Chapter 39: Li Yan's Scheme

On a moonless, windy night meant for murder, in the capital as it stood, this often meant the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot agents had work to do. Having received a secret edict from the Chongzhen Emperor, a portion of the Northern Bastille's Embroidered Uniform Guard had just been urgently rotated in to coordinate with the Eastern Depot's agents for a joint operation.

This time their destination was not some large mansion, but rather an utterly unremarkable alley in the capital — one that most people would overlook entirely.

Urgent footsteps echoed through the capital's streets as groups of men ran out from both the Northern Bastille and the Eastern Depot's offices, some carrying regulation paired sabers, others wielding single-edged embroidered spring sabers, charging with murderous intent into the capital's labyrinthine alleyways.

After a brief and fierce struggle, a faint smell of blood wafted out, and a dozen or so oddly dressed men with blood-covered faces stumbled out of the alley in panic. The one in the lead kept glancing backward as he fled, and only when he saw no Embroidered Uniform Guard or Eastern Depot agents pursuing did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Come on, take them all down!"

Suddenly, a great shout came from behind. The Muslims turned back in fright, only to discover that the mouth of the alley had somehow already filled with a dense mass of Capital Camp soldiers, all staring at them with hostile expressions.

Half an hour later, Li Ruolian, having run back and forth in haste, returned to the warm pavilion with sweat on his face and a trace of blood scent clinging to him — clearly just extricated from a scene of slaughter.

"Your Majesty, Eunuch Wang is personally administering torture and interrogation. I believe results will come soon."

Before the Chongzhen Emperor could reply, Wang Cheng'en came running back breathless, performed a salute, and spoke:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, these Muslims have even less backbone than the civil officials of the Donglin Faction. Before torture even began, they were falling over each other to confess. This old servant recorded their confessions separately and obtained consistent results — it was that bandit strategist named Li Yan who contacted them, wanting them to open the city gates to let the bandit troops in when the roving bandits launched their great siege on the capital."

Li Yan. Hearing this name, the Chongzhen Emperor furrowed his brow.

That fellow Li Yan was said to be one of the few educated men among the roving bandits, and his insight and ability stood head and shoulders above the rest. To devise such a far-sighted scheme right at the start of his campaign — that was indeed his style. With no real strategists of his own, this would be hard to deal with.

Wang Cheng'en let out a long breath and said with hatred:

"Thankfully Your Majesty is wise and saw through these villains' treachery! But Your Majesty, a few of the captives, in their panic, revealed something out of the ordinary. This old servant finds it rather strange to hear. They say that even before Your Majesty issued the edict sending Wang Aoyong into military exile at the frontier, there were already ministers within the capital who had contacted them. As for who exactly, this old servant is still doing his utmost to investigate."

Hearing this, the Chongzhen Emperor burned with rage. No wonder a group of Muslims had so easily opened the Guangning Gate in history — were the Capital Camp soldiers and the Embroidered Uniform Guard who climbed the walls all blind? They had probably been bought off long ago!

Contacting the Muslims while simultaneously reaching out to ministers within the city — if one had to say who was behind such multi-pronged preparations, there could be no one other than that Li Yan.

As for Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance, those two rotten melons and cracked dates, there was no need to mention them. Their greatest talent was swindling and deception. Niu Jinxing might have a shred of ability, but he was utterly without virtue and extremely jealous — it was he who had schemed Li Yan to his death.

But the Capital Camps had now all been reformed by him, replaced from top to bottom, and the Muslims had been wiped out clean by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Eastern Depot agents. Li Yan's scheme had, through a twist of fate, been broken by his own hand.

Thinking of this, the Chongzhen Emperor still felt it had been a close call. If any single link had been missed, the gates would have been opened before a single battle was fought — and then what would he have had left to play with?

He had no idea whether Li Yan had any backup plans. A talent who handled matters so flawlessly, if he were wholeheartedly opposing him within Li Zicheng's army — just thinking about it sent chills down his spine.

Those ministers who had once contacted the Muslims might well be Li Yan's backup plan. These ungrateful wolves who could never be tamed — their ancestors had enjoyed the state's generous emoluments for generations, yet when it truly came to a moment like this, all they could think of was how to surrender and curry favor with a new master.

But the Chongzhen of today was no longer the Prince Xin of history. To preserve his life, he would do anything. If this matter were not investigated to the very bottom, he might as well wait to hang himself on Coal Mountain!

"Issue the edict: order the Inner Depot, the Western Depot, and the Northern Bastille's Embroidered Uniform Guard to jointly investigate this matter. I permit you to use any means of interrogation. Bring out every method at your disposal and investigate this thoroughly, from beginning to end!"

"Whoever is found out, no matter who they are, must be reported to me in full detail!"

Following that, the Chongzhen Emperor said to Li Ruolian:

"Why hasn't Cao Huachun arrived yet? Send mounted couriers out of the capital to urge him on. Have him come see me immediately upon reaching the capital without stopping. If necessary, have the couriers protect him along the way. The Zhili region these days is no longer as peaceful as it once was."

Li Ruolian sensed the murderous intent surging from the Chongzhen Emperor and shuddered all over, quickly clasping his fists and saying:

"As Your Majesty commands. Your servant will instruct his subordinates to handle it at once!"

"Also, the rotation of the Northern and Southern Bastilles was only accomplished thanks to Wei Zaode's stubborn resistance at court. Cheng'en, I have nothing good in my hands to reward him with — take out something good from your own stores and give it to him. Tell him that as long as he continues to work for me, the Depots and Guards will not only refrain from touching a single hair on him or his family, but will also send men to protect him, so he need not fear retaliation from those Donglin partisans."

"This old servant understands. Tomorrow night I will personally make a trip to the Wei residence."

Though the capital was under martial law, many people could hear clearly from inside their homes what had happened the night before, especially the poor and destitute families living in the alleyways.

At night, the sounds of fighting from not far away were so clearly audible that many people trembled uncontrollably. But when the sun rose the next day, life went on as it always had.

The only difference was that quite a few courtyards in the alley now stood empty, still emanating a sickening smell of blood. The bold among them went up to inspect, and aside from the chaotic traces of struggle strewn across the ground, they saw not a single corpse.

A considerable number of Muslims had vanished overnight, yet without disturbing the residents living nearby. The matter quickly spread, though most people were merely curious rather than panicked.

Since the Chongzhen Emperor had reestablished the Depots and Guards, their targets had always been those Donglin scholars. Not a single act of harming the common people had occurred — on the contrary, quite a few good deeds had been reported.

The initial abolition of the three tolls and the exemption of one year's silver taxes — those were benevolent policies that even the previous several late emperors had failed to implement. This current emperor simply issued an edict and made them law.

Then there was the Imperial Father-in-Law Zhou Kui, who, relying on being the current Son of Heaven's father-in-law, could be called one of the largest landowners around the capital. Even 'wealth beyond measure' could hardly describe his holdings, and countless farming households had been ruined and left homeless because of him.

The Chongzhen Emperor, disregarding the pleas of both the Empress and the full court of civil and military officials, placed righteousness above family loyalty and issued an edict for the Depots and Guards to seize and investigate the Imperial Father-in-Law's estate. News of this had long since spread throughout Northern Zhili, and every commoner who heard it clapped their hands in delight.

It could even be said that every single decree the Chongzhen Emperor had issued in these past two months had won the support and endorsement of the people.

Those Muslims were never good people to begin with — beggars beaten to death by them over a single word of disagreement were not one or two. The residents living nearby were all poor folk with no connections.

The Muslims privately hid weapons and had some martial ability, and might even have had some backing at court. Even the Censors of the original Five Wards Troops and Horses Office protected them, so the common people dared not speak out even in their anger.

When these Muslims suddenly vanished into thin air last night, the residents living nearby all breathed sighs of relief. They were too busy rejoicing to feel any fear.

Some white-haired elders even walked out of their homes and kowtowed toward the Forbidden City in excitement, shouting "Long live the Emperor!" over and over.