With Sun Ergou’s intelligence, taking Taiyuan was exceptionally smooth. Huang Yiqing set fires in the south as a feint attack, and Wu Qianli and Wu Feng hurried to the southern side. But the Guyuan Commander-in-Chief led reinforcements straight to the east side of Taiyuan City, catching the east completely off guard. Marquis Dingyuan even led over four thousand men from the Weihai Guard, driving straight in from the west side.

In just four days, Taiyuan City could no longer be defended.

Prince Gong had actually already vaguely sensed this day’s defeat from the moment he couldn’t find Han Zhi, but when failure truly came this quickly, he felt he couldn’t bear it.

These past days, he had rehearsed countless times in his mind what he should do if the court’s people really broke in one day. Every single result without exception was death.

Besides death, any other outcome would be enough to make life worse than death.

He had even actually prepared the white silk for hanging and poisoned wine, but when the clamor of voices rose outside, he suddenly didn’t dare to die. The poison was actually in the poisoned wine – he only needed to tip his head back and drink, and he would know nothing more, nor need to endure the humiliation of failure anymore.

But he couldn’t do it. Back then, when death wasn’t imminent, he had loudly proclaimed he wasn’t afraid to die – at worst it was just death. But when truly facing death, only then did he realize how much he wanted to live. Tears and snot covered his face, and somehow he suddenly felt some regret.

Actually, if he had withdrawn earlier, he wouldn’t have fallen to this state.

If back then he hadn’t escaped from the capital, hadn’t colluded with Fei Zhan and the others to kill the Imperial Guards, at most his guards would have been reduced, and he could still have been second only to one and above ten thousand in his fiefdom. But just because of taking one wrong step, every step after was wrong. Now, even wanting to turn back had become a luxury.

He covered his face and wept bitterly. Even when Marquis Dingyuan kicked the door open leading people in, he didn’t straighten his body.

He truly didn’t have the courage to die. He wailed loudly, calling out “Lord Marquis” to Marquis Dingyuan.

Marquis Dingyuan didn’t know why Prince Gong had ended up like this. He had even feared Prince Gong would die defending the city, and they wouldn’t be able to capture him alive. Who knew Prince Gong simply didn’t dare to die.

Looking at the white silk and poisoned wine laid out on the table, before he could sneer, Prince Gong had already rushed over and grabbed his leg: “Lord Marquis! You tell Father Emperor, I… I am an unfilial son. I’ll atone with my death…”

Marquis Dingyuan couldn’t stand his pretentious ugly behavior. He gently withdrew his leg and personally helped Prince Gong up, handing him over to Huang Yiqing.

When the capital received the news, it was already late April. The weather had gradually grown hot. Along the banks of the Golden River in the capital, a batch of weeping cherry trees had been newly planted. Like willow trees extending their branches almost down to the water’s surface, cherry blossoms fluttered everywhere, nearly dyeing the Golden River pink – a sight that made hearts rejoice just looking at it.

At the same time, good news also came back one after another.

Grand Secretary Chang was personally reading the victory report to Emperor Jianzhang, his face also wearing a smile: “General Administrator Cui, Prince Zhennan, and Marquis Dingyuan struck back decisively. In just four months they turned weakness into strength, successively taking Qingzhou Prefecture, Jingzhou, and Taiyuan…” He couldn’t help but exclaim again: “Even the Tatar Grand Preceptor Yecha is now in our hands – truly a matter of immense joy!”

All the court officials breathed a sigh of relief. For the past half year, everyone had been on tenterhooks without peace. The previous months had been so urgent they nearly hanged themselves. Many minor officials in the capital had entertained thoughts of packing up and fleeing. Now that the dust had settled, they all felt the skies had cleared after the rain. Seeing Grand Secretary Chang say these words, they all busily shouted long live.

Emperor Jianzhang was also in excellent spirits. He specifically had the Ministry of Rites and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices draft a proposal to send a high official as envoy to the Tatars to inform the Tatar royal court of this matter.

When Song Chengru left court, he happened to hear Song Jue mention this to Song Ren. Seeing Song Ren’s worried and distressed expression, his heart stirred and he couldn’t help asking: “Could it be this assignment… has fallen to you?”

Song Ren hastily shook his head: “It hasn’t fallen to your son, but your son has to help select members for the envoy delegation. These candidates are truly difficult to choose. Right now there’s not even the first stroke of the character written, yet already plenty of people are sending gifts and using connections, not wanting to go.”

The war was still being fought – everyone regarded this assignment with trepidation.

Song Chengru waved his hand thoughtfully: “Just promise them all. This delegation won’t be going.”

Song Ren couldn’t help but feel curious: “Just now Brother Jue said the same thing. Why won’t they be able to go?”

Song Jue, seeing Song Chengru nod, explained to Song Ren: “The royal court and Yecha’s relationship has never been very good. This time when Yecha sent troops, the royal court basically didn’t get involved at all – Uncle’s memorial sent back earlier already mentioned this. Now Yecha has also lost the battle and become a prisoner. At most he can be used to threaten Yetan, but Yetan doesn’t care about Yecha’s life or death at all. So Yecha is just a bone with little meat on it. I’m afraid Uncle has other uses for him and doesn’t need to send him back to the Tatars.”

Song Ren sighed: “Who knows when this war will end. Those from Hebei Western Circuit near Zijing Pass have all rushed there to cope, and they’re struggling terribly. I wonder if His Highness and Little Yi are going smoothly with requisitioning grain.”

If things didn’t go smoothly, Xibei, which had barely been stable for long, would probably descend into chaos again – after all, there were over two hundred thousand soldiers there who needed to eat and drink! Having just gone through war and chaos, the common people already lacked clothes and food. If there was nothing to eat, the soldiers would likely easily mutiny. Once they mutinied…

Speaking of Song Chuyi, Song Chengru’s eyebrows also moved, but in the end he said nothing.

When he returned to the back, Old Madam Song couldn’t help but bring it up: “Seeing that Second Miss Ye’s wedding date has been set, why is there still no news from Little Yi? By rights it’s already been over two months – no matter what, there should be some word…”

Old Master Song didn’t hide as much from Old Madam Song. Seeing Xiang Mingzi also looking over eagerly, he shook his head and sighed: “Jiangnan has sent up several memorials saying things are difficult. When you get down to it, aren’t they just making excuses about not having money?” As he spoke, he sneered: “The Jiangnan official circles have always been utterly lawless. This bunch of people, once they’ve fattened themselves up, don’t care about others’ lives or deaths. To get money from their hands – difficult.”

Xiang Mingzi couldn’t help but grow anxious: “Then what should we do? Earlier I heard Elder Brother say that it’s probably not just getting money that’s difficult…” She was somewhat afraid, unconsciously covering her lower abdomen: “I heard that in past years there were also imperial commissioners who went to Jiangnan to requisition grain, but quite a few died mysteriously. In the end, even when the Imperial Guards went to investigate, they couldn’t find anything.”

This was precisely why the Yangzhou corruption case back then could become such a big affair. The Jiangnan official circles protected each other, and the web of interests was simply too vast. They had long been bound together like a rope – if one person got into trouble, they could implicate a whole string of others. Therefore, it was common for them to resort to underhanded tactics.