novelAbuy Chapter 111: The Search
Chapter 111: The Search
March 25th, in the study of the Prince of Puan's residence.
Zhao Bozong placed the catalog given to him by Shao Chengzhang on the table and, together with Qin Keqing, compared it item by item with the existing intelligence.
Qin Keqing moved her charcoal pencil back and forth across the catalog, quickly circling the three most valuable entries.
The actual number of troops mobilized during the expansion of the Imperial City Guard; the date of the secret document in which Qin Hui bypassed the Privy Council and directly mobilized local troops through the Inner Palace Secretariat; and the court schedule for the trial of Yue Fei by the Dali Temple in the twelfth month of the eleventh year of Shaoxing.
In particular, regarding the first point, the Imperial City Guard claimed that there were "only" three hundred constables in the various wards of Lin'an, but since the twelfth lunar month of last year, their deployment density was far greater than what three hundred people could cover.
If we can find the actual troop movement records during the expansion process in the old archives, it will prove that Qin Hui concealed the actual number of people in the Imperial City Guard from the emperor.
"Concealing the strength of the Imperial City Guard is deceiving the emperor. Once the case of deceiving the emperor is confirmed, the Censorate can initiate an impeachment. Even if Qin Hui can suppress the impeachment, the emperor will still have a thorn in his side."
Qin Keqing marked it as important in the table of contents.
Zhao Bozong nodded.
"On the second day of the fourth month, we will send someone into the old archives to copy the documents. This person must be from the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs and have official status to enter the archives of the Inner Palace Attendants Department."
Furthermore, after copying, the copy could not be taken out of the palace; it had to be memorized on the spot while being aired, and then written down from memory after returning home.
"I'll choose this person." Qin Keqing turned to the page on personnel allocation in the booklet and began to screen the civil servants of the Prince's Palace who met the criteria.
That same evening, Tang Situi sent a message via Feng Yi.
It is currently speculated that the "Tuizhi" line of the Privy Council during the tenth year of Shaoxing is still in operation, but its specific identity and contact method still need to be further confirmed.
The list of those imprisoned in the Dali Temple has not yet been obtained; further action will be taken on March 28th, the day of the inventory.
After reading the message, Zhao Bocong wrote a line on the reply slip: "On the second day of the fourth month, the old archives of the Inner Palace will be re-examined. At that time, it may be necessary to take care of both the archives and the old archives at the same time. Please, Minister Zhao, allocate the clerks of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs in advance to ensure that the manpower in the two places does not overlap."
Qin Keqing took the receipt, read it through, and opened the booklet to list the time windows and personnel arrangements for the two operations, confirming that there were no conflicts.
......
March 28th, Dali Temple Archives.
Two clerks from the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs, dispatched by Zhao Shiyi under the pretext of "reviewing old cases of the imperial clan," successfully entered the archives of the Court of Judicial Review to assist in sorting out the case files.
The person in charge of the two was an old clerk who had been in charge of old archives at the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs for twenty years. He recognized Yue Fei's handwriting. In the early years of the Shaoxing era, Yue Fei had signed official documents of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs many times as the Deputy Privy Councilor, and this old clerk was the one who handled them each time.
The old clerk carried a thin copper wire into the archives.
During the inventory process, he found the iron-cast secret room door that Tang Situi had described.
The secret room is located at the deepest part of the archives, with the iron door tightly locked and the gaps between the doors very narrow.
While the clerk was turning his back to check the file numbers, he squatted down and inserted the copper wire into the crack in the door. The wire was pushed in about two inches before encountering resistance.
The texture of the paper stacked on top of each other, rough yet resilient, indicates that a large number of paper documents were indeed sealed inside the secret room.
He calmly retracted the copper wire and sprinkled a small pinch of fine soil, which he had prepared beforehand, between his fingers onto the bottom of the door crack.
This was his own idea. He pretended that there was dust in the cracks of the door, making the entrance to the secret room look like it had never been touched. Then he stood up and continued to assist with the inventory, without saying a word to anyone throughout the process.
That evening, Zhao Shi personally delivered the results to the Prince of Puan's residence.
Old Master Zongzheng wasn't using his cane tonight, and he walked into the study almost twice as fast as usual.
"Your Highness, we found a piece of paper through the crack in the iron door of the secret chamber. The list that Zhou Sanwei had sealed away is inside."
But the key to the secret room's door lies in the lock where the copper wire cannot pass through. I asked several old officials at the Dali Temple, and they all said there was only one key, and its whereabouts are unknown after Zhou Sanwei's death.
"I'll figure out the key issue myself." Qin Keqing noted down the results from March 28th in the booklet.
"First, confirm that there is indeed something inside. Then, we'll try to retrieve it. That list is the military line. Once we get our hands on it, we can connect it with Zhu Fu's military line." Qin Keqing finished writing the last word and gently closed the booklet.
Zhao Shi sat down, picked up his teacup, and took a sip. "Your Highness, today I saw at the Dali Temple that the old archives were also being prepared for airing out on the second day of the fourth month."
I've met Shao Chengzhang before in the palace. He doesn't take sides or form factions; he only remembers past favors. His willingness to help is far more valuable than that of many who reap the rewards of others' kindness.
Zhao Bozong took out the catalog that Shao Chengzhang had copied by hand and placed it on the table.
"In addition to the records of the Imperial City Guard concealing troop movements, there is also a court schedule record written by Zhou Sanwei himself in the twelfth month of the eleventh year of Shaoxing."
The duty roster ended with four words: "If the offender does not sign, no confession is required."
This was left behind by Zhou Sanwei when he withstood the pressure from Qin Hui.
If we could obtain the original text of these four characters, we could prove something in the imperial court.
Yue Fei never signed or affixed his fingerprint to any confession until his death, and Qin Hui's accusations against Yue Fei were based on no single legally valid confession.
Zhao Shi put down his teacup. "If this court schedule is made public, Qin Hui will have to explain to the entire court why a prisoner who didn't even sign a confession was executed."
"He can't explain it." Zhao Bozong stood up and walked to the window.
"So we need to copy it before he finds it, make three copies."
One copy was sealed in a bronze box in the Imperial Clan Court, another was kept at the old camp in the southern suburbs, and the last one—”
Zhao Bozong turned around and looked at the tattered page left by Zhijia on the table. The page read, "The wooden bird has three wings: one wing in the capital, one wing in the wilderness, and one wing in the army."
"Send a copy to Xiangyang and have Yue Yinping take this record and tell her that her father did not sign the confession."
......
On the third day of the fourth lunar month, inside the old camp in Xiangyang.
Yue Yinping hadn't slept for two whole days.
The four transport department ledgers left by Zhu Fu were spread out on the wooden table in front of her, each turned to the last page.
She had been deciphering the numerical codes in the ledger page by page, referring to the decoding manual left by Zhu Fu. After deciphering each line, she wrote a name next to the Xiangyang city defense map with an extremely fine charcoal pencil.
Over the course of two days, the edges of the city defense map were densely covered with names, aliases, military ranks, and current residences.
Seventy-nine officers and over 1,300 soldiers.
These people were scattered in military camps, fishing villages, docks, blacksmith shops, medicine shops, tea shops, temple kitchens, and other places along the Jinghu North Road and the Han River.
Some are still serving as low-ranking military officers, some have taken off their uniforms and become porters and hunters, and some have changed their names and lived in seclusion in remote rural areas for twelve years.
Everyone is waiting.
They were waiting for a signal, for a name, for someone who would allow them to put their uniforms back on.
After Yue Yinping finished deciphering the last line of code, she put down her charcoal pencil and rubbed her sore eyes.
The sky outside the bamboo shed in Laoying was already beginning to lighten, and the morning mist on the Han River had not yet dissipated. The bell tower of Baima Temple rang its first bell at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM).
Her gaze fell on the composite image of the three lists on the table.
This composite image was created after she spent two whole days comparing, deduplicating, and merging three lists from completely different sources.
It lay spread out on the table, like a map that had been torn up and pieced back together.