In the dark prison of the Prefecture Yamen, apart from flaming torches positioned at intervals along the corridor, a peephole about the size of a bowl was the only source of light. The whole place was damp and foul-smelling. Anybody who was locked up in here would feel very miserable.
Jia Yin, his wife and some of his relatives were the only ones from Jia family that were still in this prison. Servants and handmaids found not guilty had been released, and those found guilty had also been convicted and then transferred elsewhere. Despair on the faces of Mrs. Jia and others deepened as servants and handmaids left one after another. At first, they had still had enough strength to hurl curse, but after a couple of days, anger in them was gradually replaced by fear and they fell powerless to swear.
Jia Yin was restrained in a separate cell. He had been sentenced to death. When the time came, he would be beheaded at the entrance of the food market.
Waiting to meet his end was distressful. During the first few days of the custody, Jia Yin had managed to maintain his pretence of composure by dint of the resentment and indignation bubbling beneath the surface, but as the execution day drew near, Jia Yin finally began to panic.
He didn’t want to die, so he made an attempt to escape.
With some finesse, he managed to make contact with a prison guard. When he was finally on conversational terms with the prison guard, Jia Yin stated his intention to escape and promised to give the prison guard a lot of treasure if he helped him successfully get out of the prison.
The prison guard didn’t believe him. ‘All Jia family’s assets have been confiscated. By no means will Jia Yin be able to fulfill his promise. Moreover, I’ll face execution if anybody finds out that I assist Jia Yin in his escape. What’s the good of treasure if I won’t be able to live long enough to spend them?’
But Jia Yin refused to give up. He persistently tried to convince the prison guard to come to his help.
“It’s not that I’m questioning your credibility, but can you please say something sensible? All your family assets have been confiscated. What else can you possibly offer to have me come to your assistance?” The prison guard was reduced to impatience.
“I do have something else to offer. Believe me. They only confiscated those they found. There’s plenty more gold, silver and jewels that I hid elsewhere. As long as you help me escape from this place, I’ll tell you where they’re buried, and all of them will be yours!” said Jia Yin anxiously, trying to make himself sound convincing lest the prison guard disbelieve him.
The prison guard did stand somewhat skeptical of his remarks. “Leaving aside whether those jewels truly exist or not, by no means will you be so generous as to give them to me even if they do exist. You’re just trying to trick me into helping you. Don’t treat me like a fool.”
“Sir, I’m not lying. I can tell you another location of hidden treasure. There’s less treasure there, but it’s still worth quite a fortune. Consider it as earnest money. I’ll tell you another location of treasure after you help me escape from here. I’ll never go back on my word. If I do, you can always report to the Prefecture Yamen and have me hunted down. Nobody will find out you are the one who set me free anyway. When you arrest me and bring me back here, you’ll be deemed to have rendered outstanding service and get promoted. You won’t be a prison guard any more. You’ll be the chief of prison, even a head constable.” Jia Yin proceeded with his efforts to convince the prison guard.
The prison guard sneered and looked at him, “You should know that if I am to arrest you and bring you back here, I’ll have to kill you first, because that will be the only way to ensure you won’t inform on me.”
After hearing this, Jia Yin didn’t appear to be afraid but rather felt a sense of relief, since the prison guard’s words were an indication that he was swayed.
The prison guard briefly rolled his eyes sideways and then said, “Tell me. Where’s the first location of hidden treasure?”
A lean camel is bigger than a horse. Besides, Jia family is one of the richest families in Tanyang. If what Jia Yin said was true, he would make a big fortune.
In the knowledge that the prison guard had risen to the bait, Jia Yin felt greatly relieved and informed him, “Come closer. I’ll tell you.”
The prison guard pressed his ear against the railings and listened as Jia Yin told him the first location of hidden treasure in a whisper.
Eyes of the prison guard slightly lit up. After hearing it, he observed, “If it’s true, I’ll help you get out of here. If not, you should know what consequences you’ll have to take. In this dark prison where no laws or justice can reach, I have plenty of methods for infliction of torture.”
“Just go and do some digging. You’ll see that I’ve told you nothing but the truth.” There was no panic whatsoever on Jia Yin’s face. He looked confident and unhurried.
Seeing his expression, the prison guard half was half convinced.
A ghost of mysterious smile flashed across Jia Yin’s face after the prison guard fell prey to his trick.
At the same time. In Ling family.
Zhang Chong invited Yuwen Tong to pay a visit to the Prefecture Encampment.
Ling Zhang stood skeptical, having no idea how Zhang Chong came to be so bold as to invite Yuwen Tong to the Prefecture Encampment. ‘If Yuwen Tong really accepts the invitation and goes there, many secrets in the Prefecture Encampment will surely be exposed. Why is Zhang Chong unafraid of this?’
Ling Zhang was in puzzlement, but Yuwen Tong was fully aware of what was going on. The night before, Zhang Chong buried more than half of the weapon workshop and also directly blocked the entrance to the underground chambers built for heavily armored infantry. All heavily armored infantry had been temporarily reassigned to different platoons… ‘In order to deal with me, Zhang Chong went to a lot of trouble and made all these arrangements overnight.
It seems that it would be a shame if I don’t accept the invitation, given that he had been bustling around for a whole night. Unfortunately, news might come from the Grand Mang Mountain at any moment. This is not a good time to go to the Prefecture Encampment,’ thought Yuwen Tong.
“Now that Commander Zhang has issued an invitation, I think I should accept it despite the risk of showing my thick skin. It’s just that I happen to have some business to attend to. Would you mind waiting two days?”
Did Zhang Chong dare to mind? Not only did he not mind, he was only too anxious to have Yuwen Tong delay the visit for two days so that he would get more time to make preparations.
“Then I’ll come here myself to pick Marshal up and escort you to the encampment of Tanyang Prefecture Guards in two days.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
Seeing that Yuwen Tong had accepted Zhang Chong’s invitation to the Prefecture Encampment, Tao Feng, who was unreconciled to lagging behind Zhang Chong in establishing a good relationship with Yuwen Tong, immediately invited Yuwen Tong to live in the Prefecture Yamen, but Yuwen Tong declined the invitation and only agreed to attend a welcome feast there.
‘Attending a feast sounds good enough.’ Tao Feng was perfectly content with it and had already come up with some ideas of how to tell on Zhang Chong and convince Ling family not to make peace with Zhang Chong.
The secret struggle between Tao Feng and Zhang Chong didn’t escape the notice of Ling Zhang or Yuwen Tong.
The reason why they had not disclosed anything about their plan to Tao Feng was that they didn’t have that much trust in Tao Feng for the moment. Furthermore, the more anxious Tao Feng was, the less alert Zhang Chong would be. Tao Feng’s anxiety would lull Zhang Chong into a false sense of security.
Tao Feng and Zhang Chong stayed for lunch at the invitation of Ling family. And then, seeing that Yuwen Tong was not really in the mood for further conversation, the two of them took their leave.
“Finally this is over,” said Ling Zhang. During lunch at the dinner table, he had been trying hard to subdue his urge to kill Zhang Chong all along, and all his muscles had been tense.
Yuwen Tong had noticed that Ling Zhang had barely eaten anything.
“Tell those in the kitchen to prepare some food for you. You barely ate anything during lunch.”
Ling Zhang shook his head. His deep nervousness had spoiled his appetite and he felt no desire for food.
The sight of his tense face brought it into Yuwen Tong’s knowledge that Ling Zhang was still worried about the situation in the Grand Mang Mountain, so he offered, “You seem to be in deep concern. I can take you to the Grand Mang Mountain and check if you want.”
First Ling Zhang was delighted but the next moment he calmed down and shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. I think I’ll just stay here waiting from news to come.”
‘What can I possibly do after going there? I probably would end up being more of a hindrance than a help. Besides, my family members here need my protection. I can’t let anything happen to them. I can’t willfully leave,’ Ling Zhang thought.
After seeing Zhang Chong and Tao Feng out of the residence, Ling Zhaowen returned and said, “Marshal, your presence has come to the knowledge of them. Will this somehow affect your plan?”
Yuwen Tong replied, “Don’t worry, Uncle Ling. All this is within my anticipation. It won’t bring any influence on my plan, but Uncle Ling should not go outside during the next few days. If there’s a matter of utmost urgency and you do have to leave this mansion, make sure you’re accompanied and protected.”
Ling Zhaowen nodded with a serious look on his face. “I understand.”
“Uncle, let me be by your side,” offered Ling Zhang.
“Stay with Marshal.” Ling Zhaowen disagreed in the belief that no place was safer than the side of Yuwen Tong, that it was best if Ling Zhang stayed with Yuwen Tong.
“But–”
“I’ll have Li Fu and a couple of security guards protect me, and I won’t go outside, so there’s no need for you to worry about me,” Ling Zhaowen interrupted him.
But how could Ling Zhang not worry about him. “Uncle, maybe you should stay in my place during the next two days. Yuwen Tong is living right next door. We can better take care of each other if we stay closer, and it’ll spare me some worry as well.”
Ling Zhaowen thought for a few moments but still shook his head. “That’s not a good idea. Currently, stabilizing the situation is the most important thing. If I move to your place, somebody on the opposing side might become suspicious, and we’ll lose more than gain.”
“Uncle Ling’s got a point. Keeping the situation stable is the first priority. If it bothers you, I’ll have my bodyguards provide secret protection for Uncle Ling,” Yuwen Tong informed Ling Zhang.
Ling Zhang shook his head and declined. Most of Yuwen Tong’s bodyguards had been dispatched elsewhere, and it was because a flashpoint was drawing near that a couple of his bodyguards came back several days ago, but currently, Yuwen Tong still had only three bodyguards around him. ‘They should stay with Yuwen Tong protecting him. I’ve already ‘borrowed’ a bodyguard named Xie Shi to protect grandfather and others. I can’t ask Yuwen Tong for another one,’ thought Ling Zhang.
“I’ll have Wang Dashan and some others to protect you, uncle.”
“It’ll also be obtrusive if I suddenly have some personal guards.”
“Not if there’s an obvious reason.”
The reason that Ling Zhang created was simple and direct. He bade one of Yuwen Tong’s bodyguards to wear black clothes, put in an appearance outside the dwelling of Ling Zhaowen, and deliberately let a servant catch sight of his figure.
The servant was taken aback and started yelling.
Since a suspicious person, presumably a burglar, had shown up, people of Ling family searched the whole residence. Eventually, Ling Zhang, with good cause, assigned Wang Dashan and several security guards to protect Ling Zhaowen.
Those security guards were still animatedly discussing the matter of Marshal Yuwen when a servant told them that someone suspicious had been seen in the residence. In the knowledge that Marshal Yuwen was still in Ling family, they got thrilled and literally searched every inch of Ling family’s residence. The corners of Ling Zhang’s mouth involuntarily twitched as he watched them doing the search.
“Young Master may rest assured that we will not let Second Master out of our sight,” said Wang Dashan after hearing Ling Zhang’s decision.
“I wonder who that burglar is that acted so boldly as to intrude into here when Marshal Yuwen is present.”
“We didn’t find that guy. He was definitely scared away by Marshal Yuwen.”
“I agree with you. That burglar must have found out that Marshal Yuwen is here.”
Apart from security guards, servants were also discussing with each other in private. But surprisingly, as if by some kind of tacit agreement, they all believed the reason why the burglar had not been found was that he had found out about the presence of Yuwen Tong and immediately got scared away.
After all, Marshal Yuwen was a legendary war hero. Which burglar would not be scared when Marshal Yuwen was present? If there was indeed such a burglar, he must be blind, which was the only explanation for a burglar being unafraid of Marshal Yuwen.
The spirits of people of Ling family were exceptionally high. Though a suspicious man, presumably a burglar, had just shown up in the residence, none of the servants seemed to be afraid. All of them walked with their heads up and their chests thrown out, their faces unafraid.
