Qiu Yizhi saw the lonely expression on the madam's face and knew that the emperor's death and the suspension of all entertainment in the capital would undoubtedly ruin her business. However, this matter was really insignificant in Qiu Yizhi's eyes, so he had no time to pay attention to it. He whispered a few words to Yiran, packed up his belongings, and rushed back to Siyi Pavilion without stopping.
After returning to the Siyi Pavilion, the three of them were all awake, so they lit up the lamps to discuss countermeasures.
Although it was called a discussion, there was actually no room for negotiation. Qiu Yizhi undoubtedly wanted to do his best to protect his adoptive father, the Prince of Youyan, and the rise and fall of the Bohai Kingdom was closely tied to the Prince of Youyan's Palace. Therefore, the only solution now was to contact the Prince of Youyan as soon as possible and persuade him not to go to Beijing immediately to attend the funeral, but to wait and see how the situation developed before making a long-term plan.
The three of them were so unanimous in their opinions that they decided on a plan after just a few words: the next morning, they would leave Luoyang, a dangerous place, on the pretext that the envoy of Bohai Kingdom was leaving the capital to mourn the late emperor, and then immediately rush to Guangyang to meet with Prince Youyan before he entered the capital.
The plan was finalized, and the three of them said good night to each other and went back to their rooms to rest.
Qiu Yizhi knew that the next day would be very tiring, and he should rest and recuperate tonight, but he could not fall asleep due to his surging emotions, and only closed his eyes in the second half of the night. But he had not slept for two hours when he was awakened by the rustling sound outside the door. He slipped on his shoes and looked out the window, and saw Yelu directing the packing of luggage.
Seeing this, Qiu Yizi thought that she would not be able to fall asleep that day, so she simply got up, washed up, and helped Ye Lu pack his luggage.
When the group was ready, they heard drum sounds in the distance - it was Chenpai time, and the gates of Luoyang city were opened, allowing people inside and outside to come in and out to do business.
Siyi Hall is located in the northwest of Luoyang. Although it is slightly closer to Helu Gate, one has to cross half of Luoyang City from the front of the imperial palace, exit the city from Jianchun Gate and return to Youyan Road.
Qiu Yizhi walked along the way and saw that every household in Luoyang had set up incense tables, lit white candles, and hung spirit flags at the door. Some wealthy families had already removed the big red lanterns and replaced them with white paper lanterns. Even the vermilion gates and pillars were painted black overnight. Looking far into the imperial city, the red walls and golden tiles were covered with black and white screens, which looked extremely solemn in the mist. The entire capital of Luoyang had turned into a world of black and white.
The group walked to Jianchun Gate and saw that although not many people were leaving the city, there was a queue of over a hundred people. However, no one in the queue was whispering to each other. It was very quiet, even more depressing than the atmosphere when Qiu Yizi first arrived in Luoyang and the Quanshan Division was committing crimes.
Before long, the Bohai envoys had lined up at the gate of Jianchun. The soldiers in charge of the inspection had changed into plain robes, and the red tassels on their hats were covered with black cloth - eating the emperor's food and wearing mourning clothes for the emperor were also part of the topic - carefully checking the identities of the people leaving the city and the items they were carrying.
Yiran, Yelu and the members of the Bohai Kingdom delegation all carried with them the pass documents issued by the Ministry of Rites. The gatekeepers checked them repeatedly and found that the documents matched the individuals one by one. No problems could be found, so they let them leave the city.
Unfortunately, Qiu Yizi was a fake interpreter and could not produce any identification documents, so he was stopped in the city by the leading officer.
Qiu Yizhi and Yiran had already discussed this matter when they first met, so he evaded the question by saying, "I am Quan Budong, a Korean who drifted to Bohai. Because I can speak both Chinese and Bohai, I was hired as an interpreter by the Bohai people. Therefore, I am not originally a Han citizen, and I have no identity certificate, let alone any documents to be an interpreter."
The officer nodded and said, "I am following the orders from above. The late emperor has passed away and the whole city is under martial law. No suspicious persons are allowed to enter or leave. Although your explanation is reasonable, I believe it, but the superiors may not. I'd better trouble you to go back and wait for the superiors to say that you can leave before you leave the city."
The gatekeeper was obviously an old hand, accustomed to dealing with all kinds of people with incomplete identities who wanted to get away with it, and with just a few words, neither soft nor harsh, he made Qiu Yizi lose all his temper.
Yelu, who had already left the city gate, turned back and pretended to speak Chinese unfluently. He said to the official in a very stiff manner: "He, Quan Budong, is Bohai's interpreter. He wants to go with Bohai! Do you understand?"
The official smiled and gave a soft rejection: "This envoy from Bohai is indeed well educated in the Central Plains and speaks fluent Chinese. However, Bohai has its own rules, and the Central Plains has its own laws. I hope this envoy will forgive me... You see, there are many people queuing up behind, and everyone has urgent matters. I hope this envoy will not say any more and delay everyone's business."
Yelu heard that although he was being polite, he had no room for hesitation. He could only take out a thumb-sized gold brick from his sleeve and handed it to the officer, saying, "We are leaving now. If you are late, you will be beheaded. Please be flexible, please be flexible."
The official was very honest. He did not reach out to take it. Instead, he stepped back and said, "Please don't do this, envoy. If it were normal times, I could give you some leeway, but now is a period of national mourning. If something goes wrong with me, I will still be beheaded. Please understand, envoy, and don't make it difficult for me."
Seeing that the official's answers were very appropriate, Qiu Yizi thought that there was only one strategy that could be used, so he sent Ye Lu out of the city. Seeing that he had gone far away, he pulled the unmoved official to a secluded corner.
Before Qiu Yizi could speak, the official sternly rebuked him, "I have just made my point very clear, why are you still bothering me? I'm telling you, Jingzhao Prefecture has just released a group of prisoners, and the jail is empty. Do you want to go in and sit down?"
After hearing this, Qiu Yizhi felt a little admiration for this lowly official. He did not get angry at all and asked, "Since my identity is unknown and my behavior is suspicious, how was I able to enter Luoyang City in the first place? Has your Excellency ever thought about this?"
Without thinking, the officer said, "It was probably because the gatekeeper neglected his duty, or accepted your bribe, so he let you in with a blind eye."
Qiu Yizi smiled and said, "This gentleman is indeed well versed in the ways of the officialdom, but he did not guess the answer correctly." As he spoke, he took out a wooden sign from his bosom and said to the official, "Look, what is this?"
The official took a closer look and saw three large characters "Quanshansi" engraved on the plain wooden sign - this was seized from the dead eunuch of Quanshansi a few days ago by Qiu Yizhi. The official was shocked and said hurriedly: "It turns out that you are the superior of Quanshansi. I am really disrespectful." Then he bowed deeply to Qiu Yizhi.
Qiu Yizhi quickly reached out and helped him up and said, "I was ordered by my superiors to work in the Bohai Mission. I am also working for the court. I just changed the government office. There is no difference between me and this gentleman. Why should I be so polite?"
The official said, "Your company was originally a subordinate of the great eunuch Wang Zhonghai. You are not afraid of being offended by your superiors. I originally looked down on you. However, since Wang Zhonghai died, the Ministry of Persuasion has been taken over by the second son of the emperor. Now the second son of the emperor is about to inherit the throne. As the saying goes, a legitimate name makes perfect. Your company is now the first force in front of the emperor. Therefore, how dare I be disrespectful?"
Qiu Yizi didn't expect that this little official had such a plan in mind, so he smiled and said, "This lord is really insightful. Even I didn't think of this! Oh, may I ask your name, lord?"
"I dare not. My name is Wang Bin. If you have any matters in the future, just tell me." The officer replied.
"Yes! I've made a note of it." Qiu Yizi pretended to be arrogant. "The situation is urgent now. If we talk here for too long, those barbarians may get suspicious. Can you let me leave the city?"
"Of course, of course." Wang Bin said repeatedly, "If you are successful in the future, please don't forget to take care of me. I will benefit from it throughout my life." When he said this, Wang Bin's eyes were already filled with greed.
Only then did Qiu Yizi realize that this minor official named Wang Bin actually had other ambitions in his heart. He did not care about a few taels of gold. What he had in mind was promotion, wealth, and even the plan of leaving a name in history - perhaps this person would be of more use in the future.
Thinking of this, Qiu Yizi nodded subconsciously, said a few more humble words to Wang Bin, and then walked out of Jianchun Gate.
Yiran and Yelu were waiting for him outside the door. Seeing Qiu Yizi coming out safely, they hurried forward to ask about the situation.
Qiu Yizi did not tell them that he was carrying the badge of the commander of persuading people to do good deeds. He just said that the official was a minor official from the Ministry of Rites, who happened to be under the jurisdiction of Ye Qinghan, the head of the Ministry of Rites, whom he met in Xiaoxiang Pavilion yesterday. He was ordered by Lord Ye to prepare for the Bohai Kingdom to come to Beijing to pay condolences. If he missed the trip, it would be a heinous crime. Only then did he let him go.
Before Yiran and Yelu could raise any doubts, Qiu Yizhi immediately said, "The current situation is extremely critical. We must rush back to Guangyang to meet with Prince Youyan immediately. We cannot hesitate any longer."
After hearing this, Yiran and Yelu realized that the situation was urgent and could not be delayed, so they urged their men to set off quickly.
After the group had walked a few steps, Qiu Yizi saw a familiar figure riding a horse galloping towards him from afar. When the man came closer, he finally recognized that he was none other than Zhao Chengxiao, whom he had sent to Guangyang City to report the news a few days ago.
Zhao Chengxiao also recognized Qiu Yizi from afar, and rode up to him, dismounted and handed him a letter, saying with a smile, "I didn't expect that His Highness was so anxious and has already set off to return to Guangyang." He also saw Yiran and Yelu following behind him, and greeted them, "Oh, isn't this the Princess and Brother Yelu? How are you?"
Qiu Yizhi didn't know what was happening in the capital from what Zhao Chengxiao said, and didn't explain it to him. He took the letter, opened it, and calculated in his mind: I asked Zhao Chengxiao to go back to Guangyang eight days ago through Yuchi Lianghong. He traveled back and forth non-stop, and probably didn't even have a good night's sleep. He could only go back and forth between Luoyang and Guangyang in less than ten days. He looked at his beloved Ferghana horse, which had run thousands of miles in the past half month and had indeed lost two circles of weight. He felt a little distressed.
However, the reply from Prince Youyan was still about the countermeasures after Wang Zhonghai's death. It was nothing more than asking him to be cautious in his actions, to discuss everything with the old Prime Minister Yang Yuanzhi, and to find opportunities to have more contact with the eldest prince Zheng Chang to strengthen his relationship with the Prince of Youyan's Palace.
However, the sudden death of the emperor caused the situation to change beyond the expectations of everyone, including Qiu Yizi, Zhongli Kuang, and Youyan King Zheng Rong. Every word written in the reply letter now seems to be nonsense.
Qiu Yizhi hurriedly read his adoptive father's reply, folded the letter and put it back into the envelope, then asked Zhao Chengxiao, "Brother Zhao, you have been running around for eight days, right? Is your body still able to bear it?"
Zhao Chengxiao smiled and stretched his muscles after hearing this, saying, "Your Highness, now that you mention this, I really feel tired and uncomfortable. Now I just want to have a good meal and a good sleep..."
Qiu Yizi said, "But now is not the time to rest. I was just about to ask Brother Zhao to go to Guangyang with me. What do you think?" (To be continued)