Chapter 101
The Prince's Mansion???
Although Wang Jinhua was not very worldly, she had at least heard Wang Facai talk about what a Prince's Mansion was.
In an instant, Wang Jinhua froze in place, her face slowly draining of color.
"Jinhua, did you hear that, he... he just said Prince's Mansion..." Wang Facai's own face also turned ashen, his legs even beginning to tremble uncontrollably.
"Your Highness, please forgive this lowly official's offense. This official was also deceived by them."
The Prefect was someone who knew when to bend and when to stand tall. Although the matter of Chen Manzhou had enraged him, it was utterly insignificant compared to his official position. Therefore, from the moment the Prefect learned Li Jin's identity, he immediately adopted a humble posture and stopped pressing the matter any further.
Simultaneously, the Prefect signaled his subordinates to seize the three siblings, Wang Jinhua, Wang Dacai, and Wang Facai.
The three Wang siblings felt a great calamity befalling them and instinctively wanted to flee. However, the Prefect had foreseen this; they were seized, their mouths gagged with cloth, and all chance of escape was lost.
Furthermore, after being captured, the Wang siblings inadvertently saw the fate of the four people sentenced to death on the ground, and their legs went weak.
As for the fate of the Wang siblings, Li Jin had no intention of interfering. After all, everyone must be responsible for their own actions.
"Deceived?"
Li Jin raised an eyebrow, appraising the Prefect with meaningful interest.
"Yes." The Prefect's back immediately stiffened, but then he turned to Lan Mingzhou with feigned composure and said, "Lord Lan, my apologies for earlier. I truly didn't expect them to lie."
Lan Mingzhou replied with a thin, insincere smile, "It's enough that the Prefect understands this lowly official has committed no offense."
"Of course, of course." The Prefect gave a false laugh and then announced his departure, "Seventh Prince, Heir Li, my sincere apologies. This lowly official has urgent matters to attend to and must take his leave now."
The Prefect was also very cunning. Before coming, he had already prepared a way to extricate himself completely. So, even though Lan Mingzhou knew the Prefect's relationship with Chen Manzhou was far from shallow, he could not touch him.
Back at the yamen.
Using the pretext of inviting Li Jin and Ying Yuan to discuss matters, once the two of them entered, Lan Mingzhou bowed to them. "Your Highnesses, this time, being able to successfully deal with these scourges is truly thanks to your assistance."
Lan Mingzhou was well aware that relying solely on himself, not only could he not have dealt with Chen Manzhou, but even handling the slightly lesser heads of the Zhang, Chi, and Lu families would have been beyond his capability.
Li Jin shook his head, "Let bygones be bygones. Lord Lan, what's most important now is still the common people's food and clothing, and the issue of salt prices."
Lan Mingzhou cupped his hands respectfully, "Replying to Your Highness, regarding the salt price, Cheng Qingwu will handle it properly tomorrow. We will definitely not let the common people continue to suffer high-priced salt. As for the sweet potatoes, this lowly official has already issued the orders. We should have results by around tomorrow."
Li Jin nodded with satisfaction, "Good."
That night.
Zhou Yunting slipped quietly into Li Jin's room, cupped his hands, and reported, "Your Highness, as you instructed, I went north to investigate and discovered scouts sent by the Qianluo. They are likely planning to move against Zhuzhou."
Li Jin stood with his hands clasped behind his back, "Did the Qianluo scouts discover your trail?"
Zhou Yunting shook his head, "No."
"Mm." Li Jin nodded, then continued, "Yunting, continue to track the Qianluo scouts. I will inform Lan Mingzhou and the others of this matter so they can be prepared."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Zhou Yunting nodded and immediately withdrew.
"Is war approaching?"
Looking at the tea in his cup, Li Jin couldn't help but murmur to himself.
Li Jin had secretly sent Zhou Yunting out to investigate precisely to guard against a surprise attack from Qianluo Kingdom.
In his past life, Zhuzhou also faced such a calamity. At that time, Lan Mingzhou was also in Zhuzhou, defending the city together with its people. However, the disparity in strength between the two sides was too great. The troops Lan Mingzhou had hastily mustered were soon driven back step by step by the Qianluo Kingdom's forces. Yet, Lan Mingzhou tenaciously held his ground until reinforcements from the Dingbei Army finally arrived.
Only... the reinforcements arrived too late. Zhuzhou had already been devastated by the continuous warfare, and Lan Mingzhou, the county magistrate who successfully defended the city, was still held accountable and punished.
Therefore, in this life, Li Jin sent Zhou Yunting to investigate first.
The next day.
Perhaps because of yesterday's events—Lan Mingzhou's furious execution of the four major troublemakers and the return of salt prices to normal—when Lan Mingzhou formally promoted sweet potato cultivation this time, quite a number of common people agreed.
Hearing the news, Lan Mingzhou couldn't help but temporarily breathe a sigh of relief.
"Excellent. This way, once the sweet potatoes are grown, Zhuzhou's problems can truly be readily solved."
"This is only the beginning." Li Jin shook his head, his expression grave, "Perhaps before long, Zhuzhou will be drawn into war. Lord Lan, it would be best to make preparations early."
War?
Lan Mingzhou opened his eyes wide in disbelief.
If someone else had said such words, Lan Mingzhou would never have believed it. But now, the person suddenly saying this was Li Jin, whom he had pledged his service to. Lan Mingzhou's heart immediately rose to his throat.
"It's true." Li Jin turned and met Lan Mingzhou's gaze, "When I sent Yunting out on business, he discovered it unintentionally."
Lan Mingzhou was unwilling to believe it, "How could this be... Zhuzhou has only just found peace..."
Li Jin pressed forward step by step, giving Lan Mingzhou no room to retreat, "Lord Lan, since scouts have already appeared, it's only a matter of time before the other side dispatches troops against Zhuzhou."
Lan Mingzhou gave a bitter smile, "But... this lowly official has no soldiers at his command. Even adding the soldiers Lord Tao brought, it's still far from enough to deal with the enemy army."
Although it was still unknown how many troops the enemy would commit against Zhuzhou, it wasn't hard to guess that the enemy force dispatched would certainly number over ten thousand.
"Then find reinforcements." Li Jin said abruptly, "Later, I will write to the Emperor together with the Seventh Prince. What you must do is strengthen Zhuzhou's defenses."
"Yes."
Knowing the seriousness of the situation, Lan Mingzhou nodded to Li Jin and quickly left.
___
"A-Jin, why have you prepared two letters?"
Ying Yuan looked at the two letters placed on the table, confused.
Judging by the addresses, one was for Ying Zhengjing, and the other was for Li Shiyun.
What confused Ying Yuan was precisely the letter addressed to Li Shiyun.
Ying Zhengjing was inherently suspicious. There were definitely still Ying Zhengjing's spies around them. If Li Jin simultaneously wrote two letters to Ying Zhengjing and Li Shiyun, it was hard to guarantee Ying Zhengjing wouldn't have doubts.
Li Jin shook his head, "I'm afraid there won't be enough time."
Li Jin had no choice but to act this way.
Because in his past life, the Qianluo Kingdom's army of eighty thousand had arrived within a month. If he only wrote to Ying Zhengjing and waited for Ying Zhengjing's approval before relaying the message to Li Shiyun, time would certainly be too tight.
By then, Zhuzhou would repeat the tragedy of the past life, with countless casualties.
This was also the reason Lan Mingzhou was ultimately arrested and held accountable in his past life.
The city was defended, but two-thirds of the people inside the city died. With Ying Zhengjing's temperament, how could he not investigate? And the Lan family, ever eager for Lan Mingzhou's downfall, would surely seize the chance to finish him off.
Ying Yuan still didn't approve of Li Jin doing this, "But if Father Emperor finds out, he will certainly be suspicious."
"A-Yuan, His Majesty will understand."
Although Li Jin said this, he didn't truly believe Ying Zhengjing would understand.
To put it bluntly, Li Jin dared to act this way because he relied on his image as someone with a short lifespan in front of Ying Zhengjing. Even if Ying Zhengjing were truly angered by this, he would still have reservations.
"But..."
"A-Yuan, it will be fine."
Li Jin replied with a smile, making another promise.
____
Sure enough.
While the letter Li Jin wrote reached Ying Zhengjing's hands, the news from the spies that Li Jin had written two letters arrived simultaneously.
Looking at the message sent by the spies, Ying Zhengjing's face immediately darkened, "What a fine Dingbei Prince's heir, daring to make decisions on his own authority."
However, before Ying Zhengjing could take further action, Yang Shaochuan walked in and reported, "Your Majesty, His Majesty the Empress has arrived, saying he has something to discuss with you."
Ying Zhengjing thought for a moment before saying, "Let him in."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Having received Ying Zhengjing's permission, Gu Rushuang walked in alone.
As soon as Gu Rushuang entered, he first bowed to Ying Zhengjing, "Chenjun pays respects to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty live ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years."
"Empress, rise. There's no need for such courtesy."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"Why has the Empress come at this time?"
"Replying to Your Majesty, today Chenjun personally prepared some food and wishes to invite Your Majesty to come and taste it."
"Next time. I have no appetite."
"Yes, then Chenjun will take his leave first."
Ying Zhengjing suddenly called out to Gu Rushuang, "Wait."
Gu Rushuang stopped, "Does Your Majesty have instructions?"
"Mm." Ying Zhengjing nodded and then told Gu Rushuang about Li Jin's actions. Afterwards, he deliberately inquired, "Empress, if you were me, what would you do?"
"Your Majesty, the inner palace should not interfere in governance."
Gu Rushuang calmly shook his head, not intending to answer.
"It's of no consequence." Ying Zhengjing said indifferently, "Speak. It's just idle talk with me, not interfering in governance. Even if you speak wrongly, I will not blame you."
Hearing this, Gu Rushuang performed a slight bow before saying, "Chenjun believes Jin'er did nothing wrong."
Ying Zhengjing laughed in extreme anger, his words full of coldness, "The Empress means... Li Jin was justified in writing a letter on his own authority ordering Li Shiyun to dispatch troops?"
Gu Rushuang answered the question with another question, "Your Majesty, have you forgotten what you said back when the Prince of Dingbei was stationed in the north?"
One word awakens the person in the dream
[一语惊醒梦中人(yī yǔ jīng xǐng mèng zhōng rén): lit. one word awakens the person in the dream; fig. a single remark brings someone to their senses, a timely word of advice.]
Gu Rushuang's words instantly enlightened Ying Zhengjing.
Indeed, how could I have forgotten?
Back when he ordered Li Shiyun to guard the north, he had promised that if any unusual movement occurred in the north, Li Shiyun could send troops first without waiting for his approval.
Now that unusual movement had appeared on the Zhuzhou border, didn't that precisely fit the promise he had made back then?
Thinking of this, Ying Zhengjing fell silent.
In his heart, he felt very fortunate that he had spoken to Gu Rushuang first. Otherwise, if he had issued an edict to punish Li Jin and Li Shiyun, who had justifiable cause to send troops, wouldn't that be equivalent to slapping his own face?
"Your Majesty must understand now, so Chenjun will not disturb you further." Gu Rushuang gave a gentle smile and withdrew with composure.
"Empress..."
Looking at Gu Rushuang's gradually receding figure, Ying Zhengjing wanted to call out to him, but the words stuck in his throat and he couldn't speak, only able to watch helplessly as Gu Rushuang left.
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