The court attached great importance to the matter of Dai Luanxiang, fearing that if Marshal Dai, who had great prestige in the army, became dissatisfied and shouted loudly, his soldiers would be excited and rebel against the court. Therefore, the court specially sent Cheng Yan, the inspector, to the front line of Dengzhou to handle the matter.
This Cheng Yan was originally a trusted guard of the current emperor Zheng Yao when he was in the palace. He was always decisive and calm in his actions, and was very approachable. He was quite famous in the capital.
After Zheng Yao ascended the throne, he thought that the Persuasion Bureau had always been Wang Zhonghai's direct line and was difficult to control; but now his position as emperor was still unstable, and there were many officials in the six ministries who opposed him. He could not do without the Persuasion Bureau for a moment, and he could not fully control this secret agency in a short time.
So after much thought, he decided to place his trusted people in the department in order to gradually squeeze out the old people in the department and thus gain control of the department.
Cheng Yan is one of them.
Although Cheng Yan was Zheng Yao's trusted confidant and had done a lot for him, he was also a righteous person. When he first heard that he was going to be assigned to the Ministry of Persuasion, he was quite reluctant because the Ministry of Persuasion had a bad reputation and he would rather not be promoted than be in this tainted environment.
But Zheng Yao tried his best to persuade Cheng Yan, saying that it was precisely because the Persuasion Office had a history of misconduct that he was sent in so that he could slowly seize power and then carry out a thorough rectification.
Cheng Yan thought that Zheng Yao was now the emperor, and it was rare for him to beg like this, and every word he said made sense. He also remembered that Zheng Yao had saved his life when he was still a prince, so he reluctantly agreed.
Zheng Yao did not treat Cheng Yan unfairly.
When the late Emperor Zheng Yong established the Ministry of Persuasion, he felt that it had too much power and was afraid that it would become too powerful to be controlled. Therefore, he set the rank of the Ministry of Persuasion to an extremely low level. Not only was it under the control of eunuchs and not allowed to go to the throne, but the chief officer was only a fourth-rank General of the Household.
However, as soon as Cheng Yan entered the Ministry of Persuasion, he was appointed as a fifth-rank inspector, and he was only responsible to the emperor Zheng Yao for all matters, without being controlled by anyone else.
With such a relationship, Cheng Yan was naturally responsible for escorting Dai Luanxiang back to Beijing. Before he left Beijing, Emperor Zheng Yao even met him in person and said that Dai Luanxiang was bewitched by a traitor in the army.
Dai Luanxiang has a great reputation in the court and the public. Although Cheng Yan has no connection with him, they have been friends for a long time and he secretly admires him. He did not expect Zheng Yao to do such a self-destructive act at this critical moment, so he was happy to receive the order and go on the mission.
As soon as they arrived at the Dengzhou camp, Cheng Yan and the military supervisor eunuch went to find Dai Luanxiang and told him, "Here is the secret order from the emperor. Marshal Dai, please accept it!"
Dai Luanxiang was skilled in commanding troops but not good at conspiracies and intrigues. He had heard that Cheng Yan was the most trusted confidant of the new emperor, and that if he personally came to convey the emperor's orders, it would inevitably involve confidential military affairs, so he dismissed his personal guards and knelt down to receive the order.
Cheng Yan personally read the imperial edict to Dai Luanxiang. The gist of the edict was that the progress in suppressing the Youyan rebels had been very slow recently, and Dai Luanxiang was required to return to Beijing immediately to report on his work. Matters such as the supply of food and fodder to the front line and the replenishment of troops could also be reported at the same time.
Dai Luanxiang was still in shock after hearing the imperial edict, so Cheng Yan personally helped him up and comforted him, saying, "Although I am not as wise and brave as Marshal Dai, I am also a soldier and I know that changing commanders in the middle of a battle is a taboo in the military. To be disrespectful, although the current emperor is intelligent, he has never led troops in battle and does not know the taboos. It is for this reason that the emperor has to summon the marshal back to the capital to consult on military affairs in person. As long as the marshal reports truthfully, the emperor will surely issue another decree."
Dai Luanxiang heard Cheng Yan's sincere words and saw that Cheng Yan treated him with courtesy everywhere, so he willingly handed over the military camp affairs to the Left General Qian Qing, left the Dengzhou camp alone, and went to the capital Luoyang.
Along the way, Cheng Yan treated Dai Luanxiang very politely, and was not dissatisfied with his food, clothing, and daily life in any way he liked, not to mention using torture instruments such as the prison cart and shackles.
Cheng Yan had admired Dai Luanxiang for a long time, and he always asked about Dai Luanxiang's well-being and often asked for advice on leading troops in battle. Dai Luanxiang saw that Cheng Yan was very different from the treacherous and cruel officials in the Ministry of Persuasion, and the two had similar personalities, so they got along well.
Therefore, the people from the Ministry of Persuasion were more like entourages escorting high-ranking officials of the imperial court rather than escorting criminals. They traveled safely and smoothly passed Tongguan and entered the nearby capital area.
However, although Cheng Yan treated Dai Luanxiang politely, other people in the Persuasion Bureau did not have such magnanimity.
It turned out that the Persuasion Department wanted to infiltrate the Imperial Guards in order to gain control of the military and gain greater power. However, Dai Luanxiang, as a former general of the Imperial Guards, had always looked down on them and always obstructed them openly or covertly, and had already formed a grudge with them.
Dai Luanxiang originally had a very deep foundation in the army, so the Persuasion Department naturally had no way to deal with him, but once they saw him in trouble, they would take action to humiliate him to avenge their previous grudges. However, although they had this shameful and dark idea, the chief officer Cheng Yan was currently trusted by the emperor, and Dai Luanxiang still had accumulated prestige, so they could not make things difficult for the time being.
However, the good times did not last long. After entering Tongguan, they had only taken a few steps when a fast horse from the capital came with an imperial edict. The messenger also specifically instructed that it was the emperor's oral order and that Cheng Yan should personally read the imperial edict to Dai Luanxiang.
Naturally, Cheng Yan did not dare to disobey the order. He opened the imperial edict wrapped in bright yellow silk and read it to Dai Luanxiang word by word.
However, the imperial edict had only been read halfway when Dai Luanxiang, who was kneeling on the ground to receive it, was already sweating profusely.
Cheng Yan, who was standing on the ground reading the decree, was not much better. His hands, feet, and even his whole body were shaking, and even his tongue was stuttering. It turned out that the wording of the imperial decree was extremely harsh. It read:
"I recently heard that General Qian Qingchu, who took control of the military, exerted his power and launched a large-scale attack on the Yan bandits. In a short period of time, he recovered the lost land in Henan and headed straight for the enemy's nest. And Dai Qing has always been known for his military prowess, why did he hesitate for months and fail to get closer? I also heard rumors in the capital: Yan follows Luanxiang, and Pengcheng is thousands of miles away. Although I am stupid, I also know that there is a deeper meaning. And what Dai Qing did, can you trust me sincerely? Can you be worthy of the trust of the late emperor? Can you be worthy of your parents' kindness in raising you? Can you be worthy of the expectations of the people? What Dai Qing did is disloyal, unfilial, unkind, and unrighteous! Therefore, I order Cheng Yan, the inspector, to lock Dai Luanxiang up and bring him to the capital for investigation, and there must be no mistakes!"
This imperial edict was written by Emperor Zheng Yao himself, and was sent before it was copied. It was written in his cursive script, which was less pretentious than usual and more murderous. Especially the last word "mistake", which was obviously written with a brush dipped in cinnabar ink, and was written thick and large. In Cheng Yan's eyes, it looked like several steel knives flying up and down on the bright yellow rice paper.
Dai Luanxiang was shrewd. He knelt on the ground and smiled bitterly. He thought: The King of Youyan had said to him on the bank of the Yellow River that the current emperor was mean and ungrateful. He didn't expect it to come true so quickly! But although he thought so in his heart, he couldn't say it out loud. He just said dejectedly: "I accept your order. Thank you!"
Although Cheng Yan was smart and capable, he had never seen much of the world. Seeing that the emperor's edict was so harsh, he was so frightened by the wrath that he stood there in a daze. After a long time, he said, "Marshal Dai, this..." but he could not continue.
The minions of the Persuasion Department around him became excited.
Hearing that the imperial edict said that Dai Luanxiang would be "locked up and brought to the capital", without waiting for the leader Cheng Yan's order, they summoned iron shackles, wooden shackles, prison carts and other items from the surrounding county governments, and put them all on Dai Luanxiang in a very rough manner, and then headed for the capital.
The leader of the Persuasion Department was the eunuch Jin Deqiang. Although he was cruel and violent, he was not stupid. He knew that Dai Luanxiang had a great reputation in the court and the public. If he was seen by the people on the official road, there would be more disputes. So he took over the responsibility and led the troops to avoid taking the broad road and go through the secluded paths.
However, although this path is also in the prosperous Kinki, it is not as good as the official road after all, and there are very few restaurants and inns along the way. Two months ago, when Qiu Yizhi left the capital to rescue his adoptive father, Youyan Wang Zheng Rong, and rushed to Tongguan, in order to delay the court's fast horses to report the news, he destroyed all the post stations in Kinki, and it has not been repaired yet.
Therefore, there were no post stations on either side of the path for replenishment and rest. Whenever water and rice ran out, someone had to be sent back to the main road to buy more supplies and transport them back. When the sun went down, they had to find an abandoned temple or a thatched hut to spend the night. The journey of the Quanshan Bureau was extremely difficult, and they could only advance about fifty miles a day.
In addition, Jin Deqiang saw that there were few people and horses on this small road, and it was very desolate and remote. He felt that this was a serious matter and should not be taken lightly, so he specially transferred more than a hundred soldiers from the Ministry of Persuasion to gather together from the capital. He led a mighty procession of nearly two hundred people, escorting a mere Dai Luanxiang, and headed westward towards the capital.
On that day, it rained heavily all day long. The people from the Persuasion Bureau were exhausted from walking in the fine autumn rain. Their feet had long since lost control and they could only drag themselves forward step by step in the mud based on instinct.
Just when everyone was suffering from hunger and cold, the leader Jin Deqiang, who was riding on a horse, looked up and saw a dilapidated Taoist temple in the distance. There seemed to be a flickering fire in the temple, and there was smoke rising. He asked Cheng Yan, "General Cheng, we are tired after walking for most of the day. I see a dilapidated temple ahead. Why don't we go in and rest? What do you think, General Cheng?"
Cheng Yan had long been sidelined by Jin Deqiang, so he could only nod and say, "Eunuch Jin is right. I am also very tired. The weather is bad today, so it is okay to rest early. But this place is very remote, so we must not be careless. It would be better if we could ask someone to go ahead and investigate."
Jin Deqiang sneered when he heard this, thinking to himself: You are quite clever, but he teased: "General Cheng is a favorite of the Emperor, so I dare not send him. Since General Cheng wants someone to go and investigate, I will take the trouble to go first."
After that, Jin Deqiang called over a dozen of his trusted men, and without even saying hello, he urged his horse to gallop towards the Taoist temple, leaving Cheng Yan and more than a hundred unlucky people behind, pushing an extremely heavy prisoner cart slowly on the muddy road in the freezing wind and rain. (To be continued)