Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 664 The Divine Machine Fourth Battalion
“Hehe, catching traitors is not difficult.” Park Seung-jong walked to Yoo Hee-bun’s side, looked at Lee Er-chan and said, “Isn’t our Judge Lee of the Uigeumbu the best at this kind of thing? I’m just afraid that someone will be biased towards certain people for some reason.”

"Speaker Park, stop talking." Liu Xifen gently tugged at Park Seung-jong's sleeve.

"Hmph!" Park Seung-jong kept provoking him, and Lee Er-chan was truly getting angry. "If this was really done by Prince Lingyang, I'll be the first to impeach you for forcing the loyal to do evil!"

"Ha! Afraid of you? How many more days can you keep jumping around?" Park Seung-jong retorted sarcastically.

"Even if I die tomorrow, I'll drag you, you ungrateful bastard, into my coffin!" Li Erzhan leaned forward, one hand on the table, the other pointing at Park Seung-jong, looking like he was about to explode with rage.

Bang bang bang!
"Oh dear, oh dear!" Liu Xifen slammed his fist on the table in frustration. "What time is it?! Stop arguing and get down to business!"

“Yes, let’s all keep quiet. After the imperial envoy arrived in the capital, this case has become impossible to investigate.” Zhang Wan, who had been silent for a long time, unexpectedly chimed in to mediate.

“There’s no need to wait for the imperial envoy to arrive in the capital,” Li Erzhan sighed, slumping back down. “This case is now at a standstill.”

"Why did you freeze up like that?" Park Seung-jong said sarcastically. "Aren't you the best at extracting confessions through torture?"

“I’m too lazy to argue with you,” Li Erzhan rolled his eyes at Park Seung-jong. “I’m just asking you, right now Heungan-gun, Gyeongpyeong-gun, and Yeongyang-gun are all out of Hanyang, whose confession do you want me to extract from?”

"They can run away, but they can't hide. Aren't their families still around?" Park Seung-jong glared back at Lee Er-chan. "Arrest them and interrogate them thoroughly."

"What if we can't find out anything?" Li Erzhan asked rhetorically.

"You knew without even conducting an investigation?" Park Seung-jong sneered.

“Use your brain and think this through. The imperial envoy is about to enter the capital. At this point, whose name will you use, and what reason will you use to torture him? If you kill someone during the interrogation, who will be held responsible—you, me, or the Crown Prince?” Li Erzhan said, pointing at Park Seung-jong with his sleeves spread wide. “Besides, if you were that person, would you still keep someone who knows the truth in your house right now?”

Park Seung-jong was speechless, finally managing to stammer, "How should I know? I'm not that person!"

"Tch." Li Erzhan rolled his eyes at Park Seung-jong again, muttering profanities under his breath.

"We have to do something, or just sit here and wait?" Liu Xifen said.

“There is still a way, but we may not be able to find it, and even if we do, it may not be accurate,” Li Erzhan said.

"Stop talking nonsense," Park Seung-jong muttered under his breath.

"What method?!" Liu Xifen shouted loudly, drowning out Park Seung-jong's cricket chirping.

“Check the exit records of each gate,” Li Erzhan said. “When members of the imperial family travel, they either travel by sedan chair or carriage. If the gatekeepers are fulfilling their duties, they should stop and question any carriages or sedan chairs they see, and make a note of it. If they questioned and noted it down, then we can use the recorded exit times to deduce whether the person who kidnapped my lord was the one who did so.”

"When will we leave the city?" Liu Xifen asked.

“I left the city around noon yesterday, and met that gentleman for the first time just before dark. If any of the Lord Xing’an, Lord Qingping, or Lord Lingyang left the city during that time, then that person must be that ‘gentleman’,” Li Erzhan said.

“What if they didn’t keep a record?” Park Seung-jong said.

"Is it your fault? Weren't you the ones who put up the goalkeepers?" Li Erzhan said sarcastically.

"Bullshit! The gatekeepers of Sukjeong and Heungin are still the same people!" Park Seung-jong retorted instinctively. But he was immediately met with another round of eye-rolls from Lee Er-chan: "You know it's just those two?"

"Alright!" Liu Xifen intervened promptly, changing the subject: "What if that person had already left the city before you did?"

“Yes,” Zhang Wan echoed, “It’s entirely possible that person left the city first and then received a report from his subordinates before rushing over.”

“This possibility certainly exists, and it’s not insignificant. So I think there’s another point that can serve as a new argument for this situation. It’s just less accurate,” Li Erzhan said.

"Which point?" Zhang Wan asked.

“The families of Lord Xing’an and Lord Qingping said that the reason they were not in the capital was to go to Feng’en Temple to worship Buddha. Although Feng’en Temple is in Han’yin, it is possible to travel there and back in a day. If I were to go to Feng’en Temple, I would definitely leave in the morning and return in the evening. If they left the capital earlier than yesterday, then they are highly suspicious.”

“How come this suspicion is so strong?” Liu Xifen said.

“Rebellion is a serious matter; it can’t be a spur-of-the-moment decision. Besides, that person started acting the very day we learned of it, which clearly indicates premeditation. So I suspect that ‘Your Excellency’ may have seen that proclamation before you, or learned about the Celestial Empire’s guardianship strategy in advance through some other means.” Li Erzhan looked at Liu Xifen and said quietly, “If you were the one who wanted to take advantage of the situation to start a rebellion, wouldn’t you have thought about leaving the capital in advance to avoid being locked up in the city, or even going further to Gaoyang, Paju, or even Kaesong to ‘welcome’ the imperial envoy and accuse the king?”

"I," Liu Xifen nodded subconsciously, but quickly gave an awkward smile, "How would I know?"

"Why do you only mention Prince Heungan and Prince Gyeongpyeong?" Park Seung-jong asked, leaning on the back of Yoo Hee-bun's chair. "What about Prince Yeongyang?"

"Lord Lingyang," Lee Er-chan, stared coldly at Park Seung-jong. "I don't know."

"Is there anything in this world that you don't know?" Park Seung-jong felt uneasy under Lee Er-chan's gaze.

“Yes. After you killed Shen Jingxi, his family moved out of that house in the southern suburbs. To avoid suspicion and prevent your cronies from using this incident to attack me, I distanced myself from Shen Jingxi's family. So, to this day, I still don't know where they moved to, nor do I know how long it will take for Lord Lingyang to find his family.” Li Erzhan rolled his eyes so hard they almost reached the sky. “Do you understand now? Are you satisfied?”

"Isn't it a bit too arbitrary to judge a case this way?" Liu Xifen was afraid that the two of them would start arguing again, so he shouted and interrupted before Park Seung-jong could reply.

“As I just said, this method may not be able to find them, and even if it does, it may not be accurate. But better methods, such as directly arresting people and interrogating them severely, are no longer feasible.” Li Erzhan spread his hands and sighed helplessly: “From the moment we found the three suspects, I have been at my wit’s end. If the three of you have any better methods, please tell us.”

"Let's investigate like this for now," Liu Xifen said. "First, retrieve all the entry and exit records for the seven gates!"

"I've already sent someone to fetch it. Judging by the time, it should be delivered soon." Li Erzhan looked at Zhang Wan, gazing at the writing brush leaning against the pen holder. "Judge Zhang, is the military order finished?" "Finished." Zhang Wan held up the standard order form.

“Then file it.” Li Erzhan nodded, then called out towards the door, “Someone come here!”

"Your Excellency!" A yamen runner strode into the main hall.

"Over there," Li Erzhan pointed in Zhang Wan's direction.

"Send it to Incheon, by express, it needs to be delivered today." Zhang Wan quickly read the letter again before handing it to the yamen runner.

"Yes!" The constable took the letter and turned to leave. The matter being discussed in the courtroom was truly terrifying; just listening to it sent chills down one's spine.

"When are you planning to leave for Incheon?" Li Erzhan asked Zhang Wan.

"The sooner the better." Zhang Wan stood up, walked to a shelf full of books and volumes, and found a diary file on it with just a glance.

“Then let’s do it tomorrow morning. I’ll arrange the formalities and attendants for you tonight,” Li Erzhan said.

“Then I’ll have to trouble Judge Li.” Zhang Wan turned around and pulled out a monthly record from another shelf.

By simply adding a single entry to each of the two books, it can be proven that the Crown Prince had earlier sent an order to Incheon through the Ministry of War to "open the city gates and welcome the heavenly army."

-------

Outside a small fishing village west of Incheon and east of the port, the vanguard of the Ming army from Hanyang was setting up camp.

Outside this designated camp area, a chariot sub-battalion and a cavalry sub-battalion under the command of Shen Xun, the adjutant of the Fourth Battalion of the Divine Machine Army, had been fully deployed and assumed a defensive posture to hold their ground.

Outside the defensive positions, scattered Ming cavalrymen were patrolling slowly, in small teams of five, each less than two li apart. In case of any emergency, the teams could immediately support each other and promptly notify their superiors.

Tweet!
A whistling arrow flew into the sky, and in less than a quarter of an hour, the squad leader in charge of the patrol arrived at the location where the whistling arrow had been fired, accompanied by more than a dozen of his men.

"Old Liu, what's going on?" The captain reined in his horse, pointed to a long line of men at the corner at the end of the path, and asked his subordinate, Sergeant Liu, "What are those people doing here?"

"I don't know," Liu, the squad leader, shrugged.

"Don't know?" The officer frowned. "You're just going to sit here and wait, why don't you go ask around first?"

"Of course I went over to ask, but those Korean barbarians chattered on and on, and I couldn't understand a single word." Liu Wuzhang was a native of Huairou County, Changping Prefecture, Beizhili. This was the first time in his life that he had stepped out of the country and the first time he had met people from a foreign country.

However, the person who spoke to Liu Wuzhang earlier was actually an interpreter who could speak Chinese. It was just that the interpreter's Liaodong accent was too heavy for Liu Wuzhang to understand, so he took the interpreter's Chinese as a Korean dialect.

"Didn't they carry a flag? What does it say?" The officer turned his head, squinting slightly, but still couldn't make out the two lines of text. He was a little nearsighted.

“Oh, it says ‘Incheon Protectorate’ on it.” Sergeant Liu was literate and could even read novels by himself.

"The Grand Protectorate? Wow, quite the grand entrance." The officer nodded and chuckled. Then he shouted, "Hold your weapons tight, come with me to take a look!"

Nearly twenty cavalrymen sprang into action and quickly reached the corner at the end of the path, partially surrounding the Korean vanguard.

"Hey, hey, come out here and say something!" the squad leader shouted in broken Korean dialect he had just learned.

“Me! I am!” A short old man dressed in the uniform of a fifth-rank Korean civil official understood the officer in charge of the procession’s broken Korean, so he quickly waved away the ceremonial guards blocking his way and came to the front of the procession.

"Old Luo, come here." The squad leader turned to look at the corporal who had taught him the Korean dialect.

"okay!"

Corporal Luo was from Shandong. He was originally just a sailor. Before joining the army, he worked as a sailor on merchant ships traveling between China and North Korea for more than ten years. He even unloaded cargo at the commercial port where the Hanyang First Army was currently docked. As a result, he learned some of the Korean dialect with a Gyeonggi accent through his daily life.

Three years ago, shortly after the disastrous defeat at Sarhu, the Qing military censors in Shandong were ordered by the Ministry of War to clean up military households and fill vacancies according to their registered numbers, with one able-bodied man per household. In the Luo clan, there was a wealthy man who came from a military household and did not want his only son to join the army. So he asked a broker to find Luo, a sailor from another family, hoping that he could be transferred to another household to be drafted.

After some discussion, the wealthy Luo persuaded the sailor Luo to replace the conscripted laborers by offering thirty taels of silver, fifteen mu of land, and the condition of repairing his parents' graves. The terms of "thirty taels of silver and fifteen mu of land" were not comparable to the market prices in the south, but it was still a very good deal.

Having received the money and acquired the land, Sailor Luo transformed into a small-time landlord. That same year, he married the daughter of a respectable family, and the following year, she gave birth to a son. Thus, this impoverished bachelor sailor became a married man with a family in the Shandong coastal defense battalion.

This summer, the emperor decided to send troops to Korea to protect Liaodong. The order reached Shandong, and as one of the ten thousand Shandong soldiers, he was naturally subject to deployment. Before departure, Admiral Shen Yourong issued a decree to each battalion, recruiting soldiers fluent in the Korean dialect. Luo Haifang, a soldier in the battalion, responded to the decree and was promoted that very day, from an ordinary soldier to a squad leader of a five-man unit, and assigned to the Shenji Fourth Battalion as the vanguard.

Because Corporal Luo could ride a horse, Shen Xun, the adjutant of the Fourth Battalion of the Divine Machine Army, transferred him to the cavalry sentry team before the landing.

After responding, Corporal Luo rode up to the fifth-rank Korean official, tilted his head back and looked down at him, saying, "I am Luo Rengui, the vanguard officer of the cavalry scouts under General Shen Xun, the adjutant of the Eighth Military Command of Korea. May I ask your name?"

"Chen, Chen Ning'en. I am Chen Ning'en, currently serving as a judge in the Incheon Protectorate." Chen Ning'en was clearly intimidated by Luo Rengui's fluent and unhindered Gyeonggi-accented Korean and his arrogant, storytelling-like manner. In his eyes, this "vanguard officer" surnamed Luo seemed more like the commander of this elite cavalry unit than the actual commanding officer.

"What are you doing here?" Luo Rengui asked, tilting his head back and looking down at them with his nose in his mouth.

"I...I am acting on the orders of Prefect Li, bringing fifty bushels of grain, one hundred jars of wine, and ten pigs, ten cattle, and ten sheep to reward the Heavenly Army. I hope...I hope to see Admiral Shen. I beg...I beg General Luo to do me the favor and introduce me." Chen Ning'en bowed and stammered as he spoke.

(End of this chapter)