Chapter 68 – Idealist
Yan Bingyun, who had always maintained an inhumanly cold and calm demeanor, was indeed an extremely excellent spy, but the anger that erupted in this instant proved his power and control as the chief head of the secret spies of the Qing State in Northern Qi. Even Fan Xian subconsciously tried to dodge the flames of anger that shot out from the eyes of this prisoner.
Yan Bingyun’s lips trembled twice, and in a very low voice, speaking very quickly, like an exploding firecracker, she came up to Fan Xian’s ear and said, “Sean is still in control?”
Fan Xian shook his head and whispered, “After Misty crossed the river, he was handed over to the Brocade Guards of Northern Qi, and is presumed to have already entered the capital.”
“Is there any way to kill him?”
“No.”
“Did you ask about the secrets in his mouth?”
Fan Xian flinched, pulling away from Yan Bingyun a bit, his eyes serenely looking at the other party, and asked, “You know the secret in his mouth?”
As Yan Bingyun looked at the young Lord Tishi in front of him, the corners of his lips flared up with a hint of dissimilarity as he said, “I’ve been in Beiqi for four years, so naturally I know that the Beiqi royal family has always been oblivious to Sean, and even though I don’t know the specifics of that secret, since …… he can make the Beiqi royal family look at him in such a high light, I think it’s definitely not simple.”
After a pause, Yan Bingyun suddenly said, “Do you know what Sean is?”
Fan Xian nodded and said with a smile, “I believe I know a bit more than everyone else.”
Yan Bingyun cursed in rapid speech, “Since you know, how could you allow this to happen?”
Fan Xian serenely looked at the other party and slowly said, “His Majesty and Lord Dean’s meaning is very clear, Sean is already old and you are still young, so this deal is actually a bargain for us.”
Yan Bingyun once again fell into silence. He hadn’t expected that because of himself, the Southern Qing court would be willing to exchange Sean for him, but this fact caused this Northern Spy Grand Commander to feel a hint of frustration. Being captured alive by the Northern Qi Brocade Guards himself was already a pile of humiliation, and now that the court had to pay such a large price, it was undoubtedly even more of a humiliation.
He was so disappointed that his body, caged in a white robe, seemed to shrink.
Fan Xian looked at him calmly and said, “You’re a smart man, and since things are already a done deal, so you must return to the south safely so that we don’t lose too much.”
Yan Bingyun was cold and speechless, knowing that this Supervisory Court Tishee, who had appeared out of nowhere, had said the most correct piece of nonsense.
“Three days later, I’ll be waiting for you at the mission.”
Fan Xian smiled, and walked out side by side with Wang Qinian, accompanied by Wei Hua and that Deputy Recruitment Envoy who were waiting outside the door, and boarded the carriage, returning directly to the mission.
After returning to the mission, the people of Qing gathered together to summarize the events of these days, and then dispersed, leaving Fan Xian and Wang Qinian alone. Fan Xian was in deep thought with his jaw propped up, and did not speak for a long time.
Wang Qinian asked in a small voice, “Lord Fan, what are you thinking about?”
“Why did that Ms. Shen appear there?” Fan Xian yawned and continued, “This could be the Northern Qi people trying to mess with our minds, or at least trying to weaken the court’s trust in Yan Bingyun.”
“How?” Wang Qinian was puzzled, “The court is naturally clear about the tactics used by Lord Yan.”
“Things always get complicated.” Fan Xian said expressionlessly, “If someone with a heart wants to do something, this could be a gaping hole …… In addition, I still never understood, old Wang you tell me, why did I not see a hint of happiness from his face when we went to see Lord Yan, when it was clear that he could return to his country? ”
“Because the court paid too much to get him to return home.” Wang Qinian, an old man of the Supervisory Court, knew more about these eccentric adults in the court than Fan Xian, and respectfully said, “If Lord Yan had known that the court would use Sean in exchange for him, perhaps at the beginning of his arrest, he would have chosen to kill himself himself himself himself, rather than waiting until now.”
Fan Xian seemed to have a hard time understanding the mental state of these officials of the Supervisory Yuan, and frowned, “Could it be that …… an outstanding official of the Supervisory Yuan …… really… …” he deliberated on the wording for a long time before asking in a small way, “Is it really so willing to sacrifice for the country?”
“Yes.” Wang Qinian stole a glance at Fan Xian and realized that his lordship’s face was just a little perplexed before he respectfully said, “My humble servant admires Lord Yan, but as an official of the Supervisory Academy, or as a secret agent of the imperial court, at the very beginning of his entry into the academy, he should be prepared with the thought of sacrificing himself for the country, and the secret agents in the academy only believe in the saying that, for the sake of this purpose, what kind of means, what kind of sacrifices are all being permitted.”
“What end?”
“All for the sake of the Kingdom of Qing.” A trace of fervor appeared on Wang Qinian’s face.
Fan Xian’s fingers were somewhat subconsciously writing some words on the table. When he first met Yan Bingyun today, he realized that the other party had been sitting peacefully in that chair, and was sitting in a somewhat strange position, like a javelin, with no other part of his body even next to the chair except for his hips. Until he left, Fan Xian realized that the other party’s feet were chained to the chair, so there could only be one explanation for Yan Bingyun’s sitting posture. Yan Bingyun’s entire body, there was no longer a single piece of skin that was good, it was all rotten flesh everywhere, which was why she chose this posture.
“All for the sake of the Kingdom of Qing?” Fan Xian’s frown tightened, “So they’re all a bunch of idealists.”
The paperwork from the Qing court was delivered to the mission through official channels, and naturally, there was no secret in the letter, it just said that the birthday of the Empress Dowager of Beiqi was approaching, and that the court had ordered the mission to postpone their return to the country, and to finish this big event before returning home.
This is not a big deal, the diplomatic exchanges between the two countries, meet the empress dowager’s birthday this kind of thing, always have to put together a lively. And being in the capital, Fan Xian also has some things to deal with, naturally happy to stay some days, just think of the beautiful wife at home weak sister, there will always be some hang-ups.
“The Empress Dowager’s birthday, we represent the face of the court, this gift can not be too shabby.” Vice Ambassador Lin Jing pondered, “Why don’t we call on the following adults to go to Xiu Shui Street?”
When he heard the words “Xiu Shui Street”, Fan Xian thought of the letter handed over by Sheng, the boss of the wine seller, and shook his head, the water in Shangjing was deep enough, and the Princess wanted to remotely control and command the civil unrest of a foreign country in Xinyang, so this kind of muddy water Fan Xian definitely did not want to get involved in.
“Then send what?” Lin Jing began to have a headache with the question of gifts for the palace banquet.
Fan Xian already had an idea, and waved his hand and said, “I’ll write a poem and frame it nicely.” This sounds arrogant, but a few subordinates around him are nodding their heads, Poetry Immortal Fan Xian does not write poems, this is something known to the whole world, if Fan Xian makes an exception because of the birthday of the Empress Dowager of Beiqi, this face is considered to be given a great deal of face.
But …… Fan Xian’s words can’t really be taken.
Wang Qinian began to give out bad ideas again: “Lord Yan’s identity in Beiqi is Yun Da Cai Zi, chess, qin, calligraphy and painting, his calligraphy under Master Pan Ling, a year ago in Beiqi, a piece of the middle hall, can be sold to a thousand taels of silver. Lord Fan composes poems, Lord Yan’s handwriting, the two most handsome young figures of the Qing Kingdom make a move, and it won’t make the Empress Dowager of Northern Qi smile crookedly?”
Lin Jing and Lin Wen knew that Wang Qinian was Ambassador Fan Zheng’s inner circle, and thought that this proposal was not bad, they naturally knew Lord Yan’s identity now, but it just felt a bit strange, but for a moment they couldn’t figure out where the strangeness of this proposal was.
Fan Xian laughed and scolded, “Who is Lord Yan? I’m afraid that everyone in Northern Qi would like to eat his flesh and drink his blood, but you actually proposed to let him write a piece of writing to give to the empress dowager as a birthday gift, so you are not afraid that the empress dowager would open the scroll and die of anger, and that the palace would be turned into a place for the birthday of the dead.”
Wang Qinian was embarrassed, and realized that he did propose something ridiculous, and smiled with a salivating face, “If I can make the Empress Dowager of Northern Qi die of anger, this is also considered a good story in the courtyard.”
Fan Xian lazily ignored the middle-aged man’s uninteresting jokes, and fell into deep thought himself. It was obvious that if Yan Bingyun returned safely to Qing, with the foundation he had laid in Beiqi over the past four years and his life in prison over the past year, Mr. Yan would immediately rise to the top of the supervisory institute, and his father, Yan Ruohai, was the chief of the four departments, while the position of the one department has always been a vacant position, and it is clear to all those in the institute that President Chen had reserved the position of the one department chief for the one department who remained imprisoned. He had left the position of the head of one place to Yan Bingyun, who was still imprisoned.
And if nothing else, he himself would gradually begin to take over everything in the Supervisory Academy-when Chen Pingping died-and Fan Xian knew very well that that day might be far away, or it might be very, very close.
If Fan Xian himself wanted to keep the Supervisory Yuan firmly under his control, then the eight divisions were the people he had to control, but this was Fan Xian’s greatest weakness; apart from the three divisions and the eight divisions, he basically had no close friends of his own in the Supervisory Yuan. Originally thought that this time to the north, can win the friendship of the speech Bingyun, and then get a and four support, but did not expect, the first meeting, Fan Xian can clearly feel, speech Bingyun seems to be in his own some hidden hostility.
Why is that? Luckily, it seemed that Yan Bingyun did not want to hide this hostility either, something that made Fan Xian feel slightly more at ease.
“My lord, the hour is up.” Wang Qinian reminded in a low voice from the side.
Fan Xian nodded and got up to leave the separate courtyard, behind him, the two brothers Lin Jing and Lin Wen looked at each other, wondering where Lord Zheng Envoy was going today.
Outside the courtyard, there were the family members of the Marquis of Changning waiting, and certain figures in the palace had already sent word, so the imperial guards in charge of escorting the envoys defaulted to those wearing all the brocade garments and took over their jobs, escorting the carriage towards Taiping Lane, the busiest alley in the Shangjing of Northern Qi. It was raining lightly in the sky, instantly engulfing the traces of the caravan’s travel.
Fan Xian, the Lord of Supervision of the Qing Dynasty, was to meet with Mr. Shen Qian of the Qi Dynasty’s Brocade Guard Zhenfu Division today, and the meeting of the head of the secret agents would always appear to be mysterious and unimaginable.