Chapter 63: Shuofeng City! |
"Second Brother!"
In the passageway leading out of the imperial palace, Wei Yiyuan, who was walking quickly alongside the Prince of Jin, raised his voice due to the other's indifference.
"We'll talk outside!"
The Prince of Jin glanced at him, his expression somewhat serious.
Wei Yiyuan had no choice but to leave the palace with him.
At a spot not far from the palace gates, the two stopped.
"Second Brother, did you hear what Father Emperor said?" Wei Yiyuan deliberately provoked.
The Prince of Jin's expression darkened: "Of course I heard."
"If he donated his family's wealth to the army, why did he do it so quietly? If you've done something, you should speak up about it. Since it's a good deed, it should be praised even more. Zisheng, you're an honest child, always sacrificing yourself for the country's benefit, but others can't see your goodness."
Bringing this up, Wei Yiyuan became quite agitated: "Back when we studied at the Chongwen Hall, he insisted on taking us hunting, and then the next day when the Imperial Academy teachers tested us on reciting texts, he was the only one who could recite them. Do you remember what his little palace maid said? Fourth Brother returned to the palace after hunting and read through the night until dawn. Tell me, how could this be an honest child?"
Honest my ass!
"Why bring this up? Let's talk about now."
Glaring at Wei Yiyuan and giving him a slight 'warning' to calm down, the Prince of Jin said: "In this matter, he did the right thing. But that doesn't necessarily mean we were wrong."
"Then Second Brother, tell me, why weren't we wrong?" Wei Yiyuan was getting anxious.
He felt that the strategy between him and the Prince of Jin had already developed problems.
"Father Emperor said he should be greatly praised, but he didn't announce it publicly—he only mentioned it to us few in this imperial garden."
The Prince of Jin was very steady and quite certain: "As long as His Majesty doesn't say anything, then at least Zisheng won't gain the people's hearts, the popular sentiment."
"Second Brother."
Looking at him, Wei Yiyuan also calmed down: "You're right, His Majesty has been favoring you all along."
Donating all his family wealth, he only received a "you did very well" from Father Emperor.
Not even a public commendation.
This praise from his father was far too expensive.
"Then what do we have to worry about?" the Prince of Jin asked back.
Revealing a somewhat subtle smile, facing this respected eldest legitimate son, Wei Yiyuan slowly asked in return: "If Father Emperor doesn't want Fourth Brother to compete, why would he praise him even once?"
"..."
One sentence directly stunned the Prince of Jin into silence.
His pupils trembled.
His fists slowly clenched.
At this moment, the Prince of Wu also emerged from the passageway.
He slowly walked toward the two of them.
The Prince of Jin and the Prince of Wu's gazes met from a distance.
A faint murderous intent seemed to freeze the very air into coldness.
………
"Erlang."
In the sleeping quarters, walking to the side of the Emperor who was sitting on the bed having his legs massaged by palace maids, Empress Hua's voice was full of confusion: "You had me go favor the Princess Consort of Jin, yet you yourself said those things to the Prince of Wu—what exactly are you trying to do?"
Seeing this, the palace maid slowly rose, bowing as she withdrew from the inner chamber.
The Emperor, who had been resting with closed eyes, slowly opened them and looked at her.
"I'm not trying to interfere with government affairs." After stating her position, Empress Hua said somewhat anxiously, "If you favor the Prince of Jin, then establish him as Crown Prince early and don't let the Prince of Wu have such thoughts. Once the Crown Prince is established, he'll be content to assist in governance. But now, you favor the Prince of Jin while praising the Prince of Wu. This—isn't this forcing the two of them to compete?"
"Zhen wants them to compete."
The Emperor's words fell like Mount Tai, shaking the Empress's heart.
Raising his finger and pointing at the ground, accompanying each powerful word, he also heavily pointed downward: "Zhen wants them to fight each other to the death."
"Zhen wants them to compete until there's a winner and loser."
"Zhen wants them to know that if they don't fight for this throne, they'll never get it!"
"But these are your own flesh and blood! They're blood brothers!"
Letting out a trembling, pained sound, Empress Hua said sorrowfully: "Erlang, why can't they coexist peacefully?"
The Emperor let out a cold laugh and asked back: "Why don't you ask Ji Yuan if he's willing to coexist peacefully?"
……
"General! Ji Yuan—"
Before the reporting soldier could finish, Zhao Xiang, who had been dozing in a chair at the desk of the 'temporary general's headquarters' converted from the county office, suddenly kicked his legs, knocking all the military reports and documents off the table in one go.
Then, awakening from his shock: "Ji Yuan! Where did Ji Yuan come from?!"
"..." Kneeling on one knee, holding up a letter tube with both hands, the soldier spoke quietly: "A letter sent by Ji Yuan..."
"Can't you just finish your sentence in one breath!"
After angrily shouting, the relieved Zhao Xiang put his legs down from the desk and sat in his seat.
Chief Clerk Zheng Tong walked over, took the letter in hand, then waved his hand to dismiss the soldier.
Then, walking back to Zhao Xiang's side, he asked: "General, shall we read it?"
"This Ji Yuan is fiercely attacking Wuwei, how does he have time to write me a letter..."
Zhao Xiang was somewhat puzzled, and after brief hesitation, said: "Open it."
So the chief clerk opened the letter tube.
He took out the letter.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
But on the paper, most of it was blank, with only a few short words.
The moment he saw it, Zheng Tong slightly tilted the paper to prevent Zhao Xiang from catching a glimpse of it from the corner of his eye.
"What does it say?"
Zhao Xiang's expression showed suspicion.
"General, better not look." Zheng Tong shook his head. "It's nothing important."
"Give it to me."
Hearing this, Zhao Xiang directly reached out his hand, displeased.
People are like this—if you tell them to look, they're not interested.
But the more you don't let them do something, the more mysterious it becomes.
Even though logically speaking—these words would definitely hurt him.
Zheng Tong had no choice but to hand over the letter.
And after receiving it, Zhao Xiang's face instantly flushed red.
—Little bastard, send your father instead
"That animal!"
Directly tearing the letter to shreds, Zhao Xiang was completely speechless on the spot: "Is this person bored? So arrogant—sooner or later someone will deal with you!"
Although he said this, right now there really was no one who could deal with him.
"General." Zheng Tong reminded him, "It looks like Wuwei can't hold out for more than a few months either, and Ji Yuan's army hasn't suffered major losses. If reinforcements come, he'll still have the ability to besiege the city and attack the relief forces. I think the court probably won't send reinforcements anymore."
"Everyone knows Shuofeng City can't be held. After this, they'll definitely contract the defense line, abandon Northern Liang, and station troops in Southern Liang to face off against Ji Yuan."
Zhao Xiang was very clear about this.
"We've rallied the remnant troops, plus those wounded soldiers—we have over ten thousand men. They're not militia either, but still elite border troops. The court probably won't let us be wasted needlessly anymore. Most likely we'll implement scorched earth tactics and wait to retreat south." Zheng Tong said.
"That's exactly what I said—preserve our forces, and after retreating south I'll commit suicide to apologize to the world."
The reason Zhao Xiang said this was because he was certain his father wouldn't let him die in vain, the meritorious nobility would jointly petition to protect him, and the Emperor, due to old bonds from following the founding emperor, wouldn't kill him either.
Besides, if you kill someone for losing a battle, who would dare lead troops in the future?
My great-grandfather already suffered all the hardships when he fought alongside the Founding Emperor to establish merit.
At worst, he'd first be demoted to a common soldier, then slowly promoted again later.
Whether he'd be sentenced to death after returning south was hard to say, but if he continued to stay here guarding Shuofeng, he'd really be dead for sure.
"Sweep it away, sweep it away."
Looking at the letter he'd torn into pieces all over the floor, Zhao Xiang felt it was inauspicious and waved his hand.
Just then, another soldier entered the tent to report.
Moreover, he was dripping with sweat and gasping for breath.
"Is this from the court?" The chief clerk recognized this eight-hundred-li express courier.
Zhao Xiang also quickly stood up.
"Imperial Edict—"
After hastily catching his breath, the courier announced in a high-pitched voice.
Seeing this, the two quickly walked forward and prostrated themselves.
"Zhao Xiang, greedy for merit and recklessly advancing, caused our army to suffer severe losses. This has placed Northern Liang in perilous straits—a capital crime deserving of ten thousand deaths. However, during this time when two armies are at war, beheading a general is inauspicious. Therefore, he is demoted from Left General to Centurion, to serve at the front and redeem his crimes through merit, and his title of Marquis of Changxiang is stripped. After the war, further judgment will be rendered!"
Hearing this imperial edict, Zhao Xiang's face flushed red with shame and anger.
"This subject thanks His Majesty for his grace and might. Criminal General Zhao Xiang receives the edict—"
Zhao Xiang raised both hands and received the imperial edict.
Rising shakily, he was somewhat frightened.
Although he knew the Emperor wouldn't issue an order to execute him, after all, he'd lost such a major battle—His Majesty would naturally be furious.
"Gen... Centurion." The soldier awkwardly corrected himself, then presented the military report: "Your Majesty has also issued military orders."
Zhao Xiang received it and quickly opened it.
However, after seeing the words on the military report, he was immediately dumbfounded: "The court wants us to hold firm..."
"Huh?" Zheng Tong was also stunned, then quickly asked: "What about reinforcements? Are there reinforcements?"
"Yes."
"That's good then..."
"Only one thousand."
"Huh?" Zheng Tong again showed an expression of disbelief. "Then who is the commanding general coming to replace you?"
"The Sixth Prince."
After saying these three words, Zheng Tong was completely dumbfounded.
While Zhao Xiang's face turned pale as he slowly raised his head.
This time, I'm really dead for certain.
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