Chapter 691: Dawn

"Take them away."

Seeing that his master had "played enough," Eunuch Zhang gestured for the two wet nurses to carry the young master and young mistress back inside.

Ji Chengjue sat in his study chair, watching his son and daughter being carried away, and laughed.

"I never understood before why the eldest son in a family is always relied upon the most and receives the greatest share of the family's resources, while the youngest is often the most doted upon. Now I understand.

"The eldest son is there the first time a man becomes a father. All that first-time joy gets poured into him. Naturally, the expectations placed on the eldest son, and all the hopes the father carries through him, are the greatest.

"By the time the second and third children come along, the freshness is gone. Once, twice, three times. After a while, it's just another child.

"Nothing more than a few extra names beneath your own in the genealogy. Nothing more than another pair of chopsticks at the dinner table.

"For families like ours, sometimes we don't even eat together, and we don't need to raise the children with our own hands. How could the affection not grow thinner?

"As for the youngest, he's almost like a child born in old age.

"After middle age, even the greenest tree eventually turns into deadwood. The children from earlier have already grown up.

"And once children grow up, they're no fun anymore. They're not cute the way they were when they were little. Looking at them only annoys you. Every day, pair after pair of eyes stare at you as though they're waiting for you to die a little sooner so they can fight over your property.

"But the youngest, who still understands nothing, carries no expectations from you. At least, not many. That's when raising a child truly feels like raising a child.

"Raise a dog. Raise a cat. Raise a... plaything. Naturally, you dote on it."

Eunuch Zhang did not dare respond. He merely smiled along.

Because his master looked as though he were talking about himself, but in truth, there was a very good chance he was alluding to His Majesty.

The First Prince was named Wujiang.

The princes after him all followed the Cheng generation-name.

That alone showed the hopes the Emperor of Yan had placed upon the First Prince when he was born.

From childhood, the First Prince had even been raised in the army, growing up playing and roughhousing with soldiers.

Since ancient times, any imperial prince who could touch military authority, leave the capital, and personally lead troops to war was absolutely favored.

You wanted to say the Emperor disliked him, did not want him in sight, and therefore deliberately sent him out to command armies?

Who would believe that?

If not for the First Prince's first defeat on the Wang River, which shattered his prestige and nearly broke Great Yan's momentum just as it was beginning to sweep across the states, followed by his marriage to a Barbarian Princess, then Ji Chengjue's rivals for the throne today would certainly have included the First Prince as well as the Crown Prince.

And the later things went, the greater the advantage of a prince with a military background became.

Great Yan's military was powerful now. Naturally, if an imperial prince from their own background ascended the throne, the military could better ensure its future interests.

As for Seventh Prince Ji Chengsu, he had indeed been the most favored of them all in recent years.

Even so, Eunuch Zhang still asked cautiously:

"Master, tomorrow's grand court audience... shall we still..."

"As planned."

"Yes, Master."

Eunuch Zhang accepted the order.

"Imperial Father hasn't died, has he?" Ji Chengjue chuckled. "So long as he still has one breath left, even if he has to force himself upright, even if he has to use some method like silver needles piercing acupoints, Imperial Father would never allow himself to cough blood and show weakness in front of the Barbarian High Priest.

"If he truly couldn't hold on, he simply wouldn't have appeared at all. Since he did appear, then even if he were going to die immediately afterward, he would still preserve his dignity until the moment before death.

"He only coughed up a little blood.

"Let them enjoy themselves for a while.

"In the end... he was only fooling them."

Ji Old Sixth was not guessing.

He stated it as fact.

He was completely certain.

The older he grew, the more he resembled his father.

Nothing else needed to be said. The ability to judge another by measuring him against oneself already let Ji Chengjue leave everyone else several streets behind when it came to reading the sovereign's intentions.

"Master, His Majesty did it deliberately?"

"Deliberately. Show weakness to the enemy and numb their vigilance."

Ji Chengjue picked up his teacup, took a sip, and continued:

"Some Ministry of Revenue accounts from a while ago looked perfectly normal. The grain, money, and military supplies escorted to Beifeng Commandery also looked normal at first glance. But on a few materials, the amounts were slightly higher than usual.

"Not enough to attract attention. But enough to smell something different."

Weapons needed maintenance. Bowstrings needed care. Soldiers needed protection against frostbite. Beifeng Commandery itself had plenty of grease, but it needed to be mixed with certain other materials before it could become a medicinal salve capable of keeping soldiers' skin from cracking during bitter winter operations in the open.

There were plenty of similar details.

And how had Sun Youdao guessed the larger plan?

He had relied on the same thing: understanding the mind of an Emperor.

There was no reason Sun Youdao could guess it while Ji Chengjue, who might as well have been a worm living inside the Emperor of Yan's belly, noticed nothing at all.

Once you began looking for evidence with a specific suspicion already in mind, countless tiny clues could suddenly be made to fit.

Ji Chengjue took out a bottle of Spirit-Refreshing Dew, poured a little out, and rubbed it over the center of his brow.

Just then... a "tok-tok" sounded from beneath the desk.

Eunuch Zhang immediately stepped forward and moved beside it.

A small opening appeared beneath the brush rack.

A slip of paper was pushed through.

Eunuch Zhang picked it up and unfolded it.

"Seventh Prince has been arranged by His Majesty to attend upon the Hall of Mental Cultivation."

Ji Chengjue nodded and smiled.

"Consort Shu is probably so happy right now she's lying facedown on her bed, crying and laughing at the same time."

Ji Chengjue meant it as a joke.

He guessed correctly.

This was not good luck.

It meant that as an imperial prince, he had long since studied Consort Shu's personality and habits with extraordinary clarity.

Only after you truly knew and understood someone, only after that person had no secrets before you, could you casually predict exactly how she would react.

Eunuch Zhang said:

"Master, this slave doesn't understand her either. If it were before, shouldn't she be even more frightened?"

"Of course she should be afraid. With Noble Consort Ming as the example before her, how could she not be? But she's been afraid for too long. Years of terror, jumping at every shadow, have tormented her badly enough. Then this suddenly falls into her lap. By rights, she should be both startled and delighted. But the fear has already gone numb, so all that's left is delight.

"Then add Imperial Father coughing blood at the banquet, and she'll naturally feel as though... all the bitterness has finally ended. Dawn has come."

Ji Old Sixth reached out and touched the brush rack.

In truth... there was absolutely no need to make this kind of information-delivery method so elaborate.

But long ago, that bastard surnamed Zheng had said he liked the feeling of sitting there while intelligence slips delivered themselves through a tube. It made the whole thing feel stylish.

Ji Chengjue had mocked him for taking off his pants just to fart.

If you could not even ensure someone could knock and enter your own study safely, why were you dreaming of digging tunnels underneath it?

His prince's residence had already been screened again and again.

Its security had long since been guaranteed.

Yet he had still followed Zheng's suggestion and installed this copper tube.

The message could obviously have been carried through the door.

Instead, it had to go through this extra step.

Perhaps... taking off your pants just to fart... was the true attitude toward life?

Then... another "tok-tok" came from beneath the desk.

Just as before, another sheet of paper was pushed from the opening beneath the brush rack.

Eunuch Zhang picked it up and read it.

"Master, His Majesty has ordered Fourth Highness to lead troops into the palace and assume overall command of palace defense."

Ji Chengjue reached out, picked up a preserved plum from the plate on his desk, and tossed it into his mouth.

He laughed.

"Old Fourth has probably been frightened limp onto the floor."

"Tok-tok..."

Another message arrived.

Eunuch Zhang picked up the paper and glanced at it.

"Fourth Highness received the order to assume palace defense... and was frightened limp onto the floor."

"Heh-heh-heh... hahahahaha..."

Ji Chengjue began laughing.

The two intelligence slips did not mean the same person had sent the news twice.

Two separate people had sent messages within a very short span, both using the fastest routes available, and the reports had reached this study one after the other.

The first source was probably someone close to Eunuch Qu.

At the very least, one of Eunuch Qu's trusted men.

Perhaps Eunuch Qu himself even knew he had such a trusted subordinate and simply chose to ignore it.

A eunuch who had climbed to the rank of red-robed chief eunuch inside the palace was inevitably a human spirit. Men at that level had spent their lives becoming someone else's confidant, then turning around and trampling those same people beneath their feet to rise higher.

How could it be easy to plant someone among them?

Across the entire inner palace, from eunuchs to female court officials, Ji Old Sixth's relationships were unquestionably the best of all the imperial princes.

But he... was not the pioneer.

He was merely the man maintaining those relationships.

The person who had truly forged them... had been his mother.

Of the men who had reached the rank of red-robed chief eunuch today, eight out of ten had been old servants of the princely residence or Eastern Palace in their younger years.

Back when they were still young eunuchs.

Back when they were at their most frightened and cautious.

Back when they were still tender enough to be moved, persuaded, and changed... that woman... had used wealth...

No.

Not wealth.

Not merely money.

She had given them other things, things capable of moving the heart even more than silver ever could. The money had merely been an extra.

That woman, all those years ago, had laid an iron bond of old affection for her son.

Life inside the palace was gray and white.

When many great eunuchs rested, or sat staring blankly into candlelight, they would unconsciously remember warm scenes from their lives.

That was human nature.

Who voluntarily sat around chewing over suffering when there was nothing else to do?

And among those warm memories... there would inevitably be that woman without the slightest air of superiority, the woman whose smile had always been warm and gentle.

Another message had naturally come from someone beside the Fourth Prince.

Anyone capable of seeing the Fourth Prince at his most wretched must have been one of the trusted men who entered afterward and helped him back up.

"Master, why has His Majesty ordered Fourth Highness to take command of palace defense? And Seventh Prince too. Is His Majesty trying to drag every imperial prince into the arena and make them fight?"

Ji Chengjue shook his head.

"Since Old Fourth said at the roast-duck restaurant that he would not fight for that position, then he is forever separated from it. In that respect, he's not even as good as Little Seventh.

"Neither Imperial Father nor the two Princes would ever allow an imperial prince who lost his nerve at the critical moment to sit on Great Yan's future Dragon Throne.

"No news has reached us from Yingdu yet, but I suspect Ran Min is about to be promoted."

"Master, His Majesty is..."

"No matter how little a father pities his sons, they're still eggs he laid himself in the end. Heh."

Ji Chengjue stretched.

Then picked up another preserved plum and tossed it into his mouth.

"He's afraid I'll turn into a cornered dog and leap over the wall."

"His Majesty is guarding against you, Master?"

Ji Chengjue's eyebrow lifted slightly.

"I'm used to it."

Long ago... he had already grown used to it.

"But I want him to watch with his own eyes. At tomorrow's grand court audience, I will knock down the Crown Prince he has propped up in front of me!

"The old man has had a brilliant name all his life.

"But there is one thing... he cannot change.

"He spent far too long recuperating in the Rear Garden. And now that he has returned, he cannot possibly start some enormous purge.

"Right now... is when the old man is most afraid.

"He not only wants to create a better situation. He must also protect the decent situation already in front of him with extreme care.

"Back then... when the armies of the Northern and Southern Princes entered Yanjing... the aristocratic clans had already yielded.

"Power was stronger than men. The old man could have dealt with them slowly and calmly.

"But he refused.

"He insisted on trampling the clans beneath cavalry hooves and sweeping them clean in one stroke.

"The man he is now... no longer has that kind of nerve.

"The Son of Heaven... must be dealt with by Heaven!"

Ji Chengjue picked up another preserved plum and rolled it between his fingers.

"Another good show. So now they're arranging the inside and outside as well? Companion Zhang."

"This slave is here."

"In truth, I'm not worried about tomorrow's grand court audience anymore. What I want to know now is something else."

"Master, give the order. This slave will have people investigate at once."

At a time like this, parts of the intelligence network could no longer care whether they were exposed.

The messages that had arrived tonight were a perfect example.

It was not that the information normally could not be transmitted.

It was that these reports had arrived too quickly.

Speed created mistakes.

Speed created exposure.

But it no longer mattered.

The final battle had arrived.

If you lost... what use was preserving all the hidden foundations still in your hands?

"You can't investigate this. Even if we smashed every hand we have in Yanjing into the search, we still wouldn't find it. And by the time we did, the news couldn't come back anyway, because the distance is too great.

"By then... the situation in Yanjing would already be settled."

"What does Master want to investigate?"

"I want to know whether, after dawn, the Northern and Southern Princes will still be inside Yanjing."

"..." Eunuch Zhang.

"Marquis Pingxi Residence and Marquis of Andong Residence were both arranged beside the two Prince Residences. What a coincidence.

"Marquis Pingxi Residence is easy enough to explain. Both residences were newly prepared, and everyone knows the relationship between the Prince of Jingnan and that Zheng fellow. Putting them beside one another is perfectly normal.

"But Eldest Brother?

"Eldest Brother has been to Beifeng Commandery.

"But now Prince Zhenbei's son has already been found again.

"What face does Eldest Brother have to deliberately crowd up beside him?"

"Master, Marquis of Andong Residence was established long ago," Eunuch Zhang reminded him.

"Exactly. The grass snake leaves its trail, the line lies hidden in ash; the thread was buried a thousand li away."

Ji Chengjue leaned his neck back.

The preserved plum in his hand flew upward.

"The old man's work is beautiful. A pity I can't toss him a broken piece of silver as a reward, like back when I listened to storytellers in Nan'an County."

For a while, the study fell silent.

"We cannot discover the movements of the Northern and Southern Princes. Only one person can know."

"Master, you mean Marquis Zheng?"

"Exactly. Tian Wujing will hide it from everyone, but not from him."

"This slave will have the man inside the Marquis Residence..."

There was indeed an informant inside the Marquis Residence, but arrangements had been made with the female steward of Marquis Pingxi Residence beforehand.

Everyone understood the situation.

It was merely a person left behind as a line of communication.

"I'm afraid that bastard surnamed Zheng won't dare tell me."

"Master..."

"I'm even more afraid that bastard surnamed Zheng will dare tell me."

If he did not dare... then obviously it meant this was Imperial Father's decree.

Marquis Pingxi, who had originally stood on the opposite bank watching the fire, had now been dragged onto the board.

An Emperor's anger, at this final moment and here in Yanjing, was no small thing.

Once Zheng Fan joined the board, he would effectively be choosing to turn away from his sovereign.

That was an enormous risk.

It was completely different from giving Ji Chengjue a little opening support at the grand banquet.

The Emperor's order would certainly require secrecy.

If Zheng Fan dared reveal it... that meant deceiving the sovereign.

That bastard surnamed Zheng had always preferred protecting himself.

He regarded his own life as more precious than Heaven.

It would be perfectly normal for him to refuse to pass along any hint.

And from the standpoint of the state, the people, and Great Yan's hegemonic cause... he would have every possible justification.

But... if Zheng Fan dared betray the imperial order under these circumstances and tell Ji Chengjue anyway... then it would mean... what Zheng Fan sought... was enormous.

Either he had something he absolutely had to do... or there was someone he desperately wanted removed.

Because... only hatred, only the desire to kill someone, the overwhelming concentration of wanting one person gone... could drive a man to such an extreme.

Zheng Fan already possessed stability.

Already possessed wealth and honor.

He had no reason to hurry for either.

"Do you know why I chose that Zheng fellow back then?"

"It must have been because Master possessed the discerning eye to recognize talent."

"Bullshit. I'm not an immortal. How the hell could I know he'd fly this high?"

Ji Chengjue smiled.

"Because he looks like Ran Min's kind of man, but at the same time, he is completely different from men like Ran Min.

"Assuming... he truly treats you as a friend."

At that moment... someone knocked on the study door.

Eunuch Zhang rose and opened it.

A dwarf dressed entirely in black stood outside, smiling.

Eunuch Zhang's eyes immediately narrowed.

"Third Mister?"

Ji Chengjue obviously recognized Xue San.

They were not close.

But the people around Zheng Fan were far too distinctive.

Xue San entered.

He did not kneel.

He merely bent at the waist in salute.

Fortunately... whether he knelt or not, the height difference was not especially large.

"Your Highness, my Marquis sent me to inform you of something."

"Speak."

"My Marquis asked whether Your Highness still remembers the agreement from before."

"I remember."

Zheng Fan had stacked his cup atop Ji Chengjue's.

Then the two had slapped palms.

"Good. The message my Marquis asked me to bring is this: before dawn, the Northern and Southern Princes will leave Yanjing and head west."

Ji Chengjue drew in a deep breath.

Then closed his eyes.

What shocked him was not the news itself.

It was Zheng Fan's purpose.

What in the world... had driven that bastard surnamed Zheng to abandon his old style and plunge this deeply into the game?

Xue San spoke again.

"My Marquis also said there are ten thousand Jingnan cavalry outside Yanjing. And the Prince of Jingnan's command token was given to him long ago."

"Ten thousand cavalry are powerful, but this is Yanjing," Ji Chengjue reminded him.

Inside the capital were the various Capital Camps.

Outside the city was also a Zhenbei Army garrison.

"My Marquis means that even if we truly sit down at the table and lose the game, he can still take Your Highness's wife and children and break out of the capital region."

Even the road of retreat... had been guaranteed for him.

That bastard Zheng had always been the type to pull his trousers up afterward and deny everything.

Why was he being so damned considerate this time?

"Did your Marquis have anything else to say?" Ji Chengjue asked.

"One final sentence. It's somewhat disrespectful."

"Say it."

"My Marquis said:

"'Your elder brother here rarely chooses to believe in someone. This time, I want to be true brothers with you once.

"'Little Sixth...

"'what you do now...

"'is up to you.'"

[End of Chapter 691]