SEHE Chapter 126

Muddying the Waters

When Pei Yanci departed from Puzhou on the second day, he smoothly obtained Gu Xinghuai’s transfer order—one-third of the military forces from the twelve prefectures’ Regional Military Command of the Langhuan Circuit were to follow his orders to the front lines.

Clear, brilliant sunlight streamed through the white gauze curtains of the carriage windows. Pei Yanci, dressed entirely in white robes, appeared refined and upright, even more dazzling in the light.

His hands never stopped moving, quickly finishing another order and stamping it with the small, exquisite Elu Bureau seal at the end.

Tangxi Zhui said sourly, “I’ve cleaned up so many of his messes over the years, yet I’ve never even touched a fish tally. You’ve only just entered court service, and already you’ve gained his trust and obtained a fish tally.”

“What are you thinking?” Pei Yanci laughed and patted the head of the person sitting across from him. “The fish tally is with Jiang Yi—how could I possibly have it? He wanted me to use nothing but my silver tongue to make Gu Xinghuai and Li Shoucheng turn against each other. Either he’s been in the deep palace too long, or the elixirs have addled his brain.”

Looking at Tangxi Zhui, whose eyes were covered with white silk, his tone gradually grew more serious. “Tangxi, I’ve already set foot on a path of no return. Either success, or a noble death.”

“Falsifying imperial edicts?” Tangxi Zhui quickly guessed, his expression changing slightly. He grabbed Pei Yanci’s wrist, his voice becoming shrill. “You’ve gone mad!”

“When I had no power in my hands, I could only cower in Anjing, wasting my breath debating right and wrong with those rotten scholars and corrupt officials.” Pei Yanci casually swept his gaze over the secret orders before him, his pale fingertips toying with the golden seal. “Now that I control the Elu Bureau, if I can still only do that much, wouldn’t I appear rather pathetic?”

The Dugong Daren, inexplicably scolded, weakly defended himself. “The Elu Bureau only has about forty thousand people, mostly skilled in undercover work, assassination, and intelligence gathering. The entire Great Yu dynasty has over two million troops, all answering solely to the emperor’s command. Even if the entire Elu Bureau rebelled, it would be but a drop in the ocean.”

“Who said anything about sending Elu Bureau people to fight to the death? Those are all our greatest assets—losing even one loyal bureau guard would be an enormous loss to us.

“The current military system allows for the separation of soldiers and commanders, making troops no longer loyal only to a particular general, thereby preventing generals from using military force to rebel against their superiors. However, no matter how rigorous a system is, it’s implemented by people, and there will inevitably be loopholes.”

Pei Yanci sneered. “The reason Li Shoucheng was able to raise his rebellion this time is largely because one-third of the forces from the ten prefectures’ Regional Military Commands under his jurisdiction were deployed to suppress the uprising. In the continuous attrition against the rebel forces, he sent Regional Military Command soldiers to their deaths while using the Regional Military Command’s name to recruit and buy troops, actually expanding his private army.”

For what should have been just peasant uprisings in one or two prefectures, after more than half a year, not only had they not been eliminated, but they had grown increasingly fierce, forming into large-scale regular armies. Pei Yanci didn’t believe Li Shoucheng hadn’t tacitly approved or even secretly supported these rebel forces.

Through his research since heading south, he became increasingly certain that all of this was deliberately orchestrated by Li Shoucheng.

“The Military Governor’s office being able to deploy one-third of military forces was originally meant to prevent wasting time going back and forth with the court, which could allow border situations to escalate and cause instability. Now that Li Shoucheng has exploited this unwritten rule, why can’t I use it too?”

“How do you plan to use it?” Hearing his confident tone, Tangxi Zhui relaxed and became curious about what he intended to do.

That very day, Pei Yanci issued twelve secret Elu Bureau orders from his carriage.

Block news from Jiaozhou where Li Shoucheng and Jiang Yi were engaged in battle, block local reports to the court, and establish communication with Jiang Yi at the front lines.

After accomplishing these tasks, Pei Yanci rushed at full speed to the Lingnan Circuit, bringing news that Gu Xinghuai had already raised his forces in response to Li Shoucheng.

Four days later, Prince An of Lingnan Circuit raised the banner of “clearing out the treacherous ministers at the emperor’s side” and launched his rebellion.

Nine days later, Pei Yanci borrowed one hundred thousand troops from Prince Xu of Lingnan Circuit.

Thirteen days later, Pei Yanci went to the Fandong Circuit Military Governor’s office and borrowed two hundred thousand soldiers.

By the time the court learned of the situation in the southern regions from Pei Yanci’s secret correspondence, Pei Yanci had already made a complete circuit through four regions and borrowed five hundred sixty thousand troops.

Even with the fish tally, Jiang Yi had only been able to mobilize one hundred fifty thousand men from the Langhuan Circuit and Fandong Circuit according to imperial orders. When he saw the vast army arriving as reinforcement, his mouth hung open comically for quite some time.

Li Shoucheng’s uprising claimed to have a million-strong army, but facing seven hundred thousand troops, it wasn’t long before they were utterly routed, and Prince An could even be dealt a counterattack.

In Pei Yanci’s view, there was no need for schemes to sow discord. The Military Governor’s offices operated independently, unwilling to send troops and take responsibility, and the court had no way to constantly monitor local military situations, resulting in decisions always being delayed by ten days to half a month.

Thanks to the Elu Bureau’s vast and swift intelligence network, Pei Yanci’s secret correspondence would reach the emperor’s desk in three to five days. Often, the day before, the emperor would still be ordering his ministers to quickly conduct a joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices and execute “Tangxi Zhui” from the imperial prison to appease public anger, only to receive news from the south the next day saying that the rebellious traitors who had raised the banner of “clearing out treacherous ministers” had already been annihilated.

Looking at the date, it was already five days ago.

This left the emperor both alarmed and uncertain about what to do. He might as well simply watch how events unfolded and see how the situation ultimately developed.

Pei Yanci exploited this time differential, traveling from south to north across more than half of Great Yu. After three months of this, by New Year’s, the war still wasn’t finished.

Observant individuals like Zheng Qinglai began to notice something amiss through messages passed from people in the court.

Victory reports flooded in—the rebel forces were defeated, Li Shoucheng was destroyed, Prince An committed suicide in the army—yet every so often news came that somewhere else had rebelled again, one after another, as if fighting was happening everywhere without cease.

Pei Yanci spent the New Year at the northern frontier.

This was because the Elu Bureau had discovered that the forces who had attacked him and Tangxi Zhui were connected to people at the northern border passes.

Pei Yanci considered that he had always had few dealings with military generals, and even less connection with those at the border passes. The person most likely to have a grievance with him would be Gu Wanchong.

He might as well take this opportunity to visit the border and investigate the situation.

At dusk, two inconspicuous carriages swayed leisurely into the prefectural city of Duzhou, where Wenhui Pass was located.

A quarter-hour later, border defense commander Ji Huaiyong led a group of officers to meet Pei Yanci at the city gate.

“If Pei Daren was coming, why didn’t you send word ahead? At least we could have prepared.” Ji Huaiyong had thick eyebrows and large eyes with the heroic bearing of a military general. He laughed heartily and said, “Please don’t mind the simplicity of my humble dwelling.”

Pei Yanci declined. “Court officials staying away from the capital lodge at postal stations. There’s no need to make a fuss, and I wouldn’t want to trouble General Ji.”

Seeing his continued refusals, Ji Huaiyong let it be.

The identity documents Pei Yanci presented to the soldiers checking identities at the city gate were those originally given by the emperor—credentials of sufficient weight to warrant reception by a Military Governor’s office, which rather alarmed him.

“May I ask what brings Daren here this time?”

“Some time ago, Anjing received news that a batch of weapons, arrows, and horses were lost from the border defense.”

“That’s completely untrue.” Ji Huaiyong reflexively refuted, then added, “Has Pei Daren visited other border defense locations?”

“I came straight here.”

Pei Yanci’s tone made it clear he had come prepared and possibly held evidence, which made Ji Huaiyong’s heart sink.

“It’s still early. Let’s go directly to the armory.”

Pei Yanci had deliberately stayed outside the city overnight and entered early in the morning specifically to catch them off guard.

“I’ll show Daren the way.” Ji Huaiyong’s expression remained unchanged as he said, “We sometimes have skirmishes with Great Xi here. When situations are urgent and we take weapons and equipment, we don’t always have time to record everything.”

“No matter. I’ll just take a look. We’re all serving His Majesty—why make things difficult for each other?” Pei Yanci smiled. “The border is harsh and cold. If not for His Majesty’s orders, I probably would never have the chance to see these northern frontier landscapes in my lifetime.”

Only upon hearing these words did Ji Huaiyong’s heart settle slightly.

“If the general has matters to attend to, please go ahead.” As Pei Yanci spoke, he pulled Ji Huaiyong close to whisper in his ear. “The general has served in border garrison rotation for many years—you must have a good relationship with Prince Qi, yes?”

Surprise flashed in Ji Huaiyong’s eyes. “We’re all military men. Though he’s a prince, he has no airs whatsoever. Eight years ago I stood watch in the trenches with him and took turns on guard duty. His character is truly admirable.”

Pei Yanci patted him, looking at him meaningfully.

So it was indeed Gu Wanchong who had secretly sent people to harm him.

“Recently there have been major changes in the court. That demon from the Elu Bureau was arrested. Prince Qi seems to be consolidating the eunuch faction’s power, and Minister Zheng and the Crown Prince are exhausted trying to respond.”

Only then did Ji Huaiyong understand this was one of their own. “Was Daren able to come here because they specifically recommended you to the higher-ups?”

“If not for that, how could someone like me, a mere Chancellor of the Imperial Academy with no connection to your affairs, of little importance and barely noticeable at court, come here to handle such important matters?”

Ji Huaiyong laughed heartily with relief. “In that case, I’ll trouble Pei Daren to take care of things. I still have military matters to attend to, so I’ll take my leave. This evening I’ll host a welcoming banquet for Daren.”

After taking leave of Pei Yanci, he told his trusted subordinate, “Send some New Year’s gifts to Pei Daren, and also guard his safety while he’s in the prefectural city. There must be no mishaps.”

The subordinate naturally understood and acknowledged the order. “Yes, I guarantee we’ll protect Pei Daren’s safety at all times.”

Ji Huaiyong patted his shoulder and strode away.

Pei Yanci’s party arrived at the armory, obtained the ledgers, and had Wushu check them item by item for discrepancies and errors.

The people guarding him saw that he only sat to the side drinking tea and chatting, letting a minor servant do the work, and understood this person was just going through the motions on orders. Gradually, they paid less attention.

Hearing Pei Yanci rubbing his hands and breathing warm air on them, Tangxi Zhui passed him the hand warmer and took the cooled one for himself, reminding him, “Checking this way definitely won’t reveal anything. Those military generals pride themselves on being rough men who don’t care about such trivial details. Who knows how many accounts they’ve gotten the Ministry of War to write off. The Ministry of War is the Zheng family’s territory—they indulge them, a nest of snakes and rats.”

Pei Yanci nudged his side with an elbow, teasing, “So there are actually people who leave you at a loss?”

“I simply don’t like dealing with those fellows who curse with every other word—it’s filthy.”

“Come now, you’ve enjoyed comfort for years. If you wanted to conquer the world, it would be effortless for you.”

“What use would obtaining it be? I have no descendants.”

“True enough.” Pei Yanci laughed. “Overwhelming power is all exchanged for the lives of one’s descendants.”

Tangxi Zhui suddenly thought—if Pei Yanci truly ascended to that position one day, with three palaces and six courts, there would be no place for him anymore.

(TL: 三宮六院 literally translates to “Three Palaces and Six Courts,” but in historical Chinese context, it usually refers to the imperial harem: the residences of the emperor’s consorts and concubines.)