Chapter 88 – Gentlemen, Partners, and Back Roads

At noon, He Da Daoshi put one hand on his forehead, blocking the blinding sun, not caring about the blinding sweat running down his face, quickly left the deep imperial city, did not enter the door under the Chinese book of the column of the small corner room, but directly on the sedan chair, came to the government office of the Duzha Academy. Once he entered the government office, he realized that the official uniform on his body has long been wet with sweat, some people are unconscious woodenly walked to the hall, and sat alone for half a day, before waking up.

Earlier his majesty summoned him into the imperial study, just a few simple words, he Zongwei will know, the original himself laid that secret hand, all fall in the eyes of his majesty, his majesty knows what he is investigating, just lazy to ask lazy to care, just cold eyes.

A thought of this, He University scholar trembling, fear, after all, he investigated some of the case is not the intention to His Majesty’s bright eyes, since His Majesty knows the matter, where there is not see the reason? However, to his surprise, his majesty did not severely reprimanded on this matter, but only a little tired to deliver a few words of what, and then kicked him out.

He Zongwei fell into deep thought in the cool courthouse hall. What was the reason His Majesty was not angry? Could it be that the inner court and the Ministry of Justice’s courtroom had really found out something in Dazhou? Is it that Tiger Guard Gouda, or is it the absolutely not dead Wang Qinian who has revealed his tracks? Dazhou is not far from the capital, but back and forth intelligence transmission always need time, He Zongwei has no other way, but in Kyoto and excited and nervous waiting for the return of the place. Until this time, he still did not know that in that place in Dazhou, because of his action of searching for Gouda, he would very much cater to the heavenly will to block the old dean Chen who was returning to his hometown outside of the city, and at the same time also gave Chen Pingping a chance to strike.

Of course, this was also the very opportunity for the Emperor to strike.

Not only He Zongwei didn’t know all the inside information that happened at Dazhou, Hu Daoshi of Zhongshu under the gate, the six ministries and three temples of Qing officials, also didn’t guess that Qing is in a kind of turbulence today, they just smelled some kind of weird flavor, but no one will always connect this flavor with the old dean Chen who has already returned to his hometown.

No one with more wisdom would have thought that there would be problems between His Majesty and Chen Pingping, and the courtiers didn’t even dare to think in that direction.

Even the officials, including the officials of the Supervisory Court, had never doubted the old ancestor’s loyalty to the Kingdom of Qing and to His Majesty. Being loyal to His Majesty, all for the sake of Qing, this was the education that all the officials and spies of the Supervisory Yuan had received from the very beginning of their admission to the Yuan, and over the past few decades, with Chen Pingping as the leader, all the black-clothed officials had been working hard for this goal, for the sake of Qing’s strength, and for the sake of His Majesty’s safety. Who would have thought that today, the Inspectorate had actually become one of His Majesty’s targets as well?

Precisely because no one would have thought of this, no one would have been sensitive enough to probe in that direction. As the world’s most powerful intelligence system and secret service agency, there were undoubtedly many signs of today’s unusual movements in Kyoto that fell into the eyes of the officials of the Supervisory Yuan, especially the increase in the defense level of the Forbidden Army, the sudden mobilization of the Kyoto Guards Division, and even the sudden entry into the palace of Grandmaster He and his disheveled exit from the palace, all of which fell into the eyes of different nails and, through different pathways, were passed back to the square, black and gray building.

In addition to the five divisions where the Black Riders were located, all the head figures of the eight divisions were in the black and gray building of the Supervisory Yuan. The sun had just moved to the west, and the information had already been summarized to the second division, sorted out by different intelligence officials, and then placed on the case of the second division’s intelligence chief.

The organizer of the second division was a middle-aged man, one of the eight old officials who rarely stayed behind. Ever since Fan Xian became the Supervisory Yuan’s chief of staff and gradually began to take over the Supervisory Yuan’s power, Chen Pingping began to persuade those old ministers of the Eight Divisions to retire in order to make his takeover a little smoother, and those old ministers were originally the figures who followed President Chen to single-handedly build this courtyard back in the day, and naturally did not have any feelings of resistance towards Ms. Ye’s son, so they retired in an extremely natural and quick manner.

Mu Tie took over one division, Fan Xian’s elder brother from the Poison Master’s Sect took over three divisions, Yan Bingyun took over four divisions, the Black Horseman’s current commander became Silver-faced Jing Ge, the bald organizer of the seventh division left a long time ago, and the organizer of the eighth division was a person picked by Fan Xian from the Qi Nian group.

Only the second division, because of the vital importance of intelligence, was still being managed by the old organizer, who was sincerely and dutifully cultivating his deputy, waiting only for the deputy to be able to pick up the slack of the entire intelligence system of the Kingdom of Qing, and then letting President Fan’s nearest and dearest take over the reins.

The Supervisory Yuan and the Metropolitan Procuratorate have been in a lawsuit, and little Dean Fan is not fond of that scholar He, so He Zongwei was originally the focus of the Supervisory Yuan’s covert surveillance, and although His Majesty has always held an opposing attitude towards this kind of surveillance, the Supervisory Yuan does some idle work with the power in its hands, and the court can’t possibly keep an eye on it every day. The middle-aged head of the second office frowned and looked at the dossier in his hand, not knowing what He Zongwei this person was actually said by His Majesty today, his face even became so ugly.

As for the adjustment of the forbidden army as well as the deployment of the Kyoto garrison division, is also very sensitive information, the second division organizer frowned and thought for a long time, always want to understand, nowadays, around the important place of Kyoto in Qing Dynasty, what forces need the court so attentive to deal with things, especially the Supervisory Yuan actually from the very beginning, has not been involved in this matter, the palace even know a word is not, which is really and the past there is a too great a difference.

He picked up the dossier on the case, coughed twice, walked out of the door, went up the stairs, walked to the quiet secret room, knocked twice, and pushed the door in.

A young official covered in white clothes, completely at odds with this eerie atmosphere of the Supervisory Court, was sitting behind a large table, gazing at something.

The second division organizer smiled slightly and looked at Yan Bingyun and sighed in his heart before walking forward and placing the case file in his hand on his table.

The old dean had already retired, and young Lord Fan had finally become the real dean, while young Lord Yan was obviously not only going to be in charge of the affairs of the four divisions, but would only take over Fan Xian’s position to become the new Tisan of the Supervisory Academy as well. In the past few years, Chen Pingping had been recuperating from her illness, and Fan Xian had been impatient to manage the details, so the affairs of the entire Supervisory Yuan had been undertaken by Yan Bingyun alone, so when Yan Bingyun became the supervisor of the miscellaneous affairs of the Yuan, the officials of the Supervisory Yuan had gotten used to it, and wouldn’t have any objections to it.

And for the old officials of the Supervisory Academy, although young Lord Fan is a person of amazing talent, and because of the relationship between Miss Ye and old Dean Chen, they are all loyal to Fan Xian and have quite a lot of respect, however, this respect always has a distance, compared to that, since childhood in the Supervisory Academy, Yan Ruohai’s family’s male child, the young Yan who has paid a great price for the academy in Beiqi, is undoubtedly a bit more approachable.

“Uncle Liu, what is it, that I need to bother you to personally send up?” Yan Bingyun smiled gently, completely lacking the frosty feeling he had in front of Fan Xian, and stood up to invite this Second Division organizer to sit down before casually flipping through the dossiers.

“The mobilization of the Forbidden Army and the Kyoto Guard Division only needs to be reported to the Inner Court and the Privy Council, so originally it’s not a big deal for us not to know about it.” The second division organizer looked at Yan Bingyun and said worriedly, “But this is inconsistent with the practice. For something this big, there must be some purpose to it, yet our academy did not know exactly what was happening until this moment ……”

At this time, Yan Bingyun had already finished flipping through these several pieces of information, the arc of the corner of his lips was still as stable as ever, and smiled and said, “Dongyi City’s side has been uneasy lately, there are a lot of masters in those places, and there are many killers in the jianghu, so perhaps the palace is worried that, just like that year’s Suspended Temple, there are a few more killers who have come to be mixed into the city, and it’s not much of a stretch to see the forbidden army raise the level of their defenses. ”

“On the contrary, it is the side of the Kyoto guard division.” Yan Bingyun shook his head and said, “Stay and send a message to the Privy Council to ask.”

“The Privy Council can ignore us.” The Second Division Organizer frowned and said, “And the problem now is that Shi Fei is personally leading the army away, so it must be the palace that sent the decree.”

He suddenly thought of a tsunami of things, of the fact that it hadn’t been too long since Elder Dean Chen’s convoy had left Kyoto, but immediately he smiled to himself and shook his head.

“What’s wrong?” Yan Bingyun’s eyes were dark, and she gave him an unintentional glance.

“Nothing.” The Second Division Organizer shook his head and said with a smile, “Age is really old, and the head is sometimes prone to blind thoughts.”

Yes, he couldn’t have imagined that Gong Li would lay hands on his favorite old dean, so he subconsciously snuffed out that earlier speculation. Just like Gong Dian’s and Ye Chong’s disbelief, just like Great General Shi Fei’s uneasy trepidation, no one could have thought of this.

Yan Bingyun slowly lowered her head and said, ”The surveillance of the military by the courtyard is originally something that is not on the table, so it’s better not to send a letter to the Privy Council. What is the usual customary practice?”

“We can’t intervene in the military, we usually draw up an intelligence note and hand it into the palace, asking His Majesty to look at it.” The Second Division organizer said after a moment of contemplation, “Of course, we need to react faster to unusual movements like today’s.”

“Good.” With her head still lowered, Yan Bingyun said, “Immediately send this information seemingly in the form of a note, and send it to the Imperial Study Room in a secret channel.”

“Yes.” The second office organizer subconsciously like subordinates should sound, suddenly felt that the reaction of the speech ice cloud is a little strange, has not raised his head, seems to be a little rude, he is now with him as a level officer, the other party has not really taken up the post of the mention of the Secretary, but biased …… He shook his head again, he watched the speech ice cloud grow up since he was a young boy, knew that the other party is not such a People, just thought that the speech house itself some what problem, then no longer think more, pick up the dossier to exit the door.

The opportunity for the Supervisory Yuan to react in the first instance was thus missed, but of course, in front of the powerful state apparatus of Qing, the Supervisory Yuan as a secret service agency, if there is no reaction, it may be the best reaction to this country, this court, and even this square black and gray building …….

The room returned to the silence that has remained unchanged for countless years, Yan Bingyun slowly raised his head, and at this time, if someone was beside him, he would definitely be able to see the struggling and agonizing emotions that were growing thicker in the eyes of this little Yan Gongzi.

Yan Bingyun’s hands under the table were clenched tightly for a long time and did not let go, his thin lips were pursed extremely tightly, so tightly that they were about to be devoid of any blood color. He slowly stood up and walked to the side of the window, lifting the blackened curtains and looking out, and at a glance, he saw a corner of the bright yellow Imperial City that was shining under the clear and diffuse sunlight of early fall.

At this time, he thought that when he first entered the Supervisory Academy, the old man in the wheelchair, was in this room to receive himself, the black cloth on the window seems to have never been taken down, it seems that the old man got used to the darkness, and could not see the sunlight any more.

Later that old man left this room and returned to the Chen Garden, and Fan Xian didn’t like to stay in such a serious and gloomy courtyard like the Supervisory Yuan every day, so the person who stayed in this room for the longest time was none other than Yan Bingyun himself.

In the past, the organizers of the eight departments would report matters on both sides of this long table, but now both sides of the long table were empty. In the past, the end of the long table, there will be a wheelchair, wheelchair behind a shadow, now the wheelchair has long gone.

Yan Bingyun slowly put down the black cloth curtain in his hand and let out a long sigh, the confused struggling pain in his eyes gradually disappeared. Since he was the second owner of this room, he had to carry on the disposition and will of the previous owner, and since he had made up his mind, he couldn’t hesitate anymore.

Yan Bingyun, one of the seven young courtiers that Emperor Qing called into the palace when he imported new blood into the court. These seven young courtiers were precisely the newcomers that Emperor Qing had prepared for the future of the Qing Kingdom, and apart from Qin Heng, who had died in the midst of the rebellion, the remaining six had already begun to shine in the court of the Qing Kingdom.

Among the six, the fastest climber is naturally He Zongwei, at a young age, he is already a university scholar under the door, and also manages the post of left imperial inspector of the Duzha Academy. As for Bingyun and Chengjialin, one of the four sons of Fan, they were undoubtedly categorized by everyone in Fan Xian’s faction.

It was just that no one knew how much heart and deterrence His Majesty, the great Emperor of Qing, had wagered on the little Yan Gongzi of the Supervisory Academy during that night talk.

The so-called seven gentlemen, in His Majesty’s view, the most important ones were He Zongwei and Yan Bingyun.

Yan Bingyun slowly sat down, his palms spread out flat on the case, gently stroking over the complicated and incomparable documents and intelligence reports of the Supervisory Yuan. He then gently rang a bell, summoning in his immediate officials as well as the members of the Qi Nian team that he was able to mobilize, and softly issued one order after another.

These orders did not appear to be connected to each other, nor did they attract much attention, yet the reinforcements to Dongyi City, and the handover to Deng Ziyue’s place on the Xilang Road, would consume most of the Supervisory Court’s attention in these ten days or so.

A total of four orders easily drained a large portion of the Kyoto Supervisory Court’s main force and began mobilizing to various parts of Qing. These mobilizations weren’t abnormal, so they didn’t attract anyone’s attention, only that as a result, it was extremely difficult for the Inspectorate to gather a strong killing force in Kyoto again.

There are not many people who can do this, even if Fan Xian personally to do it, I’m afraid it is not as swift as Yan Bingyun, because Fan Xian is ultimately a person who does not tolerate the details, he understands the Supervisory Yuan very well, but it is still not as thorough as Yan Bingyun’s understanding of a huge supervision and secret service organization, just moving a few points, but can cause such a consequence, the little Yan’s means of transportation is still as strong as ever.

The only thing that can’t be moved is one of the supervisory organs, one of them was originally responsible for monitoring the administration of all the officials in Kyoto, and one of them was managed by Fan Xian personally at the beginning, and now, although Mu Tie has become the organizer of one of the organs, one of the officials still feels that their immediate superior is the dean, and although Yan Bingyun has Fan Xian’s warrant, he doesn’t have any way to transfer them out of Kyoto with an order that’s too bizarre.

After Yan Bingyun had done all of this, he took a deep breath, as if he felt like he was about to suffocate from what he had just done.

“All for the sake of the Kingdom of Qing.” Yan Bingyun slowly closed her eyes and couldn’t help but think of that conversation between her and her father a long time ago, the corner of her smooth eyes couldn’t help but twitch, “Or is it all for the sake of the Supervisory Court?”

When Eunuch Yao left the imperial study and came under the imperial city to announce the holy decree to the duo of Ye Chong and Gong Dian, there were not many people in the palace who knew about this matter. After Ye Chong and Gong Dian knelt on the ground, forcing their hearts to endure the shock and uneasiness to receive the decree, Eunuch Yao handed over His Majesty’s handwritten letter, then said without expression, “Senior General Shi Fei is waiting for the decree.”

Ye Chong stood up and received this handwritten letter from his majesty, it was like receiving a big dongshan, so heavy that he couldn’t even lift his arm, he was one of the few remaining ninth grade powerhouses in Qing Kingdom nowadays, but facing this handwritten letter, he still felt that he couldn’t afford it.

It was good that the one who really needed this handwritten letter was Shi Fei, a heavy official of the military Yanjing faction, because of his long absence from Kyoto, he was sent on such a life-threatening errand by His Majesty the Emperor, Ye Chong, being the main envoy of the Privy Council, couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow for Shi Fei, and at the same time, a chill arose in his heart.

Letting the military Yanjing faction do this instead of letting the Dingzhou army side do it, apart from the fact that the Kyoto garrison division led by Shi Fei was easy to maneuver, it had to be said that Ye Chong had been living in Kyoto for a long time, and His Majesty the Emperor was not very assured of the relationship between him and Chen Pingping.

Ye Chong thought about this point, but his face did not move in the slightest.

Eunuch Yao left the camp of the forbidden army with empty hands, hunched over, and slowly marched towards the deep palace. In fact, just like Ye Chong, this chief eunuch’s heart was also floating with many complicated emotions. After serving in the palace for a long time, he was accustomed to seeing the conversation and dialog between His Majesty and Elder Dean Chen, which was completely different from that of ordinary kings and ministers, and he knew that in His Majesty’s heart, Elder Dean Chen was definitely more than just an ordinary minister.

Thinking of the scene of His Majesty’s anger in the Imperial Study Room, the smile on Eunuch Yao’s face involuntarily turned bitter. In fact, in his opinion, if his majesty really wanted to punish old dean Chen, then in Kyoto, when old dean Chen came to the palace to resign, his majesty action would not be more convenient, why must be delayed until old dean Chen has already left the capital, on the road back to his hometown to take action? The matter is in Dazhou, the tiger guard who escaped from the battlefield is in Dazhou, the experts from the Ministry of Criminal Affairs sent by Dr. He are in Dazhou, and the experts from the inner court sent to help the Ducha Academy are also in Dazhou.

Eunuch Yao understands His Majesty s heart better than anyone else, and it seems that His Majesty is still looking at ah …… Eunuch Yao knows clearly that if old Dean Chen really wants to take off and leave, unless His Majesty personally leads his troops to chase after him, no one will be able to stop that old monster.

He walked to the Taiji Hall and leaned against the side of the corridor pillar, enjoying a rare moment of leisure. The eunuchs and palace maids passing by beside him bowed respectfully and with slight fear, then left noiselessly. Eunuch Yao closed his eyes and enjoyed the sunshine of the early fall afternoon, secretly sighed and said to himself in his heart, “Old Dean, since you have left, don’t come back, his majesty doesn’t want you to come back either.”

Yes, His Majesty, the cold-blooded and merciless Emperor of Qing, after secretly investigating for a long time, still defied his nature and gave Chen Pingping a chance, a chance to defend herself, a chance to leave. However, Chen Pingping did not defend himself before leaving, and now outside of Dazhou City, he met Tiger Guard Gouda, who is wanted by the court, depending on whether he is willing to leave.

If Chen Pingping was willing to leave, perhaps this matter would be over, if he refused to leave, then he would have to come back to Kyoto.

This is not the Qing Emperor’s affection for Chen Pingping, I am afraid that it is more or more the interrogation of Chen Pingping’s heart, questioning, whispering to each other.

Emperor Qing and Chen Pingping have known each other for decades, he can accept anyone to betray himself, because the suspicious emperor never trust anyone in the world, but he can’t accept Chen Pingping to betray himself, and even he himself doesn’t believe in any of the truths he found out.

A person living in the world, always afraid of loneliness, especially the one sitting on the dragon chair, perhaps Emperor Qing himself did not realize that Chen Pingping, the old cripple who looked lonely and widowed, was the only warm place in his cold heart that could prove that he was a living person.

Therefore, His Majesty the Emperor was angry, anxious, until the end, still with a hint of unsureness to scrutinize his own heart as well as Chen Pingping’s. The authorities are confused, perhaps the only way to prove that he is alive.

The authorities are confused, perhaps the only one who can see all this clearly is this head eunuch who is leaning against the corridor pillar of the Taiji Hall, basking in the sun.

Hong old eunuch likes sunbathing, eunuch yao also likes sunbathing, Hou eunuch who died under Fan Xian also likes sunbathing, probably these aberrant remnants have too many secrets hidden in their hearts, more than anyone else’s venomous vision, letting them know too much about the emperor’s joys and sorrows, on the other hand they can’t talk about it, they cannot figure it out, so they have to let the sun keep sunbathing their own bodies so as to avoid letting those secrets in their bodies get moldy! So they have to let the sun keep on sunbathing their bodies, so as not to let those secrets within them mold, so as not to let those icy cold emotions frostbite them.

Eunuch Yao closed his eyes and breathed slowly, he wasn’t a strong person like Hong Si-Itch, nor did he have the great spirit of sacrificing himself for the unification of the world for the Kingdom of Qing, he was just a prudent and careful person, all his goal was to make sure that he lived peacefully and securely, so he didn’t have any other thoughts other than fear for those things between His Majesty the Emperor and Elder Abbot Chen.

“The sun is really nice today.” Eunuch Dai, who had walked out from the side of the hall, leaned in and said with a smile.

Eunuch Yao smiled and glanced at this old partner, the two of them were together in the palace in the beginning, only Eunuch Dai’s days in the palace were not as smooth as his own, Eunuch Dai was first in Shukui Fei’s palace, deeply loved by his majesty, and the important things of passing orders to the minister’s mansion were all handed over to him to do, and then later on, he lost his power, and was extremely miserable in the palace, until finally, little Lord Fan helped him out, and there was also an outstanding performance at the time of the palace change, and only then did he make a name for himself in the palace. The whole palace eunuchs and maids.

The entire palace eunuchs and palace maidens are very afraid of Eunuch Yao, after all, it is the closest chief eunuch beside his majesty, but Eunuch Dai doesn’t have the same kind of timid feeling as the general public, after all, it is an old acquaintance, and Eunuch Dai is not a small power nowadays, and there is also a Lord Fan Jr. behind him.

Eunuch Yao didn’t answer, he just moved to the side, giving up half of the corridor to him.

Eunuch Dai glanced at him, wanting to speak before turning to sigh, “Back then, when we first entered the palace, we were lazy and sunbathing here, and as a result, we were beaten by Eunuch Hong with fifty slaps on the back, do you still remember?”

Of course Eunuch Yao remembers, among the several little eunuchs at that time, Little Marquis had already died. He sighed, knowing that Old Dai wanted to ask something, he thought that the other party must have also noticed something strange in the palace today. It’s just that this matter is so big that only five people in the entire world know about it, not to mention that Eunuch Dai and Lord Little Fan are extremely close, so this matter is even more important to hide from him.

Eunuch Yao smiled, squinted his eyes and looked at the sun to his left and said, “The partners back then, in the end, those who died, those who dispersed, how many of them still remembered the sentiment of being beaten with the same plank like you and I?”

“We are still alive, alive is good.” Eunuch Dai shook his head.

Eunuch Yao suddenly raised his head and looked towards the end of the long corridor, only to see a young eunuch who was stooping over, slowly walking over, he squinted his eyes and said, “How is it going with Hong Zhu following you recently?”

“This child suffered a major irritation about three years ago, and has become more and more reticent.” Eunuch Dai obviously liked that witty and silent little eunuch and sighed, “At first, he was also a popular person in the Eastern Palace, but as a result, who would have thought that he would end up in this state.”

“He was also serving in the imperial study back then, and being silent …… is also a good thing.” Eunuch Yao calmly said, “You also talked too much back then.”

Eunuch Dai smiled to himself and didn’t say anything else.

In a mountainous area, the Kyoto Guards Division I, which had just rested for less than a day after a hasty march to this point, received a special emergency secret message from the Kyoto Privy Council. Shi Fei took the letter, destroyed the fire paint at the mouth of the letter, and read the content of the letter word by word, the pupils of his eyes shrunk slightly, and then returned to normal, and did not remain silent for a long time, and then passed the letter to the personal soldier beside him.

“Keep this letter, tomorrow you are not allowed to show up! If I die, give this letter …… to little Lord Fan.” Thousands of Kyoto Guard Division cavalry were on standby in the valley, and Senior General Shi Fei stood under the setting sun with only his personal soldier by his side, watching the movement of Dazhou not far ahead.

The private soldier was slightly shocked, thinking that his Yanjing army and Lord Fan and even the Supervisory Court have never had any involvement, what letter is this that is so important?

Shi Fei sneered and did not explain anything. He looked at the subordinates under the valley, his heart does not have any bottom, because even he does not know, these Kyoto guard division officers and soldiers, in the end there is no Supervisory Yuan planted nails.

Although the court’s explicit decree stipulates that the regulations of the Supervisory Yuan also make it clear that the infiltration of the Supervisory Yuan into the military is strictly prohibited, but what kind of person is General Shi Fei, he doesn’t believe in this at all.

Even a great man like Master Qin was planted in the hands of the spies of the Supervisory Yuan, Shi Fei didn’t think that he was more powerful than Qin Ye.

He took a deep breath and said, “Pressurize your speed and approach towards Dazhou.”

He was afraid that he would fail and die, and he was even more afraid that once he died, His Majesty would plant the charge of killing old Dean Chen on himself in order to appease young Lord Fan, so he gave that handwritten letter from His Majesty to his own soldiers, and if he failed this time, then this letter must be delivered to Fan Xian’s hands.