Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 328 The Truth Behind Jianwen's Secret Hideout

Southern Zhili.

Sun Mansion.

The plum trees outside the window bloomed and faded. Sun Weixian leaned against the cold stone wall, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the old marks on his wrist from the iron chains.

He was imprisoned in this ornately decorated secluded courtyard, ostensibly to "recuperate," but in reality, he was only allowed to see his confidants from the Southern Garrison Command at crucial moments, and was not permitted to leave the courtyard under normal circumstances.

All of this was because he unearthed the Jianwen Secret Treasury.

"Jianwen's Secret Treasury... Jianwen's Secret Treasury..."

"Ah!"

Just as he was smiling wryly, the old servant pushed open the door and said softly, "Fourth Master, it's time for your meal."

The dishes in the food box were still exquisite, as if reminding him that his family still respected him.

Sun Weixian glanced sideways and said calmly, "Seventh Brother is back?"

The old servant paused, lowered his eyes, and said, "Yes."

"Let him come to me."

If this were when Sun Weixian held immense power, and the entire clan had to defer to him, these words would have brought his usually respectful cousin to the foreseeable future within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

This time, however, after three whole days, and after a light drizzle, a slightly short figure appeared in the side courtyard and calmly asked, "I wonder what business Fourth Brother has with me?"

Sun Weixian looked up at the sky, stretched out his right palm to catch the falling raindrops: "When I was fourteen, my grandmother took me to the dark room of the ancestral hall on a rainy night like this..."

His grandmother told him that Emperor Jianwen, Zhu Yunwen, fled Nanjing with his eldest son, Zhu Wenkui. After the father and son were separated, Zhu Wenkui went into hiding and had three daughters.

The youngest daughter was the grandmother of the Sun family standing in front of him.

"When I first learned of these secrets, I was so scared that my legs went weak. I was worried that my background would be exposed and the court would confiscate my property and exterminate my clan."

Sun Weixian then turned around and looked at his once closest cousin: "When did you find out about your 'background'?"

Sun Weicheng, the seventh son in the Sun family, remained silent.

Sun Weixian was not surprised and continued, "That night, my grandmother's cold fingers brushed across my brow bone, and a yellowed map was unfolded in front of the altar, where sandalwood and iron smells mingled."

"The secret treasure holds wealth beyond measure, but things have changed, and no one cares about the legitimacy of our ancestors anymore. Yet, the treasure should not fall into the hands of outsiders."

“‘Weixian, you are the most outstanding child of this generation. Only you are qualified to inherit this secret!’”

As a teenager, he was both frightened and excited by this unique honor, so much so that he couldn't sleep all night.

Later, when he became a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, walking on the edge of a knife, he always remembered his grandmother's words.

You are the best!
It was the only one selected!
That's why Sun Weixian was so obsessed with the Jianwen secret collection.

He even became the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. After returning home in glory, he never forgot his past and started a new team to search for treasure along the coast.

It wasn't just about treasure and wealth; it was also his childhood dream and aspiration.

"You guys really tricked me!"

"What nonsense about a secret treasure! That place was just a stopover for Emperor Jianwen when he fled south a hundred years ago!"

"Later, a group of people who attempted to restore the monarchy hid the weapons they hadn't been able to deal with inside, preferring to let them rot rather than leave them for Emperor Chengzu..."

At this point, Sun Weixian scoffed, "With such a narrow-minded attitude, no wonder he was overthrown and lost his empire!"

Hearing this, Sun Weicheng finally spoke up: "Those are all loyal followers of our ancestors. Brother, you shouldn't have spoken like that!"

"Ancestor...Zhongliang..."

Sun Weixian chuckled: "We are surnamed Sun, not Zhu, so where did we come from? Not to mention, ministers who privately amass soldiers but dare not actually rebel have never been called loyal and virtuous throughout history."

"They should be called—"

"Rebellious ministers and traitors!"

Sun Weicheng's face darkened.

Sun Weixian continued, "The Jianwen secret treasure was a trick carefully designed by my grandmother. The weapons and equipment were already damaged, so it was impossible to rebel, but it could form an excellent trap."

"Rusty swords and spears cannot rebel, but once someone touches them, the charge of treason is like rust; once it gets on your hands, it can never be washed off."

"What matters is not the result, but the process!"

The most ingenious part of this scheme is that...

No one would be willing to incite a rebellion.

If it allows people to search for treasure, then many people will be interested.

But once you embark on the treasure hunt, who would believe you if you said you had no intention of rebelling?

After all, you are looking for the secret treasure left by Emperor Jianwen, which contains preparations for his intention to regain the throne!

"My grandmother chose me because my father died early, and the hereditary position of the Embroidered Uniform Guard will fall to me!"

"In order to uncover the secret, I not only cultivated a large number of trusted men in the Southern Garrison Command, but also had many more spies and informants in the various garrisons of Southern Zhili!" "Among these people, some knew the inside story, and some blindly followed, but in any case, they were all in the same boat!"

"Once you're associated with the Jianwen Secret Treasury, whether you're greedy or just curious, the court will consider it treason!"

Sun Weixian took a deep breath and slowly said, "I saw through your plan. Tan Jing sacrificed himself to protect me and help me break through the encirclement. He also wanted to protect his family..."

“None of us want to rebel or implicate our families. Only you bunch of lunatics are daydreaming about restoring the Jianwen Emperor in this prosperous era!”

Sun Weicheng's expression calmed down again, and he shook his head: "It's not a restoration; the legitimacy of our ancestors is indeed gone."

"Oh?"

Sun Weixian raised an eyebrow and said coldly, "So that's just simple treason?"

"Why not?"

Sun Weicheng said calmly, "Yongle was able to seize the throne through the Jingnan Campaign, and the Yan princes enjoyed the empire for over a hundred years. Other princes could not sit on the throne and deserved to be imprisoned in their own territories for generations."

Upon hearing the first half of the sentence, Sun Weixian's expression froze, thinking that his brother had gone mad. But the second half was extremely pointed, and he coldly said, "Which princely government have you pledged allegiance to? How dare you gamble the lives of your entire clan on this merit of following the emperor!"

"Fourth Brother, you still don't understand. It's not that we've pledged allegiance to anyone to gain merit in the process of joining the emperor, but rather that our very birth has been our original sin since the Jingnan Rebellion!"

Sun Weicheng sighed softly: "Unless the one on the throne in the capital is no longer of the Yongle lineage, we can not hold our heads high and live with dignity!"

"These are the words your grandmother told you..."

Sun Weixian truly understood, his gaze a mixture of sorrow and pity: "She completely ignited your fear?"

Sun Weicheng's face twisted slightly: "Fourth Brother, aren't you afraid? You just said that you used to have nightmares every night, worried that your secret would be exposed!"

"That was a naive idea I had when I was young!"

Sun Weixian said sternly, "The truth is, the past of Jianwen is long gone! If it weren't for Jianwen's secret treasures, and the scheming and fighting, no one would be searching for Jianwen's legacy anymore! It's you fools who have bound yourselves in chains, turning those bones into vengeful ghosts!"

"If we don't see eye to eye, even half a sentence is too much!"

Sun Weicheng waved his hand: "If Fourth Brother summoned me specifically for these reasons, then don't waste your breath. I might as well tell you something else. Do you remember the Ning Prince Rebellion twenty-five years ago?"

Sun Weixian's expression changed drastically: "You mean?"

"Not bad!"

Sun Weicheng said leisurely: "In the past, Emperor Taizu enfeoffed his sons as princes. His seventeenth son, Prince Ning, Zhu Quan, was stationed in Daming and commanded 80,000 troops. He was very powerful. When our ancestor was reducing the power of the princes, Zhu Di promised to divide the world in half after the success of the matter in order to win over Zhu Quan. However, after seizing the throne, he turned his back on Zhu Quan and reassigned him to Nanchang, stripping him of his military power."

“Zhu Quan’s descendants were dissatisfied with the court, especially the fourth Prince Ning, Zhu Chenhao, who believed that Zhengde was incompetent and wanted to emulate Zhu Di in seizing the throne. During this period, he restored the guards of the princes that had been abolished by the court, privately manufactured weapons, raised assassins, and bribed court officials to cover up signs of rebellion.”

"These things are easy to say, but in reality, countless eyes are watching the various vassal kings closely. How did the Prince of Ning raise a private army in the local area, and how did Jiangxi and Southern Zhili dare not report it?"

Sun Weicheng revealed a smug look: "My father, your uncle, deserves credit for this!"

"If Prince Ning hadn't been so foolish as to want to adopt his son to Zhengde, thus alerting the enemy, and then ignored advice and instead of directly attacking Nanjing, he had instead launched a prolonged siege of Anqing, giving Wang Yangming the opportunity to gather his forces, how could the army have suffered such a crushing defeat?"

"Oh, by the way, when Prince Ning raised his army, he also sent people to the island to search for treasure. Although they did not obtain any weapons, they did obtain a lot of gold and silver, which further strengthened their resolve!"

When the last sentence reached his ears, Sun Weixian's body swayed violently.

It's over!

Nine generations of your family are in grave danger!

If what this cousin said is true, this is not the first time the Sun family has plotted a rebellion.

That's right. If the grandmother wouldn't even spare her grandson, how could she possibly spare her son?

Sun Weixian's father was a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but died young and seemed unaffected by his family background. However, Sun Weicheng's father was the head of the Sun family business.

Sun Weixian's uncle had also contributed a great deal to his appointment as the garrison commander of the Southern Garrison, and had once held him in high esteem.

Unexpectedly, he even had this "contribution" to the Prince of Ning's rebellion.

Taking a deep breath, Sun Weixian said with a wry smile, "There's really no turning back now. Let me out!"

"Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back!"

Sun Weicheng was not surprised, and there was a hint of sarcasm in his smile: "However, before the big event is launched, at least before the coup in Southern Zhili is successful, I will not let Fourth Brother go out, lest you hesitate and ruin our big plan!"

Sun Weixian wasn't surprised. After a moment's thought, he slowly said, "Then I'll give you a suggestion: win someone over!"

"Who?"

"Hai Yue, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites!"

Sun Weicheng leaned forward, both surprised and delighted: "Him? He can get on our ship?"

Sun Weixian said, "Once we bind the Hai family of Qiongshan, they will have no choice in the matter. Once Haiyue can participate, your...our chances of winning will increase by at least 30%."

"In the battle of Shuangyu Island, I protected that Japanese pirate king Zeng. Let him be the manager. His talent in naval navigation is unmatched by any of you."

"Only by offering substantial benefits can we entice that high-ranking official to join us!"

The resounding words echoed in the side courtyard. Sun Weicheng unconsciously held his breath. Looking at his elder brother's long-unseen sharp demeanor, he finally whispered, "I'll give it a try!"

(End of this chapter)