Chapter 629: Hearing of the Plague Rats

“He’s here!”
A young man entered from outside, looking quite like Wei Ruqun. He carried a large cloth bag, which contained the medicines that Wei Ruqun had stolen from the army over the past few months. Taking the bag, he opened it and said with a smile, “It’s all here—four wooden boxes. Each box holds 200 pills of military medicine, and the rest are wound-healing medicines.”
Perhaps feeling embarrassed, he added, “Actually, these medicines can’t be bought anywhere else. All the pharmacies have been seized by An Lushan for military use. If you’re lucky, you might be able to sell them for 500 guan.”
“Thank you very much, sir.”
Ji Sheng put away the medicines but didn’t rush to leave. He glanced at the young man standing behind Wei Ruqun and asked with a smile, “Is this Mr. Wei’s son?”
Wei Ruqun was 45 years old, but his son was only 15. The boy was the child of his second wife, and as his only son, he doted on him dearly. Perhaps due to overindulgence, the boy was thin and pale, with an introverted and gentle personality, almost like a girl.
Unprepared, Wei Ruqun smiled proudly and said, “He’ll turn 15 next month.”
“Fifteen already.”
Ji Sheng nodded thoughtfully. “I remember An Lushan issued a conscription order requiring all boys over 15 to register with the militia. Your son will need to register next month, right?”
Wei Ruqun’s expression changed drastically. Ji Sheng’s words hit upon his deepest concern—something he feared the most. Although his son hadn’t been conscripted yet, once the war intensified, he would surely not escape conscription. Having spent time in the army, he knew well about its darkness. Even if his son didn’t go to battle, he would still suffer at the hands of the brutal soldiers and surely die.
The son sensed his father’s anxiety and leaned into his arms. Wei Ruqun hugged his beloved son and sighed deeply, filled with worry.
Ji Sheng then asked with a smile, “Then why don’t you send him away from Hebei?”
“How could I not think of that?”
Wei Ruqun sighed. “But it’s not easy! There are An Lushan’s fierce soldiers everywhere in the provinces and counties. If I ask my wife to take him away, they won’t be able to leave. Not only are the passes guarded by soldiers who forbid leaving Hebei, but we might even be killed by those fierce soldiers along the way—they’re a hundred times worse than bandits. Only hiding in Youzhou might offer a little safety.”
Ji Sheng already had a plan. He smiled slightly and said, “How about this? I’ll do you a favor and send your son and wife to Chang’an. What do you think?”

Wei Ruqun’s eyes lit up briefly before dimming again. Although he had made a deal with this man, they were strangers after all. How could he trust him enough to hand over his wife and children? Besides, why should he be able to leave Hebei?

Ji Sheng seemed to know what he was thinking. He took out a map from his bosom and pointed north. “Although the Yan army has blocked the road to Hedong, they haven’t blocked the northern route. We can cross the Great Wall at Raole and take a detour outside the passes to Yunchou. Once there, it will be territory controlled by the Northern Tang army. To be honest with you, this is exactly the route I used to enter Hebei.”

Wei Ruqun felt a surge of excitement. He knew about this route too; An Lushan’s control wasn’t very strict there. But the north was territory of the barbarians—too dangerous. Still, this risk was far less than heading south to Hedong. His only concern was Ji Sheng—why would he help him? He didn’t want his wife and children sold to the barbarians.

Ji Sheng smiled faintly. He took out a gold plaque and placed it on the table in front of Wei Ruqun. Wei Ruqun glanced at it and saw four characters engraved on it: “Anxi Scout!”

Startled, he jumped up, staring at Ji Sheng in fear. “You are…”

Ji Sheng waved his hand and said with a smile, “Mr. Wei, don’t worry. Why would I harm you, just a minor military doctor?”

Wei Ruqun thought it made sense. As a low-ranking military doctor, he indeed posed no threat to them. His worries eased a bit. Then he suddenly remembered something and asked in a low voice, “Was it you who set fire to the fodder store?”

Ji Sheng smiled, neither denying nor confirming. He added, “Well? Now do you believe I can take your wife and children to Chang’an?”

Wei Ruqun already believed him. No wonder they wanted to buy military rations and gold-plated wound medicine. If they were indeed scouts from the Northern Tang army, things were different. Even if they couldn’t take him to Chang’an, just getting them to Yunchou would be enough—his wife and children could go to Chang’an on their own. Once again, hope arose in his heart. His son’s uncle was in Chang’an; they could go to him for shelter. With twenty taels of gold, they could settle down there as well.

But he also knew Ji Sheng wouldn’t help him for no reason. The other party must have his own request. So he nodded and said, “Young Master Ji, please go ahead! Tell me what you need. As long as I can do it, I’ll do my best.”

Ji Sheng replied calmly, “Since Mr. Wei is a military doctor, he must need an assistant, right? How about me?”

“You?” Wei Ruqun widened his eyes.

Ji Sheng nodded slowly. “If you let me enter your camp and work as your military doctor, I’ll be responsible for sending your wife and children to Chang’an. Will you go along with this deal?”

It’s a transaction with mutual guarantees. With this scout surnamed Ji by his side, his subordinates wouldn’t dare harm his son, and since his son was in their hands, he himself wouldn’t dare betray him. Now, as long as his son could escape from Hebei, Wei Ruqun would let him do whatever he wanted.
“Alright! Let’s make a deal.”
Someone helped Ji Sheng join the Yan army quite easily. That very night, Ji Sheng received a rank badge and had his military records updated, becoming a member of the Yan army. Ji Sheng’s name was real—there was no need to fake it. He was from Zanhuang County in Zhaozhou and was assigned to An Lushan’s direct army, the Eighth Battalion of the Tenth Army. He didn’t have armor or military uniforms. Since he was a military doctor, he only had a knife—not a sword, but an ordinary long knife.
…
Chaos reigned in Hebei, yet the situation in Chang’an remained very calm. Li Qing’an returned to Chang’an ten days ago. The calm situation in Chang’an referred to the imperial court. Ever since Zhang Yun became the Right Prime Minister, the court’s governance had stabilized. Zhang Yun might not be a reformer with innovative ideas, but he had methods unmatched by other high officials in maintaining court stability. He could balance the interests of various factions and resolve conflicts among officials promptly.
This was why Li Qing’an valued him. Before the external chaos subsided, the court especially needed stability—even if it meant stagnation, it was better than political turmoil.
Currently, the government still consisted of six prime ministers. Cui Ning was busy managing water transport in Henan and Jianghuai, so in reality, there were only five prime ministers. Cui Ping resigned from his position as prime minister and became the governor of Hedong Circuit, having already gone to Taiyuan to take up his post. Zhang Yun, Zhang Gao, Wei Tao, Lu Huan, and Wang Jin were the five prime ministers in charge. In terms of factional balance, the Wei faction clearly held the upper hand. But with Cui Ping’s resignation, Wang Jin, who had always been low-key, changed his stance. He left the Wei faction and sided with Zhang Yun, bringing the factional balance in the court to a new equilibrium—two from the Zhang faction, two from the Wei faction, with Zhang Gao as a neutral figure. The factional struggles temporarily ceased.
Contrasted with the stagnation in the court, Li Qing’an’s home was bustling. His wife Mingyue gave birth to another son for him, while Pei Wan’er unexpectedly gave birth early to a daughter. This disappointed Pei Wan’er’s father greatly. But fortune and misfortune go hand in hand. Although Pei Wan’er didn’t give birth to a son, disappointing her family, her situation within the Li family improved significantly.

Moonlight’s attitude toward her changed drastically; she took great care of her everywhere. Pei Wan’er gave birth prematurely, and both mother and daughter were very weak. Moonlight spent a fortune on various precious herbs to nourish them, gradually improving their health. Pei Wan’er was also grateful for Moonlight’s careful care and treated her with great respect. The family conflict triggered by Pei Zunqing’s accusation against Du Gu Hao gradually subsided after the two children were born.

When Li Qing’an returned home, he was greeted by a vibrant scene. He already had five children…

That morning, as usual, Li Qing’an went to inspect the western market. Since his last incognito visit, he had made it a rule to check on the livelihoods of the people in the markets whenever he had time.

He strolled over to the “Hu Hang Old Shop” from before. His first concern was still the price of rice. Although he had received a report from the court on the rice price on his way back to Chang’an, Li Qing’an still wanted to check it in person.

This time, he didn’t disguise himself as a barbarian. Accompanied by four or five personal guards, he entered the shop. A clerk came forward—still the same clerk from before—but he no longer recognized Li Qing’an.

“Welcome to our humble shop, sir!”

The clerk was extremely respectful, as Li Qing’an was followed by four or five burly men—something only wealthy merchants could afford.

Li Qing’an smiled and said, “Let me first check the price of rice.”

“Please follow me, sir.”

The clerk respectfully led Li Qing’an into the main hall. Li Qing’an walked up to a tall bamboo basket with a price tag: 230 coins per dou of rice.

It was not much different from the court’s report. However, the court’s report had been sent half a month earlier, stating the price at 250 coins. After half a month, it had dropped by 20 coins.

“What was the price of rice half a month ago?” Li Qing’an asked with a smile.

“Half a month ago…” The clerk thought for a moment. “It was probably 250 coins.”

“What’s going on? I remember it was 400 coins last autumn. How come it has dropped by 170 coins, almost half? Why?”

At that moment, the shopkeeper came over. He had better eyesight than the clerk and could tell that Li Qing’an was no ordinary person. He quickly stepped forward and explained, “Last year, the price of rice reached its peak at 400 wen. The imperial court stepped in and bought it at 300 wen, immediately driving the price down. Later, news spread that Anxi would stop minting silver coins, and soon most of the silver coins in the market disappeared. Every household started stockpiling silver coins. Then news came that the imperial army had captured the Jiangnan region, and large amounts of rice from there would be transported in. Many merchants who had stored rice began selling it. Affected by these two pieces of news, the price of rice dropped another 150 wen. By New Year’s, the price was only 150 wen—more than half lower than before. It wasn’t until recently that the price slowly recovered to just over 200 wen. My employer guessed that the price of rice would soar at New Year’s last year, so he bought 2,000 dan of rice at once. As a result, he lost 100 wen per dan. Alas! My employer suffered a huge loss.”

“But you must have made a lot of money before! Why didn’t you mention that when you were making money?”

“That’s true. We made a huge profit at first, but then suffered a huge loss, losing all the money we had made. Alas! I wrote to advise my employer not to buy so much rice, but he wouldn’t listen. It was also a long distance—thousands of miles, transported by camels. Who knows how much the shipping cost would be? How could we not lose money?”

Li Qing’an felt a jolt in his heart. “Transported by camels over thousands of miles”—what did that mean?

He asked calmly, “I wonder who your employer is?”

“Well… haha! It’s hard to say, really hard to say!” The shopkeeper laughed and refused to answer.

“Then I’ll take my leave first!”

Li Qing’an bowed and left. After stepping out of the shop, he secretly instructed one of his bodyguards, “Find that clerk I saw earlier. Be careful not to alert the shopkeeper.”

The bodyguard went away and soon brought back the clerk. “Sir, is there anything else?”

Under the cold gazes of several burly men, the clerk seemed nervous. Li Qing’an took out another stack of ten silver coins and held them in his palm, smiling. “Do you want them?”

The clerk swallowed hard. “I do!”

“If you want them, tell me—who’s your employer?”

The clerk shook his head vigorously. “I can’t say. If I do, the shopkeeper will kill me.”

Li Qing’an took out another ten silver coins and placed them in his palm, smiling. “Will you tell me or not?”

The clerk still shook his head, but more slowly this time. Li Qing’an stopped adding more coins. Instead, he took one away, then another, and yet another. As the number of coins decreased, the clerk couldn’t resist anymore. “I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!”

Li Qing’an stopped and smiled. “Go ahead! Who’s your employer?”

The guy glanced around and pointed to an alley nearby. Li Qing’an followed him in, smiling and saying, “Is it that mysterious?”
“Sir, I wouldn’t dare speak rashly. If this gets out and Li Qing’an finds out, many people will lose their heads.”
Still smiling, Li Qing’an said, “Don’t worry! I don’t know Li Qing’an, so I won’t say anything reckless.”
“That’s good!”
The guy lowered his voice and said, “I don’t know the master’s exact name, but I know he’s a high-ranking official from Anxi. All the grain in our rice shop is brought in by him for huge profits. Once, the shopkeeper got drunk and said the master was doing business with no capital at all. I suspect these grains don’t even require any investment. I’ve also heard the master owns a jewelry shop in the East Market.”
Anger began to burn in Li Qing’an’s chest. He believed the guy was telling the truth. Controlling his anger, he asked again, “Then what’s the master’s surname? You must know that!”
The guy shook his head. “I really don’t.”
“Alright!”
Li Qing’an said to his bodyguard, “Give him three hundred silver coins as a reward!”
With a clatter, the shiny silver coins were poured into a bag. Holding the heavy bag—three hundred silver coins—the guy was stunned. Li Qing’an said coldly, “From now on, stop going to the rice shop. Find yourself another job!”
After leaving the alley, Li Qing’an suddenly stopped and ordered one of his bodyguards, “Send a message to Hu Peiyun. Seize this rice shop immediately. No matter what, find out who the real master behind it is!”