Chapter 402

The night was deep, and the main room of the Wang residence was quiet, with only the occasional popping sound of the lamp wick.

In front of the lamp stand, Wang Yang sat with lowered eyebrows and deep eyes, wearing his sleeping robe, his fingers tapping on a scroll, tapping and stopping, as if in thought.

On the other side of the lamp shadow, little A-Wu sat quietly in the corner, carefully picking white mugwort leaves.

Jiao Zheng had sent the thing over; it was a scroll, with two items hidden in the lining of the scroll.

One was the receipt document written by the other party after Jiao Zheng handed over the assets.

The other was an official letter from the Bureau of Strategy (General Staff/Military Command Department) ordering Jiao Zheng to change his route midway, not to send it to the Bureau of Strategy, but to a manor. (Regarding the Bureau of Strategy, refer to Chapter 107, "Bluffing")

Initially, Jiao Zheng was ordered by Chen Tianfu to escort ten large carts of assets to the Bureau of Strategy, but on the way, he met the Bureau of Strategy messenger Liu Yin, who ordered Jiao Zheng to send the assets to a manor, saying it was a villa under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Strategy.

Although Jiao Zheng felt it was strange, Liu Yin was indeed a clerk of the Bureau of Strategy and had given him an official letter from the Bureau, so he had no reason not to comply and acted accordingly. After delivering them to the manor, the manor steward accepted Chen Tianfu's order and the Bureau of Strategy's official letter, counted the assets, rewarded Jiao Zheng, and then sent him away.

It wasn't the first time Jiao Zheng had handled the allocation of military supplies, and although he received quite a few rewards this time, he refused to leave when the steward didn't provide a receipt document.

The steward said this was a temporary warehouse, had no official seal, and couldn't issue official documents. He also said this place was for temporary turnover, unlike a formal government treasury, and that once it was entered into the accounts, it was considered finished, and no receipt documents were ever issued. He told Jiao Zheng not to be so pedantic.

But delivery is delivery; there must be a handover.

According to normal procedures, if there hadn't been the Bureau of Strategy's order to change the route midway, Jiao Zheng would only need to hand Chen Tianfu's order to the Bureau of Strategy, the Bureau would verify the assets, store the order in the files after confirming it was correct, and then issue a receipt document to Jiao Zheng, and Jiao Zheng could go back to report.

Now that there was an additional Bureau of Strategy order to change the route and store them elsewhere, the manor, along with Chen Tianfu's order and this official letter, had to issue a receipt, noting the circumstances and proving they were delivered and verified correctly. Otherwise, how could he report back without proof?

Jiao Zheng had a clear head and insisted on a receipt document. The steward really had no choice and wrote one for him on the spot.

When Jiao Zheng saw that it was written privately, without the Bureau of Strategy's official seal or the supervisor's signature, he wondered what kind of official document this was. If it were other materials, he might have let it slide, but these were ten full carts of wealth and treasures. If something went wrong in the future, how could he explain it? So he refused to leave, continuing to argue with the steward.

This angered the steward, who put on the airs of the Bureau of Strategy, scolding Jiao Zheng and saying he was a small soldier who knew nothing, yet dared to make trouble at the Bureau of Strategy—he didn't know what was good for him! Would the Bureau of Strategy really swindle these few carts of things? If he dared to nag again, he would have him locked up in prison!

And he directly ordered people to drive Jiao Zheng out of the manor.

If there had been a real official from the Bureau of Strategy present, Jiao Zheng wouldn't have dared to do anything. But there wasn't a single proper official here; just a warehouse guard—what were you acting so tough for?!

The Jiao Zheng of that time was not the old oil-slick he was now—after the change, wind-blown and crane-frightened, with an unclear involvement, his bones softened by sitting in the office.

At that time, he had long been in the Imperial Guard, following his commander, having just crushed a large rebel army and retreated from the battlefield. The smell of blood on him hadn't dissipated, and seeing the other party acting tough, he drew his sword on the spot! Standing at the entrance of the warehouse, he roared murderously:

"Surround the carts tightly! Without a receipt document, I'll chop whoever unloads the goods!"

The soldiers under his command heard the order, drew their swords in unison, their eyes revealing a fierce light, and immediately controlled the scene.

Jiao Zheng went up to grab back the order and the Bureau of Strategy's official letter, telling the steward to bring the receipt document to exchange for them.

The steward was shocked by Jiao Zheng, and fearing that if they really fought, the matter would blow up and ruin the plan, he had no choice but to soften his tone and negotiate with Jiao Zheng to take a step back, saying he really couldn't issue a receipt document, and it was too late to find someone at the Bureau of Strategy. He suggested: "How about this, you give me Chen Tianfu's order so I can make a receipt entry; you keep the Bureau of Strategy's official letter, and add the receipt document I just wrote for you, and use them together as proof."

As soon as Wang Yang heard Jiao Zheng recount the steward's words, he thought to himself that although this steward hadn't bluffed Jiao Zheng, his brain turned fast.

Since they wanted to harm Chen Tianfu, Chen Tianfu's order absolutely could not be left behind, otherwise it would directly prove that Chen Tianfu wasn't looting assets privately, but was sending them to the Bureau of Strategy. As for the Bureau of Strategy's official letter ordering the route change, there was room for maneuver, which was why Liu Yin later threatened Jiao Zheng, saying that if Jiao Zheng chose to explain the truth, Liu Yin would have to stand out himself to take the blame for the official letter, and then frame Jiao Zheng as his accomplice.

Jiao Zheng didn't think of these things at the time and just thought that staying in a stalemate wasn't a solution. The other party had already taken a step back, and if he kept pushing, he would indeed be ungrateful. If it really came to a falling out, this was under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Strategy, and they would certainly favor their own people—could he have a good outcome? Although the receipt document was written privately, it was in black and white, which was better than empty words, and combined with the Bureau of Strategy's official letter, it was both public and private, not much different from an official receipt, barely enough to report back. So he sheathed his sword, handed over the order, and also took away the receipt document and the Bureau of Strategy's official letter.

Later, when he realized he had been swindled, coerced, and lured by Liu Yin, becoming a part of the frame-up of Chen Tianfu, he also realized that the two things he had insisted on getting back then had become his bargaining chips for self-protection, so he kept them secret and didn't reveal them, preventing them from being found and then being discarded like a worn-out shoe. What was unexpected was that Wang Yang, knowing nothing of the inside story, had deduced that he had a trump card based on the fragments he had told, and had even obtained the trump card—this was something Jiao Zheng never expected.

Although Wang Yang had obtained the trump card, he knew these two trump cards weren't so easy to use.

A receipt document written by a steward of unknown origin was just a private receipt, which could be counted as a clue, but as evidence alone, it was too light. The Bureau of Strategy's official letter had a certain weight, and exposing it would be enough to cause a stir, but it wasn't enough to settle the case. When the time came, it wouldn't be impossible for a few temporary workers to steal an official seal and forge documents, or just as Liu Yin said, he could take the blame if something went wrong.

The key question now was, who was behind this case? And what was the purpose?

Behind Liu Yin was the Prince of Luling. Xie Xinghan had previously mentioned the strange aspects of Liu Yin's resume: "Normally speaking, after serving as a Commandery Merit Officer and having the background of the Prince of Luling, he could already go out to govern a county. However, perhaps the Prince of Luling had high expectations for him and wanted him to accumulate more qualifications before going to the local level, so he was transferred to the Bureau of Strategy? But I don't know why he stayed in the position of a small clerk at the Bureau of Strategy for three years." (Chapter 160, "Three Cups of Wine")

Liu Yin had been hiding in the Bureau of Strategy without moving; perhaps it was an arrangement by the Prince of Luling, specifically to do this thing. So was this case the work of the Prince of Luling alone?

Wang Yang felt it wasn't.

Because Chen Tianfu was going to send the looted assets to the Bureau of Strategy; looking at it this way, his looting should have been ordered by a higher level. Who gave this order? Was it the Prince of Luling? He didn't have the authority to order Chen Tianfu. Unless Chen Tianfu had secretly defected to the Prince of Luling...

Wang Yang asked Jiao Zheng about the details of the looting, but Jiao Zheng didn't know anything, saying he was following Chen Tianfu in pursuit of the defeated rebel army, running around for days, and didn't even know about the looting!

He didn't realize they were stolen goods until he escorted the ten carts of assets to the manor and the case broke out!

Wang Yang heard a key point and asked Jiao Zheng: so, during the looting, Chen Tianfu wasn't present?

Jiao Zheng said that after they crushed the main rebel force, the army split into two routes. One was Chen Tianfu leading the Imperial Guard's front army, pursuing the remnants of the rebels, and he had no time to loot. The other route was Chen Tianfu's deputy commander, Liu Mingche, leading the Imperial Guard's left army, responsible for mopping up and recovering the various commanderies and counties in the rear.

The ten carts of assets he escorted were also taken over from the left army.

(Chapter 63, "The Abandoned Market Case": "The Emperor appointed Chen Tianfu, General of the Champions, as General of the Front Army and commander-in-chief; appointed Liu Mingche, Viscount of Zhongsu County, as General of the Left Army and deputy commander; leading the front and left armies of the Imperial Guard to pacify the rebellion.")

Combining this with the results of Chen Qingshan's investigation at the time, Wang Yang judged that Jiao Zheng was deliberately downplaying things and saying what sounded good because he heard Chen Tianfu was an old friend of his family. After all, Xiao Shan had asked several of her father's former subordinates, and they all agreed that it was her father who gave the order personally (Chapter 64, "Cutting Off a Finger to Thank the Young Master"). Now, being told this by Jiao Zheng, it was as if Liu Mingche had looted on his own initiative and then pushed everything onto Chen Tianfu!

Wang Yang questioned him with a mix of truth and deception, and Jiao Zheng finally relented, saying he had also heard that the looting was a military order from the commander-in-chief; otherwise, would the left army have had the guts to loot noble clans? But when Chen Tianfu gave the order, his military rank wasn't high enough, so he hadn't been present to hear it personally. It was said that Chen Tianfu gave the order directly to Liu Mingche, and several subordinate generals were present.

"Looting noble clans? Wasn't it said to be looting civilian wealth? How did it become noble clans?"

"I heard it was mainly noble clans. What precious treasures could ordinary families have? Only noble clans had so many treasures! Especially in places like Qiantang, Fuyang, and Jiaxing in Wu Jun, the looting was the most fierce, with boxes of gold and silver being carried out! Ordinary families might have been looted too, but the bulk came from noble clans. The ten carts of things I transported, apart from the copper coins I can't say for sure, those gold and silver wares were definitely not things ordinary families could afford! It was precisely because most of the looting was of noble clans that it caused such a big stir later..."

Wang Yang pondered, the so-called "civilian wealth" was a broad concept. No matter how high a noble clan is, aren't they part of the common people? No matter how noble a surname is, aren't they among the hundred surnames? Moreover, this large-scale looting probably didn't distinguish between noble and base; whoever had money was looted. Noble clans had more money, so they were looted severely, and ordinary families also suffered. So saying it was looting civilian wealth, looting the common people, wasn't wrong either. Connecting this to Chen Qingshan's remark at the time, "the common people are full of complaints, and the noble clans are arguing fiercely" (Chapter 63), it now seemed that they each had their own specific references.

The looting by the Imperial Guard was already an extremely sensitive case, and they had publicly attacked noble clans...

The more Wang Yang thought about it, the more he felt the case was unfathomable. He feared it wasn't just a simple case of military discipline decay and whether Chen Tianfu was wronged. Although he already had several directions to investigate, he was afraid that the deeper he went, the deeper the water would be...

But no matter how deep, it would only go as deep as the Prince of Luling's level, right?

Let it not go any deeper.

Hopefully.

Hopefully...