This eight-hundred-li urgent dispatch, sent from the Northern Barrier Pass, had killed five relay horses before it could be placed on his desk just before nightfall.
Tie Lanshan's handwriting was as rough and even somewhat sloppy as ever, devoid of any ornate rhetoric favored by civil officials and strategists, the entire text exuding a straightforward and fierce spirit steeped in years on the battlefield.
The old emperor completely skipped over the complicated reports on troop formations and deployments, focusing all his attention on the words "breaking twenty heavy armored riders with a single arm."
After a long while, the old emperor casually tossed the memorial aside, and it landed on the broad imperial desk.
Eunuch Li, his back hunched and his hands steadily holding a lacquered tea tray, stepped lightly.
On the tray rested a freshly brewed cup of Junshan Silver Needle tea, its rising steam carrying a faint, bitter fragrance.
"Your Majesty, reading memorials for too long strains the eyes. Moisten your throat," Eunuch Li said as he presented the tea cup, then wisely retreated half a step with his hands tucked into his sleeves.
The old emperor did not open his eyes. He merely stopped tapping on the desk, picked up the tea cup, and skimmed off the floating leaves.
Just as Eunuch Li thought his master was about to issue an decree regarding the northern front, the old emperor asked a completely unrelated question.
"Companion Li, how old is Xu Youde this year? Fifty-something?"
Eunuch Li was caught off guard for half a breath.
As the Chief Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, he handled countless official resumes every day and had long memorized the backgrounds of all civil and military officials.
But being suddenly asked about the age of the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, his mind raced through several possibilities.
Such seemingly random inquiries often harbored the most unfathomable imperial intentions.
He swallowed all those extra speculations and replied with the humblest smile.
"Your Majesty, regarding Vice Minister Xu's age... this servant would indeed need to check the grand council's archives carefully. But judging from what this servant sees at court meetings, he appears to be about forty-five or forty-six."
After hearing this, the old emperor leaned toward the tea, blew on it, and gave a faint smile.
"This family sure knows how to breed."
The old emperor took a sip of tea.
"Shen Lian."
From the shadows behind a folding screen in the side hall, a man in a black, cloud-patterned Flying Fish uniform stepped out silently and knelt on one knee five paces from the imperial desk.
As the actual master of the Great Qian Imperial City Office, Shen Lian rarely showed himself before the civil and military officials.
He took orders only from the master of this dragon throne, serving as the fastest and most ruthless blade of the Great Qian dynasty, tasked with carrying out all unspeakable decrees.
"Your servant is here." Shen Lian lowered his head.
The old emperor pushed forward the urgent dispatch from Tie Lanshan, tapping the desk with two fingers.
"A military report from the Northern Barrier Pass. Take a look."
Shen Lian rose, stepped forward two paces, and took the memorial with both hands.
Without any hesitation, he opened it and scanned it quickly.
This border battle was beyond the scope of the Imperial City Office's investigations, but he knew full well that if the emperor had him read it, there was a point he needed to address.
The dispatch recorded Xu Zhan's astonishing feats: fighting the Helian vanguard alone on the barren beach, beheading the turncoat generals Ma Jin'an and He Minghu, and even single-handedly breaking through twenty riders of the Helian heavy armored Iron Pagoda cavalry.
Every word that fell into Shen Lian's eyes carved a deeper gravity onto his usually expressionless face.
"What do you think after reading it?"
"If you were to face this Xu Zhan, what are your odds of victory?"
The question was extremely perilous.
The Great Qian dynasty had tens of thousands of military officers, yet the old emperor chose to ask the commander of the Imperial City Office about a roving commander of the Northern Pacification Army.
Shen Lian carefully closed the memorial and placed it respectfully back on the imperial desk.
He did not rush to pledge loyalty or utter pleasantries to please the emperor.
The Helian court's Iron Pagoda cavalry, both rider and horse clad in heavy armor, were an impenetrable wall once they charged.
Twenty such cavalrymen, crushed to pieces by a single meteoric iron mace—such a brutal scene could not be achieved by ordinary sword techniques or saber moves; it required pure, explosive, brutal strength.
"Your Majesty," Shen Lian raised his head, meeting the old emperor's gaze, "the strength in that man's arm alone approaches that of the Overlord of Western Chu from years past. With such peerless might that can repel the Iron Pagoda in frontal combat, the account in this memorial is no exaggeration."
He paused.
"If your servant were to fight with full force, using agility and hidden weapons, he could at best achieve a draw with him. If he were in a hopeless situation and fought recklessly, trading death for death... your servant would not be able to emerge unscathed."
Such a frank admission, boosting another's spirit while deflating his own, would normally earn any military officer the charge of fearing the enemy like a tiger.
But Shen Lian spoke it openly.
The blade of the Imperial City Office was meant for one decisive strike and covert assassination... military formations and pitched battles were not his forte.
The old emperor did not grow angry at Shen Lian's concession.
He looked at this trusted subordinate whom he had personally promoted, and his fingers began tapping slowly on the desk again.
"I have nurtured you for sixteen years."
"In these sixteen years, you have handled countless unspeakable tasks for me. You have killed imperial officials, slain rovers and outlaws, and dealt with numerous death squad sent by other nations."
"This is the first time I have heard the word 'draw' from your lips."
The old emperor slowly sat upright.
He understood Shen Lian's background better than anyone.
If even Shen Lian was unsure of emerging unscathed, what terrifying combat prowess that must be.
And such a tiger, capable of tearing open heavy armor with bare hands on the battlefield, was now truly living in the Xu family.
Shen Lian immediately knelt on both knees: "Your servant's skills are inadequate; please punish me, Your Majesty."
"Rise. There's no need to beg for death at every turn." The old emperor waved his hand casually, steering the conversation away from the comparison of martial prowess.
"This Xu family has truly put on a grand spectacle for me lately."
The old emperor began counting on his bony fingers, enumerating the earth-shattering feats this family had recently accomplished.
"A mere girl, carrying the imperial commissioner's golden token I gave her and heading north. How many days has it been? She uprooted the hidden agents in the Northern Barrier Pass and even reached into the backyard of the Helian court, releasing a starving dog to bite Ashina Hongfang."
"Tsk tsk tsk. Such audacity is beyond the heavens."
He pressed down one finger and continued.
"The second son started as a centurion who had lost an arm in death row. Once outside the pass, even the Northern Barrier Pass General Tie Lanshan petitioned for this extraordinary merit in his memorial."
The old emperor pressed down another finger, his gaze drifting toward the capital outside the great hall.
"The eldest son left in the capital, usually seen as a good-for-nothing eldest son of a baron who only eats, drinks, and enjoys himself. Behind the scenes, he manipulated that Shipping Hall, which has now directly implicated all the hidden corruption in the Ministry of Revenue."
Finally, the old emperor's hand stopped in midair, letting out a dry laugh that could be either mockery or praise.
"And there's their father, Xu Youde, who puts on an act for me on the court every day."
"That old fox rides the tide better than anyone. In the Ministry of Revenue, he steadily plays the part of a living target, drawing the fire hotter and hotter."
The old emperor laid out all the hidden cards of the Xu family's four members in one breath.
These words were spoken lightly, but to Eunuch Li and Shen Lian, every syllable carried the weight of thunder.
After tallying up this long account, the old emperor slowly rose from the dragon throne. He did not bother with an outer robe, wearing only thin garments as he clasped his hands behind his back and paced leisurely through the spacious side chamber.
Eunuch Li quickly held his breath and retreated to the side, shrinking most of his body into the shadows.
"The Xu family’s game of chess is on the verge of a grand victory," the old emperor said, stopping before a bronze ice chest, feeling the cool air rising steadily from it. "The Heren people’s rear camp is likely about to catch fire, and the military grain case will conveniently drag out those corrupt elements of the canal gang, nailing Shang Qitai firmly."
"But the victory is too clean—so clean that it leaves me not a single flaw to seize. This kind of flawless purity only unsettles my sleep."
A ruler’s greatest unease lies in a subject’s absolute perfection, leaving no room for suspicion.
A family whose literary arm could shake the court, whose martial arm could intimidate a hundred-thousand-strong army at the border, and even whose women could scheme to outwit a foreign royal court—such a family, if content with its station, would be a blessing earned over generations for the empire. But if their ambitions reached further, then such power became dangerous.
The old emperor slowly walked to where Shen Lian stood, looking down at this razor of the empire, whose head remained bowed.
"Shen Lian, you have been by my side for so long, and your judgment of people has always been keen. Tell me—after all the effort Xu Qinghuan has put into orchestrating this earth-shaking scheme, what exactly does she want?"
Shen Lian still did not lift his head. His tone remained absolute in its restraint: "This servant does not know. The Imperial Intelligence Bureau has thoroughly investigated all the Xu family’s records from the past three years, and found no act of overreach."
"I do not know either," the old emperor said, returning to the imperial desk, his gaze falling on the memorial that had been carelessly tossed aside. "It is precisely because I do not know what she wants that something feels unsettled in my heart, leaving me unable to sleep soundly."
If the Xu family sought wealth, Xu Youde’s embezzled treasures would have been uncovered long ago, and the emperor could fabricate any pretext to confiscate their properties and exterminate their lineage.
If the Xu family craved boundless power, Xu Qinghuan already held the imperial commissioner’s token that commanded authority as if the emperor himself were present; Xu Zhan was about to be granted a high rank and regain command of the military; and Xu Youde was already the second-in-command in the Ministry of Revenue.
If they aimed higher—would they seek a prince’s title outside the imperial clan? Or were they plotting something even more taboo, more unthinkable?
These dark thoughts circled the side chamber several times before the old emperor seated himself again on the hard dragon throne.
All suspicion and wariness were skillfully concealed behind his seemingly clouded eyes.
For now, the situation had not yet reached the point where he could openly settle scores with the Xu family.
The northern border required Xu Qinghuan’s venomous blade to stall the Heren cavalry, and the court needed Xu Youde, that sharp but troublesome tool, to drag down Shang Qitai’s faction.
As long as the pieces on the chessboard moved within the rules he had set, he could tolerate them.
"Companion Li," the old emperor called out.
The grand eunuch, huddled in the corner, hurried forward, his head nearly touching his chest: "Your servant is here."
"Go, summon Xu Jie to the palace," the old emperor said, lifting his teacup. He drank without caring that the tea had already gone lukewarm. "The autumn examinations are imminent. I want to hear directly from this Grand Secretary what his real plan is."
The shift was swift. One moment, he had been discussing the breathtaking military achievements at the border; the next, he aimed his spear straight at the upcoming imperial examinations.
Eunuch Li dared not delay a single moment. With a loud "Your servant obeys," he backed out of the side chamber and hurried off to deliver the decree.
Shen Lian also took the opportunity to rise. At a wave of the old emperor’s hand, he vanished once more into the layered shadows behind the screen, leaving no trace of even a sleeve’s outline.
The side chamber was left again with only the old emperor.
He stirred the agarwood ashes in the rosewood incense burner.
Then, he picked up Tie Lanshan’s memorial once more.
He flipped to the final page, where Tie Lanshan had written heartfelt words requesting merits for the Breakthrough Camp and Xu Zhan.
The old emperor’s eyes traced the ink from top to bottom, finally stopping at the last sentence: "This sky-shattering military achievement proves the unmatched valor of Great Qian’s warriors."
The unmatched valor of Great Qian’s warriors.
These words were bold and heroic, imbued with the unbridled arrogance of a military man.
He stared fixedly at those two characters and, facing the empty side chamber, repeated them in an extremely low tone:
"Sky-shattering?"
