Though I am a woman, I am willing to rush toward dawn’s light for this world, for the common people.
Lan Shanjun couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.
—He knew, he also knew.
They all knew.
She couldn’t help asking in a heavy voice, “Then who exactly doesn’t know? Is it only those innocent dead who didn’t know? Is it only the common people at the bottom who don’t know—and it doesn’t matter?”
The Imperial Grand Prince showed a shameful expression, yet still said helplessly, “Shanjun, those in high positions only control the overall situation, not other people’s lives. And the common people only live—they only need to live. As for whether they can live in the end, it all depends on their fate.”
“These aren’t my words, but what His Majesty is doing. In the Great Xia Dynasty, power rests with him alone. Since he did this, we who know can only pretend not to know. And those who wanted to know were all killed in the thirty-first year of Yuanshao.”
His expression grew serious, becoming more agitated as he spoke: “Now a full twenty years have passed—who has ever mentioned it?”
“Even Ni Tao only waited to be killed, rather than actively seeking death, didn’t he?”
A person’s backbone can be stiff for a time, but cannot remain stiff for a lifetime. The Emperor ground down their bones like this, ground them for twenty years, using the mercy of ‘I won’t kill you’ to grind people to death alive.
Saying this, he began to cough, covering his chest. “The court is not the court the common people imagine, not composed of upright officials, but rather a group of people each lacking in integrity who by chance entered the game. Thus you check me, I check you, preventing corrupt officials from excessive killing, rape, and mediocrity—only thus does clean governance emerge.”
This was the current state of the world.
This was also the past state of the world.
The Imperial Grand Prince coughed up a mouthful of blood. Using a handkerchief to wipe the corners of his mouth, he said softly, “He knows—not only does he know, but all sages throughout history know.”
Yet no one can change human nature.
“So Ni Tao was willing to die that way, yet unwilling to die this way. That’s why he asked—why is Yu Qingwu a powerful minister rather than an upright minister.”
Lan Shanjun fell silent, but still shook her head. “It’s not that there are no upright ministers in the world, but that they were forced to become powerful ministers.”
“Yu Qingwu is one, and so are they.”
“But those in high positions only seek to protect themselves, unwilling to take risks, so cowering and withdrawing became a rule, becoming what you see as a group of people lacking integrity who by chance entered the game.”
But those who studied for ten cold winters, those from century-old aristocratic families, born as human beings—did none of them ever have spirit?
She felt this wasn’t so.
She said, “A great tree—now it’s not that the leaves are yellow and branches defeated, but rather the branches are flourishing and leaves abundant, while only the tree’s roots have rotted. You understand this principle, and so do I. Since they know, and they’re not fools—of course they understand too.”
“But not one person dares speak out. Why? Because they’re afraid. Like Old Duke Zhenguo, frightened by the deaths of the former Crown Prince and the old monk back then, so he dares not speak. But do they truly have no conscience at all? I don’t think so.”
She absolutely refused to believe there were no people of ambition in the realm, no upright officials.
“Old Duke Zhenguo told me he had been waiting to see what kind of character Prince Wei had—but he didn’t get to. Later, he waited for you, to see what you would do—he felt he actually didn’t get to see that either.”
“If this is so for him, what about others?”
She asked the Imperial Grand Prince earnestly, “I truly want to ask Your Highness—before, you hadn’t entered the court and had no right to speak. Now four or five years have passed, you’ve established a stable footing. Are your thoughts still the same as before?”
“I believe Your Highness is not a mediocre person and must have schemes in mind. I’ve come to find Your Highness to ask whether your schemes include exposing this matter?”
The Imperial Grand Prince remained silent for a long time, then looked at her steadily. “There are schemes, but I dare not easily plan them.”
Lan Shanjun nodded. “I dare not say I understand court politics, nor dare I say I’m particularly capable. But I can tell Your Highness that Old Duke Zhenguo’s health is failing. He’s about to pass away—his days are numbered.”
She said, “If Your Highness and Your Highness’s advisors don’t seize this opportunity, trying to overturn the case later will be even more difficult.”
The Imperial Grand Prince raised his eyes. “Old Duke Zhenguo is dying?”
Lan Shanjun walked to the brazier and extended her hands to warm them, nodding. “Yes.”
“This autumn, he should pass away.”
The Imperial Grand Prince’s heart began to pound. He started seriously considering this matter.
But he also had doubts. “Why are you in such a hurry? Right now Prince Qi’s power is weakening, and Imperial Grandfather is also old…”
If he waited until the Emperor died and he took power, that would actually work too.
Overturning the case and clearing people then would also be possible.
But Lan Shanjun didn’t answer for a long time.
Until the fifty-seventh year of Yuanshao, there were actually only six years left. But in these six years, with ups and downs, who could say for certain? And in these six years, in the original history, Prince Qi had killed many people under the Imperial Grand Prince’s command.
Even if the situation had changed now, with the Emperor’s character being what it was, who dared say they definitely wouldn’t die afterward?
Lan Shanjun associated with their children. Sometimes when asking their names, she would remember hearing news of their deaths at banquets.
She asked, “But Your Highness, watching from the side, I always feel that you and Prince Qi are like two sparrows begging for food under His Majesty’s hand.”
“When His Majesty gives a little, you eat a little. When His Majesty doesn’t give, you go snatch Prince Qi’s food.”
“In the future, even if His Majesty… grows old, if Prince Qi rebels, if the borders become unstable, what will you do then?”
“When the realm falls into chaos, those who suffer are still the common people.”
“Why not confine this warfare to within Luoyang City, within the imperial palace.”
She said, “You should take more initiative.”
Hearing this, the Imperial Grand Prince was stunned. Then he asked Yu Qingwu, “Did you tell her this?”
Yu Qingwu hurriedly waved his hands proudly. “No, it wasn’t me at all.”
The Grand Princess Consort hadn’t known before. After listening for a while, she detected some clues. Her face darkened as she sat down and asked, “What exactly has happened?”
The Imperial Grand Prince then said, “In the eighteenth year of Yuanshao, how those fifty thousand empty positions were discovered—do you remember?”
The Grand Princess Consort certainly knew.
“Originally, one hundred thousand empty military positions weren’t that conspicuous. But in the warfare of the eighteenth year of Yuanshao, the Minister of War had a private grudge against Great-Uncle and arbitrarily decided to fill fifty thousand into the ranks.”
“He knew Great-Uncle had led troops for many years and would definitely notice something amiss, so he gave these fifty thousand to another force led by General Sun Mingyuan as reinforcements.”
“At that time, there was collusion up and down, working hand in glove. General Sun was deceived. When ten thousand reinforcements were needed, no one went. General Sun and his subordinate Junior General Duan died in Shuzhou.”
“Only then did Great-Uncle discover this matter, but it was too late. After returning to court, he investigated the matter and killed many people.”
The Imperial Grand Prince took a deep breath. “In the twenty-ninth year of Yuanshao, His Majesty flew into a rage from humiliation, feeling that Great-Uncle and Father had pressed too hard. He wanted to clear himself of this ‘injustice’ and become a clean emperor. So he simply had Old Duke Zhenguo take away those fifty thousand empty positions on the books.”
“These fifty thousand on the books—could they be slowly balanced out? Of course they could. But His Majesty was unwilling. He urgently wanted to be clean himself. Not only clean on the books—he wanted this campaign fought beautifully too.”
So the Emperor’s momentarily absurd idea led those below to start scheming for him.
At that time, Prince Qi, only in his twenties,献offered a strategy.
He said, “Since criticized as empty, why not make them real.”
Throughout history, where hadn’t there been forced conscription?
“Eating the sovereign’s salary means relieving the sovereign’s worries. When the court has difficulties, naturally the common people must share the burden.”
“The people of Shuzhou were originally unruly masses. Seizing Shuzhou commoners to fight Shuzhou rebels—isn’t that perfectly reasonable?”
The Grand Princess Consort closed her eyes. “So that’s what happened. I wondered why Old Duke Zhenguo didn’t discover the major shortage in military strength back then.”
The Imperial Grand Prince: “His Majesty agreed to this method. But for orders from above, those below also had ways to respond.”
“Shuzhou… where were there any able-bodied men left?”
Only some old, weak, sick, and disabled remained.
“Moreover, Shuzhou was in rebellion. If you seized Shuzhou conscripts, how would they obey? If they rebelled from within, it would ruin everything.”
“So it was better to only seize the old, weak, sick, and disabled.”
The Imperial Grand Prince still remembered Prince Qi’s exact words. “He said, even if the enemy wanted to kill people, killing one by one, they’d have to make several thousand cuts before reaching Great Xia’s soldiers. If these people could counterattack and kill even one Shuzhou soldier, that would be profit.”
But in the end, it wasn’t only the old, weak, sick, and disabled from Shuzhou who were seized.
This matter—back then someone specifically handled it, otherwise common people in other areas would have rioted.
“Duke Songguo handled it.”
“So you know why His Majesty also believed last time that Duke Songguo had dealings with Prince Qi, right?”
Within this, the twists and turns were many and circuitous. It could no longer be explained clearly.
The Imperial Grand Prince threw the bloodstained handkerchief into the brazier. “It’s just that human calculations fall short of heaven’s—that Shuzhou rebel leader was truly formidable. Old Duke Zhenguo was no match and fell into a trap, which led to those old, weak, sick, and disabled becoming reinforcements to that end.”
The handkerchief caught fire. Flames shot up with a whoosh, illuminating the expressions of the four people in the room even more clearly.
The Imperial Grand Prince then said, “Shanjun, you’re very much like Yu Qingwu when he first came to Luoyang.”
People always had to go through such a process.
But the light in Lan Shanjun’s eyes grew brighter and brighter. She said, “Perhaps I will change… but don’t give me the chance to change.”
She warmed her hands over the brazier, then suddenly said quietly, “Hearing all this, I can roughly guess that you and Minister Xu and others have discussed falsely accusing Prince Qi of this matter, forcing His Majesty to completely remove Prince Qi’s manor from the board.”
And Prince Qi might rebel.
Flames seemed to dance in her eyes, her mind growing clearer and clearer. “His Majesty has the ability to kill Prince Qi, but he doesn’t kill him because he thinks himself merciful. And Prince Qi doesn’t kill His Majesty because he thinks he has a chance to ascend to the throne, not because he lacks military force.”
“As for you, Your Highness—above, you have no troops and cannot seize the palace. Below, you’re hesitant and dare not take a step forward to force His Majesty to kill Prince Qi.”
“Then why not let Prince Qi and His Majesty fight each other.”
The Imperial Grand Prince and the Grand Princess Consort exchanged glances. The Grand Princess Consort said softly, “We’ve thought along the same lines. A’Hu and I have considered this matter, but we haven’t had a good case to push Prince Qi into a corner—His Majesty has sufficient reason to kill Prince Qi.”
Lan Shanjun knew she hadn’t thought wrongly. For the Grand Prince and his wife to reach this point today, they couldn’t possibly not have had this thought.
She also knew this matter couldn’t be decided in a day. It required countless people to prepare.
She said, “I’ll wait for you to decide. Whether it succeeds or not in the end, either is fine.”
But: “No matter what, as long as you expose this matter, I’m willing to be the primary accuser. I’m also the most suitable person.”
The Imperial Grand Prince was astonished and immediately shook his head. “No.”
Lan Shanjun: “Why not?”
The Imperial Grand Prince: “You’re a young woman. These matters—you shouldn’t be involved. Moreover, Prince Qi has always hated you. One misstep and you’ll lose your life.”
Lan Shanjun shook her head. “I’m not afraid. Even if I die this time, I’ll die with complete clarity.”
But the Imperial Grand Prince still said, “No! I don’t agree.”
Lan Shanjun said, “Why don’t you agree?”
Everyone else in Duke Zhenguo’s manor might retreat at the crucial moment, but she alone would not.
The Imperial Grand Prince still shook his head. “No, you’re only a young woman. Having you implicated in this is already suffering…”
Lan Shanjun cut off his words, saying word by word: “If this world is destined to have someone carry a lantern and crash forward, crashing out a thread of hope, then why can’t that be me? Though I am a woman, I am willing to rush toward dawn’s light for this world, for the common people.”
“If I am the first woman to shed blood for this, then that is also my glory. But it begins with me, not ends with me.”
She had no willingness to face death, nor profound righteousness. She only felt: “The old monk struggled at death’s door and kept vigil for them in that dilapidated temple for twelve years, keeping those lamps lit for twelve years. Then I must bring these lamps from the dilapidated temple, from Shuzhou, to Luoyang.”
“This is something I know, something I understand, something I must do.”
Even if this was lighting dawn in a place where no hope could be seen, she was still willing to walk into this pitch-black cage and actively crash against it.