The nights within the Forbidden City were a world of deep shadows and silent, echoing corridors. For most of its inhabitants, it was a time of rest or quiet duty. For Eunuch Yao, it had become a time of fear. In the days following the fire at the Silkworm Nursery, a palpable paranoia had gripped Li Lianying's entire faction. The head eunuch was enraged, suspicious of everyone, and his interrogations had become frequent and brutal as he searched desperately for the source of the attack.
Yao, a man who prided himself on his own cruelty and his high rank within Li Lianying's network, was walking through a deserted outer corridor, returning from a late-night meeting. The passage was dimly lit by a single lantern swaying in the cold draft. He was flanked by his two personal bodyguards, brutish men chosen for their loyalty and strength. He felt secure.
He was wrong.
From the high, curved roof above, a figure dropped into the corridor ahead of them, landing as silently as a falling leaf. It was a man cloaked entirely in black, his face obscured by a shadow. He stood there, an impassive, human-shaped obstacle blocking their path.
"Who dares?" Yao shrieked, his voice high and sharp with alarm. "Seize him!"
His two guards reacted instantly, drawing the short, heavy sabers they carried. They were well-trained, powerful men. Against any normal intruder, they would have been a deadly threat. They charged forward.
What happened next was a blur of silent, impossible violence. The dark figure did not draw a weapon. He moved. His speed was supernatural. He sidestepped the first guard's clumsy slash, his hand shooting out to strike the man's temple with a sharp, precise blow. The guard crumpled to the ground without a sound. The second guard, seeing his companion fall, let out a cry of alarm, but the sound was choked off as the dark figure spun inside his guard, a hand clamping over his mouth while the other delivered a sharp, chopping blow to the back of his neck. He, too, collapsed into a silent heap. The entire confrontation had taken less than three seconds.
Eunuch Yao stood frozen, his mouth agape, his heart seizing in his chest. He was alone with the silent demon the guards had spoken of. He turned to run, but the figure was suddenly there, blocking his retreat, having moved across the corridor in the blink of an eye.
Yao stumbled backward, pressing himself against the cold stone wall, his eyes wide with terror. The figure before him was Meng Tian.
"Eunuch Yao," Meng Tian said. His voice was not a shout, but a low, cold whisper that seemed to cut through the air and slide directly into the eunuch's soul. "We should talk."
"What… what do you want?" Yao stammered, his usual arrogance completely gone. "Silver? I have silver!"
"Your master, Li Lianying, has lost his records," Meng Tian continued, ignoring the offer. He took a slow step forward, and Yao flinched. "A terrible fire. All his secrets, all his ledgers, turned to ash. A tragedy." He paused, letting the fear build. "But we have them."
Yao's blood ran cold. He thought Meng Tian was bluffing, a desperate attempt at extortion.
Meng Tian did not show him the ledger. He did not need to. He recited a single, damning piece of information from memory, a detail provided by Shen Ke's analysis just that afternoon.
"On the fourteenth day of the ninth month, last year," Meng Tian whispered, his voice devoid of all emotion. "You recorded an informant's payment of five hundred taels of silver. But the funds you withdrew from the household account were for six hundred taels. You stole one hundred taels from your own master's spy budget. A small but… foolish theft."
The detail was perfect. The date, the amount, the very nature of the crime. It was undeniable proof. Yao's face went white as a sheet. He knew, with sickening certainty, that this man was telling the truth. The ledger had survived. And it was in the hands of his enemies.
"Li Lianying is a meticulous man," Meng Tian went on, his voice a relentless, quiet pressure. "He is currently tearing the palace apart, looking for the traitors who attacked his headquarters. But soon, when his rage cools, he will begin the work of reconstructing his accounts from memory. He will find the discrepancies. He will find your little thefts. And when he does… he will not be merciful. He will have you flayed alive in a quiet room, and your screams will never be heard."
He let the horrific image hang in the air. Eunuch Yao was now trembling uncontrollably, sweat pouring down his face.
"But," Meng Tian said, his tone shifting slightly, "my master is willing to be… merciful."
He gave the terrified eunuch a choice. A simple, terrible choice. He could wait for Li Lianying to inevitably discover his treachery and face a slow, agonizing death. Or, he could change his allegiance. He could serve a new master.
"You will continue your duties as before," Meng Tian instructed. "You will report to Li Lianying every day. But you will now also report to us. You will tell us everything he plans, everyone he suspects." He leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a near-inaudible whisper. "And you will begin to feed him information that we provide. Small things, at first. Rumors. Fabricated reports that cast suspicion on other members of his faction. You will make him fight shadows. You will help us turn his web of spies against itself."
Eunuch Yao, his life flashing before his eyes, saw only one path to survival. His ambition, his pride, his loyalty to Li Lianying—it all evaporated in the face of his own imminent, agonizing demise. He nodded frantically, tears and snot running down his face.
"Yes," he whimpered. "Anything. I will do anything. Just… don't let him kill me."
"You serve my master now, Eunuch Yao," Meng Tian said. "Your survival depends entirely on your usefulness."
With that, he turned and melted back into the shadows as silently as he had appeared, leaving Yao to slide down the wall and collapse into a quivering, sobbing heap amidst the unconscious bodies of his guards.
Later that night, Meng Tian stood before Ying Zheng in the study and gave his report. Their first attempt at turning an enemy agent had been a success.
Ying Zheng looked down at the list of names that Shen Ke had begun to compile, a detailed map of the enemy's network of corruption. He now had the weapon in the form of the ledger. He had the brilliant scholar to analyze it and devise strategy. And now, he had the peerless warrior to act on that strategy. The three essential pillars of his new war were in place.
A cold smile touched his lips. Cixi thinks her power was in her secrets, he thought. She is wrong. The true power has always been in knowing the secrets of others. Her web is now my web. And I will use it to strangle her.