When Chen Jingzong and other vanguard troops were escorting Prince Yu, Guo Jixian and a group of surrendered soldiers to retreat out of the mountain, they encountered the army led by Ling Rucheng halfway.
The rebellion was finally over and morale was high.
However, the Jinwu Vanguard and Kaizhou Guard suffered heavy losses, especially the Jinwu Vanguard, which was almost wiped out. Qi Jin was also seriously injured, so Ling Rucheng would have to spend some time to comfort him.
It was not until nightfall that the army set up camp in a valley. After dinner, Ling Rucheng finally had some time alone.
He stayed alone for nearly an hour before he took advantage of the darkness and ordered his trusted guards to secretly summon Chen Jingzong to see him.
There was only one red candle in the commander's tent, which was only half burned out.
When Chen Jingzong came in, he found that Ling Rucheng was the only one in the tent. The fifty-year-old commander had taken off his armor and was only wearing an extremely simple dark robe.
Seeing Chen Jingzong, Ling Rucheng waved his hand, motioning the young prince consort to sit next to him.
Chen Jingzong sat over.
Ling Rucheng pointed at the two bowls of wine on the low table and said, "We are old now and can't drink too much. Let's just drink these two bowls slowly while we chat."
He was a Jinshi (Jinshi) graduate, and had the elegance of a civil servant, which was not obvious when he was wearing armor. At this moment, he was wearing a long robe and spoke in a casual tone, looking more like an approachable elder.
Chen Jingzong nodded, picked up the wine bowl and took a sip.
The candlelight illuminated his young and handsome face.
Ling Rucheng and Chen Tingjian were both Jinshi in the same class. Ling Rucheng had known Chen Tingjian long before Chen Tingjian could only look up to other high-ranking officials. Therefore, Ling Rucheng easily found the shadow of the Prime Minister when he was young in Chen Jingzong's face.
Chen Tingjian had a kind of awe-inspiring righteousness. Even when he had to keep a low profile, Chen Tingjian remained neither humble nor arrogant.
Ling Rucheng felt that although Chen Jingzong was more flamboyant, the righteousness of both father and son was the same.
"The elder and I are old friends. How about I just call you Silang tonight?" Ling Rucheng asked with a smile.
Chen Jingzong: "It is an honor for us old men to be friends with a hero like you."
If tonight's secret conversation was not meant to be made public, Ling Rucheng would have laughed out loud three times just based on Chen Jingzong's words.
"Don't say that, Silang. I can only lead troops. In terms of strategic planning and ability to assist the country, I am far inferior to you, Lord."
Chen Jingzong: "Forget it, let's not talk about him."
Ling Rucheng nodded, stopped smiling, looked at Chen Jingzong and said, "You said earlier that the rebels had captured a scout and learned from the scout that you would pass by Baiheling, so they sent troops to ambush you in advance. I have checked, and the captured scout is named Wang San, and he is the scout I sent out to monitor the Jinwu vanguard according to your instructions."
Chen Jingzong: "Wang San should have been captured last night, so the rebels had time to arrange an ambush. But Wang San has been following the Jinwu Vanguard, which is more secretive than the 5,000 men. It doesn't make sense that the rebels found the scouts but not the Jinwu Vanguard, and instead had to wait until this morning to attack the Jinwu Vanguard."
Ling Rucheng: "Perhaps the rebels discovered the Jinwu vanguard and the scouts at the same time, and guessed that there were other vanguards, so they deliberately captured a scout first. When they found out that you had also entered the mountain, they would of course capture you, the prince consort, alive first. If they deal with the Jinwu vanguard or other vanguards first, and alert you to your defense, wouldn't that be a loss of the greater for the lesser?"
Chen Jingzong pursed his lips.
Ling Rucheng: "How do you explain why you guessed that the rebels would have an ambush, and why you suspected that the eight vanguard armies might be colluding with the enemy?"
Chen Jingzong: "I'm just being overly cautious, just in case."
Ling Rucheng: "But in the end, you and the Jiyang Guards made great contributions, but the Jinwu Vanguards were almost wiped out. The Jinwu Vanguards, as the biggest victims, have the most reason to suspect that someone is colluding with the enemy. At this time, if the Jinwu Vanguards knew that the captured scout was someone I sent to follow them, who do you think they would suspect?"
Chen Jingzong frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "They will suspect that you deliberately induced the rebels to ambush me at Baihe Ridge, and then told me to be on guard in advance, deliberately giving me the opportunity to make merit, because you and the old man are old friends. You did this either because you are willing to take care of me, or because the old man asked you to. At the same time, they will also suspect that you deliberately let the scouts reveal the route of the Jinwu Vanguard, so that you can use the rebels to get rid of Qi Jin, the only nephew of Empress Dowager Qi's family who can serve the emperor. Of course, this must be the old man who instructed you to do it."
Ling Rucheng looked heavy-hearted: "That's right. This matter is too serious. If we don't handle it well, even if the court suppresses Prince Yu's rebellion, there will be a bloody storm in the court."
Chen Jingzong lowered his eyes: "I was too rash and handed the handle to the other party."
Ling Rucheng shook his head, looked at him and said, "It has nothing to do with you. It's just that the person behind this is too vicious."
Chen Jingzong: "Do you have any suspects?"
Ling Rucheng: "First, when I arranged the eight scouts, I only told them the route of the vanguard army they were to monitor. If Wang San followed the Jiyang Guard, he might have stumbled upon the traces of the Daxing Left Guard, but he followed the Jinwu Vanguard, so it was impossible for him to run into the Daxing Left Guard. Even if Wang San was tortured into confessing, he could only reveal the route of the Jinwu Vanguard."
Ling Rucheng: "According to the reports from the scouts monitoring Kaizhou Guard, there was no unusual movement during the entire process. The traitor must be among the Jinwu Vanguard, either Qi Jin, or someone under Qi Jin's command who found out the marching routes of the eight vanguard armies. Last night, that person went to tip off the rebels and most likely discovered Wang San following them on the road, so he killed Wang San to silence him and then temporarily exposed the route of the Jinwu Vanguard to clear the Jinwu Vanguard's suspicion."
Chen Jingzong was silent.
Ling Rucheng: "Have you ever thought about why the person hiding in the Jinwu Vanguard wanted to frame you?"
Chen Jingzong certainly thought that Qi Jin coveted Huayang. If he got rid of him, Huayang would become a widow and Qi Jin would have a chance.
But Huayang has been married to him for four years, and has had almost no contact with Qi Jin during this period. Who would believe that Qi Jin would disregard the lives of thousands of soldiers for a little bit of love
Ling Rucheng didn't think about it at all. He said worriedly, "I'm afraid that the real target of that person is the Lord. They want to capture you alive and threaten the Lord with your life. If the Lord withdraws his troops for your life, the entire Chen family will become the target of public criticism. If the Lord abandons you, and the old man personally ruins his son's life, will he still have the energy to continue his reforms?"
Chen Jingzong looked at the dancing flames on the table.
Qi Jin wanted him dead, and the rebels arranged an ambush in order to threaten the old man.
But even if Chen Jingzong died in battle, he would never give the rebels the opportunity to take him hostage.
Ling Rucheng has explained the situation clearly. Looking at Chen Jingzong who has been silent for a long time, he sighed and said quietly, "If it is revealed that we arranged scouts to monitor the eight vanguard armies and the Jinwu Vanguard is full of doubts, and the remaining 324 Jinwu Vanguards are handed over to the Queen Mother, the Emperor, or even the court for interrogation, then the culprit behind the scenes and those ministers in the court who are eyeing the cabinet tiger will definitely take the opportunity to slander the cabinet elder and frame him for conspiring with me to get rid of Qi Jin and control the young emperor to monopolize power."
"Silang, there are many great generals in the court, and I am not afraid of retiring or being thrown into prison. But in several generations of our dynasty, there has only been one great sage who dared to confront the entire corrupt bureaucracy, your father. You and I cannot put the elder in danger just for the sake of a momentary emotion."
Chen Jingzong understood: "How do you plan to end this?"
Ling Rucheng: "Just say that my Anchu scouts went into the mountains to search for the rebels' hiding place. Unfortunately, Wang San was captured by the rebels and revealed the whereabouts of the Daxing Left Guard. I have already told the other seven scouts. They are all reliable people. I dare not say anything wrong. Otherwise, if they are really investigated, they will not be able to escape suspicion. No one knows whether they have really been following the vanguard army."
"You met the Jiyang Guard by chance, and because you were careful enough, you were able to break the rebels' ambush. The Jinwu Vanguard was unfortunately besieged because they were too close to the rebels."
"In this case, let's let the Jinwu Vanguard go first. He will be guilty and will not dare to expose his suspicion of framing the Daxing Left Guard."
"Guo Jixian couldn't possibly know who secretly passed the information to them. Besides, the confessions of the rebel generals and other rebels you captured were all about Guo Jixian and King Jing capturing a scout that night. Even if Guo Jixian changed his statement temporarily, it would only be regarded as a false accusation."
"Shiro, in order to maintain the overall stability, we can only bear with it for now."
From beginning to end, Ling Rucheng never said who specifically he suspected from the Jinwu Vanguard, which showed that he didn't want to get too involved at all.
Chen Jingzong could understand.
Even if he knew it was Qi Jin, he simply did not have enough evidence. If he insisted on bringing out the evidence that could not convict Qi Jin, Qi Jin could still turn around and frame Ling Rucheng for colluding with the old man to murder Empress Dowager Qi's family.
This matter has to end here. He can only wait for Qi Jin to make a move next time and catch the culprit red-handed.
As for Huayang, there was no hard evidence at all. How could he point out Qi Jin to her? There were still more than 300 Jinwu vanguards alive. All of them were suspects, not just Qi Jin.
Even though Huayang believed that Qi Jin loved her, loved her so much that he would even betray the court, and loved her so much that he wanted to use the rebels to kill her husband and the entire Daxing Left Guard, and later, in order to get rid of his contempt, Qi Jin even used the 5,000 soldiers of the Jinwu Vanguard who had followed him through thick and thin, and watched them die in vain at the hands of the rebels, Chen Jingzong did not want her to know about this.
He was afraid that Huayang would attribute the cause of his and Daxing Zuowei's death in the dream to her, and he was afraid that Huayang would take the blame for the death of 4,700 soldiers of the Jinwu Vanguard.
She is a princess, proud enough, but also soft-hearted, which is rare among other royal relatives.
But she doesn't need to blame herself. This has nothing to do with her. It's all due to Qi Jin's evil ambitions.
In addition, Chen Jingzong was even more afraid that Huayang would confront Qi Jin or complain to Empress Dowager Qi because he trusted him too much. Even if Huayang only hinted to Empress Dowager Qi or the young emperor to distance themselves from Qi Jin, such an inexplicable and strange behavior would arouse Empress Dowager Qi's suspicion.
Empress Dowager Qi married her daughter in order to win over the Chen family. Once Huayang turned against her mother's family for the sake of the Chen family, Empress Dowager Qi would suspect that her daughter had been bewitched by the Chen family and was foolishly turning her elbow outward.
Since ancient times, married daughters have been in a dilemma.
She had already lost her father, and Chen Jingzong couldn't let her be saddened by her mother again.
(End of this chapter)