Chapter 646: - Certain Death

Although the command token had been given to Gou Moli, He Chunlai accompanied him when he went out to mobilize the troops.

Back at the Marquis Residence in Fengxin City, whenever He Chunlai was not cooking, he had spent most of his time studying under the Blind Man.

After leaving Fengxin City this time, he followed the Blind Man’s advice, combined it with what he saw for himself, and naturally began learning from Gou Moli as well.

The Blind Man, Fengxin City’s “blind Fan Li,” had always been mysterious.

As for Gou Moli, there was even less need to explain. He had proven himself long ago.

Truthfully, having teachers of this caliber available to learn from was an enormous stroke of fortune.

The South Gate Camp was a Jin camp.

He Chunlai had not expected this at first.

When they reached the camp entrance, he could not help asking:

“We are bringing a Jin camp into the city?”

Of Yingdu’s Four Gate Camps, the East and West Gate Camps were Yan forces, originally detachments of the Jingnan Army, while the South and North Gate Camps were Jin forces.

From He Chunlai’s perspective, if one stood in Marquis Pingxi’s position, or simply in the position of a Yan man, mobilizing Yan troops into the city would naturally be the safer choice.

The distinction between Yan and Jin was obvious.

Gou Moli shook his head.

“This is what you do not understand. The last time Marquis was in Yingdu, which camp did he mobilize?”

“If I remember correctly, the East Gate Camp. That was a Yan camp.”

“Mm. But that was then, and this is now. At the time, Master wanted to borrow the Prince of Jingnan’s name to mobilize troops. Naturally he had to draw them from a Yan camp. Why? Because to Master back then, the Yan camp counted as his own people. The Jin camps looked more numerous, but in reality they had always been suppressed. They themselves knew perfectly well that the Yan were guarding against them, so they never dared make a mistake. Even if Master had gone to a Jin camp back then draped in the Prince of Jingnan’s tiger-skin prestige, without a genuine military order from the Prince of Jingnan he would have had great difficulty moving them. Now it is different. Master is already a Marquis. The Marquis Residence stands in eastern Jin, and as Great Yan’s youngest Marquis raised through military merit, a century-long foundation now lies before him. At a moment like this, if Master wants to mobilize troops, he no longer needs to borrow the Prince of Jingnan’s name. He can simply use his own. If he still mobilized Yan troops, it would look a little petty. Bringing Jin troops into the city is what shows true breadth of vision. Besides, with Master’s present prestige in the army, even if this Jin camp enters the city, are you truly worried they will cause trouble? Do you actually think Master himself cannot keep them under control? Put plainly, Master may not yet possess the Prince of Jingnan’s ability to sit atop a Pixiu and make thousands of troops retreat with one man and one beast. But once Master puts on his black armor and stands atop a city wall, intimidating a few local military commanders and a few local units is no difficulty at all. What worries you about bringing a Jin army into the city is nothing more than the possibility that Prince Cheng Residence, like a cornered dog, might make one final desperate leap, together with the possibility that it has secretly colluded with men inside the Jin camp and might create some accident. But no one in this world is a fool. The soldiers understand. The officers understand even more clearly. Right now, between the rising Marquis of Pingxi Residence and the setting sun of Prince Cheng Residence, whose thigh do you think is thicker?”

“I never imagined there were so many layers to it,” He Chunlai said with feeling.

“What you were involved with before was ultimately still the jianghu. Little fights and little troubles. Calling it a righteous army makes it sound nice, but to put it bluntly, you were merely a band of rebels. As for breadth of vision, Master was born with it. I even think that back when Master was still running his inn in Tiger Head City, his vision was already enormous. Otherwise, he would never have refused the Princess’s offer to become a household servant of the Li family and instead chosen the obscure post of Lieutenant Commander of Merchant Protection, a title practically kneaded into existence on the spot. Now that you have the chance to stand in this position, watch more and think more. Breadth of vision can be cultivated slowly. Once you cultivate it, you will be able to hold up a whole front by yourself.”

“I will accept your auspicious words.”

“It still depends on you.”

At that moment, Kong Mingde, the Jin commander of the South Gate Camp, hurried out with a group of subordinate generals.

Gou Moli directly tossed the Marquis’s token to him.

Kong Mingde caught it, inspected it, then respectfully returned it with both hands.

After that he stepped back several paces and led the generals under him to their knees.

“Kong Mingde of Yingdu’s South Gate Camp awaits Marquis Pingxi’s commands!”

“This general awaits Marquis Pingxi’s commands!”

“This general awaits Marquis Pingxi’s commands!”

Gou Moli put the token away.

“Marquis has issued an order. An incident has occurred in Yingdu and the situation may be endangered. Commander Kong Mingde of the South Gate Camp is ordered to personally lead the South Gate Camp into the city and protect Yingdu’s security!”

When Kong Mingde and his officers heard the order, there was no shock on their faces.

Nor did they show the slightest unease.

Instead, they looked excited.

Yes.

Excited.

Something had happened in Yingdu.

Marquis Pingxi had not summoned a Yan army into the city.

He had summoned their Jin camp.

For everyone in the Jin camp, this was an enormous gesture of trust and affirmation.

Once men reached the position Kong Mingde and his officers now occupied, gold, silver, and jewels became somewhat less important.

That did not mean they had stopped loving wealth.

It merely meant ordinary riches could no longer move them so easily.

What they needed now was political advancement and recognition.

Recognition, for example, from the Marquis of Pingxi Residence.

“This general accepts the order! The South Gate Camp will enter the city immediately and protect Marquis Pingxi!”

Kong Mingde accepted the command without hesitation.

Gou Moli nodded.

Before long, more than eight thousand soldiers from the South Gate Camp entered Yingdu through the southern gate.

Gou Moli rode his horse amid the armored troops, slowly entering the city with them.

A trace of emotion appeared on his face.

He Chunlai noticed.

He said nothing.

Gou Moli reminded him:

“The next time Master shows an expression like this, you need to find a way to build him a stage.”

“Yes. Then what is the matter with you now?”

Gou Moli smiled.

He reached out and patted his horse lightly on the head.

“I, Gou Moli, have finally led troops into Yingdu.”

...

Prince Cheng Residence, discussion hall.

Xu Wenzu and the other officials had already left.

The entire residence was now in utter chaos.

Zhao Yanglou, head of the Secret Intelligence Department branch in Yingdu, the same man who had once complimented the Flying Fish Robes worn by Marquis Zheng’s personal guards, was red-faced as he led his subordinates in a strict identity check of every eunuch, palace maid, and household servant inside Prince Cheng Residence.

Zhao Yanglou was a man of the Son of Heaven.

More precisely, the Secret Intelligence Department itself was a yamen that extended outward from the imperial palace.

His true superior at the very top was Wei Zhonghe.

But Zhao Yanglou understood perfectly well that even if Marquis Pingxi chopped his head off tomorrow, Wei Zhonghe would not be angry when he heard the news.

He would probably smile and write back to thank Marquis Pingxi for helping him remove the head of one useless wineskin and ricebag, saving Wei Zhonghe the trouble of doing it himself.

So Zhao Yanglou, having been ordered to “redeem his crime through merit,” really had become an ant on a hot pan.

The discussion hall, by contrast, was much quieter.

Inside remained only Marquis Zheng, seated on the throne, the Queen Mother sitting on the floor, and Situ Yu kneeling before him.

Even Zhao Wenhua had been taken away.

Around the discussion hall, elite guards in Flying Fish Robes formed three rings, inside and out.

These personal guards possessed excellent individual skill, were highly trained in fighting as a formation, and carried first-rate equipment.

Many of them even possessed hidden weapons designed by Xue San.

Put crudely, even if Baili Sword appeared outside right now and tried to force his way inside, it would be difficult.

No one served tea.

No one added charcoal to the braziers.

The discussion hall had grown somewhat cold.

Situ Yu’s body was visibly weak.

After all, he was still so young, yet had already managed to father a child.

Marquis Zheng did not particularly believe those health-preservation claims that a boy would ruin his body by releasing his yang essence too early.

Everyone passed through that age.

There was no reason to claim that something produced by Miss Five-Fingers was somehow vastly different from something produced with another girl, was there?

But Situ Yu had probably become addicted to the taste of it.

He likely spent a great deal of time “campaigning” in ordinary life.

Perhaps Wenren Minjun was not even the only woman.

Emptying his body at such a young age was the real source of the deficit.

After all, even with Marquis Zheng’s present Martial Artist physique, dealing with three women could still leave him overworked, sore in the waist, and weak in the knees.

All the more so for this child.

The Queen Mother looked at her son with heartache, then turned a pleading gaze toward Marquis Pingxi on the throne.

Unfortunately, Marquis Zheng did not care.

Men inevitably grew greasy as they entered middle age.

That was simply human nature.

But one could not blindly accuse Marquis Zheng of being greasy merely because this Queen Mother lacked the plump fullness of the Queen Mother of Jin and therefore failed to receive a little extra consideration.

Did women not also show different degrees of tolerance toward handsome men?

Of course, the most important point was that Marquis Zheng was not paying attention to any of this now.

The orphan and widow below him, one sitting and one kneeling, had already fallen outside his calculations.

What he needed to think about was how to bring the affair to an end.

And, as much as possible, he wanted to approach it from a public-minded perspective, placing himself in the role of a loyal and righteous subject of Great Yan.

Perhaps this was Great Yan’s greatest misfortune.

Its Marquis raised through military merit actually needed to brew the proper emotions before he could enter the role of “loyal and righteous.”

Fortunately, Sun Youdao arrived.

Grand Tutor Sun was old now.

At that age, a person truly looked different every year.

No.

Every half year.

He walked inside step by step, leaning on a cane.

His feet trembled slightly.

Servants were not permitted to enter, so the final stretch of the journey had been difficult for him.

But when Sun Youdao saw Situ Yu kneeling there and the Queen Mother sitting on the floor in confusion, only then did the old man understand what a truly difficult road looked like.

The glory of the past and the high spirits of those earlier years were things he no longer wished to chew over again.

He had revisited them too many times.

Eventually all flavor disappeared, leaving only dry emptiness.

“Greetings... Marquis.”

Grand Tutor Sun did not perform a formal salute.

He only lowered his head slightly.

Marquis Zheng pointed toward a chair beneath him.

“Sit.”

There were no servants in the room.

And there was no point making the old man kneel, because Zheng Fan could not be bothered to rise and help him back to his feet afterward.

Sun Youdao would have trouble standing on his own anyway.

Better for everyone to save themselves the trouble.

Grand Tutor Sun sat in the chair.

Then he took out a handkerchief and wiped his forehead.

Situ Yu kept his head lowered.

He did not look at Sun Youdao.

The Queen Mother, on the other hand, stared at him as though begging for rescue.

“You’ve grown bold,” Sun Youdao said with feeling.

The Queen Mother’s expression changed slightly.

Sun Youdao tapped his cane against the floor.

“You... were muddleheaded.”

The Queen Mother opened her mouth, then stopped.

Once, when Situ Lei had still been an overlooked concubine-born prince, he and Sun Youdao had often sat together in his residence discussing their grand plans for the future.

The Queen Mother had been very young then.

She would carry in small dishes of food and refill the tea for both her husband and Sun Youdao.

During the most difficult period, Situ Lei had been demoted, stripped of his noble title, and cut off from his official stipend.

The Queen Mother had even done the mending herself.

Yet at that time, whether Situ Lei, Sun Youdao, or the young woman who had begun doing actual needlework, all three had been full of hope.

That was what made the later restoration possible.

It led to Situ Lei’s appointment at Zhennan Pass.

To victory over Chu.

To his return to court...

Back then, no matter what obstacle appeared, no matter what hardship came, nothing seemed capable of defeating them.

But now, everything was different.

Situ Lei had become Situ Yu.

Sun Youdao needed help merely to walk.

Even the Queen Mother... could she still sew as neatly as before?

People often said that the times created heroes.

But once the hero was gone, once the hero had grown old, the times no longer mattered.

“Marquis.” Sun Youdao looked at Zheng Fan. “Move Prince Cheng Residence to Yanjing.”

A hereditary title in perpetuity sounded impressive.

But once all real authority was gone, what did hereditary succession amount to?

Nothing more than the state supporting one extra idler.

A hereditary Prince could have his stipend blocked by a petty clerk beneath the Ministry of Revenue.

This generation might still live well.

The next?

The one after that?

Aside from a ceremonial archway remaining in place, life would be only so-so.

Without a territory to guard, power became duckweed without roots.

It could not continue.

The moment the Queen Mother heard this, she almost blurted out:

“No...”

But Marquis Zheng, still sitting on the throne, shook his head as well.

Seeing that, the Queen Mother fell silent.

A look of painful struggle appeared on Grand Tutor Sun’s face.

Unlike the Queen Mother, he did not think Marquis Pingxi was rejecting the proposal to move the residence.

He understood.

The Marquis considered that punishment insufficient.

From ancient times onward, once a state was destroyed and a household ruined, exterminating the imperial line had generally been the norm.

The exceptions depended on whether the rulers surrendered ahead of time, and how thoroughly they surrendered.

The Prince of Jin’s line had been rewarded because Yu Ciming opened South Gate Pass himself and let the Yan army enter Jin.

Situ Lei had originally done even more than Yu Ciming.

His vision had been broader.

The foundation and territory he handed to the Yan had been battered and broken, yes, but it had still helped enormously.

It gave the Yan crucial assistance in the wars that followed against the Savages and Chu.

That was why Situ Lei’s line had earned treatment even better than the Prince of Jin’s.

They had been allowed to remain and guard their original territory.

And now... they had squandered it all.

Why?

Why bring this upon yourselves?

Marquis Zheng spoke.

“This Prince Cheng has to be deposed.”

Situ Yu’s head snapped up.

He stared at Zheng Fan.

The Queen Mother reacted as though struck by lightning.

“No! No, you cannot! Prince Cheng Residence cannot fall. It cannot fall!”

Cheng State was already gone.

Prince Cheng Residence was the Queen Mother’s final connection to her husband.

Marquis Zheng continued:

“Choose someone from a collateral branch of the Situ Clan and have him inherit the title Prince Cheng.”

“On what grounds? On what grounds!”

Situ Yu immediately roared.

This was even harder for him to bear than simply being stripped of the title.

It was like losing the family fortune because of natural disaster or your own poor management.

That was Heaven’s will, human calamity, your own lack of ability.

There was nothing to be done.

But if your family property was taken away and handed to someone else, that was a completely different kind of rage.

Everyone might share the surname Situ.

But Situ Yu’s father and his two uncles had been brothers too.

A true family.

Had that made them interchangeable?

If a shared surname meant everyone could pass wealth and position freely among themselves, why had imperial princes fought over succession throughout history?

Zheng Fan’s gaze sharpened slightly.

He looked at Situ Yu.

“If you shout again, you can suddenly develop a fatal illness tonight and die.”

“...”

Situ Yu lowered his head.

The Queen Mother wept and pleaded with Marquis Pingxi.

“Marquis, please show mercy. Please show mercy.”

She could not lose the foundation left by her husband.

Compared with this, Sun Youdao’s earlier suggestion of moving back to Yanjing suddenly seemed wonderful.

At least then the ancestral shrine and sacrifices could be preserved.

If the title passed to another branch, that family might continue honoring the common ancestors, but why would they continue making offerings specifically to her husband?

Her husband had been a Son of Heaven.

Was he to lose even the sacrificial offerings of blood and food in the Nine Springs?

How cruel would that be?

Sun Youdao said:

“Marquis, this old man believes the matter should still be discussed at length. We ought to wait for an imperial decree from Yanjing.”

Marquis Zheng replied:

“The decree from Yanjing will probably tell this Marquis to listen to Prefect Xu’s advice and then decide for himself.”

“...”

Grand Tutor Sun fell silent.

He understood.

The imperial decree truly might say exactly that.

The Emperor of Yan ruled decisively, yes.

But when it came to external affairs, he was also extraordinarily willing to delegate power.

So unless something unexpected occurred, the imperial decree probably would be exactly as Marquis Zheng predicted.

In the end, Marquis Zheng would represent the court and handle the affair locally.

The court would not keep sending imperial envoys back and forth and delay matters unnecessarily.

Once a final decision had been reached, someone would merely come out and go through the formal procedure.

More importantly, if Marquis Pingxi had been nothing more than a rough warrior, perhaps it would have been different.

But he had become Marquis first because of his military achievements, and second because of his ability to handle affairs beyond purely military matters.

That only gave the Emperor of Yan even more confidence to leave the matter in his hands.

“Marquis, leave them one more measure of grace,” Sun Youdao sighed.

“Great Yan’s mistake before was leaving far too much grace for this residence, and for Yingdu.”

“Marquis... ai.”

Sun Youdao stopped speaking.

He truly had nothing left to say.

The most critical point was that woman.

She was pregnant.

And worse, she had announced it publicly.

That sealed off most of the room for compromise.

If the Blind Man had been here, he might have offered an analogy.

This was much like the case of Third Prince Zhu during the Kangxi reign. The Qing court also wanted to pursue a policy of conciliation and wrap itself in benevolence and righteousness. Dorgon had even held a funeral for the Chongzhen Emperor after entering Beijing.

But Chongzhen was dead.

That was exactly why, when it came to the Third Prince of Zhu, the Qing court could only prefer killing a thousand by mistake rather than letting one escape.

The situation of the State of Yan in the Jin lands now was extremely similar.

At that moment, the Queen Mother suddenly wiped away her tears.

Then she spoke.

“Marquis, this Dowager is willing to tell you exactly who stands behind Prince Cheng Residence.”

Sun Youdao’s eyes widened in shock.

He genuinely had not known about this.

He had long since withdrawn and been excluded from the decision-making core formed by Zhao Wenhua and the others within Prince Cheng Residence.

Marquis Zheng said nothing.

He waited for the Queen Mother to continue.

But Sun Youdao bit through his own lip.

He rose from the chair, then lowered himself to his knees.

He shouted:

“Zhenniang! If you say it, you and your son will be certain to die!”

[End of Chapter 646]