Chapter 6: Vast Heaven (1)

The sudden rain had just stopped, the wind whistling.

Occasionally, a few fallen leaves rolled past the front of the hall, and the entire forbidden palace was still shrouded in the light before dawn. Layers of white curtains rose with the wind, swaying like curtains, falling on jade curtains and golden lamps, covering the carved beams and painted buildings. Mourning rites were hung in the palace, announcing the news of the national mourning to the world.

Since the Empress Dowager passed away a few days ago, news of the Eastern Emperor's indisposition had spread, and the outer ministers of the court were never allowed to enter. Only imperial edicts were issued like flowing water: immediately demolish the Nine-Layer Profound Tower of Langxuan Palace, relocate the Chonghua and Langxuan palaces as abandoned halls, build new palaces, pardon the Nine Princess Zi Rao, promote her to the Qingyan Long Princess, and grant her residence in the Liuyun Palace.

For several consecutive days, only the Long Princess was allowed to enter and exit the Eastern Emperor's bedchamber to serve before the throne. The Eastern Emperor continuously deposed the Changxiang Marquis, Changling Marquis, Xile Marquis, Dingwu Lord, Yiyang Lord, and others to commoners, dismissed all inner officials and close ministers in the palace, and ordered the thirteen inner officials favored by the Empress Dowager to be buried alive in the Qishan Imperial Mausoleum. The next day, he issued an edict to dismiss more than thirty court officials, including Situ Mengshuo, Sikong Liyang, and Grand Marshal Le Rang, imprisoning everyone in the Criminal Division.

At the same time, the Imperial Observatory set the funeral for the Empress Dowager ten days later, requesting that thousands of palace slaves from the Chonghua and Changming palaces be buried with her. Although there was no edict yet, it was already a foregone conclusion.

The nine-curved corridor wound exquisitely, the vermilion railings slightly damp, the morning wind slightly cool. Passing through the bamboo forest like a sea of green, a delicate floating bridge lay across the clear waves, the ancient jade stained with the rain, presenting an elegant and moist luster. Several medical maids holding golden trays and jade cups came toward the bedchamber, their tiny footsteps mixed with the scattered rain, breaking the silence. Ripples swayed on the clear waves of the jade lake, instantly returning to boundless tranquility.

Arriving outside the bedchamber, the head medical maid knelt and offered the medicinal soup. Li Si took a silver needle from the jade box to test the medicine, then tasted it herself. Only after the medical maid received her approval did she send the medicine into the bedchamber. Other medical maids offered clear water and sweet dew, and after the inner officials checked them one by one, they followed.

Li Si was about to turn and enter when she saw from afar that the forbidden guards were leading an old man with white hair and beard. She stopped, and when they arrived close, she bowed: "Master has not yet risen, please wait a moment, Zhao Gong."

The old man called Zhao Gong wore wide-sleeved plain clothes, his hair tied with a tassel, his appearance ancient and extraordinary. Although he was nearly sixty, his eyes were bright and piercing, his essence restrained, making people feel respect at first sight.

Bocheng Shang, a high-ranking minister of the Yong Dynasty, a member of the royal collateral branch, because he was enfeoffed in the Zhao land, was called Zhao Gong. This person had served three generations as Prime Minister for decades, upright and virtuous, unyielding, and could be said to be highly respected both inside and outside the court. When the Xiang Emperor was on the throne, he had opened the Empress Dowager's resentment by repeatedly pointing out the harm of women causing chaos in the country. In the fourth year of the Eastern Emperor, he had even more strongly opposed the unjust war against Jiuyi, forming a fire-and-water relationship with the Empress Dowager.

Although the Empress Dowager hated him to the bone, she feared his prestige and dared not kill him, so she found a way to banish him from the Di Du and demote him to the Zhao State. To everyone's surprise, after returning to his state, Bocheng Shang acted contrary to his usual behavior, ordering his family to build earth walls to seal the gates, closing the doors, and completely ignoring the affairs of the Di Du. Since then, sycophants held power in the court, the petty-minded succeeded, and the situation worsened, with no light of day.

A few days ago, the Eastern Emperor sent someone west to the Zhao State to secretly summon Bocheng Shang back to the court. At this time, Bocheng Shang and the two shadow slaves beside him were dusty from the journey. Li Si knew that Master had only slept until dawn last night, and was hesitating whether to report at this time, when a clear, faint voice came from inside the hall: "Li Si, please invite Zhao Gong in."

The Eastern Emperor had always slept little at night, and being able to nap for a moment was already rare. At this time, he had just awakened, leaning on the dragon couch in a cloud-colored single garment, his face as pale as the day before. He propped himself up and personally helped Bocheng Shang, who was about to bow, smiling: "Three years apart, does Zhao Gong still remember what I said back then?"

Bocheng Shang's hand, held by him, trembled slightly, but he still insisted on bowing: "This old minister has not dared to forget for a single day. Heaven blesses Master to be safe, and finally there is this day for monarch and minister to meet again!"

Zi Hao smiled clearly, slowly leaning back on the soft cushion, closing his eyes slightly, as if recalling something: "The day Zhao Gong left the capital for the west, I said that you should guard the country and protect yourself, waiting for the future. Within three years, I would definitely invite you back to the court. Today, I have done it."

Bocheng Shang said: "This old minister has also not failed Master's trust. The four borders of the Zhao land are peaceful, and even when facing strong states like Mu and Chu, there is strength to contend."

Hearing this, Zi Hao's smile carried a trace of bitterness that was hard to detect.

The Yong Dynasty royal family had held the world for nearly eight hundred years. By the time of the twenty-fifth generation, the You Emperor, because he listened to the slander of sycophants and raised troops to attack Mu, the world fell into chaos. Since then, the royal family's prestige gradually faded, and the states of the Nine Domains fought continuously, worsening over the decades.

At the end of the You Emperor's reign, the Mu State took advantage of its military victory to successively destroy small states like Ying, Qi, Zhi, and Rang, submitting to Kunlun in the west and forcing the Di Du in the east, expanding its territory by a thousand li, flourishing for a time. By the ninth year of the Xiang Emperor, the Houfeng State in the East Sea suffered internal strife, with five young masters fighting for the throne, leading to the disintegration of the country. The young masters successively established their own states, but were taken advantage of by the Xuan and Chu states. Within two years, all five states perished, their territory divided into two by the Yunze Lake, with Xuan and Chu each gaining one.

In the twelfth year of the Xiang Emperor, the Rouran Clan broke away from the royal family and established a state, bullying the Xuan State's old king who had passed away and the new king who had just ascended, rashly invading its borders. The Xuan King, Ji Cang, personally led a large army to meet the battle, defeating Rouran at Chifeng Mountain. At the same time, the Mu State sent troops to the Northern Desert. Rouran had nowhere to go and finally submitted to the Xuan King, but the eight hundred li of border cities were obtained by the Mu State.

Since then, the Mu, Chu, and Xuan states gradually formed a tripartite balance of power. Over the years, they annexed the fiefs of the feudal lords, war and fire spread among the Nine Domains, the small states were in danger, and the common people were in distress. In the Di Du, the Empress Dowager usurped power, wantonly raising troops to destroy the Witch Clan and purge Jiuyi, exhausting the country's military and fatiguing the people, the situation already as dangerous as a pile of eggs.

Zi Hao raised his head slightly: "This is the military report that has been pressed in Yuexi's hands for several days. Zhao Gong might as well take a look." Li Si took a scroll from the imperial desk and handed it to Bocheng Shang.

Bocheng Shang unfolded the scroll and read it. At first glance, the usually calm and steady old minister suddenly stood up, his face changing greatly: "Wenjian has been defeated!"

Zi Hao closed his eyes to rest: "Twenty thousand royal troops are buried in Cangyuan, the old General Wen and his three sons fought to the death, and there are no more generals available in the court."

Bocheng Shang sighed to the sky in grief after the shock.

Since the great general Wei Yuan was persecuted by the Empress Dowager's faction in the second year of the Eastern Emperor and angrily fled the Di Du to join the Mu State, the only general in the Yong army was the Yiqu Marquis, Wenjian, who supported the overall situation. Now, after this defeat, with generals lost and troops damaged, there was no army to resist the enemy outside the Di Du, and no strategy to secure the country inside, already on the verge of existing in name only.

Bocheng Shang thought of the days when he and Wenjian worked together to support the country and govern, but who would have thought that after three years apart, it would become an eternal farewell. Looking at the date of the report, it was already five days ago: "Cangyuan has fallen, then the rebel army..." The words reached his lips, and in his shock, he dared not say them again.

Zi Hao opened his eyes, looking up at the high and vast hall, his voice as calm as water: "The Jiuyi Clan's Princess Qie Lan personally led the cavalry to pursue the victory. If my guess is not wrong, they must have already moved north along the river, arriving at Xichuan, and there are four hundred li left to the Di Du."

Bocheng Shang's expression was exceptionally solemn: "What plans does Master have?"

Zi Hao said calmly: "Send an envoy to negotiate a truce."

Bocheng Shang pondered for a moment: "That Princess Qie Lan, because of the hatred of the Jiuyi Queen, swore to avenge her mother. Now that she has won consecutive battles, the Di Du is about to fall, how could she be willing to give up?"

Zi Hao smiled: "This matter is not up to her. This war is so unexpected, it is by no means something a small woman like her could do."

"Does Master have someone else in mind?" Bocheng Shang asked, closing the scroll, only to see a sharp edge flash across the eyes of the monarch before him. The Eastern Emperor raised his eyes slightly and said slowly a name: "Huang Fei."

In Chu there is Huang Fei, no one in the world claims beauty; in Chu there is Shao Yuan, the Nine Domains dare not speak of soldiers—

Shao Yuan Jun of Chu, Huang Fei, led troops to battle for the first time, breaking the Xuan State's one hundred thousand invading troops with five thousand strange soldiers, becoming famous in one battle. Since then, the Xuan King, Ji Cang, with his hundred-battle body, thousand chariots, ten thousand cavalry, and more than sixty thousand armored soldiers, never dared to formally use troops against the Chu State again.

In recent years, Huang Fei led the Chu army to resist the Xuan State in the north, allied with the Mu State in the west, continuously annexing small states and territories, winning every battle. Among the five clans and four states, some might not know who the Emperor is today, but there is no one who has not heard of Shao Yuan Jun, Huang Fei.

Carefree like Huang Fei, he is the lover every girl in the boudoir dreams of; proud like Huang Fei, he is the opponent every man on the battlefield is excited to face.

Zi Hao turned to look out the window, the wind and rain waves and the swaying country all in his eyes, yet no longer breaking the deep silence that had returned: "A mere Jiuyi clan, with only tens of thousands of people, five or six out of ten being women, how could they contend with hundreds of thousands of troops for three years? If not for someone secretly helping, they would have long since perished. Huang Fei of the Chu State, only he could make the old General Wen drink hatred on the battlefield, and only he has the reason to protect Jiuyi."

Bocheng Shang nodded: "Jiuyi is located on the edge of the royal domain, with terrain intertwined with the Chu State, sharing the same fate. Once the country perishes, the Chu State loses a natural barrier, and its strategic advantage is greatly reduced. If he couldn't even think of this, Huang Fei wouldn't be Huang Fei!"

Zi Hao coughed a few times, his brows slightly furrowed, and he closed his eyes again. The Jiuyi clan was small and weak, yet could rely on the Chu State to seek Huang Fei's protection, joining forces to resist the royal family, even forcing the Di Du to the end of its rope. That Princess Qie Lan was also no ordinary person. He did not speak, and the hall was very quiet for a while. Outside, a commotion suddenly came vaguely, mixed with the guards' reprimands and a woman's low sobbing. Zi Hao had always hated noise, and Li Si knew this, bowing slightly and moving quietly toward the outside of the hall.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 7 =====