novelSusiti Chapter 46 The Knife Society Kills Its Own People—The Ruichang Ship Closes for One Night
Chapter 46 The Knife Society Kills Its Own People—The Ruichang Ship Closes for One Night
The diagrams were spread out on the cover of the hidden compartment.
Next to the name "Ma Su," in smaller print it reads: "Usable. Keep a close watch."
Liu Shan's pen was suspended in mid-air.
They were about to retract the hidden compartment.
A strip of silk was passed in from under the curtain.
Fei Yi's handwriting. He wrote it hastily. The ink bleeds into one corner.
Something happened in Guanghan.
Liu Shan pushed the diagram aside. His thumb left an indentation. Decline.
Two rows of silk strips.
First line: He Chang, the newly appointed registrar of Guanghan, was checking the accounts when he discovered that 400 shi of grain were missing, implicating the Wang family's private granary. Liao, a clerk in the granary, beat He Chang in court, causing him to bleed from the nose on the spot.
Second line: Ma Su went to Guanghan on his own. He did not report to the Prime Minister's office, nor to the Prefect, nor to the Ministry of Personnel. He interrogated Liao that very night, gave him forty strokes of the cane, and confiscated the Wang family's private granary. All of this happened in less than a day.
Turn the silk strip over.
A line of small print on the back.
"They acted in the name of the Prime Minister's Military Advisor. Guanghan was in an uproar."
Liu Shan placed the silk strip on the table.
My thumb went into the dent. It reached the bottom.
Beating people, confiscating warehouses, carrying out executions—all under the banner of Zhuge Liang.
The gentry of Yizhou had long suspected that the rotation system was a tool used by the Jingzhou faction to persecute people.
Ma Su's outburst
There's no doubt about it anymore. It's confirmed.
He glanced down at the four characters on the map.
He picked up his pen and added four more characters.
"Just as I thought."
The atlas was retracted into a hidden compartment. The cover was pressed firmly shut.
The curtains moved again.
Bamboo tube. Thin. The Prime Minister's.
Liu Shan pulled out the stopper.
Zhuge Liang's three lines of text.
First line: Ma Su has been recalled. As for the matter in Guanghan, I will handle the aftermath.
Second line: The rotation was handed over to Jiang Wan. Ma Su returned to Chengdu to prepare the strategy for the Northern Expedition.
The third line reads: "This matter is correct, but the law is flawed. I bear responsibility for oversight."
The back is empty.
Liu Shan pulled a strip of silk from his sleeve. He wrote three lines of text on it.
First line: The Prime Minister handled the situation appropriately. Ma Su was quick-witted and even quicker-handed. He was useful as an advisor. But once released—he was indiscriminate in his actions, killing whoever he could get his hands on.
Second line: Jiang Wan was right to take over. Slow and steady wins the race.
The third line: The four hundred bushels of grain from the Wang family of Guanghan—don't rush to get them. Leave them for now. Things left aside are more valuable than what's recovered.
Fold it neatly. Tuck it into the gap in the curtain.
"To the Prime Minister."
The curtain was taken away.
He didn't sit and wait for the next message.
Stood up.
I walked to the door. I pushed the door open.
A ray of light shone in. Having been cooped up in the hall for several days, he squinted twice.
There weren't many people in the corridor.
Liu Shan, with his hands tucked into his sleeves, walked a few steps westward. He didn't reach Jiang Wan's duty room, but stood beside a pillar in the corridor.
Someone walked by carrying a food box from the other end of the kitchen.
It's not Xiao Shunzi.
A completely new face appeared.
Liu Shan didn't look a second time. He turned and went back to the palace.
The door closed.
Two sections of bamboo tubes were piled up in the corner of the table. The sentry had been hoarding them. He handed them over shortly after he left.
"Your Majesty. Three things."
"Firstly, Ma Su returned to Chengdu in the afternoon. He went to the Prime Minister's study and stayed there for an hour. When he came out, he had an official document in his hand, and his expression was not good."
It paused for a moment.
He left the Prime Minister's residence, stood on the street for about twenty breaths, stuffed the official documents into his robes, and left.
Twenty breaths. Standing motionless on the street.
I admit it. But I'm not convinced.
"The second thing. Road construction. More than two thousand laborers have signed up in the three prefectures. Construction has already started on the Jianwei section. The Guanghan section has not yet started."
He pulled a strip of silk from his sleeve and wrote a line on it.
Urge the Guanghan section to start construction while the investigation into the Wang family is still fresh in people's minds.
Let the people who are paid to work think for themselves—whether the imperial court is fighting and killing or building bridges and roads.
The ribbon was folded.
"Give it to Dong Yun."
"The third item. Li Yan."
The sentry's voice fell silent.
"The Protector-General entered Jianning County the day before yesterday. Li Hui received him. He didn't talk much, but wandered around. He asked in detail about the military farms and the military system."
Liu Shan waited.
"The Protector-General sent three invitations to Meng Huo. Meng Huo declined, replying that he was feeling unwell recently."
Meng Huo was so muscular that even three oxen couldn't pull him.
Feeling unwell.
Clearly.
"Cuan Xi met with the Protector-General twice. The next day, he wrote to the Prime Minister's office, asking if the grain tax rate could be reduced again."
Liu Shan's fingertip circled halfway around the indentation.
He turned the imperial court's concessions into favors for himself.
The strip of silk was pulled from the cuff. Two lines were written on it.
First line: Do not stop. Write it all down.
The second line: "Award Meng Huo ten bolts of Shu brocade." No need to explain the reason. The people of Nanzhong will understand for themselves.
The strip of silk was folded and passed through the gap.
"For Li Hui."
It was caught at the other end of the curtain.
The hall was empty for a while.
Dong Yun's silk slip was then handed in. The writing was slightly more hurried.
"Zhou Ping's father sourced goods via the Hanzhong route. He stopped at a jade trading company called Ruichang."
Liu Shan stopped.
"Ruichang Jewelry has been open for seven years. It specializes in high-end jade. Its clients are prominent figures. The owner is from out of town and speaks with a northern accent."
Northern accent.
"In the fifth month of the third year of Zhangwu, news of the late emperor's death reached Hanzhong. Ruichang Restaurant closed its doors overnight. The owner and his staff fled without a trace."
Turn the silk strip over.
One line on the back.
"We cannot find out the true identity of the employer."
Liu Shan retrieved the jade pendant fragment from the bottom of the hidden compartment and placed it under the lamp.
The character "Liu" on the fragment. The engraving is exquisite.
A small merchant from Fuling. He was able to obtain jade of the highest caliber, comparable to that of the imperial court.
She was adopted by an unidentified old man. She entered the palace under a false name and served the late emperor closely.
The late emperor passed away, taking with him the formula for calming incense. He vanished into thin air.
The jade shops upstream disappeared along with them.
He pulled out a piece of silk from his sleeve. He wrote a line on it.
Have Wei Yan investigate secretly. Around the third year of Zhangwu (1264), did a group of people leave Hanzhong? Without making a fuss.
Fold it neatly. Tuck it into the gap in the curtain.
"Give it to Dong Yun."
The curtain was taken away.
The fragments weren't put back in the hidden compartment. They were left on the table, under the lamp. The character "Liu" was facing upwards.
Footsteps passed by outside the threshold.
Light.
Xiao Shunzi.
I didn't squat today.
He walked past without even glancing at the food box.
The pace was half a beat faster than a few days ago.
Liu Shan's thumb paused for a moment in the dent.
I'm not listening anymore.
Either they received new instructions, or they've heard enough of what they needed to hear.
Either way is more difficult than squatting.
The hall darkened.
Liu Shan did not collect the silk strip.
He stared at the shard on the table.
The jade is fine jade. The calligraphy is beautiful calligraphy. The carver's hand was steady; he didn't hesitate when he made a cut.
Seven years. The Ruichang sailed in Hanzhong for seven years.
The late emperor also stayed in Hanzhong for seven years.
[End of Chapter]