Chapter 257: Three Women Deliver Themselves as Captives to the Palace; Prisoners Serve the Emperor

…

"Why were you captured too? Has Hangzhou fallen?"

Hearing Fang Baihua's question, Shao Shi let out a long sigh: "Alas! Hangzhou ran out of grain. My husband led us in a breakout, but our troops were mostly infantry, while the imperial cavalry chased us relentlessly. At Fuyang, they crushed us. I can't ride a horse, so I fled in a cart—and ended up at the rear, captured by General Yang Zhi of the Song, and brought here."

Fang Baihua pressed urgently: "What of my brother, Daling, Erlang, and the others? Did the enemy kill them?"

Shao Shi shook her head, equally worried: "It was chaos then. Everyone was running for their lives. Slow down, and you die. No one could spare another."

Here, Shao Shi forced herself to think positively: "Daling and Erlang rode beside my husband. I'm sure they'll survive."

After Shao Shi caught her breath, Fang Baihua asked for specifics: what exactly happened in the battle for Hangzhou? And what had transpired in Hangzhou after they marched north?

When Chen Miao Zhen heard that Fang La had overthrown the dynasty, crowned himself emperor, made Shao Shi empress, named Fang Baihua princess, granted titles to all of Fang's followers, and even appointed her as the Buddha Mother of the Moni Sect, she instinctively stepped back, putting distance between herself and Fang Baihua and Shao Shi.

Chen Miao Zhen had supported Fang La's rebellion because she saw clearly: unless the southern officials, scholar-gentry, and landlords were exterminated, the common people of the south would never have a decent life. Fang La had not rebelled against the court or Zhao Yu—he only claimed to "purify the emperor's side" by killing southern officials, scholar-gentry, and landlords, aligning perfectly with her own views, which is why she strongly backed him.

But Fang La had foolishly severed his own path to amnesty. Worse still, he had abandoned his original cause: from a righteous leader fighting for the people, he became a traitor driven by personal ambition, burying the rebellion's purpose beneath a gilded throne—and dragging hundreds of thousands of his own troops to their deaths with him.

Fang Baihua caught Chen Miao Zhen's movement of distancing herself.

She also recalled Chen Miao Zhen's intention to submit herself to Zhao Yu.

Fang Baihua instinctively explained: "My brother may have had his reasons."

Chen Miao Zhen knew perfectly well: Fang La's declaration of a new dynasty and self-coronation now could only stem from his ambition and madness—there were no "reasons."

Yet hearing Fang Baihua's words, Chen Miao Zhen halted her retreat from Fang Baihua and Shao Shi.

Because she had realized: Fang Baihua and Shao Shi were not like Fang La.

Knowing Zhao Yu's tastes, and looking at Fang Baihua—though tall, she was still beautiful—and Shao Shi, though twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with exquisite features, plump and rounded, curvaceous and still alluring—they would surely be taken into Zhao Yu's harem.

Thus, even as female rebels, Fang Baihua and Shao Shi no longer mattered.

Realizing this, Chen Miao Zhen no longer tried to draw a line between herself and Fang Baihua and Shao Shi. She spoke bluntly: "Whether your brother had reasons no longer matters. Heaven has no two suns; a nation has no two rulers. Since your brother has usurped the throne, Your Majesty will crush him—he will never offer amnesty again. If you two wish to spare your Fang clan's nine clans from annihilation, you have only one path."

Fang Baihua asked: "What path?"

Chen Miao Zhen said: "If you get the chance, you must do everything in your power to please Your Majesty, to beg him for a special pardon."

Beside her, Shao Shi was stunned: "Please Your Majesty? Is Chen Shisiniang saying… my husband?"

After a moment's thought, Shao Shi realized Chen Miao Zhen could not mean Fang La—otherwise she wouldn't have said "Heaven has no two suns," "a nation has no two rulers," or "your brother has usurped."

Who, then, was the "Your Majesty" Chen Miao Zhen meant? It was obvious.

Thus, what Chen Miao Zhen meant by "you two must do everything in your power to please Your Majesty, to beg him for a special pardon"—how could Shao Shi not understand?

But the problem was: how would she and Fang Baihua ever get the chance to please Zhao Yu?

Shao Shi turned to Fang Baihua, seeking an explanation.

Fang Baihua knew she couldn't hide this from Shao Shi. If she didn't speak, Shao Shi would find out soon enough.

So Fang Baihua told Shao Shi everything: how Zhao Yu delighted in bedding the wives and relatives of his enemies.

Shao Shi listened, utterly dumbfounded.

She had never imagined her fate would be not execution on the crossroads, but becoming the emperor's plaything.

Yes.

Before marrying Fang La, Shao Shi had been one of the most beautiful women in Qingxi County and even all of Muzhou. Only because Fang La was among the top underworld figures in Qingxi and Muzhou could he have won her.

But even if Shao Shi was beautiful, she had never dreamed she'd one day become the emperor's plaything.

Crucially, Zhao Yu was the true emperor—not a madman like Fang La who fancied himself destined for the throne.

Shao Shi felt dazed, almost unable to believe her own ears: "Could such an absurd thing truly happen to me?"

The more she thought, the more impossible it seemed.

She was twenty-seven, had borne two sons—how could Zhao Yu, the emperor who had countless women, possibly find interest in a country woman past her prime who had already given birth?

Most importantly, unlike Fang La, who had always deluded himself into believing he was destined for the throne, she had always known the truth: though Fang La had named her Empress of the Yongle Dynasty, she was merely a country woman. The Yongle Dynasty was nothing but a joke concocted by Fang La and his followers. What merit did she have to serve the true Son of Heaven?

To put it plainly, she had always disapproved of Fang La boasting to everyone that he was destined to be emperor—she thought it was treasonous, a death wish.

But in this age, men ruled. Fang La was a reckless outlaw who dared kill and burn anything. Though she hated it, she had no choice but to follow him, be his loyal wife, and endure his madness with him.

Yet Fang La had actually managed to stir up rebellion.

As his wife, though filled with helplessness and dread, she had no choice but to steel herself, stand by his side, and walk with him into this swirling tide of history. At first, she clung to a sliver of hope: that Fang La merely sought justice for the people, and when order returned, the court would offer amnesty. Even if he couldn't become a high official to grant her wealth, he could at least take her into quiet seclusion, living a simple life. But fate was a chessboard—each move new. Fang La's ambition swelled, and he finally walked the irreversible path of true rebellion, pushing her into another strange and absurd abyss of destiny.

Now, facing Chen Miao Zhen's blunt words, Shao Shi's heart was a tangle of emotions. She found the idea absurd and impossible, yet felt profound confusion and fear for her and Fang Baihua's future.

Becoming a plaything was an unbearable humiliation for any woman with dignity—especially one raised under the principles of the Three Obediences and Four Virtues.

But reality lay before them: they were prisoners. If they did not become Zhao Yu's playthings, since Fang La had rebelled and raised such a massive uprising, they—as his family and kin—would surely be tied to the crossroads and flayed alive.

Between two evils, choose the lesser.

Compared to being flayed on the crossroads, any person would choose to become the emperor's plaything.

At this point, talk of chastity meant nothing.

Moreover, if Zhao Yu truly took them as playthings, they might actually beg him for a pardon—perhaps even spare some innocent Fang family members, like her two sons, Fang Ding and Fang Bo.

Thus, since learning she still had a chance to live—and even save her two sons' lives—Shao Shi's outward demeanor remained unchanged, but inwardly, she began to hope for the future.

Fang Baihua, however, couldn't help asking Chen Miao Zhen: "Could my brother truly not succeed?"

In Fang Baihua's mind, if Fang La could repel the Song army, seize the south, and divide the land with Zhao Yu by treaty, they might still be rescued.

But Chen Miao Zhen didn't hesitate—she shook her head: "Your brother will surely lose."

Hearing this, Fang Baihua still felt resentful.

Only when the three of them followed Song Jiang northward, witnessing how the imperial territories rapidly restored order and how the people began to eat well and live in peace—especially seeing how northern peasants now lived the very life the people of their homeland had dreamed of—did Fang Baihua finally believe Chen Miao Zhen: Zhao Yu's enemy was never Fang La, but the scholar-gentry and landlords. Had Fang La helped Zhao Yu crush them, he might still have had a chance at forgiveness and amnesty. But Fang La foolishly chose to stand against Zhao Yu, opposing all under heaven—how could he not fail?

Knowing Fang La's defeat was certain, Fang Baihua realized: becoming Zhao Yu's plaything was her only chance at survival—and the only way to save her family.

The good news: seeing Song Jiang treat them with courtesy, and learning they were grouped together with the three hundred-plus beautiful girls presented by Accompanying Tong Guan to Zhao Yu, Fang Baihua and Shao Shi finally believed they too were gifts to Zhao Yu.

The bad news: seeing Accompanying Tong Guan present over three hundred beautiful girls at once—each more stunning than the last, many daughters of southern aristocratic families or even millennia-old clans—Fang Baihua and Shao Shi looked at themselves: one too tall, the other a mother of two at twenty-seven—and instantly felt inadequate, clinging only to the hope that Zhao Yu truly did, as rumored, delight in bedding the wives and relatives of his enemies.

Notably, upon learning Accompanying Tong Guan had presented over three hundred beautiful girls at once, and hearing those girls say Zhao Yu's harem held over four thousand concubines, Fang Baihua and Shao Shi—whether from overwhelming competition or disgust at Zhao Yu's lust—began secretly hoping Fang La would overthrow this decadent emperor.

—Coming from humble backgrounds and of limited experience, Fang Baihua and Shao Shi both believed that an Emperor who was overly fond of women must unquestionably be a foolish ruler.

Little did they know that a sovereign's competence has never been judged by whether or not he was lecherous. Han Wu Di Liu Che had eighteen thousand beauties in his harem, yet during his reign he struck north against the Xiongnu, opened up the Western Regions, dismissed the Hundred Schools and honored only Confucianism, laying the solid foundation for the Han Dynasty's prosperity and creating a political framework that would influence the world for a thousand years to come — who would dare call him a foolish ruler? Tangxuan Sect's Li Longji had over forty thousand beauties in his harem, but undeniably, in the early years of his reign he governed with diligence, ushering in the "Kaiyuan Golden Age" and pushing the Tang Dynasty to its peak — how could such achievements be wholly denied merely because of his harem affairs?

Upon arriving at Dongjing Bianliang, Song Jiang sent the three of them together with the more than three hundred young beauties that Accompanying Tong Guan had presented to Zhao Yu to the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Rites, without distinction, examined them all, inquired into their circumstances, and taught them court etiquette. Fang Baihua and Shao Shi finally confirmed that they were truly to be given to Zhao Yu, with a chance of being favored by him.

This left Shao Shi and Fang Baihua with a tangle of feelings in their hearts — harboring a sliver of hopeful侥幸, yet unable to dispel the helplessness and bleakness of being at the mercy of fate.

Shao Shi gazed at Fang Baihua, this once-magnificent female marshal who had rivaled any man, yet now between her brows could not conceal her bewilderment and helplessness. The once-vibrant spirit, crushed beneath the cruelty of reality, seemed to have been veiled by a layer of dim gloom.

Fang Baihua, for her part, gazed at her own sister-in-law, thinking that she was about to put a green hat on her own brother's head, and her heart too was a tangle of feelings — there was both lament for Fang La bringing it upon himself, sympathy and understanding for the fate that Shao Shi was about to face, and sorrow over her own destiny.

Between Fang Baihua and Shao Shi, no words were needed; that shared uncertainty and fear of the future had already been conveyed to the full in their exchange of glances.

A few days later, the Ministry of Rites had finished investigating everything about them, and had initially taught them the rules of the palace, then sent them into the inner court.

Fang Baihua, Shao Shi, and Chen Miao Zhen, together with another hundred-plus young beauties, were arranged to reside in Qianying Hall within Yanfu Palace.

The three women, arriving in this completely unfamiliar environment, were all uneasy in their hearts, as if every step were being taken on thin ice, not knowing when they might plunge into an abyss of no return. Within Yanfu Palace, flowers and trees grew in lush profusion, pavilions and towers were scattered in pleasing arrangement, a scene of tranquility and harmony — yet it could not smooth the ripples in their hearts.

Before the three women had even adjusted to this new environment, a bedchamber attendant official came running to tell the three of them: "The official has had your three name-tablets turned; you are to attend him tonight. Make ready at once."

The three women, hearing this, were all startled, exchanging glances, their eyes full of disbelief and panic, the tangle of feelings in their hearts even greater than before.

Shao Shi's hands unconsciously twisted the hem of her clothes, her heartbeat quickening, yet she forced herself to remain composed. In her heart there was both fear of the unknown fate and a sliver of侥幸 at being chosen.

To tell the truth, Shao Shi had long since prepared herself mentally for being favored by Zhao Yu, even looking forward to the day arriving, and feared even more that it would all be empty joy — that Zhao Yu simply wouldn't fancy a village woman like her, in which case she would lose the chance to save her son's life.

She had not expected that Zhao Yu truly intended to favor her, and moreover, she had only just entered the palace and Zhao Yu had already turned her name-tablet.

Shao Shi's inner heart beat as急促 as drumbeats, impossible to still; she could not help thinking, 'He won't change his mind at the last moment, will he?'

Fang Baihua's elegant brows knit tightly; on her once-spirited face, a rare struggle and unwillingness appeared. Though she knew this was a chance to survive, she could not let go of the humiliation of about to become another's plaything.

Fang Baihua thought to herself, 'Once he sees how tall and big I am, he'll most likely back off on his own.'

Chen Miao Zhen, by contrast, appeared very casual, with a sort of come-what-may openness: 'Don't you dare disappoint me now…'

……

(End of chapter)