Chapter 81#
When he emerged from the Cining Palace, it was already past noon. Ying Fusheng bid farewell to the Empress Dowager and left the palace. As he walked along the palace path, he could see from afar the halted carriage. Song An helped him aboard, and once inside, he saw Qi Hanzhou sitting there, his sword leaning beside him, as if he had been waiting for some time. Ying Fusheng took his seat and signaled the carriage to proceed. “You were waiting for me here?”#
“Finished with matters in the palace, thought I’d come along the way.” Qi Hanzhou saw that his expression was normal and that there was no unusual activity in the Qianqing Palace. “What you did at court today was too risky.”
Ying Fusheng smiled. “Is the Junior General worried about me?”
“Stay calm in the face of great events,” Qi Hanzhou replied. “For today’s matter, you could have pushed it off onto Minister Liu.”
With that, silence fell in the carriage. Ying Fusheng suddenly froze, looking at Qi Hanzhou. “Really worried?”
He suddenly leaned in, still with that probing look that was half-smile, half-assessment. In their past dealings, Ying Fusheng would occasionally show this sly expression. Qi Hanzhou’s back pressed against the carriage wall, but Ying Fusheng suddenly turned back—
“Then His Majesty would suspect who gave Minister Liu that idea.”
Ying Fusheng knew the importance of hiding one’s edge, but sometimes hiding too deeply only led to restrictions and invited suspicion. “Rather than being passive, it’s better to take the initiative.” His second imperial brother was clever, knowing how to muddy the waters and stir up trouble. But if he kept on like this, he could only lie low, never showing his edge, and any slight misstep could expose him.
He lounged lazily against the soft cushion by the window, his gaze drifting past it. “If I were the man behind the curtain, and the water management project succeeded, then my only opportunities would be the Grand Sacrifice and the water management project itself. Guess how he and my second imperial brother would choose?”
Qi Hanzhou looked at him. He leaned by the window, relaxed, with weariness in his brows and eyes. “If you’re tired, rest a while.”
“The weather’s stuffy.” Ying Fusheng glanced slightly out the window, the air thick and damp. These times between summer and autumn were the hardest to endure.
A calming incense that was good for his health burned inside the carriage, and at times like this, he always grew drowsy.
As he spoke, he half-closed his eyes to rest, gradually falling silent.
Just then, a falcon slipped in from outside. Qi Hanzhou focused his eyes, reaching out to remove an urgent letter from its talons. After retrieving it, he turned back and noticed that the person beside him had fallen asleep. He instinctively softened his movements. The falcon beside him was about to hop away, but he pressed it down with a hand.
The youth seemed disturbed by the movement, and a lock of his dark hair happened to fall onto Qi Hanzhou’s hand.
The strand of hair wrapped around his finger, and Qi Hanzhou’s gaze flickered. He caught a faint, clean fragrance beneath the medicinal scent. Having spent a long time with this person, allied for several years, now five years had passed since he first met this youth. For the first time, Qi Hanzhou looked at his face this closely. His brow bones were sharp and clear, his lips slightly pale yet soft. When awake, the corners of his mouth would curl into a smile, but his smile never reached the bottom, carrying a cool aloofness—
When asleep, that habitual distance quietly faded away, leaving only the gentleness beneath the sharpness of youth.
Qi Hanzhou’s fingertips moved slightly, the strand of hair falling between his fingers.
He noticed a single white strand among them. Great wisdom bordering on sorcery, deep and heavy thoughts.
A wind picked up outside the window. He lowered his gaze, letting that wisp of fragrance settle quietly amidst the medicinal air, and reached for the cloak beside him.
The falcon stopped and stood curiously beside him.
“Be quiet,” he scolded softly.
Qi Hanzhou took the cloak, his movement, which would have been a casual toss, paused, and then became unexpectedly careful.
“Your Highness, it’s raining!” came a voice from outside the carriage.
Qi Hanzhou’s hand stilled. The cloak had just been laid over him when Ying Fusheng suddenly woke, his eyes still hazy with a watery sheen. The two suddenly met gazes so closely. Ying Fusheng’s gaze paused, and he leaned slightly to the side, resting against Qi Hanzhou’s arm. The carriage wasn’t spacious, and they were this close. Ying Fusheng couldn’t help but look at him. When the curtain at the back of the carriage was stirred by the wind, a chill of rain came with it.
Rain.
The rain came suddenly, a downpour pouring down. Song An hurriedly ran into the residence to get an umbrella. Ying Fusheng lifted the carriage curtain and was momentarily blinded by the wind and rain. As he instinctively stepped back, an arm behind him suddenly steadied him.
“Your Highness, the umbrella is here!” Song An called out.
Qi Hanzhou got out of the carriage first, turned back, and reached out his hand toward him.
It happened to meet Ying Fusheng’s outstretched hand. Ying Fusheng felt his hand enclosed in a large, warm palm. By the time he came to his senses, an umbrella was opened, shielding them from the wind and rain above. He was guided into the residence, the wet rain held back by the cloak. When he came back to himself, he was already under the eaves.
Qi Hanzhou brushed off a few drops of rain from him, nodded in farewell.
“Your Highness, you didn’t get wet, did you?” Song An was always afraid that his master would catch a chill from the rain.
Ying Fusheng came back to his senses slightly. Aside from the cloak being touched by the rain, not a single spot of dampness was on him. The warmth on his fingertips lingered—it was someone else’s warmth. He looked out the window. Qi Hanzhou, holding an umbrella, walked into the curtain of rain and soon disappeared.
“This rain came at a really bad time,” Song An said.
Ying Fusheng suddenly smiled. “Yes, it came at a bad time.”
Song An asked, “Your Highness, won’t you ask the Junior General to stay a while?”
Ying Fusheng lowered his eyes. Before him, the curtain of rain was hazy, like an unexpected timely rain, or perhaps like the prelude to a true storm.
He said softly, “The heavens are about to be in chaos…”
In his previous life, the deposed Crown Prince had started a coup at court, and the court was seized by the Xu family. What was hardest to control on the eve of the coup was the loss of the northern border. It was also then that Qi Hanzhou, who had already taken control of the palace inside and out, was forced to take command and rush to the northern border. General Zhenbei Qi Shen was sealed as the Prince of Zhenbei of the Great Yuan, a prince with a different surname, and he held the northern border to the death. In the end, when the coup took place and his father the Emperor died, the Qi family rebelled, and the new Emperor ascended the throne.
Time-wise, in his previous life, he had first met Qi Hanzhou when he was eighteen, imprisoned on a military charge. As time drew nearer, how the northern border had been provoked remained a mystery. Even now, less than three years before their first meeting, he had successively disrupted the chess game of the shadowy mastermind, making it unavoidable that the enemy would jump over the wall in desperation.
He hoped this storm wouldn’t spiral out of control.
Outside the residence, Ye Xuanjiu was waiting at the hidden post. From the court session until now, they had already eliminated no fewer than two waves of covert agents—all sent to spy on the Sixth Prince’s residence. The Sixth Prince’s statement at court had touched not only the shadowy mastermind’s covert faction but also the overt factions in the court.
He looked up and saw the Junior General coming in from the gate, then noticed that he was half-soaked. “Junior General, why didn’t you stay a bit longer at the Sixth Prince’s place?”
Qi Hanzhou paused. “Why?”
“You never come back in less than an hour each time you go,” Ye Xuanjiu muttered. “But it’s really good having the Sixth Prince. If that dog hiding in the shadows really manages to stir up the situation, the northern border will be in trouble. The Northern Barbarians have been watching eagerly.”
Qi Hanzhou took off his wet outer coat and asked, “Have the interrogations been done?”
“Done.” Ye Xuanjiu finally came to his senses and said, “One group is the First Prince’s men; the other yielded nothing.”
He inwardly sighed at the Junior General’s depth of strategy. Some days ago, when he entered the palace to report to the Emperor about suspicious activity at the Sixth Prince’s residence, he had smoothly obtained the Emperor’s permission to station guards outside the residence. “Just now, an order came from the palace telling us we can withdraw our people.”
Qi Hanzhou nodded, listening to the confessions extracted by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. “Is that all?”
“One more thing.” Ye Xuanjiu lowered his voice a few notches and said, “The Chief Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard has gone south.”
Upon hearing the news, a hint of gravity appeared between Qi Hanzhou’s brows. The Embroidered Uniform Guard had a chief and a deputy commissioner. The chief commissioner had always been elusive, a confidant of the Emperor, only receiving the Emperor’s orders. Qi Hanzhou had only seen him three times in a few years. Now, at the critical juncture of the Grand Sacrifice, he had suddenly gone south—there must be trouble in the south.
Ye Xuanjiu said, “By the Emperor’s special decree, during the chief commissioner’s absence, you are to have full authority over the Embroidered Uniform Guard and be in charge of the Grand Sacrifice arrangements.”
Qi Hanzhou’s expression was grave. He thought back to Ying Fusheng’s words in the carriage not long ago:
“If I were the man behind the curtain, my only opportunities would be the Grand Sacrifice and the water management project…”
Qi Hanzhou whistled. The falcon swooped down from a height and landed steadily on his arm.
When he released it again, the falcon flew north.
-*
Inside the West Shu Prince of Qin’s residence, the moment the court’s message arrived by eight-hundred-li express, the Prince of Qin’s heir, who was about to set out, had his entourage urgently halted. A subordinate hurriedly brought the news into the residence. In the main hall, the Prince of Qin’s face darkened as he saw the news about water management. “Are you sure this is the message from the capital?”
“Reporting to Your Highness, it’s not just our residence. The court’s messengers have also gone to Jiangnan,” said the messenger. “In the court session today, the Emperor ordered the Ministry of Rites to draft the proposal, and the official proclamation has been posted throughout the capital and surrounding areas. The prefectural offices everywhere are posting this matter…”
If the messenger could still be faked, the public posting of the proclamation meant the whole world would know.
The Prince of Qin waved for the others to withdraw and looked at his strategist behind him. “He truly intends to build the water management project.”
“Your Highness, if this matter is true, you cannot claim to be ill. It would harm your reputation among the people,” the strategist said. “And there’s news that this Grand Sacrifice has been entrusted to that Qi family’s young man.”
The Qi family… Qi Hanzhou, is it?
The Emperor truly trusted that sword—but that sword could only be wielded by the imperial power, no one else.
The Prince of Qin pondered for a moment, a grave hue appearing on his face. The situation in the capital differed somewhat from his expectations. Then he said, “Keep the heir at the residence. I will go to the capital myself. And prepare the palace army.”
A cold light flickered in his eyes, and the strategist immediately understood.
This capital—he had to go and see for himself.
The court’s messages sped to both West Shu and Jiangnan. Not only the Prince of Qin’s residence, but all other princely residences received the news. Upon receiving it, the Prince of Jin’s residence in Jiangnan immediately made preparations to set out. The marquises who had been hesitating had no choice but to follow suit. The court’s announcement of the nationwide water management project spread quickly throughout the land. The common people rejoiced and went to the various government offices to inquire about the situation, and with that, voices rose gradually all around.
On the 23rd day of the ninth month, princes and marquises from various regions entered the capital one after another.
As carriages and horses entered the capital, the city saw a rare bustle. The Ministry of Works posted an official notice recruiting skilled artisans from across the country. In the streets, everyone praised the Emperor for building water management projects for the people’s welfare, calling him the true Son of Heaven.
“These princes and marquises are really afraid of trouble, each of them bringing hidden guards,” Ye Xuanjiu observed.
Qi Hanzhou looked at the residences where the princes and marquises had settled. In the realms of West Shu and Jiangnan, the three most powerful princes were the Prince of Qin, the Prince of Jin, and the Prince of Pingnan. He noticed one absent from the retinue: “The Prince of Pingnan didn’t come this year either.”
“The Prince of Pingnan hasn’t come since the last Grand Sacrifice. He is advanced in years, and the late Emperor granted him a special exemption,” Ye Xuanjiu said. “This year, the Prince of Pingnan’s heir has come. He entered the palace to see the Emperor and brought the Prince of Pingnan’s personal letter.”
The Prince of Pingnan had ties with his father. He was a sibling of the late Emperor. In the early years when the late Emperor was still alive, the two of them, one in the south and one in the north, had guarded the territory of the Great Yuan. Considering his age, the Prince of Pingnan’s health was probably not good these days. But he was also the one who held the most military power in the south. As early as a few years ago, he had intended to hand over his military authority, but the south still needed guarding, still needed the Pingnan Palace, and someone needed to keep those restless princes and marquises in check.
Qi Hanzhou frowned. “Send people to keep an eye on the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin. Watch for any contact with the Second Prince.”
Several days passed in a flash.
The Grand Sacrifice was about to begin. Five days before the ceremony, the imperial clan did not handle criminal cases and abstained from alcohol and meat.
Preparations for the offerings were made, and the slaughtering rites were performed.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard kept watch day and night. Everything involving the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Works was thoroughly examined. On the eve of the Grand Sacrifice, all covert guards of the Embroidered Uniform Guard were spread throughout the capital and its surroundings, watching every eye of the princes and marquises. In a flash, it was the day of the Grand Sacrifice. The capital’s procession was grand and magnificent. The Emperor rode at the front on his horse, followed by the imperial clan, all the way to the Northern Mountain.
Behind the Emperor came the princes of the current imperial house who had left the palace.
After the three princes, there was an unexpected figure behind the Emperor. According to ritual protocol, a prince who had not yet established his achievements should be further back. But the Emperor’s favor for the Sixth Prince was extraordinary, and he had him march alongside the other three princes. Among the imperial clan behind them, many glances fell on Ying Fusheng.
On the Lingxiao Platform, incense smoke curled up, and blue wisps rose slowly. The Emperor slowly ascended the steps, reaching the high place and looking up at the sky. As he completed the rites, bells and drums sounded in unison, all officials bowed their heads, and the common people outside the Lingxiao Platform held their breath.
Ying Fusheng stood on the Lingxiao Platform, listening to the Ministry of Rites officials chanting praises. His gaze swept over the surrounding princes and marquises. The Embroidered Uniform Guard was on high alert. As the ritual proceeded step by step, it finally ended with the national shaman’s blessing for favorable weather and the completion of the Grand Sacrifice.
Qi Hanzhou watched from a distance. The heavy ritual robes were worn on Ying Fusheng, but no sign of weariness appeared.
He had been watching the princes and marquises for a long time but saw no contact with the Second Prince.
The Grand Sacrifice went without a hitch.
When the rites were complete, a propitious rain fell from the heavens, and the common people cheered.
The Ministry of Rites presented the sacrificial blessed wine. The Emperor was overjoyed and distributed the gifts to the princes and high officials, sharing the favor of heaven. It was only then that the princes and marquises who had entered the capital breathed a sigh of relief. They offered congratulations to the Emperor, confirming that he had no intention of revoking their military authority.
At the auxiliary palace outside the Lingxiao Platform, when Ying Fusheng arrived after the sacrifice and drinking of the blessed wine, the princes and marquises were already present.
He looked at the person standing beside the Emperor—that was his father’s sibling. One was the Prince of Qin of West Shu, tall and robust, exuding an air of a military man. Beside him was the Prince of Jin of Jiangnan, slightly smaller in stature, with a perpetually smiling face when talking to others. Unlike the Prince of Qin, he looked more like a scholar.
The Emperor had three siblings: the Prince of Qin, the Prince of Jin, and the Prince of Yongjia.
Among the three, the Prince of Yongjia was the most favored by the late Emperor, followed by the Prince of Jin, and finally the Prince of Qin.
“Father’s relationship with the uncles has always been good,” the Second Prince approached and stood beside Ying Fusheng. “Father hasn’t seen the uncles for a few years. This Grand Sacrifice can be a good opportunity for them to catch up. It’s all thanks to your water management policy, which will be of great benefit to the southern border.”
Ying Fusheng turned to look at him. “I haven’t seen much of my uncles.”
“The last time the uncles came was when Father returned in triumph. It’s normal that Sixth Brother hasn’t seen them,” the Second Prince said casually and comfortably. “How about I introduce you? Look, Eldest Brother has already gone over. You brought up the water management matter, and Eldest Brother is very attentive to it.”
Not far away, the First Prince was already deep in conversation with the Prince of Jin.
Ying Fusheng smiled in return. “Eldest Brother cares about the people, so naturally he would be attentive.”
His gaze shifted slightly, landing on the Second Prince. “Second Imperial Brother has been in the Ministry of Appointments for many days. For the water management matter, dispatching skilled artisans can’t avoid the Ministry of Appointments’ screening. Why don’t you go over and have a chat with them?”
At this, the Second Prince’s smile faded slightly. “Your Second Brother’s political views are somewhat crude. I’ll leave this matter to Minister Meng and others. What kind of artisans to send will also have to pass through the Ministry of Works.”
The two exchanged a few words, neither touching on anything specific, yet each sentence was a probe.
Compared to the earlier days when his words were veiled, the Second Prince’s attitude toward him had changed. He was no longer testing the waters as he had in court that day, but was pressing in inch by inch, exposing his edge slightly.
The Second Prince’s expression was at ease. He stood beside Ying Fusheng, reaching out slightly to rest a hand on his imperial younger brother’s shoulder, putting on an air of brotherly affection. But his tone was soft: “And besides, the sky is high and the road is long. Matters a thousand li away—how could we predict them clearly?”
As he spoke, someone hurried over. Ying Fusheng caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye and recognized him as a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The pattern on his robes was different from the regular capital-based guard—these were the regional second-tier guards.
A regional second-tier guard of the Embroidered Uniform Guard… Ying Fusheng saw him whisper a few words into the Emperor’s ear. The Emperor’s smile faded slightly, and he waved his hand and moved to the other side.
An urgent report at the night banquet of the Grand Sacrifice could only be a critical dispatch.
And Qi Hanzhou was not here.
“This rainy season has been lingering for a long time. I hope it’s a propitious rain.”
The Second Prince withdrew his hand, looked out the window, and said with a sigh, “But it’s been raining so long. Your water management policy, Sixth Brother, is probably going to be delayed.”
Ying Fusheng’s brows twitched. The bones in his sleeves turned white.
A terrifying possibility emerged in his mind.
In the side hall, the Emperor had just arrived when he heard a guard from the Embroidered Uniform Guard kneel and report—
“Reporting to His Majesty, the Chief Commissioner has gone missing. An urgent report from the covert line: heavy rain in the south, the Jiangling dyke has burst. The floodwaters are now heading toward the three prefectures of Jiangnan!”