Wen Zhuo recalled the details carefully. Liu Kangren had indeed died at the very end of the twenty-third year of Shunyuan’s reign, but Wen Zhuo had initially thought it nothing more than an insignificant matter.
At the time, he had been assisting Shen Chen. Having just secured the full support of the Marquis Yongning’s household, his mind had been entirely occupied with borrowing Prince Xian’s influence to keep the Crown Prince in check.
From the very beginning, he had never placed any hope in Duke Liu. Since he had chosen the Marquis Yongning, abandoning Duke Liu’s military influence had been inevitable.
After all, the defeat Liu Kangren had suffered ten years earlier had turned the two families into sworn enemies.
When the memorial accusing Liu Kangren of his crimes arrived in the capital, Emperor Shunyuan was furious.
Duke Liu had already retired from public life, but upon hearing of the matter, he was willing to set aside the good name he had spent his entire life building. He knelt outside Qingliang Hall without getting up, repeatedly striking his forehead against the ground until it was covered in blood, begging His Majesty to show mercy and spare his son’s life.
Yet Emperor Shunyuan had long held a grudge over that defeat. With the old offense compounded by the new one, he found it impossible to show leniency.
An imperial edict was issued. The two crimes were judged together, and Liu Kangren was sentenced to immediate execution without reprieve.
Wen Zhuo still remembered that Liu Kangren had not lived to see the New Year of the twenty-fourth year of Shunyuan’s reign.
The blow nearly killed Duke Liu. Although he managed to retrieve half a life from the gates of death after falling gravely ill, the experience drained all the spirit from him. The vigor and heroic bearing he had once possessed faded completely, leaving him old and feeble.
Duke Liu had three sons. His eldest had suffered an accident in childhood and was paralyzed on one side of his body, bedridden year-round and wholly dependent on others for care.
His second son had been brave and skilled in battle. Though young and full of spirit, he had unfortunately fallen into Nanping’s trap and died on the battlefield, his body returned wrapped in his armor.
Only Liu Kangren remained—the last of his sons, mild-tempered and of merely ordinary ability.
But now Liu Kangren was to be beheaded as well. The final hope Duke Liu had clung to was gone.
At the time, Wen Zhuo had merely watched from the sidelines in court, taking it as proof that the Liu family’s fortunes had run out. Moreover, with Duke Liu left without an heir and his influence steadily weakening, the situation was advantageous to Shen Chen.
What he had not anticipated was that this seemingly unrelated old case would later become a rope binding and hindering them.
The change came in the spring of the twenty-fourth year of Shunyuan’s reign.
Duke Liu feared that his paralyzed eldest son would have no one to care for him. Driven into a corner, he had no choice but to enter the factional struggle and join Prince Xian’s camp.
Prince Xian had long enjoyed a reputation for virtue. As the Empress’s legitimate son and the eldest prince, he already possessed a firm foundation. With Duke Liu’s military influence now added to his cause, he became even more formidable, his prestige rising by the day. He turned into Shen Chen’s most troublesome rival.
At the time, Shen Chen was consumed with worry. He could not sleep at night and repeatedly ran to the Wen residence late into the night, shedding tears and sighing before Wen Zhuo as he begged him to devise a plan to sever Prince Xian’s power.
Only then did Wen Zhuo truly feel the lingering consequences of Liu Kangren’s death.
They had to break Prince Xian’s wings.
In court, they ordered Gong Zhiyuan to deal with Bu Zhangyi and Tang Guangzhi. In the military, they placed their hopes in Jun Dingyuan and the Marquis Yongning, seeking a way to bring down Duke Liu.
But what Wen Zhuo had never expected was that Jun Dingyuan and the Marquis Yongning would both oppose destroying Duke Liu. Even Jun Mulan, who had suffered the most from that defeat, spoke up to dissuade them.
Only then did Wen Zhuo suddenly realize that soldiers possessed their own backbone and sense of honor. Though Duke Liu stood on the opposite side of the political divide, he was still a fellow man who had fought on the battlefield. The Jun family could not help but pity his tragic circumstances.
Wen Zhuo had no choice but to respect the Jun family’s feelings and devise another strategy.
Just as the deadlock seemed impossible to break, the incident of the fall from Fengyang Terrace occurred.
Much of the evidence pointed to an accident, but how could Wen Zhuo allow it to remain merely an accident?
With a small, subtle maneuver, he directed every accusation toward Prince Xian’s faction.
With old grudges compounded by new hatred, the Marquis Yongning and Jun Dingyuan could no longer intervene. After Prince Xian fell, Duke Liu was sentenced to exile, and the Duke’s household was confiscated and stripped of its property.
The entire family was reduced to wandering refugees. Knowing she no longer had the strength to care for her paralyzed eldest son, the Duchess lost all hope. That very night, she poisoned her son to death and then hanged herself.
While being escorted into exile, Duke Liu heard the tragic news. Overcome with grief, he reached a desolate stretch of wilderness and smashed his head against a boulder by the roadside.
Thus, a renowned general met his end.
Xie Langyang was convinced that since Wen Zhuo had been able to skillfully pin the Fengyang Terrace tragedy on Prince Xian’s faction, he must have planned it long ago. The entire affair had to have been orchestrated by Wen Zhuo from beginning to end.
He had never believed that Wen Zhuo had merely improvised and conceived the idea on the spur of the moment.
Thus, he also counted the deaths of Duke Liu’s entire family against Wen Zhuo. He could never reconcile the matter with the principles of honor in his heart, and later it became one of the reasons he believed Wen Zhuo deserved to die.
Whenever Wen Zhuo thought of it, he felt wronged, but in the end he still did not dare raise his eyes to meet Shen Zheng’s gaze. He merely lowered his eyelids further, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the edge of his sleeve.
He had never imagined that in this life, they would stumble into Liu Kangren’s grain-theft case in such a manner, entirely by accident.
“I really do know this man.” Shen Zheng smiled when he heard that. There was no roiling anger or vengeful satisfaction in his eyes, only a calm, placid stillness. “Tell me—what exactly did he do to offend you so badly?”
Six Monkeys wore a flushed, furious expression. “He stole grain! Grain from the government granary!”
At that, he slapped his backside and sprang to his feet, as though standing was the only way to vent his indignation.
“That locust plague half a year ago was terrifying! A black cloud of them swept across the sky, and the crops in the fields were devoured clean in an instant! Some people in our village were driven to desperation. They gathered locusts in nets and boiled them to eat, but after only a few days, they died from the poison. Everyone panicked. One after another, we begged the authorities to open the granaries and release the grain.”
“But nothing happened for days. Before long, people in the village began starving to death. Some fled to escape the famine, while others gritted their teeth and rushed to the county seat. And that was when Liu Kangren appeared!” Six Monkeys paused, his voice thick with mockery. “He brought his subordinate banner soldiers and went around Mianzhou’s villages and counties distributing gruel to victims of the disaster. But what kind of gruel was it? It was nothing but thin, watery rice broth. You couldn’t find even a few whole grains in it! The more we drank, the hungrier and thinner we became. Eventually, my mother couldn’t even walk anymore. She could only lie there, barely breathing. And yet, even then, everyone still treated him like a living Bodhisattva who had come to save us from our suffering!”
He suddenly turned around and viciously kicked the mottled wall of the Liu residence several times, leaving behind a string of ugly black footprints.
“Then guess what happened? That bastard official had actually switched the grain in the prefectural granary and was caught red-handed by the prefect! The evidence was right there, and they threw him straight into prison! Only after the authorities posted the notice did we learn the truth. Relying on the fact that he was the son of a high-ranking official, he promised the men managing the prefectural granary promotions, secretly bribed them, and had them steal the grain a little at a time! He stole so much grain, yet all he gave us was rice broth—and he even tricked us into thanking him over and over! Tell me, isn’t that infuriating? Isn’t he the greatest villain in the world?”
Wen Zhuo listened quietly to the boy’s accusations. He knew nothing of the other details, but Liu Kangren’s theft of grain should indeed have been true.
When Duke Liu had pleaded for his son back then, he had never offered a single word of defense regarding that charge. Moreover, according to the laws of Da Qian, an official who stole money or grain from a government granary would receive eighty strokes for stealing less than one string of cash; a hundred strokes and exile three thousand li for twenty strings; and execution for forty strings.
The amount of grain Liu Kangren had stolen must have far exceeded that. It had been enough to get him executed several times over.
For a minor figure who had accomplished nothing, the History of Qian contained not a single word about his death. Thus, Shen Zheng had no idea that such a thing had happened to Liu Kangren in Mianzhou.
However, the battle between Liu Kangren and Fan Wan, the Ghost General of Nanping, completely changed the fate of Great Qian, and records of it could be found in all manner of historical sources. The local gazetteers of the southern frontier even preserved detailed accounts.
Later scholars, analyzing this defeat objectively from the perspective of bystanders, all agreed that Liu Kangren did not bear all the responsibility.
Great Qian had long been said to rely on “Liu in the south and Jun in the north”—meaning that military campaigns in the south depended on Duke Liu, while those in the north depended on Marquis Yongning. Most of Duke Liu’s military forces were therefore entrenched in the southern frontier, which was why Emperor Shunyuan had chosen Liu Kangren to command the southern expedition.
Though Liu Kangren’s talents were mediocre, he could still be considered diligent and hardworking, and he knew military texts and strategies by heart.
Yet when he arrived in the southern frontier, he discovered just how difficult it was to command troops among his father’s old comrades and former subordinates.
Those generals, all old enough to be his uncles, possessed deep seniority. He could not command them, but out of consideration for his father, neither could he completely fall out with them and enforce military discipline.
The practice of drawing pay for nonexistent soldiers was rampant in the southern frontier camps. The registers listed a great many troops, but most were merely nominal logistical units. In reality, only a handful of elite soldiers were capable of taking the field.
And the men embezzling those military funds were precisely the brothers who had once fought alongside Duke Liu through life-and-death struggles—elders whom Liu Kangren was expected to respect.
After the defeat, Liu Kangren could never bring himself to deal these men a fatal blow. He could only shoulder all the blame himself, suffering demotion after demotion until he was driven far from the capital and the imperial court.
In terms of military strategy and the boldness required of a commander, Liu Kangren was indeed far inferior to Jun Dingyuan, and truly unfit to serve as commander in chief.
When Jun Dingyuan later arrived in the southern frontier, his circumstances were even more difficult. Everywhere he looked, he saw Duke Liu’s former subordinates. Yet relying solely on his military achievements, he fought his way through the opposition and rose steadily through the ranks.
Once he had real authority in his hands, he showed no one any deference. He launched sweeping reforms, eliminated useless logistical units, reorganized the military registers, and put an end to the malpractice of drawing pay for nonexistent soldiers. Anyone who violated military orders was punished without exception or mercy.
After ten years of this, the camps in the southern frontier had taken on an entirely new look, and their fighting strength was worlds apart from before.
When Nanping invaded once more, Jun Dingyuan naturally won a victory that heartened the people and washed away Great Qian’s earlier humiliation.
Later generations held Jun Dingyuan in extremely high regard, calling him a rare military genius. It was only a pity that he angered the emperor and died in the prime of his life.
As for Liu Kangren, he was judged softhearted and unfit to command.
If Liu Kangren had to atone to the people of Great Qian for the defeat in the southern frontier, Shen Zheng wholeheartedly agreed. But to claim that a man so softhearted he was willing to shoulder all the blame, a man bound by old loyalties, would steal government grain for personal enrichment and bring misery upon the people—that simply did not make sense.
Right was right and wrong was wrong. Shen Zheng knew that Liu Kangren and the Jun family—especially Shen Zheng himself—were enemies. Even so, he still wanted to uncover the truth of what had happened.
“Tell me this: how long did Liu Kangren distribute porridge?” Shen Zheng’s gaze sharpened as he looked straight at Six Monkeys.
Six Monkeys rubbed the back of his neck, a trace of disappointment flashing across his face.
He had thought Shen Zheng would share his righteous indignation. He had not expected him to remain so calm. Even so, he answered honestly, “About three or four months, I suppose. I can’t remember exactly. I only know we drank that rice gruel for a very long time.”
At those words, Wen Zhuo’s brow immediately furrowed. He, too, had sensed that something was wrong.
Sure enough, Shen Zheng spoke again. “In other words, Mianzhou suffered from famine for half a year, but the reason it didn’t end up like Ying and Jing Prefectures, with corpses of the starved lying everywhere, was because of the rice gruel Liu Kangren distributed during those few months?”
Six Monkeys froze, then hurriedly waved both hands in protest. His cheeks flushed red with agitation. “No, no! Don’t let him fool you! He would only give us rice gruel. He’d already taken all the real grain for himself! Later, it was Great Benefactor Wen who opened his granaries and handed out steamed buns. That’s how we survived!”
“You think the man who made you sell your sons and daughters in exchange for steamed buns was actually a benefactor?” Shen Zheng was not trying to interrogate him. He knew how easy it was for local gentry and wealthy families to deceive a little beggar like Six Monkeys.
“What’s wrong with that? At least everyone survived, and we even got to eat our fill. That’s better than starving to death.” Six Monkeys did not care in the slightest. He was still thinking fondly of the delicious meals he had eaten every day at the Wen residence.
“Then what about those who had no sons or daughters to sell? Did they not even get rice gruel?”
Six Monkeys paused, then scratched his head. “Well… they couldn’t blame anyone else. They either fled to other places or, like that old man yesterday, went to the seaside. Plenty of people are buying ambergris. As long as you can find a piece in the sea, you can take it to the Mianzhou Fragrance Fair and exchange it for money and grain. Actually, I’ve always felt that my mother didn’t run off with some man. She must have gone to the seaside to search for ambergris. Once she finds some, she’ll come back for me!”
Ambergris.
Finding even a single piece was extraordinarily difficult.
Lou Changsui and the fragrance merchants must have lured all those starving refugees to the seaside with that faint, illusory hope. That was why so few corpses of the starved could be found around Mianzhou City.
Most of those who died at sea would not blame the authorities for failing to save them. They would only resent their own lack of ability and their bad luck at failing to find ambergris.
“If Liu Kangren was arrested by the prefect with the stolen goods and the culprit caught red-handed, then his residence must have been searched and confiscated as well.” Shen Zheng slowly surveyed the Liu residence. The courtyard was desolate, and the furnishings inside were plain and shabby. The only things that could be considered valuable were the two long spears in the front hall.
Perhaps they had been left behind because they were too cumbersome, or because they would have been difficult to sell.
He turned to Six Monkeys. “Do you know how much money and property was confiscated from his home?”
Six Monkeys knew nothing about such official matters and hurriedly shook his head.
“No idea… But it must have been a huge amount! He stole so much grain, so he must have sold a great deal of it for money!”
“If it was such a huge amount, then all that silver should have gone into the government treasury by now. Why hasn’t the government used it to buy grain and provide disaster relief? Why have they simply allowed the people to sell their sons and daughters?” Shen Zheng continued pressing him.
Six Monkeys was rendered speechless. He opened his mouth, but could not come up with a single rebuttal.
After struggling in silence for a long while, he finally shouted angrily, “Why do you keep asking me all these questions? Are you trying to absolve Liu Kangren, that great villain?”
“Then let me put it another way. If the government granaries have always contained so much grain, why did they refuse to open them and release it when the locust plague first began?”
“That’s because… because…” Six Monkeys was dumbfounded. At last, he realized that the greatest problem probably lay with the Mianzhou government office. It was only that they all hated Liu Kangren so deeply that they had forgotten the prefect’s name.
“Actually, I’m not asking you.” Shen Zheng’s gaze grew profound. After pondering for a moment, he said, “I’m asking myself as well: who is the real villain?”
According to the historical records, the farmland in Mianzhou had been seized by fragrance merchants and mostly converted to the cultivation of fragrance trees. The area of arable land had shrunk drastically, and it was no longer sufficient to feed the people of Mianzhou. Therefore, it was impossible for the government granaries to have held an ample supply of grain.
Liu Kangren may indeed have stolen grain, but he might not have taken it for himself to amass a fortune.
The most likely possibility was that he had used all the grain he stole for disaster relief. There was simply too little grain for too many people, leaving him able to offer them nothing more than thin, watery rice gruel.
Yet Shen Zheng still could not shake his doubts. If the truth really was as Liu Kangren claimed, why had he not memorialized the throne sooner, explaining the disaster in Mianzhou and the truth behind the empty state granaries?
Even if Bu Zhangyi and the others had tried to obstruct him, he could still have used Duke Liu’s connections to get the memorial onto the Emperor’s desk. These matters would likely have to be asked of Liu Kangren himself.
Some things were not convenient to say in front of Six Monkeys, so Shen Zheng pulled Wen Zhuo aside to a secluded corner by the wall. Beneath the shadow of a withered tree barely clinging to life, he lowered his voice and asked, “What do you think, Teacher? Is there something wrong with this matter?”
Wen Zhuo was still feeling guilty over what had happened in their previous life and did not dare look at him. He turned his face slightly away and countered, “What does Your Highness intend to do? Surely you aren’t planning to investigate this matter thoroughly and clear Liu Kangren’s name?”
Shen Zheng assumed he was still embarrassed about the previous night and did not press him. Instead, gazing at his handsome profile, he said sincerely, “If he truly had no choice but to do it.”
“The day Liu Kangren was imprisoned, Lou Changsui’s impeachment memorial had already been sent to the capital at full speed. By coincidence, it arrived just after we left the capital.” Wen Zhuo analyzed the situation softly. “I can tell Your Highness plainly: Liu Kangren’s conviction resolved Mianzhou’s crisis, which was exactly what Prince Xian’s faction wanted. Those who admire General Jun and favor Your Highness would also take the opportunity to add fuel to the fire, as a show of loyalty to Your Highness. Eunuch Liu Quan was among them. Thus, throughout the entire court, aside from Duke Liu, there is not a second person who would plead for Liu Kangren. He is certain to die.”
“I will.” Shen Zheng’s tone was solemn. “But time is pressing. By the time we finish investigating and send a memorial back to the capital, it will already be too late!”
Wen Zhuo’s lashes trembled. After taking a deep breath, he said each word distinctly, “Has Your Highness considered this? The person Duke Liu is least likely to submit to in this life is you. He has contended with your maternal grandfather for many years, and your political views differ greatly. Later, on the southern frontier battlefield, his son proved inferior to Jun Dingyuan, leaving the Liu family’s reputation as a military household in tatters. No matter which prince he eventually sides with, he will become a grave threat to us.”
“I have.” Shen Zheng looked at him. “If Liu Kangren had died on the southern frontier battlefield, I might have said he deserved it. But if he was willing to bear the blame and die in order to save the people of Mianzhou, while still carrying a false stain upon his name after death, I cannot accept that.”
“Then consider it his atonement for the defeat on the southern frontier,” Wen Zhuo said as he slowly closed his eyes.
“Those who commit crimes should be punished, and those who perform meritorious deeds should be rewarded. I hope everyone will receive a fair and impartial reputation after death.” Shen Zheng took Wen Zhuo’s cool hand in his own. “Teacher, you always make me read the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance. But I cannot approve of the way it alters historical facts for the sake of educating the people. Wouldn’t those whose lives were distorted and whose reputations were sullied be saddened if they knew they had been made unrecognizable after death?”
Wen Zhuo’s heart abruptly seized, and a chill swept through him.
What would his reputation after death be, after signing that absurd confession in his previous life?
He would probably be known forever by an infamous name, becoming a symbol as despised as Zhao Gao, never able to clear himself.
“Since it is a reputation left after death, once a person is dead and the soul has vanished, what is there to be sad about?” Wen Zhuo’s voice was light and faint. He spoke to Shen Zheng, yet it also sounded as though he were comforting himself.
“Their descendants will be.”
“And what of those who have no descendants?” A thin mist clouded Wen Zhuo’s eyes, and a hint of self-abandoning amusement touched his lips.
Shen Zheng fell silent. In his heart, he thought, I would be sad for you. I would be very sad for you.
Seeing that Wen Zhuo still seemed unmoved, Shen Zheng swept a glance over his surroundings. Liu Qiying was speaking with Six Monkeys, while Jiang Mannü had her back to them as she stretched and moved her limbs. Neither could see this corner.
His courage suddenly grew. He extended his long arm, wrapped it around Wen Zhuo’s slender, resilient waist, and drew him tightly into his embrace.
Then he lowered his head beside Wen Zhuo’s ear, softening his voice into a gentle coaxing murmur. “Teacher, help me. I want to see Liu Kangren.”
Wen Zhuo found the request utterly baffling. “Your Highness, Liu Kangren is in prison!”
“You’re so clever. You must have a way. Please?” Shen Zheng lightly rocked his arm, making Wen Zhuo’s body bump against his chest with each rise and fall. His tone held an intimately shameless note. “Why won’t you look at me? Have I become ugly?”
Wen Zhuo turned his face away even more forcefully and refused to answer.
Suddenly, Shen Zheng flicked open his bamboo folding fan. Angling it across them, he cloaked their increasingly close faces in shadow.
Taking advantage of Wen Zhuo’s silence, he quickly kissed his cool cheek.
As expected, Wen Zhuo’s eyes flew wide with alarm, and he looked over in trepidation.
Shen Zheng pushed his advantage. His fingertip gently brushed Wen Zhuo’s chin as he bent down and pressed his lips to those soft lips again, his breath warm against them. “My Wanshan is the softest-hearted person in the world.”
Your! Wanshan!
A thunderclap exploded in Wen Zhuo’s mind. Shen Zheng actually dared to commit such an offense against the laws of the Great Qian in broad daylight!
“You—”
Before he could finish, Shen Zheng sealed his mouth again and kissed him once.
“In broad—”
Another kiss. This time, a faint, delicate sound of moisture escaped.
“Don’t—”
Shen Zheng chuckled. His lips slid from the corner of Wen Zhuo’s mouth up along the bridge of his nose, before he tenderly bestowed a kiss upon the tip of that smooth nose.
Wen Zhuo’s struggles gradually weakened. He lowered his lashes, and after a brief silence, slowly lifted his neck. Like a person burning his boats, he took the initiative and chased after Shen Zheng’s lips.
