Chapter 301: Funeral Procession

After Situ Lei’s death, the new ruler Situ Yu succeeded him and announced Dacheng’s internal submission to the State of Yan, voluntarily lowering the state’s status.

Then, in Yupan City east of the Wang River, the eldest son of the Situ Clan—Situ Lei’s elder brother, Situ Yi—also proclaimed himself Emperor.

Immediately after ascending the throne, Situ Yi issued seven decrees.

First: the state name would remain Dacheng.

Legally, he recognized the regime founded by his younger brother.

He would even continue using the reign title Situ Lei had established: the first year of Kaizheng.

Second:

Yupan City would be renamed Yudu.

Third: he bitterly denounced Situ Lei for murdering their father and casting aside his elder brothers.

He declared that his own previous raising of troops had been a righteous campaign against a tyrant, intended to cleanse the Situ Clan’s household and restore the proper order.

As for allowing the savages through the pass, that had merely been borrowing savage troops.

Fourth: his younger brother Situ Jiong was enfeoffed as Prince of Wangjiang.

Fifth: the Savage King, Gou Moli—his true name—was enfeoffed as Grand Protector of the Snowfield, with authority over all affairs of the snowfields.

Sixth: he bitterly denounced the “false ruler” in Yingdu—his own nephew Situ Yu—for selling out the state in exchange for glory and offering the ancestral inheritance and Jin territory to the State of Yan.

He called upon the people of the Three Jin to rise in resistance and drive the Yan people from Jin lands.

Seventh: upon the new Emperor’s accession, there would be a general amnesty beneath “Heaven.”

The news spread rapidly.

And as Shengle’s intelligence network continued extending its feelers outward, the seven decrees soon appeared on General Zheng’s desk.

The Blind Man pondered them for a moment.

“Master, aside from the seventh decree being somewhat ridiculous, the other six all strike directly at specific political needs.”

The general amnesty was indeed laughable.

Most territory controlled by the rebels had already been ravaged half to death by the savages.

Who exactly were they supposed to be pardoning?

Ghosts?

But the first six decrees all served clear purposes.

The first inherited his younger brother’s “legacy.”

The second and third established his own orthodox legal position and sought the support and goodwill of Situ Clan forces.

These measures might leave the new “Emperor” feeling psychologically humiliated, but they brought very real practical benefits.

And the Savage King had only accepted the title of Grand Protector of the Snowfield.

Within this new dynasty, he was keeping an extraordinarily low profile.

Anyone with eyes could see that Situ Yi and Situ Jiong were, in reality, merely two pieces on the Savage King’s board not unlike Wang Jingwei in later history.

Yet the Savage King had voluntarily withdrawn behind the curtain and handed the spotlight to the two brothers.

“Master,” the Blind Man said, “what the Savage King is doing now can no longer be called mere patience.

“He means to crack open these two treasures, suck out the marrow, and squeeze every last drop of value from them.”

Zheng Fan nodded and interlaced his fingers.

“Originally, they probably intended to hold the enthronement ceremony in Yingdu.

“But Situ Lei shoved them backward with that final victory before he died.

“So they had no choice but to proclaim the new dynasty on the eastern bank of the Wang River.”

The effect was naturally far inferior to enthroning Situ Yi in Yingdu.

And it also made something else obvious.

Without Situ Lei’s final great victory before death, the situation in Dacheng might truly have deteriorated beyond recovery.

Judging from these decrees alone, those two living treasures were not entirely useless.

They possessed at least some political sense.

“Yes, Master.

“From the current situation, this so-called new Dacheng is little more than a grasshopper after autumn.

“It cannot jump for much longer.”

“No.”

Zheng Fan immediately shook his head.

“Blind Man, don’t you feel that ever since the savage army entered the pass, they’ve been far too quiet?”

“It is possible the Savage King originally intended to raid inside the pass and then withdraw.

“After all, this campaign has already gained them enormous quantities of population and material.

“That includes large numbers of craftsmen and other skilled people.

“They have already profited tremendously.

“What they may want now is simply to preserve their strength.

“This subordinate thinks the Savage King’s final bottom line is probably Snow Sea Pass.

“As long as Snow Sea Pass remains in his hands, he has already won.”

Zheng Fan shook his head.

“Blind Man, I don’t see it that way.”

“Master believes the Savage King has a greater design?”

“Yes.

“Back when Dorgon first entered the pass, plenty of people thought the Manchus would simply raid once and withdraw beyond the pass again, just as they had so many times before.

“Even many princes and ministers of the Qing court itself thought that way.

“But human desire does not stop.

“And for the savages, this is genuinely an opportunity that may not appear once in a hundred years.

“I do not believe they will give it up.

“And I do not believe that Savage King will willingly lead his tribes back onto the snowfields.

“If they retreat to the snowfields now, who knows how long they would have to wait before another civil war breaks out in Jin lands and gives them another chance to return?”

“But Master, this subordinate truly cannot imagine what method the Savage King could use to reverse the situation.

“At present, the possibility that the First Prince becomes arrogant and underestimates the enemy simply does not exist.”

“Want to bet?”

“This subordinate concedes.”

“Then there’s no fun in it.”

“These days, this subordinate has continued organizing evening lessons.

“I tell the soldiers how much effort and wealth Master has spent maintaining them.

“I also tell them that the good life Shengle currently enjoys cannot be sustained much longer unless war comes—and unless we win that war decisively.

“This subordinate is already betting that Master’s judgment is correct.

“I have also given the soldiers a certain degree of foreknowledge.

“That way, if the fighting truly begins soon, their will to battle will be even stronger.”

“You’ve worked hard.”

“This subordinate has not worked hard.

“Siniang is the one who has truly suffered.

“We are willing to gamble alongside Master.

“It is simply that, Master, our accumulated reserves truly cannot last much longer.

“If we lose this wager and still wish to continue playing this way, we will have no choice but to cut troops or change to a military-farming policy.”

“I know.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

He understood.

The Blind Man was establishing a bottom line for him.

To the Demon Kings, this was ultimately a game.

Since it was a game, winning and losing were secondary.

So long as none of them died, there was almost nothing else they could not abandon.

But if this wager failed and Shengle City truly went bankrupt, then they would genuinely have to change the way they played.

Zheng Fan stroked the back of his hand.

Slowly, he said, “Then we wait and see.”

...

At last, the First Prince entered the city.

Every faction had been waiting impatiently for this moment waiting for the First Prince to enter Yingdu.

But the First Prince remained “steady as an old dog.”

Not the slightest trace of youthful impatience could be seen.

When it came time to wage war, he behaved more like a weathered old fox.

Every time the army advanced one step, all corresponding preparations were completed.

Coordination with local authorities, coordination with allied troops everything was arranged without leaks.

Occasionally, rebel troops or savages came over to provoke them.

Every time, the First Prince’s forces drove them away.

After the rebels’ previous disastrous defeat, Situ Yi’s new regime had indeed handed out many official posts.

But their morale—and most of their people who could truly fight—had almost been smashed away.

As for the savages, their behavior increasingly resembled showing up for work while deliberately doing nothing.

Rather than trying to provoke a real battle, it almost felt as though they were urging the First Prince:

*Your Highness, please hurry up.*

*Stop moving so damned slowly.*

*Get into Yingdu already so we can proceed to the next step.*

Inside Yingdu, all the various groups were also craning their necks, waiting for the “Heavenly Master” to arrive.

Civil officials.

Military officers.

Nobles.

Commoners.

Every stratum of society was waiting to discover how the new hegemon would arrange their futures.

It was like waiting for exam results after the great examinations.

Truly enough to make people scratch their heads and pace around like ants on a hot pan.

The most awkward part was perhaps this: because the First Prince had delayed his arrival for so long, Li Bao—who had reached Yingdu first—had merely taken control of the eastern city gate.

His army remained encamped outside.

He showed no intention whatsoever of interfering in Dacheng’s internal government.

As a result, the coffin of Dacheng’s Late Emperor, Situ Lei, was still resting inside the imperial palace.

The new ruler, Situ Yu, was only ten years old.

These days, he had done little besides observe mourning for his father.

He did not attempt to manage the so-called affairs of state.

Chief Minister Sun Youdao could do little more than maintain basic order within Yingdu and prevent the city from collapsing into chaos.

Everyone was merely struggling to keep things functioning while waiting for someone who truly possessed the authority to make decisions.

Finally, the First Prince arrived.

Rain fell over Yingdu that day.

Yet from the city gate all the way to the main gate of the imperial palace, both sides of the road were packed with local people.

From ordinary commoners to great nobles, everyone hoped that once this rain passed, what awaited them would be a new beginning.

The savages.

The gloom.

All of it better if it disappeared completely.

A faint smell of blood still lingered in the city.

Before Situ Lei launched his final desperate strike, he had carried out a large purge inside the capital.

He had done everything he still could.

The situation he left behind was not especially good, but neither was it particularly rotten.

The First Prince felt this more deeply than anyone.

A capital city that was frightened yet remained orderly was extraordinarily valuable for the coming war.

It effectively handed the State of Yan a stable strategic rear.

The Pixiu beneath the First Prince had only recently reached adulthood.

Its fur was black.

Its eyes were disdainful and imperious.

Every inch of it displayed the arrogance proper to its bloodline.

The First Prince himself, however, showed none of the swagger one might expect from an envoy of the paramount dynasty.

He remained extremely calm.

Even the armored soldiers following behind him appeared solemn and restrained.

The vanguard had been Li Bao, not Li Fusheng.

That had been the First Prince’s deliberate arrangement.

Everyone knew Li Fusheng’s temperament.

He was a Chief Commander who could casually begin killing people simply because he enjoyed the taste and smell of blood.

Letting him come alone to take charge of a densely populated capital city would have been far too dangerous.

Now, Li Fusheng followed behind the First Prince.

Li Bao did not enter with them.

A great army remained outside.

Someone with genuine authority had to stay there and command it.

The Dacheng commoners lining the road did not display excessive enthusiasm toward this Ji Clan prince.

For most people, confusion remained the strongest emotion in their hearts.

Dacheng.

The Situ Clan.

Had they truly come to an end?

Only now did many people finally begin to understand that reality.

Row after row of black-armored cavalry, together with their Black Dragon Banners, declared more clearly than words that this great city had changed masters.

The palace gates had already been opened wide.

Dacheng’s Imperial Guards knelt in ordered ranks across the ground.

They made no attempt to challenge the majesty of this Great Yan prince.

Nor did they entertain any pointless final schemes.

The past days had been torment for them as well.

The paralysis within the palace.

The stagnation of government.

Everything happening inside and outside the city, inside and outside the palace all of it had left them jumping at shadows.

Now, at last, the time had come for release.

From the State of Yan’s initial voluntary ceasefire, to the Marquis of Jingnan’s expedition into the snowfields, to Situ Lei’s later arrangements, to the foundation laid by his final great victory this transfer of sovereign political authority could proceed so naturally now only because so much groundwork had already been laid beforehand.

Perhaps, in the corners of taverns, in side rooms of private academies, young scholars were drinking themselves senseless.

Perhaps old teachers sat alone over cups of wine.

Inside that liquor flowed the last remnants of grief for a fallen homeland.

Perhaps in hidden corners of military camps, inside courtyards belonging to military families, inside the residences of Situ Clan descendants, some people were still swinging sabers and swords, venting the indignation that seemed ready to burst from their bodies.

There were certainly many who were unwilling.

But beneath the weight of the greater trend, their unwillingness could only serve as decoration.

It could not raise any real wave.

Even seeing an old willow dying beside a village entrance could make a person sigh.

How much more so the collapse of a foundation inherited for centuries?

The First Prince dismounted.

Li Fusheng dismounted as well.

The remaining armored riders formed neat ranks outside the palace gates.

Black gauze and white mourning cloth were tied around them.

The First Prince and Li Fusheng entered the palace together.

The dead were supreme.

That was tradition.

And the dead man was, after all, the ruler of a state.

The final desperate battle before his death had also won Situ Lei no small amount of posthumous honor.

Inside the great hall, Dacheng’s ministers knelt in ordered rows.

The First Prince and Li Fusheng entered.

Before the coffin, Chief Minister Sun Youdao stood to one side, holding the ritual bell striker.

The Minister of Rites personally presented the incense.

Behind the coffin, Situ Yu knelt in white mourning robes.

He raised his head and looked at the First Prince who had just entered.

Then he looked toward the coffin beside him containing his father’s body.

Situ Yu was still young.

Situ Lei himself had never been particularly old.

Perhaps the Late Emperor had never had time to begin properly training his successor.

He had assumed there was still plenty of time.

So much time that there had seemed no need to hurry.

Yet this was not entirely a misfortune.

Situ Lei was gone.

He had left behind a Lord of the State only ten years old.

Given the broad-minded arrogance of the Yan people, they were unlikely to lay hands on such a young child.

At the very least, this branch of the family could continue.

Under the State of Yan, its wealth and honor should remain secure.

After offering incense, the First Prince stepped back several paces and knelt on a prayer mat.

Li Fusheng then offered incense as well and knelt behind the First Prince.

“Ji Wujiang, First Prince of the State of Yan and Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Expedition, mourns the Late Emperor of Dacheng!”

“Li Fusheng, Chief Commander of the Zhenbei Army, mourns the Late Emperor of Dacheng!”

Then, they kowtowed.

The Dacheng ministers kneeling around them quietly let out breaths of relief.

The First Prince and the Yan people had given more than enough face.

They could now answer to the Late Emperor.

The performance could be completed smoothly.

Then everyone could turn the page.

Sun Youdao struck the bell once.

He called, “The Mourning Sovereign returns the salute!”

Situ Yu had been somewhat dazed.

Only then did he rise, still confused and uncertain.

Facing the First Prince, he knelt again in return.

The First Prince then stood.

He walked several steps closer to the coffin.

“Military affairs demanded caution.

“Wujiang arrived late and delayed the Late Emperor’s rest.

“Here, Wujiang asks the Late Emperor’s forgiveness.”

With that, the First Prince knelt again.

Sun Youdao struck the bell a second time.

He repeated, “The Mourning Sovereign returns the salute!”

The dead had already departed.

Whatever the living said or did in mourning was addressed to the deceased.

But the response of the deceased had to be given by someone still alive.

Situ Yu was clearly somewhat afraid of this Yan prince whose body carried the aura of battle and killing.

Now the First Prince stood even closer than before.

Situ Yu grew visibly more nervous.

His words came out haltingly.

“Military affairs... are important... very important...

“Father Emperor...

“Father Emperor knew... he knew...”

After finally forcing the words out, Situ Yu immediately knelt again.

The First Prince rose and personally helped Situ Yu stand.

The moment his hands touched Situ Yu’s shoulders, the First Prince could clearly feel the young Lord of the State trembling.

It probably was not an act.

He was only ten years old.

Even adults could lose their souls when faced with a collapse like this.

How much more a child?

His family and his state had practically collapsed at the same time.

The young ruler had no idea how he was supposed to shoulder any of it.

He did not even know whether he *should* shoulder it.

Or... whether he dared.

Sun Youdao struck the bell again.

His voice rang long through the hall.

“The rites are complete!”

All the civil officials, military officers, and nobles rose.

In truth, the complete funeral ritual had already been performed long ago.

The only missing piece had been the arrival of Ji Wujiang, who represented the will of the State of Yan.

If Ji Wujiang did not attend the Late Emperor’s burial, then the rites could not truly be called complete.

The First Prince swept his gaze around the hall.

Then he drew a bright yellow imperial decree from his breast.

His voice rang out.

“His Majesty has issued a decree!”

Whose Majesty?

There was no need to say.

The moment the First Prince produced the Emperor of Yan’s decree, every civil official, military officer, and noble who had only just risen froze for a brief instant.

Then they all knelt again.

Together, they called, “We ministers receive the decree!”

Their minds had prepared themselves long ago.

So their bodies responded naturally.

Nothing mysterious about it.

Simply following the heart.

Dacheng still existed.

But Dacheng had lowered its own status.

Following the precedent set by the former Jin Emperor, Situ Yu would probably be enfeoffed as a Duke of the State.

The former Jin Emperor was now Duke of Jin and lived in honorable retirement in Yanjing with the Empress Dowager.

So the Lord of Dacheng would most likely become Duke of Cheng.

But the Jin imperial house had, after all, descended through more than eight centuries of inheritance.

Its ancestor had once stood on equal footing with the ancestor of the Ji Clan.

And although the former Jin Emperor Yu Ciming had later shown some restlessness, he had still earned merit by opening Nanmen Pass and guiding the Yan army through.

Meanwhile, the Situ Clan had originally been retainers of the Jin imperial house.

So if the Emperor wished to avoid making the contrast too ugly, it was also possible that the Lord of Dacheng might receive a Marquis title instead.

In any case, whatever title the Lord received was the Lord’s concern.

They, the former ministers of Dacheng, would now have someone else to kneel before.

The First Prince opened the decree.

He began to read.

“Situ, my younger brother.

“Upon hearing this grievous news, We could not sleep through the night...”

The former Dacheng ministers—now Yan ministers—kneeling on the floor were all mildly surprised.

They had expected the decree to begin in a formal, rigid style.

Instead, it opened in an unexpectedly personal voice.

But after thinking about it, that did suit the temperament of the Emperor of Yan.

“One great regret remains in this life: that We never met you face to face, never drank fierce wine together, never sang at full voice.

“Only then might such heroic spirits have done justice to this life...”

The decree spent a long passage expressing the Emperor of Yan’s regret over Situ Lei’s death.

There truly seemed to have been a feeling of mutual appreciation between the two men.

Then came the heart of the decree.

“We hereby enfeoff Situ Yu, former ruler and current Lord of Dacheng, as Prince of Cheng.

He shall eternally guard Yingdu.

The title shall pass hereditarily without reduction.

For Great Yan, for all the peoples of Xia, he shall guard the eastern frontier!”

The ministers present were stunned.

A Prince?

When the Jin Emperor submitted to Yan, he had received only the title Duke of Jin.

Yet the Lord of Dacheng was being directly enfeoffed by the Emperor of Yan as a Prince.

This honor could hardly be called light.

The Yan people were notoriously stingy with noble titles.

Precisely because they were stingy, those titles carried even greater weight.

More importantly, the Emperor of Yan had not ordered Situ Yu to enter Yanjing for honorable retirement.

Instead, he was enfeoffed in Yingdu itself.

And with the title hereditary without reduction, the original Situ Clan framework had, to the greatest extent possible, been preserved.

Situ Yu would not merely retain real authority.

The former civil and military ministers of Dacheng would also be preserved to the greatest possible degree.

Even Sun Youdao could not help feeling deeply moved.

The Emperor of Yan, whom he had never met, truly possessed an immense breadth of spirit.

That dominating confidence was genuinely enough to make people submit.

No wonder the Late Emperor had once sighed over the man from his sickbed.

“Respect this.

“Everyone, rise.”

The ministers faced the First Prince and shouted in unison, “We thank our sovereign for his boundless grace!

“Long live His Majesty!

“Long live!

“Long, long live!”

Holding the decree in both hands, the First Prince turned toward the west and raised it high.

“May the Sacred Person be at peace.”

The matter was essentially settled.

Many detailed issues still remained unresolved, but now that the larger direction had been established, the smaller branches could soon be sorted out.

From here on, everyone only needed to work together, suppress the rebels, and drive the savages from the lands of the Three Jin.

Sun Youdao let out a long breath of relief.

The process of internal submission had gone far more smoothly and kindly than he had imagined.

It had even surpassed the best outcome he had allowed himself to hope for.

Then he stepped forward holding the ritual bell striker and struck the bell three times in succession.

The Late Emperor’s coffin would now formally begin its journey to the imperial tomb.

At that moment, the First Prince and Li Fusheng stepped forward together.

They moved to the front row before the coffin.

And under the stunned gazes of all the surrounding civil and military officials a prince of the State of Yan and a great general of the State of Yan personally placed the coffin pole across their shoulders.

The First Prince shouted, “Raise the coffin!”

Tears immediately filled Sun Youdao’s eyes.

Seeing the others still frozen, he shouted as well, “Raise the coffin!”

The funeral procession was vast.

Through the rain, the man walking at the very front of the coffin procession was Situ Yu former Lord of Dacheng, now Prince of Cheng of Great Yan.

As the mourning son, he led the road.

Behind him, helping carry the coffin, walked the First Prince of Yan.

Once the funeral procession left the palace gates, every time it passed through another stretch of road, the commoners lining both sides knelt.

Cries of grief shook the heavens.

It was as though all the fear and unease that had accumulated in their hearts over so many days was finally being released at once.

Moving forward together with the funeral procession was an era.

An era on the lands of the Three Jin that had belonged to the Situ Clan.

Many years later, the people of Yingdu would still remember that rainy day.

The former Emperor’s funeral.

A prince of Yan carrying the coffin.

Tens of thousands of black-armored Zhenbei cavalry standing in formation, each with white mourning cloth tied around one arm.

And somewhere in the unseen distance, it still seemed possible to hear the roar the Late Emperor had given before his final campaign:

“If we fight to the death, then the sons of the Situ Clan shall die before ten thousand others!”

...

East of the Wang River, inside Yudu, the new Emperor Situ Yi and the civil and military officials of his new court held a grand celebration feast.

Sharp-eyed people noticed that no savages were present.

But even if sharp-eyed people noticed, they were hardly going to ask about it openly.

Instead, they laughed even more loudly and drank even more happily with their new sovereign, celebrating the fall of the Situ Clan’s Fledgling Phoenix.

Outside Yudu, the Savage King, Gou Moli, knelt before an offering table.

There was only one plate of fruit.

One plate of cold food.

One jar of wine.

And two half-wilted incense sticks.

It could hardly have been more shabby.

Facing the offering table, Gou Moli performed three solemn kneeling bows.

Then he silently stood.

Behind him stood Sanghu, A’Lai, Gelimu, and the other fierce savage commanders.

Gou Moli raised his head.

Then he released a long, ringing cry.

“Ooooooooooooooooooooooh!”

This was how the savages mourned and sent away the dead.

They believed that amid those cries, the departed soul would be guided into the depths of the stars and enjoy supreme glory.

The world only knew that Situ Lei had fought badly in the early stages.

That he had failed to control his subordinates.

That his failures had allowed the savages into the pass.

But nobody knew that, in the Savage King’s own eyes, if the man in charge of the Situ Clan had not been Situ Lei the one who murdered his father, seized power by force, and immediately marched north with a great army then the Holy Race’s entry through the pass would have been countless times easier.

The savages had endured for a hundred years.

Add to that the preparations this king had made across many years, and the force released by their rise had been terrifying from the very beginning.

Even Tian Wujing, after sweeping across the snowfields, had not continued ordering his army eastward.

He had chosen to withdraw instead.

If Heaven’s Mandate truly existed in this world, then the savages’ Mandate had already arrived.

Just as the Jade Figurine Token had prophesied.

But in the blazing records of history, all that was ever written amounted to four words: the victor becomes king, the defeated becomes bandit.

Later generations would only remember that Situ Lei failed to hold Snow Sea Pass.

They would not understand that without Situ Lei, that opening would have split wider, collapsed faster, and broken more violently.

The Savage King let out a long sigh.

“Old opponent.

“You’re gone.

“May the stars shelter your soul and grant you rest.”

Behind him, the savage commanders placed their right hands over their left breasts.

Together, they said, “May the stars shelter your soul.”

The Savage King crouched down.

He looked toward the flowing waters of the Wang River.

“So next, I cross hands with that little child from Yan?

“What an old-fox-like child.

“That Yan prince does count as a figure.”

But immediately afterward, the Savage King suddenly reached down, grabbed a fistful of mud, and squeezed it tightly in his palm.

He laughed.

“You leave that Southern Marquis unused, and instead send a child to deal with me.

“Emperor of Yan— this King promises you.

You will pay a price for your contempt.

And the State of Yan will pay that price as well!”

[End of Chapter 301]