novelAbuy Chapter 104: Arrest
Chapter 104: Arrest
March 10th, Lin'an.
Qin Hui sat in the signing room of the Ministry of Personnel for an entire morning.
Three official documents were laid out in front of him. The first was a secret report from the resident official of the Imperial City Guard in Ezhou, and the second was a deduction report sent by Tian Ruyi from Xiuzhou.
The last document was a routine approval document from the Ministry of Personnel that Tang Situi had drafted for him that morning. The content did not involve any confidential matters, and only a trivial suggestion for wording adjustment was attached at the end.
He read the first two documents, but only glanced at the third one.
As a routine matter, Tang Situi drafted such approvals for him for ten years, with precise wording and standardized format, never requiring him to worry about anything.
He pushed the approval document aside and let the clerk take it to stamp it. Then he reopened Tian Ruyi's deduction report and read it through from beginning to end again.
In his report, Tian Ruyi estimated the scale of the Yue Family Army's former troops gathering in the Xiangyang direction.
His conclusion was that at least three to four hundred former members of Yue Fei's army were lurking in and around Xiangyang, disguised as fishermen, hunters, merchants, and temple servants. They were currently scattered and in hiding, and had not yet formed a combat formation.
However, if a unified order is issued from the direction of Lin'an, these scattered soldiers can complete their assembly within ten days.
Three hundred to four hundred.
This number is higher than Qin Hui expected.
In the eleventh year of the Shaoxing era, he purged the middle and high-ranking generals of Yue Fei's army, killing, demoting, and exiling some, thinking that the lower-ranking soldiers would then disperse.
But these people did not disperse because of Yue Fei's death. They took off their military uniforms, changed their identities, and lay dormant in Xiangyang City, waiting for an order that would never come.
At least in Qin Hui's view, this order would never come, but he was not going to wait any longer.
"Bring Wan Qixie in," Qin Hui said to the clerk outside the door after thinking for a moment.
Wan Qixie entered the signing room at noon.
When he entered, he saw Qin Hui reviewing a memorial on public security submitted by Xiangyang Prefecture, using an ordinary bamboo tube with a fine brush.
Wan Qixie knew Qin Hui's habits. Qin Hui always used a vermilion pen to approve official documents, and only used this inconspicuous fine brush when approving confidential documents from the Imperial City Guard.
Because the ink from the fine brush turns dark brown after drying, it is extremely difficult to distinguish when mixed with ordinary ink.
"The Xiangyang security report mentions that unidentified individuals have been loitering around the White Horse Temple recently. The Xiangyang government has concluded that they are refugees. Take some men to investigate the White Horse Temple."
Qin Hui pushed the folding paper in front of Wan Qixie.
"Tian Ruyi's deduction shows that the former Yue Family Army troops in Xiangyang City used temples as communication points."
The bell tower of Baima Temple is the highest building in Xiangyang. It rings twelve times a day. Whether there are any hidden codes among those twelve rings is something the people of Xiangyang Prefecture can't figure out. You should investigate that too.
Wan Qixie took the folding book and hesitated for a moment.
"Prime Minister, Baima Temple is the largest Han Chinese Buddhist temple in Xiangyang, attracting tens of thousands of pilgrims every year. If the Imperial City Guard were to openly enter the temple for a search—"
"I didn't say I wanted to publicly enter the temple."
Qin Hui interrupted him.
"You shall send six plainclothes scouts from the direction of Ezhou to enter the White Horse Temple as pilgrims."
If you find any suspicious points, don't take action on the spot. Keep an eye on it until you find the point of contact.
Wan Qixie accepted the order and withdrew.
Meanwhile, the purge of Qin Hui was also quietly underway in Lin'an.
On the same afternoon that Wan Qixie left the signing room, the Imperial City Guard arrested four low-ranking veterans who had served in Yue Fei's army in Lin'an City on charges of "spreading rumors".
These four people were strangers to each other, and they never contacted each other again after the eleventh year of Shaoxing.
Their only commonality is that they both served in Yue Fei's army and both told others while drunk that "Yue Fei was wronged."
This is enough.
The four were arrested on the same afternoon and imprisoned in different cells of the Dali Temple medium-sized prison.
The Imperial City Guard did not interrogate them. Wan Qixie simply had someone give each of them a blank confession and a worn-out pen. There was only one line to fill in on the confession: "I was instigated to spread defamatory remarks against the court. The name of the instigator is—".
The instigator's name was left blank; the worn-out pen had no ink.
The brilliance of this trial lies in the fact that it does not force confessions, but rather compels people to fabricate them.
A blank confession is more terrifying than any instrument of torture, because blankness means infinite possibilities.
If you fill in the name of a dead person, the Imperial City Guard will accuse you of making excuses; if you fill in the name of a living person, the Imperial City Guard will use that name to arrest the next person; if you don't fill it in, it's considered resisting trial.
This is a method that Tian Ruyi taught Wan Qixie.
Having spent his entire life in the intelligence industry, Tian Ruyi knew that destroying a person's will was not about hitting them, but about putting them in a predicament where "no matter what they do, it's wrong."
The news reached the Prince of Puan's residence in the evening.
Qin Keqing was organizing the intelligence gathered that day in a small room in the side courtyard when Liu An pushed open the door and the expression on his face made her understand instantly—something had happened.
"Four people." Liu An's voice was deep.
"The Imperial City Guard arrested four veterans of Yue Fei's army in Lin'an on charges of spreading rumors. They weren't part of our network; they had never participated in any intelligence activities. They were just drunk and said a few words of reminiscing about Yue Fei."
They've all been imprisoned in medium-sized cells at Dali Temple, and haven't been tried yet, but Wan Qixie has already announced he'll investigate the "instigator."
Qin Keqing placed the charcoal pencil on the table and remained silent for a moment.
Four low-ranking veterans, who were not within her intelligence network, were arrested for making inappropriate remarks while intoxicated.
This time, Qin Hui wasn't attacking the intelligence network, but rather the hearts and minds of the people.
He was sending a signal to all the former Yue Family Army troops still in Lin'an in the lowest possible cost.
Even if you did nothing wrong, just wearing that uniform is your original sin.
"Does Your Highness know?"
"Understood. General Xin has already sent men to the old camp in the southern suburbs. Starting tonight, all perimeter patrols will be doubled."
Jiao Qiong's patrol route has also been adjusted to maintain constant coordination with the rapid response team in the southern suburbs.
Liu An paused for a moment, then said, "But His Highness said that these four people must be saved, and it would be best to use the Imperial Clan Court's authority to review their records."
Qin Keqing quickly reconnected the line.
"For all cases involving members of the imperial clan or related to members of the imperial clan that are detained by the Dali Temple, the Dazongzheng Temple has the right to review and register them once a quarter."
The last registration was on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, and the next registration should be on the 28th day of the third lunar month, but Zhao Shi has the authority to conduct emergency registration.
If any detainee is associated with a member of the imperial clan, the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs can initiate an emergency investigation at any time.
"What is the relationship between these four people and the royal family?"
"No." Qin Keqing turned to a new page in the booklet and quickly began to work out the deductions with her charcoal pencil.
"Therefore, we need to create relationships. Last year, the Zongzheng Temple registered a number of relatives of distant branches of the imperial clan in Xiuzhou, including a family surnamed Shen."
Shen Qingci's maternal family had employed a retired soldier from Yue Fei's army as a bodyguard during the ten years they lived in Shaoxing.
The old soldier's name and employment record are still sealed in a bronze box in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and have never been accessed.
Qin Keqing looked up at Liu An, "If this old soldier happens to be one of the four arrested today..."
Zhao Shiyi then had the authority to initiate an emergency review under the pretext of "investigating old cases involving members of the imperial family and relatives," allowing him to access all the case files of these four individuals at the Dali Temple, including the blank confession issued by the Imperial City Guard.
After listening, Liu An remained silent for a moment, then asked a question.
"If Qin Hui were to ask, 'How did the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs know that any of these four people were members of the imperial family?' how would Zhao Shiyi explain his source of information?"