Inside the Imperial Study, the Ruinao incense burned vigorously, its blue smoke curling upwards.
It enveloped the aged yet overwhelmingly imposing figure seated behind the dragon desk.
The Emperor of Great Qian leaned against his armrest cushion, his vermilion brush suspended in mid-air, hesitating to drop.
This secret memorial had been delivered by eight-hundred-mile express courier from the northern border half an hour ago. It clearly stated that the imperial envoy in Zhenbei City had created some sort of iron watermelon, which not only blew a hundred-man Helian cavalry patrol to pieces but also recruited refugees to establish military farming colonies in the saline-alkali lands of the Hetao region.
The Emperor looked at the handwriting on the memorial, his face impassive, but a monstrous wave was surging in his heart.
He had sent Xu Youde to investigate the autumn examinations and dispatched Xu Qinghuan to the northern border, originally intending to use them as expendable pawns. He never expected this girl from the Xu family to forcibly tear open a path of survival at the foot of the Yin Mountains.
As he pondered, the shrill voice of a eunuch announcing an arrival came from outside the hall.
The First Prince requests an audience!
The Emperor casually slipped the secret memorial under a stack of routine greeting memorials, lifting his eyelids to watch Xiao Jingxing step over the threshold, supported by two young eunuchs.
Xiao Jingxing wore a plain everyday robe today, his face a sickly ashen gray. He had barely taken two steps into the hall before he covered his mouth and began to cough violently, looking as if he were about to cough up his very lungs.
He broke free from the eunuchs' support, his knees giving way as he knelt on the mirror-smooth golden floor bricks, kowtowing repeatedly.
Your son... cough cough... pays his respects to Imperial Father.
The Emperor did not immediately tell him to rise. He merely picked up the ginseng soup on the desk and took a sip, leaving Xiao Jingxing kneeling on the floor.
Xiao Jingxing prostrated himself, his mind racing with calculations.
Before coming, he had deliberately stood in the cold wind for half an hour and chugged a large bowl of cold herbal tea. His current weakness was about seventy percent real.
Hearing no movement from above, he judged that his Imperial Father was waiting for him to speak. Steeling his resolve, he laced his voice with a touch of desolate panic.
Imperial Father, your son's body is truly useless. The Deputy Director of the Imperial Academy of Medicine came to examine me yesterday and said that evil humors have invaded my body and damaged my constitution.
If I were to force myself to travel north to comfort the troops, I fear I would... I would perish in some relay station halfway there.
My death would be no cause for pity, but if I were to delay Imperial Father's great matter of pacifying the northern army's morale, ten thousand deaths could not absolve my guilt!
The Emperor set down the celadon bowl, his tone betraying neither joy nor anger. Oh? So you are saying you cannot go to Zhenbei City?
Hearing no thunderous fury in these words, Xiao Jingxing's courage bolstered slightly, and he quickly followed the cue:
Your son is incompetent! It is just that... the capital is in a state of panic right now. I have heard many courtiers discussing matters in private.
They say the northern war situation is rotting away, the Western Route Prefecture is retreating repeatedly, the Central Route Prefecture is in imminent peril, and Zhenbei City is surrounded so tightly by Helian iron cavalry that not even a fly could get in.
Hearing this, a hint of mockery surfaced in the depths of the Emperor's eyes.
The Western Route Prefecture retreating? The Central Route Prefecture in peril? Zhenbei City besieged to death?
The Emperor's mind flashed to the iron watermelons and Hetao military farming mentioned in the secret memorial just now. Looking at his eldest son spouting such nonsense while kneeling below, he felt it was utterly absurd.
The noble families and powerful clans in the capital were willing to fabricate such easily punctured lies just to muddy the waters.
And his eldest son, upon whom he had placed great hopes, was actually fishing in these muddy waters too.
The Emperor forcibly suppressed the mockery in his heart, deliberately darkened his face, and slammed his vermilion brush heavily onto the red sandalwood desk with a dull thud.
Bastard! With a formidable enemy at our gates, those civil and military officials do not think of serving the country, but instead recklessly discuss the border war situation in private. Who gave them the audacity to boost the enemy's morale and diminish our own prestige!
Xiao Jingxing shuddered all over at the sudden slam on the desk, but he secretly rejoiced in his heart.
Noble Consort Wan had taught him that his Imperial Father valued face above all else. Hearing of unfavorable conditions at the border would inevitably enrage him. As long as he rode this wave of anger to toss out the bait of moving the capital, this chess game would come alive.
Calm your anger, Imperial Father! Xiao Jingxing said thoughtfully. Your son also feels those courtiers are utterly absurd, but they speak so convincingly. They say that once the Helian iron cavalry breaches the Yin Mountains, the capital will have no natural defenses left.
They... some of them even suggested that, for the sake of the Great Qian's state and society, we should temporarily evade the enemy's vanguard and move the capital south to Jiangnan!
As soon as these words came out, the air in the Imperial Study seemed to stagnate.
Standing in attendance in the corner, Companion Li was so frightened that he dropped straight to his knees, burying his head deeply beneath his fly whisk, not even daring to breathe loudly.
The Emperor sat on his wide dragon throne, looking down condescendingly at Xiao Jingxing.
He did not lash out immediately, but his mind rapidly deduced the undercurrents within the imperial court.
The noble families were getting anxious, wanting to use the northern war to force the court to relocate south, retreating to Jiangnan so they could continue being local tyrants.
The Emperor's mind was as clear as a mirror, but on his face, he deliberately revealed a trace of exhaustion. He reached up to rub the space between his eyebrows, let out a long sigh, and followed Xiao Jingxing's words to ask, Alas, these ministers... are there truly many people talking about moving the capital south?
Xiao Jingxing sharply caught that sigh. He looked up, saw the fatigue on his Imperial Father's face, and instantly breathed a sigh of relief.
He thought he had successfully struck his Imperial Father's soft spot with the tragic state of the northern border, believing that his Imperial Father was genuinely considering the retreat of moving south.
It is absolutely true! Xiao Jingxing quickly added fuel to the fire. Several officials from Jiangnan have even drafted a joint memorial, just waiting for tomorrow's morning assembly to present it to Your Majesty. Your son was worried that Imperial Father would be troubled, which is why I dragged my sick body into the palace overnight to report this. I entreat Imperial Father to make a divine decision soon!
Looking at Xiao Jingxing's confident face, the disgust in the Emperor's heart nearly overflowed.
He stood up abruptly, grabbed the stack of greeting memorials from the desk, and hurled them fiercely at Xiao Jingxing's face.
Bastard! Rebellious subjects and traitors! All of them are rebellious subjects and traitors! The Emperor flew into a towering rage, pointing at Xiao Jingxing's nose and cursing. The Founding Emperor established the capital here so that the Son of Heaven would guard the gates of the nation!
Now the barbarians are merely harassing the borders, and you unfilial descendants are already thinking of abandoning the capital to flee to Jiangnan? I am not dead yet!
More than a dozen memorials smashed against Xiao Jingxing's head and shoulders, scattering all over the floor.
Xiao Jingxing was completely stunned by the beating. He could not understand how his Imperial Father, who had just shown signs of fatigue, had suddenly turned hostile.
He immediately pretended to beg for mercy, stammering incoherently, Calm your anger, Imperial Father! Your son knows his mistakes! Your son... your son only heard rumors, I absolutely have no such intentions, Imperial Father!
Get out! Roll back to your princely estate and reflect on your mistakes behind closed doors! Without my decree, if you dare step half a foot outside your gates, I will break your legs!
The Emperor roared, kicking over the nearby charcoal basin, sending sparks flying everywhere.
How could Xiao Jingxing dare to stay a moment longer? He scrambled out of the Imperial Study, practically rolling and crawling. Not even bothering to pick up the jade pendant he had dropped on the floor, he was propped up by the two young eunuchs as he fled in panic from the vicinity of the Palace of Eternal Spring.
It wasn't until he stood in the alleyway, blowing in the cold wind for a long time, that he recalled the scenes in the Imperial Study just now.
Although he had been cursed out viciously and grounded, upon careful consideration, his Imperial Father's anger had been directed at those courtiers proposing the capital's relocation, and he had not forced him to go to the northern border again.
Moreover, the bait of moving the capital had been solidly dropped right before the Emperor.
"Mother Consort was right. As long as these waters are muddied, I will be safe." Xiao Jingxing pulled his cloak tighter around himself. A smug smile surfaced on his pale face as he walked out of the palace, supported by a eunuch.
Inside the Imperial Study.
The doors of the hall were carefully closed by Companion Li, shutting out the sound of the wind outside.
The angry expression on the Emperor's face vanished without a trace the moment the doors shut. Ignoring the mess scattered across the floor, he walked straight to the massive map of the Great Qian territory on the eastern side of the hall.
Companion Li knelt on the ground, deftly picking up the scattered memorials one by one and stacking them neatly in a pile, not even daring to breathe too loudly.
With his hands behind his back, the Emperor's gaze wandered over the map.
From the Yin Mountains all the way down, crossing the Yellow River, and spanning the Yangtze River.
His eyes finally stopped on the prosperous and flourishing Jiangnan Circuit, with its dense network of waterways.
He raised his right hand, his withered fingers tapping heavily on that area twice.
"The eldest does have the ambition, but he is a bit too stupid. He is being sold out and is still helping them count the money." The Emperor's voice echoed in the empty hall, carrying a chilling calmness. "However, since the stage for this capital relocation has been set, wouldn't I be letting down the noble families' painstaking efforts if I didn't play along with their little show?"
The Emperor turned around and looked at the secret memorial from the Northern Frontier, which was pressed at the very bottom of the desk. An unfathomable smile surfaced on his face.
