Chapter 41 Part 2

Li Jianwei felt uneasy, dismissing talk of ghosts and spirits. After all, thousands of Xiongnu had died by her hand—if the dead became ghosts, how could she still be alive?

Learning it was only half an hour until dawn, Li Jianwei simply got up and went to the study, lighting a lamp to handle the piled-up military affairs.

For the next five days, Li Jianwei slept dreamlessly until dawn, but she didn’t relax—instead, she grew anxious inwardly over the lack of letters from her father.

On the sixth dreamless afternoon, a pale-faced personal guard galloped to the General’s Mansion entrance and collapsed upon dismounting.

“General, I must see the general.” The guard’s face was sallow, his body emitting a faint rotten stench from untreated wounds.

Recognizing him as one of the guards who accompanied the Grand General to the capital, the gate guards hurried him to Li Jianwei.

“General! The Grand General and the Heir Apparent were framed by villains and had no choice but to die to prove their innocence!” The guard trembled as he spoke, pulling a Blood Letter from his bosom.

“This is from the Heir Apparent, ordering this subordinate to deliver it to the general with utmost haste.” With that, the guard’s head lolled as he fainted, his withered fingers still clutching the Blood Letter tightly.

Li Jianwei’s complexion was very poor, and after seeing the Blood Letter, she gritted her teeth even tighter.

Rushing from the capital all the way here on fast horses would take at least six days at the quickest, which meant that her father had been killed less than six days after returning to the capital to report on his duties.

Those dreams of hers weren’t just daytime thoughts manifesting in nighttime dreams; they were her father and brother entrusting dreams to her after their deaths! Warning her to beware of the foolish emperor! Not to fall into the trap!

“Send the man down for proper treatment, and summon General Han and General Zhang. For now, don’t alarm the outside.” Li Jianwei calmly issued the orders.

Since the dreams from her father and brother were real, then the dreams from the old steward couldn’t be fake either. Even if her father and brother had died to make their stance clear, that didn’t stop the foolish emperor from exterminating her entire family!

The personal guard saluted and accepted the orders. Less than half an hour later, the two generals hurried over from their homes.

Since the personal guard hadn’t revealed any information on the road, General Han still wore an obvious look of confusion when he arrived, while General Zhang seemed to have guessed something but didn’t dare speak it outright.

“This is the Blood Letter that the personal guard risked his life to bring back. Father and Brother were both killed by the foolish emperor!” Li Jianwei’s eyes reddened as she dropped the thunderous news.

“How could this be!” Shock that General Han couldn’t suppress appeared on his face as his trembling hand picked up the Blood Letter.

The sovereign believes slander, imposes crimes without basis, father forced to death, son follows, absolutely do not return to the capital!

The Blood Letter contained only a short twenty characters, but the information it conveyed was enough to leave General Han stunned for a long time.

“Young General, are there any trustworthy officials in the capital? If the Grand General and the Heir Apparent have been killed, I’m afraid the madam and the family members will be implicated too!” General Zhang reacted quickly.

“Mother won’t sit idly by. I need to send someone south to rendezvous with her.” Li Jianwei spoke as if she had just realized it, her tone urgent. “I’ll trouble the two generals to handle military affairs in my stead. I’m setting off immediately.”

“General, leave this matter to me. The foolish emperor could force the Grand General and the Heir Apparent to their deaths only because the Grand General didn’t bring his army back. You absolutely cannot leave the Northern Border, or you’ll give the foolish emperor an opportunity!” General Zhang subtly changed his form of address.

“Young General, leave it to me too! I’ll immediately muster a thousand cavalry and head south! The local officials in the nearby prefectures are old acquaintances of mine; they definitely won’t make trouble for me!” General Han followed up.

–

While Li Jianwei entrusted General Zhang to lead the cavalry south for the rendezvous, the situation in the capital was also quite turbulent. Civil and military officials were all making an issue out of the deaths of Northern Pacifying Grand General, Loyal and Brave Marquis Li Liang, and the Heir Apparent of the marquis manor, demanding that the emperor thoroughly investigate.

The emperor sitting on the dragon throne had quite the headache. He did indeed want to reclaim the military authority in Li Liang’s hands, but he hadn’t been in such a hurry to force the man to death.

Thinking of this, the emperor’s gaze toward Prince Wei turned unfriendly.

His eldest son was truly an impatient fool. He had only hinted that the man could act against Li Liang, and he had eagerly jumped in to do so.

If the methods had been more sophisticated, that would have been one thing, but he had used such despicable tricks—deliberately luring the man to the rear palace to pin the crime of offending the imperial consorts on him and his son, then hastily sending men to surround the marquis manor, claiming they had found dragon robes and armor inside. The frame-up was far too obvious.

In the end, not only did it force Li Liang and his son to prove their innocence with death at the palace gates, but the news hadn’t even been contained. In just a few days, this absurd affair had spread throughout the capital.

Which military officer didn’t know that Li Liang had diligently guarded the Northern Border for thirty years? How could they not feel sorrow for a fellow’s demise upon seeing Li Liang die like this?

Li Liang’s son had properly entered the Hanlin Academy through the imperial examinations. Though only a compiler, he had studied under a great Confucian scholar. How could his teacher and classmates let him die an unjust death?

Better off having given birth to a slab of barbecued pork! How could there be such a stupid person in the world? Had his brain been eaten by a dog?

The emperor’s gaze toward his eldest son grew even colder, but no matter how much he cursed inwardly, he wouldn’t admit aloud that Li Liang and his son had died unjustly.

“Rebelling against superiors—is there any doubt? As outer ministers, offending the rear palace consorts is already a capital crime! Not to mention the over a hundred sets of armor, weapons, and dragon robes found in the marquis manor!” The emperor kept a stern face, adopting a sufficiently tough attitude.

“There’s no need for further words from you all. If not for Li Liang’s past service in garrisoning the Northern Border for Great Jin, This Emperor wouldn’t have spared his family from the death penalty!”

With the emperor’s attitude so firm, the civil and military officials not aligned with the Eldest Prince’s faction were equally firm, directly kneeling and refusing to rise, requesting that the emperor permit a joint trial by the three departments to thoroughly investigate the case.

Seeing half the civil and military officials kneel, the officials supporting the Eldest Prince’s faction also knelt, lest they become the ones sticking their necks out.

“We beseech Your Majesty to reconsider.” The civil and military officials called out in unison.

“Imperial Father, the crimes of Li Liang and his son in offending the imperial family are unforgivable, but since Imperial Father has already spared their family from the death penalty, why not first withdraw the wanted orders on them and instead issue a decree summoning Little General Li back to the capital from the Northern Border.”

The Second Prince jumped out amid the stalemate to smooth things over. “If Little General Li feels her father and brother were wronged, then we can proceed with a joint trial by the three departments.”

“Imperial Father, This Son believes there’s no need for further investigation. Li Liang and his son rebelling against superiors is ironclad proof. Sparing their nine clans from extermination for rebellion is already Imperial Father showing mercy beyond the law due to his merits.” The Eldest Prince also spoke up, firm in his belief that he was right.

When dealing with meritorious subjects whose power shakes the sovereign, one must act swiftly. With Li Liang and his son already dead, as long as Imperial Father’s attitude remained tough enough, the officials unwilling to lose their posts would gradually soften.

Not to mention anything else—as long as Imperial Father showed intent to select a new general to garrison the Northern Border, the military officials would collapse on their own.

As for the civil officials, their bones were always soft. Grab a few, throw them in jail, and dismiss them from office, and they would naturally learn to shut up.

The emperor glanced at his two sons. He wasn’t unaware of his eldest son’s schemes, but that didn’t stop him from thinking the man was a slab of barbecued pork.

Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fresh fish—master the heat, apply tension and release with measure. Not blast it on high heat and stir-fry wildly, thinking it’s done just because it’s no longer raw, then serve it up for others to eat.

The proper way to deal with Li Liang should have been a mix of favors and threats: give him an idle post in the capital for a promotion in name but demotion in reality, then marry off a princess or county princess to the Heir Apparent of the marquis manor, and the military authority would soon return.

The emperor had many thoughts racing through his mind. Looking at the kneeling officials, he could only let out a long sigh. “This matter… This Emperor will consider further. Halt the pursuit of Li Liang’s family for now. This Emperor has no intention of taking their lives.”

After the emperor showed some concession, most of the officials had achieved their goal and began calling out “Long live,” while the voices demanding a thorough investigation grew fewer.

This absurd scene left a certain Hanlin Academy compiler who had been in office for a year dumbfounded. Where was the wise sovereign they spoke of? Were all the civil and military officials in the court useless? This matter was clearly a villain’s frame-up!

Shu Heng couldn’t figure it out. After court dismissed, she returned to her seat and stared blankly at the histories and classics.

When the rabbits die, the hunting dogs are cooked; when the birds are gone, the bow is hidden. Could the Loyal and Brave Marquis incident have benefited His Majesty behind the scenes? Otherwise, how would a mere eunuch have the guts to accuse him?

“Shu Heng, His Majesty wants you to draft the decree summoning Li Jianwei back to the capital.” Her superior returned with the order.

“Yes, this official will draft the decree immediately.” Shu Heng responded instinctively, only realizing afterward that she might become an accomplice.

His Majesty’s hostility toward the Loyal and Brave Marquis’s family was already obvious. Summoning Li Jianwei back to the capital at this time was just to more easily seize military authority and, by the way, root out the weeds.

Though it might not necessarily be rooting out the weeds entirely—since His Majesty had already spared the Loyal and Brave Marquis’s family, perhaps he only wanted to seize the military authority.

After being stripped of power, Little General Li might even be “graciously” granted a marriage.

Shu Heng thought of many things while grinding ink. She picked up her brush and put it down multiple times, sighed countless times, and finally sent off the drafted decree.

She was merely a lowly rank-six Hanlin Academy compiler; she couldn’t even overturn her own father’s wrongful case, let alone have the means to interfere in a major affair involving treason.

She only hoped that this Little General Li had some plan in mind and wouldn’t blindly obey the decree, foolishly returning alone to the capital to be at others’ mercy.