Chapter 516: Seeking Official Gui |
Up in the Plum Blossom Pavilion, Brother Pao dismissed the Stick Bearers, leaving only him and Zhang Xia standing while leaning against the balustrade.
He gazed at the inner city walls in the distance and gave a self-deprecating laugh: "So this is the feeling of having a backer. Second Miss Zhang, when I first came here, I originally thought I could rely on this body's worth of abilities to do some great deeds. As a result, only upon arriving here did I realize that just a yellow register Household Registration and a Travel Permit alone made it an inch of difficulty for Er Dao and me to move. With no other methods, I could only fight underground boxing to beg a path of survival for Er Dao and myself, yet was still plotted against by that old fellow Zhu Guan. Thinking about it now, acknowledging each other with Chen Ji was actually my most wise decision."
Zhang Xia fell silent for a moment: "Brother Pao, I remember clearly. When you guys were in the escort team in Mengjin county town, Chen Ji once went forward to strike up a conversation, scaring you guys so much that you fled overnight. He even rode a fast horse out to look for you. At that time, you guys had not acknowledged each other."
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Brother Pao laughed: "At that time I also didn't know he was that Chen Ji whom I knew! If I had known, we would have acknowledged each other early on."
Zhang Xia probed without batting an eyelid: "Brother Pao and Chen Ji have been acquaintances since very early on?"
Brother Pao cast a sideways glance at Zhang Xia: "Not acquaintances. On the contrary, I was the dagger that Chen Ji used to kill a person with a borrowed knife."
Zhang Xia was somewhat puzzled: "Since you weren't acquaintances, why did you still dare to acknowledge each other?"
Brother Pao explained with a smile: "Second Miss Zhang, the large majority of people in this world make friends looking at whether the other party is useful or not, or formidable or not. But I am different; I only look at moral character. Useful friends will give you a good start, but only friends with good moral character can give you a good ending. A person like Chen Ji—as long as you become his friend, you'll absolutely never suffer a loss... However, he is vastly different from before."
Brother Pao roared with laughter: "I still thought Second Miss Zhang was so capable of holding her temper steady; it turns out there are also times when you can't restrain yourself. Ah, you, having gotten along with Chen Ji for a long time, you've also learned to be a mature young person exactly like him. Neither of you live as freely and heartily as I do."
Zhang Xia did not speak.
Brother Pao sighed with emotion: "Chen Ji is even more silent than before, and also even more forbearing. Perhaps the matter he wishes to do is more dangerous than last time, or perhaps he has truly grown up. The best teachers in human life are two: one is the death of parents, the other is the betrayal of friends and relatives. Supposedly, he has experienced both of them."
Zhang Xia asked curiously: "How did his parents pass away? And how did he die once before?"
Brother Pao patted the balustrade: "Chen Ji's parents died in an accident, and the chief culprit didn't pay with their life. In order to avenge his parents, he perished together with his enemy. Second Miss Zhang, a person like Chen Ji shouldn't constantly live such a miserable life. If you truly care about him, then don't just leave him to toy with his life like this. Think of a method to pull him to turn back, and only then is it right."
Zhang Xia fell silent again.
Brother Pao sized her up for a moment, letting out another haha laugh: "I understand."
Zhang Xia didn't understand: "What does Brother Pao understand?"
Looking at Zhengyang Gate in the distance, Brother Pao ridiculed: "You are not the person who would advise him to turn back. You are the person planning to accompany him to throw your lives away together."
Zhang Xia said carelessly: "Brother Pao had better talk about proper matters."
Pointing at Zhengyang Gate, Brother Pao said: "Since we have a backer, it's no harm if we act a bit bolder when doing things."
...
The seventh lunar month's flowing fire.
[TN: This idiom refers to the star Antares moving westward, signaling the end of summer heat and approaching autumn. However, in modern usage, it is often misused to describe the scorching heat of July]
Early morning, before the heavenly light had even brightened, it was already so hot it made people's backs stream with sweat.
Chen Ji carried a Carrying Pole back to Ginkgo Garden, pouring all the water in the buckets into the water vat. He shouted a sentence to the wing rooms: "I'm going out the door."
Yet no one responded in the wing rooms.
Feeling doubtful, he pushed open the door of the western wing room. Inside, it was completely empty; where was the shadow of the Little Monk? He then went to knock on the door of the eastern wing room, and Xiaoman also didn't respond for a long while.
Ever since running the newspaper, these two people had been acting sneaky and stealthy from morning to night, who knows what they were busy with. They didn't even sleep in anymore!
Chen Ji exited the Chen Family and walked onto Right Prefecture Street. Horse carriages one by one, sedan chairs top by top, passed by his side, all heading toward the Six Ministries yamen in Checkerboard Street.
He saw a Stick Bearer by the roadside with a cloth satchel slung across his body. The satchel was stuffed with a thick stack of Capital Morning Posts.
From a distance, Chen Ji saw a horse carriage stop by the side of the road. The person inside the carriage pulled open the window curtain and said: "Take a copy of the Morning Newspaper."
The coachman counted out five copper coins and handed them to the Stick Bearer. The Stick Bearer then fished out a copy of the Morning Newspaper and passed it into the window, also saying an auspicious phrase with a smile: "Received five wen. Honored guest, may ten thousand things be smooth and prosperous for you today."
The horse carriage slowly drove onward. Very quickly, another sedan chair stopped before the Stick Bearer. Following closely after, horse carriages one by one, sedan chairs top by top, all conveniently bought a copy of the Morning Newspaper to flip through and read on their way to answer roll call, which could be used to relieve boredom.
Chen Ji arrived before the Stick Bearer, taking out five wen of money from his sleeve and handing it out: "Take a copy of the newspaper."
The Stick Bearer handed over a newspaper. Chen Ji walked toward the outer city while reading it.
Today's front-page headline was no longer him, but rather: "His Majesty Toils From Dawn To Dusk For Good Governance, Sagely Heart Operating Solitarily; Thoroughly Investigating Cultivated Fields To Solidify The Foundation Of The State."
The content of the article: "It is reported that His Majesty summoned the important ministers of the inner cabinet and ministries a few days prior, directly stating that the Fish Scale Registers have been causing legacy troubles for years, and the concealment of cultivated fields is worsening by the day. The wealthy have continuous fields joining the footpaths, yet their taxes are light; the poor do not even have an area the size of an awl tip to stand on, yet their labor conscriptions are heavy..."
"The imperial edict explicitly pointed out that this land remeasurement will redetermine and verify the fields and lands of the entire nation. Be it official fields, civilian fields, imperial estates, or the manor fields of meritorious nobles, all will be within the ranks of thorough investigation..."
Chen Ji muttered softly: "It is reported... explicitly pointed out..."
This damned sense of familiarity.
Ever since Qi Zhaoning's attempt to seal and shut down the Morning Newspaper failed to yield results, Brother Pao's guts grew much larger. The front-page headlines no longer wrote gossip news, but rather a fixed horse-flattery page.
The second page was also no longer the Imperial Examination, but rather the daily official appointment and dismissal news and Capital Evaluation news: which official was sent to the provinces, which official was transferred to the capital environs, which official was stripped of his position due to the Capital Evaluation...
This was also the reason why the officials and nobles of the inner city had to buy a copy of the Morning Newspaper every morning. In the yamen one by one, the morning was filled entirely with the sounds of flipping newspapers.
In the span of merely twenty-odd days, the newspaper transformed from one page to four pages, and the locations selling the Morning Newspaper also spread from Liulichang to the entire Capital City.
In the past, Stick Bearers could not enter the inner city; they had to have Travel Permits or inner city Household Registration before it was okay. But now, as long as Stick Bearers slung a cloth satchel across their bodies, they could swagger largely into the inner city from Xuanwu Gate, Zhengyang Gate, and Chongwen Gate. The infantrymen of the Five Wards Military and Police Department all kept one eye open and one eye closed, entirely treating it as if they didn't see it.
As Chen Ji was walking, a woman brushed shoulders and passed by him, leaving behind a sentence: "Yesterday, there were Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Division espionage agents whose intent was to steal Firearms formulas. They killed a craftsman from the Imperial Workshop. After being captured by us, they swallowed poison to commit suicide. They should be Official Ding's men and horses. Lord Bai Long dispatched me to remind Lord Chen: the matters you promised the Inner Chancellor must be done as quickly as possible. The days remaining for you are not many anymore."
Chen Ji abruptly turned his head back, watching the back of Jiao Tu's figure thoughtfully.
Previously he established a military pledge at the Trouble-Resolving Tower that he MUST definitely seize out Official Ding within three months. But now one and a half months had passed, and he hadn't even seen Official Ding's shadow. The clues were entirely nonexistent.
Chen Ji's expression remained unchanged, continuing to lower his head and look at the newspaper in his hands. But this time he didn't look at the other pages anymore, instead looking toward the advertisement page on the very last page.
"Wenbao Pavilion Pen and Ink Manor: Huizhou top-smoke pine ink—falling on paper like lacquer, ten thousand years of preserving authenticity. Huzhou purple-bamboo wolf-hair brush—rounded, smooth, energetic, and robust, wielding it to splash ink with natural ease."
"Jinling sliced-skin duck, Capital City's number one flavor. Bianyi Workshop hundred-year-old stove, braising oven roasting—crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, fatty but not greasy."
"Deji Clinic seeking person: Seeking our clinic's pharmacist Zhang Mingyuan. Age approximately forty decades, Suzhou accent. Went out to gather herbs on the fifteenth of last month and has not returned. If any benevolent people or gentlemen know of his whereabouts and report to our clinic, a reward of ten taels of silver."
The advertisements were all sorts of diverse and varied. At first, the merchants still weren't used to placing advertisements in the newspaper. But after Bianyi Workshop took the lead in placing advertisements, their business grew increasingly booming. The people lining up could actually line up out for several dozen steps. Consequently, other merchants also learned from them and placed advertisements.
But Chen Ji read for a very long time, yet also didn't find the clue he wanted: the Military Intelligence Division's secret code language.
Him running this Morning Newspaper naturally had large uses intended for later on. But running it in such a rush right now was rather tailored exactly for the Military Intelligence Division.
Chen Ji stayed in Wenchang Bookstore for dozens of days, flipping through almost all the books entirely without being able to find the Military Intelligence Division's secret code language. Either the Military Intelligence Division didn't utilize Wenchang Bookstore as an intelligence transfer location, or there were too many books, and he missed some clues.
Liulichang had dozens of bookstores; Chen Ji always couldn't possibly investigate past them one by one. Not to mention three months—even in three years he wouldn't finish investigating.
Therefore, since he didn't know where the clues were, then give the Military Intelligence Division a place most suitable for transmitting messages: newspapers.
Is there any place more suitable for transmitting messages than newspapers? There isn't anymore.
Official Ding had served the Military Intelligence Division for over a decade. Even the people who had seen him could be counted on one's fingers. This proved that Official Ding contacting his lower lines had from beginning to end been single-line, furthermore not meeting each other.
Only like this could his identity be protected from being leaked out.
There were many kinds of methods for single-line contacts. There were environmental signals. For example, agreeing beforehand to use a wine shop banner as a signal: hanging the wine banner meant safe and sound; if it wasn't hung on some day, it meant danger. But this kind of method could only transmit simple messages.
There were also dead drop boxes. For example, agreeing with each other beforehand to deliver detailed Intelligence underneath a stone in the second bridge arch of Jade River Bridge. One person drops it and immediately leaves; the other person goes to retrieve it after a while. But this kind of method also had disadvantages. That is, no matter what message you transmit, no matter how tight the agreement... the latter always has to reveal their face to retrieve it. As long as one revealed their face, there was the risk of someone Waiting By A Stump For A Rabbit.
No matter what kind of method, none of them were as good as publishing it in a newspaper!
In Chen Ji's past life, ever since newspapers were born into the world, it was precisely the biggest intelligence transfer station for spies. A single piece of encrypted message published on the newspaper wouldn't attract people's attention at all. Moreover, no matter what identity the espionage agent had, coming into contact with a newspaper would not cause people's doubts to rise.
Officials and nobles read the Capital Evaluation. Literati read poetry and lyrics. Peddlers and servants listened to people recite gossip. Everyone had their own preferences.
Chen Ji believed that with the intelligence and Wisdom of a Military Intelligence Division Si Cao, there would be absolutely no missing such a good opportunity. The other party should have realized this thing could be used for transmitting messages right when they just saw the newspaper.
But he still didn't find any useful information.
He didn't know if the Military Intelligence Division was overly cautious and didn't dare to use this new thing, or if there were no messages that needed to be transmitted recently?
Chen Ji pondered for a moment, turning around and heading straight for Plum Blossom Ferry. Ascending to the top floor of the Plum Blossom Pavilion, he went straight to the point without beating around the bush upon opening the door: "Brother Pao, bring all the manuscript submissions and advertisements from all these days over. Don't leave any omissions. I want to read every single one of them..."
Without waiting for him to finish speaking, he saw Zhang Xia take out a piece of Bamboo Paper: "No need to look anymore. What you wish to look for should be this. The Stick Bearer just received it mere moments ago."
Chen Ji took it into his hands. Impressively, it was an obituary notice: "My father grievously passed away on the twenty-ninth of the sixth solar month of Jianing thirty-two, suddenly returning to the realm of Dao. Enjoyed a lifespan of sixty having eight. Tracing back my father's entire life... in his youth he harbored ambitions, searching (Xun) out the secluded and visiting the ancient. Upon growing up, he entered the officialdom doors, yearning (Si) and admiring high character. He held his body with moral principles and conduct (Cao), laboring his form over desks and official documents. In his late years, he returned (Gui) to ancient trees, entrusting compliance unto nature..."
[TN: Tracing the first two words of each description phrase: Xun, Si, Cao, Gui.]
Xun, Si, Cao, Gui.
Seeking (Xun) Official (Si Cao) Gui.
(End of this chapter)