treated by any doctor at any clinic; summoning the Imperial Pharmacy served two purposes: firstly, it highlighted Fu Sui's arrogance and favoritism; secondly, it was far more convenient for the emperor to consult the Imperial Pharmacy's medical records than to inquire at local clinics. Fu Sui was always astute in these small matters.
Fu Sui's ankle was fine; the physician prescribed some topical medicine to relieve muscle tension and improve blood circulation before leaving. Kou Yun remembered there was some high-quality rhubarb in the storeroom, so she took the key and called Fei Qing to go open the storeroom together.
Fu Sui stopped Kou Yun and asked, "I remember that some borneol and musk were presented as tribute a few days ago. Do you still have them?"
"Yes, they're here. Borneol and musk are difficult to store, so they're kept separately in the warehouse."
Fu Sui thought of the knee injury he had sustained while traversing the mountains. Although he hadn't shown any signs of injury along the way, how could he not have been hurt by such sharp rocks, especially since it was his left knee...
“Take some of each, and some blood-strips tea, and send them all to Xinghua Warehouse.”
Because of Fu Sui's sudden seizure, everyone in the manor was most afraid of getting injured and bleeding. Apart from the medicine for Fu Sui's lung disease, the medicine storehouse had the most complete selection of medicines for stopping bleeding and removing blood stasis.
After thinking for a moment, Fu Sui instructed Yi Hong: "Find someone to go to the Seventh Prince's place and tell him that Yan Shan will only marry Han officials, not foreigners."
Compared to Fu Sui's incomprehension of the Wang family's actions, Yue Shanling was more concerned about the line "The Jin River is filled with sorrow, and the spirits of the dead remain unknown."
When the Prince of Jin died, he was still serving in the Eastern Palace, and all news about the sacred mountain could only come from memorials sent from Hedong. At that time, he was extremely anxious but was confined to the imperial guards. He finally waited until the Prince of Jin's coffin entered the capital, but before he could go to welcome it, he was imprisoned in the Eastern Palace. After that, he was ordered to guard the border and could no longer return to the capital.
He had doubts about the cause of Prince Jin's death that day, but more than a decade of hardship had dulled his edge and taught him to "obey orders."
Even if there were unusual occurrences back then, they are now impossible to detect. He can no longer travel across the mountains and ridges to Hedong, nor is it within his control; he can only start from the capital.
After the death of the Prince of Jin, almost all the officials of the Eastern Palace were trapped and knew very little about the matter. The Cao family was also completely executed. The only ones who had participated in the matter were the imperial guards who had been mobilized by Emperor Taizu.
Yue Shanling did not act immediately; he waited several days before finding an excuse to access the old records of the Imperial Guards.
The Imperial Guards are not to be moved without orders. All transfers of Imperial Guards must be recorded by each guard and then submitted to the archives for safekeeping. Each transfer must include the personnel, destination, and a copy of the transfer order.
However, the records in the archives are not complete. When the emperor mobilized troops, he either issued verbal orders or had written orders but did not record them in the guards. As a result, when the records were finally put into the archives, they were incomplete and difficult to access.
Just like the last time the left and right guards were transferred on Qixi Festival, although there was a transfer order, it was not recorded in the files. This is also a tacit understanding between the guards and the palace.
Yue Shanling didn't hold out much hope of finding the original imperial guards' transfer order. Emperor Taizu's anger over the death of Prince Jin was widespread, causing widespread panic throughout the court. There must have been some shady dealings between Emperor Taizu and the imperial guards that day; if the guards' commanders had been sensible, they wouldn't have recorded these events.
He searched by year, and although the files of Wei Zhong looked neat, the dates inside were incomplete. Some files only had two or three transfer records for an entire year.
Of the twelve guards whose personnel changes occurred in the year of the Prince of Jin's incident, only a few training exercises and one hunting trip remain. Just when Yue Shanling thought that the relevant traces of these movements had been erased by Emperor Taizu, an old file on horse retrieval caught his attention.
"On the ninth day of the sixth month of the twenty-ninth year of Jianwu, General Du Hui led fifteen horses out of Hedong."
On the 18th day of the sixth month of the 29th year of Jianwu, the Prince of Jin passed away at Shenshan.
Du Hui, then serving as Right Guard General, had a close relationship with the current emperor, who was then the Prince of Jiangdu.
As luck would have it, Du Hui went to Hedong, and then the King of Jin died.
As luck would have it, none of the old files recorded this, except for this horse transfer, which was preserved because it was sandwiched in the files of military horse allocation.
Yue Shanling's fingers traced over records of military horse deployments.
Last month, the Duke of Wei thoroughly searched the registers within the Wei state, turning the archives into a complete mess. It was Yan Tianqing who finally managed to organize the registers by category, working until midnight. Although the military horse allocation registers hadn't been released yet, several copies were knocked over by Yan Tianqing carelessly bumping into a shelf.
He still vividly remembers how he picked it up and how he put it away.
He stopped at the military horse mobilization record tucked inside the troop deployment book. With the same grayish-yellow cover, a single, slightly different character on the spine would be difficult to detect with just a light glance.
Who put it here? And what do they want from it?
"On the ninth day of the sixth month of the twenty-ninth year of Jianwu, General Du Hui led fifteen horses out of Hedong and returned on the twenty-third day."
The handwriting is old, and the paper is yellowed. This page is no different from the pages before and after it in terms of paper thickness and texture. The scrolls stored in Weizhong were first cut and bound, then copied; any additions or omissions were appended. This kind of binding can be removed, but not added. This page was recorded in the register from the very beginning.
Regardless of whether Du Hui used horses on June 9th of the 29th year of Jianwu, this entry was added when the old case was returned to the archives that year.
When Emperor Taizu dispatched the Imperial Guards to Hedong to search for the Prince of Jin, he used the Left and Right Guards and the Thousand Ox Guards. There is absolutely no record of these guards' actions in the records of that time, and even the troop movements are completely blank. If such a large-scale mobilization could be omitted, why is Du Hui's name the only one recorded?
In the winter of the 29th year of Jianwu, Du Hui was executed for "negligence." Not long afterward, several officials from the former Eastern Palace were demoted, and he was also transferred to guard the border.
"Neglect" is a very intriguing charge. The Twelve Guards protect the capital and remotely command the military headquarters. Du Hui, a Lieutenant General, had never participated in any battles. What "neglect" could he possibly have committed within the capital's guards that would warrant execution?
Why was the Eastern Palace imprisoned after the death of the Prince of Jin? This was a question that Yue Shanling had also wondered about back then, but unfortunately he was kept under close watch and could not go anywhere. Just as the Eastern Palace was about to be unsealed, he was accused of "disrespect" and sent to a border town, where he remained under surveillance by people sent by the Taizu Emperor until he arrived.
Something must have happened in the capital that they didn't want him to know, which is why they sent him far away. But he was only sixteen years old then, and estranged from his family. What could he possibly need to be wary of from a powerless and insignificant boy?
Unless this matter would make him relentlessly pursue it to the end, unless this matter... is related to the Prince of Jin.
Regardless of whether this horse dispatch record is genuine or not, or what the person who placed it here intended, one thing is certain: in the 29th year of Jianwu, something unknown must have happened in the Eastern Palace.
If he were to inquire at this point about who had visited the case file recently, he would likely find an unexpected candidate. If he were to investigate further, he would surely uncover a shocking "truth."
Yue Shanling's gaze lingered once again on the name "Du Hui." Whether Du Hui had met the Prince of Jin or not, someone certainly knew, but he also wanted to investigate this specially left clue.
He put the record book back intact and, as he left, casually inquired with the guards whether anyone had recently entered or exited the premises.
As he left the guard post, several names lingered in Yue Shanling's mind. He tried to recall which one was prepared for him as he walked out of the imperial city.
When he reached the city gate, perhaps he was preoccupied and didn't pay attention to the road ahead, or perhaps someone was walking in a hurry on the other side, he almost bumped into someone.
When the man looked up and revealed his face, Yue Shanling narrowed his eyes, staring at his face. He vaguely remembered this man; he seemed to be a member of the Right Valiant Guard. He had seen the Right Valiant Guard pass through the imperial city a few times.
The person opposite looked up and saw that it was Yue Shanling. He smiled and revealed a red mole in his right eye that was hidden in the corner of his eye, leaving only half a bright red line.
He didn't speak to Yue Shanling, but simply stepped aside and passed by.
Looking diagonally ahead from beyond the mountain ridge, a person is leaving not far away.
The man was of medium build and dressed in very ordinary clothes; from behind, he was unremarkable in a crowd. He walked slowly down the street with his head slightly lowered, like a passerby. He would habitually push off with the balls of his feet when he took a step, and land on the outside of his foot first when he landed.
Yue Shanling's gaze followed his footsteps until he turned into the neighborhood before turning away.
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