“Young Master, are we to continue making inquiries in the county seat today?” asked Jiang Yu’s bodyguard.
The county seat was not large, and the bodyguard had some friends and relatives living in this place, so it was not difficult for him to get some information from local scoundrels about suspicious out-of-towners that had come to this county lately. Two days ago, there were indeed some strangers showing up in the county seat, but it was said that those people didn’t go through the county gates facing in the direction of Xiaofeng Village, that they, after seeing the gates were heavily guarded by soldiers of the imperial court, doubled back, exited through the gates they’d entered, and then disappeared without a trace.
Judging from the collected information about those people’s manner, they bore little similarity to natives of the Great Wen. On top of that, they’d acted somewhat sneakingly and accosted a lot of locals, fishing for information. They’d come here neither to look up relatives nor to do business. Instead, they’d seemed to specially come here to gather intelligence. Local residents, who were quite wary of out-of-towners these days, had kept a weather eye on those people since their arrival. Maybe because those people had also perceived that they’d attracted local townsfolk’s attention, they’d soon left.
“Strangers who acted and spoke differently from natives of the Great Wen, did nothing but fish for information, left at the sight of the tight security at the southern county gates… Those people are very suspicious, even if they don’t work for Shan Congyi.”
Jiang Yu combed through the pieces of intelligence collected by his bodyguard and filtered out those insignificant ones. Since Ling Zhang had assigned to him the task of locating Shan Congyi, he must find Shan Congyi. Otherwise his insisting on accompanying Ling Zhang to Cangzhou would’ve been pointless, and it would also affect Ling Zhang’s impression of him in a negative way.
“Today you’re to continue making inquiries in the county seat. I’ll go out of town and see if I can find any useful information.”
The bodyguard said, “It’s not safe for you to act alone, Young Master.”
“Just do what I say. I’ll have someone else go out of the county seat to collect intelligence,” said Jiang Yu.
After hearing this, the bodyguard asked no more questions, accepted the order and took his leave.
Jiang Yu disguised himself before going out to hit the streets, for he and Shan Congyi had seen each other before. While walking on the street, he also arrested a lot of people’s attention. After all, Jiang Yu’s face was unfamiliar to residents of this small county, but as he was dressed decently and conducted himself properly, nobody made any particular speculations about him.
Jiang Yu walked once around the county seat and then entered a cloth store.
At the sight of him walking inside, a sales clerk stepped up and welcomed him. “May I ask what kind of material you’re looking for, my dear guest? We have literally all kinds of cloth here.”
“All kinds? Are you sure you’re not exaggerating?” said Jiang Yu in a mild tone of voice.
The sales clerk smiled, “We have not only materials from the south but also materials from the north, and they’re very stylish. If you don’t believe me, you may follow me to see for yourself.”
Jiang Yu didn’t decline the offer, so the sales clerk happily started showing him around the store, telling him about the materials for sale. He gave Jiang Yu an extravagantly colorful description of each and every single product, as though Jiang Yu would bitterly regret it if he didn’t buy some. Such was his eloquence that Jiang Yu couldn’t help but think it was little wonder this man had become a sales clerk. However, though this store was large, this man was the only clerk. In addition, it’d been quite some time since Jiang Yu’s arrival, but there still hadn’t been any other customers.
All the fabrics seemed to take Jiang Yu’s fancy, so the sales clerk’s enthusiasm built up continuously. Jiang Yu listened patiently for a while and then said, “Your products are indeed pretty good. Why are there so few customers in this store?”
The sales clerk immediately replied, “Oh, you’re so discerning, my dear guest. Our products are all top-of-the-line. Many premium ones are from the capital city. None of the cloth stores in this county and neighboring counties and towns can compare with our store in terms of product quality. As for why there are not many customers…”
The sales clerk’s face crumpled up as he paused. “You’ve just come into town, I suppose, my dear guest? As you can see, the security in the county seat is quite tight, because the situation out there is dire. We’d suffered a lot before the rebel forces of this prefecture were disbanded, and the business had just begun to pick up when…” The sales clerk finished speaking with a long sigh.
“What was it? Something serious happened out of this county?” asked Jiang Yu.
The sales clerk flicked him an appraising glance. Judging from Jiang Yu’s mien and manner, he believed that Jiang Yu had no ulterior motives, so he lowered his guard considerably and responded, “This county is very close to Jiangzhou, and a national road goes through this place before turning towards Jiangzhou. Previously, before the uprising, a lot of itinerant traders traveled past this place on a daily basis, and the whole county seat was uproarious, but after the revolt broke out, everything changed. There’s no telling how much longer the rebellion could’ve lasted had a new emperor not been enthroned. Still, although we have a new emperor now, our neighbor Jiangzhou…”
The sales clerk dropped his voice and breathed, “Our neighbor Jiangzhou doesn’t acknowledge the new emperor’s authority, and the commander of the Jiangzhou garrison is staging a revolt too. An army sent by the imperial court has cut off the national road connecting this county and Jiangzhou. Currently the troops are stationed near Xiaofeng Village which is right outside the county seat, keeping the rebel forces at bay. There could be a fight at any moment. First the national road was blockaded, and now this. Itinerant merchants stopped coming, and even locals don’t dare go out much, which is why we barely have any customers these days. Actually you’re our first customer in two days. Given your rich attire and elegant mien, it’s only too obvious that you’re from a wealthy family. Please allow me to give you a word of caution out of goodwill – stay away from Xiaofeng Village. Even if chances were that there wouldn’t be a fight, which they’re not, it’s inadvisable to be a hindrance to the army of the imperial court, right?”
With a shadow of a smile, Jiang Yu tossed the sales clerk a glance. “You have a point. Thanks for the heads-up.”
The sales clerk chuckled, “I’m just a talky guy. Oh, this fabric is very good. It really sets you off. If you put on a robe made of this fabric, it’d be perfect.”
Jiang Yu cast a look at the fabric and said, “I’ll take it. If my memory serves me correctly, there’s a tailor in this store. I’d like him to use this to make a robe for me. I’ll come back here to get it in a few days.”
“Oh, so thi–this is not your first time coming here. Then I was really being a busybody just now. Please forgive me for not having recognized you sooner,” the sales clerk hurriedly said, looking at Jiang Yu with a somewhat incredulous expression on his face. They did have a full-time tailor in this store, but normally he took orders from rich local families and had barely made clothes for any particular individual customer. Jiang Yu was clearly an out-of-towner. How had he come to know about it?
Jiang Yu didn’t waste any more time, produced an ID plate and said, “Well, I think we’ve done enough talking. Now take me to see the storekeeper.”
The sales clerk’s mouth fell open at the sight of the plate, his eyes widening, taken aback. “Yo–You’re from the capital city? I’ll go and inform our storekeeper straight away. Please follow me inside to take a seat. I’ll get you some tea.”
Jiang Yu followed the sales clerk into a reception room and then the latter quickly went to inform the storekeeper who was having a snooze in the rear of the store.
The storekeeper of the cloth store was a plump mustached man in his forties or fifties. After being woken up by the sales clerk who told him that the customer had an ID plate of the Jiang family, he hastened to rearrange his robes and then hurried to the reception room to meet Jiang Yu.
At the sight of Jiang Yu sitting there with an imposing air about him, the storekeeper’s heart started hammering. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, childe. May I have your name, please?”
“My surname is Jiang,” replied Jiang Yu, looking at him.
The storekeeper’s brow twitched and with that he hastily got on his knees to pay his respects. “You’re really gracing us with your corporeal presence. I didn’t know about your arrival, so I didn’t welcome you personally, which was a terrible mistake of mine. Please punish me, Young Master.”
“No blame attaches to the unconscious doer of wrong. My arrival in this place is supposed to be kept secret for the time being, so don’t disclose it to anybody else.”
“Yes, yes, Young Master. I swear I won’t breathe a word of it to anybody.”
Looking at the nervousness on his face, Jiang Yu asked, “Has anything particular happened in the old house lately?”
The storekeeper’s eyes roved briefly and with that he responded, “There hasn’t been any particular news from the old house for some time, and Old Master has been watching over the mausoleum all along. Every few days I go there to check on Old Master and deliver some daily necessities to him. The front gates of the old house are shut almost all the time and there are barely any visitors these days. Presently, an army sent by the imperial court is stationed near Xiaofeng Village. We’ve all been laying low and doing business. We don’t dare do anything other than covertly gathering information about the situation outside the county and having some men look after Old Master.”
“You sent some men to look after my father?” asked Jiang Yu, his piercing eyes flashing at him.
The storekeeper didn’t know whether or not he’d said the wrong thing, but at the sight of the look in Jiang Yu’s eyes, cold sweat broke out over his back and he quickly answered, “I sent two strong servants there in case any thieves show up, and if a fight does break out outside the county, they’ll whisk Old Master and Her Ladyship away immediately.”
Jiang Yu gave it some thought and said, “I see. Let’s leave it this way for now. Don’t tell my father about this visit of mine yet.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“There is, in addition, another matter that I need you to arrange for some men to handle.”
“Just give me the word, Young Master. I promise I’ll do everything within my power to get it done.”
…
When Jiang Yu had the storekeeper make arrangements for some men to conduct a covert search outside the county, Ling Zhang and Yao Yi had secretly entered the military encampment and met the General Zhongwu.
“It’s an honor to kneel before you, Your Highness.”
“You may rise, General. I came here in disguise and I don’t want to blow my cover, so we can dispense with the formalities,” said Ling Zhang, raising the General Zhongwu to his feet. “Thank you for your service in Cangzhou. Were it not for you, Cangzhou wouldn’t have returned to peaceful life so soon.”
The General Zhongwu stood up and said, “Since you put it this way, I’ll boldly address you as ‘Childe Ling’. I only did what I was supposed to do. As for Cangzhou embracing peace again, most of the credit must go to His Majesty’s decision to exempt Cangzhou people from taxes and appoint Xu Lingyun as the Cangzhou governor. It’s all because of His Majesty’s wisdom.”
Ling Zhang smiled, “You’re being modest, General. We’ve all seen what you’ve done for this country. Now let’s put an end to the small talk and get down to business. I want to know how things have been going in the army. Have you had any news of the Jiangzhou garrison? And did Wang Xiangxin take any particular action?”
The General Zhongwu turned aside and said, “Please come with me and see for yourself, Childe Ling.”
Ling Zhang inclined his head and followed the General Zhongwu to a map hanging on a side wall of the tent. The General Zhongwu pointed at the checkpoints located in Xishan County and Jincang County in Jiangzhou respectively and began, “Currently, the checkpoint in Xishan County is guarded by the men of my lieutenant. For the moment the situation in Xishan County is fairly peaceful. Wang Xiangxin has been laying low ever since he blockaded the national road in Xishan County and set up a checkpoint there. That checkpoint of his is easy to hold but hard to attack. In all likelihood, it’s mainly for defensive purposes. The checkpoint in Jincang County, however, is different. In the past few days, he’s been deploying more troops there, which indicates that it’s not for defensive purposes only.”
Ling Zhang’s eyebrows contracted slightly. “Are they planning to get out from that spot, by any chance?”
The General Zhongwu replied, “We cannot rule out that possibility. Of course, it’s also possible that they’re just trying to clear the way to help someone get in.”
“Shan Congyi?” Ling Zhang furrowed his brows again.
