Chapter 262: Click to Receive

Diwu Lun had assigned dedicated caretakers to Liu Xin's residence in Shangguan Quarter, and the many mathematical and divination scrolls inside were all kept perfectly intact. After a look around, Liu Gong gave a slight nod — he could see Diwu Lun's respect for his uncle, and his sincerity.

Liu Gong was not kept under guard or surveillance either; his servants could even go to the East and West Markets to gather news. One now returned to report: "Master, word is spreading through the city that Wang Yi has routed the Greenwood Army and beheaded Liu Bosheng. Some even say the Gengshi Emperor Liu Xuan himself is dead!"

These rumors threw everyone into panic — all dreaded that the peerless god of war Wang Yi would bring his great army back to rescue the throne. Wouldn't that mean war all over again in Chang'an?

Three men make a tiger; the story was all but taken as fact. Liu Gong's heart turned to ice. If it were truly so, what were righteous men like them, who opposed the Xin, to do?

Yet there was one person even more frantic than he was — none other than Diwu Lun!

Diwu Lun hurried over that very night to pay a visit. "Elder Brother Erudite, I have given careful thought to Lord Liu's proposal of a Guan-Long union, and I now find it entirely fitting!"

"But a joint republic is quite unnecessary. Since the Crown Prince is in Longyou, why not simply enthrone him directly as the Son of Heaven of the Han?"

"Now that the Greenwood has suffered a crushing defeat, and rumors say the Gengshi Emperor himself has been killed, the Han in Nanyang is finished! If we hope to oppose Wang Yi, the only way is for all the commanderies of Guan and Long to stop hesitating and raise a single banner!"

To Liu Gong's eyes, Diwu Lun's anxiety was hardly surprising. With neither Hangu Pass nor Wu Pass in his hands, Diwu Lun's foothold in Chang'an was still shaky, and his forces numbered at best forty or fifty thousand men. Of course he feared Wang Yi sweeping back on the momentum of a great victory.

Once Wang Mang fell, the cause of "punishing the tyrant" had fulfilled its historic mission. To keep rallying the powerful houses of Guanzhong, they would naturally have to rely on the Liu Ying in their custody! Liu Gong saw no problem with this.

Diwu Lun laid his cards on the table: "The moment a Han emperor is enthroned in Longyou, Chang'an will immediately change its banners and answer the call! We shall welcome the rightful Son of Heaven back to the old capital, to dwell in Weiyang Palace, while the Empress Dowager Xiaoping resides in Changle Palace. Lord Liu and the Wei clan shall be ranked among the Three Excellencies, the powerful houses of the commanderies shall be the Nine Ministers, and we shall combine our forces to face a powerful foe."

Then he added with sudden ferocity: "If Lord Liu and the Wei clan hesitate and shrink back in fear, then I will have no choice but to abandon Chang'an, leave the road open, and turn back to Hebei."

Liu Gong was badly startled. If that happened, wouldn't Wang Yi drive straight in unopposed and strike Longyou?

Diwu Lun's meaning was crystal clear: either swiftly enthrone Liu Ying as emperor and unite Guan and Long, or I'll pat my backside and leave — you can figure out how to deal with Wang Yi yourselves.

They were still counting on Diwu Lun to take the blade for them. Liu Gong hastily assured him the matter would be discussed as quickly as possible — but wouldn't enthroning an emperor in such haste be far too rash?

"I have heard that a High Temple has also been built in Longyou. So long as the succession is performed at the High Temple, I imagine Lord Liu is most adept at the ritual formalities. What's more, I have a grand gift that I must ask Elder Brother Erudite to carry to Longyou."

So saying, Diwu Lun clapped his hands, and Zhang Yu came forward bearing a wooden case. When the case was opened, inside lay a treasure sword of dazzling brilliance!

The moment the case opened and the scabbard was drawn, a wind stirred; the blade seemed coated in frost and snow, and the hilt was adorned with seven-colored pearls and nine-flower jade. It was so utterly magnificent that Liu Gong, who had been privileged to see it once before, trembled with excitement: "This is…"

Diwu Lun took the sword and handed it to Liu Gong. "Indeed. It is the sacred treasure of the Han — the very sword with which the Exalted Emperor cut down the white serpent!"

Every dynasty has its own Sword of the Son of Heaven. For the Han, it was the three-chi blade the Exalted Emperor wore at his side in humble days. Legend says he once cut down a white serpent in a marsh and absorbed the essence of the White Emperor's son; thus Heaven's Mandate resided within it. After Liu Bang destroyed Xiang Yu, executed Peng Yue, pacified Ying Bu, and killed Han Xin, the realm was settled, and the "Serpent-Slaying Sword" was stored in the treasure vault as a weighty instrument of the state, its status no less than that of the Imperial Heirloom Seal. Whenever an emperor took the throne, it was brought out and used.

When Emperor Wu entrusted his orphaned heir to others, he bestowed the Serpent-Slaying Sword upon Huo Guang, granting him authority over the realm.

By the time of Emperor Xuan… no one knows to whom it was granted.

In any case, it ultimately fell into the hands of Wang Mang, the Acting Emperor. As he completed his usurpation of the Han, he commissioned a host of sacred treasures for the Xin Dynasty, and the Xin's Sword of the Son of Heaven became one personally named by Wang Mang: "Subduer of Ten Thousand Li on the Wings of Victory," while the short weapon became the "Dagger of Emperor Shun."

As a relic of the previous version, the Serpent-Slaying Sword was ruthlessly discarded.

When Wang Mang fled, he had no time to take even his twelve sacred treasures, much less bother with this object, and so it fell into Diwu Lun's hands.

To Diwu Lun, this was gear from the version before last — useless to hold, unable even to behead an official of the Xin Dynasty.

But to a faction striving to restore the Han, it was like charcoal delivered in a snowstorm!

As a descendant of the House of Han, Liu Gong could not help himself — he dropped straight to his knees before it.

"The Imperial Heirloom Seal was carried off by the old traitor Wang Mang. Only this remains."

Diwu Lun bowed with clasped hands. "This is my gift to Lord Liu and to the future emperor!"

At this, Liu Gong no longer doubted Diwu Lun's sincerity in the slightest. He only promised to return west at once and report the matter to Liu Xin and Wei Ao. Diwu Lun then assigned Feng Yan to accompany him. Old Feng might be a bit of a bootlicker, but when a man was useful, he had to be used.

At their parting, Diwu Lun clasped his hand and said in a low voice: "Jingtong, this is your great chance to surpass Zhang Yi in fame and match Su Qin in rank!"

"Aye! Yan shall not fail this mission!" Feng Yan answered. He was determined to give full play to his talents! And so he and Liu Gong left the city that very night.

Only after their carriage train had gone far into the distance did Diwu Lun lower his hand, a faint smile appearing on his face.

Wang Yi's great victory, the Greenwood's crushing defeat — he had fabricated it all!

Diwu Lun's one great advantage over Longyou right now was the gap in information and the lag in time. Any news from east of the passes had to pass through him first before it could travel westward.

What he feared most was that Longyou, with its considerable strength, would answer the Greenwood's call, leaving him facing enemies on two — no, counting the remnants of the Xin, three sides.

But Longyou could compromise with the Greenwood, whereas with the Xin it was a fight to the death. Stoked by this news, and with the selfish ambitions of the local powers in play, they might very well hastily enthrone the Child Ying as emperor.

As for the final outcome — if Diwu Lun's words proved prophetic, and the intelligence he had fed Dou Rong led to Wang Yi's victory, that would show the Grand Minister of Works still had a few tricks. Diwu Lun would then have to set aside all coyness and hesitation; he would truly need to borrow that banner and organize the various Guanzhong forces to fight.

If the Greenwood won instead and Wang Yi was defeated, then the Gengshi faction would soar to the heavens, and the lands east of the passes could truly be subdued by a mere proclamation. But by the time Longyou and Liu Xin received the news, the Child Emperor would have been enthroned for a month or more — could they kill him then? Even if they did, the Greenwood would not spare them. Caught between riding a tiger and finding it hard to dismount, they would have no choice but to hold out to the bitter end.

In that case, Diwu Lun's room to maneuver would be somewhat larger, and his grand strategy of allowing multiple Han courts to coexist and fight each other, thereby consuming their "legitimacy," would have gotten off to a fine start.

He could only hope that this plan would not go awry again. If Longyou refused to be provoked and decided to wait a while longer, then Diwu Lun would have no choice but to…

"Have the Empress Xiaoping in Changle Palace use her imperial seal to proclaim to the realm, directly following the precedent of Empress Dowager Xiaozhao Shangguan enthroning Liu Bingyi — designate Liu Ying as emperor! And make Liu Xin the Han Chancellor, and Wei Ao the Grand Marshal and Grand General!"

This was also the very purpose for which he had insisted on moving Wang Yan's residence. Diwu Lun turned back and asked Diba Jiao: "From the east — has no news yet returned?"

Diba Jiao replied: "The roads eastward are blocked by Tian Kuang, so news is delayed. We still know nothing."

No news was good news — it allowed Diwu Lun to keep deceiving them. But that damned Tian Kuang — he absolutely had to be eliminated.

Diwu Lun's heart still beat with unease. He thought to himself: "Xiu, can you actually pull it off or not?"

Just as he was pondering this, Ren Guang came over and asked: "Grand General, Yin Lihua is already in Xuanming Quarter. When will you see her? I shall arrange it."

Diwu Lun shot him a glance. The sky wasn't even light yet. Ren Guang was usually steady — why was he so tactless this time? Diwu Lun kept a stern face and said only: "A nighttime visit — wouldn't that invite idle gossip?"

"Tomorrow will do!"

…

When Yin Lihua woke in the morning, she smelled the incense in the room, felt the silk-floss quilt covering her body, and even had a maidservant come to comb her hair. For a dazed moment, it was as if she had returned to the Yin clan's fortified manor in Xinye — carefree and untroubled, with attendants to see to her every need.

She had been away from that comfortable life for over half a year. Ever since the Han army's great defeat at Little Chang'an and the surrender and capture of the Xinye Yin clan, the once-wealthy household's leisurely young ladies had been reduced to prisoners and bondservants, driven all the way to Chang'an to be presented as captives. In the dead of winter, with no thick furs to wrap themselves in, they shivered with cold. The cicada-wing temple hair she had once carefully washed and dressed every day went unwashed for ten days or more, until it bred lice.

Later, she had done over a month of hard labor in the Lateral Courts, washing clothes until her hands ached, before being rescued by the Princess Huanghuang and taken to Ding'an Lodge. There, warmth and food were guaranteed, but it was still the work of serving others — she even had to empty and wash her mistress's chamber pot.

The child of a wealthy house does not know how to cherish things; only after suffering hardship and then regaining a good life does one feel overwhelmed by the favor.

Yin Lihua looked at herself in the bronze mirror. Even her face had darkened a little from the sun, and on her cheeks had appeared the sun-flushed redness common among the women of Guanzhong — no longer the delicate, fair whiteness of former days.

The several maidservants attending her also kept calling her "my lady" this and "my lady" that. Upon asking, she learned they had come from the palace. After fleeing, they had nearly been violated by soldiers, but Diwu Gonglu happened to pass by. Finding that these women knew nothing but how to serve others and would starve to death if turned out, he sent them here. They usually did some laundry — in any case, Chang'an had been distributing rations all this time.

The day before, Ren Guang had hastily summoned them to come here and attend to Yin Lihua.

By the time Diwu Lun arrived, Yin Lihua had finished her toilette. But faced with rouge and powder she had not seen in so long, she restrained herself and used none. Her hair she put up in the style of a married woman, and she wore an inconspicuous but not shabby dark-blue shenyi robe to pay her respects.

"This humble woman pays her respects to the Grand General."

The first impression she gave Diwu Lun was a pliant softness, like the strands of a young woman's hair — utterly unlike Wang Yan's rigid hardness, a completely different kind of woman. Diwu Lun made a point of studying her, curious why Liu Xiu would take no other woman as his wife.

Her looks were indeed quite fine, but perhaps because the goddess had been touched by the smoke and fire of the mortal world, she did not seem as transcendently otherworldly as he had imagined. As for her face, it was about on par with his own wife's — which for a country lad was already stunning enough.

Yin Lihua was observing Diwu Lun as well. Hmm, dressed in everyday robes, wearing a yuanyou cap, a bit on the short side — barely over seven chi three, was it?

But quite young, only twenty-four or twenty-five, and that was with the beard making him look a few years older. He had yin-virtue lines on his face — she had heard that was a countenance of one who often did good deeds?

Diwu Lun's manner was indeed quite genial, nothing like the legend of that decisive Grand General who had driven out Wang Mang in one stroke. He treated Yin Lihua with great courtesy, had her rise, and when the two sat they were five paces apart — very distant.

His very first words were: "I hardly know whether to address you as Fair Maiden, or as Madam Liu?"

"General, calling me of the Yin clan will suffice."

Diwu Lun sighed with emotion. "To think that Wenshu and I were truly the closest of friends. Back when the Master of Fates of the Five Majesties had me arrested, it was thanks to Wenshu bringing the Imperial Academy students to my rescue."

In truth, they had met only once. Back when Liu Xiu was still using the alias Liu Jiao, Diwu Lun had ignored him coldly. Only after learning his real name did he take notice — but by then it was too late.

Diwu Lun produced an object. "Do you recognize this?"

As he spoke, he had a maidservant pass the object over to Yin Lihua. It was a jade pendant carved with nine-eared fine grain, and as it reached her hand it still carried the warmth of Diwu Lun's body heat.

"This was a gift from Wenshu three years ago, a token. I gave him a jade sword chape in return. Three years now, this pendant has hung at my waist, never leaving my person for a single day."

Utter nonsense. At the time, he had not known Liu Xiu was Liu Xiu, and when he went to Hebei he had left it at home. He had only just retrieved it from Diwu Hamlet and had worn it for three days.

Today, in meeting Yin Lihua, Diwu Lun did not let a single sentence pass without mentioning Liu Xiu, so that Yin Lihua truly came to believe the two shared an extraordinary bond, and she felt a measure of gladness.

Yet she also found it strange: Liu Wenshu was an obscure, honest, and unassuming man — back in Xinye she had only heard of his elder brother, never of Liu Xiu. Why did Diwu Lun hold him in such high regard?

Then came the bad news. Diwu Lun sighed. "However, word has lately come from the east that the new army has won a great victory, and the Greenwood has suffered a crushing defeat."

This news made Yin Lihua's heart lurch. She still held some hope of returning to her homeland — if this were so, did that hope not grow dim?

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"I am confident that Wenshu is unharmed." Diwu Lun had even more faith than she did. "I merely do not know whether he has a place to shelter. Therefore, I would like to ask you, madam, to write a family letter in your own hand. I shall have someone deliver it to Wenshu, to tell him that his wife is safe, and that though Diwu Lun is of little talent, he will assuredly keep you secure. And if…"

Diwu Lun arrived at his true purpose. "If Wenshu is willing, he may by all means come west and reunite with you, madam!"

Yin Lihua was somewhat astonished, but what followed was even more startling. Diwu Lun said, "Wenshu is a man of great talent, yet in the Greenwood he is merely a lowly Assistant General — it truly chills the heart. I am willing to write a letter to send along with yours, to tell Wenshu: in the Greenwood he is one of the Nine Ministers; if he comes to me, he could even be one of the Three Excellencies!"

Diwu Lun's eyes blazed with intensity as he looked at Yin Lihua, but the reflection in his eyes was no longer her — it had transformed into another person: a prominent brow, a wide mouth, fine beard and eyebrows, a face full of simple honesty.

To Diwu Lun, the greatest use of this Yin Lihua right now was to test whether he could lure over the Liu Xiu he imagined — that man of "deep feeling and staunch loyalty"!

That's right, he wanted Liu Xiu!

No matter how many difficulties and enemies his power now faced, in Diwu Lun's subconscious, the greatest — or rather, the only — opponent was Liu Xiu! But this fellow was currently faring rather poorly, which had given Diwu Lun a bold idea.

"Can a Child of the Plane not work for a transmigrator?"

…

PS: Tomorrow's update at 13:00.