Chapter 38
Chapter 38
Face-Slapping the Son of a Concubine and a Transmigrating Girl (12)
Editor: ghost
“You are slandering me, how can my house have imitations of the death exemption plaque?”
“Since this is the case, Magistrate Jiang surely wouldn’t mind us searching the house?” Zhou Xu smilingly said.
“No, you have no right to search my house without a warrant. Even the crown prince cannot.” Jiang Qi Fang’s expression started to distort.
“That is why I just asked for your opinion, ah.” Zhou Xu maintained his wide smile, only, there was not even a hint of a smiling expression.
“I don’t agree.”
“Sorry,” Zhou Xu said, “your subordinates have already been chased away by us. There is only the crown prince, you, and I in this room, as well as a few imperial guards. Do you think we will listen to you?”
Jiang Qi Fang fumed with anger but he could not move; his two hands were already firmly grasped by the crown prince’s imperial guards.
The crown prince ordered, “Search.”
“Yes.”
The group of people swiftly began searching the magistrate’s mansion. Within an incense stick’s time, the imperial guards presented the remaining six death exemption plaques.
“This is slander. I have the real death exemption plaques, why would I need fakes?”
“Really? The plaque you took out just now?” The crown prince asked coldly.
Jiang Qi Fang kept silent; the real death exemption plaque had been stolen the night before. This plaque was indeed fake.
The crown prince held up that death exemption plaque and examined it closely. His voice was cold as severe winter, “The royal family’s imperial seal, you think this prince wouldn’t be able to recognise it? Why is the calligraphy of the seal on this death exemption plaque in seal script and not the official script?”
Jiang Qi Fang’s face instantly reddened. The crown prince continued, “Magistrate Jiang, I heard you have the death exemption plaque bestowed onto you by the emperor. Take it out, then I will not punish you. If you can’t, solely based on losing the plaque, you will receive imprisonment at minimum.”
“You, you are slandering me.”
“Slander? Then how did Magistrate Qin die? Why is it that before his death, your guard appeared behind the government office?”
Jiang Qi Fang’s face paled again. He hemmed and hawed; he really could not find an excuse. The death exemption plaque was indeed already lost and Qin Shu Qiang was indeed murdered by him because Jiang Qi Fang knew that he had had the list of charges and evidence to bring him to court.
The atmosphere stagnated. Just when Zhou Xu thought that Jiang Qi Fang would kneel and beg for mercy, a smokescreen suddenly emerged and in three minutes, nothing in the room could be seen. When their vision cleared, Jiang Qi Fang’s family guards had already rushed in.
Laughing coldly, Jiang Qi Fang said, “Kill them. Leave no one.”
Zhou Xu and the crown prince’s side had long made preparations. Those seventeen charges already showed how corrupt Jiang Qi Fang was; this kind of person would not show respect to someone just because he was the crown prince. On the contrary, if the crown prince obstructed his path, he would still turn against him.
The fight was very intense. Jiang Qi Fang had too many people and roughly twenty of them were experts, almost at the same level of the crown prince’s imperial guards.
After fifteen minutes, the crown prince could not wait any longer and drew his sword to join the battle. At the same time, Zhou Xu took advantage of the commotion and brought Jiang Qi Fang under control.
Jiang Qi Fang originally assumed Zhou Xu was a scholar and never thought that he was unexpectedly an expert as well.
Zhou Xu forced Jiang Qi Fang to order his subordinates to stop, but not only did he ignore him, he also shouted loudly, “Kill all of them. I will heavily reward you once all are dead.”
Wearing a nefarious smile, Zhou Xu thought, “You are only this daring because you haven’t felt any real pain.”
Holding his rapier in his hand, Zhou Xu did not show any mercy this time and directly cut off a piece of flesh from Jiang Qi Fang’s thigh.
Fresh blood splattered. Jiang Qi Fang’s mournful wail sounded and it was incomparably horrifying.
“Ah…..”
Zhou Xu held his rapier against Jiang Qi Fang’s other leg. The corner of his mouth hooked up and his gaze was indifferent as he said, “Make your subordinates stop.”
Jiang Qi Fang glared at Zhou Xu. Zhou Xu faintly smiled and said, “I will count to three. One, two…”
“Stop! Stop! Quickly stop!” Jiang Qi Fang finally ordered.
Zhou Xu continued, “Three.”
The rapier could cut iron like it was mud, much less flesh.
Jiang Qi Fang again cried out in pain, “You… Didn’t you say….”
Zhou Xu smiled and said, “You are now in my hands. You must listen to whatever I say and bear with whatever I do. You should have immediately done what I ordered, but you made me count to two. This is a punishment.”
His seductive appearance gave off chilliness. Jiang Qi Fang fainted in pain after just a few seconds and his subordinates were under control. The paper which had his seventeen charges laid quietly on the table.
Jiang Qi Fang was captured and at the same time his death exemption plate was already lost. Adding his seventeen charges, he would undoubtedly receive death.
However before Jiang Qi Fang was sent to the authorities, the crown prince searched and confiscated his properties. The money they confiscated would all be used to extend relief to the disaster victims. In addition, the crown prince found another lead; twenty odd people of Jiang Qi Fang’s guards were sent by someone in the capital right before the crown prince headed to Jiang Nan.
However the matter was very meticulously concealed. Although the crown prince could guess who did it, he did not have evidence.
The disaster relief matters were carried out systematically. The poor who lived in cold and starvation finally had some hope. Every day there was plain porridge and pickled vegetables, they at least would not starve to death.
Using Jiang Qi Fang’s properties, each household received a tenth of a tael of silver. It was not much, but it was enough for them to eat a few meals of meat.
Within five months, the crown prince reversed the disaster. He worked without rest as the victims were given a place to live as well as rations and winter clothing.
Furthermore, the corrupt officials who embezzled, took bribes, and oppressed the common people were either beheaded on the spot or had their names remembered since some had connections to the capital and he was not able to capture them all in one go; he needed to wait for the right moment. It was best not to upset the emperor now, otherwise no one could bear the consequences.
It was now March and insects were abundant. The crown prince distributed seeds to the commoners in the disaster-struck regions and gave them enough rations to last till harvest. Afterwards, he quietly headed to Min Nan.
This time he only brought Zhou Xu and Ye Qi along. He wanted to covertly investigate Min Nan and most importantly, find evidence to prove that the third prince’s army was indeed raised by him.
When they arrived at Min Nan, Zhou Xu’s informant in the capital reported that the emperor was already very weak. Even if he were to hold on, the most he could hold on for was half a year’s time.
The third prince’s side was anxious. They had tried to assassinate the crown prince a few times, but had all failed and now they could not even find him.
In truth, the third prince had thought of directly killing the emperor and then fabricating his last edict. However before the crown prince left, he had arranged thorough protection for the emperor. The third prince could not find any opportunity, hence he could only focus on assassinating the crown prince.
At present, the third prince realised that Jiang Nan was too close to Min Nan. If the crown prince went to Min Nan, then everything was done for.
Sending an urgent message to Hu Yue and the newly-assigned Zhou Zong Han in Min Nan, the third prince instructed them to ensure that matters related to the army were handled well. At the same time, the third prince sent a separate letter to Hu Yue. The message was simple: if anything untowards happened, push all the blame to Zhou Zong Han.
A strand of black hair and a child’s bracelet was attached to the letter. It was obviously meant as a threat to Zhou Zong Han, but it was a pity that the person himself did not realise it. He even thought that he had really found a good backer and his head was filled with thoughts on how to succeed and how to retaliate against Zhou Xu.
Min Nan’s harvest was consistently good these past few years, hence it was said to be rich and prosperous, to the extent where every household had surplus grain year after year. Despite raising his troops here, the third prince never bothered the commoners here. In any case, he was breaking the law and the more low-key he was, the better.
Min Nan’s magistrate was of the third prince’s faction and naturally was at his beck and call.
However, it was not a secret to the locals that there were troops in Min Nan; There were too many troops to hide. The third prince did not need to find an excuse since the commoners would never think of them as a private army, but rather assume that they were official soldiers of the imperial family.
Disguising himself and the crown prince as a middle-aged married couple and Ye Qi as their son, Zhou Xu headed to Min Nan’s most prosperous section of town.
Zhou Xu naturally took on the female disguise, but since she was supposed to be middle aged, he added some wrinkles to his face. It could vaguely be seen that she had been good-looking when she was younger. The crown prince wore the middle-aged male disguise with half of his hair white.
After they were in disguise, the crown prince looked at Zhou Xu, saying a line after some time, “I will like your appearance no matter what it is.”
Faintly laughing, Zhou Xu replied, “You also look quite good, really to my taste.”
Not long after the three started walking, they were stopped by two guards on patrol.
“What are you doing? Are you locals?”
“We are here to seek refuge with our relatives. We are not locals, but from Lu Bei.” Zhou Xu replied with a thick Lu Bei accent.
“Seek refuge? Fine, quickly go. We are trying to find some people, don’t wander aimlessly this late at night.”
“Mister Official, what people are you looking for? We are all good people.” Zhou Xu’s voice was hoarse, sounding more like an old person than a middle-aged one.
“Why do you ask so many questions? Quickly leave.”
“Oh, yes yes yes. Can I ask, how do I get to my relative’s house? He said it was at the He Yin district, but we can’t find it after looking for so long.”
“How did you arrive here while looking for the He Yin district? Head in that direction. Don’t speak anymore nonsense and get going. Right, if you hear people who speak like people of the capital, remember to quickly report it to the officials.
“Yes yes, many thanks to Mister Official.” Zhou Xu pretended to be very grateful, continuing to say, “Since you have mentioned it, we indeed heard a few men with such an accent just now. Maybe they are the people you are looking for?”
“En? Where did you see them? What did they look like?”
“We saw them at the intersection in front. Afterwards, we walked towards here and they headed into the alley over there. How they looked…. they were quite handsome, like they just came out of a painting. Ah, they were really good-looking, truly a sight not many has seen…”
Zhou Xu still wanted to continue but the two patrollers already left toward the direction he pointed.
Slightly straightening his body, Zhou Xu spoke to the crown prince, “Old husband, you have also seen it, right?”
“Yes, old wife.” The crown prince with a head of silver hair pulled his old wife’s hand and left.
The group found a tavern. They ordered some side dishes and began to quietly eat.
For some reason, Zhou Xu suddenly thought of a joke from modern society: someone asked what they should be careful of when opening a restaurant in the ancient era and one answer was to write a warning “Please go out to fight”. Thinking to this point, Zhou Xu faintly laughed and spoke to the crown prince, “You need to be careful.”
“What?”
Zhou Xu raised his hand and caught the leg of a stool that was flying to the crown prince’s face.
“Be careful of fights inside. The tables and chairs can injure people.”
When the crown prince looked at the stool leg, he naturally knew what was going on. Ye Qi shielded them as they headed to a corner. Two groups were already fighting in the hall, seemingly not noticing them and continuing to fight like raging fires.
Zhou Xu, the crown prince, and Ye Qi followed the crowd to hide in a corner. Pinching his throat to change his voice, Zhou Xu asked, “Young Master, may I ask how they started fighting?”
The man who was called “Young Master” was precisely the shop assistant of the tavern. He saw that the “aunt” in front of him was quite polite and amiable, hence he spilled everything to her, “I can see that you all are not locals with a glance. This is the Zhen Nan King’s people and the Ding Min troops’ people fighting. They have never been able to tolerate each other, leading to fights every day.”
“Ah? Weren’t the Zhen Nan King and Ding Min troops on the same side?”
“They are indeed partners, but now that there is no ongoing war, they are fighting amongst themselves. Each side wants to suppress the other, isn’t this normal?”
“Oh, we just arrived hence we really did not know this was the case.”
“Ai, in truth, Min Nan is quite good. You only need to avoid offending the Ding Min troops and the Zhen Nan King’s people and you should be fine.”
“But with them fighting, wouldn’t your shop incur losses from these tables and chairs? ”
The shop assistant laughed and said, “This is nothing. In any case, when they leave, they will leave behind a few ingots of silver; we even make a profit of one or two ingots.”
Nodding, Zhou Xu expressed his understanding. They now had information on Min Nan’s situation. Since the third prince’s troops and the Zhen Nan King had conflict, then this matter was easy to handle. They just had to escalate the conflict, then provoke it a little and the Zhen Nan King may resolve it for them.
As for the Ding Min troops, they could either be absorbed into the regular army or given to the Zhen Nan King. In any case, the third prince’s army was very useful to them.
What Zhou Xu thought of, the crown prince thought of too. The two made eye contact and understood each other’s intentions.
“What trouble are you all stirring up? All of you stop.” A familiar voice sounded. Zhou Xu raised his head. No wonder it was so familiar, it was precisely Zhou Zong Han who had arrived.
Translator’s Note:
this arc is ending next week (2 more chapters) can’t wait for everyone to read the new arc !! see you on monday 🙂