The next day, Shen Xiling was awakened by the sound of intense arguing.
When she woke up, she found herself in an unfamiliar room. The space wasn’t very large, about ten zhang square. She was lying on a couch, with many manuscripts and letters neatly stacked around her, and there was also a small standing cabinet. She walked over and opened it to look inside—it was filled with men’s clothing.
She was initially startled. After all, she clearly remembered being in Wangshi last night with the second young master—they had even talked about many things. Yet after sleeping, she had awakened in a place she didn’t recognize, which naturally caused her to panic. However, after seeing the clothing in the cabinet, she felt at ease, recognizing these as Qi Ying’s belongings, so she no longer felt anxious.
But it was extremely noisy outside the door. There were sounds of men arguing loudly, along with clattering noises, as if many things were being swept to the floor. Shen Xiling’s heart fluttered with unease. She felt her way to the room’s door and pushed it open a crack to secretly peer outside.
Only then did she realize that she was currently in the inner chamber of Wangshi. The door was behind the tall bookshelves, quite concealed—despite having come here several times before, she had never discovered it.
Through the door crack, she saw Qi Ying’s back. Bai Song was there too, and there was another man she didn’t recognize, about forty years old, with a full beard and a square face, tall and sturdy in build, holding a sword in his hand and currently in a rage. Looking carefully, Wangshi was already in complete disarray—the young master’s books were scattered everywhere, and there were broken porcelain pieces and overturned tables and chairs all over the floor.
Shen Xiling’s heart began pounding. She didn’t know what was happening before her eyes, didn’t know who that older man was, and was especially afraid that this person might hurt Qi Ying. For a moment, she was so nervous that her heart clenched tight.
The man Shen Xiling saw was Great Liang’s current highest-ranking military official, General Han Shouge.
The position of General was first established in the previous dynasty, ranking above the Three Dukes, and could be said to hold power over the entire court. If the emperor was incompetent or young, one could leap up and dominate the court. Although Great Liang had continued the official system of the previous dynasty, the Jiangzuo region’s tradition of valuing civil officials had flourished in recent decades, so the General’s position as a military office had somewhat declined in status. It wasn’t more powerful than the Left and Right Prime Ministers, and was even somewhat beneath them.
Nevertheless, the General was still undoubtedly Great Liang’s highest military official, commanding all military affairs in Jiangzuo and sharing military governance with the Privy Council—truly a position of great importance.
Han Shouge was forty-three this year and had held the position of General for four years. He came from an aristocratic family and was also the cousin of Han Shousong, the current head of the Han family. Having spent half his life in military campaigns and being born into nobility, such a person generally wouldn’t have too good a temper.
Han Shouge perfectly exemplified this “generally.”
Ever since he had nearly lost his head to Gu Juhan in Stone City last year, he had been harboring resentment. He had spent more than half a year recuperating in Jiankang, and while his physical wounds had completely healed, the distress in his heart hadn’t lessened one bit. Instead, the more he thought about it, the more humiliated and angry he became. Every day at home he cursed the Gao Wei, cursed the Gu family, wishing he could personally capture Gu Juhan and slice him three thousand times to avenge his shame.
Because of this mindset, he had always been dissatisfied with the Privy Council’s order prohibiting warfare. But considering that this newly appointed Deputy Director of the Privy Council was the second son of the Qi family—this Second Master Qi had a father who was the Left Prime Minister and would very likely become His Majesty’s son-in-law in the future—he couldn’t afford not to give him face, so he had been somewhat tolerant of this warfare prohibition order.
But he hadn’t expected that this Qi family brat would be so wildly arrogant as to dare kill Jiang Yong!
How infuriating!
Ever since receiving news of Jiang Yong’s death several days ago, Han Shouge had been dizzy with rage. Yesterday, hearing that Qi Ying had returned to Jiankang, today he couldn’t contain himself and came with his sword to cause a great disturbance. He had burst into Wangshi and nearly lifted the roof. Still not feeling satisfied, he pointed his sword at Qi Ying and said, “People say new officials light three fires upon taking office. I’ve long heard of Master Qi’s swift and decisive reputation, but I never expected this fire would burn to my head so quickly!”
He was aggressive and intimidating, and the sword in his hand was sharpened. In his current rage, he looked ready to roll up his sleeves and fight at any moment. As Qi Ying’s personal retainer, Bai Song naturally wouldn’t watch Han Shouge act so presumptuously toward him. Although he remained silent, his entire aura had become dangerous, his usual casual indifference completely gone, his eyes hiding fierce battle intent.
Qi Ying quietly held Bai Song back, then said to him calmly, “Go call Qing Zhu in to serve tea for Uncle.”
Before Bai Song could react, Han Shouge had already let out a cold laugh, mocking, “I cannot bear Master Qi calling me Uncle. Master, with your high position and great power, you can kill a regional commander at will—how could someone like me dare to claim such status?”
Such sarcastic mockery with barbed words seemed to create no ripples whatsoever when it reached Qi Ying’s ears. He didn’t even furrow his brow, giving Bai Song a look to signal him to go out, then remained standing calmly in place.
Bai Song was naturally worried, but since his master insisted, he didn’t dare disobey. After staring at Han Shouge warily for a while, he slowly retreated from the room.
The door of Wangshi slowly closed. Qi Ying cupped his hands toward Han Shouge and said, “My household servant lacks manners and has made Uncle laugh at us.”
Without waiting for Han Shouge to speak, he personally bent down to right a chair that had just been kicked over by him, then gestured to Han Shouge, saying, “Please have a seat, Uncle.”
Han Shouge had no intention of sitting, but his recent outburst had tired him somewhat, and Qi Ying’s current attitude was overly calm and composed, making Han Shouge subconsciously feel that his current furious appearance was actually beneath him in front of this junior.
He snorted coldly, thinking to himself that he would sit if he wanted to—he’d like to see how this Qi family brat could use his silver tongue and honeyed words to calm his anger today.
So he sat down angrily.
After Han Shouge took his seat, Qi Ying also righted another chair and sat down, saying to Han Shouge, “The Stone City rebellion is not yet quelled, and the Gao Wei forces have not yet withdrawn. I shouldn’t have returned to Jiankang at this time, but thinking of the matter concerning Jiang Yong, I always felt I owed Uncle an explanation, so I returned early. I had originally planned to visit your mansion today, but unexpectedly I was still a step slower than Uncle. This is truly remiss of me—it’s my fault. Please forgive me, Uncle.”
Han Shouge waved his hand forcefully and raged, “Don’t use clever words and evasions with me here! Just explain clearly—Jiang Yong was a regional commander, a fourth-rank official! How could you kill him just like that!”
Upon hearing this, Qi Ying’s expression remained unchanged. He brushed the dust from his sleeves and asked very calmly, “Has Uncle heard about Jiang Yong’s treason?”
At these words, Han Shouge snorted coldly again, saying, “Master Qi has a reputation for great intelligence, and now that you control the Privy Council, you have eyes and hands everywhere. To kill someone, even a charge of treason can be pulled out of thin air and pinned on anyone’s head. How would I dare not to have heard?”
Han Shouge had indeed heard rumors of Jiang Yong’s treason, but he didn’t believe them in his heart.
Jiang Yong had once been his deputy and had fought on battlefields with him for many years—he was a general that Han Shouge had personally promoted. Having watched Jiang Yong rise step by step to his current position, how could he easily believe that he had become a traitor to Great Liang? Instead, he was firmly convinced that this was a charge that Qi Jingchen had fabricated and forced upon someone to cover up his unauthorized killing of a court official. Naturally, he wouldn’t believe him now.
Qi Ying seemed completely unsurprised by Han Shouge’s reaction and showed no anger at his words. He remained calm and said, “Everyone says Gu Juhan uses troops like a god and is a martial star descended from heaven. Last year’s battle at Stone City even forced Uncle into dangerous circumstances. But has Uncle ever considered that even if Gu Juhan could predict events like a god, how could he easily know Uncle’s position in the battle formation at that time?”
When Han Shouge heard the first part of this sentence, he thought Qi Ying was deliberately using his defeat last year to disgust him and was about to get angry, but the second half of the sentence made him pause.
Last year’s battle at Stone City had been extremely difficult. The Wei army was skilled in battle and had conquered several commanderies that year, but Stone City was easy to defend and hard to attack, relying on natural barriers, leaving even Gu Juhan temporarily at a loss. The two armies had faced off on the banks of the Yangtze River for months without decisive victory.
Later, Han Shouge himself was too impatient. Under pressure from several imperial inquiries about the battle situation, he launched an attack without adequate preparation, naturally leading to defeat.
Although this defeat was unfortunate, it wouldn’t have counted as a major defeat, but somehow Gu Juhan had discovered Han Shouge’s position in the battle formation, breaking through the Liang army’s formations and nearly taking his head, which caused Great Liang’s military morale to waver, leading to complete defeat afterward.
Although Gu Juhan was young, he already bore the title of war god. With such fame, Han Shouge had always thought that his discovery of his position that year was due to accurate calculation plus good luck. But now hearing Qi Ying say this, could it be…
Just as a trace of alarmed suspicion appeared in his eyes, he heard Qi Ying continue, “Uncle must already know what I wish to say—that year’s defeat was caused by Jiang Yong’s treason.”
Han Shouge was so shocked for a moment that he couldn’t speak. After a long pause, he came to his senses and was about to break into curses, calling this nonsense, but before the words left his mouth, he saw Qi Ying had already stood up, walked behind his desk, and taken out a stack of letters and documents to hand to him.
Han Shouge took them with alarmed suspicion, glared at Qi Ying, and asked, “What is this?”
Qi Ying slowly sat back down and answered, “I knew Uncle would not believe me, so before returning south I had already prepared clear evidence to present for His Majesty’s inspection and for Uncle to examine.”
Han Shouge looked down and saw that what he held were sealed documents from the Privy Council, recording a series of names of treasonous generals from the army, along with the names of Gao Wei spies in Stone City. As he flipped through them one by one, he saw correspondence between Jiang Yong and Gu Juhan that had apparently begun last year.
While reading, he heard Qi Ying beside him slowly say, “Jiang Yong has long colluded with the Gao Wei. This time when Director Xu Zhengning and I went to Nanling together, our first purpose was to repel the Wei army, and our second was to purge Stone City. Uncle may not trust me, but Uncle should recognize Jiang Yong’s handwriting in these letters—they are not fabrications of mine.”
Qi Ying continued calmly, “As for the Privy Council documents, they bear the seals of Director Xu Zhengning and Director Zhu Wei. Uncle has been at court for many years and probably knows these two gentlemen’s character better than this junior does. If they would forge documents for me alone, then the Privy Council would long ago have become a den of corruption, and Great Liang would probably already be half-destroyed today.”
His voice was steady, but each word struck Han Shouge’s ears like thunder, making him uneasy.
He had come here in anger today, but now found himself speechless before this young man, naturally making him feel quite embarrassed. Han Shouge was also someone who had long held high position and was unwilling to be at a disadvantage. Although his heart was already shaken, he still stubbornly said, “Even… even if his treason is true, any execution should await His Majesty’s decision! How could you make such a judgment so lightly!”
Han Shouge had only said half of what he meant.
While Han Shouge did feel that Jiang Yong’s killing was due to Qi Jingchen’s arbitrary and domineering behavior, what bothered him more was feeling that his face had been slapped. He was the dignified General, Great Liang’s highest military official—his protégé had been beheaded in public by a newly transferred junior. How could he maintain any dignity in court afterward? If he didn’t stand up for Jiang Yong, who would still bow to serve under him in the future?
Although he didn’t voice these concerns, Qi Ying understood them clearly. Looking at Han Shouge, he remained perfectly calm and said, “Since Jiang Yong was a traitor, he was unfit to serve as a regional commander. Having executed him, if His Majesty wishes to punish me, I will naturally bear full responsibility. But Stone City is currently of great importance and cannot be without a commander for a single day. I have already prepared transfer orders to move Fanshi’s commander Zeng Yi to Stone City.”
Author’s Note: This inner chamber of Wangshi… some things that can’t pass JJ’s content review will happen there later, if you know what I mean.