Looking at Zhou Chang’s corpse, the emperor felt very uncomfortable. He dejectedly ordered, “Find a way to get him a coffin and give him a proper burial.”
All of these captives were kept under guard. They could move about within a certain range, but beyond that range was forbidden.
When someone died, if they had money on them, perhaps their family could bribe the Xiongnu people to help gather materials for a coffin. Otherwise, they would simply be wrapped in a mat and thrown into a mass grave.
Here, there was no such thing as nobility or aristocratic families. They were all captives, without any dignity to speak of.
Zhou Chang had no family. His household servants had been captured and forced into military slavery when they were taken prisoner, and no one knew whether they were dead or alive.
When they were captured, all their money and valuables had been confiscated, so most people had no surplus funds left. Therefore, even if they had once possessed fortunes worth thousands, they now had to pool resources to afford a single coffin.
Everyone contributed what they could. Zhao Zhongyu also donated a piece of jade, one of the few possessions he had left.
When someone took the pooled money to bribe the Xiongnu people to help buy a coffin, the hall gradually emptied until only the ruler and subject remained.
Zhao Zhongyu asked the emperor, “Your Majesty still refuses to die?”
The emperor said nothing.
Zhao Zhongyu shed tears and said, “If Your Majesty does not die, we subjects can only accompany you. But watching Your Majesty suffer humiliation, our hearts are cut as with knives. I fear we won’t live long either.”
Zhao Zhongyu advised, “It would be better to die sooner. At least there would be more dignity.”
The emperor said, “What dignity is there for a monarch of a fallen state?”
He continued, “Minister of the Secretariat, I… I want to see what will become of our great Jin. Inspector Zhao should come to rescue me, shouldn’t she?”
He looked at Zhao Zhongyu pleadingly. “Even if not for my sake, for your sake, Minister, she will come, won’t she?”
Zhao Zhongyu said, “Your Majesty, there has never been a captured monarch who could return alive and continue to reign. Among the imperial clan, there is still the Prince of Wu…”
“The Prince of Wu is dead,” the emperor said. “Liu Cong told me. When Yuncheng fell, he died in the chaos. Twenty-eight members of the imperial clan were killed at that time. I saw the list.”
He had simply been too grief-stricken and worried about the fallen state to dwell on this matter.
Zhao Zhongyu was stunned. “What about the Prince of Yuzhang, the Prince of Qin, and the Prince of Xindu?”
Unlike Zhao Hanzhang, Zhao Zhongyu was very familiar with the imperial clan. He had no choice—the Sima family had too many deaths. They had to constantly prepare for the next emperor.
So he needed to know how many children were in the imperial clan, their blood relationships, and their individual characters.
When Yuncheng fell, the Crown Prince also died. Zhao Zhongyu calculated carefully and realized that only the Prince of Yuzhang, the Prince of Qin, and the Prince of Xindu remained of Emperor Wu’s line.
The Prince of Yuzhang was the Crown Prince’s younger brother, both sons of the Prince of Qinghe. Oh, the emperor had no sons, so two years ago, someone had the idea of making Zhao Hanzhang empress, and shortly after, the emperor and empress adopted Prince Kang’s son, Sima Quan, as Crown Prince.
He was only ten years old this year.
The Prince of Yuzhang was even younger, nine years old this year. Zhao Zhongyu looked at the emperor expectantly.
The emperor said, “He’s not on the list. The Prince of Qin and the Prince of Xindu have also disappeared without a trace.”
Zhao Zhongyu breathed a sigh of relief. The Prince of Qin and the Prince of Xindu were both sons of the Prince of Wu, though one had been adopted by the Prince of Qin early on, which is why he inherited the title of Prince of Qin at such a young age.
Back then, he had many sons, and the Prince of Wu didn’t mind giving away one or two. After all, they were all Sima family blood and Sima family titles. His son gained an additional one for free—how wonderful.
But now, after several major battles, he was left with only two sons. No, nominally only the Prince of Xindu remained.
The Prince of Qin was also not very old, slightly younger than the Crown Prince by two months, also ten years old. The Prince of Xindu was even younger—was he seven or eight?
Zhao Zhongyu couldn’t quite remember his birth date.
At such ages, he didn’t know if they could survive in these chaotic times, and if they did survive, whether they could find help. If Yuzhou obtained a member of the imperial clan, they should probably support one as the new emperor, right?
Gou Xi and Gou Chun had both been captured by Shi Le. Now, no one in Jin could surpass Zhao Hanzhang. The new emperor she established should be able to command respect.
Therefore, Emperor Jin’s existence was of no benefit to Yuzhou or to Jin. A captive emperor in the enemy camp—what use could he be other than being used by the enemy state to threaten Jin?
If it were before, Zhao Zhongyu wouldn’t have been so direct in remonstrating with the emperor. Even advice required tact. The emperor was his superior, and he still needed to coax him a little.
But now, they were both prisoners, both captives. Zhao Zhongyu spoke bluntly: “Your Majesty, they will establish a new emperor and will have new ministers. By then, for old emperors and old ministers like us, besides defecting to the enemy state, there is only the path of death.”
“Whether we die early or late, it’s all death. Why suffer further humiliation and add another entry in the history books before dying?”
Emperor Jin opened his mouth, wanting to speak several times but unable to get the words out.
Zhao Zhongyu seemed to know what he was thinking. His voice was low as he asked, “Is Your Majesty thinking that if all three young princes meet with misfortune, Jin will have fallen with you?”
Emperor Jin sighed and nodded.
“Your Majesty wants to protect yourself with the status of a fallen monarch, but you forget that the Sima family once killed an emperor in the streets, already breaking the rules. The Xiongnu people know no propriety and have the hearts of wolves. How could they respect our Chinese customs?” Zhao Zhongyu urged, “Rather than dying in humiliation later, it would be better to take your own life now.”
If Emperor Jin were a weak person, he would probably have been persuaded by Zhao Zhongyu long ago. But he wasn’t. Deep in his heart, he still held a glimmer of hope. Moreover, even if he wanted to die, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. To ask Zhao Zhongyu to do it—he was unwilling.
Unable to go through with it, he might as well keep living.
Seeing this, Zhao Zhongyu felt even more sorrowful. Actually, if Emperor Jin had any possibility of surviving, he would still be willing to do his utmost to protect him. After all, they had been sovereign and subject.
He was a minister and should serve his sovereign as primary.
But no matter how he looked at it, the Xiongnu people would never follow Chinese customs and let Emperor Jin live. After today’s events, Zhao Zhongyu was even more certain of this.
A fallen monarch should be treated well.
Since the Xia and Shang dynasties, the Chinese people had maintained this tradition. When dynasties changed, the emperor and remnants of the previous dynasty should be treated well. This was a two-thousand-year tradition.
Passed down for two thousand years, an anomaly occurred with the Sima family.
The Sima family usurped power and even dared to kill an emperor in the streets. Even if Zhao Zhongyu was loyal to Jin, he had to silently condemn this in his heart.
Emperor Wen of Wei’s replacement of the Han Dynasty was proper and legitimate. Never mind whether Emperor Xian of Han was forced to abdicate—the point was that he personally opened his mouth to abdicate the throne to Emperor Wen of Wei.
Moreover, Emperor Wen declined three times before accepting the throne.
After Emperor Xian of Han stepped down, Emperor Wen of Wei treated him well, allowing him to live another fourteen years before dying of natural causes. Oh, one additional note: Emperor Wen of Wei died even earlier than Emperor Xian of Han. In the end, it was Emperor Wen’s son, Emperor Ming, who saw Emperor Xian off. After his death, Emperor Ming led all his ministers to mourn and cry, conducting the funeral and memorial rites according to imperial standards.
Before the Sima family took the throne from Emperor Yuan of Wei, there was another Wei emperor whose traces had been erased. In these sixty-odd years, no one dared mention this emperor who was killed in the streets and stripped of his imperial title, demoted to commoner status. But among the aristocratic families and scholarly elite, who didn’t know about this emperor?
The Sima family had held the world for over fifty years but could not win people’s hearts. Wasn’t it precisely because they broke their oath, betrayed their promises, and usurped the throne?
And now, Emperor Jin actually wanted to use the very customs and traditions they had destroyed to protect himself, and the target was the Xiongnu. How absurd!