Chapter Eighty
Qi Xiao's heart was in turmoil when a messenger arrived from the palace.
Qi Xiao cast a glance at Jiang Deqing, who understood immediately. He hastily bowed to gather the shattered fragments from the floor, then resumed his position as if nothing had happened.
Before long, Fu Hailu entered and bowed to Qi Xiao. "Greetings to the Crown Prince. Your Highness... you've surely heard about the Lingnan King by now?"
Qi Xiao nodded. "I just received word. What exactly happened?"
Fu Hailu sighed. "This servant dare not speak of it too plainly. The Emperor has urgently summoned all the ministers into the palace and sent this servant to escort Your Highness to discuss the matter together. Once you enter the palace, Your Highness will understand everything."
Qi Xiao said nothing more. He turned to have Jiang Deqing fetch his robes and left with Fu Hailu for the palace.
In the side chamber of the main hall of the Qianqing Palace, the Emperor sat with furrowed brows. Below him, a dozen or so ministers whispered amongst themselves, seemingly arguing. When Qi Xiao arrived, they all rose to pay their respects, which he acknowledged with a nod. He then bowed to the Emperor, but before he could speak, the Emperor waved dismissively. "Skip the formalities. Rise..."
The Emperor turned to the palace attendant. "Where's the Second Prince?"
The attendant's face paled. "The Second Prince stayed the night in the Empress's palace, Your Majesty. The gates to the inner palace haven't opened yet. There was no way to... to send word."
The Emperor gave a bitter laugh and shook his head. "Forget it... Good-for-nothing. Minister Zhou, you speak."
Zhou Deyi, the former Military Commissioner of Lingnan Circuit, stepped forward and spoke quietly. "Our secret agents report that Dongling Wenyu, the second son of the former Lingnan King, rebelled on the first day of July—the very next day after the former Lingnan King's death. Dongling Wenyu first joined forces with Lingnan's Military Commissioner Xia Wencheng to seal the gates of Lingdu, permitting no one to leave Lingnan. Then he..."
...
In the Lingnan Prince's mansion, Bai Ren knelt before the memorial tablet in hemp cloth and ash. His mind was utterly blank. The old steward wept bitterly, beating his chest. "What sins did we commit... His Highness wasn't yet fifty, how could he simply be gone..."
Bai Ren's mind was empty. He had never known his father's favor since childhood—they had rarely even met. The few times they had, it was always the Lingnan King examining his studies or scolding him for some transgression. Bai Ren's clearest memory of the Lingnan King was from a year ago, the day before he left the mansion. The Lingnan King had summoned him to the study, urging him to behave properly and cause no trouble after arriving at the imperial capital. Bai Ren remembered clearly—the man had seemed sturdy and robust then.
Bai Ren never imagined his father could simply vanish so suddenly. After the initial shock and grief passed, a different fear gradually took hold in Bai Ren's heart.
Bai Ren was no fool. Whatever Qi Xiao could deduce, he could too. The Lingnan King had been in the prime of life—his sudden death was already strange enough. But what was most troubling was the timing, precisely when Wenyu, suffering from a chronic illness, had lost all hope of succession.
Bai Ren was not afraid that Wenyu would ascend the throne before him—merely a princedom, he could let it go. What Bai Ren truly feared was that Wenyu would use the Princess Consort's life as leverage against him...
Bai Ren took a deep breath to suppress his unease. He raised his hand and cast all the paper money in his arms into the brazier. Then he turned and called softly, "Shunzi."
Shunzi had been standing guard outside the door. Upon hearing the call, he hurried in. Bai Ren clenched his trembling hands and spoke quietly, "Go and summon..."
Before Bai Ren could finish, someone came to report that someone was knocking at the mansion's gate, claiming to be from Lingnan. It was still not yet dawn, and with everything that had just happened, no one dared open the gate. Flustered, they came to inform Bai Ren, who barked sharply, "What is there to fear?! Let them in!"
The servant who had come with the message had been trembling with fear, but seeing Bai Ren's composure, he steadied himself and went to open the gate.
Soon the servant returned with the visitor. The man stepped forward and bowed. "Young Master... has been well?"
Bai Ren stared at the man's face and cried out involuntarily, "Chao... Chaoge?"
Cen Chaoge's face bore the marks of hardship, making him look a decade older. He managed a bitter smile. "A year apart. I thought the Young Master had forgotten me."
In the Qianqing Palace, Zhou Deyi continued his account with a sigh. "Minister Wen was truly a rare loyalist. Upon learning of Dongling Wenyu's treachery, he refused to conspire with the rebel. He publicly cursed Dongling Wenyu and Lady Xia of Lingnan. Dongling Wenyu threatened him with a blade, demanding he secretly draft the succession edict. Minister Wen threw the brush at Wenyu's face and splashed ink onto Lady Xia. He laughed three times, then... died heroically."
At these words, every minister in the hall sighed with grief. Zhou Deyi went on, "Only then did people realize that Minister Wen had not acted on mere impulse. While he had been stalling Dongling Wenyu and Lady Xia, the soldiers of the Cen household and numerous righteous men of Lingnan—over three hundred in total—had fought their way out together. They used Dongling Wenyu's name as a ruse, broke through the city gates, and cut a bloody path to freedom. It was then that my men managed to escape in the chaos. I must say... there were many in Lingdu who upheld righteousness. What a tragedy..."
Qi Xiao closed his eyes briefly. Now he understood everything. Why his people, Bai Ren's people, and the Emperor's people had all only just received word today—everyone must have only just managed to escape...
"My father, before going to the mansion, summoned me to his study and gave me this pouch..." Cen Chaoge reached into his robes and, after a long moment, produced a worn cloth pouch. He handed it to Bai Ren with both hands, his eyes red-rimmed and voice hoarse. "Father told me I absolutely, definitely had to deliver this into the Young Master's own hands."
Bai Ren opened the pouch. Inside lay a golden seal. He turned it over to find four crimson characters carved on the bottom: Seal of the Lingnan King.
Cen Chaoge dropped to his knees with a thud. Tears streamed down his face. "Your Highness the Prince... ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years."
Bai Ren clenched the seal tightly in his fist, tears trailing down his cheeks.
Cen Chaoge wiped his tears and choked out, "Father had only me, his sole son. He placed so many hopes on me. Yet I... I was so cowardly. I dared not do anything, could not do anything well. In the end... I didn't even have the courage to stay and die with him. I, I clearly knew—when he entered that mansion, he would never walk out again. Yet I still left... When we fled the city, our household had fifty-seven people. To protect me, to guard this seal, they..."
Cen Chaoge collapsed to the ground, weeping inconsolably. "By the end, only three remained! When my study companion pulled me and we tumbled down from the city gate, I looked back. My martial arts master... was hanging right there on the city gate! Covered in blood... Young Master Fang, the third son... had been hiding in the archway of the gate. I thought he was a coward, afraid to die. But when we finally escaped, to stop the rebels... he climbed to the top of the gate and cut the rope that held the portcullis. Then... then he wedged his own body into the gate mechanism! That's what jammed the portcullis shut! He was only fifteen! He was only fifteen this year!"
Bai Ren closed his eyes. After a long moment, he spoke. "Rest easy... Today's blood debt, I shall repay in kind."
Cen Chaoge stared at him in shock. "Young Master... what do you intend to do?"
Bai Ren spoke slowly, each word deliberate. "Blood. Debt. Blood. Repaid."
Cen Chaoge's voice shook. "Your Highness... must not act rashly. Lingnan is now firmly in the rebels' hands. The only path now is to seek aid from the imperial capital, to ask the Emperor to dispatch troops. Only then can we..."
"And then what?" Bai Ren's eyes burned crimson as he stared fixedly at Cen Chaoge. "Do you truly believe the Emperor is a saint? That he would send troops without expecting anything in return? If we wait for the Emperor to send troops, yes—we may quell the rebels. But by then... I'm afraid everyone still in the city will have been sacrificed as well! Chaoge, from the time of the Founding Emperor onward, not a single ruler has not wanted to reclaim Lingnan."
Cen Chaoge's face went ashen. "Are you saying... the Emperor will massacre all the Lingnan people?"
Bai Ren shook his head. "Not exactly. But those noble families with titles and merits in the city—they will certainly not be spared. If the Emperor wants to take Lingnan, he will not leave such people behind to become future trouble."
Bai Ren looked at Cen Chaoge, his voice cracking. "Chaoge... my mother, your mother, and the families of all those who helped you escape—they're still trapped in the city. I cannot let them die for nothing."
Cen Chaoge stared at Bai Ren in a daze. He had never imagined—not in his wildest dreams—that just one year apart, the young master who had once come alone to the capital as a hostage for the sake of Lingnan's people and ten thousand shi of grain, so cold and frail, would now stand ready to don armor and draw sword, to face death fearlessly, all for his mother and the people of Lingdu.
Cen Chaoge crumpled to the ground. Had it really only been a year?
"Your Majesty, the only solution now is to dispatch troops with utmost haste, to quell Dongling Wenyu before he solidifies his position." Li Wenxing, the Minister of War, stepped forward. "This minister proposes immediately sending fifty thousand troops to defend our borders, surround the city, suppress the rebellion, and ensure the total annihilation of all rebels!"
Qi Xiao had remained silent for a long while. At these words, he raised his eyes and swept his gaze across the minister, his voice cool. "Fifty thousand? Minister Li, are you here to quell a rebellion or to massacre an entire city?"
Li Wenxing hesitated, then waved his hand brusquely. "Your Highness overstates the matter. We simply do not know the current situation in Lingnan. What if the people of Lingnan have all turned rebellious? Then what? We surely cannot send just a few thousand men, only to have them thrown away like chaff!"
Qi Xiao smiled faintly. "Nothing of the sort. It is merely that I now oversee the Ministry of Revenue, and must consider further. Minister Li finds it convenient to mobilize fifty thousand troops, but I cannot prepare provisions for fifty thousand men on such short notice."
The Emperor drummed his fingers lightly on the dragon desk. His reign had been mediocre in terms of governance. But if he could finally eliminate this long-standing threat to Grand Xiang under his rule, future generations would praise his name throughout the ages. As for the somewhat questionable circumstances of his own ascension—those would become meaningless.
After a long pause, the Emperor spoke quietly. "Fifty thousand... is too many. A few thousand is too few. Thirty thousand. Qi Xiao, thirty thousand men's provisions—surely that is not difficult to prepare?"
At these words, everyone in the hall understood. The Emperor had resolved to swallow Lingnan whole.
Qi Xiao raised his head to look at the Emperor. In that instant, he had already calculated every angle—how large a chance this military action stood, what the odds of success were. But alas...
Qi Xiao lowered his eyes. "It can be done."