Chapter 436: Secret Plot

"Wulinda, how dare you bring such conditions back to Yanjing?!"

After changing five horses, Wulinda Zanmo covered three hundred li in just over two days to reach Yanjing. Inside the Grand Council hall packed with Jin nobles, when he exhausted all his strength to finish reciting a certain emperor's newly added conditions and time limits, he was immediately met with a condescending roar.

The one shouting at him was the old imperial clansman, Wanyan Talan, who had been named by Emperor Zhao as co-regent prince alongside the Sixth Prince, E Lu Guan.

Or rather, precisely because he was Wanyan Talan, he had to steel himself to let out that roar.

However, after Talan finished shouting, the crowd only stared coldly without a word of agreement, and Wulinda Zanmo was too exhausted to even bother responding.

"Minister Wulinda, take a rest for now," said the Crown Prince Wanyan Woben, who had been named to die, breaking the awkward silence with a dark face after a long pause. "The journey has been hard."

"Yes."

The utterly spent Wulinda Zanmo barely managed to cup his hands, turned back to his seat, and collapsed into it. Immediately, at a signal from another co-regent prince, Wushu, a servant brought tea and soaked cakes, and Wulinda, without any restraint, ate a few bites right there in his seat.

"Uncle, rest as well," Wanyan Woben said, turning to look at the thoroughly embarrassed Wanyan Talan after Wulinda Zanmo sat down. "No one here suspects you..."

Talan could only cover his face and return to his seat.

But easing such a minor scene did nothing for the larger situation. Everyone took their seats and began to ponder the Zhao Song emperor's conditions, yet they felt utterly powerless.

"We definitely cannot agree."

In the silence, Wanyan Xiyin suddenly spoke up. At this moment, only he could set aside pride and discuss fairly. "Why do we seek peace? Isn't it to preserve something? Having the heads of co-regent princes, core clan scions, and army generals chopped off and sent to the enemy state, with the ruler calling the enemy emperor 'Father'... even if there's still a Jin state, it would be a different state altogether... What peace is there to seek?"

"Your subordinate believes Lord Xiyin speaks very well."

Councilor Qin Hui suddenly interjected. "Since we've reached this point today, we might as well speak plainly... What is the Great Jin? It's a lineage passed down from the Founding Ancestor, the Grand Ancestor, through the princes and the ruler, with the imperial Wanyan clan at the head and the Jurchen tribes as the main body of the army forming a core... Then the Yan-Yun Han Chinese, we Han who came south, the Bohai, the Koreans, the surrendered Khitans and Xi people—everyone surrounds the Wanyan clan and the Jurchen national tribe as the core trunk and branches, some above, some below, some supporting, some dependent, each performing their duties, forming a single entity—that's how we had a vast state stretching ten thousand li before... In the end, seeking peace isn't impossible, but we must first clarify: whose Great Jin is this? Isn't it the Great Jin of the Wanyan clan and the Jurchen national tribe?!"

Hearing this, everyone present nodded in succession... After all, the logic was sound. Whether civil or military, Han or Xi, everyone knew it in their hearts, but they had to admit that when it was dissected so finely, only these two lords spoke so clearly and directly.

Whose Great Jin was it? Wasn't it the Wanyan family's and the Jurchens'? Now, fine—three heads of the Wanyan family, two to die, one just-ascended ruler to become a son, and the main surviving Jurchen generals also to die—then this Great Jin was no different from being destroyed.

"As I said before, that Emperor Zhao probably never had any sincere intention to negotiate peace," Hong Ya said, glancing at the silent Sixth Prince, E Lu Guan, and continued. "It's just a strategy of sowing discord... There's no need to go again."

The crowd agreed even more.

"You all speak well, but if we don't seek peace, where is the path to survival?" But just then, Wushu, who had been sentenced to death from afar over forty days ago, suddenly spoke with his head lowered in his seat, causing the uproar to cease immediately. "The state's foundation, the state's foundation—Wanyan and Jurchen are certainly the foundation, but Wanyan is divided into the Wanyan clan and the Wanyan tribe, and Jurchen into the Jurchen army and the Jurchen people... I am a defeated man, a sinner who squandered the state's foundation in one battle. I shouldn't say much, nor do I want to... Today, I have only one sentence: if the state needs this life of mine, it can take it at any time, with no hesitation whatsoever."

With that, Wushu struggled to rise, bowed slightly to the young ruler, his own nephew, who had not spoken a word, and then, without exchanging a word with anyone else, limped out of the Grand Council hall where his power had once peaked.

Most people remained silent and still throughout. The young ruler, now eighteen, once thought to stand and say something, but ultimately said nothing.

Everyone simply watched the Prince of Wei walk out of the hall alone.

This was not to say everyone was cold-blooded; on the contrary, the coldest-blooded was undoubtedly Wushu himself... Because while everyone else was still deceiving themselves and others out of their respective positions, this Prince of Wei had directly exposed everyone's true colors.

With Wushu gone, everyone was dejected, unsure how to decide, and could only agree to make a final decision early the next morning before dispersing.

After everyone left, Hong Ya naturally went to see Qin Hui... By now, Yanjing city had become a powder keg, and the fuse had been lit—nothing could be held back.

"What are you thinking?"

Entering Qin's residence, they went straight to the back courtyard. As soon as they entered the room, Hong Ya seemed somewhat frantic. "Today in the hall, you intimidated others on behalf of the Crown Prince and the others... At this point, being a long-term councilor in a vassal state a thousand li away is better than going back, isn't it?! We are ultimately defectors. If we go back and offend someone, a mere county magistrate could deal with us!"

"I know that logic well!"

Qin Huizhi suddenly turned around, clearly losing control of his emotions. "But haven't you truly seen it? That emperor is just toying with Yanjing here. The Jin state is nine-tenths doomed! Our so-called long-term councilorship is just a title... It's truly about sowing discord!"

Hong Ya understood this logic now and had no response. The two sat silently in the room.

Yet they both knew that sitting silently was no different from waiting for death; they had to discuss a result.

"We need to sort this out," Hong Ya spoke first after a long while. "Brother Huizhi, leaving others aside, all the southern defectors in Yanjing are grasshoppers tied to the same rope. You and I share fortune and misfortune. At this moment, we must work together to find a way out... Otherwise, it's nine-tenths certain that the ship will sink and we'll all die!"

Having said this, before the other could respond, Hong Ya added another point: "First, as you said, the emperor appears lenient on the surface, but in reality, he's applying pressure both internally and externally, determined to annihilate the Jin state... Even if there is a future, it would be like establishing a new state beyond the frontier... So, we must jump off this sinking ship as soon as possible!"

"But where do we jump?" Qin Huizhi seemed to be refuting, but was actually thinking along the same lines. "Emperor Zhao won't accept us... Outside this ship, everything—Korea, Mongolia, Khitan—is Emperor Zhao's ship!"

"If there's no big ship, we need to find a small boat—a small boat tied to this ship," Hong Ya replied. "We'll take it step by step."

"That means finding a faction in Yanjing that can protect itself, and then seeing if the emperor will allow this big ship to be re-erected beyond the frontier for the sake of balancing power out there," Qin Hui translated immediately. "Then board the ship again..."

At this point, the two exchanged a glance and felt slightly relieved.

"Can the Yan-Yun great clans work?" Hong Ya slapped the table methodically. "Right now in Yanjing, the Yan-Yun great clans have the most troops, and the surrounding areas too..."

"No," Qin Hui shook his head. "Yanjing is a place the emperor is determined to take, and he values it greatly, even waiting forty or fifty days for the Mongols and Koreans to cut off the rear, forcing this place to collapse and scatter on its own, to take the city without a fight... And the Yan-Yun great clans have their roots in Yan-Yun; how can they board this ship?"

"True," Hong Ya agreed. "Even if the emperor's intent to deal with the Liu, Zuo, and Han families is clear today, they can't easily abandon their assets. At most, Han Fang and the Liu-Zuo brothers might take a few people north with the ruler..."

"Not necessarily," Qin Huizhi suddenly interjected. "Since that emperor's malice is obvious, and Liu Yanzong's youngest son died in Zhending, Han Fang is set on being the ruler's teacher and a famous minister, while the remaining two Liu brothers and three Zuo brothers are all young. They might all pull the ruler along, refusing to let him withdraw, and tie Yanjing up in a mess that leaves nothing for anyone..."

Hong Ya sneered coldly: "Perhaps so, but not to look down on them—when it comes to a life-and-death struggle, direct action, though they have numbers, they might not be a match for those veteran generals..."

At this point, Hong Ya paused slightly: "Speaking of which, the emperor made a mistake. The third of the three Liu brothers died in Zhending long ago."

"Maybe it's a mistake, but maybe not—maybe it's intentional to provoke the Liu brothers," Qin Hui shook his head beside him. "Anyway, the Yan-Yun great clans can't be relied upon... What about those generals who withdrew? Can they be trusted?"

"I think they can be trusted for now," Hong Ya sighed. "These are veteran generals. Though their troops are fewer, they are old soldiers who escaped, and each has his own personal guards. Except for Yelu Ma Wu, the other four also have roots beyond the frontier. Even if they're on the emperor's list, why not borrow their boat and kick them off once we're beyond the frontier?"

Qin Hui nodded: "Note that down first... What about the Crown Prince, the Fourth Prince, and the Sixth Prince? Do they have a foothold?"

"Looking at the Fourth Prince today, he's lost his spirit. The Sixth Prince, though closest to us in stance, seems scared by the emperor in Zhending and is bent on peace, but he's just a waste, useless at this critical moment. As for the Crown Prince, he's the ruler's adoptive father and the eldest son of the Founding Ancestor. He also escaped with a thousand Hezha Meng'an troops, so he's the most in name and reality..." Hong Ya stopped mid-sentence.

"What now?" Qin Huizhi was momentarily puzzled.

"The emperor made another mistake," Hong Ya stammered. "Not just the three Liu brothers—the Wanhu... the Wanhu seems wrong too... Clearly, five Wanhu escaped, but the emperor only wants four lives!"

"Did he name them?" Qin Hui was also startled and quickly asked.

"He did," Hong Ya recalled Wulinda Zanmo's words from the Grand Council hall just past. "Ma Wu, E Lu Bu, Pu Cha Hu Zhan, Jia Gu Wu Li Bu..."

"He left out He Shi Lie Tai Yu!" Qin Hui suddenly seemed lost. "Is this intentional? The He Shi Lie tribe is a major Jurchen tribe alongside the Pu San tribe, second only to the core Wanyan tribe... And Pu San Bei Lu and his son both died, while He Shi Lie Tai Yu and his son both survive; the Pu San tribe is in Bosu Circuit, next to Korea, almost certainly doomed, while the He Shi Lie tribe's roots are north of Huanglong Prefecture, around the Supreme Capital... Has this emperor calculated to this extent?!"

"Maybe he just forgot," Hong Ya tried to console, but he himself was growing suspicious. "He Shi Lie Tai Yu is not a veteran general; like Pu San Bei Lu, he was brought in from the rear in the last two years, not like the other four who have fought the emperor many times..."

"He Shi Lie Tai Yu... the He Shi Lie tribe..." Qin Hui said as he stood up, pacing the room with his hands clasped, then suddenly stopped. "Vice Minister Hong!"

"What?" Hong Ya also breathed heavily.

"What if that emperor did it on purpose?" Qin Hui asked, losing his composure. "It makes sense... Just like deliberately mentioning the dead third Liu son to provoke the Yan-Yun great clans and ruin Yanjing's situation, now deliberately leaving a He Shi Lie tribe with a retreat and strength to cause internal strife among the Jurchens, also ruining Yanjing's situation... Isn't that possible? And have you considered, if so, that the emperor anticipating our reaction is even more ordinary... Is he hinting that we should help He Shi Lie Tai Yu?"

"Isn't that a bit far-fetched?" Hong Ya was flustered.

"This isn't about being far-fetched or not. First, it's better to believe it exists than not," Qin Hui said seriously. "Second, even if it's a mistake, what will He Shi Lie Tai Yu think? Isn't this a huge loophole and opportunity?"

"What opportunity?" Hong Ya clasped his hands and pulled a long face.

"The army is completely lost, people's hearts are anxious; a great army is pressing on the border, Yanyun cannot be held; the Mongols are coming out of the Central Capital Circuit, Goryeo is coming out of the Eastern Capital Circuit, the rear route will be cut off... And now Zhao Guanjia is pressing us like this, Yanjing is about to fall into chaos!" Qin Gui leaned close to the other, lowering his voice. "No matter what the great clans of Yanyun are thinking, they certainly won't be willing to let the lord of the state leave, while the troops beyond the pass are utterly unwilling to wait, just wanting to go back... There's no need to wait until tomorrow morning; trouble will break out tonight!"

"Lord Qin, tell me something I don't know." Hong Ya raised his head to stare at that pale face of the other, replying coldly.

"If we can join forces with Heshilie Taiyu, can we use the chaos to leverage the small against the large... and use the chaos to make the peace terms a reality?" Qin Gui spoke in an especially gentle tone.

"How do we make it real?" Hong Ya, drenched in sweat, looked at the other as if seeing him for the first time. "Do you know what you're saying? This isn't like fooling a useless Sixth Prince back in Zhending City that day... All these forces are entangled, and every single one of them is a man of talent... The two of us are just a pair of scholars without the strength to truss a chicken!"

"I naturally understand the situation." Qin Gui was panting, but at this moment. "As for how to make it real..."

At this point in the conversation, even Qin Gui was somewhat flustered and hesitant... As the other had said, this wasn't like fooling a Sixth Prince in Zhending City, surrounded by corpses and wounded soldiers.

"How can it be made real?!"

Just then, a voice suddenly sounded outside the house, startling the two into a fluster, almost like adulterers caught in the act, but they quickly relaxed, for the arrivals were none other than Qin Huizhi's wife, Lady Wang, and Lady Wang's cousin, Zheng Xiunian.

And the one who spoke was actually Lady Wang.

Lady Wang strode boldly into the room, cast a cold glance at her husband and Hong Ya, then looked back at her cowering cousin. For a moment, she was furious, so she simply pulled a dagger from her sleeve, then casually took a piece of pastry from a plate on the table, sliced it open with one stroke, then threw down the dagger, holding the two pieces of pastry as she turned to look at Qin Gui:

"How can it be made real? Just make it real like this, isn't that enough? Seeing that within a day there will be great chaos, forget about wealth and rank, even your lives and families won't be safe, and you're still hesitating here... What kind of sight is that?!"

Qin Huizhi was momentarily speechless, not daring to reply.

And Lady Wang again held the pastry and looked at Hong Ya: "Vice Minister Hong, my Sanlang is originally a useless man; meeting him was a mistake in my womb, but how has Vice Minister Hong become so ridiculous today as well?"

Hong Ya had been frightened for a while, and now being confronted by Lady Wang to his face, he finally became furious, so he stood up and flicked his sleeve in response: "Lady Wang! If I weren't as ridiculous as your Sanlang, how would I have become a surrendered man together with him, and ended up in today's situation together?!"

And it was at this moment, after closing his eyes for a short while, facing his wife's urging, that Qin Gui suddenly gritted his teeth and made a decision: "No matter what, let's test Heshilie Taiyu first! Just don't say anything definitive... If that doesn't work, we'll go find Elubu and the others."

Hong Ya wanted to speak but stopped, and in the end could not object.

PS: Thank you to classmate Hanyu Yinnong for another alliance leader, thank you to others for the silver league... I am deeply grateful.