The matter of the Wang Family’s raid and asset seizure had been concluded, and Pei Shaohuai entered the palace to report back. He presented the Emperor with Wang Gaoxiang’s stack of letters and requested that the Emperor bestow upon him the final letter.

The Emperor contemplated for a moment before agreeing: “We permit it.”

What the sovereign feared was not any matter of bloodline — what he feared was a heart bent on rebellion and chaos.

By the time Pei Shaohuai left the palace, the sky had already dimmed to a murky darkness. Walking ahead to light his way was an unfamiliar elderly eunuch, cautious and sparing of speech, tending to the lantern with one hand while stealing glances at Pei Shaohuai’s stride with the other, fearful of walking too fast or too slow.

“You need only walk at your own pace, there is no need to be so restrained,” Pei Shaohuai said.

“You are most gracious, my lord,” the elderly eunuch replied softly. “However, treading with utmost caution is what we servants are meant to do.” Only by treading with utmost caution could one survive within these palace walls and be fortunate enough to die of old age.

Reaching the front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the colored banners, draped curtains, and floral platforms erected for the Imperial Birthday celebration had not yet been dismantled. In the dim and fading light, they stood stiffly and forlornly in the vast empty courtyard.

Palace attendants bustled about — some carrying lanterns, some hauling buckets of water — their expressions wooden and dazed, the shock of recent events still lingering, as they scrubbed clean the filth from the palace walls and the blue-brick floors.

It could be imagined that once tomorrow’s daylight broke and sunlight poured again into this palace city, all would be as it was before.

Passing through the Hall of Literary Glory and heading east toward the East Flowery Gate, the elderly eunuch walked along the main road, while Pei Shaohuai nearly turned out of habit into a side path. Even knowing that Xiao Jin had brought his fate upon himself and deserved no pity, Pei Shaohuai could not help but recall past scenes all along the way out of the palace — recalling Xiao Jin carrying a lantern, smiling and chatting idly with him: “Lord Pei, this small path is a shorter route” — the words seemed to still echo near his ears.

Xiao Jin had been sentenced to death.

Pei Shaohuai could not bring himself to ask the Emperor for the details, but from what Commander Yan of the Imperial Guards had said, the one who was sentenced to death alongside Xiao Jin was also a harem consort — this Consort Kang had rather exotic features, having entered the palace for over twenty years and not particularly favored.

As for the Empress and the Prince of Huai, Pei Shaohuai imagined the Emperor, mindful of the imperial family’s reputation, would likely not resort to execution. In all probability, the Empress would be deposed and the Prince of Huai confined for life within the high walls of Fengyang.

Pei Shaohuai felt a dull ache in his head and had no wish to dwell further on these matters.

Once outside the East Flowery Gate, lanterns were beginning to illuminate the streets. The palace had been in turmoil for a day, yet outside all was peaceful and calm. Catching the scent of ordinary household cooking drifting from some unknown direction, Pei Shaohuai’s heart grew considerably more tranquil.

“Father—” A clear and bright call rang out.

Pei Shaohuai turned toward the sound, and in the near distance he saw three lanterns glowing — one large and two small.

His wife and children had come with lanterns to welcome him home. Three scattered points of light, turning the night as bright as day.

Pei Shaohuai was briefly stunned, but Xiao Nan and Xiao Feng had already come running over, throwing themselves into his arms, sobbing and calling out “Father” again and again.

“It’s all right now, all is well, Father has come home,” Pei Shaohuai said soothingly, stroking both children on the head.

Pei Shaohuai led his son and daughter to stand before his wife. Yang Shiyue first looked over his hands and neck for any signs of injury, then two clear tears slid down her face. “You’ve grown thinner…” It was not necessarily that her husband had truly grown thinner — it was simply that her long worry and longing, along with a touch of aggrieved feeling in the aftermath of it all, had distilled into these two ordinary words.

“You have suffered hardship during this time, my wife,” Pei Shaohuai said, wiping Yang Shiyue’s tears away. “Let us go home.”

Inside the carriage, warmth and tenderness were exchanged. Outside, the night deepened gradually. When a “Whoa” sounded and the carriage stopped, Pei Shaohuai lifted the curtain and found that the carriage had not stopped before the gates of the Earl’s residence, but had instead arrived at the Xu household.

Having spent so many years together as husband and wife, Yang Shiyue knew her husband far too well. She said, “My lord, please go inside and look in on him — put Tutor Duan’s heart at ease.”

Then she added: “The Yang Family and the families of several brothers-in-law — I have already sent word to them. Once my lord has finished the great matters at hand, and once Second Brother returns as well, there will still be time to gather together.” Only Tutor Duan’s household could not be delayed.

To set Tutor Duan’s heart at ease was also to set Pei Shaohuai’s own heart at ease.

Pei Shaohuai nodded and leaped down from the carriage, going to knock on the door. As his hand grasped the door knocker, his thoughts drifted for a moment — he remembered that in the days of his childhood studies, he and his brother would come here every morning, always having to stand on their tiptoes just to reach this knocker.

The years had worn the door knocker smooth and round.

……

……

Although Da Qing held the advantage, the scheme laid by the opposing faction was not entirely without threat.

On this day of early court, the assembled officials filed into the hall — the ranks below were sparse and uncrowded, no longer packed as before.

Military reports from three frontier regions arrived simultaneously —

In the northwest frontier, the three great Mongol tribes of the Tatars, the Oirats, and the Uriankhais had clearly joined forces. Each tribe was assembling its finest troops, selecting commanders, preparing to lead their cavalry southward, pressing close to the northwestern border to face off against Da Qing’s northwestern frontier army on either side of the defensive line. With war poised to break out at any moment, the tea-horse trading passes that had been opened with great effort several years ago were forced to temporarily close.

How many troops the Tatars could muster was still being investigated on the front lines. With the three great tribes united, their forces consisting mostly of cavalry, this combined power might not directly break through layer upon layer of defenses and reach the capital, but seizing the northwest frontier and throwing Shaanxi and Shanxi into chaos was well within their capabilities.

From the direction of Liaodong, an urgent report arrived from beyond Shanhaiguan: the Jin had assembled two hundred thousand troops north of the Liao River and were marching southward — Fushun had already fallen.

At the rate the Jin forces were advancing, they intended to catch Da Qing off guard while the Tatars were assaulting the northwest frontier. As long as the Jin army used Fushun as a foothold, broke through the Guanning-Jinzhou defensive line, and sent their countless cavalry through Shanhaiguan, they could press directly upon the capital.

Not only were the northwest and Liaodong directions in turmoil — there was also conflict at sea.

A report arrived from Yingtian Prefecture: at the same time the coup in the capital unfolded, a coup simultaneously erupted in the old city of Jinling, where the minions left behind by the Prince of Huai had seized the imperial palace there. The opposing faction had released word early on, and the pirates off the eastern sea, knowing there was profit to be seized amid chaos, were leading their fleet in that direction.

Yingtian Prefecture had three senior officials holding the ground — the Supervising Censor of the River Defense, the Prefect of Fengyang, and the Prefect of Yingtian — so quelling the palace rebellion there was only a matter of time. What was to be feared was that the traitorous officials, finding themselves with nowhere to turn, might act in collusion with the pirates at sea, causing the entire city to fall.

If any single one of these three military reports had come alone, Da Qing would have had nothing to fear. The problem was that the conflicts were erupting simultaneously, with pressure bearing down from three fronts.

The forty thousand Imperial Guards encircling the capital awaited the Emperor’s command. Forty thousand troops would be sufficient to drive back the Tatars in the northwest, and also sufficient to march north from Shanhaiguan to push back the Jin forces and reclaim the vital territory of Liaodong. But if these forty thousand troops were divided and sent in two directions — one to reinforce the northwest, another to hold Shanhaiguan — how the situation would develop remained uncertain.

Furthermore, if the Imperial Guards were dispatched in their entirety, would the capital not be left as an empty shell? For the imperial family, this was a cardinal strategic taboo.

Amid such a critical military situation, there were inevitably officials who memorialized in favor of retreating south — temporarily withdrawing from the capital to the auxiliary capital, preserving their strength, and waiting until the situation became clearer before planning the recovery of lost territories.

This sounded like the most prudent course of action.

The Emperor flew into a rage, seizing what was at hand and hurling it downward, and rebuked: “‘The tears of survivors spent to dust in foreign hands, year after year gazing south, awaiting royal armies’ — is the lesson of the Song dynasty’s southern retreat not painful enough?”

The Emperor stood upon the steps, glaring at the assembled officials, and called out: “Anyone who advocates retreating south is a treacherous villain and shall be executed immediately! Da Qing absolutely has no reason to retreat without fighting. Deploy the Imperial Guards in their entirety — not a single soldier shall remain in the capital.” The Emperor pointed to the gleaming golden dragon throne and continued: “This dragon throne may be sat in by another person, but it absolutely cannot be sat in by a foreign people! The Imperial Guards may forego protecting the imperial palace, but they cannot forego protecting Da Qing’s territory!”

Since this was a scheme that the Emperor and Pei Shaohuai had laid out, how could they have had no preparation — allowing the Jin forces to truly press at the border and force Da Qing into a southern retreat?

The Emperor’s words today were themselves a part of the scheme — to spread word of this outside, to stir the fighting spirit of the border soldiers, and to set the hearts of Da Qing’s people at ease.

Pei Shaohuai had come from a future age. Standing below, listening to the Emperor’s words that came from the bottom of his heart, words filled with absolute authority, he could not help but feel the sentiment — “how fortunate to have such a wise ruler.”

This land had indeed suffered enough lessons. If one always wished to retreat one step in every matter, there would eventually come a time when there was nowhere left to retreat.

“Lord Pei, what is your view?” The Emperor called on him by name.

Pei Shaohuai stepped out from the ranks and replied: “Your subject believes we should give Grand Secretary Zhang and the others a little more time. So long as the northwest frontier is at peace and the tea-horse trade resumes, the Jin forces will not dare advance another step.”

A month earlier, Pei Shaojin, Grand Secretary Zhang, Minister of War Chen Gongda, along with many key officials from the Ministry of War and disciples of Elder Zou, had been “exiled to the northwest as military conscripts” — this was not merely for the purpose of putting on a show.

When it came to deploying troops and commanding armies, Grand Secretary Zhang and Chen Gongda were deeply versed in military strategy and would certainly be able to lead the border army in effectively restraining the Tatar cavalry. Once peace was negotiated with the Tatars and the border trading passes were reopened, Elder Zou’s disciples would skillfully use financial methods to hold the Tatars’ vital interests in check.

Pei Shaohuai reckoned that the chances of his younger brother succeeding — while he dared not say ten out of ten — were at least seven or eight out of ten.

As for the pirates at sea, Pei Shaohuai had crossed blades with them before and knew full well that as long as the naval fleet dispatched its great ships, half the battle was already won. Moreover, under the silver-tongued persuasion of the Xu Family, the Mori clan already showed some inclination toward submission. As long as trade continued to fuel the ongoing rivalry between the Mori and Toyotomi clans, why would they become a serious threat? One den cannot hold two dogs.

“Excellent.” The Emperor issued his decree before the assembled court: “Convey Our imperial command: let the five armies resound. We shall personally lead the campaign, and together with Da Qing’s million soldiers, guard every inch of Our territory!”

“Your subjects swear to follow His Majesty unto death,” the assembled officials said in unison.

……

That night, the stars of the Milky Way blazed in splendor, shining brilliantly in rivalry with one another.

Pei Shaohuai and his student Wu Jianqing stood atop the Northern Hill Observatory, observing the heavens.

Upon seeing Jupiter and Mercury rise, and the planet Mars moving away from the Heart constellation, Wu Jianqing said with delight: “Teacher, your student’s calculations were not wrong either — in the seventh month there is no such ominous portent as ‘Mars Guarding the Heart,’ but rather the auspicious omen of ‘Five Planets in Alignment.'”

He continued: “Facts speak louder than words — at last, Teacher can be cleared of the defamatory name of ‘cursed star.'”

Noticing that Pei Shaohuai’s mood was subdued, without any sign of joy, Wu Jianqing fell quiet and asked: “Is Teacher unhappy?”

“Happy,” Pei Shaohuai replied. “But the happiness is for your having confirmed your grandfather’s conjecture, and not for the sake of being cleared of a defamatory name.”

Pei Shaohuai did not care about the defamatory name of “cursed star.” If it were possible, he even wished the omen of Mars Guarding the Heart could have come true. That way, it might at least tell a portion of the people that Da Qing’s peace and prosperity were bought through everyone’s collective efforts, and not determined by celestial phenomena.

Flourishing because of people, falling into chaos because of people.

No celestial omen could determine Da Qing’s fate.

Gazing up at the sky full of stars, Pei Shaohuai sighed: “Let us take it slowly…”

Beside him, Wu Jianqing also fell into quiet contemplation. His grandfather had said to guard one’s heart. Teacher’s way of fearing no defamatory name, willing to use his own person to break apart rumors — that was surely what his grandfather meant by “matters rest in human hands.”

……

Regardless of whether celestial signs held any power or none at all, a few days later, a report of victory arrived from the northwest frontier.

The three Tatar tribes had dispatched their advance troops to attempt an assault on Datong, probing Da Qing’s military strength, but they were easily routed by Da Qing’s border army. A third of their forces were captured alive.

Moreover, the civil unrest in the lands of Shaanxi and Shanxi had been pacified, and the border army’s grain supply was plentiful.

The Tatars were compelled to reassess this war, to reconsider whether they should allow themselves to be used by the Jin people in a way that would plunge their entire tribe into an even more perilous situation.

After all, with winter not yet arrived, they were not yet entirely without means of survival. Maintaining trade with Da Qing might still offer some chance of life. Assaulting Da Qing — even if they managed to seize the lands of Shaanxi and Shanxi — would leave both sides gravely weakened, and they would not obtain enough grain to make it worthwhile.