“Your Majesty, General Yan, it’s General Yan.”
This time, Fu Cong came back with such outstanding military service. In addition to Princess Mingzhu waiting outside the city gate, Emperor Zhou and his two princes had already sent someone to guard outside the city gate. After the other party entered the city, they immediately went into the palace to report.
The banquet was also ready, all the cabinet ministers who called sitting in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Everyone was beaming with joy. That was Ming. Their Great Zhou unexpectedly conquered most of Ming. Now the other side was huddled in a tiny land. It estimated that in a short time, this Ming would thoroughly disappear from the long river of history.
How long had it been? More than half a year ago, they were still lamenting for the ten cities because of Yan Chu’s fault. Now General Fu had taken back the cities ceded to the other side. He was indeed a young hero and a blessing to Great Zhou.
However, this smile did not last long. Suddenly, the little eunuch came in and stopped the greetings and whispers in the palace. All the people, including Emperor Zhou, Empress Zhou, and the two princes, looked at him with inexplicable eyes. What General Yan? Wasn’t Yan Chu still in Yan Residence?
“The army’s leader returned, it’s not the emperor’s son-in-law, but General Yan.”
The little eunuch realized that he had not explained it, so he quickly calmed down the ups and downs of the tone and recounted. The original quiet Hall of Supreme Harmony abruptly exploded.
“How could it be?”
The crown prince was the first one who did not believe and stood up, “Yan Chu surely is still staying in Yan Residence, and he’s a disabled man with broken tendons. It’s already a gift from heaven that he can walk normally. How could he run to the border station? The emperor’s son-in-law, where’s the emperor’s son-in-law now?”
His face was a little ugly. He was the one who ordered people to abolish Yan Chu, but he did it perfectly well in that matter. Besides, the man he bought was also dead. Yan Chu should not know that he did it.
Terrified, he was afraid before that matter passed, Yan Chu hated them all. This time, he could run quietly to the border, and none of the letters sent back revealed this. He feared the army was basically under Yan Chu’s control now.
That Fu Cong was indeed a waste. Thanks to his younger sister, he trusted him. As a result, he returned the military power to Yan Chu’s hand silently. Wouldn’t that mean heaven wanted his Great Zhou to be gone?
The crown prince of Zhou had a burst of sweating on his forehead. However, he made a prompt decision and immediately turned to cup his hands in obeisance to Emperor Zhou.
“Emperor Father, while Yan Chu hasn’t yet entered the Imperial City, quickly dispatched the Imperial Guards to arrest all of the Yan family’s women. I’m afraid that Yan Chu’s going to rebel.”
“How is it possible? Yan Chu, that child is loyal and devoted, why does he want to rebel against my Great Zhou?”
At first, Emperor Zhou was surprised by why Yan Chu suddenly appeared in the army that won the victory over the state. Then he heard his son’s bold conjecture. He replied without thinking about it, but he found out that he was not so confident when he said this.
Why did Yan Chu leave the city quietly? Why did not he mentioned his existence in the reports of a victory sent to the capital? The most important thing was where Fu Cong was and what happened to him.
Even the mild, peaceful Emperor Zhou could not explain these problems. In truth, he guessed in his mind. He was afraid that Yan Chu was positively going to rebel.
Emperor Zhou’s heart was a little cold. He thought about the day when the child was just escorted back to the capital a year ago and said that he was wrongly accused. The Yan family was loyal and would not betray Zhou.
At that time, because of the evidence, he did not believe him. Those commoners impenetrably surrounded the long street, and all of them threw things in the direction of the prison cart, because in their eyes, Yan Chu was the main culprit of treason, killed his compatriots, and let Zhou ceded ten cities.
Some of those things were rotten eggs and rotten vegetable leaves, and some were sharp stones. Those things cut his skin and his heart.
For a moment, Emperor Zhou thought that if he was indeed rebelling, perhaps, he was forced by the whole Great Zhou.
He felt somewhat guilty, but this was the limit that he, an unsuccessful monarch, could do. Emperor Zhou was not willing to hand over the inheritance of his ancestors to others. After thinking it out, he quickly called for the Imperial Guards.
“Messenger, go to Yan Residence quickly and invites Old Madam Yan and Third Lady Yan to come in, as well as other Yan family’s women, including those who have already returned home, to the palace.”
“Remember, it’s inviting.”
There was still a slight fluke in Emperor Zhou’s heart, so he emphasized the way to bring people into the emperor’s palace to the people he sent.
After the Imperial Guards left, except for the whispers of the crown prince and the second prince, there was fundamentally no sound in the Nuoda Palace, including the heavy sound of breathing.
Everyone, like Emperor Zhou, thought of what happened a year ago.
At that time, although Yan Chu’s crime of treason cleared, everyone still did not understand why he attacked Ming without reporting to His Majesty.
The war between the two countries was not a trivial matter. It was necessary to make adequate preparations. First of all, the royal court had to discuss it. Secondly, each ministry had to calculate whether they could provide soldier’s pay and the army provisions. But Yan Chu took the Yan family’s army to fight without speaking for what he called the decisive opportunity, which made some old officials in the royal court very dissatisfied.
They counted the 30,000 soldiers who died in the battle and the ten ceded cities to Yan Chu. Therefore, even if the other party did not betray, he would have to endure the criticism and reprimand from others from time to time.
Now, in his way, Yan Chu slapped them open and aboveboard on the faces of all of them.
He, Yan Chu, was not able to conquer Ming’s territory because of them, this group of blockheads, who thought themselves intelligent. They were not only dawdled to start and expand Zhou’s domain for a whole year but also made a faithful official and fierce general’s heart of Great Zhou die and had the posture of a transition period between dynasties.
“Yan Chu.”
Zhou Mingzhu slightly raised the skirt, panting from running down the city wall, closely followed by a group of little palace maids.
Today, she dressed up as a married woman. Her waterfall-like long hair rolled in a high bun behind her head. Her exquisite hairpin and delicate peony made her look like a wealthy flower in the world.
Zhou Mingzhu used to dress gently and elegantly. Today, she chose such a gorgeous princess dress because she wanted to welcome her lord husband, who came back from victory. She also wanted to let the other party know her identity, to not climb over her head just because he won the battle.
Because of running a little fast, Zhou Mingzhu’s cheeks burned up. She stopped in front of the black horse that Yan Chu was riding, head up, looking at his eyes with a few traces of longing and yet at a loss.
“I often send things to your house these days, and you haven’t sent back any message. I thought you went to the border station.”
Zhou Mingzhu’s eyes were full of smiles: “It’s good to see you back to this state.”
“If you had been earlier, we wouldn’t have become what we’re today.” She said this sentence effortlessly, oddly lonely. It estimated that except for the few palace maids closest to her and some military leaders with good hearing ability, they could not hear her.
Gou Xiong rode beside Yan Chu. He remembered that Princess Mingzhu had directed to marry Young General, but because Fu Cong, that traitor, Princess Mingzhu changed to wed him.
Initially, the childhood sweethearts had a beautiful fate, and it was all destroyed.
Gou Xiong did not have any malice towards this kind of woman like Princess Mingzhu. The annexation of the dynasty in this era was quite common. Usually, when a country attacked another, not all the imperial family members of that country would be executed. Instead, they would be given a nobility title without real power, circled a piece of land in the Imperial City, and kept them in captivity for life.
It was also a good story for the new emperor to marry the princess of the former royal family as a concubine. Therefore, if Zhou Mingzhu did not wed Fu Cong, she and Yan Chu would still have a chance. But now, she was married. Zhou was different from Jiang and had a comparatively large restriction on women’s code of ethics.
Gou Xiong sighed, and it was a pity for this Princess Mingzhu.
“General, it’s not good. A group of people came from the Imperial Palace, said that you’re planning to rebel, General, and wanted to arrest Old Madam and the ladies. The residence’s guards were stopped and killed by the people from the palace. Please go back and save Old Madam.”
A blood-stained middle-aged housekeeper suddenly rushed into the troops, threw himself in front of the cavalry, and lamented to Yan Chu.
The surrounding commoners had you look at me, I look at you. Although the general who led them to victory was changed from General Fu to General Yan, no matter how many people there were, they only knew that their country’s territory was getting bigger and bigger. The possibility of them suffering from the war in the future was inclined.
In their opinion, Yan Chu seemed to be a minister who had given outstanding service in this matter. The other party had just entered the city gate and did nothing. The palace said that Young General Yan was going to rebel, and they also took Old Madam Yan and women to enter the emperor’s place. In the view of the commoners, it was that Young General Yan’s contribution was too much for the emperor to tolerate him.
Before Zhou Mingzhu had time to scold a fool in the palace for this idea, Yan Chu had already taken the lead to dart over to the direction of the Yan family. On this trip to enter the capital, ten thousand elite soldiers who came back with him were all his confidants. Now that the city gate was wide open, also seeing Emperor Zhou treated the minister who had given outstanding service in this way, they immediately held a sword at once and immediately rushed with the young general.
The onlookers scattered like startled birds. They had already realized that this Great Zhou’s capital would be a bloodbath, whether it was from the young general who wanted to rebel or His Majesty could not tolerate this faithful official.
The smart ones immediately ran home, gathered their family together, blocked the doors and windows, and planned to survive these days quietly.
As for who would be the emperor, as long as they could live well, it was not something important to the commoners.
Zhou Mingzhu would have been hurt by this sudden chaos if not for her palace maid’s protection. However, when they were about to leave, a small troop surrounded them.
Now that the situation was undecided, she was Zhou’s princess and was naturally a ready-made bargaining chip.
At this time, the entrance of Yan Residence was closed securely, and only the sound of fighting and crying of the women could be heard from time to time. Yan Chu knelt in front of the ancestral shrine of the Yan family and turned a deaf ear to the noise outside. The same was true of Old Madam Yan and Third Lady Yan.
“Grandmother asked you for the last time, do you truly think so?” Old Madam Yan asked, looking at the grandson in a complicated mood.
“Yes.” He nodded solemnly once again, “I’ll marry a Zhou princess. In the future, our children will inherit this country, which isn’t a failure to live up to our ancestors’ legacy.”
Old Madam Yan, also the Third Lady Yan, looked at each other, but they did not expect their grandson/son to be so devoted to Zhou Mingzhu, but she was already a married woman.
“Princess is very kind to our Yan family. Although she wants to marry you, you must re-marry her personally. But since you decide to marry her, you can’t let her down, and this is also the family precept of our Yan family, so you truly think it thoroughly?”
Since Princess Mingzhu married Fu Cong, she had nothing to do with Yan Residence. Old Madam Yan and Third Lady Yan also knew that she was in a dilemma. They were grateful for other’s plea for leniency in front of Emperor Zhou to save their grandson’s life. This kindness would never get forgotten.
Yan Chu nodded his head. Naturally, he would not be worried about Zhou Mingli’s forced marriage to Emperor Jiang. He was not the former scum man he had transmigrated.
Looking at their grandson/son’s calm and unhurried look, Old Madam Yan and Third Lady Yan had nothing to say. They watched him kowtow three times to the ancestors of the Yan family and left with their double-edged sword.
After he went out, the guards and Yan Chu’s close soldiers, who had a higher voice and a better voice than others, all stopped indulging in histrionics and looked at him directly.
Yan Chu stood on the high steps, holding his sword that shone with cold light above his head.
“Kill—”
All the officers and soldiers present roared immediately afterward, and the abuttals of the entire capital seemed to be trembled by their voices.
Today had destined to be a sleepless night.
“Over there, it should also have started, right?”
As usual, Zhou Mingli climbed over the highest tower in Jiang’s Imperial City and surveyed the scene in Zhou’s direction.
There was a letter in her hand, and that person said he would take her home soon.
Going home, it’s like a dream.
