Chapter 64 The Raindrops Fall

Wang Zhifa enduring humiliation before Wang Jien's faction was not without its rewards. Although somewhat later, and with Wang Jien's tacit approval, an inner-court eunuch who had accepted bribes from Wang Zhifa managed to smuggle out of the palace the news that the Khitan Emperor Yelu Jing had been suddenly assassinated. He delivered this information to Wang Zhifa, who was responsible for maintaining ties with the inner court, and incidentally mentioned the furious reaction of Zhao Kuangyin to the incident.

Having abysmal historical knowledge and no prior awareness that he would miss such a golden opportunity, Zhao Dezhao could only groan in agony upon hearing the news, naturally cursing his former physical education teacher in his heart—how on earth was history taught back then? Why had no one ever mentioned that Yelu Jing would be assassinated and die at the very beginning of the second year of Kaibao?!

Besides lamenting his fate, Zhao Dezhao deeply regretted the erroneous choice made by the Song army during the previous northern expedition, crying out in bitter frustration: "Were our heads flooded, or were we utterly insane and foolish back then? Had we known the Khitan emperor would be suddenly assassinated, we should have slaughtered our horses for food and held our ground no matter what! If we hadn't chosen to retreat, forget the Northern Han for a moment—even the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun could have been taken back in one single breath!"

Beating his chest and stamping his feet was entirely useless; the rice was already cooked, and there was no medicine for regret to be bought in this world. After a few long sighs and lamentations, Liang Zhouhan could only comfort Zhao Dezhao, saying, "Your Highness, regret is pointless. The opportunity has already been missed. We should instead figure out as soon as possible how to handle the aftermath and how to explain this matter to His Majesty."

"Right, exactly," Wang Zhifa chimed in immediately, suggesting, "Your Highness, I remember it crystal clear. Outside the walls of Jinyang, it was Deputy Commander Ding who first proposed accepting when the going was good, and only then did Your Highness agree with his opinion. Therefore, this responsibility must be borne by Deputy Commander Ding. You must explain the situation clearly to His Majesty and make sure he doesn't vent his anger on Your Highness."

Although what Wang Zhifa stated was the truth, after carefully weighing the pros and cons, Zhao Dezhao—who loved putting on a performance—suddenly stood up and ordered, "Zhifa, prepare the birch rods. I am going to enter the palace immediately to offer a humble plea of guilt to my Imperial Father."

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhifa was dumbfounded, but Liang Zhouhan instantly grasped Zhao Dezhao's intent and asked, "Your Highness, do you intend to take all the blame upon yourself and implore His Majesty not to pursue the faults of Grand Commander Li and Deputy Commander Ding?"

Naturally, Zhao Dezhao would never admit that he was preparing to buy people's loyalty. Instead, he spoke righteously, "I am an imperial prince. My poor judgment misled Grand Commander Li into making the wrong decision, causing the imperial court to suffer massive losses. Of course, I must step forward without hesitation to bear the responsibility that is rightfully mine."

"Your Highness, allow me to offer you a word of advice: in certain matters, it is best not to overdo it."

In a rare instance of playing devil's advocate against Zhao Dezhao, Liang Zhouhan said, "Regarding this affair, if His Majesty were truly resentful of you and the two grand commanders for committing such an error, he would have summoned the officials at the earliest opportunity to deliberate and discuss how to punish you. Yet this time, although His Majesty was furious enough to overturn the dragon desk with his own hands, he has not summoned Your Highness into the palace for a face-to-face reprimand. Therefore, this humble subject believes that His Majesty is well aware in his heart that this was genuinely a matter of luck, and you cannot be blamed."

Pausing for a moment, Liang Zhouhan continued, "Under these circumstances, if Your Highness still makes a grand show of proactively shouldering the blame, His Majesty will likely think you are merely putting on a hypocritical act, which will only make him even more dissatisfied with you."

Pondering this carefully, Zhao Dezhao realized that his proposed performance was indeed a bit too heavy-handed. He nodded and asked, "Then, in Brother Yuanbao's view, what should I do?"

"Find an opportunity to confess your guilt to His Majesty privately and quietly," Liang Zhouhan suggested. "There is no need to take all the responsibility onto your own shoulders. The best approach is to remind His Majesty not to forget that Yelu Jing's death was merely an accident, and no one could have foreseen it in advance."

Zhao Dezhao nodded once more, his mind beginning to calculate how to achieve this effect. However, unexpected events happen: just at that moment, a household servant hurried in to report, "Your Highness, a Daoist priest has arrived at the back door, saying he has an important matter of great consequence and must see you immediately. Because he used the secret knocking pattern of three raps and two taps, this humble servant has already let him in through the back door."

Knocking three times with a fist and tapping twice with a palm on the back door, repeated in this manner, was the secret signal used by petty scoundrels to communicate secretly with Zhao Dezhao. Therefore, without hesitation, Zhao Dezhao ordered that the visitor be brought in at once, and shortly after, Houmochen Liyong appeared before him with a broad smile...

***

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was already the evening of that same day.

In the Sang Family Wazi of the inner city, a man dressed in luxurious attire suddenly strode into the moderately famous Ruyi Gambling House. He walked straight to the center table where tile-dominoes were being played, sat down, pulled out a stack of banknotes—which were becoming increasingly common in Kaifeng city—and slammed them heavily onto the gaming table. With an arrogant and haughty bellow, he shouted, "Bring wine and food over here, someone! Today this official is going to drink wine and play dominoes at the same time, and win back everything I lost previously with interest!"

Having already become a regular patron of this gambling house, the dealers and attendants naturally recognized the身份 of this luxuriously dressed man at a glance. They knew he was Ma Laifu, a close personal attendant of His Highness Prince Zhao Dezhao of the current dynasty, who was not only deeply trusted and had the ear of Zhao Dezhao, but was also rumored to have been bestowed an official rank of the proper eighth grade. Consequently, none of the attendants or dealers dared to slight him; they hurried to serve him wine and food as ordered so he could drink and gamble simultaneously.

Yet alas, Ma Laifu's luck remained poor today. Within a short span of time, he had clean lost banknotes worth over a hundred strings of cash. Unwilling to resign himself to defeat, Ma Laifu immediately sought out the ruffians and street thugs who lent money within the gambling house, borrowing funds with the absolute determination to recoup his lost capital.

Relying on a barely passable credit reputation, Ma Laifu borrowed a total of over three hundred strings of cash back and forth to continue gambling. At the same time, as pot after pot of fine wine entered his stomach, his eyes gradually became bloodshot. He slammed and patted the dominoes, his roars growing louder and louder, frequently cursing the parents and family members of others as he descended into the typical state of a hopeless gambler.

Unfortunately, Ma Laifu's luck did not improve. The three hundred-odd strings of cash he had borrowed quickly found their way into the pockets of the house. Still refusing to quit, Ma Laifu immediately tracked down loan sharks among the local scoundrels to borrow money once more. Regrettably, even the debt-collecting scoundrels refused him this time, saying, "Master Ma, it's not that I'm unwilling to lend to you again, but you already owe over three hundred strings. With the 'nine-out-thirteen-return' interest rate, you should already be returning five hundred and twenty strings of cash to me! If I lend you more, will you even be able to repay it?"

Ma Laifu's complexion turned exceptionally grim. Fortunately, right at that moment, a familiar voice drifted into his ears: "Oh, Master Ma! When did you arrive? How's your luck? How much have you won?"

Like a drowning man clutching at a straw, Ma Laifu instantly spun around and grabbed the man who had greeted him without a second word, blurting out impatiently, "Zhou Xiaoyi, you're finally here! Quick, lend me some money to recover my stakes! I've lost way too much today!"

Accustomed to this by now, Zhou Xiaoyi—who had struck up a drinking-buddy friendship with Ma Laifu in the gambling house—merely joked with him for a moment before cheerfully producing some money and lending it to Ma Laifu once more. However...

However, this money met the exact same fate as before. Along with the remaining banknotes in Zhou Xiaoyi's purse, it was promptly delivered into the pockets of the gambling house's bankers. When finally even Zhou Xiaoyi could only pat his empty purse and offer a bitter smile, Ma Laifu's face turned utterly grim, and only after repeated coaxing from Zhou Xiaoyi did he stumble out of the gambling house.

The matter was far from over. Not long after leaving the gambling house, Ma Laifu, who had consumed a great deal of alcohol, suddenly dashed into a secluded spot and began to vomit violently. Zhou Xiaoyi, showing a decent sense of loyalty, stepped up to pat Ma Laifu's back to help him expel the filth from his stomach as quickly as possible. To Zhou Xiaoyi's utter surprise, the moment the vomiting finally subsided, Ma Laifu suddenly grabbed his hand and whispered, "Brother, you know a lot of people. Do you have any friends or acquaintances within the Kaifeng Prefecture office?"

"I know one or two," Zhou Xiaoyi replied vaguely, asking with curiosity, "Why do you ask?"

"Can you help me arrange an introduction?" Ma Laifu requested, lowering his voice. "I have a piece of confidential intelligence concerning my master, and I want to sell it to the Second Prince—the Prefect of Kaifeng—or his trusted subordinates. It will be of absolute use to them!"

"Master Ma, you aren't joking, are you? This is nothing to mess around with!" Zhou Xiaoyi was thoroughly shocked.

"Of course I'm not joking." Despite reeking of alcohol, Ma Laifu's tone turned exceptionally grave as he whispered, "You've seen it yourself; I now owe nearly a thousand strings of cash to various people. If I don't find a way to get money to repay my debts immediately, I'm going to be in deep trouble. That's why you must help me with this favor, brother. As long as the deal goes through, not only will I immediately repay what I owe you, but there will also be a heavy reward!"

Inwardly thrilled yet maintaining a hesitant expression on his face, Zhou Xiaoyi said, "Well... let me ask around for you and see what my friends at the Kaifeng Prefecture office think."

"Go right now!" Ma Laifu urged anxiously. "Besides, basically no one enforces the curfew anymore anyway. Go to the Kaifeng Prefecture office and find your friend right now! I won't hide it from you anymore—the hundred strings of cash I brought to the gambling house and lost today were actually funds entrusted to me by my master to handle an official errand. If I can't scrape up the money tonight, I won't have any way to answer to my master tomorrow!"

Seeing that the situation was indeed urgent and fearing that prolonged delays might lead to Ma Laifu suddenly changing his mind, Zhou Xiaoyi hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Very well, let's head to the Kaifeng Prefecture yamen right now."

Just as Ma Laifu had said, with the development of the era and society, the curfew in Kaifeng Prefecture had indeed become virtually a dead letter by now. Therefore, despite the pitch-black sky, Ma Laifu and Zhou Xiaoyi successfully threaded their way through the streets and alleys, arriving directly beside the back door of the Kaifeng Prefecture office. Zhou Xiaoyi then asked, "Master Ma, what kind of news are you planning to sell to the Second Prince or his men?"

"News concerning a traitor," Ma Laifu whispered. "Through painstaking planning, my master has planted a spy and traitor right by the side of one of the Second Prince's key assistants, who could pose a massive threat to them at any moment. Please tell your friends at Kaifeng Prefecture that as long as they give me two thousand strings of cash, I will tell them who the traitor is! I guarantee it will be of immense use to them."

Zhou Xiaoyi nodded to acknowledge the information, instructed Ma Laifu to wait patiently in a secluded spot, and then stepped up to knock on the courtyard gate at the back of the Kaifeng Prefecture office. Naturally, being birds of a feather, Zhou Xiaoyi used a special knocking technique so that his colleagues inside the courtyard would recognize that one of their own had arrived and urge them to open the gate quickly.

Precisely because of this, even though it was already the third watch of the night, Ma Laifu was swiftly brought inside the Kaifeng Prefecture office and granted an audience with Dou Dang, the Kaifeng Prefecture judge on duty that night.

Dou Dang possessed a somewhat rigid personality. Although he had long been aware that Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Dezhao were locked in a fierce, subterranean power struggle, and knew that Ma Laifu was a prominent and trusted close attendant of Zhao Dezhao, faced with this gift delivered straight to his doorstep, Dou Dang refused to accept it immediately. Not only did he decline to readily purchase the intelligence with cash, but he also attempted to use verbal pressure to force Ma Laifu into making a full and honest confession directly.

Naturally, Dou Dang's actions were pure wishful thinking. Without laying eyes on hard cash, Ma Laifu would have had to be out of his mind to betray his master for personal gain; he resolutely chose to withhold the goods until he saw the buyer. Finally, under the persuasion of others present, Dou Dang agreed to let Ma Laifu wait temporarily within the Kaifeng Prefecture yamen while dispatching men through the night to Zhao Guangyi's residence to report the situation and await his decision.

The result of this arrangement was that more than an hour after waking up at daybreak, Zhao Guangyi received this crucial piece of intelligence. Growing somewhat irritated, Zhao Guangyi stamped his foot and exclaimed, "Why is this Dou Rizhang so rigid in his ways? Mere two thousand strings of cash—did he really need to ask my permission first? Tell him to hand over the money at once and interrogate him immediately to find out who that traitor is!"

The messenger sent by Dou Dang acknowledged the order and hurried off to return and report, while Zhao Guangyi, required to participate in the early morning court session, dared not linger to await the outcome. He could only rush out to the imperial palace to attend the day's assembly, intending to deal with the matter of the traitor once the morning court concluded.

A succession of joyous events unfolded just as Zhao Guangyi had hoped. During that day's morning court session, his ambitious third younger brother, Zhao Guangmei, duly stepped forward to launch an attack, impeaching Li Xixun and Ding Deyu for concluding a peace treaty with the Northern Han without prior imperial sanction and unilaterally deciding to retreat, thereby causing the Song army to miss the golden opportunity to profit from the chaos in the Khitan state. He suggested that Zhao Kuangyin hold them accountable for their actions.

The brilliance of Zhao Guangmei's impeachment lay in its targeting of Li Xixun and Ding Deyu. On the surface, it did not target his nephew, who had recently been drawing excessive attention to himself; however, once Zhao Kuangyin held Li Xixun and Ding Deyu accountable for their faults, Zhao Dezhao, serving as the imperial commissioner, could hardly absolve himself of blame and would inevitably be implicated. It was a rather clever tactic of pointing at the mulberry tree while cursing the locust tree.

Regrettably, Zhao Guangmei still lacked sufficient skill. Although Zhao Kuangyin was indeed boiling with anger inside, he had already made the decision to reward Li Xixun and Ding Deyu and had endorsed their expedient actions. Naturally, he was not going to slap his own face now. Therefore, even though many officials chimed in with support, Zhao Kuangyin airily dismissed the matter with a casual air: "This has nothing to do with Li Xixun and Ding Deyu. The Khitan state fell into sudden civil unrest, which no one could have foreseen in advance. How could I hold meritorious ministers accountable for missing an opportunity caused by sudden internal strife in an enemy nation?"

Secretly mocking his third brother's naivety, Zhao Guangyi then exchanged a glance with Chu Zhaofu, the Capital Inspector in the Golden Chime Hall. Chu Zhaofu caught the hint and immediately stepped out of the official ranks in accordance with their prior agreement, memorializing: "Your Majesty, although General Ding Deyu committed no fault in the Jinyang military campaign, this humble subject has investigated and found that the previous impeachment he leveled against Li Xuan, a secretariat drafter who drank alcohol and erred in duty while suppressing the rebellion in Shu, was actually an act of private retaliation and malicious framing. I beg Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate this matter."

"Such a thing happened?"

Zhao Kuangyin's expression finally darkened somewhat. Chu Zhaofu, however, was fully confident and continued, "Replying to Your Majesty, it is absolute truth. The reason Draftsman Li was maliciously framed is entirely because he refused to conceal the fact that Ding Deyu's troops went on a rampage of plunder, insisting on memorializing the truth. In order to cover up his crimes, Ding Deyu submitted a memorial to frame and slander Draftsman Li (and such a thing truly did occur)!"

Having finally found an outlet to vent the fury pent up in his chest, Zhao Kuangyin slammed his hand down heavily upon the armrest and shouted decisively, "Liu Wensou, have your Censorate thoroughly investigate this matter and report back truthfully!"

Hearing these words, Zhao Guangyi could not help but cast a triumphant glance at his third brother, Zhao Guangmei, thinking to himself: *Learn a lesson from this, younger brother. His Imperial Majesty has already acknowledged that the unauthorized retreat of Li Xixun and Ding Deyu was without fault; how could he possibly slap his own face? Therefore, if you want to fix someone, you must use other charges, giving His Imperial Majesty a legitimate pretext to vent his anger and assign blame!*

Even more delightful to Zhao Guangyi, just as Censor-in-Chief Liu Wensou hurried forward to accept the imperial command, Zhao Kuangyin added angrily, "Hand this matter over to Dezhao! I want to see for myself whether or not he is truly capable of acting with complete impartiality before me!"

Before his voice had even faded, sophisticated though Zhao Guangyi's political acumen was, he could not suppress a look of wild elation, while Liu Wensou felt a chill run through his heart, thinking to himself: *His Majesty is truly blazing with anger this time; he intends to use this to whip and discipline the eldest prince, whose recent prominence has grown far too excessive.*