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He was precisely someone who saw the darkness of the world everywhere, but could still stay true to his own beliefs. (Plot takes precedence）
Qi Jiguang was an intelligent man.
His intelligence was not only demonstrated on the battlefield against his enemies, but he also understood the dynamics of the imperial court, and he was also willing to play along to the rules of the game.
Usually, generals who were great in battle were not very popular in the imperial court, even for those generals who had begun as civil officials, who led large numbers of troops naturally had their shortcomings of becoming overly arrogant regarding their merits like Hu Zongxian. Not to mention, those generals were half a ranking lower than civil officials and received no respect from the others, and lastly, they could become someone’s scapegoat at any moment.
But Qi Jiguang got on very well with others and was open-minded, he had connections all over the imperial court, even though he had been implicated by the fall of the Yan faction and made to resign from his post, that was all. Thanks to his tact and his ability to stay under the radar, no one had come to cause him any trouble.
But in Zhao Su’s opinion, this wasn’t what was most extraordinary about Qi Jiguang.
The most extraordinary thing was that even when he was smoothly handling affairs, he was able to stay true to his own heart at the same time.
He was precisely someone who saw the darkness of the world everywhere, but could still stay true to his own beliefs and to still be willing to use his utmost power to render his service and repay the kindness to this imperial court and to this country.
Five hundred years later, in the era that Zhao Su had once lived – by indulging in a life of luxury, everyone had lost sight of their own beliefs and convictions and fell into greed and corruption. When one was hesitant to give aid to someone in need, when those who were courageous and brave never obtained their happy ending, naturally there were many people who could no longer understand this kind of reasoning.
So when the Prince of Yu was faced with an impossible predicament, the first person that Zhao Su thought of was precisely the ‘crafty’ Qi Jiguang.
Thanks to their friendship, Zhao Su could ascertain that Qi Jiguang was a slick and sly person who was able to navigate the ways of the world and could be entrusted to help during this major political event and at this moment, in fact, there was no one who was more suitable than Qi Jiguang.
On the one hand, Qi Jiguang didn’t have any official position, although he had gained great merit in the southeast, in the Capital, there was an abundance of individuals from influential families who had also achieved meritorious deeds. Therefore, he did not stand out in any way, and everyone believed that he had already been branded by the mark of the Yan faction, and would never be able to rise up to the top again. Even the Prince of Jing had completely disregarded him, only having sent a person to return his gift and then completely ignoring him. —— He had been completely overlooked, because Qi Jiguang couldn’t bring his troops into the Capital. However, he had brought twenty of his own personal guards, and these soldiers were even more skilled than the Embroidered Guard, so at a critical time, these men could be used to save lives. In addition to this, Qi Jiguang had been on the battlefield for many years and was an influential leader.
Secondly, Qi Jiguang understood very well that in the eyes of the imperial court, a pure army was important and he also understood that he did not have a lot of people on his side, therefore, if he wanted to rise to the top once more, he had to once again, find support from the civil officials, and the latter, were mostly siding with the Prince of Yu and Xu Jie, for example, Zhang Juzheng and Zhao Su.
It was killing two birds with one stone, whether it was for the greater good, or whether he was thinking about his own future, he naturally had to support the Prince of Yu.
Therefore, he agreed to lend Zhao Su some personal guards. Two shichen later, the Prince of Yu and Zhao Su brought He Zizhong and four guards that Qi Jiguang had personally selected to be disguised as servants and guards of the Prince’s manor to enter the palace.
The winter was particularly cold this year, so they were wrapped up in many layers, but they still shivered under the nail-biting cold.
And unfortunately, this night, there was another heavy rainfall, the pitter patter of the rain was almost louder than all other noises in the night, many people had already locked their doors and windows, even the gongs of the night watchmen could not be heard.
At this moment, the palace gates had long been locked, the two guards who were in charge of patrolling in front of the Meridian Gate this evening were Liang Wen and Song Yuan. At the beginning, there were many others who were working the late shift, but because the rainfall was too heavy and the weather was cold, the guards had become lazy and the others slipped away, leaving these two who had lost the bet. Those two were forced to stay and keep watch beside the fire whilst they chatted.
“Laodi, we’re too unlucky, how come in this kind of insane weather, everyone else is at home with the wife and kids warming by the fire, oh let’s not even mention it, xiongdi, I also want to go home to my woman!”
Liang Wen laughed out loud: “You’ve been married for over ten years now, what is there to miss, I think you’re more likely to be thinking about the little maidens in the gambling den?”
“Do you think everyone is like you, I’m not into that kind of thing, hey, you know that bunch of castrated lot who have been running around near the gates lately, what is going on there, the superiors have only told us to be more careful watching the gates……”
“Why would they tell us anything? Just drop it! Anyway, it’s already been raining heavily for half the night, there’ll definitely not be anyone coming here, in a bit, let’s just get some shut eye and then it’ll already be daylight……”
His voice trailed off, as he looked into the distance.
Song Yuan didn’t understand what was going on: “What is it?”
Liang Wen hesitated: “Is there a carriage over there, I seem to have heard the patter of hooves?”
Song Yuan rolled his eyes: “What carriage sound, don’t tell me you’re so hungry, you’ve got horse meat on the brain?”
“No, it’s really the sound of horse hooves!” Liang Wen said, whilst moving closer outside, not long after, his voice was heard saying: “Stop there, who are you!”
Song Yuan, hearing this, thought that something was not quite right and rushed out to take a look.
This is when he saw that there really was a horse and carriage outside, the coachman was wearing a straw cape and it was impossible to see his face, but his voice could be heard clearly in between the pitter patter of the rain: “Our Prince wishes to enter the palace, immediately open the gates!”
“The Prince? Which Prince!” Liang Wen was filled with suspicion; they belonged to the Directorate of Imperial Stables. In the beginning, this directorate contained the guards personally selected by Taizu Emperor, but when it got to the reign of Zhengtong Emperor, things changed, these elite soldiers were mostly injured or dead, leaving next to no one. Now, that fighting spirit and discipline of these guards had practically been reduced to nothing, but their personalities were just as bossy and domineering as before, and paid no attention to unimportant figures.
The coachman said: “How many princes are there in the Capital, naturally it’s the Emperor’s eldest son, the Prince of Yu.”
As he finished speaking, he saw the curtain of the carriage being lifted and revealing the face of a man.
“It’s really the prince, quickly open the gates!”
Liang Wen and Song Yuan were stunned, and couldn’t understand why the Prince of Yu had suddenly come in the middle of the night, and they had not received any official decree from the superiors. Official etiquette still needed to be upheld, Liang Wen paid his respects and said: “Your Highness, why have you come so late, this official1 has not received any official decree from above……”
“This Prince has dreamt that my father, the Emperor, is unwell, I am plagued with worry and could not wait for the official decree. I decided to enter the Palace immediately in order to check on the Emperor, naturally I will leave straight after.”
The two guards were stunned, what kind of reason was this? He dreamt that his father was ill so he decided to enter the palace in the middle of the night, so if tomorrow someone else dreamt of some other event, then would there be any point in the rules of the Forbidden City? But after pondering over it, the two guards continued to put a smile upon their face: “My Prince, it is already the middle of the night, without the official decree of the Emperor, we are unable to let anyone enter the palace, this official must uphold our duty and stop……”
The Prince of Yu’s face darkened: “What is the meaning of this, in the name of filial piety, being worried about my father is as natural as heaven’s law and earth’s principle2, this is a matter of urgency. If any judgement is to befall on you, I, the Prince of Yu will take full responsibility!”
Zhao Su was inside the carriage and didn’t need to show his face, hearing what the Prince of Yu said, he couldn’t help but smile slightly, in his mind, he was thinking that although, on any given day, the Prince of Yu was not particularly reliable but he was still a descendant of heaven, and at a critical juncture he was able to force out a somewhat grandiose manner, and these two guards had been shaken to the core by his words.
Liang Wen came back to his senses and this ignited something within him – he worked for the Emperor, and rarely regarded anyone else’s word, so let alone this Prince who was not even favoured, they did not even pay much attention to the grand secretaries, and had never even exchanged words with them.
“What the Prince has said is not unreasonable, but the palace has its rules. Now, the gates have already been locked, if you want to enter the palace, please come back tomorrow!”
“Are you seriously not letting me in?” The Prince of Yu’s voice was a little strange.
“Please forgive us, my Prince!” Liang Wen secretly sneered to himself, his voice was without the slightest bit of weakness.
But without waiting for him to finish, he saw a flash of light, and there was a sword held up to his neck.
Yuan Song knew that he was in trouble and turned around wanting to flee, the coachman was actually Liu Da, one of Qi Jiguang’s personal guards, so he was naturally skilled and in an instant, he had blocked him from fleeing.
“Prince of Yu, what is the meaning of this, this is the forbidden palace, the home of the Son of Heaven!” Liang Wen shouted loudly, but his voice had been concealed by the noise of the heavy rainfall, so his voice was more like the sound of a mosquito buzzing.
“Nothing at all, we just wanted to ask you something.” Zhao Su lifted up the curtain of the carriage, he was wearing a straw cape. He jumped down from the carriage. “Have the grand secretaries left the palace these past few days?”
Liang Wen had been incapacitated by the sword on his neck, Liu Da added some force and the sword cut into his neck a little, his face immediately went pale: “This official has been on duty the last few days and has not seen any of the grand secretaries leave the palace.”
“What has been happening in the palace then?”
“This….. Official does not know.”
Zhao Su saw that he was clearly lying: “You should know that the Prince is still the eldest prince of the Emperor, even if he breaks the rules, it is just because he is worried about the Emperor, and this is perfectly natural, but you are not the same, even if we kill you now, even if someone asked about it tomorrow, no one would care.”
The sound of the rain gradually began to lesson, Zhao Su’s voice was particularly cutting and cold in the silence of the night, making the two guards shudder.
Song Yuan sneered: “Please forgive us, my Prince. All this official knows is that our superiors have asked us to not let anyone leave the palace, as for why, the superiors have naturally not shared with us lowly officials…..”
So something had indeed happened.
Zhao Su and the Prince of Yu looked at each other, the Prince of Yu quickly said: “What about my father, my father hasn’t been harmed surely?!”
Song Yuan hesitated to reply: “I haven’t heard anything, it seems to be calm inside…..”
“What about the imperial guards, anything out of place?”
Zhao Su couldn’t be blamed for asking for clarification, in reality, in the last few days, people were only allowed to enter, but people were not allowed to leave, and there were many things that were still unclear.
Song Yuan shook his head: “I heard that there have been more guards sent over to watch over the Palace of Eternal Longevity and the Belvedere of Literary Profundity, but other palaces have been more relaxed.”
The Palace of Eternal Longevity was where Emperor Jiajing resided and the Belvedere of Literary Profundity was where the Grand Secretariat was located.
“From here to the Grand Secretariat, is there a hidden shortcut?”
“Yes, after entering through the Meridian Gate, head East down the path, this is the shortcut that we use to change shifts, there are very few people who go down there.”
Zhao Su nodded: “Thank you for your honesty, if the Emperor is found to be safe and sound, we will definitely not forget to reward you both.”
Song Yuan and Liang Wen had already broken out into a cold sweat, they forced out a smile: “We are both lowly ranked officials and don’t wish for any reward, we only wish that our superiors will not punish us. I have the key on me, if the Prince wishes to enter, there is no harm in knocking us unconscious first. If an investigation ensues, if there is punishment, perhaps it will be lighter.”
They could probably have guessed what was going on inside, but at the same time, regarding this matter, that was not something that they could stick their nose into it, so why not just ask to be knocked unconscious and end it like that, so that no matter which side wins in the end, they were merely guilty of being negligent in their duties.
He Zizhong looked over at Zhao Su and saw him nod his head slightly, so he knocked the two guards unconscious, and then he and Liu Da pulled the two guards into the corner.
Perhaps the heavens had looked kindly upon them, as originally, there should have been much more than two people guarding the Meridian Gate, but because of the heavy rain, only two of them had remained on guard.
They opened the gates, taking advantage of the cover of the night, they hurriedly travelled down the path that Song Yuan had indicated.
The Prince of Yu asked quietly: “Shaoyong, aren’t we going to see my father first?”
“At this moment, there will be a lot more guards around the Emperor, there may be a way in at the Belvedere of Literary Profundity, let’s go there first and take a look.
The Prince of Yu made a sound in agreement and asked no further.
At this moment, they had no idea what was actually going on in the Palace of Eternal Longevity.