The Prime Minister is Pregnant with Dragon's Seed - Chapter 17

“By the way, about those letters, has Prince Huai read them? Did he discover anything?” What Meng Zhou cared about most was this. He had nearly risked his life to get those letters—he hoped they weren’t just two old men pouring their hearts out.

“Nothing unusual on the surface, but all three letters mention the same place.”

“Where?”

“Chongling Mountain.”

“Chongling is a barren, remote area with few inhabitants. By all accounts, Chongling Mountain is a desolate area with steep peaks, winding ridges, and villagers clustered at the foot of the mountain. Why would it be repeatedly mentioned?”

“It seems the two families had some secret dealings in Chongling Mountain. The prince has already sent someone to investigate.”

“Let me ask you—are there any mines around Chongling?” Meng Zhou thought for a moment. If the mountain had no surface economic value, then the answer must lie beneath.

“There are.” Ji Yang recalled carefully. “Chongling has iron ore, but it was declared exhausted in the fifteenth year of Tianyuan. Are you suspecting it’s related to that batch of untraceable weapons? But mining requires a lot of manpower and resources. How could such a large-scale operation go unreported by local officials?”

Even in the modern society with information technology, a matter can be kept secret without leaks, let alone the ancient times when messages were transmitted by post stations.

Meng Zhou swallowed his doubts. His nonsensical suspicions were indeed not worthy of being taken seriously and then spent energy to verify them.

A burly-looking secret guard knocked on the door cautiously and asked in a stammering voice, “Master Meng, I’m called A-Hu. Next time, how should the fish be cooked?”

The secret guards had started placing bets on whether Meng Zhou could become the master’s consort. The odds were high. A-Hu had enthusiastically wagered five taels of silver on this “princess.” When he looked up, everyone was staring at him with the tender eyes one reserves for fools.

“A-Hu, best save that silver for marrying a wife. Your mother’s been waiting twenty-eight years.” The head guard shoved the five taels back into his hand, clearly unwilling to take advantage of a fool.

A-Hu wasn’t convinced. Muttering, “Just wait until you all lose your money so that i can marry a wife,” he stuffed the silver back into the pot and volunteered to be the fish delivery boy.

Meng Zhou thought for a moment. “Sweet and sour fish.”

“Understood!”

Meng Zhou’s superior at Dali Temple was on the brink of retirement and didn’t care much for day-to-day affairs. Whenever Meng Zhou had to go out, the man turned a blind eye—after all, Meng Zhou worked efficiently, finishing a day’s work in half a day.

There was one colleague who didn’t like Meng Zhou named Jiang Liangzhe. Every time Meng Zhou walked in, he could always hear him snort coldly from behind a towering stack of case files. Over time, Meng Zhou came to take that snort as a welcome greeting.

Jiang Liangzhe had climbed the ranks through the imperial examination and looked down on Meng Zhou, a second-generation official who owed his position to family connections. This was the general thing in the capital’s bureaucracy. Meng Zhou found his constant irritation rather interesting and didn’t bother to provoke him.

Sure, you studied for ten bitter years, but I also completed nine years of compulsory education.

Meng Zhou felt bitter—but kept it to himself.

The jurisdictions were divided into different levels, and naturally there were also different levels in the files. The stack in front of Meng Zhou was filled with petty cases from nowhere-important towns. All of wich are trivial matters.

Jiang Liangzhe collected all the files about the wealthy areas in the south of the Yangtze River, but Meng Zhou was not in a hurry. What’s wrong with trivial matters? We call it “common people’s livelihood.”

When he saw a file labeled “Chongling,” his eyes lit up. After searching everywhere for the key, he finally found it.

Jiang had unintentionally done him a huge favor.

…

On the way back, Meng Zhou, for once, remembered Jiang Xin. He made a detour to the Jiang residence, intending to take a quick look from afar—just to make sure all was well.

But his timing was  good as always, he arrived just as trouble came knocking.

A skinny camel is still bigger than a horse. The Jiang estate, though hollowed out, still drew vultures looking for scraps.

This time, Liu Hongbao had his eye on the Jiang family’s training ground. He petitioned the Tianyuan Emperor, arguing that the the Jiang family’s parade ground was idle and it would be better for the court to confiscate it and use it for training of the capital guards.

Emperor Tianyuan agreed and assigned the training ground to Liu Hongbao for disposal.

Training fields were meant to be places where men bled and sweated. But Liu Hongbao had turned it into hell on earth. Once it changed hands, the ground once carved with loyalty and valor might descend into disgrace.

White iron was forged into a treacherous court official¹.

Recently, Jiang Xin had trained a batch of guards and kept the estate tightly secured. But there was no fending off someone who came bearing an imperial edict. No matter how angry he was, he couldn’t defy it.

His eyes were bloodshot, his whole body tense, trembling as he accepted the decree. When he looked up and spotted Meng Zhou, his eyes lit up, instinctively seeking him out.

Meng Zhou quickly waved his hand, Liu Hongbao had seen him before. This was not the time to arouse suspicion and ruin everything.

Jiang Xin was honestly a bit dense. He understood Meng Zhou’s signal but kept glancing his way, both aggrieved and hopeful, silently begging for help.

Meng Zhou cursed inwardly. There was nothing nearby to hide behind. Liu Hongbao noticed something off and followed Jiang Xin’s gaze

Only to meet the cold stare of Chu Huaiyin, calmly fanning himself.

Liu Hongbao dropped to his knees immediately.

“Lord Liu is still mourning your father yet so concerned with capital defense, truly commendable,” Chu Huaiyin waved his hand to stop Liu Hongbao from coming forward, “Lord Liu, you are not here to read the imperial edict. Now that you have completed it, please report to imperial father.”

“I’ll take my leave.” Liu Hongbao didn’t try to chat with Prince Huai. Ever since Chu Huaiyin replaced Liu De on the battlefield five years ago and made him return to the capital in disgrace, they hadn’t been on friendly terms.

Meng Zhou peeked out from behind Chu Huaiyin and let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“You said you needed to see me?”

“Yes, while reviewing the files, I found several suspicious points. About the Chongling iron mine, let’s talk inside the General’s residence.”

The General place was a bit shabby with no good tea, no good food. It was dinner time, and Steward Liu was worried. They hadn’t hosted any important guests in over a decade. Ever since the old general died, even Meng Fushan had never set foot here again.

Ji Yang kindly hooked his arm around the steward’s. “Our prince is a bit picky about food, let me go and prepare it.”

The steward flushed. Once upon a time, even emperors couldn’t find fault with the hospitality at the general’s manor. And now… sigh.

Back at the Prince Huai Manor, Ji Yang counted. In the pond only a few Snow-Spotted Fish left. At the sound of footsteps, they dove to the riverbed, harder and harder to catch.

But since the prince doted on Meng Zhou, Ji Yang ruthlessly caught another and handed it over to the chef.

Braised.

Meng Zhou pulled a file from his sleeve, stolen from Dali Temple, and handed it to Chu Huaiyin.

At first glance, it seemed to be an ordinary case, a village brawl ending in death. But as Chu Huaiyin rubbed the cover, he quickly noticed the issue.

There was a hidden compartment.

Meng Zhou had already opened it. Chu Huaiyin took it out, and the more he read, the darker his expression became.

“It describes a ‘Startled Horse Hollow’ inside Chongling Mountain. Every June or July, during thunderstorms, strange incidents occur—ghostly soldiers marching, battle cries, horse screams, flying rocks, chains clashing, drums pounding.” Meng Zhou added from the side, “The locals are terrified and have invited people to conduct rituals. A traveling Taoist said this was an ancient battlefield where a war god general was framed and buried here…”

Speaking of god of war, Meng Zhou couldn’t help glancing at Chu Huaiyin before continuing, “The heroic spirit of the God of War is still there. He always comes out to cause trouble during storms and takes passers-by as slaves, intending to rebuild a powerful Yin army and make a comeback.”

The Taoist claimed the stronger the general’s resentment, the more dangerous it became. To avoid mass kidnappings and massacre of the village, every year in June or July, nearby villages were forced to offer 49 strong young men to the hollow, for the war god’s command. If they disobey, they will not have a good end.

None who entered the Startled Horse Hollow ever returned. A few escaped mid-journey, only for their entire families to be found dead the next morning. Since then, the villagers fully believed in the war god’s conscription.

In five years, over 200 people had vanished.

“Hmph. Using such despicable means to conscript soldiers, what kind of war god is that?” Chu Huaiyin looked at Meng Zhou. “What do you think?”

What did he think? In modern science, ghostly echoes have rational explanations. From the sound sources, electricity, magnetism, silicon. The hollow’s rocks likely contained silicon dioxide, and thunderstorms could trigger recorded echoes of ancient battles. As for the magnetic field, Chongling Mountain is rich in magnetite, which is also completely consistent.

Another theory was resonance caused by unique terrain.

But Meng Zhou clearly couldn’t say all that. He pressed his lips together. “The sages spoke not of ghosts and gods. Let’s set the ghost soldiers aside for now, but the this war god’s conscription is definitely suspicious.”

The local authorities delayed reporting the case, citing the existence of evil spirits, but such a big event would always have loopholes.  The scholar who wrote the dossier probably saw the loophole, but the news could not be spread, so he had to choose the intermediary method, hoping an official would take it seriously.

Meng Zhou continued, “I looked into the officials near Chongling. In the last decade, all the prefects have ties to the Liu family. So I speculate—the claim that the mine was exhausted five years ago was a lie. And the manpower needed for smelting is exactly the people who disappeared in the hollow.”

“From those three letters, we can infer that Liu De has close contacts with the Zhou family. If the Zhou family’s caravans travel back and forth, and secretly transport weapons, this proves the reason for the Zhou family’s rapid expansion in the past five years.”

After finished speaking, Meng Zhou’s eyes were urgent, hoping for Chu Huaiyin’s support. Liu Hongbao already had his sights on the Jiang training ground, it could change hands any day.

Chu Huaiyin had already formed a plan but said, “Meng Zhou, you’re too anxious.”

And once anxious, your judgment could be biased.

Meng Zhou’s face changed. “Does Prince Huai think that I am deliberately leading this matter because of the personal grudge between the Zhou and Jiang families?”

Covered in dust and dirt in Dali Temple, he dug out all the files of Chongling for ten years, unraveling them one by one and verifying each other. Would he come to a conclusion without being absolutely sure?

Chu Huaiyin smiled and shook his head.  “You certainly speak bluntly to me.”

“To solve a case from a thousand miles away, even being meticulous isn’t enough. You haven’t even seen Chongling Mountain for yourself. Any conclusion needs more evidence. With just this, how could we convince His Majesty that the Liu family is hiding something?”

The initiative was in Chu Huaiyin’s hands. Meng Zhou had nothing to say and muttered, “Speed is of the essence in war.”

What’s the point of waiting for them to move all their weapons away and then go there to find nothing?

“Are you suggesting this prince move troops?” Chu Huaiyin squinted at him.

How can he be accused of inciting treason? Meng Zhou was worried. Would he die young if he followed Chu Huaiyin?

Jiang Xin couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Seeing the tense atmosphere at the table, he admired his nephew even more.

That was Prince Huai! And he dared to argue with him!

Afraid Meng Zhou might suffer for offending the prince, Jiang Xin awkwardly said, “The dinner’s ready. Prince, please eat first. Whatever it is, let’s talk over a full stomach?”