Hearing Ye Feiying’s words, Yao Xishui felt as if a poisonous thorn had pierced her heart. Her vision blackened in waves. How could she have imagined that all her years of painstaking cultivation couldn’t compare to two broken cakes and the phrase “the world is like a tiger, human lives like ants” that Han Qian had spoken over ten years ago?
How could she have imagined she had lost so utterly and completely so long ago?
“Is Miss Yao convinced of her defeat?” Feng Yi asked with a laugh.
Yao Xishui’s lips twitched. She wanted nothing more than to draw her sword and chop this foul-mouthed dog thief Feng Yi and that lowly maid Ye Feiying into mincemeat.
Seeing Yao Xishui nearly mad with rage, Feng Yi didn’t dare provoke her further. He gestured for Ye Feiying to board the small boat first, urging her: “Your Brother Wuji is waiting for you on the great ship. If we delay any longer and he mistakenly thinks Palace Envoy Lu and Miss Yao won’t release you, he might order an attack—that would be terrible…”
Feng Yi cupped his hands toward Lu Qingxia again, saying, “Palace Envoy Lu might not like hearing this, but since Han Qian ordered me to say it, I must. Whatever Palace Envoy Lu stirs up in Xiangbei, Tangyi can turn a blind eye. After all, no matter how hard you rack your brains, Tangyi will reap the fisherman’s profit. But colluding with foreign tribes—I must advise Palace Envoy Lu not to do that, or don’t blame Tangyi for personally dealing with you…”
“Doesn’t Lord Feng want to take the ‘Second Prince’ away?” Lu Qingxia asked through gritted teeth.
“An unweanèd child—who would care? Perhaps only Palace Envoy Lu views him as a bargaining chip! Please take him with you, raise him fat and healthy, don’t kill him carelessly—who knows, you might be able to trade him to Tangyi for a life someday.” Feng Yi gave a sardonic laugh, waved his hand, and with extreme nonchalance grabbed the rope ladder and jumped onto the small boat, though he landed somewhat unsteadily and nearly fell.
Watching the small boat head toward the distant fleet of giant vessels.
Watching the siege crossbows on the giant vessels glinting coldly in the blazing sun, Lu Qingxia seemed to age twenty or thirty years in that moment. “Head to Jingzhou…” he said.
“Will Han Qian really let us pass through Yuxi River mouth?” Although Zhou Yuan hadn’t stopped Lu Qingxia from handing over Ye Feiying, he still worried whether Han Qian would truly let them live.
If they had to force their way through, he’d rather continue eastward. After all, after the Tangyi naval forces blocking fleet downstream, the northern bank was Yangzhou’s Yangzi County, while the southern bank was Runzhou’s Dantu County garrisoned by the Right Longwu Army. No matter how powerful Tangyi’s naval forces were, they couldn’t possibly intercept all their dozen or so ships.
From Tangyi city westward to eastern Shuzhou, nearly four hundred li of the Yangtze waterway were under Tangyi naval control.
If Han Qian was merely tricking them into turning around, with their dozen or so warships and two or three thousand men, Zhou Yuan, confident as he was, didn’t dare hope they could break through four hundred li of Tangyi naval blockade.
Should they continue eastward to break through the blockade, or turn around hoping Han Qian would show great mercy and spare their lives?
“He probably will, won’t he?” Lu Qingxia said dejectedly. “If Han Qian is determined to deploy troops to Hehuai and views the Mongols as his great enemy, then having us all perish at the bottom of the river today would do him no good…”
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Back aboard the great vessel, Feng Yi clutched his chest, gasping as he complained bitterly: “Mother of mercy, that really scared me to death! Lu Qingxia has never suffered such a huge loss in her life—I was really afraid she couldn’t restrain herself and would chop me into mincemeat to feed the dogs!”
Han Qian withdrew his gaze from the Weaving Bureau official vessels turning and changing course, laughing as he cursed: “I’ve left Lu Qingxia a thread of survival at every turn precisely to prevent her from turning desperate like a cornered dog and making the situation impossible to clean up. What do you have to fear? Besides, Lu Qingxia fled in such a wretched state—there might not even be a dog aboard to feed you to. If they chopped you up, they could only feed you to shrimp and turtles!”
“You heartless wretch! But now that we’ve let them abduct the Empress Dowager and the ‘Second Prince’ to flee to Xiangbei, Huaidong shouldn’t have any excuse to stir up trouble, right…?” Feng Yi said.
“Without Wang Wenqian’s assistance, Huaidong probably still hasn’t detected the abnormalities in Jinling city by now, have they? Otherwise, this situation might not have been quelled so smoothly—who knows how far the killing would have gone!” Guo Rong said with deep emotion.
Although the Military Intelligence Staff had expended great effort last night blocking the water and land routes between Jinling and Yangzhou, Yangzhou was simply too close to the capital region. Only after confirming that Huaidong still hadn’t detected the earth-shaking upheaval that had occurred within Jinling city did everyone finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Truthfully, Han Qian had been more worried beforehand about Huaidong making trouble.
Installing Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan seemed like the outcome that Shen Yang and the other ministers least wanted to see—after all, the old ministers from Emperor Yanyou’s faction might all be pushed aside. But thinking more deeply, Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan wasn’t actually an unacceptable choice for the aristocratic clans of Jiangdong, Jiangxi, and Hunan.
Huaidong currently maintained only slightly over forty thousand regular troops, but if the aristocratic clans of Jiangdong, Jiangxi, and Hunan united, they could expand to one hundred ten or twenty thousand elite troops in a short time—their military potential wasn’t much inferior to Tangyi’s.
Preventing Jinling from descending into complete chaos with corpses strewn everywhere, and intercepting Lu Qingxia after her failed palace coup from fleeing to Huaidong to incite Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan to revolt—these had been Han Qian’s key precautions beforehand.
Now they had nailed down Lu Qingxia’s crime of “colluding with Mongol assassins to kill Emperor Yanyou, abducting the Empress Dowager and Second Prince to flee to Xiangbei.” No matter how much resentment and restlessness Yang Yuanyan felt inside, he could only accept the fact that Jinling had already installed a new emperor.
If Yang Yuanyan wanted to make trouble now, not only would he get no external support, but even within Huaidong no one would support him taking such a risk.
“You go to Jinling to handle subsequent matters for me, and have Feng Liao and Guo Que return to Donghu. As for anyone asking why Tangyi warships were able to intercept the rebel party at this time, forcing them to flee westward, tell Shen Yang and the others that yesterday before dusk, the Imperial City gates closed and troops mobilized, then at midnight palace fires burned unceasingly. I happened to be in Tangyi, saw official vessels fleeing eastward at dawn, hastily deployed naval warships to pursue them, but the rebels fled west—please ask the court ministers to pardon this offense…” Han Qian said to Feng Yi.
“What can they do if they don’t pardon?” Feng Yi said with a laugh.
Han Qian ignored Feng Yi, then said to Ye Feiying: “Miss Ye… or should I call you by your true name, Zhao Qingying?”
Although Han Qian had dispatched Feng Liao and Guo Que to take command in Jinling, he hadn’t been confident beforehand that he could persuade Ye Feiying. His real backup plan for responding to the palace coup, besides having Yun Puzi, Qin Wen, and others closely monitor every movement within the Imperial City’s inner court, mainly relied on the fact that after the Left Guangde Army was disbanded and incorporated into the Imperial Guard, quite a number of Chishan Army veterans—particularly lower-ranking officers—had secretly joined the Chishan Association over these years.
Of course, if Ye Feiying hadn’t ultimately been unable to bring herself to kill Li Yao at the critical moment, the palace coup might have been even more bloody and uncontrollable.
“Feiying has done nothing to shame her conscience and will continue to use the name Feiying.” Ye Feiying said.
“That’s good too. Will you come with us to Tangyi first?” Han Qian asked with a smile.
“Where is Zhao Wuji?” Ye Feiying asked dejectedly, not having seen Zhao Wuji’s figure after boarding.
“Once matters in Jinling are settled, Zhao Wuji must lead the Third Army’s main force north to attack Qiaozhou. He’s currently in Chaozhou organizing the campaign and can’t get away—not like us with leisure to cruise the Yangtze,” Han Qian said. “If you’re eager to see Zhao Wuji, I’ll arrange for you to go ashore and ride a fast horse to Chaozhou.”
However fast a ship traveled, it couldn’t match riding a fast horse on the post roads.
Ye Feiying bowed in salute. At this moment she undoubtedly wanted to see Zhao Wuji as soon as possible.
Han Qian smiled, gesturing for Lin Zongjing to arrange a small boat and guards to send her directly ashore to ride a fast horse to Chaozhou. They still needed to return to Tangyi city.
Tangyi city faced Jinling city across the river. Han Qian still needed to remain in Tangyi city for a few days until he confirmed that the new emperor’s accession was accepted by all parties and at least wouldn’t stir up any more waves south of the Yangtze before he could truly break away to supervise the northern campaign.
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Han Qian took a boat into Tangyi city. After some commotion, Feng Yi first entered Jinling city to meet with his brother Feng Liao and Guo Que, then formally entered the palace in his capacity as Tangyi Administration Bureau’s Memorial Envoy to pay respects to the new emperor, the Two Empress Dowagers, and Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, Yang En, and others.
The rebel party led by Lu Qingxia had abducted the Empress Dowager and Second Prince to flee toward Huaidong, then were intercepted by Tangyi naval forces near Aoshan Island waters and fled westward—although the Right Longwu Army had garrison troops on Aoshan Island, without transmitted orders they couldn’t react in time. Subsequently, over a hundred Tangyi warships sailed out from Chaohu and Zhuhe waterways to blockade the Yangtze waterway, along with the movements of Han Qian temporarily taking command in Tangyi city and deploying Tangyi warships to gather on the Yangtze waters north of Jinling city and near Tangyi—all this truly made the hearts of officers and men within the Imperial City leap into their throats for quite a while.
When Feng Yi brought Han Qian’s memorial over, clearly stating that Tangyi would follow the ministers’ consensus and accept the result of installing First Prince Yang Bin to ascend and succeed, the whole matter finally settled completely.
At this point, edicts for succession, honoring the Empress Dowagers, mourning, and suppressing rebels were issued in sequence, with envoys dispatched throughout the Imperial City to post imperial proclamations announcing it to the realm and transmitting them to the capital region and all prefectures and counties.
The ordinary people throughout Jinling city had been anxious for a full day and night—yesterday before dusk the Imperial City gates had closed, from Changyang Courtyard onward until late night over a dozen fire sites had made the Imperial City’s firelight illuminate the sky, and from the northern palace gates of Jingjing and Haijing the sounds of battle had echoed for a long time. The city’s residents couldn’t possibly feel at ease. Only now did they truly confirm that Great Chu had completely changed again.
This upheaval had erupted too quickly and ended too early. Everything had mainly occurred within the Imperial City, and even within the Imperial City only a few palaces and several offices had burned.
Although over a thousand soldiers and palace attendants had died tragically in this chaos, compared to the Jinling rebellion from eight or nine years ago that lasted over a year and cost hundreds of thousands of military and civilian lives, this storm was truly as small as an inconspicuous wave on the river surface, breaking apart without even raising much of a ripple.
At this point, the imperial envoy dispatched to Chuzhou to report the mourning and transmit the edict had only just officially boarded an official vessel to travel downriver…
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Of course, before the imperial envoy departed with the edict for Chuzhou, Prince Shou Yang Zhitang’s private messenger Zhang Xian arrived in Chuzhou before nightfall, reporting in detail to Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan about the bloody palace coup’s detailed process.
This wasn’t because Yang Zhitang had a life-and-death friendship with Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan, nor was Yang Zhitang trying to collude with Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan at this time.
This was still a unanimous decision reached through consultation among the ministers of the Government Affairs Hall.
Ultimately it was to let Prince Xin Yang Yuanyan have mental preparation in advance, so that after the court’s proclamation envoy officially arrived in Chuzhou, there wouldn’t be a farce of the Prince raging like thunder, arbitrarily killing the court envoy, and tearing up the sacred edict, making everyone lose face.
If it really came to that, would the court pursue Huaidong for the great crime of defying the edict and arbitrarily killing the imperial envoy, or swallow this insult and send someone again to persuade Huaidong not to create trouble at this critical juncture?
Sometimes communicating in advance was extremely necessary for both sides’ dignity.
“Are you all blind as dogs? Keeping useless people like you who only eat shit?”
After sending Prince Shou Yang Zhitang’s messenger Zhang Xian out of the great hall, Yang Yuanyan grabbed the tea cup from the sandalwood table in uncontrollable fury and hurled it at Yangzhou Prefect Zhao Zhen, who stood in the hall having rushed urgently to Chuzhou together with Zhang Xian. He roared loudly, eyes blazing with anger, wanting to flay Zhao Zhen alive.
He never imagined that Zhao Zhen, also a veteran general stationed in Yangzhou, could be completely unaware of such a huge upheaval occurring so close by in Jinling city!
They had actually waited until Yang Zhitang sent someone over before learning that Emperor Yanyou, who had reigned for eight years in the prime of his youth and vigor, had already been assassinated by Lu Qingxia in collusion with Mongol assassins.
They had only now learned that Empress Dowager Wang Chan’er, Chen De, and others had been abducted by Lu Qingxia to flee west up the river!
In fact, the Weaving Bureau official vessel fleet that Lu Qingxia rode had at one point been less than fifteen or sixteen li from the Hanjiang mouth, yet was ultimately forced by Tangyi warships to flee westward.
They had only now learned that Shen Yang and the participating ministers had already reached consensus with Tangyi, deciding to install First Prince Yang Bin as emperor and honor the Two Empress Dowagers of Changxin Palace and Mingcheng Palace to preside over government!
They had only now learned that from beginning to end, Huaidong had nothing to do with any of it.
If they had detected the possibility of a palace coup in Jinling last night, even if he had no ambition for the throne at this moment, Huaidong absolutely couldn’t have gained nothing!
Not to mention other things—even if they had just fought to redirect the military resources originally allocated by the court to the Xiangbei Army, equivalent to over two million strings of cash and grain annually, Huaidong’s future days would be much better. They could maintain regular troops at sixty to eighty thousand men, thereby having no fear of Tangyi’s dominance.
Now it was fine—even if the court redistributed the saved military resources among the various armies and regional commands, it absolutely wouldn’t be Huaidong’s turn to take the lion’s share.
The court would likely deploy Zhang Xiang’s Jingzhou Army (Right Wuwei Army) and Huang Lü’s Left Wuxiang Army to suppress Xiangbei. Whatever surplus the national treasury had would first go to strengthening these two forces.
Furthermore, the bloody palace coup had nailed down that Lu Qingxia colluded with Mongol assassins in her treasonous acts, so the court would inevitably next support Tangyi forces heading north to Hehuai to join the war.
That is to say, unless Huaidong also dispatched troops to cross the river and attack north toward Xusi, they might possibly get a share of the spoils.
Otherwise, they couldn’t even get a whiff.
If Huaidong refused to acknowledge this, what could they do? Shen Yang and the others had already reached consensus. The Right Longwu Army in Runzhou across from Yangzhou had heightened alert. Tangyi had gathered dozens of warships on the eastern flank. Even if they wanted to move, they didn’t even have a pretext that could convince Huaidong’s soldiers.
Yang Yuanyan’s heart and lungs were about to explode with rage. He never imagined that Zhao Zhen, stationed in Yangzhou a stone’s throw from Jinling, could be completely oblivious.
Zhao Zhen stood there stiffly, allowing the cup full of hot tea to strike his body and then roll to the ground, shattering in two pieces.
Zhao Zhen had his difficulties.
Tell him to command troops or lead forces into battle, and he wouldn’t furrow his brow even once. But having him shoulder both military and administrative responsibilities had left him utterly exhausted during this period.
Since entering summer, Hongze Lake’s floods had spread everywhere, and every county in Yangzhou territory had suffered serious flooding disasters. Over a hundred thousand disaster victims had poured into Yangzhou crying for food, while merchants controlled by aristocratic clans hoarded goods for profit, causing Yangzhou’s rice prices to soar several times higher than at the year’s beginning.
The night before the palace coup, the Baisha River levee broke, trapping over ten thousand people on the eastern bank of Baisha River in the floods.
Yangzhou city couldn’t produce grain for disaster relief. Two days ago in Gaoyou, several thousand refugees gathered to attack estates hoarding grain—this was already the fourth civil disturbance within Yangzhou territory since summer began.
Under these circumstances, how could he also keep constant watch on every movement in Jinling?
Moreover, after Wang Wenqian and Yin Peng left Yangzhou, intelligence transmission matters had been directly controlled by Chuzhou. Why hadn’t information been transmitted in time? Zhao Zhen wanted to ask Chuzhou about that.
Of course, with Prince Xin in a rage, and with Wang Wenqian and Yin Peng also standing upright in the great hall, Zhao Zhen could only try his utmost to calm his own emotions and not argue.
After Yang Yuanyan vented his pent-up resentment and anger, Ruan Yan glanced at Wang Wenqian sitting like an old monk behind his table across from him, then said thoughtfully: “When Lu Qingxia colluded to launch the palace coup, before nightfall it was most likely people from Cishou Palace who blocked the information, preventing our informants from leaving Jinling city. However, after Duke Changguo’s daughter appeared, the situation within the Imperial City was no longer under Lu Qingxia’s control. At that point, if our informants still couldn’t leave the city to transmit information, Tangyi was most likely behind it…”
Tangyi and Jinling faced each other across the river. East of Tangyi lay Yangzhou territory—Yangzi County newly established in the late previous dynasty, as well as Yingluan Fortress they had built close to the northern bank of the Yangtze by Qiushan to strengthen river defenses. The direct distance from Changchun Palace outside Jinling city’s East Flower Gate was less than thirty li.
Ruan Yan didn’t want to pointlessly rebuke Zhao Zhen’s belated awareness like Prince Xin. Thinking calmly, it was truly that their current intelligence transmission system was too crude, with communication channels easily severed. Last night’s severed channels more likely resulted from Tangyi’s interference.
If that was the case, it meant Tangyi had infiltrated many people into the capital region over these years, and at the very beginning of the palace coup had immediately decided to obstruct Huaidong from learning of the upheaval by every means possible, so Tangyi could seize more benefits from the palace coup—clearly, with Huaidong kept in the dark and Tangyi immediately gathering water and land forces on the northern bank of the capital region, regardless of who was the final victor of the palace coup, they would first choose to placate Tangyi or satisfy Tangyi’s appetite as much as possible.
After Yang Yuanyan vented his uncontrollable resentment and anger, he sat down breathing heavily. Hearing Ruan Yan say these things, he looked toward Wang Wenqian and asked: “Is it truly as the Chancellor says?”
“The Chancellor’s insight is keen. Tangyi is eager to campaign in Hedao and would indeed likely have people block communication channels to prevent Huaidong from receiving information. Within the Imperial City, regardless of who could ultimately prevail, as long as Huaidong couldn’t participate, Tangyi would gain great advantage…” Wang Wenqian said impassively.
“This is Han Qian’s wishful calculation?” Yang Yuanyan gradually calmed down, but the deeper he thought, the tighter his brow furrowed. He asked: “However, when Han Qian created the Chishan Army, you told me this Yun Puzi was practicing Taoism at Maoshan at that time. Now it just happens that Yun Puzi timely led that person from Changxin Palace and the First Prince to flee to the Imperial Secretariat. Could he possibly have been bought by Han Qian long ago, actually being Tangyi’s sleeper agent lurking within the Imperial City all along?”
“Your Highness’s perception is astute. Hearing Your Highness say this, there is indeed this possibility. Shen Yang establishing dual honor for both palaces might also stem from this concern!” Wang Wenqian said.
Yang Yuanyan asked Ruan Yan and Wang Wenqian: “How should I break this situation?”
Ruan Yan glanced at Wang Wenqian and said: “Your Highness should reconcile with the court…”
“How to reconcile? You can’t expect me to voluntarily relinquish my princely rank, can you?” Yang Yuanyan asked with renewed resentment.
“Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, and others are caught up in events, yet they ultimately insisted on dual honor for the Changxin Palace and Mingcheng Palace Empress Dowagers. This shows they still guard against Changxin Palace potentially colluding completely with the Han family and Tangyi, causing the court to escape the ministers’ control,” Wang Wenqian steeled himself to continue Ruan Yan’s topic, going deeper: “Emperor Yanyou has just been assassinated, and the new emperor is merely an infant. Your Highness need not worry about the new emperor being detrimental to you. If Your Highness can proactively reconcile with the court at this time, you’ll show the same sincerity in protecting the Yang clan’s imperial family as Prince Shou and Marquis Liyang. Shen Yang and the others will surely set aside their wariness of Your Highness…”
“…Chancellor, tell me exactly what I should do. Speak plainly, don’t be evasive. I’m not some foolish king who can’t hear good counsel,” Yang Yuanyan said.
“Your Highness should request self-reduction of feudal authority,” Ruan Yan said, not wanting Wang Wenqian to claim all the credit.
“…” A vein jumped on Yang Yuanyan’s forehead. He ultimately suppressed his inner rage, looked at Wang Wenqian, and asked: “Does the Chancellor’s statement have merit?”
Wang Wenqian said: “When His Majesty was alive, he was deeply suspicious of Your Highness, causing the court to guard against Huaidong in every way. Your Highness had to guard against Emperor Yanyou harboring fratricide intentions at that time and couldn’t possibly request self-reduction of feudal authority or relinquish wariness of the court—Huaidong and the court’s mutual suspicion allowed Tangyi to reap the fisherman’s profit. As the Chancellor says, His Majesty has just been assassinated. If Your Highness can eliminate the mutual suspicion between Huaidong and the court, Tangyi will find it much harder to reap the fisherman’s profit…”
“That’s all well and good to say…” Yang Yuanyan had controlled Huaidong alone for years. The logic made sense, but how easy was such a decision?
Wang Wenqian steeled himself to continue: “Given this year’s disaster situation, Huaidong will likely have difficulty being self-sufficient in money and grain for quite some time. Returning governance of Yang, Tai, and Chu three prefectures to the court means Huaidong’s forces would naturally be maintained with court money and grain going forward, which substantially does Your Highness no great harm. Only thus will Shen Yang, Yang Zhitang, Yang En, and others truly eliminate their wariness of Your Highness, viewing Your Highness as the court’s protective bulwark and the Yang imperial family’s protective bulwark. Only then will Your Highness have opportunity to dispatch troops to jointly suppress the Xiangbei rebellion, preventing Xiangbei from falling into Tangyi’s hands. Should changes occur again within the palace later, Shen Yang and the others might think of Your Highness rather than isolating Huaidong outside and hastily allowing Tangyi to lead them by the nose in deciding everything. Your Highness could even request establishing Third Prince Yang Ye as Crown Prince Brother—besides this move winning over the Huang family and Jiangdong aristocrats, when Shen Yang and the others come to their senses, they will surely support Your Highness’s request. The new emperor is young and childless. Establishing a Crown Prince Brother makes him Great Chu’s heir apparent, moving him to the Eastern Palace—only then can a situation of Changxin Palace and Mingcheng Palace truly standing equal be formed within the palace.”
“All of you withdraw for now. Let me think this through carefully…” Yang Yuanyan said.
Ruan Yan, Wang Wenqian, as well as Zhao Zhen, Yin Peng, and the others stood to take their leave…