Chapter 260: Strategizing as the Commander

The ferry dock on the western city bank of the Liuyang River in the Love Shenjing.

Not long ago, Jia Cong saw off Qu Qu Hongxiu and Qin Qin Keqing here.

Today he must see off Zhou Zhou Guangcheng here again.

Zhou Zhou Guangcheng was one of the five orphans taken in by Qu Qu Hongxiu back then.

For the past few years, he and another boy named Wang Dequan managed the perfume workshop outside the city.

The shop assistant at Xiuniang Perfume Shop was Liu Ping; the page who served Jia Cong was Jiang Liu; the other was Baozhu, Qin Qin Keqing's maid.

When Jia Cong and Qu Qu Hongxiu first opened Xiuniang Perfume Shop, their intent was to provide these orphans with a livelihood.

From nothing to something, Xiuniang Perfume Shop was the result of years of effort by these people; to Jia Cong, they were the most trustworthy.

Zhou Zhou Guangcheng was only one year younger than Jia Cong, extremely careful and sharp-witted, and also bold enough.

…

When Jia Cong participated in the Nanxi Literary Gathering back then, he served as the recorder, so he understood such literary banquets intimately—all poems were copied and collected by the recorder.

Otherwise, Jia Cong would never have trusted him with such a task.

"The kitchen boy from Chunhua Pavilion who delivered the dishes—I knocked him out from behind; he never saw my face."

"I also helped him pick up the scattered poems on the ground and slipped in the one I wrote; that recorder was too busy complaining about me to notice anything…"

"Cong-ge, rest easy—I've destroyed every trace of the peddler's outfit."

"I have a friend who often dines at Chunhua Pavilion; he heard about this from one of the staff there. My friend is a famed scholar of the Love Shenjing and was invited to this poetry banquet as well."

Watching Zhou Zhou Guangcheng's boat gradually sail past the dock, the final link to that overstepping short poem vanished from the Love Shenjing.

Jia Cong never told Zhou Zhou Guangcheng that his friend was He He Jizhen, famed in the Love Shenjing for his bamboo paintings, known as He He Qingzhu.

In truth, this was not surprising—in that situation, who would pay attention to a clumsy restaurant errand boy, let alone suspect him of such a deed?

Zhou Zhou Guangcheng suddenly understood: "No wonder you had me watch Chunhua Pavilion that day—I entered the Prince's mansion, and the guards checked my food box but let me pass into the poetry hall."

"Cong-ge, I'm curious—how did you know the Prince of Beijing had this habit: he loves Chunhua Pavilion's Longjiang Eight Treasures Stew, and insists they deliver the dishes to his banquet?"

Jia Cong asked: "Have you settled all your affairs?"

Regarding that overstepping poem, it involved a non-imperial prince; given His Majesty's suspicious nature, the Zhongche Office's spies would surely investigate its origins.

Jia Cong smiled: "That day, I merely told you to try—it never occurred to me you'd actually pull it off."

"Xiu-Feng Jie is managing all affairs of Xinchun Company in Jin Ling; Xinchun Company needs to take firm root in Jiangnan and is short on capable hands…"

Jia Cong smiled: "All these nobles are picky eaters—it's only natural they're particular about such things."

"Though the deed was secret, you did show your face at the Prince of Beijing's mansion; for safety's sake, you should leave the Love Shenjing for a while."

But they can at most trace it to the guest-recorder who handled the poems—he could never have suspected Zhou Zhou Guangcheng's existence.

He He Jizhen also casually mentioned that many of those invited to the banquet were from Wuzhou; this was no surprise—Wuzhou is a major province for the imperial examinations and has always produced many scholars and literati.

"When I brought the food in, I kept an eye out for the recorder who specialized in writing, pretended to take a wrong turn, brushed past him, and deliberately knocked over the poems on the table."

Now that Zhou Zhou Guangcheng has left the Love Shenjing, he is even harder to trace.

Of course, there's also the kitchen boy who was knocked out—he might sense something odd.

But the Prince of Beijing's preordered dish was lost, yet no one from the mansion came to investigate.

The restaurant owner is a businessman; reputation and credibility matter greatly—he never received a complaint, so naturally he kept silent, pretending nothing happened.

At most, he scolded the unlucky boy.

Such street-level, worldly matters are precisely the ones most easily overlooked and most easily concealed by strange, outlandish excuses.

Thus, the final flaw in this affair vanished.

Yesterday, when Jia Cong went to the Ministry of War, he heard that Minister Gu had been summoned to the palace to discuss the Liaodong frontier threat.

He also heard that the Prince of Beijing was blocked from entering the palace to defend himself.

In Jia Cong's view, this was a very clear signal.

It meant everything he had done had taken effect—the scenario he anticipated might soon materialize.

…

After a period of trial and revision, the Fireworks Workshop successfully fired the first batch of two hundred qualified porcelain bomb shells.

Their specifications surpassed even the first fifty prototype shells.

Procedures for mixing powder, loading, fusing, and sealing were also standardized.

By the end of September, the first two hundred qualified finished porcelain bombs were finally produced; after testing, their power exceeded the fifty prototypes by twenty percent.

With the specifications now confirmed from prototype to production model, subsequent processes would proceed smoothly—completing three thousand qualified porcelain bombs before the end of December was no longer problematic.

…

Jia Cong's memorial requesting the purchase of ten new Folangji cannons was approved by Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao on the third day after submission.

The Director of the Fireworks Supervision Office was granted full authority to handle the purchase and handover with the Folangji nation; the cannons' entry point would be the Maritime Trade Office port.

Of the ten steel cannons purchased, two would be transported to the Love Shenjing's Fireworks Office for replication and simulation.

The remaining eight Folangji cannons would be shipped by sea from Jin Ling's Water Supervision Office to Dengzhou Port, then transported overland to the Liaodong frontier for deployment.

Almost simultaneously, after deliberation and recommendation by various ministries, the Grand Secretariat drafted an edict, and the Emperor personally approved it: Minister Gu Yan was appointed Commander of Nine Provinces and would soon inspect the Nine Borders.

Although the Prince of Beijing, Shui Rong, had suffered a setback, Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao did not punish him.

The overstepping poem from the Autumn Chrysanthemum Banquet gave the Emperor an opportunity; once it had served its purpose, it seemed quickly forgotten.

Now, Shui Rong could only continue feasting and idle talk, seeking validation among the maritime literati.

It was unlikely he would ever become a rising star among the Four Princes and Eight Dukes, or involve himself in military or state affairs during Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao's reign.

Not long after the imperial decree appointing Gu Yan as Commander of Nine Provinces was issued,

several former officers loyal to the Prince of Beijing in the Love Shenjing's Five Armies and Three Thousand Armies were reassigned to various garrisons for various reasons.

It was said the instigators were not Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao himself, but the noble commanders within the camps, who saw that the Prince of Beijing, after the overstepping poem incident, could no longer recover.

They aimed to demonstrate loyalty to Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao and, taking advantage of the Prince's waning favor, seize the power vacuum he left in the military.

This was an unexpected bonus Jia Cong had never anticipated when he forged the overstepping poem.

…

After Gu Yan was appointed Commander of Nine Provinces, he once discussed frontier military readiness and firearm deployment with Jia Cong, who had been observing at the Ministry of War.

Shortly afterward, Gu Yan recommended Jia Cong as Assistant Inspector for the Commander of Nine Provinces, to participate in firearm deployment across the Nine Border Garrisons.

And after the Fireworks Workshop completed its scheduled arms production, Jia Cong would accompany the Commander of Nine Provinces on his inspection tour of the Nine Border Garrisons.

Jia Cong's refusal to join the Prince of Beijing's overtures, along with his memorial on purchasing Folangji cannons, left the Emperor with a favorable impression of his devotion to state affairs.

His earlier reservations and suspicions about Jia Cong had diminished considerably.

Gu Yan's recommendation was swiftly approved by the Emperor.

The title "Assistant Inspector for the Border Tour" was merely that of a secretary and aide to the Commander of Nine Provinces.

But for a newcomer barely entering officialdom, it was an extraordinary mark of trust and achievement—equivalent to stepping across the threshold into high military and state affairs.

(End of Chapter)