Frost for a Thousand Years

"Don't kill me, don't kill me!"

Jia Guihao had no idea how many people the other side had or where they came from, but the torches that suddenly appeared right under his nose made his will to escape vanish in an instant.

In order to maintain his excellent record of never being injured during his many years as a military officer, he also displayed his attitude of non-resistance as quickly as possible.

As expected, it was exactly as the Sixth Prince had told them.

As long as you ambush Jia Guihao and kill a few people in front of him first, he will quickly kneel down and surrender without any excessive resistance.

"Everyone, put down your weapons!"

Holding bows and crossbows, with arrows nocked and fully drawn, the black-clad soldiers slowly surrounded them.

"Put it down! Put it down right now!" Jia Guihao shouted at his followers first, then tried to reason with them, "Gentlemen, calm down, don't let go... this could kill someone."

"Get down!" the lead assassin shouted a stern warning.

Jia Guihao stumbled and scrambled off his horse.

Soon, all the guards had their hands bent behind their backs and were tied with ropes.

And just like that, Jia Guihao's bodyguards were easily captured.

"Do I need to be tied up too?" Jia Guihao asked with a fawning smile.

"What, do you think you're so superior?"

The assassins were instantly enraged when they saw this cowardly general.

"No, no, this is just us being proactive in cooperating with you."

Jia Guihao also put his hands behind his back.

So he and the soldiers were escorted to the military settlement ceremony.

"May I ask, who arrested me?"

"cannot!"

"okay."

.........

Two thousand cavalrymen charged towards the granary from the burning houses on both sides.

However, upon arrival, they discovered that apart from five granaries engulfed in flames and a few soldiers guarding each granary, the area was essentially an empty space.

The leader quickly realized that they had been tricked.

"Slow down! Slow down! Slow down!"

He raised his hand, attempting to halt the surging cavalry.

However, due to the momentum of the charge, even after he stopped, the cavalry behind him continued to charge forward one after another.

And the horses were quite intelligent enough to veer away to avoid trampling.

These cavalrymen quickly expanded from a few columns, forming a large cavalry regiment in the vast open space outside the granary, resembling a swarm of ants. To put it more vividly, it was like a pancake made of ants.

Faced with such a strange situation, they were bewildered and filled with fear.

The mount beneath him also began to pace back and forth.

Just then, a 'tap tap tap' sound appeared.

Soldiers, who seemed to have been lying in ambush from nowhere, entered the field in perfect unison and formed a circular wall.

Each soldier in the front row carried an iron shield.

Behind the shields, each soldier held a lance that gleamed coldly even in the night.

This is the Imperial Guard.

Even if the number of these people is even less than theirs.

However, the armor, shields, weapons, and even the mental state of each person are completely different.

Moreover, some of them are quite heavy steps.

If they were to actually charge out, absolutely none of them would survive; it would be a horrific tragedy.

"what happened?"

"Wasn't it said that traitors were attacking the granary?"

"Where is everyone? There's nobody here."

A sense of despair permeated the army.

Just then, a general, riding a tall, black warhorse with a sword at his waist, made his grand entrance. His imposing and domineering presence, along with his dazzling, almost divine appearance, completely stunned the cavalrymen.

At such close range, if someone were to secretly shoot an arrow, he wouldn't have time to dodge.

But he still came out.

Not one of these two thousand men dared to take out a bow and arrow.

It's not that the county soldiers were all a rabble, but the vast majority of ordinary people deeply understood that those who seize opportunities are the heroes.

Under the moonlight, everyone wanted to know who this person was.

It wasn't until the soldiers carrying torches came to his sides that anyone recognized him.

"Your Highness Sixth!"

"It's the Sixth Prince!"

The direct commander of this army is indeed Jia Guihao, and all the mid- to high-ranking officers here are princelings. However, not long ago, the soldiers' commander-in-chief was Wei Wusheng, and there was no official announcement to remove him from his post.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Wei Wusheng announced loudly, "The traitor Prince Zhongping, Wei Yiyuan, is dead, and the rebel army has been quelled. My comrades, you have worked hard!"

The bandit king Wei Yiyuan is dead.

The rebels were also quelled.

Who the hell are these rebels?

The cavalry officers quickly grasped the situation, and they clenched their fists and gritted their teeth.

This place has been seized from power.

The emperor lost.

It's even uncertain whether the emperor is still alive!
At this moment, a eunuch walked up to Wei Wusheng, took out an imperial edict, and loudly proclaimed: "By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers seemed to be personified for a moment, and were generally stunned.

But soon, soldiers dismounted and knelt on the ground.

The rest of the people did the same.

It was almost a sparse patch.

This left the princeling generals and officers dumbfounded, and they could only look at each other in bewilderment.

On horseback, under the cover of darkness, with many people and a granary nearby, it's possible to take a desperate gamble.

But now, the soldiers dismounted and knelt down.

If they really fire arrows, they will be wiped out very quickly.

But everyone else is kneeling, if they don't kneel, wouldn't that mean...?

There was no other way but to dismount!

Quite easily, Wei Wusheng solved all the cavalry mobility problems with an imperial edict.

Then, the imperial edict that had been read to the officials earlier was read again.

"I have inherited the weighty responsibility of the seven ancestral temples and ruled for fifty years, and I have always feared that my virtue is insufficient to fulfill the mandate of heaven. However, the Crown Prince..."

After reading this, they were all dumbfounded.

The Prince of Jin has become the Emperor.

The emperor has become the retired emperor.

What about the crown prince?
“Your Highness!” Finally, a captain from the Crown Prince’s faction stood up and asked, “I have a question. If His Highness Prince Jin ascends the throne, then what should His Highness the Crown Prince do?”

“The Crown Prince committed three offenses and was deposed. Didn’t you hear that?” Wei Wusheng retorted.

Are you Erdolong?
"But the Crown Prince isn't even here, so is it appropriate to issue an imperial edict like this?" he asked, forcing himself to remain silent.

"This is an imperial edict personally issued by the Emperor Emeritus." Wei Wusheng's face darkened, and he asked solemnly, "Do you wish to question it?"

"I wouldn't dare, but..."

"If you have any doubts, I can send you to see the Emperor Emeritus."

What do you mean?
Could it be that the emperor is already dead, and this is a false imperial edict?

Sending me to see the retired emperor means... they want to kill me to silence me?
Looking around, he realized there was no chance left. Even the legitimate Imperial Guards had rebelled, so he had no choice but to lower his head and say, "Your subject obeys."

"Alright, all the cavalrymen shall hand over their horses to the Imperial Guards, and then the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards shall lead them to set up camp in the tents outside the main camp."

Then, Wei Wusheng directly took out the tiger tally and displayed it in front of these people.

He was originally the commander-in-chief of the garrison troops.

His orders were certainly effective.

The handover of troops was completed so easily.

"Mix the troops and replace all officers above the rank of centurion with Imperial Guards," Song Shi'an whispered to the officer beside him.

"Yes."

The officer received the order and went to carry it out.

Looking at these living forces, Wei Wusheng's tense state eased slightly.

.........

"Jia Guihao has been captured, and all the cavalry have been taken over."

Shen Kang, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, came to Song Shi'an's side and reported to him.

"it is good."

Song Shi'an nodded, signaling him to leave the stage.

Then, only Song Shi'an and the emperor remained in the room.

Even General San Gou was arranged to be outside the door.

A world of two, unlike anything they'd ever had before, had appeared.

"Your Majesty, you have made the right choice," Song Shi'an said with a smile.

"I am no longer His Majesty."

The retired emperor quickly adapted to his new identity, but in just a few hours, his physical condition worsened. After coughing a few times, he said in a low voice, "You are welcome to vent all the repression and humiliation you have suffered here."

“No, Your Majesty, I truly respect you,” Song Shi’an said. “I have already given my all to defeat you. And I have used all my luck.”

"What do you want by being so obsequious?" the retired emperor sneered.

“It’s not to flatter, but I do have a request for His Majesty,” Song Shi’an said humbly. “The new emperor is very good; he is a benevolent ruler. The Sixth Prince and I are both willing to assist him in unifying the world. The future empire will still be firmly in your Wei family’s hands.”

"Should I thank you?" the retired emperor asked.

“Then there’s no need,” Song Shi’an said with a smile. “But Your Majesty has also seen that the Crown Prince’s faction is like mud, utterly useless. His army will be crushed by the new emperor’s benevolent army. In that case, could Your Majesty please consider the common people and refrain from further warfare, so that the Crown Prince… no, Prince Wu, may abandon his illusions and refrain from resistance?”

"You said it yourself, even if you take me hostage, the Crown Prince will still lead his troops here. What use are my words?" the Emperor Emeritus asked.

“Your words may not be of any use to the King of Wu, but if His Highness the King of Wu loses his supporters, he will no longer be able to continue down the wrong path and will eventually perish in this land of Huai County,” Song Shi’an reminded him.

After Song Shi'an finished speaking, the emperor stared at him expressionlessly.

He looked at the other person with genuine sincerity.

He hoped for a peaceful outcome that would bring the Huai County coup to an end.

Minimize the loss of manpower.

To preserve strength for future confrontations with Ji Yuan.

The emperor's words are very important.

But the emperor didn't care at all how many people died in Huai County, or how many ordinary people died.

Just numbers.

"He has laid down his weapons. Whether he lives or dies is still in his own hands," the emperor retorted sharply.

“Of course,” Song Shi’an replied. “Didn’t you say before that His Highness and I would lay down our weapons and never harm anyone again?”

"How can that be the same?!" the emperor roared in anger.

“For Your Majesty, the Prince of Wu is a family member you cherish, and you cannot accept the outcome of him being placed under house arrest,” Song Shi’an said. “For me, the Sixth Prince is also a family member. Therefore, if you want him to live, you must also make a choice.”

Double standards are invalid.

The condition for us to live is that Wei Wusheng is made into a caged bird.

If I let the King of Wu live, why should he be able to live a perfectly good life?
"I'm tired."

The emperor slowly leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and said, "The imperial seal is in your hands, and the Imperial Guards are in your hands. Do whatever you want."

There's nothing to talk about.

Song Shi'an remained silent.

Slowly, he stood up.

left here.

Suddenly, however, he stopped and slowly turned around, staring at the old dragon with murderous intent. He coldly warned, "Your Majesty, you'd better hope that Prince Wu won't lose to me, or I will raze the Wu Prince's mansion to the ground. Not a single member of his entire family will be spared."

The emperor remained silent.

His eyes were still closed.

.........

Zhou Mo was anxious and wanted to know what had happened over there.

However, the Imperial Guards blocked all the roads, so the scouts he sent out could only observe the few raging fires that might burn for a day and a night from the distant mountains.

Besides that, I know nothing else.

Then, a soldier came to report: "General, General Jia has returned!"

"You're back?" Zhou Mo asked anxiously. "What does that mean? Is it resolved?"

"Yes, General," General Jia said. "It was exactly as he and the general had guessed. Moreover, the rebels were unable to attack His Majesty's palace, so they could only burn down the granaries. He led his soldiers and dealt with those people in less than half an hour. His Majesty, citing the lack of trusted members of the Crown Prince's faction in the current camp, ordered him to return quickly to oversee the situation and prevent a mutiny."

It is reasonable and well-founded.

"You mean you saw General Jia?"

“Yes, he told me himself,” he said. “The general only brought a dozen or so cavalry guards. Those men were basically his personal guards.”

"it is good!"

Now that Jia Guihao has returned alive, there are no more problems.

Zhou Mo didn't think too much and went straight out of the barracks to greet Jia Guihao, filled with indescribable joy.

With Wei Wusheng and Song Shi'an's rebel army wiped out, the crown prince must be the emperor.

Aren't they all heroes who helped the emperor rise to power?
Jia Guihao will surely become one of the Nine Ministers in the future.

Then, wouldn't it be easy for him to become a second or third rank official?

Go go go, let's go!

He mounted his horse and headed towards the gate of the camp.

Upon seeing the other person, he dismounted and ran towards him.

However, as they got closer, he suddenly noticed a somewhat restrained look in his eyes.

And the soldiers on his left and right were both keeping their heads down, very close to him.

They were so close that if he made any move, they could kill him instantly.

"Take down Zhou Mo!"

But it was too late. Jia Guihao pointed directly at him and shouted.

The soldiers quickly surrounded him and captured him in no time.

"General, you!"

When Zhou Mo was pinned to the ground, everyone was stunned.

A soldier standing next to Jia Guihao stepped out, took off his helmet, and casually tossed it aside, revealing a handsome face.

"Summon the entire army."

Wei Wusheng took out the tiger tally and issued this order.

Clenching his teeth and closing his eyes, Zhou Mo felt an unbearable heartache.

Then came anger.

He glared at the fat, chubby General Jia, feeling an urge to kill him.

Jia Guihao, I'll fuck your mother!

Jia Guihao could only touch his forehead with his hand and awkwardly avert his gaze.

I'm sorry, brother, if I don't agree, they're going to torture me.

I'll have to agree to the torture eventually anyway, so I might as well suffer less...

You said so, right?
.........

Jianxing Camp was especially far from the Grand Ceremony of Settling Farms; even an urgent dispatch from 800 li would take a day.

So when the news arrived, it was already evening of the following day.

At this moment, the Crown Prince was discussing matters with the Duke of Li.

Huazheng and Zhao Yi were also present.

Three nobles and one crown prince.

This is the era of great nobles that will come in the future.

“Jianxing and all the other cities are under our control,” Zhao Yi said to the cities on the sand table. “No matter what happens in Huai County, we can at least surround Dadian.”

“These troops are not enough to surround the city,” the Duke of Li said calmly. “We can only abandon the city and continue to compress it.”

"Fortunately, apart from the Grand Ceremony of Land Reclamation, the granaries in the other land reclamation camps, which account for nearly 30% of the total grain harvest from land reclamation, are all under our control," Hua Zheng said.

The grain used in the Tuntian Grand Ceremony accounted for 70%.

The remaining portion was the 30% of grain that was supposed to be distributed to the people later.

But the common people are overthinking it.

After this battle, Song Shi'an was finished. The prefect they had promised to provide with grain could no longer control them.

The result of the discussion between the Duke of Li and the Crown Prince was that all the grain payments to the major grain merchants would be settled in full. The grain originally intended for distribution to the people would be halved, only enough to guarantee a basic ration for survival next year.

Of course, they have to accept it.

If they swallow all the grain, they will surely rebel.

But if they are only kept alive, they will never have surplus food or savings. They will only be able to continue farming in Huai County like cattle and horses for the rest of their lives.

As for the claim that such blatant deception would cause people in other areas to lose their enthusiasm for military farming and become unable to cooperate with the imperial court's policies, it is a different story.

But so what?
We nobles have no desire to cultivate land.

The military farms in Huai County have become our private property and the emperor's private property, and that's enough.

As for stockpiling grain and launching a northern expedition to unify the world?
That's not part of our plan either.

Don't make unrealistic expectations, or you'll be disappointed.

"I wonder how things are going with Jia Guihao," Zhao Yi said in a low voice. "If something goes wrong at the land reclamation ceremony, I'm afraid he won't be able to handle it."

Jia Guihao is someone everyone knows is untrustworthy when trouble arises.

But even if we use him, there's no other way.

We need to use people, and we need to use our own people.

It would be too unprincipled to withhold promotions and wealth from someone simply because they lack ability.

"No, that won't happen," the Crown Prince said very seriously. "His Majesty will make arrangements for everyone and then win this battle."

He hadn't always admired his father so much, but now he realized that his father had predicted everything he did.

Even though he is now being treated like a puppet emperor by the Duke of Li, it was all part of his plan long ago.

He himself might lose to Song Shi'an, but the emperor would not.

Just then, a eunuch rushed in from outside the tent and reported, "Your Highness! A captain named Bing Bai from General Jia's camp has arrived. Several of his horses have died from exhaustion. He says he has important news to report!"

These words made everyone's hearts skip a beat.

Even the Duke of Li's expression turned serious.

What urgent matter could require such a report, especially one that a captain would personally come to deliver...?

"Let him in..." the Crown Prince said hastily.

But my heart is beating faster and faster.

I'm so nervous I'm starting to feel dizzy.

The emperor and the Duke of Li both knew that the emperor would begin to deal with Song Shi'an after he gained control of the army.

Finally, there must be a result.

But this outcome terrified him.

Soon, the lieutenant Bingbai entered, panting heavily as he knelt on one knee before the crown prince, nearly collapsing from the effort.

"Quickly, get up and speak," the crown prince hurriedly said to the eunuch. "Water, give him water!"

As Bingbai was being helped to a chair to drink water, Zhao Yi reminded him, "Don't drink too fast, or your lungs will explode."

After drinking some water and catching his breath, the captain said to the Crown Prince, "Your Highness, something terrible has happened! Our camp has been occupied by the Sixth Prince!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes widened in surprise.

The crown prince stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

Fortunately, the eunuch quickly helped him up, allowing him to stand on his own.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible." Zhao Yi didn't believe it and retorted directly, "Those people are all His Highness's men. Jia Guihao even commands an army of ten thousand. Even if they secretly raised several hundred assassins, how could they have come out and seized power from Jia Guihao when the land reclamation ceremony was completely sealed off?"

how can that be!

This is like a group of people breaking into an army and beheading the supreme leader—it's so fake it couldn't be more fake!

"Speak," the Duke of Li said to the captain.

“That’s how it is,” Captain Bingbai said. “We originally had complete control of the army, but Shen Kang from the Embroidered Uniform Guard came and told General Jia that the rebels couldn’t capture His Majesty’s side palace, so they attacked the granary, and then asked General Jia to suppress them. Because our scouts observed from the distant mountains that the granary was indeed burned, General Jia took almost all of his cavalry there. Then, not long after… not long after, he returned with a dozen or so men and tied up Deputy General Zhou. And then, out of nowhere, the Sixth Prince took the tiger tally and took control of the entire army!”

"Impossible!" The Crown Prince knew he had no reason to lie, but he didn't believe it either, so he argued, "Several thousand Imperial Guards have the ceremony completely surrounded. No matter how many men he has, they can't escape. How could he possibly have time to take over Jia Guihao's army?!"

"What if he wins against His Majesty?"

It wasn't until the Duke of Li asked that the Crown Prince's heart tightened and he was dumbfounded.

"The granary can't catch fire. If it could, then we've lost."

The Duke of Li was keenly aware of where the Wei family's lifeline lay.

“Even if His Majesty is held hostage by him, he will not compromise…” the Crown Prince said with great confidence. “For my sake, Father will not let him have his way. Even if he is killed by these rebels, they will not be able to control the army.”

"But what if they install a new emperor, and all the officials submit to him?"

When the Duke of Li asked again, the Crown Prince was completely stunned.

My head started buzzing.

He froze completely.

Zhao Yi and Hua Zheng, who were standing nearby, both felt frightened.

"Send troops! Send troops now to rescue His Majesty and annihilate the rebels!" the Crown Prince said.

"Your Highness, please be patient..." Duke Li advised.

"We have 40,000 men and our granaries are fully stocked. If we take advantage of their unstable foothold and launch a full-scale attack, we will surely be able to wipe out the enemy!"

"The most important thing now is to consolidate what we have..."

"No! If we let them establish themselves as emperor and then attack, I'll be a traitor!" The crown prince's eyes widened, and he angrily drew his sword. "I must lead the army myself! I must set off now..."

"Calm down!"

Unable to bear it any longer, the Duke of Li roared and subdued the Crown Prince.

Then, she stared at him intently. (End of Chapter)