Chapter 2724: The Capital (Part 80)
Four characters stood out prominently on the letter: "Mushi Daoren"—the Stone-Wood Daoist.
This name had risen to infamy within the Senate's intelligence network over recent years. Ever since the Witchcraft Case, "Mushi Daoren" had surfaced again and again, with many major investigations pointing vaguely toward this figure. The Political Security Bureau strongly suspected this person was either "Stone Elder" himself or his agent.
Yet to this day, not a single lead on Stone Elder had materialized. The organization remained shrouded in impenetrable fog.
And now, letters mentioning this very person had been discovered among Liu Sha's correspondence! This amounted to an announcement that Liu Sha had maintained direct contact with the Stone-Wood Daoist—and that Wang Yehao was very likely the mastermind behind the entire organization.
The letter in his hands alone constituted a major breakthrough!
The letter came from "Mushi Daoren" himself, warning Liu Sha that the Kun were turning the capital upside down in their search for him. The reward for his capture had been raised to one thousand taels, with even tips worth one hundred taels. Under such circumstances, even the lord's influence might not prevent someone from taking the risk. This was especially true now that anyone could purchase a ticket into Kun territory. Special attention therefore needed to be paid to internal control, lest the guards succumb to temptation and betray them.
"Since that's how it is, old fellow, you leave me no choice," Min Zhanlian thought. He would have to pry this man's mouth completely open.
He immediately ordered his subordinates to keep a close watch on Liu Sha and prevent him from taking his own life.
Zhou Ruolan asked, "Do we withdraw now or stay?"
"We stay. Just send back the important information. You go rest—tonight we'll thoroughly interrogate this old fellow. Nine chances out of ten, he knows where Senator Leng is!"
"Go to Nanyuan?!" Wu Cheng was bewildered. "What's there to do in that godforsaken place?"
"I have my reasons for going. I'll give you one hundred taels of silver. Will you go or not?"
Wu Cheng gulped. One hundred taels! In three years in the capital, he couldn't earn one hundred taels!
But he had been in the capital long enough. Though he wasn't a Jianghu man himself, as a Daoist he had considerable contact with those who were. He had heard something about Leng Ningyun's kidnapping and Heliansheng's reward for finding him.
With his years of experience, he naturally understood there was far more to this than met the eye. Better to stay uninvolved.
"Well..." he said, feigning indifference. "What's so interesting about that wretched place? Inside, it's nothing but wild meadows, stinking ponds, dense forests, and plenty of wild beasts. That would be bad enough, but now they've settled several thousand castrated men in there too. Each one is utterly lawless—it's like a dance of demons in there."
"Just tell me whether you'll go or not." Li Rufeng smiled. The smile carried an unmistakable edge of threat.
"I... I... well..." Wu Cheng grew flustered. He steeled himself and said, "It's not that I refuse to go. It's just that the interior is a royal garden. All four gates are guarded by imperial troops. If I bring one or two people, this face of mine might pass muster. But more people—I'm afraid it won't work. Please understand, Chief Escort Li."
"Old Wu, do you take me for a greenhorn? I certainly don't know Nanyuan's interior as well as you do. But when it comes to getting in and out—the beggars and robbers on the streets aren't all strolling through the Great Red Gate, are they?"
During the Ming Dynasty, Nanyuan had possessed four garden gates: the Great Red Gate to the north served as the main entrance; to the south lay the South Red Gate, to the east the East Red Gate, and to the west the West Red Gate. Each was guarded by capital garrison troops. But because Nanyuan had been neglected for so long, the guards were scarcely present. The 120-li earthen wall encircling the perimeter had suffered numerous collapses from lack of repair. More than a dozen gaps of various sizes now pierced it, all of them passable.
Wu Cheng kept smiling apologetically and made excuses about having business that would take him out of the capital for half a month. Li Rufeng refused to let him slip away. He drew his knife and flourished it briefly. Now Wu Cheng had no choice but to agree to lead them into the garden.
"Let me be frank: although this garden is neglected, it remains a royal place. Whatever you gentlemen do inside, you must exercise caution..."
"Look how frightened you are!" Li Rufeng laughed and clapped him on the back. "We're not highway bandits. We do the honest work of escorting and guarding. We're only going to Nanyuan out of necessity. Help us succeed, and you'll be well rewarded!"
Wu Cheng smiled bitterly. "Yes, yes. I understand."
"Since you've agreed to guide us, let me fill you in—" Li Rufeng had barely begun when Wu Cheng cut him off.
"Chief Escort, please don't fill me in on anything. Just tell me what you want to know, where you want to go, and what you're looking for. I don't wish to hear a single extra word."
Li Rufeng laughed. "So you're an old hand too!"
"The waters of the Yongding River run too deep, and there are too many immortals," Wu Cheng said. "Though the rice in the capital is hard to swallow, I'd still like to eat it for a few more years."
"First, tell me about the situation inside Nanyuan."
Even Heliansheng knew little about Nanyuan. The reason was simple: not only was it a royal garden, but it was simply too vast. Few ordinary people bothered with it, and even criminals rarely ventured there.
"This place was formerly called 'Fangfei Bo'—the Release-Hawk Marsh. It was where the Yuan emperors released their hunting eagles. Inside, there's still a stone platform called the Eagle-Airing Platform, supposedly used for drying the feathers of gyrfalcons. It wasn't until our dynasty that it was renamed 'Nanhaizi'—the Southern Lake Enclosure..."
The name "Nanhaizi" derived from the five haizi, or lakes, within its bounds. Since there was also a "Northern Lake" in the imperial city, this royal garden came to be known as the "Southern Lake."
Nanyuan had four gates: the North Red Gate, South Red Gate, East Red Gate, and West Red Gate. Over time, palaces, traveling lodges, and administrative offices were gradually constructed inside, managed by dispatched eunuchs and officials. There was a Superintendent's Office for the Upper Forest Park.
"This Superintendent's Office is near the Great Red Gate in the north. The current steward is Eunuch Cao."
The Superintendent's Office for the Upper Forest Park was not one of the Twenty-Four Offices. It was a cold, idle position within the palace hierarchy, essentially excluded from the court's power circles. But because Nanyuan had "sea households," official farmland, and various revenues from hunting, timber, and fishing, it remained quite attractive to senior eunuchs who couldn't advance through the main ranks. Thus, obtaining this position required pulling strings and flattering superiors.
"This Eunuch Cao reportedly curried favor with the Seal-Holding Eunuch of the Bell and Drum Office and obtained the position through his connections."
So Eunuch Cao had this connection to Eunuch Yang! Li Rufeng nodded slightly.
"How many eunuchs are inside now?"
"The official count is around a hundred, but in practice only twenty or thirty come on duty each day. More arrive during summer and autumn when collecting official rents. Eunuch Cao himself rarely comes to the office—he merely sends a lesser eunuch to pick up and deliver documents each day. He only appears in person for urgent official business."
Besides these hundred-odd eunuchs, there were three or four hundred "auxiliary workers" hired from among the capital's idlers. Originally, there hadn't been many such workers, but because Nanyuan housed castrated men, many more had been hired under the pretense of "looking after" them. About a hundred were on duty daily.
"How many garrison troops are on duty?"
Wu Cheng looked at him with some alarm but didn't dare refuse to answer.
"Eighty at each gate. Soldiers from the 'Upper Twelve Guards' take turns on duty."
At this, Wu Cheng couldn't help asking, "Chief Escort Li, what exactly are you planning to do?"
Li Rufeng smiled. "Something important. Don't worry—it won't involve the authorities."
"Though Nanyuan is neglected, it remains a royal garden. Please be careful in your actions..." Wu Cheng offered more advice before continuing.
Whether eunuchs, auxiliary workers, or guards, most gathered at the gatehouses and offices near the four gates. Few ventured elsewhere. The reason was that Nanyuan now housed many castrated men who couldn't enter the palace. They roamed Nanyuan in gangs, hunting wild animals and occasionally slipping out through the gaps to beg aggressively, steal, or even commit robbery in the capital and nearby counties and villages. The managing eunuchs were supposed to "strictly supervise" them, but in reality they did nothing—only embezzling and pocketing relief money and grain.
"Where do these several thousand castrated men live? They can't sleep outdoors every night, can they?"
"They live in the sea households' houses."
When Emperor Chengzu of the Yongle era established Nanyuan, he had specifically relocated households from several northern provinces to guard and maintain the garden. These were called haihu—sea households—totaling 1,600 in number, each allocated 24 mu of land. These 1,600 sea households lived in various "sea household villages" throughout Nanyuan. The two largest were near the North Red Gate and East Red Gate. Besides those, seven or eight smaller village settlements lay scattered inside.
There were supposedly 1,600 sea households, but because official exploitation was crushingly heavy, many had fled or died out over the years. Now barely one-tenth of the original residents remained in each village. The official farmland lay fallow, rendering the interior deeply desolate. Many villages had been abandoned entirely, and castrated men had moved in like magpies seizing empty nests. Though many village houses had collapsed into broken walls and rubble, it was still better than sleeping in the wilderness. Some gangs, relying on their strength, had even seized empty official buildings within the garden.
"These castrated men are extremely difficult to deal with!" Wu Cheng warned. "Everyone says the barefoot don't fear those with shoes. These men have lost even their... that. They're utterly reckless. Fights and killings happen there every day. When someone dies, they don't even bother with burial—they just toss the body in the forest or meadow. Within ten days or so, wild boars and wolves have devoured it. The garrison and eunuchs inside don't dare get involved!"
After hearing this account, Li Rufeng thought for a moment and asked, "Do you know the locations of all these villages?"
"I know the large ones. As for the villages deep inside—to be honest, I've never been there..." Wu Cheng's eyes flickered.
"Ten taels of silver for each one you take us to."
"...There are roads between the villages. Following the roads, we should be able to reach them." Wu Cheng swallowed. "But Chief Escort, you'll need to assign me two escort masters specifically, and we'll need a mule..."
Li Rufeng threw his head back and laughed. "Done! Don't worry."
Having come this far, he felt he could speak more plainly. He asked with great seriousness, "Daoist! If you had to hide someone, where in Nanyuan would you hide them?"
(End of Chapter)