On the day Li Wu rushed back to Bailing Plain, Fu Xuanmiao led his high-spirited army back in triumph.
The capital had been flooded, the false emperor had fled the city in abandonment, and the Liao forces had first been swept into disarray by the floodwaters — still reeling from that — before being routed by Fu’s well-rested army. In that single campaign, Fu Xuanmiao captured over two hundred thousand Liao soldiers, achieving a resounding victory.
That night, for the first time in months, the sound of silk and bamboo music rose over the previously silent Bailing Plain.
The grand victory banquet lit the encampment as bright as day. The fragrance of wine drifted from every tent, and the main command tent — converted into a grand hall — was most lively of all, filled with the unceasing clamor of drunken voices and dancing music.
Civil officials sitting upright and military officers lounging cross-legged had gathered together in the main tent turned banquet hall, some eating and drinking heartily, others fixing their eyes on the swaying dancer in the central aisle.
At the top of the three earthen steps draped with a massive tiger skin, the commander of this great campaign sat alone.
Fu Xuanmiao wore a sea-green silk robe, a jade disk of pale aquamarine hanging at his waist, as he responded to the congratulations from below with warm and courteous composure.
“Today’s battle proved that the title of the Number One Young Master of the realm was no empty reputation. This humble official is fortunate to have personally witnessed the young master deploy his formations — truly a blessing of three lifetimes!”
“As the saying goes, father and son make the best allies on the battlefield! Minister Fu assisted the late emperor in building a prosperous age; now young Master Fu assists the new emperor in pacifying this age of turmoil — I believe the day we take the false emperor’s head is not far off!”
“Young Master Fu has surpassed his father and exceeded him — his future is boundless!”
Barring unforeseen circumstances, this battle would surely earn a prominent place in the history books a hundred years hence.
The wise and valiant Number One Young Master of the realm never disappointed.
He was truly the Number One Young Master of the realm.
Li Wu sat in a corner of the victory banquet, beside him the hollow-faced Prefect of Junzhou. He gazed at the man who commanded everyone’s admiration on the raised platform and quietly spat in his heart.
Sooner or later, he would beat that Number One Young Master back into his true shape.
“Now that the rebel forces are no longer much of a threat and His Majesty can finally settle down — does the court have any plans for establishing a capital?”
At the height of wine-flushed revelry, a calm voice caused the air in the tent to suddenly freeze.
Li Wu looked toward the source of the voice. A civil official seated stiffly at his table was gazing up at Fu Xuanmiao with a furrowed brow.
This was the Prefect of Yangzhou, who had led thirty thousand soldiers of the Cangzhen Army across thousands of li to join the counterattack coalition forces.
Yangzhou fell under the jurisdiction of the Cangzhen Military Commissioner. Li Wu had once heard the name of Cangzhen Military Commissioner Kong Ye from Shen Zhuxi.
This man had been renowned as a loyal minister since the reign of the late emperor. When the court organized the counterattack coalition, the Wuying Military Commissioner Chunyu An — who was geographically closer to the capital region — had not come, yet it was Kong Ye, the Cangzhen Military Commissioner stationed far away in Changzhou, who had dispatched his most trusted capable general to lead troops to their aid.
When the Shang River dike collapsed, the Cangzhen Army had escaped disaster because they had been assigned elsewhere.
The question raised by the Yangzhou Prefect was most likely the question of the Cangzhen Military Commissioner himself, who was not present.
The several men seated beside the civil official had simultaneously put more distance between themselves and him.
The tent fell utterly silent, only the music of silk and bamboo instruments continuing to play, discordant and conspicuous.
“He wants to die…” muttered the Prefect of Junzhou sitting beside Li Wu.
Li Wu, still new to the bureaucratic world, was not entirely clear on the inner workings. He asked quietly: “Why do you say that?”
The Prefect of Junzhou, who had been deferential and submissive before his superiors, turned to face an equal and furrowed his brow, reasserting his official airs. “Why should I tell you?”
“Are we not colleagues? You know very well that I’m a newcomer who knows nothing of these matters —” Li Wu said, giving him a nudge with his elbow. “Right now in the Zhenchuan Army, it’s just the two of us depending on each other — if you won’t tell me, who will?”
That elbow from Li Wu nearly knocked the hot wine the Prefect of Junzhou had just swallowed back out of him. Rubbing his aching arm, he found himself moved by those words “depending on each other.”
“Though we couldn’t be more different, I suppose we are both now fellow wanderers lost at the ends of the earth. Very well… I’ll be your guide this once.” The Prefect of Junzhou gave him a sideways look and said: “The capital has been delayed this long and still not established — surely you don’t think His Majesty simply enjoys having no fixed home?”
The Yangzhou Prefect’s voice had fallen silent for quite some time now.
Fu Xuanmiao’s expression did not change. He raised his cup and drank alone, as though he had not heard the Yangzhou Prefect at all.
The commander of Fu’s army slammed his cup down with a bang and spoke with evident displeasure:
“Establishing a capital is a matter of the utmost gravity — how can it be decided rashly? Once the rebel forces are wiped out and the Great Yan is unified, His Majesty will naturally render a decision on where to establish the capital!”
The Yangzhou Prefect did not back down and immediately said:
“It is a great taboo for a ruler to personally campaign, and His Majesty has already been with the army for so long! Swords and arrows know no eyes — if anything were to happen, and His Majesty has no heirs, the imperial bloodline of the Great Yan would wither away. What would we do then?”
“His Majesty is blessed by Heaven and sheltered by the dragon’s aura — of course none of what you describe will come to pass!”
“Even if His Majesty is sheltered by the dragon’s aura and averts calamities, it is difficult to guard against petty villains seizing a moment of vulnerability to harm the imperial person!” The Yangzhou Prefect spoke with resounding conviction. “For the sake of His Majesty’s safety and the future of the Great Yan, in this humble official’s view, the matter of establishing a capital is urgently pressing and should be done as quickly as possible!”
“The realm has not yet been pacified. His Majesty’s presence at the army both inspires the troops and overawes the rebels. What could be wrong with that? Moreover, His Majesty is wise and decisive in command. If not for His Majesty personally leading the campaign and directing strategy from within, how could our Yan forces have advanced so irresistibly?”
“Troops are trained for a thousand days to be used in a single moment. If we cannot win battles without His Majesty personally present, then all the treasury funds we allocate each year to maintain our forces — are they all wasted on useless men?”
“What did you say?!” The commander of Fu’s army flew into a rage.
The Yangzhou Prefect paused, then spoke with stern righteousness: “Ever since the capital fell, a new capital should have been established immediately. The fact that this matter still has not been placed on the agenda drags on to this day — one cannot help but suspect whether there is a treacherous official at His Majesty’s side deliberately obstructing it!”
With a sharp twang, the music of the zither abruptly ceased.
The zither player knelt and prostrated himself, his face drained white. The dancer dared not stop, continuing to spin in the taut air, the gold ornaments and silver bells on her body clinking against one another, the only sound in the tent.
No one cared about the broken string of the zither, nor about what fate awaited the zither player who had committed a fatal error.
Every gaze was fixed on the brightly candlelit steps.
A soft laugh rang out in the tent where a pin dropping could be heard.
A faint smile — elusive as mist — appeared on Fu Xuanmiao’s face. Neither hurried nor angered, he gazed at the Yangzhou Prefect below with a serene expression and finally parted his lips:
“The Prefect seems to be making an insinuation. Might one ask — is the treacherous official being referred to one of the Six Ministers, the Left and Right Commanders, or… the current Chancellor?”
“This humble official has named no names; Counselor need not read too much into it,” said the Yangzhou Prefect. “This humble official merely raised a possibility.”
Li Wu’s brow knitted deeply as his gaze circled over the Yangzhou Prefect’s face.
Something was wrong.
He had not put forward any strong opinions before this. Since he had kept silent up until now, why did he choose precisely this victory banquet — at the height of Fu Xuanmiao’s power — to make his challenge?
This was clearly not in keeping with reason.
The Prefect of Junzhou beside Li Wu kept shaking his head, his gall thoroughly shattered by Fu Xuanmiao, muttering in a fearful ramble: “He’s courting death… truly courting death…”
Yet the Yangzhou Prefect in question wore an expression of righteous conviction, utterly fearless.
Was it genuine fearlessness, or did he have something in reserve?
“Let’s talk about the matter of the capital another time — today is the day we celebrate our great defeat of the Liao forces! Why bring all that up now! Everyone drink, drink! Counselor Fu, allow me to toast you!”
A military officer with somewhat sharper instincts raised his cup, thinking himself clever in offering Fu Xuanmiao an opportunity to step down gracefully.
The wide sea-green silk sleeve rose, revealing a thin and flawless right hand. Fu Xuanmiao waved it aside, and the toasting officer sat back awkwardly.
“Since it is merely a possibility, it should not be raised rashly. Since the Prefect occupies a position in officialdom, you should know the harm done by rumors and gossip. If a loyal minister and fine general were to be lost over a single conjecture, would that not be yet another ‘fabricated charge’?”
The Prefect of Junzhou beside Li Wu went pale and sat uncomfortably, gripping the hem of his robe.
“There’s no walking back from this now…”
“And why is that?” Li Wu asked.
“He’s already brought up the fabricated charge — does that look like someone who wants to smooth things over?” The Prefect of Junzhou once again gave Li Wu a sideways look, deeply contemptuous of his ignorance.
Truly the product of a ruffian’s upbringing — he didn’t even know the most basic taboos of officialdom!
If passing the imperial examinations with top honors in all three rounds was the highest honor shared by all scholars, then being branded a second Qin Hui was the greatest shared insult for all who served as officials.
Sure enough, as Fu Xuanmiao’s words fell, the Yangzhou Prefect lost his composed and resolute bearing.
The whiskers at the Yangzhou Prefect’s mouth trembled slightly, his furious gaze directed straight at Fu Xuanmiao. “Every word this humble official has spoken comes from the bottom of my heart, from loyalty — how can I be mentioned in the same breath as that treacherous deceiver Qin Hui? Counselor Fu, you are making a vile, baseless accusation!”
“The Prefect overthinks it,” Fu Xuanmiao said with a slight smile. “I never mentioned Qin Hui.”
“You —”
The Yangzhou Prefect was half out of his seat, incensed and on the verge of speaking, when a clear and hearty voice sounded from the entrance:
“Am I too late?”
A figure robed in imperial yellow entered amid a crowd of attendants and guards. The military officer who had tried to smooth things over earlier knocked over the wine cup on his table; one half-drunk civil official was so startled he tumbled from his chair.
The Prefect of Junzhou had just registered what was happening and was about to join everyone else in kneeling, when he saw the very Li Wu he had just been looking down upon suddenly spring up and seize the only open patch of ground between two tables to kneel there first.
This… so much for the so-called newcomer who knew nothing!
The Prefect of Junzhou hurriedly stepped forward two paces and managed — barely — to find a space to squeeze into and kneel among the dense wave of prostrating figures.
Everyone cried out “Long live His Majesty!” The tent blazed with light, and the shadows on the ground merged into a vast black ocean.
Li Wu, hidden among the officials crying out their salutations, quietly raised his eyes to look into the tent.
Fu Xuanmiao knelt on the white tiger skin at the foot of the steps, both hands raised high above his head, slowly bowing down into a reverent salute.
“This minister… pays his respects to Your Majesty.”
“Rise, beloved subject!”
The Yuanlong Emperor laughed and personally helped Fu Xuanmiao to his feet.
This brother-in-law of his was not quite what he had imagined.
The young emperor wore a casual robe of vine-yellow — more elegantly carefree than imperially dignified — its patterns not the five-clawed golden dragon but the treasure-flower motif. The candlelight of the tent fell upon his exquisite golden crown and jade belt, the intricately carved four-directional cloud patterns shimmering brilliantly.
“I was just saying to the Right Commander that if we timed it right, we’d arrive just in time for Chanyu’s victory banquet — and look, sure enough!” Shen Suzhang turned and smiled to the Right Commander behind him.
The Right Commander bowed his head with clasped hands, smiling in accord: “His Majesty truly has remarkable foresight.”
Li Wu had received no notice that the Yuanlong Emperor would attend tonight. He quickly swept a glance at his surroundings, taking in the expressions of surprise and suspicion around him, and finally let his gaze settle on the composed face of the Yangzhou Prefect.
So that was how it was.
This brother-in-law of his and the Number One Scoundrel did not share the harmonious ruler-minister relationship that the outside world supposed.
As undercurrents churned inside the main tent, a plain carriage with silver bells tied at its four corners drew to a halt outside the Yan Army encampment on Bailing Plain.
Two young pages who appeared to be the driver jumped down once the carriage stopped. One of them accepted a jade token passed through the carriage window by a slender hand and ran quickly toward the camp’s gate.
After some time, the young page walked back out together with a tall young man.
Yan Hui glanced left and right, caught sight of the carriage, and strode over in long steps.
“…Why is it you?”
Yangliu pushed open the carriage window and looked with surprise at the person who should have been standing in attendance at the young master’s side.
“The young master has no time to receive you today.” Yan Hui lowered his voice, his expression grave. “His Majesty has arrived.”
“Isn’t His Majesty supposed to be in Jianzhou?” Yangliu said in alarm.
Yan Hui shook his head. “None of us received any word — His Majesty made arrangements with the Right Commander without the Chancellor’s or the young master’s knowledge, and came quietly.”
Yangliu was still lost in thought over this sudden piece of news when Yan Hui said: “If there is no urgent matter, the young master will summon you tomorrow when he has time. If there is something urgent, I can relay it on your behalf.”
Yangliu considered for a moment, then said: “If that is the case, then I will wait until the young master is free and report to him personally.”
“Will it delay anything of importance?” Yan Hui asked.
“No, it is not pressing.” Yangliu said. “It is only that the matter of Li Zhuzong which the young master previously asked me to investigate — it has come to a result.”