The camp gate opened. Guo Rong had just handed his horse to the attendant eunuch behind him when he saw Xi Fa’er and Kong Xirong leading people, impatiently closing the camp gate again. More than ten armored soldiers pounced out from the shadows like wolves and tigers. He shouted, “What do you want to do? You wouldn’t dare kill this official, would you?”
Xi Fa’er and Kong Xirong paid him no mind. Armored soldiers on both sides swarmed forward, pressing Guo Rong and the four accompanying attendant eunuchs down into the muddy ground. Seeing they still dared struggle, they covered their mouths and viciously smashed down with blade hilts on their heads and faces, beating Guo Rong until he saw stars. His mouth and nose were covered tightly, nearly suffocating him to death.
“You’ve all gone mad! Quickly release Guo Rong!” Xi Ren drew her short sword and, together with its scabbard, viciously struck at their heads and faces, driving Xi Fa’er, Kong Xirong, and the others away. She rebuked furiously, “How to deal with him—Han Qian has the final say. Is it your place to run wild here?”
Having driven away those unable to suppress their grief and fury, Xi Ren had Zhou Chu bring Guo Rong to follow her to the main residence.
The corner of Guo Rong’s eye was split open, painfully stinging—his eyeball had nearly been beaten out. But seeing Kong Xirong and the others with eyes splitting with rage, looking as if they wanted to devour him alive, no matter how slow his reaction, he guessed that Anning Palace had already launched a palace coup in Jinling, and Han Daoxun’s fate was even more severe than he had previously guessed—he had likely already lost his life at Anning Palace’s hands!
Guo Rong followed beside Xi Ren and Zhou Chu, walking into the estate without saying anything.
What could he say at this moment?
Bringing Guo Rong to an empty room, Xi Ren, fearing someone would come again to vent on him, ordered Zhou Chu to personally guard the corridor and prevent others from approaching. She then left to see Han Qian.
After Xi Ren left, she didn’t reappear. Guo Rong sat restlessly in the empty room.
From time to time, someone tried to force their way in. Although Zhou Chu forcibly blocked them all, without Han Qian appearing, his anxious heart could never settle down. Moreover, he had no way of knowing what drastic changes had actually occurred in Jinling.
Had Anning Palace completely controlled the Jinling situation?
What was Chuzhou and Tanzhou’s reaction?
After suffering through a bitter night in the empty room, when dawn’s light shot in from outside the window, Guo Rong finally heard a rush of hurried footsteps approaching.
He pushed open the door to see Zhou Chu sitting before the corridor holding his blade, and Han Qian walking into the courtyard surrounded by a crowd.
Han Qian’s sinister face was full of ferocity under the morning light, shocking Guo Rong. He hadn’t expected that in just three short days since they’d last met, Han Qian’s sunken eye sockets, bloodshot pupils, disheveled beard and hair, gaunt cheeks, graying temples, and vicious, fierce expression bore none of his former calm, refined scholarly bearing—he was like a completely different person.
Seeing Han Qian wearing hemp mourning clothes over his armor, Guo Rong confirmed that Han Daoxun had already been harmed by Anning Palace in Jinling.
“The drastic changes in Jinling were not what I, Guo, wished. The dead cannot return to life. I hope Lord Han will prioritize the greater situation!” Guo Rong said, forcing himself to remain calm.
“What damned greater situation? What ‘the dead cannot return to life’?” Han Qian raised his foot and kicked Guo Rong over ten feet away, roaring with ferocity, “Do you know how my father died? My father was dragged by that dog Empress Dowager Xu Hui to the Eastern Market and torn apart by five horses! Tell me—my father was so utterly loyal, working tirelessly day and night, his every thought for the people’s livelihood, yet he met such a miserable end. You castrated traitor, have you asked this traitorous Heaven why it doesn’t open its dog eyes? Why doesn’t it prioritize the greater situation?”
Guo Rong was kicked by Han Qian with such force that his liver and intestines felt about to break—he nearly died on the spot from that one kick. Yet what shocked him even more were the words Han Qian roared out.
Han Daoxun died from the punishment of being torn apart by five horses!
Heavens!
Guo Rong felt as if struck by lightning, unable to imagine that after Anning Palace launched the palace coup, they would execute Han Daoxun with such cruel torture.
Had Empress Dowager Xu Hui gone mad?
Had Palace Attendant Supervisor Zhang Xinchun gone mad?
Had Chongwen Hall’s Chen Xingmo gone mad?
Had Niu Gengru gone mad?
Even if they absolutely had to execute Han Daoxun to clear obstacles to their usurpation, Han Daoxun was merely a scholar, powerless as a chicken—they could have bestowed silk or poison to kill him. Why impose such brutal torture? Did they fear the hatred in Han Qian’s heart wasn’t deep enough, wasn’t intense enough, wasn’t enough to burn mountains and boil seas?
Could they have completely failed to realize what kind of figure they would create as a mortal enemy whose bones must be ground to dust and ashes scattered? Could they have completely failed to realize how terrifying it would be to transform someone whose ambition and viciousness had been suppressed by Han Daoxun but who possessed supernatural schemes—to transform him into a demon filled with hatred, focused solely on revenge?
“Han of Xuzhou served as Investigating Officer in Chuzhou, adjudicating unjust cases fairly and impartially. For several years, not a single wrongful case, not one criminal escaped—the people of the prefecture praised him as a just official. When governing Gaoyou, he risked death to intercept grain convoys to save disaster victims and resolve the crisis of civil unrest—he was a righteous minister of Great Chu. To save Jinling’s disaster victims, he did not hesitate to destroy his own integrity—this was great benevolence,” Guo Rong sat leaning against the wall. “Han of Xuzhou was greatly righteous and greatly benevolent, his heart and thoughts on the nation’s peril, focused on relieving the people’s suffering. Yet he died from the punishment of being torn apart by five horses—this is an injustice for all ages. Guo Rong is ashamed to be part of Anning Palace’s faction. If Lord Han executes me, Guo Rong will have absolutely no complaint. But before Lord Han acts, Guo Rong has an inferior strategy—please hear me out, Lord Han. Once Shu Lord Wang Jian learns of the drastic changes in Jinling, even if he doesn’t immediately ally with Anning Palace, he will most likely detain Lord Han, postpone the marriage, either to observe the situation or to demand more concessions from Tanzhou. Please, Lord Han, after killing Guo Rong, immediately flee far back to Chu. Don’t hesitate for even a moment!”
The veins on Han Qian’s arm bulged as he gripped the saber at his waist, standing outside the threshold glaring fiercely at Guo Rong inside the room.
“Although Guo Rong belongs to Anning Palace’s faction, he knew the old master very well. Killing him is not what the old master would have wished to see.” Yang Qin had also recovered some rationality and clearly knew Guo Rong spoke truly. At this moment, they were in Shu territory with only seven hundred-plus soldiers. Once Shu Lord Wang Jian conceived the idea to detain them, if they couldn’t leave Shu territory, they couldn’t speak of avenging the old master, much less intervene in Great Chu’s current chaos—they might even let Anning Palace’s schemes succeed.
Xi Ren gently grasped Han Qian’s hand that tightly gripped his saber, letting his murderous mood relax slightly.
“What Guo Rong says is quite reasonable.” Feng Yi also said.
Although Guo Rong was Anning Palace’s man, truthfully these past years he had been placed beside the Third Prince, and their contact had been extremely close. Feng Yi could at least confirm that Guo Rong was not a hateful person.
Han Qian wanted revenge, but this didn’t mean he should root out and eliminate everyone connected to Anning Palace.
Guo Rong continued, “What I just said is the inferior strategy. The superior strategy is for Lord Han to immediately leave Shu’s capital under the pretext of observing mourning for his father’s death. I’ll remain to deal with the Shu people. In three to five months, after Lord Han helps the Third Prince stabilize the western front’s situation, Guo Rong should be able to escort Princess Qingyang back to Chu territory to marry the Third Prince.”
This was also the proposal of Yang Qin, Zhou Chu, and Xi Ren.
Consort Shi, Marquis Xinchang Li Pu, and the others were truly detestable. They rashly conspired with Chuzhou to transmit proclamations throughout the realm. They should have anticipated this would infuriate Anning Palace into killing the old master, yet showed no scruples. Precisely because of this, they needed to escape Shu territory and return to Tanzhou at the fastest speed possible.
Once Shu Lord Wang Jian learned of the drastic changes in Jinling, the greatest possibility was, as Guo Rong predicted, that even if Shu Lord Wang Jian didn’t hand them over to ally with Anning Palace, he would detain them to observe how the situation developed, or use this to coerce more conditions from Tanzhou.
If time dragged on, first the Third Prince might be completely controlled by Consort Shi, Marquis Xinchang Li Pu, and these people. Shen Yang was too upright to engage in scheming with these people. Second, these people controlled Tanzhou and the Dragon Sparrow Army’s military and political power, yet lacked sufficient positive ability to contend with Chuzhou and Anning Palace, which could lead to the excellent Tanzhou situation painstakingly cultivated in the early period completely collapsing.
Furthermore, with Han Daoxun dead, if they were imprisoned in Shu’s capital, Xuzhou would be leaderless. Tian Cheng and Zhao Ting’er might not necessarily command respect. If Consort Shi, Marquis Xinchang Li Pu, and these people wanted to eliminate the Han father and son’s influence in Xuzhou and forcibly conscript Tian Cheng to lead the prefecture troops out of Xuzhou, Xuzhou could fall into others’ hands.
No matter what, they absolutely had to leave Shu territory first and return to Chu Kingdom.
As for Guo Rong saying he would remain to deal with the Shu people—perhaps this was just so Han Qian wouldn’t kill him at this moment?
However, if they fled Shu territory, to avoid completely severing relations with Shu Kingdom and preserve a thread of possibility for subsequent marriage alliance, they did need a heavyweight figure to remain and deal with Shu Kingdom. Indeed, there was no one more suitable than Guo Rong.
Only, Guo Rong came from Anning Palace. Would he negotiate with Shu Kingdom for the Third Prince and Tanzhou’s interests?
Who could be certain that after they left and Guo Rong remained in Shu’s capital, wouldn’t he immediately turn around to represent Anning Palace in allying with Shu Kingdom, persuading Shu Lord Wang Jian to send troops to contain Tanzhou from the west?
“Time is of the essence. We should break camp and leave Shu’s capital immediately. Some people may not be able to withdraw in time and might be detained, but I believe Shu Lord Wang Jian won’t be like that pack of mad dogs at Anning Palace, killing to vent their hatred!” Feng Yi said.
“Guo Rong cannot be trusted. We’ll take him with us. As long as my lord assists the Third Prince to gain power, the marriage alliance naturally won’t fail.” Yang Qin suggested. He didn’t advocate killing Guo Rong, but he also didn’t propose taking the risk of letting Guo Rong remain.
Han Qian released the saber at his waist, walked to the window, and pushed open the wooden window, watching fine rain fall onto the grass eaves, suddenly shattering with a sound.
Zhou Chu stepped forward to help Guo Rong up from the ground.
Guo Rong straightened his clothes, quietly waiting for Han Qian to make his decision.
“Kong Xirong will disguise himself as me and accompany Lord Guo back to the city together with Xi Ren. Tomorrow send someone to transmit a message to Court of State Ceremonial Minister Wei Qun and Princess Qingyang, saying I’ve contracted an acute illness—my limbs are stiff, I’m bedridden and cannot rise, my life is in danger,” Han Qian said. “From the Shu palace to Jinhua Tower requires passing through Nanhua Alley. Xi Fa’er, Guo Que—you rush to the Nanhua Alley safe house before Princess Qingyang leaves the palace. When Princess Qingyang passes by, quietly abduct her. Then escort Princess Qingyang out of the city to rendezvous with me at Yupu Post Station. After Princess Qingyang leaves the city, Kong Xirong and the others will withdraw from Jinhua Tower South Court. During this period, if Guo Rong shows the slightest abnormality, execute him!”
Hearing Han Qian’s words, Guo Rong was secretly alarmed: Abduct Princess Qingyang back to Chu, forcibly completing the marriage alliance in the established itinerary? What was this Nanhua Alley safe house about? Could Han Qian have predicted early on that drastic changes could occur in Jinling at any time, so he had also made all preparations in advance in Shu’s capital?