Chapter 1442: The Most Beautiful Woman Under Heaven

Huyan Wuhen remained busy dealing with the rebel army. Unless there was some special reason, every rebel officer of centurion rank or higher was executed.

The ordinary rebel soldiers were screaming one after another as well.

A branding iron heated red-hot was pressed against each face. How could they not scream?

Each man was left with a conspicuous brand: the character meaning “traitor.”

If Qi had not been desperately short of labor, Huyan Wuhen would never have spared these rebels after everything they had done in the capital.

The blocked city gates had to be cleared. The capital had to be repaired and cleaned. The huge earthen siegeworks outside the city had to be broken down and the ground restored.

All of it required vast amounts of labor.

The common people had already suffered too much. It was no longer appropriate to conscript them for corvée.

The imperial army had returned.

The aftermath had to be cleaned up.

Pain already endured could not be undone, and those who survived still had to go on living. Little by little, signs of life began returning to the Qi capital...

Qi had finally won one battle.

The Qin army, however, had fallen into grief and fury once more.

Qin was finished.

Yan and Han had invaded together and advanced like a blade splitting bamboo, meeting almost no effective resistance. Their armies seized territory almost as quickly as riders could gallop across it and mark it off.

Qin fell even faster than expected.

In Wu Calendar 536, the State of Qin collapsed and its territory was fully divided and occupied by Yan and Han.

Xia Lingpei, Emperor of Qin, and Empress Dowager Zhuang Hong fled to Qi for refuge.

Thus, of the seven states beneath Heaven, Wei and Qin had now fallen one after another.

Only five states remained.

The armies of Yan and Han advanced to the foot of Xiping Pass but did not attempt to seize it.

Yin Chu, the Jin commander guarding the pass, did not send troops out either. He remained on high alert, held his defenses firmly, and strengthened the fortifications.

Jin currently lacked the strength to fight on two fronts. Until Qi was pacified, Jin could not possibly launch another campaign. Otherwise it would only give Qi and the Qin army a chance to counterattack.

Yan and Han likewise had no intention of attacking the fortress at Xiping Pass.

The Qin territory they had just occupied was still unstable and needed to be consolidated.

And so the three states settled into a standoff around Xiping Pass, each guarding against the others.

The common people of Qin had never developed a deep attachment to the Qin regime. Many still remembered the former State of Zhao more fondly.

Qin’s fall therefore stirred remarkably little feeling among them.

What they wanted most was stability.

Yan and Han began pouring resources into the territories they had occupied. Both wanted to establish a stable, powerful rear before Jin finished annexing Qi.

They understood perfectly well that once Jin swallowed Qi, it would possess Xiping Pass, giving it a position from which it could attack or defend at will. Jin would also control the regions producing warhorses and grain.

Sooner or later, war with Yan and Han would follow.

Both states therefore had to make thorough preparations.

Song, by contrast, grew increasingly anxious.

It had watched Jin annex Wei and now move toward annexing Qi. Yan and Han had joined hands and divided Qin between themselves.

Only Song had gained nothing.

Worse, it was squeezed into one corner of the realm, giving its court every reason to worry about the future.

Yet facing Yan and Han together, Song did not dare take on both alone.

Now that the two states had swallowed Qin, Song even began worrying about something worse:

Would Yan and Han join forces again to remove the remaining threat behind them and attack Song together?

Wu Gongling was, in truth, a fairly decisive man. While Yan and Han were invading Qin, he had considered sending troops to interfere.

Could Song win?

Chancellor Zi Pingxiu asked him exactly that.

He also reminded Wu Gongling that Song’s elite forces had suffered enormous losses in the earlier war and that its well-trained combat strength had still not fully recovered.

Even at Song’s peak, it had not been a match for Yan’s army. How could it oppose Yan and Han together now?

Zi Pingxiu also laid out one domestic weakness after another.

With Niu Youdao working behind the scenes and Zi Pingxiu exerting his influence to obstruct the plan, Wu Gongling’s intention to intervene was pressed down.

If Song could not fight, then diplomacy was the only road left.

At present, no state’s envoys were busier than Song’s.

Shang Chaozong’s Nanzhou faction had no intention of remaining idle either.

This was precisely the moment to divide the spoils of victory. How could they simply watch from the sidelines?

And it was not only Shang Chaozong who refused to sit still.

Zijin Cave was equally unwilling.

The forces under its influence were the strongest in Yan. With meat on the table, why should it stand by while Xiaoyao Palace and Lingjian Mountain enjoyed the benefits?

More importantly, Shang Chaozong had Niu Youdao behind him, while Niu Youdao and Gong Lince were practically wearing the same pair of trousers.

Naturally, Zijin Cave fully supported Shang Chaozong in opening his jaws wide.

Because Nanzhou lay close to Qin, its troops had entered the war fastest. Among the various Yan forces, those aligned with Shang Chaozong had occupied the largest share of Qin territory.

To consolidate his own power, Shang Chaozong discussed matters with Meng Shanming and decided to seize the key strategic corridors.

The same geographic fact remained decisive: Shang Chaozong’s territory bordered Qin.

He intended to expand the contiguous territory under his control through Nanzhou, Jinzhou, and Guangzhou, cutting a vertical line across the map and severing the corridor between Yan proper and the territories Yan had occupied in Qin.

Nanzhou already possessed the geographic advantage needed to do this.

Once Shang Chaozong controlled the corridor linking the two sides, and considering that his own forces already held the greatest share of the occupied Qin lands, those territories would effectively fall into his pocket.

Any future attempt by the Yan court to administer or develop its Qin possessions would have to pass through land he controlled.

The court would have no choice but to look at his face before acting.

To some extent, this was also a choice forced upon him.

If Shang Chaozong did not seize and hold the territories on the Qin side, then the moment trouble came, his position could be attacked from front and rear.

He could not simply allow such a passive strategic situation to form.

When Shang Jianxiong, Emperor of Yan, received the news, he flew into a rage.

How could he sit by and watch?

Prince Yong already controlled several prefectures. If he was now allowed to clutch more than ten additional prefectures from occupied Qin, the territory under his influence would become nearly half the size of Yan itself.

Once that power truly matured, what then?

Xiaoyao Palace and Lingjian Mountain were equally unwilling to accept it.

But at precisely that moment, Han inserted itself into the dispute.

Han suddenly adopted an offensive posture, clearly intending to help Shang Chaozong achieve his strategic objective.

This was Jin Jue’s decision.

Han had just swallowed a huge amount of territory and needed time to consolidate it. Qi would not be able to hold out much longer. Once Qi fell, Jin’s army could march east at any time.

Han could not be left to bear that pressure alone, nor did it have the strength to do so.

Someone else had to share the burden.

For that reason, Yan could not be allowed to fall into internal chaos now.

If it did, Song, already dissatisfied with having gained nothing, might seize the opportunity to fish in troubled waters. Jin would certainly fan the flames as well and encourage disorder among the three eastern states.

More importantly, allowing Shang Chaozong to grow powerful would plant a lasting internal threat inside Yan.

Once his power reached sufficient scale, Shang Chaozong would inevitably become unwilling to remain under the imperial court’s control. The Yan court, in turn, would constantly search for opportunities to eliminate him.

Creating a state within a state inside Yan and forcing Yan’s own factions to restrain one another would bring Han a hundred benefits without a single harm.

Once Han intervened, the Yan court was furious.

Xiaoyao Palace and Lingjian Mountain were equally enraged.

But none of them had any way to stop it...

...

Inside the imperial palace of Han, Chang De, Chief Steward of the Inner Palace, approached Nie Zhenting as the emperor reviewed memorials and leaned close to whisper, “Your Majesty, Yan has delivered the woman.”

“Oh?” Nie Zhenting put down his brush, visibly surprised. “Shang Jianxiong really sent her?”

Chang De snickered softly. “Yes. She just arrived. She has already been settled in Juhua Palace.”

Interest immediately appeared on Nie Zhenting’s face. He rose with a smile. “Come. Let’s have a look. We would like to see what sort of beauty could make two emperors unable to forget her.”

Chang De immediately led the way, accompanying Nie Zhenting all the way to Juhua Palace.

The moment the emperor stepped into the hall, he saw the graceful figure of a beautiful woman dressed in white.

She wore a veiled hat, white gauze hanging before her face and hiding her features.

But her slender, elegant figure stood with an almost otherworldly grace. She was striking enough to draw the eye at first glance.

The palace maids inside bowed one after another. “Greetings, Your Majesty.”

The veiled beauty slowly lowered herself into a half-curtsy as well, but remained silent.

After gesturing for everyone to rise, Nie Zhenting walked directly to her.

He raised one hand and slowly lifted the veil.

The instant his gaze met the face within—that face which wished to turn away yet had nowhere to hide—Nie Zhenting’s eyes froze.

The woman was none other than Aque, once the beloved consort of Mu Zhuozhen, Emperor of Song.

When disaster had threatened Song, Mu Zhuozhen had reluctantly given up the woman he loved and sent her to Shang Jianxiong.

She then became Shang Jianxiong’s favored consort.

Now Han had adopted an offensive posture to help Shang Chaozong, driving Shang Jianxiong into desperation. He had ordered his envoys to negotiate with Han.

But Han’s broad strategy had already been decided. How could Nie Zhenting alter it so easily?

No matter what the envoy said, he refused to agree.

Almost casually, simply to brush the envoy off, Nie Zhenting had said, “Send Aque here first, then we can talk.”

He had not truly expected Shang Jianxiong to endure such humiliation.

Yet Shang Jianxiong had actually sent the beauty.

Of course, Nie Zhenting’s mentioning Aque had not come from nowhere. He had harbored some curiosity about her himself. Otherwise, even an offhand demand would not have happened to name her.

She had been a woman capable of winning Mu Zhuozhen’s devotion.

After she came into Shang Jianxiong’s hands, the intelligence Han received said that although Shang Jianxiong had countless beauties in his harem, he too favored this woman above all others.

Mu Zhuozhen and Shang Jianxiong had vastly different temperaments and tastes, yet both had doted on the same woman.

What sort of woman could possess such charm?

How could Nie Zhenting not be curious?

The hand holding up the veil rose higher.

Nie Zhenting personally removed the veiled hat from Aque’s head and casually passed it aside.

Chang De hurried forward and received it respectfully with both hands.

Nie Zhenting quietly studied the woman before him.

Her black hair fell like a waterfall, gathered simply behind her without elaborate adornment.

She wore no powder or rouge.

Yet her fresh, delicate skin was like flawless white jade. Even bare-faced, she possessed the beauty to topple states and cities, truly seeming as though a celestial maiden had descended into the mortal world.

She was breathtaking.

Beneath long lashes, limpid eyes like autumn water held a faint sheen of tears. Unable to bear facing the man before her, she turned her head slightly aside, revealing the soft, graceful line of a swanlike neck.

The sight alone stirred pity.

No one knew the desolation in her heart.

Years ago, Mu Zhuozhen had told her he loved her.

She believed him.

Then national disaster came, and he sent her to another man.

When they parted, Mu Zhuozhen wept bitterly.

Later, Shang Jianxiong also told her he loved her.

Little by little, she believed him too.

Then when trouble came, exactly the same thing happened.

He sent her to another man.

When they parted, Shang Jianxiong wept as well.

Now she stood before yet another emperor.

Her heart was full of humiliation and weariness.

Nie Zhenting found it difficult to tear his gaze from her face.

Only after holding his breath for some time did he finally let out a long exhalation.

He suddenly realized that none of the countless beauties in his own harem could compare with this woman.

Truly peerless.

Seeing truly was better than hearing a hundred times.

Now, after only one meeting, he finally understood why Mu Zhuozhen and Shang Jianxiong had each favored her alone.

He could not resist reaching out and taking Aque gently by the chin, turning her face back toward him.

After admiring her directly for a moment, he praised her from the heart.

“The most beautiful woman under Heaven!”

Once those words were spoken, news somehow grew wings.

Before long, the proclamation had spread beneath Heaven:

The Emperor of Han himself had declared her the most beautiful woman under Heaven.

Seeing how much the emperor liked her, Chang De understood immediately. He quietly backed away, gestured to the palace maids, and withdrew with them.

The doors were closed behind them.

With no one else present, Nie Zhenting’s desire stirred. He asked, “Why have you said nothing since seeing Us? Speak. We want to hear your voice.”

But just then, hurried knocking sounded from outside.

Chang De’s voice came through the door. “Your Majesty, the Grand Marshal has arrived. He says the matter is urgent.”

Nie Zhenting had no choice but to stop.

He turned and left.

After stepping through the door, he instructed Chang De, “She has only just arrived and will not be accustomed to this place. See that she is properly cared for.”

“Yes!” Chang De acknowledged.

Among pavilions and towers elsewhere in the palace, Nie Zhenting found Grand Marshal Jin Jue waiting for him.

Jin Jue’s expression was not pleasant.

After receiving his salute, Nie Zhenting could not help asking, “What urgent matter brings Grand Marshal here?”

Jin Jue’s face remained taut. “I hear Shang Jianxiong sent his favored consort to Your Majesty?”

So it was about this.

Nie Zhenting could not help feeling a little awkward. “Grand Marshal, don’t misunderstand. We only said it casually at the time. It was meant as a way to brush him off. Who knew Shang Jianxiong would actually send her?”

Jin Jue cupped his hands firmly and said in a grave voice, “Your Majesty, this woman is inauspicious. Mu Zhuozhen obtained her, and what was his final fate? Shang Jianxiong obtained her, and in his case Shang Chaozong rose until his power could no longer be contained. Sooner or later, Shang Chaozong will inevitably turn and bite back.”

“We must not forget the lessons before us.”

“To call this woman a demon consort who brings ruin upon states would not be excessive. Possessing her is greatly inauspicious.”

“This old minister implores Your Majesty to execute her immediately, so that the court and all beneath Heaven have no grounds for criticism!”

[End of Chapter 1442]