Chapter 475 — Sudden Illumination

Among all the people Song Yan knew, no one understood Liang Jifen better than Dou Bingheng, who was both his colleague and his rival; and in terms of breadth of vision, no one saw deeper or knew more than Dou Bingheng. So when Song Yan met with Dou Bingheng, he did not conceal his purpose, and told him everything that had once befallen the Duke of Dingguo.

Dou Bingheng had not expected that Song Chuzhi had never given up on clearing the Duke of Dingguo's name.

A great man stands in the world and knows what he should do and what he should not.

There was a new measure of admiration in the way he looked at Song Yan.

But to pit himself against Liang Jifen over a private grudge...

Never underestimate a young man!

Dou Bingheng gazed at the spirited Song Yan and, holding his teacup, was silent a long while before he said with resolve, "From what I know of him, Liang Jifen was a timid, cautious man. He had only just taken over the Grand Secretariat then, with Zeng Yifen's lingering authority behind him, Ye Shipei's dominance at his back, and Yao Shizhong and Dai Jian watching him on either side. His first order of business was to secure his footing. And to do that, divining the Emperor's will came first. Even if he were small-minded enough to wish the Duke of Dingguo harm, how would he dare defy all under heaven and go against the Emperor's wishes?"

Song Yan's eyes lit up. "You mean someone else tampered with things along the way?"

Dou Bingheng nodded and said gravely, "Since the Emperor regretted the Duke of Dingguo's death, and has favored you so greatly because of it, then by all rights, when the Duke of Dingguo died by accident, the Emperor should have treated the Jiang family kindly. Yet in the end the Duke's death did not win His Majesty any peace of mind. You can see the Emperor was in a fury and had not the slightest intention of pardoning the Jiang family — your several uncles were thrown into the Imperial Prison the moment they entered the capital.

"But that feint of yours was well played — by slandering the Duke of Dingguo, you made the Emperor think he had lost the people's hearts, and only then did the Emperor show leniency when he dealt with the Jiang family: men over five were exiled, men under five, along with the women and children, were reduced to commoners, and the Jiangs' ancestral home — a roof against wind and rain — was left to them. Afterwards he sent Wang Yuan to settle scores with those who had taken part in the plot against the Duke. By then the Emperor must surely have realized he had been wrong, and wanted to make some amends to the Duke of Dingguo.

"But who stoked the Emperor's wrath? And what was it that brought him to his senses?

"By your inference, the Emperor meant for the Duke of Dingguo to assist the Crown Prince after his own passing. Even so, the Emperor could not have handed the Crown Prince over to a single minister; for what came after him he must have had other arrangements as well. So why did things go wrong with the Duke of Dingguo alone?

"And then there is Ding Wei. He is a man with no roots of his own; all his honor and disgrace hang upon the Emperor. That he could become a favorite at the Emperor's side — I do not know what other talents he had, but in reading faces he was surely without peer. How would he dare murder the man the Emperor had entrusted with his son?"

At these words Song Yan suddenly felt as though a door had been thrown open in his mind.

He said, "The matter of the Prince of Liao — it was I who had Boyan tell you."

There was no point in hiding things any longer. If his concealment led Dou Bingheng to a wrong judgment, it might leave them all in a hopeless predicament.

Dou Bingheng was startled; then an expression of sudden understanding came over him.

He had suspected it before: given Dou Yan's standing, how could he possibly have discovered the Prince of Liao's intentions?

But he was a cautious man, and he reasoned that however Dou Yan had come by the news, if such rumors were circulating, they could not have been wholly without cause, and it was better to take them seriously.

He at once instructed the Dou family to stir up no trouble.

Then, following that thread, he carefully probed the Prince of Liao's foundations.

And truly, one never knows until one looks.

The Prince of Liao had gone to great pains in the capital: not only did he keep advisors and stewards permanently lodged in his grand mansion there, courting the city's nobles and men of merit, but he also ran a most profitable enterprise.

He was now entirely convinced by Dou Yan's words.

What surprised him was that the news had come to Dou Yan from Song Yan.

And that made sense.

Song Chuzhi had the Embroidered Uniform Guard in one hand and the Five City Garrison in the other. Unless the Prince of Liao raised troops and stormed the city, there was no way around Song Yan.

When someone impeached Song Yan at the Lantern Festival banquet, he had realized at once that someone meant to move against him.

Song Yan was a man of noble rank, to be sure, but he moved in different circles from the Dou family. Yet Song Yan was a man of great ability and stood on close terms with the imperial house; whatever stirred in the palace, he was the first to know. He himself was now a Grand Secretary, and to others it seemed a position of boundless glory, but the risks were enormous. To know the Emperor's moods at any given moment was of great help to the safety of both himself and the Dou family.

He had to support Song Yan.

So he had sent Dou Yan to warn him.

Dou Bingheng could not help but chuckle.

Now it seemed Song Yan was shrewder and more capable than he had imagined.

With an ally like this, the Dou family's future would be glorious.

Dou Bingheng chuckled again.

There was no need for either of them to beat around the bush any longer.

He lowered his voice gravely and said, "Did you refuse the Empress Dowager's goodwill?"

This was a matter of great weight, and Song Yan's voice dropped as well. "I did not refuse the Empress Dowager. I refused the Prince of Liao."

It was just as Dou Bingheng had guessed.

He said, "Is it possible that the Duke of Dingguo, like you, also refused the Prince of Liao?"

Song Yan pressed his lips together and said nothing for a long while.

Fujian was a nest of smugglers.

Before the Duke of Dingguo went there, not one of the great houses in those parts had clean hands.

After the Duke of Dingguo went, he began taking a cut.

It restrained the local gentry and at the same time made up the shortfall in the garrison's expenses.

Naturally, that put him in some people's way.

What was more, rebellion was a business that devoured silver.

Dou Bingheng said softly, "Only this way does the matter make sense. Ding Wei saw through the imperial will and decided to go along with it. Liang Jifen gave it a push and moved only once his plan was set. As for the Empress's kin..."

A fitting amount of embellishment would be enough to leave the Duke of Dingguo with no place to be buried!

Song Yan's eyes grew slightly wet.

To die at the hands of such people — Eldest Uncle, it is far too unworthy a fate!

He closed his eyes.

He did not want Dou Bingheng to see the tears in them.

Dou Bingheng let out a long sigh.

In officialdom, the higher one climbed, the more one walked on thin ice; however vigilant a man was, there came a time when he was schemed against.

That was why allies were so vital!

He said, "Though your position stands above the fray, the post you hold now is a crucial one. East or west, you must make your decision quickly." He urged him further, "He who cannot cut when the cut is needed will only be harmed by his own hesitation!"

"I know." Song Yan nodded, thinking of Jiang Baisun, far away in Liaodong.

If Fifth Uncle knew that Eldest Uncle's death might be tied to the Empress's kin and the Prince of Liao, would he still pin his hopes on the Prince of Liao to clear the Jiang family's name?