Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 663 Three Suspects
Sergeant, Chief of Staff.

Prince Guangchang, the acting head of the Imperial Guard, Lee Er-chan, sat alone behind his desk, gazing absently at the fading afternoon sunlight.

There were people walking outside the hall, and the footsteps were getting closer.

"Master." The visitor stopped at the threshold of the main hall and bowed from a distance.

"Get lost." Li Erzhan didn't even intend to listen to the man. "I've already made it very clear that I'm not going back for dinner today. Did that bastard fail to relay my message, or do you all disregard me?"

The question was too harsh; the servant, caught off guard, immediately knelt down. "Master! Madam is very worried about you..."

"What's there to worry about? I'm not dead, get lost!" Li Erzhan waved his hand impatiently.

The servant kowtowed. "Master, Madam and Young Master are both in the carriage outside. Even if you don't go back, please go out and take a look."

"Get out. Let her take that brat and get out. I'm busy!" Li Erzhan's eyes flickered, and his voice seemed to soften slightly, but he remained rooted to the spot.

The servant wanted to persuade the "master" further, so he kowtowed again.

"Someone come here!" Li Erzhan shouted.

“Your Excellency!” A bailiff immediately emerged from the shadows beside him.

"Drag this irrelevant scoundrel out! Is this the place of the Ministry of War, where such idlers can come and go as they please?" Li Erzhan said, pointing at his servant.

"Yes," the yamen runner replied, then beckoned two helpers to the servant's side.

Instead of acting immediately, they whispered, "Sir, you have important business to attend to. Please understand. Don't make things difficult for us."

"Sigh." The servant of the Li family sighed and slowly stood up.

"This way, please." The constable breathed a sigh of relief and quickly made way for the servant.

A short while later, the servant returned to the yamen gate by the same route. Sure enough, there was a carriage parked there, and a young man was standing beside it. That was Li Erzhan's youngest son, Li Yiye, who was twenty-seven years old.

"Where is my father?" Li Yiye looked into the doorway twice, but only saw the three yamen runners who turned back.

"Master is busy and really doesn't want to come out," the servant replied, shrinking back.

"Mother, should we go back?" Li Yiye gripped the doorframe and had just begun to speak when his mother, Li Shi, voice came from inside: "Fourth son, if he doesn't come out, go in and check on him."

Li Yiye's eye twitched. "You know my dad's temper, so it's best not to provoke him right now."

"Your father didn't come home all night, aren't you worried?" Li said with a sigh.

"What's there to worry about? He's a lucky man, and heaven will always protect him." Li Yiye rolled his eyes slightly. "He's already back, isn't he?"

"Go in and take a look!"

"Oh well, fine." Li Yiye had no choice but to timidly walk into the military office.

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A moment later, Li Yiye returned dejectedly.

"Mother," Li Yiye lifted the curtain and was about to go in when he saw a sedan chair carried by four men and a carriage belonging to a soldier coming towards them.

"How is your father?" Li asked.

“Very good.” Li Yiye snorted. “Judging from the way he was cursing, he must have slept more soundly than we did last night.”

"Was he really kidnapped?" Li asked again.

"I don't know, but it doesn't look like it." Li Yiye squinted and quickly recognized the sedan chair.

"What are you looking at?" Madam Li keenly noticed Li Yiye's absent-mindedness.

"That looks like Park In-jang's sedan chair," Lee Ik-yeop murmured to himself.

"Oh?" Madam Li peeked out from behind the curtain and saw the sedan chair come to a stop.

Park Seung-jong stepped out of the low-hanging sedan chair and immediately noticed the carriage parked at the entrance of the yamen and Lee Ik-yeop beside it. "Nephew?"

"Go and greet them quickly! Don't be impolite," Madam Li urged.

"Yes," Li Yiye replied, then quickly walked up to Park Seung-jong and bowed respectfully, saying, "This nephew greets his father-in-law."

“Nephew, no need for such formalities.” Park Seung-jong put his hand on Lee Ik-yeop’s shoulder and looked at the carriage. “I think I heard my sister-in-law’s voice.”

"Yes. Mother is here too." Li Yiye nodded.

"This concubine greets her father-in-law." With the help of her maid, Lady Lee stepped out of the carriage and bowed to Park Seung-jong from a distance.

"You're too kind, sister-in-law." Park Seung-jong returned the greeting with a cupped hand, straightened up, and greeted them with a smile: "Have you come to see your brother-in-law?"

Yi Er-chan's daughter, Lady Yi, married Park Seung-jong's son, Park Ja-heung. The two had a daughter, Lady Park, who later married Crown Prince Yi Jo. Because Yi Er-chan was slightly older than Park Seung-jong, Yi Er-chan was, in principle, Park Seung-jong's brother-in-law, and consequently, Yi Er-chan's wife, Lady Yi, was Park Seung-jong's sister-in-law.

"Yes," Madam Li nodded with a wry smile. "But my husband doesn't seem to appreciate my kindness."

"It's a time of great upheaval and busy political affairs, please don't be offended, sister-in-law. Things will get better once you have some free time, brother-in-law." Park Seung-jong smiled amicably.

"Hehe." Madam Lee didn't detect the subtle meaning hidden in Park Seung-jong's words. She simply chuckled politely and reservedly before steer the conversation toward taking her leave: "Is my father-in-law also going to the Ministry of War on business?"

“It’s not just me.” Park Seung-jong turned to the side and gestured backward. “There’s also the Imperial Uncle Yoo and Judge Jang.”

Lady Li was taken aback and quickly squinted to look. "Imperial Uncle Liu, Judge Zhang, I have been impolite."

"This humble one greets Imperial Uncle Liu and Judge Zhang," Li Yiye said, bowing to the two men.

"Madam Li, nephew." Liu Xifen and Zhang Wan walked to Park Seung-jong's side and returned the greeting to Madam Li and Li Yiye. "Since you are busy with state affairs, then my son and I will not disturb you any longer." Madam Li straightened up and beckoned to her son. "Fourth son, come back. Let's go home."

Li Yiye opened his mouth, clearly wanting to find out some recent news. But his mother called after him from behind, so he could only reluctantly shut his mouth and turn to leave. "Father-in-law, Imperial Brother-in-law, Judge, we'll take our leave now."

"Take care." The three returned the greeting in unison, and before the Li family's carriage could start, they quickly entered the military office.

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"What did His Highness say?" As soon as the three entered the main hall of the yamen, Li Erzhan's voice came from the deep shadows.

“Your sister-in-law and nephew are here, why don’t you go out and see them?” Park Seung-jong was unwilling to sit below Lee Er-chan, nor did he want to sit by the window as a guest. In the end, he simply walked to Lee Er-chan’s desk and stood with his hands on his hips.

"There's nothing to see. It's not like we're not going back," Li Erzhan replied casually, then asked again, "What did His Highness say?"

"His Highness has instructed Judge Zhang to lead the team to Incheon to welcome Admiral Shen. You may need to make arrangements with the Ministry of Rites." Liu Xifen didn't have much of a grudge and went straight to the seat he had been sitting in.

"Hmm," Li Erzhan looked at Zhang Wan with a puzzled expression, then at Park Seung-jong and Yoo Hee-fen. "This arrangement is indeed good. What about Lin Chengye? Is he still in the palace?"

“We sent him back to Incheon.” A shadow quickly fell over Liu Xifen’s eyes.

"He's just a junior official, it doesn't matter whether he goes back or not at this point, right?" Li Erzhan was as perceptive as ever: "Is there some special reason?"

“Lin Chengye just said that Admiral Shen has issued an ultimatum to Incheon. If the city gates of Incheon remain closed by tomorrow morning, the Ming army will launch a direct attack on the city,” Liu Xifen sighed. “So we sent him back to Incheon to inform Li Liting to open the city gates.”

"Why would the Ming army issue an ultimatum right away? What exactly did Incheon do?" Li Erzhan's reaction was the same.

“I don’t know, anyway, Lin Chengye said he didn’t know.” Liu Xifen shook his head and looked at Park Seung-jong, signaling him to share his previous thoughts. However, Park Seung-jong just stood there with his hands on his hips, clearly not intending to say much to Li Erzhan.

Li Erzhan followed Liu Xifen's gaze to Park Seung-jong, but only glanced at him before turning his gaze back to Zhang Wan. "Judge Zhang."

"What?" Zhang Wan was a little distracted.

Li Erzhan ordered Zhang Wan: "I want you to send an urgent order to Incheon, instructing Li Liting to open the city gates immediately."

Zhang Wan was taken aback. "Didn't we already send Envoy Lin out of the city to deliver the message?"

“The people who kidnapped me are still outside the city. If they intercept Lin Chengye, things will get really troublesome,” Li Erzhan said, frowning.

"Hmph." Park Seung-jong sneered and said quietly from the side, "Guangchang-gun really is like someone who has been bitten by a snake once and is afraid of a well rope for ten years."

“If you can’t speak properly, then don’t speak at all. I’m just learning from my mistakes.” Li Erzhan rolled his eyes at Park Seung-jong, then turned to urge Zhang Wan, “Judge Zhang?”

“Alright. I’ll issue the sergeant’s order right away.” Zhang Wan had no reason to refuse, so he immediately pulled out a standard order form and began to write furiously.

“It also needs to be filed,” Li Erzhan added. “Today, the matter of dispatching urgent orders should be filed in the Military Affairs Office’s archives. It must be clearly stated that the Military Affairs Office dispatched the urgent orders on the orders of the Crown Prince.”

“Alright.” Zhang Wan gave Li Erzhan a deep look, and Liu Xifen and Park Seung-jong couldn’t help but nod as well. They had all figured out Li Erzhan’s purpose in coming here—that way, even if Lin Chengye and the sergeant’s orders were intercepted, they would still have something to explain to the imperial envoy.

"Speaking of which," after a moment of silence, Park Seung-jong moved to Lee Er-chan's side, one hand on the armrest and the other on the top of the backrest, "did you find the traitor who kidnapped you?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Xifen's expression immediately changed, and Zhang Wan also stopped writing.

"Take your hand away." Li Erzhan slapped away Park Seung-jong's hand that was pressing on the top of the backrest. "Or you could just put it higher and slap it on my head."

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Park Seung-jong shrugged. “You know I have a bad back.”

"Hmph." Li Erzhan sneered and said sarcastically, "If you put less effort into a woman's butt, your old back will naturally feel better."

"Can we get down to business?!" Park Seung-jong's face flushed red instantly.

Lee Er-chan stared at Park Seung-jong with a melancholy expression until he withdrew his hand from the back of the chair. Lee Er-chan then composed himself, turned around, and tapped a piece of paper in front of him with his knuckles. “The Yong-sang Guard and Chung-sa Guard report that Heung-an-gun, Gyeong-pyeong-gun, and Yeong-yang-gun are all not at home.”

"All three of them are traitors?" Park Seung-jong exclaimed in surprise. He quickly picked up the paper, but only saw the nine characters "Prince Heungan," "Prince Gyeongpyeong," and "Prince Neungyang" written side by side, along with some circles and dots. Clearly, this was just a hastily scribbled draft.

“If only one person is not in Hanyang, then that person must be the ‘sir’ who ordered the kidnappers to kidnap me. But now that three people are not in Hanyang at the same time, we can only say that they are all suspects.” Li Erzhan habitually leaned against the armrest of his chair, which happened to be next to Park Seung-jong’s hand that hadn’t moved away. Li Erzhan instinctively moved to the other side, then slapped the hand with considerable disdain. “Move aside, can you not stand here?”

Park Seung-jong frowned and was about to put the manuscript back when he heard Yoo Hee-bun say, "Minister Park, could I take a look at that thing?" After saying that, he looked at Lee Er-chan and added, "If Brother De-yu doesn't mind."

“You can look at it if you want,” Li Erzhan snatched the paper from Park Seung-jong’s hand and turned it to show Liu Xifen. “But there’s really nothing to see, because it only has three names and nine characters written on it.”

"Never mind then." Liu Xifen stood up, then sat back down. "Brother Deyu, who do you think is more suspicious?"

"Judging from the current situation, it's really hard to say." Li Erzhan sighed. "The families of Xing'an Jun and Qingping Jun said they went out of the capital to worship Buddha, while the family of Lingyang Jun said that Lingyang Jun went to visit." At this point, Li Erzhan suddenly stopped.

"Whom are you visiting?" Park Seung-jong asked with displeasure.

“Visit Shin Kyung-hee’s family.” Lee Er-chan tilted his head and looked at Park Seung-jong with an unfriendly expression.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Park Seung-jong took a step back. "Are you going to blame me for forcing Prince Lingyang to rebel?"

“Whether Lord Lingyang is that ‘Your Excellency’ is still up in the air,” Li Erzhan stood up, his perspective shifting from looking up to looking down. “Don’t use such rhetoric to convict someone.”

"Isn't it possible that you're deliberately siding with Prince Lingyang because you're afraid of getting involved with Shin Kyung-hee?" Park Seung-jong spoke with a tough tone, but his actions betrayed him. "Whoever isn't in the capital is a traitor—you said that yourself!"

“I did say that, but there was a condition: there was only one suspect,” Li Erzhan retorted sharply. “Also, you know in your heart whether Shen Jingxi actually plotted a rebellion!”

"What do you mean by this?" Park Seung-jong clenched his fists.

"Do you still need to ask me what this means? You yourself used the words 'forced rebellion.' You just said it!" Li Erzhan took a step forward, staring intently into Park Seung-jong's eyes.

"Li Erzhan!"

"Alright, alright. What's the point of talking about this now!" Just as the tension was about to escalate, Liu Xifen forcefully interrupted this pointless conversation stemming from long-standing resentment. "Let's hurry up and think about how to find that traitor!"

(End of this chapter)