Ning Chen looked at Zisu. “So what was the truth?”
Zisu said softly, “Back then, Prince Duan and Xiuzhou’s Governor came to my father with an imperial edict. They said His Majesty had ordered the planting of something called the immortals’ flower.”
“With an edict from His Majesty, my father naturally didn’t dare delay, and he went to Uncle Liu.”
“That year, all ten thousand acres of good farmland in Qinghe County were planted with the immortals’ flower.”
“But the first year, every one of the plants died… the court did give the people silver, and they planted again the second year, and again nothing lived.”
“But this time the court gave the people no silver. And the immortals’ flower still had to be planted.”
“The third year, the flowers all died again. The people were destitute, without enough to eat or enough to cover themselves… and my father and Uncle Liu finally realized something was wrong.”
“They started sending memorials to the court. Every one of them sank like a stone into the sea.”
“And by then the people had no way to live, and were driven to revolt… Prince Duan sent an army to put it down. Qinghe County held a hundred thousand people, and more than half of them were killed or wounded.”
Ning Chen’s eyes tightened sharply.
He had read the case file. It did record all of this, but not at all as Zisu told it.
What the file recorded was that Yan Wenbo and Liu Zhichen had been in league with the grain merchants, trafficking in seed grain, so that the people harvested nothing and were driven to revolt.
Prince Duan had sent troops to put it down, and had indeed killed some of the rebelling people—but only a thousand or so.
Afterward, Prince Duan had opened the granaries, distributed grain, settled the people and steadied the situation.
For which His Majesty had gone out of his way to commend him.
Ning Chen didn’t follow. “A hundred thousand people, more than half killed or wounded. How did they keep the throne from hearing it?”
Zisu’s eyes were furious. “Xiuzhou is Prince Duan’s fief, and fifty thousand troops are garrisoned there. Against unarmed common people, how could it be anything but easy?”
“Those fifty thousand are the court’s men, but Prince Duan moved them in the name of putting down a revolt. Entirely by the book!”
Ning Chen said in a low voice, “So your father and Liu Zhichen became the scapegoats?”
Zisu nodded, tears glittering in her eyes.
“What exactly is this immortals’ flower?”
Ning Chen asked it, though he had already guessed. He wanted it confirmed.
“Ning the Silver Coat should know it well. The immortals’ flower is what immortal powder is made from.”
Ning Chen let out a long breath. So that was it.
Xiuzhou’s climate was damp, and it was indeed a good place to grow the immortals’ flower.
It seemed they had been working on immortal powder more than ten years ago.
Presumably the growing method was wrong, and they had never managed it.
Which meant the immortal powder that had turned up in the capital was almost certainly connected to Prince Duan.
And it meant that in these last two years, they had succeeded in growing the flower.
“A few years ago, when Elder Shang Lu brought you to the capital, it wasn’t only to call on your uncle in the craft, was it?”
Zisu nodded silently. “Prince Duan is a prince of the royal house, high in rank and heavy in power. An ordinary man wouldn’t dare touch the case… to overturn it, you’d have to find someone with no fear of the powerful.”
Ning Chen said, “The Inspectorate belongs to His Majesty alone and takes no part in the factions… Geng Jing is deeply trusted by His Majesty. He was the best choice. That’s why you kept going to the Inspectorate back then?”
Zisu nodded silently.
“So why did you give it up in the end?”
Zisu smiled bitterly. “Lord Geng’s abilities are outstanding, but his loyalty is a blind one… he listens only to His Majesty.”
“We’d found the truth, but we had no proof, and Lord Geng kept out of my way the whole of that time. In the end we gave it up.”
Ning Chen sighed. “Physician Lin knows about this too, doesn’t he?”
Zisu made a small noise of assent. “I was actually preparing to lay a complaint before the throne itself. It was my uncle in the craft who talked me out of it… this is Prince Duan. Without hard proof, not only would the charge fail, I’d have thrown myself away with it.”
“My uncle in the craft told us to endure, and wait for the right moment.”
Ning Chen nodded. “Physician Lin was right! A commoner who lays a complaint against an official takes thirty strokes of the heavy rod first, and you meant to accuse a prince of the blood.”
Zisu said, “We took my uncle in the craft’s advice and left the capital.”
“And after that you know the rest! Yudie wrote to me about every little thing you did. I meant to come to you to have my father and Uncle Liu cleared… but after I met you, I gave that up too!”
Ning Chen was surprised. “Why?”
“Because you’re a good man! The Great Xuan needs you, the people need you. I can’t drag you into the water for something of my own.”
“And most of all, you’re good to Yudie. I don’t want to bring trouble on her, and I don’t want to bring it on you—so I decided I’d end this with my own hands!”
“But I still want to thank you!”
Ning Chen was slightly taken aback. “Thank me for what?”
Zisu laughed. “The muskets! Xiuzhou’s Governor and the Prefect both had real fighters guarding them, let alone Prince Duan, and all of them were careful men… I’d thought about arrows, about poison. The odds were poor.”
“I hear you were the one who made the muskets. Impressive… so you helped me take my revenge, in a roundabout way!”
Ning Chen laughed without making a sound.
“You’re remarkable.”
Zisu was a little bewildered. “What’s remarkable about me?”
Ning Chen said, “You had the courage to pick up a gun, and you succeeded with it. That’s truly remarkable.”
“If it were me, and I could see no hope, I’d have done exactly what you did.”
“Zisu, I’m afraid you’ll have to bear staying here a while longer… leave the rest to me!”
Zisu said softly, “You could perfectly well pretend you knew nothing, and live out a happy life with Yudie… why take the risk of destroying your whole future to help me?”
The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth lifted. “I told you. My wits went out the window over a pretty face!”
“I don’t believe that for a moment!”
Ning Chen smiled, talked with Zisu a while longer, then rose and walked out of the cell.
Ning Chen and Li Zhixing came out of the cells in silence.
Ning Chen stopped and looked at him. “Lord Li heard all of that, I take it?”
There was a complicated look in Li Zhixing’s eyes. “What I heard was what Ning the Silver Coat wanted me to hear, I imagine?”
Ning Chen laughed. “Lord Li is the officer in charge of this case. He has a right to know.”
Li Zhixing smiled bitterly. “I’ve been dragged into the water by you.”
Ning Chen looked at him. “Lord Li does have another choice. Carry word to Prince Duan… and then find a way to have me killed.”
Li Zhixing said, “Would Ning the Silver Coat give me the chance to carry word to Prince Duan?”
“Lord Li is a great officer of the Second Rank. Ning here is only a very small silver coat. How could I restrain you?”
Li Zhixing snorted. “Spare me that… your record in the field is brilliant, you have His Majesty’s favor, and you’re the future consort of a princess. Nobody with any brains at all would provoke you.”
“This official could kill Zisu, kill Yudie, kill every person connected to this case, and let the whole thing die quietly… but this official cannot kill you. Prince Duan may be a prince of the blood, but he is far away in Xiuzhou and cannot return to the capital without a summons. He can do nothing to the man you are now.”
“And going back ten thousand steps: even if this official could kill you and take your head to Prince Duan for the credit… would His Majesty let me go? Would the Inspectorate? Would Old General Chen? And the musket battalion and the Dragon Guard, who went through life and death with you—would they let me go?”
“And even if every one of them let me go, the people of this capital could drown me in spit.”
“Ning the Silver Coat, I’ve been badly used… I’m wading into this muddy water whether I want to or not.”
Ning Chen could not help laughing. “If Lord Li hadn’t said so, I’d never have known I was this formidable.”
(End of Chapter 295)