No one knew how many cuts he had taken. The massive body of Huchi’er pitched forward, and everyone stood watching as this mountain of a man went down.

For a moment, the fighting happening elsewhere seemed unimportant — all of it faded away.

Huchi’er lay there, not quite yet fully dead, his eyes staring wide at the Emperor not far from where he had fallen.

The Emperor had already crawled on all fours into the inner chamber — going, surely, to look upon his wife and child.

Huchi’er’s hand was still stretched out ahead of him. In the place he could not quite reach, there lay a saber, its edge chipped with countless notches.

The commander of the Inner Palace Guard, Hui Chunqiu, was dead. The head steward, Zhen Xiaodao, was dead too.

Imperial Guard General Commander Zhang He was dead. Liangzhou Army General Jiang Qihai lay in a pool of blood — not yet dead, but not far from it.

The Emperor crawled over the piled bodies, moving on hands and knees, calling out the Empress’s name, his voice so hoarse it sounded as though his throat had been torn open.

He reached the inner chamber and saw the Empress lying there with her eyes open — and in that instant his heart flooded with relief.

He flung himself to the bedside and reached out to touch her. “Are you…”

The rest of the words never came. His hand went still, because he felt the cold temperature of the Empress’s legs.

The Empress was dead. She had already lost far too much blood in a difficult labor — and then the shock of all that had followed — and in the end she had not held on.

The Emperor lay there against the bed, shaking the Empress’s body, calling out, calling and calling with everything he had — but the words of the Emperor of Great Chu could not reach Heaven.

In one stroke, the Emperor seemed to have lost everyone he held close.

The next day. Dawn.

The Emperor lay in his bed, his body wrapped in many bandages.

Liangzhou Army General Dou Yong knelt at the bedside. “Your Majesty, the rebel forces have been wiped out. The rebel leader Bai Chouyuan and his traitorous officers have been executed. Of those who participated in the rebellion — those captured or surrendered — the total count is over thirty thousand. All are held under guard in the city’s main camp…”

He looked up at the Emperor. The Emperor lay there like a dead man, eyes fixed unblinking on the ceiling.

“Your Majesty… my condolences.”

Dou Yong did not dare continue. He had meant to ask the Emperor’s instructions regarding the disposition of the rebel troops, but the words reached his lips and would not come out.

He kowtowed once more and, bowing at the waist, backed out through the door.

“Xiaodao… see General Dou off on Our behalf. On Our behalf, go and reward the meritorious…”

The Emperor spoke — and then his mouth, still open mid-sentence, went silent. The rest of the words vanished.

Zhen Xiaodao, too, was gone.

Dou Yong’s footsteps stopped at the doorway. He did not dare look back — he feared that if he did, what he would see would be something even he could not endure.

For that was the Emperor. The one who ought to be the ruler of all under Heaven, the most powerful man in the world.

If the imperial authority were secure, you would not be wrong to call the Emperor a living god on earth.

But at this moment, the Emperor was nothing but a pitiable man.

Dou Yong looked at the few pale-faced young eunuchs standing by the door and fixed his gaze on one of them. “What is your name?”

The young eunuch bowed and replied, “Your answer, General — this servant is called Yuan Ying.”

Dou Yong gave a nod. “Go and take care of His Majesty. Do not say anything — not a single word — but His Majesty must have someone beside him.”

Yuan Ying glanced instinctively into the room, his eyes filled with dread.

“Go.”

Dou Yong walked away.

Yuan Ying lowered himself and entered the Eastern Study. He knelt down, and as Dou Yong had instructed, simply remained there, not daring to speak.

“We remember your name. You are Yuan Ying — Xiaodao spoke of you to Us. He said you are his student?”

“Your Majesty, this servant is.”

The Emperor’s eyes remained on the ceiling, still unblinking.

“Issue an edict… The commander of the Inner Palace Guard, Hui Chunqiu, is to be posthumously ennobled as a Marquis of the First Rank. The Eastern Study Calligraphy-Brush Eunuch, Zhen Xiaodao, is to be posthumously ennobled as a Marquis of the First Rank…”

Yuan Ying’s head snapped up, startled.

Since the founding of Great Chu, had a eunuch ever been ennobled as a marquis?

“Your Majesty… this servant understands that Your Majesty wishes to honor the Steward greatly, but this is contrary to the rites and precedents. Please, Your Majesty, reconsider…”

The Emperor suddenly erupted into a screaming roar. “What is there to reconsider?! We have ennobled rebel lords as kings — tens of them, dozens! Can We not make our own trusted people into marquises?! We will ennoble them — We will, We will!”

Mid-roar, a breath lodged in the Emperor’s chest — and he lost consciousness.

Yuan Ying scrambled forward on his knees, striking the Emperor’s chest over and over until the breath eased and flowed again.

When the Emperor came to, he opened his eyes — and tears immediately began flowing without stopping.

“We only wanted to give… there were times when We didn’t regard Xiaodao as a servant. He was Our friend…”

In a haze, the Emperor seemed to see his father.

Just sitting there, smiling, saying to him: My child — do you understand me now?

All those ministers and officials at court, all those great families and clans, all those so-called men of military achievement and pillars of state — every one of them wanted to seize our empire.

Who could I trust?

I could only trust Liu Chongxin.

My child — do you understand now?

When it truly comes to this, it’s a eunuch who will risk everything for you, who will give everything without holding anything back.

The Emperor turned his head toward the armchair. His father’s shadow was gone.

Then he saw Liu Chongxin — dressed in the python-embroidered robe of one ten thousand times venerated, a look of gentle warmth on his face.

He did not speak. He only looked at the Emperor, with the same doting tenderness in his eyes that the old Emperor had always shown.

Then Zhen Xiaodao’s shadow appeared too — dressed in fresh new clothes. He walked to Liu Chongxin’s side and stood there.

Two eunuchs, together, bowed to the Emperor — and then turned and walked away, as though walking on air, fading gradually from view.

Another day passed.

The Emperor issued an edict: all the rebel soldiers being held under guard were to be executed. Not one to be spared.

The Shiyuan Palace had run with blood that night. Today, the open grounds of Daxing also ran with blood.

More than thirty thousand Tianming Army soldiers — all put to death.

That night, the Emperor lay in his bed. He had not left his bed since that day — he had no will to move, no strength at all in his body.

“Your Majesty.”

Yuan Ying lowered his voice. “Your Majesty, the imperial physician came just now while Your Majesty was sleeping. He did not dare disturb you. He said to tell Your Majesty when you wake — the Imperial Prince is well.”

The Emperor’s expression changed abruptly. A faint glimmer of light appeared in his eyes — though it flared only for an instant before going out.

“Our son?”

The Emperor murmured to himself. “His name is Yang Ding’an. Yes… the Empress said so, that the son should be named Yang Ding’an.”

He tried with effort to turn his head toward Yuan Ying. “Xiaodao — have the physician bring the child here, so We can see him…”

The Emperor’s eyes rested on Yuan Ying’s face. He paused for a moment — then shifted his gaze back to the ceiling.

“Never mind. Let him rest. He must have had quite a fright as well. Have the palace staff look after him well.”

Yuan Ying quickly agreed and rose and left.

Once outside the Eastern Study, Yuan Ying could not help letting out one long, heavy breath. The air inside that Eastern Study — truly unbearable.

Something pressing down, something blocking — making you feel as though one breath could not follow another, making you want to raise your hand and beat your own chest.

He stood at the doorway and looked into the distance. The moonlight was bright, the palace was quiet. As he breathed deep, he caught the faint scent of blood — which startled him.

It was as though in that white moonlight he could see countless broken soldiers, pale as ghosts, walking silently past.

They looked toward the Eastern Study, and kept looking, and kept looking…

Yuan Ying nearly cried out in terror. Cold sweat broke across his forehead in an instant — but when he looked again, the open ground before the great hall was empty, nothing there at all.

About a month and more later, the messengers dispatched from Daxing finally reached Prince Wu’s army in the Mangdang Mountains.

Prince Wu sat and listened as the messenger recounted everything in full detail. He appeared to show no emotional reaction.

All the generals around him watched him, worry plain in every face.

After a long silence, Prince Wu said slowly, “I understand. Go and rest first. Return with Our reply tomorrow — tell His Majesty I will return to the capital as quickly as I can.”

The messenger quickly agreed, bowed, and backed out of the command tent.

Prince Wu pressed his hands to his knees and rose — stepped one pace forward — had not yet said a word — and with a thud collapsed to the ground.

All the generals cried out in alarm and rushed to his side.

At the same time, in the Jingzhou Ning Army camp.

Tang Pidi was at the sand table running through battle scenarios when a messenger came in and bowed. “Commander, General Luo has sent me with a letter.”

Tang Pidi took the letter and read it through, then gave a nod. “Go and rest. There’s no need to hurry back.”

After the messenger left, Tang Pidi passed the letter to Cheng Wujie. “The Marquis of Guangting probed Suzhou with a tentative attack. Luo Jing held the defense strictly and would not come out. The Marquis did not dare push a real assault and has already withdrawn.”

Cheng Wujie said, “It was still the Commander’s few words of flattery that did it. If not for that, knowing Luo Jing’s temperament — he’d have come charging out.”

Tang Pidi smiled.

With Luo Jing — you praise him, encourage him, tell him he can do it — and he actually steadies himself and stops showing off. Tell him he can’t do something, and he immediately has to prove that he can. And it’s precisely in moments like those that he’s liable to make a mistake in judgment.

The Marquis of Guangting naturally knew of Luo Jing’s fearsome reputation and did not dare push a real attack — that was only natural. Moreover, the Marquis still needed to preserve his forces for an assault on Daxing.

Whether it was him or that Han Feibao from Yongzhou who was truly the chosen one — that was perhaps not yet decided. So the Marquis of Guangting would certainly conserve his strength, and prepare for the possibility of having to fight Han Feibao. Perhaps in the view of those two men, each one regarded the other as his true final opponent.

Cheng Wujie said, “By this reckoning, Gao Zhen should be arriving soon.”

Tang Pidi said, “Old Cheng — you set out tomorrow. Here—”

He tapped a point on the sand table with his wooden baton. “Here, at the mouth of the Panxing River, less than a hundred li south of the Mangdang Mountains — form up your lines. Once you arrive, construct earthworks along the river, build earthen walls, set up catapults.”

He looked at Cheng Wujie. “If Prince Wu’s army retreats toward Daxing, hold your position — do not attack. Use the river as your barrier, and hold Prince Wu’s forces from returning.”

Cheng Wujie replied, “Understood!”

He was just stepping out when he saw two soldiers helping to support an exhausted dispatch rider coming in from outside — the rider was clearly worn to his limits, unable to walk on his own.

“An urgent report, sent from inside Daxing.”

The dispatch rider called out, his voice hoarse to a rasp.

Tang Pidi took the letter, and had his men go and fetch a physician to look after the rider.

After reading, Tang Pidi’s brow furrowed deeply.

“I had anticipated that Daxing would break out into rebellion — but I did not expect the carnage to be so devastating…”

Tang Pidi looked at Cheng Wujie. “Go and make your preparations. Issue the order to the entire army — I will lead the march to the Panxing River personally.”

Cheng Wujie urgently asked, “Commander — what has happened?”

Tang Pidi said, “With something this grave occurring in Daxing — even the Empress is dead — Prince Wu will be beside himself with urgency when he hears. If he commits his full strength, you won’t be able to hold him.”

As he spoke, Tang Pidi had already stepped out of the command tent.

—