Li Zhigao sat frozen in shock beyond measure, speechless for a long while.

Li Zhigao’s personal guard commander Deng Tai’s gaze swept back and forth between Yao Xishui and Li Zhigao’s faces. Upon careful examination, he confirmed there were some resemblances, but in his heart he could hardly believe that Li Zhigao and Yao Xishui shared blood ties, much less that they were actually scions of the previous dynasty’s imperial clan left behind.

If Li Zhigao was a scion of the previous dynasty’s imperial clan, then who was Deng Shiru, who had served as Li Pu’s subordinate commander in life and was Li Zhigao’s birth father?

Moreover, when Deng Shiru died in battle and Li Zhigao was adopted into Li Pu’s household, he was already fifteen years old. At that time, the previous dynasty had not yet fallen. If Li Zhigao truly was imperial clan, would it have been necessary to go to such lengths to hide his identity under a false name? How deep must the Madam’s planning have been?

Furthermore, Li Zhigao had absolutely no memory of these past events or his own origins. He must have been sent to Deng Shiru’s home before age three to be raised as his natural son—that would be nearly thirty years ago.

Thirty years ago, the previous dynasty’s Emperor Zhaozong had just died of illness and Emperor Xizong had just ascended the throne, hadn’t he?

What secrets lay hidden behind all this?

“The Madam said that based on birthmarks alone, elder brother would likely still harbor doubts,” Yao Xishui could see the enormous shock and questions in Li Zhigao and Deng Tai’s hearts. Her exquisitely beautiful face locked away the turmoil within as she continued: “Lord Deng was actually a leader that the Shenling Bureau planted within the Jianghuai Army. This is a letter he left with the Madam before his death, which explains why the Shenling Bureau hid elder brother in his household even before the previous dynasty fell. When Lord Deng died in battle, elder brother was already fifteen years old. I believe you still have Lord Deng’s family letters in your possession that can be compared to verify the handwriting…”

Yao Xishui took a sandalwood box from beside the zither stand, opened it, and extracted an old letter with mottled marks and yellowed pages to hand to Li Zhigao.

The end of the previous dynasty lasted over forty years through Emperors Zhaozong and Xizong before its fall. In his youth, Zhaozong had been determined to reform and innovate, even showing signs of reviving the previous dynasty at one point. The Shenling Bureau was secretly established by Zhaozong under the pretext of repairing imperial tombs.

History records that Zhaozong died of illness in the palace, but in reality, Zhaozong was poisoned to death by the Grand Ancestor of the State of Liang.

Though after Zhaozong’s death, Xizong succeeded to the throne and continued the previous dynasty’s mandate for over twelve years, Xizong had essentially completely become a puppet controlled by the Grand Ancestor of Liang, who was then titled Prince of Liang—merely a tool in the Prince of Liang’s hands to command the realm’s lords. The imperial clan at that time became livestock penned by the Grand Ancestor of Liang, almost all under the Grand Ancestor of Liang’s surveillance.

At that time, the Guanzhong and Heluoyang regions as foundational territories had long been beaten to ruins by warring lords.

The Divine Strategy Army, once viewed by the previous dynasty’s imperial clan as a protective buffer, after being forced by Liang’s army to retreat into Shu, showed no ambition to advance. No commanders thought to retake Guanzhong and rescue the imperial household. Instead, they fell into chaos in Shu, endlessly fighting for power and killing each other. By the time Wang Jian finally emerged victorious and occupied Shu, he no longer recognized what the previous dynasty had been.

When Zhaozong was poisoned, the Shenling Bureau had already realized the previous dynasty’s fall was inevitable. Li Zhigao, as Zhaozong’s legitimate grandson and the newly-born two-year-old youngest son of the Princess Consort of Lu, was immediately sent to be fostered in the household of Deng Shiru, a Battalion Commander who had infiltrated the Jianghuai Army.

To avoid detection, Deng Shiru’s own three-year-old son, Deng Tai, was sent to the Shenling Bureau’s secret base to undergo rigorous and brutal training from childhood alongside other orphans adopted by the Shenling Bureau…

After reading the letter Deng Shiru had left before his death, not only Li Zhigao but also his trusted subordinate Deng Tai stood frozen in place, as if struck by lightning, hardly able to believe that Li Zhigao’s “birth father” Deng Shiru was actually his own birth father, and that he wasn’t a parentless orphan after all.

This was far too absurd, wasn’t it?

Li Zhigao turned with difficulty to glance at Deng Tai. In fact, some of the older members of Marquis Xinchang’s household and Wanhong Tower often said Deng Tai bore considerable resemblance to his “birth father” in life. Some had even joked that Deng Tai was a bastard son his birth father had left behind through dalliances. Who could have imagined the truth would be so cruel and absurd?

“Lord Deng made such great sacrifices. Father and son both served as personal guards at elder brother’s side. I believe elder brother can understand what Lord Deng’s dying wish was,” Yao Xishui said.

Li Zhigao felt as if mountains were pressing down on him, making it hard to breathe. After quite a while, he asked with difficulty: “You say you’re also from the previous dynasty’s imperial clan. I wonder from which lineage you descend?”

“Eighteen years ago, the Grand Ancestor of Liang imprisoned the Prince of Lu, Cui Hao, and other princes and high ministers of the previous dynasty at White Horse Station and slaughtered them. Then he released troops to plunder the city. That night the Prince of Lu’s residence caught fire. The Princess Consort of Lu died after being violated. Over three hundred children, descendants, and servants all burned in the flames. History records this as the ‘Calamity of White Horse Station.’ What history doesn’t record is that a five-year-old girl hid in a latrine pit for five days and nights until the Madam arrived to rescue her and she escaped disaster,” Yao Xishui said expressionlessly. “Elder brother’s mother was the Princess Consort of Lu, Lady Rong. My mother was the Prince of Lu’s secondary consort, Lady Yao…”

At this moment, Li Zhigao’s heart felt as if something had stabbed it viciously. Yao Xishui was his half-sister?

It was hard to imagine what painful life memories a five-year-old girl had endured through those events. No wonder when the Madam had brought her back, she spent several years silently and grimly practicing swordsmanship.

“Husband, did you think all these years when Xishui called you elder brother, it was false sentiment?” Su Hong Yu also had tears in her eyes as she asked softly.

Li Zhigao raised his head, not letting the tears in his eyes overflow. How could he have imagined the twists and turns behind all this? How could he have known that Xishui, ten years his junior, carried such a heavy burden yet had concealed it from him all these years?

“Elder brother, are you now willing to tell Xishui what exactly Han Qian said when Deng Tai went to Xuzhou this time?” Yao Xishui asked.

Seeing that Yao Xishui didn’t believe what he had said before and thought he had concealed something, Li Zhigao further explained the true situation: “I sent Deng Tai to Xuzhou hoping Xuzhou would support my military campaign against Yongzhou, to eliminate the Executive Secretariat’s rear concerns in the south so we could completely free up forces to deal with the northern situation. But Deng Tai was blocked by Tian Cheng at Qianyang and turned back. He truly didn’t see Han Qian.”

“That makes no sense,” Yao Xishui said hesitantly.

Hearing Yao Xishui say this, Li Zhigao knew that before Yao Xishui came, the Madam had already anticipated his side’s reaction and seemed certain Xuzhou would respond to his request.

After all, everyone had always thought he was Marquis Xinchang Li Pu’s adopted son, and in the Xiangzhou military remonstrance he and Han Qian had jointly initiated, an irreparable rift had formed between the two sides. This also meant that when facing suppression from the Shenling Bureau, his and Han Qian’s positions should necessarily be aligned.

Li Zhigao was utterly puzzled as to why Han Qian would refuse to see him!

“It’s truly so,” Deng Tai said at this point.

“Then was there anything else unusual on the Qianyang side?” Yao Xishui asked.

“No,” Deng Tai shook his head.

“What does elder brother think Han Qian means by this?” Yao Xishui looked at Li Zhigao and asked.

Li Zhigao shook his head and said: “You also know I have a rather high opinion of myself, but Han Qian’s supernatural cunning should rank among the top three to five in the world. I can’t see through him—my earlier guess that he might sit back and watch the situation deteriorate while waiting to sell his services was just speculation, not to be taken seriously.”

“Yes, even if he doesn’t support military action against Yongzhou at this time, there’s no need to refuse to see the people elder brother sent,” Yao Xishui pondered in confusion.

Deng Tai looked at Yao Xishui and asked: “Since the Commander and you are siblings and orphans of the previous dynasty, why doesn’t the Madam support the Commander against Yongzhou but instead divides the Commander’s military authority at this time?”

“The Madam says Zheng Yu, Zheng Chang, and Shen Yang aren’t so easily fooled, much less with Han Qian still there,” Yao Xishui said.

In fact, this time it was because Shen Yang and Yang Yuanpu’s attitudes were too unsteady and they chose to compromise directly. Combined with Xuzhou’s silence, the plan to attack Yongzhou could be said to have completely failed.

Li Zhigao remained silent.

At this moment, a military officer came running over to report. Seeing Li Zhigao and Deng Tai standing in the rear courtyard pavilion with strange expressions, he hesitated slightly before coming forward to report: “Several more men in the army have deserted and fled. They’ve now been caught and brought to Adjutant Cao. Adjutant Cao sent me to ask the Commander how to handle them. Adjutant Cao says if we don’t severely punish these soldiers, the army’s morale may be difficult to stabilize!”

“What, the Shaozhou army also has Vermillion Bird Army soldiers fleeing back to Jinling?” Yao Xishui asked.

“Yes,” Li Zhigao nodded helplessly.

Although during the Jinling Incident, the families and dependents of the Vermillion Bird Army’s main commanders in Jinling had basically all successfully escaped and later were sent back to Yueyang in batches without major incident, keeping the commanders’ loyalties relatively stable, the families and dependents of ordinary soldiers—over forty thousand people—remained in Jinling.

With Jinling, Chizhou, and even Jiangzhou all controlled by Anning Palace’s forces, it was simply impossible to evacuate so many women, children, and elderly across a thousand li to west of Ezhou.

This group of women, children, and elderly represented the families of nearly one-quarter of the elite soldiers in the Left and Right Vermillion Bird Armies.

After Marquis Xinchang Li Pu was used as bait by Prince Xin, and the seven thousand elite troops that had been assembled with great difficulty in Jinling and Runzhou were devastated, the loyalties of these elite soldiers across the armies became extremely unstable.

This was the fundamental reason Emperor Tianyou combined theMansion兵 prefecture garrison system and部兵 division system to implement military offices throughout the regions—to weaken commanders’ control over soldiers.

Over the past ten-plus days, nearly a hundred men from the garrisons at Jiufeng City, Five Finger Ridge, and Lion Ridge had successively deserted with their weapons and armor. Though many were caught by patrolling officers, Li Zhigao believed the Right Vermillion Bird Army and Five Fang Army stationed in Yueyang and Tanzhou probably also had some soldiers deserting from their camps.

However, Li Zhigao had never had the heart to severely punish these men.

This time, Li Zhigao likewise couldn’t bear to severely punish these men who had deserted because they worried about their families’ safety. He instructed the young officer who came to report: “Tell Adjutant Cao to detain these men for now. Don’t make things difficult for them. We’ll deal with them after some time has passed.”

Yao Xishui knew Li Zhigao’s heart was sometimes soft, but she wouldn’t meddle in such matters. After all, the abilities Li Zhigao displayed far exceeded hers and surpassed Li Chong, Chai Jian, Zhou Yuan and others by far. It was also because Li Zhigao had decisively chosen to cooperate with Han Qian in Xiangzhou back then, stopping the fatal mistake they were making at the time, that they hadn’t lost everything.

Having learned today that his origins held such shocking secrets, after the young officer left, Li Zhigao was mentally and physically exhausted, unusually fatigued. He stood up, intending to have Hong Yu first arrange for Xishui to rest in the side courtyard, with any other matters discussed tomorrow. But as he stood, a thought flashed through his mind, and he asked Deng Tai: “Has anyone from Xuzhou recently passed through Xuefeng Mountain and Shaozhou territory heading toward Hengzhou?”

“None have been discovered so far. What’s wrong?” Deng Tai asked in confusion.

“Han Qian didn’t refuse to see you—he’s not in Xuzhou!” Li Zhigao slapped his thigh.

“How is that possible? If he’s not in Xuzhou, where did he go?” Yao Xishui asked in shock.

“He went to Jinling!” Li Zhigao said.

“How is that possible?” Yao Xishui’s mind still hadn’t caught up. She didn’t know how Li Zhigao’s thoughts had suddenly leaped to this conclusion.

“Nearly a hundred soldiers in my army have deserted because they worry about their families. Xuzhou also has a group of Left Bureau scouts and subordinates with parents and families left in Jinling. How could not a single one have deserted back to Jinling?” Li Zhigao asked in return.

Yao Xishui now understood why Li Zhigao had made this guess.

If people from Xuzhou were deserting back to Jinling by scattering and fleeing, they certainly couldn’t travel by boat via the Yuan and Yangtze Rivers to Jinling—for individuals, it was very difficult to obtain boats, and even mixed aboard ships it was hard to conceal one’s tracks. The journey home would become more circuitous.

Crossing Xuefeng Mountain, passing through Shaozhou to Hengzhou, then through Yuanzhou and Hongzhou, taking the land route back to Jinling by this detour was the shortcut.

Under Han Qian’s training, the Left Bureau scouts and subordinates were extremely familiar with mountains, rivers, and geography, knowing how to scatter and return to Jinling.

That Shaozhou hadn’t detected anyone passing through in scattered groups was itself an anomaly.

Either Han Qian had detained everyone with desertion tendencies, or Han Qian had collectively arranged for these people to take the water route by boat to secretly return to Jinling. In that case, there would be no need to take the land route.

Combined with Han Qian’s current refusal to see the person Li Zhigao had sent, Han Qian might indeed have personally led these people to secretly head to Jinling.

“What can he accomplish by going to Jinling now?” Su Hong Yu asked in utter confusion.

Yao Xishui was also convinced by Li Zhigao’s speculation, but deep in her heart she was even more shocked and puzzled. As Su Hong Yu asked—what was Han Qian going to Jinling to do?

Yao Xishui turned her thoughts to a possibility, looked at Li Zhigao hesitantly, and asked: “Is Han Qian going to Jinling to win over the military loyalty of those Vermillion Bird Army soldiers who have families and dependents left in Jinling?”

“That’s certainly a possibility. He’s been jointly excluded from Yueyang by the Dowager Consort and the Madam, and his influence over Prince Tan has been increasingly weakened. He certainly won’t be content with this. If the Marquis doesn’t dare lead the remnant forces remaining in Runzhou to protect the over forty thousand soldiers’ families, and Han Qian appears in Runzhou at this time, even if he can ultimately only bring out eight hundred to a thousand people, all soldiers with families stranded in Runzhou will be grateful to him. Then when the Left and Right Vermillion Bird Army soldiers are dissatisfied with the Marquis and call for Han Qian to emerge, this will naturally become his greatest leverage to return to Yueyang’s core!” As a core disciple trained by the Shenling Bureau and used by Li Zhigao as a trusted subordinate, Deng Tai’s judgment naturally wouldn’t be much worse than Yao Xishui’s. The impression of Han Qian’s deep cunning and skill at taking unorthodox risks had long been deeply branded in his mind.

Li Zhigao said nothing, but in his heart he didn’t necessarily agree with Yao Xishui and Deng Tai’s assessment.

Though intuition told him Han Qian must have gone to Jinling, and though Yao Xishui and Deng Tai’s speculation seemed quite reasonable, he still felt they were underestimating Han Qian’s vision.

After all, given Xuzhou’s foundation, if Han Qian truly wanted to return to Yueyang’s core, there were other methods. There was no need to take such risks. But he also couldn’t understand why Han Qian had to personally go to Jinling, or what Han Qian could accomplish in Jinling.

“Old Master Han served the country and people with utterly sincere heart, but now Anning Palace is widely proclaiming Old Master Han’s past petition to expel famine refugees and other matters to sully his name. Even among the lower ranks of the Vermillion Bird Army, many soldiers harbor misunderstandings. Perhaps Han Qian is going to Jinling to clear his father’s name?” Though Su Hong Yu also thought Han Qian’s trip to Jinling was for the Vermillion Bird Army families stranded in Runzhou, her guess about Han Qian’s motives differed from Yao Xishui and Deng Tai’s.

That the “Memorial on Epidemic Waters” came from Han Daoxun’s hand was still known to only an extremely limited number of people, but almost everyone who knew about it wouldn’t publicize it. They even kept remarkably silent about it by tacit agreement. In reality, after the complete victory in the campaign to reduce the vassals’ power, many people worried that Han Daoxun and his son Han Qian’s political prestige was too high.

“I won’t stay overnight here either. I’ll head back to Yueyang right away,” Yao Xishui said.

“Xishui, you absolutely must not reveal Han Qian’s whereabouts. Act as if this never happened. We have no need to make an enemy of Han Qian!” Seeing that Yao Xishui didn’t want to stay overnight at Jiufeng City even this late and would leave under cover of night, Li Zhigao looked up and said in alarm.

“Though you and I are orphans of the imperial clan, the Madam still makes all decisions at this time. All this should be decided by the Madam,” Yao Xishui pointed at the letter Deng Shiru had left in Li Zhigao’s hand and said, “And besides the Madam, only the four of us have seen this letter. Even if we must become enemies with Han Qian, it will be the Madam and I. It has nothing to do with elder brother—surely elder brother doesn’t intend to detain me?”

Li Zhigao’s brow furrowed in pain. Too many things tonight had left his heart in chaos, making him completely unable to see clearly the changes and direction of the future situation.

Yao Xishui stood in the pavilion for a while. Seeing Li Zhigao remain silent for a long time without speaking, she turned and walked out of the pavilion.

How could she not know Han Qian’s power and supernatural cunning? But she was different from Li Zhigao. She had witnessed with her own eyes hundreds of people from the Prince of Lu’s residence perish in flames.

That scene from years ago was branded into the depths of her soul like a seal.