A Clash of Gods - Chapter 111
Chapter 111 The Spies
Yang Ning asked, “You seem to fear the Duke of Huainan. What? Does he have complaints about our family?”
Mao Wenshou answered, “Your Excellency, you don’t know that. When His Majesty chose the crown prince, there were different opinions at the imperial court. Some people even asked His Majesty to let the Duke of Huainan take the throne. Of course, the Duke of Huainan must have been behind the scenes, but there were conflicts when the crown prince was decided and even several officials were punished.”
Yang Ning asked, “Oh? The Duke of Huainan always wants to take the throne?”
Mao Wenshou answered, “If only the Duke of Huainan has this intention, it is not scary. But as far as I know, many officials at the imperial court side with him. One of the four marquises, the Marquis of Golden Sword has a good relationship with the Duke of Huainan.”
“The Marquis of Golden Sword?”
Although Mao Wenshou was just a local official, obviously he was clear about the situation at the imperial court. He explained, “Your Excellency, when the first emperor tried to establish the country, he had a group of excellent officials and powerful generals. The Marquis of Golden Sword was promoted by the first emperor. Besides the Marquis of Golden Sword, many officials at the imperial court are the first emperor’s followers. After the second emperor took the throne, he had promoted many talented officials, and the Marquis of Honor from the Qi family was one of them.”
Yang Ning immediately understood that as Mao Wenshou said, there were still two factions in the Chu State, the first emperor’s and the second emperor’s followers.
Many officials led by the Marquis of Golden Sword had been promoted by the first emperor and they still felt gratitude to the first emperor, but the Marquis of Honor had been promoted by the second emperor even though two marquises had outstanding exploits. The first emperor’s followers certainly still hoped that his lineal descendant the Duke of Huainan could take the throne, while the rising stars such as the Marquis of Honor naturally protected the second emperor’s descendants and supported the current crown prince.
“Since the second emperor took the throne, didn’t…he expect what would happen in the future?” Yang Ning couldn’t help but lower his voice. “The first emperor’s officials had different intentions. Couldn’t the second emperor see something wrong?”
“In fact, he didn’t need to. The storm never stopped when it came to the heir to the throne.” Mao Wenshou sighed. “After the second emperor let His Majesty take the throne, many people asked His Majesty to make the Duke of Huainan the heir to the throne, and there was a big number. In fact, in the beginning, few people said that the second emperor had promised to let the Duke of Huainan take the throne. Just at that time, rumors started to spread everywhere that when the second emperor accepted the imperial jade seal, he had promised to return the throne to the Duke of Huainan after the latter grew up. Nobody could confirm if it was true. But many people just talked about this matter and insisted that the Duke of Huainan was the official heir to the throne.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “After the second emperor gave the Duke of Huainan this title, there were fewer rumors.”
“The emperor is the foundation of a country. The Duke of Huainan and his followers don’t give up, and it will be a threat to the throne all the time.” Yang Ning asked in a low voice, “Didn’t the second emperor want to wipe them out?”
Mao Wenshou answered, “In fact the second emperor was prepared all the time. The Marquis of Golden Sword was the most famous general in our country, and many of his followers were capable of fighting. The prestige of the Marquis of Golden Sword in the army was unmatched those years. In order to weaken his influence in the army, the second emperor promoted the old Marquis of Honor. The old marquis didn’t let the emperor down and had outstanding military exploits. His prestige was almost on a par with that of the Marquis of Golden Sword. But at that time, the country was unstable and powerful enemies were from outside. If the second emperor did something too harsh, probably our country would be in chaos.”
Yang Ning nodded slightly and could understand the second emperor.
All the generals and soldiers left by the first emperor were meritorious statesmen to help him establish the country. Although the second emperor was alert to those people, as Mao Wenshou said, if he wiped them out inside, the country would be the first to be hurt. Under the situation, solidarity was above anything. If there was an internal disorder, it meant that they would court their own ruin.
Mao Wenshou continued, “After the second emperor passed away, His Majesty took the throne and conciliated the Duke of Huainan all the time, giving him a lot of honor. And he prompted many new officials, so the first emperor’s followers became much weaker than before. General guarded the Huaishui River and had an outstandingly meritorious deed, so His Majesty was relieved. These years, it’s said that the Duke of Huainan is more well-behaved and didn’t make much trouble. But when His Majesty decided the crown prince, somebody mentioned the Duke of Huainan and was deposed by His Majesty.”
Yang Ning asked, “So you think that when His Majesty has passed away and the crown prince is far away in Eastern Qi, the Duke of Huainan and his followers would take the chance and make trouble?”
Mao Wenshou replied, “It’s possible. If General were still alive and had the military power, the Duke of Huainan wouldn’t dare to act rashly, but His Majesty passed away, and General had gone at this time, so they may have the ambition.”
Qi Feng finally stated, “If the Duke of Huainan succeeds, the first one he would deal with must be the family of the Marquis of Honor.”
Yang Ning had roughly known the situation at the imperial court. As Mao Wenshou said, the Marquis of Golden Sword must work for the Duke of Huainan, and the Marquis of Honor was the second emperor’s follower. If the Duke of Huainan took the throne, he naturally wouldn’t let go of the family of the Marquis of Honor.
When he left the capital, he didn’t know about the inside story. He finally knew that in fact, these days, the atmosphere in the capital was always tense. No wonder many officials didn’t come to pay respects after Qi Jing died, and even few officials attended his funeral. Perhaps those officials found something wrong in the imperial palace and knew that the family of the Marquis of Honor would be the main target that the Duke of Huainan would deal with. Qi Jing had died, and in their eyes, the family of the Marquis of Honor would hardly have power capable of saving a desperate situation, so they stayed away from this family to avoid being implicated by the Marquis of Honor.
No wonder as soon as Qi Jing died, the Marquis of Martial Arts came to break off the engagement even before his funeral. It must have something behind it.
He kept thinking and wondered if the Duke of Huainan and his people did something behind when some things weird happened to the Qi family recently.
At this time, somebody came to report in a hurry outside the door. “Your Excellency, a group of soldiers on horseback suddenly comes here, and they have many people from nowhere.”
Yang Ning was stunned and suddenly patted his head. “Those are our people. Don’t misunderstand.” He knew that it must be that Gu Wenzhang waited impatiently and brought his people to rush over.
He came to the old house and had forgotten that Gu Wenzhang was still waiting for his signal. “They are people from the Gu family. I didn’t know that you have controlled the old house. And the Gu family was prepared. They brought soldiers to capture those guys at night.”
Mao Wenshou laughed. “Your Excellency, have a rest first. I know them and will explain to them.” He cupped his hands and walked out.
After he went out, Yang Ning asked Qi Feng, “Where is the fake Qi Cheng locked up?”
Qi Feng responded, “In the woodshed. Your Excellency, will you interrogate him?”
Yang Ning nodded slightly. Qi Feng added, “Some people are guarding there. We have interrogated him but didn’t get anything useful. I will bring him here.”
Yang Ning stood up. “I am going to the woodshed.”
They came to the woodshed, and there were people guarding outside. Qi Feng opened the door, and then Yang Ning came into the woodshed, to find that the fake Qi Cheng had been tied up and thrown to a corner. Hearing the sounds, the fake Qi Cheng raised his head to have a look and was surprised to see Yang Ning, asking involuntarily, “You…are still alive?”
Yang Ning walked over and laughed. “Chief Steward, do you think I have died?”
The fake Qi Cheng opened his mouth but didn’t speak a word, with fear in his eyes.
“Zhao Yuan has died. Oh, no. It’s the judge.” Yang Ning squatted down. “I also know that Ksitigarbha in the nether world. In fact, I came to see you in order to ask some irrelevant questions. If you answer me honestly, I can give you a chance to stay alive as you are insignificant. Otherwise…” He waved his hand and showed the Cold Blade.
The fake Qi Cheng stated, “Since you have known everything, what else would you ask? I have told them what I should say and don’t know anything else.”
“So you prepare to be loyal to Ksitigarbha in the nether world.” Yang Ning chuckled. “But does that Ksitigarbha care about your life or death? It’s said that if you are loyal to Ksitigarbha, you can avoid entering the hell after dying. In this case, I will cut off your throat at one blow, and you can see if you will go to the hell.” While speaking, he put the Cold Blade against the fake Qi Cheng’s neck.
The corners of the fake Qi Cheng’s eyes twitched. “You…what do you want to ask?”
Yang Ning questioned coldly, “Where is the tax silver? You sent the tax of twenty percent of grains to the capital. Whom did you give it to?”
The fake Qi Cheng answered, “You should ask the people in the Qi family. The tax silver was sent to the capital and given to the people in your family.”
“Don’t keep me in suspense.” Yang Ning moved the Cold Blade forward and it had cut his skin with the fresh blood falling. The fake Qi Cheng shouted, “It’s… the third elder lord in the Qi family.”
Yang Ning was stunned and asked with a frown, “The third elder lord?”
The fake Qi Cheng replied, “Right, the tax silver arrived long ago and the third elder lord sent people to check it. Judge told us that this time we didn’t need to send the tax silver to the marquis’ mansion like before. We just had to send it to the outside of the capital and some people would receive it.”
Yang Ning looked cold and asked, “Why did you give the silver to the third elder lord?”
“I came to the old house of the Qi family under Judge’s orders. We captured the real Qi Cheng first and used him to threaten the old chief steward Qi Hong. Then we found a chance to poison and control Qi Hong. Later we controlled the whole old house.” At the critical moment, the fake Qi Cheng didn’t care about his dignity but confessed, “After I controlled the old house, I seized an opportunity to let Judge enter the house. I did everything under his orders from beginning to end.”
Yang Ning asked, “Do you keep in touch with the third elder lord? Or do you contact him only recently? Do you know Qi Yu?”
The fake Qi Cheng responded, “I don’t know what is exactly going on, but Judge once said that we have spies in the Qi family, and he knew everything in the marquis’ mansion. I don’t know if Judge had contacts with the third elder lord in the past. I never heard him mention the third elder lord before. Judge dealt with the income and outgo. I just listened to him and did the jobs.”
“You have spies in the marquis’ mansion?” Yang Ning’s eyes were cold. “Who?”