novelSusiti Chapter 49 Palace Intrigue
Chapter 49 Palace Intrigue
In the second month of the first year of the Tianqi reign, the weather was warm one moment and cold the next.
The sky over Jinan was like an old, smoke-stained felt cloth, low and oppressive. A biting northwest wind, carrying sand and dust from the Mongolian Plateau, raged through the empty streets, howling like ghosts. The murky ice on the moat showed no signs of thawing; instead, under the continuous gloom, it appeared even harder and uglier, as if binding the ancient city with a gray, worn-out iron band.
The air was thick with the pungent smell of coal smoke, frozen earth, and stale garbage. To Lu Yan, this was the distinctive scent of the Little Ice Age—a unique aroma mingled with despair, barrenness, and the bleakness of a dynasty's end.
South of the city, Lu's Carriage and Horse Shop.
This mansion, which originally belonged to a once-prosperous but now impoverished family, has been transformed into the core hub of Lu's business. The towering walls are covered with broken pieces of porcelain to prevent climbing, and on the watchtowers at the four corners, sentries in leather armor are hunched over, vigilantly watching the surroundings.
Inside the warm pavilion in the backyard, the silver frost charcoal in the brazier was burning brightly, occasionally bursting into a spark or two of orange-red light, which was instantly extinguished in the white ash.
Lu Yan sat behind a large sandalwood desk, wearing a thick gray squirrel fur cloak. Instead of holding the usual Confucian classics or account books, he held a pair of exquisite copper scissors and was carefully prying open the sealing wax on a sealed bamboo tube.
The sealing wax bore a faint, hidden mark of the character "顺" (Shun), the mark of "顺风行" (Shunfengxing), the largest private post office in the capital. This channel, dedicated to delivering urgent documents between major merchant groups in the north and south, cost one tael of silver per mile for every five hundred li (approximately 250 kilometers), an exorbitant price. However, in Lu Yan's eyes, this was a necessary cost for "information infrastructure construction."
"Master, this express delivery cost us a full fifty taels of silver."
Zhao Changying stood to the side, holding a cup of freshly warmed yellow wine in her hand. Looking at the bamboo tube, she winced with heartache. "This is enough to buy two top-quality draft horses from outside the Great Wall."
"Horses can haul goods, but what's in this bamboo tube can save lives or kill them."
Lu Yan's voice was calm, yet it carried a coldness beyond his years. He put down the scissors and poured out a tightly rolled roll of mulberry paper from the bamboo tube. The paper was yellowish and rough, with a faint smell of ink, and it was covered with tiny, messy characters—these were "first-hand information" gleaned by impoverished scholars in the capital who made a living by copying the "Imperial Records," who had spent the night outside the Six Ministries' offices copying them.
In an era without the internet and newspapers, this seemingly worthless roll of paper is the electrocardiogram of the highest levels of power.
Lu Yan unfolded the mulberry paper, his gaze sweeping across the dry, tedious imperial edicts, summaries of memorials, and lengthy lists of appointments and dismissals with the precision of a scanner. To ordinary people, these official documents would be obscure and difficult to understand, making them dizzy at first glance. But to Lu Yan, who had been in charge of large-scale engineering projects in his previous life, they were clear diagrams of power structures and distribution tables of interests.
Suddenly, his finger stopped on a line of inconspicuous small print.
As his fingertips gently caressed the rough paper surface, Lu Yan's pupils contracted slightly.
"...Wang Tiqian, the Director of the Palace Attendants, was promoted to the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, where he was put in charge of writing and concurrently in charge of the Imperial Horse Administration's seal..."
Lu Yan read the line aloud in a low voice, but it sounded like a depth charge dropped in the quiet warm pavilion.
Hu Jingshui, who had been sitting in the armchair fiddling with the abacus and checking the flow of money, suddenly jerked her hand, and a rosewood abacus bead snapped to the bottom with a "clatter," sounding particularly jarring in the silence.
"The...Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs?"
Hu Jingshui abruptly raised his head, his usually composed old face filled with shock, even a hint of disbelief and fear. "Master, did I hear that right? Eunuch Wang... has entered the Prime Minister's residence?"
In the power structure of the Ming Dynasty, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial and the Grand Eunuch of the Imperial Secretariat were the true "inner ministers" standing at the pinnacle of power. The Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet was responsible for "drafting" proposals and proposing solutions; while the Directorate of Ceremonial was responsible for "approving in red," representing the emperor in making the final decision. Entering the Directorate of Ceremonial was equivalent to holding the reins of imperial power, a threshold that countless eunuchs could never reach in their entire lives.
"Six months ago, he was the head of the Directorate of Palace Attendants. Although he was in charge of the construction of the royal palace and was very wealthy, he was just a 'high-level contractor' and a second-rate figure in the inner court."
Lu Yan tossed the rolled mulberry paper into the brazier, watching it curl, turn black, and finally turn to ashes in the flames. His eyes were as deep as a pool. "Now that he's taken a step into the Directorate of Ceremonial, he's entered the 'Board of Directors' decision-making level. He's made this move successfully, and he's done it faster and more steadily than I imagined."
Lu Yan stood up and walked to the wall where the map of the Ming Dynasty was hanging. This map was a redrawn version of his previous work, combining his memories of the past with his current on-site surveys. Different colored charcoal pencils were used to mark the rise and fall of various forces.
"Emperor Tianqi had only been on the throne for a few months, and the Donglin Party, a group of virtuous gentlemen, filled the court, spouting benevolence and morality, suffocating the young emperor. The emperor needed a dog, a fierce, obedient, mad dog that could help him kill the civil officials."
Lu Yan turned around, his back to the map, the firelight reflecting on half of his face, making him appear half-lit and half-shadowed, like a god or demon. "Wei Zhongxian was that dog, and Wang Tiqian... he was the smart man who knew when to unleash the dog and when to feed it meat."
"Boss, what about those we sent over before..." Hu Jingshui asked somewhat nervously, her voice very low.
"Those are just 'stepping stones,' 'sunk costs,'" Lu Yan interrupted him, his tone revealing the coldness and rationality unique to modern business managers. "Old Hu, political investment is the same as infrastructure construction. Once the foundation is laid and the building is tall, you have to add budget in time, otherwise all the previous investment will be wasted. Now is the critical moment for the project to be topped out."
He walked back to his desk, spread out a sheet of gold-flecked stationery, picked up his wolf-hair brush, and dipped it in thick ink.
"Take out those two 500-year-old ginseng roots from Liaodong in the storeroom. Also, withdraw 5,000 taels of silver notes from the counter; they must be exchangeable in all four major denominations."
"Five...five thousand taels?!"
Hu Jingshui gasped, her face twitching with pain, almost dropping the abacus. "Boss, we don't have much cash left. If we throw this away, our cash flow for the next few months will be... If Wei Zhongxian falls, it'll be like throwing good money after bad!"
"There's no 'what if'."
Without raising his head, Lu Yan wrote with vigorous strokes, "In this crumbling empire, Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tiqian are currently lacking two things the most: first, 'white gloves' in the outer court who can do dirty work and get things done; second, 'silver' that can help them win people's hearts and maintain their extravagant lifestyle."
"We must be both the white glove and the ever-flowing money bag. Only in this way can this protective umbrella firmly shield us when the storm comes."
After writing, Lu Yan blew the ink dry, folded the letter, stuffed it into an envelope, sealed it with sealing wax, and stamped it with his personal seal.
"Have Zhao Tie personally make a trip to the capital. Tell him that this letter and these items must be delivered to Eunuch Liu Cheng of the Imperial Horse Administration, who will then forward them to Wang Tiqian. Also, give Eunuch Liu a word of advice: 'Shandong is unstable, and some people want to take advantage of the chaos to build their empires. Lu Ji is willing to be that stabilizing force.'"
"Shandong is unstable?" Hu Jingshui was taken aback, somewhat puzzled. "Does the master mean..."
Before he could finish speaking, a series of urgent and chaotic bangings on the door came from downstairs, breaking the tranquility of the courtyard.
"Report! Urgent report from Yuncheng!"
A worker, covered in mud and blood, stumbled up the stairs. Despite the dead of winter, he was drenched in sweat, clearly having run all the way. He clutched a bloodstained cloth shoe tightly in his hand, the sole half of which was charred.
"Boss! Something terrible has happened! Our silk shop in the South Gate of Yuncheng... was bombed last night!"
Lu Yan's brows furrowed sharply, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes: "It exploded? Explain yourself, what happened?"
"Yes! Last night, a group of masked men suddenly broke into the shop, attacking everyone they saw and throwing fire pots into the warehouse. All the silkworm cocoons we just received were burned, and the shopkeeper had his leg broken while trying to steal the account books!"
The shop assistant, his face contorted with grief, placed the cloth shoe on the table, pointing tremblingly to the sole. "Boss, look, this was picked up from the scene. Before they left, those people even drew this on the wall..."
Lu Yan picked up the cloth shoe and saw a sharpened copper coin nailed to the sole, its edges polished into serrations. In the center of the coin was a strange Bagua symbol.
"The Fragrance Sect... no, it should now be called the White Lotus Sect Xu Hongru Division."
Lu Yan sneered, picked up the copper coin between two fingers, and gently rubbed the sharp serrations between his fingertips, feeling a chilling killing intent.
"Xu Hongru is testing the waters. He wants to see if the government still has the energy to deal with him at this critical juncture of political turmoil, and whether the local powerful families dare to touch him."
"Master, should we report this to the authorities?" Hu Jingshui stamped her feet anxiously. "This is blatant robbery!"
"Report to the authorities?"
Lu Yan seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world, a mocking smile curving his lips. "The Jinan prefect is currently busy squeezing the people's wealth to build a shrine for Eunuch Wei and currying favor. How could he have time to care about the lives of a few merchants? Besides, since Xu Hongru dared to make a move, the Yuncheng County government must have already been fed to a pulp by him."
Lu Yan turned around, his gaze fixed on the map on the wall. His fingers, sharp as swords, pressed heavily on the red circle of "Yuncheng," his fingertips turning slightly white from the force.
"Since the law is ineffective, then let's operate according to the law of the jungle."
Lu Yan's voice hardened like steel, carrying an undeniable resolve: "Send the order down. All the outposts in Yanzhou Prefecture are to immediately return to their garrison posts. Cease all impractical trade in silk and porcelain."
He turned around, his gaze sweeping over Zhao Changying and Hu Jingshui, a flame burning in his eyes called "ambition".
"From today onwards, Lu Ji is entering a 'wartime state.' Since they want to play with fire, then I'll play a big game with them."