During the day, to prevent Prince Lu from harassing Shen Qionglian, Hu Shanwei had added a hundred soldiers to guard the side palace entrance. At night, with unknown enemies invading from outside, these hundred tomb-guarding troops were perfect for protecting the two female officials as they fled to hide in the Xiaoling Mausoleum underground palace.
Xiaoling was a joint burial tomb for the emperor and empress. Empress Xiaoci had departed first, her coffin carried into the underground palace for burial. To prepare for later welcoming Emperor Hongwu’s coffin, the path to the underground palace had not yet been sealed. Moreover, the underground palace had layer upon layer of mechanisms and protective measures against tomb robbers, making it the safest place.
The two women arrived at the entrance to the underground palace. Almost simultaneously, Prince Lu was carried over wrapped in bedding by his attendants, rolled out like an egg roll, wearing only thin sleeping clothes, having rushed here without time to dress properly.
Hu Shanwei said, “Put armor on Prince Lu and enter the underground palace.”
At this moment, the sound of clashing weapons could already be heard from the battle down the mountain.
Seeing Shen Qionglian present, Prince Lu immediately forgot his fear and stepped forward boldly, “I am a man and a prince of the Ming Dynasty. How can I retreat when bandits disturb the resting place of Empress Xiaoci? Please, Court Lady Hu and Instructor Shen, go hide in the underground palace. I will command the tomb guards in battle.”
No one believed Prince Lu had this capability.
Hu Shanwei exchanged a glance with the others, who swarmed forward, wrapped him in bedding again, forcibly bound him, and carried him into the underground palace.
Prince Lu struggled like a silkworm in the bedding, “Release me! I can still kill a few bandits!”
Shen Qionglian said coolly, “Your Highness should not humiliate himself further.”
Hearing his beloved speak of him this way, Prince Lu’s heart turned to ash. He stopped wriggling and lay in the bedding, dying of shame and indignation.
The underground palace’s protective stone doors closed one by one. The group hurried to the deepest level, where Empress Xiaoci’s coffin could be dimly seen. Shen Qionglian felt somewhat reassured and turned back to say, “Court Lady Hu—”
Hu Shanwei had not followed them in; she had stayed outside with her people to guard.
Shen Qionglian said nothing more. She found a smooth stone step, brushed away the dust, spread out her painting paper, knelt on the ground, and continued painting her “Pine and Deer Painting” – creating art atop a tomb.
Who were the attackers? Unknown.
How many? Unknown.
For what purpose? Unknown.
But Hu Shanwei knew that once the bandits broke into the underground palace and damaged Empress Xiaoci’s remains, given Emperor Hongwu’s temperament, all survivors would be buried alive with her. Since death was inevitable either way, better to fight for their lives.
Hu Shanwei donned a soldier’s leather armor and stood on the tower overlooking the scene. From the movement of the flames, the bandits were charging straight toward the underground palace.
Hu Shanwei guessed that news of Concubine Dading’s poisoning might have leaked, and remnants of Prince Han’s faction had come for revenge. The bandits came neither early nor late, but precisely after Prince Lu’s arrival to attack Xiaoling – perhaps they wanted to capture Prince Lu to exchange for Concubine Dading.
If successful, they would rescue their mistress, Lady Da.
If they failed, they could still die together with Prince Lu, since Prince Lu had half Guo family blood – his second maternal uncle, Marquis Wuding Guo Ying, had once shot an arrow through Prince Han Chen Youliang’s brain.
From the speed at which the flames moved step by step toward the underground palace, the bandits were extremely fierce, having already broken through the tomb guards’ barriers and defenses one by one.
Guarding Xiaoling offered high pay, quick promotions, low risk, impressive credentials, and proximity to home – making it the preferred career for sons of military families and other privileged wastrels.
Thus the tomb guards were all show and no substance, not one capable fighter among them. Even with Hu Shanwei’s advance warning and hastily erected barriers for defense, they still collapsed like a mountain avalanche.
Besides this, the bandits had inside accomplices. The bandits broke through the Golden Water Bridge and reached Xiaoling’s first gateway – the Civil and Military Square Gate. This gateway had construction standards similar to Nanjing’s city walls and should have held them off for some time. But now the Civil and Military Square Gate stood wide open, with defending soldiers scattered on the ground and the traitors’ blades dripping blood. The bandits had passed the first checkpoint and began attacking the second gateway – the Stele Hall.
The capital’s garrison totaled over two hundred thousand troops. Besides the palace guards and patrols at various city gates, most forces were stationed in the northwest of the inner city, some distance from Zhongshan’s Xiaoling. They would need time to open city gates and lower drawbridges over moats – distant water could not quench immediate thirst.
The bandits had calculated this time difference perfectly, charging forward desperately like a sharp arrow aimed directly at Xiaoling’s underground palace.
If they could capture Prince Lu alive before the imperial guards arrived, even two hundred thousand capital garrison troops would be helpless upon arrival and could only negotiate to exchange Concubine Dading.
Seeing the enemy forces drawing ever closer, Hu Shanwei was not one to wait passively for death. She only knew basic military fitness boxing and had less combat ability than ordinary tomb guards. What to do?
Right! Raise deer for a thousand days, use deer for one moment!
Hu Shanwei led the remaining tomb guards in a mad gallop toward the deer pens. “Everyone! We don’t need to defeat the bandits – we only need to delay until reinforcements arrive. We can imitate the Warring States’ Tian Dan fire-ox formation and create a fire-deer formation to scatter the bandits.”
Reaching the deer pens, Hu Shanwei dismounted and found the pens brightly lit. In the enclosure holding adult deer, a group was already busy at work, tying knives to deer antlers.
It was Mu Chun leading Colonel Shi, Chen Xuan, and others.
Mu Chun tore his clothes into strips and smiled at Hu Shanwei, “Court Lady Hu and I think alike – great minds think as one.”
When the green light rose in the sky, Mu Chun had been having an indescribable spring dream when Chen Xuan, on night watch, pulled off his bedding to wake him.
Mu Chun was on leave with only about fifty men under him. Going up to resist head-on would be like throwing eggs at rocks. Fortunately, Mu Chun was good at crooked thinking. Seeing peacock feathers in a vase reminded him of the fat deer herd.
“Grab weapons – we’re going recruiting,” Mu Chun said.
Chen Xuan asked, “In the middle of the night, where can we recruit? Is Master Mu still dreaming?” Following Mu Chun for so long, he had forgotten that superiors required respect.
Mu Chun dragged a chest of weapons from under the bed. “We’re asking Brother Deer for help.”
Mu Chun and Hu Shanwei had the same idea – using the massive deer herd to charge the bandits.
Hu Shanwei brought bean cakes and other feed from the fodder warehouse. “Don’t light the deer’s tails on fire. Once they catch fire and feel intense pain, they’ll scatter in all directions and won’t obey commands to charge downhill. They might even turn around and crash into us. We’ll use food as bait to reward them.”
Having been a livestock keeper at Xiaoling for a year, she knew deer temperaments well – they responded to kindness, not force.
Baskets of bean cakes were loaded onto catapults and launched far out. The enemy forces attacking Xiaoling had already broken through the second gateway – the Stele Hall.
The Stele Hall was just a palace building without tower defenses, so it fell quickly. The bandits continued their advance.
Ahead lay the Enjoyment Hall – a palace with tower defenses housing Empress Xiaoci’s spirit tablet. This was the third gateway to Xiaoling’s underground palace.
With victory in sight, the bandits’ morale soared as they charged bravely forward.
Suddenly, “hail” began falling from the sky. The enemy raised shields to protect their heads as it struck with loud thuds. When it landed, they discovered this wasn’t hail or stones, but chunks of horse feed bean cakes.
The Enjoyment Hall gates burst open as Mu Chun and his men charged out on horseback toward the enemy formation, throwing bean cakes behind them to lure the knife-antlered deer herd. “Come chase us! You’ll get a midnight snack if you catch us!”
The deer herd followed the scent, sporting sharp “righteous antlers,” charging through the Enjoyment Hall gates toward the enemy forces.
Mu Chun’s suicide squad leaped from their horses’ backs, grabbing ropes hanging from the tower.
“Pull quickly!” Chen Xuan commanded from the tower, and the soldiers pulled together, hauling the suicide squad up to the second-floor tower.
Hu Shanwei stood on the tower watching the deer herd scatter the enemy forces like a speeding arrow suddenly fragmenting into splinters.
The enemy formation scattered, losing over half their numbers under the feeding deer’s blade-antlers and hooves. Meanwhile, reinforcements had reached the mountain base and were rapidly advancing.
Facing desperate circumstances, the enemy regrouped, holding torches to drive the knife-antlered deer herd into the Stele Hall. Deer feared fire, so they ran into the Stele Hall one by one. The enemy shut the doors, trapping the “disaster” and resolving the crisis.
The enemy launched another attack on the Enjoyment Hall, this time using fire. Flaming arrows shot into the second floor’s wooden Enjoyment Hall. Mu Chun quickly shielded Hu Shanwei with his body: “We can’t hold here – let’s retreat to the Square City Bright Tower!”
Below the Bright Tower lay the underground palace – the final line of defense.
Hu Shanwei climbed onto the Enjoyment Hall altar table, gathered up Empress Xiaoci’s spirit tablet, and shouted, “Retreat!”
The Enjoyment Hall couldn’t be defended, but at least the spirit tablet could be saved. Though just a wooden plaque, Hu Shanwei had dusted it for a year and developed feelings for it.
Everyone retreated from the Enjoyment Hall, running to the Square City Bright Tower, closing the gates. Looking up from the Bright Tower, the Enjoyment Hall had become a “Fire Hall.”
Mu Chun watched, furious, and roared, “Bring out my Frankish cannons and blast these bastards to death!”
Chen Xuan said, “Master Mu, these are tomb guards, not imperial guards. Besides, this is a place of tranquility – how could there be cannons, such things that disturb the spirits?”
Hu Shanwei clutched Empress Xiaoci’s spirit tablet, helplessly watching the bandits break through the Enjoyment Hall gates and swarm toward the Bright Tower like locusts.
Defending the Bright Tower were only two hundred tomb guards with the combat effectiveness of tofu, plus Mu Chun’s fifty-odd battle-hardened elite troops.
The only comfort was that reinforcements had reached the first gateway – the Square Gate. The Square Gate was now controlled by bandits who had closed the gates, but the first reinforcements to arrive were the Divine Engine Battalion, equipped with various cannons and firearms newly manufactured by the gunpowder workshops.
Xiaoling was Empress Xiaoci’s resting place, but there was no time for such considerations now. The Divine Engine Battalion wheeled cannons to bombard the Square Gate relentlessly, quickly capturing it and advancing toward the Stele Hall.
The cannons’ thunderous noise shook the earth. With their rear lost, the bandits attacked the Bright Tower even more frantically, wave after wave of fire arrows pinning down the defenders so they couldn’t return fire against the bandits below who were ramming the gates with siege engines.
Mu Chun dragged the tablet-holding Hu Shanwei to the underground palace entrance. “Hide inside – the underground palace stone door can only be opened from within. When reinforcements arrive, coordinate with us from inside to annihilate the bandits. I’ll signal with three slow, two fast knocks on the door, then you open the stone door.”
The moment for decisive battle had arrived. Now they could only gamble on whether reinforcements or bandits would be faster. Mu Chun was a soldier – spilling blood on the battlefield was his duty. He couldn’t hide in the underground palace; he was the underground palace’s final human wall.
While the tower stands, the people stand; when the tower falls, the people die.
Hu Shanwei felt her blood boiling, wanting to defend the Bright Tower alongside Mu Chun, but she knew she couldn’t face enemies in direct combat. Not only would she be no help, she would distract Mu Chun and burden the defenders.
Mu Chun saw Hu Shanwei’s internal struggle. “You’ve done your utmost – early warning, the deer-blade formation, rescuing Empress Xiaoci’s spirit tablet. You’ve tried your best and never given up. You’ve always been the Sister Shanwei I admire.”
He pushed Hu Shanwei into the underground palace. “Close the door.”
Hu Shanwei’s trembling hand pressed the mechanism. A three-foot-thick stone door slowly descended from above.
The stone door covered her hair ornaments, her face, her neck…
Suddenly, Mu Chun bent down and strode over, his hands tightly embracing her waist. His burning lips pressed firmly against hers. She couldn’t help crying out, and he took advantage, his tongue intertwining with hers, achieving the kiss from countless spring dreams.
Dreams became reality for the first time.
Hu Shanwei had always felt dreams were too beautiful to wake from, but in this moment, she realized she was terribly wrong. Compared to spring dreams that left no trace upon waking, this real kiss was damnably sweet!
Unfortunately, this kiss was too brief, like a dragonfly touching water. When the stone door was only three feet from the ground, Mu Chun released her and rolled out crouched like a cat.
Boom!
The stone door crashed down with a tremendous sound.
Mu Chun steadied himself against the wall, completely satisfied, drew his sword and charged toward the tower steps, roaring, “Brothers! Hold on! Reinforcements are almost here!”
Crash! The Bright Tower gate was smashed down by the battering ram. Mu Chun formed battle lines to meet the attack. Simultaneously, the Divine Engine Battalion used cannons to blast down the Enjoyment Hall walls, avoiding the knife-deer trapped inside, and charged toward the enemy’s rear formation.
In an instant, the battle situation formed a “sandwich” pattern with fierce fighting all mixed together…
In the underground palace, Prince Lu lay bound in bedding, playing dead; Shen Qionglian painted atop a tomb with complete focus; Hu Shanwei sat beside the underground palace stone door, silently guarding Empress Xiaoci’s spirit tablet, waiting for the three-slow-two-fast door-knocking signal.
Mu Chun would definitely hold out until the end – they would definitely defend Xiaoling. This was her only thought.
Outside raged a bloody battle. As more reinforcements arrived, the sandwich-like pincer attack gradually turned the tide against the bandits, who retreated up the tower.
Mu Chun was shocked to discover that the leaders were actually Prince Qi Zhu Bo and Prince Tan Zhu Zi!
Having heard that Concubine Dading was gravely ill, the emperor had summoned Prince Qi back to the capital. Prince Qi’s fief was far away in Qingzhou, Shandong – how had he arrived so quickly? And Prince Tan Zhu Zi had clearly been in Qianqing Palace attending to his mother Concubine Dading’s illness – how had he followed his brother in rebellion?
Mu Chun shouted, “Your Highnesses! As Ming princes, why do you attack Xiaoling and disturb Empress Xiaoci’s resting place? Empress Xiaoci was your legitimate mother! Your actions make you disloyal and unfilial!”
Prince Tan Zhu Zi and Prince Qi Zhu Bo exchanged smiles.
The fifteen-year-old Prince Tan said, “Attacking Xiaoling is unfilial, but watching helplessly as Mother Concubine is poisoned to death while I take no action – is that filial piety? Even if hope is slim, as a son, I must fight desperately to save my mother.”
Mu Chun was baffled.
Prince Qi Zhu Bo said, “I am a descendant of Prince Han Chen Youliang. My brother is the son of the bandit king Zhu Yuanzhang. However, the bandit king has a violent temperament. After years of planning by my mother and me were discovered, given the bandit king’s suspicious nature, how could he spare my brother’s life? We two brothers thought to make a desperate gamble, seizing Prince Lu or Empress Xiaoci’s remains to force the bandit king to release our mother. We brothers could then take our mother and sail across the seas. Unfortunately, heaven is blind – we were stopped at the final barrier. So close, yet we failed.”
Mu Chun immediately understood and tried to drive a wedge between the brothers: “Prince Tan, don’t let Prince Qi deceive you. The emperor is indeed a strict father and disciplines his children, especially the princes, with strict education from childhood. But the emperor would not harm his own flesh and blood. When Prince Qin killed court officials and blamed mountain bandits, did the emperor kill Prince Qin? No – Prince Qin has now recovered his title and still guards the northwest. Prince Tan, turn back while you still can!”
Prince Qi said to Prince Tan, “Brother, you choose your own path. You’re fifteen now – I respect your choice.”
Prince Tan said, “Because of our mother’s embarrassing background, people in the palace have secretly mocked us brothers since childhood. They only serve me because I’m a Ming prince. Actually, only Mother Concubine and big brother truly care for me. Without you, living alone would be worse than death – monitored and guarded against my whole life. What’s the point? Brother, I want to go with you.”
Prince Qi and Prince Tan clasped hands and shouted together, “Better to meet the King of Hell than see the bandit king!”
With these words, both brothers leaped from the high walls of the Bright Tower. With two thuds, they crashed onto the hard stone steps, their skulls splitting, dying instantly.
Two streams of blood meandered to Mu Chun’s boots…
In the underground palace, Hu Shanwei didn’t know how long she waited. When her legs went numb from standing, she sat hugging her knees. After what felt like an eternity, she finally heard three slow, two fast knocks on the door.
Chun Chun had come!
Hu Shanwei activated the mechanism and the stone door slowly rose. Standing at the front was Emperor Hongwu!
Hu Shanwei quickly bowed. Emperor Hongwu ignored her, picked up Empress Xiaoci’s spirit tablet from the ground, and walked deep into the underground palace. Female Instructor Shen Qionglian had fallen asleep beside her completed “Pine and Deer Painting,” covered with thick bedding.
Prince Lu, wearing only thin sleeping clothes and holding a sword, dozed leaning against Empress Xiaoci’s coffin. Hearing footsteps, he immediately drew his sword without opening his eyes: “Who dares enter the underground palace! Quickly—Father Emperor?”
Clang! The precious sword fell to the ground. Prince Lu threw himself forward, knelt down, and embraced Emperor Hongwu’s legs, wailing: “Wuu wuu, Father Emperor, your son is so cold, so afraid, so lonely. Your son thought he’d never see Father Emperor and Mother Concubine again, wuu wuu!”
Emperor Hongwu had lost a son this night, filled with grief and rage. Prince Qi was one thing, but why had Prince Tan also rebelled against him?
Seeing Prince Lu guarding before Empress Xiaoci’s coffin like a mantis trying to stop a chariot – laughably so – Emperor Hongwu felt some comfort. The foolish child was stupid, and his mother Concubine Guo Ning was mediocre and incompetent, but at least they wouldn’t betray him.
Among the imperial family, what was more precious than loyalty?