The palace gates thundered open with a resounding crash.
Angry horses carried the red glow of torches as great numbers of noble cavalry charged straight into the imperial palace. The palace passages where civil officials once dismounted from sedan chairs and military officials from horses now rang with the crisp rapid clatter of hoofbeats.
Leading the charge was Xuanyuan Yu of the Xuanyuan family. In the firelight, he sat tall on his great horse with golden crown and jade belt, facing the cowering palace servants with smug satisfaction and flushed face.
This scion of a great family who had been the earliest to submit to the Queen had now also become the foremost leader and main contact among the great clans in rebelling against Jing Hengbo. According to him, his previous submission to Jing Hengbo had been forced by circumstances—enduring hardships and lying low, waiting for opportunity. Now he was abandoning darkness for light, correcting chaos and restoring order, clearing the heavens. The Queen acted against righteousness, arousing anger from both gods and men. All virtuous and talented people in the world could execute her.
When accepting the noble families’ subversion, he had complained bitterly to them about how the Queen had oppressed the Xuanyuan family, how she had tried to exterminate his father, son, and brothers completely. He described how the Xuanyuan family had suffered immeasurable losses during their forced submission under the Queen’s command. He spoke with such sincerity and emotion, beating his chest and stamping his feet, that listeners sighed helplessly with tears streaming down their faces.
Thus they hit it off immediately and accomplished great deeds.
Behind him, the troops stretched endlessly. Palace servants stood on both sides of the road, quietly identifying those people by firelight. Just among the Five Chancellors, two had come, along with four Vice-Chancellors, various levels of honored nobles and their descendants, department heads… Almost all the dismissed members of the Great Wilderness court had come, and even among those currently safe, a small half were present. At a glance, one might mistake this for a grand court assembly.
Palace guards rushed over but were blocked at a distance by these well-prepared family coalition private armies. From the battle situation, it didn’t seem very intense either. Xuanyuan Yu looked back at everyone, and they all smiled knowingly.
The noble families had already discussed using appeasement and winning over tactics with the Hengji Army to avoid arousing their determination to defend the Queen to the death. This had begun early—for instance, using the Kanglong commander’s late-in-life son as an opportunity to hold grand banquets, taking the chance to establish relationships with Hengji Army officers. A considerable portion of the Hengji Army’s middle-ranking officers were originally titled colonels from the Kanglong Army, so they had deep relationships with the Kanglong Army as well. Now the great noble families spared no expense, buying houses and land for them, settling their families, while continuously sending people to sow discord among Hengji Army soldiers, using profit to tempt and persuade those Hengji soldiers from humble origins in Dai Mao. They used every means to win over and divide them. In Xuanyuan Yu’s words, they should move people with emotion, convince them with reason, and tempt them with gold, letting these originally unsuccessful officers truly feel the warmth of Di Ge’s aristocratic families.
Looking at the palace interior and exterior now, the resistance they encountered wasn’t fierce, and casualties on both sides were few. Everyone felt greatly comforted—if they could avoid killing their own people, win over the Hengji Army, and kill the Queen, this uprising would achieve the most perfect outcome.
Xuanyuan Yu laughed loudly and asked the palace servants: “Where is our respected Queen?”
The palace servants cowered and pointed toward Yuzhao Palace’s main hall. Someone stammered: “Her Majesty… hasn’t slept yet?”
“Oh?” Everyone tensed, suddenly remembering the legendary Queen’s ability to appear and disappear mysteriously. They all looked around nervously, ordering guards to come closer, even closer.
“Well…” someone else said quietly, “…Her Majesty seems drunk again…”
“Hahahaha, Heaven helps us!” Xuanyuan Yu threw back his head and laughed, spurring his horse forward. “Let’s hurry and pay respects to Her Majesty!”
Everyone watched his hurried figure, all curling their lips behind his back, secretly mocking him as a reckless fool. Of course, having someone rush to die first was always good, so they all called loudly: “We follow Master Xuanyuan!” and galloped after him.
They rode all the way to the main hall, seeing from afar the dark, unlit interior, cold and empty with no human traces. Xuanyuan Yu turned to the group: “I heard Queen doesn’t allow people near when she drinks. Could she not know about such a big commotion?”
“Brother Xuanyuan, be careful.” Someone warily looked around, gripping their weapon tightly. “Maybe the Queen is playing tricks…”
“Hahaha, brother, your courage is too small. Playing tricks? This wine smell has spread outside the hall—can’t you smell it?” Xuanyuan Yu laughed loudly, suddenly snatched a torch from a nearby guard’s hand, and hurled it with raised arm. “Let’s see if it catches fire easily!”
The torch traced a deep red line through the air, flashed in the dark hall, and landed with a “crack” right on the brocade carpet in the hall, immediately bursting into flames.
Everyone stared at the fire burning ever more fiercely. Darkness was gradually burned away by firelight, slowly revealing deep red hall pillars, vermillion steps, white jade railings, golden jade pools, the phoenix-inlaid jeweled throne… and the woman reclining sideways on the throne with head tilted back, wine jar slightly tilted.
She seemed finally startled by the firelight, turning her head to look over. In the leaping flames, her eyes slanted at an angle like phoenix feathers in flight, moist and crystalline like a misty dream.
The firelight made half her face slightly red, clear and beautiful as rouge.
Everyone fell silent for a moment, shocked by such radiant beauty, then felt another surge of joy—the Queen truly didn’t know about the military coup, was truly so decadent, truly drunk!
A drunk Queen, alone in the hall—what intimidating power could she have?
Still, looking up at the great hall ablaze with fire ultimately made them uneasy. Though they had done this treasonous deed, they still wanted to leave themselves some room. They looked at each other, unwilling to advance. Still, it was that blockhead Xuanyuan Yu who laughed and strode into the hall, calling out mockingly: “Paying respects to Your Majesty, may Your Majesty be well.”
“Oh… little Goji berry…” Jing Hengbo on the throne tilted her head, looked for a long time before recognizing him, shook her wine jar, and hiccupped. “So late… what are you… doing?” Then she called out playfully: “Someone! Someone! Why did you light the lamp on the ground?”
Hearing this outside the hall, everyone felt even more at ease. Mistaking the flames on the brocade carpet for palace lamps—she was drunk enough indeed.
The crowd began ascending the steps one after another, no longer showing their usual fear and anxiety upon entering this hall. They raised their heads with cold sneers, staring intensely toward the throne.
Jing Hengbo squinted her eyes, pointing vaguely to count: “One, two, three… Oh my, why so many people? Time for court… session? Is the weather bad today… why is it still dark…” After speaking, she tried hard to crane her neck to see the sky outside, leaning forward. With a thud, she tumbled to the ground, rolling twice. The wine jar crashed onto her back with a smack, immediately soaking her and the floor with wine.
Everyone watched coldly, all giving cold chuckles. Someone called loudly: “You’re right, this is a court session. You’d better hurry up—this lifetime, this is also your last time!”
Jing Hengbo propped herself up from the wine, holding her forehead and mumbling: “Halt! What bold villain dares roar in the golden hall… little Goji berry… little Goji berry… quickly chase this madman… out… out!”
“This servant obeys the decree!” Xuanyuan Yu crossed his arms, answering with a grin, striding up the steps. He bent down and yanked away the brocade carpet beneath the throne. Jing Hengbo immediately rolled down the white jade steps, her head hitting the pool edge with a smack, unable to help crying “Ouch!”
Her cry was drowned in laughter. More and more people entered the hall, smiling with crossed arms like Xuanyuan Yu, all happy to enjoy this moment of toying with the Queen, washing away days of suppressed resentment and anger.
The family private troops, seeing no one stopping them, all poured into the interior plaza. Some strolled around the plaza, taking the opportunity to appreciate the imperial palace they couldn’t usually see. Others secretly slipped into nearby chambers, quickly stuffing pearls and jade objects into their garments.
Jing Hengbo rolled over on the ground, already pressing against the flames that had burned along the carpet. “Ouch!” she cried, quickly jumping up and patting herself repeatedly. Everyone burst into another round of laughter.
Amid the laughter, Jing Hengbo’s face had already flushed red. Swaying and pointing at Xuanyuan Yu: “Such… such audacity… Someone! Someone!”
“Who are you calling, Your Majesty?” Xuanyuan Yu looked at her sideways, saying lazily, “Commander-in-Chief Ying Bai? He seems to be on the road to Feicui right now? Brigadier Pei? My guards saw him leave the city earlier—supposedly went hunting at Lone Mountain a hundred li away. Or Grand Commander Sima? He is here, but he’s drinking at my residence right now. You could go have a drink too, except he’s drinking Longshan Ice Brew at the feast while you’ll probably only get sugar wine in prison, hahaha… ack!”
A figure flashed—Jing Hengbo suddenly vanished. Everyone cried out in alarm, quickly gripping their weapons, first looking around themselves, then exchanging glances—the Queen disappeared? Where did she go?
“Villain!” A slightly hoarse rebuke rang out as a slender figure reeking of alcohol flashed from behind curtains, long hair covering her face, reaching out to claw viciously at Xuanyuan Yu’s face.
She appeared suddenly. Xuanyuan Yu hurriedly turned his face aside but was already a step too slow. “Ah!” he screamed. In the firelight, blood droplets splattered. From his right cheek to neck, Jing Hengbo’s nails had clawed a deep scratch, skin split and flesh torn.
“Bitch!” Xuanyuan Yu, in severe pain from his injury, flew into a rage and drew his sword with a swish.
The blade hung inverted, brighter than firelight.
Everyone’s eyes widened, instinctively holding their breath.
As the blade flashed, the Queen behind the curtains instinctively dodged backward, but tripped on the curtains and, with unsteady drunk steps, this dodge didn’t carry her far. Her body pitched forward as she fell, sending her face right into Xuanyuan Yu’s blade.
At this moment, everyone’s eyeballs seemed about to burst from their sockets.
This moment was just an instant, yet in everyone’s eyes, it became slow motion.
They saw the blade strike down without pause, saw the Queen dodge vital points but not her face, saw a blood rainbow suddenly brighten in the darkness, arcing from bottom to top, splattering onto the deep red brocade curtains like a wildly leaping giant fish.
Only then did they hear the scream they had long wanted to hear—shrill, piercing not just eardrums but hearts beating wildly at this moment.
Everyone stared with fixed eyes at the Queen covering her face as she fell, deep red bloodstains winding out between her fingers.
In this instant, many men’s minds flashed with a completely irrelevant thought: what a pity for such a beautiful face…
Xuanyuan Yu also seemed stunned, standing dazed for a while before giving a vicious smile, yanking away the Queen’s hands. The grotesquely torn and curled flesh on her face made the watching crowd suddenly close their eyes.
But Xuanyuan Yu burst into loud laughter, his laughter echoing through the deathly silent great hall. “Bitch, you have this day too!” He lifted his foot and kicked, bodily kicking the Queen into the curtains. Layer upon layer of brocade curtains fell down, covering the Queen’s body, while beneath her, blood continued to spread quietly.
The air in the hall seemed frozen. Everyone stood in the hall, breathing the intermingled scents of fire and blood, watching the swaying tree shadows outside where no wind stirred, watching the blood flowing slowly like a snake on the ground, suddenly all feeling a bone-deep chill.
…
The moment Xuanyuan Yu and the others entered the palace gates.
Atop the city walls, the soldier who had been on night watch was preparing to change shifts.
The soldier was the same one who had opened the gates for Pei Shu’s departure. He had watched the city’s firelight and crowds all night from the wall, seeing the fighting gradually decrease, the crowds and firelight entering the palace area, while battles never spread to the western city or affected the various city gates. He immediately understood this was internal strife, and moreover, seemed to have ended successfully.
This brought him relief while also generating some melancholy—the common soldiers hadn’t felt the Queen’s “tyranny.” On the contrary, his impression of the Queen was very good. After the Queen came, their previously heavy duties were lightened, their long-delayed military pay began arriving on time. During New Year, everyone received three pounds of meat and a cotton coat. During night watches, they also received better Silver Frost charcoal, avoiding the smoke and fire of inferior charcoal. He heard this was all ordered by the Queen for the Ministry of Revenue to prepare urgently. Before this, the Ministry of Revenue cried poverty every year-end—how could they spare attention for small soldiers like them?
He sighed heavily, turning to lean his spear against the battlements. What use was it for small people to feel things were good? Right and wrong and power were always held in the hands of those fat-brained big shots.
With this turn, his body suddenly stiffened.
The darkness ahead suddenly showed movement—large patches of darkness surging, slowly shifting over from the distance.
Then he heard the rumbling thunder, rhythmic and uniform as one voice—this was cavalry hoofbeats.
Then he could see clearly what it was—pale blue sky peeled away to reveal the outline of flying black banners, gleaming spear points standing in neat rows pointing skyward, the leader in black armor and golden robes, eyebrows seeming to fly with his dark hair.
Such bearing, so familiar—just two nights ago, he’d seen him leave the city in anger with only a dozen riders!
“Brigadier Pei!”
“Whoosh!”
A sharp whistle covered his shout. Light seemed to flash behind him. He turned and saw from the city center a firework shooting straight up into the sky.
Then he saw a scene much like before, only in reverse order.
The Brigadier returned to the city with his token and great army. After the city gates opened, the army surged in like floodwater, heading straight for the eastern city.
At the boundary between east and west cities, the long stalemate also seemed to break, one side withdrawing defensive lines while the other surged in taking advantage. The originally quiet imperial plaza suddenly boiled like porridge surface. In almost an instant, the just-calmed Di Ge became clamorous again.
Pei Shu’s army shot like an arrow through streets and alleys, aimed straight at Yuzhao Palace.
That soldier stood dumbstruck atop the city wall, gazing distantly at those suddenly erupting fires, feeling his back suddenly chilled, his undergarments already soaked with cold sweat.
Standing exposed in the midnight air, not knowing what night this was, he vaguely felt that during his night watch, he had witnessed the most turbulent scene in Di Ge’s history—witnessing Di Ge city’s transformation from quiet to clamorous to quiet to clamorous again in layers of sudden change. In such dazzling changes, he seemed to see history’s torrent overturning sky-high waves.
In those waves, how many great mansions had collapsed.