Chapter 416 — The Wild Goose

"Fifth Uncle has distinguished himself at the garrison these past few years. The Prince of Liao means to give him command of troops, and has promised that when the deed is done he will clear the Jiang family's name and redress their wrongs. Fifth Uncle thought and thought, and made up his mind to throw in his lot with the Prince of Liao. But he feared that if the thing miscarried I should be dragged down with him, and so he wrote me this letter. He says, too, that in a few days he will send men to demand silver of me, and will put it about that but for my mother's painstaking management in those years, how would the Ying ducal household ever have come by its present wealth and honour? Now the Jiangs sweat and suffer in Liaodong while the Songs still go in silks and dine on delicacies — is that to be borne? Unless the Jiangs are compensated to the tune of a hundred thousand taels or more, the matter will not be settled! And he bids me, rather than earn the name of a miser and a cold heart, seize the occasion to cut myself off from him, so that should the Crown Prince come to the throne I may at least show I had no part with him..."

What in the world was this?

Dou Yan was struck blank for a moment.

Song Yan had already handed her the letter that lay at his elbow.

Dou Yan took it, scanned a few lines in haste, and her face was all astonishment. "Fifth Uncle actually says that life in Liaodong is hard for him now, and that for the sake of the care Eldest Uncle once showed you, you should send him a few thousand taels?"

The Emperor had not, after all, destroyed the Jiangs utterly.

Most of the Jiang family's estates had been confiscated, but the sacrificial fields and the ancestral house at Haozhou had come through untouched. At the time of Jiang Ling's marriage, Song Yan, fearing the Jiangs would be pinched for money, had had Dou Yan privately make them a gift of five thousand taels. The Fourth Madam of the Jiang house had not only declined it but had hinted, delicately, that though the Jiangs were not what they had been, Madam Mei before she died had set everything in order — down to a thousand taels apiece for each Jiang daughter's dowry and two thousand for each Jiang son's bride, richer than the marrying-out and taking-in of any ordinary well-to-do household. How then could Jiang Baisun be short of silver? And asking Song Yan for it, at that?

She could make nothing of it.

Song Yan said in a low voice, "When I was small, Eldest Uncle taught me to write family letters out of the Poems of a Thousand Masters. There is one meaning on the face of the words, and another beneath."

Point by point, he showed Dou Yan how the letter was to be read.

Dou Yan studied it a long while before she had the gist of it, and by the time she had worked out a single line her head swam and her eyes blurred. "You had better just tell me outright what Fifth Uncle has written," she said. "I can puzzle it out at my leisure when I have the time."

Song Yan said, "Fifth Uncle says the Prince of Liao has ambitions, and bids us be careful."

So her guess had been right. The Prince of Liao was beginning to show his fangs.

Dou Yan's face grew grave.

"Fifth Uncle has distinguished himself at the garrison these past few years. The Prince of Liao means to give him command of troops, and has promised that when the deed is done he will clear the Jiang family's name and redress their wrongs. Fifth Uncle thought and thought, and made up his mind to throw in his lot with the Prince of Liao. But he feared that if the thing miscarried I should be dragged down with him, and so he wrote me this letter. He says, too, that in a few days he will send men to demand silver of me, and will put it about that but for my mother's painstaking management in those years, how would the Ying ducal household ever have come by its present wealth and honour? Now the Jiangs sweat and suffer in Liaodong while the Songs still go in silks and dine on delicacies — is that to be borne? Unless the Jiangs are compensated to the tune of a hundred thousand taels or more, the matter will not be settled! And he bids me, rather than earn the name of a miser and a cold heart, seize the occasion to cut myself off from him, so that should the Crown Prince come to the throne I may at least show I had no part with him..."

Dou Yan listened with great displeasure. "And if the Prince of Liao's enterprise fails, what becomes of the women and children at Haozhou? Are they to be put through the misery of a house searched and a family wiped out a second time?"

Song Yan smiled bitterly. "Under a low roof, one must bow the head. Fifth Uncle lives under the Prince of Liao's rule; it may not be in his power to refuse."

"Is there no other way?" said Dou Yan. "The Jiangs, fallen as they are, still command the respect of their old colleagues and friends, and only because of the name they bear for loyalty and courage — for serving the sovereign and defending the realm. If they throw in with the Prince of Liao, then even should he take the throne hereafter, he will be a rebel and a usurper, and the Jiangs, having gone along with him, will have lost their good name forever. And when trouble comes to them again after that, who will shelter them then?"

In the last life, the Prince of Liao had used Song Yan; in this one, he was using Jiang Baisun.

She could not help sighing over the Jiangs.

"Do you think I do not know it?" said Song Yan. "But the Prince of Liao's terms are too tempting. Eldest Uncle and the rest died so cruelly — how could Fifth Uncle be calm, and hold not a shred of resentment? And even if Fifth Uncle found some way to refuse the Prince of Liao, would the Crown Prince believe he had not been in league with him?"

"No," Dou Yan shook her head in helplessness.

Was she to stand by, then, and watch Jiang Baisun walk into danger?

Dou Yan felt a little sick at heart.

Song Yan paced about the room.

Dou Yan knew what was in his mind, and dared not disturb him, but sat quietly to one side.

After a long while Song Yan stopped his pacing and sat down beside Dou Yan.

Dou Yan poured him a fresh cup of warm tea.

Song Yan drank, and said, "It seems there is nothing for it but to sound out the Crown Prince."

Dou Yan's eyes went wide.

Song Yan said in a low voice, "The Crown Prince has always worn an air of wanting nothing; I cannot quite fathom his thoughts. If he learned of the Prince of Liao's ambition, would he fly into a panic and move against him, or show nothing and lay his plans in the dark? ... As things stand, the Prince of Liao has set his sights on the Jiangs, and he surely covets what Eldest Uncle left behind. Even if we wished to keep clear of it, we should find it hard. Better to see, and see early, which of the two is the stronger — the Crown Prince or the Prince of Liao — and then act as the times allow."

So they were to choose their side in advance.

Dou Yan cursed the Prince of Liao in her heart.

The Jiangs have already been broken, house and all, by the Emperor's hand — why must you push them onto the fire to roast? No wonder, in that other life, you used Song Yan without a flicker of compunction.

Dou Yan could only say, "I am afraid the Prince of Liao has the better odds."

But Song Yan laughed. "It is too early yet to speak of such things. Let us see how matters stand first."

That was well enough.

Even if in the end they threw in with the Prince of Liao, they must not go too near him; it would be enough not to rouse his suspicion.

Clearly, plans could never keep pace with change.

She had thought that with the standing of the Ying ducal household they might well watch the fire from the far bank; who would have guessed that in the end they must be drawn into the struggle for the succession.

Dou Yan let out a long breath.