Chapter 141: Heaven’s Gang Reversed
According to later historians, the decline of the Da Yao Dynasty from prosperity to decay was due to Emperor Shu’s two consecutive military campaigns in his later years, which resulted in heavy losses of troops and generals; leading to the collapse of ritual and music, government offices engaging in exorbitant taxes and levies, leaving the people with no means of livelihood, and fleeing to the mountains to become bandits.
However, in contemporary times, Xuan Chong, who personally experienced this period, commented that the direct cause of the true collapse of ritual and music was the contradiction between the monarch and the heir within the dynasty.
A single military failure leading to the overthrow of the regime is correct when placed in the context of the various countries in Europe, after all, the Western kingdoms have only that much foundation.
But in the Eastern Dynasty here, even if several prefectures in the northwest were fought until white bones were exposed in the wilderness, in the Heluo prefectures where Yao Capital is located, the noble families were still composing poems and idly singing “In this year of abundance, guests are kept with chickens and pigs.”
To use the words from Dream of the Red Chamber: “Such a great family cannot be exterminated from the outside; only through internal strife to the death will it collapse.”
In Yao Capital, when Prince Zhou was regent in the Heavenly Palace, he suddenly became diligent in governance, hastily issuing one reward and punishment order after another. Like a child who did poorly on an exam busily doing housework before parents return home.
Meanwhile, Emperor Shu here was publicly announcing his return to Yao Capital. The situation within Da Yao was filled with intrigue and deception; all the governors watched this grand drama silently!
The Imperial Family side possesses solemnity; “ritual and music, conquests” all originate from the Son of Heaven, and the Son of Heaven endorses the legitimacy of the “system of ranks.”
This is completely different from the situation in the Wu Family where “Wu Hanluan is not in Lingnan, Wu Xiao Que is managing the household.”
Wu Fei stayed at home, raising high the reward and punishment plaques left by Wu Hanluan to the old troops, gradually participating in the allocation of the family’s core interests through merit. This is because the Wu Family is a military family system, where performance is evaluated within the clan; high performance naturally allows one to surpass the elders and arrange for peers of the same age.
There is no such performance in the Imperial Family; it all depends on legitimacy. If the Son of Heaven’s family has dual legitimacies, and the rewards and punishments of these two legitimacies are inconsistent front and back, it will cause systemic problems.
It can be compared to in games, when the developer retcons the lore, it makes players feel confusion.
Game creators retcon, nothing more than to sell new characters, skills, skins to make money. But if another existence that is supposedly “official” comes to retcon the lore, then contradictions will arise within the originally harmonious new and old fans, leading to arguments on forums.
The current “imperial family” of the Da Yao Dynasty is the production team of this “game.” The core of this “game” operating until now lies in the rigorous lore.
Emperor Shu’s governance over the past decade belongs to the game company unable to produce new projects (no new merits), so they can only rely on nostalgia to uphold the lore and prevent old players from leaving.
But the game company’s steering CEO insists on opening new lore. This is like Prince Zhou wanting to promote those eunuchs around him and the ministers in the imperial court, ignoring the promotion rules of the old ennoblement system, bypassing the “grind and pay-to-win” paths of the old players. Directly giving luxury gift packages to the new players around him.
In such a situation, for the local powerful vassal lords and the fiefdoms holding military power, the gaming experience is extremely poor. The various marquises have bitterly calculated with Emperor Shu for so many years over “heads” and “reward gold.” Everyone’s concept of rank is strict entry and strict exit.
Therefore, after Wu Hanluan did not accept Prince Zhou’s ennoblement, those local power holders grasping heavy troops also did not, as the Prince Zhou faction in the court had hoped, develop resentment towards Wu Hanluan, and thus did not listen to their (Prince Zhou faction’s secret) conspiracies to unite and give Wu Hanluan a lesson.
On the contrary, when Wu Hanluan sent troops to protect the Son of Heaven, all sides gave face to Wu Hanluan’s troops passing through. When the Wu Family Army armored soldiers passed by, even mountain bandits knew that even if they had to go hungry for a few days, they must let Emperor Shu pass first.
Xuan Chong’s historical summary: Prince Zhou’s behavior is similar to those profligate CEOs who took over major game IPs in his previous life. Constantly altering the lore based on their own preferences and perceived interests, leading to a large loss of players who transfer to new games developed by the original team.
…Restore Order…
Emperor Shu’s northward journey was extremely swift. After passing Ji Prefecture, he quickly mobilized troops from multiple prefectures and soon reestablished his traveling headquarters. He restored the rites of the Son of Heaven. Wu Hanluan’s mission was completed, and the troops he brought balanced with other troops.
The military nobles everywhere obviously did not take the “orders” issued by the Prince Zhou faction seriously, treating them as “children playing house.”
Previously, discourse power in the imperial court was occupied by those scholar-officials. Martial men, even if they lost decorum in the localities, would be endlessly entangled by these scholar-officials. Now that His Majesty is on the western hunt, without the sour scholars talking nonsense, they must properly unite around His Majesty.
Now Emperor Shu calls everyone to come protect the carriage and begins detailed talks one by one. One hand edict after another is issued to these local power holders.
Emperor Shu draws pies for the local factions one by one, promising that these powerful local factions can enter the central government to increase discourse power.
And it is precisely this decision of Emperor Shu that, one year after his return to the city, to fulfill the promises, he had to initiate the Great Prison in the imperial court. To make room for the local factions, leading to even more serious consequences later.
After Emperor Shu issued the decree, the troops of the eight fiefdoms quickly responded. As these generals brought their troops, with cavalry on the left and right flanks and dragon horses in the sky following, Emperor Shu’s heart gradually settled, although his imperial carriage was still guarded by the Wu Family Army, he no longer felt like he was under someone else’s roof.
As for Wu Hanluan’s previous deference, the timing now is just right.
Emperor Shu gave a reward to the Wu Family, and when summoning the generals accompanying the carriage to his side, he had the Wu Family generals ranked at the forefront.
…Blue in Action…
In Yao Capital, on the platform of the Smoky Rain Pavilion, Xian Daoren leaned on the blue-tiled roof, opened the spiritual eye between his brows, looked at those great scholars anxiously flipping through books under the brightly lit lamps, and revealed a weird smile.
Xian Daoren spread his arms towards the evil moon in the sky: Heaven prospers my Upper Spirit Sect. — He casually made up a new sect.
For the existence that Xian Daoren believes in, as long as the world still reveres intellect and produces fear when facing confusion, it can take advantage of the weakness.
The current events, for Xian Daoren, mean his “layout” has reached fruition, and this fruit is so bountiful and sweet.
Recalling the past, Wu Fei in the tunnel, the “curiosity” and “confusion” fantasies emitted regarding the transport of the earth vein underground were also extremely sweet.
But in the end, Wu Fei only let Xian Daoren smell the “fragrance” without seeing the “fruit,” purely playing Xian Daoren.
Now, in the Yao Capital scheme, the causes planted by Xian Daoren and the fruits borne are all full on the branches without exception; Xian Daoren is very satisfied.
…The Place the Third Eye Gazes Upon…
In Prince Zhou’s Mansion now, it is a scene of panic and unease. As more and more general factions went to Emperor Shu, and dared not use the titles given by Yao Capital, the literati who advised Prince Zhou were panicked and uneasy. They began pursuing even more “clever” bizarre schemes to turn the chaotic situation around.
In the scripture repository below the Royal Heavenly Palace, a sorcerer named Su Kang, one of Prince Zhou’s eunuchs, and also Su Wang’s younger brother, was flipping through scrolls and classics, trying to find content that could get his master Prince Zhou through.
He wanted a “legitimate” explanation: After Emperor Shu lost contact with the court on the western front, Prince Zhou did not engage in various behaviors “following the precedents of former kings,” but acted out of urgent necessity.
Of course, after flipping through, he found that historically, heirs who committed similar cases rarely got through, and those who did abandoned pawns to save the general.
When the crown prince as regent displeased the emperor, the crown prince could only obtain the old emperor’s forgiveness after abandoning his own faction members.
Su Kang could not accept such an outcome; he and his brother Su Wang, as Prince Zhou’s close attendants, bore the entire hope of the family. They participated in all the schemes during Prince Zhou’s regency; if they were eliminated, their family would also be liquidated.
In a daze, he seemed trapped in his own anxious illusion: A month later, Emperor Shu returns to Yao Capital, and for self-preservation, Prince Zhou would discard him like a worn-out shoe.
In a trance, helplessly being lifted by strongmen, dragged away like a ragged sack, it stopped after a while, he was hoisted up, and in his view, he saw that ten-thousand-jin great cauldron in front of the Kan Palace, with boiling water rolling inside.
His clothes were stripped off, held by two strongmen by head and feet, and thrown into the cauldron.
During the fall, first plunging into vast clouds, like a celestial immortal realm, then hearing the splash of water, finally the scalding water engulfed him.
“Ah!” Su Kang screamed and woke up from the desk.
The lamp flames before him flickered bright and dark; when he wiped the sweat beads from his forehead, he suddenly looked up, because at that moment in the candle flame before the desk, there seemed to be an eye staring at him.
Just as he thought this might be his illusion, the candle flame spat a spark that fell on his desk, then this spark bounced like a firefly, came to the bookshelf, and finally landed on a bundle of ancient bamboo slips that Su Kang had never seen before.
He carefully opened the bamboo slips; the first slip clearly read “Missing One Gate.”
This strange book recorded how to craft various forbidden equipment, starting with introducing how to craft the wooden luan, then puppets indistinguishable from real people, followed by how to extract living souls and seal them in objects. Just as he was reading with relish, suddenly a wooden luan phantom appeared on the bamboo slips.
The wooden luan’s eyes stared straight at him and said: “I know your current desire; I can help you solve four problems.”
Resistance flickered in Su Kang’s eyes for a moment but was soon replaced by blue: “Who are you? Never mind who you are; if you can help me resolve the disaster of boiling punishment, I will enshrine you with incense and fire.”
At this moment, from an outside perspective, Su Kang was staring at the book, muttering incomprehensible words like “wo…” to himself.
…Meanwhile, Purple is Also in Action…
And in Yao Capital, Princess Xiasheng was waiting for her lover. Her lover for private meetings was from the Directorate of Astronomy; before this, the two were affectionate. But these past months, that person from the Directorate of Astronomy became increasingly resistant.
This time, Princess Xiasheng was prepared to elope with him; she packed her luggage, brought fine valuables, and climbed over the palace walls.
The night was deep, yet Princess Xiasheng waited for a strange Daoist priest, who upon seeing Princess Xiasheng said: “Your Highness, my senior brother had matters and could not come, so he specially sent me to inform you.”
Sorrow flashed in Princess Xiasheng’s eyes, her heart unwilling, persistently asking: “Where is he!”
A wisp of immortal crane feather fell; this was the token of their betrothal.
The Daoist priest’s face was calm: “The sect has summoned him back to Huishan; he should be comprehending Great Vehicle Dharma, unlikely to emerge for decades.” — So-called comprehending Great Vehicle Dharma is just a euphemism for “made a mistake, must go into long-term seclusion for reflection.”
Princess Xiasheng understood; her matter with him had been discovered, and the sect was quickly eliminating the influence.
Next, Princess Xiasheng quickly investigated clearly; the one who reported to her lover’s senior brother’s sect (tattled), this person was named Wu Yuanyi, precisely the cousin whom Wu Fei envied in childhood for being able to cultivate immortality.
At this time, Princess Xiasheng remaining in the palace plucked flowers, softly saying: “Together, not together, together, not together…”
After plucking the petals one by one, Princess Xiasheng’s pupils kept turning purple; she grinned and said: “I absolutely will not marry someone I don’t like (Wu Fei). Even Father Emperor cannot force me.”
Immediately, she stood up, hurriedly left the palace, and headed to Prince Zhou’s Mansion. After talking with her brother, Princess Xiasheng stated that she had a force in the martial world that she could mobilize.
…Thorns Begin to Rise on the Road…
November 3rd, Emperor Shu’s imperial carriage encountered an assassination. The army recruited from other prefectures was blocked by purple-brown locusts jumping out from the valley. After the soldiers were bitten by the locusts, they began convulsing and poisoning; suddenly the tightly guarded camp became chaotic, and at the same time, a group of killers arrived.
At this time, a hundred-man team of Wu Hanluan’s happened to be fifty paces from Emperor Shu’s imperial carriage. Upon encountering the locusts, the troops collectively took the “evil pill”; this pill was secretly made by Wu Hanluan, and after eating it, the whole body emitted a stench, but it resisted various unidentified poisonous insects.
Wu Hengyu took the lead on horseback; his killing intent was thick, so of course he did not need to eat that “evil pill.”
Wu Hengyu instantly arrived before Emperor Shu’s carriage, immediately spearing flying a assassin attempting to throw a hidden weapon, while the subsequent Wu Family Army rushed up, forming an array around Emperor Shu’s carriage. Facing boomerangs and flying knives swirling in the sky, the army uniformly raised shields to meet them, while crossbowmen behind the shields counter-fired; the “demonic wind” that originally drove the boomerangs to precisely take heads was immediately suppressed by the military formation.
The “blood boomerangs” that could take heads from a hundred paces in the martial world and exterminate a sect overnight fell clattering before the shields.
Wu Hengyu glanced at these turning, fancy flying darts and disdainfully commented: “Tricks from the cultivation world.”
The so-called using qi to make flying darts turn. Military strategists also have similar dharma gates; archers use martial qi to control arrows, improving accuracy. But controlling arrows with qi aims to make them go straight. Military strategists’ pure powerful bows and crossbows rely on speed, power, and ruthlessness to improve hit rate.
As for the bizarre trajectories chaotically flying like gimmicks in the martial world, they seem scary, but facing killing intent, all trajectories become inaccurate. Moreover, soldier-official troops with internal energy have “parrying” ability besides armor.
The stuff in the martial world is actually all what military strategists discarded after repeatedly comparing efficiency. — In martial world small-scale fights, some odd techniques may have special effects, but facing an army of over a hundred, they are just clowns.
With Wu Hengyu’s loud shout, the army behind connected their auras.
After shields were raised at the front of the military formation, between shield lines, ten two-meter-long wrought iron firearms with steel hoops were shouldered upfront.
“Bang bang bang” a crisp series of sounds; the sneaky martial world assassins ahead all rolled down like birds from treetops.
The remaining assassins saw the situation turn bad and prepared to release smoke to escape. Wu Hengyu swept his spear horizontally; ground stones “whoosh, whoosh” like dense crossbow bolts, sweeping within fifty paces.
Under the breaking air sounds, these assassins could not escape; some were pierced through the chest, lungs punctured, coughing blood while fleeing; some had legs and feet nailed to the ground and rolled.
Soon, the corpses of sixty-seven assassins were all lined up in a row, while the remaining twenty-eight assassins were splashed with water to wake and interrogated.
Emperor Shu, protected by the Wu Family Army formation, lifted the curtain; seeing the troops from other prefectures he summoned so incompetent against this sneak attack, he was deeply shocked. Of course, as the master of the Imperial Art of War, Emperor Shu did not show it on his face. If he panicked, it would become “only relying on Wu Family fiefdoms” to return to the capital. Then he would become a puppet in the eyes of the world.
Emperor Shu’s secret guard quietly came to report beside him: “All their faces have been burned pitch black with hot coals. As for those captives, they are all mute.”
Emperor Shu waved his hand signaling not to make a fuss, then said to the generals protecting the carriage beside him: “Many officers and soldiers have worked hard.” Seeing Wu Hengyu, his heart skipped a beat for Wu Hanluan’s eldest son; seeing this man kneeling but with untamed arrogance in his eyes, he inwardly thought “this child is not—simple,” while on the surface showing great appreciation for Wu Hengyu, bestowing a set of purple-gold coronet upon him.
After the secret guard quietly revealed the very subtle features on those assassins’ bodies, regarding this assassination, Emperor Shu knew very well who it was; he clutched his chest, forcibly maintaining dignity, but evidently helpless like a failed old man.
Half a shichen later, Emperor Shu summoned generals from various families and announced he was unharmed, continuing the journey, clearly unwilling to pursue deeply.
But the disciples sent by various governors kneeling before Emperor Shu exchanged glances; such an assault on the monarch was definitely one of the ten heinous crimes.
Now not pursuing at all? This shows the situation in the court is full of intrigue; pulling one hair moves the whole body. Each family hurriedly wrote secret letters home, telling family to prepare early and not get too involved in the court.
…Secret Guards Begin General Mobilization…
While en route, Emperor Shu called Wu Hengyu close; at this moment, Emperor Shu seemed struck by a whim. Seemingly asking but actually provoking: “How is your relationship with Wu Fei?”
Wu Hengyu was slightly stunned, unceremoniously giving an irrelevant answer: “I am the brother, he is the younger brother.”
Emperor Shu was slightly stunned, then clapped and laughed: “Indeed as the rumors say, (the two brothers do not yield to each other.)”
Emperor Shu: “If I let you go with Yuan Chang, what do you think of the Bo Prefecture warfare?”
Wu Hengyu: “City breach in one month!”
Emperor Shu’s eyes lit up.
