Chapter 999: Seal, Open!

“Your Majesty, the stitching here still needs a little adjustment.”

“No need. I think it looks fine.”

“Your Majesty, you have to refer to yourself as ‘We.’ You should get used to it.”

“Heh. I’m afraid that if I get used to it now, I won’t be able to change back when I need to.”

Zhao Yuannian took off the dragon robe as he spoke.

“Eunuch Zhao, why don’t we leave it? No need to trouble yourself.”

At once, Zhao Cheng dropped to his knees.

“Your Majesty, please bestow a new surname upon this servant.”

Zhao Cheng was a man of Chu.

Years ago, when Zheng Fan had entered Chu to steal away a Princess, Zhao Cheng had been swept up in the affair. Afterward, he had even taken a blade to himself and boarded this ship for good.

For a very long time, he had been Xiong Liqing’s true confidant inside the Residence. Later, when the Crown Prince lived in the Residence for a time, Zhao Cheng replaced Little Eunuch Zhang as the Crown Prince’s personal attendant.

When Ji Chuanye returned to Yanjing, Zhao Cheng could originally have gone with him.

He refused.

He chose to remain in the Residence.

Now Prince Fu, Zhao Yuannian, had proclaimed himself Emperor at Jinghai City in Jiangnan.

One could also call him a “propped-up Emperor.”

So Zhao Cheng had naturally been assigned to Zhao Yuannian’s side.

Over these years, Prince Fu Residence had been located in Fengxin City. It had servants and attendants, but no eunuchs.

By regulation, Prince Fu Residence was entitled to employ eunuchs. Prince Jin Residence in Yanjing and Prince Cheng Residence in Yingdu both had eunuchs, and those eunuchs’ salaries even came from public funds.

But Prince Pingxi Residence did not use eunuchs.

So how could Prince Fu Residence, sitting in the same city, dare surpass Prince Pingxi Residence in household arrangements?

Of course, viewed from another angle... if bringing Zhao Yuannian into Qian this time could still be called coincidence, then bringing along the one and only “castrated man” attached to the Residence could no longer be explained away as coincidence or an accidental stroke of fortune.

Everything... had clearly been part of the Prince’s plan from the beginning.

“Bestow a new surname?” Zhao Yuannian froze.

“How could this servant dare bear the surname Zhao before Your Majesty?”

It was not that Qian had no people surnamed Zhao outside the imperial clan.

There were many.

For one thing, Ji, Xiong, and Yu had already been great clans of Great Xia before the Three Marquises opened the frontiers. After those three Marquises established their states, the imperial surnames of Yan, Jin, and Chu became unusually distinctive. Barring exceptional circumstances, anyone bearing one of those three surnames could claim at least some trace of “imperial blood,” though many lines had long since faded into ordinary obscurity.

Take the Sword Saint and his younger brother. Their childhood had been desperately poor, but they had still borne Jin’s imperial surname.

For another, Qian’s ruling line had founded its state much later. Qian might have fabricated its own ancient history and invented a tale about “Four Marquises Opening the Frontiers,” but the chronology still did not stretch far enough. No matter how fiercely one observed taboos for the imperial house, one could hardly force everyone who had already been surnamed Zhao to change their family name.

Even so... for a eunuch to stand before the Emperor while openly bearing the surname Zhao was indeed awkward.

Yet how would Zhao Yuannian dare rename Zhao Cheng?

He knew better than anyone exactly how he had become this “Emperor.” He also understood perfectly well what his mission and function were.

Besides, Zhao Cheng might be a eunuch, but he had entered the Residence long before Zhao Yuannian himself.

“Eunuch Zhao, you know exactly what sort of Emperor I am. We are both people of the Residence. There is no need to fuss over details like this. The two of us should simply do our work properly and add whatever bricks and tiles we can to His Highness’s grand design.”

“This servant understands. This servant understands.”

Zhao Cheng folded the dragon robe Zhao Yuannian had taken off and carried it behind a nearby screen to a woman.

The woman was quite pretty and especially skilled with needlework. She was Zhao Cheng’s younger sister, whom Xiong Liqing had bestowed the name Zhao Xinniang.

“Adjust this part again. Quickly. The founding ceremony is about to begin,” Zhao Cheng said.

“Little Sister understands. Brother, don’t worry.”

Xinniang accepted the dragon robe and immediately began altering it.

Zhao Cheng walked away first and brought Zhao Yuannian tea.

Zhao Yuannian sat in a chair, holding the cup in both hands.

He laughed.

“I’m a little nervous.”

Zhao Cheng smiled.

“Your Majesty will slowly grow accustomed to it.”

“Eunuch Zhao, let me ask you something. How long do you think I can actually remain this Emperor?”

“Naturally for a long, long time. Ten thousand generations without end.”

“Ai. We’re our own people. What is there that can’t be said plainly? Eunuch Zhao, could you stop acting like this? You’re making me uncomfortable. To put it bluntly, I only kept this life because of the relationship between my mother and His Highness. I only have this position because my mother raised the Heir Prince and earned that affection. I have absolutely no desire to start calling myself ‘the Solitary’ and ‘the Orphan.’ If you keep putting tall hats like this on my head, aren’t you afraid I’ll actually start floating away and then...”

Zhao Yuannian let his chin droop.

The meaning was obvious.

You understand.

Zhao Cheng answered:

“This servant naturally understands Your Majesty’s meaning. But has Your Majesty considered this? Since ancient times, sitting on a Dragon Throne may lift a man to Heaven in one step, but stepping back down...”

Zhao Yuannian finished for him:

“To sit on it, the leg rises first. To leave it, the head falls first.”

“Does Your Majesty believe you would ever become disloyal to His Highness?”

“How could that possibly happen?” Zhao Yuannian denied at once. “In this lifetime, His Highness has already beaten and kneaded me from top to bottom, inside and out, until I’m completely obedient. Besides, just look at His Highness the Heir Prince... You heard what that Thousand-Li Colt of the Xie Clan said the other day, didn’t you? What does that mean? It means he already admitted it.”

The foundation of the state.

The heir.

The successor.

Their purpose was exactly this.

They could preserve the long-term stability of an entire faction to an extraordinary degree.

Zhao Cheng said:

“Since Your Majesty will never harbor divided loyalties toward His Highness, why would His Highness make your head fall before allowing you to leave the Dragon Throne?”

“Exactly.”

Zhao Yuannian’s answer was firm.

After all... the Heir Prince had personally called him *sworn elder brother*!

It was true that everyone knew what sort of relationship existed between his mother and the Prince.

But Zhao Yuannian would never dare call the Prince “Father” or “Adoptive Father” in public, much less take the initiative to call himself the Heir Prince’s elder brother.

Yet when the Heir Prince himself called him *sworn elder brother*... that feeling had gone straight into his bones.

His entire body had floated into the clouds.

Even remembering it now made him feel lightheaded.

“When Your Majesty steps down from this Dragon Throne, you may become a Ruler like the Emperor of Chu. Or perhaps you will receive your own fief like Prince Cheng Residence. Even taking ten thousand steps backward, you should at least receive hereditary succession in perpetuity like Prince Jin Residence. And it would not be hereditary succession as Prince Fu. It would be... Prince of Qian.”

Prince Fu and Prince of Qian sounded similar.

In reality, the difference was enormous.

If the title Prince of Qian were hereditary in perpetuity, it could graft the entire inheritance of Qian onto Zhao Yuannian’s line.

The distinction was much like that between an imperial-clan Marquis and a Marquis ennobled through military merit.

“You really do see things clearly,” Zhao Yuannian praised.

“Your Majesty already sees it all just as clearly,” Zhao Cheng said with a smile.

Zhao Yuannian turned sideways and looked toward Xinniang, who was still altering the dragon robe behind the screen.

“Let’s become in-laws,” Zhao Yuannian said.

“Xinniang’s marriage is for the Princess Consort to arrange,” Zhao Cheng reminded him.

“I’ll go ask,” Zhao Yuannian said.

“This...”

Zhao Cheng was not especially willing.

He adored his younger sister and naturally wanted her to marry into a good household.

By “good household,” he did not mean one with enormous wealth and rank.

At the very least, his sister should become the principal wife.

Zhao Yuannian understood what he was thinking and cursed with a laugh:

“What are you imagining? I mean asking for her hand for my son. I’ll have my mother go arrange it.”

“Then this servant thanks Your Majesty for your boundless grace.”

People of this age generally married and had children early.

Young noblemen commonly had female attendants around them. By later standards, examples of people becoming fathers while still practically children themselves were everywhere.

So although Princess Consort of Prince Fu was not much older than Zheng Fan, she had long since become a grandmother.

Of course, there was another reason for the contrast.

For objective reasons, Zheng Fan had once found producing heirs extremely difficult, so he had started unusually late.

Now Zhao Yuannian was “Emperor.”

If Zhao Cheng’s younger sister married Zhao Yuannian’s son... she would be Crown Princess.

Zhao Cheng thought that was an excellent destination for her.

In truth, both he and Zhao Yuannian were ambitious men.

But beneath Prince Pingxi Residence, their ambitions became unusually pure.

Sometimes limited ambition was exactly what guaranteed initiative.

“Your Majesty. Brother. It’s finished.”

Zhao Cheng immediately went over, took back the dragon robe, and helped Zhao Yuannian put it on again.

This dragon robe had originally been a Qian-style feudal Prince’s robe Zhao Yuannian carried with him.

Viewed closely, many parts remained awkward and mismatched.

From a distance, however... it genuinely looked like the dragon robe of a Qian Emperor.

Once everything was fastened again, Zhao Yuannian drew a deep breath.

“How are the preparations outside?”

“Your Majesty, wait a moment. This servant will go ask.”

Zhao Cheng had just started to leave when he seemed to remember something.

He opened his red eunuch robe and revealed the light armor underneath.

“Your Majesty, let this servant give you this inner armor. Wear it beneath the robe.”

He had not intended to take it off before.

But the moment marriage entered the discussion, out it came.

Eunuch Zhao was nothing if not practical.

Zhao Yuannian pursed his lips.

He did not refuse.

He accepted the armor Zhao Cheng had removed.

When Zhao Cheng moved to help him dress again, Zhao Yuannian immediately waved him off.

“Go outside and ask. I can manage this myself.”

“Yes.”

Zhao Cheng hurried out.

In the pavilion of the outer courtyard, he saw the Prince and the Heir Prince sitting face-to-face and talking.

Zhao Cheng immediately stopped and waited.

Clearly... whatever the “Emperor” behind him needed was not important.

At least in Zhao Cheng’s eyes, it could not compare with the significance of father and son speaking together.

...

“Outside or here. Which do you choose?”

Zheng Fan asked his son.

“I’ll stay here,” Zheng Lin answered. “Can’t be bothered moving.”

“I thought you would prefer what’s happening outside.”

“That’s the position more suited to you, Father.”

Zheng Fan nodded and stood.

Then he seemed to remember something.

“Oh, right. Your mother will be here later too.”

“What?!”

Zheng Lin’s expression changed instantly.

Zheng Fan smiled with the look of a man who knew exactly what his son had been thinking.

Zheng Lin’s face began darkening.

He was not angry at anyone in particular.

Rather, the scene he had imagined—one where his hands could finally itch and be put to use—was gradually drifting away from him.

Naturally, that made him unhappy.

“I’ll take your mother outside later,” Zheng Fan said.

Zheng Lin’s expression immediately eased.

“Your Godfather Ming will remain here. I’m taking the Blind Man outside with me too.”

Zheng Lin’s entire body relaxed.

He leaned back into the chair.

“So silence means you disagree?”

“I agree,” Zheng Lin answered immediately.

“Oh. Then you disagree.”

“Thank you... Father.”

Zheng Fan laughed and waved a hand.

“That’s more like it.”

The Prince left the temporary palace.

Only after Zheng Fan had gone did Zhao Cheng approach the Heir Prince.

“Your Highness, do we begin on time?”

Zheng Lin nodded.

“Mm.”

...

After taking Jinghai City, the Yan army—or rather, the Yan-Chu allied army—did not immediately launch any large-scale military operations farther into Qian.

They did seize several nearby county towns and positions upstream and downstream, expanding the area under military control, but they did not continue driving deeper into Jiangnan.

There were two main reasons.

Militarily, Zheng Fan had personally brought fifty thousand eastern Jin elites this time. Add thirty thousand Chu troops and the Shanyue auxiliaries levied by the Xie Clan, and the army did indeed number around a hundred thousand.

A hundred thousand troops were more than enough against a single city or local area.

Against an entire region, however... that number became thin.

If the army split apart and attacked in every direction, it would only break down its own strength.

Half of those hundred thousand were, after all, “allied troops.”

When they were divided into separate forces, the different elements would still have to guard against one another.

Five plus five could easily become less than ten.

If the only purpose was plunder and destruction, then dispersing their local military superiority for such scraps would truly mean throwing away the watermelon to pick up sesame seeds.

The second reason was political.

A proclamation issued in the name of Great Yan’s Regent Prince announcing Zhao Yuannian’s enthronement as the new Qian Emperor could exert far more influence than sending armies out in every direction.

Today, the officials, gentry, and great clans of Jinghai City had gathered at an old imperial traveling palace outside the city.

Representatives of many large clans from elsewhere in Jiangnan had come as well.

The founding ceremony was about to begin.

In addition...

Du Sheng, Commander of Anhai Garrison, was supposedly coming with his troops to submit.

Years ago, when Nian Yao led Chu troops into Qian, he had smashed the Qian armies into complete rout.

Only after Meng Gong took command had Nian Yao finally been stopped.

Meng Gong, who had already crossed swords with the Regent Prince at Mianzhou City more than ten years ago, excelled above all at defensive warfare.

He had personally developed and built a defensive system against Chu based around Anhai Garrison, Menhai Garrison, and Donghai Garrison.

The Qian called it the Little Three Frontiers.

When the Yan army entered this time, however, it had made a detour and jumped directly past that defensive line.

Militarily, that had been an enormous gamble.

Their rear remained within range of enemy forces that could cut their communications.

The only reason Zheng Fan dared do it was because the Yan had absolute confidence in one thing: if the Qian troops inside those garrisons dared come out... they would simply smash them in the open field.

Judging by today’s situation... with the new Emperor taking the throne... there were not many civil officials or military officers present, but both existed.

At the very least, this “puppet court” had already begun acquiring the most basic dignity of a government.

If... that was truly all there was to it.

...

On the raised platform, the Prince sat in the commander’s seat.

Siniang and the Blind Man stood to his left and right.

Given his present status, personally receiving the submission of a mere Qian garrison commander was already more than enough face.

Calling it “buying horse bones with a thousand pieces of gold” would still be understating the gesture.

Not far away...

Du Sheng approached at the head of eight hundred personal cavalry.

His main force had encamped twenty li from here.

Yet Commander Du arrived only so far.

Then stopped.

Liu Hui stepped forward.

“Your Highness, perhaps Commander Du still has doubts. Or perhaps he wants just a little more... ceremony. This subject requests permission to go forward and persuade him to put those doubts aside.”

Liu Hui had been the one to persuade Du Sheng to defect.

This was Liu Hui’s first piece of capital in the “new dynasty.”

No.

His first piece of capital before Prince Pingxi Residence.

From Liu Hui’s perspective, Du Sheng was obviously giving him a chance to provide one last step in the performance.

Everyone carried everyone else’s flowered sedan chair.

Zheng Fan glanced at Liu Hui.

Then smiled.

He neither gave permission nor refused.

Xie Yu’an, standing nearby, understood at once.

He stepped forward and asked:

“Lord Liu.”

“Here.”

“Is there anyone here you dislike? One of your subordinates, perhaps. Someone you suspect may refuse to obey you or refuse the new court and still cling to the old Qian?”

“All of this humble officer’s subordinates are loyal to His Highness. Absolutely none of them would—”

Xie Yu’an’s gaze sank.

Liu Hui opened his mouth.

Then said:

“Wang Le’an. He... he and I have had disagreements.”

Wang Le’an had been Jinghai City’s former Deputy Garrison Commander.

Before Liu Hui opened the gates and surrendered the city, he had placed Wang Le’an under arrest.

After the Yan army entered, Wang Le’an had no choice but to surrender as well.

Yet he had spent the last few days drinking and cursing Liu Hui as a Qian traitor who had wasted all the books of the sages he had read.

“Good. Send him.”

“Yes.”

The military order went down.

Wang Le’an, who had been standing so far below that he was not even qualified to appear on the main platform, froze in confusion.

Then delight surged through him.

More than half the reason he had been cursing Liu Hui was simple:

If you bastard wanted to surrender to the Yan, why did you have to tie me up first?

Now I surrendered too, but I don’t even get any presence!

Finally... his chance to establish some presence had arrived.

Wang Le’an even wondered if his reputation had somehow reached the Prince’s ears.

Perhaps the Yan deliberately wanted to promote him in order to divide and balance Liu Hui.

So Wang Le’an accepted the order gladly.

Wang Le’an went.

Not long after...

Wang Le’an was gone.

His head had been cut off by Du Sheng.

Du Sheng sent one of his own guards to deliver it to the platform prepared for the surrender ceremony.

Liu Hui’s eyes went wide with terror.

A chill spread from his spine all the way down to his tailbone.

If the Prince had allowed him to go earlier... that head might have been his.

After delivering the head, Du Sheng’s personal guard shouted:

“Yan dogs! Do you truly think Great Qian has no men left?!”

...

“Yan dogs! Do you truly think the people of Qian have no blood left in them?!”

Inside the enthronement ceremony... quite a few local middle- and lower-ranking officials of Jinghai City, government students, guards and retainers of great clans from elsewhere, local strongmen, sect leaders, and all sorts of other people who had originally come to offer congratulations and accept offices suddenly began shouting.

Then... within what had been a “solemn and dignified” founding ceremony... three out of every ten men among the new court’s supposed “meritorious founding supporters” drew weapons.

Some were genuine experts.

Most knew no martial arts at all.

But the momentum of the moment was enormous.

Immediately afterward... many of the Qian soldiers recently taken over from Jinghai City rebelled and joined them.

Of the remaining Qian troops, many had no intention of opposing Yan.

But expecting them to fight to the death for this “new Emperor” they had only just met was equally unrealistic.

So in the blink of an eye... inside the traveling palace... the strength of the loyal and righteous completely overwhelmed the “loyal and righteous.”

On the very day of his “enthronement,” the flourishing scene of his “new dynasty” suddenly flipped upside down.

Zhao Yuannian lost his composure.

Still wearing his dragon robe, he hurried down from the Dragon Throne.

At least he had been pressured several times by the Regent Prince’s armies in the past.

He had marched with the Regent Prince too.

And in eastern Jin, he had spent these years handling actual affairs.

The foundation was there.

So although he panicked, he still remembered to run toward the Heir Prince and try to pull him away to safety.

Zhao Yuannian caught Zheng Lin by the wrist.

But he could not budge the boy.

Instead, his own momentum nearly made him stumble to the ground.

This child... possessed terrifying strength.

Zheng Lin turned and looked down at Zhao Yuannian.

For Princess Consort of Prince Fu’s sake, he resisted the urge to mock him coldly.

He even suppressed that instinctive contempt in his blood that seemed to regard all beings as equals beneath it.

Then, forcing his voice into what he considered a relatively gentle tone, he said:

“Don’t rush.”

...

“Don’t panic.”

Seeing Liu Hui frightened out of his wits, the Prince unusually offered him a word of reassurance.

Whatever else might be said, Liu Hui had opened Jinghai City’s gates.

That had genuinely brought enormous convenience to the army.

At that moment, military reports came in one after another.

Not only had Du Sheng’s Anhai Garrison troops, encamped twenty li away, broken camp and begun attacking this position... forces from Menhai Garrison and Donghai Garrison, which had remained hidden in two other directions, suddenly emerged as well.

This surrender ceremony had become a classic feigned-surrender counterattack.

Liu Hui was genuinely terrified.

He feared not only that he had botched his assignment.

He feared the Yan might suspect him of secretly remaining loyal to Qian while standing inside the Yan camp, leaving him damned by both sides.

Fortunately, the Prince’s words settled his heart immediately.

A wave of emotion rose inside him.

Heaven and Earth bear witness.

I truly am wholeheartedly committed to being a traitor to Qian!

Thank goodness His Highness understands me.

Zheng Fan stopped looking at Liu Hui.

He turned toward Xie Yu’an.

“Begin.”

...

“Can we?”

Zheng Lin looked at A’Ming.

The Blind Man was difficult to negotiate with.

A’Ming was not.

That was why, when his biological father said he would take the Blind Man outside and leave A’Ming here, Zheng Lin had actually managed to say “thank you.”

And indeed... when it came to indulging children, A’Ming possessed far fewer principles.

He immediately used vampiric arts to temporarily release Zheng Lin’s seal.

The Heir Prince of Great Yan’s Regent Prince Residence slowly rose from his chair.

His hair lifted lightly.

The qi around him stirred the python robe on his body.

A faint smile rested at the corner of his mouth.

He had been born a flood dragon.

From childhood, he had been sealed and confined within strict limits.

What had he faced instead?

Thick, suffocating maternal love... and supreme care from a whole crowd of godfathers.

Inside the Heir Prince, violent impulses had been building for years.

The problem was that he had almost never been given an opportunity to unleash them.

For example... to kill people freely.

Now... at last... a perfectly justified opportunity to kill had arrived.

Zheng Lin flexed both hands.

He raised his head.

A low growl emerged from his throat, like a beast leaving its cage and surveying prey that had delivered itself to the door.

The next instant... the Sword Saint and the Swordsmith appeared behind Zheng Lin.

Outside the traveling palace, Brocade-Clad personal guards formed battle lines and advanced, bringing with them an icy, terrifying pressure.

Zheng Lin stepped forward.

His voice was low.

“Kill!”

...

“Move.”

The Prince remained seated lazily in his chair.

Siniang stood behind him, massaging the pressure points around his temples.

At the same time...

Nian Yao and Xie Zhuyang, who had completed their deployments long ago and waited only for the signal, each led troops charging out.

Elsewhere... eastern Jin cavalry under Tian Tian and Chen Xianba had already cut into the battlefield.

Dust clouds rolled across the fighting in every direction.

But given the absolute superiority in quality—and even in raw numbers—the dust had, in truth, settled before it ever rose.

There was no suspense whatsoever in this battle.

So little... that the Prince could not summon even the slightest excitement.

Still massaging his head, Siniang leaned close to his ear and complained softly:

“What kind of father does things like this?”

Naturally, Zheng Fan’s arrangements could never have escaped Siniang’s eyes.

The truth was exactly as Zheng Lin understood it.

His useless biological father was the only person capable of handling his mother, all his godfathers, and even his master.

They could know perfectly well what Zheng Fan intended to do... and still be unable to stop him.

The Prince reached up and gently held Siniang’s hand.

“Our son has had a tiring few years. Work and rest should be balanced.”

“But who balances work and rest for their own son like this?”

The Prince shook his head.

“I’m cultivating the bond between father and son.”

Then... he started laughing himself.

“A little parent-child bonding.”

[End of Chapter 999]