Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 686 Speculation and Insight

“We might not even know she’s still alive.” A bead of sweat slid down the furrow between Yuan Keli’s brows. “What does that mean?”

“That Princess Zhenming was actually hiding here as a dead person.” Luo Yangxing raised his hand and pointed in the direction of the Imperial Hall.

"Hiding here as a dead person?" The increasingly complicated situation made Yuan Keli's expression grow more and more solemn.

“That’s right. It’s ‘hidden’!” Luo Yangxing seized on the emphasis Yuan Keli had made. “Before moving in, we cleared out the Koreans here as usual. Things went smoothly at first. Both the Imperial Guards stationed outside the house and the servants living inside cooperated and left.”

"It wasn't until we knocked on the door of that place called Xiyutang, preparing to take the palace maids inside away, that they started shouting something in alarm," Luo Yangxing said twice in Korean before explaining, "that means the princess is dead."

Yuan Keli no longer needed a Korean translator, but he nodded nonetheless. "Why are those palace maids shouting like that?"

"Those palace maids probably misunderstood our intentions, thinking we were Joseon soldiers sent by the rebellious King Yi Hun to persecute Queen Dowager Jeongyi and her daughter. They were very agitated, and no amount of persuasion could sway them. Only after I explained our purpose and showed them the seal of the Embroidered Uniform Guard did they calm down, still somewhat doubtful, amidst their shock." Luo Yangxing felt a little guilty, because the reason the palace maids were so frightened was most likely because the Embroidered Uniform Guard had forcibly broken down the door after their attempts to persuade them had failed.

“They had no idea that the king had been deposed or that our army was about to enter Hanyang. If it weren’t for Admiral Shen taking a fancy to the watchtowers and fortresses built around here and asking the Regent’s son for the place, they probably would have been kept in the dark for a while longer,” Luo Yangxing said, looking at Shen Yourong.

"Hehe. Hehe." Shen Yourong's eyelids twitched, and she pointed to Junming Hall not far away and laughed awkwardly. "We're already at the door, let's go inside and sit down to talk. There's no need to stand here in the sun."

Yuan Keli nodded and started walking. "They're under house arrest."

“That’s right.” Luo Yangxing stepped forward quickly and opened the door of Junming Hall for Yuan and Shen. “It’s obvious that the military fortresses around this palace were specifically set up to imprison Consort Zhenyi and her daughter.”

“And what about Queen Dowager Jeongyi herself?” Yuan Keli moved to the main seat facing the entrance. “Is she also in the Former Imperial Hall?”

“No. She was taken away by the Regent’s heir a few days ago,” Luo Yangxing said, walking to the first seat below the main seat. After sitting down, he added, “The Regent’s heir came to pick her up personally.”

"Prepare tea!" Shen Yourong called out from the doorway before sitting down next to Yuan Keli.

"In other words," Yuan Keli tapped slowly on the wooden armrest with two fingers, "that the Regent's Crown Prince only took away Queen Dowager Jeongyi, but not Princess Jeongmyeong?"

“That’s right.” Luo Yangxing nodded. “That’s why I said the Regent’s heir might not even know that Princess Zhenming is still alive.”

“But if she’s under house arrest, and there are these military forts all around,” Yuan Keli said, “how can she hide as a dead person?”

“Because there is indeed a female corpse buried in the courtyard of that former palace.” Luo Yangxing’s expression changed slightly.

"A female corpse!" Yuan Keli gasped. Despite the sweltering summer heat, he felt a sudden chill. "Who was that?"

"She should just be an ordinary palace maid," Luo Yangxing said.

"Who killed her? Why!" Yuan Keli's first reaction was that Consort Zhenyi killed a palace maid as a cover to protect her daughter.

However, Luo Yangxing immediately refuted this conjecture: "It is said that one autumn night last year, an assassin scaled the wall and broke into the Xiyu Hall, intending to assassinate Grand Consort Zhenyi. Grand Consort Zhenyi's personal maid heard the commotion and went out to investigate, only to run into the assassin head-on, and was then stabbed in the heart." Luo Yangxing extended two fingers and gently touched the spot on her heart. "After the assassin killed her, he fled in panic, and Grand Consort Zhenyi and Princess Zhenming escaped this calamity."

"You mean, after the palace maid replaced the body with a fake one, Consort Zhenyi disguised her corpse as Princess Zhenming?" Yuan Keli breathed a slight sigh of relief, but his brows did not relax at all, because things had clearly become more complicated.

“That’s right.” Luo Yangxing nodded and said, “After that personal maid died, Consort Zhenyi personally dressed her in princess’s clothes and ordered her to be buried next to the courtyard wall of the Xiyu Hall.”

"Does this kind of trick work? It's just a stab to the heart, not a face slashed. Anyone who knows someone will see through it at a glance, right?" Yuan Keli said.

“The problem is that no one has come to investigate. They said that since the incident, the Joseon court hasn’t sent anyone to inquire about it. Even the day after the incident, Changdeok Palace still sent eunuchs to pay their respects as usual, giving the impression that nothing had ever happened!” Luo Yangxing said. “On the contrary, we outsiders were the first to dig out the skeleton from the courtyard. If you only saw the female corpse dressed in princess’s clothes, anyone would probably think it was the princess’s body.”

Yuan Keli frowned and pondered for a long time. It wasn't until the servant who brought the tea came and went that he finally understood the logic behind it: "Let me sort this out first, and you can hear if what I'm saying is right."

"Please go ahead," Luo Yangxing waved his hand.

Yuan Keli picked up his tea and took a small sip. "Last autumn, someone sent an assassin to kill Consort Zhenyi, but by mistake, an ordinary palace maid was killed instead. To protect Princess Zhenming, Consort Zhenyi ordered the dead palace maid to be disguised as Princess Zhenming and buried under the wall of the Xiyu Hall. However, after the assassination attempt, no one paid any attention to it, as if it had never happened."

"Later, when our army besieged the city, the Crown Prince Regent hurriedly took Queen Dowager Jeongui away from here, while Princess Jeongmyeong remained because of Queen Dowager Jeongui's concealment. In the end, it was you who broke in here and dug up the body, right?"

“You’re right, that’s exactly how it is.” Luo Yangxing stared at Yuan Keli, as if expecting something.

Yuan Keli leaned forward, gripping the handrail, a bead of sweat sliding down his graying temple. "Something's fishy."

"Oh?" A glint of light flashed in Luo Yangxing's eyes. "What's strange about it?"

“As Luo Qian Shi just said,” Yuan Keli’s gaze was deep, as if he were looking at Luo Yangxing, or perhaps lost in his own thoughts, “that body was dug up by you, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Luo Yangxing said. “The remains are still lying in the empty corridor in the backyard.” “From the time the Regent’s Crown Prince took away Queen Dowager Jeongyi to when you entered Hanyang to take over this place, how many days passed?” Yuan Keli asked again.

“I haven’t calculated the exact number of days yet,” Luo Yangxing said with a smile, clapping his hands. “But the time difference is enough for someone to exhume the remains at a leisurely pace!”

“But he didn’t do that,” Yuan Keli said quietly.

"It seems you've also noticed that this regent's son has a serious problem!" Luo Yangxing's lips curled upwards.

“No,” Yuan Keli immediately shook his head. “There are too few clues right now, only some obvious signs and the one-sided statements of the parties involved. It’s far from enough to suspect anyone.”

"So what do you mean?" Luo Yangxing's upturned lips drooped again.

"I didn't mean anything by it, I just found it a bit strange. Ultimately, the key to this matter boils down to two points: assassination and disguise. As for the assassination, there's simply no way to trace it back to the princess." Yuan Keli picked up his teacup, took a large gulp, and continued:
"As for the matter of disguise, from the perspective of Consort Zhenyi, it is reasonable to either actively expose the corpse and claim that the remains are those of Princess Zhenming, or to remain silent and observe the situation. Based on what Vice Minister Luo told me, the truth should be closer to the latter."

"That's why the Regent's heir has a problem!" Luo Yangxing said with an almost certain tone:

"If he knew nothing, he would surely think Princess Zhenming was still alive. If I were him, I would definitely send someone to take Princess Zhenming away, and then we would find out that Princess Zhenming was actually 'dead,' and then dig up her remains. On the contrary, only he knew about the assassination and knew that Princess Zhenming was 'dead,' so he remained indifferent. You should know that when we came here, the land in that area was already hardened, with no signs of recent tilling."

“No, no, no, it’s too hasty to draw such a conclusion.” Yuan Keli stared intently at Luo Yangxing, keenly sensing that Luo Yangxing seemed eager to convict the Regent’s heir. “The fact that you were able to enter this place so easily and unearth a body in the hardened soil is enough to refute this conjecture. I can’t think of any reasonable explanation for this situation, which is almost like committing murder and then voluntarily delivering the body and witnesses to the yamen.”

“I’ll give you a reason right now.” Luo Yangxing flicked a finger. “That is to prove your innocence! I suspect that the Regent’s heir is trying to use this method to subtly make us believe that he is innocent.”

“Why make such a roundabout way?” Yuan Keli chuckled inexplicably. “Compared to this kind of self-justification that seems too obvious, a simple excuse of being too busy to care is probably more plausible.”

"Then I'll give you another reason."

"Alright." Yuan Keli interrupted Luo Yangxing directly, speaking in a tone that was half consultation and half command: "Vice Minister Luo, Admiral Shen, let's leave this matter at that for now. In the near future, we should prioritize stabilizing the situation and maintaining the front line. No matter how you look at it, His Majesty is most concerned about suppressing the bandits. If this matter causes everyone to feel insecure and the whole city to be in turmoil, it will not be a good thing for either of us."

“Guardian Yuan is right,” Shen Yourong immediately agreed.

His interest in these matters was already quite limited. Compared to such underhanded schemes and convoluted plots, Shen Yourong preferred to focus his limited energy on suppressing bandits and killing enemies. He had already made up his mind that no matter what the Emperor wanted the Imperial Guards to do in Korea, as long as it didn't directly involve him or the war on the front lines, he would not participate.

"Suppressing the bandits is certainly important, but isn't having a legitimate reason also important?" Luo Yangxing countered with a smile. "How can we convince the world that our large-scale mobilization to monitor Korea is justified and legitimate if we don't thoroughly investigate and dismantle these sordid matters?"

“I didn’t say we wouldn’t investigate, but it would be best to put it aside for now,” Yuan Keli said. “Besides, if we’re going to be legitimate, wouldn’t the case of ‘a cult leader defecting to the enemy and betraying his country’ be more direct? By the way, have you found that guy named Jiang Hongli?”

Luo Yangxing knew that Yuan Keli was trying to change the subject, but he still went along with it. "It's more accurate to say that it was delivered rather than found."

"Send it over?"

"On the very day we entered Hanyang, the Crown Prince Regent took the initiative to send someone to hand over Jiang Hongli and Jin Jingrui to us." Luo Yangxing's lips curled into a subtle smile. "Moreover, in addition to these two people, they also handed over the confessions they had obtained during interrogation to us."

"What statement?" Yuan Keli's brows, which had just relaxed, furrowed again.

“It’s a confession.” Luo Yangxing picked up his teacup and took a sip. “When, where, and what did Li Hui secretly say to Jiang Hongli? What did Jiang Hongli do after they went to the battlefield? It’s all written clearly in the confession.”

"Such a thing is true?" Yuan Keli was genuinely surprised.

“Yes,” Luo Yangxing said, “this saved us a lot of trouble.”

"Have you reviewed those two people?" Yuan Keli rubbed his head, which was tilted to the side, and used the tip of his ring finger to wipe away the sweat that had just formed on his forehead.

Luo Yangxing nodded and said, "They haven't tortured us yet; they just asked us a few simple questions."

"What did they say?" Yuan Keli asked.

"They admitted to everything in their confessions. Hmph." Luo Yangxing snorted coldly. "This must be what it means to be disgraced by the nation."

"To bear the shame of the nation?" Yuan Keli was taken aback. "Them?"

“No. I’m talking about Li Hui, of course.” Luo Yangxing shook his head and said, “After entering Hanyang, those Koreans have been conveying to us, openly or covertly, the same message. That is, all the crimes of rebellion were orchestrated by Li Hui alone, and apart from direct participants like Jiang Hongli and Kim Gyeong-seo who are not clear about their involvement, no one else has anything to do with it.”

"You mean, Li Hui took all the blame upon himself?"

“That’s right!” Luo Yangxing nodded heavily. “I’m starting to suspect that the so-called ‘palace coup’ that the Crown Prince instigated after his father vomited blood, and the series of ‘deeply repenting his father’s crimes’ that we saw after entering the capital, were all pre-arranged by Li Hui. It was all to remove the Crown Prince and all the important officials and old retainers surrounding him from the picture! These Joseon people are all incredibly cunning; don’t be fooled by their tearful appearance, sir.”

(End of this chapter)