I traveled back to the Southern Song Dynasty and was actually outmaneuvered by Yue Fei.

When Zhao Bocong left the side room, he encountered Zhang Quwei at the door.

The old eunuch was leaning against a pillar in the corridor, holding a pot of warm yellow wine in his hand.

Seeing Zhao Bocong come out, he handed the wine pot forward.

"Your Highness, the thing I regret most in Wuguo City is that in the seventh year of Shaoxing, I didn't steal that letter and burn it in front of the Jurchens."

Zhang Quwei seemed somewhat regretful; he had stayed in Wuguo City for five years but hadn't done anything.

Zhao Bozong took the wine pot and sipped it. The warm wine went down his throat, and a sensation traveled down his chest.

"Zhang Yaban, if that letter were in your possession right now, you would know better than I whether to burn it or not, and when to burn it."

Zhang Quwei squinted and smiled, making the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes even deeper.

"Your Highness, rest assured, the Empress Dowager has kept the key to the ebony box close to her skin for half her life, and no one can take it away."

The box is now placed in the shrine, serving two purposes besides burning incense: it keeps Qin Hui awake at night.

......

On October 12, four months after the establishment of the document archives, Xin Qizong's first rapid response team completed its basic training.

The team consists of 36 people, divided into three squads of 12 people each.

All the personnel were selected from Xin Qizong Shenwu's former subordinates, aged between thirty-five and forty-five, and each of them had experienced at least two major battles.

When selecting personnel, Xin Qizong established a strict rule: anyone whose hands had been stained with the blood of Yue Fei's army would be rejected.

The three squad leaders were two old officers that Xin Qizong had brought from Xihe, one named Ma Zhong and the other named Shi Yan, as well as an instructor sent by Jiao Qiong from the Divine Warriors of the Palace Guard.

These people usually stayed in a row of newly built barracks behind the archives of the old camp in the southern suburbs. Their identities were document escorts and archives guards of the Imperial Clan Court.

Their training doesn't focus on mounted archery, but specifically on urban warfare.

Thirty-six people were divided into six groups of six, and repeatedly practiced narrow-space encounters on the abandoned horse path outside the back gate of the old camp in the southern suburbs.

The drills were all designed by Xin Qizong based on the map of Lin'an city lanes provided by Qin Keqing.

How to use hand gestures to communicate in narrow alleys, how to use a scabbard to lure the enemy at a corner, and how to cross-flank at a three-way intersection.

The wooden swords used for training were coated with white ash. After each training session, Xin Qizong would check each person's body for white ash marks. If anyone had a cut on a vital part of their body, they would have to start training again immediately.

In addition, Xin Qizong also created a new personnel position based on Zhao Bozong's suggestion—emergency medical personnel.

Each team is assigned an experienced soldier who knows how to bandage external injuries. He carries a leather satchel containing Panax notoginseng powder, wine-soaked cloth strips, and small splints sent by Jinbao from Zhenjiang.

When Xin Qizong gathered the thirty-six team members on the field, Zhao Bozong happened to be in the southern suburbs checking the progress of the expansion of the archives warehouse.

He stood by the gate, watching the group of veterans dressed in the blue cloth short jackets of the Imperial Clan Court clerks, with wooden knives hidden at their waists, lining up and counting off in the autumn sun.

Looking at these people, Zhao Bozong realized that although he could only mobilize a small number of people, he had already begun to cultivate his own seeds of revolution.

"Your Highness," Xin Qizong walked to Zhao Bozong's side, speaking in a rough Xihe accent. His tone was casual, but every word was carefully chosen.

"My old comrades asked me to ask you something. In the eleventh year of Shaoxing, they took off their uniforms and hid in their old camp. They haven't fought a battle for eight years. Now they're asking you, can they still die under the banner of the Song army in their lifetime?"

Zhao Bozong remained silent for a moment.

The wind, carrying the afterglow of the setting sun, swept across the drill ground from the old camp outside the southern suburbs, making the Zongzheng Temple flag flutter loudly.

He knew these people desperately needed a promise, a promise that had been bottled up inside them for so many years with nowhere to go.

After a long while, Zhao Bozong finally spoke in a deep voice:

"General Xin, go back and tell your men—they won't die in the old camp; one day, they will die on the real battlefield, amidst the clash of swords and the thunder of horses..."

Preparations for the Winter Solstice Ceremony officially began on the first day of the eleventh lunar month.

Lin'an Prefecture began setting up colorful tents on both sides of the Imperial Street, and the Imperial City Guard dispatched 300 inspectors from various wards to guard the alleys around the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

Qin Hui petitioned Zhao Gou to transfer the security of the Winter Solstice Ceremony to the Imperial City Guard, citing the need to maintain order around the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

After reading the memorial, Zhao Bocong said two words to Zhao Shiyi: "Take the knife."

On the same day, Zhao Shi submitted an official document to the Ministry of Personnel in the name of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs: The security and protection of the imperial clan members accompanying the sacrifice at the winter solstice ceremony has always been the responsibility of the Palace Guard, a rule set by Emperor Taizu.

If the security of the imperial clan is to be transferred to the Imperial City Guard for this grand ceremony, the Ministry of Personnel must issue a document explaining the reasons for changing the old system, and submit it to the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs for filing.

The core of this document can be summed up in one sentence: Provide reasons for changing the old system.

Qin Hui couldn't produce it.

This is because the regulations for the sacrificial rites of the imperial clan in the second year of the Shaoxing reign did indeed contain this provision, which stipulated that the security and protection of the imperial clan members accompanying the sacrifices would be the responsibility of the Palace Guard.

This was a rule established by Emperor Taizong to prevent officials from outside the imperial family from controlling the imperial clan.

On the fifth day of the eleventh month, the Ministry of Personnel rejected Qin Hui's petition, and the security of the imperial family members for the Winter Solstice Ceremony was still the responsibility of the Palace Guard.

That evening, Qin Hui sat in the signing room for a long time.

On the table in front of him lay the rejection document, and next to it was an original record of Zhao Bocong hanging the Zongzheng Temple plaque at the old camp in the southern suburbs.

Qin Hui finally sensed that something was amiss.

He placed the two documents side by side and read them over and over again.

Finally, I picked up my pen and wrote a line on a blank piece of paper:

"Zhao Bocong, investigate."

The note was put into a wax pellet and sent out of the back gate of the Qin residence overnight.

On the eighth day of the eleventh lunar month, a cold early winter rain fell in Lin'an.

The rain started falling in a fine, dense drizzle in the afternoon, and by the time the sun set, it had turned into a fine, icy rain, pattering against the roof tiles.

The alley in front of Cining Palace was muddy and treacherous. Two inspectors from the Imperial City Guard, wrapped in oilcloth raincoats, huddled under the eaves of a local temple, with a half-dead charcoal fire burning in front of them.

Zhang Quwei walked through the alleyway with an umbrella, his steps neither hurried nor slow.

He stopped in front of the local temple, took out a small flask of yellow wine from his pocket, and handed it to one of the inspectors.

"It's cold, have a drink to warm yourselves up." The two scouts looked at each other, but finally accepted.

Zhang Quwei watched them take their first sip of wine, nodded, and turned to walk into the Cining Palace.

After entering the hall, he folded up his umbrella and placed it by the door, then walked up to Consort Wei.

The Empress Dowager was sitting in front of the shrine burning incense. An ebony box was placed inside the shrine, and the smoke from the three incense sticks rose from the front of the box, bypassed the lotus carvings, and dissipated into the dimness of the hall.

"Empress Dowager," Zhang Quwei lowered his voice, "Qin Hui has issued a secret investigation order to the Imperial City Guard regarding Prince Puan."

According to information obtained from Feng Yi, Qin Hui sent two Imperial City Guard spies into the southern suburbs last night, attempting to infiltrate the patrol routes surrounding the old camp. They were intercepted on the spot by Jiao Qiong, a member of the Divine Valiant Army on patrol.

Consort Wei placed three incense sticks into the incense burner and dusted off the ash from her hands. "What did they find out?"

"We didn't find anything," Jiao Qiong said. The two spies claimed to be patrolmen from Lin'an Prefecture, but they couldn't produce their identification badges, so Jiao Qiong sent them back.

Zhang Quwei's voice lowered even further, "But this isn't the first time. Xin Qizong said that in the past half month, many unfamiliar faces have appeared outside the old camp in the southern suburbs at the same time. They are all people from the Imperial City Guard."

Consort Wei did not speak again. She looked at the ebony box in the shrine and slowly turned the string of plain wooden prayer beads on her wrist.

During her sixteen years in Five Kingdoms City, she learned to recognize the subtle tension in the air when a crisis was approaching.

Now, in the Cining Palace, she smelled that scent again.