Chapter 1130: Empress Regnant

"Wind! Wind! Wind!"

Outside the city, an army had assembled, its cries rolling like mountains collapsing and seas surging. There were only ten thousand cavalry, yet their momentum was magnificent.

Their battle cry was exactly the same as that once used by Qi's Black Wind Cavalry!

Huyan Wei and his elder brother, both clad in armor and riding abreast, charged out through the city gate and plunged into the army. His elder brother swept up an arm and shouted, "Move out!"

The ten thousand riders swiftly wheeled around. Ten thousand horses thundered forward as the army followed.

Riding at the front, Huyan Wei felt none of the danger hanging over the situation. Instead, he was full of high spirits and excitement. This was the first time he had ever gone on campaign with an army, serving as his elder brother's deputy general!

These ten thousand cavalry were the troops Huyan Wuhen had left behind, a force of the Valiant Cavalry assigned to remain in the capital.

To suppress the rebels, Hao Yuntu had sent orders to Huyan Wuhen. Yet Huyan Wuhen had actually refused the imperial command, declining to send troops back against the rebellion and insisting on continuing with the original war plan.

A general in the field need not obey every command from his sovereign. Hao Yuntu could do nothing about Huyan Wuhen, and replacing his commander in the middle of a campaign would be even worse. He could only assemble forces inside Qi to suppress the rebellion.

To put down the rebels as quickly as possible, Hao Yuntu mobilized the elite Valiant Cavalry left behind to defend the capital.

There was good reason to use cavalry. Defending a city was not what cavalry did best; their true strength lay in attacking on the battlefield.

Hao Yuntu appointed Huyan Wuhen's eldest son as commanding general. There was no other choice. The Valiant Cavalry had always been firmly held in the Huyan family's hands, and anyone else would probably be unable to command them.

Huyan Wei could no longer restrain himself and volunteered for the campaign. Hao Yuntu readily agreed and appointed him deputy general.

Hao Qingqing arrived too late. By the time she climbed onto the city wall, all she could see was rolling dust. She pouted and threw a fit.

She had come to see Huyan Wei off. She had not wanted to come in the first place and had only agreed after the Empress repeatedly urged her. In the end, she dawdled until she was late and failed to see him depart. All she got was a cloud of dust and the faint thunder of hoofbeats in the distance.

...

"Under that much pressure from the court, Huyan Wuhen actually dared defy an imperial decree!"

Hidden inside the underground chamber, Shao Pingbo paced beneath the lamplight with the intelligence report in hand, frowning in thought. He had not expected Huyan Wuhen to openly resist the sovereign's command.

Others would secure the interior before resisting foreign aggression. This Supreme General, however, was clearly determined to resist the foreign enemy before pacifying the interior. He meant to break Jin's offensive first.

If so, all the plans Shao Pingbo had laid to delay Qi's army were effectively broken. Huyan Wuhen simply refused to be led by them.

After deliberating for a long time, Shao Pingbo raised his head and sighed. "Yan has Shanming; Qi has Wuhen! Huyan Wuhen truly deserves to be called a pillar of the State of Qi. So long as that man remains alive, Jin will have to spend enormous effort!"

Shao Sansheng, standing beside him, asked, "Eldest Young Master, what do we do now? Should we devise some separate method against Huyan Wuhen?"

Shao Pingbo shook his head. "Schemes and tricks that cannot be brought into the open only work beneath the table. Faced with Huyan Wuhen's command of the greater strategy and armies ranging freely across the field, trying to meet him head-on with that sort of thing will accomplish nothing."

He handed the report back. "Battlefield warfare is not my specialty. If I interfere recklessly, I may only make matters worse. From this point onward, let the generals handle the clash between the two armies. I've already laid this much groundwork for them. It should be of some use. Send the report back at once!"

"Yes!" Shao Sansheng accepted the order.

...

Along the Jin-Wei border, Jin's armies pressed forward across the entire front, launching a comprehensive offensive against Wei. With neither morale nor preparations in order, Wei struggled to withstand the assault of Jin's tiger-and-wolf troops.

Inside Wei, Shao Pingbo's planning was producing enormous results. Along the route of Yin Chu's eastward advance, resistance was almost nonexistent. Yin Chu's army was practically being allowed to drive straight through, while the forces of Wei's regional lords along the way behaved as though they had blindfolded themselves and simply let him pass.

When the reports arrived, Xuan Wei nearly coughed blood from grief and fury. After decrees went out from the court, the forces along Yin Chu's eastward route all agreed beautifully with their mouths, but their actual behavior was something else entirely. Once news spread that Wei's armies at the front had been defeated and forced onto the defensive, the attitudes of the garrisons along Yin Chu's route became even stranger. Some even supplied Yin Chu's army with grain and fodder.

How could Xuan Wei not be driven almost to the point of coughing blood?

Facing the assembled officials, she roared in grief and fury, "Traitors to the state!"

"Chancellor!" Tang Yi suddenly ran into the great hall. Ignoring the startled looks of the court officials, she hurried to Xuan Wei's side and whispered into her ear.

Xuan Wei's face changed drastically. "What?"

Abandoning all concern for decorum, she left government affairs behind and ran out in panic, Tang Yi accompanying her the entire way.

Inside the hall, Chang Linxian, Sect Leader of Lingxu Mansion; Zang Feng, Sect Leader of Shouzheng Pavilion; and Luo Yanzhen, Sect Leader of Dale Mountain had already been grave-faced because of the military situation. Now they exchanged glances and quickly left the hall as well to see what had happened, leaving the assembled officials staring at one another in bewilderment.

Ximen Qingkong sat cross-legged on the floor. Blood stained his nose and mouth, his face had turned a golden yellow, and his eyes were closed as he silently regulated his breathing.

The moment Xuan Wei rushed in and saw him, she dropped to her knees before him and embraced him. "Qingkong, what's wrong? Don't frighten me!"

Ximen Qingkong opened his eyes. Calmly, he said, "Someone poisoned my tea."

"How is that possible?" Xuan Wei was shocked. Everyone around her had been carefully selected from among her most trusted people. It should have been extremely difficult for anyone to tamper with his drink.

Ximen Qingkong closed his eyes again. Xuan Wei urgently asked, "Who did it?"

Tang Yi, who had hurried in behind her, advised, "Chancellor, Mr. Ximen is using a technique to suppress the poison inside his body. Don't disturb him!"

Xuan Wei was frightened. Then anger surged through her. She strode outside and summoned everyone in the courtyard for questioning. "Who did this?"

No matter whom she questioned, everyone said they did not know. Tang Yi, however, tentatively said, "Some disciples of the sect saw the Prince Consort come here earlier. I don't know whether..."

"Sect Leader Tang, do not speak recklessly without evidence!" Luo Yanzhen, Sect Leader of Dale Mountain, barked as the three Sect Leaders strode over. "Do you understand what you're saying? Are you trying to destroy the alliance between Wei and Qi?"

Tang Yi could only close her mouth in frustration.

Xuan Wei's eyes flashed. She ordered harshly, "Bring Hao Cheng here!"

It did not take long before Hao Cheng was "invited" over. Xuan Wei immediately questioned him in a stern voice.

"I didn't do it. Don't falsely accuse me," Hao Cheng replied with perfect composure. Then he added, "If he dies, he dies. What's there to make such a fuss over?"

Xuan Wei gritted her teeth. "So you're admitting you did it?"

"I already said I didn't."

"Then why curse him to die?"

Hao Cheng lost his temper. "Xuan Wei, do you take me for a fool? You two spend your nights living and sleeping together. What do you take me for? I know perfectly well why I married into Wei, but don't you think the two of you have gone too far? You don't avoid even the slightest appearance of impropriety. Where does that leave the face of Qi? If I don't curse him to die, am I supposed to congratulate him instead?"

In truth, Hao Cheng really had poisoned him. His status was exactly what made it difficult for anyone to stop him from coming and going here.

There were things he had not known before. But under deliberate manipulation, someone had lured him outside Xuan Wei's bedchamber one night and made sure he discovered what the man and woman inside were doing.

He was a man too. He understood the duty he had come to perform, but the grief and fury in his heart could easily be imagined.

Afterward, he naturally demanded to know why the people who had led him there had wanted him to see such a thing.

Once he learned what they intended, and after receiving their assurances, his misgivings disappeared. Under their arrangements, he watched for the right opportunity and struck.

Xuan Wei's face alternated between red and white. Her illicit relationship with Ximen Qingkong was hardly something honorable. Having it exposed to her face naturally left her humiliated.

But she could not worry about that now. She said harshly, "Fine. You refuse to admit it? I have plenty of ways to make you talk. Someone, take him away and interrogate him under torture!"

Hao Cheng finally showed some panic. "Xuan Wei, do you think the State of Qi is made of mud for you to knead however you please?"

The threat accomplished nothing. Guards surged forward like wolves and tigers and seized him on the spot.

Xuan Wei sneered. "Believe me or not, even if I killed you, all I would need to report is that you suddenly died of illness. Qi would pretend it knew nothing!"

"Wait!" Chang Linxian, Sect Leader of Lingxu Mansion, spoke up. At a gesture from him, several disciples of Shouzheng Pavilion stepped forward, took Hao Cheng from the guards, and ordered men to escort him away under protection.

Xuan Wei said coldly, "Sect Leader Chang, what is the meaning of this?"

Chang Linxian sighed. "Chancellor, I understand your feelings. And what you said is not wrong. Even if you killed him, Qi would pretend not to know for the sake of the greater situation. But have you considered Wei's own internal situation? If you kill a prince of Qi, won't that leave everyone here uneasy? Our three great sects will not permit you to touch him. Even if he is to be killed, now is not the time. Once the situation stabilizes, whether you want to kill him or carve him to pieces will be entirely up to you. The three great sects will not interfere!"

Zang Feng, Sect Leader of Shouzheng Pavilion, stepped forward. "Speaking of the hearts of Wei's people, there is an important matter we need to report to the Chancellor." He turned and gestured behind him.

Very soon, a group of court officials came forward. In front of Xuan Wei, they all dropped to their knees. Then, as one, they loudly pleaded, "We beg the Chancellor to ascend the throne as Empress Regnant! We beg the Chancellor to ascend the throne as Empress Regnant..."

Faced with the officials' unending pleas, Xuan Wei was stunned. They actually wanted to enthrone her as sovereign!

Had the situation on the battlefield been favorable, they would not have launched such a move. But the war was going badly. Everyone needed something that could rally the hearts of the people. All of Wei knew Xuan Wei was capable. At this moment, enthroning her was precisely the sort of act that could stabilize morale.

Faced with the chaos before them, these people would grasp at anything that offered even the slightest benefit, like drowning men clutching at a straw.

Naturally, Xuan Wei refused. Even if she wanted to agree, neither feeling nor propriety would allow her to accept so hastily.

After dismissing everyone unrelated, Xuan Wei returned inside and knelt before Ximen Qingkong. She began to cry. "I'm the one who brought this upon you!"

Ximen Qingkong opened his eyes briefly. What could he say? In the end he closed them again and did his best to steady his mind and suppress the poison within his body.

After crying for a while, Xuan Wei suddenly rose and strode out. She found Tang Yi and said through clenched teeth, "Hao Cheng is inside the palace. Where could he have obtained such a deadly poison? And without cooperation from the guards here, how could he possibly have identified the exact opening needed to poison Qingkong? Sister, I no longer expect the three great sects to save Qingkong. If they merely refrain from sabotaging us, that will already be fortunate. I can only entrust Qingkong's treatment to Shangqing Sect."

"I understand." Tang Yi nodded. None of them were fools. But without evidence, there was no way to accuse anyone. If they openly tore relations apart, Ximen Qingkong would only die faster.

Tang Yi quickly summoned the three Elders of Shangqing Sect. Yet faced with the poison afflicting Ximen Qingkong, all three were helpless. While Xuan Wei exhausted every means she could think of to find someone capable of saving him, the three Elders could only combine their strength and do everything possible to suppress the poison inside his body.

Ximen Qingkong struggled on the edge of death, while outside, the calls for Xuan Wei to take the throne grew louder with each passing day.

In the end, after refusing several times, Xuan Wei finally agreed to ascend the throne as Empress Regnant!

The court officials hurriedly began making preparations. Then, on the very day of the enthronement, while Xuan Wei was trying on the imperial robes, Tang Yi once again came to find her in urgent haste.

Realizing she had something private to say, Xuan Wei dismissed everyone nearby. Only then did Tang Yi lower her voice. "Chancellor, someone sent a secret letter to Shangqing Sect giving instructions for how to save Mr. Ximen."

Xuan Wei asked urgently, "Who sent it?"

Tang Yi shook her head. "I don't know." She took out the secret letter and handed it over.

Xuan Wei quickly opened it.

The letter said: Secretly send Ximen Qingkong to Qi at once. Dispatch a trusted covert envoy to meet the Qi emperor and have him order Princess Consort Ying Shao Liuer to plead with the Ghost Doctor's disciple Wuxin. Wuxin will certainly act to save him. Ximen Qingkong's life can be preserved!

[End of Chapter 1130]