Chapter 238 The Four-Sided Chess Game
The night before the grand assembly.
Li Jin, dressed in black, hurriedly sneaked into the Dali Temple at night.
Then, Su Siyuan, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review who had been waiting in the courtyard for a long time, pressed a sword against his neck from behind: "In the middle of the night, dressed like this, you come to my remote little yamen."
Su Siyuan sneered: "What, has His Highness Prince Jing run out of pawns? Is it finally time for the Dali Temple to make its move?"
Li Jin let out a long breath, raised his hand and pulled down the black mask covering his face. He drew his long sword and, in the blink of an eye, began fighting with Su Siyuan behind him.
Zhao Chengping, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, who came upon hearing the commotion, glanced at the scene and quickly raised his hand, shouting at the guards who were about to rush forward, "Back off!"
The dozen or so guards were stunned for a moment. Seeing Zhao Chengping's cold and indifferent expression, they nodded and left the courtyard.
Under the moonlight, swords clashed, making a clanging sound.
Seeing the two figures fighting so hard, Zhao Chengping simply rolled up his sleeves and sat down on a stone stool nearby.
Then, deliberately, he took out a letter, cleared his throat, and said, "The Crown Prince makes a nighttime visit to the Prince of Pingyang's residence..."
Before he could finish speaking, Su Siyuan twirled his sword with a flourish, a smile playing on his lips, and continued, "Otherwise, Prince Jing wouldn't be able to enter the Eastern Palace's courtyard."
Zhao Chengping frowned, pondered for a long time, and then said, "The Prince of Pingyang has always pretended to be stupid and never participated in the struggle for the throne. He has been focused on treating his sickly son. How could he listen to Your Highness and help with this?"
With a clang, Su Siyuan, forced back three steps by Li Jin, had no choice but to change tactics. While catching Li Jin's sword, he said to Zhao Chengping, "Playing dumb? Give me a break. There's no one in the royal family who understands the meaning of 'pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger' better than the Prince of Pingyang!"
"Oh..." Zhao Chengping suddenly realized, then complained, "Since you are so insightful, my lord, you should have given me some pointers in advance. I argued with the Prince of Pingyang in court the other day and my face turned red. How am I supposed to deal with him when we meet again in the future!"
In the courtyard, the autumn wind blew, and the long sword in Li Jin's hand drew a long arc.
Su Siyuan, having taken three heavy blows in a row, grimaced and said, "Deal with it! Let the Prince deal with it!"
After he finished speaking, the long sword in his hand flew out with a whoosh and stuck firmly into the soil of the garden next to him.
It was as if time had reversed, and the two people had switched places.
Li Jin stood behind Su Siyuan, his long sword pressed against the center of Su's neck: "Too much talk."
At this point, Su Siyuan spread his hands, shook his body, turned around, and respectfully bowed: "This humble official, Su Siyuan, greets Your Highness Prince Jing."
Seeing Li Jin's still smiling face, most of the worries in my heart were relieved.
"Your Highness's swordsmanship shows no hesitation; you must already have a plan, right?"
Li Jin sheathed his longsword, nodded, and walked straight ahead: "Let's talk inside."
The "Three Judicial Offices" commonly referred to by the public are actually a collective term for the Six Doors, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Ministry of Justice.
Ordinary civilians and officials below the seventh rank were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice, while the rest were under the jurisdiction of the Court of Judicial Review. The Six Doors, on the other hand, were responsible for handling serious cases.
The three government offices checked and balanced each other to maintain basic legal fairness.
"Whether you're an official or dealing with people, you must first have humanity before you can talk about the law." Su Siyuan brewed two cups of tea and pushed them in front of Li Jin. "This time, the Crown Prince seems to have outmaneuvered the Prince, but in reality, he was pushed into the furnace by the strict edict."
He took a sip of tea and smiled, "Mr. Jin has no real power; he's just a minor official. Yet the Crown Prince is so aggressive, which is exactly what he wants."
It is a great taboo to be unable to tolerate virtuous and capable people.
Li Jin picked up his teacup and glanced at it: "At this critical juncture, you made me risk my life to come here just to say this?"
The room fell silent for a moment.
Zhao Chengping brought over a small plate of sugar, placed it between the two of them, lifted the corner of his shirt, and sat down to the side.
“That’s definitely not the case.” Su Siyuan raised his hand, picked up a candy, twisted the wrapper a couple of times, and held it out in his hand. “Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice. According to custom, a grand court assembly will be held, with all officials coming to the capital to discuss matters concerning the nation.”
He looked at Li Jin's face and continued, "Why doesn't Your Highness take this opportunity to make a big scene?"
Li Jin's hand, which was stirring the surface of the tea, paused for a moment. His gaze remained fixed on the tea, looking at his own reflection in the cup, before he finally asked, "How do we make a big fuss?"
Then Zhao Chengping stood up and handed over a small booklet.
Before him, Su Siyuan mysteriously raised his hand, pointed to the booklet, and said, "The names of the officials recorded in it are all loyal and virtuous ministers under His Majesty's command."
He chuckled, “His Majesty instructed me to secretly deliver this booklet to you. As for how Your Highness uses it…” He tapped his finger three times lightly, “That’s up to Your Highness.”
Li Jin narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the small, green booklet under his finger.
He held it in his hand and flipped through two pages; the first name he saw was Yan Zhao.
After the stern edict, he was surprised to see the name Song Zhen.
Li Jin looked up and stared blankly at Su Siyuan, who was eating candy beside her.
Su Siyuan nodded, sucking on his candy, and mumbled, "We often meet in the palace, we're old acquaintances." After saying that, he didn't forget to praise Song Zhen, "He's very cunning, with the bearing of a prime minister and the talent of a general. I can't beat him anyway."
After hearing his comments, Li Jin chuckled dryly: "Is Lord Su criticizing him or praising him?"
“Both.” Su Siyuan laughed. “If he hadn’t schemed against me and had instead forced me out of the army to come to Dali Temple to take over this mess, I would have a higher opinion of him.”
He swallowed the pill in his mouth and sighed, "However, if I were still in the army, I would be unable to help His Highness Prince Jing at this moment."
Su Siyuan raised his hand, tugged at his collar, and said with a smirk, "This cunning merchant has been setting up this grand scheme for five years." He glanced at Li Jin, "He's just waiting for His Highness Prince Jing to become powerful enough to follow the clues and come knocking on our door."
Upon hearing this, Li Jin remained silent for a long time before finally speaking again: "So, for the past five years, the way you've treated me like a plague god was also his idea?"
Su Siyuan clicked his tongue, not answering directly, but instead saying something with a hidden meaning: "Some people think they have woven a big net, but they don't know that the net is woven in the hands of others."
“Some people, who clearly hold the reins of the world's chessboard, only see themselves as a pawn.” He gazed at Li Jin. “This pawn had already given its life to the prince many years ago.”
Inside the room, the candlelight flickered.
After a long pause, Li Jin laughed out loud, shaking his head as he laughed: "All along, I thought that in this game of chess, there were only me, the Crown Prince, and my father who was sitting on the sidelines watching the tigers fight. As a result, the clues we obtained were mutually exclusive, and we could never piece together a complete picture."
He took a deep breath: "But I never expected that there was a fourth force on this chessboard from the very beginning."
He stopped smiling, raised his eyebrows and glanced at Su Siyuan's face, coldly asking, "So, who exactly is this 'Song Zhen'?"
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