Everyone froze in that moment. No one had expected, no one could have anticipated, that Deposed Empress Li Yao, whom everyone had assumed died in the afternoon fire at Changyang Courtyard and was burned beyond recognition, would now come back from the dead and appear together with Zhang Ping and Jiang Huo.
Not to mention the officials—even the elite armored soldiers behind Li Xiu who had been charging aggressively through the Hall of State Affairs courtyard, ready to forcibly seize Noble Consort Wang and the others, were now filled with doubt and confusion, exchanging bewildered glances with one another.
As long as they were human, as long as they weren’t cold-blooded savage beasts, once their hearts became filled with doubt and confusion, they had little combat effectiveness to speak of.
Previously they could claim they were following Li Xiu in executing the Empress Dowager’s edict, but at this moment, how could they not worry about falling into someone else’s trap, becoming killing blades in others’ hands, ultimately implicating their families and kinfolk?
Not to mention Li Xiu—several military officers beside Li Xiu were from the Prince’s Mansion. Without a psychological process of repeated internal struggle, they absolutely couldn’t lead their fierce soldiers to harm Li Yao.
Li Xiu couldn’t help but step back half a pace, staring at Li Yao’s face, even suspecting it was an extremely lifelike human skin mask.
“Nonsense!” Xu Jing shrieked in panic. “His Majesty’s assassination and the Changyang Courtyard fire occurred almost simultaneously. Zhang Ping and Jiang Huo had time to rush to Changyang Courtyard but didn’t rush to Chongwen Hall to stop the assassins from killing His Majesty—who can trust their words? How can they prove His Majesty wasn’t killed by them colluding with assassins, then coercing Empress Li to frame Palace Director Lu?”
“What exactly is going on?” Shen Yang stared at Zhang Ping and demanded.
Just as Xu Jing said, the Changyang Palace fire and His Majesty’s assassination occurred almost simultaneously. Zhang Ping and Jiang Huo were able to bring people to rescue Li Yao in time—why didn’t they go save His Majesty?
Even at this critical juncture, everyone knew Xu Jing was raising this question to muddy the waters and make a last desperate stand, but if Shen Yang let such a key detail pass ambiguously, he would have no way to thoroughly win people’s hearts over.
“We also don’t know what happened. His Majesty transmitted a secret edict about leaving the city to escape the summer heat. Jiang Huo and I were shocked and were hesitating whether to find Minister Shen to discuss how to remonstrate with His Majesty, when someone threw a handwritten note into Jiang Huo’s room, saying Empress Li was in danger. When we reached Changyang Courtyard, the fire had just started and Empress Li was trapped in the flames. We rescued Empress Li and transferred her to a secret location. Immediately after, we received news of His Majesty’s assassination and Empress Li being stabbed to death and burned in Changyang Courtyard, but in reality, we don’t know where that unrecognizable corpse burned in Changyang Courtyard came from.”
Zhang Ping took out a handwritten note from his breast and handed it to Shen Yang. He too had many questions in his heart at this moment, waiting for Shen Yang to clarify his doubts for him.
“The note says the writer couldn’t bear to see the Great Chu fall into chaos, its territory shattered, its people suffering, so intervened with a warning. It also mentions the Second Imperial Prince is a fake—we also had great difficulty avoiding eyes and ears, finding an opportunity to escort Empress Li in disguise to secretly verify this beside the Second Imperial Prince, before rushing here to see Minister Shen. Fortunately we didn’t delay matters…”
“A woman’s handwriting?” Shen Yang said hesitantly to Yang En and Han Daoming beside him.
He also secretly observed Han Daoming’s expression. Han Daoming also looked completely bewildered and astonished.
And Han Daochang and Han Duan, who had previously retreated to the side, obviously hadn’t anticipated such a turn in the situation either. Especially Han Duan—the panic on his face, the profuse sweat covering his head, and his earlier appearance of practically wanting to rush forward and pull Han Daoming directly aside—these couldn’t possibly be faked.
If it wasn’t Han Qian’s people, then who at this critical juncture had tipped off Zhang Ping and Jiang Huo in advance?
And this person knew the details of Cishou Palace’s actions so clearly and promptly—not only could they cover tracks afterward for Zhang Ping and Jiang Huo and conceal the traces of Li Yao’s rescue, but could even mislead Lu Qingxia into believing with certainty that Li Yao had perished in the flames?
Shen Yang could imagine this person must be someone who had long been undercover beside Lu Qingxia and had gained Lu Qingxia’s deep trust, but whose orders was this person following when they infiltrated Lu Qingxia’s inner circle?
Or rather, which person beside Lu Qingxia had truly decided to expose these people’s conspiracy because they couldn’t bear to see Chu descend into great chaos?
Shen Yang turned to look at Princess Qing Yang again and saw she was almost collapsing to the ground. Han Daoming also looked like his soul hadn’t yet settled.
“Right and wrong—isn’t it clear enough? Li Xiu, will you continue following rebellious orders and committing traitorous acts?” Yang Zhitang stepped forward at this moment, staring at Li Xiu and demanding sharply. Without waiting for Li Xiu’s response, he shouted forcefully to the Imperial Guard soldiers observing from under the covered corridors on both sides, “The Cishou Palace traitors have held the Empress Dowager hostage and assassinated His Majesty—the solid evidence is conclusive. All Great Chu soldiers, follow this Prince’s orders…”
“All Great Chu soldiers, follow the Privy Councilor’s orders…” Zhang Chao no longer hesitated at this moment, shouting sharply.
Although many matters still hadn’t been clarified, regardless of anything else, they couldn’t possibly enthrone a “Second Imperial Prince” whose identity was uncertain and whose authenticity was questionable.
By then, not only would Tangyi refuse to recognize him, but Prince Xin of Huaidong Yang Yuanyan wouldn’t recognize him either!
At this time they still couldn’t directly point their spears at Empress Dowager Wang Chan’er, but “clearing the sovereign’s side”—or rather, eliminating the traitors who held the Empress Dowager hostage and conspired to assassinate His Majesty—should be a choice everyone had no doubt about, or rather, could no longer hesitate over.
Zhang Chao’s words at this moment were even more effective than Yang Zhitang’s.
Those several officers belonging to the Right Martial Guard Army who had risen from the Langzhou provincial army in earlier years almost instantly led their subordinate soldiers to press toward Li Xiu’s troops from the flanks.
“Li Xiu, Li Yao must have been abducted and bewitched by traitors into talking nonsense. Not only did Shen Yang and other traitors collude with foreign peoples to assassinate His Majesty, now they want to hold the Empress Dowager hostage! Li Xiu, think carefully—if you let these traitors succeed, can your Li family escape the fate of complete family extermination with corpses everywhere?” Xu Jing shouted frantically at Li Xiu.
At this moment, Zhong Yanhu was leading several hundred elite armored soldiers to flank around the rear passages toward the Ministry of State Affairs. As long as Li Xiu could steel his heart now, Xu Jing didn’t believe the thousand-some disorganized soldiers gathered near the Ministry of State Affairs could stop them from unleashing a massacre.
And as long as they killed everyone in the Ministry of State Affairs until rivers of blood flowed, killed until not a single armor remained, and prevented them from transmitting the news out, wouldn’t the truth of history still be theirs to paint as they pleased?
Xu Jing shouted himself hoarse, but Li Xiu turned a deaf ear to his words, signaling those around him to surrender their weapons. He too stood dejectedly in the courtyard with hands bound, waiting for people to come capture him.
“Seize the traitors!”
At Shen Yang’s command, the court and ministry guards who had been hesitant earlier now surged forward like tigers and wolves.
The Bureau of Operations scouts who had been so imposing earlier, wielding iron-bound clubs and wreaking havoc in all directions, injuring many people—now their minds were in turmoil. With just slight hesitation, over a dozen spears thrust at them simultaneously, instantly killing and wounding a dozen men.
The others surrounded in the square before the Hall of State Affairs had only one path to choose—laying down their arms and begging for surrender.
Yang Zhitang and Zhang Chao pointed out several familiar mid-level guard officers, ordering them to serve as temporary commanders of the Ministry guards. On one hand they confiscated the weapons of Li Xiu’s troops and found rope to bind them; on the other hand they gathered more soldiers to form battle arrays inside and outside the Hall of State Affairs, preventing Zhong Yanhu from making a desperate attack.
When Li Xiu had entered through the front gate with the Empress Dowager’s edict to seize people, Zhong Yanhu was simultaneously able to lead troops to flank the Ministry of State Affairs from the side and rear, which showed Zhong Yanhu had directly participated in the assassination conspiracy, and his troops must have undergone certain secret mobilization.
Otherwise, in such a chaotic situation, it would be hard to believe several hundred soldiers would blindly follow Zhong Yanhu to flank the power center of the Great Chu Empire without seeing higher-level orders.
After Li Xiu surrendered his weapons, the Bureau of Operations scouts had been more bewitched by Xu Jing into acting beforehand and hadn’t directly participated in the conspiracy. After the Cishou Palace conspiracy was exposed, they were panicked and had little combat effectiveness. However, Zhong Yanhu himself possessed courage that could withstand ten thousand men, and if his troops had been mobilized beforehand, their combat strength shouldn’t be underestimated. They could very well catch this side completely off guard.
…
Zhong Yanhu led his troops to assault the Ministry of State Affairs from Chongyang Gate, having to pass through the rear passage lanes of the Secretariat.
At this moment, several single-wheeled carts used by the Secretariat to transport documents and books were piled messily with thousands of classic copies in the lanes that only allowed two horses to pass side by side. Lamp oil was poured over them, and after several hundred armored soldiers charged into the lanes, an old soldier holding an oil lamp threw it over, igniting a roaring fire that burned into a wall of flame blocking the soldiers’ path.
“This is a sin! Many of these are rare edition classic copies that the old master organized when he served at the Secretariat. And in this dry weather, once the fire starts and spreads everywhere, we’ll have big trouble…” The old clerk, dodging before random arrows could fly, ducked into the Secretariat’s rear courtyard with two young servants, but looking at the roaring fire in the lane outside, couldn’t help but stamp his feet in anguish.
“If Zhong Yanhu kills his way into the Ministry of State Affairs, the entire Imperial City might burn—wouldn’t you be even more heartbroken then?” Feng Liao, disguised as a Secretariat book-moving clerk, pulled the old clerk deeper into the Secretariat compound to escape lest Zhong Yanhu send people over the walls to capture them.
“Setting fires everywhere, you still can’t block the rebel soldiers for long.” The old clerk was dragged by Feng Liao to rendezvous with a small squad of men dressed in court prison guard uniforms in a library pavilion in a corner of the Secretariat compound, still unable to resist saying regretfully.
“Giving Shen Yang and Yang Zhitang this much time is enough for them to react.”
After Feng Liao explained to the old clerk, he waited a while longer. Seeing that the fires at several points in the distant lanes showed no signs of weakening, he decided to disband this urgently assembled small squad on the spot, letting them continue their undercover work using their previous identities in the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, the Court of Judicial Review and other government offices.
“Zhong Yanhu should recognize the situation is lost. Everyone remove and burn your prison guard uniforms, return to your original posts, and stay undercover. Unless there’s another palace coup and great chaos in the future, don’t contact each other again…”
“You’re not going to burn down this library pavilion too, are you?” The old clerk’s forehead veins bulged in agitation.
“Liyang Academy has copies. We can’t worry about such things at this moment,” Feng Liao said.
Wang Zhe, dressed in Imperial Guard uniform, entered through the side gate with Guo Que. Seeing everyone in the library pavilion removing their prison guard uniforms and changing back into the official robes of various ministry clerks or functionaries, he asked hesitantly, “Disbanding directly right now?”
“After Shen Yang and Yang Zhitang control the Ministry of State Affairs situation, who knows how many troops will gather near the Ministry. Disbanding then would easily expose our tracks,” Feng Liao said.
“Zhong Yanhu has already turned around and fled toward Chongfu Gate. They’re very likely to rendezvous with the Imperial Textile Bureau forces before fleeing north through Jingjiang and Jinghai Gates, then escape Jinling from the Imperial Textile Bureau’s official boat docks—the Chishan Army veterans already have four reconnaissance squads secretly prepared. If we raise the call to execute traitors now and gather over a thousand Chishan Army veterans to intercept them at Jingjiang Gate, it’s no problem,” Guo Que came over and said.
“Until the last moment, no bloodshed within the Imperial City—the master repeatedly emphasized this beforehand. Once rivers of blood flow within the Imperial City, many matters become impossible to untangle. Let them go,” Feng Liao shook his head. “Also send out the signal to the vegetable garden area, have all personnel outside the Imperial City stay hidden and inactive, and be careful lest the Mongol spies stir up more trouble…”
Contemporary lanterns had limited brightness. In the dark night, relying solely on the naked eye, it was very difficult to clearly see signals sent by a lantern two or three li away, but with the aid of a bronze telescope, that was another matter entirely.