LF Chapter 42
by VolareThe west wind suddenly rises, withered leaves flutter and fall. Only bare branches of flowers, plants, and trees remain in the capital, swaying in the cold wind of late autumn and early winter.
The harsh winter is approaching, and the end of the year is near. A procession of flags and banners leads a line of carriages and horses, a dark and dense mass departing from the north gate of the capital.
Jiang Yinghua has gotten her wish and embarked on her return journey to her fief in the Northern Territory. Half-reclining in the spacious and warm carriage, she contentedly pulls Yan Wanzhi to play chess with her.
At this moment, on the city tower of the north gate of the capital, the carriages on the official road to the north can no longer be seen, leaving only some yellow sand stirred up by the gale, rampaging.
On the city tower, a long, floor-sweeping dress of black woven with gold is torn by the rushing west wind, the pattern of a lithe flying dragon on the long skirt sweeping eastward. The heights are bitterly cold, but she seems unaware, her gaze fixed on the north, reluctant to withdraw her gaze for a long time.
“It’s chilly here, Your Majesty, please take care of yourself. Ninth Princess has gone far, why not return to the palace?” An old eunuch with graying hair stands respectfully at her side, unable to bear the fierce wind of early winter.
The Emperor’s actions have always been based on imperial power and interests, rarely hesitating in considering trade-offs. Only sending Prince Zhao back to the Northern Frontier has made Your Majesty’s heart uneasy, unsure whether this decision is appropriate.
The wind grows stronger, the whistling sound sweeping up dust, adding to the vastness. The person on the city tower, disliking the atmosphere of flying sand and stones, finally ceases her stubbornness and turns to leave.
When Prince Zhao came, she traveled light and simply. Now, when she leaves, she has moved the entire Prince Manor in the capital, taking everything with her, leaving it empty, claiming that this way she will not miss her hometown. This behavior, in the eyes of the court officials, makes them truly believe in this little Prince’s determination to guard the frontier and defend the country, and they no longer expend much thought on her.
The group travels slowly, stopping and starting, and after nearly ten days, they finally enter the territory of Bingzhou. Jiang Yinghua dislikes causing trouble, so she orders people to go around the city, avoiding the officials who came out to welcome her.
The accompanying guards originally thought that their master would not do this, and had planned to stay in Bingzhou City tonight. But Jiang Yinghua gave orders not to enter the city, and the guards had no choice but to tell the coachman to speed up and try to reach the next post sixty miles away safely before midnight.
Entering winter, the days are short, and dusk comes quickly, night falling in the blink of an eye. The roads in the suburbs are sparsely populated, and the Bingzhou territory has many mountains, so the guards are all on high alert, prepared for anything.
The continuous bumpy road makes people exhausted, and there is not much entertainment in the carriage. Jiang Yinghua still pulls Yan Wanzhi to play chess. Although that person is holding a chess piece in her hand, her eyelids are already drooping, and she hasn’t made a move for a long time.
Yan Wanzhi turns her head to look, Jiang Yinghua’s long eyelashes fluttering slightly, her eyelids closed tightly, one hand supporting her chin, her little head nodding little by little, she has already fallen asleep, like a nodding donkey.
Why bother struggling? Seeing this, Yan Wanzhi carefully takes the white jade chess piece from her slender, soft hand and gives a look to the little maid beside her. The girl understands, spreads the brocade quilt, helps Jiang Yinghua lie down, and gently blows out the candle in the carriage.
The carriage rocks rhythmically with the rise and fall of the horse’s hooves, like a baby’s cradle, most suitable for lulling one to sleep.
In her hazy dream, Jiang Yinghua seems to have returned to her carefree childhood. Her third brother is holding her, secretly sneaking out of the palace to buy her sugar figurines from the market. But coincidentally, they run into her second brother returning to the East Palace after handling affairs outside the palace, who catches them red-handed, and carries them back to the East Palace one in each hand, giving them a good scolding in a seemingly mature manner. But the two of them don’t take it to heart, and instead wreak havoc in his East Palace…
Jiang Yinghua, who had a sweet dream, reveals a rare, heartfelt smile on her peaceful sleeping face. In the dim moonlight, Yan Wanzhi looks at her small appearance and guesses what kind of interesting thing this person is dreaming about, that can mobilize the muscles of her lips in her sleep, and even create crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes.
Traveling at night, apart from the clatter of horses’ hooves, there is no other sound. Once the ear adapts, it is no different from silence. Suddenly, the guards outside the carriage successively make the sound of drawing their swords, the sound of metal scraping against metal. Yan Wanzhi is alert and directly shakes the sleeping Jiang Yinghua awake.
Disturbed from a good dream, Jiang Yinghua is about to get angry, but the sounds entering her ears are no longer the same as before, they have become somewhat chaotic. She hurriedly sits up, listening to the commotion outside with a solemn expression. Seeing that she is awake, the little maid inexplicably takes out a fire starter, wanting to light the candle. Jiang Yinghua reaches out and presses it down, shaking her head at her.
Before long, the chaotic sounds gradually cease, and the swords are sheathed. Jiang Yinghua’s clear, cold voice comes from inside the carriage: “What’s the matter?”
A young general beside the carriage hears her question, spurs his horse forward, and salutes towards the carriage: “Your Highness, it was a group of bandits robbing a merchant caravan. This humble general sent people to investigate, the bandits have already run away, and they caught an old man who claims to be a horse-trading merchant.”
Jiang Yinghua is already sleepy, and hearing the whole story, she has no intention of asking any more questions. She only lazily replies with an “Mm,” taps on the carriage railing, and signals to continue on their way.
Just as the caravan intends to move forward again, Yan Wanzhi’s eyes flicker with struggle, but she still speaks, “Wait!” Turning to meet Jiang Yinghua’s questioning gaze, she bows and says, “Your Highness, this humble servant knows a little about the situation of the merchants here. I wonder if Your Highness would allow me to see the captured merchant?”
Jiang Yinghua knows that Yan Wanzhi is cautious and would never open her mouth rashly out of curiosity, so she doesn’t think much about it and readily agrees, ordering the guards, “Bring the person here for the Chief Administrator to see.”
After a moment, two soldiers drag an old man with knife wounds forward and stop him outside the carriage. Hearing the commotion, Jiang Yinghua rubs her sore eyebrows and points to the outside, lazily ordering, “The Chief Administrator can go and see for herself.”
Yan Wanzhi receives permission, lifts the curtain, and as soon as she sees the person’s face, she doesn’t need to say a word. She turns back into the carriage, whispers in Jiang Yinghua’s ear, and softly asks, “Your Highness, he is one of my people, and he is injured. May I trouble you to take him with us?”
Jiang Yinghua opens her eyes at this moment, looking at Yan Wanzhi with some doubt. Yan Wanzhi nods slightly. Jiang Yinghua becomes interested, gets up, comes out, stands by the carriage, glances at the old man, and asks, “Report your name, origin, and identity.”
The old man tremblingly clasps his hands, bowing and saying, “This commoner is called Mo Wuming, originally a landless refugee. In recent years, I joined a horse-trading caravan in the Western Territory to do odd jobs, and my registered residence is in Yinzhou.”
Hearing these words, Jiang Yinghua turns her head and orders the young general beside her, “This person is useful to me, take him with us and heal his injuries.” After saying that, she returns to the carriage. Jiang Yinghua has spoken, and her subordinates will naturally obey, respectfully taking Mo Jiu, whose alias is Mo Wuming, to the carriage carrying the goods in the back.
At this moment, a trace of satisfaction at the success of her plan flashes in Yan Wanzhi’s eyes in the carriage. Relying on her understanding of Jiang Yinghua and Jiang Yinghua’s trust in her, she easily brought Uncle Mo into Prince Zhao Manor of the Northern Territory.
After returning to the Northern Territory, Jiang Yinghua first went to the Zhenwei Army camp to show off her authority.
This is not just fooling around. The censor Lou clearly stated in his impeachment at the court the other day that some people in the army had a lot of criticism about her, and they even dared to send messages to the capital. As the commander of the border defense army, if she can tolerate this, then her face will be trampled on the ground.
Having been in the camp for three years, Jiang Yinghua is not lacking in trusted aides. She stays in the camp and uses a small trick, letting the people below stir up some rumors, and those who are gossipy and timid can’t sit still and reveal their flaws. Jiang Yinghua has no intention of wiping them all out, she just wants to play a trick of killing the chicken to warn the monkeys.
She secretly planted spies and had people investigate clearly, and had to leave one or two to send some false information to the capital. Only with you in me and me in you can we paralyze the enemy.
As for the rest, they are not so lucky. Jiang Yinghua ordered people to arrest the gossipy ones, gather the soldiers in the camp, and in front of all the soldiers, deal with these treacherous bastards according to military law, beheading them as a warning to the public. With one order, seven heads immediately rolled to the ground, giving everyone a good shock.
Even though Jiang Yinghua’s temperament has been deep and unpredictable during her three years in the Northern Territory, she has never taken her own people for granted in the army all these years. Now, on her first day back, she directly kills and draws blood, and everyone in the Zhenwei Army is as quiet as cicadas in winter.
After dealing with the rabble in the army, Jiang Yinghua doesn’t stay long. She tells the deputy general to manage things well, and she returns to her manor.
After entering the manor, she uses the same method. However, these people are different from the soldiers in the army, and even small favors can buy off the servants. At this time, it is a God-given opportunity to distinguish loyalty from treachery.
Jiang Yinghua doesn’t find the servants in the official residence as easy to use as those in the Prince Manor. Now that she has brought all the people from the Prince Manor, it would be okay to dismiss these servants.
However, Jiang Yinghua and Your Majesty are no different, they are both people who don’t tolerate sand in their eyes and thorns in their hearts. Being bitten by someone for no reason, there is no way that she will let it go.
Therefore, Jiang Yinghua instructed the old steward of the Prince Manor to first coerce and then lure, encouraging the servants to secretly report each other, and anyone who made a report, as long as one person could provide corroborating evidence, would be heavily rewarded.
People’s hearts can’t stand the test. With such a commotion, the words of accusation are like willow catkins in spring, tearing each other apart without mercy.
Jiang Yinghua just watches the accusations handed over like she’s watching a good show, instructing her close maid to write down the names of these people one by one. She picks out those who are indeed suspicious and have connections with the capital, and hands them over to Yan Wanzhi for secret investigation. The rest are held back by her.
After about six or seven days, Yan Wanzhi obtains conclusive evidence and exposes three treacherous slaves who are eating from the inside out. Jiang Yinghua no longer procrastinates, instructs the steward to gather all the servants in the manor, and in front of everyone, beats these three people to death with sticks. In the bloody scene, no one dares to cry out in alarm.
It has only been ten days since returning to the Northern Territory, and Jiang Yinghua is full of murderous aura. Even though it’s not Yan Wanzhi’s business, these days, Yan Wanzhi always wants to avoid Jiang Yinghua when she sees her, because her legs and feet are not very good.
After dealing with the three servants, Jiang Yinghua ordered people to read a long list of names, and those whose names were read stood up as ordered. They all know in their hearts that they have accused others, but at the moment they are all trembling, not knowing what Jiang Yinghua wants to do.
More than twenty people stand trembling in the courtyard. Jiang Yinghua sits steadily under the corridor, holding a warm stove full of charcoal in her hand, looking at this group of people with a smile that is not a smile, and says in a cold voice: “You should know why you were ordered to stand out. This Prince always keeps her word, so I will give you a great gift. Come on!”
Those people realize that Jiang Yinghua’s tone is unkind, and one by one their knees soften and they kneel down to beg for mercy. Jiang Yinghua turns a deaf ear, looks at the Prince Manor guards standing on both sides, and orders, “Flog these people twenty times each and sell them all off.”
It’s not that Jiang Yinghua doesn’t keep her word, it’s just that these people betray their partners for profit, some even colluding to fabricate stories. Jiang Yinghua really doesn’t dare to keep people with such character to serve in the Prince Manor. Those who made accusations also have those who were truly justified in their accusations. Jiang Yinghua is not muddleheaded, so she naturally secretly rewarded them, and they are not on the list.
The guards accept the order and drag the people down. Jiang Yinghua waves her hand at the steward again. The steward leads a few maids, carrying several wooden trays filled with sachets, and stands in front of the few remaining servants in the corridor.
Jiang Yinghua looks at their frightened faces one by one, softens her tone and says, “This Prince has a scale in my heart, and I can still distinguish between right and wrong. Each of you will receive a sachet, which is a reward for doing your job honestly. In the future, as long as you are diligent, you will not be lacking in benefits.”
Those servants are frightened, looking around but not daring to reach out to take them. The old steward comes forward and distributes the sachets.
Outside the courtyard, wailing fills the sky, making even Yan Wanzhi, the living Yama-like commander of the Secret Agency, tremble with fear. Even the Heavenly Prison of the Ministry of Justice doesn’t have such loud pleas for mercy at this moment.
She glances sideways at Jiang Yinghua, who is sitting in front of her leisurely and content, and timidly sticks out her tongue to lick her dry lips.