Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 418 Raising an Army for a Thousand Days
The light on the roof stayed on until dawn.

Yan Qu also returned to the mansion as dawn broke.

Yan Liang remained seated in the mourning hall, listening to him recount the whole story.

"That Shen Yu is ruthless enough. He mobilized the Qin and Huang families, leaving our four groups of people with absolutely no chance to resist!"

"You only managed to escape for three or five miles as you said, but you were blocked in the village!"

"All my belongings have been taken away!"

He gritted his teeth and looked over, asking, "Are those bamboo tubes alright?"

Yan Liang stared at the white banner in front of him: "Are you sure they only sent four groups of people?"

“Of course!” Yan Qu looked at him: “There are only four city gates in total, and there are only four roads leading out of the city gates. Even if there are branch roads, they are still more than ten miles away. We were intercepted two miles outside the city gate. It is obvious that they came out in several groups.”

Yan Liang turned his head to look at the hazy morning light, then threw a few more sheets of paper into the brazier: "It seems that this young master of the Shen family is not so capable after all!"

He dusted off his robe and stood up: "Lu Jie is already bound by the Emperor's decree and has no time to spare! After Chenshi (7-9 AM), my grandfather will lead the officials into the palace. From now on, you are responsible for sending people to keep a close eye on the Shen family!"
"Send several more groups of people outside the city to stop Shen Bo, lest he return to the capital now and ruin my important plans!"

"In particular, we need to send a message to the Imperial Guards on duty, instructing them to follow orders!"

The Yan family has carried the infamous reputation of controlling the court their whole lives. How could they not bribe the officials in the palace?
If it weren't for bribing officials and superiors, how could the Yan family have amassed so much wealth in the first place?

We've been raising our troops for a thousand days, and now it's finally time to use them!
They don't need to help the Yan family storm the palace with knives and force the emperor to abdicate, but surely it wouldn't be difficult for them to listen to the Yan family and guard the palace gates properly?

……

At the end of the Yin hour, Lu Jia, dressed in his official attire, arrived at the palace gate to submit a memorial.

This wasn't the first time Lu Jia had entered the palace so early. Since Shen Qingzhou brought Lu Jia to the palace to pay respects to the Empress Dowager a few months ago, Lu Jia had come several times on her own. On two occasions, she had also rushed to the palace at dawn.

Just as she was straightening her clothes and preparing to step into the palace gate as usual, the guards stopped her: "Please wait a moment, Your Highness. The memorial has just been submitted. You must wait for someone from the Empress Dowager's palace to come in before you can enter."

Lu Jia was stunned for three breaths: "We have a token that allows us to routinely enter the palace to pay our respects."

"This is the rule of the garrison. Even if there is a badge, it is still the same. Please forgive me, Madam."

The centurion, who was blocking the way, was all smiles, but he refused to budge an inch.

Lu Jia frowned and went back to the car to wait.

She turned her head to look several times, but no one from the Empress Dowager's side came from inside the palace gate. However, the palace servants walking inside the palace gate looked normal, as if nothing had happened.

Lu Jia thought for a moment, then ordered the guards to turn their horses around: "We'll go around to the vicinity of the Directorate of Ceremonial. Then you find the private residence of Eunuch Li of the Directorate of Ceremonial!"

……

After Gao Hong's death, the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs became much quieter, but the threat posed by the Yan family remained, so how could Li Quan dare to be careless?
As dawn broke, just as the emperor was about to finish his meditation, a young eunuch suddenly came to say that the steward of the private residence had something to ask of him, and whispered a few words in his ear.

Li Quan immediately turned his toes and moved to the other corner of the gate.

"Eunuch Li!"

Lu Jia greeted him from inside the carriage. When he approached, she said, "I requested an audience with the Imperial Concubine this morning, but was stopped by the soldiers at the city gate. I don't know if something happened to Her Highness, or if the message was never even mentioned to her. I would appreciate it if you could help me check."

Li Quan was also stunned after hearing this.

"Young lady!"

Just then, a guard left at the palace gate ran over and said, "Several officials from the Six Ministries wanted to enter the palace to see the Emperor, but they couldn't get in! They all gave the same explanation: the Emperor didn't send anyone to reply, so they couldn't enter the palace."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jia quickly looked at Li Quan and asked, "Is this because no one is allowed to enter? Or does the Emperor not want to see his ministers again? Does the Eunuch know the reason?"

Before the Yan family's downfall, the emperor rarely saw more than a few people throughout the year, and when officials presented their cases, the matter was often stopped at the Grand Secretariat.

After Yan Shu's case of embezzling military funds came to light, the emperor began to meet with more people.

"His Majesty's health has been poor this year, and he has been working rather hard lately. Yesterday afternoon, he met with several officials, but sent them away after only meeting half of them. However—"

Li Quan looked up as he spoke: "Has something happened outside?"

Lu Jia nodded: "The Yan family has been making frequent moves these past two days. Last night, they suddenly held a Buddhist ceremony, and many people went to the Yan family. They are only one day away from reporting to the Emperor. If they don't handle this case well, they will definitely be punished again. We are worried that they might resort to desperate measures at this point."

Li Quan paused for a moment, then asked, "What was the purpose of the Crown Prince's wife entering the palace?"

Lu Jia explained the whole story: "I didn't plan to come to see you at first because I was afraid of attracting attention."

"Now that I can't enter the palace, I have no choice but to come and find you, Eunuch."

"The Yan family's influence in the court is not to be underestimated. After all, we are not afraid of the worst-case scenario."

"If we could get our hands on this list, we could check their backgrounds one by one and have a better understanding of their situation."

As a subject, it would be presumptuous for him to inquire about the emperor's close attendants. However, Li Quan was one of his own, and since Yan Liang had already set his sights on the Shen family, he would naturally not let go of the matter of keeping an eye on Li Quan either. Taking this opportunity, Lu Jia naturally had to tell him everything.

"I understand." Li Quan frowned and thought for a moment, then took out a token from his pocket and gave it to her: "This is the Imperial Household Department's pass for entering and leaving the palace. With it, you have the right to enter and leave the palace at will. Take it. If anything happens, you can use this to get in!"

"In addition, the Shanggong Bureau can collect a list of all the palace servants serving in the Qianqing Palace, but it will take some time. The person on duty this morning is my fellow townsman. He will be off duty in an hour. You should take this token and go find him as soon as possible. There is still time."

After saying that, he looked around and nodded to Lu Jia: "Since this is unusual, I will hurry to Qianqing Palace to find out what's going on. I hope nothing is wrong!"

Lu Jia watched him leave, then quickly took out the token and directed the guards: "Send two people back to the mansion to report to the Crown Prince, the rest of you come with me to the Imperial Palace!"

When the news reached the Grand Commandant's residence, Shen Qingzhou had just returned from visiting He Ping. After standing behind the screen for a moment, he asked, "Who is in charge of the Imperial Guards on duty today?"

Song En said, "This ten-day period should belong to the heir of the Earl of Guang'en."

“I remember that the Guang’en Earl’s family had no connection with the Yan family. His father even followed the Grand Commandant to fight in the Northwest for two years, so there was no reason for him to be courted by the Yan family.”

Song En clasped his hands together: "If they were completely won over, the Yan family wouldn't have needed to go through such a roundabout way. I suspect even the heir of the Guang'en Marquis might not know about this. After all, it's just stopping a few people and delaying the time; there's no question of guarding the palace."

He paused for a moment: "How about we go and find the heir of the Earl of Guang'en?"

Shen Qingzhou frowned for a moment, then decisively said, "No need! Since they want to walk into the trap, why should we stop them?"