Taiheiki

Chapter 151 Heaven Collapse
"The theory of 'predicting the year based on merit' is vague and unfounded, how can it be taken as truth?" Wei Cong laughed. "Besides, although the Zhou dynasty lasted for eight hundred years, it became weak and feeble after King Ping moved the capital east. Its territory was only a hundred li, and its population was only two or three hundred chariots. Can such a state be considered the ruler of the world?"

"That's true!" Kong Gui sighed. "If it's really as you say, and the ancestral temples are preserved and the sacrifices continue, then it will be a fitting reward for the merits of the late emperors!"

"These are not things we can consider! To bring peace to the people, to quell the barbarians, and to await the arrival of God—that is what we should do!"

"Not bad!" Kong Gui agreed, and the worry between his brows disappeared without him even realizing it.

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The ground was covered with pine needles and leaves blown down by the wind, like a brownish-green carpet, but soaked by rain.

The fallen leaves crunched underfoot. Towering camphor trees and groves of pine trees stood nearby. Ancient stone walls nestled in the mountains were hollow inside, their surfaces covered with a thick layer of green moss.

"We've finally arrived!" Guo Kui let out a long breath and said to Yuan Tian, ​​"Do you remember? We passed through here when we were in Lingnan. There was even a well in there!"

"How could I not remember!" Yuan Tian laughed. "The well water was very sweet; I drank quite a bit of it back then!"

"Then let's drink again!" Guo Kui laughed. The two men led their men into the stone fortress, had well water fetched, drank, and sat down to rest. Guo Kui looked around and suddenly sighed, "Thinking back to the state of mind we had when we crossed the mountain, it truly feels like a lifetime ago!"

"Yes!" Yuan Tian said with a wry smile, "When I first found out that we were going to Jiaozhou, I was completely stunned. If there hadn't been no way back, I probably would have run away on the spot!"

"I'm alright! After all, I've been following the lord for quite some time now, but I never expected to conquer five prefectures so quickly!" Guo Kui laughed. "It's only been three months, it's like a dream!"

“Yes! And the lord has obviously been planning this for a long time!” Yuan Tian’s thinking was much more far ahead: “If the lord uses that Prefect Kong, as well as Prefect Yu’s wife and brother, well, if he uses them well, he may be able to take over the remaining counties of Jiaozhou without a fight, and gain the court’s recognition. At that time, they will be the outer vassal states that will be passed down through generations!”

"If that were really the case, that would be wonderful!" Guo Kui sighed. Those who had followed Wei Cong for a long time, like him and Yuan Tian, ​​knew that Wei Cong's biggest hidden danger was that he didn't have a proper title. Even the title of "Commander of the Expeditionary Forces" was something he had given himself. This thing was a time bomb. If it didn't explode, it would be fine, but once it did, it could very well lead to widespread betrayal and complete collapse.

Therefore, the best course of action is to send someone to Feng Kun before the bomb explodes, solidify Wei Cong's title as the Commandant of the Expeditionary Army, and clear his name of the murder of County Commandant Wang Gui during his escape. Once this is settled, Wei Cong will be considered an official, and his actions in southern Yuzhang and Jiaozhou will be seen as internal conflicts within the ruling class of the Han Empire. He can be reprimanded and punished as needed, but his official position and military power will remain intact. Guo Kui suspects that Wei Cong sent him to Zhao Yannian for this very reason; after all, Feng Kun is a General of Chariots and Cavalry—someone like himself with no status should be able to meet him.

After resting for a while, Guo Kui and his group disembarked and headed down the mountain. Once they reached the place where they had hidden the boats, they selected two well-preserved boats, launched them into the water, loaded their cargo onto the boats, and sailed downstream towards Yuhan.

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Luoyang, the front hall of the Southern Palace.

The night was deep, and low sobs echoed from within the palace. Just a few hours earlier, Emperor Liu Zhi had breathed his last. According to Han Dynasty rites, after a bathing and burial ceremony, his noble body was wrapped in yellow silk floss, reddish-yellow silk fabric, and a jade burial suit, with a precious pearl in his mouth, and placed in a prepared coffin.

To ensure the deceased was not in a state of apparent death and to prevent the burial of a living person, the emperor's coffin would be kept in the front hall for seven days. During these seven days, his wives, concubines, servants, and ministers would keep vigil in the front hall to bid farewell to their master on his final journey in the mortal world.

As the empress of the deceased emperor, Dou Miao knelt closest to the coffin. Although she had just lost her husband, there was an undisguised smugness in her eyes. Anyone with even a slight understanding of the palace knew that Liu Zhi had no affection for this noble-born empress. His true favorite was Tian Sheng, who knelt behind the empress. In fact, after the previous empress was deposed, Liu Zhi even intended to make Tian Sheng empress, but because Tian Sheng's background was too humble, it was met with fierce opposition from the court officials, and the plan was abandoned. Only then did Liu Zhi make Dou Miao empress instead.

Furthermore, during Liu Zhi's serious illness, another rumor circulated in the palace: Liu Zhi, even on his sickbed, said that once he recovered, he would depose Empress Dou Miao and install Tian Sheng as empress in her place. Considering all this, it's not surprising that the empress was so pleased with herself at this time.

"Your Majesty! This is the late Emperor's last edict!" The eunuchs Guan Ba ​​and Su Kang knelt beside the Empress, presenting her with a silk scroll embroidered with auspicious clouds and cranes on the back. They were the eunuchs who had been on duty when Liu Zhi passed away last night.

Dou Miao did not open the silk scroll. Her cold gaze swept over the two eunuchs kneeling on the ground. Her feelings toward these eunuchs who had lost their husbands were complicated: firstly, she disliked these guys because they had done many things that infringed on her interests; but on the other hand, Dou Miao also knew that these eunuchs had only been following orders at the time, and that during Liu Zhi's reign, these eunuchs had helped her to varying degrees. The two on the ground had contributed a lot to her being made empress and remaining so until Liu Zhi's death.

After Liu Zhi's death and with supreme power in her own hands, these eunuchs would become her best tools. So Dou Miao decided to listen to what these two old dogs had to say first.

What did the imperial edict say?

Guan Ba ​​and Su Kang exchanged a glance. Guan Ba ​​gritted his teeth and carefully replied, "The late emperor conferred the title of Noble Lady upon nine concubines, including Tian Sheng and Shu An!"

"Imperial Consort Tian is hereby conferred the title of Noble Lady!" Dou Miao's eyes instantly turned red. She hadn't even heard Guan Ba ​​mention the names of the remaining eight people. No wonder she was so angry. A woman who had stolen her husband's favor and almost killed her was being conferred the title of Noble Lady (a concubine title second only to the Empress in the Eastern Han Dynasty) by her husband before his death. She could almost see Liu Zhi embracing that lowly woman, looking at her with disgust, while she had no choice but to swallow her anger and treat the two of them with utmost respect, lest she give them a pretext to be deposed as Empress.

"A will?" Dou Miao sneered. She casually unfolded the exquisite edict and looked at it. "You wretch, do you think this can protect you? It's ridiculous! It's just a piece of silk!" She placed the silk brocade next to the candlestick. The flame licked at the silk brocade, turning it yellow, deformed, and then burning. She let go of it, and the remaining silk brocade fell to the ground, quickly turning into ashes.

"But...but this is the late emperor's will!" someone in the crowd exclaimed. "Now I'm in charge!" Dou Miao shouted, "Guards, seize this vile woman!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than five or six eunuchs rushed in from the outer room. They were eunuchs under the command of the Empress's chief attendant. They swarmed forward and grabbed Tian Sheng from the ground. Guan Ba ​​was about to get up when his sleeve was tugged. He turned around and saw his colleague Su Kang shaking his head at him.

"Your Majesty, spare me! Spare me!" Tian Sheng's face, which had once captivated the Emperor, was now filled with fear and terror. She frantically begged Dou Miao for forgiveness, but this only added fuel to the fire. Dou Miao drew a sword from the waist of a nearby eunuch and stabbed Tian Sheng through the chest and abdomen with one stroke, cursing, "You wretch, go to the underworld and beg that person for mercy!" With that, she twisted the hilt of the sword forcefully, watching Tian Sheng's face contort in agony with schadenfreude. After pulling out the sword, she stabbed her several more times until Tian Sheng breathed her last.

The mourning hall was deathly silent. The concubines and eunuchs were stunned by what had just happened. Right in front of the emperor's coffin, the empress had personally killed her rival, who had just been granted the title of Noble Lady by the emperor. Blood had even splattered onto the coffin. Such a thing was something they had never seen before, let alone imagined.

"Guan Ba, where are the other eight?" Dou Miao asked menacingly.

"The other eight?" Guan Ba ​​was taken aback when he heard this, but then he realized that Dou Miao was asking about the other eight concubines who had been granted the title of Noble Lady in the Emperor's last edict. It was obvious why this woman was asking this at this time. He quickly crawled a few steps on his knees and kowtowed repeatedly to Dou Miao: "Absolutely not!"

"What do you mean 'absolutely not'?" Dou Miao sneered. "I am now the Empress Dowager, and my father is a Grand General. Can't I kill a few vixens?"

"The late emperor's body is not yet cold, and the empress dowager has already executed all the concubines favored by the late emperor. If this gets out, I'm afraid the world will be in turmoil, and it will damage the empress dowager's great virtue!" Guan Ba ​​pleaded while kowtowing repeatedly. He kowtowed very hard, and his forehead was already covered in blood.

"The late emperor fell ill at just thirty, all because of those vixens! Would killing a few wicked women really harm his virtue?" Dou Miao sneered. "Guan Ba, you don't actually think I wouldn't dare kill you too, do you?"

Guan Ba ​​trembled upon hearing this. He looked up and saw Dou Miao holding a blood-stained sword, her eyes red and filled with murderous intent. Clearly, the resentment this woman had hidden for many years had finally erupted, and she was now beyond reason. But if he allowed her to kill those eight nobles as well, it would mean that the late emperor's edict had become worthless so quickly. He gritted his teeth: "This servant is the late emperor's dog, and should have followed him to the underworld. If you want to kill all eight nobles, then please kill this servant first, so that this servant can go to the underworld to beg forgiveness from the late emperor!" After saying this, he lowered his head, his face pressed against the ground, appearing ready to be slaughtered.

"This servant also begs Your Majesty to reconsider!" At this moment, Su Kang also knelt before Dou Miao like Guan Ba.

"Su Kang, you're just like Guan Ba?" Dou Miao sneered, "Do you think I wouldn't dare kill the two of you?"

“Your Majesty, like Guan Ba, we are nothing more than the late Emperor’s dogs. If you wish to kill us, it is only a matter of a word!” Su Kang said, “However, if you execute the Eighth Noble Lady, such a thing will damage the reputation of the Han Dynasty. If General Dou knew about it, he would surely not approve!”

"Are you trying to intimidate me by using my father as leverage?"

"You and the General are father and daughter, how could a mere eunuch like me influence you? It's just that the Dou family has been intermarrying with the imperial family for generations. You are the Empress Dowager, and the General is in charge of the outer court. You are content and happy in the Han Dynasty, so why rush things and give others something to say?"

Dou Miao had gradually recovered from her initial extreme anger. Recalling what she had just done, she felt extremely satisfied, but also slightly regretful. After all, killing someone in front of the emperor's coffin was unacceptable no matter how she tried to justify it. Su Kang's words gave her a way out, and she snorted coldly: "Fine, then as you two say, spare these lowly servants, and after the emperor's burial, throw them all into the Yongxiang Palace!"

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Luoyang, Yuan Fengfu.

A cold wind swept through the old locust tree in the courtyard, making a howling sound that chilled one to the bone. Cao Cao tightened his coat and reached for the wine jug, but a strong hand stopped him.
"Aman, the Emperor has passed away, and we are in a period of great mourning. Drinking alcohol is forbidden!"

The speaker was a handsome man with a neatly trimmed beard and clear eyes, the kind of man every young girl in love dreams of. His tall stature made him stand out among the crowd. Cao Cao lowered his head and withdrew his hand: "Ah Shao, please forgive me. I was thinking about something and forgot a little!"

"Hmm!" The handsome man nodded. "Good, remember that. Someone, add some charcoal to the brazier!"

"Pfft!" Yuan Shu snorted coldly, his face full of disdain and contempt. The one who had spoken was his cousin, Yuan Shao. The two were about the same age. Yuan Shao's birth mother was a lowly maid, and he lost his father at a young age. He was adopted by his uncle, Yuan Cheng. Because Yuan Shao was handsome, intelligent, kind, and humble, he quickly gained a good reputation among scholars. On the other hand, although Yuan Shu was born of the eldest son, he was always overshadowed by Yuan Shao in many matters. As a result, the two brothers did not get along in many things and did not have the harmonious relationship that brothers of the same surname should have.

Yuan Shao seemed not to have heard Yuan Shu's voice at all. He said to a red-faced young man to his right, "Meng Zhuo, are your men ready?"

"We've been prepared for a long time!" the red-faced youth laughed. "They are all famous strongmen from Yanzhou, each one capable of taking on ten men. Fifty of them are as good as five hundred. As long as Brother Yuan gives the order, they can wipe out those eunuchs!"

"Good!" Yuan Shao nodded in satisfaction: "And what about Ziyuan?"

“I have twenty guests at home, and they are all ready!” a young man of similar age to Yuan Shao replied.

(End of this chapter)