Chapter 106: Making an Example of the Monkey to Warn the Chickens

"Taoist Master Wang, what do you make of this?" Zhao Zongyong asked, his tone heavy with concern. "Can you change it back?"

Wang Daoling shook his head with a wry smile. "Your Highness, this is not the work of sorcery; it is merely an ordinary painting."

"What do you mean by that, Master?"

"I suspect that someone stole the horses last night and deliberately left this painting behind to confuse us," Wang Daoling replied.

As for why the ropes securing the horses had not been severed by a blade, Wang Daoling could not fathom it, but he did not need to. The horses were gone; regardless of whether it was magic or not, it was the work of thieves. That realization was enough for him.

"Someone stole the horses? Come here! Who was on guard duty last night?" Zhao Zongyong demanded.

"Your Highness, it was us two," two guards stepped forward and replied.

"Was there any theft last night?" Zhao Zongyong asked.

"Reporting to Your Highness, we fed the horses last night and saw no one."

"No one? If no one was there, how did the horses vanish? Did you leave this painting yourselves?" Zhao Zongyong barked.

"Your Highness, have mercy! Please, have mercy! Last night, you graciously bestowed wine upon us, and we drank a bit too much... we were intoxicated. We have no idea what happened..."

Faced with Zhao Zongyong’s fury, the two guards were terrified and confessed the truth. Of course, they did not know that had they remained sober, they would have certainly been trampled by the herd. The horses had developed a taste for the spirit-infused forage of the Shen family, and they had little patience for the common, dry hay provided by the guards.

However, while they had escaped the hooves of the horses, they could not escape the rod.

"Drunkenness leads to ruin. Carry out the punishment!"

With a wave of Zhao Zongyong’s hand, guards seized the two men and dragged them away to be flogged.

"Follow me! We are going to see the local magistrate!" Since his property had been stolen, he would naturally take the matter to the authorities.

Upon arriving at the county office, he did not bother with the drum, heading straight into the rear chambers to find Bao Zheng.

"Magistrate Bao, my horses were stolen within your jurisdiction, and the thieves even left a portrait behind. I give you three days to solve this case." Zhao Zongyong was overbearing the moment he arrived.

"The Prince's horses have been stolen again?" Bao Zheng feigned surprise and asked deliberately, "Would Your Highness care to inspect the county’s stables?"

"You!"

***

Zhao Zongyong had indeed seized horses from Jinhua County, but what of it? He had taken them by his own means. And these people, incompetent as they were, dared to mock him?

"Your Highness, it might be worth a look," Wang Daoling suddenly suggested.

"Hmm, perhaps you are right," Zhao Zongyong agreed. It was worth checking, just in case they were truly there.

"Your Highness, please," Bao Zheng invited.

Zhao Zongyong had dared to seize the horses from the stables primarily because he was a Prince and the stables belonged to the Imperial Court. He was certain no one would risk their life to stop him for the sake of the government's property. If they had been private horses, it might have been different. A warhorse was worth at least eight hundred strings of cash; ten would be eight thousand. To lose dozens or a hundred at once would make anyone’s heart bleed, and it would surely create a bitter feud.

Of course, in theory, no private individual would possess such a large number of horses. Only the government stables held the quantity worth his effort.

However, Bao Zheng was no mere bookworm who had read himself into a stupor. After suffering a loss at the stables once, he had not returned the recovered horses there, but instead entrusted them to the Shen family to be raised.

Therefore, when they arrived at the stables, there were no towering steeds to be found—only the old, the weak, and the disabled.

Such horses were not even worth the trouble for commoners, let alone Zhao Zongyong. They were useless for labor and only wasted fodder; who would want them?

"Your Highness, do you see the horses you are looking for?" Bao Zheng asked pointedly.

"Hmph! The horses were lost in your jurisdiction. I grant you three days to retrieve the lost property of the Princely Estate, or expect me to impeach you!" Zhao Zongyong declared.

"See the Prince out." Bao Zheng, his dark face stoic and indifferent, dismissed his guest as if he were impervious to threats.

"You! You! Fine!" Zhao Zongyong flicked his sleeves and stormed off.

Back on his boat, the more Zhao Zongyong thought about it, the angrier he became. "Someone! Write a memorial to the throne. I am going to impeach that dark-faced fool!"

"But Your Highness, didn't you give him three days..."

"What nonsense is this? Whether he finds the horses or not, what does that have to do with me impeaching him?" Zhao Zongyong said as if it were obvious.

Given his stance, his subordinates dared not argue; whatever the Prince wanted, he would have.

"My Lord, he has submitted a memorial to the Imperial Court. Are you not worried?"

At the magistrate's office, Gongsun Ce was still anxious. After all, the opponent was a Prince.

"Hmph! A Prince acting with such reckless disregard for the law—I was just about to report him to the court myself."

Zhao Zongyong despised Bao Zheng, and Bao Zheng had never cared for him either.

***

That same day, Bao Zheng wrote a memorial, stating plainly that Zhao Zongyong had used illusions and deceit to extort thirty-six high-quality warhorses from the local stables.

Zhao Zongyong accused Bao Zheng of administrative negligence and rampant banditry, claiming the loss of over a hundred fine horses from his estate.

Bao Zheng countered by accusing Zhao Zongyong of bullying and fraud, forcibly seizing thirty-six superior warhorses from the Jinhua stables.

This case was no minor matter, involving both a civil official and a member of the royal family. The court ministers could not handle it lightly and had to deliver both memorials to the desk of Emperor Zhao Zhen.

"What is the meaning of this, my ministers?"

It was not just the memorials that were delivered; the ministers themselves had come. They were there to support Bao Zheng, and by extension, their own cause. This year, the Qingli Reforms, led by Fan Zhongyan, Fu Bi, Han Qi, and Ouyang Xiu, had already begun.

The goal of the Qingli Reforms was to strengthen the military and the state; surely the great Song could not continue to be bullied by Western Xia? And in the war against the north, horses were the most vital resource.

Now that someone below had taken the initiative to open stables and raise horses, it aligned perfectly with their objectives. They would not allow anyone, let alone a Prince, to undermine that.

"Your Majesty, the Prince of Yuhang has forcibly seized warhorses from a local stable. We implore Your Majesty to issue a ruling."

"Forcibly seized warhorses? When did this happen? Why was I not informed?" Zhao Zhen asked, bewildered.

"Your Majesty, the memorials are here."

The ministers were not officials in name only. They presented the memorials with Bao Zheng's at the top, followed by Zhao Zongyong's, despite the fact that Zhao Zongyong had submitted his first.

Zhao Zhen looked over the two documents—one from his own official, the other from his own kin, specifically from the Runan Princely Estate.

Considering the prestige of the Runan Princely Estate, Zhao Zhen held them in high regard; otherwise, he would not have eventually passed the throne to them in history. Trust was not built in a day, especially regarding the succession of the throne, which was a long and arduous process. Even though the ministers had played their hand, Zhao Zhen did not favor one side blindly. He furrowed his brows as he read.

This case was not just about the status of the parties involved; it also involved the use of sorcery. This put Zhao Zhen in a difficult position.

"How do you ministers see this?" Zhao Zhen pondered for a moment before asking them.

"Your Majesty, the Prince falsely claimed the loss of his horses to extort the stables. He should be severely punished," Han Qi declared loudly.

The Qingli Reforms had begun, but were they being executed below? Heh... they were barely moving at all.

All four ministers had arrived. Beyond standing up for their own man in this case, they were also driven by the desire to "kill the chicken to scare the monkey." The Prince of Yuhang was more than qualified to be the monkey meant to serve as a warning.