novelAbuy Chapter 047: Legitimate Intelligence Agencies
Chapter 047: Legitimate Intelligence Agencies
Zhao Bozong turned around and looked at Qin Keqing seriously.
"What you need is not an intelligence network hidden underwater, you need an organization that can be brought into the open."
Qin Keqing's brows twitched.
She could understand the meaning behind Zhao Bozong's words, but she didn't respond because she knew how heavy those words were.
In Lin'an, the capital of Shaoxing in the twelfth year of the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, any form of private intelligence organization was tantamount to treason.
The Imperial City Guard is the only legitimate intelligence agency, and it is currently in Qin Hui's hands.
After the eleventh year of the Shaoxing reign, Qin Hui used the Imperial City Guard to widely deploy "inspectors" in various wards of Lin'an, under the guise of investigating rumors, to monitor officials and suppress dissent.
In the twenty-fifth year of Shaoxing, which was an event that had already occurred on another timeline, Qin Hui even "ordered hundreds of inspectors to roam the market, and if they heard of anyone's treachery, they were immediately arrested and sent to the Dali Temple prison to be executed."
To start anew under Qin Hui's nose is like lighting a torch in a hunter's yard.
"Your Highness, what organization are you referring to that can be brought into the open?"
Zhao Bocong pulled a blank sheet of paper from the table and laid it out in front of him, but did not pick up a pen.
"I remember you told me that the power to seal off the Grand Court of Imperial Clan Affairs could bypass the Three Departments and Six Ministries and go directly to the Emperor."
That night in the warm chamber, I placed the envelope in front of the Emperor. Qin Hui's hand trembled. You weren't there, but I saw it.
Qin Keqing lowered her eyes. She was indeed not there, but she had walked alone through half of Lin'an that night to deliver the message to the dock.
"The right to seal the Grand Court of Imperial Clan Affairs is a privilege of the imperial clan. It can only be used for archiving and secret memorials, and cannot be used to support the army."
Her tone returned to its usual intelligence-analysis-like calmness: "If Your Highness wants to build an organization that can rival the Imperial City Guard, you need to solve three problems: the source of legitimacy, the source of funding, and the staffing."
If any problem is not handled properly, Qin Hui can use the phrase "privately amassed assassins" to send you to the Dali Temple.
Zhao Bozong looked at her and suddenly smiled.
"You're right, so this organization can't be a group of privately recruited assassins."
He wrote six characters on the paper and then pushed it to Qin Keqing.
Qin Keqing looked down and saw that the paper read—
"Zongzheng Temple Archives"
She immediately understood Zhao Bozong's line of thinking.
"Your Highness intends to use the Grand Court of Imperial Clan Records' archival rights as a shell," Qin Keqing spoke quickly, already in deductive mode, "On the surface, it's a civil service institution that organizes imperial genealogies and official documents, but in reality—"
"In reality, the staff of the archives need to consult the land, marriage, official titles, and litigation records of the clan branches in various places."
This means they have the right to access local archives from the state government, the right to meet with members of the royal family, and the right to retain copies of documents.
Zhao Bozong's voice was not loud, but every word he uttered was precise: "And all these powers are legitimate."
Qin Keqing remained silent.
Having grown up in the Qin family, she understands all too well the value of legitimacy.
Why was Qin Hui able to control the Imperial City Guard?
Because the duties of the Imperial City Guard included investigating rumors, monitoring officials, and maintaining order in the capital, all of which were nominally legitimate functions.
Qin Hui simply took this function to its extreme, using it to eliminate dissidents.
Zhao Bocong was doing the same thing, except that his legitimacy came not from the Imperial City Guard, but from the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs.
"But this shell has a fatal weakness," Qin Keqing raised her head and looked directly at Zhao Bocong, "the access to the documents is limited to matters concerning the imperial clan. It cannot investigate Qin Hui, nor can it investigate the Privy Council."
"You're right." Zhao Bozong folded the note and put it into the copper box next to the brush washer. "So the document is just the outer shell; inside the shell, we need another skeleton."
He didn't continue speaking, but Qin Keqing had already understood.
She had seen that skeleton before.
Manager Wang's reopened tea shop in Xiuzhou, the new identity of the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard after his withdrawal from Xiuzhou, Jinbao's herbal medicine shop in Zhenjiang, Libao's surrendered navy recruited in Jiaoshan, and Yue Yinping's four hundred veterans who were lying in wait in Xiangyang.
These forces and communication lines scattered across the three locations formed the prototype of that framework.
Qin Keqing spent two years meticulously weaving this network, from Jiaozhou to Lin'an, from tea shops to docks, from sending out dead letters to encrypting intelligence.
She personally installed every node and created every set of codes.
She thought she was just setting up an intelligence transmission system.
But now Zhao Bocong tells her that this thing is called a "skeleton".
"Your Highness," Qin Keqing's voice was very soft, "do you know what I was thinking when I built this network?"
Zhao Bozong looked at her.
"What I'm thinking is, to survive on my own."
She said this without bowing her head or showing any other expression: "My father did not hesitate when he killed Yue Fei, and he would not hesitate to kill his own daughter either."
Every additional line I lay is another way to survive. My only thought from beginning to end was self-preservation.
"But the net you woven saved Jiaoshan."
"That was later."
The study was quiet for a moment.
Zhao Bozong stood up and walked to the window. The night wind rustled the window paper, making a slight sound.
"Miss Qin, you once told me something—Master Zhijia told me before he went to prison that I must take the initiative to get close to His Highness, because the wooden bird has already appeared."
Zhijia hands you the missing coin and the roster; he's betting on you.
I placed the empty envelope in front of the Emperor in the warm chamber, betting that Qin Hui wouldn't dare to overturn the table.
You're now helping Li Baobu defend Jiaoshan, helping Yue Yinping take over the surrendered troops, and helping me withdraw the Imperial Guard's deputy commander back to Xiuzhou—what are you betting on?
Qin Keqing did not answer.
But her hand unconsciously touched the chipped copper coin in her sleeve.
"The framework Your Highness just mentioned," Qin Keqing said, her voice now calm, "is a shell of documents plus an inner skeleton of communication lines between the three locations. Then this framework is missing a fatal element—military force."
"Li Bao's navy and Yue Yinping's veterans are all in Zhenjiang. They can attack Jiaoshan, but they can't get into Lin'an."
Zhao Bozong nodded. "Once the Imperial City Guard takes action directly on the streets, all the files, rosters, and drop-off points for the dead will be wiped out in blood."
We need a force capable of operating within Lin'an City.
"Moreover, this force must also be legal," Qin Keqing added. "It cannot be a private army, it cannot be an armed force transferred from another state, and it cannot have any apparent connection with the former Yue Family Army."
The two of them fell silent at the same time.
They had all thought of the answer to this question, but it was just too difficult.
In Lin'an City, there are only three legitimate armed forces: the Imperial City Guard's Inspectorate Soldiers, the Lin'an Prefecture's Patrol Soldiers, and the Palace Guard.
The Imperial City Guard was in Qin Hui's hands.
The patrol soldiers in Lin'an Prefecture only had the power to apprehend thieves and were under the control of the Ministry of Justice.
And the Palace Guard Commander—Yang Yizhong.
In the eleventh year of the Shaoxing era, when Yue Fei was imprisoned, Yang Yizhong was one of the supervising officials.
This person is neither on Qin Hui's side nor on Yue Fei's side.
Standing behind Zhao Gou, he was the commander of the Three Imperial Guards and the only military officer in Lin'an who could mobilize the various officers of the Palace Guard without imperial decree.
"Yang Yizhong".
When Zhao Bozong uttered this name, his tone was complicated: "He was an official, not Qin Hui's man, but he wasn't mine either. In the twelfth month of the eleventh year of Shaoxing, he supervised the execution of Yue Yun and Zhang Xian at the Dali Temple."
Qin Keqing's eyebrows twitched.
Yue Yun, the nineteen-year-old general, was said to have remained calm when he was beheaded at Fengbo Pavilion, only saying to the executioner, "My father and I have no shame before Heaven and Earth."
The executioner was Yang Yizhong.
"It's unrealistic to try to persuade Yang Yizhong to cooperate."
Qin Keqing's voice turned cold, "He may not be loyal to Qin Hui, but he is loyal to the Emperor. Your Highness's current strength is not enough to make him defect."
"We don't need him to defect."
Zhao Bozong sat back down at his desk and pulled out the map of Lin'an city again.
"I don't need him to stand by me, I just need him to stand by when it matters."