Chapter 174: King You of Zhou Ignites Beacon Fires for a Lover

After that, to see Bao Si smile again, King You of Zhou lit the beacon fires several more times.

At first, some feudal lords arrived half‑believing, half‑doubting, and were mocked again.

After three or four times… the beacon smoke rose again on the watchtower, and at the foot of Mount Li there were no longer any feudal armies on any road.

The prestige the Zhou royal house had built up over eight hundred years was burned away completely by the repeated absurd beacon fires.

The scene suddenly turned grim and oppressive.

The deposed Lord Shen, father of the former Empress Shen, allied with the state of Zeng and the Quanrong tribe that had long threatened the Western Zhou, and dispatched troops to charge straight at Haojing!

The scene shows Quanrong cavalry, fierce as wolves and tigers, surging like a tide, with Lord Shen and Zeng's army following close behind, a black mass.

Haojing sends an urgent alarm! The palace is in chaos!

Palace staff ran about wailing, and King You was panicked and at a loss.

King You of Zhou, as if waking from a dream, fled in panic with Bao Si and Prince Bo Fu to Mount Li, and ordered the last hopeful beacon fire to be lit!

At the summit of Mount Li, the final beacon tower was lit, its smoke billowing upward to the ninth heaven.

King You and Bao Si stood on the high platform, gazing despondently across the surrounding plains.

Time passed, little by little.

One hour… two hours…

The sun set behind the western hills.

The four directions were silent, save for the sound of wind and faint shouts of battle from afar.

The beacon fire has burned out, and not a single feudal lord has arrived.

The feudal lords who once loyally served the king now watch with cold indifference.

In the final scene, Quanrong cavalry surged up Mount Li like a tide, flames shooting skyward, and the sounds of killing reverberated across the fields.

King You of Zhou and Crown Prince Bo Fu were slain (the scene omits explicit gore). As for Bao Si…

Regarding Bao Si's fate, the Records of the Grand Historian records only two characters: "captured Bao Si." That is, she was taken by the Quanrong and her whereabouts are unknown.

In the scene, Bao Si is dragged away by fierce Quanrong soldiers,

she looks back toward the burnt‑out beacon tower and the direction where King You fell, her face still bearing that timeless cold expression,

yet deep in her eyes a fleeting, extremely complex and unreadable glint flashes, ultimately sinking into a dead, indifferent silence.

There are also unofficial histories that claim she could not bear the humiliation, committing suicide, or dying amid the chaotic troops.

With Haojing's fall, the Zhou royal house was forced to move east to Luoyi, an event historically called "King Ping's Eastern Relocation." The Western Zhou perished, and the Spring and Autumn chaotic era began.

The final frame of the golden list freezes on the ruined walls of Haojing and the lone beacon tower that no one would ever answer again.

Heavenly commentary: "The illustrious Zhou lineage, Bao Si extinguished it." — The Book of Songs.

A smile can topple a city, and the beacon fire toys with the feudal lords. Yet who knows that when a city and a nation are toppled, a beauty is hard to regain.

A cold countenance bears no malice, yet the foolish king brings disaster upon himself.

A timeless infamy hides a beautiful face; who, when the beacon fire toys with the feudal lords, sees only flattery and absurdity in the king's eyes?

A beauty is like ice, she does not wish to topple a nation; the realm is like a play, its ruin lies in foolishness.

Finally, an eight‑character summary, etched onto the list, blood‑stained:

Beacon fire, a smile; the Zhou lineage collapses.

Beauty List, rank seven: Bao Si, tally complete.

At the Xianyang training ground, a dead silence prevailed, only the heavy, coarse breaths could be heard.

A woman who never smiles, a foolish king who insists on making her smile, a "joke" that doomed eight hundred years of Zhou's realm…

"Beacon fire toys with the feudal lords… beacon fire toys with the feudal lords…"

Ying Zheng mutters repeatedly, his face terrifyingly grim.

He slapped the desk before him hard, sprang to his feet, and shouted angrily: "Absurd! Ridiculous! King You of Zhou, as stupid as a pig or a dog!"

"Beacon fire is a nation's vital instrument; it cannot be trifled with! To win a woman's smile, you treated the state as nothing, toying with the world's feudal lords! A king like this, a conduct like this—if the nation does not perish, heaven's justice cannot tolerate it!"

He is an emperor, and thus best understands how crucial "prestige" is to dynastic rule.

King You of Zhou's act is nothing short of tearing down the Great Wall himself, digging his own grave!

And Bao Si… Ying Zheng looked at the cold, beautiful face on the golden list, his gaze complex.

She seemed not to have asked for anything, yet her not smiling provoked the king to commit such a foolish act.

The name "troublemaker" she bears is, in fact, somewhat… subtle.

Young gentlemen like Fu Su were more struck by the extreme contrast of "a thousand gold to buy a smile" and "beacon fire toys with the feudal lords," leaving a deep impression of Bao Si's ice‑mountain beauty and her ultimately indifferent fate.

The common folk on the outskirts went into an uproar; they did not grasp all the lofty principles, but the story of "beacon fire toys with the feudal lords" itself is highly dramatic and impactful.

"My heavens! Just to see a woman smile, they lit the life‑saving beacon fire? And lit it several times?"

"Those feudal lords had it too bad, fleeing half‑dead, only to end up watching the king and his concubine drink!"

"Is King You of Zhou really that stupid? No wonder the kingdom perished!"

"And Bao Si too—what does a smile cause? Must it lead to the ruin of the state and families?"

"One can't say that; it was the king himself who ordered the beacon fire, what does the beauty have to do with it?"

Debates swirled, with no consensus.

In other realms, the reaction was even more intense.

Western Zhou (during the reign of King Li? King Xuan? The precise timeline is uncertain, but it is certainly before King You):

Within Haojing, no matter which Zhou emperor sat on the throne, seeing their own descendant's foolish act on the golden list and the words "Western Zhou perished" would likely cause their eyes to go black and a mouthful of old blood to spew out.

"Rebel son! Wicked son! Unfilial descendant!!"

The roar echoed through the palace.

It can be foreseen that any future Zhou emperor will manage the "beacon fire" with a rigor bordering on the perverse, and will raise vigilance toward palace beauties to the highest level.

The Spring and Autumn and Warring States period's various vassal states:

The descendants of the vassals who were once toyed with, looking at the golden list, feel mixed emotions.

There is anger over their ancestors' humiliation, also a sigh of "See, this is the consequence of losing integrity," and furthermore utter contempt for the Zhou royal house.

Hegemons such as Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin might think:

So the Zhou court's prestige is this low, then my "uphold the king and drive out the barbarians" is somewhat… hmm, quite profound.

The Han dynasty.

Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, sneers: "The virtue of Zhou has already declined; King You has brought disaster upon himself. The game of beacon fires, compared with my granting favors, cutting down vassals, and sole promotion of Confucianism, is so childish! Beauties? I have Wei Zifu; virtue suffices, why need the laughter?"

He subconsciously tightened his grip on Wei Zifu's hand.

Wei Zifu softly replied: "Your Majesty is wise, untempted by beauty, which is a blessing for all the people."

The Tang dynasty.

Li Shimin said gravely: "A lesson from past mistakes—King You of Zhou indulged in personal desire and neglected state affairs! Dispatch my decree to include the story of Bao Si, together with today's golden list, into the instructional texts for princes and imperial grandsons, so they may be constantly warned!"

Empress Zhangsun nodded in agreement, her worries deepening.

The Song dynasty.

Zhao Kuangyin touched his head and clicked his tongue: "King You of Zhou, I know a bit about him, but didn't expect him to be so bizarre. Still… beacon fires truly cannot be used recklessly."

He is already contemplating how to improve the military intelligence transmission system.

The Ming dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry his beard stood up: "Another wasteful thing! The Zhou dynasty's eight‑hundred‑year empire, and it's lost like this? It infuriates me!"

"Biao'er, Old Four, did you all see that? As emperor, one may like women, but cannot let a woman ride on one's head, nor commit foolish deeds for a woman! Whoever dares imitate King You of Zhou, we'll skin him!"

Empress Ma this time did not stop him, but frowned: "Such a ruler is truly not a humane monarch."

The Qing dynasty.

Reclining on his couch, Qianlong looked at the golden list, feeling conflicted.

He boasted of his romantic flair and love of beauties, yet believed he would never be as absurd as King You of Zhou.

But recalling his nickname "Perfect Elder" and the prior judgments before the celestial canopy, he felt a bit insecure.

"Hmph, the old affairs of previous dynasties, a warning not far away…"

He muttered, yet couldn't help but begin to reflect whether his southern tour's extravagance had become excessive.

The myriad realms' discussions have not ceased, but the golden list will not wait.

The image and commentary of the seventh Bao Si faded slowly, and a new name gradually clarified amid the swirling golden light.

This time, the background shifted from the desolate beacon fires of Mount Li to a misty, dream‑like scene of swirling water vapor,

as if waves of the Luo River rippled, and the shadow of a startled swan skimmed the water's surface.