novelAffectionate Eunuch, Merciless Arrow
| ← Ch.548 | Ch.550 → |
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Seeing Fan Xian walk in with a heavy expression, the dazed Hong Zhu climbed up from the ground and knelt in front of him with his head lowered. He did not say a single word.
There was no one else around this room but Fan Xian standing and Hong Zhu kneeling. The faint light outside shone through and cast the two people's shadows against the wall. It looked rather strange.
Fan Xian stared at Hong Zhu's panicked expression. The hand hanging in his sleeve tightened into a fist the slowly released. Tiredly, he said, "I want an explanation for this matter."
Hong Zhu raised his head to glance at him. His eyes were full of guilt and deep self-blame. However, he only lowered his head again to kowtow and didn't explain anything.
Hong Zhu had been Fan Xian's biggest help in the Royal Palace. The reason Fan Xian dared to enter the rear palace with only 200 people and control Hanguang Palace in one stroke depended on his complete knowledge of the situation in the rear palace—the placement of the guards and details of the nobles' lives.
All of this had been in the intelligence reports Hong Zhu had braved with great danger to deliver outside of the Palace. This little eunuch, with his meteoric career, had originally been moved to Hanguang Palace. After the Crown Prince returned to the Eastern Palace, he had gone back, unwilling to leave the Crown Prince behind.
The strangest thing was that all of the nobles appreciated and liked him. Fan Xian was not an exception.
People never knew that Hong Zhu was Fan Xian's spy in the Palace. The strange poisoning of the guards on duty at the door of the Palace to Hanguang Palace was completely the work of this eunuch.
Hong Zhu deserved a great deal of the credit for Fan Xian's successful entry into the Palace. At this time, the gaze Fan Xian turned on him was not gentle. He needed him to give an explanation.
The Crown Prince and empress dowager were in the Eastern Palace, right under Hong Zhu's eye. How could they realize what was happening in the lightning-like entry into the Palace and escape before Fan Xian's sharp sword arrived?
Fan Xian's fists curled together tightly. A dark voice forced its way out from between his teeth. With a cold smile, he said, "You leaked it to them?"
Hong Zhu didn't look at Fan Xian's cold eyes and nodded his head heavily.
Fan Xian sucked in a cold breath and looked at him in disbelief."Do you know what you are doing? We are rebelling, not playing house!"
Worried that others in the Eastern Palace would hear, Fan Xian did not raise his voice. His emotions inside gradually became violent and impatient.
"What's wrong with you? Is your heart soft?" Fan Xian's brows were furrowed tightly. He spoke strangely and quickly in a sinister voice."Your kind-heartedness will hurt the entire Qing Kingdom!"
He stamped the ground by his foot and cursed viciously."I have worked hard to get into the Palace. In the end, you played such a trick. It's fine if you don't want to die, but what about all the people in the Palace. You're forcing me to run without daybreak even arriving yet!"
Fan Xian felt a rare flare of rage because he couldn't understand how such a meticulous plan, in which he had used his spy he had carefully hidden in the Palace for a long time, could have had such a large loophole. He couldn't understand how it happened.
Why? Why! Fan Xian stared at Hong Zhu's face. A dark fire flashed through his eyes.
"The Crown Prince was very good to me." Hong Zhu knelt in front of Fan Xian and suddenly began to cry. Tears rolled down from the corners of his eyes down his young face into his robes."The empress was very pitiful. I thought for a long time but couldn't stop myself in the end."
Hong Zhu began to sob loudly. Snot and tears smeared across his face."Sir, kill me. I don't want to live either. I caused Xiu'er to die, who knows how many other people I am going to hurt. These are all my sins... My sins."
Fan Xian sucked in a breath of cold air. Although he had already cursed earlier, he had not thought that the reason Hong Zhu had let the Crown Prince and the empress go was actually because his heart was soft.
"What about Guangxin Palace?"
"I don't know."
The corners of Fan Xian's eyes twitched. His heart suddenly felt a glimmer of coldness. Looking at the eunuch in front of him, he suddenly opened his mouth and said, "Stand up."
Hong Zhu knelt on the ground not daring to rise.
"Stand up!" Fan Xian's roared in a low voice.
Hong Zhu timidly stood up and suddenly felt a pain below his hips, making him cry out involuntarily. Fan Xian slowly pulled back his hand. There was a complicated emotion on his face. Looking at Hong Zhu and without saying a word, he shook his head a moment later and sighed.
Hong Zhu's face was pale white. He looked with fear at Fan Xian. However, he suddenly thought that since he had secretly told the empress and the Crown Prince to escape before the incident happened, his life was probably already forfeit. Since matters were already like so, what was there to be afraid of?
Thus, he straightened his body and looked at Fan Xian without a word. He was unable to wipe away the thick sense of guilt in his eyes.
Unexpectedly, Fan Xian's didn't say anything and didn't draw his sword in rage and chop off his head. Fan Xian only sighed and waved his hand. He walked alone toward the outside of the Eastern Palace. His retreating figure appeared lonely and desolate.
Hong Zhu watched Fan Xian's in a daze and began to cry again for some reason.
...
...
Fan Xian walked out of the Eastern Palace's main doors and could no longer hear Hong Zhu's crying. His anger had, for no reason, decreased a little, but his heart felt empty.
He waved his hand and called over a subordinate. He ordered him to gather all of the eunuchs and serving girls from the Eastern Palace and Guangxin Palace to the Cold Palace near the Chen corridor to be watched together. Then, he walked alone into the darkness of the Royal Palace.
Hong Zhu's sudden soft-heartedness brought an irreparable loss to his plans. For a moment, the rage-filled Fan Xian indeed had the impetus to kill. This rash feeling immediately disappeared without a trace because he had heard the word "Xiu'er."
When he had been in Hangzhou, he had already wondered what influence the serving girl's death would bring to Hong Zhu's state of mind. From the beginning, he knew that Hong Zhu was not a normal eunuch. He was a eunuch that understood affection and honor. Otherwise, Fan Xian would not entrust so many important matters to him.
However, Fan Xian had not thought that Hong Zhu would be so overly sentimental to be soft-hearted during such an important event as a Palace rebellion.
From this, one could see that the Crown Prince was truly a generous and kind person. Furthermore, the secret-filled Hong Zhu might have developed some different feelings while the Crown Prince was exiled to Nanzhao for a number of months and had been wholly interdependent with the extremely pitiful empress in the Eastern Palace.
Hong Zhu was a sentimental eunuch. He had affection for Fan Xian, which was why he braved such danger to raise a Palace revolt and help him enter the Palace. He also had affection for the Crown Prince and empress, which was why he would let go at the last moment. People have always been complicated creatures, particularly such a eunuch as Hong Zhu, who seemed more like a scholar than scholars.
"Perhaps I am too merciless and that is why I didn't think that people could have such sentiments."
Fan Xian wondered this in his heart and involuntarily thought of Xu Maocai in the Jiaozhou Navy. A self-mocking smile rose to the corners of his lips.
Xu Maocai and Hong Zhu were the two deepest spies he had buried in the Qing court. However, it was in this astonishing court rebellion that both these agents had their own ideas and brought great evils to Fan Xian's plans.
If he didn't have Xu Maocai, he wouldn't have been to escape through the deep sea below Dong Mountain. If he didn't have Hong Zhu, he wouldn't have even been able to enter the rear Palace. He knew that he had no right to blame these trusted aides of anything.
He was reluctant to kill Hong Zhu. He didn't want to blame Hong Zhu. He only thought helplessly that in matters of touching people through emotions, the Crown Prince's practice in this area had far surpassed his own. The Crown Prince occasionally had true affection, while he was a complete sham to the end in this life.
...
...
With the help of the Overwatch Council personnel, the Imperial Army purged the rear palace. All of the guards had been captured and wouldn't be able to cause any more trouble. With a heavy expression, Fan Xian returned to Hanguang Palace but did not go inside to see the empress dowager or comfort the Third Prince and the others. He only gave a few orders in a low voice to Jing Ge outside the Palace.
Jing Ge's expression was slightly confused. It seemed that he hadn't thought that the Commissioner would be considering the problem of failure after such a large victory, but he didn't ask anything. Stretching out his right hand, he pressed the mask firmly against his face and took a knee to accept the order. He then led a portion of the Black Knights that had been brought into the Palace out of it.
From this moment, the safety of Hanguang Palace had been handed to the Imperial Army.
The two main conspirators of the first rebellion in Qing Kingdom's history finally met on the tall palace walls half an hour after the fireworks had shot into the sky.
Fan Xian bowed silently to the fully armored Great Prince. The Great Prince's expression was serious. Despite the armor, he still formally returned the bow. The night wind suddenly picked up. It made the Great Prince's red cape snap in the wind and the black Overwatch Council robes on Fan Xian's body stiffen as if it had been starched.
The soldiers patrolling nervously on the palace walls saw this sight and couldn't help but feel admiration from their heart. Indescribable confidence welled in their hearts. Since the first year of the Qing calendar, the Great Prince had led armies to the West. His prestige had gradually grown. He had yet to experience failure. After Fan Xian took control of the Overwatch Council, he had become Chen Pingping the second. However, he was much prettier than old Director Chen.
The two princes were like the battle robes they wore, a passionate bright red and a cold pure black. With light and darkness joining forces, how many people could stand against it?
Fan Xian and the Great Prince straightened their bodies. Without saying anything, they moved to the outside of the corner tower. They watched the quiet square below the lofty palace walls. In the distance, there came the faint sounds of killing. Further in the distance, there were a few explosions that drew one's attention.
The two of them did not need to speak. Accurately speaking, after the incident at Dong Mountain, the two of them had not met or talked to each other, but they had successfully organized the revolt today in the Palace.
This depended on their mutual trust and confidence. This kind of implicit understanding did not stem from personal advantage but from history. In the Emperor's family, both of these princes had been humiliated and neglected. Their mothers and elders had once battled shoulder to shoulder. Now, these two had finally fought shoulder to shoulder.
There were 3, 000 imperial soldiers. At this moment, 1, 000 were stationed in the Palace, 1, 000 were on the city walls, and 1, 000 had ridden off into the depths of Jingdou. They had to control the entirety of Jingdou before daylight broke. It was indeed too difficult to control Jingdou with 1, 000 people, but if they included the 1, 000 Overwatch Council officials Fan Xian had purposely left outside the Palace as helpers, it would go much more smoothly.
"We must capture them before daylight, " the Crown Prince said in a cold voice, referring to the Crown Prince and his mother, and the Eldest Princess, Li Yunrui. Of the soldiers responsible for rooting them out, at least three small riding groups followed the path around the laundry facility, desperately looking for the people who had escaped out of the Palace.
Fan Xian remained silent. After learning that the Crown Prince and Eldest Princess had escaped the Palace, he had already sent orders to the secret agents and swordsmen of the Overwatch Council. They were all doing their best in Jingdou. However, he knew that just as the Eldest Princess found it difficult to find him when he hid among the sea of residences in Jingdou, it would also be a difficult matter for him to catch her.
This kind of thing depended on luck. Unfortunately, Fan Xian and the Great Prince only had the three hours [JW1] before daylight arrived.
"Everything is fine in Hanguang Palace." Fan Xian didn't comment on the Great Prince's words. His eyes looked at the soldiers below the palace walls and changed the subject, "The empress dowager is fine."
The Great Prince furrowed his brows and didn't say anything.
The Great Prince had always been a straightforward, lenient, and filial person. It was impossible for him to do what Fan Xian could do. Even hearing about the empress dowager made him feel gloomy and a bit uneasy.
Fan Xian gazed at him with a slight smile, as if seeing through the shadows in his heart. He opened his mouth and said, "In the battle for imperial power, it is always a matter of life and death. We are only carrying out the Emperor's posthumous edict. The history books will give you the assessment you deserve."
"I don't care about that." The Great Prince shook his head and welcomed the night win on the loft palace walls. In a quiet voice, he said, "There is no need to say more. Since father has given you full authority in the edict to handle this matter, I trust that you will be able to handle it well. I have confidence in you."
If he didn't have confidence, the always filial Great Prince would not risk Lady Ning's life to raise troops in revolt.Fan Xian looked at the expansive Royal Palace and comparatively sparse number of soldiers and sighed. In the front and rear of the Royal Palace, there were only 1, 000 soldiers. It was impossible for one to feel a strong sense of support.
The Great Prince understood what he was worried about. After a moment of silence he said, "Father took a group of the Imperial Army to Dong Mountain, and we have lost more tonight. But, rest assured, a one-to-three ratio has always been used to guard cities. Particularly for a Royal Palace like this, one-to-four is also fine."
"But the Royal Palace is very big. It is difficult to watch every party." Fan Xian lowered his head and calculated."If the Eldest Princess and Crown Prince actually escaped Jingdou and met up with the Jingdou Garrison, how many soldiers could the old Qin family bring into the city?"
"The Jingdou Garrison has 10, 000 people." Since the Great Prince had raised the troops, he had calculated clearly the military power inside and outside Jingdou."If we combine our strength, we have around 5, 000 people. We should be able to resist them."
"My people can't be used to guard the Palace." Fan Xian shook his head and raised his right arm to point at Jingdou's sea of homes in the darkness."They only have power in there."
He turned and looked at the Great Prince's profile and said with slight worry, "You've forgotten one thing. The Second Prince is not in the Palace. If he acts fast, he may have already slipped out of the city. Do you not need to worry about Ye Zhong's people? Besides, the military power of the old Qin family is not limited to just the Jingdou Garrison."
The corners of the Great Prince's eyes twitched. If the Ye and Qin families actually attacked together, even if another 3, 000 imperial soldiers suddenly appeared in the Royal Palace, he still wouldn't have much confidence.
"The Royal Palace is an isolated palace and doesn't have grain and food like large counties. If we are surrounded by an army, how many days can we hold out?"
The Great Prince abruptly turned and stared at Fan Xian's eyes."What exactly do you want to say? I know that the Royal Palace is not easy to guard, but why are we guarding the Palace and not the city?"
"Guard the city? Do we have any of the 13 city gate guards in our hands? We have no idea which of the nine gates would quietly be opened by the Eldest Princes, just like how I knocked open the rear palace doors."
"Don't hide it from me, " the Great Prince said."It is impossible that you have just given up the city gates. Your people have already gone last night. The agent that the Eldest Princess had hidden among the city gate guards has already been killed by you."
Fan Xian laughed self-mockingly and said, "The Overwatch Council is not a god. It is impossible to have rooted out all of the Eldest Princess' agents. I must prepare for the worst. If the empress dowager's edict is unable to subdue Commander Zhang of the city gate guards, then you and I will have to be prepared to be surrounded by an army inside the Palace."
"I only want to know how many days before the Qin family's army would be able to enter the capital. Ye Zhong has taken an order to return to Dingzhou. Even if he stopped halfway, he still needs time to reach the capital."
"If we're just counting the Jingdou Garrison, they can arrive in one day, " Fan Xian said calmly."The Qin family army will probably arrive four days later. Ye Zhong's return to the capital should be around the same time."
The Great Prince didn't ask why Fan Xian was so knowledgeable about the Qin family's plans. He believed that the Overwatch Council had agents in the Qin family's army just like they did in the Imperial Army. The purge earlier would not have gone so smoothly if Fan Xian hadn't named their opponents to him.
"You can control the city gate guards." The Great Prince watched Fan Xian's eyes and suddenly turned the conversation back."If you couldn't, you wouldn't have the courage to take action. I am curious as to what you are saying these things to me right now."
Fan Xian fell silent.
"Earlier, Jing Ge came to me with your Council token. He took 200 horses and left the Palace, " the Great Prince looked at him coldly and said."Don't tell me you don't have some ideas."
Fan Xian suddenly smiled and said, "Actually, I wanted to say... Let's run."
...
...
A muffled crash rang out. An angry Great Prince slammed his hand against the bricks on the palace walls and said angrily in a low voice, "Run? You're crazy!"
Fan Xian smiled bitterly."I think I am indeed crazy... Where could I escape to? It was only a joke. Don't get so worked up, alright?"
"This is not the time to make jokes!"
"Everyone is so tense. What's wrong with me making a joke to relax the atmosphere?"
Fan Xian's words were not just a joke. If it had been in the past, when the situation had taken such a turn for the worse, perhaps he would have escaped a long time ago for his own safety. If the Crown Prince and Eldest Princess slipped out of Jingdou, then the seemingly great situation at present would be destroyed at once.
The Great Prince suddenly sighed and heavily patted his shoulder."You've never led an army and have never seen a true battlefield. It is not strange that you have such thoughts."
As if to give Fan Xian more confidence, the Great Prince lowered his voice and said, "With the help of your people in controlling the city gate guards, even if there are 4, 000 people, I can hold Jingdou for 10 days!"
Below the palace walls, the Overwatch Council officials escorted a line of carriages closer to the Palace gates. The Great Prince narrowed his eyes and gazed at the officials who had been tortured for a confession by the Crown Prince came down from the carriage."With this group of officials present, how can we escape? How could we have the heart to escape?"
Fan Xian was silent. He nodded his head and said, "In your opinion, we should open the court conference today, announce the posthumous edict, and depose the Crown Prince."
The Great Prince furrowed his brows and said, "Circulate in all directions and order all four Roads of the military to return as fast as possible to provide aid."
"Three of the armies are on the borders. They won't be able to make it back in less than 10 days. The closest is the Yanjing Camp. If we summon back soldiers..."
Fan Xian's heart was slightly cold."You and I may become criminals of Qing Kingdom."
Fan Xian wasn't worried about just anyone. He was worried about the unfathomable Emperor in Northern Qi. In this world, news traveled too slowly. Fan Xian knew that since the Governor of the Northern Western Army had been killed by him and the lives and deaths of the soldiers below Dong Mountain were uncertain, if, at this moment, chaos broke out in the Royal Palace and he summoned back the army stationed in Yanjing in the name of supervising the country, it may become part of the Northern Qi's Emperor's calculations.
He was worried that before the Yanjing camp was able to reach the capital and subdue the Ye and Qin families, the Northern soldiers would already have reached the South.
After experiencing matters for so many years, Fan Xian knew that the Northern Qi Emperor was truly the most incredible person in the world. Since he had communicated secretly with the Eldest Princess and participated on the inside in the Dong Mountain matter, he would definitely not pass up on such a great opportunity.
Therefore, the Yanjing camp could not move.
The Great Prince's expression also became heavy. He knew that Fan Xian's worries were very reasonable, "10 days... We can hold for 10 days at the most. If we can't move troops back to save the country..."
He suddenly smiled and gazed at Fan Xian."Looks like what you said makes sense. Our best choice would indeed be to run away as soon as possible tonight."
After he said this, Fan Xian stared. Immediately after, their eyes met. They began to laugh without any reason.
The laughter spread out from the palace walls and startled the scholars Shu and Hu by the palace gates below into looking up. They could faintly make out that it was the Great Prince and Fan Xian. Involuntarily, the two scholars felt their hearts ease slightly, thinking, If these two could still laugh so joyously at this time, then the situation must be settled.
No one knew how much helplessness and bitterness was in their laughter. With great mutual understanding, the two of them never brought up the matter of escape again. Since the two of them were already standing on the palace walls, then running away was not reasonable.
"Today, we are unifying the situation. Spread the posthumous edict through the streets and alleys of Jingdou to steady the people's hearts. Send a public edict to each of the provinces." After the laughter stopped, Fan Xian gazed at the Great Prince with a slight smile."Use the empress dowager's edict to steady the city gate guards and then take control. You said that you can hold the army out for 10 days, then I will give you 10 days."
"Ten days for sure." The Great Prince grasped the sword at his waist tightly. His expression was determined. However, he thought to himself that the blockade around the Royal Palace would be broken eventually in 10 days. Why was Fan Xian so fixated on this time?
"You have to do your best to give me these 10 days."
Fan Xian coughed gently and took out a sharp-smelling pill and swallowed it. His expression was calm."Although I've never led troops, I still know that the most important thing in an army are the leaders at various levels. Imagine if all of the soldiers from the commander to the secondary commanders to the deputy generals to the officers all died. What would this army look like?"
"A plate of loose sand that would fall before being attacked." The Great Prince furrowed his brows slightly and looked at Fan Xian. If all of the leading officers in the army mysteriously died within 10 days, then he would be able to hold Jingdou, but... No matter how skilled the Overwatch Council was in assassinations, no matter how excellent you were in poisons, it would be impossible to complete such an unnatural thing among the thousands of troops.
Fan Xian didn't resolve his confusion and continued calmly."If even the Crown Prince and the Eldest Princess suddenly died, do you think this army would still have any reason to exist?"
The Great Prince looked at him with a face full of confusion. He wondered if Fan Xian had gone crazy.
Fan Xian smiled slightly."The reason I am not running and am willing to guard this lonely city with you is not because I am brave. It is because I have never lost confidence. After this matter, I'm afraid my days will not be easy to live through."
The Great Prince did not understand what Fan Xian was saying. If Fan Xian truly brought out the assault rifle killing machine, who knew how the future would develop?
Suddenly, there was a burst of chaos at the palace gate below. A group of riders arrived in the dust and seemed to have caught a person. The Great Prince focused his gaze and saw that the person captured was a woman. However, the distance was too large, so he couldn't see clearly. It seemed she was wearing a normal serving girl's clothing.
Fan Xian narrowed his eyes as he looked and faintly said, "Our luck is still very good. Look, the empress has already been caught. Could the Crown Prince and Eldest Princess be far?"
After saying this, he turned and walked down from the palace walls along the wide stone steps. He was getting ready to welcome the old officials who had suffered and prepare for court conference tomorrow. He quietly considered what kind of crime he was going to arrange for the Crown Prince and Eldest Princess. At the same time, he got ready to comfort the pitiful, stupid, and unlucky empress.
"Should I shut the empress and Hong Zhu in the same room?" A strange idea suddenly surged up in Fan Xian's mind. He quietly thought to himself that, actually, he was quite sentimental.
On the stone steps, his coughing became worse and worse, more and more serious. It seemed that the sharp smelling pill he took earlier didn't have any effect. He leaned against the wall beside the stone stairs and calmed his state of mind. He took out another pill and stuffed it in his mouth. Biting down a few times, he swallowed it down.
The sharp smell was the scent of ephedra leaves. After this pill had been created by Fan Xian and his colleagues in the Third Bureau, it was the second time it had been taken in the world. The strength of this type of pill was overly tyrannical. The ephedra leaves were like a stimulant and could easily make one distracted and zhenqi become chaotic.
The first time this medicine was taken was also by Fan Xian. It had been a few years ago on the sheer precipice on Xi Mountain in Northern Qi when he had faced the combined attacks of Liang Tiao and the others.
Fan Xian breathed forcefully a few times and calmed his mind. After escaping from Dong Mountain, he had been scratched by Ye Liuyun's sword intent, chased across hundreds of li by Yan Xiaoyi, and finally taken an arrow close to his heart. His injuries had been grievous. He had been unable to obtain good treatment. His entire body was already reaching a breaking point.
Although he had rested for a few days in Lady Sun's boudoir, his present realm was still only an eighth of his full strength. In order to break into the Palace, he had no choice but to take this harmful medicine again to ensure that his power would be fully demonstrated.
The first time he took this medicine was for Xiao En, for the secret of the Temple in the old man's mouth. The second time he took this medicine was to break into the Palace, for the territories of Qing Kingdom. There are many things in the world that are more important than health, Fan Xian thought to himself as he walked down....
Jingdou was in chaos. Compared to the battle-less victory with the Ministry of Justice and Jingdou government, the attack on the Eldest Princess's other manor sunk into a bitter battle from the beginning. The flames that Fan Xian and the Great Prince had seen from the palace walls were a cruel plan that the Overwatch Council had no choice but to use when attacking.
Fortunately, the Eldest Princess was not in the manor. Yuan Hongdao, the main Xinyang strategist, who was supposed to be organizing the defenses, seemed to have been terrified out of his wits by the attack. Thus, the aces and serving girls in the manor had eventually been turned into hedgehogs and poisoned into stiff corpses after the Overwatch Council had paid the price of 10 bodies.
When the Overwatch Council officials broke in, the head of the First Bureau, Mu Feng, received a deep cut on his left shoulder. The blood flowed freely, but his face had an uncaring expression. Viciously, he held the short sword across Yuan Hongdao's neck.
What surprised him was that the strategist he had seized in the Eldest Princess' manor did not seem to be overly scared. Instead, he was very anxious.
Yuan Hongdao gazed at Mu Feng'er and anxiously said, "I have an important matter to report to the Duke of Danbo!"
[JW1] Possibly six hours.
| ← Ch. 548 | Ch. 550 → |