Chapter 1519: Not One of the Huyan Family Surrendered

The Qi court and the Three Great Sects naturally thought these men were going too far. To people preparing to surrender, what status did Gao Pin now hold? A single word from him could decide whether they lived or died. Here, Gao Pin's word carried more weight than even the Jin court or Qiyun Sect. One could say he represented both the Jin court and Qiyun Sect. And they wanted Gao Pin to prepare Huyan Wuhen's body and personally offer rites to him? What kind of joke was that?

So several Qi court officials handling the surrender stepped forward to rebuke the soldiers. The result was chaos. Enraged troops surged up and hacked those officials to death on the spot.

At first, men from Qi's Three Great Sects tried to intervene. Then they saw that the mood among the surrounding soldiers was wrong. If they forced the issue and opposed them head-on, they might trigger a mutiny among all six hundred thousand troops. They hurriedly backed away. They could not afford to provoke these men and did not dare interfere further, watching helplessly as the court officials were killed.

That was what alarmed Gao Pin enough to bring him rushing over. The moment he heard six hundred thousand soldiers weeping loudly enough to shake the camp, he knew the danger. This was a field of dry kindling. One spark could set it all ablaze.

Wasn't it only a matter of preparing Huyan Wuhen's body and paying respects? Better that than have another batch of Jin soldiers die in battle. The moment Gao Pin heard, he agreed and hurried over.

At the foot of the command platform, the corpses of those officials hacked apart by sabers and stabbed through by spears were still lying where they had fallen. No one dared move them, and no one dared rebuke the soldiers again for fear of touching the raw nerves of this grief-stricken army.

Now, seeing Huyan Wuhen's corpse amid the sounds of mourning, Gao Pin was filled with regret and pain.

On a battlefield, each man serving his own master was only natural. But no matter how one looked at it, Huyan Wuhen had been an opponent worthy of Gao Pin's respect—or rather, an opponent who had inspired awe in him.

Before this war, Gao Pin had never once defeated Huyan Wuhen. Huyan Wuhen had always pressed him hard, and on several occasions Gao Pin had nearly been captured alive or lost his life.

He had even avoided confronting Huyan Wuhen head-on whenever possible, because he knew he simply was not Huyan Wuhen's match in a direct engagement. He had lost battle after battle. This time, one could say he had only worn Huyan Wuhen to death after first securing the overwhelming strategic advantage.

After crossing swords for so many years, Gao Pin understood his opponent to some degree.

He had feared precisely this sort of thing after the war. He feared Huyan Wuhen's pride might drive him to do something foolish, and that this in turn would make the six hundred thousand troops refuse to surrender. He had wanted to steady Huyan Wuhen. That was why he had urgently petitioned the court, asking that if Huyan Wuhen agreed to surrender, he still be allowed to retain the position of Supreme General.

The Jin court was not stupid either. If Huyan Wuhen surrendered, the backbone of Qi's resistance would be broken. That would make the occupied territories far easier to pacify and govern afterward.

A thousand armies are easy to raise; one great general is hard to find. Winning over a Huyan Wuhen would also have brought enormous benefit to Jin's future eastern campaign.

The Jin court had immediately approved Gao Pin's request.

In the end, even the position of Supreme General had failed to keep the man alive. Huyan Wuhen would rather die than surrender!

Fortunately, before his death, he had ordered those six hundred thousand troops to surrender.

After shedding a few tears, Gao Pin rose. Facing the grieving Qi soldiers, he drew his sword with a shing, pointed it at the sky, and shouted, "Bury him with full honors!"

"Supreme General..."

Crying erupted below at once. One man knelt, then ranks of men followed. At last, the entire Qi army camp was kneeling, and the sound of wailing once again rolled across the field.

They had finally accepted the fact of surrender.

After stabilizing the situation, the first thing Gao Pin did was disperse the six hundred thousand surrendered soldiers and mix them into different formations. He absolutely could not allow these men to remain gathered together. If someone with ulterior motives managed to use them, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Once all the arrangements were in place, the formal surrender ceremony began. Hao Zhen led the full court out of the city and surrendered to Gao Pin, who represented the Jin court.

Hao Zhen led the officials to kneel before Gao Pin, holding the State of Qi's state-protecting divine artifact, the Spirit-Calming Pearl, in both hands to demonstrate his sincere willingness to surrender.

As he performed this act and spoke those words, Hao Zhen felt his heart bleeding.

Gao Pin, in turn, loudly proclaimed that on behalf of the State of Jin, he accepted the State of Qi's surrender.

There was one rather absurd scene. Those on the Qi court's side who had surrendered did not dare openly express their grief for Huyan Wuhen. Instead, the senior Jin officers led by Gao Pin all donned mourning dress together to pay respects to Huyan Wuhen.

After accepting the surrender and entering the city, Gao Pin had only just reached the Qi imperial palace when a general hurried over and leaned close to say, "Grand Marshal, Blackwater Terrace has stepped forward. They want to take the Empress of Qi and the imperial princes away together. They have a written order from Chief Steward Tao. I'm afraid it won't be easy for us to stop them."

"Hm?" Gao Pin turned, somewhat puzzled.

The general reminded him, "Empress Shao is the younger sister of Superintendent Shao of the Imperial Academy."

"Oh!" Gao Pin, his mind occupied with other matters, finally reacted. That he knew.

Lord Shao was not someone easy to provoke now. At first, because Shao Pingbo had possessed no faction of his own at court, the ministers had managed to make trouble for him. Yet in the blink of an eye, he now got along harmoniously with everyone above and below at court. Back then, no one had taken an Imperial Academy seriously. Now it seemed as though Lord Shao had every last one of them by the balls.

Even Gao Pin himself, the Grand Marshal, had not forgotten in the middle of a war to write a letter to Superintendent Shao, asking him for the favor of arranging a place in the Imperial Academy for one of Gao Pin's younger relatives.

Gao Pin knew how the war among the three states had begun. Shao Pingbo's contribution had been indispensable to Jin's overwhelming advantage against Qi. After the two men exchanged correspondence, they had developed a fair measure of friendship as well.

At this point, Gao Pin had no choice but to admit that Superintendent Shao truly was a formidable man.

He understood perfectly well that if Chief Steward Tao, who held command over Blackwater Terrace, had stepped forward, it was undoubtedly out of consideration for Shao Pingbo. Gao Pin had no reason to obstruct it. He gave a grunt and went with the current. "Chief Steward Tao serves at His Majesty's side. Presumably His Majesty knows of this. Handle it according to Blackwater Terrace's wishes."

"Yes!" The general accepted the order.

After making a circuit through the imperial palace, Gao Pin withdrew. He did not move into the palace, both to avoid suspicion and because it was unnecessary.

Hao Zhen was sent back to the palace and temporarily placed under house arrest. What should be done with Hao Zhen and the people inside the palace was not for Gao Pin to decide. They would wait for instructions from the Jin court.

The great war had only just been settled, and Gao Pin still had countless matters to bring to a close. Nor was this the kind of victory he had wanted.

In his view, there had been no reason to chase a quick result like this.

Five hundred thousand!

By going head-to-head with Huyan Wuhen, the Jin army had lost another five hundred thousand troops!

They could plainly have kept dragging things out and taken Qi without suffering losses on this scale. Why throw so many soldiers' lives into the pit?

But what could Gao Pin do? There were some things where he too could only obey orders from above.

Military craftsmen rushed the work, and Huyan Wuhen's tomb was completed quickly. It was built beside the tomb of the late Qi emperor Hao Yuntu.

Gao Pin had personally chosen the burial site.

On a day when a great wind rose and the clouds flew high, Gao Pin personally led the rites. He was paying respects to Huyan Wuhen, but he was also marking the day his own achievements had finally brought him fame.

With this, Gao Pin had personally pacified both Qi and Wei and brought them into the territory of Jin. From this day forward, there were no longer States of Qi or Wei beneath Heaven.

After the rites, Gao Pin climbed to a high place and gazed into the distance in silence for a long while. Then he suddenly asked, "Still no sign of Huyan Wuhen's three grandchildren?"

From the moment he entered the Qi capital, Gao Pin had ordered people to bring in Huyan Wuhen's family, only to discover that the Huyan residence had already been emptied.

A general beside him stepped forward and reported, "Not yet. According to our investigation, after Huyan Wuhen left the palace, he returned home once. After Zha Hu returned to the residence, he never appeared again. We suspect Huyan Wuhen entrusted his last arrangements to him. We've searched the entire Qi capital without finding them. They probably left long ago."

Gao Pin raised a hand and stroked his beard, murmuring, "Not one of the Huyan family surrendered..."

Then his voice abruptly deepened. "Find them! Keep searching. Notify every region to look for them. Notify Blackwater Terrace as well and have them cooperate in the search!"

From a personal standpoint, Huyan Wuhen choosing death over surrender filled Gao Pin with regret and pain, and also deep admiration. But from Jin's standpoint, it created a serious headache.

The problem still came down to Huyan Wuhen's influence over the forces that resisted Jin. His refusal to surrender even at the cost of his life would inspire others.

Gao Pin had wanted to find Huyan Wuhen's children and grandchildren, bring them back into his own household, and personally raise them. That was the court's intention as well. If Huyan Wuhen's descendants submitted to Jin and later served Jin, the remaining old loyalists and young remnants of Qi would see that even Huyan Wuhen's own descendants served the State of Jin. It would make it easier to pacify others into becoming compliant subjects.

Instead, what Huyan Wuhen had done left hidden dangers behind. Who knew how many supposed sons and grandsons of Huyan Wuhen might emerge in the future to plot trouble?

Such things had been common since ancient times. Someone would proclaim himself the descendant of some famous man and use the name to gather support and foment rebellion. In reality, who the hell knew what family's bastard had crawled out to wave that banner around...

To soothe public sentiment, and also to give Jin's own soldiers an example to look to, Emperor Taishu Xiong of Jin ordered a Shrine of Loyal Martyrs built for Huyan Wuhen and personally took part in the rites.

When Meng Shanming in Nanzhou heard that Huyan Wuhen had rejected high office and rich rewards and chosen death over surrender, and that not one of the Huyan family had surrendered, he too gave a long sigh.

Shang Chaozong and Meng Shanming both donned mourning dress and held memorial rites.

Jin Jue, Grand Marshal of Han, personally wrote a funeral eulogy condemning Jin's atrocities and likewise wore mourning dress to pay his respects.

Emperor Wu Gongling of Song went even further. He not only personally held memorial rites, but ordered Shrines of Loyal Martyrs built throughout his territory.

He himself had risen from the ranks of a rebel general, yet he did not want the generals under him learning from his example. He wanted everyone to take Huyan Wuhen as their model instead.

Emperor Shang Jianxiong of Yan, however, had no leisure for any of this. A brutal palace coercion was closing around him. How could he have the mind to mourn Huyan Wuhen?

The Three Great Sects had reached a unanimous decision: force Shang Jianxiong to hand imperial power over to Shang Chaozong!

That night, a guest came to the Gao residence. Ga Miaoshui, one of Shang Jianxiong's trusted personal attendants, secretly slipped out of the palace in disguise and came to see Gao Jiancheng.

After the two spoke privately in the study, Ga Miaoshui reminded Gao Jiancheng again before leaving, "Lord Gao, this must be done quickly. You must create a disturbance as soon as possible, enough to make the Three Great Sects stay their hand. Otherwise His Majesty will not be safe, and you won't escape disaster either!"

Shang Jianxiong's meaning was simple. The pro-imperial forces on every side had to raise a powerful outcry and take visible action in opposition. Everyone had to understand that if His Majesty fell, they would all be purged afterward. Put plainly, they needed to band together and resist.

Gao Jiancheng, now the leader of the pro-imperial faction, nodded gravely.

Ga Miaoshui cupped his hands and took his leave. The imperial palace was already under the control of the Three Great Sects. Getting out even once had not been easy, and he still needed to hurry to the residences of other important officials.

Who could have expected that the moment he climbed over the wall of the Gao residence, before he had gone far, a group of men in black surrounded him?

After a fierce clash, Ga Miaoshui dropped to one knee, bracing himself on his sword as blood dripped from his mouth. A figure flashed over. The sword rose and fell, and Ga Miaoshui's head flew from his shoulders.

Shang Jianxiong's roots in the capital ran deep. Once he decided to resist, this night was destined to become a night of killing.

Inside the study, Gao Jiancheng sat quietly, staring at the solitary lamp before him. Fan Zhuan hurried in and said softly, "He's been put to death."

Gao Jiancheng said slowly, "Notify the court officials. Tell them Gao Jiancheng requests their presence."

[End of Chapter 1519]