Daming: Brother, there is no future for monks, let's rebel

When he mentioned the words "night crossing," his eyes flickered.

Crossing at night is prohibited by law. However, in some years, due to unusual weather conditions, boats were allowed to sail at night as a "temporary expedient."

If an "expedient measure" is put on paper, it becomes a "precedent document." Whoever has the document can act "according to precedent"—by writing down outdated behavior as a "precedent," it can be covered up.

"If you want to retrieve the document, do you want it burned, or do you want it added?" Zhu Han asked.

Fan Su pursed his lips: "We need to add a night crossing."

He paused, then added, "We need to add the four characters 'the Crown Prince is at the mercy of the Emperor'."

Gu Qingping frowned: "Who told you to add it?"

Fan Su didn't speak. Zhu Han didn't press him. He reached for the stone niche and tapped it twice with the back of his fingers.

The stone niche was empty, with only a faint smell of mud emanating from it with each knock.

“Take the key early,” Zhu Han said calmly. “The key is a slipknot, and you’re quick. You’re here to finish things up.”

Fan Su's shoulders slumped slightly.

"Take him down." Yin Yan restrained the man and searched him, finding the intact key in his pocket.

Zhu Han took the key, placed it on the bluestone, and gently closed the thin book from his sleeve. The corner of the book tapped the key teeth—a very soft, short "clink."

—"Check-in: Dead tree and stone niche. Received: A stack of 'Old Regulations Notes'. Note: Thirteen characters hidden in the note, seven true and six false."

As soon as that thought settled in his heart, Zhu Han withdrew his fingers, and the book closed silently.

He handed the key to Gu Qingping: "Take good care of it."

“Your Highness,” Fan Su suddenly spoke up, looking up at him, “Since you know that the old customs document is in someone else’s hands, why don’t you pursue that person and only arrest me?”

“Chase him, he runs away.” Zhu Han said calmly. “Take you, he confesses.”

Fan Su's Adam's apple bobbed, and a fleeting look of fear crossed his eyes, which he ultimately couldn't suppress.

He took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "If Your Highness wants me to speak, I dare not refuse. But I have one thing to say—I have no silver, I only need to copy documents."

"Who taught you to read?" Zhu Han asked.

Fan Su paused for a moment: "Du Xing, the judge outside the case room, taught me to write the 'preface,' and I usually copied the cover. The main text of the memorial was not written by me; it was 'Duiying' who taught me to write it."

Hao smiled silently in the shadows.

"You are not in the main text, but you are at the beginning."

Zhu Han said, "The words 'The Crown Prince is at your disposal' must appear at the beginning of the document. If you do, it will be your first offense. Do you understand?"

Fan Su made a dry sound in his throat: "I know." He then suddenly raised his eyes, a hint of stubbornness in them, "But the document is not a 'crime.' It is the law."

“A document is not a law, but a precedent.” Zhu Han looked at him. “If precedents are abused, chaos will ensue on the river.”

He paused, then said, "You're just someone else's tool."

Fan Su lowered his eyes heavily: "Fan Su is someone who is being used, and dares not argue."

"Whether he argues or not is irrelevant." Zhu Han turned around. "Take him to Shuntian, but don't torture him. Make him copy the document he wants to copy—after he finishes, take a look at it himself and see if it's wrong."

"Yes, sir," Yin Yan replied.

Gu Qingping put away the lamp and casually covered the grass in the stone niche, making it look exactly the same as when she came.

She looked up at the night sky and asked softly, "Your Highness, where would that 'person who took the document' go?"

“Take the embankment, take the clear path,” Zhu Han said. “He thought the token in his pocket was a royal decree. He wanted to be ‘magnificent’ for once.”

"Go and stop them?"

"I won't stop him." Zhu Han glanced at her. "Let him walk into the hall."

The next day, outside the Shuntian government office. Before the morning sun had even reached the stone platform, a large crowd had already gathered on the steps.

Some say the water level rose during last night's patrol, so additional supplies need to be added; others say there was a royal decree during the night.

Amidst the clamor of voices, a simple clerk in blue robes steadily ascended the steps, a sliver of white peeking out from his sleeve, as if concealing a piece of paper.

He didn't go to the main hall, but went to the office first.

At the door of the office, Du Xing stood, pale-faced, his sleeves empty. The clerk in blue robes bowed to him and said, "Please lend me the seal."

Du Xing dared not accept it. He glanced inside and saw someone quietly holding up two fingers.

"Second-class seal." Du Xing understood immediately and handed over an old seal. The clerk in blue pressed down the paper to form a seal, and wrote at the top: "According to the old custom, when the water rises at night, crossing is at the discretion of the Crown Prince." The strokes were steady and the style was powerful.

"Impressive." A junior official in the office couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

The clerk in blue robes remained calm, blew the ink dry, and turned to leave, but suddenly someone gently patted his shoulder.

"This kind of writing finishes within the paper," the person who patted him said gently. "It's not like the handwriting of the Crown Prince."

The clerk in blue felt a chill in his heart and turned around—a woman dressed in plain clothes stood outside the door, holding a small nail lamp in her hand. The light was dim, and the silver powder on her cuffs was very faint.

She placed the lamp on the table, her smile just right: "Perfect, let's compare them."

The office fell silent.

Gu Qingping spread the paper out under the lamp and lightly touched the end of the character "凭" with her fingertip: "The characters on the East Palace desk end outside the paper. Your character '凭' is inside the paper, as if you're afraid people will see it."

The clerk in blue remained silent. Gu Qingping then pointed to the character "听" (listen) and slowly said, "You thought the Eastern Palace's strokes were heavy, so you made the vertical stroke of the character '听' thicker. Actually, the weight of the Eastern Palace's '听' is not in the vertical stroke, but in the 'mouth' radical. You're not familiar with it."

The clerk in blue robes turned pale instantly. He suddenly cupped his hands in a gesture of respect, his voice still steady: "This humble official obeys. Please move to the hall so that I may apologize to everyone in public."

"That's great." A clear laugh came from outside the door, followed by two people entering, one in front of the other.

The former, dressed in a blue robe, stood with his hands behind his back; the latter, holding a ruler, acted as if nothing had happened

The clerk in blue robes recognized the newcomer, his eyes twitched, and his clasped hands turned into kneeling.

"Prince Ning—"

"Get up," Zhu Han said calmly. "Take the document into the hall, and don't dirty the office floor."

There was no need for further discussion in court. The Prefect of Shuntian only asked two questions: Who issued the edict? "The superior's superior."

What is the name? "I don't know." Where should the paper be delivered? "To the Borrowing Wind Pavilion in the south of the city."

Hao smiled at Ying without saying a word, and simply placed the copy of "Unnamed Script, Act 3" on the table. Zhu Han handed the "Ink Traces Under Lamp" to the prefect: "Read the 'Final Stroke' under the lamp."

The prefect did as instructed, pointing out three words in succession, his expression gradually darkening.

With a final thud of the gavel: "This document is not in accordance with precedent, and precedent is not in accordance with law. This document shall be abolished. The author of the document shall be punished, and the person who signed it shall be punished less severely. There is no such decree in the Crown Prince's Palace."

He paused, then cupped his hands to Zhu Han, saying, "Your Highness, this case should be sent to the post station."

Zhu Han said, "Go ahead." He turned to Gu Qingping and said, "Hand over the 'Zha Yingmo' as well."

Gu Qingping responded and placed the stack of "copies" she had received from signing in the previous night next to the note.

The hidden words on the paper are clear. Of the thirteen places, seven are true and six are false. The true ones are mostly about water lines and ship sequences, while the false ones are all about "at one's discretion" and "cheapness".

The officials in the hall were alarmed, and they all knew what was going on—if this "copy of the document" had appeared two years earlier, how many troubles could have been avoided on the river.

As the court session was ending, the clerk in blue robes suddenly looked up and bowed to Zhu Han: "This humble official, Fan Su, wishes to go to the river mouth to copy the 'true document'."

Zhu Han glanced at him and said, "First, copy this fake document ten times. After you're done, go to Jiangkou."

Fan Su responded, kowtowing with a loud thud on his forehead. When he straightened up, his eyes held no resentment, only weariness. At noon, in the small study of the Ning Prince's residence. The sunlight outside the window was perfect; a low lamp shone on the table, along with a silver seal and a wind-measuring ruler.

Hao Duiying put the "Script, Act 3" into the clipboard, Chengyuan changed the bell under the window, Yu Zhong sharpened the nails, and Yin Yan listened by the door.

Gu Qingping handed a pale yellow sheet of paper to Zhu Han: "The Crown Prince has sent word that the Emperor will stay at the river mouth for two days. On the third day, according to the 'script,' if the boats are not in unison, the horns should be played even if they are not in unison. On the fourth day, upon returning to the palace, the Crown Prince will issue a document stating, 'The common people will not be disturbed, and the granary gates will not be opened at night.'"

"Alright." Zhu Han took the paper and nodded. "These are His Highness's own words."

He gently pressed the paper down on the corner of the desk, turned to look at Hao Duiying, and said, "You can stop writing here for two days."

“We can stop now,” Hao replied to Ying. “We’ll write the ‘Edge Law’ again after the Prince returns from Fengyang.”

"The method of dike construction is not written on paper," Zhu Han said calmly. "It is only carried by the wind."

Hao smiled at Ying and didn't ask any more questions.

Yin Yan suddenly remembered: "Your Highness, should we still go to Sanjing Lane?"

“Go,” Zhu Han said. “It’s not me who’s going, it’s you.”

"I?"

“Call out the grinders from those small shops and tell them that the Prince’s Palace will borrow them for half a month and pay them silver at the old price. Whoever wants to make the ‘edge’ should grind the ‘empty pattern’ below the ‘sixth micro’ – grinding on scrap silver will not produce a seal. Once the grinder’s hands are worn out, he will have no interest in grinding the real edge.”

Yin Yan paused for a moment, then laughed: "That was a clean move."

"That's all." Zhu Han stood up. "Prepare the horses."

Heading north out of the city, it leads to a section further upstream from the old dike of Fengyang.

The wind shifted on the embankment, and the water surface was calm, leaving only a very shallow layer of light.

There are three places on the old embankment covered with very rough new mud, as if they were hastily patched up.

Zhu Han opened one of the boxes and found two broken pottery jars containing damp paper—tears of old "Night Crossing Notes," almost rotten from the rain, but the words "convenient" and "appropriate" were still legible.

“People want to treat old characters as new characters.” Zhu Han took the damp paper out and spread it out in the sun, “Let it air out and let it reveal whose hand it is.”

—"Check-in: Old embankment upstream. Received: One 'Sun-drenched Hidden Character Grid'. Attached: In the clear sunlight, the hidden ink floats on its own."

He pressed the small grid onto the paper, and sunlight shone through the grid, causing the ink to gradually rise, like a lamp slowly lighting up in the dark night.

In less than a quarter of an hour, a line of small characters appeared on the paper: "Copied by Fan Su, stamped by Qian Zongli".

At the end, there was a line of extremely small and fine text: "The boss's boss, Borrowing the Wind Pavilion."

“Three people with old grudges, now linked together.” Gu Qingping finished reading and slowly exhaled.

"Dry this paper and send it back to Shuntian."

Zhu Han put away the "hidden character grid" and reburied the broken jar. "The jar should remain where it is—someone will come back looking for the scraps of paper."

To defend or not to defend?

“No, we won’t stay here.” He turned around. “Let’s go to the embankment.”

The back of the embankment was muddy, and the footprints were clear. A dozen or so feet to the west, there was a string of new footprints on top of the old ones.

The new footprints have brown stitching along the shoe's upper, while the old footprints have white stitching.

The brown line represents Fan Su, and the white line represents someone else.

"Who is Bai Xian?" Yin Yan squatted down and gestured with his palm to indicate the width. "She has narrow feet and walks steadily; she is a woman."

"A woman?" Gu Qingping's gaze darkened.

“Qian Zongli, the son-in-law of the Shuntian scribe, has a sister-in-law surnamed Meng.” Zhu Han said calmly, “Ms. Meng worked as an assistant accountant at the Silver Bureau for three years. She didn’t write much, but she knew quite a few characters. She was steady on her feet and steady on her copying.”

"Want to take it?"

"No rush." ​​Zhu Han looked at the sky. "There's a wind tonight; if it blows her back, she'll come back."

As dusk fell, sure enough, a figure crept along the embankment and headed straight for the old tank site.

She squatted down and turned over the mud. Her fingertips moved incredibly fast as she pulled out a pinch of damp paper, spread it in her palm, blew on it until it was dry, then stuffed it into her sleeve. She lowered her body, turned around, and left.

“Meng Shi.” Gu Qingping stepped out from the side, took her wrist with one hand, and with the other hand lifted her sleeve to shake the wad of paper back to its original place. “Digging mud at night can easily get your hands dirty.”

Meng was startled and tried to break free, but her wrists felt as if they were wrapped in a cotton rope.

She looked up and saw Zhu Han, but refused to kneel. She simply turned to the side and bowed, saying, "Your Highness."

"How many times have you copied the document?" Zhu Han asked.

“I didn’t copy it,” Meng said through gritted teeth. “I only knew a few characters.”

“You’ll be judged even if you can only recognize characters,” Zhu Han said. “You’ll be brought in with Qian Zongli, but you won’t go to jail. Go to the river mouth and translate each character you recognize into vernacular Chinese—just tell me which part means ‘night crossing’ and which part means ‘daytime travel’. Ignore the rest.”

Meng raised her eyes, a moment of hesitation in them: "What if I don't go?"

"Then I'll let you work as the manager of the silk shop in the East Market."

Gu Qingping said calmly, "You can recognize words clearly, but it's better to recognize cloth for a long time."

Madam Meng was taken aback. After a few breaths, she lowered her eyes and slowly exhaled: "Go to the river mouth."

"Very good." Zhu Han waved his hand. "Let's go."

Lady Meng calmly rose, bowed, and left. Yin Yan, watching from behind, gasped in astonishment and whispered, "Your Highness, are you releasing...?"

“It’s not releasing, it’s removing.” Zhu Han looked at the water. “If you remove one bird from the cage, the rest won’t dare to chirp.”

On the afternoon of the third day, at the river mouth. Three bugle calls sounded, and the boats changed their order.

Zhu Biao ascended the pavilion and, according to the "script," said only one sentence: "If the boats are not aligned, then the horns should be aligned even if they are not aligned." The soldiers smiled, and the horns were no longer blown simultaneously from three different places—they rose and fell according to the "boat sequence diagram," with the sounds of boats moving in response, near and far, filling the ears.

The children on the shore clapped their hands, and the old man nodded. Standing on the embankment, Meng explained the various phrases in colloquial language to the boat captain on the riverbank. The captain responded with "oh, oh," and turned to change the sign.

As dusk falls, the wind turns back. The lights at the river mouth illuminate one by one from the east bank to the west bank, like strings of characters.

The characters are small, but they are easy to read.

Zhu Biao stared at the string of lanterns, his gaze darkening. He suddenly said softly, "Now that Uncle is not here, I can speak too."

Gu Qingping smiled: "Your Highness is naturally good at speaking."

"He told me not to say much." Zhu Biao took out a piece of paper from his sleeve. The seven characters on the paper gleamed faintly under the lamp: "The wind comes to the pavilion, the water comes to the boat."

After he finished speaking, he put the paper away and whispered, "He's going to Fengyang to check on the dike. I know he's actually checking on 'people'."

Gu Qingping frowned slightly: "Your Highness—"

“It’s not about people’s hearts.” Zhu Biao shook his head. “It’s about people’s footprints, people’s words, and people’s hands. Uncle Wang doesn’t talk about people, he only looks at the imprints on their hands.”

Gu Qingping relaxed a little, and a smile returned to her eyes: "It's good that Your Highness knows."

As night deepened in Jinling, the Prince Ning's mansion was eerily quiet, save for the shadows moving beneath the lamplight in the inner courtyard.

Hao Duiying was grinding his brush by the lamp when Chengyuan rang the new bell. Yu Zhong delivered the last "sixth micro" nail to the East Palace's shadow desk.

Yin Yan returned from his travels, carrying with him a wild wind. He reported: "The Meng family entered the river mouth, Qian Zongli was convicted, Du Xing is to be exiled, and Fan Su is detained in the yamen to copy documents. The clerk of Shuntian Prefecture took three days off to avoid illness, but today he has resumed his normal routine and said he is willing to 'assist in the Qing precedent'."

“Let him ‘help’,” Zhu Han said, “and make it clear.”

He carefully put away the "Sun-Dried Hidden Character Grid," returned to his desk, and sat down, gently closing the thin booklet in his sleeve. (End of Chapter)