Ning Chen came out of the sixth department and went to the first.

There was still nothing new to go on in the immortal powder case.

Ning Chen bent over the table, writing and drawing.

It took him better than two hours, and at last it was finished.

He picked up the drawings and looked them over several times, altered a few places, and then rode to the Ministry of War.

Ji Mingchen had been run ragged these last few days, and his eyes were full of red threads.

Several officials of the Ministry of War were caught up in the immortal powder case, and as Minister of War he was being called in by His Majesty and given a dressing-down every other day.

For days now Ji Mingchen had not gone home. He had stayed at the Ministry of War, going over his own house.

He was overseeing the casting of the cannon himself now.

A few officials caught up in a case was a small matter. If the muskets and cannon were lost, or if anything went wrong with them… then he as Minister of War would be finished for good.

“Ning the Silver Coat, have you some business with this minister?”

Ning Chen took out the drawings and handed them to Ji Mingchen.

Ji Mingchen quickly set down his teacup and took them in both hands… because if Ning Chen came with drawings, it meant he had cobbled together a new firearm.

Ji Mingchen looked at them a while and could make nothing of them, and asked, curious, “What is this thing?”

“A firearm I have newly cobbled together. Set men to making it, Lord Ji, and I’ll come and teach the craftsmen how to put it together.”

Ji Mingchen looked at Ning Chen with admiration all over his face.

“Ning the Silver Coat, that head of yours… this minister gives it up!”

No need to admire me. One man plants the tree and the next sits in the shade. I’m only freeloading off somebody else’s work, Ning Chen said inwardly.

Ning Chen said, “I have already reported it to His Majesty. Lord Ji need only see to the making.”

Ji Mingchen nodded.

“Lord Ji, how does the casting of the cannon go?”

Ji Mingchen said, “The iron tube is too thick and the casting is very troublesome… Give me a few more days.”

Ning Chen nodded. “No hurry. Take your time.”

Ning Chen talked with Ji Mingchen a while and then got up and took his leave.

Out of the Ministry of War, Ning Chen rode his beloved Diaochan clopping to the courtesans’ quarter.

Yudie’s color was much better.

“How do you feel today?”

Yudie said happily, “The imperial physician has only just gone. He says this girl is young and mends quickly… Ten days more and she can be on her feet.”

Ning Chen nodded, smiling. “Good.”

Ning Chen was still sitting talking with Yudie when Xiaoxing came hurrying in.

“Young Master Ning, there’s somebody outside asking for you.”

Ning Chen told Yudie to rest herself, and came out.

The man asking for him turned out to be Lu Yan, the crown prince’s bodyguard.

Ning Chen narrowed his eyes. “How did you know I was here?”

Lu Yan said, smiling, “It is no great matter for His Highness to find a man in the capital.”

“Is it not? Then I must trouble the crown prince to find me the one behind the immortal powder.”

Lu Yan gave a dry laugh and bowed over his clasped hands. “Young Master Ning, the crown prince asks for you.”

Ning Chen made a sound of assent and followed Lu Yan outside.

A splendid carriage stood in the street.

Lu Yan went over to the carriage and said in a low voice, “Your Highness, Young Master Ning is here.”

“Ning Chen, come up and talk.”

Ning Chen stepped up on the mounting stool and went into the carriage.

The crown prince was in fine clothes with a cloak over them and a hand-warmer in his arms, and he gave Ning Chen a simple, honest smile.

“I greet the crown prince!”

The crown prince looked at him and said, smiling, “Ning Chen, it seems as though there has been a good deal of distance between us since you came back from the northern campaign.”

Ning Chen smiled. “The crown prince is the heir apparent. Ning Chen is only a very small silver coat. Our stations are different.”

The crown prince pointed to the seat beside him. “Sit.”

“I’ll stand. If the crown prince has orders, say them plainly.”

The crown prince narrowed his eyes and looked at Ning Chen.

“Ning Chen, do you know what your greatest fault is?”

Ning Chen shook his head. “I ask Your Highness to make it plain.”

“Your greatest fault is that you keep to no rules, take no discipline, and pay no regard to the imperial authority… Tell you to go east and you will go west, and it is truly a hateful thing.”

“Nor do I know why my father the Emperor should show you such favor. I liked you well enough myself at the start. By degrees I have liked you less.”

“Ning Chen, the imperial house is the imperial house, and nobody may offend against the imperial authority… If you could mend that in yourself, with your gifts there would certainly be a place of your own in the court.”

As the crown prince spoke his eyes turned hard too, nothing like the mild and honest look of before.

Ning Chen was not surprised. He had known a long while that the crown prince had two faces. The fellow is a two-faced man and there is great depth in him.

And there was reason in what the crown prince said.

Set against a minister of ability, an emperor prefers a minister who does as he is told.

Ning Chen had certainly done a great many things outside the line.

But the Xuan Emperor had been extraordinarily forbearing with him.

Perhaps this was what people mean when they say there is no reason in liking a man.

Still, Ning Chen came from the modern world, and there were things in him that were hard to change.

Ning Chen bent forward. “My thanks to Your Highness for the instruction. I will do my best to mend it.”

The crown prince looked at him. “I will say something I should not. A hundred years from now, when my father the Emperor is gone, this Great Xuan will be mine in the end.”

“Ning Chen, you are able and you have real ability… So long as you can tell a subject from a sovereign, and high from low, I can promise you that in the court of the future there will certainly be a place of your own.”

Ning Chen smiled coldly inside. What is this, then? A threat, or an overture?

The crown prince’s mind ran deep, and he was not like the Xuan Emperor… The Xuan Emperor favored him and let him have his way, but if the crown prince came to the throne he would certainly not treat Ning Chen as the Xuan Emperor did.

The first thing he did on taking the throne might very well be to finish Ning Chen.

So the throne of the Great Xuan absolutely must not fall to the crown prince.

Still, the Xuan Emperor was in his prime. So long as Ning Chen kept him safe, he could pass a few decades in peace… and by the time the Xuan Emperor was gone, his own wings would long since be full-grown.

“Ning Chen, I need your help.”

Ning Chen said, smiling, “What does Your Highness want me to do?”

“I need you to help me to the throne. I can undertake to make you Chancellor for it.”

Ning Chen’s eyes narrowed to points. “What does Your Highness mean by that? Do you mean to seize power and usurp the throne?”

The crown prince shook his head. “You mistake me. How should I do a thing that is rank treason? I am the heir apparent already, and the Great Xuan will certainly be mine in time. I only need you to help me make my place as heir apparent secure.”

Ning Chen shook his head. “Your Highness thinks far too well of me. I have no such powers… Besides, Your Highness is heir apparent already. What is there left to make secure?”

The crown prince said heavily, “Ning Chen, you are a clever man. Playing the fool is not amusing.”

“You must understand… My place as heir apparent is not secure. The Third Prince is eyeing it like a tiger, and behind him stand the Empress and the Grand Tutor… You killed the Empress’s brother, and she hates you to the bone.”

“If the Third Prince comes to the throne, will there be any road left for you to live on? Only by leaning on me can you go on living.”

Ning Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly and he smiled coldly inside. Lean on you? I’d only fucking die faster.

He turned the talk. “But behind Your Highness stands His Majesty. What is there to fear?”

The crown prince smiled bitterly. “Whether I am heir apparent is a matter of one word from my father the Emperor… If I make a mistake, I am afraid this place as heir apparent will be mine no longer.”

“I’ll say a word from the heart to you. These years I have lived as though I were walking on thin ice, and I have not dared make one mistake.”

“Ning Chen, matters have gone this far between us… Are you willing to help me?”

Ning Chen shook his head. “I am only a very small silver coat. What could I help the crown prince with?”

“You stand deep in my father the Emperor’s favor and you can do a great many things for me… Ning Chen, only be willing to help me, and I will make you Left Chancellor, below one man in this court and above ten thousand.”

Ning Chen smiled coldly inside. When I come back from beating Nanyue I’ll be made a marquis and a chancellor. Do I need you to promise me anything?

But he nodded and agreed all the same. “Very well. Wherever Ning Chen can be of service, Your Highness has only to say it.”

A satisfied smile came onto the crown prince’s face.

(End of Chapter 215)