“Hahahahahaha!”
The old emperor’s wild laughter echoed throughout the Hall of Heavenly Mandate.
The civil and military officials knelt in a solid mass. No one dared to move. No one dared to raise his head.
Then, all at once, the laughter stopped.
Seated upon the Dragon Throne, the old emperor slowly leaned forward.
The twelve strands of beads hanging from his imperial crown swayed gently. Through the gaps between the jade beads, his deep gaze fell upon two men.
Liu Yong, Minister of Rites, and Zhang Lang, Vice Minister of War.
The great hall descended into absolute silence.
A few hushed discussions broke out in the corners, only to be quickly stifled.
“Minister Liu,” the old emperor said. “Vice Minister Zhang.”
At those words, Liu Yong, kneeling near the front, flinched violently.
“Earlier, the two of you proposed sending envoys beyond the passes to negotiate peace and withdraw our troops.” The old emperor’s fingers tapped slowly against the armrest of the Dragon Throne. “I gave it some thought just now. It does sound like a prudent solution.”
The officials’ hearts lurched. Not one of them dared respond.
The old emperor stopped tapping and looked down coldly.
“The hundred thousand taels of silver in annual tribute, along with thirty thousand bolts of the finest silk—when the Ministry of Revenue cannot produce them, I can make up the difference from the imperial treasury.”
“But once the money and goods are gathered and loaded onto carts, how exactly are they to be sent beyond the passes?”
Liu Yong trembled like a leaf. Cold sweat dripped from his chin.
“Liu Yong, enlighten me,” the old emperor said, each word cutting to the bone. “Should we melt the silver into liquid and send it? Or invite some eminent monk to perform a ritual and burn the money and silk for the souls of those fifty thousand Hu dead, offering them as funeral gifts?”
“Your Majesty! I deserve death!”
Liu Yong’s voice broke. He straightened up, only to slam his forehead against the floor again.
“Your Majesty, spare me! This servant was foolish! I deserve to die!”
Zhang Lang began kowtowing frantically as well.
Blood slowly spread across the golden bricks.
The old emperor’s face remained devoid of sorrow or anger.
He said not another word. He merely raised his right hand and gave a casual wave.
Beside the imperial desk, Eunuch Li lowered his eyes and flicked his horsetail whisk outward.
“Summon the Grand Imperial Guards to the hall!” Eunuch Li’s voice rang out, sharp and shrill.
Heavy footsteps approached from outside.
Four Grand Imperial Guards clad in heavy armor, swords hanging at their waists, strode expressionlessly into the Hall of Heavenly Mandate.
They walked straight to Liu Yong and Zhang Lang.
Two of the guards reached out and tore the black gauze cap from Liu Yong’s head.
The other two seized Zhang Lang by the shoulders and hauled him to his feet.
“Your Majesty! This old servant knows his crime! I beg Your Majesty for mercy!” Liu Yong wailed.
The Grand Imperial Guards moved with brisk efficiency.
With a hard tug, they stripped away the crimson robes of the Minister of Rites and threw them onto the floor.
Zhang Lang no longer even had the strength to cry out. His legs had gone limp, and he allowed the soldiers to strip off his official robes.
The sound of dragging footsteps rang out.
The two senior officials, left wearing only white undergarments, were held by the arms and dragged straight through the entrance of the Hall of Heavenly Mandate, one guard on either side.
The entire process took less than ten breaths.
Silence once again returned to the hall.
Sun Cheng, the Minister of Justice, knelt toward the rear. His clothes were already soaked through with sweat.
He kept his eyes shut and scarcely dared to breathe.
After today, no one in this court would ever dare mention the word “retreat” again.
The old emperor sat upright once more.
“The Pacifying North Pass has won,” he said, looking down upon the assembled officials, his tone turning cold.
“Xu Zhan took two hundred cavalrymen and burned the Hu encampment. But at the same time, the northern frontier’s defenses were utterly destroyed. Seven or eight out of every ten soldiers stationed at the Pacifying North Pass and the Western Route Prefecture were killed or wounded.”
The officials pricked up their ears, waiting for what the emperor would say next.
“I seem to recall that earlier, this court agreed that all officials would contribute funds to replenish the army.” The old emperor’s gaze swept over the assembled officials.
“Will you gentlemen still delay handing over that silver today?”
First, he had used the great victory to eliminate the peace faction. Now he was using the military losses to force the officials to bleed money.
The emperor had every advantage, both within and beyond the court, under his calculation.
At the very front of the civil officials stood Grand Secretary Xu Jie.
He straightened his robes, stepped out of formation, and walked to the center of the hall.
“Your Majesty, this servant has a memorial to present.” Xu Jie raised his ivory tablet in both hands and spoke in a clear voice. “The great victory at the Pacifying North Pass is an extraordinary feat the Great Qian has not seen in a century. The soldiers of the northern frontier fought in blood and defended the ancestral temples. Contributing funds to replenish the army is only the duty of your servants.”
Xu Jie paused, then raised his voice.
“This servant humbly requests that Your Majesty issue an edict designating all money and provisions collected in this contribution as ‘military reward funds,’ and assign them entirely to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue.”
“Let the funds be reserved for their stated purpose: rewarding the three armies of the northern frontier and providing relief to the families of fallen soldiers. Within three days, the Grand Secretariat will submit a full register for Your Majesty’s review. We will never allow the soldiers at the front to shed both blood and tears.”
With only a few words, he had transformed the enormous sum originally intended to finance a southward evacuation into funds recorded in the military reward accounts.
The old emperor looked at Xu Jie, a strange glimmer passing through his eyes.
“The Grand Secretary is prudent and dependable. Approved,” the old emperor said with a nod.
But Xu Jie did not return to his place.
Still holding his tablet aloft, he assumed an expression of utmost solemnity.
“Your Majesty is wise and gracious.” Xu Jie continued, “The Xu siblings defended the gates of the realm in place of Great Qian, saving the dynasty from certain collapse and accomplishing a feat without equal.”
Xu Jie looked around at the assembled officials and said solemnly:
“As the saying goes, those who render meritorious service must be rewarded, so that all may be convinced. This servant humbly requests that Your Majesty bestow a generous reward upon the Xu family, to demonstrate the grace of Heaven!”
The atmosphere in the great hall changed at once.
Reward the Xu family.
Xu Youde, Minister of Revenue, already stood at the pinnacle of power.
If his children were now granted substantial rewards as well, the Xu family would become an overwhelming force at court.
The Minister of War clenched his teeth.
He knew he could no longer hide.
If the Xu family completely surpassed the Ministry of War in authority, then his days as Minister would be numbered.
He rose stiffly, walked to Xu Jie’s side, and knelt on the floor.
“This servant has a memorial to present!” the Minister of War cried.
The old emperor looked at him coldly. “Speak.”
“Your Majesty, Xu Zhan is indeed brave,” the Minister of War said cautiously. “However, Great Qian’s military law is strict.”
“Xu Zhan acted without military orders and led troops into battle on his own initiative. Though he achieved an extraordinary victory, his actions violated our ancestral institutions. The common people may well criticize it.”
The Minister of War raised his head.
“If he is heavily rewarded, I fear the commanders in the army will become resentful. In this servant’s opinion, he should be granted gold, silver, and farmland, along with a ceremonial title, to demonstrate the vastness of Your Majesty’s imperial grace.”
He sought to use the phrase “ancestral institutions” to crush any possibility of a significant reward for Xu Zhan.
The old emperor listened in silence.
He picked up a white jade paperweight from the imperial desk.
Bang!
The paperweight flew past the Minister of War’s official cap and smashed into two pieces.
Fragments of jade scattered in every direction.
The Minister of War collapsed onto the floor, terrified, his entire body rigid.
“Ancestral institutions?” The old emperor rose to his feet, his voice filled with fury. “Did the Ministry of War hold fast to ancestral institutions and defend the Pacifying North Pass for me? Did it hold fast to ancestral institutions and repel fifty thousand Hu cavalry?”
The emperor’s roar reverberated throughout the great hall.
“With an army of fifty thousand bearing down upon us, you officials of the Ministry of War shrank away in the capital and did not even dare make a sound!”
The old emperor pointed at the Minister of War.
“Now, the Xu family’s son, who had suffered severe injuries, led two hundred men and burned the Hu army’s entire encampment to ashes! He dragged Great Qian’s realm back from the edge of a cliff!”
The old emperor strode down from the imperial dais and stopped at the edge of the golden steps.
“Such a great achievement—saving the state from fire and flood—and you still dare invoke your stale ancestral institutions before me! The army’s morale has been ruined by incompetent, muddle-headed fools like you!”
The Minister of War buried his head between his arms and repeatedly begged forgiveness.
The old emperor ignored him and turned to Eunuch Li.
“Draft the edict!” the old emperor commanded in a deep voice.
The assembled officials all bowed lower.
“Xu Zhan, second son of the Earl of Sincerity—”
The old emperor’s voice rang out, clear and powerful.
“Courageous beyond compare. With two hundred light cavalry, he broke through an enemy camp of fifty thousand under cover of night; slew the enemy commander, destroyed their siege engines, and lifted the crisis at the northern frontier.”
“Bestow upon him the rank of General of Illustrious Valor, Third Rank!”
“Grant him a qilin robe!”
The assembled officials were deeply shaken.
A powerful military post of the Third Rank, along with the imperial gift of a qilin robe—this was already an extraordinary favor.
Yet the old emperor had not finished.
“And bestow upon him the hereditary title, the Marquis of Pacifying the North!”
Boom!
The officials’ minds erupted like thunder.
A marquis! And one whose title could be inherited forever!
It had been sixty years since the Great Qian Dynasty had granted a marquisate to anyone outside the imperial clan, let alone a hereditary title of such permanence—a true iron-cap title.
A man of humble origins had, through a single battle, leapt over every civil and military official and ascended straight to the heavens!
The great hall fell utterly silent. No one dared step forward to object.
The old emperor continued reading the decree.
“Imperial Envoy Xu Qinghuan suppressed the cursed deadlands and sealed the city with an iron fist.”
“She implemented extraordinary measures, saving lives and bringing relief to the people.”
“She safeguarded the four hundred thousand soldiers and civilians of Zhenbei Pass.”
“As a special exception, grant her the First-Rank Noble Lady title!”
“She shall have the authority to submit confidential memorials directly to the throne concerning major matters of court policy and national military affairs!”
A First-Rank Noble Lady title, along with the right to submit confidential memorials directly to the emperor.
This was nothing less than the terrifying privilege to intervene in state affairs and bypass the Grand Secretariat and the Six Ministries to appeal directly to the Son of Heaven.
The Xu siblings—two outstanding figures from a single family—now held power that shook the entire court!
The assembled officials knelt upon the floor. Their hearts churned like a stormy sea, but they could only swallow their astonishment in silence.
The old emperor looked down at the officials below him, and the anger filling his chest gradually subsided.
He turned and walked back to the imperial throne, then slowly sat down.
“Grand Secretary,” the old emperor said, his tone becoming calmer.
“This subject is here,” Xu Jie replied.
“You will personally draft these decrees.” The old emperor looked at Xu Jie, his eyes deep and unfathomable. “Add another oral instruction as well. The northern frontier has only just been pacified, and its defenses are in desperate need of rebuilding.”
“Xu Zhan is still suffering from old injuries. He should not remain for long in the bitter cold of the borderlands.”
The old emperor’s fingers rubbed slowly over the armrest of the throne.
“Order him to complete the handover of all defenses beyond the pass and set out for the capital at once. I want to personally host a banquet for him in the capital and formally confer his title. He should take the opportunity to rest and recover properly.”
Xu Jie’s heart tightened.
“This old subject obeys,” he said, cupping his hands.
“You may all withdraw.” The old emperor waved his hand, his face full of weariness.
The civil and military officials in the great hall fell to their knees in unison.
“His Majesty is wise! His Imperial Grace is boundless!”
“Long live His Majesty! Long live! Long live!”
The cries of “Long live” echoed through the Hall of Heavenly Proclamation, continuing for a long while.
Amid the thunderous waves of acclamation, this treacherous and unpredictable court session finally drew to a close.
The old emperor rose to his feet. Eunuch Li hurried forward and supported him by the elbow.
The ruler and his ministers left the great hall.
Following the white-jade corridor, the old emperor came to a side hall beside the Hall of Heavenly Proclamation.
He stopped and gazed at the sky beyond the roof eaves.
The northern wind howled.
The old emperor’s eyes turned toward the distant south.
“By my reckoning…” he murmured, his tone carrying a hint of inscrutable meaning. “That old bastard Xu Youde should have entered Jiangnan by now.”
“The Xu family… The Xu family…”
A violent gust swept over the palace walls, sending several withered yellow leaves drifting to the ground.
A new book is coming!
Lin Zhiwei’s lifelong dream: to lie flat, slack off, and be a happy little salted fish!
Lin Zhiwei’s real life: the mastermind behind the Qin Dynasty, a peerless chancellor, a divine maiden, and the greatest sage of all time!
Pretending to Be a Divine Maiden, I Became Ying Zheng’s Beloved
It should be eligible for a recommendation on Fanqie tomorrow! Welcome, my darlings, to come and read it! ᗜ֊ᗜ
I’ll continue updating Qinghuan diligently as well! Now that the northern frontier arc has come to an end, the story ahead will actually be much simpler…
