Chapter 805: You Can

The Japanese pirates stole his money, so he could turn around and steal theirs; back and forth, the Quanzhou Garrison was dragged into it too.

The newly appointed Deputy Commander of the Quanzhou Garrison, Jiang Fangzheng, had previously served in Datong Prefecture and maintained close ties with the north.

At the time, the young emperor had just ascended the throne, the Three Yangs were cautious in court, and the Grand Empress Dowager strove to uphold the previous emperor's governing statutes, daring not to enact sweeping reforms.

Prince Lu discovered that money was easier to make in the north, so he partnered with Jiang Fangzheng to sell goods northward.

"But these past two years, the north has grown increasingly unstable, and the emperor has come of age and begun ruling personally; Prince Lu has become far more cautious," Sun Xin said: "Jiang Fangzheng was promoted from Deputy Commander to Commander and no longer wishes to be entangled with the north; they gradually reduced their dealings with the north."

Pan Yun: "Do they think they can just cut it off whenever they want?"

Sun Xin smiled bitterly: "Indeed, it's not something you can simply cut off—Wang Zhen won't even allow it. That's why Prince Lu is even more determined to expand his maritime trade, to ease Wang Zhen's pressure."

It's all money—whose money is any different?

Wang Zhen only cares about getting money and treasures.

But for Prince Lu, it's different.

Collaborating with Japanese pirates—he sees Japan as a vassal state across the sea;

but collaborating with the Wala and other northern barbarians—he sees it as treason.

The emperor and his ministers won't believe Japan has the strength to cross the sea and invade Great Ming, let alone rule it;

but they will surely suspect the northern barbarians can march south and seize the Central Plains.

The Five Barbarians' Rebellion, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and the Yuan Dynasty's existence are all precedents.

If collusion with Japanese pirates is exposed, Prince Lu may be scolded and fined some salary—but if collusion with northern barbarians is exposed, he and his entire lineage may be wiped out.

"If the maritime ban is lifted, not only will Prince Lu be unable to pay Wang Zhen the money he promised, but his own livelihood will suffer too; plus, other families don't want private capital entering maritime trade—so they all agreed instantly to ambush the silver ships at sea."

Sun Xin looked up at Pan Yun and gave a light laugh: "You think they wanted to ambush the embassy? No—they'd never dare commit an act punishable by extermination of three clans. They meant to ambush your silver ship."

"As long as the silver doesn't return, the court will see the sea as still perilous, will realize that only by continuing the maritime ban and barring Japanese pirates from landing can losses be minimized—otherwise, once Great Ming's people and ships set sail, they'll never return."

"No one expected the embassy ship, which should have returned via Tianjin Garrison, would veer onto the Quanzhou Garrison route. Those soldiers were idiots—they couldn't even tell an embassy ship apart from a silver ship. Seeing the Great Ming flag, they charged straight in—that's how the embassy ambush happened."

If it had been a silver ship ambush, regardless of who the silver belonged to, before the silver returned, Pan Yun's ship was merely a civilian vessel, its crew commoners sailing illegally—so they could label them as sea bandits, claim there was no silver aboard at all, and say this entire affair was Pan Yun's self-staged fraud to cover up his crime.

All this talk of silver mountains and silver—it's just Pan Yun's showy lies.

A lie, repeated a hundred times by a hundred people, can become truth.

They were confident they could accomplish this.

They messed up and ambushed the wrong ship—fine. But if they'd drowned every person on the embassy ship, they could've fabricated the whole event. Instead, they let the embassy return unharmed.

Sun Xin smiled bitterly: "Even heaven is on your side—the sea is dangerous by nature, yet you and the embassy survived two ambushes."

"Now that it's happened, we must clean up the mess," Sun Xin said: "The current emperor is ambitious; no matter how lenient he is toward the imperial clan, he won't tolerate Prince Lu colluding with sea bandits to ambush an embassy. So we must pin it all on the Marquis of Huichang."

Pan Yun asked: "Did the Marquis of Huichang and Prince Lu personally negotiate the plot to ambush the silver ships?"

Sun Xin twisted his mouth: "How could such matters reach their level? Prince Lu merely asked about it once—the rest was handled by me and the heir. As for the Marquis of Huichang's household, the marquis himself never showed his face; his cousin Sun Chao manages their maritime affairs."

Pan Yun asked: "Who else, besides you?"

Sun Xin twisted his mouth and laughed mockingly: "The world is strange—whether imperial kin or royal in-laws, all are exposed first. Who'd have thought the last ones untouched would be the Jiangnan literati and the Marquis of Jingyuan?"

Pan Yun looked up in shock; Wu Zhihong shot to his feet: "Who did you say?"

Xue Shao's expression changed instantly.

Sun Xin laughed at them, tears streaming: "Marquis of Jingyuan, Wang Ji—ha ha ha—the fourth is the Marquis of Jingyuan; his nephew Wang Tianyi was the one who met us to arrange the ambush."

As for the remaining group—though numerous and scattered, they're the tightest-knit: the Chen family, the Pu family, the Wu family—ha ha ha—they're backed by countless mid- to upper-level officials in court, all originally from Jiangnan or married into Jiangnan families. Even Emperor Yongle couldn't handle them—Pan Yun, do you really think you can?"

"You think you can solve this case, settle this account? It's a dream!" Sun Xin burst into laughter: "You think having my testimony, knowing the truth, means you can seek justice, expose it to the world? I tell you—it's impossible!"

"If you hadn't used this treacherous scheme, and if they hadn't truly been capable of exterminating my entire family in retaliation, I'd never have cooperated with you." Sun Xin pushed himself up, looking down at Pan Yun: "I've confessed—but I'm certain: you won't solve this case."

He leaned close to her ear: "It's not about Prince Lu or the Marquis of Jingyuan—even not about the Empress Dowager. It's about these Jiangnan literati."

Whether Prince Lu, the Marquis of Jingyuan, or the Marquis of Huichang—they all act alone, and each has something to protect themselves; thus, they'll assess the situation, admit fault, even confess guilt;

but these Jiangnan literati can't—they're individually guilty of collusion with sea bandits, punishable by death; collusion with Japanese pirates, punishable by extermination of three clans.

So they won't allow this case to be investigated further.

Sun Xin straightened up, clinking his chains as he walked out. At the door, he turned back to Pan Yun: "Does the Prefect of Quanzhou, Lu Mingzhe, know nothing yet? I wonder if he'll live through this year."

Pan Yun clenched her fists.

Xue Shao pressed his hand on her shoulder, nodded slightly to Wu Zhihong, signaling him to take Sun Xin away for protection.

Sun Xin: "Pan Yun, remember your promise—if my family is harmed, I will retaliate against you!"

After Sun Xin was taken away, Wu Zhihong paced frantically: "How do I write this memorial? Involving Prince Lu and the Marquis of Huichang is already a nightmare—now it involves the Marquis of Jingyuan too!"