Chapter 869: Interrogation and Decision-Making

Although Li Cheng was from Annam, he had once been the eldest son of Li Jili. Yet he watched helplessly as the throne fell into his brother’s hands and even pretended not to care. He was well-accustomed to power struggles, so he knew full well that Zhang Yue kept him in the Divine Machine Camp mostly to conceal his true intentions and to hold him there. After all, he claimed the matter was related to the armory—who knew if that was true?

When Zhang Yue specifically mentioned the Ruan siblings, Li Cheng thought it was a warning not to try anything tricky. After all, with a new generation in Annam skilled in firearms, his position was not irreplaceable. Thus, under Zhu Yong’s sharp gaze, he could only nod obediently, daring not to express any dissent, before being escorted away by his attendants.

Once he left, Zhang Yue followed Zhu Yong into the camp. Since the capital guards were elite troops selected from the imperial guards, their organization remained the same as before, but they never returned to their original units for drills. Over time, new barracks were built one after another, far more advanced than those of other imperial guards. As the commander, Zhu Yong’s barracks were especially well-equipped, with three main buildings plus additional rooms for his attendants, occupying an entire row of buildings.

Now that no outsiders were around, Zhang Yue spoke directly without hesitation: “Duke Cheng, has the Divine Machine Camp been assigned to guard outside the palace these days?”

For the imperial guards, guarding the imperial city was an extremely arduous task. They had to patrol back and forth between the red gates every night without any slack, so they always rotated shifts. By rule, the Divine Machine Camp was also part of the imperial guards, so they too had to take turns on duty—hence Zhang Yue’s question.

Hearing this, Zhu Yong thought of the earlier incidents involving firearms and became even more cautious. He asked, “Are you suspecting that someone brought firearms into the palace? You should know that they only guard outside the outer walls—Donghua Gate, Xihua Gate, Wumen, and Xuanwu Gate. With such a small number of people, they can’t cause any trouble…”

“Duke Cheng is right. Outside battles, firearms have limited effectiveness, but their noise is the greatest! And don’t forget—although there are four gates surrounding the palace, there are also eunuchs inside.”

“That’s… utterly absurd. Even if the emperor isn’t in the capital, there’s still a large army stationed there. What can he do?”

“It’s not absurdity we should fear, but people going crazy!”

Zhang Yue thought about it for several nights. Now, the only thing he could be certain of was this: no matter who came up with this series of tactics, at this point when all the schemes had been exposed, if the other party still seemed to be taking action, then that person could only be a madman—a madman even crazier than Zhu Gaoxu. And such a madman surely couldn’t be Zhu Jihuang, the Prince of Jin, who was far away in Taiyuan. Zhu Jihuang was tyrannical and foolish, but not as bad as this unknown madman at hand.

The word “madman” clearly left Zhu Yong speechless. Though he still had doubts, since Zhang Yue had obtained the golden token, he had no choice but to believe him. He immediately left the room, called over a retainer, gave orders, and waited for a while before coming in with the roster. The two of them discussed the roster in the room for quite some time. It wasn’t until they had lunch in the camp in the afternoon that Zhang Yue hurriedly left.

In the evening, perhaps because the ringing of bells earlier had caused a stir, patrols were strict throughout the imperial city, but there was much less activity. The twenty-four government bureaus, usually bustling with work, were also quieter now. Those high-ranking officials who were old enough no longer needed to flatter the nobles were now fully alert, waiting in their respective bureaus. As for Fan Hong and Jin Ying, the top two figures in the Imperial Secretariat, they wished they could split their roles in half.

Fan Hong had just made a trip to the Northern Pacification Bureau of the Jinyiwei and the Eastern Depot. Now, entering the warm room in the East Warm Pavilion of Renshou Palace, he still hadn’t recovered from his exertions, keeping his hands tucked in his sleeves. Worried, he stood in front of Empress Dowager Zhang’s bed, watching the two imperial physicians work hard, sweating profusely. He couldn’t help but look to Zhu Ning for help.

It wasn’t until Zhu Ning learned from the physicians that the empress dowager was temporarily unharmed that she waved at Fan Hong. When they went outside, Fan Hong saw that all outsiders had wisely stepped back, and then he whispered, “Quite a few prohibited items were found in the Prince of Jin’s residence. Lu Feng says he wants to present them to the empress dowager in person. Also, the Prince of Zheng claims he has been deceived and keeps asking to see the empress dowager. It doesn’t matter whether we see them or not, but right now… Princess, what should we do?”

What to do?

Zhu Ning wanted to sneer, but her lips only lifted slightly. She had already overstepped her authority by ordering a search of the Prince of Jin’s residence—this could at least be justified as an emergency order from the empress dowager. But what else could she do? Could she possibly dispatch troops to the Prince of Jin’s fiefdom to seize him? Even though she really wanted to do that, she could only suppress such thoughts at this moment.

“What else can we do? We can only hope the emperor returns soon and the empress dowager recovers!”

Although he knew it was inevitable, Fan Hong was more worried that once the emperor returned, both he and Jin Ying would surely face trouble. The older eunuchs such as Zheng, Wang Jinghong, Zhang Qian, Liu Yongcheng, and Hou Xian had all retired, while those bearing the imprint of the older generation like Haishou and Lufeng had either been transferred or temporarily left in place, posing little threat. Though Wang Jin had always been respectful to him, and he himself wouldn’t want to cross paths with the emperor’s confidants, he absolutely didn’t want this reckless plot to be swept away like fallen leaves in the autumn wind.

As both of them remained silent, a light cough came from outside, followed by a familiar deep voice: “Is the princess here? I’m back.”

Recognizing it as Jin Ying’s voice, Zhu Ning nodded at Fan Hong. Fan Hong quickly walked to the door, lifted the curtain to let Jin Ying in, and then gave a subtle signal to a trusted eunuch standing nearby to prevent anyone else from entering.

Jin Ying had already taken off her red fur coat outside. She bowed to Zhu Ning before hurriedly saying, “I just went to the six ministries. Vice Minister Zhang mentioned something to me. Though it’s still unconfirmed, I was afraid it might cause trouble, so I rushed back right away. Here’s what happened…”

Her very low voice ensured that only the three people in the room could hear her words. After hearing this, an awkward silence filled the room. Seeing Zhu Ning’s furrowed brows, Fan Hong quickly said, “This is absolutely outrageous! But it doesn’t take much effort to figure it out. I remember clearly that the imperial pharmacy eunuch, Suo Lianzhou, is Liu Yongcheng’s godson. He was originally in charge of the weapons bureau and was transferred to the imperial pharmacy just a few months ago. A quick interrogation will clarify everything.”

Although he was an eunuch in the imperial pharmacy, the three imperial physicians could at least take turns resting, but Suo Lianzhou had it worse—he was almost constantly staring as medicines were prepared and taken. Only when extremely tired would he close his eyes for a short while. Now, as he personally guarded the medicine stove and kept everyone at bay, even with his utmost vigilance, he still couldn’t help dozing off from time to time. It wasn’t until a hand suddenly rested on his shoulder that he jolted awake.

“Who’s there… Ah, it’s Eunuch Fan.”

Suo Lianzhou quickly adjusted his expression and jumped up from the stool. Noticing the complex look on Fan Hong’s face, he grew even more uneasy and stammered an explanation, “Please forgive me, Eunuch. I’m just really tired…”

Fan Hong had been standing behind Suo Lianzhou for quite some time. Seeing him lower his head to doze off for a while before suddenly straightening up to check the fire, this repeated several times, he knew well that this guy was forcing himself to stay awake. His doubts were somewhat dispelled. But before things were clarified, he wouldn’t say much either. He simply nodded and said, “There are more than you in the imperial pharmacy. There’s no need for you, a eunuch, to watch over such things personally; just leave it to them. Come with me; I have questions for you.”

Although he didn’t know what Fan Hong wanted from him now, seeing that two young eunuchs had come to take over his duties, Suo Lianzhou didn’t dare refuse and hurriedly followed Fan Hong outside. They walked through a corridor to the front of a room on the west side. Following Fan Hong, he saw two tall and strong men standing there and couldn’t help but feel nervous. He steadied himself before stepping over the threshold.

“Princess, I’ve brought him.”

Seeing Zhu Ning sitting on the nanmu chair in the center and hearing those words, Suo Lianzhou immediately understood that it wasn’t Fan Hong who had called him here, but Princess Chenliu, who held real power in the Renshou Palace at the moment. His knees weakened, and he knelt on the ground. He was good at reading situations, and instinctively sensing that something bad was likely to happen, he didn’t even dare to lift his head.

Under normal circumstances, Zhu Ning would have tried to probe things indirectly first, but she didn’t have the time or inclination to do so now. She simply asked directly, “I heard you used to be in charge of the Armaments Bureau?”

Suo Lianzhou originally thought it was because he had secretly taken some ginseng from the imperial pharmacy to give to his godfather Liu Yongcheng, or that someone had reported him behind his back. He never expected it to be related to the Armaments Bureau. So, he unconsciously raised his head from the ground, his face full of confusion. It wasn’t until he noticed Zhu Ning’s displeased expression and Fan Hong and Jin Ying standing on either side of her, staring at him as if they were protective deities, that he snapped out of it.

“Yes, I indeed spent many years in the Armaments Bureau,” he said honestly, kowtowing again on the ground. “I took charge of it in the 19th year of Yongle’s reign, recommended by Lord Liu of the Imperial Horse Supervision Bureau.”

Seeing that he spoke in detail, Zhu Ning’s expression eased slightly, and he nodded at Jin Ying. Jin Ying immediately stepped forward, her face stern, and asked, “Then let our family ask you: during the replacement of firearms in the imperial army in the 18th year of Yongle, the batch of firearms discarded by the Divine Machine Camp should have been handed over to the Armaments Bureau for remelting. Yet there was no receipt. Where exactly did those items go? Also, before the New Year, the Divine Machine Camp scrapped twenty firearms, but why did the Armaments Bureau deliver forty?”

As the saying goes, a relaxed mind leads to a plump body. Suo Lianzhou wasn’t a highly respected person in the palace, and after Liu Yongcheng left, he lost his backing. Yet instead of losing weight, his waist grew fatter—this showed his nature: he feared trouble above all. So, rather than dealing with the more than two thousand craftsmen at the Armaments Bureau, he sought a less demanding position at the Imperial Pharmacy. But despite his fear, he was capable enough to be assigned to such an important place as the Armaments Bureau by Liu Yongcheng—thanks to his good memory and quick wits.

“Reporting to Eunuch Jin, the batch of firearms I discarded was handed over to Zheng Yong, who was in charge of handling damaged firearms at the Armaments Bureau. He was in charge of dealing with obsolete firearms, and his craftsmen were all experts in that field. As for the receipt, I can’t remember clearly. I only know that things got busy afterward, and I really didn’t follow up anymore. I deserve to die!” After admitting his fault properly, he continued, “As for the disposal of firearms before the New Year, it was also under his responsibility. Now he is the head of the Armaments Bureau.”

“That little monkey! He shoves all the responsibility onto himself in no time. What’s the use of having you as a eunuch in the Armaments Bureau?” Jin Ying said, kicking Suo Lianzhou irritably, though not hard enough to move the fat man, who remained motionless on the ground. This made Fan Hong can’t help but smirk, only for his expression to darken soon after.

“Yes, I deserve to die. It’s because I knew I was incompetent and also feared Minister Zhang’s strict demands regarding the production of weapons and firearms in the future, that I sought a position at the Imperial Pharmacy… Ouch!”

Suo Lianzhou’s words naturally drew another kick from Jin Ying. But this time, though the kick was stronger, it made Zhu Ning and Fan Hong above laugh—ever since Empress Dowager Zhang fell ill, the two had hardly shown any smiles, but today they were amused by this fool.

After laughing, Zhu Ning ordered someone to take Suo Lianzhou away. She then nodded at Jin Ying and said, “Go inform Zhong Huai of the Imperial Horse Supervision Bureau. In an emergency, act as needed—assign dozens of eunuchs skilled in martial arts to guard the Renshou Palace. As for the Armaments Bureau, seal it off for now. Also, send more people to guard the Cabinet to prevent any accidents there.”

Zhang Yue’s suggestion was approved: all forty red posts in the inner imperial city were replaced with people from the Imperial Horse Supervision Bureau, while the seventy-two red posts in the outer imperial city were taken over by troops dispatched by the Duke of Cheng. For the forty red posts in the inner imperial city, in addition to the Duke of Cheng’s oversight, Xu Heng of the Marquis of Xing’an, Zhang Xin of the Marquis of Longping, and Chen Zhong of the Marquis of Taining were added as assistants. The commander on duty that night should find a way to keep that person at the Imperial Ceremonial Bureau until the situation settled. When replacing personnel, give them a month’s worth of salary, claiming it was due to the approaching New Year and the Empress Dowager’s concern for the soldiers guarding the imperial city, making this a regular practice in the future.

After saying this, Zhu Ning took a deep breath, then another. Ever since Empress Dowager Zhang suddenly fell ill, the efficiency of handling documents and petitions had slowed down by more than half compared to before. It was fine for important military and state affairs to be sent to the temporary capital, but for everything else, the Cabinet drafted the documents, she stamped them, and Jin Ying and Fan Hong imitated the Empress Dowager’s handwriting to approve them. Although they never rejected anything and approved everything, since power now resided entirely with her, even in emergencies, the three of them were extremely cautious.

Jin Ying replied and left promptly, but Fan Hong whispered to Zhu Ning, “The princess has people guard the Renshou Palace—is she worried that someone might take this opportunity to cause trouble in the palace?”

“Better to be prepared just in case.”

At that moment, Zhu Ning felt for the first time that being a woman also had its advantages. Otherwise, how could she happen to be in the Renshou Palace at such a critical time?