From outside the carriage came the sound of “Respectfully sending off the Empress Dowager.” Empress Dowager Yan felt even more sorrowful and simply buried her entire head in the cushions, her sobs rising uncontrollably.
After seeing off Empress Dowager Yan’s carriage, the imperial relatives all gathered around the eldest clan elder, asking: “Uncle-elder, what should we do next?”
“Summon the clansmen to the imperial palace and have them kneel at the palace gates!” The clan elder held the letters in his hands: “These letters are ironclad proof that Murong Yan is Xiao Rongyan, and also ironclad evidence of Xiao Rongyan’s treason! He has already married the Great Zhou Emperor and has children… his heart is no longer with our Yan nation. We must make His Majesty wake up, kill Murong Yan, and welcome the Empress Dowager back!”
With this elder’s command, the other imperial relatives all sent their servants to spread the word.
News of what the Murong clan and the Empress Dowager had said outside the palace reached Murong Li’s ears one after another. When Murong Li heard that his mother had gone completely mad and publicly revealed Ninth Uncle’s identity as Xiao Rongyan, he was so shocked that he stood up.
Murong Hai had personally come to request orders, asking Murong Li to let him escort the Empress Dowager to the traveling palace, asking Murong Li to trust him, yet this was how he betrayed that trust?
“Where is Murong Hai? Is he dead? It’s one thing to be so bold as to let the clan relatives speak with the Empress Dowager, but when the Empress Dowager lost her mind and spoke nonsense, he just listened and did nothing – he deserves death!” Murong Li’s voice rose: “Where is Zhang Guan? Don’t tell me Zhang Guan also failed to stop the Empress Dowager’s mad ravings!”
“Your… Your Majesty, when the Deputy Commander arrived, the Empress Dowager had already finished speaking! Moreover… moreover, the Empress Dowager somehow produced letters that the Regent Prince had once written to the Late Emperor. The clan relatives are now saying they will kneel at the gates to force Your Majesty to kill the Regent Prince!” The Imperial Guard knelt at Murong Li’s feet. After finishing his report, he kowtowed heavily and dared not raise his head again.
Murong Li tightened his hands clasped behind his back and said: “If they want to kneel, let them kneel!”
That night with heavy snow falling, outside the Yan nation’s imperial palace gates, imperial relatives arrived one after another, kneeling before the palace gates, holding in their hands the letters Murong Yan had once written to the Late Emperor, petitioning His Majesty to issue an edict to capture the national traitor Murong Yan.
·
Under the protection of the Anping army led by Liu Pinggao, Bai Qingyan had already reached Anshun City.
The city-defending general of Anshun City and the local officials had long been waiting outside the city to welcome her. Bai Qingyan dismounted and walked on foot with the local officials and the city-defending general into the city. Now, most of the common people had closed their doors and stayed home, with few shops open on the streets. The people kneeling on both sides wore face coverings and maintained distances from each other, making the streets appear quite empty. Even so, Bai Qingyan and the other soldiers did not slacken their vigilance – everyone wore face coverings soaked in medicinal solution.
“Thanks to His Majesty sending medicinal materials and grain at the same time, otherwise the people of Anshun City would certainly be like the people of neighboring Liyi City, going out to beg for food. With this epidemic spreading from person to person, the consequences would be unthinkable!” The Anshun County Magistrate spoke from his heart. To be honest, although he was from Yan, when they were handed over to Great Zhou’s jurisdiction and such an epidemic occurred, the city-defending general truly understood that Yan’s and Great Zhou’s national strength could not be compared.
At least from what he knew, if this were in Yan nation, Yan certainly wouldn’t have the confidence to let people whose families had epidemic patients and their neighbors stay home while the government distributed grain.
But correspondingly, Great Zhou’s laws were also extremely strict – if people who didn’t meet the conditions for going out left their homes, they would lose their heads. In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures were taken, which was only natural.
“Yes, this is all thanks to His Majesty!” The city-defending general was originally a Great Zhou soldier. Having heard of the tragic conditions in the cities under Yan nation’s jurisdiction, then seeing the Yan cities under their Great Zhou’s jurisdiction, he naturally felt somewhat proud.
“Are there any people causing trouble trying to leave the city?” Bai Qingyan carefully observed this main street to see which merchants still had their doors open. Grain shops were open, there were also small vegetable vendors by the roadside, and taverns and daily goods shops were all still open. At this moment, whether shopkeepers, waiters, or common people, all knelt on both sides, not daring to raise their heads.
The situation in Anshun City was somewhat better than Bai Qingyan had expected. She remembered that Anshun City was among the first cities where the epidemic was discovered, so she spoke words of praise for the city-defending general and county magistrate.
Who knew that upon hearing this, the city-defending general and county magistrate exchanged glances, and finally, the city-defending general spoke to Bai Qingyan: “Your Majesty… Anshun City discovered the epidemic early but wasn’t as severely affected as other cities because… when the epidemic was first discovered, the Yan court ordered that medicinal materials from various places must not be transported to the cities under our Great Zhou’s jurisdiction. There was a physician surnamed Zhu in Liyi City named Zhu Chengru who secretly sent several batches of medicinal materials to Anshun City. He was caught by the local officials and taken back to be charged with the crime of collaborating with the enemy and treason. Now, Physician Zhu’s entire family has been imprisoned and is said to face execution. Later, we also lost contact with Liyi City and don’t know if Physician Zhu’s family is still safe!”
Bai Qingyan paused in her steps, her clear, black, and white eyes looking toward the city-defending general. The general immediately cupped his hands and knelt on one knee: “This general once went to demand the person’s release, but Liyi refused! Now that Your Majesty has come… this general boldly requests Your Majesty’s command – could we send a Zhou envoy to the Yan Emperor to have this family brought to our Great Zhou’s jurisdiction? This Physician Zhu saved so many people – he shouldn’t meet such an end.”
The city-defending general only held a thread of hope, hoping that those bastards from the Yan nation hadn’t yet harmed Physician Zhu.
Bai Qingyan pursed her lips and said: “Rise…”
The city-defending general stood up, looking at Bai Qingyan expectantly. He heard Bai Qingyan say, “If we send an envoy to the Yan capital now, by the time the envoy returns, Physician Zhu’s life probably cannot be saved. Fortunately, the Regent Prince of Yan nation should have also arrived at Liyi by now. I will personally go to demand the person!”
“Thank you, Your Majesty!” The county magistrate immediately knelt: “This official thanks Your Majesty on behalf of the people of Anshun City! Thanks, Your Majesty, on behalf of Physician Zhu!”
“Physician Zhu saved people from fire and water – he is a hero. This is only proper!” Bai Qingyan said gently, “Time is of the essence. Liu Pinggao… send a team of soldiers ahead to Liyi City. Say that I wish to meet with the Yan nation’s Regent Prince, and ask the Regent Prince to spare Physician Zhu’s family no matter what. I will arrive shortly after.”
“Yes!” Liu Pinggao received the order and dared not delay, immediately dispatching men to rush to Liyi first, hoping to move quickly enough to save this Physician Zhu.
Xiao Rongyan, who had just arrived at Liyi not long ago, saw that the epidemic in Liyi City was well controlled. He also heard from the local county magistrate that… several imperial relatives who had been driven out of the Yan capital by Murong Yan had contributed grain, silver, and effort in this fight against the epidemic. So Xiao Rongyan personally met with these several imperial relatives.
These imperial relatives all appeared to recognize their mistakes and wholeheartedly wished to repent, claiming they dared not take credit and only wanted to redeem themselves somewhat by doing things for the people.