Chapter 580: The Situation Spreads

Resistance was now meaningless. Those gathered in the room knelt down and surrendered, their hands tied. Soldiers rushed in and bound them. Zhang Tongru was tied up like a zongzi, his face ashen and his eyes filled with despair. Hu Peiyun sneered, waved his hand, and the soldiers covered their mouths, stuffing them into pre-prepared sacks before carrying them away.

At that moment, a soldier stepped forward and whispered something to Hu Peiyun. Hu Peiyun froze for a moment before turning and leaving. He hurried up to the rooftop, where he saw a small room in the corner surrounded by a dozen soldiers. Two soldiers pulled out a plump middle-aged man—Gu Daowei, the manager of Qiancui Tower. His body was covered in bruises, clearly the result of being beaten by the soldiers.

“So it’s Manager Gu. Instead of taking care of business, what’s he hiding here for?”
Hu Peiyun mocked him. Gu Daowei, filled with anger, said nothing and turned away. The imperial guards arrived too quickly; he hadn’t had time to burn anything before he was captured.

An officer stepped forward and reported, “General Hu, we found him in this room trying to burn documents, so we rushed in and subdued him.”
“What did he burn?”
“He only managed to burn one list—the one we found at Xu Yingjie’s residence. All the other documents were seized by us.”

Hu Peiyun shook his head at the manager and entered the small room. The room was cluttered with various documents. In the corner was a stove, whose fire had been extinguished by the soldiers with water. There was only a small pile of ash, indicating that only one piece of paper had been burned. On the edge of the stove hung a partially burned list. Hu Peiyun picked it up and saw it was indeed the list found at Xu Yingjie’s house. Its information was less comprehensive than that from Xu’s place—only names, no addresses. This was probably the most important information they had.

Hu Peiyun put down the list and his gaze fell on a sandalwood box beside the stove. The box was open, its lid tilted sideways. Generally, sandalwood boxes were used to prevent decay and often held important documents. Its presence beside the stove suggested that Gu Daowei had been in a hurry to burn what was inside—perhaps the list had come from that box.

The sandalwood box was quite large, one foot wide, three feet long, and seven inches thick. A soldier stepped forward and carefully lifted the box, presenting it to Hu Peiyun. Hu Peiyun lifted the lid to find a thick stack of letters and two rolls of maps inside.

Hu Yunpei picked up the letters—over sixty in total, tied together with red string. He flipped through them casually, his eyes gradually narrowing.
“Song Qian, an official in the Ministry of War, submits a letter to Prince Yan, Commander An…”
“Zhao Yuan, Deputy Minister of the Dali Court, writes out of respect to His Highness Prince Yan…”
…
These letters turned out to be those between court officials and An Lushan, along with personal letters written by An Lushan to various officials. Hu Yunpei let out a deep snort. He then opened a map and was stunned; it was a detailed map of Taiyuan’s military defenses.
The situation was serious. Hu Yunpei immediately ordered, “Search Qiancui Tower thoroughly and take all these documents away.”
He hurried downstairs with the sandalwood box in hand and then rode straight to Marshal Li Qingan’s headquarters.
…
Two hours later, the storm-like crackdown finally came to an end. All of An Lushan’s spies in Chang’an were captured, his intelligence network was completely destroyed. The city gates and streets gradually regained order. Rumors spread throughout Chang’an. The Marshal’s office issued a ban on pigeons, prohibiting civilians from raising pigeons or falcons in the regions of Jingji, Longyou, Guannei, Dujī, Henan, and Hedong. Those who violated the rule would be exiled to Lingnan along with their entire families on charges of treason, and their property would be confiscated. The government also encouraged citizens to report such activities, offering a reward of a hundred strings of coins for verified reports.
But soon, the ban was expanded—not only were civilians prohibited from raising pigeons and falcons, but also all government offices other than military ones, including county and prefectural administrations, were forbidden from doing so. The reason was that evidence of officials colluding with An Lushan was found in Qiancui Tower.
On the same night that An Lushan’s spies were being captured across the city, a list of those to be impeached was delivered to the Censorate. Evidence of their correspondence with An Lushan had been found in Qiancui Tower. Thirty-four mid- to low-ranking officials, including Song Qian from the Ministry of War and Zhao Yuan from the Dali Court, were implicated. The government held an emergency meeting that night and decided to immediately dismiss these thirty-four officials and arrest them for trial by the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Dali Court, in order to hunt down any remaining accomplices.
The city gates of Chang’an were closed again. Teams of imperial guards rushed through the darkness, their footsteps steady and forceful. Fully armed and fierce, they made many households secretly peek through window cracks as families whispered among themselves.
“Father, who are they arresting now?”

“Shh! Be quiet—can’t you see? Dr. Song’s residence across there has been surrounded; they’re probably arresting the officials right now.”
“What should we do?”
“Ahem! It’s none of our business as commoners. We should just go back to sleeping and having kids. Come on, let’s go to bed.”
…
Around Dr. Song Qian’s residence in Changxing Fang, located in the Bureau of Military Affairs, over 300 imperial guards surrounded the house. Flames flickered everywhere as several soldiers rushed forward and knocked on the door loudly, “Bang! Bang!”
“Who is it?”
The door creaked open, and a man dressed like a butler poked his head out. Seeing torches all around and hundreds of soldiers outside, he trembled in fear and stammered, “What… what do you want?”
An official from the Ministry of Punishments stepped forward and said, “Please ask Dr. Song to come out and speak.”
Dr. Song Qian, around forty years old, was from Jiangning County in Yangzhou. He had passed the imperial examinations in the fifth year of the Tianbao era and was a student of Zhang Yun, who promoted him. After Vice Minister Ji Wen was demoted, Song Qian wasn’t affected; instead, he was promoted from an assistant official to a director in the Bureau of Military Affairs. He held many military secrets of the Tang Dynasty, such as strategic maps. For this reason, he became a key target for An Lushan. Through Ji Wen’s connections, An Lushan bribed him with 20,000 strings of coins to win his allegiance.
He usually handed over the maps to Qiancui Lou, which then delivered them to An Lushan, paying him between 3,000 and 5,000 strings of coins per map depending on its importance.
Since the city-wide search began in the afternoon, Song Qian sensed trouble. He immediately retrieved 20 deposit receipts worth 50,000 strings of coins stored at Wang Baoji’s bank in Chang’an. He ordered his eldest son, Song Ju, to take these receipts to the bank to transfer the money to Wang Baoji’s branch in Yangzhou.
But his son brought back bad news: since the city-wide search started, all banks in Chang’an had closed down immediately. They had received urgent orders from the imperial guards forbidding them from handling any transactions. No bank dared defy these orders, as being labeled as traitors would have disastrous consequences. No matter how much Song Qian’s son pleaded, even threatening to withdraw all the money and deposit it at a competitor’s bank, Wang Yuanbao, the head of Wang Baoji’s bank, refused to agree. These major banks had a high level of political awareness and would never risk their financial future at such a sensitive time.

Song Qian’s son returned in disappointment, which made Song Qian even more anxious. As soon as the city gates were lifted, he ordered his trusted butler to take his most beloved concubine and their young son and secretly flee Chang’an. If the Song family perished, at least a descendant could survive in the world.
“Master, something terrible has happened!”
The second butler rushed over like the wind and shouted in terror at the door, “Countless troops have surrounded our mansion outside.”
*Crash!* The teacup slipped from his hands and shattered. At that moment, Song Qian’s heart seemed to plunge into an abyss. Though he knew this day would come sooner or later, when it actually happened, his heart felt dead. He stared blankly at the wall, his eyes filled with utter despair.
After a while, Song Qian sighed softly and said, “Ask them to wait a moment. Let me change clothes before coming out.”
He went to the table, picked up a pen, and wrote a short message to Li Qing’an: “I was blinded by greed and committed a grave crime worthy of death. My entire family, regardless of status, is at Your Highness’s disposal. The 53,400 guan in stolen money will be donated to the soldiers to atone for my sins. The thirteen maps I sold are as follows: Defense map of Taiyuan; Defense map of Xiangzhou…”
After finishing the message, he took off his official robes, folded them neatly, and placed the 50,000 guan deposit slips along with the message on the desk. He let out a long sigh. In the distance, he heard the shouts of soldiers and the cries of his family. Song Qian smiled bitterly as his gaze fell on the crossbeams of the roof…
*Bang!* The door was kicked open, and a group of imperial guards rushed in. The room was filled with a cold breeze, the candlelight flickering, and a white figure swayed in mid-air.
…
The next day was a holiday, and all government offices were closed. Officials rested at home, with only a few key departments having staff on duty. The entire Daming Palace and the imperial city were silent. Early in the morning, a carriage left Zhuque Gate and headed toward Xingdao Fang.
Inside the carriage was Prime Minister Pei Zunqing. He hadn’t returned to his residence last night and had spent the entire night at the Secretariat in Daming Palace. That night, he ordered the Censorate to interrogate several important officials overnight, and some initial confessions had been obtained. But what disappointed him the most was that Song Qian, the Director of Military Affairs, had committed suicide out of fear of punishment. Song Qian had been Zhang Yun’s favorite student. Since Song Qian had colluded with the enemy, Zhang Yun could not shirk responsibility. Moreover, Zhang Yun’s brother, Zhang Jie, had once had an ambiguous relationship with An Lushan.

It’s a pity Song Qian committed suicide; otherwise, it would have been the best chance to bring down Zhang Yun. Still, Pei Zunqing held onto a glimmer of hope. After all, Song Qian had been promoted by Zhang Yun, and under the Tang Dynasty’s collective responsibility system, if a disciple committed a crime, it would affect the entire teacher’s group. As long as Li Qingan was willing to use this as an opportunity, it wasn’t impossible to bring down Zhang Yun.

The carriage entered Xingdao Fang and slowly stopped in front of the Prince Zhao’s mansion. Pei Zunqing dismounted and said to the soldiers guarding the entrance, “Please inform His Highness the Prince Zhao that Right Prime Minister Pei Zunqing has urgent matters to discuss.”

“Prime Minister Pei, please wait a moment. We’ll go report it right away.”

The soldiers entered the mansion. At that moment, Pei Zunqing suddenly saw a carriage parked at the entrance and was taken aback. He quietly asked a nearby soldier, “May I ask who is coming to see His Highness the Prince Zhao?”

“That’s the carriage of Vice Minister Yan from the Ministry of Punishments.”

“Yan Zhenqing?”

Pei Zunqing was stunned. If it were someone else coming to see Li Qingan, it wouldn’t matter, but Yan Zhenqing was the new vice minister of the Ministry of Punishments. Last night, an imperial decree ordered that the Ministry of Punishments, along with the Censorate and the Dali Temple, would jointly conduct a trial of those over thirty officials who had colluded with the enemy, with Yan Zhenqing as the chief judge. What was he doing here?

Pei Zunqing felt extremely uneasy. As the Right Prime Minister, it should be Yan Zhenqing who came to report to him, but he had nothing to say. Li Qingan wasn’t the emperor, so Yan Zhenqing’s visit to him might not be official. Today was a day off for court officials, and it was their right to visit each other.

Just then, one of Li Qingan’s personal guards stepped forward and said, “Prime Minister Pei, His Highness asks you to come in!”

Of course, Pei Zunqing didn’t expect Li Qingan to come out to greet him. He adjusted his clothes and followed the guard into the mansion.

At that time, Li Qingan was talking with Yan Zhenqing in the outer study. It wasn’t that Yan Zhenqing had bypassed Pei Zunqing—it was that Li Qingan had ordered him to be brought in early that morning. Li Qingan wanted him to write a few characters for him as a gift.

Yan Zhenqing’s calligraphy was renowned through the ages, and Li Qingan had long heard of its fame. Coincidentally, Wang Changling had written a new poem in Suiye and sent it to Li Qingan. The poem was titled “Exiting the Frontier: A Gift to General Li on His Return,” and it had already spread in Anxi. It had only arrived in Chang’an the day before.

Inside the outer study, Yan Zhenqing dipped his brush swiftly and wrote the poem in one go:

A bay horse now wears a white jade saddle,
After battle, the moonlight over the battlefield is cold.
The sound of iron drums still echoes on the city walls,
The blood on the golden sword in its scabbard has not dried.

The poem was powerful and inspiring, filling people with enthusiasm. Yan Zhenqing wrote it with great passion. After finishing the last stroke, he recited it twice aloud and praised, “Truly worthy of Wang Changling—what a fine poem!”

Li Qing’an also nodded and smiled, saying, “The poem is excellent, and the calligraphy is equally superb—truly a perfect pair. I’ll have it framed and hung in my inner study.” Seeing that Yan Zhenqing had finished writing, he said with a smile, “Come! Lord Yan, please sit down and have some tea.” “Thank you, Your Highness!” Yan Zhenqing sat down, and Li Qing’an personally handed him the teacup. Yan Zhenqing quickly expressed his gratitude. Li Qing’an took a sip of tea and said with a smile, “Today is a day off, yet I’ve asked Lord Yan to come and write for me, delaying his rest. I’m truly sorry for that.” Yan Zhenqing shook his head and said, “It’s an honor for me to write a few characters for Your Highness. In fact, I also wanted to see you today.” “Tell me, what do you want from me?” Li Qing’an asked with a smile. Yan Zhenqing hesitated for a moment before slowly saying, “I believe that those thirty-odd officials suspected of colluding with the enemy shouldn’t be subject to a grand trial by the Three Ministries.” Seeing that Li Qing’an remained silent, he mustered more courage and continued, “No one is perfect; everyone makes mistakes. An Lushan was once a Tang official, serving as the military governor of Fanyang and enjoying great favor with the emperor. I know that many officials in Hebei had personal relationships with him, but those were merely private interactions among Tang officials. Even many high-ranking officials in the court had close ties with him—Ji Wen, Zhang Yun, Yang Guozhong and Li Linfu from the past, and so on. But what does that prove? Does it show they conspired with An Lushan to rebel? They were all officials serving under the same emperor, forming certain relationships simply because of shared interests, just like the Prime Minister’s faction and the Eastern Palace faction in the past. Although these thirty-odd officials are guilty, Prime Minister Pei insists on holding a grand trial by the Three Ministries. I’m worried this could lead to a major purge in the court, causing everyone to fear for themselves and harming the innocent. With a major battle in Hebei approaching, this is by no means a wise move. I urge Your Highness to reconsider.” Li Qing’an nodded. Just as he was about to speak, someone outside announced, “Prime Minister Pei has arrived!” Unable to say more, Li Qing’an smiled and said, “I have my thoughts on this matter. Please rest assured, Lord Yan.” He stood up and said, “Please invite Prime Minister Pei in!” Moments later, Pei Zunqing entered quickly, bowed to Li Qing’an, and said, “Your humble servant pays his respects to Prince Zhao!” Li Qing’an laughed heartily and said, “Prime Minister Pei is extremely talented. Come and take a look at the calligraphy I just received. Let me make it clear—this is my treasure, and I won’t give it to Prime Minister Pei.”

As soon as Pei Zunqing entered, he saw a calligraphy piece on the table. Of course, he knew that Yan Zhenqing was famous throughout the land for his calligraphy, second only to Zhang Xu in those days. But it was not easy for ordinary people to get a piece of his writing. He felt relieved—turns out Yan Zhenqing had come to write for Li Qingan, not to report on last night’s events. He couldn’t help but despise Yan Zhenqing in his heart. A few days ago, he had tried to ask Yan Zhenqing for a piece of writing, but the latter had avoided him at every turn. Now here he was, eagerly writing for Li Qingan—what a fawning scoundrel.

Yan Zhenqing also stepped forward to pay his respects, but he merely responded indifferently before stepping forward to examine the calligraphy. Though he despised Yan Zhenqing, he couldn’t help but praise his handwriting repeatedly: “Truly excellent calligraphy—absolutely superb!”

He read the poem as well and said with a smile, “This is Li Bai’s poem, right?”

“No, it’s Wang Changling’s poem.”

“It doesn’t quite seem like it!”

Pei Zunqing shook his head and said, “It lacks the grandeur and boldness of Master Yuhu, but it does have a bit of Li Bai’s elegance.”

“It’s indeed Wang Changling’s. Right now, Li Bai is under the Wu King’s command—how could he write a poem for me?”

“Hmm! That’s true. The sound of iron drums still echoes from the city walls, and the blood on the golden sword in its sheath hasn’t dried yet. What a wonderful poem and writing!”

He pretended to want to snatch it, glancing at Li Qingan with a smile and saying, “Shall I take it then?”

“If Prime Minister Pei likes it, go ahead and take it!” Li Qingan said generously, waving his hand.

Pei Zunqing smiled. “Your Highness is so generous. But how dare I take it? It’s clearly written as a gift for the Great General on his return. What would I be doing by keeping it?”

They exchanged a glance with Li Qingan and burst into laughter. At that moment, Yan Zhenqing stepped forward and said, “Since Your Highness has matters to attend to, this humble servant shall take his leave!”

“Good! Thank you for your efforts, Envoy Yan.”

Li Qingan ordered someone to send Yan Zhenqing away, then returned and sat down with Pei Zunqing, asking, “Why has Prime Minister Pei come to see me?”

“It’s this: I’d like to discuss Song Qian with Your Highness. It relates to Minister Zhang…”

Before he could finish, Li Qingan waved his hand firmly and said, “Song Qian is dead. His family was exiled to Anxi. The other thirty-odd people have conclusive evidence against them, so there’s no need for further trials. They’ve all been sentenced to exile and go to Anxi to guard the borders. This matter is closed. Cancel the trial by the Grand Three Ministers!”