Ning Chen thought a moment, then said,
“We were careful the whole way, true, but there’s no guaranteeing we didn’t give ourselves away somewhere without knowing it.”
“The only thing I can come up with is Diaochan. I suspect Diaochan is where the trouble started.”
Pan Yucheng said, “You’re saying somebody recognized Diaochan for a warhorse?”
Ning Chen nodded slightly. “Xiuzhou is Prince Duan’s ground, and Diaochan is too fine an animal not to draw the eye… Outside of the imperial kin and men in the army, who would dare ride a warhorse?”
“Somebody may have noticed Diaochan the moment we came into the city.”
By the law of Great Xuan, any commoner who dared keep, ride or trade in a warhorse was beheaded, without exception.
Ning Chen smiled bitterly. “I’d gotten used to Diaochan being one of a kind, and it only came back to me once we reached Xiuzhou… A thousand precautions and one slip.”
Pan Yucheng said, “We still don’t know whether Diaochan is where the trouble started. And none of that matters much anyway… What matters is what we do next.”
Ning Chen thought for a moment. “Since the cover is blown, there’s nothing for it but to play our hand face up.”
“Old Pan, I’ll stall for time in Xiuzhou. You find a way back to the capital.”
Pan Yucheng looked at him, not following.
Ning Chen’s face was grave. “I’ll keep Prince Duan busy. You get back to the capital and ask for an edict, now.”
“First, ask His Majesty for an edict transferring a musket battalion to Xiuzhou.”
“Second, ask His Majesty for an edict holding Xiuzhou’s fifty thousand troops where they stand. Nobody moves them, whoever he is.”
Pan Yucheng nodded slightly.
“Old Pan, I’ll go to the Yangping County yamen first and make as much noise as I can, to pull Prince Duan’s attention this way… You use it to get back to the capital.”
Pan Yucheng said, low, “Then be careful.”
Ning Chen nodded. “You too. The road back to the capital won’t be an easy one.”
Pan Yucheng said nothing more. He swung up into the saddle and rode off hard.
Ning Chen’s brow was knotted.
Feng Qizheng tried to reassure him. “Don’t worry too much about it. We took the frontier back… we’ll get through this one too.”
Ning Chen shook his head. “It’s something else I’m worried about.”
“What?”
“The imperial sword.” Ning Chen smiled bitterly. “The imperial sword is back at the inn. If Prince Duan’s men find it, we’ve lost the last thing we had to lean on.”
“Losing the imperial sword alone would be enough to give me trouble for a long time.”
Feng Qizheng’s face changed. “Then I’ll go to Xiuzhou and fetch it.”
Ning Chen shook his head. “If Diaochan is why our cover is blown, Prince Duan’s men will be sitting at that inn waiting for us. Going back means dying.”
“I can show them who I am. I don’t believe they’d dare kill a man of the Inspectorate.”
Ning Chen glanced at him. “If you’re dead, who’s left to prove you showed them who you were? And on top of that… they’ll go as far as treason. Is killing one man of the Inspectorate anything to them?”
Feng Qizheng was puzzled. “Then isn’t going to the Yangping County yamen right now just asking to die?”
Ning Chen smiled. “That’s why we have to make a great deal of noise… I do have some reputation in Great Xuan. Everybody has to know I’ve come to Yangping County.”
“What about the imperial sword?”
Ning Chen sighed. “Nothing to do but gamble on luck. I hid the imperial sword well. Unless Prince Duan’s men have dog-shit luck, they won’t find it.”
“Old Feng, go and bring the horses. We’re going to the county yamen.”
Feng Qizheng nodded and went to get them.
Ning Chen walked over, took the bailiff in charge by the hair and hauled him up.
“Do you know me?”
The bailiff in charge shook his head, terror all over his face.
Ning Chen said it one word at a time. “Listen well… I am Ning Chen, silver coat of the Inspectorate of Great Xuan.”
The bailiff in charge went blank on the spot.
“You—you’re Ning the Silver Coat?”
Ning Chen nodded.
“You’re really Ning the Silver Coat?”
“The genuine article! Why—is there anyone in Great Xuan who’d dare pass himself off as me?”
As he said it, Ning Chen brought out his waist tally.
The city guard at Xiuzhou had checked too closely; he had only gotten it in by hiding it in his boot.
The bailiff in charge looked at the two characters of Ning Chen’s name on the waist tally, and his eyes lit up.
“Brothers, look, quick—it’s Ning the Silver Coat, Ning the Silver Coat in the flesh… Ning the Silver Coat has come to our Yangping County.”
The bailiffs, who had been howling on the ground a moment before, all raised their heads to look.
“Quick, quick, quick… every one of you get over here and pay your respects to Ning the Silver Coat!”
The bailiffs on the ground scrambled up and crowded around.
“What are you standing there for? Pay your respects to Ning the Silver Coat, quick.”
The bailiffs bowed in a hurry and called out, raggedly and not together, “We greet Ning the Silver Coat!”
The bailiff in charge said excitedly, “Ning the Silver Coat, we brothers think the world of you… I never thought you’d actually come to our Yangping County.”
“If we’d known you were Ning the Silver Coat, you couldn’t have beaten us into raising a hand against you.”
Ning Chen’s forehead was one big question mark. This had him at a loss.
“You all know who I am?”
“Who is there in our Great Xuan now who doesn’t know Ning the Silver Coat? You’re the hero of our Great Xuan—cut your way clean through the North Royal Court, took the King of the Left Court alive, cut down the Empress’s brother at Chongzhou… This small man has read every one of those poems you wrote. They’re wonderful.”
Ning Chen looked at the bailiff in charge. With the man suddenly this warm, he was almost too embarrassed to ask for the fifty taels back.
“You say you admire me. I’m out at the front fighting, protecting my home and my country… and behind me you’re grinding the common people down?”
The bailiff in charge went completely blank. “Ning the Silver Coat, we haven’t been grinding the common people down.”
Ning Chen gave a cold snort. “You set up checkpoints along the roads, you forbid the people to come and go, you cheated them into planting the immortals’ flower and left them with no way to live… and you still say you aren’t grinding them down?”
The bailiff in charge pulled his neck in. “Ning the Silver Coat, is there some misunderstanding? The immortals’ flower is a thing of great importance to the state. His Majesty’s edict ordered it planted. How could that be grinding the people down?”
Ning Chen: ???
He stared at the bailiff in charge for a while and found that the man did not look as though he were lying.
So Prince Duan had counterfeited an imperial edict. These were petty officials at the bottom of the ladder, kept entirely in the dark, and they thought they were serving their country.
Ning Chen shook his head, swung up into the saddle, and gave his order.
“Get the gongs going. Tell the people of Yangping County that Ning here is on imperial order to inspect.”
Every squad of these constables carried a small brass gong. When they were out after a criminal and picked up his trail, they could beat the gong to call in the men nearby.
“Ning the Silver Coat of Great Xuan, on imperial order to inspect Yangping County!”
“Ning the Silver Coat of Great Xuan, on imperial order to inspect Yangping County!”
“Ning the Silver Coat of Great Xuan, on imperial order to inspect Yangping County!”
The bailiffs walked in front, beating the gongs and shouting at the top of their voices.
Ning Chen and Feng Qizheng rode behind them.
This was a fairly out-of-the-way stretch.
Once they were into the county town, with the constables beating gongs and shouting, the common people came pouring in from every direction, past counting.
They had heard a great deal about the things Ning Chen had done, but they had never seen the man.
Every one of them came running, each trying to get ahead of the next, to look at the famous Ning the Silver Coat.
Ning Chen sat his horse and waved to the people around him, over and over.
“Neighbors! I am Ning Chen, silver coat of the Inspectorate of Great Xuan, and I am here by His Majesty’s command to inspect Yangping County… If any of you have been wronged, tell me and don’t hold back. I’ll see justice done for you.”
(End of Chapter 305)