“Where’s the place you refine the gold?”

Ning Chen asked it, low.

“Li’s Forge, in the south of the city. The man who keeps it is a distant relation of mine.”

Ning Chen smiled coldly. “Smelting gold in a smithy. You know how to cover people’s eyes and ears.”

“Lord Zhang. Is there anything else you want to tell me?”

Zhang Yuancang said, “I have a ledger. It sets down clearly all the gold and silver sent to the Left Chancellor over these years, and which officials in Lingzhou have a hand in it. It’s all entered in the book.”

He knew he was finished for good. An honest account was the only thing left that might keep his family from dying.

Ning Chen stood up. “Old Pan, you go on with the questioning. Remember to send men for that ledger… I’ll take men and turn out Li’s Forge.”

Pan Yucheng nodded.

Zhang Yuancang screamed as Ning Chen pulled the dagger out. Ning Chen walked out quickly, took twenty or so soldiers and went straight for the south of the city.

Li’s Forge had already shut for the night.

Ning Chen had men hold the front and back doors, then took the rest of them in at a rush.

Every man there was taken. Any who resisted were killed on the spot.

In the end Ning Chen found the place where the gold was refined, in the yard behind the forge.

And on a cart in that yard were five great chests already loaded with gold… It was lucky Ning Chen had come in time, or the gold would have gone out that same night.

Besides that there was unrefined ore.

Ning Chen thought a moment, then called a soldier over. “Ride hard for the Yang’an county office. Tell Feng Qizheng and Chen Chong to come to Lingzhou tonight and see me… And tell Qi Yuanzhong and Yuan Long to bring everyone concerned at the Yang’an county office to Lingzhou after them.”

“Sir!”

Ning Chen looked at the men taken at the forge and sank into thought.

One Ma Kaicheng probably would not be enough to bring the Left Chancellor down.

He had a military command on him now, the border was not settled, and he could not go back to the capital without leave… To go back without leave would be the same as rebellion.

He himself did not much care, but it would certainly drag in Pan Yucheng and the others.

Ning Chen’s eye happened to fall on the man who kept the forge, and something flickered in it.

“Lift your head.”

The man raised his head, terror all over his face.

Ning Chen looked at him a while. “You’re kin to Zhang Yuancang?”

“A dis— a distant cousin.”

Ning Chen smiled. “No wonder there’s something alike about the two of you. Very good.”

“Where do you take this gold?”

“To the post station outside the city.”

Ning Chen’s brows drew together a little. He had not thought the gold went by the highway… And yet it made sense. As a rule nobody inspects what travels on the highway.

“What hour does it reach the post station?”

“The hour of the Tiger.”

The hour of the Tiger is about four in the morning. There was time.

Ning Chen gave the order to take the men back for now and hold them in the prefectural prison.

He carried a chair out, sat down in the yard and began laying out what came next.

With the evidence in his hands now, bringing the Left Chancellor down would not be easy. He needed more.

The trouble was that he could not go back to the capital. His whip was long, but it would not reach that far, and the plan he had made of using Ma Kaicheng against the Left Chancellor would not work.

A new idea had come to him just now.

Gather all the evidence he could, and add to it what he won in the field. Only then could he stand against the Left Chancellor.

So Zhang Yuancang, Jin Wu and Li Ji could not die yet. Nor would they be sent back to the capital.

Setting aside whether they would even reach the capital, the Left Chancellor would very likely have their mouths closed before any of them opened one.

Even the Inspectorate’s cells were not safe… The Inspectorate is not a single slab of iron. Every man has a weak place in him, and buying a few of them over would be the simplest thing in the world for the Left Chancellor.

Thinking and thinking, Ning Chen began to doze in spite of himself.

He had not closed his eyes since he reached Lingzhou, had not had time for a mouthful of food, and had been running between Yang’an County and Lingzhou the whole while. He was tired and he was hungry.

So Ning Chen had well water drawn and washed his face, and felt barely awake again.

At the fourth watch — which is to say somewhere close to three in the morning — the soldier he had sent came back with Feng Qizheng and Chen Chong.

“Ning Chen, why don’t you get some rest? You’ll wear yourself out going on like this.”

Feng Qizheng was worried. Ning Chen looked worn out.

They at least could sit down for a while, or shut their eyes a little… Ning Chen had been on the move the whole time.

Ning Chen waved that off. “I’ll rest when it’s finished.”

He pointed at the cart. “These five chests of gold go to the post station outside the city at the hour of the Tiger… They never send more than five men with a load, so I had to call the two of you back.”

Chen Chong said, “You mean us to take the gold out to the post station and then take whoever comes for it?”

Ning Chen nodded. “Old Chen, that head of yours isn’t bad. One touch and it lights up.”

“Naturally. I wouldn’t dare put myself up against anybody else… but next to Old Feng, I am absolutely the brains of the outfit.”

Chen Chong was preening all over his face, and it earned him a kick from Feng Qizheng.

Ning Chen said, smiling, “Enough of that. Time’s short. Get moving now… However this gold goes out, that’s how it comes back.”

Feng Qizheng and Chen Chong nodded.

“Rest easy. Leave it to us.”

“Thank you for your trouble! When we’re back in the capital I’ll stand you a night at the courtesans’ quarter. Wine, music and women.”

Chen Chong grinned wide. “You got it!”

Feng Qizheng, Chen Chong and three soldiers changed into ragged padded coats turned up at the forge, and set out.

Ning Chen was worn right through.

He had the soldiers rest by turns, found a room for himself and slept in his clothes.

When Ning Chen woke it was full daylight.

He rolled off the bed and went out quickly, and saw the cart in the yard.

He went over and opened one up, and it was full of gold cakes.

So Feng Qizheng and Chen Chong had been back a good while, and it had gone smoothly.

Ning Chen looked at the soldier standing by. “Where are they?”

The soldier pointed at a room.

Ning Chen went over and pushed the door gently open, and he had barely put one foot inside before Chen Chong shot upright and had the service sword beside him in his hand.

Seeing who it was, he let go of it and yawned… then patted Feng Qizheng and woke him.

“When did you get back?”

Chen Chong rubbed his eyes. “Fifth watch, about… We thought we’d let you sleep, so we didn’t disturb you.”

Ning Chen asked quickly, “How did it go?”

Chen Chong said, “Five men came for it, and every one of them a first-rate fighter… We killed three and took two.”

Chen Chong felt inside his coat as he said it and tossed a token to Ning Chen. “Take a look at this.”

Ning Chen put out a hand and caught it, and his eyes shrank hard. “This is an Inspectorate waist tally.”

Chen Chong nodded. “Off their bodies. An Inspectorate waist tally is what carried them the whole way without a check.”

Ning Chen’s face was dark. “Can we find out whose tally it is?”

“We can. Inspectorate tallies are specially made. The tooling on them looks the same on every one, but there are differences… The patterns are all entered in a register, and only a gold coat or above has the right to look at it.”

Ning Chen inclined his head slightly. So there is someone in the Inspectorate in on it after all.

“Have the two you brought back been questioned?”

(End of Chapter 149)