On the first day of the fifth month, midnight had long passed, and Fuzhou’s night had grown quiet. But in the palace in the northern part of the city, the atmosphere was gradually growing lively.

First, palace attendants carrying messages hurried in and out; then high officials bearing special tokens arrived in haste, knocking to be let in.

Had this been the old days in Bianliang or Lin’an, such a thing would never have happened — the majesty of the imperial house outweighed all else, and no matter how great the news, it could wait to be discussed at the morning court session. And if some special figure truly needed to enter the palace at midnight, it was usually done by having a basket lowered from the wall and hauled back up.

But in these past few months in Fuzhou, many rules and protocols had temporarily been set aside. Faced with chaos, the diligent new Emperor often stayed up all night. Although what he arranged for himself at night was mostly study, occasionally, when something happened in the city, he would go out of the palace at night, or summon people to be questioned and consulted through the night — and before long, people had simply removed the lowering basket and opened a side gate for people to enter.

In the early hours of this day in early fifth month, the Emperor had originally planned to go to sleep after midnight, but his consultations and studies on certain matters had run long, and then an urgent report arrived from outside. Tie Tianying knew that another sleepless night lay ahead.

He made his rounds of the palace, urging the guards to stay alert. This former old chief constable was nearing sixty, half his hair white, but his gaze was sharp and his vital energy well-contained. Over these past months, he had been responsible for the security around the new sovereign, and had arranged everything in perfect order.

Compared to the several grandmaster-level masters the realm had once possessed, Tie Tianying’s own skills were at best first-rate; decades of fighting had left his body riddled with old injuries, and in terms of bodily control and mastery of the martial path, he was far from reaching the refined state of men like Zhou Tong or Lin Zongwu. But when it came to the tricks of close combat, understanding the ways of the martial underworld, and knowledge of how to employ people at court and in the palace, he was among the people in the court who best understood the martial underworld, and among the people of the underworld who best understood the court.

Over the past decade or so, he had first accompanied Li Pin in an attempt to kill Ning Yi, then, disheartened, had resigned his post; amid the great currents of the age, the old chief constable had seen no way forward for himself either. Later, through repeated contact with Li Pin, he had established the Grand Canal Gang in the Central Plains, relaying messages for Li Pin, having already resolved to do his part in gathering men of resolve throughout the realm. When the Jianshuo Dynasty perished and the realm fell into chaos, amid that desperate crisis, Tie Tianying had personally witnessed the entire journey of this new Emperor, Jun Wu, fighting and struggling his way forward.

By the latter part of that period of flight, Tie Tianying had already begun organizing men to take charge of Jun Wu’s safety, and over these months in Fuzhou, he had arranged everything perfectly on all fronts — palace guards and the various factions of the martial underworld alike. Had it not been for this, given how personally exposed Jun Wu had been during this period, handling everything himself and showing his face everywhere, the assassination attempts he encountered would certainly not have amounted to only a few instances of much noise and little consequence.

In the past, though he had stood at court, he had often felt disheartened; but recently, seeing this young sovereign’s various actions, that genuine, heartfelt drive had instead given Tie Tianying even greater resolve. By now, even if asked to die for this man immediately, he truly would not frown even slightly. For this reason, since arriving in Fuzhou, he had carefully selected his subordinates and enforced strict discipline; he himself did not hoard wealth or show favoritism, and though experienced in worldly dealings, he was able to refuse favors when needed. Whatever bad habits had once existed within the old constabulary had, around him, essentially been swept clean.

And so, in this city now, outside there were the armies led by Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, inside there was the palace guard controlled by Tie Tianying, intelligence was handled by the Grand Princess’s residence and the Covert Investigation Bureau, and propaganda was handled by Li Pin… within this small scope, control was indeed as tight as an iron bucket — and this control was strengthening day by day.

The rising sun always gives people the most hope.

Having made his round of the not-very-large palace, people had already begun arriving at the side gate one after another. Wenren Buer arrived first, Cheng Zhouhai last, and then Li Pin… These people, who had once served under Qin Siyuan and had countless entangled connections with Ning Yi, held no major formal positions at court, yet had always acted, in the capacity of advisors, as all-around men handling the duties of chief ministers. Upon seeing Tie Tianying, both sides exchanged greetings, and then asked where Jun Wu had gone.

Tie Tianying said, “His Majesty received the report, sat in his study for a while, and then went for a walk over toward Yangnan Hall. I heard he also asked for a pot of wine.”

“Yangnan Hall…”

Cheng Zhouhai laughed aloud, Wenren Buer’s expression turned complicated, and Li Pin frowned: “If this gets out, people will talk.”

Tie Tianying said, “His Majesty is happy — who would dare say anything?”

Li Pin looked at him. “Old Tie, a minister ought to consider loyal remonstrance a virtue.”

Tie Tianying clasped his hands and smiled. “I’m just a guard. Remonstrance is a matter for you gentlemen.”

“And if the remonstrance fails and someone gets dragged out for a beating, that would be your department, Lord Tie.”

“In that case, I’ll make sure it’s handled gently.”

Both Cheng Zhouhai and Wenren Buer laughed, and Li Pin shook his head and sighed. In truth, although Cheng and Wenren had had some friction with Tie Tianying back in Qin Siyuan’s time, these old grudges had already been resolved during the shared journey in the latter half of last year, and the two sides could now exchange a few jokes — but at the mention of Yangnan Hall, they still could not help but frown.

After the new court was established in Fuzhou, the hastily requisitioned temporary palace’s Yangnan Hall occupied no small area, but its main function was for memorial rites and remembrance of past emperors of the Martial Dynasty and meritorious officials through the ages. The main hall held tablets for successive emperors of the Martial Dynasty, and to the sides were also tablets for many meritorious officials — Qin Siyuan’s tablet, for instance, was there as well. When Jun Wu occasionally went there, what he was mostly paying respects to were, in fact, Qin Siyuan and Princess Chengguo Zhou Xuan — Kang Xian had been a matrilocal son-in-law consort, so there was no tablet for him here, but paying respects to Zhou Xuan was, in effect, equivalent to paying respects to Kang Xian as well.

The problem was: with Ning Yi in the southwest having defeated the Jurchens, if you go announce this comfort to your ancestors, how is Zhou Zhe supposed to see it? How is your late father, who died at sea, supposed to see it? This wasn’t a comforting act — it was a slap in the face. If word of it got out plainly, and it reached some hot-tempered official of the Ministry of Rites, that official might well go smash his head against a pillar in protest.

“We still need to keep this quiet — His Majesty’s behavior tonight cannot get out.” After the joking, Li Pin still lowered his voice to remind Tie Tianying of this. Tie Tianying nodded: “Understood.”

Li Pin sighed again. The group made their way to the side hall of the imperial study, looking at one another, and for a moment no one spoke. This victory of Ning Yi’s stirred the most complicated feelings in them — they could not cheer for it, nor could they comfortably discuss it; whether spoken truthfully or not, any words on the matter would feel tangled and awkward. After a while, Zhou Pei arrived as well. She wore only light makeup and a single layer of clothing, her expression calm; upon arriving, she had someone go fetch Jun Wu back from Yangnan Hall.

Before long, footsteps sounded, and Jun Wu’s figure appeared at the doorway to the side hall. His gaze was still fairly steady, and upon seeing everyone inside, his face broke into a smile — only the three-page report in his right hand kept swinging unconsciously back and forth. As everyone bowed, he smiled: “Rise, no need for ceremony. To the study.” He said this while already walking off to one side.

The imperial study was brightly lit, and hanging at the front was a map of the now-fragmented Martial Dynasty — to every official of the Martial Dynasty who entered this room each day, it felt like a kind of humiliation. Around the edges of the map hung various handcrafted items related to the study of natural principles, and the desk was piled with documents. Jun Wu, holding the report, faced the map; only after everyone entered did he turn around, and in the lamplight one could see the faint redness at the corners of his eyes, and a faint smell of wine in the air.

He had apparently gone to Yangnan Hall to cry for a while and drink some wine. Now, not bothering to hide it from everyone present, he laughed: “Sit, sit. You’ve all heard the news? Good news.” In the nearly a year since he had taken the throne, he had sometimes rushed about at the front lines, sometimes personally comforted refugees, calling out and shouting himself hoarse time and again — his voice now carried a slight rasp, but it also made him seem all the more seasoned and steady. Everyone nodded; seeing that Jun Wu had not sat down, naturally no one else did either. Jun Wu slapped his palm on the table, walked half a circle around it, and then simply sat down on the steps to one side.

In the imperial study, the area with the desk was raised a step higher than the rest of the room, hence the step. Seeing him sit down on the floor, Zhou Pei frowned, went over, pulled him up, and pushed him back into the chair behind the desk. Jun Wu’s temperament being good-natured, he did not resist, and sat there smiling.

Cheng Zhouhai, Wenren Buer, and Li Pin exchanged glances, and after a brief hesitation were about to offer remonstrance when, from behind the desk, Jun Wu’s two hands rose up and slammed down hard on the tabletop with a bang. He stood up, his gaze turning stern. Tie Tianying looked over from the doorway.

“I know why you’re all unhappy — but I! Am! Very! Happy!”

Having held a high position for a while now brings a certain authority with it. Jun Wu had only been on the throne for a year, but the things he had lived through — choices and torments made between life and death — had already given him no small measure of authority and presence. He simply did not usually display it in front of these few people around him, especially not his elder sister. But at this moment, having looked around at everyone, he spoke deliberately, word by word. First he used “I,” then switched to the formal imperial “We.”

He raised the report in his hand, then slapped it down on the table.

“Since the end of the third month, every piece of news we’ve received has been good news! Since last year, we’ve been chased and killed by the Jurchens the whole way — and the news from the southwest we received even while we were losing battle after battle, that was good news! Yuyu! Dalai! Yinshuke! Balishu! Wanyan Xiebao! Wanyan Sheyema! These names, one by one, are dead! In today’s report, Wanyan Sheyema was hacked apart piece by piece by the Huaxia Army, right in front of that old dog Nianhan! Right in front of him, they hacked his son to death piece by piece! Nianhan and Xiyin could do nothing but flee! This news! I am happy about it! I wish I could have been in Hanzhong myself, staring straight into Nianhan’s eyes!”

“But I couldn’t be there!” Jun Wu waved his hand, pausing slightly, his lips trembling. “Have all of you… forgotten the Humiliation of Jingping today? Forgotten what happened starting last year? The massacre at Jiangning… I have not forgotten. That we’ve come to this point is because of our own incompetence — but when someone else accomplishes this, we cannot, in good conscience, say it is not a good thing. I! Am happy. I am truly happy.”

“Your Majesty…” Wenren Buer clasped his hands, about to speak but hesitating.

Jun Wu stood there, head lowered, silent for a moment, and only when Wenren Buer began to speak did he wave his hand. “Of course I know why you’re all looking so grim, and I know what you want to say. You think it’s inappropriate for me to be this happy, and you want to advise me against it — I understand all of that. Over these years, you have been like family to me, my mentors and my friends. But… in the half year since I became Emperor, I’ve come to understand one thing — we must have the breadth of spirit to embrace the whole realm.”

His gaze swept over everyone in the hall, and he took a breath. “The Martial Dynasty has been beaten down to this state — the Jurchens have humiliated us Han people to this degree! And just because the Huaxia Army is our adversary, I’m not supposed to acknowledge that they did well? They defeated the Jurchens, and we’re supposed to act as if the sky is falling on us, mourning as though for our own parents? Are we thinking of the safety of the people of this realm, or are we thinking about the fancy hat on our own heads?”

“What is meant by diligent governance and self-strengthening? Do we just rely on having a bigger territory and slowly wear the enemy down, waiting until the Jin state grows corrupt and the Huaxia Army no longer exists, and only then try to reclaim the realm? Let’s be clear, let’s say it plainly — diligent governance and self-strengthening means understanding our own faults, understanding our past failures! Correcting ourselves, making ourselves strong! Our goal is also to defeat the Jurchens — if the Jurchens grow corrupt and weak, we defeat them; but if the Jurchens were still as strong as before, even if Wanyan Aguda himself were reborn, we would still have to defeat him! That is diligent self-strengthening! There is no room for compromise!”

“In the past, the Jurchens were formidable! Today, the Huaxia Army is formidable! Tomorrow, perhaps someone else will be formidable! And yet — today we see the Huaxia Army defeat the Jurchens, and we’re scared out of our wits, thinking this is bad news… People like that have no right to claim the realm!” Jun Wu swung his hand sharply, his gaze stern, his eyes like a tiger’s. “On many matters, you may advise me — but on this one, I’ve thought it through clearly, and there’s no need to advise me otherwise.”

“The reason I want to be this Emperor, the reason I want to reclaim the realm, is so that those who died wrongfully need not die again. Our Martial Dynasty has failed its people — I do not wish to fail them again. I am not going to be some cowardly, dark-hearted weakling who, upon seeing the enemy grow even slightly stronger, starts harboring this or that petty resentment. The Huaxia Army is strong — that proves they were capable of it. If they were capable of it, why can’t we be? If you can’t manage it, then what are you doing being Emperor? It means you’re not fit to be Emperor! It means you deserve to die—”

His cheeks flushed red, his eyes reddening slightly as well. He paused here, looking at the assembled group. “I know — it’s not that you’re unhappy about this, it’s just that this is the only way you know how to react. I understand your counsel, and I’ve taken it to heart. But this matter, only I can speak on — so let me make it clear here and now.”

He tapped his hand on the table. “This matter! We are to celebrate it with the whole realm! We must have this breadth of spirit, nothing to hide or conceal. What the Huaxia Army has accomplished — I am happy about it! Everyone else should be happy too! It’s not the case that whoever is Emperor automatically deserves ten thousand years of reign, eternal dynasty — there is no such thing as an eternal dynasty! These past years, a group of people clung to survival through petty, shameful scheming, forming alliances here and courting distant powers there — and still couldn’t keep breathing! If, in the future, we cannot match the Huaxia Army, then we deserve to die — it will be this realm demanding our deaths! But today, there are also people outside saying that the Huaxia Army cannot last — well, if we are stronger than them, if we defeat them, that would prove that we are the ones who can last. That is the kind of lasting legacy we ought to pursue! And this — this can be spread abroad, told to the whole realm!”

Jun Wu’s words were impassioned, ringing with conviction. He then slapped the table. “Minister Li — go back later, and tomorrow, have it printed in the newspaper. Those are my exact words!”