Chapter 108

Chapter 108

In Jiangnan, the news that the common people were asking to build a living shrine for Prince Yan spread widely, boosting Prince Yan's reputation among the people.

Within two days, the imperial envoy arrived with the emperor's decree, and the issue of Jiangnan's local gentry was brought to light with one imperial decree. Led by the Fei family, a powerful gentry clan, the imperial court began a thorough investigation into scholarly halls, including the Fei family academy. Zhang Wuyong and other honest officials took full control. Corrupt officials who had relied on princes and marquises were the first to be made scapegoats.

The problem of Jiangnan's local gentry was a chronic disease. Once the corrupt officials had to be dealt with, it meant tackling the countless connections behind them. The fall of the Fei family gave Zhang Wuyong and others the initiative and allowed the imperial court a rare opportunity for sweeping reforms. Facing the relentless pressure from the court and Zhang Wuyong's faction, Marquis Cen'an and others remarkably kept their cool for months on end.

Zhang Wuyong was promoted to Assistant Prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, replacing all the duties of the former Assistant Prefect Fei.

Even the upright officials behind him were successively promoted to higher positions, forming the new core of Jiangnan officialdom.

The execution ground for the Fei family was set up in Huaizhou City. On the day of the execution, the entire city turned out to watch.

For their heinous crimes, the involved parties were sentenced to various punishments based on the severity of their offenses, ultimately executed by lingchi—death by a thousand cuts.

On a forest path, a carriage fled from pursuers, moving silently deeper into the woods.

The news of the public execution of the Fei family traitors in Jiangnan arrived via carrier pigeon, falling into the hands of one man inside the carriage. He took the letter and handed it to another, sneering, "If you hadn't insisted on starting an internal conflict at that moment, Prince Yan wouldn't have found such a perfect opportunity. As a result, you've lost so many of your Fei family."

Zhou Qingyuan looked at the pale Fei Xun inside the carriage. Having escaped the intense manhunt in Jiangnan and lost a hand, Fei Xun looked haggard and disheveled. Facing the accusations from others, Fei Xun didn't say much, only sneered, "When Marquis Cen'an plotted rebellion, the message he sent to me wasn't like this. What about all the gains in Jiangnan? Didn't my Fei family play a part?"

Marquis Cen'an's subordinate sputtered, "You!"

"Don't forget, the fact that Jiangnan officialdom hasn't uncovered solid evidence against Marquis Cen'an is because my whole Fei family has been covering for you," Fei Xun said, his eyes glinting coldly, forcing Marquis Cen'an's subordinate to step back and leave the carriage.

"What use is that? Just a beaten dog," the subordinate muttered under his breath.

Fei Xun watched them leave, and Zhou Qingyuan beside him said, "Master Fei, now that Jiangnan has fallen back into Prince Jin's hands, your plan was a complete failure."

At the mention of defeat, a flicker of hatred crossed Fei Xun's face. He looked at the increasingly distant Jiangnan territory, thought of the other person's arrangements, and calmed down again.

"Not a defeat. Just lost the people's support."

Fei Xun turned to Zhou Qingyuan, "History is always written by the victors. If the emperor wants to completely clean out Jiangnan's bureaucracy, that will take time."

Zhou Qingyuan frowned, "Do you have a backup plan?"

"No, that lord has a backup plan." Fei Xun leaned against the carriage window, watching the carriage about to enter Xishu territory. The pain caused by Ying Fusheng and Qi Hanzhou was still vivid in his memory. Every night during the escape, his broken wrist throbbed, a constant reminder of his loss in this round. "He won't give the emperor a chance to clean up the Southern Frontier."

After so many years of plotting, it's time for results.

...

Months passed in Jiangnan. The news of the common people requesting a living shrine for Prince Yan reached the capital, sparking a heated debate at court.

The proposal to erect a living shrine for Prince Yan caused a stir among the court factions. Officials gathered, voicing all kinds of objections.

When the matter was presented to the emperor, he saw his ministers divided. Reading the report from Jiangnan, he recalled what Xiao Yan had said that day and paused briefly. As other officials stepped forward to further petition, he ordered the Minister of Rites to deal with it, effectively giving his silent approval for the living shrine.

This move shocked the entire court.

The emperor did not retract Prince Yan's supervisory duties; instead, he mostly rewarded the officials in Jiangnan—promoting upright officials, suppressing local gentry, and silently allowing public opinion to spread.

When this news reached Jiangnan, Ying Fusheng knew it wasn't the work of just one person. Most likely, Xiao Yan and Shen Changcun in the capital had also helped.

As for Qi Hanzhou, he hadn't returned to Jiangnan.

On the day the common people gathered outside Prince Jin's residence, Ying Fusheng couldn't send Qi Hanzhou off to the capital.

It seemed that since they had met in this life, they had never been apart for so long. It had been over a year since Ying Fusheng came to the Southern Frontier, and soon it would be winter. Qi Hanzhou showed no intention of returning to Jiangnan. However, every month, a falcon from the north would quietly land in Ying Fusheng's courtyard.

Qi Hanzhou's letters were concise, even shorter than the secret messages Shen Changcun sent.

But one thing was certain: behind the court's apparent calm, there were likely stormy undercurrents. Even the emperor hadn't dispatched spies to Xishu, instead using the Fei family case to weed out hidden agents in the court. It was only from Shen Changcun's secret reports that Ying Fusheng learned the emperor had recently been paying attention to the Second Prince.

Hearing this, Ying Fusheng was sure of it.

Qi Hanzhou had reported to the emperor that the Second Prince's birth mother, Concubine Xian, had roots in Jiangnan.

Ying Fusheng thought, perhaps in his previous life his mind had been unclear. Sometimes days blurred together, and he couldn't tell day from night. He had never really noticed when Qi Hanzhou came or left. But this time apart, he found himself eagerly awaiting the middle of each month, when the falcon would quietly land in his courtyard.

Weng Yanqing managed Jiangling very well. Jiangnan officialdom was handled by Zhang Wuyong and Censor Xiao.

Ying Fusheng unexpectedly found himself idle. He didn't need to worry about heavy matters; others took care of them.

Even the imperial envoy who came from the capital was a neutral court official he had met a few times. One of the accompanying officials from the Ministry of Personnel, under Censor Xiao's deliberate arrangement, barely dealt with any serious matters.

During this period, Ying Fusheng used Censor Xiao to remind Zhang Wuyong of some potential issues in Jiangnan officialdom, making sure Marquis Cen'an couldn't take advantage. However, he couldn't find solid evidence to eliminate Marquis Cen'an.

"The Fei family was clever. Before Fei Xun contemplated massacring the city, he managed to separate the Fei family's interests from those of the princes and marquises behind him," Censor Xiao said. "But without concrete evidence, we are certain which marquises were behind the Fei family. We have a more detailed list, and it has been handed to the imperial envoy."

This essentially returned the situation to a balance, but now the balance was in their hands.

Zhang Wuyong prioritized the people. Currently, Jiangnan officialdom was in a phase where corrupt officials had stepped down, but a new administration wasn't yet stable. Hastily submitting evidence would only drag the already stabilized common people back into turmoil.

Just as Ying Fusheng had initially wanted to avoid internal chaos in Jiangnan, Zhang Wuyong was now striving to maintain this balance.

Once Jiangnan officialdom was completely stabilized, it would be the right time to deal with the corrupt marquises. For now, compared to their previous passive position, Jiangnan had returned to the balanced control of Prince Jin. Clearing the gentry and resolving collusion among officials, merchants, and bandits were the immediate priorities.

"Also, here are the archives of past grain transport that you requested," Censor Xiao couldn't help but praise Wang Guanzhi. "You know, Lord Wang is truly a talent. He's only a minor official in the Ministry of Works, but he knows more than those former drunken fools."

Ying Fusheng nodded. "Didn't we send him to repair the dikes?"

Now, the dike repair team sent by the court, following the events at Jiangling, was entirely under Wang Guanzhi's control.

However, Wang Guanzhi seemed uninterested in promotion. According to reports, the imperial envoy had dropped hints to him, but this stubborn mule would rather come to change the wheels of Ying Fusheng's wheelchair than grace the envoy with a drink.

And what did he say? "Forming partisan factions."

That remark made the envoy avoid him for three consecutive days.

"Isn't he Prince Jin's man?" Ying Fusheng asked.

Censor Xiao laughed. "Your Highness, that's a bit of a joke. He does have some ties with Prince Jin, but only because when he clashed with the Jiangnan officialdom before, Prince Jin saved him twice. When Prince Jin handed him to you, he actually wanted to get rid of this hot potato, to stop being annoyed by him every day."

Ying Fusheng smiled. He had indeed observed Wang Guanzhi for a long time.

Wang Guanzhi truly lived up to his reputation as a canal expert. He could repair dikes and predict weather patterns.

Recently, Weng Yanqing had called him back to supervise dike repairs. Thanks to the sufficient labor from the work-relief program, the dikes upstream of Jiangling had been reinforced, with several additional diversion channels opened. At this rate, the Jiangling dikes would remain stable for at least a decade.

Currently, the Ministry of Works in the capital lacked talents like Wang Guanzhi. Liu Yunshi could navigate the social scene and handle matters smoothly, but he originally came from the Dali Temple. In practical work at the Ministry of Works, he relied on the old craftsmen.

With his abilities, Wang Guanzhi could do far more than just repair dikes.

Earlier, when Ying Fusheng casually mentioned the changes in the Southern Frontier's river transport, Wang Guanzhi, within half a month, had Weng Yanqing deliver a dossier. As a native of Jiangnan, he had recorded detailed changes in Jiangnan's waterways and reinforcements over the past decade. Combining this with changes in grain transport, Ying Fusheng could deduce the details he wanted.

"Was Censor Xiao here just now?" Prince Jin entered, fan in hand. "Didn't you catch a cold a couple of days ago? Why not close the window tighter?"

Prince Jin approached and saw Ying Fusheng reading a dossier. After months of convalescence, his complexion was far better than when he first arrived at Prince Jin's residence. Whether it was his imagination, he felt his nephew had grown a bit taller. "If you want to look into these things, just summon the officials in charge of grain transport."

"Is Your Highness speaking sincerely, or probing?" Ying Fusheng did not mince words with him.

Prince Jin sat down bluntly: "What's the issue with grain transport? I noticed Zhang Wuyong has been investigating it lately as well."

The Fei family's involvement in smuggling private salt with the salt merchants seemed a minor profit, but if they could tamper with official salt, what else couldn't they touch? Over the years, Assistant Prefect Fei had placed his loyalists in charge of the grain transport department within the Jiangnan branch of the Ministry of Works.

Prince Jin was aware of this.

"This involves a large area. Among Jiangnan's local taxes, only the grain transport tax changes annually, fluctuating based on climate, water conditions, banditry, and other factors," Ying Fusheng said. "The collusion between officials, merchants, and bandits is a foregone conclusion. Has Your Highness considered how much profit they've reaped over the years?"

Prince Jin's expression turned grave: "Go on."

Ying Fusheng pointed to a year's grain transport transit tax, which had tripled compared to previous years. "In years without disasters, water bandits run rampant; in disaster years, they lie low. Don't you think these water bandits are remarkably considerate?"

But whether these fluctuations were due to real issues on the grain transport route or problems deliberately created by the Fei family remained unknown.

What Qi Hanzhou had mentioned before leaving the capital reminded him. Ying Fusheng had ordered Censor Xiao to secretly investigate the Fei family's wealth over the years. On the surface, it had all been confiscated during the family's downfall, but if this was a scheme spanning two decades—Assistant Prefect Fei had held his post for over ten years—the amount of embezzled wealth was incalculable.

The mastermind behind the scenes had already used the Deposed Crown Prince and the Xu family to swallow military funds, but that wasn't enough. If all the embezzled funds from Jiangnan's grain transport over the years had been funneled through the Fei family to the mastermind, the total would be immeasurable.

"Your Highness lost power only a few years ago, allowing the Fei family to control the Jiangnan officialdom," Ying Fusheng placed the dossier before him. "But did the Fei family only start embezzling and colluding with Marquis Cen'an and others in recent years?"

Marquis Cen'an couldn't have remained so composed; there must be a reason for his calm.

If the embezzled funds from the Fei family flowed into the mastermind's hands, then that mastermind's resources far exceeded Ying Fusheng's imagination. He seemed like a leech hiding behind Dayuan, slowly siphoning the kingdom's fortune from the local level to the court, eventually turning it into his own possession.

Prince Jin understood the implication of Ying Fusheng's words. The extent of embezzlement behind grain transport could very well be the source of funds for Marquis Cen'an, or even Prince of Qin, to raise private armies. If a battle in Jiangnan was inevitable, this would be their basis for estimating the enemy's military strength. "Sometimes I wonder, if you had been born a few years earlier, would Jiangnan have come to this?"

"Born a few years earlier, I might not have come to Jiangnan at all," Ying Fusheng replied.

Prince Jin shifted the topic: "Being a member of the imperial family, don't you want to contend for the throne?"

Ying Fusheng paused in flipping through the dossier and looked sideways at him: "And Your Highness, back then, as a member of the imperial family, didn't you want to contend?"

Seeing through his probing, Prince Jin laughed heartily twice. "Don't blame me, my nephew. After all, Fei Xun's words were astonishing; I had to be cautious." He looked into Ying Fusheng's eyes. "If I hadn't investigated, I wouldn't have known such an unbelievable thing as swapping a prince had occurred in the imperial family."

Ying Fusheng remained silent, staring at Prince Jin for a moment, then said: "Those were the words of a rebel. Your Highness should not be used as a pawn."

"Then let's take it as a joke. I have a clearer path on this grain transport matter than you do. Relying solely on Wang Guanzhi won't figure it out. Leave this to me." Prince Jin reached for the dossier Ying Fusheng had already read beside him. He found he truly liked this nephew—seeming formal and distant, yet actually quite interesting. He dropped his frivolous demeanor and said earnestly: "For the Jiangnan affair, I owe you a favor. If you ever need help, don't hesitate to ask me."

Before Ying Fusheng could respond, Prince Jin turned and shouted outside: "What are you standing there for? Bring it in!"

Outside, medicine merchants were carrying herbs inside. "That old man in your courtyard is really stubborn. When I asked what herbs you needed, he insisted on the most aged ones, afraid you'd be shortchanged. You've been recuperating here for over half a year and still haven't fully recovered. If your imperial brother finds out, he'll blame me."

The sound of a falcon's wings fluttering came from above. Ying Fusheng was startled and looked up at the windowsill.

Qi Hanzhou's messenger falcon landed on the sill. In the shadows, Ye Xuanqi approached and took the falcon. Prince Jin had already gone outside to direct the medicine merchants. Ye Xuanqi silently entered. Looking at the increasingly plump Qi family falcon in his hands, he wondered if it could still fly properly. If released, calling it a Qi family falcon would tarnish its reputation. This falcon seemed to have indulged in comfort, no longer hunting outside, spending its days eating and sleeping in Prince Yan's courtyard.

"Your Highness, it's a letter from the Junior General," he said.

Ying Fusheng took the letter tube and opened it.

Suddenly, urgent news came from outside—

"Eight-hundred-li urgent dispatch! An order from the capital: Prince Yan is to return to the capital immediately."

Prince Jin paused outside, looked back in surprise, and stopped directing the medicine merchants. Chen Xuqiu and Wu Lao looked toward the inner room. Ying Fusheng's expression changed slightly as he opened the letter paper. Qi Hanzhou's message was succinctly written in a line:

"Changes in the capital. The eldest prince is in trouble."