Palace Fighting: Naive Concubines' Ascent to Power-Chapter 550 The Worry of Private Soldiers

However, there’s a very tricky problem. Through the probing by Chen Wei and Old Liu, it was found that not all villagers are private soldiers; there are also common folk among them. The private soldiers were likely scattered throughout the villages, blending in with the locals. Trying to identify them one by one would be incredibly difficult.

Especially after so many years, some of the original villagers have married these bandit soldiers, and they would probably never betray these people.

Investigating this matter thoroughly is going to be a headache.

Even so, Cao De couldn’t help but admire, "Breaking the whole into parts, the young Xue has some ability, and he even managed to deceive me. It wasn’t in vain that I suffered this ordeal."

He actually came up with such a good method to hide the private soldiers.

Chen Wei and the others found themselves deeply agreeing.

Such scattered villages are really too difficult to detect. Even if one passed by, most probably wouldn’t think much of it. Being driven away, at most, they would just think the locals here are rather fierce. And those wastelands, overgrown with weeds, would attract no attention. Travelers passing by wouldn’t care about the affairs of the villagers.

"Chen Wei, when we return to the Capital..." Cao De turned his head to look at Chen Wei, ready to give orders.

But he saw Chen Wei unkempt and stinking, causing a sore sight and a look of disgust on his face.

"..." Without being told, Chen Wei stepped back a few paces before speaking, "Ancestral Master, do you have any orders?"

Cao De didn’t beat around the bush, "This time we have some gains, thanks to those two people. When you get back to the Capital, find them and tell them that I warmly receive their Letter of Challenge. By now, Chen Fa should have clarified their backgrounds. If he hasn’t, then directly ask them. If they refuse to speak, or if there are loopholes in their words, take them into custody and keep them detained until I return."

For such people, since they had been encountered, they must either become one of us or be eliminated directly, to prevent them from leaking outside. However, cherishing their talent, he was willing to give them one more chance, to personally recruit them.

Chen Fa was Chen Wei’s twin brother, and originally, Chen Wei was supposed to stay in the Capital. In the end, Cao De changed his mind and brought Chen Wei with him, leaving Chen Fa behind.

"Yes, Ancestral Master." Chen Wei knew who Cao De was referring to but the meaning of the Ancestral Master’s words?

He couldn’t help but ask, "Ancestral Master, do you wish for your subordinate to return?"

Cao De nodded, "Yes, it’s of paramount importance. You personally go back and report to Yuchi... His Majesty. Don’t write it down, to avoid being captured and jeopardizing the mission."

The Ancestral Master’s words were always so matter-of-fact, and Chen Wei felt complicated, "Yes..."

Cao De signaled for the map to be brought to him, made a secret mark on it, handed it to Chen Wei, and left him with a message to deliver:

"Above tens of thousands of giant rats, a detailed count is still needed for verification. Living with the commoners, they are difficult to differentiate. Execute them all to prevent future troubles."

Chen Wei accepted the orders, packed his belongings, and quickly departed to return to the Capital.

Cao De looked toward the distant villages, his eyes reflecting a hint of gravity.

Being able to disperse and hide amongst the people while maintaining combat capability, the private soldiers were extremely troublesome.

That old thief Xue Ping, he had planned for a long time and had left a contingency in place.

The chosen location was highly advantageous: to the east was Goryeo, to the west were the Tartars, and to the north was the Nuergan Division. Should there be any hint of trouble or defeat in battle, these private soldiers could flee to other countries. Jianzhou Guard was not close to this place either, making it difficult to annihilate them in one fell swoop.

At the same time, it was not too far from the Capital; a forced march would only take a few days to reach.

Then there was the problem of the difficulty in distinguishing the true from the false due to the soldiers living mixed among the civilians.

Killing them all would put an end to it once and for all, but it might lead to the wrongful death of innocent villagers. If we try to identify each individual, I fear it could lead to unforeseen changes and delay the opportunity.

There is hardly a perfect solution.

Yuchi Zhao, how would you decide?

Cao De was deeply concerned for the Emperor. From his point of view, he would call in the troops to surround these villages and kill all able-bodied men, preferring to kill the wrong person rather than let a guilty one go. To him, the villagers who were killed by mistake, those who harbored and conspired with the rebels, were not entirely innocent either.

But the drawbacks of such a method were too great. Yuchi Zhao would likely not resort to this, nor would he choose this path.

These matters of power and strategy are best left to Yuchi Zhao.

All he could do was stay here, identify each of the villages that were mixed with soldiers and bandits, and determine the number of enemies, so that Yuchi Zhao would be fully prepared.

As Cao De felt his concerns, in the palace within the Capital City, all the servants in the Harem were anxious, and the masters of each hall and palace avoided confrontation and kept to themselves.

Inside the Capital City.

A massive storm was approaching, slowly sweeping from the Harem towards the former court.

Within the Harem, one in five servants was taken away for questioning, proceeding from the most urgent to the less pressing cases.

Zhang Qing took the archive records and called each of the remaining servants from all departments who hadn’t been arrested. He had them check in by name and investigated their backgrounds. If anyone couldn’t clearly explain their origins or appeared hesitant, they were thrown into the Imperial Prison on the spot. Those who seemed suspicious had their names noted down.

The situation was such that it seemed as though the entire Harem was going to be turned upside down, with every servant undergoing scrutiny.

A Young Eunuch from Star Palace hurriedly left Canglan Court to convey His Majesty’s instructions to the waiting ministers.

The examiner, Commander Han, had just returned with the re-examination papers of the Jieyuan from Taiyuan Prefecture and had requested to see His Majesty. The Minister of Rites had also arrived hot on his heels. Minister Qin and the other Examination Markers were all waiting.

The Young Eunuch was there to report on this matter, but His Majesty had ordered that the examination papers be temporarily sealed and placed on the royal desk. Furthermore, His Majesty would not see anyone and asked them all to leave, as no one was to enter the palace without urgent business.

A major incident had occurred in the palace, so it was expected that His Majesty would not see anyone. The Young Eunuch understood this very well.

But the Minister of Rites, a respected elder, was notoriously difficult to deal with. With Steward Zhang too busy to look into it, the Young Eunuch worried about how to handle the situation with the elder.

To his surprise, upon hearing his words, the Minister of Rites pondered for a moment and then left immediately without any further ado. The rest of the people followed suit and dispersed, greatly relieving the Young Eunuch.

The Imperial Prison was almost filled to capacity; the staff from the Punishment Bureau were all busily at work.

Dong Xue and Xia Liu, who were responsible for bird’s nest soup and soup bowls and belonged to Canglan Court under Nanny Qi, received preferential treatment as they were from Star Palace. They were personally interrogated by Ji Yunlai and Deputy Director of the Punishment Bureau, Zhou Yong.

After interrogating Xia Liu back and forth, although the Palace Maid was flustered, she insisted that she hadn’t committed any wrongdoing. No matter how she was threatened or nearly tortured, she clenched her teeth and maintained her innocence.

When he switched to questioning about the bird’s nest soup, Xia Liu still claimed there was nothing wrong with it. If there was an issue, it would be the Imperial Kitchen’s fault, since she had received the bird’s nest soup from there. She had records and witnesses to back her up, and she explained the full story clearly. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

Ji Yunlai knew there was no issue with the bird’s nest soup and that Xia Liu’s questioning appeared to be fine. However, he still felt she was hiding something, a sensation born from his many years in the prison system, though he couldn’t put his finger on it.

Just then, Zhou Yong approached to report, leaning in close to Ji Yunlai to whisper a few words.

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