Chapter 049: Preparing to Escape

Only at this moment did Zhang Zhong finally remember the most important matter.

“Young master, after the defeat at Tumu Fortress, the entire army was routed, His Majesty was captured by the Oirat, and many civil and military officials perished in the chaos. Now…” Cao Si hurriedly recounted the events.

“Wait, you said the prominent families in the capital have already started fleeing?” Zhang Zhong showed no concern for the emperor’s capture or the ministers’ deaths, but when he heard that the common folk were scrambling to leave the city, he immediately interrupted.

“Yes,” Cao Si replied, feigning alarm and exaggerating, “Young master, you may not know, but over twenty noble families, including the Duke of State, the Marquis of Guangping, the Earl of Xing’an, have already sent their households out of the city. Many officials at court have done the same, not a few among them ministers of the Six Ministries and Nine Courts. A great number of wealthy and prosperous families as well—anyone with the means is preparing to leave. Now, the carriages and horses leaving the capital have clogged all the outer nine gates.”

Upon hearing that so many high-ranking officials and nobles were preparing to flee, Zhang Zhong could no longer sit still. He jumped up and kicked Cao Si to the ground, cursing furiously, “You old dog, why didn’t you tell me about such an important matter sooner!”

“Young master, you never asked!” Cao Si replied from the floor, looking aggrieved.

Zhang Zhong paced the room, clearly frantic. After a while, he suddenly shouted, “Prepare a carriage for me!”

“Ah, young master, are you leaving the city to escape as well?” Cao Si was first delighted, then realized he had forgotten to manage his expression and quickly lowered his head, afraid Zhang Zhong would notice.

Fortunately, Zhang Zhong was facing the doorway and did not see the change. Cao Si thought to himself, If this fellow simply flees the city, wouldn’t it save madam a great deal of trouble?

Zhang Zhong, hearing Cao Si’s words, turned and said, “With something this serious, of course I need to see for myself to make a judgment. Go prepare the carriage at once, I’m going out.”

“Yes, I’ll see to it immediately.” Cao Si bowed and hurried to the stables.

After Zhang Zhong left the Duke’s residence, both Madam Wu and Xue Rui, upon hearing the news, breathed sighs of relief.

This man was indeed cautious—unwilling to trust only Cao Si’s words, he had to see for himself before believing. Yet, if he witnessed the chaos in the capital, he would only be more determined to flee, which aligned perfectly with Xue Rui’s intentions.

While awaiting news, Madam Wu, looking conflicted, asked Xue Rui, “Rui, if Zhang Zhong is so eager to escape that he forgets to plunder the silver, do we still need to spend money on him?”

Learning that a large sum of silver was to be given to Zhang Zhong, Madam Wu could not help but feel distressed, for it was her son’s money after all! Just now, after hearing from Cao Si that Zhang Zhong seemed to have no thought of gathering up the household’s funds in his rush to flee, Madam Wu was tempted by the idea. If Zhang Zhong simply left the capital, they could save a great deal—wouldn’t that be the best of both worlds?

Xue Rui, who had been discussing with his newly recruited follower Zhang Mao the possibility of the court relocating south, quickly shook his head at her question.

“Absolutely not. Zhang Zhong has no surplus funds. If he doesn’t think to seize the silver now, when he runs out of options later, he might well risk returning to the capital to scavenge, which would be even more troublesome. But if we give him a large sum now, he’ll have no worries and will be content to indulge in wine and women. Once he’s lost in that pleasure, he’d never dream of coming back!”

Discussing such things as wine and women with a youth, Madam Wu felt her face flush, thinking to herself that the rumors were true—this boy was indeed precocious.

“That’s true. It seems we cannot spare the silver after all.” Hearing Xue Rui’s reasoning, for the sake of caution, she could only take his advice and choose to spend money to avert disaster.

After half an hour, Zhang Zhong hurried back to the Duke’s residence.

Cao Si, who had been waiting all this time, rushed to greet him, asking, “Young master, what did you find out?”

“Why should I report to a wretch like you what I’ve found out?” Zhang Zhong snapped, his anger boiling over.

Cao Si, scolded thoroughly, shook his head, “I wouldn’t dare, it was presumptuous of me.”

“Hmph.” Zhang Zhong snorted and returned to his room.

After pondering for a while, Zhang Zhong summoned a maid and instructed, “Go tell that wretch—the second madam—to pack her valuables, pick out anything of worth, and get ready to leave the city with me.”

The ‘madam’ in question was not his principal wife, Lady Chen, but Zhou, a maid whom he had raised to the status of concubine. His twelve-year-old eldest son, Zhang Jie, was born to her.

His principal wife, Lady Chen, was the daughter of a prominent family in the capital—gentle, virtuous, pious to her in-laws, thrifty in managing the household, a paragon among women. Yet Zhang Zhong disliked her staid personality, preferring instead the company of wanton women. Often, when Zhang Fu was away, he would invite prostitutes into the house and carouse with his dissolute friends. Lady Chen abhorred this and often tried to persuade him otherwise.

Because of this, discord slowly developed between husband and wife.

Zhang Zhong, having a violent temper and poor self-control when drunk, would often vent his anger on Lady Chen with his fists and feet. After enduring long-term domestic abuse, Lady Chen became despondent and, unable to bear the pressure, finally hanged herself one night.

His wife driven to suicide by his abuse—such a scandal could not be allowed to tarnish the Duke’s family name. They announced instead that Lady Chen had succumbed to a grave illness and concealed the truth from the outside world.

Not long after her death, Zhang Zhong reverted to his old ways, holding licentious gatherings in the west wing and forcibly dragging any maid of some beauty into his debauchery. Zhou was one such victim.

Later, Zhou became pregnant and bore a son named Zhang Jie. Because of his past depravity, Zhang Zhong always harbored doubts about Zhang Jie’s parentage, but for the family’s reputation, he had to acknowledge him.

In reality, Zhang Zhong had little affection for Zhou; raising her to concubine was a mere formality.

Earlier, after leaving the house, Zhang Zhong had taken a carriage to tour the Xuanwu and Chongwen gates, only to find the busiest city gates completely blocked. Getting out of the carriage and walking a distance, he even spotted the grand convoy of the Earl of Huichang’s household, more than twenty carriages strong. Many on the road greeted him, especially the younger brothers of Li Zhen, the Earl of Xiangcheng.

Li Zhen had joined this campaign himself, but news had just arrived that he died in the disaster at Tumu, and his eldest son Li Xiang, who had gone with him to seek military merit, was missing.

Upon hearing the news, the entire Li family fell into chaos. The brothers, seeing the dire situation, immediately ordered their families to gather their valuables and prepare carriages to return to their old home in Hezhou for safety.

Li Zhen’s brothers had long been Zhang Zhong’s companions in debauchery. Upon seeing him, they urged him repeatedly to return home and gather his belongings, warning that soon it would be too late to leave.

Seeing all the noble families’ carriages hurriedly leaving, Zhang Zhong felt the capital could no longer be held. He immediately returned home and ordered Zhou, who managed the household in his absence, to pack for departure.

However, there was little left to pack in the west wing—most valuables had already been pawned by Zhang Zhong when short on cash, leaving nothing of worth behind.

When Zhou could only produce some jars and bottles, Zhang Zhong flew into a rage, beating and kicking her for not managing the household properly and for trying to fob him off with worthless junk.

Hearing the commotion outside, Cao Si sensed his opportunity and cautiously entered the room.

“Who let you in here, you old dog!”

Zhang Zhong, still in a fury, saw Cao Si tiptoeing in and grabbed a blue-and-white porcelain vase to hurl at him.