The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 105 Unexpected Events Arise Before Things Are Settled

After hearing what Quan Wenwei said, Tu Chengyu also realized that he had indeed been thinking too much lately.

I feel like I want to meddle in everything.

Upon hearing Xiao Xuanzi mention the rebellion of the wild men beyond the Great Wall, he instinctively inquired about it.

Hearing that the canal was silting up, I wanted to find out more.

Now, because of Lai Shangrong, a large number of corrupt officials have been implicated, and they are still thinking of getting involved. It seems they are worrying about things even more than the emperor.

Tu Chengyu shook his head, banishing the jumbled thoughts from his mind, and asked:

"Mr. Quan, what should I do now?"

Quan Wenwei said, "Your Highness, now that we have this ledger, Lai Shangrong's crime can be confirmed, and there is no need to interrogate him anymore."

"Therefore, once he arrives, Your Highness only needs to arrest him and hand him over to the Emperor along with the evidence of his crimes."

Tu Chengyu thought for a moment and said, "Then let's do as Mr. Quan says. Also, have Quan Xu prepare so that he can be escorted to the capital after the man is caught."

After the two finished discussing, Quan Wenwei left, leaving Tu Chengyu alone in the room.

Next, they waited for Lai Shangrong to arrive, but they waited and waited, until the sun was almost setting, and there was still no news.

Unable to wait any longer, Tu Chengyu sent another team to search along the original route.

Then, after waiting for almost half an hour, the eunuch who had been sent to deliver the letter to Lai Shangrong finally returned.

Upon seeing Tu Chengyu, the young eunuch immediately knelt before him and said:
"Your Highness, I failed in my duty and Lai Shangrong escaped."

"What?" Tu Chengyu exclaimed incredulously. "Tell me, what exactly happened?"

The young eunuch said, "Your Highness, we have received Your Highness's orders and have run all the way to the Jiaxiang County Government Office."

"When we first arrived, the yamen runners said that Lai Shangrong had gone out of the county on business and was not in the county yamen."

"I asked the yamen runners to go and find him. It took them a full quarter of an hour to bring Lai Shangrong back."

"After Lai Shangrong arrived, I gave him the prince's letter."

"After reading the letter, he saw nothing unusual and told the servant that he had just gone to run some errands and was now disheveled, so he dared not see the prince."

"Please allow me to change my clothes before I come to see Your Highness."

I thought changing clothes wouldn't take long, so I let him go.

"Who would have thought that Lai Shangrong would take advantage of the time while changing clothes to sneak out through the back door of the county government office."

"Your Highness, it was my carelessness that allowed Lai Shangrong to escape. Please punish me."

After the eunuch finished speaking, Tu Chengyu said, "We'll talk about your matter later. I'm asking you, how long has Lai Shangrong been on the run?"

The young eunuch reported, "Your Highness, it has been almost two hours."

Tu Chengyu then asked, "Did he run away alone, or with his family?"

The young eunuch said, "Your Highness, he ran away with two servants. His family was left at the county office, but I brought them here."

Tu Chengyu asked again, "Did he bring a horse with him when he ran away?"

The young eunuch said, "Your Highness, according to the people in the county government, three large blue donkeys are missing from the back office. It is estimated that the three of them rode them away."

Tu Chengyu continued, "What did you do after he ran away?"

The young eunuch said, "Your Highness, by the time we discovered he had escaped, another quarter of an hour had passed. The three of us searched the area around the county government office but found no clues."

"Later, we wanted the county yamen runners to help us search, but they were all outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant and refused to search properly."

"When I realized I couldn't find him, I brought his family back to report to the Prince."

After asking about these details, Tu Chengyu turned to Quan Wenwei, who was sitting next to him, and said:
“Mr. Quan, you just advised me not to get too involved in this matter. Now that Lai Shangrong has run away, it seems that I can’t just let it go.”

Quan Wenwei said, "Lai Shangrong's escape is indeed related to Your Highness, but Your Highness should not do anything immediately. Instead, you should first find out why Lai Shangrong wanted to escape."

Tu Chengyu asked, "What does Mr. Quan think is the reason?"

Quan Wenwei thought for a moment and said, "Your Highness, in my opinion, Lai Shangrong must have seen through Your Highness's plan, which is why he ran away."

"However, what the student doesn't understand is that the prince has only arrested him, and the charges haven't been determined yet. There's no need for him to run away."

“If he doesn’t run away, he still has a chance to live. But if he abandons his post and runs away, he will be punished even more severely if he is caught. It might even implicate his family.”

Tu Chengyu said, "Yes, that's something I can't understand either. Unless there's a crime more serious than death, it would force him to run away."

Quan Wenwei said, "Does Your Highness mean that the evidence Jia Lian brought might have a significant impact?"

Tu Chengyu said, "Perhaps there's more evidence than just what Jia Lian brought; Lai Shangrong might have something else."

At this point, Tu Chengyu turned to the young eunuch and asked, "You asked the county yamen runners to help you find the person, but they deliberately refused, right?"

The young eunuch said, "Yes, Your Highness, I sent these people to check the city gates, but they all wandered off somewhere and came back saying they couldn't find anyone."

Tu Chengyu asked, "Did you mention my identity to them?"

The young eunuch said, "I mentioned it, but they are still the same."

Tu Chengyu said, "It seems highly likely that the constables knew about Lai Shangrong's escape."

"They were willing to risk their lives to help Lai Shangrong escape, which shows that Lai Shangrong was indeed involved in a very serious matter."

After asking the questions, Tu Chengyu dismissed the eunuch and then discussed the next steps with Quan Wenwei.

Quan Wenwei asked, "Your Highness, what are your plans now?"

Tu Chengyu said, "I wonder if it's too late to send people to hunt down Lai Shangrong now?"

Quan Wenwei said, "Your Highness, it's too late to pursue Lai Shangrong now."

"He has either run far away or died outside."

"However, the students believed that if he escaped at this time, he would be more likely to die outside."

Tu Chengyu said, "Die outside? Mr. Quan means that someone will kill him to silence him."

Quan Wenwei said, "If he really ran away because he was involved in something too deep."

"Then those who are involved with him will certainly not let him be caught alive by the imperial court."

"He might commit suicide, or he might be silenced by someone else."

Tu Chengyu shook his head and said, "If Lai Shangrong wanted to commit suicide, he could have done so in the county government office. Why would he run away? I suspect he might have some other sensitive information about him that makes people hesitant to silence him. Otherwise, why would he run away?"

Quan Wenwei said, "But Your Highness, if he really has something on someone else, then it will be hidden away, and Your Highness's attempt to arrest him will be futile."

Tu Chengyu said, "Then let's stir things up and give him a jolt. Maybe he'll just jump out on his own."

Quan Wenwei asked, "What does Your Highness intend to do?"

Tu Chengyu said, "I want to approach this from two angles. One is the old method: spreading false information."

"They said they found an account book at Lai Shangrong's family's place, which recorded the money transactions of Lai Shangrong's bribes."

“If Lai Shangrong hasn’t sought help from his accomplices yet, he might not dare to contact them once this news gets out. This will give us enough time to make the arrest.”

Quan Wenwei asked, "How does Your Highness plan to release this false information?"

Tu Chengyu said, "Prefect Ma, who is resting next door, is a good candidate. Find a way to let him take a look at the account books. Those who are eager to find out news about me will probably ask Prefect Ma for the information."

Quan Wenwei said, "But if we do that, others will think that Lai Shangrong has already given the prince a handle on him."

"If Lai Shangrong had sought help from those people at this time, he might have been easily silenced."

After a moment's thought, Tu Chengyu said, "I truly hadn't considered this aspect. Does Mr. Quan have a solution?"

Quan Wenwei thought for a moment and said, "Then let's divide the ledger in two and take out the less important part."

"They said they only found these insignificant items from Lai Shangrong's family, while the important items were hidden by Lai Shangrong himself."

"This way, we can alert Lai Shangrong and prevent him from falling into someone else's hands and being silenced."

Tu Chengyu said, "Mr. Quan, with your remedy, my plan is now truly flawless."

Quan Wenwei said, "Your Highness flatters me. May I ask what your other method is?"

Tu Chengyu said, "The second method is still related to Lai Shangrong's family. I plan to have Quan Xu or Su Xuanbao do it."

"Stage up a sneak attack on the ship, pretending that someone is trying to rob Lai Shangrong's family."

"This move could make others think that Lai Shangrong's family members do indeed have some leverage over him, and it could also mislead Lai Shangrong into thinking that someone is after his family."

"However, these are just incidental. My main purpose is to create chaos and then take the opportunity to send the account books back to the capital and hand them over to my father."

Quan Wenwei said, "If Your Highness wants to send the account books back to the capital, it is indeed necessary to do so as soon as possible."

"The fleet acted unusually today, stopping in Jining Prefecture for most of the day and sending people to Jiaxiang County. This must have attracted the attention of those who are interested."

"Your Highness's idea of ​​taking advantage of the chaos to send out the account books is indeed a good one."

Tu Chengyu said, "Since Mr. Quan also agrees with my method, then Mr. Quan and I will split up and act separately."

As he spoke, he opened the ledger beside him and tore off some of the less important ones from the front.

Then, handing over the remaining important information to Quan Wenwei, he said:

"I will deal with Prefect Ma. Mr. Quan, you go and arrange for the account books to be sent out."

Quan Wenwei hid the account book in his clothes and left.

Then Xiao Xuanzi summoned Tu Chengyu again to Ma Yizhen, the prefect of Jining, who was waiting next door.

As soon as Ma Yizhen entered, Tu Chengyu said, "I have confirmed that this Lai Shangrong has indeed committed acts of corruption and bribery."

After saying that, he handed half of the account book on the table to Ma Yizhen.

He continued, "This is the evidence of his crime; take a look."

Ma Yizhen took the ledger and carefully read it through. When he found that although the ledger contained detailed information, it did not involve many related matters, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, he cautiously probed, "Your Highness, why is this ledger only half full?"

Tu Chengyu pretended to be very angry and said, "This Lai Shangrong is very cunning. He split the account book in two and gave the less important half to his family."

"He took the important half with him."

Ma Yizhen asked, "Your Highness, since the account book is on Lai Shangrong, just arrest him."

Tu Chengyu said, "I also wanted to capture him, but he somehow got wind of it and ran away long ago. I don't know where he is hiding now."

Upon hearing that Lai Shangrong had escaped, Ma Yizhen became extremely anxious and said:
"Your Highness, when did he escape? Is there any chance of him being caught?"

The reason Ma Yizhen cared so much about Lai Shangrong's escape was because Lai Shangrong was a county magistrate under his jurisdiction.

If the county magistrate under his command escapes, the prefect will bear the greatest responsibility. If he fails to bring the magistrate back or take any remedial measures, his career as a prefect will be over.

Seeing Ma Yizhen's anxious expression, Tu Chengyu said:
"I summoned you here for this very reason."

"I also wanted to capture Lai Shangrong, but I didn't have many men with me, so I wanted to call you here to help me find a way to capture him."

Upon hearing that Tu Chengyu was willing to help him arrest people, Ma Yizhen quickly said, "Your Highness, please give me any instructions."

Tu Chengyu said, "I don't have any good ideas either, only some rudimentary ones."

Ma Yizhen said, "Your Highness, please speak."

Tu Chengyu continued, "This is what I think, because I am new here and not familiar with your Jining Prefecture."

"Furthermore, I have brought only a limited number of men with me. I intend to stay on the ship and interrogate the captured witnesses to find more clues."

“Prefect Ma, you are more familiar with the environment here, so you should go back and send out all the available manpower from the prefectural office.”

"Set up checkpoints at key locations and strictly check people going out, trying to keep Lai Shangrong in Jining Prefecture as far as possible."

After listening to Tu Chengyu's plan, Ma Yizhen quickly realized it was indeed quite rudimentary, and he couldn't help but ask with concern:

"Your Highness, Lai Shangrong has been on the run for so long. Is it too late to set up a roadblock now?"

Tu Chengyu said, "Whether there's time or not, you have to do it. If you do it now, there's still a glimmer of hope. If you do nothing, just wait for the court to decide your fate."

Ma Yizhen said, "Your Highness is right. I will immediately go and arrange the manpower."

Seeing that Ma Yizhen truly intended to capture Lai Shangrong, Tu Chengyu said:
"If you really want to bring Lai Shangrong back, you can ask the old officials in the prefectural government. Maybe one of them knows who Lai Shangrong is close to on weekdays."

Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's words, Ma Yizhen felt that Prince Su seemed to be hinting at something.

However, before he could ask any more questions, Tu Chengyu dismissed him.

(End of this chapter)