Chapter 432: Arrangements
Translator: DragonRider
After putting down his writing brush, Ling Zhang checked the letter. Satisfied with it, he put it into an envelope.
The letter was so thick that he had to use a specially made envelope to contain it, which was now bulging.
Yao Yi walked inside, sealed the envelope with wax for him and then took the letter outside to have it sent.
After dinner, Ling Zhang went out for a walk. Unlike any of the other towns he’d pa.s.sed along the journey, this county was close to Jiangzhou, so the night-time curfew took effect at a relatively early hour. The county gates were shut, not allowing anybody to go in or out. The street outside his residence was almost deserted. Except for local yamen runners patrolling the street with a couple of street lanterns hanging on the two sides, there were hardly any people in sight.
Seeing this, Ling Zhang immediately came to realize that it was inadvisable for them to go out. If by any chance they got caught, they’d be in serious trouble. Therefore, he pivoted around and returned to the residence.
“How far is it from this county to the encampment of the army?” Ling Zhang asked Jiang Yu.
During the day, Jiang Yu’s bodyguard had gone out and made inquiries about a lot of things.
“The army is stationed in a wood near Xiaofeng Village. A national road in the wood leads right to Jincang County. The checkpoint set by w.a.n.g Xiangxin is not far away from the boundary marker of Jiangzhou. It’s a two-hour horse ride from here to Xiaofeng Village. There’s a national road leading to it. We may get there in less than two hours if we travel fast,” answered Jiang Yu.
“Let’s go there to take a look tomorrow,” Ling Zhang said and, after giving it some thought, added, “We go there by stealth.”
“The county gates facing in the direction of Xiaofeng Village are heavily guarded by soldiers. People whose faces are not familiar to the soldiers can hardly get through and may well arouse their suspicions. We need to figure out a way,” said Jiang Yu.
Ling Zhang said, “We’re not going through the county gates.”
They were not going through the county gates? Jiang Yu was fairly surprised. How else would they be able to get out of town if not by going through the county gates?
Ling Zhang pointed at Yao Yi and explained, “I’ll have Yao Yi get me out of here. It’s not necessary for me to bring many men with me. You guys may just wait in here and, for good measure, have your bodyguard make some extra inquiries to collect intelligence. I want him to report everything to me after I return.”
Jiang Yu looked at Yao Yi. Speculating that Ling Zhang and Yao Yi were going to get out of town through some kind of special method, he asked no more questions. “Please be extra careful tomorrow, Childe Ling.”
Ling Zhang gave a nod.
Yao Yi scratched his head. He was merely going to take Ling Zhang out of this county to observe the encampment of the garrison, and they wouldn’t enter Jiangzhou, so it wouldn’t count as a violation of the emperor’s orders. It should be okay.
“Is the General Zhongwu (AKA the General of Loyalty and Valor) personally leading the troops stationed at the checkpoint in Jincang County?” asked Ling Zhang.
Yao Yi replied, “Previously the General Zhongwu was in Xishan County. When His Majesty’s secret edict was delivered to Haizhou, he also received a copy of it. Barring accidents, he should have come to Jincang County by now, but I still need to go there tomorrow to check to be sure.”
Ling Zhang thought about it for a brief moment and then said, “Then we’ll enter the encampment tomorrow to check. The fewer who know about our arrival, the better. I want you to figure out a way to deliver a message to the General Zhongwu tomorrow. Tell him we’ll find another time to meet him.”
Yao Yi nodded. “Yes. The General Zhongwu probably received the message about your arrival when His Majesty’s secret edict was delivered to him. I’ll figure out a way to sneak in there and make contact with him.”
Ling Zhang inclined his head and then said, “Shan Congyi and Mu Rongfeng have joined hands. In order to make it more convenient for them to communicate and cooperate, Shan Congyi would probably choose to infiltrate into Jiangzhou via Jincang County as well. Jiang Yu, tomorrow you and your bodyguard are to go out, make some inquiries and see if anybody suspicious has come into town lately.”
Jiang Yu accepted the order and then added, “This county is not far away from the encampment. Shan Congyi probably doesn’t dare get too close. In all likelihood, he is staying somewhere nearby right now. I’ll search this area carefully.”
The Jiang family still had some connections in this place, and Jiang Yu’s father was watching over their ancestral mausoleum, so Jiang Yu had some unique advantages, which made him the perfect candidate for the job of seeking out suspicious newcomers.
…
After conferring with each other about what they were going to do the next day, they all turned in early, except for those who were supposed to be on night duty. They had been traveling in great haste and hadn’t had any good rest for nearly a week. Now that they’d arrived in the destination, it was very important for them to recharge.
Having no intention to stay to disturb Ling Zhang’s rest, Yao Yi and Jiang Yu also took their leave in succession.
After the room fell silent, Ling Zhang looked around him. This room was not big, but all daily necessities were available. Also, the bed had been made, and the bedding and mattress were new. w.a.n.g Dashan and some others had made this room very comfortable, but Ling Zhang was still unaccustomed to the strange bed. And the air in the room was unfamiliar to him too.
Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep any time soon even if he went to bed right away, Ling Zhang combed through what he’d met and seen during the journey, the current situation as well as what he was going to do the next day. Eventually, it struck him that he lacked a detailed map of this county and Jincang County, which was not easy to come by, for this kind of things were all securely kept in the county yamen. Now that he didn’t want to blow his cover, he needed to figure out another way to get the map.
He gave it some thought and decided to have Yao Yi handle this matter.
After hearing his words, Yao Yi set out to get the job done. The map was also a necessity for them. He had long since got used to tasks like “stealing” maps. All he needed to do was figure out a way to get the map without alarming any staff members of the county yamen.
…
In the capital city.
Yuwen Tong had just received a letter from Cangzhou. The sender was not Ling Zhang.
Receiving a letter from Ling Zhang was not a daily occurrence for Yuwen Tong, but a letter from his secret bodyguards was delivered to him every day without fail.
After reading the letter which told him in detail what Ling Zhang had done during the day, Yuwen Tong had a general idea of Ling Zhang’s schedule on that day. Given the time of the arrival of this letter, these things happened three days before. Ling Zhang had probably reached the small county adjacent to Jincang County in Jiangzhou. He wondered what that small county was like, whether Ling Zhang had found a suitable place to live, how he liked the food there, whether he’d encountered any dangers. Considering the time, maybe Ling Zhang had gone to bed by now.
Thinking deeply, he was no longer in the mood for dealing with the memorials to the throne, so he returned to the Infinite Fortune Palace.
When he had entered the Infinite Fortune Palace, he found that the imperial bedchamber was very quiet. There was n.o.body waiting for him, no late-night snack on the table, no smiling face, no charming voice, no nothing. For an instant, he wondered why he’d come back to this empty bedchamber which served only to remind him of his lover’s absence and make him miserable.
“Would you like me to have them serve the late-night snack, Sire?” asked Miao s.h.i.+san, walking inside.
Yuwen Tong didn’t feel like eating. “No.”
Miao s.h.i.+san flicked a glance at Yuwen Tong’s face, answered “Yes, Sire” and then took his leave. After exiting, he didn’t send someone to cancel the delivery of late-night snack. This night their master had returned early, and it was not the time for late-night snack yet. Most importantly, judging from how things had gone in the past few days, their master almost certainty wouldn’t be able to sleep until midnight, and he might feel hungry before that.
Miao s.h.i.+san was full of resources. The others, however, was more concerned about whether or not there had been any new messages from Cangzhou.
Miao s.h.i.+san said, “There weren’t any letters from Childe Ling today.”
“Oh, no wonder. His Majesty didn’t receive any letters from His Highness, so he naturally is in a foul mood.”
“I wonder how His Highness has been doing in Cangzhou. Captain and the others are probably taking good care of His Highness, but I don’t know whether His Highness has got accustomed to the life there or not.”
Miao s.h.i.+san gave it some thought and said, “It surprises me you’ve been thinking so much about this matter. Captain would’ve taken you to Cangzhou instead had he known about this beforehand.”
The guard who had just spoken giggled, “I’m just worried about what worries our master. I mean, you’ve seen it yourself. Our master’s mood has been quite unpredictable lately. We’re all stressing out.”
Miao s.h.i.+san gave him a dirty look. “You’re such a baby. If you’re stressed out by this kind of trivial matter, you’ll never be able to achieve anything big.”
“Alas, you’re no better than us, Brother s.h.i.+san. Wasn’t it you who narrowly avoided being given the punishment to maintain Horse Stance for the whole morning?”
Miao s.h.i.+san, “…”
Without saying anything, he directly gave the guard a kick which sent him flying several paces away.
It was a warning delivered with strength: guard your tongue.
All the others inwardly snickered at the sight of this, but on the surface they all seemed serious, not daring utter a word.
Miao s.h.i.+san looked over his shoulder at the imperial bedchamber. He also wished Ling Zhang would come back from Cangzhou soon. He’d never seen their master have such abrupt mood swings before. Every day their powers of observation were put to the test. Still, given how long it’d been since the arrival of the last letter from Ling Zhang, the next letter should come the next day, which meant that their master would probably be in a good mood the next day, and they would get to relax a bit.
…
Yuwen Tong, with great care, reread the couple of letters he’d received so far, and combed through the events that Ling Zhang had told him in the letters, forming an idea of the current situation in Cangzhou. It seemed that Xu Lingyun had been doing a good job. Everything in Cangzhou was on the mend. The people were the very foundation of this country, and helping the people resume agricultural activities was of the utmost importance. The reconstruction of fortifications, however, could wait. Still, the weather was gradually getting cooler, and the first cold wave might come at any moment. People would have to wait until next spring to resume agricultural production. Food supplies and winter clothes had been delivered to Cangzhou in batches to see the people there through the winter, and the Ministry of Revenue didn’t have much money left. All government departments around the country, to a greater or lesser extent, relied on the imperial court allocating money to them to cover the overhead. Also, several armies were being deployed, and soon there would be a battle in Jiangzhou. All these required money… The situation in Cangzhou brooked no delay, so a sum of money had been allocated as a matter of urgency. Another batch of food supplies and winter clothes would be transported there after some time. No matter what, as long as they toughed out this winter, things would slowly get better.
Yuwen Tong exhaled and then ma.s.saged his forehead. Ever since he’d acceded to the throne, he’d had a lot of state affairs to deal with on a daily basis. At this particular time, every day there were some issues that he didn’t have enough time to settle and added to the next day’s workload. It didn’t stress him out, but as n.o.body was here to keep him company, he suddenly felt somewhat tired.
In the final a.n.a.lysis, he did need someone by his side.
Previously he’d been a lone wolf, the marshal in sole command of the whole Northwestern Army, but now he was actually having this kind of feeling, the cause of which was a mystery to even Yuwen Tong himself. At that time he’d been quite baffled as to why both his parents, on their deathbeds, had hoped he’d get married and start a family. Now, come to think of it, he believed it was probably because they could understand the difference. Ling Zhaowu had once mentioned to Ling Zhang that he’d never married in his last incarnation… If only he had met his sweetheart earlier in his last life. Now he felt faintly sorry for his last incarnation.
After a while, finding that his mind had wandered so far away, Yuwen Tong was rather surprised at first and then smiled wryly. Previously he’d never thought of this kind of things, which showed that it was indeed unforeseeable how a lonesome man might conduct himself.