Chapter 89: News Reaches Sheng'an, The Emperor's Fury

Illegitimate Son of a Noble House

"Eight hundred li emergency—"

The military report from Langya crossed thousands of li and was delivered to the palace, into the hands of Emperor Yu.

Looking at this military dispatch, the expression on the Emperor's face grew increasingly severe.

His hand gripping the paper tightened more and more.

Suddenly, he hurled the military report in his hand forcefully to the ground, veins bulging: "I should have strangled him to death right from the start!"

The eunuchs and palace maids in the palace immediately knelt on the ground, prostrating themselves face-down against the stone floor, each one trembling with fear.

"Chen Bao!"

The Emperor looked toward the head eunuch prostrating at the very front, still thunderous with rage, his tone filled with unconcealed killing intent.

Chen Bao tremblingly raised his head.

"Yes." Chen Bao quickly crawled over, and kneeling on the ground, he began reading this military intelligence that had so rarely angered the Emperor to this degree.

As he read, he too felt shocked to his core.

"Was this instigated by that jieyuan?" the Emperor interrogated him.

"..." Chen Bao raised his head, looking at the Emperor. After a brief internal struggle, he nodded, "Yes, it was instigated by the jieyuan!"

This military report contained no emotion whatsoever; it merely recounted everything that had transpired, including the subsequent process of the Forbidden Army taking over the naval and garrison forces.

The military report didn't carry a shred of speculation.

But no one was a fool.

Chen Bao could naturally see that this was Song Shi'an's idea.

His Highness was merely the executor.

Back when appointments were made at the Secretariat, every single one of Song Shi'an's words revealed his ambition.

Now that such an appalling incident had occurred, the mastermind behind it was naturally identified.

One could even say that his proactive proposal to go to Shuofeng was all to become Wei Wusheng's trusted confidant and rapidly seize power.

This man's obsession with power had already reached a maddening degree.

"Throw the entire Song family into the Court of Judicial Review, go!"

Pointing at Chen Bao, the Emperor was like an enraged dragon about to unleash his heavenly might.

"Yes!" Chen Bao immediately rose, backing away, walking out of the hall with the appearance of someone about to carry out the order.

"Enough!" But very quickly, the Emperor spoke again in fury.

Chen Bao immediately stopped and waited for the command.

He understood everything.

Having served this true dragon for so many years, which of his words were genuine, which were tests, and which were completely spoken in anger—no one understood better than Chen Bao.

Just now, those were words spoken in anger.

"Withdraw."

After calming down slightly, the Emperor's tone returned to calm, but the frost-like coldness in his words made one feel not a trace of human emotion.

"Yes."

All the eunuchs and palace maids in the hall departed.

The Emperor sat on the dragon throne, closed his eyes, and after a long while slowly opened them.

He increasingly felt that dream had not been without foundation.

The next day.

Another eight hundred li emergency military report came flying in.

And this time, it was from Shuofeng.

After reading it, this time the Emperor showed no emotional changes whatsoever: "Summon the Duke of Li to the palace."

After issuing this command, the Duke of Li once again entered the palace.

The two men sat facing each other.

"Duke of Li, please look."

Chen Bao handed him the one from Langya.

As he read, his emotions were slightly more stable than the Emperor's. But he was still agitated.

"Absurd, this is simply absurd."

An ordinary person could never evaluate an imperial prince this way—that would be insubordination, presuming on seniority, a capital offense.

Even the Duke of Li couldn't directly name Wei Wusheng.

But this matter was truly terrifyingly serious.

It completely disrupted, or rather utterly destroyed, the Empire's plan to retreat and defend Southern Liang to contend with Ji Yuan.

"With so many supplies, the vast majority pressed into Shuofeng, if this battle is lost... Not to mention the loss of several thousand veteran soldiers, the entire army of Liang Prefecture will be unable to move, only able to defend passively." The Duke of Li analyzed quite sharply, "Although the original plan was to defend, being forced to defend is completely different. Without the ability to deploy and command troops, even if Xiao Qun were replaced, he would have difficulty achieving anything."

"And Ji Yuan, after swallowing all of Northern Liang and reorganizing, once the snow melts, will be able to point his sword directly at Southern Liang, and then expand throughout the entire north." What the Emperor feared was precisely this point.

The fall of Wuwei was already a major strategic defeat.

Now, the strategic importance of Shuofeng had risen again.

These two defeats, while not enough to completely break Great Yu, had struck at vital points and caused severe injury.

But for the false Qi to the north, this was exhilarating for the entire nation.

Ji Yuan, in his prime years, already had the momentum to devour all under heaven.

"Was this the jieyuan's idea?" the Duke of Li asked.

"Without a doubt." the Emperor said, "With Shuofeng being a certain death situation, he proactively went there because he wanted to control the pieces."

"So arrogant, and yet he managed to hold the city." The Duke of Li shook his head and laughed with a sigh.

"This is Wei Wusheng's other eight hundred li emergency." The Emperor extended his hand.

Chen Bao brought it over.

After the Duke of Li finished reading this one, he also calmed down somewhat. Not that he approved—it was just that he'd already been angry earlier.

"He's taking all the blame himself, wanting to exonerate that jieyuan." the Emperor said.

"Then at the very least, the northern military situation must be kept secret for now." the Duke of Li said, "These developments should not be made known to all the officials, much less spread among the common people, or else panic will spread throughout the nation."

"Paper cannot contain fire; it won't be hidden for long." the Emperor said.

"Then when the time comes, push that jieyuan out to be the target of everyone's arrows."

Although in this matter, the most detestable one was Wei Wusheng.

But imperial princes could not make mistakes.

Mistakes made by imperial princes could only be defined and judged by the Emperor.

No one else could attack an imperial prince.

But if this anger had nowhere to vent and was suppressed, that would be most fatal.

If this were a unified dynasty, a tyrant could silence all the officials.

But now, with the realm divided and beset by internal and external troubles, at this time one couldn't treat imperial authority too much as imperial authority, or treat the Emperor too much as an emperor.

This power had to be greatly discounted.

But with a chosen target for venting and suppression, emotions wouldn't be repressed.

One could even say that the Emperor who sent his son out would have to compensatorily give the dove faction something.

The Song clan wasn't meritorious nobility, nor were they Jiangnan aristocracy. Once Song Jing went down, this vacated important position would become a bargaining chip for easing tensions.

"What about Shuofeng?" the Emperor asked.

"This subject thinks we still need to issue several more edicts to replace the Sixth Prince." the Duke of Li said.

"Mm."

The Emperor nodded.

Both men's hearts were clear as mirrors—at this stage, edicts were fucking useless.

But at least they had to make Wei Wusheng understand that this kind of reckless behavior didn't come without any resistance.

Even if he truly won in the future, disrespecting edicts and such would still need to be settled, deducting some merit.

Of course, that towering merit could never be completely erased.

"But as for Liang Prefecture..."

Looking at the Duke of Li, this man of similar age to himself, the Emperor said with some reluctance: "Old brother, why don't you make a trip?"

"If Your Majesty asks this subject to go, this subject will naturally not decline." the Duke of Li said with difficulty, "But Xiao Qun is already there, trust him. Him being there makes little difference from this subject being there."

Seeing even this Duke of Li, who had once ranged across all directions and toppled several states, also succumb to age, the Emperor's sense of security became increasingly lacking.

"Then is Liang Prefecture just going to be like this?" the Emperor asked.

After a brief pause, the Duke of Li reluctantly spoke: "Liang Prefecture has no more troops to deploy. From Qin Prefecture and Huai Prefecture, mobilize as many tens of thousands of provincial troops as possible and hand them over to Xiao Qun."

"Then that's all we can do."

Song Shi'an had thrown all of Liang Prefecture into chaos.

Although both the Duke of Li and the Emperor wished they could execute him by a thousand cuts, at this juncture they could only grit their teeth and provide support.

………

In the general's headquarters set up in the county office, Song Shi'an and Wei Wusheng were gathered around a sand table, engaged in discussion.

Suddenly, thinking of something, Wei Wusheng asked with some concern: "If my letter reaches Sheng'an and gets into His Majesty's hands, what will he do?"

"He'll probably be very angry." Song Shi'an said with a smile.

"Of course, he might even regret not strangling me to death when I was born." Wei Wusheng said self-deprecatingly.

But Song Shi'an didn't dare laugh at this joke.

Not everything could be treated as a laughing matter.

Though admittedly, it was kind of funny.

The sixty-year-old Emperor shaking with rage, roaring in the palace: Damn that Wei Wusheng, I'll fucking strangle you, you sword bastard!

"Besides being angry, what else will he do?" Wei Wusheng asked.

"Mm..." Song Shi'an wasn't entirely certain, but he offered a very general possibility: "I think he'll probably send reinforcements to help."

Actually, the entire world could be described as one big stock market.

The development of human history was just fucking stock trading.

Right now Shuofeng's stock price had fallen to rock bottom, but confidence is more important than gold—you can't just let it rot, so the old Emperor would release some so-called positive announcements to pull up the stock price and find an opportunity to dump it.

But at this moment, Wei Wusheng, this rebellious son, had misappropriated his account and thrown a huge pile of money into it.

Even though Shuofeng was still falling.

What could the old Emperor, already trapped in it, do?

I'm also helpless, but I can only average down!

Anyone playing with leverage fucking deserves it!

"Then that would be much better." Wei Wusheng liked this.

"Yes, although Ji Yuan is strong, Northern Qi is slightly weaker than our Great Yu. Even if these troops don't directly participate in battle, stationed at strategic chokepoints and defending, they can still tie down quite a few of his forces, relieving some of the pressure from the siege." Song Shi'an said.

"Then Ji Yuan will probably also squeeze the rear, sending as many reinforcements as possible." Wei Wusheng speculated.

"That's certain." Song Shi'an wasn't worried about this point, "To our northeast, his direct east, there's still Liaodong. If he forcibly increases troops, his concerns will be even greater than ours."

"Shuofeng has actually become a battle for national destiny."

This was something Wei Wusheng hadn't expected.

Regarding this, Song Shi'an "complimented": "This is what befits your status, Your Highness."

"I like this joke of yours."

Wei Wusheng had originally been quite worried, but now was completely relaxed.

The situation had become extremely simple.

Win and you're a pillar of the nation; lose and you're a national parasite.

"Now the problem is, how should we deal with these bandits?"

Returning to the sand table, Wei Wusheng used his sword to point at those small fortresses.

These were all the "castles" of the clan bandits outside the city.

It wasn't only nations that possessed cities—some border aristocratic families with powerful influence would also construct smaller-scale, single-function fortified compounds.

During the Eastern Jin period, many aristocratic families did this sort of thing.

In wartime, they would turtle up inside their compounds, listening to neither the state's commands nor the enemy state's.

Gathering all their treasures, grain, and clan members together. Great Yu called these people "clan bandits."

In peacetime they were fine, still counting as Great Yu's subjects.

But once war broke out, you couldn't control them anymore.

And don't expect to suppress them by force.

Siege warfare consumed the most resources.

In Northern Liang's Chishui River basin, the fertile plains granary, there were over a dozen of these fortified compounds.

Other commoners and county towns could implement scorched earth tactics. Only these people couldn't evacuate.

The fortified compounds were their entire wealth—if they left, they'd have nothing.

When Ji Yuan arrived, he also wouldn't painstakingly attack them one by one.

To maximize unity and minimize casualties, he would promise all the compound masters that their land and fortifications would still belong to them after the war.

But during wartime, they had to lend them to him for garrisoning troops, and all their grain and laborers had to be entirely at his disposal.

If these compounds fell into Ji Yuan's hands, that would be very troublesome.

It would be equivalent to him possessing over a dozen solid encampments south of Chishui River. Even General Xiao Qun's reinforcements wouldn't have much means to intimidate them.

Compared to clan members, clan bandits were the most fucking detestable.

Because they also had soldiers in their hands.

"We need to think of a way to make all the people from the clan bandit compounds evacuate completely. Then, burn all the fortified compounds to the ground, not leaving Ji Yuan a single usable room." Wei Wusheng was extremely conflicted.

But Song Shi'an was quite composed.

After killing people, he had evolved.

Become even more decisive.

"It seems you have a plan?"

Wei Wusheng asked.

"Not so much a plan, but I have a few phrases to deal with these clan bandits."

"What phrases?"

"Unite the great majority, strike at the small minority."

Using his fingers to flick away the largest and most important fortress among the compounds like flicking someone's forehead: "The ringleaders must be punished; those coerced will not be questioned."