That very night, many generals and officials in Yuncheng learned of Yan Heng’s execution.

Most officials were fine—they hadn’t been particularly close to Yan Heng. They just felt that Gou Xi’s killing in anger, especially of an old counselor who had assisted him for fifteen years, showed him to be callous and ungrateful.

The generals, however, felt the sorrow of kindred spirits facing a similar fate. Most of the generals in Yuncheng were Gou Xi’s subordinates, and they interacted with Yan Heng daily, with much closer relationships.

The General’s temper wasn’t very good, and Yan Heng’s temper wasn’t very good either, but he would always plead for them when the General lost his temper, or he would anger the General himself and draw the fire away.

Many people, like General Pei, had good relationships with Yan Heng.

They completely couldn’t understand why the General would kill Yan Heng—he was one of his most important counselors! Just because he submitted a memorial?

Or was it because he offended Gou Chun?

Thinking of what Gou Chun had been doing at the border recently, several generals found it hard to suppress the anger in their chests.

True, this was a chaotic age, and the generals weren’t good people either. Killing was just a matter of raising and lowering the blade; looting was commonplace. They themselves had robbed civilians when collecting military provisions.

After all, in their hearts, the soldiers under their command were far more important than civilians.

But everything had a bottom line.

They weren’t lacking in military provisions now—at least the soldiers wouldn’t starve. Under such circumstances, they should just collect normal taxes. If they really wanted money, they could increase taxes somewhat. Why let soldiers directly loot civilians?

And the methods were so harsh, killing entire families and clans. Never mind Yan Heng—even they found it unbearable.

At times like this, they thought of Yan Heng even more. He was like a measuring stick for the General. With him there, the General acted much more properly.

Now with his death, who knew what would happen in the future.

Thinking this, many generals silently shed tears, then said, “Prepare, prepare. Tomorrow we must go to the Yan household to pay our respects.”

Their deputy generals all worriedly advised, “Yan Heng was killed by the General. If you go to pay respects now, it may not be appropriate.”

Other generals might not know, but Wen Ji was furious, “If he’s displeased, he can just kill me too.”

With that, he pushed aside his deputy general and directly disregarded the curfew, immediately mounting his horse to go to Yan Heng’s mansion to pay respects.

Ming Yu didn’t return home but brought Yan Heng’s corpse back to the Yan household. Neither of them had wives, concubines, or children from all their traveling, which made things simpler now. But the servants and subordinates were panicked, their faces anxious as they rushed about everywhere.

Ming Yu waved his hand, “What’s there to panic about? The General won’t punish you.”

Only then did everyone calm down slightly, though the panic on their faces didn’t diminish much.

Ming Yu instructed, “Carry your master back to the main hall. Send someone to my home to fetch my coffin.”

Seeing that Ming Yu was willing to give his own coffin to Yan Heng, the servants’ panic eased somewhat as they obediently followed orders.

Wen Ji disregarded the curfew and galloped his horse to Yan Heng’s mansion, where at the gate he encountered General Pei stumbling toward them.

Wen Ji couldn’t help but rage, grabbing General Pei by the collar and shouting, “Why did you harm him?”

General Pei’s face was pale, “I had already chosen the time when he was in the best mood to submit the letter. I thought at most he would be angry and have a big argument with Master Yan. How could I have known…”

“Then why didn’t you tell us after it happened? If more people had pleaded, Master Yan wouldn’t have died.”

General Pei’s face grew even paler, unable to speak.

“The more people who pleaded, the faster Yan Heng would have died,” Ming Yu, supporting himself on his servant’s hand, stood in the courtyard entrance, his gaze distant. “You shouldn’t have come. Go back quickly.”

“Master Ming…” Wen Ji’s tears fell. “Master Yan is already like this. What gains and losses matter now?”

Ming Yu swept his eyes over the two of them, and those eyes that saw through worldly affairs understood everything in an instant. For a moment he felt both grief and relief, but in the end he said nothing and turned to go back to the main hall.

The coffin hadn’t arrived yet, so Yan Heng was still lying on a wooden board. His personal servant brought warm water and took out Yan Heng’s favorite clothes, planning to change him into them.

Ming Yu, supporting himself on his servant’s hand, slowly sat down at the nearby low table, quietly watching the servant prepare Yan Heng’s body.

Wen Ji and General Pei knelt not far away, crying like children.

Ming Yu ignored them, his hand resting slightly on the low table, staring at Yan Heng in silence.

What did he mean?

Don’t forget the original intention…

His and Yan Heng’s original intention was to find an enlightened lord, assist him in building achievements, and thus leave their names in history, to be good ministers in the history books.

They had always thought Gou Xi was an enlightened lord. Though he was strict, he handled affairs justly and was personally incorruptible. Now it seemed they had both been wrong.

Yan Heng said he wasn’t truly pure and upright, so the original intention they couldn’t forget naturally wasn’t him.

As for Emperor Jin, Ming Yu didn’t consider him at all.

Fifteen years ago they had already looked down on the Si-ma clan for breaking oaths and killing their lord. Fifteen years later, they would even less choose Emperor Jin, who didn’t even have autonomous power.

Besides Gou Xi, who else was there in the world today?

Shi Le of Shangdang? Liu Yuan of the Han Kingdom?

Ming Yu slowly shook his head. It wouldn’t be those two. They weren’t of our race, so their hearts must differ. Yan Heng would never choose them.

Then was it Sima Rui of Langya?

Or Zhao Hanzhang of Yuzhou?

Ming Yu suddenly clenched his hand, thinking of the eunuch he had just encountered outside the General’s mansion.

Zhao Zhongyu also received news of Yan Heng’s execution. He sighed, but in the end it was too late.

Though regretful, he still set the matter aside, washed his hands and face, then returned to his room to sleep.

Sleeping halfway through, Zhao Zhongyu got up, his brows furrowed, “Something’s wrong. Yan Heng’s death does more harm than good. Gou Xi’s generals won’t really rebel against him, will they?”

That had originally been reasoning he had racked his brains to come up with to persuade the Emperor, but the more he pondered it, the more he felt his improvised speculation made sense.

Yan Heng seemed to have great prestige in Gou Xi’s army.

The one who could compare with him was Ming Yu.

Zhao Zhongyu couldn’t lie still anymore and quickly got up, “Come, go ask Master Tan to come.”

Tan Zhong was his trusted advisor. When Zhao Zhongyu came to Yuncheng, he brought him along. They lived together, with the guest quarters some distance from the main courtyard, but he still arrived fairly quickly.

As soon as he arrived, Zhao Zhongyu immediately voiced his concerns, saying, “If Gou Xi can’t maintain control, then it won’t just be Gou’s army that falls into chaos, but also Yuncheng and His Majesty.”

Currently the Emperor relied on Gou Xi to survive.

Tan Zhong also grew worried. After pondering a moment, he said, “If Ming Yu is willing to come forward and mediate, he might be able to reassure people.”

Zhao Zhongyu thought this was the only solution, so he decided to go see Ming Yu the next day.

The next day, not only officials and generals in Yuncheng, but even commanders stationed outside heard of Yan Heng’s execution. They either personally returned to the capital to pay respects or sent deputy generals back.

The Yan household was entirely draped in mourning, with crying heard everywhere inside and outside the mansion.

The General’s mansion just two streets away could also hear the crying.

Gou Xi felt regret in his heart but was also angry, his face gloomy without speaking.

The servants and maids in the General’s mansion became even more careful, afraid of accidentally angering him.