Outside Daming Palace, officials arrived one after another, some on horseback, others in carriages, all hurrying to Zichen Hall.
The news of Cui Xun striking the grievance drum to accuse the Empress Dowager and His Majesty had spread throughout every corner of the Great Zhou. Everyone had but one thought:
Cui Xun had gone mad.
In the hundred-plus years since the founding of the Great Zhou, no one had dared to accuse the Emperor. Or rather, in the previous dynasty’s two hundred years, and all dynasties before, never had anyone dared to accuse an Emperor.
This was a complete violation of natural order, a contempt for ethical principles, something heaven itself would not tolerate!
People rushed to Zichen Hall just to denounce this treasonous wretch who had no respect for father or sovereign.
With the important officials gathered, the Longxing Emperor sat regally upon his throne while the Empress Dowager sat behind a pearl curtain. This mother and son, the highest authorities in the Great Zhou, now wore extremely grim expressions.
The Longxing Emperor glared at Cui Xun kneeling below the hall, almost grinding his teeth in anger. His handsome face contorted with rage. He wanted nothing more than to drag Cui Xun away for a death by a thousand cuts, but he couldn’t. The entire Chang’an City was already filled with discussion. He had to force Cui Xun to admit to the crime of making false accusations while he was still alive.
He berated him: “Cui Xun, what is your true intention in slandering Us and the Empress Dowager like this?”
Cui Xun looked up at the exalted Emperor of the Great Zhou. In Zichen Hall, everyone was dressed in splendid attire with formal hats and broad belts, while he alone wore prison clothes, his hair disheveled, his body weighed down by heavy chains, an utterly wretched sight. Yet despite his miserable condition, he straightened his back like a bamboo in wind and rain—even if bent and nearly broken by the violent storm, given the slightest chance, it would straighten up again, unyielding and fighting to the end.
Facing the Emperor’s fury, Cui Xun’s eyes showed not the slightest fear. He said: “If Your Majesty believes I am slandering you, then do you dare, here in Zichen Hall, to refute these so-called slanders one by one?”
The Longxing Emperor was speechless with rage. The assembled officials were also furious. One official rebuked: “Cui Xun, who do you think you are to demand that His Majesty refute your accusations?”
Cui Xun smiled faintly: “Indeed, I am nothing, and I have no right to demand His Majesty refute my accusations. But I wonder, do the fifty thousand Tianwei Army soldiers buried at Luoyan Ridge, or the people of the six provinces crushed under the Turks’ iron hooves, have the right to demand answers from Your Majesty?”
The official was stunned, stammering: “Since ancient times… since ancient times… There has never been a precedent for subjects questioning their sovereign…”
Cui Xun turned his head to look at him, seeing the official grow uncomfortable. Cui Xun suddenly smiled: “Minister Feng, can you hear someone crying?”
Minister Feng anxiously looked around: “Where… where is someone crying? Cui Xun, stop spreading such bewitching tales!”
“You can’t hear it?” Cui Xun said. “Minister Feng, can you truly not hear the weeping? Can you not hear the cries of fifty thousand loyal souls who fought valiantly at the front lines, only to be framed despite their loyalty? Can you not hear the cries of the hardworking, honest people of six provinces who supported their sovereign, only to be betrayed? Their cries are deafening, echoing throughout Zichen Hall!”
Minister Feng’s eyes widened, his forehead breaking out in sweat. He stammered, unable to utter a single word.
Cui Xun gazed around at the assembled officials and continued: “I ask all of you, do the bones of fifty thousand Great Zhou soldiers and the blood and tears of the people of six provinces have the right to question their sovereign?”
The officials gritted their teeth in silence. None dared say yes, and none dared say no. In the deathly stillness, the Longxing Emperor gave a cold laugh: “Very well, Cui Xun. You use the soldiers and people to pressure me. If I refuse to answer you, wouldn’t I appear to be neglecting my people? I won’t fall into your trap. I will answer your questions!”
At these words, several elder statesmen fell to their knees with tears streaming down their faces, crying out: “Your Majesty, you mustn’t!”
The Longxing Emperor waved them off, glaring at Cui Xun: “The innocent have nothing to fear. What should I be afraid of? Cui Xun, ask what you will!”
Behind the pearl curtain, the Empress Dowager’s fingers slowly tightened around the hem of her deep blue robe, her expression growing increasingly anxious. But with the curtain shielding her, no one could see her expression. Cui Xun had already begun speaking deliberately:
“May I ask Your Majesty, in the fourteenth year of Longxing, when the Turks invaded Feng Province and six provinces sent urgent pleas for help, did Guo Qinwei, commander of the Tianwei Army, receive a request for aid from Pei Guanyue, the Governor of Feng Province? Did he lead fifty thousand Tianwei troops to Feng Province? Upon arriving, did Guo Qinwei initially wish to defend without engaging in battle, but was forced to send troops by Your Majesty’s imperial edict? With no choice, did he devise a strategy with Pei Guanyue to circle behind the enemy? And when the army reached Luoyan Ridge, were they not surrounded by Turkish cavalry who had laid an ambush? After twenty days of bloody battle, was the entire army not annihilated? After the Tianwei Army’s defeat, did the Turks not break through Feng Province and directly take the six provinces of Guannei Circuit? Your Majesty, do you know of these matters?”
The Longxing Emperor replied impatiently: “This case has been thoroughly investigated by the Three Departments. It has been made clear that Lu Yumin was the mastermind, with Pei Guanyue and Shen Que as accomplices. The three conspired with the Turks to harm loyal officials, committing heinous crimes. My imperial seal was stolen by Lu Yumin and used on a forged edict sent to Feng Province and the Turks. I knew nothing of their actions.”
“Your Majesty truly knew nothing?” asked Cui Xun.
“Of course!” The Longxing Emperor raised his voice. “Had I known, I would have executed the three of them immediately. How could I have allowed them to sell out the country for power?”
“But after their treason, the Empress Dowager, who had heavily relied on the Tianwei Army, became the target of criticism and was forced to retire to Penglai Palace. Your Majesty was then able to seize power, relying on Lu’s faction to challenge the Empress Dowager’s authority. Before this incident, Your Majesty couldn’t even appoint officials without consulting the Empress Dowager. After this incident, Your Majesty was finally free from the Empress Dowager’s control. Therefore, without doubt, the greatest beneficiary of the Tianwei Army case was not Lu Yumin, not Pei Guanyue, nor Shen Que, but Your Majesty.”
As his words fell, the officials’ expressions changed—not because of his statement about the greatest beneficiary, but because of what he said before.
The Great Zhou promoted filial piety between mother and son, and the Emperor and Empress Dowager were expected to be models for the people. Yet the ugly facts of this supreme mother and son struggling for power and scheming against each other in Daming Palace had been mercilessly exposed by Cui Xun. Even though everyone knew about these ugly truths, no one had ever dared to speak of them in front of the mother and son.
Behind the pearl curtain, the Empress Dowager clenched her fingers in anger. The Longxing Emperor’s face flushed red. The Empress Dowager forced words through gritted teeth: “Impudent youth! How dare you!”
The Longxing Emperor also rebuked in fury: “Cui Xun! You are… completely treasonous!”
Cui Xun smiled: “Is speaking the truth treason? Six years have passed since the Tianwei Army case. During these six years, hasn’t Your Majesty been openly and secretly contending with the Empress Dowager? If not, how did Lu’s faction come about? How did Cui’s faction form? Why has the implementation of Taichang New Policies been so difficult? Why can’t merchants take the imperial examinations? Why can’t examination papers be anonymized? Does covering your eyes and plugging your ears, claiming that the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty are a model of maternal kindness and filial piety, make it true? Your Majesty can gouge out my eyes and deafen my ears, but you cannot gouge out the eyes of all people under heaven, nor deafen their ears.”
His words rang out powerfully. Neither the Empress Dowager nor the Longxing Emperor knew how to refute him, for they knew better than anyone else whether they truly embodied maternal kindness and filial piety.
The Longxing Emperor trembled with rage. He struggled to maintain composure: “I will not deign to argue with you about the filial relationship between myself and the Empress Dowager. But you claim I am the greatest beneficiary of the Tianwei Army case—what is your intention? Just because I was deceived by Lu Yumin and others, mistakenly trusting treacherous officials, you want to place the blame for this case on me? Preposterous!”
As the Longxing Emperor vehemently denied the accusations, Cui Xun remained calm. He simply asked: “Was Your Majesty truly deceived? Did Your Majesty truly know nothing of Lu Yumin’s actions?”
“Of course, I knew nothing!”
Cui Xun pulled out a well-preserved piece of white hemp paper from his robe and displayed it before the officials: “This is a court diary from the second day of the ninth month in the fourteenth year of Longxing. It was retrieved from the History Bureau by Palace Attendant Wang Xuan at the risk of his life. It records such an event: Your Majesty had just married, declared a general amnesty, and reduced taxes. The people were grateful for Your Majesty’s benevolence. The people of Qing Province voluntarily went to the Holy Snow Peak to gather snow from the mountaintop and snow lotuses from the cliff’s edge. They brewed a jar of snow lotus wine and presented it to Your Majesty as a wedding gift. Upon receiving this wine, Your Majesty was greatly pleased. After drinking three cups, slightly intoxicated, you said: ‘Such fine wine, it’s a pity I won’t be able to drink it again.'”
The Longxing Emperor’s expression gradually turned to alarm. Cui Xun continued: “Your Majesty’s casual remark was recorded by the court diarist, who thought nothing of it. The matter was too minor, and Your Majesty, upon sobering up, probably didn’t remember it. What’s more, not even the sovereign can view the Great Zhou’s court diaries. With records as vast as clouds, even someone as cautious as Lu Yumin would not have noticed this entry. Thus, this page remained in the History Bureau until recently, when Palace Attendant Wang Xuan was ordered to compile historical records. Wang Xuan, meticulous as he was, saw this page and immediately grew suspicious. Qing Province fell in the eleventh month. How did Your Majesty know beforehand that you would never again drink the fine wine of Qing Province?”
The Longxing Emperor’s face changed drastically. Cui Xun continued slowly: “Unless Your Majesty already knew that Qing Province would soon fall into Turkish hands. That Holy Snow Peak in Qing Province would no longer be accessible. The snow lotuses of Qing Province could no longer be picked. How sad that the people of Qing Province, happily risking danger, willingly climbing the peak to gather lotus flowers just to congratulate their sovereign on his marriage, never imagined that their sovereign was planning to hand them over to the Turks. Planning to let Turkish iron hooves trample their land and slaughter their children. Planning to use their lives to seize the power to rule. That jar of snow lotus wine was not merely wine—it was also the blood and tears of the people of Qing Province!”
In Zichen Hall, there was a deathly silence. All the officials’ eyes were fixed on the Longxing Emperor on his throne, including those elder statesmen who had knelt and wept earlier, pleading the Emperor’s case. Now they all looked at the Longxing Emperor with trembling lips. The Emperor’s fingers were shaking. He clenched his fist, his nails digging into his palm. The sharp pain brought him back to his senses:
“Cui Xun! You attempt to slander me based on a single page from a court diary! Hah, an ordinary statement—what can it prove? How do you know I wasn’t thinking of halting Qing Province’s tributes to avoid burdening the people when I spoke those words? I think you’ve gone completely mad!”
“If Your Majesty believes that one page from a court diary proves nothing, then what about Wang Xuan who tore out that page? He was captured by Consort Hui, tortured to death, and his body buried in the wilderness outside Changchun Temple! Before he died, he wrote four words on my palm: ‘Emperor killed six provinces.’ Consort Hui herself admitted that the torture of Wang Xuan was not her scheme alone. Moreover, the Imperial Guards helping her commit these atrocities were all Your Majesty’s guards. If Your Majesty still feels wronged, you can certainly have the Three Departments investigate: who ordered Consort Hui to abduct Wang Xuan? And who ordered Consort Hui to torture Wang Xuan to death? If it wasn’t Your Majesty, an investigation would clear your name.”
The veins on the Longxing Emperor’s forehead throbbed. He raged: “Absurd! Setting aside that Consort Hui killing Wang Xuan is merely your one-sided claim, even if it were truly Consort Hui’s doing, what does that have to do with me? I simply found Consort Hui gentle and favored her, but due to her Turkish identity, I painfully expelled her from the palace. Yet out of the affection we once shared, I sent my own Imperial Guards to protect her. What’s wrong is there in that?”
“Consort Hui was gentle?” Cui Xun scoffed. “Ashina Jia was indeed gentle, but Consort Hui has nothing to do with gentleness.”
The Longxing Emperor’s face changed. He tried to remain composed: “I don’t understand what you’re saying. Isn’t Consort Hui Ashina Jia?”
Cui Xun smiled faintly: “Does Your Majesty not know that Consort Hui is not Ashina Jia, daughter of Sutai, but Ashina Wuduo, daughter of Nidu?”
The Longxing Emperor’s eyes widened: “I didn’t know…”
“But Jin Ni confessed that Your Majesty knew all along that Consort Hui was not Ashina Jia. It’s in black and white at the Investigation Office.” Cui Xun shook his head. “What’s the point of Your Majesty’s falsehoods?”
The Longxing Emperor was completely stunned. Only now did he realize he had fallen into Cui Xun’s trap. His previous denials now seemed particularly weak. Just how much did Cui Xun know? How much evidence did he have in hand?
He dared not speak another word, realizing that the more he said, the more mistakes he made.
He glared at Cui Xun, sweat streaming down his forehead. The court officials were utterly silent. The Longxing Emperor desperately scanned the crowd, secretly hoping that someone would step forward to refute Cui Xun.
As if his hope had effect, an official who was known for flattery stepped forward and loudly rebuked Cui Xun: “Cui Xun, you traitor who surrendered to the Turks, what is your true intention in slandering your sovereign like this? Are you in league with the barbarians, trying to create chaos in our Great Zhou?”
With one sentence, the focus shifted. The officials grew doubtful. Indeed, how credible were Cui Xun’s words? How could they doubt their sovereign because of this traitor?
As the officials debated among themselves, Cui Xun bit his lip. Slowly, he undid his collar, removed his upper garment, and bared his torso. Countless scars were suddenly revealed.
Amid the commotion, Cui Xun spoke, each word distinct: “I, Cui Xun, have never surrendered to the Turks, nor would I ever be blinded by greed to conspire with barbarians and become a traitor despised for ten thousand generations!”