Ning Chen ran a cold eye over Li Ji. “You’re sure you have nothing to say to me?”
“You and Jin Wu, the two of you… you’ll both die badly.”
“But Jin Wu was the smarter of the two. He told me everything he knew… and bought his wife and son their lives with it.”
“If you have nothing you want to say, the women of your household go into the courtesans’ quarter, where a thousand men will ride them and ten thousand will sleep with them… The men will be sent off to some bitter cold place.”
Li Ji was shaking from head to foot. He raised his head, terror all over his face, and asked, shaking as he did it, “Are— are you Ning Chen?”
Ning Chen was a little startled. “You know me?”
“You said just now you lived in Changshou Village when you were small. I— I guessed it was you!”
Something flickered in Ning Chen’s eyes. “One sentence and you guessed it was me… It seems you’ve been keeping a close watch on me. But we’ve never met. Why watch me?”
Li Ji said in a shaking voice, “I— I know a secret. If I tell it, can it buy my wife and children their lives?”
Ning Chen said without warmth, “That depends on whether the secret is worth anything.”
Li Ji hesitated a long while before he said it, shaking as he did it, “Your mother was murdered.”
There was a roaring in Ning Chen’s head, and his mind went blank.
It was a long time before his head cleared a little.
His eyes fixed on Li Ji and would not leave him. “What did you say?”
Li Ji said in a shaking voice, “This small man was drinking with Lord Zhang once, and we got to talking about your poems… This small man said Young Master Ning’s poems had no equal under heaven. Lord Zhang has always had a name for talent himself, and out of jealousy, perhaps, and with too much wine in him, he said, ‘And what if his poems have no equal under heaven? He doesn’t even know his own mother was murdered. He’s nothing but a poor wretch!'”
Ning Chen’s head was roaring.
He caught Li Ji by the collar. “Is this the truth?”
“This— this small man would not dare deceive my lord!”
Ning Chen’s face went dark and cold. “What else do you know? Say it.”
Terror filled Li Ji’s face. “That was all Lord Zhang said, and this small man did not dare ask further.”
Ning Chen shoved Li Ji over onto the ground and stood slowly up, his fists clenched and the knuckles gone white.
Chen Chong and Feng Qizheng were watching Ning Chen with worry all over their faces. They had heard what Li Ji said too.
“Ning Chen. Are you all right?”
Ning Chen let his breath out slowly. His face showed nothing. “Burn all the bodies. Then have every bit of this ore carried back.”
“The magistrate of Yang’an County can’t be clear of this. The two of you question him the moment you get back. I want to know what part he played in it.”
“Keep this Li Ji under close guard for me… I’m going to Lingzhou first.”
Feng Qizheng said quickly, “Ning Chen, let me go with you. Chen Chong can manage here on his own.”
Chen Chong nodded.
Ning Chen said mildly, “No need. Wait for me at the Yang’an county office.”
With that, Ning Chen turned and left.
Out of the mountains, soldiers were standing guard over all the warhorses.
Ning Chen had Diaochan brought to him, swung up into the saddle and rode off hard.
He rode hard the whole way, and it was dark by the time he reached Lingzhou.
Ning Chen came to the One Laugh House.
Before he was even up the stairs he could hear the officials of Lingzhou making an uproar, shouting at Pan Yucheng to know how long he meant to keep them locked up.
“Pan the Gold Coat, what crime have we committed? Even the Inspectorate has no right to hold us without proof or evidence.”
“Seizing officers of the court with no cause at all. This minister will send up a memorial and impeach you before His Majesty.”
“Let us go home. This minister has official business to attend to.”
Pan Yucheng’s forehead was running with sweat.
He had thought that with a gold coat on his back, holding these officials down would be no trouble at all.
But he had forgotten that he had no evidence, and that not even the Inspectorate had the right to seize officers of the court with no cause.
And these civil officials had quick tongues in their heads. He could not out-talk them at all.
Just then footsteps sounded on the stairs.
Every head turned without thinking, and there was Ning Chen coming up the steps.
Zhang Yuancang’s eyes flickered, and there was no telling what he was thinking.
Seeing Ning Chen come up, he could not hold it in. “General Ning, every man here is an officer of the court. What do you mean by holding us here?”
“If General Ning does not give us an answer we can accept, this minister will certainly send up a memorial to His Majesty and demand one.”
Ning Chen’s face showed nothing. He came across to Zhang Yuancang in long strides and kicked.
Bang!!!
Zhang Yuancang went straight over onto the floor.
Ning Chen caught up a chair and smashed it down on Zhang Yuancang like a madman.
The madness of it frightened the other officials white in the face, and the singing girls broke into scream after scream.
Even Pan Yucheng was taken aback.
Zhang Yuancang’s screams rang in every ear in the room.
Ning Chen’s face showed nothing. He swung the chair and beat him with it as if to kill him.
Crack!
The chair came apart.
Only then did Ning Chen stop.
Zhang Yuancang’s head was broken open and bleeding, there was no telling how many bones were broken in him, and he lay on the floor wailing in his pain.
“Gen— General Ning, what right have you to beat a man?”
“That’s right. Even if His Majesty named you general himself, you cannot beat an officer of the court for no reason at all.”
Zhang Yuancang’s eyes fixed on Ning Chen, full of poison. “I— I will lay a complaint before the throne itself… I will not let this rest.”
Ning Chen’s face was calm. He only drew his blade slowly and laid it against Zhang Yuancang’s neck.
The poison in Zhang Yuancang’s eyes turned to terror on the instant.
The other officials did not dare run their mouths any further. They went as quiet as cicadas in the cold, terror all over their faces.
“Gen— General Ning, what are you going to do? Are you going to kill me?”
Zhang Yuancang said it, his voice trying to be fierce with nothing at all behind it.
Ning Chen said mildly, “Zhang Yuancang, Prefect of Lingzhou. Recruiting men with no trade. Working a gold mine in secret. Having men dress as hill bandits and butcher the common people. The crime is past forgiving. The crime deserves death!”
The words were out, and the room went dead silent at once.
Some were shocked, taken aback.
Others were thrown into a panic and went white in the face.
“You— you’re talking nonsense… I did not. You’re framing me…”
Zhang Yuancang’s face was chalk white, and he shouted it in terror.
Ning Chen said coldly, “Jin Wu, Li Ji and the rest have all been taken… The magistrate of Yang’an County is in my hands too.”
“Lord Zhang, every single thing you have done is enough to see you wiped out to the third generation of the family.”
The color went out of Zhang Yuancang’s face, and he had the face of a man who had buried both his parents.
He had known something was wrong from the moment Ning Chen shut them in.
He had wanted to get word out, but the whole One Laugh House was sealed tight.
Still less had he expected Ning Chen to move this fast… In one night the man had taken every one of his people, and never left him a thread of a chance to fight back.
Zhang Yuancang knew he was finished.
Pan Yucheng came over, shock all over his face. “You’re saying they’ve been stealing gold out of a mine?”
Ning Chen nodded slightly and went through the thing in outline.
Past his shock, Pan Yucheng said, low, “Zhang Yuancang may be the Prefect of a province, but he can’t have the nerve for a thing this size… I think there’s somebody behind him.”
Ning Chen made a sound of assent. “The ore is carried off somewhere to be refined and worked… and then the gold goes to the capital in secret.”
Pan Yucheng said, low, “Then these men have to be taken back to the capital for trial.”
Ning Chen waved that off. “Anyone who dares work a gold mine in secret is high up and powerful, with a long reach… I’m afraid these men would have their mouths closed for them before they ever reached the capital.”
“Ning Chen. What are you thinking?”
“Try them here. No limit on methods. No care whether they live or die.”
(End of Chapter 147)