The emperor suddenly sent word to all the adult princes who had moved out of the palace to establish their own households. He said that last night he had a dream of the time when his late father was still alive, and the three generations of the imperial family gathered together joyfully. Now, however, he was left all alone, feeling very lonely, so he decided to hold a family banquet.
But it wasn’t any festival or special occasion—why hold a family banquet now?
Although several of the older princes had already set up their own households outside the palace, there were still many younger ones inside the palace. It didn’t make sense to say he was completely alone.
Everyone felt something was odd.
But when the emperor spoke, even if knives fell from the sky, one had to go.
Several princes met at the palace gate, exchanged glances, and cautiously probed each other. When they confirmed that each was equally puzzled, they felt a little calmer.
None of them knew the reason.
Could it really be a sudden whim of the emperor?
Before, who knew the emperor was the kind of person easily moved by emotions? Could it be that he had grown old?
Compared to the late emperor, who had become nearly mad in his old age, holding a family banquet was perfectly acceptable!
With their own suspicions in mind, they entered the palace and discovered that indeed, only their respective mothers and children were present, along with their princess wives, consorts, and a few grandchildren who were already old enough to understand matters.
There were no outsiders.
The empress dowager did not come.
It was said she had caught a chill the previous day and was unfit to attend.
The emperor seemed to be in a good mood, asking married princes about their family affairs one by one, and the unmarried ones about their studies. Several princes who were usually not favored felt flattered and deeply moved.
After several rounds of wine, everyone relaxed. Suddenly, the emperor started asking each prince about their official duties, beginning with the eldest prince.
Once the princes grew older, they generally rotated through various government departments. This served two purposes: to make themselves known around the various offices and to identify their personal strengths for future assignments.
Even if the emperor didn’t ask, the princes would occasionally submit memorials to report on their work—nothing unusual there.
The princes didn’t think much of it at first, but as they listened, they noticed the emperor’s questions becoming increasingly sharp.
Those in the Ministry of Rites were asked how many foreign envoys had been received by the court that year, who they were, where they had visited, and how many banquets had been held.
Those in the Ministry of Personnel were asked about the newly selected jinshi graduates from this year’s palace examination, which offices they were assigned to, how they were performing, and which individuals showed potential for greater responsibilities.
Those in the Ministry of Revenue were questioned about the amount of taxes collected from various regions that year, the number of droughts and floods, and the expenditures on relief grain and funds for disaster-stricken areas…
And no flattery or empty talk was allowed.
Nowadays, the country was at peace, with occasional natural disasters. Most princes who went to government offices merely put on a show.
Building connections was real, but who actually did official work anymore!
Those who paid attention might know the general situation, so when the emperor asked questions at first, they could still manage the answers for the first few rounds. But later…
Take the eldest prince who worked in the Ministry of Revenue, for example. When asked about annual tax revenues and expenditures, he answered fluently.
But when pressed further about which specific expenditures corresponded to which regions, who the officials sent to handle the matters were, why they were chosen, and whether the relief had actually reached the people, he began to falter.
He usually just showed up at work in the morning, asked officials about their personal affairs and preferences, and then attended banquets and social gatherings after work.
Whenever there was official business, various officials would coordinate and handle it… why should he know so much!
The eldest prince could no longer maintain his smile.
In the cold winter, he was sweating profusely from anxiety.
His mother wanted to intercede on his behalf, but before she could even speak, the emperor cast a light glance her way, making her heart and guts tremble, so she gave up.
Only the fifth prince, born with weak health and seemingly uninterested in the throne, was more diligent in his duties compared to his older brothers. When he finally couldn’t answer, he knelt down honestly.
“Your son is foolish and begs Your Majesty to punish me.”
The emperor sighed. Seeing that the fifth prince’s mother and the fifth princess were also visibly frightened, he waved his hand, “Stand up.”
At least there was one honest child, so as a father, he wasn’t a complete failure.
He knew the fifth prince had the least ambition, which was why he had assigned him to the Ministry of Personnel.
If the fifth prince had been there for only two years and could immediately answer any question about the movements of any jinshi or official, that would be truly alarming.
At this point, everyone realized something was wrong.
This wasn’t a family banquet—it was just an excuse to gather everyone and scold them all together!
The emperor looked at his sons, but did not name anyone specifically, “I heard you all are very close to your third uncle.”
The princes’ hearts nearly jumped out of their chests.
They wanted to admit fault, yet dared not:
The emperor hadn’t named anyone—was this a sign that he wouldn’t punish everyone? If they confessed on their own, wouldn’t that be admitting guilt?
Earlier, when Prince Su’s mansion was surrounded, they had felt uneasy, but afterward, everything seemed calm again, so they harbored hope that maybe the emperor only wanted to deal with Prince Su’s branch of the family.
But now…
The emperor, sitting high above, saw every small movement.
He didn’t scold them.
Not only did he not scold, he even smiled, “This is very good—after all, we are all flesh and blood…”
The more he smiled like this, the more frightened they became.
Family ties… in the imperial family, who wasn’t related by blood?
Yet when it came down to it, no one was spared.
A few days ago, Prince Shun died, and Princess Shouyang’s funeral was so low-key—everyone knew the reason.
Weren’t they the emperor’s siblings?
Yet they couldn’t be trusted!
Finally, the emperor removed the eldest, second, and third princes from their posts, ordering them to stay at home and reflect on their mistakes. The fourth and fifth princes also received reprimands.
Several princesses were also warned, urging their maternal families to behave.
Two unworthy imperial sons-in-law were also implicitly criticized, their hands trembling beneath the table.
It was acceptable for imperial princesses to keep male companions.
But you, a son-in-law living in the palace, dared to keep concubines—asking for death!
Moreover, because of the previous incident with Princess Shouyang, the emperor dared not relax his vigilance over his daughters and took the opportunity to admonish them all.
In the past, Princess Shouyang had helped Prince Shun block his path, while Princess Ningde had helped him ascend the throne. As long as they wanted to, these daughters could certainly stir up trouble again.
He never truly underestimated the power of women.
“Eat the food provided by the court, and serve the court properly!” The emperor coldly scanned the row of sons and daughters bowing their heads, “Before your wings are fully grown, you think you can fly around recklessly? Stop all your scheming and calculations—don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking!”
The banquet became deathly silent. After a brief silence, everyone cried out in unison, “We dare not!”
The emperor chuckled coldly, “You dare! You dare a lot! If you don’t speak up now, just wait and see.”
Needless to say, the married princes already knew this, but even the younger princes who hadn’t yet married had their own thoughts.
But who had ever experienced this before!
Watching their older brothers, who had been arrogant and powerful in the morning, suddenly stripped of their positions, they felt as if doused with a bucket of icy water, chilled to the bone. In an instant, all their hidden thoughts were suppressed. House arrest…
The emperor didn’t specify a time limit.
Did this mean that if the emperor forgot about them later, their older brothers would be finished for life?
At this family banquet, barely a few bites of food were eaten, yet several princes and imperial grandchildren fell ill from fright.
This wasn’t all.
That very night, as soon as the princes, princesses, and their families entered the palace, the city of Kaifeng was placed under martial law. A naval unit, which had remained inactive for years, quietly dispatched a fleet through the Shangshan Water Gate heading south, leaving the city.
Meanwhile.
When the companions met with Xiao Huang, they almost didn’t recognize him.
After more than half a month of living outdoors, hiding and fleeing, he truly looked no different from a beggar:
His clothes were torn and tattered, impossible to identify their original color. He was sunburnt to a dark brown, thin and dry. With every gust of wind, his clothes flapped like paper, his body withered.
One of the two companions went back first to report, while the other stayed with Xiao Huang.
With someone to take over the watch, Xiao Huang finally got to sleep.
However, that very afternoon, the two noticed several boats delivering goods to the large ship multiple times.
Xiao Huang said something was wrong. Although supplies were occasionally delivered before, never this much. Moreover, those goods weren’t brought from the city, but purchased locally.
The two exchanged glances. Could it be—they’re planning to flee!
They were anxious but helpless. They couldn’t possibly jump into the water and try to stop the ship alone.
What’s more, with such a massive vessel, even if they crashed into it, they’d be smashed to pieces!
Fortunately, just as dusk approached, a commotion suddenly broke out near the city gate section of the river.
Xiao Huang and others looked up and saw that the various boats waiting to enter the city quickly moved aside. In the middle of the river, a fleet with “Kaifeng Naval Forces” lanterns rapidly surged forward.
The large ship had armored bow, cannons on all sides of the deck, and a row of fully armored soldiers standing along the deck, riding the waves and coming swiftly.
Not only young men like Xiao Huang, even experienced sailors like Old Qian, who had spent years on the water, had never seen such a sight.
“Something big must’ve happened…” Old Qian exhaled a puff of smoke, watching along with the crowd on the deck.
Some young sailors turned pale with fear, so Old Qian scolded with a laugh, “Pathetic little brats, if you haven’t done anything wrong, what are you afraid of? Just watch. You might never get to see such a big spectacle in your entire life.”
Actually, the status of the Kaifeng Naval Forces had always been awkward.
If you didn’t establish it, considering the many waterways around Kaifeng, without someone to maintain order, chaos would ensue.
But if you did establish it, there were rarely major incidents, and no battles to fight in the central plains.
The real naval forces were stationed along the southeastern coast. Mentioning the Kaifeng Naval Forces was almost like a joke.
But even if it was “just a joke,” it was something only fellow naval personnel dared to say. Civilians would never dare!
After all, it was the imperial navy. Even the ships were of the finest quality, at great expense, and they practiced regularly.
Perhaps the Kaifeng Naval Forces couldn’t directly confront enemies in battle, but they were more than capable of crushing any civilian forces!
Several navy ships sailed swiftly downstream, instantly surrounding the three-story tall ship.
Several signalmen flashed a series of lamp signals, fired a symbolic warning shot, and the opposing ship immediately raised a white flag.
The navy deployed a gangplank, boarded the ship, and conducted a search. They found many fresh vegetables, fruits, rice, grain, and treasures, but the people on board were clearly insufficient:
Only four women, dressed as maids.
After the search, a middle-aged man in his thirties approached calmly and asked, “May I ask what the problem is?”
His attendant produced travel documents. The documents showed the man’s name as Yu Yin, a businessman from Jiangnan.
The four women on the ship were his maids.
The documents were genuine, with official seals from various locations, but the commander of this operation, General Sun, didn’t believe it.
“If you’re a businessman, why aren’t you doing business? Why are you lingering here?”
Yu Yin only smiled, “Kaifeng is the capital of the nation, so prosperous. It’s rare for me to come here once, naturally I’m reluctant to leave so soon.”
When the navy fired a cannon, they indeed panicked a bit, but after the navy boarded the ship, they calmed down.
General Sun: “Nonsense! Let me ask you, are there only these people on the ship? Along the way, there are towns and cities with supplies. Why so much rice and firewood?”
Yu Yin replied, “As the New Year approaches, I’ve been away for a long time, and it’s time to return home. Now that I’m eager to go back, I don’t want to waste time on the road, so I prepared extra supplies. Is that against the law?”
“Have you only been looking at the scenery along the way?”
“Of course, I also went into the city to take a look.”
“Other than you people, has anyone else come aboard?”
“A few chance acquaintances met briefly, bonded for a while, and then parted ways.”
“Chance acquaintances, met briefly and then parted ways…” This kind of answer left a lot of room. Even if General Sun wanted to arrest someone to question, he had no way to do so.
Clearly, this was a very cunning person.
General Sun placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and circled around him a few times, “But I heard from people on nearby boats that they saw lights burning all night on this ship, heard people partying all night, and even heard women crying.”
The man remained calm, “Probably a misunderstanding. I’d like to know who said that. I’m willing to confront them.”
He was very confident. This ship usually anchored in secluded areas far from Kaifeng at night. Even if there were cries, no one would hear them.
General Sun was straightforward and not good at verbal sparring. Hearing this, he became somewhat annoyed and directly raised his hand, “If that’s the case, then arrest everyone and bring them back for further investigation!”
After temporarily detaining Yu Yin and others below deck, a subordinate approached General Sun and asked, “Chief, could we have made a mistake? We didn’t find anyone.”
According to the instructions from above, this ship was supposed to be a moving den of thieves, a hidden place for illicit activities.
But without catching the act red-handed, without evidence, it would be difficult to explain later.
General Sun was around forty years old, slightly bald, making his forehead look particularly large. Under the firelight at night, it gleamed.
He habitually patted his forehead and sneered, “Impossible! I can smell the stench through the skin! There’s definitely something fishy going on!”
After working in this field for so many years, he had seen many old and new foxes. With just a glance, he could usually tell if someone was hiding something.
This ship indeed looked normal, but Yu Yin claimed to be a merchant—that was a big loophole!
Because this damn well wasn’t a cargo ship!
Moreover, according to his household registration, coming from the south to do business, a round trip would take at least half a year. After selling their goods, few merchants would return empty-handed. They would usually buy some goods from Kaifeng that weren’t available in the south to sell back home for another profit.
Even if they didn’t do that, surely they had relatives or friends?
Yu Yin himself said “rarely come here,” so an ordinary person would definitely buy some local specialties and souvenirs to give to friends and relatives when returning.
But this ship was too clean. It was suspiciously clean.
Besides Yu Yin’s group and an excessive amount of rice, flour, fruits, vegetables, and fresh water, there was absolutely nothing that belonged to Kaifeng!
Wasn’t that very suspicious?
Of course, Yu Yin could say he was wealthy and just using the guise of business to indulge and enjoy himself. But since he came all the way here, why not indulge in the city?
Was the river outside the city more refined than the city itself?
Moreover, Yu Yin was too calm.
Too calm to be a legitimate businessman.
To put it bluntly, he wasn’t smooth-talking or fearful enough.
Since ancient times, commoners didn’t confront officials, and merchants were even lower in status. Any legitimate businessman encountering today’s situation, even if not panicking, would certainly approach proactively to inquire and resolve the issue.
But Yu Yin did nothing.
He neither tried to ingratiate himself nor asked the reason, as if he knew he would definitely be fine.
Or rather, he knew the authorities couldn’t do anything to him.
Why was he so confident?
Was it because someone would protect him?
Or because he was confident in his own thoroughness in covering his tracks?
The more it seemed there were no loopholes, the more loopholes there were!
But what the subordinate said was also true—this time, they didn’t find anyone. It would indeed be difficult to explain.
General Sun thought for a moment, “Didn’t someone mention a boy who came to report, named Huang or something?”
The subordinate promptly corrected him, “It’s Xiao Huang. He should be on shore now.”
“Approach the shore, go ask him.” General Sun gave the order.
Shortly after, most of the naval ships escorted the intercepted black ship back to Kaifeng, while General Sun took a group on another ship to the shore. Following the location reported by the earlier messenger, they found Xiao Huang.
“What, there’s no one on the ship!” Xiao Huang exclaimed in surprise, “Impossible!”
Not long ago, he had personally seen a cart delivering many exquisite fruits and vegetables to the ship. Judging by the quantity, it was definitely not for one person’s use. How could there be no one on board?
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