novelAbuy Chapter 058: Communication System
Chapter 058: Communication System
Qin Keqing was sitting on the edge of the bed inside the room. She thought for a moment, then bent down and took out an old, locked rattan box from under the bed.
Before opening it, she first pulled the bamboo hairpin from her hair, gently twisted it open, and took out two new rolls of paper and put them inside.
The rattan trunk was neatly stacked with her handwritten intelligence drafts from the past four months, the pharmacy ledgers sent by Jinbao, the records of the messages brought by Li Bao through someone, and Yue Yinping's reply that "we have temporarily secured a corner of the world."
Each document was numbered by date; some were kept under clothes, while others were tucked into prescription booklets.
At the top was a newly arrived letter, with a handwriting she didn't recognize on the envelope.
When she opened the envelope, all her previous composure shattered into two pieces at her fingertips.
The letter was written by Yue Yinping, and it contained only eleven characters:
"Don't worry about Jinse, you can go to Jiaozhou next year."
Qin Keqing held those eleven characters and looked at them for a long time.
Shen Qingci was still pacing outside the window, and she gently called the cat back into the house from the courtyard.
The cat ignored her, and Shen Qingci sighed as the footsteps faded into the distance.
Qin Keqing pressed the letter to her forehead, closed her eyes, and thought of Jiaozhou.
Jinse, the girls who used to row boats with her on the riverbank all those years ago, have all gotten married, had children, and run a small tea stall at the dock.
She doesn't know how you and the others are doing, or whether she'll ever be able to go back.
But holding this letter from Xiangyang in her hand, she felt that she was no longer doing these things alone.
After a long while, Qin Keqing finally folded the letter and tucked it into the innermost layer of the booklet, placing it in the same compartment as the land deed.
The following day at dawn, Zhao Bocong convened the second formal meeting since the establishment of the document archives in the Prince's study.
Two new members have been added this time.
Zhang Quwei was the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard.
The deputy commander of the Imperial Guard had been staying in Xiuzhou to assist Manager Wang until the communication network in Lin'an City needed to be reorganized, at which point Qin Keqing transferred him back from Xiuzhou before his departure.
The only topic of this meeting was: how to shift from being passively attacked to taking the initiative.
"We now have three knives." Zhao Bozong stood up, holding Xin Qizong's waist knife in his hand, but without drawing it from its sheath. Instead, he used the tip of the sheath to touch a newly made map of Lin'an city behind him.
"First: General Xin's rapid response squad, established at the old camp in the southern suburbs. Second: Miss Qin's reorganized underground intelligence network, capable of reaching Zhenjiang, Xiuzhou, and Xiangyang. Third—"
The scabbard pointed to the location of Cining Palace, "The Empress Dowager and the ebony box, but all three swords have shortcomings."
"What's the weakness?" Xin Qizong asked.
"Military forces can only be stationed outside the city, not inside. The intelligence network can only deliver messages in as little as an hour."
"The Empress Dowager's blade is too deep; it cannot be drawn easily." Zhao Bozong placed the blade back on the table.
"Qin Hui's Imperial City Guard had the power to transfer directly subordinate imperial guards and could arrest people on the street on the grounds of rumors."
If he were to launch a surprise attack within the city, such as by sending scouts to surround the Prince's residence at night—legitimacy alone wouldn't be enough to stop him.
The study remained quiet for a long time.
Qin Keqing sat in the corner, the charcoal pencil in her hand hovering above the paper, hesitant to drop it.
She came up with a solution, but she needed to verify it.
"Your Highness," Qin Keqing began, "could we have the Palace Guards set up a fixed patrol between the old camp in the southern suburbs and Houchao Gate?"
Zhao Bozong turned to look at her.
"All the ranks of the Palace Guard are directly under the command of Yang Yizhong. Yang Yizhong is neither on Qin Hui's side nor on our side," Xin Qizong continued.
"But the Palace Guard has a divine infantry force that is stationed less than three miles east of the southern suburban camp."
The commander of this infantry unit, Lao Jiao, was an old comrade from Xihe, having served as a squad leader under Lao Xin.
Xin Qizong remained silent for a moment.
He knew who Qin Keqing was referring to.
Jiao Qiong, commander of the Divine Valiant Army of the Palace Guard, was one of the last officers to survive among the eight hundred men who broke out of Xihe with him in the second year of Shaoxing.
On the day Yue Fei was killed in the twelfth month of the eleventh year of Shaoxing, Jiao Qiong brought a jar of wine to Xin Qizong's gate. The two sat facing each other for a whole night without saying a word.
At daybreak, Jiao Qiong stood up, smashed his wine cup on the stone base of the gate, and said, "Of all the people from Xihe, the one I've wronged the most in my life is Yue Shaobao."
"Old Jiao's patrol area originally did not include the old camp in the southern suburbs; he could only follow the patrol route issued by the Privy Council."
Xin Qizong pressed his knuckles against the old leather belt at his waist. "But if the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs issues a document listing the old camp in the southern suburbs as an important archive storage site for the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs, and then the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs applies to the Ministry of War to include it in the key night patrol area, then it becomes official business."
"Draft the document now." Zhao Bozong pulled over a piece of paper, picked up a pen, and began to write. "Minister Zhao, is your seal with the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs or on your person?"
"My memory wasn't very good when I left home, and I forgot the seal at the temple." Zhao Shiyi stroked his beard slowly. "I'll go get it stamped first thing tomorrow morning, and then personally deliver it to the Ministry of War."
Everyone understood.
Before this matter is settled, official documents from the Imperial Clan Court will not appear on any road that Qin Hui could intercept first.
After the meeting ended, Qin Keqing caught up with Zhao Bocong in the corridor.
"Your Highness, I need someone's file."
"Who?"
"One of the water clock doctors at the Observatory was named Yuwen Xu."
He wasn't a low-ranking official, but he controlled something that no one else in the entire city of Lin'an could touch: the fire alarm bell.
This set of copper bells was part of the city's alarm system, jointly managed by the Lin'an Prefecture and the Palace Guard, and was specifically used for fire warnings.
However, its bell lines extended from the observation tower all the way to the city gates and watchtowers of each ward. With slight modifications, it could easily be transformed into a rapid communication system within the city.
Qin Keqing spoke very quickly, clearly indicating that she had been thinking about this idea for a long time.
"His Highness has installed a double track in the archives and a communication line in the Empress Dowager's Cining Palace, but so far all information transmission still relies on people running on foot."
It would take General Xin's small entourage about half an hour to ride their fast horses from the southern suburbs to Beiwa.
If Qin Hui lets the Imperial City Guards make the first move, half an hour would be far too slow.
Zhao Bocong stopped in his tracks.
Qin Keqing lowered her voice and continued, "I saw the fire prevention deployment map of Lin'an City in the tenth year of Shaoxing in the study of the Qin family. Every watchtower that the copper bell line passed through was marked with a number on the map."
The system itself is inactive; it only activates in the event of a fire.
However, its layout happens to cover a radius of one li around all our current key nodes, including the warehouses of the old camp in the southern suburbs, the east wall of Deshou Palace, the back door of Shunhe Tea Shop in Wazi Lane, and even the alleyway outside Cining Palace.
You can find the nearest brass bell stand in every location.
If we transform the fire alarm bells into a rapid, covert communication system for transmitting early warning signals, we can bypass human footsteps and transmit intelligence from the east to the west of the city within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
After hearing these words, Zhao Bozong remained silent for a few moments.
This idea is too bold.
Fire alarm bells were public facilities of the imperial court, and any unauthorized alteration was a serious crime.
He only had a vague impression of Yuwen Xu, knowing that he was in charge of the Imperial Observatory but did not vie for power, had an eccentric temper, and had little contact with Qin Hui's side.
But the fact that Qin Keqing dared to mention this name shows that she had already done her homework on this person.
"Miss Qin, this idea is feasible, but not now." Zhao Bozong's voice was deep. "The fire alarm bell is the lifeblood of the imperial court; touching it is tantamount to touching the emperor's personal guard."
Qin Hui is keeping a close eye on us right now; if we take even the slightest wrong step, we'll be caught red-handed.
You don't need to make any moves on Yuwen Xu yet; I need to observe him for a while.
First, you should lay an observation line around Deoksugung Palace before you can talk about the next step.
Before the fire alarm bells are established, we need someone to act as a bridge between Xinqizong's fast horsemen and the city's intelligence network.
"Who is it?"
"Jiao Qiong, the commander of the Divine Valiant Army of the Palace Guard," Zhao Bocong said. "General Xin will invite his old subordinates to the old camp in the southern suburbs tomorrow, and I will go to see him in person."
Qin Keqing nodded without saying anything more. As she turned to walk back, Zhao Bozong called out to her.
"Miss Qin, when you mentioned these three plans just now, you spoke almost twice as fast as usual."
Qin Keqing did not turn around, and Zhao Bozong could not see the expression on her face.
After a long while, she said, "Maybe I drank too much tea in Xiuzhou," and then quickly walked past the corner of the corridor.