In the royal court in June, vegetation grew lush and verdant. Tongque carried letters as she walked briskly toward the inner hall of Zhaohua Palace. In the courtyard, the green rice planted this year was growing well—the seedlings had already grown past knee height.
“Princess, the Azure Cloud Guards received an urgent report. The Puershi tribe claims that a Chen Kingdom cavalry unit massacred half their tribe. Their chieftain was also severely injured. The Puershi tribe wants the royal court to give them an explanation.”
Inside the hall, the latticed windows were wide open, and a row of staggered bamboo blinds hung down to block some of the sunlight.
At the desk by the window piled high with memorials and bamboo slips, Wen Yu sat behind the desk in a dark blue brocade palace gown. Her simply bound black hair nearly trailed to the ground along with her dark blue skirts.
She supported her forehead with one hand propped on the desk. Her face was like snow-white jade, her cool brows seeming to furrow yet not quite furrow, carrying some weariness.
Hearing this, she raised her eyes. Though her posture showed a frown, those eyes dark and heavy like a piece of ink jade ice glass could only make people feel deep coolness and dark stillness. She took a document from the desk and unfolded it: “The Puershi tribe was attacked? Then who were those people who entered the pass under their tribal name several days ago?”
Tongque also realized something was wrong: “Could it be… someone raided the Puershi tribe, then impersonated them to come to the royal court?”
Wen Yu looked at the urgent report from the Azure Cloud Guards that Tongque handed over. Her brow furrowed tighter as she asked: “Where have the tribal envoys coming to celebrate A’Li’s hundred-day banquet reached by now?”
Tongque answered: “Calculating the schedule, they should arrive at the royal court soon.”
After thinking for a moment, Wen Yu said: “Seal the four passes of the royal court. Don’t let the tribal envoys enter for now. Send Azure Cloud Guards to thoroughly investigate the Puershi tribe attack. Check the other tribes as well. Also send a letter to General Mu Youliang on the western border to clarify what’s going on with that cavalry unit.”
Tongque knew the situation was urgent. She responded and quickly walked outside.
Wind rose in the courtyard. The sun hid behind clouds, and the originally clear sky became somewhat overcast.
A’Li, napping in the cradle, woke up. Seeing Wen Yu not far away bent over the desk contemplating something intently, she didn’t cry. She only kicked off the thin blanket with her strong little legs, making babbling sounds from her mouth.
Wen Yu turned her head. A’Li’s little arms and legs waved even more energetically. She grinned at Wen Yu with a few soft white teeth showing.
Wen Yu gently rocked the cradle twice. The cold wind made the bamboo blinds hanging at the latticed windows and the curtains hanging in the hall flutter and sway. She said softly: “The storm is coming.”
—
Outside the four passes of the royal court, dense masses of iron cavalry spread out in square formations. The deep, resonant sound of horns was carried by cold wind up to the Chen tower. That “Xiao” character banner waving in the gloomy sky appeared stern and imposing, frightening the defending general inside the pass.
“The Xiao character banner? Troops from the Northern Territory’s Xiao camp? How could they appear here?”
“Quickly sound the alarm bell!”
The bronze gong hanging from the tower’s eaves was urgently struck, clanging continuously. Chen soldiers running back and forth on the tower were like black ants protecting a vital point.
Rows of archers and crossbowmen filled the battlements of the tower. The catapults hadn’t been set up yet when, in the military formation below, a siege crossbow drawn taut by dozens of armored soldiers working together to turn the windlass—the crossbowman swung his hammer heavily onto the siege crossbow’s trigger. That specially crafted three-edged giant crossbow bolt immediately shot toward the tower like a ship’s anchor, carrying terrifyingly immense force with a whistling sound.
“General, watch out!” Seeing the situation turning bad, the deputy general on the tower quickly tackled the supervising general to the side.
With a tremendous boom, the brick and stone of the city wall, hard as iron, shattered like rotten wood under that single arrow. After penetrating the outer parapet, it continued with undiminished force to embed itself in the inner city wall.
Witnessing this scene, all were shaken to their core.
The general who got up from the ground covered in lime dust also had a face devoid of any color.
Heavy rain began to fall. Bean-sized water drops spread on the city wall’s blue bricks. Below, that black-background gold-patterned Xiao character banner still fluttered fiercely in the increasingly strong cold wind.
The young commander on horseback before the formation had sharp brows and eyes, like the alpha wolf commanding a pack of beasts. He spoke coldly: “Hand over Hanyang.”
“Otherwise, my Wolf Cavalry will certainly level your Chen royal court.”
The general dared not reply with a single word. He immediately signaled his personal guards behind him to rush to the palace to report.
Chen soldiers ran through the rainstorm. The mud splattered by black boots became wisps of thick ink dissolving in an inkstone.
Wen Yu was rolling up her sleeves, holding a brush to write a letter. Tongque rushed into the hall somewhat losing composure: “Princess, trouble! The Northern Territory’s Xiao camp army is pressing on the royal court!”
Wen Yu’s brush tip paused. The purple writing brush soaked in thick ink left a large stain on the letter paper.
She frowned: “He’s the one who impersonated the Puershi tribe to enter the border?”
But with just the Puershi tribe alone, how many troops could have been allowed through the pass? How did the other side manage to bring such a military force from the border directly to the royal court?
Also, that military unit that impersonated Chen army to attack the Puershi tribe—she didn’t know if it was related to him…
Too many questions surged into Wen Yu’s mind at once. Her expression grave, after brief consideration she said: “Quickly summon all officials for a council.”
—
After using the siege crossbow arrow to intimidate the Chen army, the Wolf Cavalry led by Xiao Li only continued to surround and besiege the city.
Chen Kingdom’s territory was not as vast as Liang territory. It only took a few days to reach the royal court from the border. Moreover, because there were mostly wastelands outside the kingdom’s borders, and the oases in the wasteland supported many tribes that migrated following water sources, Chen Kingdom’s border defenses had always been distributed in scattered points.
Whichever location came under attack, reinforcements from nearby garrisoned areas would rush over.
But in the past two years, to escape Xiling’s threat and return to Liang territory with all their heart, Chen Kingdom had already transferred tens of thousands of troops into Liang territory after reaching cooperation with Wen Yu. This year, the flames of war with Xiling were thoroughly ignited. Over half the troops originally distributed at various border posts throughout the kingdom had already been transferred to support the western border.
The current battle situation on Chen Kingdom’s western border was entirely counting on the Liang territory war ending so they could turn around and help their western border.
Therefore, after Xiao Li led the Wolf Cavalry to deceive the border by impersonating various tribal forces and reached the royal court to besiege the city, apart from the Imperial Guards originally stationed at the royal court who could resist somewhat, Chen Kingdom truly couldn’t transfer any more troops over in the short term.
As soon as Xiao Li entered the tent, the Bashye tribe chieftain he had previously saved became agitated and began gesturing. Due to excessive emotion, he even forgot to speak official speech, chattering away in their tribal language. From his expression, it wasn’t difficult to see he was condemning Xiao Li.
After the Bashye tribe chieftain had asked Xiao Li to come save Wen Yu, he claimed he wanted to rush to the various tribes to deliver warning messages. But he had already suffered an arrow wound. Relying on him alone to rush to the various tribes to deliver messages would likely be too late, so Xiao Li had him write letters and had the Wolf Cavalry deliver them on his behalf.
After the various tribes in the desert learned of the Bashye tribe’s ordeal and Wen Yu’s predicament, they all greatly cherished the brief peace Wen Yu had brought them. They also feared that after Chen Kingdom’s governing power was no longer in Wen Yu’s hands, these tribes would again become sacrificial victims in the struggle between Xiling and Chen Kingdom.
To avoid “alerting the snake” and letting the mole lurking in the royal court get wind and harm Wen Yu, all the tribes agreed to Xiao Li’s arrangement—according to plan, they would enter the royal court to celebrate the young County Princess’s hundred-day banquet, but the gift-bearing retinues accompanying them were all Xiao Li’s Wolf Cavalry.
Their original intention was to enter the capital to protect the sovereign, but Xiao Li now directly besieged the royal court—tantamount to declaring war on the royal court, obviously violating their original wishes.
Zhao Youcai was clever. Having spent these days with the Bashye tribe chieftain, he had already learned quite a bit of their tribal language. Hearing what he said in that tribal language now, he immediately covered the man’s mouth and dragged him backward: “Calm down, calm down. The Lord Marquis definitely has his reasons for doing this.”
Xiao Li took his seat behind the long desk and asked: “What did he say?”
Zhao Youcai said awkwardly: “That… Chieftain Balu said how could you break your word and declare war on the royal court and Princess Hanyang.”
The Bashye tribe chieftain broke free from Zhao Youcai’s restraint, looking at Xiao Li with great anger.
Xiao Li said: “Why did the royal court suddenly seal the four passes?”
The anger on the Bashye tribe chieftain’s face froze.
Xiao Li’s sharp gaze looked at him: “This marquis destroyed two Xiling military units impersonating Chen army to raid the tribes. On the same day I saved Chieftain Balu, the other Xiling military unit I destroyed personally confessed that the Puershi tribe had already been exterminated by them. After Xiling consecutively lost two military units, does Chieftain Balu think that after they realized something was wrong, they would send word to the mole in the royal court?”
Zhao Youcai clapped his hands together anxiously: “This is bad! If the spy in the royal court knows that both the Bashye tribe and Puershi tribe have already met with disaster, but when we entered the pass there were people from both these tribes, that spy might accuse us of entering the royal court with ill intentions before the Princess! They might even take the Princess hostage to protect themselves!”
The Bashye tribe chieftain struggled to digest all this. The anger on his face had completely vanished, transforming into another kind of worry.
He knelt before Xiao Li once again: “Please, Lord Marquis, save the Princess.”
Xiao Li’s form leaned back slightly. His damp hair from returning in the rain scattered messily across his forehead. His elbow with its hard arm guard rested on the chair’s armrest. His eye color was so dark and heavy it was alarming. He said: “I told you, I want Hanyang.”
“They wouldn’t dare touch her.”
—
In the palace’s great hall, Wen Yu sat high on the throne. The pearl curtains that had blocked the view before the steps had been removed—no different from a sovereign holding court.
The officials below had all heard about Xiao Li besieging the royal court. Even the fact that the city-defending general, after one encounter with him, had nearly lost his life under the siege crossbow had already spread. The assembled officials were in an uproar.
At the same time, a woman dressed as an ordinary palace maid carried a tray of newly tailored clothing and hurried toward Lingxi Palace. After being stopped by the guards at the palace gate, she handed over her waist token: “I’m from the Imperial Wardrobe Bureau, here to deliver newly tailored summer clothes to the Empress Dowager.”
After the guard checked her waist token and let the woman enter, she hurriedly walked into the Buddhist hall, knelt and called “Aunt” to the Empress Dowager. After saying something else unknown, the Empress Dowager, who had originally been devoutly worshipping Buddha, suddenly raised her eyes and asked: “Truly?”
…
At Zhanghua Palace, which had been sealed by the Imperial Guards for over a year, Deputy Commander of the Yulin Guards, Yan Zhen, dismissed everyone to the sides. He half-knelt with clasped fists toward the Chen King inside the hall, whose hair and clothes were disheveled, cheeks sunken, his entire person appearing mad: “Your Majesty has suffered.”
Hearing this, the Chen King only laughed mockingly. Dragging his ink-colored royal robes, he sat on the steps inside the hall, chewing on a leftover chicken bone in his mouth. The “crack crack” sound of teeth grinding bone made one’s scalp tingle.
After chewing thoroughly, he spat that chicken bone at Yan Zhen’s feet with a “ptui.” His similarly sunken eyes regarded Yan Zhen with the vicious scrutiny of a venomous snake: “Deputy Commander Yan? What a rare guest indeed!”
—
In the Council Hall, the court officials still argued noisily.
“Though this man rose to fame late, in these years, we’ve never heard of any defeats. That he could unknowingly bring a great army to besiege the royal court—our Chen Kingdom is in danger!”
“This wolf with wild ambitions just allied with us to jointly attack Pei Song, didn’t he? How can he betray his word and turn to attack our Chen Kingdom?”
“I’ve heard that when a Pei camp strategist once framed him, he had the man dismembered alive and cooked; when Wei Qishan wrongly imprisoned him, he killed off Wei Qishan’s entire lineage; having a blood feud with Pei Song over his mother’s death, after seizing his city he even slaughtered twenty thousand surrendered soldiers! This man truly lives up to his name ‘Xiao Yanluo’! How did our Chen Kingdom incur such a tremendous calamity!”
Wen Yu sat above listening to the officials either face catastrophe or grasp for blame. Her hand rested on the throne’s armrest as she pressed her brow. She raised her eyes to interrupt them: “This palace summoned you all here to jointly discuss countermeasures.”
Her voice was clear and deep. After these words fell, she successfully silenced the noisy great hall.
After a moment, it was still Qi Simiao, who had remained silent, who stepped forward: “For now, the only plan is to first summon border defense armies from all routes except the western border to rush to the royal court to protect the sovereign. The desert tribes outside our borders have traded with our Chen Kingdom this past year and benefited considerably—they shouldn’t easily invade. If the Princess also transfers Liang territory troops to come as reinforcements, that would be the best strategy.”
Immediately an official spoke in rebuttal: “For the border defense armies to reach the royal court would take at least three days. Moreover, that wolf has already led his army to press upon the royal court, yet previously the borders sent back no news at all—how do we know the border defense armies haven’t already met with disaster? Taking ten thousand steps back, even if the border defense armies still exist, can the royal court’s Imperial Guards withstand his fierce tiger-wolf army for three days?”
As soon as these words came out, extremely quiet discussion arose in the court hall, but no one came forward to refute.
Wen Yu spoke amid this hall full of silence: “Since he proposed to see this palace, this palace will personally ascend the tower to negotiate peace with him when the time comes. Even if peace cannot be negotiated, it will still buy the full three days’ time.”
After the assembled officials discussed in low voices, they all felt this was the best method for now.
But from outside the great hall came a voice: “This Xiao Li is most vengeful. The Yu father and son who offended him, the Wei family, the twenty thousand Pei camp surrendered soldiers—the Princess hasn’t forgotten what fate befell them all, has she?”
Two rows of Yulin Guards entered. Their armor collided with dull sounds. Yan Zhen emerged from behind the Yulin Guards, looking directly at Wen Yu seated high on the throne for the first time: “Doesn’t the Princess think that his besieging the royal court this time to demand you is to avenge the past attempt on his life?”
When Xiao Li was framed by the Yu father and son, Pei Song had added fuel to the fire, once again using the fact that he had defected from the Liang camp. Xiao Li’s army had issued a clarifying statement—he had left the Liang camp in the past because the Liang camp had nearly wrongly executed him.
This matter had long ceased to be any secret.
The officials gripped by fear began discussing in low voices again.
Yan Zhen continued: “To prevent the royal court’s subjects from innocently suffering the flames of war, this general believes the Princess should voluntarily submit to being bound and offered up to the Xiao camp to extinguish that wolf’s hatred. Moreover… the Princess, to monopolize governing power, actually imprisoned our King for over a year—truly the act of a venomous serpent!”
After saying this, he stepped aside. A figure walked from the great hall entrance against the light—it was the Chen King.
Looking at Wen Yu, who even up to this moment remained unperturbed and calmly seated above, he thought of the torment suffered this past year. Unable to suppress the hatred in his heart any longer, he raised his hand pointing at Wen Yu and cursed: “Venomous woman!”