Han Feizi said, "Affairs succeed through secrecy and fail when words let them slip."
Zhang Zai held to these words as though they were a sacred token of authority.
Thus he searched the archives slowly but steadily, silently and without a trace.
On the twelfth day of the twelfth month, in the Ministry of Revenue's archive room.
It was deepest winter. Documents piled up like hills, and the scent of mildewed paper mingled with pine-soot ink, suffusing the room.
Zhang Zai placed the winter pay reconciliation ledger on his desk, using it as a screen against prying eyes and ears.
In a corner, he quietly searched the old records of Ningxia's military farming administration, scrutinizing every volume and examining every page.
Like a skiff slipping into deep reeds, he raised no oar and startled no bird.
And so he sat from afternoon until the sun slanted westward, from the first rich scent of ink until the charcoal fire had died completely.
Before long, he reached the recommendation for Zheng Bingzhi, the Land Clearance censor.
Zheng Bingzhi had been recommended by the Ministry of Revenue in the Jinghe Fourteenth Year, granted the title of censor, and assigned exclusively to Land Clearance.
The recommending official was Zou Mo, then Left Vice Minister of Ministry of Revenue.
He next checked Jin Rucheng, the associate prefect overseeing Ningxia's Tuntian. In the seventh month of Jinghe Year Fifteen, the Ministry of Revenue had recommended him for service in Ningxia.
The recommending official was again Zou Mo.
Zhang Zai closed the volume, his gaze darkening.
The seventh month of Jinghe Year Fifteen-those had been among the last documents Zou Mo approved at the Ministry of Revenue before transferring to the Ministry of Personnel.
"The man is gone..." Zhang Zai murmured. "But his pieces are all in