The blood on Yu Zhou’s soil had hardly dried when Yi Zhou’s salt mines caused another wave in Greater Zhou’s court.
The junior chancellor, Liu Shuang Shi, had thought that the new prefect in Yi Zhou wasn’t going to cause him any trouble. It was true that the Chen family had roots in Yi Zhou, but Chen Yu had not come from that particular line of the Chen family. He’d been estranged from his relations in Yi Zhou for years, and had no base of support in the magistrate there. As long as the officials in Yi Zhou managed to keep themselves together, even as the prefect, Chen Yu doesn’t pose much of a problem. Though the junior chancellor obviously underestimated this disciple of the senior chancellor, and hadn’t guessed what the outcome of moving Chen Yu to Yi Zhou would be.
Long Xuan had planned to kill Chen Yu as soon as he knew of the new prefect’s a.s.signment. He wasn’t as optimistic as the junior chancellor. He believed that Chen Yu’s new position in Yi Zhou was very likely the result of the Senior Chancellor, Luo Zhi Qiu’s influence. Behind Chen Yu stood the power of the crown prince, and if this man made it to Yi Zhou, then that meant the crown prince, Long Yu, has extended his hand into Yi Zhou as well. Long Xuan gave the order to a.s.sa.s.sinate Chen Yu, but even though he’d always had great success with the a.s.sa.s.sins at Ming Jian Villa, they had let him down this time. Chen Yu was protected both in the light and in the dark by highly skilled martial artists. Even though there’d been some close calls on the way, he still managed to get to Yi Zhou safely and quickly, a.s.suming the position of prefect.
Just as Long Xuan ordered the junior chancellor to figure out a way of getting rid of Chen Yu from Yi Zhou’s government, Chen Yu had already begun figuring out a way of changing things in Yi Zhou. The first thing he did after becoming prefect was to send a letter back to Emperor Xing Wu, describing all the chaos in Yi Zhou’s salt trade. This missive was detailed and corroborated with the accounts books as well. Emperor Xing Wu was still feeling raw from the betrayal in Yu Zhou, and after seeing this missive from Chen Yu, he quickly sent word for Chen Yu to restructure the entire salt trade, as well as calling the old prefect back to the palace so matters could be further investigated.
Junior chancellor, Liu Shuang Shi, quickly commanded the officials in Yi Zhou to stop Chen Yu, but by this time Chen Yu received the full support of his old teacher, the senior chancellor, and had gained in-laws for his children in Yi Zhou in the form of the foreman of the local soldiers stationed to protect the area. With the support of both the senior chancellor and the foreman of the local military, Chen Yu was able to gain an upper hand on the officials in Yi Zhou who tried their best to keep him down. Yi Zhou’s politics had never been without cracks. Chen Yu was right on target almost every time he investigated someone. With more and more dirty officials turning up, it reminded people more and more of Yu Zhou’s Mining Case. And thus the business in Yi Zhou was named the Yi Zhou Salt Case.
Liu Shuang Shi had already lost Yu Zhou, he couldn’t lose Yi Zhou too. The junior chancellor redoubled his efforts in returning fire with fire. The imperial court was shrouded in a fog of war from the fighting between the different factions.
And it was during this time that the martial arts world started a new cycle of struggle and strife, but this time things began in a shroud of bizarre incidents. Ming Jian Villa had lost their lucrative arrangement with the government in supplying protection for the salt mines. The business was instead given to Qi Lin Villa. Even though those in the martial arts world couldn’t see what was going on behind the curtains, they could venture to guess that Qi Lin Villa gained some sort of support from the imperial court.
Qi Lin Villa announced that they were no longer training shadow guards. All the existing shadow guards had disappeared in a single night. When everyone was speculating that the shadow guards had been killed or otherwise disposed of, news came from the biggest apothecary of the martial arts world that a hundred and fifty odd Qi Lin Shadow Guards had been taken to the apothecary to be treated. After that, there were sightings of shadow guards training soldiers in several camps near Yun Guan. The news spread like wildfire, and Qi Lin Villa’s position within the martial arts world suddenly rose to the same level as Ming Jian Villa.
As the battle over this salt case raged on in the imperial court, the most popular gossip in the martial arts world was around how Ming Jian Villa had the junior chancellor’s support, while Qi Lin Villa had the senior chancellor’s support. Those who were in the martial arts world often cared little about what goes on in politics, but when the gossip and speculations were not denied by Qi Lin or Ming Jian, the general feeling towards the government shifted too. If politics became the baseline for decision making, then the martial arts world of Greater Zhou would no longer be so black and white.