Chapter 557
Trial Before the Emperor
Chen Ji sat quietly waiting for dawn until the rooster crowed.
The Chen family on Fuyou Street became lively. Maids carried copper basins through the corridors, and coachmen brushed the manes of their horses in front of the stables. The sound of water and whispers splashed onto the bluestone slabs.
Chen Ji has finally waited for this moment.
He stood up, smoothed the wrinkles in his bright red official robes, and instructed Wuyun, "You stay home and rest. Whether the princess can be rescued or not will be revealed today."
The dark cloud meowed, "May your blade fall swiftly!"
Chen Ji burst out laughing: "That's not how you use the idiom. It's 'success upon arrival'."
Wu Yun didn't care at all: "If it doesn't work out now, then I'll just strike again!"
Chen Ji patted Wu Yun's head: "That makes sense. Let's go."
He neither called for a horse nor took a carriage, but walked alone into the gradually brightening daylight of the long street.
The man with the red-handled staff, a cloth bag slung across his shoulder, was hawking today's Beijing Morning Post to passersby, his voice crisp and clear: "Morning Post! Last night, Han Tong, the leader of the Canal Gang, was apprehended!"
Ever since the Beijing Morning Post started publishing sections on people's livelihood and the economy, Wen Yuan Bookstore's collection of romantic poems and songs has stopped selling well, and they have returned to selling classics and vernacular stories.
There is now only one newspaper in the capital, and no others.
A small sedan chair covered with white linen stopped in front of the porter. A withered hand reached out from behind the curtain, took the newspaper, and suddenly asked, "Does the newspaper mention the man of Wuxiang County?"
The newsboy was taken aback: "Sir, we didn't mention that."
The sedan curtains were lowered, and there was no further movement.
Chen Ji continued walking. Ahead, steam rose from a wonton stall, and several men in short jackets were whispering, "Have you heard? Han Tong was taken down by the eunuch faction. Many people in the Eight Great Hutongs saw it with their own eyes."
"Nonsense! The Eight Great Hutongs have been sealed off for a long time. Now only the Jiaofangsi (a government-run entertainment district) dares to sell prisoners. They don't even dare to put on a show. The other day, Liu, a senior official in the Ministry of Works, secretly invited a courtesan to sing. His own maid reported him to the yamen, and that very night his whole family was exiled to Lingnan."
Why did the maid report her master?
"They took my body but didn't give me any recognition, they drove me to my wits' end..."
The news of the arrest of the leader of the Canal Gang spread like wildfire overnight, becoming the talk of the town.
When Chen Ji arrived at the Meridian Gate, the area outside was already filled with officials in red and blue robes whispering among themselves.
When he arrived, the murmurs of the crowd paused for a moment, then grew louder, with words like "collusion," "eunuch faction," and "shameless" frequently heard.
Chen Ji ignored everything and stared straight ahead at the bright red Meridian Gate, its door studs gleaming with gold and adorned with animal heads holding rings.
The noise subsided as soon as Grand Secretary Chen alighted from his carriage. However, Grand Secretary Chen did not say anything to Chen Ji today. He slowly walked past him and stood silently at the front of the officials.
At that moment, the sound of iron chains scraping the ground could be heard.
The officials turned to look and were shocked to see the Secret Service escorting Han Tong, who was staggering in. Almost simultaneously, a high-pitched announcement rang out from the Yan Chi Tower: "Announce the following officials: Qi Xun, Minister of Rites; Chen Luchi, Minister of Revenue; Hu Chengda, Minister of War; Zhang Zhuo, Minister of Personnel; and Chen Ji, Baron of Wuxiang County!"
The eunuch read out dozens of official titles and names before finally calling out, with a drawn-out final syllable, "Greetings!"
The Meridian Gate has three main gates in the center, with a side gate on each side, located inside the east and west city walls, commonly known as "three visible gates and five hidden gates".
When entering the palace, civil officials used the left side gate, while military officers, guards, and spies used the right side gate. Only the emperor and princes could pass through the middle.
Just as the officials were about to pass through the Meridian Gate, Grand Secretary Chen, who was at the front, suddenly turned around and looked at Chen Ji, saying lightly, "People often say that we civil officials and military generals are at odds, and that factional strife is ruining the country. But the rules of this palace clearly remind us that civil and military officials are different and must walk separately. Civil officials should obediently walk through the left side gate, and military generals should obediently walk through the right side gate, otherwise they will be punished with caning at the court or exiled at the worst... Chen Ji, will you walk through the left side gate or the right side gate?"
Everyone looked at Chen Ji.
Grand Secretary Chen's seemingly casual words concealed a decision of immense weight.
The next moment, Chen Ji walked towards the right side gate, while Grand Secretary Chen lowered his eyes and slowly walked into the left side gate.
……
……
In front of Renshou Palace, Han Tong was escorted by secret agents to the Filial Piety Stele.
Jin Zhu and Tian Ma stood guard on either side to prevent Han Tong from suddenly attacking. Bai Long tucked his hands into his sleeves and closed his eyes to rest. Meng Ji, whom he hadn't seen for several days, was now dressed in official uniform and stood silently, no longer displaying his usual madness.
The cabinet ministers and officials were waiting for the imperial decree outside the Renshou Palace when Wu Xiu stepped out of the threshold and announced loudly, "His Majesty has decreed that any official who has colluded with the grain transport gang should report this now and be punished leniently."
The officials looked at each other, but no one answered.
After a long while, Wu Xiu's gaze swept over the faces of the officials one by one, and then he said to Meng Ji, "Interrogate them!"
Tianma forced Han Tong to kneel on the ground, while Mengji sat cross-legged opposite him and took out a yellow talisman from his robes. The next moment, Mengji cut his brow with his thumbnail, then used the blood to write and draw on the talisman. Finally, he wrapped a lock of Han Tong's hair in the talisman and swallowed it.
In an instant, Mengji's pupils rolled upwards, leaving only the whites of his eyes visible.
Unlike before, this time Mengji shed two streams of bloody tears from the corners of her eyes. The cost of interrogating Han Tong was greater than expected.
Mengji cut to the chase: "Where are the canal gang's account books?"
Han Tong replied, "Behind the Buddha statue at Funing Temple in Chongnanfang, Beijing."
Wu Xiu gave the Jie Fan Wei a wink, and immediately ten Jie Fan Wei went to carry out the order. This time, they were to conduct a public interrogation and on-the-spot arrest.
Blood also flowed from Mengji's nose, but he calmly continued to ask, "Tell me all the rebellious things you have done."
Han Tong replied, "Entrusted by Chen Lizhi, I have chosen two altars and five chariots to assassinate Chen Ji, the magistrate of Wuxiang County, during the spring hunt at Xiangshan..."
All the officials turned to look at Chen Ji, but Chen Ji remained calm, seemingly unsurprised.
As Aunt Ping had told him before, after obtaining twelve volumes of ancient books in the western suburbs of Changsha, the Tomb Dog fled all the way to Jinling. In Jinling, he released the first three volumes of the general outline to lure away the pursuers, and then fled to Yangzhou with the last nine volumes. He was intercepted and killed by a senior official from the Hidden Python Sect. After that, the whereabouts of the nine volumes of ancient books became unknown.
Those nine ancient scrolls contained the method of offering blood sacrifices to the Five Witches' army. From that moment on, Chen Ji knew that the last nine scrolls must have fallen into Han Tong's hands.
The ambush and killing at Xiangshan during the spring hunt was largely orchestrated by Han Tong. The assassins who surrounded him were all boatmen.
Blood gushing from Mengji's nose had stained his patched robe, yet he remained seated firmly, pressing on with unwavering resolve: "Besides assassinating high-ranking officials, has the Grand Canal Gang committed any other crimes that have brought disaster to the country and its people?"
Han Tong's eyes trembled beneath his eyelids, as if resisting some unseen force, before he finally spoke in a hoarse voice: "Yes."
Blood began to seep from all seven orifices of the dream chicken: "Speak!"
Han Tong’s voice was hollow, but every word he uttered caused the faces of all the officials in front of Renshou Palace to change drastically: “In the seventh year of the Jianing era, in order to monopolize the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, nine competing merchant ships were scuttled in the Xuzhou section, drowning a total of 147 people, including boatmen, merchants and their families. The imperial censor Yang Zhong was bribed to fabricate the accident of running aground.”
"In the ninth year of the Jianing era, he colluded with Cao Biao and Wang Yaoxian to smuggle prohibited iron and sulfur to the Jingchao, in exchange for sable furs and ginseng, which were then smuggled into the capital by official ships. Over five years, he smuggled a total of 38,000 catties of iron and 5,000 catties of sulfur."
"In the eleventh year of the Jianing era, he colluded with Zhou Bing, the granary supervisor, to steal government grain. To cover up the deficit, he set fire to the Tongzhou West Granary, burning 80,000 shi of stored grain. He then framed the granary supervisor, resulting in the execution of his entire family."
"In the eleventh year of the Jianing era, he colluded with Zhang Wei, the commander of the grain transport, to mix sand and moldy rice into the official grain allocated by the imperial court for flood relief in the Huai River region, embezzling 40,000 shi of grain, which was then resold on the black market."
Suddenly, someone gritted their teeth and said, "I know about this. That year, when I was the Vice Prefect of Yangzhou, more than a thousand disaster victims froze and starved to death after winter!"
Bai Long suddenly looked at him and said sternly, "Intentionally interrupting the interrogation, take him away and give him twenty strokes of the cane!"
But Bai Long spoke too late. Han Tong was interrupted by the voice, his veins bulged, and his teeth clenched so tightly they made a grinding sound.
Mengji suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. He and Han Tong remained silent for a long time, seemingly struggling, until after an incense stick had burned, Mengji took a deep breath and said: "Speak!"
Han Tong tilted his head back and blurted out his confession from the bottom of his throat: "The fourteenth year of Jianing..."
The officials' expressions grew increasingly grim as Han Tong rattled off more than twenty matters and names in front of everyone, leaving no room for maneuver for anyone.
The reach was so extensive that it affected everyone from high-ranking officials in the capital to lowly clerks in the south, from prestigious families to humble backgrounds.
This only goes up to the fourteenth year of the Jianing era; there are still eighteen years to go. If Han Tong were to continue, His Majesty's move on the Grand Canal would likely result in the confiscation of property and the exile of tens of thousands. Even looking back over the entire thousand-year Ning Dynasty, only the Lan Zheng treason case of the twenty-fifth year of the Wude era of Emperor Taizu can be compared to this.
Before Han Tong could continue, a senior official from the Ministry of Rites suddenly knelt down, facing Renshou Palace, and shouted loudly, "Your Majesty, please see the truth! This man is spreading heresies and falsely accusing court officials!"
Han Tong's confession of crimes abruptly ended at the age of 14, interrupted by this kneeling.
The sound of the bells of the Three Mountains echoed from Renshou Palace. Wu Xiu strode into the palace, where Emperor Ning sat behind a gauze curtain on his throne and casually said, "Exiled to Lingnan."
Wu Xiu walked out of Renshou Palace again and waved to Jie Fanwei. Jie Fanwei immediately dragged the shouting official out of the palace.
This official didn't utter a single word of protest.
The sound of the Three Mountains Bell rang out again from Renshou Palace. Wu Xiu went in for a moment, and when he came out again, he said loudly: "His Majesty's decree is that the case of the Grand Canal Gang has far-reaching implications. Zhang Zhuo, the Minister of Personnel, is hereby ordered to work with the Three Judicial Offices and the Jiefan Guard to thoroughly investigate all related personnel and matters over the past thirty years, without any errors."
Zhang Zhuo bowed and clasped his hands in obeisance: "Your subject obeys the decree."
Wu Xiu continued, "The magistrate of Wuxiang County has rendered meritorious service in capturing the bandit leader Han Tong, and his loyalty and bravery are commendable. He is hereby granted the title of Viscount of Wuxiang for his loyalty and bravery, and his annual salary will be increased by two hundred shi (a unit of grain).
Whispers arose among the crowd; it hadn't been long, yet Chen Ji had been promoted again.
Before they could think it through, Wu Xiu continued, "I hereby grant the Viscount Wu Xiang a token for serving in the Imperial Court. With this token, he may enter the Inner Palace through the Xihua Gate to report matters after the palace gates are locked. He will also be granted one hundred taels of gold, one thousand taels of silver, a residence outside the Donghua Gate, and ten fine horses from the Imperial Stables."
A series of rewards followed. The officials exchanged glances. Chen Ji lived in the Chen family's residence on the right side of the prefecture. What was the purpose of the mansion that His Majesty bestowed upon him outside the Donghua Gate?
Just then, the long-silent Mengji suddenly gasped, as if in a final burst of energy: "Han Tong, what is your relationship with Princess Baili?!" (End of Chapter)