Chapter 660: Does This Cage Look Familiar?

“Meng Shanming and those one hundred thousand iron cavalry ran off?”

Long Xiu asked in astonishment.

Gong Lince and Meng Xuan, standing nearby, were equally shocked.

The operation had been carried out in the utmost secrecy. Those who knew beforehand should not have leaked anything.

Emperor Shang Jianxiong of Yan had been alarmed enough by the matter to come personally.

He gestured.

Tian Yu handed Ga Miaoshui’s memorial to Long Xiu.

Long Xiu took it and immediately began reading.

Gong Lince and Meng Xuan could no longer remain composed either. Both quickly crowded to either side and read the memorial with him.

They had every reason to be nervous.

Meng Shanming, the main commander capable of ordering Nanzhou’s armies and fighting real wars, was still free.

Nanzhou’s strength remained intact as well.

One careless move could bring calamity on an enormous scale.

Put plainly, they could drive Nanzhou into rebellion.

At a time like this, with Han and Song watching like tigers, and rebellion still raging inside Yan, if Nanzhou rose as well, the trouble would become enormous.

How could they not be nervous?

Long Xiu’s first thought was that someone had leaked the secret.

Otherwise, how could the timing be so exact?

This side had only just decided to move against Shang Chaozong, and immediately afterward Shang Chaozong’s troops had run away.

The matter was too serious.

From the beginning, very few people had known of it.

Knowledge was limited to the highest levels of the imperial court and the three major sects.

Even those dispatched to carry out the operation had not been told publicly what they were going to do until the final moment.

Only after Long Xiu saw in the memorial that Shang Chaozong himself had remained behind did he relax slightly.

“Good. As long as we control Shang Chaozong, we have a hostage in hand. With him in our grasp, Nanzhou will not dare act recklessly.”

Shang Jianxiong asked, “Palace Master, are you certain you can force Niu Youdao to submit?”

“At this point, he has no choice but to agree!” Long Xiu answered savagely.

Then suspicion returned to his face.

“But how could the timing be this exact? Could someone truly have leaked the secret?”

Shang Jianxiong hesitated. “It seems unlikely.”

“Those were the only people who knew at first. None of them should have any reason to leak it.”

“And the timing truly may be coincidence.”

“Those hundreds of thousands of captives had already been taken before we decided to move against Shang Chaozong. They had already been arguing over what to do with them beforehand. Shang Chaozong simply insisted on his own view.”

Long Xiu remained suspicious.

“He insisted on his own view, and the result was that he withdrew the forces protecting him?”

“Does Your Majesty truly find that reasonable?”

Shang Jianxiong looked uncertain.

“Perhaps he believed no one would dare touch him at a time like this.”

“As for my people, there should not be any possibility of a leak.”

“If there truly is a problem, your side should investigate carefully.”

All of them remained doubtful.

Inwardly, they began examining every person who had known about the plan.

No one dared dismiss the possibility of a leak.

Only when further news arrived that Shang Chaozong truly had been seized and successfully escorted to the capital under guard did they finally abandon their suspicions.

Only then did they accept that the timing really might have been coincidence.

The logic was simple.

If someone had truly leaked the secret and the other side had known in advance, Shang Chaozong was Nanzhou’s commander.

There was no reason his subordinates could run while he himself failed to escape.

He should have found a way to flee as well.

How could he possibly have allowed himself to be seized?

Even so, they did not lightly abandon the investigation.

The moment Shang Chaozong was locked inside the imperial prison, interrogation began immediately.

They demanded to know why he had suddenly withdrawn his forces.

At first, Shang Chaozong refused to say anything.

The people interrogating him showed no courtesy.

They used torture.

He had killed an Elder of Xiaoyao Palace.

Then there was Shang Jianxiong’s attitude toward him.

Now that they had finally gotten him into their hands, how could they possibly treat him politely?

After some time, Shang Chaozong gradually realized something was wrong.

He realized they did not truly care why he had suddenly withdrawn his troops.

What they cared about was whether someone had leaked news to him before they moved against him.

So Shang Chaozong immediately began biting at random.

He started with Shang Yongzhong, then named Tong Mo, Gao Jiancheng, Tian Yu, and even Ga Miaoshui.

He went on to accuse nearly every senior figure in the three major sects as well.

In truth, he did not know whether anyone had leaked the secret.

He knew even less who the leak might have been.

He simply accused everyone he considered no good and everyone he believed could not possibly have leaked it.

The imperial court was not stupid.

Naturally they could tell he was accusing people at random.

...

Night had fallen.

Stars hung low over the capital, whose lights still burned brightly.

An honored guest arrived at the imperial prison.

Shang Jianxiong had come.

As Emperor, he had personally entered the dark and sinister dungeon.

Everyone unrelated was ordered away.

Only Tian Yu accompanied him.

Tian Yu released a Moon Butterfly, and its glow immediately filled the gloomy prison with strange light.

Shang Chaozong lay on a heap of straw in torn clothes, his hair disheveled and his body covered in blood.

The light pierced his eyes and woke him.

One hand, shackled in iron, pushed aside the hair hanging before his face.

He saw the figure standing outside the cell.

After recognizing the man, he struggled painfully to his feet.

Chains clattered at his ankles as he staggered toward the bars.

He grasped them with both hands and stared at the man outside.

Shang Jianxiong took his time admiring the sight of him in such a wretched state.

This was not a place the Emperor should have visited.

Yet his heart had itched intolerably.

In the end, he could not stop himself from coming, solely to see just how miserable the other man looked now.

He knew perfectly well what that said about his own state of mind.

At last, Shang Jianxiong broke the silence.

“Chaozong. Does this cage look familiar?”

Shang Chaozong replied, “Of course it does. I spent several years locked in this place. How could I fail to recognize it?”

“Isn’t this exactly what you wanted to see?”

Shang Jianxiong said, “I gave special instructions. Since you’ve returned, naturally you should come back to your own ‘home.’ You can live here with peace of mind.”

“I even came here personally to see you.”

Shang Chaozong replied, “You imprisoned me here for years before without showing your face even once.”

“Now I’ve only just arrived, and already you’ve come to visit.”

“Should I thank you for your kindness?”

Shang Jianxiong shook his head slightly and clicked his tongue.

“I heard that in Nanzhou you called the wind and summoned the rain.”

“On the battlefield you commanded thousands upon tens of thousands, unrivaled in arrogance.”

“Even an Elder of the three major sects could be killed the moment you gave the order.”

“What a hero you must have been.”

“How did you end up in such a miserable state now?”

Shang Chaozong laughed.

“I’m not miserable.”

“I was plotted against and have merely fallen into temporary difficulty.”

“The truly miserable man is the one living in that towering imperial palace.”

“He appears dressed in brocade, eating delicacies and standing high above everyone else.”

“In truth, he is beset by troubles within and without, living every day in panic.”

“Outside, he cannot defend against powerful enemies.”

“Inside, he cannot settle the affairs of the state.”

“Useless against outsiders, he knows only how to plot against his own people.”

“He leaves the common people unable to eat their fill or clothe themselves properly.”

“He has turned a perfectly good Great Yan into an absolute mess and is cursed day and night by the people as a muddleheaded ruler.”

“Your Majesty, which of us is truly more miserable?”

Tian Yu’s expression changed drastically.

He quietly glanced at Shang Jianxiong’s face.

Sure enough, Shang Jianxiong’s expression was ugly.

His jaw remained clenched for a long moment.

He stared fixedly at the man inside the cell, then slowly said, “Temporary difficulty?”

“You think you can still get out?”

Shang Chaozong chuckled.

“If you truly dared kill me, you would not have waited until now.”

“If you do not kill me, then I still have a chance.”

“Do you dare kill me?”

Shang Jianxiong said, “Do you truly believe that only if father and son of your line take the supreme position can Yan know peace and prosperity?”

As he spoke, he reached out through the bars and plucked a piece of straw from the filthy hand gripping the iron rail.

“Your father was smarter than you.”

“He understood which position gave him greater freedom to do as he pleased.”

Then Shang Jianxiong turned and left.

He tossed one sentence behind him.

“He still has enough strength to trade insults. How exactly have you been interrogating him?”

The prison guards came quickly.

The cell door opened.

Shang Chaozong was dragged back toward the torture chamber.

Soon the crack of the whip sounded again and again...

...

At Gao Residence, home of Yan’s Grand Minister of the Masses, Gao Jiancheng seemed to be in unusually good spirits after dinner.

For once, he wandered slowly through the enormous residence.

Servants who encountered him stopped and saluted.

His sons and daughters bowed in greeting.

His wives and concubines hurried to pay their respects, all somewhat surprised to see him strolling about like this.

At one point, grandchildren running and playing bumped into him and began calling out “Grandfather” and “Maternal Grandfather” one after another.

The scene was lively, though even the children observed the rules of a great household.

This was a vast family establishment.

There were wives and concubines aplenty, sons and daughters crowding the halls.

Counting only those who lived inside the estate, the household numbered well over a hundred people.

Along the way, Gao Jiancheng smiled and nodded again and again.

His good mood vanished somewhat when he encountered the wife of his eldest son, Gao Shaoming.

His daughter-in-law pulled the eldest grandson down onto his knees before Gao Jiancheng and wiped at her tears.

“Father, I heard that Shang Chaozong, the rebel chief of Nanzhou, has been captured and brought to the capital.”

“Father, Shaoming died unjustly. You must avenge him!”

For her, widowhood was bitter.

After entering a household like this, remarrying was not something she could simply decide for herself.

Gao Jiancheng held immense power and rank, and her son was also his eldest grandson.

Even if she wanted to remarry, someone would still need the courage to take her.

The eldest grandson choked out, “Grandfather, this grandson wishes to kill the enemy with his own hands!”

“Get up. Get up.” Gao Jiancheng reached down and pulled his grandson to his feet.

He patted the boy’s shoulder and sighed.

“You’ve grown taller again.”

“Study well. The Gao family will depend on your generation in the future.”

After giving them some reassurance, he left with his steward Fan Zhuan.

When Gao Jiancheng returned to his own courtyard, he suddenly felt like listening to the qin.

Fan Zhuan immediately invited one of Gao Jiancheng’s concubines over.

She was nineteen years old, a beautiful young woman in the very bloom of youth.

Gao Jiancheng was old enough to be her grandfather.

Yet she was indeed one of his concubines.

She had been carefully trained from childhood and played the qin exceptionally well.

After arriving with her instrument and saluting, she asked softly, “What would Master like to hear?”

Even her speaking voice still carried a hint of youthful immaturity.

Gao Jiancheng was silent for a moment.

Then he said, “Play ‘Hidden Sorrow.’”

“Yes.” The beautiful young woman bowed slightly, turned, and entered the pavilion.

Before long, a mournful qin melody drifted out, clear and lingering.

Immersed in the music, Gao Jiancheng stood with his hands behind his back and looked up at the countless stars.

At last, following the tune, he murmured the lyrics under his breath.

“Gazing at the moon, gazing at the moon, my eyes grow blurred...”

Fan Zhuan approached carrying a robe and gently draped it over his shoulders.

Gao Jiancheng’s tone suddenly changed.

He sighed.

“If I were gone, what would become of the hundreds of people inside and outside this Gao household?”

Fan Zhuan comforted him. “Master worries too much.”

Gao Jiancheng said, “I was born a farmer in the fields. I bound up my hair and studied bitterly, aspiring to bring peace beneath Heaven.”

“Who would have thought that after all these twists and turns, I would long ago forget my original intention?”

“I won a household overflowing with wealth and honor.”

“And now, at the end of it all, I am old and tired, yet I still do not dare fall.”

Fan Zhuan tried asking, “Master’s emotions have been unsettled today. Is it because Shang Chaozong was captured?”

“My emotions are not unsettled. I simply have many thoughts.”

“Old Fan... I had assumed that side would devise some other plan.”

“I never imagined they would handle it this way.”

“That man would rather let Shang Chaozong take the risk than expose me.”

“He has gone this far to set my mind at ease.”

“He treats me as a guoshi, a man worthy of the highest trust, and he understands the larger righteousness.”

“I have nothing left to worry about.”

“If there is a future, then I can safely entrust what comes after me to him.”

“So where is this emotional unrest you speak of?”

Fan Zhuan considered his words and slowly nodded.

He had not expected it either.

To preserve Master’s hidden position, Niu Youdao had actually been willing to let Shang Chaozong take this risk.

Gao Jiancheng was not a man easily moved.

But this time, he truly had been.

[End of Chapter 660]