The Imperial Palace, That Place of Endless Affairs (1)
"Hold on—! Director Jang, let's talk privately over there."
"Speak here, if you would. We must return to the palace at once."
Jin Myeong's refusal was absolute.
Sagong Cheonsu's game was transparent enough. Win or lose, the man intended to walk back the wager — that much was written all over him. Jin Myeong had neither the leisure to sit through such cheap theatrics nor the slightest inclination to let him off the hook. That decision had been sealed the moment he'd heard how Sagong Cheonsu had humiliated Gongsun Dajing.
"Come now, Director Jang. This official has something of genuine importance to discuss. A matter of some weight."
"Then speak as we ride. By now, last night's incident will be spreading across the Central Plains. There is no telling what those rebels will attempt next."
Jin Myeong flicked a glance toward the Zhuge siblings, as if to say, Look at them.
The Zhuge Clan, with its direct descendants held as hostages, would not dare anything reckless. Suchengye was another matter entirely. There was no predicting what those people might try. Songrimwon itself was proof enough — the moment their connection was exposed, they had attempted to take the Zhuge siblings down with them in a mutual suicide. Given that kind of conduct, it would not have been the least bit strange if Suchengye launched an assault this very instant.
"Are you truly going to be like this?"
Having been refused twice in succession, Sagong Cheonsu's face was a study in poorly concealed irritation. He understood Jin Myeong's meaning well enough, but the Imperial Guard barracks were right there across the river. What harm could a few words do before they departed?
Which was precisely the point. Jin Myeong was making it clear there would be no room for negotiation — and that Sagong Cheonsu should strip off his office and get lost, because the wager was not being walked back.
"You understand the gravity of the situation as well as I do. Time is short. If you have no intention of speaking now, we will take our leave. I trust you will honor the wager."
"Wager? What wager? If you're going to take that tone, then this official has no choice either."
Jin Myeong and his party, who had been about to clasp their hands in farewell and hurry on their way, froze where they stood.
Every one of them turned to stare at Sagong Cheonsu with expressions of pure incredulity.
"…This is unexpected. I thought you might plead your case. I did not imagine you would come out so brazenly. A Senior Fourth Rank high official, speaking out of both sides of his mouth…"
"Director! Watch your tongue! How dare you address a superior two ranks above you with such insolence—!"
The Junior Fifth Rank Deputy Qianhu in Sagong Cheonsu's party was just beginning to pour out an angry rebuke at Jin Myeong's mocking smile when—
Shaaah—!
Jin Myeong drew Cheonyang Biyeon from his waist in a single motion, fast as a thunderbolt.
Charrrrk!
The ink-dark blade drifted through the air like silk on a current, gliding toward the Deputy Qianhu's throat. Then, in a single instant, it closed the distance as though leaping through space itself.
"Hhk—!"
Sagong Cheonsu's men lunged for the hilts of their golden sabers, but Cheonyang Biyeon was faster. Its black fangs were already nestled beneath the Deputy Qianhu's chin, radiating a killing intent so cold it seemed to frost the air. The slightest movement would open his throat.
"Stay out of this, you flunky."
At the far end of that killing intent stood Jin Myeong. His face wore that peculiar expression of his — not quite a smile, not quite not — and the voice that followed was so devoid of feeling it seemed all the more murderous for it.
"You're the one inserting yourself between your betters. Shall I have your limbs severed for lese-majeste? Or shall I take your head for obstructing the official business of the Eastern Depot?"
"Y-Your Excellency…!"
The terrified Deputy Qianhu craned his chin as high as it would go, trying to keep it off the blade, and cast about desperately for Sagong Cheonsu. There was not a single official in the capital who did not know that Cheonyang Biyeon carried the power of life and death over any subject of Senior Fifth Rank or below.
This lunatic is actually insane! Even so — to draw a blade that fast?
The Deputy Qianhu, his throat offered up to that ink-dark flood dragon of a sword, swallowed without realizing it. The moment his Adam's apple bobbed against the freezing steel, his whole body shuddered.
"D-Director. Th-this official s-spoke out of turn…!"
The man facing him was a eunuch among eunuchs — the one they called the Absolute Eunuch, the Foremost Inner Minister under Heaven. The already twisted temperaments of palace eunuchs were said to have warped in his case into something even more unpredictable. He might actually take the head.
"Now, now, Director Jang. That's enough. You're going too far."
Sagong Cheonsu stepped forward and carefully laid a hand on Cheonyang Biyeon.
"What kind of spectacle is this, officials turning on each other in full view of the rebels? I will apologize on the Deputy Qianhu's behalf."
"Deputy Qianhu. If you want to live, learn when to insert yourself and when to stay out of it."
Srrrk.
With that icy warning, Cheonyang Biyeon withdrew.
"Puhah! Hhuk…! Hhuk…!"
The Deputy Qianhu gasped out the breath he'd been holding and scrambled backward, vanishing behind Sagong Cheonsu.
"In any case, you did well tracking down those rebels. Truly impressive, Foremost Inner Minister of the Realm. The Jinyiwei lost this round. But next time, our bladesmen will be the ones out in front."
"Next time… I don't believe Your Excellency will have a next time."
"That business was a bit of sport between ourselves, was it not? An official staking his office on a wager — the very idea is absurd."
"So a Senior Fourth Rank military officer intends to break a promise made to a Senior Fifth Rank eunuch. You will regret this."
"Regret? I am doing this precisely because I have no intention of regretting it. What exactly do you think you can do about it? Run and tattle that we made a wager? If His Majesty finds out, you'll be the one who gets hurt."
Sagong Cheonsu had a card he was counting on. Even wagers had their taboos. Eunuchs, it was true, were a breed that bet everything they had on a single throw — all or nothing — but for an official to stake his office on a wager? That was a disruption of the national order. If the Yongle Emperor and the civil and military officials learned of it, Sagong Cheonsu's side would take a blow, certainly — but the eunuch who had proposed the wager in the first place would take a far worse one. That much was obvious.
"If Your Excellency insists on this, whatever small kindness this humble official still harbored will vanish completely."
Jin Myeong understood exactly what Sagong Cheonsu was driving at, and exactly what he was counting on.
"A eunuch's kindness? A eunuch, possessing a kind heart. Now that is an amusing tale. Wouldn't you agree, gentlemen?"
A low ripple of laughter went through the Jinyiwei guards. After what had just happened to the Deputy Qianhu, they kept it quiet — but the mockery in it was unmistakable.
And that was when something unexpected occurred.
"Sagong Cheonsu."
"Hm…?"
"I had thought we might strike a deal once we returned to the palace and you came begging. Instead, you're digging your own grave."
Jin Myeong's speech had dropped, abruptly, into the language one used for inferiors — and his entire manner had turned hostile.
The onlookers started, doubting their own ears. Had they heard that correctly? They wondered if they had misheard. They had not. It was fact. It was happening.
"You—!"
"This official is the Count of Shuntian. However! I have always given precedence to office and rank over title, and treated third-rank and fourth-rank officials with due courtesy. A lowly eunuch receiving a peerage is unprecedented since the founding of the dynasty. For that reason, Senior Official Gongsun and I have always addressed each other as equals."
The Ming peerage consisted of three ranks: Duke, Marquis, and Count. A Duke was equivalent to Rank One and above; a Marquis, to Rank One through Rank Two; a Count, to Rank Three through Rank Four.
"Mm…"
"I even let it pass that you never once addressed this official as the Count of Shuntian — for that same reason. But now you have crossed the line. There will be no more forgiveness, Sagong Cheonsu."
"…Do as you like. If a eunuch receives a title, he ought to conduct himself with the dignity to match. I can already see how His Majesty and the civil and military officials will look at you when they hear you staked an office on a wager."
"Even if this official ends up in a prison cell, I will personally — with these two hands — strip the robes off your back."
Jin Myeong smiled as he said it, and tapped Sagong Cheonsu's chest with his fist. In a situation like this, the one who showed his anger was the one who lost. All the more so when you were the superior.
"Nngh—!"
"And you. You. You. You. You."
Jin Myeong glanced over Sagong Cheonsu's contorted face, then began pointing at each member of his party in turn.
"The same goes for all of you. Foot soldiers live or die by the commander they serve. You lot picked the wrong commander, and every last one of you is going to lose your robes."
Sagong Cheonsu's men could only grind their teeth, eyes bulging, as Jin Myeong's finger found each of them. By invoking his title, he had inverted the hierarchy. The proof was in Sagong Cheonsu's own speech, which had shifted to a grudging, half-respectful register. Strictly speaking, Jin Myeong was Sagong Cheonsu's superior, not his subordinate.
The faces of Sagong Cheonsu and his men twisted like rotting fish heads left unsold at the market.
"We return to the palace! Move out!"
"Yes, Gonggong!"
Jin Myeong's party gave Sagong Cheonsu's group one last look and began crossing the Yangtze River.
At the same hour, at the foot of Mount Lao.
Zhuge Jongmyeong, Hall Master of the Zhuge Clan — the man who, days earlier, had burned the Songlim Branch Academy to the ground — stood with his subordinates, grinding his teeth as he stared across the Yangtze.
"How dare they lay hands on the direct descendants of the Shenji Zhuge Clan!"
They had been tailing Jin Myeong's convoy since Chuzhou. The stretch from Chuzhou southeast to Mount Lao was open plain, and Jin Myeong's party had been traveling under escort from the Jiechang Qianhu garrison, so keeping a safe distance and still staying on them had not been difficult.
"Hall Master, please, calm your anger."
One of his men stepped in, sensing that Zhuge Jongmyeong's voice was carrying too far.
"Those pathetic Suchengye bastards."
Zhuge Jongmyeong was seething. What in the hell had they done to get Songrimwon completely exposed? Suchengye's handling of affairs, their organizational discipline — it all looked wretched to him.
"To let things come to this. Pathetic."
"We never imagined they would know about Songrimwon itself, let alone raid it. The branch academy, perhaps — but Songrimwon?"
His subordinate's addition was fair. It defied understanding. On the day of the Mount Baohua bloodbath, the Blood Death Archery Corps should have died to the last man, as agreed.
"What possible lead did they obtain that let them hit Songrimwon knowing everything?"
It was a thing that could not have happened without evidence — without some proof connecting Grand Preceptor Song Jeon, Strategist Yi Yugyeong, Songrimwon Headmaster Yu Jin, and Blood Death Archery Corps Leader Gong Jeong-mun. Even the government could not massacre a storied academy or drag away the direct descendants of one of the Five Great Orthodox Clans without justification and grounds.
"It seems we will not be able to rescue the Young Clan Head."
"You're right. The one leading that party is an extraordinarily meticulous man."
They had followed in hopes of extracting the Young Clan Head's party on the road back to the palace, but the Jiechang Qianhu garrison was escorting them all the way to the riverbank, and the Imperial Guard was waiting on the far shore. An ambush was out of the question. Even the tailing itself had to be done with extreme caution.
"You'd think he'd let his guard down, but he doesn't give us a single opening. Last night as well — he restricted the soldiers' wine on the grounds of maintaining alertness."
"He's no ordinary opponent. The Young Clan Head was thoroughly outplayed. I wonder how the Clan Head will resolve this."
"He'll mobilize everything, won't he? The Clan Alliance, the Orthodox Alliance — all of it."
"He'll have to. Send word to the Clan Head. Tell him the rescue has failed."
"Yes, Hall Master."
Zhuge Jongmyeong watched the messenger pigeon take flight, a small sigh escaping him. The breath turned white in the air and scattered.
A short while later, Jin Myeong's party crossed the Yangtze without incident.
"Wang Zhen."
The moment his feet touched the southern bank, Jin Myeong called for him. Before crossing, he had considered sending Deok Heum and Gang Su from the spot where they'd confronted Sagong Cheonsu — but there was no telling what those men might try with Deok Heum and Gang Su. Better to handle it quietly. Safely.
"Yes, Gonggong."
"The instant we return to the palace, send a dispatch to the Qingliu County Yamen."
"Yes. And the contents, Gonggong?"
"Inform the Vice Commissioner of the Southern Zhili Provincial Surveillance Commission and the Investigating Censor of the Censorate: while escorting the prisoners, they are to bring one additional person with them."
"Whom, Gonggong?"
"Someone who will strip Sagong Cheonsu of his robes. Someone other than us."
"Other than us…? Ah—! I understand. That…"
Wang Zhen pondered for a moment, then understood at once. He had never imagined that this notoriously relentless superior of his would simply let the matter drop. Even so, it was a surprise. Bringing a witness. That meant he intended to force the issue head-on, no matter how the Yongle Emperor and the civil and military officials responded.
What a bold one. Thrilling, truly thrilling, this man.
Wang Zhen pictured the scene: his infuriatingly brilliant superior personally stripping the robes from Sagong Cheonsu's back, just as he had vowed. The downfall of those who made enemies of eunuchs was always a delicious thing to watch.
Sometime past noon, at the Directorate of Ceremonial.
The guards of the Eastern Depot had all assembled. The Zhuge siblings had been confined, for the time being, in the prison of the Ministry of Justice, with Eastern Depot guards assigned to watch them directly.
The Directorate of Ceremonial was in full bloom with eunuch laughter.
Jong Deok's tracking arts and the old score with Bong Gu. The old score between Sagong Cheonsu and Gongsun Dajing. The wager laid against Sagong Cheonsu's party. The saying went that a eunuch who could do anything would draw the Four Heavenly Kings even splitting cards with his eyes closed — and by a stroke of that same luck, they had uncovered the corruption of the Qingliu County and Chuzhou officials. The raid that had smashed Songrimwon to pieces. The capture and escort of the Zhuge siblings. On and on.
The eunuchs who had heard the full account clutched their bellies in glee and regarded Jin Myeong and the Inspection Bureau guards with unmistakable pride.
"Charging into Chuzhou was a gamble, wasn't it? As ever, we eunuchs have been the finest gamblers under heaven since time immemorial. Of course we have! A eunuch catches luck just by breathing, I tell you! Ohohoho!"
"Come now, gambling? Director Jang simply read the road correctly. Hoho! Well done, Director Jang, Senior Official Gongsun, Officer Jong."
The speakers were Wang Guitong, Chief Scribe Eunuch and personal attendant to Zhu Gaochi, and Hai Shou, Chief Attendant Eunuch and personal attendant to the Yongle Emperor — the Absolute Eunuch Jang Jinmyeong's most ardent patrons.
"I must never, ever make a wager with Director Jang. A nose for it like that. Ohoho! Wouldn't you say, Attendant Hai?"
"A wager with Director Jang? And risk the retirement nest egg His Majesty so graciously bestowed? Hoho!"
"Exactly! Exactly! Hoho! One must protect the nest egg."
They had lost the race to Sagong Cheonsu's party, but laying the wager and then immediately charging into Chuzhou had been, in the truest sense, a divine stroke.
"You've all done well. Splendid — beyond what this official expected. I had thought even coming back with a tail in hand would count as success."
"Hehehe! To produce results like this even without this humble official. It seems I could hand the Bureau Chief's seat to Director Jang and be done with it, Superintendent."
Yi Gwak, Scribe Eunuch and Bureau Chief of the Inspection Bureau, added this as Zheng He listened to Jin Myeong's investigation report with evident satisfaction.
"You flatter me, Gonggong Yi. And to all you Gonggong — worry not for your twilight years. This humble official has land and wealth enough. I shall take responsibility for every one of your retirements."
The Grand Eunuchs roared with laughter at their young subordinate's banter, loud enough to shake the halls of the Directorate of Ceremonial.
Meanwhile, Zheng He — who had to maintain the dignity of the Superintendent of the Eastern Depot, and yet found the whole thing almost too funny — had been working the hardest simply to keep his laughter within bounds. He shifted the mood and turned to Jin Myeong.
"It's been a long time since I laughed so freely. The palace is a livelier place with you in it. That said — leave Sagong Cheonsu be. His Majesty may not take issue, but the civil and military officials will make an issue of your discipline."
"Let them. I will report it to His Majesty myself."
"To His Majesty?"
Zheng He was taken aback, and the Grand Eunuchs with him. They had already monopolized every scrap of credit there was to take. The Jinyiwei and Sagong Cheonsu being made to look like fools was a foregone conclusion. It was already more than enough. And now he proposed to tell the Yongle Emperor himself — of all people — something that was certain to be received poorly by both the Emperor and the court.
"We encountered Sagong Cheonsu's party before crossing the Yangtze. And when we did…"
Jin Myeong recounted in full what had passed between them before the return to the palace. He dwelt, in particular, on the part where Sagong Cheonsu had mocked him — asking whether a eunuch could possibly possess a kind heart.
The reaction was immediate.
"What? That goddamn bastard!"
"Look at that plague-ridden wretch! What — he should have said if there was anyone kinder than a eunuch, to step forward and prove it!"
"You should have beaten him to death on the spot! Why did you leave him standing?"
"I'll chop him up and pickle him in salt!"
Enraged voices erupted from every direction. The Grand Eunuchs were shifting in their seats, looking ready to storm the Jinyiwei that very instant.
"I'll kill him! We go to His Majesty at once! Scribe Wang — inform the Grand Secretariat and the Six Ministries that the Eastern Depot's report is being moved forward! Tell them not a single man is to be absent!"
Zheng He, too, was furious at the news that those Jinyiwei dogs had dared to slight the eunuch brotherhood.
"Yes, Gonggong!"
"Come, Jin Myeong! Ah — wait. Wait."
Zheng He, already at the threshold, turned back as if something had just occurred to him. Because that, when he thought about it, was the heart of the matter. Without it, everything else was worthless — wasted effort, and worse, a humiliation waiting to land on their own heads.
"How do you intend to prove the wager?"