Chapter 111: City-Wide Search

Lu Huan, the governor of Yangzhou, lived behind the government office. Just after midnight, he was awakened by loud knocking at the door.
“What is it?” Lu Huan asked groggily.
“Sir, something terrible has happened at the warehouse.”
“The warehouse!” Lu Huan snapped out of his drowsiness. He sat up abruptly, rushed to the door without even putting on his shoes, and asked, “What happened at the warehouse?”
The valuables worth over a hundred thousand guan that Li Qing’an had entrusted to him were all stored there. Last night, he had planned to send these items to the grand governor’s treasury—anything but for anything to go wrong.
“What happened at the warehouse?”
“Sir, nearly a hundred men broke in, stole the Du family’s valuables, and left five of our men dead and several injured!”
“Ah!” Lu Huan was stunned.
…
The government warehouse had already been taken over by a large number of officials who rushed there upon hearing the news. In the dim morning mist, the courtyard was in chaos—broken chests and bloodstains everywhere. A dead official lay in a corner, wrapped in a mat, while several injured men were leaning against the wall being treated.
“Sir, they came so suddenly. And when they attacked, our men were inside exchanging goods. I’m sure there’s a traitor among us.”
With a dark expression, Lu Huan entered the warehouse. The lights were turned on; it had once been filled with the Du family’s valuables, but now it was empty. Less than 10% of the remaining items, along with dozens of silver ingots left behind during the robbery, had been moved to another room. The room was filled with a faint smell of rotting wood.
Lu Huan sighed softly. Needless to say, he knew who was behind this. In Yangzhou and even throughout the Tang Dynasty, who else but Prince Qing could afford to maintain so many elite soldiers?
At that moment, his advisor Fang Wuzhen also arrived after hearing the news. The scene before him shocked him as well. After a long pause, he said, “Sir, while the city gates are still closed, we should conduct a search right away. Maybe we can recover them.”
“Do you want me to turn against Prince Qing?” Lu Huan asked coldly.
“But… how can the governor explain losing over a hundred thousand guan to the imperial court?”
Seeing Lu Huan remain silent, Fang Wuzhen urged him softly, “Even if we can’t confront Prince Qing, at least we need evidence. That way, when the court investigates, sir will have an excuse.”
Lu Huan nodded. Fang Wuzhen was right. In any case, he had to conduct a search; otherwise, he truly wouldn’t have any way to explain it.

“But we’re short of manpower. Even if we mobilize the people from the county office, it won’t be enough to search the entire city of Jiangdu. It’s almost the fourth watch now; the city gates must open by the fifth watch at the latest.”
“We ask for the army’s help!”
“That’s useless. Only the Ministry of War has the authority to deploy troops.”
“Magistrate, go ask Li Qing’an for help. I heard they returned last night.”
“Very well. There’s no time to lose. I’ll head to the military camp right away.”
A moment later, Lu Huan, surrounded by a dozen clerks, rode toward the northern city gate. The gate was opened specially for him. His horse rushed out of the city and headed straight for the training camp. With the night wind blowing against him, Lu Huan was extremely anxious. He had lost hope earlier, but Li Qing’an’s return gave him a glimmer of hope—that he might indeed recover those valuables.
In less than fifteen minutes, Lu Huan arrived at the military camp. From afar, a sentinel shouted, “Stop! Or we’ll shoot!”
“Don’t shoot! I’m Magistrate Lu of Yangzhou. I have an urgent matter to discuss with your general.”
“Magistrate Lu, please wait a moment.”
One sentinel ran down from the watchtower and rushed to Li Qing’an’s residence. Li Qing’an was awakened; he had returned from archery practice the previous evening and was extremely tired.
He hurriedly put on his military uniform and asked, “What’s happened?”
“General, Magistrate Lu has an urgent matter for you.”
Li Qing’an glanced at the sky—it was still the fourth watch. What could be so urgent at this early hour?
He strode to the camp gate. Seeing him emerge, the anxious Lu Huan stepped forward and bowed, saying, “General Li, just now, the Du family’s valuables stored in the treasury were stolen by a group of unknown men. I implore you to send troops to help me search for them.”
Li Qing’an was stunned. “Were really over a hundred thousand strings of coins stolen?”
“That’s right. There were nearly a hundred of them, very fierce. Twenty clerks were killed or injured, and most of the money and valuables were taken.”
“Stop talking, Magistrate. I’ll send troops to assist you right away!”
The bell for an emergency assembly rang. After nearly a month of intensive training, the soldiers in the training camp had emergency response capabilities far beyond those of ordinary armies. They quickly put on armor and weapons and rushed to the stables. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, five hundred soldiers lined up neatly and left the camp.
Lu Huan was astonished by such speed. Li Qing’an mounted his horse, pointed his whip at Jiangdu City, and ordered, “Enter Jiangdu City immediately and start a city-wide search!”
Before dawn, Jiangdu City was awakened by the rapid sound of horse hooves on the streets. Five hundred Tang soldiers were divided into fifty teams, while the clerks from the prefectural and county offices formed twenty more teams. They began to knock on doors and search house by house.

One lamp after another was lit, and curses from various households could be heard everywhere, along with children’s screams and cries. Feeling guilty, Lu Huan rode around to inspect the area. He knew it was pointless to search ordinary homes, but if not the whole city, what reason did he have to search the Prince Qing’s private residence?
“Lord, don’t you think General Li seems unusually willing to help today?” Fang Wuzhen whispered behind him.
“It does seem so. I thought he would refuse, but to my surprise, he agreed so readily.”
A few days ago, over the matter of Du Bosheng, Lu Huan had tried to talk to Li Qingan twice, but Li Qingan refused to see him. On the third attempt, Li Qingan was out training. Unexpectedly, he agreed to help as soon as he returned today, which was truly beyond Lu Huan’s expectations.
Lu Huan turned to look at Fang Wuzhen and smiled. “Have you figured something out?”
Fang Wuzhen nodded. “I’m wondering what use Du Bosheng is to Li Qingan. He has nothing to do with the affairs in Yangzhou. Why is he so determined to capture him? And now that we all know Du Bosheng is in his hands, why won’t he hand him over? What’s his plan?”
Lu Huan pondered for a moment before saying, “You mean he’s waiting for the right price?”
“Something like that. Du Bosheng is a key figure in the struggle between the two factions in Yangzhou. Holding him hostage serves that purpose, doesn’t it?”
“What does he want then?” Lu Huan really couldn’t understand Li Qingan’s motives.
“I think he actually wants nothing.”
Fang Wuzhen smiled slowly. “If I’m not mistaken, this Li Qingan is choosing whom to serve. On one side is the Crown Prince, and on the other is Prince Qing. He’s deciding whom to side with.”
“But Gao Lishi is his backer. He should lean more toward the Crown Prince.”
“That’s likely why he handed over the Du family’s wealth to you instead of Liu Changyun. By agreeing to help you search the city today, he’s actually giving you a hint—he’s waiting for you to make him a promise.”
Lu Huan’s eyes lit up. If that was indeed the case, he had a 70% chance of breaking the deadlock in Yangzhou. Moreover, this Li Qingan was truly remarkable, very capable. The Crown Prince’s problem was precisely his weak military strength. If he could bring Li Qingan over to the Crown Prince’s side, given time, Li Qingan would surely become his right-hand man.
“I see. We can’t delay any longer. I’ll go talk to him right away. It would be a shame if Li Qingan were lured away by Li Qiu at great cost.”
With that, Lu Huan turned his horse and headed toward South Market.

The time to open the city gates had passed; at this moment, only the south gate of Jiangdu City was open, guarded by thirty officials who conducted thorough inspections. Every carriage leaving the city and every load was searched repeatedly. The south market had also closed for business, with its doors firmly shut, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. Li Qing’an personally led ten teams to search the south market, a place where merchants from various countries gathered, and where many valuable goods were stored in chests. Therefore, the search there was especially meticulous—account books had to be checked one by one, and shop owners had to explain any extra items; those who couldn’t provide a satisfactory explanation had their goods seized.

At that time, Li Qing’an was inspecting a jewelry store owned by a Hu person from Lingxi. Among the Du family’s possessions were many jewels and precious stones.

The store owner, with his sharp nose and blue eyes, bowed repeatedly and said, “General, we are law-abiding merchants. We’ve paid all the taxes; we definitely haven’t evaded any taxes for the Tang Dynasty.”

“I’m not saying you’ve evaded taxes. It’s just a special inspection. Besides, you’re not completely clean. Your ledger lists only eighteen employees, but we counted twenty-six. Where did the eight others come from? Could it be you’re hiding slaves?”

Li Qing’an said this casually, but when he didn’t hear any explanation from the owner, he looked at him curiously. The owner appeared nervous, his hands trembling slightly. Li Qing’an’s suspicions grew. He took back the ledger and ordered sternly, “Call out everyone in your store for inspection.”

The Hu owner’s face turned pale, and he stammered, “General… there’s nothing.”

“Someone! Drive everyone out of the store!”

A dozen Tang soldiers rushed into the store and drove the people out. Then one of the soldiers reported, “General, there’s a man in the store who claims to be the prince of the Shi Kingdom. He wants to see you.”

Li Qing’an was stunned. Then he slowly smiled. Could it really be such a coincidence? Had Yuan En also come to Yangzhou?

“Bring him here!”

Li Qing’an mounted his horse and waited for the prince of the Shi Kingdom. Soon, eight Hu people came out of the store. The leader was Su Ning, the same person he had met two years ago at Bahuhan.

“General Li, fate has brought us together from afar! Do you still remember me?” Su Ning bowed to Li Qing’an.

“Hehe! Truly an old friend. Su Ning, the one who almost made me rich—how could I forget you?”

Li Qing’an smiled and glanced at Yuan En beside him. It was clearly the prince he had seen in the Kuqa tavern before. He said in Turkic, “Your Highness Yuan En, this is our second meeting.”

Yuan En was stunned. He had no memory of meeting Li Qingan. “General Li, you must be mistaken! When have we met?”
“You may not have met me, but I have met you. At the tavern in Kucha, when you were asking the staff about the whereabouts of the ruby, do you still remember that drunk officer? That was me.”