Juma City was the site of the Jingzhou Grand Camp. The Jingzhou Grand Camp held a hundred and twenty thousand of Dachu’s finest soldiers—this force was the single greatest barrier protecting the imperial capital, the stabilizing pillar of the entire Jingzhou region spanning thousands of li.
As long as the Jingzhou Grand Camp stood, as long as those hundred and twenty thousand tigers and wolves held their ground, no rebel force would dare come near. The land around the capital—at least on the surface—remained a region of peace.
Liu Chongxin had arrived at the Jingzhou Grand Camp only days before, still mulling over how to squeeze more credit out of the Emperor, when he received an intelligence report before the imperial decree ordering his immediate return had even arrived.
That report reached him roughly half a day before the decree that was still on the road. And because of that report, he made up his mind: even if the Crown Prince—no, he still hadn’t adjusted to calling him the new Emperor—even if the new Emperor came to him in person, he would not so easily leave this Jingzhou Grand Camp. He was still the military overseer, his adopted son Tong Meng was still the Grand General, and the hundred and twenty thousand troops in his hands were worth more to him than any iron tablet of immunity from death.
For Yang Jing to sit securely on the throne, he would have to take these hundred and twenty thousand Jingzhou soldiers. Without them, the capital was a tottering, isolated island, and the Emperor was only the master of that island.
Liu Chongxin passed the intelligence report to Tong Meng, rose, and began to pace back and forth inside the command tent. A moment later he ordered: “Put all troops on alert. Anyone who enters the encampment without my personal order is to be killed without mercy.”
“Yes!”
Grand General Tong Meng nodded immediately. He was no fool; he understood clearly that he and Liu Chongxin were now bound to the same rope. If the new Emperor moved against Liu Chongxin, he wouldn’t be spared either. But with a hundred thousand troops in hand, even that young Emperor wouldn’t dare make a reckless move.
Yet he also didn’t dare to openly rebel. He could issue orders while the Jingzhou Army still didn’t know what had happened—but once the army knew the throne had changed hands, once they knew the Crown Prince had ascended, his commands as Grand General might no longer carry the weight they used to.
Liu Chongxin looked at Tong Meng and said: “You are my closest person and my most trusted. We are in the same boat now. You know what must be done. If I fall, all my children and grandchildren fall with me. But as long as I don’t fall, this court is still our court, and the realm is still our realm.”
Tong Meng bowed. “Godfather, rest easy. We have troops and we have money—the Emperor won’t dare do much. I’d wager the decree that comes is mostly a trick to lure you back to the capital. As long as Godfather doesn’t go back, the Emperor has no recourse—eventually he’ll have no choice but to come begging Godfather.”
Liu Chongxin smiled and nodded. “That Crown Prince knows how to pretend. I know he knows how to pretend. He’s like a headstrong, untameable wolf—but in the end, he’ll understand clearly enough that without me, he is nothing.”
At those words, Tong Meng felt something clench inexplicably in his chest, and a thought surfaced unbidden in his mind.
Liu Chongxin said the new Emperor was nothing without him?
But Liu Chongxin’s own towering authority—what was it without the Emperor?
He looked instinctively at Liu Chongxin, and whether it was a trick of the light or something else, what he saw was no longer a glorious and powerful figure of almost imperial stature. He saw instead a decrepit old monster on the verge of collapse, clinging to the mortal world.
Liu Chongxin was still talking, absorbed in his own words.
“You were appointed Grand General by the late Emperor. I was appointed military overseer by the late Emperor. There is nothing to worry about.”
Liu Chongxin went back to his seat and picked up his teacup, taking a sip, looking perfectly composed.
But Tong Meng’s vision continued its distortion. In it, behind Liu Chongxin’s back, he saw an old fox—its fur already gone grey and white—spinning in circles of fright, its tail tucked tightly between its legs.
Tong Meng smiled. “Godfather, let’s just wait for the young Emperor to come begging. Let’s see what clever tricks he can still manage.”
—
Half a day later, the new Emperor’s imperial decree arrived.
Word came rushing in from outside that an imperial envoy had arrived. Liu Chongxin frowned. “Who would dare impersonate an imperial envoy?”
He rose and went outside. Tong Meng followed. They made their way to the outer gate of the Jingzhou Grand Camp, and this so-called imperial envoy turned out to be a minor eunuch under Jing Tingming’s command, who had come with two hundred Imperial Guards.
“Elder Ancestor.”
The young eunuch caught sight of Liu Chongxin, and all the carefully rehearsed words he had turned over in his mind for the entire journey seemed to vanish at once. He stepped down from the carriage and dropped to his knees before Liu Chongxin without a moment’s hesitation.
Liu Chongxin made a self-satisfied sound. “Look who it is—you little rascal. What brings you here?”
“I’ve come to pay my respects to Elder Ancestor,” the young eunuch said, kowtowing as he spoke. “His Majesty has been thinking of Elder Ancestor and wishes to invite Elder Ancestor to come home.”
Liu Chongxin smiled and asked: “Which Majesty?”
The moment those words left Liu Chongxin’s lips, the young eunuch knew things had gone wrong. The new Emperor’s intention had been to keep Liu Chongxin from learning that the old Emperor had already passed away—the plan was to tell him the old Emperor missed him and wanted him back at once.
But now—that plan was clearly meaningless. From Liu Chongxin’s attitude alone it was evident he had long since learned of the late Emperor’s death.
The young eunuch—whose name was Gao Mu’en—thought quickly and replied in an extremely deferential tone: “Elder Ancestor, the new Emperor has ascended. He asks that Elder Ancestor return to take charge of the greater situation. His Majesty says that without Elder Ancestor by his side, he has no backbone; even the court officials are not all compliant, and he needs Elder Ancestor to come back and provide his steadying hand.”
Liu Chongxin paused.
He could not immediately determine how much of this was true and how much was false.
“Be more specific.”
He shot back immediately.
Gao Mu’en, kneeling there, said: “After the late Emperor was assassinated, His Majesty was overcome with grief and handed the affairs of the court to Yuwen Chonghe. But the next day, His Majesty said he wished Yuwen Chonghe to bring the Six Ministries officials for an audience, and Yuwen Chonghe said no one was permitted to go—he wanted to show His Majesty who was truly in charge. He also ordered the commanders of the Nine Gates Infantry Division that if Elder Ancestor attempted to return to the capital, they were to shoot you dead on sight and under no circumstances permit you through the gates. Furthermore, his two sons—who hold command of two Guards’ forces of府兵—have already taken over the capital’s defenses and surrounded the imperial palace with troops.”
Liu Chongxin looked at Tong Meng. Tong Meng leaned close and murmured: “There’s something credible about this. Yuwen Chonghe has wanted to seize control of the court for a long time—it’s only because Godfather has been holding him down. Now that the new Emperor has ascended, he wants to dominate the government and turn the new Emperor into a puppet.”
Liu Chongxin nodded. He thought: I was the one who was always going to support the Crown Prince—only he had to do as he was told. Even if he didn’t listen to me, that was no reason for Yuwen Chonghe to coerce him.
And whatever else you might say, the Crown Prince was the son of his late brother, was the son of the late Emperor.
He made a dismissive sound and asked Gao Mu’en: “And what does His Majesty say?”
Gao Mu’en had been instructed to tell Liu Chongxin to return to the capital quickly and without bringing troops—and without Tong Meng bringing troops either.
But Gao Mu’en looked at the situation before him now, and felt that if he announced the original decree as it stood, things would go very badly.
He knelt there and said: “His Majesty says—please, Elder Ancestor, bring the Jingzhou Grand Camp’s forces back to the capital with all haste. All hundred and twenty thousand soldiers. His Majesty is waiting for Elder Ancestor to return and turn the tide.”
Liu Chongxin would never have imagined, not in all his years, that a day would come when one of his own disciples and underlings would deceive him. This entirely insignificant young eunuch—who had simply dared to alter the decree on his own authority, who simply dared not to produce the written imperial edict, who simply dared to say that His Majesty had conveyed only a verbal command.
In Liu Chongxin’s eyes, these disciples and underlings of his were like hairs that had fallen from his own body. Who among them would dare deceive him?
“Get up.”
Liu Chongxin gave the order, then smiled and murmured to himself: “Nothing without me.”
He looked at Tong Meng. “As long as the army is in hand there’s nothing to fear. Pass the order—break camp. Let’s march a hundred and twenty thousand troops to the capital for a visit, and see if that Yuwen Chonghe, who used to bow and scrape before me like a grandson, dares to say to my face that he’ll have me shot dead with arrows.”
Tong Meng bowed. “Your orders.”
—
Meanwhile, in the capital, at the Daxing Palace.
Emperor Yang Jing sat behind his writing table, his fingers tapping lightly in a steady rhythm on the surface. Seated across from him was the newly appointed Chancellor Yuwen Chonghe, along with his two sons—Yuwen Chi, Grand General of the Left Vanguard Guard, and Yuwen Cong, Grand General of the Right Martial Guard.
“Tell me—what if Liu Chongxin doesn’t come back?”
The Emperor looked at the Yuwen father and sons.
Yuwen Chonghe considered for a moment and said: “The hundred and twenty thousand soldiers of the Jingzhou Grand Camp—if Liu Chongxin keeps his grip on them, the situation is genuinely difficult to manage. However, your servant believes there are two workable approaches. The first is for Your Majesty to go in person—once Your Majesty arrives at the Jingzhou Grand Camp, the soldiers will certainly follow the imperial command. However, the late Emperor’s funeral rites are not yet complete, and Your Majesty cannot leave the capital lightly at this time. The second option is to ask Prince Wu to go.”
Yang Jing had not told Yuwen Chonghe about the order he had already sent to Prince Wu. He listened, let a look of mild surprise cross his face, and said with some apparent chagrin: “How did I fail to think of Prince Wu? I could ask Prince Wu to hold off on returning to the capital and instead go to the Jingzhou Grand Camp to take over command of the forces.”
Yuwen Chonghe quickly said: “On the matter of taking over command, that might not be necessary. Prince Wu already has the Left Vanguard Guard; if he were to also take the Jingzhou Grand Camp, your servant worries… he too might show Your Majesty a lack of respect.”
Yang Jing assumed a grave expression. “Prince Wu is my imperial uncle. How could an imperial uncle possibly harm me?”
Yuwen Chonghe said: “Your Majesty, one need not harbor ill intent oneself to guard against ill intent in others.”
Yang Jing sighed. “Then what do you think should be done?”
Yuwen Chonghe said: “If Liu Chongxin does not dare leave the encampment, let Prince Wu go to him. Prince Wu has always commanded great prestige, and the officers and soldiers of the Jingzhou Grand Camp hold him in tremendous esteem—having Prince Wu go to force Liu Chongxin back to the capital should be workable.”
Yang Jing asked again: “But what if Liu Chongxin brings the hundred and twenty thousand troops back with Prince Wu? If he marches them in together?”
He looked at Yuwen Chonghe. “He holds the authority of a military overseer granted by my late father—that authority has not been revoked. Even if he orders the march, Prince Wu would be hard pressed to refuse.”
Yuwen Chonghe fell silent for a moment, and finally understood why the Emperor had summoned him—and why he had summoned his two sons as well. The Emperor was afraid. The Emperor had no soldiers and no authority; apart from the Yuwen family there was truly no one else he could rely on.
And so Yuwen Chonghe bowed with a trace of quiet satisfaction and said: “Your Majesty, rest easy. Your servant is willing to go through fire and water for Your Majesty. No matter how dangerous it becomes, your servant will not shrink from death—your servant is willing to go personally to the city gates and block Liu Chongxin, and make him answer for his crimes!”
The Emperor said: “That won’t do at all—what if that castrated dog were to harm you? This way instead—Yuwen Chi and Yuwen Cong will lead the Left Vanguard Guard and the Right Martial Guard out of the capital and form battle lines just outside the city. If Liu Chongxin does march back with the hundred and twenty thousand, having the Left Vanguard Guard and Right Martial Guard in position will keep him from acting recklessly.”
The Emperor looked at Yuwen Chonghe. “Once the troops are in formation, they must be ready to preempt him at any moment. The instant Liu Chongxin refuses to comply with the imperial decree, kill him immediately—then you personally take command of the Jingzhou Grand Camp. Apart from you, I trust no one else.”
Yuwen Chonghe rose immediately and knelt down, saying: “Your Majesty, rest assured. This time, even at the cost of this life, your servant will rid Your Majesty of that castrated traitor—and rid all under heaven of that rebel!”
The Emperor said with evident gratification: “I know it. Your loyalty—I have always known it.”