Chapter 121: Calling Them to Account

Zheng Fan rose from the ground.

Over the past several days, he had been fortunate enough to share the Marquis of Jingnan’s carriage and eat at the same table.

He had assumed this was simply the usual method great men used to win loyalty.

Make you feel so moved that you became willing to die for them.

But now it seemed Zheng Fan had misunderstood.

The Marquis of Jingnan had deliberately brought him into the capital not because he needed Zheng Fan to do anything.

Zheng Fan did not need to do a thing.

What the Marquis needed was Zheng Fan himself.

And Zheng Fan himself was the excuse the trigger the Marquis intended to use.

Was it to win the army’s loyalty?

Strengthen his control over the Jingnan Army?

Proclaim his position and dominance to all of Yan?

Or something else entirely?

Zheng Fan could not guess.

All he could do was mount his horse and follow that gilded figure astride the Pi Beast, carrying a bellyful of uncertainty.

Perhaps the education and cultural thinking of later generations truly differed enormously from those of the ancients.

Or perhaps Zheng Fan had simply spent too much time around the Blind Man and the others.

At this moment, even though the Marquis of Jingnan had openly declared that he would avenge Zheng Fan, Zheng Fan himself did not feel particularly moved or awed.

One principle had already taken deep root in Zheng Fan’s heart.

And everything he had seen since awakening in this world had verified it again and again:

Anyone who plays politics is filthy.

The Pi Beast moved at the front.

Cavalry accompanied it on both sides.

This was the capital.

Not Nanwang City.

Not some provincial city elsewhere in Yan.

Yet the Marquis of Jingnan still marched through it in precisely this manner, with troops clearing the way.

Commoners stood on both sides of the street, watching in fear and curiosity.

They had reason to be curious.

When the northern Marquis entered the capital, even he had not put on such an enormous display.

The capital was different from any other place.

Any abnormal action here would be magnified without limit.

Perhaps common folk merely watched the excitement and would later use it as gossip with family and neighbors.

But to the people caught inside the political storm, the Marquis of Jingnan’s behavior was instantly layered with deeper meaning.

Was the Tian Clan demonstrating force?

Was the Marquis preparing the ground for his elevation to Prince?

The Marquis of Jingnan had been enfeoffed not long after the current Emperor took the throne.

He had commanded the Jingnan Army for more than ten years.

Ten years was more than enough time for his influence to penetrate deeply throughout the army.

And with the Imperial Court and the Zhenbei Army currently facing one another, the Marquis of Jingnan’s position had become extraordinarily crucial.

No one knew how many pairs of eyes were currently watching.

Information began traveling outward through countless channels.

The entire capital resembled a spiderweb.

And the Marquis of Jingnan walked brazenly across it.

Fortunately, Zheng Fan possessed one particular strength.

He adapted quickly.

According to the Blind Man, that was probably a skill developed in his previous life from spending years shut inside drawing perverted comics.

Revenge was revenge.

Whatever the Marquis intended to use him for, Zheng Fan had no power to change it.

Better simply to enjoy himself.

Cheer up.

Smile.

They were going to take revenge, not attend a funeral.

Act festive!

Zheng Fan told himself this inwardly.

Then, he drew in a breath.

Straightened his back.

The procession did not move especially fast.

But in a densely populated place like the capital, it was already advancing at considerable speed.

Yamen runners from the capital had been sent out and caught up to the Jingnan Army column.

Yet they merely maintained order on the streets.

They did not dare block the troops.

They did not even dare step forward and ask where the Jingnan Army intended to go.

Message after message traveled back.

That included the dialogue between the Marquis of Jingnan and Zheng Fan outside the roast-duck restaurant.

The newest instructions received by the spies and agents of countless families were almost identical:

Determine exactly which household the Marquis of Jingnan is going to!

The name “Zheng Fan” was not exactly unfamiliar to the powerful figures of the capital.

Using barbarian troops within the Yan army was nothing rare.

But only Zheng Fan had ever used barbarians to smash through the gates of Huaiya Academy.

That act was equivalent to slapping every scholar in Great Yan across the face.

Then stomping them underfoot for good measure.

So based on the direction the Jingnan Army was currently moving, the first likely target emerged.

If they continued straight and then turned left through the next ward they would reach the Grand Chancellor’s residence.

Was their target the Grand Chancellor’s residence?

When the various factions received this information from their eyes ahead, many were stunned.

Yet it made sense.

The current Grand Chancellor, Zhao Jiulang, had come from Huaiya Academy.

The academy still displayed calligraphy written in his own hand.

Zheng Fan had led troops through the academy and slapped Zhao Jiulang’s face.

It was perfectly plausible that Zhao Jiulang might merely have crooked a finger and made a few arrangements, causing some insignificant frontier Garrison Commander to disappear.

Could the Marquis of Jingnan truly be planning to storm the Grand Chancellor’s residence for the sake of one tiny subordinate?

Because Yan was not a centralized state, the authority of its Grand Chancellor was not as terrifying as in neighboring Qian.

A Grand Chancellor of Qian could constrain the Emperor above and command the currents of the scholar-official class below.

Sometimes the honorific “Minister” carried almost as much weight as “His Majesty.”

Still the Grand Chancellor was one of the faces of the Yan Imperial Court.

If the Marquis of Jingnan led troops through the Grand Chancellor’s gates today, it would mean completely tearing apart the face of the Imperial Court.

It would also mean tearing apart certain rules everyone had tacitly observed for centuries.

Some grew anxious.

Some secretly rejoiced.

But several true political giants with longer vision merely chuckled.

When their subordinates asked why, they said nothing.

Because they did not believe Tian Wujing was going to the Grand Chancellor’s residence.

Not because Tian Wujing lacked the courage.

Truthfully, with a princely title now nearly within reach, real military power in his hands, and the Empress standing behind him what was wrong with an imperial relative acting arrogant?

What was wrong with a military strongman acting domineering?

No.

What these true giants refused to believe was that Zhao Jiulang, a Grand Chancellor personally promoted by the Emperor, could be petty enough to insist on immediate revenge over an academy.

Sure enough before long, their agents reported that the Jingnan Army had not turned toward the Grand Chancellor’s residence.

It continued straight.

Continue east along this road and they would reach the eastern part of the capital.

But the eastern part of the city was not filled with noble estates.

After several rounds of expansion, the imperial palace and the city no longer retained the original design in which the palace stood at the exact center.

The previous Yan Emperor had loved luxury.

Not only had he forced Qian craftsmen to come to Yan and build the Western Garden for him, he had also ordered the eastern side of the palace expanded to enlarge the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

At its height, more than a thousand religious attendants lived there, burning incense every day.

Even the great aristocratic clans had eventually found that previous Emperor difficult to tolerate.

The clans did not want Yan to produce a hegemonic ruler.

A hegemon would inevitably expand outward.

And internally, he would centralize authority.

But neither did the clans want the Yan Emperor to be an idiot who did nothing but cause chaos.

That could drag everyone down with him.

Fortunately, although Great Yan had endured extraordinary hardship establishing and defending itself—fighting the desert barbarians for centuries while repeatedly wrestling with the eastern states—the heavens had treated the Ji imperial clan fairly well.

That did not mean Yan had never produced incompetent or pleasure-seeking emperors.

It meant those emperors had not lived long.

The previous Emperor had only managed to indulge himself for a few years before dying.

That was already much better than Qian, Jin, or Chu.

Whenever those states produced some alchemy Emperor, calligraphy Emperor, or pleasure-loving Emperor in short, whenever they produced an Emperor who behaved nothing like an Emperor the bastard always seemed to live forever.

The current Yan Emperor was the opposite of his father.

He disliked luxury.

He had barely ever stayed in the Western Garden.

After the Marquis of Zhenbei returned to the capital, that garden had instead been assigned to him.

As for the great Ancestral Temple complex built during the previous reign the thousands of religious attendants there had all been arrested, their property confiscated, and themselves exiled to the frontier as laborers.

Ji Runhao had used action to tell every charlatan hoping to manipulate the Emperor through superstition:

Do not assume nobody will settle accounts later simply because you are jumping happily today.

Part of the original Imperial Ancestral Temple remained and continued serving its ceremonial function.

The rest was converted into yamen offices for the Imperial Court’s various ministries.

But if one followed this road straight east, there was only one compound with its own independent gates.

The Princes’ Residence.

The Ji imperial clan had only begun enjoying a relatively comfortable life during the last sixty years.

In earlier generations, imperial clansmen were expected to fight at the front.

Several Yan Emperors had died in battle.

As for other members of the imperial clan, even more had fallen.

If everyone kept dying in war, there was naturally little burden involved in supporting imperial relatives.

But over the last century, the state had gradually become more peaceful.

The imperial clan began producing children in greater numbers.

Once the population grew, problems followed.

So after Ji Runhao inherited the throne, he simply ordered all his adult sons to live together within a Princes’ Residence converted from part of the old Imperial Ancestral Temple complex.

They did not receive separate mansions.

Only after marrying would they be assigned elsewhere.

In effect, Ji Runhao was establishing a rule for future generations beginning with his own sons cut imperial-clan expenses.

Thus, apart from the underage Seventh Prince, the other six princes all technically lived in the same compound.

It resembled a row of townhouses in a residential community.

In the Qing Dynasty of Zheng Fan’s old world, it would have been somewhat similar to the princes’ quarters.

And sure enough the Jingnan Army arrived before the main gates of the Princes’ Residence.

The Pi Beast beneath the Marquis of Jingnan stopped as well.

The Jingnan cavalry around him immediately began spreading into formation.

They prepared for a charge.

The eyes and spies throughout the surroundings froze in disbelief.

This was even more shocking than storming the Grand Chancellor’s estate.

The Marquis of Jingnan had come seeking revenge against a Prince?

The explosive news spread with astonishing speed.

When it reached the ears of those political giants who had previously looked completely confident even they could no longer sit still.

What exactly are you trying to do, Tian Wujing?

If you go trouble the Grand Chancellor, at worst you are slapping the Imperial Court’s face.

If you go trouble a Prince you are directly slapping the Emperor’s face!

The true giants knew exactly how much anger they had already provoked in the Emperor.

Was Tian Wujing planning to pour oil straight into the fire?

Zheng Fan was startled too.

Back at Willow Fort, when he and the Blind Man had analyzed who might want him dead, they had considered the possibility of a Prince.

After all, wars of succession had always been the most vicious struggles of all.

By accepting the Sixth Prince’s support, Zheng Fan had effectively boarded the Sixth Prince’s carriage.

But when Zheng Fan and the Blind Man discussed that possibility, neither had been confident.

They had felt it unlikely.

The Sixth Prince had already made himself look this useless.

Would the other Princes truly be so sensitive toward him?

Yet reality now stood directly before them.

Assuming the Marquis of Jingnan was not simply using Zheng Fan as an excuse to widen his strike, then the person behind the relay-station assassination most likely was one of the Princes living here.

Several hundred Imperial Guards outside the Princes’ Residence had already formed a defensive line against the Jingnan Army.

They were responsible for the compound’s security.

If the Marquis had arrived alone, naturally they would never stop him.

They would probably even hurry inside to announce him.

But bringing more than a thousand cavalrymen with him?

That did not remotely resemble an uncle coming to visit his nephew.

The Marquis of Jingnan remained seated atop his Pi Beast.

He swept one arm forward.

Immediately a line of cavalrymen drew their bows.

The horsemen on both flanks tensed as well.

They were prepared to charge the instant the first rain of arrows landed.

That sight immediately threw the outnumbered Imperial Guards—whose fighting spirit was already weaker—into confusion.

They had received no order telling them whether they were actually expected to block the Marquis with their lives.

Yet the Jingnan Army looked ready to attack at any second!

At that moment, the compound gates opened from inside.

A fair-skinned, middle-aged eunuch in court attire stepped out.

The first thing he did was issue an order.

“His Second Highness commands:

“The Marquis of Jingnan is this Prince’s own maternal uncle.

“You are not to obstruct him.”

The Second Prince held imperial authority over the Imperial Guards defending the capital.

He therefore had the right to issue such an order.

The moment the command came, every Imperial Guard at the gate released a breath inwardly.

They immediately withdrew.

Whatever happened next it was no longer their problem.

After giving the order, the middle-aged eunuch hurried down the steps.

He knelt before the Marquis of Jingnan and kowtowed.

“This servant Li Yinglian, personal companion of His Second Highness, greets the Marquis of Jingnan.

“Marquis, His Second Highness heard that the Marquis had returned to the capital and is beside himself with joy.

“He is waiting respectfully for you inside.”

The Marquis looked down at Li Yinglian and smiled faintly.

“It seems Ji Chenglang has already entered the Eastern Palace and been invested as Crown Prince.

“This Marquis will have to visit the Ministry of Rites and ask why such an enormous matter was never reported to the Marquis of Jingnan’s estate.

“To think this Marquis would only learn of it now.”

“Aiya! Aiya!”

Li Yinglian immediately pressed his forehead against the ground and shouted in panic.

“Marquis, please be careful with your words!

“Please be careful!

“His Second Highness has never harbored such intentions!

“His Second Highness has never coveted the Great Treasure!

“His Second Highness is pure-hearted and wishes only to serve His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress!

“Marquis, please be careful with your words!”

Forget that the Second Prince had not yet entered the Eastern Palace.

Even if he truly had become Crown Prince, he would never dare openly expose ambition like this.

Li Yinglian was deeply alarmed.

He knew perfectly well that the Marquis before him was the Second Prince’s biological maternal uncle.

But with so many eyes watching why would the Marquis say something like this?

Throughout history, struggles over succession allowed no room whatsoever for mistakes.

“Oh?

“So he has not entered the Eastern Palace.”

The Marquis nodded as though finally understanding.

Then, his gaze sank.

His tone turned cold.

“If he has not entered the Eastern Palace— if he has not yet become heir to the throne then this Marquis, his own maternal uncle, has personally come here, and he dares send only you, a castrated servant, to greet me?

“Has he already begun looking down upon this uncle of his?”

Legally speaking, the Crown Prince stood beneath only the Emperor.

Everyone else was the Emperor’s subject and therefore also subject to the Crown Prince.

But an ordinary Prince did not enjoy that status.

So the Marquis of Jingnan was not merely putting on airs.

He possessed both the standing and the reasoning to make this demand.

Still stating it this directly was shocking.

“Marquis! Marquis…”

Li Yinglian’s heart nearly burst from his chest.

He hurriedly said, “The Marquis misunderstands His Second Highness!

“His Second Highness has caught a chill.

“When he heard the Marquis had arrived, he intended to come out personally.

“But this servant feared His Highness’s illness would worsen, so this servant persuaded him to remain inside.

“This was entirely this servant’s own decision!

“It has nothing to do with His Second Highness!”

“Hmph.”

The Marquis raised the riding crop in his hand and pointed directly at Li Yinglian.

Then roared, “Tell Ji Chenglang to roll out here and welcome this Marquis!”

“Yes! Yes! Yes!

“This servant will go immediately!”

Li Yinglian practically rolled and crawled back into the compound.

Watching from beside the Marquis, Zheng Fan felt his blood heating.

Some people perhaps only developed ambition after rising in status and accumulating power.

Dong Zhuo, for example, had been a perfectly respectable loyal minister of the Han before entering Luoyang.

But Zheng Fan had the Seven Demon Kings around him.

He also possessed the personality and thinking of a modern man.

There was no need for the environment to gradually corrupt him.

Because from the root he was already black.

Thinking back to the attempt on his own life, then watching the Marquis of Jingnan directly order a Prince to roll out and welcome him—

Zheng Fan could only sigh inwardly.

Power really was something wonderful.

Without soldiers in your hands, your back could never stand this straight.

If this uncle of a Marquis had possessed no military authority and had merely been some useless imperial relative living off noble privileges would he dare behave like this before his imperial nephew?

He would probably have to bow and scrape instead.

Every few days, he might even need to send his wife into the palace to visit the Empress and maintain the relationship.

Zheng Fan inhaled deeply.

Then slowly exhaled.

Looking at the Princes’ Residence ahead, he suddenly felt something similar to a scene from *The Last Emperor*.

He could not remember the details perfectly.

Something about Puyi riding his beloved little motorbike to the Forbidden City.

At this moment, Zheng Fan’s mood was probably exactly the same as Puyi’s then:

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

All of this damn place is mine!

They did not wait long.

Soon a still-young man hurried out from inside.

Li Yinglian followed behind him.

This should be the Second Prince.

The Sixth Prince’s second elder brother.

The man everyone throughout court and country already regarded as the most likely future Crown Prince.

The Second Prince had barely descended the steps when he raised both hands and bowed deeply to the Marquis on the Pi Beast.

“This nephew respectfully welcomes Uncle back to the capital!”

No explanation.

As though the earlier embarrassment and interrogation had simply vanished.

Even Zheng Fan, a complete outsider standing nearby, could not help feeling some admiration at the response.

Ji Runhao really knew how to produce sons.

Not one of them was simple.

The Marquis of Jingnan dismounted.

He did not help the Second Prince straighten from his bow.

Instead, he walked directly into the Princes’ Residence.

Zheng Fan and a hundred personal guards followed the Marquis inside.

The remainder of the Jingnan Army stayed outside.

Only after everyone had entered did the Second Prince finally straighten.

He glanced at Li Yinglian.

Li Yinglian’s eyes flickered uneasily.

……

The layout of the Princes’ Residence was not actually like the row of townhouses Zheng Fan had imagined.

Outside was a large shared courtyard with one main gate.

Inside were separate private compounds belonging to each Prince.

Each had multiple courtyards of its own.

Palace servants were technically responsible for delivering meals morning, noon, and night.

But clearly, not many Princes actually ate those meals.

The Sixth Prince had said that among the six Princes who lived here, only he sent someone to collect the meals every day.

He even proudly claimed this proved he followed the rules.

In Zheng Fan’s view, that bastard owned restaurants.

Quande Restaurant alone had several branches throughout the capital and others in nearby counties.

Yet he still ate government food three times a day.

Utterly shameless.

The Second Prince’s inner compound occupied the finest position.

It stood directly in the center, facing the Princes’ Residence gate.

His elder brother’s compound was to the left.

The compound to the right stood empty.

But because the Eldest Prince commanded the Tiancheng Commandery troops, he rarely stayed here.

He normally lived at the military camp.

After entering, the Marquis of Jingnan sat down directly inside a pavilion.

Servant girls immediately brought tea and pastries.

Every one of the maids looked terrified.

With so many unfamiliar armored soldiers standing around them, anyone would have been afraid.

Zheng Fan resumed his proper lackey position standing behind the Marquis.

There was no seat here for him.

The Second Prince hurried over.

At the same time, he ordered Li Yinglian, “Quickly.

“Bring the Wuchuan Peach Blossom Brew someone gifted this Prince.

“Let Uncle taste it.”

The Marquis waved a hand.

“No need.

“I already drank some at Little Sixth’s place.”

“Is that so?

“Heh.”

At that moment, a man in scholar’s robes approached from outside the pavilion.

His steps were light.

His appearance was striking.

Dressed in flowing white robes, he looked from a distance so much like a handsome actor in an ancient-costume drama that Zheng Fan instinctively thought of Wallace Huo.

After the man entered the pavilion, the Second Prince rose first and saluted him.

“Teacher.”

The man immediately returned the courtesy.

“Your Highness.”

By Yan custom, after each Prince came of age, the palace assigned him a eunuch as personal companion.

He would also receive a tutor responsible for his studies.

The Sixth Prince had Eunuch Zhang and Chen Guangting.

But these assignments were not equal.

Why did Chen Guangting and Eunuch Zhang possess that strange fellow-feeling of two frustrated companions?

Because both were men whose careers had gone badly.

That was precisely why they had been assigned to an idle Prince.

For Princes who genuinely had a chance to enter the Eastern Palace and inherit the throne, their personal eunuchs and tutors had much brighter futures.

One might someday control the Directorate of Ceremonial.

The other might become Grand Chancellor.

“This subject Qi Simiao greets the Marquis of Jingnan.”

Qi Simiao bowed toward the Marquis.

“Kneel.”

The Marquis spoke.

Qi Simiao froze.

The Second Prince froze.

Li Yinglian appeared to freeze as well.

Internally, however, he was almost delighted.

Qi Simiao’s face flushed red, then pale.

He did not kneel.

In recent years, Yan’s civil officials had gradually been influenced by the culture of Qian.

That was natural.

Everyone wanted to live comfortably.

Qian was practically heaven for civil officials.

Of course Yan’s officials wanted to imitate them.

If Qian regularly chopped off civil officials’ heads, nobody would be interested in learning from them.

“Rank?” the Marquis asked.

“Reporting to the Marquis, this subject holds full Fifth Rank.”

“Noble title?”

“Reporting to the Marquis, this subject holds no noble title.”

“Kneel.”

Qi Simiao drew in a deep breath.

He still did not want to kneel.

The Second Prince opened his mouth as though preparing to speak.

This tutor of his possessed considerable literary fame in Yan.

He was the current Grand Chancellor’s junior fellow disciple.

His essays and poetry could influence literary fashions throughout the country.

Naturally, he was proud.

At that moment, Zheng Fan sighed inwardly.

When you stand beside a leader, you need to understand what it means when the leader raises a finger.

Sometimes he wants a cigarette.

Sometimes when he shifts his ass, he needs lubrication.

Sometimes when he checks into a hotel room, you need to know whether to bring Durex or Jissbon.

Forget it.

He had already smashed through an academy.

Adding another measure of hatred from Yan’s scholars hardly mattered now.

Zheng Fan stepped forward.

Then kicked Qi Simiao directly behind the knee.

“Thud!”

Qi Simiao dropped to his knees.

He immediately raised his head and glared furiously at Zheng Fan.

The Second Prince, standing nearby, swallowed whatever words he had been about to say.

The Marquis of Jingnan reached out and picked up a pastry.

He bit into it.

Slowly chewed.

For a moment, the pavilion’s atmosphere became oppressively still.

The Marquis calmly finished the pastry in his hand.

Then he accepted a handkerchief from a maid beside him and wiped his fingers.

Only then did he ask, “The incident at the relay station outside Yin City.

“Whose orders did you follow when you arranged it?”

Qi Simiao’s eyes widened.

The Second Prince beside him immediately dropped to his knees.

“Uncle!

“Uncle!

“It was not this nephew!

“It truly was not this nephew!”

The Second Prince knelt.

Li Yinglian immediately knelt as well.

Once the masters were kneeling, all the surrounding servants and eunuchs dropped to the ground in panic.

The assassination outside Yin City had involved Xu Wenzu, the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of Nanwang City.

It had also involved Jingnan Army Rear Camp soldiers.

And there had been an assassin from Jin.

From that incident had grown the entire storm of rumor surrounding the Marquis of Jingnan’s supposed intention to become a Prince.

Among the powerful figures of the capital there was almost nobody who did not know about it.

Qi Simiao, still kneeling on the ground with his face flushed, stared up at the Marquis.

“What does the Marquis mean by this?”

The Marquis answered calmly.

“This Marquis is asking you a question.”

“Marquis.

“This subject knows nothing about those matters.

“This subject has heard nothing.

“If the Marquis insists on declaring that this subject did it— this subject refuses to accept the accusation.”

“Tian Youming mobilized soldiers from the Jingnan Army Rear Camp.

“Sun Wenxu, the Lieutenant Commander guarding Yin City’s northern gate, was formerly one of this Marquis’s personal guards.

“Ji Chenglang is this Marquis’s own nephew.

“Naturally, someone planned the entire affair using his name.”

“What does any of that have to do with this subject?

“Marquis!

“If you have already decided to condemn me, you will never lack an excuse!”

“No.

“This Marquis never intended to use any excuse.

“If this Marquis says you did it— then you did it.”

Standing nearby, Zheng Fan quietly shifted his gaze toward the Second Prince kneeling off to the side.

Fuck.

Was the future Crown Prince really the one who wanted to kill me?

“Hehehe…”

Qi Simiao suddenly laughed.

Then said, “If the Marquis intends to judge the case like this, then this subject will accept it.

“This subject has only one request.

“If this crime must be borne, this subject will bear it alone.

“It has nothing to do with anyone else.

“And it has nothing to do with His Second Highness!”

The Second Prince froze.

Then immediately cried, “Uncle, I truly did not know!

“I knew nothing about this!”

Zheng Fan understood the flavor as well.

It sounded like a man accepting an unjust accusation.

But that final sentence did not actually mean he intended to shoulder responsibility alone.

It was practically shouting to the entire world:

Fine.

I’ll bear the blame.

But this has absolutely nothing to do with my master.

Nothing at all.

Definitely nothing to do with the Second Prince!

The Second Prince was not stupid.

He immediately understood what those words implied.

He knew perfectly well the Marquis of Jingnan would never have stormed directly into his residence immediately after entering the capital if the Marquis had not already uncovered the truth with absolute confidence.

Qi Simiao had most likely truly arranged the matter.

But the Second Prince himself he genuinely knew nothing about it!

“You feel wronged?” the Marquis asked.

“Relying on power to oppress others.

“Forcing an unjust accusation onto my head.

“Marquis, must you really be this domineering?

“Am I not even allowed to feel wronged?”

The Marquis nodded.

“Chenglang.

“Uncle asks you:

Upon what was Great Yan founded?”

The Second Prince immediately answered, “Uncle, Great Yan was founded upon martial strength.”

If this were Qian, the answer would certainly have involved “the people as the foundation,” followed by discussion of civil governance, then smoothly connecting everything to the scholar-official class.

In Chu, the answer would probably begin with the sacred origins of the imperial clan, some ancient legend, and a sequence of miraculous pregnancies after imperial ancestors drank from rivers or slept beneath strange omens.

Thus proving the Great Chu held Heaven’s Mandate.

But in Yan—“founded upon martial strength” was the correct answer.

Without martial achievement without generation after generation of Yan men riding into the desert to fight without the first Marquis of Zhenbei annihilating five hundred thousand Qian soldiers in a single campaign—

Great Yan would have ceased existing long ago.

“And what does ‘martial’ mean?” the Marquis asked.

“Reporting to Uncle.

“Martial means weapons and soldiers.”

“How you people scheme against each other in private— how you people fight and struggle for power that is human nature.

“Qian does it.

“Jin does it.

“Chu does it.

“Even the desert barbarians do it.

“You may struggle against one another.

“You may fight one another.

“But now— for your own private benefit you dare use the lives of frontier soldiers as pieces in your schemes.

“You are destroying the foundation upon which Great Yan was established!”

The Marquis of Jingnan suddenly rose.

Qi Simiao’s body began trembling.

“Uncle!

“It truly had nothing to do with this nephew!

“Truly nothing!”

The Second Prince’s voice already carried tears.

Had this been some ordinary scheme, even if a Garrison Commander at some frontier fort died, perhaps that man would simply have died.

But the Marquis of Jingnan had now dragged the entire matter into broad daylight.

After what the Marquis had done today, the story would inevitably spread throughout the realm.

Whichever Prince became stained by this affair would be finished.

He would never touch the throne.

Great Yan had been founded upon martial strength.

Would the soldiers below ever accept an Emperor who had once schemed to have an innocent military officer killed?

Once that charge became fixed even if the Yan Emperor himself ignored every objection and stubbornly insisted on passing the throne to that Prince he still would not be able to do it.

The Marquis walked in front of Qi Simiao.

Then asked, “This Marquis asks you one final time.

“Do you acknowledge your crime?”

Qi Simiao closed his eyes.

A faint smile suddenly appeared at the corner of his lips.

He said, “This subject… acknowledges his crime.”

The Second Prince beside him almost wanted to seize his teacher by the throat and demand to know exactly what the hell was inside his head.

And then, the Marquis of Jingnan’s next sentence caused Qi Simiao’s eyes to fly open in horror.

“Which one— is Third Brother’s residence?”

(End of Chapter)