Chapter 496

Chapter 496: - Campaign Against Chu

Translated by Light Novel Aloud

“Sisi, where’s my snuff bottle?”

Ji Chengjue asked while fastening the belt of his official robe.

In the Great Yan Dynasty, imperial princes were normally granted the rank of Prince and had regulation python robes prepared for them. Yet from ancient times to the present, any prince with real ambition generally preferred official robes to a python robe. Wearing an official robe meant you held an actual post at court. It meant you were not merely some idle, rice-eating prince.

The Sixth Prince had continued serving in his observational post at the Ministry of Revenue. Giving an imperial prince the formal title of Minister on top of that would have looked far too ugly and broken the rules of the game, so although Ji Chengjue was both a prince and the actual man controlling the Ministry of Revenue, the robe he wore to court and to the yamen was only that of a Sixth-Rank official. Even then, many of its identifying details had deliberately been removed. It was essentially a blank template.

Old Sixth rather liked it. It was comfortable and easy to wear.

It was the same reason Count Pingye disliked wearing his golden armor. The brighter and more eye-catching the clothing, the more comfort inevitably suffered. Python robes were no exception.

Old Sixth Ji sometimes thought the dragon robe probably was not very comfortable either.

“Husband, you’re still taking your snuff bottle today?”

Today was the Third Prince’s funeral.

Because the Third Prince had died saving the sovereign, His Majesty had decreed that he be mourned with the rites of a state funeral.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Here.”

He Sisi handed over her husband’s favorite jade-marrow Buddha’s-hand snuff bottle.

Ji Chengjue pulled out the stopper and took a deep sniff. His eyes closed, then slowly opened again as he let out a long breath.

The point of a snuff bottle had never really been what was inside it. The bottle itself was what mattered. It was not so much something you used as something you played with and showed off.

Old Sixth Ji climbed into Eunuch Zhang’s carriage. Breakfast had already been prepared inside, along with two strips of white cloth.

He tied one around his arm and the other around his forehead, then leaned lightly against the carriage wall.

As they passed through the streets, the aroma of meat drifted in from outside.

Pan-fried dumplings.

“Attendant Zhang, buy two portions for us to try.”

“Yes, Master.”

Eunuch Zhang stopped the carriage, bought two portions of pan-fried dumplings, and brought them inside.

Old Sixth Ji ate with obvious enjoyment. He finished just as the carriage reached the palace gates.

When he stepped down, Eunuch Zhang hurriedly reminded him, “Master, your mouth. Oil.”

Ji Chengjue smiled, wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his official robe, then flicked that sleeve behind him. Looking up at the towering palace gate, his eyes slowly narrowed.

Every minister arriving for court today had tied white cloth around himself.

Ordinarily, the funeral of an imperial prince would never be conducted on such a scale. At the very least, it would not normally involve every civil and military official in Yanjing.

In the past, when some noble figure inside the palace or imperial clan died, everyone would usually do no more than avoid banquets and drinking for a few days.

“Third Brother... ah, Third Brother...”

Supported by two eunuchs, the Fourth Prince came toward the palace gate wailing as he walked.

His carriage had stopped farther away than usual today, which meant he had considerably farther to walk.

Ji Chengjue turned toward the sound and simply stood there, facing his fourth brother.

“Third Brother... ah, Third Brother...”

Fourth Prince Ji Chengfeng staggered closer.

Then he noticed his sixth brother.

Just standing there.

Looking at him.

Still looking at him.

And looking at him some more...

Ji Chengfeng suddenly grew awkward.

He had no idea where the feeling came from, but it was undeniably there.

“Fourth Brother.”

“Mm, Sixth Brother.”

“Too much.”

“...” Ji Chengfeng.

They had already eaten the farewell meal.

Whatever feelings of parting there were had already been poured into the wine that night.

After the incident, it was not that Ji Chengfeng had never wondered whether something was suspicious about Third Brother’s death.

No.

More precisely, how could there possibly have been nothing suspicious about it?

He had obtained certain rumors from the Ministry of War long ago.

Father intended to begin another war between states.

Then Third Brother was released.

Then Third Brother died saving the sovereign.

Such a coincidence?

How could it possibly be that coincidental?

At the same time, Ji Chengfeng remembered that night. The evening after Old Third came out of Lakeheart Pavilion, the brothers had gathered to drink and “wash away the dust” of his confinement.

The Crown Prince had not come.

He had only sent wine.

Ordinarily, given the Crown Prince’s habits, he would never have passed up such a perfect opportunity to display benevolence, brotherly affection, and harmony among siblings.

Old Sixth, meanwhile, had behaved unusually that night.

He had cursed the absent Crown Prince viciously.

Called him cold-blooded.

Called him cruel.

Called him heartless.

Only now, belatedly, did Ji Chengfeng suddenly realize something.

Had Old Sixth really been cursing the Crown Prince?

Or had he been cursing...?

Old Fifth, Ji Chengwen, had already left Yanjing with Count Pingye. He had overslept that morning, Count Pingye had not waited for him, and he had rushed madly out of the city in pursuit.

So Ji Chengfeng did not even have anyone he could talk to now.

When Old Fifth had still been here, he had not felt nearly so alone.

Now that Old Fifth was gone, a sudden helplessness and panic had begun spreading through him.

And the feeling reached its peak when he saw Ji Chengjue standing there perfectly calm.

So all of you figured it out in advance.

And I was the only one kept in the dark?

Thinking back to Old Fifth’s talk about being “useful” and “useless” before leaving the capital, Ji Chengfeng suddenly suspected Old Fifth might have guessed something too.

The feeling of being completely isolated was miserable.

So was the realization that he was apparently the low ground of intelligence among his brothers.

For someone as proud as Ji Chengfeng, accepting that was almost unbearable.

But he had no choice except to press down on his own head and force himself to accept it.

In truth, the tears Ji Chengfeng shed today were not entirely fake.

He really was crying.

He was not acting, nor had he rubbed ginger beneath his eyes.

He simply was not crying for Old Third.

He was crying for himself.

The moment he thought about it—

Father had killed one of his own sons, which meant someone of the same kind as Ji Chengfeng.

And the other sons, the others of his kind, had somehow all predicted what was coming.

Only he had realized afterward.

They were all sons of the same father.

Why?

Why the hell was he the one who did not understand?

Ji Chengjue lowered his eyes and said blandly, “Men of the Ji Clan shed blood, not tears. Have some dignity.”

It was deeply disrespectful for a younger brother to speak to an elder brother like that.

Yet it sounded completely natural coming from Ji Chengjue.

And Ji Chengfeng accepted it just as naturally.

He wiped his eyes and forcibly steadied himself.

Ji Chengjue walked past him and out toward the official road beyond the palace gate.

Curious, Ji Chengfeng turned to look behind him.

A group of young officials was approaching together.

Unlike the other ministers, these men were not wearing white mourning cloth.

They wore festive red ribbons.

They were not silent.

They were not grieving.

There were smiles on their faces.

They came forward laughing loudly together.

Ji Chengfeng recognized many of them. Most were officials who had passed the metropolitan examinations over the past few years.

“Insolence! How dare you behave with such outrageous disrespect!”

Whenever morning court began, eunuchs were stationed both inside and outside the palace gates to maintain order. They carried leather whips, cracking them when the gates opened and the court entered. Maintaining proper conduct was also one of their responsibilities.

Normally, that second responsibility was rarely needed. Anyone qualified to attend court cared about his own dignity and would not dare disgrace himself.

But today was the Third Prince’s funeral.

The ministers who had arrived earlier were all in mourning.

Only this group came wearing glaring red, laughing without restraint.

At their head was Hu Zhengfang, one of the fastest-rising officials from the recent examination cohorts. Despite his youth, he was already a Vice Minister of Revenue. His own diligence had certainly played a role, but so had Ji Chengjue.

Facing the eunuch who had rebuked them, Hu Zhengfang laughed loudly.

“May I ask, Eunuch, precisely how have we behaved insolently?”

“Today His Majesty has ordered a state funeral for Third Highness. The entire realm should mourn together, yet you people actually...”

“Move aside!”

Hu Zhengfang abruptly stepped forward until his chest nearly pressed against the eunuch.

The eunuch instinctively retreated two steps, then immediately realized he had lost face and raised the whip in his hand.

At that moment, a hand from behind seized his wrist.

Furious, the eunuch turned around.

Then his expression froze.

The man holding his arm was Sixth Highness, Ji Chengjue.

“Sixth Highness, you... you, this...”

“Ask them clearly first. These men are all pillars of the state. They would never behave without reason. If you wrong one of them and that whip comes down, there will be no taking it back.”

The eunuch immediately broke into a cold sweat.

Of course he knew how tightly these examination-born officials banded together. And he also knew that in another few years, their proportion within the Great Yan court would only continue growing.

Had he truly lashed one of them just now, he might have preserved the dignity of the imperial palace, but his own life would probably have been finished.

Gratitude appeared in the eunuch’s eyes as he looked at Ji Chengjue.

He had not yet thought one step farther.

The man actually capable of mobilizing this group of examination-born officials was the Sixth Prince standing in front of him.

That was hardly a secret in Great Yan’s court.

During several political struggles over the past few years, many of these examination officials had acted as Sixth Highness’s vanguard.

Ji Chengjue looked at Hu Zhengfang and said loudly, “Give this Palace an explanation.”

At once, Hu Zhengfang and every official behind him wearing a red sash saluted together.

Hu Zhengfang cried out, “How has our Great Yan Dynasty preserved eight hundred years of ancestral altars and realm? By generation after generation of Yan sons fighting the Barbarians to the death, fighting the armies of other states to the death, and protecting our ancestral temples with their blood! Great Yan has an old tradition. When foreign enemies invade, those who die in battle receive a joyous funeral. Those who send them on wear red ribbons, and they sing:

Go on ahead.
Travel slowly.
Wait for us there.
Set out the wine.
Spread the mats.
We are coming soon!”

Hu Zhengfang swept his gaze across the people around him, seized the red sash wrapped around his own body, raised both arms, and shouted, “Today the Chu slaves remain treacherous at heart. They sent assassins to commit the gravest treason. By fortune, His Majesty is blessed by Heaven, and by fortune, Third Highness was utterly loyal and filial, preserving the safety of Great Yan’s supreme sovereign! But since the Chu slaves have already drawn their blades, how can we hot-blooded sons of Yan continue sitting here unmoved?

Third Highness, go on ahead.
Third Highness, travel slowly.
Third Highness, wait for us there.
Third Highness, set out the wine.
Third Highness, spread the mats...”

The young officials behind him roared in unison:

“We are coming soon!”

Their voices seemed to make the palace gate itself tremble.

This was the blood of Great Yan.

Ji Chengjue’s gaze slowly swept across them.

After a long moment, he removed the white mourning cloth from his own body and extended a hand.

“Do you have more red silk?”

Hu Zhengfang stepped aside.

The men behind him did the same.

There, more than ten strong men waited beside handcarts piled high with red ribbons.

Ji Chengjue strode forward, took one, and wrapped it around himself.

Then he pointed toward the rows of ministers waiting beyond the palace gate.

“Distribute them. I will bear every consequence. Today, this state funeral will be held as a joyous funeral!”

Laughing, the examination-born officials began handing out red ribbons.

More than half the ministers had already been swept up in the passionate atmosphere. Without hesitation, they removed their white mourning cloth and replaced it with red.

Whatever the state of the treasury, whatever the condition of its finances, one fact could not be denied:

Great Yan was now, in both name and reality, the foremost power of the East.

For eight hundred years, Yan cavalry had guarded the East against the Barbarians. That history had bred a fierce, confident backbone into the people.

And ever since the current Emperor ascended the throne, one exhilarating victory after another abroad had driven the honor and pride of Great Yan’s people to its peak.

That was true of the common people.

Naturally it was even more true of the officials.

In truth, for a man entering court who wanted his name recorded in history, the simplest path was often just one thing— advocate war.

Some ministers did, of course, know that this matter was nowhere near so simple.

A few of the highest officials had already heard in advance that another war between states was about to begin.

Then the Third Prince was assassinated.

And the Third Prince who had been assassinated just happened to have been released from Lakeheart Pavilion not long before.

Was it truly— that coincidental?

But once Zhao Jiulang accepted the red ribbon Ji Chengjue handed him and draped it over his body, every minister outside the palace gate changed into red.

The agitation of the examination officials.

The imperial prince pushing the wave higher.

Then the sitting Chief Minister bringing down the final hammer.

Together, they left the officials outside the palace gate no second road to choose.

Some changed willingly.

Some hesitated.

But everyone changed into red.

In an instant, a state funeral became “festive.”

People laughed and talked.

Some even began loudly singing Yan folk songs.

It was somewhat forced.

But a lively atmosphere truly did begin to form.

Ji Chengfeng stood silently behind Ji Chengjue.

He knew all of this had been arranged by his sixth brother.

Hu Zhengfang was one of Sixth Brother’s closest men in officialdom.

In the past, Ji Chengfeng believed he himself would have been swept up in the same passion.

He had never been close to Old Third. In truth, Old Third’s personality had kept him distant from all his brothers.

But they were brothers nonetheless.

And like Eldest Brother, Ji Chengfeng had more of a military background than the others. He had always been willing to seek battle if it gave him an opportunity to lead troops and gain experience.

But now— here and now—

Ji Chengfeng could not bring himself to feel excited.

Suddenly, the sixth brother standing before him looked like a vulture.

Their brother’s corpse still lay before them.

And instead of grieving, Sixth Brother was tearing flesh from that corpse and feeding upon it.

Ji Chengfeng was afraid.

Before this, he had not been.

Naively, he had always believed he was not so bad himself. That he too had a chance to struggle for that position.

Even after the Deng Clan of Sanshi collapsed, Ji Chengfeng still had confidence.

He could lie low.

He could wait for his opportunity.

But now he finally realized that the gap between himself and this younger brother was simply too vast.

Father’s cold-bloodedness, using his own son as a pretext to launch a war, already chilled Ji Chengfeng to the bone.

But this younger brother of his seemed to be the same kind of man as Father.

Even blood kin, so long as they still possessed value, would be squeezed for every last drop.

Crack!

Three whips snapped.

The palace gate opened.

The ministers, all draped in red silk, entered.

Across the white stone paving inside the palace flowed a glaring river of crimson.

Ji Chengfeng instinctively followed Ji Chengjue inside.

Then he saw the Crown Prince standing there.

The Crown Prince remained thin.

He stood waiting, apparently for the two brothers.

No.

More precisely, he was waiting for Old Sixth.

Ji Chengfeng had nothing to do with it.

Ji Chengjue walked up and saluted.

The Crown Prince did not return the greeting. He only said blandly, “Quite the grand move.”

“There’s more,” Ji Chengjue replied. “By now, the people should already be gathering at West Straight Gate.”

The Chu had sent assassins to kill His Majesty.

The Third Prince had sacrificed himself to save the sovereign and died beneath the assassin’s blade.

The treachery of the Chu, the Third Prince’s pure filial devotion—using these as the central themes, teahouses, marketplaces, students from the Imperial Academy and other schools, and countless others had spent the past days actively spreading the story throughout Yanjing.

By now, everyone in the city knew.

And the anger of Yan’s people had ignited almost instantly.

The Yan were proud.

Their iron cavalry had suppressed the Barbarians for a century, to the point that the young prince of the Barbarian Royal Court now had no choice but to lower himself and call himself a junior.

Their armies had smashed Qian. Tens of thousands of cavalry had driven south all the way to the banks of the Bian River, adding the clangor of iron and war to prosperous Shangjing.

The cavalrymen of the Three Jin lands, who had once considered themselves among the finest riders of the age, had been shattered outright by Yan cavalry.

The rampaging Savages had been driven out entirely.

Below Yupan City, beside the Wang River, the blood of forty thousand soldiers of Chu’s Azure Luan Army had watered the fierce pride of the Yan people.

The State of Yan.

The Yan court.

The people of Yan.

All of them had grown accustomed to passing from one victory into the next.

The inertia of victory had become a wheel.

If you won every battle, who would hate war?

“You did very well,” the Crown Prince said.

The Crown Prince knew that many businesses throughout the capital were controlled, behind layers of ownership, by his sixth brother.

“It was Father who arranged things well. He kept Third Brother’s coffin unburied for ten days so the assassin’s identity could be investigated before the funeral.”

Ten days.

More than enough time to make a single gust of wind blow back and forth several times.

And it was not only Ji Chengjue’s own businesses acting.

The Secret Intelligence Department had been involved too.

At that moment, another group entered from a different palace gate.

They wore ancestral armor.

Led by the Grand Director of the Court of the Imperial Clan, they converged upon the others.

They were members of the imperial clan.

They were meritorious nobles.

Some were already too old to lift a saber.

Others had never served in either the army or the court at all.

Some ordinarily did not even attend court sessions.

But today they had taken from their ancestral halls the armor and weapons their forefathers once wore, objects enshrined for generations.

The procession of imperial clansmen and nobles possessed a tragic grandeur.

Yet it also carried the unmistakable feeling of a fading sunset.

That was only natural.

Count Pingye himself was now a member of the meritorious nobility.

And what was he doing?

Even without comparing them to Count Pingye, those clansmen and nobles with any ambition or ability were mostly serving in the army already.

The people still idling in Yanjing really were, for the most part, the old, the weak, the sick, and the useless.

“This is Second Brother’s work?” Ji Chengjue asked.

He knew that his own cuts to the grain and stipends of imperial clansmen and nobles had made his reputation among them terrible.

Naturally, they had begun moving toward the Crown Prince.

That was human instinct.

Group instinct.

Ji Chengjue had understood the consequences perfectly well when he did it.

He had simply chosen to do it anyway.

Leaving aside the question of public-mindedness, real officials looked down on these “parasites of the state” to begin with. And Old Sixth had never paid the civil bureaucracy with those discounted merchant notes.

So the worse Old Sixth treated the imperial clan and nobles, the better his reputation became among regular officials.

The civil officials of Qian even made a habit of deliberately provoking nobles simply for the chance to spit at them and curse them as parasites of the state.

Great Yan was not quite that extreme.

But after the cavalry purge of the great clans, the court had filled with either newly examined scholars or men risen from common origins.

They stood on the opposite side of the class divide from imperial clansmen and hereditary nobles by nature.

Alienating a group that could barely climb onto the stage while pushing those pig-headed allies toward the Crown Prince was actually a very profitable trade.

The Crown Prince smiled faintly.

“I have embarrassed Sixth Brother.”

“We all serve the affairs of the state.”

The Crown Prince nodded.

Then he said quietly, “Old Third is already gone.”

Old Third was gone.

Then let his death carry as much value as possible.

Old Third was gone.

If he could be sent away like that, then if the rest of them refused to cooperate properly with Father, refused to behave—

Father could send them after Old Third too.

People spoke of killing a chicken to frighten the monkeys.

At least the thing being killed was usually a chicken.

Father?

At that moment, Emperor Yan emerged from the great hall with the Son of Heaven’s Sword at his waist.

Wei Zhonghe followed beside him.

The entire space fell silent.

Ji Chengjue and the Crown Prince immediately moved to their proper places.

Emperor Yan stood atop the imperial steps.

His stern gaze swept across the crowd.

Standing there alone, he seemed like an entire mountain range blocking the horizon.

This was the authority of the Son of Heaven.

“Ministers, what is the meaning of this?”

Hu Zhengfang did not speak.

At this moment, he had no standing to do so.

The man who stepped out instead was the Chief Minister.

Zhao Jiulang walked to the foot of the imperial steps.

He removed his official hat and placed it beside him.

Then he slowly knelt.

“Your Majesty, the Chu slaves have gone too far! What crime did Third Highness commit? What crime did Noble Consort Ming commit? What crime did Your Majesty commit? What crime did Great Yan commit? What crime did our eight-hundred-year realm and ancestral temples commit? Today, this subject begs Your Majesty to issue the decree—send out the armies and campaign against Chu!”

Behind Zhao Jiulang, every civil and military official, every hereditary noble, every member of the imperial clan, knelt together.

Their voices thundered as one:

“This subject begs Your Majesty to issue the decree and campaign against Chu!”

Their voices rolled like thunder.

Emperor Yan answered:

“The treasury of Great Yan stands empty.”

Ji Chengjue shuffled forward on his knees and cried loudly, “Father, how difficult was it for our ancestors to build this realm? How difficult was it for those before us to preserve it? Their hardships were countless times greater than ours today! Our ancestors gave us this blood and bone. Our forebears gave us this spirit. Our blood and bone cannot be humiliated! Our spirit cannot be cast down! The treasury may be exhausted, but the blood of Great Yan’s sons still runs thick! From ancient times to the present, Yan has never lacked men willing to die with passion! This son is willing to reduce his own stipend to support the armies at the front. I ask only that we campaign against Chu, break Ying Capital, and destroy their ancestral temples! Sons of Yan—let us face this national crisis together!”

Behind him, the full court of civil and military officials, the nobles, and the imperial clan shouted together, “This subject is willing to reduce his stipend to support the front! Sons of Yan—let us face this national crisis together!”

Emperor Yan’s fist clenched.

He descended the imperial steps and kicked Ji Chengjue over.

Ji Chengjue crashed down, his forehead striking the stone step hard enough to split the skin and draw blood.

Yet he immediately crawled back into a kneeling position.

“You unfilial son! Do you know that Chu is a great state? Great Yan has fought year after year. The people are already exhausted. If we begin another war between states, how are my people supposed to live? The common people are my sons and daughters. Today I have lost only one son. I do not wish to see my people go hungry and every household wrapped in mourning white!”

The Crown Prince shuffled forward on his knees and bowed.

His voice rang out clearly:

“Father, this son begs you to move the imperial carriage to West Straight Gate and behold the will of Great Yan’s people!”

Zhao Jiulang lifted his head and shouted:

“Prepare the imperial carriage! West Straight Gate!”

A look of alarm appeared on Wei Zhonghe’s face.

His job had just been stolen?

And His Majesty had not even issued the order yet.

The Chief Minister had actually dared falsify an imperial command right in front of the Emperor!

But Grand Eunuch Wei immediately replaced his alarm with righteous fervor and shouted:

“Prepare the imperial carriage! West Straight Gate!”

“You are all insolent! Insolent!”

Civil and military officials, imperial clansmen, meritorious nobles, and Imperial Guards surrounded Emperor Yan and accompanied him to West Straight Gate.

When the imperial dragon standard was raised above the gate tower, the endless sea of people outside erupted.

At first, everyone shouted different things.

Some cried, “Long live His Majesty!”

Some cried, “Kill the Chu slaves!”

Some cried, “Avenge Third Highness!”

But gradually, the countless voices merged into one.

“Campaign against Chu!”

Below the wall lay a great pile of firewood.

A group of old men stood beside it, leaning on walking sticks.

The entire scene fell silent.

One of the elders raised his voice.

“The Chu slaves have gone too far! His Majesty cherishes us common people and cannot bear to drain the strength of the realm by campaigning against Chu. But we people of Yan have always stood straight-backed before outsiders. Even when this old man goes below and faces his ancestors, I will dare tell them this: your descendants never disgraced your names in the slightest! This old man is already seventy. If I were thirty or forty years younger, I would don armor, buy a horse, follow Great Yan’s Black Dragon Banner, and let the Chu slaves taste the edge of a Yan saber! If I were twenty years younger, I would enter the labor battalions, carry provisions for Great Yan’s soldiers, feed their horses, raise their camps, and build their stockades! But this old man—I am too old now. These bones can no longer do anything useful. There is only one thing left that I can do. I can walk into this fire and save the mouthful of grain I would otherwise eat, so that some son of Yan at the front may eat one more mouthful and have one more measure of strength with which to kill the enemy! Your Majesty! This old man goes ahead! Your Majesty—campaign against Chu!”

The firewood was lit.

The old man walked straight into the flames.

Then, one after another, the other elders first knelt toward the imperial dragon standard above West Straight Gate and cried “Campaign against Chu!” three times.

Afterward, they walked willingly into the fire.

They refused to let themselves become burdens.

Atop West Straight Gate, the Crown Prince turned toward Ji Chengjue.

Ji Chengjue shook his head slightly.

He had not arranged this.

So this truly was the people of Yanjing.

Ten days after the assassination, these commoners and these old men had done this of their own accord.

By now, it was not only officials who knew the treasury was empty.

The common people had been deliberately allowed to learn it too.

The message spread outside was that His Majesty wished to attack Chu, but because the treasury was exhausted, he could not bear to continue squeezing the people.

One old man after another entered the flames.

Some screamed.

Some laughed.

Beneath the imperial dragon standard, Emperor Yan gripped the crenellations so tightly that blood seeped from his fingertips.

Tears streamed down his face.

At that moment, the officials who had climbed the wall knelt again.

“This subject begs Your Majesty to send out the armies and campaign against Chu!”

Below the wall, the Imperial Guards knelt.

“We beg Your Majesty to send out the armies and campaign against Chu!”

Beyond the wall, the common people all knelt as well.

“Campaign against Chu!”

Emperor Yan let out a furious roar.

He drew the Son of Heaven’s Sword.

Raised it high.

And thundered:

“Today, I have decided to campaign against Chu! Until Ying Capital falls—I swear we shall not turn back!”

[End of Chapter 496]

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