Chapter 2327 - Going to Wuzhou (VI)

Chen Baibin's speculation obviously aligned more closely with the facts. The two faced each other in silence. Clearly, what they had uncovered in Wuzhou was not as simple as just Xie Erren.

After a long while, Chen Baibin said: "After the recovery of Wuzhou, Xu Ke wrote a specific field report mentioning the battle of Bangshan."

"The matter of the Nanyang rifles flowing to the enemy?"

"You probably didn't read closely. According to that report, the retainers at Bangshan were not only equipped with Nanyang rifles but had also improved their tactics and fortifications. At the time, Xu Ke suspected there were traitors from the Fubo Army among the enemy."

"It seems this traitor is Jiang Suo."

"That's the only possibility remaining."

"I think we should first access relevant materials from the Political Department of the Fubo Army. It won't be too late to draw a conclusion after seeing the materials." Ji Xin said. "Yi Haoran's confession mentioned that he was once responsible for recruiting the retainer team, so he should have a relatively good understanding of Jiang Suo. We can ask him again."

Interrogating Yi Haoran again, he didn't hide anything either, telling the past events of how he had met and come to know Jiang Suo, how he had recommended him to Xiong Wencan, and how he was appointed.

"...General Jiang abandoned the dark and turned to the light, returned to his motherland, was loyal to the King's affairs, and finally was trapped and captured without losing the word 'loyalty'!" Yi Haoran spoke with forceful resonance. "Before seeing Jiang Suo, I thought the Bandit influence was monstrous and hard to resist. Only after seeing him did I know that in turbulent times there are naturally loyal ministers. Though the Great Ming is in imminent danger, it has not yet lost the Mandate of Heaven..."

Chen Baibin silently criticized: An exile, having been a soldier for a few days and learned some trivial skills, gets blown up into a "Defender of the State." And pulling in "Mandate of Heaven not being lost"—the brain circuits of this bunch of literati are truly peculiar!

Ji Xin didn't refute his remarks. In his view, letting them fully express their inner thoughts made it easy to obtain extra intelligence.

Sure enough, Yi Haoran spoke smoothly and unconsciously let slip a sentence: "...Even Master Chang was overwhelmed with admiration for General Jiang's heart of loyalty to the sovereign and service to the country..."

After Yi Haoran stopped speaking, Ji Xin asked: "Who is this Master Chang you mentioned?"

"Master Chang Qingyun." Yi Haoran didn't hide it at all.

"Chang Qingyun?" Ji Xin seemed to have seen this name somewhere. Thinking again, he had been mentioned in the report on the Sanhezui camp. He appeared to be one of Xiong Wencan's staff, a Juren degree holder, who had become Liu Youwang's lackey in the camp.

"What is your relationship with Chang Qingyun?"

Only now did Yi Haoran realize he had misspoken. But on second thought, Chang Qingyun obviously hadn't been captured, and the dirty work he'd done in the camp couldn't be exonerated anyway. So he spoke frankly: "I am an old friend with him from Governor Xiong's staff."

"So he's also one of your gang."

"Naturally. Master Chang is also a scholar loyal to the sovereign. What is impermissible about that?"

Ji Xin and the others had originally only suspected that Sanhezui and the riot inside the city were connected. Now that Yi Haoran had confessed this, the relationship between the two was nailed down.

The two organized Yi Haoran's confession, then cross-referenced it with the investigation records from Sanhezui and related reports of the whole event to summarize and organize. Listing the timeline of events, they roughly clarified the ins and outs of this Wuzhou riot.

Obviously, in this riot, Yi Haoran was the undisputed core figure. Though the initial spark hadn't come from him, without him running about and making contacts, even if a riot had occurred in Wuzhou, it wouldn't have embarrassed the Senate so badly.

Second was this "Master Chang." Looking at Yi Haoran's confession, the chaos at Sanhezui was basically his single-handed work. Though Chang Qingyun had slipped through the net, from Yi Haoran's indirect testimony, Chang Qingyun had catered to Liu Youwang's whims, seduced him into further corruption and degeneration, caused great public grievance in the camp, and finally introduced insiders through his handling of the opera troupe and the unpacking of opera chests... The whole scheme was intricately linked.

As for Jiang Suo, he was actually not such a critical figure. The role he played in this event, besides running back and forth for contact, was that of a warrior charging at the front.

"I think the course of events is roughly clear." Chen Baibin said. "The main unclear part now is the Cai Lan portion. From the data currently in hand, Chang Qingyun also had contact with Cai Lan."

"Of course there was contact." Ji Xin said. "We just haven't obtained the confession. This matter probably has to be clarified by directly interrogating Liu Youwang."

"Do we want to interrogate Liu Youwang?"

"No hurry. Since they haven't issued a conclusion, we don't need to rush for the moment." Ji Xin said. "We have enough data from the captives now. Now let's talk to retained personnel and naturalized cadres."

The most important among the naturalized cadres were three people: Luo Yangming, Zhao Fengtian, and Zheng Ergen.

But Ji Xin's approach was not to speak with them first. Luo Yangming possessed too much truth; once they talked to him, it was equivalent to playing the trump card. And Zhao Fengtian and Zheng Ergen were under Xie Erren's command; speaking with them was equivalent to asking them to take a stance. This was enormous pressure for naturalized cadres, and they had inevitably done some shameful things for Xie Erren. Whether they confessed under pressure or resisted to the end, it was absolutely not good for them.

"It's not easy to train naturalized cadres. These few count as elites. We can't push them onto a dead end..." Ji Xin said. "Talent is rare."

"But they followed Xie Erren and did quite a few... quite a few... unpresentable things. Wouldn't letting them off lightly be too easy on them? It tends to encourage the unhealthy trend of soldiers belonging to generals."

"Factions and mountain-strongholds have existed since ancient times, and our Senate is no exception. Naturalized cadres attaching themselves to a certain Senator is extremely normal. Doing things that violate regulations or even laws isn't rare either. We can't put an end to this kind of thing, let alone eradicate it." Ji Xin smiled bitterly. "If in the old timeline, there's nothing to say—uneven ground, just shovel it flat. There are plenty of people to fill the vacancy. But here it won't do. We lack people. Sometimes we can only look at problems from the perspective of protecting people first. The same charge, placed on naturalized citizens is a monstrous crime, placed on others may not be. Besides, one active, one coerced—there is still a difference."

Chen Baibin pondered the meaning in his words, understanding that he hoped Xie Erren would bear the main responsibility. This way the punishment for naturalized cadres wouldn't be too heavy. Otherwise, once the hat of "deceiving the Senate" was placed on Zhao Fengtian, Zheng Ergen, and the others, they basically couldn't recover. The best outcome would be going to Kaohsiung or Jeju to work as cadres.

"What if..."

"I think he won't fail to understand. The Senate could even tolerate Dugu Qiuhun (Dugu Proposing-Marriage); what can't be forgiven about this bit of romantic indiscretion? If he really makes his trusted aides take the blame, how can he come out to work again in the future? He should be able to figure out this key point. What worries me most now is that too many people want to eat Wuzhou's human blood buns right now. We cannot but be cautious."

In the following days, Ji Xin and Chen Baibin summoned naturalized citizens and retained personnel in batches. Among them were National Army soldiers who had fought that night, retained personnel in the yamen, and captives and refugees who hadn't fled from the Sanhezui camp...

All personnel were directly summoned by people sent by Ji Xin, then interrogated one by one. From their mouths, important intelligence was soon learned. Among this, Cai Lan's matter was especially strange, because any relevant personnel involving her had all disappeared: either died in the riot that night or "went missing." Even the two female servants guarding her when Cai Lan committed suicide were gone.

Though the report said Cai Lan had "served" in the San Zong Fu doing simple paperwork, in the interrogation, actually not a single colleague of hers was found. Most people didn't know there was such a female retained staff member in the San Zong Fu.

This abnormal pattern basically confirmed that Cai Lan had not only had an improper relationship with Xie Erren but had also played a quite important role in the riot that night—so much so that Xie Erren had expended great effort to "clean up" all relevant personnel who knew the detailed situation.

As for what kind of role she had played, probably only Zhao Fengtian and the others knew.

However, from these conversations they also learned quite a lot about the Sanhezui camp, including Liu Youwang's various evil deeds in the camp, Jiang Yougong's participation, and Chang Qingyun's activities. It was said he had become "active" in the short period before the riot—but had indeed done many bad things.

Ji Xin also obtained an important piece of information: Chang Qingyun had once been called into Wuzhou city, and shortly after returning received preferential treatment, painting in his room every day. Paintings were constantly sent in and out of Wuzhou city, very busily.

Though the person providing this information was low in status and unclear on why Chang Qingyun had been called to paint, or why paintings were transported back and forth, the only person with power to do this was Xie Erren.

Ji Xin had accessed Xie Erren's file before departure. Though he was also a cultured person, from his personal background and relevant self-statements, no special hobby for Chinese painting was reflected, let alone specifically finding someone to exchange paintings—and this practice of only having Chang Qingyun paint had nothing to do with exchanging paintings anyway.

Associating this with what Yi Haoran and some others had said—that Cai Lan "excelled in painting"—and the fact that the city government's material procurement personnel had also provided information about collecting paints, paper, and other painting tools in the city, this was undoubtedly Cai Lan's hobby. And Chang Qingyun's painting was also because of Cai Lan.

"Good heavens. Didn't expect him to be a sentimental seed..." Chen Baibin sighed. "So attentive!"

"Scholars are sentimental and also particular about life's tastes—not surprising. Not to mention our current status. What can't we do if we want to? Aren't there Senators in Lingao doing even more absurd things?" Ji Xin smiled. "This bit of romantic indiscretion really counts as nothing. The bad thing is that such a messy incident happened in Wuzhou, and this Cai Lan is a key figure in it."

(End of Chapter)