Madam Cheng’s words completely shattered Xinyue’s confidence. If it weren’t for the fact that she still had a large household to care for, she would have long ago wanted to follow the merchant caravan to Beiting. Although going would be embarrassing, and people would say she couldn’t be without her man.

So what? I simply can’t be without my man. Xinyue believed this reason could be announced standing on Vermillion Bird Avenue. Fighting alongside her man in the wilderness would be a hundred times better than staying at home.

Even if she couldn’t help him, when he needed stones to throw at enemies, helping him pick up stones would be a good choice. This was the fate of women from military families.

Whenever this thought arose, her resentment toward Na Rimu deepened. She could carelessly follow her husband wandering through the Western Regions wilderness, while she herself could only worry here. This was extremely unfair.

After returning home, she spread out letter paper and wrote to her husband’s friends—Xitong, Han Zhe, He Tianshang—all received letters pleading for help. She said nothing else, only begged them to bring her husband back safely.

As she wrote, tears soaked the letter. Seeing the blotches of ink, she threw the letter in the wastebasket and rewrote it. She knew these people all had extensive supernatural abilities.

Dan Ying had already left. He had seen Xinyue’s anxiety, mounted a horse with his long saber on his back, and left. Proud as he was, he wasn’t even willing to travel with Cheng Chumo’s camel caravan.

Xinyue’s temperament was becoming increasingly stern. The household no longer had its former cheerful laughter. Every night she waited in the front courtyard for the family retainers to lock up the estate before she would go to sleep. The children also complained bitterly. Accustomed to being relaxed, suddenly being strictly constrained by Xinyue, they had a feeling of being unable to breathe, with Yun Huan and Yun Mu suffering the most.

Yun Shou was very busy. He had already begun handling some of the household’s minor affairs, such as going to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices to attend ceremonies. The Emperor was once again preparing a large-scale heaven worship ritual at the start of spring—this was the so-called suburban sacrifice.

The master of the Yun family was on campaign abroad, so the eldest son had to substitute. Yun Shou, carrying his ceremonial offerings and gritting his teeth, followed behind Old Cheng. This year’s journey was very short, only thirty li, the shortest in these years. Grandmother’s age had already exceeded seventy years. As a woman, she didn’t need to participate. Xinyue, wearing the robes of her official rank, followed tightly behind her son, dragging Yun Huan and Yun Mu by the hands.

Yun Huan and Yun Mu had no particular objection to walking, but under their mother’s imposing authority, they had no choice but to place their hands in their mother’s hands. At first it was Xinyue dragging the children along, but later it became the two children dragging Xinyue.

Yun Ye had long ago criticized this so-called suburban sacrifice, believing it was His Majesty the Emperor tormenting these fat-headed nobles. Why walk when there were perfectly good carriages? Once every five years, was it just to weed out those excessively obese nobles?

The Yun family’s procession looked fairly good. Those elderly lords were quite miserable. After walking for a while, Qin Qiong felt his heart palpitating severely. Fortunately, with Cheng Yaojin and Niu Jinda supporting him, he could barely keep up.

“Shubao, why put yourself through this? You could choose not to attend this kind of sacrifice. Report illness and His Majesty would definitely approve. Your health has deteriorated considerably these past two years.”

“You and I both know what His Majesty is doing. Even the entire realm knows what His Majesty is doing. No one can now obstruct his desire to perform sacrifices at Mount Tai. This suburban sacrifice is to see who will oppose his going to Shandong to worship heaven. This is the second time. His Majesty wants to once again let heaven know of his achievements. He’s testing to see how much the realm will tolerate him.”

“The old Qin family can’t appear weak now. Can’t let His Majesty misunderstand. Grit my teeth and it’ll pass. Just thirty li.”

Wei Zheng didn’t come. He was ill. According to the imperial physicians, he was gravely ill. Li Er promised to speak well of Wei Zheng to heaven during this sacrifice. These words were quite harsh. On the sacrificial memorial, besides the Emperor’s title, only the names of the dead could remain. If Wei Zheng happened to survive this time, the consequences would be dire.

Wei Zheng had gotten into trouble. Years ago, his discourse on good ministers versus loyal ministers had earned him endless favor before Li Er. Good ministers and loyal ministers were different. Good ministers not only enjoyed great fame themselves but also enabled their rulers to be remembered throughout history. Loyal ministers were different. They often remonstrated bluntly, even at the risk of fatal consequences. They left only empty reputations for loyalty and courage, while also causing their rulers to bear the bad reputation of killing loyal subjects. In the end, with nation destroyed and family ruined, their actions accomplished nothing.

Wei Zheng wanted to be a good minister, but things went against his wishes. Wei Zheng repeatedly remonstrated with the Emperor, which contradicted his original intention. He kept repeating: the fundamental reason for the Sui Dynasty’s fall was frequent military conscription and unceasing corvée labor. He repeatedly urged the Emperor to take the Sui Dynasty’s destruction as a lesson. Actually, this was quite thought-provoking.

What was the real trigger for the Sui Dynasty’s fall? Wasn’t it because of attacking Goguryeo and excessively depleting Shandong’s manpower? In reality, striking the Turks in the north and attacking Goguryeo in the east had long been the Emperor’s established national policy. In this respect, he actually inherited the same line as Emperor Yang of Sui. The only difference was in methods and approach.

Goguryeo was absolutely not some insignificant border nation, but a nation with rising power, fierce and untamable people—a wolf among nations. Without sapping its vitality, it would certainly become a major threat to the Central Plains for generations to come! Precisely because of this, Emperor Yang of Sui had sighed, “Do not leave troubles for our descendants.”

But attacking Goguryeo would mobilize Shandong’s human and financial resources, would harm the Shandong aristocratic clans—this was Wei Zheng’s selfish interest. If it weren’t for Yun Ye mediating between them, Li Er would have already broken with Wei Zheng long ago.

This time was different. Chu Suiliang dealt Wei Zheng a fatal blow regarding the “Court Diaries.” These documents recorded the Emperor’s every word and deed, but the Emperor had no right to request and review the Court Diaries—this was not permitted by canonical law.

Wei Zheng had actually taken all his usual remonstrations to the Emperor and shown them to the historiographers, instructing them to record them in the Court Diaries. No one knew why Wei Zheng would do this. Perhaps he simply felt he was about to die and wanted to leave a heavy mark in the historical records. If Yun Ye were in Chang’an, he would have said with a smile that people always become confused before dying, and would have produced numerous examples. In the end, it might have become a big joke about Wei Zheng, and no one would have paid attention to the three words “Court Diaries.”

But Yun Ye wasn’t there. No one dared talk nonsense before the Emperor. Moreover, Chu Suiliang had completely broken with Wei Zheng. This strike was both accurate and ruthless. Wei Zheng, bedridden with illness, had no strength to refute.

What were the Court Diaries? The Court Diaries were the historiographers’ records of the ruler’s daily words and deeds, without the slightest concealment or avoidance. Even ugly deeds and evil acts had to be recorded truthfully. Moreover, even as the supremely honored Emperor, he had no right to request to review the Court Diaries—this was the final restraint on imperial authority.

Wei Zheng being able to add text to them—regardless of whether what he said was fact—one crime was inescapable: deceiving the sovereign!

The Shandong aristocratic clans had already been destroyed by Ma Zhou, wives separated, children scattered, families ruined. They had long lost their former prominent prestige, with only a few illegitimate descendants wearing monkey caps pretending to be great families to marry off daughters and deceive people. Wei Zheng’s act of adding text to the Court Diaries at this time was regarded by Li Er as the final wail of those Shandong aristocratic clans.

Li Er went to the Yan family to request the Court Diaries to review them, but was humiliated by the retort “Does Your Majesty wish to write his own biography?” and returned to the palace red-faced. Supposedly this time Zhangsun did not remonstrate. The possibility of the husband and wife standing together in Wanmin Palace cursing Wei Zheng was higher. Zhangsun was a person without independent position—Li Er’s position was her position.

The Son of Heaven’s fury—this time there were no million corpses, just making the nobles run thirty li. Wei Zheng’s bones were indeed hard. If he had dragged his sick body to make the trip, even if carried on his son Wei Shuyu’s back, Li Er’s anger would have subsided. After all, most of the time Wei Zheng was very skilled at speaking, very skilled at appearing to criticize while actually praising in front of others to elevate the Emperor’s reputation. Also because Wei Zheng’s starting point was not merely to protect the Shandong group’s interests, but even more to protect the interests of the common people throughout the realm.

For this reason alone, the Emperor wouldn’t take things too far. Now Wei Zheng hadn’t come. After the ceremony, when Xinyue was leaning on her son’s shoulder looking at the noble titles on the plaques, she strangely discovered that the title Duke of Zheng was missing. However, below the Yun family’s Marquis of Lantian title, two more ceremonial banners had been added.

When you see desirable things, think of contentment. When about to undertake construction, think of knowing when to stop. When in high and dangerous position, think of being humble and modest. When facing fullness, think of restraint and reduction. When encountering ease and pleasure, think of moderation. When in comfort and security, think of future troubles. To prevent obstruction, think of extending acceptance. When hating slander and wickedness, think of correcting yourself. When bestowing honors and rewards, think not to exceed bounds due to joy. When imposing punishments, think not to go excessive due to anger.

This was Wei Zheng’s famous “Ten Reflections” memorial. In the twelfth year of Zhenguan, it was greatly praised by the Emperor. Now, however, it had become ironclad evidence of Wei Zheng seeking fame. Chu Suiliang had found ten types of errors Wei Zheng committed in his life, corresponding them one by one with these ten behaviors. This was no longer impeaching Wei Zheng—this was to thoroughly destroy Wei Zheng from the very foundation.

This time even Fang Xuanling didn’t plead for Wei Zheng. Since Wang Gui’s death, few people in the court would clash intensely with the Emperor. However, he and Du Ruhui together submitted memorials requesting retirement, only seeking a good beginning and good end.

Chu Suiliang’s impeachment was too cruel. There was no one in the world who could avoid making any mistakes at all. When all life’s details were magnified, no one could withstand such scrutiny.

Wei Zheng stubbornly stayed alive. Ever since hearing that Chu Suiliang had impeached him, he had been diligently taking medicine, diligently eating, diligently cooperating with the physicians’ treatment. Not only did he not drink a drop of wine or eat a bite of meat, but he even forcibly changed his favorite habit of eating pears. He wanted to stay alive to see whether he would actually be beheaded. Now he had only lost his title. Who knew if he would feel disappointed.

Xinyue wiped the sweat from her son’s face, looked at Li Jing’s ashen complexion, and sighed deeply. In this world, no one had an easy time staying alive. Thinking of her husband so far away, her heart grew even more filled with longing.