After Zhu Nanxian questioned Liu Chaoming about the details of the White Screen Mountain explosives, he handed the case over to Zhang Shishan for trial. He had originally intended to go to Weiyang Palace to see Su Jin, but with Zhu Qiyue’s death, the court was completely without usable military generals. With the northwestern expedition imminent, Minister of War Gong Quan once again received urgent reports from Chili’s assembled troops and rushed urgently to Minghua Hall for an imperial audience.

Zhu Nanxian looked at the urgent report, his expression growing grave.

Gong Quan said: “This old minister has counted over and over in his heart the generals and commanders who could lead troops to the northwest. Aside from the Fourth Prince, there’s only Your Majesty. But the Fourth Prince is still locked in bitter battle with Northern Liang. Should we call back Commander Qi?”

Zhu Nanxian shook his head: “Qi Wujiu excels at naval warfare. With him suppressing the Japanese pirates in the East Sea, I can rest easy.”

“Then it can only be Zhu Xun.” Gong Quan said. “Before the Fourth Prince went to his fief in Beiping, Zhu Xun had been leading troops at the northern frontier, going back and forth with Northern Liang. But after all, he has suffered several major defeats, and hasn’t led campaigns for ten years. Sending him—this old minister feels somewhat uneasy.”

Zhu Nanxian said: “I will send Mao Zuofeng with him.”

“Yes, this old minister had the same thought.” Gong Quan said. “General Zuo mentioned that Your Majesty has personally ordered Lieutenant Mao to rush back to the northwest?”

Zhu Nanxian said: “With Zhu Zhaowei’s death, I had originally planned to have Mao Zuofeng settle the fifty thousand Fengyang surrendered troops. Now with Chili assembling forces, I can only have him return to the northwest first. Tomorrow, have your Ministry of War send someone to Jiujiang Prefecture to reorganize the Fengyang troops stationed in Anqing.”

Gong Quan agreed, then sighed: “The crisis with Annan hasn’t been resolved yet, and the Twelfth Prince is gone. Minister Su is currently unable to wake—we don’t even know who to send as envoy. But with Chili assembling troops in the northwest, the court can attend to one matter but not the other. Had we known earlier, we should have cultivated more military generals—we wouldn’t be unable to select generals for expeditions now.”

The reasoning in Gong Quan’s words—how could Zhu Nanxian not understand?

But Zhu Jingyuan’s empire was originally won through battle. Even Song Taizu had once held a banquet to relieve generals of their military power. Any founding emperor feared that the empire seized through a lifetime’s blood and sweat would be stolen by others. For Zhu Jingyuan, it meant killing meritorious officials—especially civil officials who won hearts and military generals with battle achievements. As long as no one had the ability to contend with him, his throne would sit secure.

This led to the court later cultivating some military talent—such as commanders of the Twelve Guards, commanders of various Regional Military Commissions—but they were invariably rotated back after just two or three years of frontier experience. Their ability to govern troops far exceeded their ability to wage war. They might manage suppressing bandits and rebels within Great Sui’s borders, but sending them to confront foreign enemies at the frontiers left them inadequate for great responsibilities.

Never mind that foreign enemies were cunning and fierce. Just the miasma of Lingnan, the bitter cold climate and desolate grasslands of the northern frontier, the sand seas and snowy mountains of the northwest, the extreme cold and heat—ordinary generals and soldiers couldn’t adapt.

Among the truly capable generals the court had cultivated to date, aside from Qi Wujiu, the other three were all sons of Zhu Jingyuan. Unfortunately, Zhu Qiyue was dead, Zhu Nanxian had become the succeeding emperor—only one remained, Zhu Yushen, still away at war.

Zhu Nanxian said: “Once the court situation stabilizes somewhat, I’ll send Zuo Qian to the northwest to learn troop command and warfare alongside Mao Zuofeng and Zhu Xun.”

Gong Quan nodded: “Your Majesty’s plan is excellent. General Zuo originally spent two years with Your Majesty in the northwest. With proper cultivation, he has the makings of a commander.”

With the personnel for the northwestern expedition decided, Zhu Nanxian immediately summoned Zhu Xun to the palace to discuss battle plans together with the Vice Commander of the Central Military Commission and several high officials from the Ministry of War.

Since returning to the capital, Zhu Nanxian had understood one thing: for large and small court matters—such as river repairs, disaster relief, reforming officials, and so forth—after handing them to various departments and offices, as long as Liu Chaoming conducted unified reviews, absolutely no errors would occur. Therefore, he didn’t need to personally attend to every detail, large or small. Only the most troublesome military affairs required his personal attention. With the court short on military generals, after battle plans were drafted, there couldn’t be no one to oversee them.

For several consecutive days, Zhu Nanxian was so busy he had no time to rest. Only after finishing reviewing memorials late at night could he stop by Weiyang Palace to see Su Jin, though he couldn’t stay long. He was now emperor—if he didn’t rest in Minghua Palace, there would be gossip in the inner palace. He wasn’t afraid, but feared that over time, it would implicate her and invite criticism.

In any case, he would always wait for her to wake. He was willing to wait a lifetime.

At the end of the seventh month, on the White Dew holiday when court was suspended, after discussing August’s autumn selections with the seven ministers early that morning, Zhu Nanxian took advantage of the afternoon’s leisure to have Qin Sang bring memorials and accompany him to Weiyang Palace to see Su Jin.

Currently caring for Su Jin at Weiyang Palace were, besides Tan Zhaolin and his wife Tan Shi, two eunuchs and two palace maids Zhu Nanxian had specifically found.

As soon as Zhu Nanxian entered the palace gates, one of the eunuchs came forward to pay respects.

Zhu Nanxian excused his formalities and asked: “Who has come to see Minister Su these past few days?”

“In response to Your Majesty, Censor Zhai from the Imperial Censorate came twice, Censor Yan and Censor Song each came once, as did Lord Zhao and Lord Qian. Additionally, from the Ministry of Justice, aside from Director Wu and Vice Minister Fang, this servant blocked the rest as you instructed. Then there’s General Zuo, the Fourth Prince’s Consort, and Lord Shen. Lord Shen comes daily—each time he chats idly with Minister Su for a bit before leaving. He says he fears that if no proper person speaks proper words to Minister Su, when Minister Su wakes, his originally lively mind might end up tangled.”

Zhu Nanxian laughed: “What kind of proper person is he?”

The eunuch also smiled along with Zhu Nanxian and continued: “Today two new visitors came—the Prefectural Vice Magistrate and the Regional Inspector from Yingtian Prefecture. This servant feared they would disturb Minister Su’s rest and was about to turn them away, but Guard Tan said these two seem to be old acquaintances of Minister Su. After Minister Su finishes his afternoon medicine, he wants to invite them into Gardenia Hall.”

Behind Weiyang Palace’s main hall, there were Gardenia Hall and Moon Viewing Hall. Su Jin resided in Gardenia Hall, while Hu Yuanjie was recovering from his injuries in Moon Viewing Hall.

Hearing this, Zhu Nanxian said nothing and stepped into Gardenia Hall.

Tan Shi and a palace maid were supporting Su Jin to feed her medicine. Upon seeing Zhu Nanxian, they hastily came forward to pay respects. Zhu Nanxian raised his hand to stop them and silently watched Su Jin finish the medicine, then ordered Qin Sang to prepare ink at the desk in the outer chamber and went there to review memorials.

After finishing one memorial, Zhu Nanxian seemed to remember something. He summoned the eunuch from earlier and asked: “Are those two from Yingtian Prefecture’s office still waiting to see Minister Su?”

The eunuch said: “In response to Your Majesty, yes indeed. When those two heard Your Majesty had arrived, they didn’t dare sit any longer and moved to stand outside the corridor of Gardenia Garden. Should this servant send them away?”

Zhu Nanxian dipped his brush in vermillion ink and said: “I know these two. Let them in.”

It turned out that the two who came to visit Su Jin were none other than Zhou Ping and Liu Yichu, who had previously served with her at the Capital Offices.

Back when Zhu Nanxian followed Su Jin to the Capital Offices, he had falsely claimed to be Golden Guard Commander Nan’ai to deceive Zhou Ping. At that time, Zhou Ping had thought what luck Su Jin had to be fortunate enough to befriend a personal guard commander. Later he learned this Nan’ai was actually the illustrious Thirteenth Prince, now the new emperor of the Great Sui dynasty.

Zhou Ping and Liu Yichu knelt in obeisance to Zhu Nanxian. After hearing “Rise,” they withdrew to the side, heads bowed, not daring to look around—much less enter the inner chamber to see Su Jin.

Zhu Nanxian raised his eyes to glance at them both. While inscribing on the memorial, he said: “Su Shiyu just took medicinal soup. The physician said the medicine disperses stasis and aids sleep, which is why I didn’t let you two go in.”

He was actually explaining to them.

Zhou Ping and Liu Yichu hastily bowed again: “Your Majesty is too kind. It’s we humble ministers who came at an inopportune time and disturbed the Minister’s rest.” Though the two knew Su Jin and the current Majesty were closely acquainted, they still felt apprehensive and apologized again: “Properly speaking, we two hold humble positions and shouldn’t enter the palace to visit the Minister. But the Minister and we are truly old friends—our friendship has endured these many years. Hearing he was injured, if we didn’t come personally to see him, our hearts truly couldn’t bear it. We beg Your Majesty to forgive our breach of protocol.”

Hearing this, Zhu Nanxian set down his brush: “No harm done.” He then looked at Zhou Ping. “You say you’re old friends with Su Shiyu—did you know her from early on?”

Zhou Ping said: “In response to Your Majesty, this humble minister and Minister Su were examination classmates in the special examination of the eighteenth year of Jingyuan. At that time, he was the provincial champion of Qizhou, the youngest among all the examination candidates, not yet seventeen. His essays were excellent, so he had some renown. Everyone in that examination class knew of him.”

As he spoke, he raised his eyes to glance at Zhu Nanxian. Seeing he was listening attentively, he continued: “This minister is merely of mediocre talent—becoming a candidate was already my fortune. But Shiyu was different. His natural gifts were truly one in ten thousand. When the palace examination results came out, he was indeed the top second-tier jinshi.” Zhou Ping smiled at this point. “To be honest with Your Majesty, when this minister learned Shiyu only placed as top second-tier, I felt indignant on his behalf, thinking that with his talent, he should have been the top scholar by all rights.”

Zhu Nanxian also smiled.

He had later heard from Zhang Shishan that the top scholar that year was originally supposed to be Su Jin. But when his father the Emperor looked at Su Jin’s age, he was so startled that he forcibly demoted him to fourth place, stripping him of the glory of the top three ranks, fearing this youth’s brilliance was too sharp and would invite disaster.

“Unfortunately, fate plays tricks on people. Not long after Shiyu entered the Hanlin Academy, he nearly lost his life over a small matter. Later he was demoted to serve as marshal in a remote county. Fortunately, there was Yun Sheng—one of Shiyu’s close friends, Chao Qing, styled Yun Sheng—who accompanied him. It wasn’t until a year later that the local touring censor checked the official appointment records and transferred Shiyu back to serve as county clerk in Songshan County as originally written in the directive.

“As soon as he arrived at Songshan County, he helped the county magistrate solve two unsolved cases and won the magistrate’s appreciation. Two years later, the magistrate wrote a letter back to the capital saying that such a person serving in Songshan County was truly wasting great talent on a small position. Prefect Yang of Yingtian Prefecture then took this letter to the Ministry of Personnel and the Imperial Censorate. Before long, Shiyu was transferred from Songshan County back to the capital.

“Your Majesty surely knows what happened afterward. Shiyu returned to the Capital Offices and served as administrator for over a year. Before the scholar riots in the twenty-third year of Jingyuan, Lord Liu of the Imperial Censorate entrusted him with important responsibilities. Subsequently, he won Lord Liu’s appreciation, entered the Imperial Censorate, and from there rose through the ranks to his current position as Vice Minister of Justice.”

Zhu Nanxian listened quietly as he finished, then asked: “When she was at the Capital Offices before, did she often talk with you?”

Liu Yichu said: “In response to Your Majesty, Minister Su usually speaks little, but if we ministers shared interesting stories and anecdotes we heard on the streets, he would listen, and from time to time would discuss them with us.”

Zhu Nanxian smiled again: “If you’re free, come to the palace in the future to chat with her.” He then looked at the eunuch beside him. “From now on when they come, don’t block them.”

Zhou Ping and Liu Yichu exchanged glances and bowed in trepidation: “Thank you, Your Majesty. Next time we enter the palace, we’ll certainly choose a good time and absolutely won’t disturb Minister Su’s rest.”

Having received this imperial favor, naturally they shouldn’t remain in the same chamber with Zhu Nanxian any longer. After expressing thanks, they immediately took their leave.

The two had just left Gardenia Hall when they came face to face with a person in blue robes and black sash, with cold, clear features.

It was Liu Chaoming.

Now with the late emperor newly deceased, all civil and military officials wore blue robes on duty. Hearing someone by the path paying respects to him, Liu Chaoming paused to look and recognized them as Su Jin’s old colleagues from the Capital Offices. He said “No need for formalities,” withdrew his gaze, and proceeded into Gardenia Hall.

Because Zhu Nanxian had stationed very few eunuchs and palace maids at Gardenia Hall, and when he came, they all went inside to attend him, Liu Chaoming only saw Zhu Nanxian seated at the desk after entering the hall. He paused, then clasped his hands in obeisance: “Not knowing Your Majesty was here, when this subject entered, no one announced me. This oversight was careless—please forgive me, Your Majesty.”

Seeing Liu Chaoming, Zhu Nanxian also paused before rising: “Minister Liu, no need for formalities.”

The two stood for a moment, neither speaking at first.

After a while, Zhu Nanxian finally said: “Since Minister Liu has come, you must be here to visit Minister Su. She’s resting in the inner chamber and hasn’t yet awakened. Please go in, Minister Liu.”

Zhu Nanxian knew Liu Chaoming’s daily duties were no less demanding than his own. Today, taking advantage of the White Dew holiday, he had managed to spare a moment to come to Weiyang Palace to see Su Jin.

After all, she was someone he had rescued and brought back. It was appropriate for him to see her.

Hearing Zhu Nanxian’s words, Liu Chaoming fell silent for a moment, then bowed: “No need. Since Your Majesty has already visited Minister Su and presumably made all necessary arrangements, this subject won’t go in.”

Having spoken, the two stood again in silence for a while, about to speak simultaneously to take their leave first, when the eunuch who had finally grown clever enough to know to wait outside the hall announced: “Your Majesty, Lord Liu, Lord Shen has come to visit Minister Su.”