Chapter 4

The Court of Judicial Review.

The skirts of a purple official robe fluttered as their wearer walked, the gold fish pouch at his waist swaying with each stride. His left hand, knuckles sharp and distinct, gripped the jade-studded belt; the back of that hand showed a few raised veins, and below it, the wrist bones stood out, gaunt and forceful. The man crossed the hall and took the seat of honor, then lifted his eyes to look down at those below—eyes so cold they seemed steeped in frost-bright blades, cutting deep enough to ache in the bone.

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review hurried in, straightening his robes and cap as he went. "This humble official pays respects to the Commandery Prince! Reporting to Your Highness—this official has already extracted from the prisoners the full particulars of the leaked examination questions, and the confessions are ready to be signed and sealed."

Huo Jingtang pressed two fingers together and tapped the table lightly. The deputy behind him took the cue at once, first demanding to know where the confessions were, then snatching up the papers and skimming them rapidly, reporting the contents to Huo Jingtang in a low voice.

"Sima Ding, Xie Zixuan, Sima An, Zheng—" He read out six or seven names, then swept his eyes over the remaining twenty-odd in a glance. Huo Jingtang's mind was made up. "Thirty men in all have confessed to cheating. The Minister of Rites admits he likely leaked the questions somewhere in the pleasure quarters, while the exam-collecting officers and the sealing officers separately tampered with the papers, and bribed the examiners with gold to pass them."

Huo Jingtang spoke slowly, his voice low and faintly hoarse, a sound that scraped and itched in the ear.

"So it seems there were two groups involved in this fraud. One worked through the examination hall and the examiners themselves; the other had the chief examiner leak the questions outright, with candidates buying them."

The exam-collecting officers, responsible for keeping order in the hall, helped swap out answer sheets; the sealing officers, responsible for concealing candidates' names, tampered with the papers so bribed examiners could recognize certain marks and, during grading, substitute in papers already prepared in advance. That was the first method.

The second method was the very case the Jiangnan candidates had come to report by striking the Petition Drum—questions leaked and sold outright.

The Vice Minister said, "Your Highness's summary is exactly right."

"Where and when were the questions sold, and who brokered the deal? What relationship does the seller have with the chief examiner? And why is there a confession from the Minister of Rites, but none from Vice Minister Chen?"

"This—" His tone remained mild, but cold sweat still beaded down the Vice Minister's back.

He dropped to his knees with a thud. "Vice Minister Chen is stubborn," the Vice Minister said. "No matter how this official questioned him, he refuses to admit to any leak in the examinations—though Minister Wang has already named him. As for the buyers, they all say the seller drifted between the teahouses of Jinhuan Lane, that they never learned his name, only that he was fair-skinned, somewhat stout, and answered to 'Old Eighth Liu.' This official also pressed Minister Wang further—he told us a great deal, though half of it doesn't hold together—"

"What else did you get out of him?"

"That he took a thousand taels of gold in bribes, and it's sitting in his residence right now!"

"Who paid the bribes?"

The Vice Minister recited the names one by one, and Huo Jingtang, checking them against what he already knew, found they were all men involved in the first method of cheating.

"So this is an organized ring—meeting at teahouses and taverns, each bribe costing a hundred taels of gold, with the exam-collecting officers, the sealing officers, and the chief examiner all working together to see them through the Metropolitan and Palace Examinations."

"Nonsense!" Huo Jingtang's fury broke suddenly. "The Palace Examination is presided over by His Majesty in person, the questions set on the spot, the papers sealed—how could anyone cheat there?"

The Vice Minister's gall quivered; trembling, he said, "Your Highness may not be aware—the methods of examination fraud are endless in their variety. Handwriting, sentence structure, even the shade of the ink—all can be exploited. Since every candidate's hand differs, one can identify a person simply by his script. Conspirators, before the exam, agree on a few bland, inoffensive stock phrases, so their fellows can be recognized by the sentences they use. As for ink, there's pale and there's dark—most people care only that their characters look elegant and give little thought to the shade of ink itself, and most default to dark ink. So some arrange in advance to use pale ink instead, and know their own by that mark—"

"So you're saying the examiners implicated in this go beyond just Minister Wang and Vice Minister Chen?"

"Yes. This official has reported the full progress of the investigation honestly, without daring to conceal anything." The Vice Minister steeled himself and looked at Huo Jingtang, saying carefully, "This official wonders whether—whether the other suspects should now be arrested according to law?"

Even as he said it, a bitter taste spread through the Vice Minister's mouth. The examiners of the Palace Examination were all ranking officials of the court, pillars of the state—arrest them all, and it might well shake the very foundations of the realm. Not to mention he himself didn't dare; among them were his own teachers, his own colleagues!

What a wretched assignment this was!

"Bring the men up."

"Which men does Your Highness mean?"

The deputy said, "Bring up Minister Wang and Vice Minister Chen."

The Vice Minister accepted the order at once, and the two men, dressed in prisoner's garb, were soon brought before the hall. Minister Wang's mind had plainly come unhinged—his hair in disarray, all ten fingers crusted with dried blood, clearly a man whose nerve had been broken. Vice Minister Chen, by contrast, though pale and drawn, still held a steady, resolute gaze, carrying himself with considerable composure.

The moment Huo Jingtang opened his mouth, Minister Wang collapsed to the floor in terror, arms over his head, muttering over and over, "I was wrong, I'm guilty, I've failed His Majesty"—nothing coherent could be gotten out of him. Vice Minister Chen, by contrast, spoke with perfect clarity: "I ask Your Highness to report to His Majesty that I, Chen Shidao, am a man of little worth, not fit to be mentioned—yet by the grace of Emperor Shengzu's regard, past matters set aside, I was made Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, and have since served three reigns with all my heart and strength. My students, if not filling all under heaven, number at least three hundred. If I coveted mere gold and silver, why would I have chosen to be a poor, contented teacher, and then petitioned myself for a post as thankless and profitless as Vice Minister of Rites? Why not have entered the Hanlin Academy instead? Why should I have feared not rising to general and minister both, to the rank of Grand Preceptor?"

To rise to general and minister both, to the rank of Grand Preceptor—what enormous words!

And yet Chen Shidao truly had the standing to back them. Few knew that Chen Shidao had been the last man of the previous dynasty to achieve the "Triple First," and that because the imperial examination system had gone unvalued under that fallen court, this Zhuangyuan had spent his best years unfulfilled and unrecognized.

Since the founding of the Great Jing, scholars of the former dynasty had been treated with courtesy—Chen Shidao among them.

Chen Shidao had entered the Imperial Academy and trained countless talents for the Great Jing. Never once had anyone heard that he formed factions for personal gain.

"The innocent need fear nothing—Chen Shidao has never done a single thing to disgrace the sages' teaching!" Vice Minister Chen declared, righteous and unshaken. "Your Highness is welcome to search my residence from top to bottom. If you find so much as a single rare curio, a piece of jade, gold, or silver, then charge me with corruption as you please!"

The grim hall fell utterly silent. Minister Wang lay curled on the floor; Vice Minister Chen's spine remained straight as ever.

After a long moment, Huo Jingtang said, "Guilty or innocent, this prince will see the matter handled fairly."

That was enough. Vice Minister Chen bowed low. "This official thanks the young Commandery Prince."

Huo Jingtang walked down himself and helped him to his feet. "Master Chen has taught tirelessly and is a man of great virtue and standing—I admire him too." Then, turning to the Vice Minister, he said, "Master Chen has served three reigns, and even Emperor Shengzu treated him with courtesy. Until matters are made clear, how can punishment be inflicted on him?"

The Vice Minister wanted to point out that Minister Wang had plainly named Vice Minister Chen as a participant in the fraud, but before he could, Huo Jingtang added, "Only one man has named him, and there's no evidence to back it up. It's just as likely he named him at random, unable to bear the punishment any longer."

The Vice Minister's heart lurched—the words sounded uncomfortably like an accusation that he had extracted a false confession through torture. He dared say no more, and simply nodded along in agreement.

Chen Shidao, for his part, was surprised by how mild Huo Jingtang's manner was, nothing like the rumors of his brutality. Rumor, it seemed, truly could not be trusted entirely.

But what followed dashed the hope that had begun to kindle in Chen Shidao's chest—for the young Commandery Prince's methods of interrogation showed nothing remarkable, and it seemed unlikely the investigation would turn up any real results.

The Vice Minister, who had been trembling with nerves at first, gradually straightened his back, shaking his head inwardly. So this was all there was to the young Commandery Prince of Lin'an, whom rumor painted as uncannily sharp. His questioning missed the finer details, skated past the points that mattered, and hammered relentlessly at trivialities—crude and reckless in a way that fit the reputation of a battlefield brute well enough.

In the end, he really was just a rough soldier who understood nothing of the court's twists and turns.

Once the Court of Judicial Review saw through him, there was nothing left to fear—a little cleverness would be enough to fob him off. His imposing manner at the start had genuinely given them a scare, that was all.

A whole morning's labor, and the case had gone nowhere.

The Vice Minister saw him off with every show of respect, then turned to those around him and said, "No need to be so careful in front of the Commandery Prince from now on. Don't bother me unless it's something truly serious."

"Waking people at the crack of dawn to disturb their sleep—what an oddball." The Vice Minister stretched and yawned. "I'm going back for a nap."

Inside the carriage, the deputy was full of doubt. "General, you don't seem to care much about this case."

Huo Jingtang sat with his hands tucked into his sleeves, eyes closed as if resting, his face pale as paper. "Are you trying to say I've handled this poorly—soft and mediocre, like some useless official drawing a salary for nothing?"

"This official wouldn't dare!"

"Do you remember that list of candidates involved in the cheating?"

"I remember it, yes. Is something wrong?"

"Of the thirty, eight are surnamed Sima, five Xie, four Fan, ten Zheng, and there's a Lu, a Xiao... Half are relatives of the Empress's family, the sons and nephews of great clans who follow the Crown Prince. The other half are relatives of the Noble Consort's family, the sons and nephews of great clans who follow Prince Qin. It's practically all Crown Prince faction and Prince Qin faction."

The deputy's heart lurched. "If you dig to the bottom of this, won't it mean offending the great clans, the Crown Prince, and Prince Qin all at once? That's a pit of fire!"

"When have I ever not offended the Crown Prince and Prince Qin?"

"Fair enough, but—"

"A mere pit of fire is easy enough to handle. In the end, the great clans, the Crown Prince, and Prince Qin all depend on the emperor's trust to stand at all."

The deputy looked at Huo Jingtang, who had already removed his iron mask, revealing a face almost too beautiful for a man, expressionless, eyes still closed—nothing in it that offered a clue to his meaning. Left with no choice, the deputy swallowed his pride and asked, "What could possibly be harder to deal with than the trouble the Crown Prince and Prince Qin cause?"

Huo Jingtang opened his eyes, pupils cold and bright as frost. "Factions."

......

Jinhuan Lane, the flower tea house. The third quarter of the hour of Xu.

The house, upstairs and down, was packed with people—from old men of eighty to boys barely past fifteen, all flush-faced as they listened to the singing girls, talking loudly among themselves. Without exception, every conversation circled back to the courtesans being sold off that night, and of all of them, none was discussed more than the capital's famed beauty, Li Yiru.

An open space had been cleared in the center of the main hall, with a raised platform built there. A crowd packed in within two paces of the stage, the front rows claimed by the sons of the capital's noble and powerful families. Among them, one man in his thirties stood out most—richly dressed in an ornate cap and brocade robes, his face outwardly honest enough, but for a pair of triangular eyes that now and then let slip a cruel, lascivious gleam, undercutting the impression of decency and leaving onlookers with a chill down their spines.

The house guards carried out a red-wood table, on which stood an incense burner with three sticks of incense lit inside.

A gaudily dressed madam climbed onto the stage. She opened first with a bright, ingratiating string of pleasantries and congratulations, then quickly got to the point. "If it weren't for the misfortune that's befallen this Sanniang, would I ever bear to sell off my own tender young daughters so cheap? I do hope every gentleman here will show my girls some kindness!" Her voice suddenly shifted, and she called out in a ringing tone, "Today I'm selling off nineteen of my girls! Bidding closes when these three sticks of incense burn out—highest bidder wins!"

The guards herded the courtesans out and lined them up. The crowd below, seeing that the reigning beauty Li Yiru was not among them, immediately began shouting that the madam was toying with them—using a famous courtesan as bait to lure them here, only to hide away the real prize.

The madam said, "How would I dare cheat any of you gentlemen? It's simply that rare goods are kept apart—my girls behind me, however lovely and delicate, still can't compare to Lady Li's heaven-sent beauty. An earthenware jar and a piece of imperial porcelain don't belong on the same shelf, do they? So my girls can't very well share a stage with Lady Li."

"Ha ha ha—glib tongue, but fair enough!" Lord Zheng laughed, teasing.

Whether or not people in the crowd knew who he was, none dared say much—at the very least, he was willing to declare his identity openly in a place like this, and among those who did, his standing was the highest by far.

Below the stage, bids rose one after another; up on it, the nineteen courtesans looked ready to weep, gazing out hopefully at the crowd, praying to catch sight of the kind Master Zhao the hairdressing matron had spoken of. But even after Lord Zheng called out, "One hundred taels of gold!", there was still no sign of him.

The hall below erupted; the madam's face lit with delight, while up on the stage, the girls wept softly, wrapped in despair.

Behind the hall, Li Yiru, the hairdressing matron, and one other watched the scene unfold up front, hearts in their throats, worry etched across their faces.

A hundred taels of gold could be exchanged for nearly a thousand taels of silver—these days, a person could be bought outright for a few scraps of silver, so spending a hundred gold on a mere courtesan was an extravagance unmatched anywhere in the capital.

Even those unwilling to show their faces in the upstairs rooms had taken notice of Lord Zheng. In the private room to the front left, the window stood half open, and through it one could just make out fine black fabric, embroidered along the hem and cuffs with hidden threads of gold.

Beside that figure stood a guard, standing ramrod straight as a spear, a ring-pommel saber of the kind used in the army fastened at his waist.

"Zheng You, thirty-one years old, a distant relative of Duke Zheng. He goes about the capital often under the name of the Noble Consort's nephew, and he's the foremost wastrel in the city. Eight in ten gambling dens, taverns, and theaters have him as their hidden owner. He hasn't opened a brothel outright, but word is he often buys orphan girls and singing girls to keep at a villa outside the city, where he entertains guests—not so different from a brothel in practice."

Huo Jingtang said, "A wastrel? Not necessarily."

"Eating, drinking, whoring, gambling—dabbling in every vice there is, and that's not a wastrel?"

"Gambling dens, taverns, theaters—those turn a quick profit, high-margin businesses. Dabble in everything, profit from everything. The 'whoring' part looks like it doesn't pay, on the surface—but have you seen who he invites to those banquets of his? I'd wager most of the officials at court have passed through that villa of his at some point, or if not them, then their brothers, nephews, and sons. Get even one of them through that door, and there's no piece of information you couldn't pry loose."

"Ha!" The deputy sucked in a breath. "So no one in Duke Zheng's household is just sitting idle, then. His eldest son follows his father into the army—father and son together commanding the Jizhou Army—his second son serves in the Longfeng Army, and now there's this distant nephew in the capital gathering money and building connections with officials across the court. That's a far graver matter than exam fraud."

No wonder the general had brought up factions—wasn't this exactly what forming cliques for private gain looked like?

The Great Jing's military strength was considerable, and among its forces the Imperial Guard was strongest of all, itself divided into the Northwest Army, the Jizhou Army, and the Central Army. The Northwest Army was renowned across the realm for its strict discipline, producing nothing but strong commanders and famed generals—Huo Jingtang and his deputy both hailed from it, and it was nearly impossible to plant outside influence there. Duke Zheng had no choice but to build his power base within the Jizhou Army and the Central Army instead, and Duke Zheng represented the faction led by the Noble Consort and Prince Qin.

To go to such lengths, to build such power—it could only be in pursuit of the highest seat of all.

"Why not buy up those girls, draw Zheng You in, get close to him, and see what's really going on at that villa outside the city?"

"Wait a while yet."

Meanwhile, down below, no one had come forward to challenge Lord Zheng, and with the three sticks of incense nearly spent, the madam couldn't help urging the crowd to bid higher, if anyone would.

Several calls went out, and still no answer came. The outcome was all but settled.

The courtesans' faces filled with dread; Li Yiru's heart sank in disappointment.

The little maid asked through tears, "Didn't that Master Zhao promise to save the girls? Why hasn't he come?"

The hairdressing matron was just as bewildered. Zhao Baiyu had indeed given her his word—so why hadn't he shown? Had the young man, gentle as clear moonlight, who had once gone to such trouble for her when she was an orphan with nothing, gone back on it now? Had he truly deceived her?

"Not everyone has it in them to spend a hundred gold to save women who mean nothing to them." Bitter as she felt inside, Li Yiru kept a clear head about the reality of things. "For an ordinary official, a hundred gold would mean ruining his whole household just to scrape it together. If that Master Zhao is really as upright and incorruptible as you say, then he almost certainly couldn't come up with that much. Besides, no one owes us any obligation to save us."

True as that was, she couldn't help the despair creeping in all the same.

They hadn't a coin to their names—whatever silver they'd kept close had long since been seized by the madam and her enforcers, or they could have handed their ransom money to someone they trusted to see them through tonight's disaster.

The madam called out, "No one else bidding? No one at all? The three sticks of incense are nearly—"

Behind the hall, the little maid and the hairdressing matron sank weakly to the floor, unable to bear watching any longer. Below, some in the crowd sighed with pity, lamenting that such flower-like, jade-like women would likely be gone within the month. Others, on good terms with Lord Zheng, were already rubbing their hands together, eager to send in their calling cards for an invitation to his villa.

Huo Jingtang's deputy opened his mouth, about to call out a bid.

"My nineteen girls behind me now belong to Lord Zheng—"

"Wait!"