As expected, three days later, Huo Liuxing truly received a summons from Chuigong Hall.

During these three days, he had carefully followed medical advice and rested. His complexion had recovered fairly well, but his body was still far from being able to move freely. Fortunately, borrowing the “convenience of disability” meant he needn’t stand or walk. He had also gotten Luo Mi to specially craft a back support to prevent friction against the wound early on, and taken a heavy dose of pain-relieving medicine, allowing him to barely endure sitting upright for a period of time.

Before Huo Liuxing arrived at Chuigong Hall, he encountered Crown Prince Zhao Chen, who had also been summoned for an audience with the Emperor, at the Huangyi Gate.

Two sedan chairs met on a narrow path—one side with difficulty walking, the other coughing incessantly. Both possessed a flavor of remaining resolute despite physical disabilities.

According to protocol, Huo Liuxing should let the Crown Prince pass first. After calling for his sedan chair to stop, he endured the pain that jarred his wound and bowed with cupped hands toward the opposite side with an air of calm indifference: “This humble subject pays respects to Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Zhao Chen lowered the fist covering his mouth, nodded to him, and continued forward. Just as his sedan chair was about to turn into the Huangyi Gate, he heard his voice again from behind: “Your Highness the Crown Prince, I wonder if the young prince has been well recently?”

Zhao Chen was silent for about two counts, then raised his palm to signal the bearers to stop. Without turning his head, he said: “Why does General Huo ask this?”

Huo Liuxing looked at his somewhat hesitant back and explained with a smile: “A few days ago at the hunting grounds, I saw the young prince take a fright. This humble subject has been concerned, but afterward had no opportunity to inquire in person.”

If truly concerned, why had there been no movement for several days, only a casual inquiry upon meeting by chance? What he said was clearly polite conversation.

But Zhao Chen knew that given Huo Liuxing’s precarious survival situation, he would absolutely not speak idle words with imperially sensitive persons. If he risked saying them, there must be an important purpose. It was even quite possible that the two sedan chairs meeting at this critical juncture of being summoned was his deliberate arrangement.

After Zhao Chen’s sedan chair turned past the Huangyi Gate, it stopped. He turned his head toward the rear: “Xi’er is physically unharmed, but feels unwilling to accept it. Conscious that his horsemanship lacks refinement, he has recently been training himself day and night without rest. No one can dissuade him.”

Seeing that the Crown Prince intended to travel with Huo Liuxing, the palace attendants carrying the chair very perceptively lifted him to follow.

The two sedan chairs proceeded one in front of the other, maintaining a distance that allowed mutual conversation while conforming to propriety.

Huo Liuxing said with a smile: “The young prince’s diligence and eagerness to learn is a joyous matter. However, in this humble subject’s foolish opinion, mastering horsemanship cannot be achieved overnight. Blindly practicing in isolation may not necessarily yield results.”

A ripple passed through Zhao Chen’s eyes: “General Huo speaks truly. This prince is not skilled in this area. If you have techniques to share, you might as well speak them for me to hear.”

“Horsemanship, horsemanship—it speaks of the art of controlling horses. One must look not only at the person controlling the horse, but also at the horse being controlled. The primary technique is to match with a fine steed.”

“A fine steed? This prince has received several precious blood-sweating horses, yet they are truly difficult to tame.”

“If they are difficult to tame, then they cannot be called fine steeds. For a beginner like the young prince, a fine steed need not necessarily have the greatest abilities. More importantly, it should be obedient and listen only to its master’s words.”

“Then in General Huo’s view, how can one subdue a loyal and obedient horse? If one tries them one by one at the horse grounds, testing fierce and untamed horses—wouldn’t that invite disaster?”

“The young prince is precious beyond measure and naturally cannot personally test horses. Horses understand human nature. In fact, the easiest to subdue are those currently in dire straits, struggling to survive. If the young prince goes to the horse grounds to look, and can earnestly lend a hand when these horses are suffering, from then on they will give their hearts to the young prince. And when other horses see the young prince being so charitable and helpful, they will naturally grow closer to the young prince as well. Should the young prince have need in the future, he can easily train them all to become fine steeds.”

Huo Liuxing’s tone throughout remained businesslike. The palace attendants carrying the chairs only thought the two nobles were discussing horsemanship. Only Zhao Chen’s eyes gradually deepened.

Covering his mouth, he coughed several times, then said with effort: “This prince will carefully consider General Huo’s golden and jade-like counsel.”

While they spoke, they had already arrived at Chuigong Hall.

Huo Liuxing was carried to a wheelchair and proceeded inside, seeing that apart from the Emperor, everyone who should have arrived had already arrived.

Besides him and the Crown Prince, those summoned this time also included Zhao Xun, Shen Lingzhen’s second uncle Shen Xueyin, and several other officials from the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Justice.

The Emperor arrived late.

Everyone bowed toward the head seat in unison.

The Emperor waved his hand. After asking them to be seated, he adopted a weary manner, rubbing his brow as he sat: “Today I’ve summoned you all to discuss Second Brother’s matter. You people—those who should have gotten wind of it have all gotten wind of it, correct?”

The ministers below might still be completely in the dark about Zhao Rui’s whereabouts, but those present in Chuigong Hall at this moment were all already in the know.

Everyone nodded without evasion.

Huo Liuxing’s face remained impassive, but inwardly he understood.

Among those present, the officials from the Court of Judicial Review and Ministry of Justice were core personnel handling Zhao Rui’s case of collaborating with the enemy. Today they were primarily responsible for presenting the case details. Regarding how to handle the subsequent cases, what the Emperor truly wanted to hear were actually only the opinions of four people: the Crown Prince, Fourth Brother, Shen Xueyin, and himself.

Among these four people—

Shen Xueyin, as Vice Commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs, had always helped the Emperor restrain the military officials at court in his capacity as second-in-command among civil officials. For many years he had consistently been one of the Emperor’s most favored and trusted subjects, representing the imperial position. The Crown Prince and Fourth Brother each represented the positions of their respective factions. As for him, Huo Liuxing…

The Emperor naturally wanted to see which of the above three positions he leaned more toward.

At the Emperor’s signal, an official from the Court of Judicial Review presented a letter: “At dawn today, the Second Prince personally drafted this confession, detailing the process of collaborating with the enemy. It involves a total of twelve officials of various ranks at court. However, because all physical evidence has been destroyed, relying on this confession alone may make it difficult to confirm the crimes of all the implicated officials.”

The Emperor nodded and first asked Huo Liuxing: “The spy was captured by your Huo family. You speak first—what do you think?”

Seeing that the Emperor had no intention of publicly announcing the list of implicated officials on the spot, after brief consideration Huo Liuxing said: “In response to Your Majesty, in this humble subject’s foolish opinion, lacking physical evidence, we can only work from witness testimony. Since the Second Prince has confessed these people’s involvement, why not give him an opportunity to atone through meritorious service and have him assist Your Majesty in separately designing tests for these twelve officials? Those with guilty consciences will naturally take the bait.”

“If this method were feasible, I wouldn’t have a headache.”

That Court of Judicial Review official turned and said: “General Huo does not know—after drafting this confession, the Second Prince committed suicide out of fear of punishment. His subordinate confidants involved in the case all died even earlier. At present, this case has become unsolvable.”

Huo Liuxing’s face showed sudden understanding, but inwardly he was not surprised at all.

The crime of collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country was, in any dynasty, a serious offense warranting execution of the entire clan.

Though the one who collaborated this time was an imperial prince, he was an unfavored prince. Looking at the Emperor’s attitude, whether or not Zhao Rui atoned through meritorious service, the outcome would inevitably still be death. And given the Emperor’s ruthlessness in eliminating problems at the root, he would certainly not spare his wife and children either.

So since every path led to a dead end anyway, Zhao Rui would naturally drag a whole group to be buried with him, then create a situation where the dead tell no tales, making life difficult for everyone still living.

The Emperor asked Fourth Brother again: “Xun’er has also followed this case throughout. What is your view of this confession?”

“In response to Father Emperor, based on this son’s understanding of Second Brother’s character during his lifetime, the content of his confession should not necessarily all be true. Moreover, collaborating with the enemy should be a secret matter. Second Brother must have been extremely cautious. How could it implicate as many as twelve people?”

Zhao Xun spoke so bluntly because he guessed that Zhao Rui’s confession had damaged his own interests.

Since Zhao Rui intended to be a troublemaker, he would thoroughly smear all his mortal enemies from life. In this confession, there would not only be loyal and good people like the Xue family who, because they were too honest and upright and didn’t align with any prince, had likely offended him at some point—there would also be some of Fourth Brother’s hidden agents.

The Emperor also knew there must be innocent people among them, but the problem was that false could not become true—only by mixing true with false could one deceive. So among these, there were equally those who truly endangered the court as spies.

Unable to distinguish true from false, and with Fourth Brother unable to openly jump out and say which were his hidden agents, this gave the Emperor a headache.

“Since there exists untruth, and yet there’s no way to verify which are true and which are false, then what should be done?” The Emperor again turned his gaze toward Shen Xueyin.

“Your Majesty, this subject believes that after these several days of severe punishment, the Second Prince should have already sincerely repented. The list of officials on this confession should be eighty to ninety percent true. Collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country is no ordinary crime. Your Majesty must not treat this lightly!”

Huo Liuxing sneered inwardly.

This Shen Xueyin had for years consistently suppressed military generals to elevate the status of civil officials. Eleven years ago he had slandered to the Emperor, causing Daqi to lose Hexi and forcing Huo Liuxing to enter the Xiqiang prisoner-of-war camp with a nine-in-ten chance of death. This current statement was indeed consistent with his style.

The Crown Prince’s expression immediately became somewhat ugly.

The Emperor, however, seemed to rather agree with Shen Xueyin’s viewpoint. After thinking, he nodded.

Zhao Xun, Zhao Chen, and Huo Liuxing all fell into silence.

Everyone wanted to refute, but whoever spoke first would undoubtedly become the target.

Zhao Xun looked left at Huo Liuxing, looked right at Zhao Chen, as if waiting for them to move first. Meanwhile, Shen Xueyin had already begun discussing with the Emperor the priority order for handling these twelve officials.

Just as Shen Xueyin was holding forth eloquently and the Emperor was praising him lavishly, a “Father Emperor” spoken while suppressing a cough broke the deadlock.

Zhao Xun narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhao Chen.

Huo Liuxing sat with lowered eyes, motionless, appearing indifferent. In reality, however, today’s outing had exhausted him, the pain-relieving medicine’s effect had worn off, and the wound at his waist had begun to hurt.

Shen Xueyin stopped speaking.

Zhao Chen rose and stood in the center of the hall, cupping his hands: “Father Emperor, this son does not agree with Vice Commissioner Shen’s viewpoint.”

The Emperor raised an eyebrow, looking at him: “How so?”

“Though this son is physically weak, I also know that since ancient times in military campaigns, the general is the backbone of any army. Once the general falls, the remaining soldiers become like headless flies, having lost their direction in battle…”

“The current case of Second Brother is the same. Setting aside for now whether the list in this confession is true, these implicated officials who previously took desperate risks following Second Brother may not all have acted from their own hearts. With Second Brother deceased, these people have lost their backbone. First, they can no longer stir up any storms. Second, they must all be living in fear, regretting having followed the wrong master. To immediately hunt them all down and kill them is truly unnecessary—moreover, this group includes innocent court ministers!”

Zhao Chen coughed several times with each sentence. The Emperor didn’t like hearing these things to begin with and already showed impatient expression, yet he persisted in finishing his words: “…This son suggests Father Emperor observe quietly. If those on the list still harbor treacherous hearts in the future, once there is concrete evidence, it won’t be too late to deal with them then.”

“The Crown Prince is always so tender-hearted like a woman.” The Emperor sighed with both regret and anger. “This time, it was entirely because our Daqi’s northwestern soldiers fought bravely and valiantly that we still won the battle despite the spy’s obstruction. If we follow the Crown Prince’s words and let go of all suspicious persons, how much territory might our Daqi lose in the future, how many soldiers and civilians?”

Zhao Chen knelt down straight, pointing at Shen Xueyin and raising his voice: “But if we follow Vice Commissioner Shen’s words—better to wrongly kill three thousand than wrongly release one—how many pillars of the court will Father Emperor lose, how many hearts of the people? Disasters of the day after can still be prevented tomorrow, but once today’s disaster is created, Daqi won’t even have a tomorrow!”

The officials present felt their brows jump. The Emperor’s face turned iron-blue: “Crown Prince, do you know what you’re saying!”

Zhao Chen coughed violently from emotional agitation, coughing until his face turned completely red.

At this point, Zhao Xun at least remembered a measure of brotherly affection and rose to pat his back: “Elder Brother, don’t be anxious. Speak properly with Father Emperor.”

After catching his breath, Zhao Chen cupped his hands toward the Emperor again: “This son knows what he is saying. This son will be frank and open with Father Emperor here—if Father Emperor insists on executing the entire clans of these twelve officials, it will be entirely because this son’s counsel today was inadequate. This son will no longer have the face to face Daqi’s court ministers. This son requests that before dealing with these officials, Father Emperor first grant this son death!” As he spoke, he kowtowed, bowing three times.

The Emperor laughed in extreme anger: “Is the Crown Prince now presenting a death remonstrance to me?”

“Yes, Father Emperor.”

The Emperor grabbed an inkstone and hurled it down forcefully, smashing it in front of Zhao Chen: “Say that again.”

Zhao Chen coughed heart-wrenchingly and repeated his previous words verbatim. Toward the end, he became increasingly exhausted, already barely able to catch his breath: “This son requests… that Father Emperor… before dealing with these officials… first grant… death… to this son!” After finishing, he vomited up a pool of fresh blood.

Everyone was greatly alarmed. Except for Huo Liuxing, who was too preoccupied with his own flaring injury, they all surged toward the Crown Prince.

The Emperor had probably seen this kind of scene before and wasn’t as panicked as everyone else. Restraining his anger, he said: “Someone, send the Crown Prince back to the Eastern Palace.”

Palace attendants carried Zhao Chen back. Everyone could only return to their seats in disappointment.

Stars had begun to appear before Huo Liuxing’s eyes. He bit through his tongue, struggling with great effort to maintain consciousness. Fortunately, at this moment those present were either shocked or angry, and no one noticed his abnormality.

Shen Xueyin was advising the Emperor to calm his anger, hypocritically speaking good words about the Crown Prince, when suddenly a eunuch hurried inside and said something in the Emperor’s ear.

The Emperor furrowed his brow and said quietly: “How has this girl also had an incident? Perfectly fine—how could she suddenly faint?”

“This humble one also doesn’t know. I only heard that Duke Yingguo and the Grand Princess have both rushed to the Huo residence. The Duke’s residence physicians temporarily cannot determine the cause, so they had no choice but to come to the palace to request an imperial physician’s help.”

The two spoke in low voices. The officials below didn’t hear their conversation clearly until the Emperor looked toward Huo Liuxing: “Liuxing, Lingzhen has had a mishap. You should quickly return to your residence.”