Chapter 792: A Sudden Departure

“Excellently!” Steward Wu then added solemnly. “Mr. Sun was highly perceptive and offered Master many useful strategies. Master praised him repeatedly. After Mr. Sun resigned and left, Master even sighed that capable talent was hard to find.” He then had a sip of water before continuing, “Once, I even heard Master say that Generals Wu and Ke on the northwestern front only fell into such a passive position because they failed to use Mr. Sun’s strategy. One wrong move led to every subsequent step going wrong.”

He Lingchuan remembered that Sun Hongye had once advised Ke Jihai on how to capture Gu City and Luyun Lake along the Wu Province front.

Gu City possessed high walls and deep moats. It was the first great obstacle blocking the official troops’ advance into Wu Province.

At the time, Sun Hongye had recommended abandoning the assault on Gu City and attacking Bao Pass to the west instead, then blowing up Qing Dike!

It was an excellent plan, as well as a vicious one. Destroying the dike would inevitably flood countless farms and homes, affecting at least 100,000 civilians across the surrounding towns and counties.

War always forced people to choose between two evils.

Neither Ke Jihai nor Wu Di had dared to use the plan.

Although Gu City was eventually captured, the army paid an enormous price. It suffered severe casualties and took four months longer than Sun Hongye’s strategy would have required.

Over more than 130 days, the Wu-Ke army consumed staggering quantities of manpower, horses, grain, and fodder.

Those four additional months also gave the Minister of War ample time to make numerous preparations, leaving the Wu-Ke army struggling at every step in the battles that followed.

It could be said that the Battle of Gu City had far-reaching consequences. Even the current decline of the official troops remained closely connected to it.

The Minister of War had not only retaken Gu City but had advanced more than fifty kilometers farther south.

Whenever He Chunhua spoke of that crucial battle, he sighed bitterly over the missed opportunity.

“Then did anything unusual happen between Sun Hongye’s arrival in the Yuan capital and his departure?”

“Anything unusual?” Steward Wu frowned and thought for a long time before shaking his head. “I didn’t notice anything.”

“Alright.” He Lingchuan patted him on the shoulder. “Thank you for your trouble.”

Seeing him turn to leave, Steward Wu asked, “Where are you going, Eldest Young Master? I can arrange a carriage.”

He Lingchuan smiled. “No need. I’m just taking a walk.”

Steward Wu watched his retreating figure for quite a while before returning to his duties.

* * *

The next person He Lingchuan sought out was Shan Youjun.

The man had only just entered the He Residence when He Lingchuan intercepted him and asked, “Where did Sun Hongye live?”

“Huh?” Shan Youjun froze. “Sun... Didn’t he leave?”

“Where did he live before he left?” He Lingchuan said impatiently. “Surely not in Shihuan City itself?”

Sun Hongye had once owned a small house in Shihuan City, but he had sold it before following He Lingchuan north to Xia Province the previous year.

“Oh, I’ve been there.” Shan Youjun was as quick-witted as ever. “I’ll take you.”

He Lingchuan remarked casually, “You seem to have known him rather well.”

“Not particularly.” Shan Youjun smiled. “We both worked under Lord He. After seeing each other every day for the better part of a year, we naturally became familiar.”

“Did he tell you why he suddenly left?”

Shan Youjun paused before shaking his head. “No. I only learned about it two days after he was gone.”

He led He Lingchuan out of the He Residence. They did not take a carriage, merely walking seven or eight hundred paces east before turning down two alleys and stopping outside a residence.

“We’re here.”

Shan Youjun knocked, and a plump middle-aged man answered the door.

He was the landlord. Sun Hongye had rented a house from him.

“Oh, the tenant surnamed Sun?” After the two explained why they had come, the fat landlord looked somewhat displeased. “That fellow wasn’t very honorable. Before moving in, he clearly agreed to rent for at least half a year, yet he left after only eleven days! So I refused to return his deposit.”

He Lingchuan handed him a small ingot of silver. “May I see where he stayed?”

The landlord was equally straightforward. He accepted the silver and opened the wooden door diagonally across from his own. “Right here. Look around as you please.”

He Lingchuan and Shan Youjun entered and found a small single-courtyard residence.

Its layout was extremely simple. The courtyard covered less than fifty square meters, with three and a half rooms: a bedroom, a sitting room, a kitchen, and half a room used for storing firewood.

The interior was clean, and there was hardly any grease or soot on the kitchen stove. No new tenant had yet moved in, so the residence remained exactly as Sun Hongye had left it.

The landlord clearly was not fond of work. He freely admitted that he had not cleaned the place again.

The residence was so small that a few strides took them from one end to the other.

He Lingchuan overlooked no corner, examining everything carefully as he asked the landlord, “Did you see Sun Hongye during the few days before he left?”

“He left early and returned late. During those eleven days, he said fewer than ten sentences to me in total. Besides, I run my own business and am rarely home.”

He Lingchuan continued looking as he asked, “Did he leave any message?”

“No.” The landlord sneezed. “He only said he was leaving, and then he left.”

“He simply left the moment he said so?”

“That’s right. He came knocking on my door with his bundle over his shoulder and said he was checking out immediately.” The landlord recalled the scene. “I told him neither the rent nor the deposit would be refunded. He said that was fine, then walked away without looking back.”

“Did he seem anxious?”

“Very. As though a ghost were chasing him.” The landlord rubbed his nose. “It was such cold weather, yet sweat was beading on his nose.”

He Lingchuan nodded. “Thank you.”

With that, he left with Shan Youjun.

On the way back, Shan Youjun asked, “Eldest Young Master, is something wrong?”

“Sun Hongye checked out and left of his own accord, but his departure was extremely sudden.” He Lingchuan pondered aloud. “What did he discover?”

“Discover?” Shan Youjun did not understand. “We had only just arrived in the Yuan capital. What could he possibly have discovered?”

“Where did he go during those days?”

“Ah, you would have to ask Steward Wu.”

He Lingchuan glanced at him. “Did he have no close friends in the residence or within the Coordinating Army?”

“He got along well with everyone, but if you mean anyone he was especially close to...” Shan Youjun thought briefly but ultimately said, “Hm, I don’t think so. Should I ask around after we return?”

“Mm. I’ll leave that to you.”

Before He Lingchuan had even entered the residence, a servant hurried out to report, “Eldest Young Master, Lord Wang has arrived!”

Lord Wang of the Court of State Ceremonial had personally come to the He Residence. He Chunhua had already gone out on official business, so Madame Ying received him instead.

Ordinarily, whenever the minister of the Court of State Ceremonial wished to meet a foreign envoy, the envoy would be summoned to his office. Yet this time, he had personally come to the He Residence.

Madame Ying carried herself with dignified grace and responded with perfect courtesy. When she saw He Lingchuan, her face blossomed into a smile, pride shining from her eyes and brows.

“Chuan’er, His Majesty wishes to see you.”

Strictly in terms of protocol, He Lingchuan’s status as Rongshan’s special envoy was not sufficient for an audience with the King of Yuan.

It was much like when he had served as Chiyan’s special envoy and still had no opportunity to meet Beijia’s Lord Emperor. The Heavenly Palace had summoned him to Mount Xu under the pretext of expressing concern, but it had harbored other motives. Once the heavenly gods’ judgment ended, they had immediately sent him away. From beginning to end, he never once saw the Lord Emperor in person.

For the King of Yuan to summon He Lingchuan into the palace now demonstrated just how highly he valued the loan.

That was why Lord Wang had personally come to fetch him.

As He Lingchuan headed outside, Madame Ying quietly reminded her eldest son, “Chuan’er, remember your manners when you meet His Majesty.”

He Lingchuan smiled. “Your son knows.”