The palace. The Hall of Cultivated Heart.

The Xuan Emperor’s face was frightening to look at.

Eunuch Quan stood to one side, too afraid to breathe out loud.

“Quan Sheng. Summon Geng Jing to the palace.”

Eunuch Quan said quickly, “Yes, Your Majesty.”

He was on his way to carry the summons when a young eunuch came in on small quick steps.

He knelt. “Your Majesty. Lord Geng begs an audience.”

The Xuan Emperor stopped short. “Send him in.”

Shortly the young eunuch brought Geng Jing in.

“Your subject Geng Jing, presenting himself to Your Majesty.”

“Get up and speak.”

Geng Jing rose and looked at the Xuan Emperor. As one of the men the emperor trusted most, he saw at a glance that his mood was very bad.

“Geng Jing. Did you want something of this emperor?”

Geng Jing thought about it and did not lead with the petition. Instead he said:

“Your Majesty. Ning Chen started yesterday, and he has already broken a major case for your subject.”

The Xuan Emperor’s face eased a little.

There was no telling why. Hearing Ning Chen’s name simply left him pleased.

“What major case? Tell this emperor about it.”

Geng Jing went through the whole of it in detail.

A smile came onto the Xuan Emperor’s face. “The boy is forever springing something on this emperor… It seems putting him in the Inspectorate was the right thing.”

“Your Majesty is wise.”

The Xuan Emperor asked, smiling, “Anything else? Has the boy written any new poems?”

Geng Jing saw that His Majesty’s mood had improved a good deal, and knew it was time for the real business.

“Your Majesty. Ning Chen has applied to go to Zhenyuan County.”

The Xuan Emperor asked, curious, “What does he want in Zhenyuan County?”

Geng Jing laid the whole thing out from beginning to end, and presented the blood petition.

At the sight of it, the face that had just eased went livid again.

“Your Majesty had your subject look into Zhenyuan County before… From this, the situation there is worse than anything your subject found.”

The Xuan Emperor’s face was cold. He said it heavily. “Look into it. Look into it to the bottom. Get to the truth of it for this emperor.”

“That they should butcher this emperor’s own people like this. They deserve to die.”

Geng Jing said quickly, “Your Majesty. It is to be feared that officials in the capital have a hand in this… When your subject sent men, they met obstruction as well.”

“Yesterday, if Ning Chen had not come across the two men who came to the capital to lay a complaint, the capital magistrate’s office would have had them locked up as thieves.”

The Xuan Emperor’s anger came up. “Worthless. Under this emperor’s very eye, and they dare?”

“Geng Jing. Look into it to the bottom for this emperor. Whoever it turns out to be, there will be no leniency.”

Geng Jing bowed over clasped hands. “Yes, Your Majesty. Your subject will go to Zhenyuan County himself, with men.”

The Xuan Emperor waved a hand. “Send two gold coats with men. That will do. You stay in the capital. This emperor has something else for you.”

He took a memorial off the dragon desk as he said it and threw it to Geng Jing. “Look at that.”

Geng Jing caught the memorial, opened it, and his face changed entirely.

It was a report on the Tuoluo Kingdom plundering the common people and seizing supplies… a battle report, in effect.

It said the Tuoluo had come again, killed several hundred people of the Great Xuan, taken supplies beyond counting, and driven thousands from their homes.

Every winter the Tuoluo come down onto the Great Xuan’s border to plunder the people and take supplies… The thing is like a chronic disease, and nothing has ever rooted it out.

Geng Jing could not make it out. Why was the Xuan Emperor showing him this? Did he want advice?

He was no good at this kind of thing… and besides, the whole court, civil and military, had never found a way. He was less likely to.

The Xuan Emperor said heavily, “On the Tuoluo, Ning Chen once gave this emperor three strategies.”

That astonished Geng Jing. Ning Chen understood war as well?

He asked it carefully. “Your Majesty. Were the three strategies of no use?”

The Xuan Emperor’s face got worse.

“The three that Ning Chen gave are excellent. If they succeeded, the people on our border would have ten years without trouble.”

Then the Xuan Emperor brought his hand down on the table, hard. The crack of it made Geng Jing and Eunuch Quan both jump.

“Geng Jing. Those three fine plans were leaked to the Tuoluo… They died in the womb before we ever had a chance to put them into effect.”

Geng Jing’s face changed at once. That was dealing with the enemy and betraying the country, and it is punishable to the ninth degree of kin.

The Xuan Emperor said heavily, “Geng Jing. This emperor is keeping you in the capital in order to look into that.”

“This touches the empire itself. You will get to the truth of it for this emperor… From the imperial kin at the top to the officials of the court at the bottom, whoever it is, this emperor will have him dragged out and his kin to the ninth degree with him.”

Geng Jing went down on one knee. “Your subject has the order. Your subject will spare nothing.”

“Your Majesty. Your subject is bold enough to ask — who are all the people who knew the three strategies?”

The Xuan Emperor thought about it. “This emperor. The crown prince. The Ninth Princess. Quan Sheng. Old General Chen. Ning Chen… and those few in the Grand Secretariat. It may also have leaked from some other channel.”

Something moved in Geng Jing’s eyes. He was already working through it in his head.

His Majesty, the crown prince, Quan Sheng and the Ninth Princess would certainly not have let it out.

Old General Chen had spent his whole life on campaign. He would not either.

That left Ning Chen and the Grand Secretariat, and anyone else who might have come near the three strategies.

Geng Jing said, “Your Majesty. Could it be that Ning Chen did not understand how grave it was, and let it slip without meaning to?”

The Xuan Emperor waved that away and said it with certainty. “No… The boy is sly as anything. He does not discuss the business of the court or the imperial house lightly.”

“He only brought those three out at all after this emperor and Old General Chen had both promised they would go no further, and even then reluctantly.”

That alarmed Geng Jing. His Majesty really did trust Ning Chen.

“Your Majesty may rest easy. Your subject will get to the truth of it.”

The Xuan Emperor nodded.

“Your Majesty. Are we sending Ning Chen to Zhenyuan County?”

The Xuan Emperor thought about it. “The boy is clever enough, but he hasn’t the experience. He’d better not go this time.”

Geng Jing opened his mouth and then said nothing, with the look of a man who had something to say and had stopped himself.

The Xuan Emperor frowned. “Say it plainly.”

Geng Jing said quickly, “Reporting to Your Majesty. To get to Zhenyuan County, Ning Chen went so far as to lower his voice and swallow his pride in front of your subject, and flatter and fawn… and to offer your subject a hundred taels of silver as a bribe.”

“Your subject is afraid that if he is not allowed to go, he will go alone and in secret.”

The Xuan Emperor’s face went blank with astonishment. “He lowered his voice? He flattered and fawned? The boy is that tight-fisted and he offered you silver? That is a remarkable thing… Why must he go to Zhenyuan County?”

Something went sour in the Xuan Emperor. Ning Chen had never lowered his voice to him, and he was the emperor.

“Your subject asked… He said it was for Tao Qizhi, and for the people of Zhenyuan County.”

“Tao Qizhi?” The Xuan Emperor thought. “The jianghu bandit who killed the last magistrate of Zhenyuan County?”

Geng Jing said, “The same man… In the cells, Ning Chen owed him the debt of being taught.”

The Xuan Emperor considered it a while. “Let him go with them, then. Tell him it must be taken to the bottom. The boy is forever springing something on this emperor, and perhaps he will this time as well… And remember. Have your men keep him safe.”

“Your subject has the order.”

The Xuan Emperor went on. “One more thing. When you go back, tell him this emperor did not agree to his going… and that it was the crown prince who spoke for him, and only then did this emperor allow it.”

Geng Jing was left blank, not understanding it at all.

The Xuan Emperor did it entirely for the crown prince.

The last time, the crown prince had tested Ning Chen’s character and it had ended very badly… He wanted to help his son mend it.

That son of his had worn his heart to pieces.

(End of Chapter 48)