The bodies came up onto the bank one after another.

Ning Chen looked at every one of the bodies himself.

By daylight forty-three bodies had been brought up altogether.

All of them were in service uniform, which showed that they were the ship’s crew.

Some of them were the assassins, who had killed the rest of the crew.

And the assassins had died under Ning Chen’s blade.

For so many men to come aboard disguised as crew, somebody must have covered for them, or the rest of the ship could not have failed to notice.

The only man with that much power aboard was the captain.

The man in charge of the ship was called Ye Liao, and Ye Liao had come to pay his respects when Ning Chen boarded.

But Ye Liao was not among the bodies.

A captain makes his living on the water all year round, so how well he swims goes without saying. Getting out alive would be the easiest thing in the world for him.

Ning Chen found the landing master and gave his order. “Send a letter by carrier pigeon to the Inspectorate and have them arrest a man called Ye Liao.”

The landing master bowed. “Bear with me, my lord. We have no pigeons that fly to the Inspectorate… I can only send word to the capital prefect’s office.”

Ning Chen frowned slightly.

I do not altogether trust the capital prefect’s men.

But there was no other way now. “Send word to the capital prefect’s office, then.”

“Yes.”

Ning Chen stayed at the post station by the landing until the afternoon of the next day.

The bailiffs who had gone searching along the river all came back.

They brought back more than ten bodies.

Ning Chen went and looked at them. There was no Pan Yucheng and no Feng Qizheng, and it made him let out a long breath.

Which means Pan Yucheng and Feng Qizheng are alive.

But where have they gone?

Can they have been taken?

Ning Chen told the landing master to find out who these bodies were, and went back toward the capital himself, looking for Feng Qizheng and Pan Yucheng along the way.

Something has certainly happened to the two of them.

If they are alive, this is the nearest place to where it happened, and they would certainly have come here.

Ning Chen rode, and searched as he went.

He came to the place where it had happened. The surface of the river had gone quiet again.

Ning Chen searched along the bank the whole way.

Two days went by and there was not a thread of a lead.

The capital, the imperial study in the palace.

The Xuan Emperor was reading memorials.

He glanced at Eunuch Quan beside him. “Counting up the days, Ning Chen should be here in a day or two.”

Eunuch Quan bowed his head and said quickly, “Yes. He should be here the day after tomorrow at the latest.”

Ning Chen had taken ship at Lingzhou, and Lingzhou had sent word to the capital at once.

From Lingzhou to the capital, against the current, took six or seven days.

Counting up the days, Ning Chen would reach the capital in a day or two.

“The boy has never once disappointed this emperor.”

The Xuan Emperor put down the memorial, greatly pleased.

The news that the peace talks had succeeded had come back well in advance.

The Great Xuan and the Wu Kingdom had signed a ten-year treaty of non-aggression, and had opened the trade roads too.

For both the Great Xuan and the Wu Kingdom this was good for the country and good for the people.

Eunuch Quan’s face was all smiles. “Congratulations to Your Majesty on having so good a servant.”

The Xuan Emperor lifted his teacup, took a small sip and said, smiling, “This emperor often thinks — he lost the Second Prince… Is Ning Chen not heaven’s compensation to him?”

Eunuch Quan said fawningly, “It may be that the Second Prince knows it where he is, and sent the marquis to Your Majesty’s side to serve Your Majesty in his place.”

The Xuan Emperor was greatly pleased, and nodded. “There is sense in what you say. That will be it.”

“Now that Ning Chen is coming back, his marriage to Huai’an ought to be put on the calendar too… Why should it be so hard for these two children to be together?”

Eunuch Quan said quickly, “As the saying goes, good things come slowly.”

The Xuan Emperor’s face was all smiles, and he stood up. “These wretched memorials give this emperor a headache… Quan Sheng, come out of the palace with this emperor. We’ll walk over to the Top Scholar Tower and see whether there is any good poetry to be had.”

“Yes.”

Then the Xuan Emperor said, “No, never mind. Who can match Ning Chen at poetry? Since this emperor read Ning Chen’s work he cannot bear to look at anybody else’s.”

Eunuch Quan said fawningly, “The marquis is an immortal of poetry born again. In poetry, Your Majesty alone stands above the marquis.”

The Xuan Emperor glared at him. “Quan Sheng, your flattery has gone downhill… This emperor knows his own measure. This emperor’s poems will just about pass, and they are a long way behind Ning Chen’s.”

“This emperor likes poetry. That does not mean this emperor is any good at it… A man who likes good food is not necessarily able to cook it.”

“Less of that kind of flattery from now on. It feels as though you are mocking this emperor.”

Quan Sheng went down on his knees with a thump in fright, cold sweat standing out on his forehead. “Your Majesty, be calm. If this old servant had nerve enough for anything under heaven, he would not dare mock Your Majesty.”

The Xuan Emperor said, smiling, “Get up. This emperor is not blaming you.”

Eunuch Quan wiped the cold sweat off his forehead. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

The Xuan Emperor said, with a touch of complacency, “Ning Chen is a man of rare gifts, that is true. But this emperor is the emperor. However able he is, he has to do as this emperor says.”

“Come. Walk with this emperor in the imperial garden.”

“Yes.”

But at that moment a young eunuch came in quickly and knelt, holding a memorial up in both hands. “Your Majesty. An urgent memorial from the capital prefect’s office.”

When the capital prefect’s office got the landing master’s message, the men there very nearly fainted on the spot.

Scuttling a warship and assassinating a marquis… how much nerve did a man need to do a thing like that?

The matter was too big, and the capital prefect’s office sent word into the palace at once.

The Xuan Emperor frowned slightly. “Bring it up.”

Eunuch Quan took the memorial and presented it to the Xuan Emperor.

The Xuan Emperor opened the memorial, and his face darkened little by little.

Then the Xuan Emperor slammed the memorial down on the dragon desk.

It made Eunuch Quan jump.

“Beyond all law and heaven, absolutely beyond all law and heaven… Summon Geng Jing, Ji Mingchen the Minister of War and Li Zhixing the Minister of Justice into the palace to attend this emperor at once!”

Eunuch Quan did not know what had happened, but he knew something serious must have happened, or His Majesty would not be as angry as this.

He said quickly, “Yes. This servant will see to it at once.”

Eunuch Quan hurried to have men sent out of the palace to carry the summons.

The Xuan Emperor said, “Call Nie Liang in here.”

After a while Nie Liang came in.

“Your subject greets —”

“No ceremony.” The Xuan Emperor waved a hand. “Nie Liang, take a thousand imperial guards at once and search along the Heaven River toward Lingzhou, and go to meet Ning Chen.”

Nie Liang did not know what had happened either, but he did not dare ask. He took the order quickly. “Your subject obeys the command.”

Eunuch Quan realized that something must have happened to Ning Chen, or His Majesty would not be in a towering rage.

A little more than two hours later, Geng Jing, Ji Mingchen and Li Zhixing arrived.

Except for Geng Jing, Li Zhixing and Ji Mingchen had sweat standing on their foreheads and their backs were soaked through.

They had been summoned in haste, and had come into the palace at a run the whole way.

Before the three of them could make their bows, the Xuan Emperor waved a hand. “No kneeling. This emperor has called you because something has happened to Ning Chen.”

The hearts of all three of them jumped.

The Xuan Emperor said, “Ning Chen took ship from Lingzhou to come back to the capital, and met an assassination attempt on the way. The warship was scuttled. Ning Chen escaped with his life. Pan Yucheng, the Inspectorate gold coat, and the man called Feng Qizheng are missing, and almost everybody else was killed.”

The faces of Geng Jing and the other two changed.

A warship scuttled. Nerve past all measure — this is a crime that wipes out a house.

And the man they tried to kill is a marquis of the Great Xuan, on his way home from bringing the peace talks off.

Several crimes punished together. It is enough to wipe out three generations of the family.

(End of Chapter 419)