The Splendor of the Red Chamber

The tomb of the Prince of Nan'an is located 20 li south of the city.

When Jia Lian arrived with his men, the area was already densely surrounded by government officials.

The outermost layer consisted of personnel from the Shuntian Prefecture Government, Daxing County Government, and the Five Cities Military Command; further inside were personnel from the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Rites; and the innermost layer was comprised of personnel from the Imperial City Command.

However, this only applies to lower-level officials and clerks.

Officials of the fifth rank and above were all in the main sacrificial hall—the mausoleum of a prince was like a small city, surrounded by high walls, with the sacrificial hall, treasure city, main tomb, and mausoleum barracks scattered throughout.

Jia Lian specially changed into his official robes before arriving at the main hall of the sacrificial ceremony, surrounded by imperial guards.

By this time, the notice had been received inside, and a military officer wearing a cloak over a chainmail suit came out to greet Jia Lian, bowing and saying, "Second Master Lian, I am Chen Xingzhi, the Chief of the Criminal Division of the Imperial City Guard. Lord Liu asked me to first introduce the case to you."

Jia Lian returned the greeting respectfully: "Thank you for your trouble, Brother Chen. From now on, we'll be brothers sharing the same pot and the ladle, so please just call me Jia Lian."

On his way here, he had already found out that the person in charge of this case in the Imperial City Guard was Liu Bangchang, the Vice Commander, and that Chen Xingzhi was an assistant in charge, just like himself.

Chen Xingzhi smiled slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Although the position of Imperial Guard Commandant was lowly but powerful, he could not afford to offend the Rongguo Mansion without a reason—especially since Jia Lian had both the Rongguo Mansion as his backer and was also an Imperial Guard Commandant.

He invited Jia Lian to the corridor of the main hall and explained in a low voice, "This matter is quite strange. Not only were the burial objects in the royal tombs stolen, but the head of the previous Prince of Nan'an has also disappeared. Now the higher-ups are furious and have ordered us to solve the case within a limited time."

The head has also vanished?

Jia Lian also found it strange. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Could it be that the tomb robbers left in such a hurry that they couldn't take out some treasure from the prince's mouth, so they cut off his head and took it with them?"

He was recalling a story from later generations about Empress Dowager Cixi having a bead in her mouth.

"I'm afraid that's not the case."

Chen Xingzhi shook his head and said, "I just went to the underground palace to investigate. The tunnel dug by these thieves is more than 200 meters long, and it has been widened and reinforced in the middle."

After robbing the tomb, the entrance was carefully sealed back up, and no trace of it was found for several months. This could not have been done in just ten days or half a month.

If it weren't for the recent death of the concubine of the Prince of Nan'an, and the Prince's court's petition to have her buried in his mausoleum, this major case would have remained a secret for who knows how long.

After he finished speaking, he saw Jia Lian frowning and pondering.

Chen Xingzhi then comforted him, saying, "Second Master hasn't officially taken office yet, so you don't need to worry about investigating the case. Eunuch Dai specifically asked you to assist in this case mainly to deal with the criticism from the nobles."

Now Jia Lian finally understood that he had been sent to act as a shield.

On the way, he wondered why Eunuch Dai would specifically ask him to assist in the investigation when he hadn't even officially taken office and had no experience in handling cases.

It now seems that Eunuch Dai was not confused, but rather made the best use of his talents—there was no one else in the entire Imperial City Guard who was more suitable than himself to deal with Xun Gui.

Jia Lian immediately said, "Since that's the case, then I won't go in and cause trouble—where is the Marquis of Nan'an? I'll go and pay him a visit to appease him."

The Marquis of Nan'an is the heir to the Nan'an Prince's Mansion in this generation.

[PS: Chapter 15 of the original text states, "Of the four princes, only Prince Bei Jing had rendered great service in those days, and his descendants still inherit the title of prince." Based on this literal meaning, the other families have clearly been demoted.]

Seeing that Jia Lian understood immediately and was so cooperative, Chen Xingzhi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He hurriedly pointed towards the central tomb and said, "The Marquis is currently disciplining the tomb guards, and I heard that someone has already died—I can certainly understand the Marquis's anger, but after all, human life is at stake..."

"There's no time to lose."

Jia Lian immediately bowed to him again: "Please ask Brother Chen to inform Lord Liu that I will first go and appease the Marquis. If Lord Liu has any other requests, please just give the order."

"Thank you for your trouble, Second Master."

Chen Xingzhi also bowed, and the two parted ways.

When Jia Lian arrived near Baocheng, he saw more than twenty men and women tied up in front of the tomb of the first Prince of Nan'an, all of them bearing bloodstains and wounds.

The leader was covered in wounds, his head hanging low, and it was unclear whether he was dead or alive.

Meanwhile, the fifteen-year-old Marquis of Nan'an was panting heavily beside him, holding a bloodstained whip.

Seeing Jia Lian approaching with his men, he lashed out with the whip twice more, then turned around, pointing the whip at Jia Lian, and demanded with a fierce expression, "Tell me quickly, what have you found out?!"

"My lord, please calm down."

Jia Lian bowed slightly, neither humble nor arrogant, and said, "This case happened several months ago, and the evidence and clues are still incomplete. It will naturally take more than a day to find out the truth."

Upon hearing this, the Marquis of Nan'an's bloodshot eyes flashed with even greater sternness. He raised his whip and sneered, "So, according to you, it's all our fault for discovering this too late?!"

Seeing this, Sheng Changwu quickly stepped in front of Jia Lian to protect him.

On the other side, the middle-aged steward of the Prince's mansion also hurriedly grabbed the Marquis of Nan'an and whispered a few words to him.

Upon hearing this, the Marquis of Nan'an's expression changed drastically, and he exclaimed, "So you're the traitor..."

"My lord!"

The steward hurriedly tugged at the Marquis of Nan'an again, and the Marquis of Nan'an reluctantly dropped the whip.

Of the four founding princes who were not of the same surname, only the Prince of Beijing remained in a high position. The other families were mostly on par with the Rongguo Mansion. Although the Marquis of Nan'an was more prestigious than a first-class general, he could not surpass the imperial concubine in the palace.

Not to mention that the four kings and eight dukes had a long-standing friendship spanning generations.

After calming down a bit, the Marquis of Nan'an took the initiative to return the greeting with a cupped-fist salute, saying, "It has been two years since we last met, and I didn't recognize you at first glance, my brother. I'm truly sorry—but I wonder when there will be any progress in my father's case?"

The Marquis of Nan'an was still young and hadn't had much interaction with Jia Lian before, except for a few times when he met the Prince of Nan'an during his funeral two years ago.

"That depends on whether any further discoveries are made."

As Jia Lian spoke, he pointed to the men and women tied to the wooden stakes: "In principle, I shouldn't interfere in the affairs of the Prince's Mansion, but in front of all these officials, the Marquis must consider the reputation of the Prince's Mansion."

"reputation?!"

The Marquis of Nan'an, being young and impetuous, immediately flew into a rage upon hearing this, angrily saying, "My father's head has been cut off by the thieves! If the truth cannot be found out as soon as possible, what reputation will our Nan'an Royal Palace have left?!"

As he spoke, he glared at Jia Lian again.

That's only because he's Jia Lian; anyone else would probably have already acted on his impulses.

Just then, a man came running up and loudly announced, "My lord, Prince Bei Jing has personally come to our residence. The Dowager Consort requests your return to explain the situation in person!"

Upon hearing this, the Marquis of Nan'an dared not delay and hurriedly left Jia Lian behind to go outside.

Jia Lian sighed and silently followed.

The Marquis of Nan'an kept his head down and kept moving forward until he crossed the wall and ordered someone to bring his horse. Only then did he realize that Jia Lian was also following behind him, and he didn't seem to be there to see him off.

The Marquis of Nan'an asked suspiciously, "Why are you following me?"

Jia Lian gave a wry smile. Before he could explain, several civil and military officials chased after him, led by Chen Xingzhi.

"My lord, Lord Jia."

Upon approaching, Chen Xingzhi pointed to the group behind him and said, "These are all officials who have personally investigated the underground palace and the tomb robbers' tunnels. They are most knowledgeable about the case. Please ask Lord Jia to take them to the Prince of Nan'an's residence to receive inquiries from the Dowager Consort and Prince of Beijing."

Jia Lian was not surprised at all by this.

He had long anticipated that the task of dealing with Prince Bei Jing and the Dowager Princess Nan An would inevitably fall to him.