My father ordered me to kill the emperor, but His Majesty bestowed a princess upon me instead.

Before dusk the next day, I went to the old post station in Qingxia.

I did not go alone.

At least not on the books.

There are guards at the foot of the mountain, on the east slope, and on the west slope; Bai Zhi sends out a copy of the document every half hour.

If I lose contact, the list of forty-one people and Madam Wang's confession will travel through twelve stations simultaneously.

Ah Liu originally wanted to go with him.

I didn't allow it.

He was very unhappy.

"Is the young master afraid that I'll hold him back?"

"no."

"Then why?"

"You run slowly."

"Isn't this still holding us back?"

"Even if you run fast, it might not be of any use if you run into my dad."

"Then the younger one should accompany you even more."

I look at him.

Why?

"If you get beaten, someone has to go back and tell you."

He spoke sincerely.

I really want to deduct his monthly pay.

In the end, they decided to let him stay at the foot of the mountain.

The old post station hangs on the cliff of the Salt River, with only my father's old black horse, Wuyun, tethered in front of the gate.

I don't know if it recognizes me or not, but at least it didn't bite me today.

The old post station gate was half open.

There is fire inside.

I stood outside the door.

"General Shen?"

Someone inside said, "Come in."

The sound hasn't changed much.

It's heavier than I remember.

I went in.

Inside the room was a table, two chairs, and a nearly extinguished brazier.

My father sat by the window, his temples already white, and the horse-slaying sword that he couldn't pull out of the house still sat on the table.

When I looked at him, he was looking at me too.

Looked for a long time.

The first sentence is:

"You've lost weight."

I said, "The salary in the capital is not high."

His lips twitched slightly.

Like wanting to laugh.

I didn't laugh.

"sit."

"Seal of Authorization".

My father looked at me.

"Eleven years have passed since we last met; shall we verify your seal first?"

"I've had too many false fathers along the way."

"I need to make sure I haven't made a mistake."

He wasn't angry.

Take the other half of the thin iron from the sleeve.

Place it on the table.

I took out my own.

The two pieces come together.

The tiger stripes fit together perfectly.

The edge filing marks were also completely replaced.

The inscriptions on the back of the pair are connected together.

Tomorrow, You time.

Qingxia Old Post Station.

Alone.

Father is waiting for you.

The father looked at the words "Alone".

"I didn't carve it."

"I know."

"You didn't come alone."

"I didn't agree either."

How many people are at the foot of the mountain?

"Fifty imperial guards."

"Dongpo Yan Xiaoyi".

"Xipo, your man."

"A letter is placed in the Lan Yi Room every half hour."

I said, "If Father wants to kill me, he should do it quickly."

He finally laughed.

You're more afraid of dying than you were when you were a child.

"It's not easy to have survived until now."

"There's something to be afraid of."

He gestured for me to sit down.

I sat down.

I didn't touch the tea on the table.

The father saw it.

"Afraid it might be poisonous?"

"Afraid of the dream-locking drug."

"Is your mother still alive?"

"To live."

"How is she?"

"Through the door."

"Can speak."

"Not much of him was awake."

The father remained silent for a moment.

"Where is Zhaoyue?"

"Also there."

"Do you know who she is?"

"The people who served the late Empress."

"What else do you know?"

That's all for now.

"Didn't Xiao Jingheng tell you?"

"Father can tell me."

He glanced at me.

"You should ask about the grain first."

"it is good."

I took out an old account book from the wall of the Shen residence from my sleeve.

Place it on the table.

Six thousand shi (a unit of grain).

The mark of my father's fierceness.

Gu Qinghe's notes.

"July 19th, the fourteenth year of Chengxi".

I asked, "When did you find out that these six thousand shi (a unit of dry measure) came from the epidemic granary north of the Yangtze River?"

"Nineteen Nights".

"Did your mother tell you that?"

"Yes."

"Why did you still withdraw four thousand?"

"The army is running out of food."

"This is not the answer."

"This is."

The father's voice was steady.

"The vanguard battalion has 23,000 men."

"No food for three days."

"There have been incidents of horses being killed and civilians' grain being looted in the camp."

"If the army is cut off for another two days, it will disband."

"Disbanding the army is not going home."

"Twenty thousand men came down the mountain armed with knives."

"The number of people who die in the prefectures and counties along the way will only be more than those north of the river."

"So you chose the Southwest Army."

"Yes."

He didn't hide.

They didn't say they were forced into it.

"Mother wants to return half."

"I agree."

Why did you receive an extra thousand later?

"The vanguard camp is in turmoil."

"Who instigated this?"

"I didn't know at the time."

"And then?"

"Wang Shi".

"Those forty-one people?"

The father's eyes changed.

"You found it?"

"Name found."

I placed the transcribed list of forty-one people on the table.

He didn't take it immediately.

Read from the first line to the last.

"These people are not my soldiers."

"My identity is..."

"The name of the Dead Army has been taken and used by someone else."

Do you know?

"I don't know about the fourteenth year of Chengxi."

I knew part of it three years ago.

"Who told you that?"

Pei Shen.

"It's him again."

"He's more useful than you think."

"And he can hide better than anyone else."

The father said, "Only those who can hide will live long."

"My mother was also hidden for eleven years."

"I didn't have anyone drug her."

"You locked her up in the old post station."

"Yes."

Why?

"She is going to bring the military camp to the capital."

"Can't I bring it?"

"The late empress had already died by then."

"The capital city is sealed off."

"Wang Song was in charge of the Imperial Secretariat and the old treasury records."

"She'll only die if she takes the tent to the capital."

"So you're making the decision for her."

"Yes."

"She won't listen?"

"She never listens."

"Then lock her up."

"I was only locked up for seven days."

On the eighth day, she disappeared.

Have you looked for it?

"I've been searching for three years."

"And then?"

"Someone brought her a hairpin."

The father took an old wooden box from his pocket.

Inside the box was a silver hairpin.

The hairpin head is carved with tiny ears of wheat.

It has the same pattern as the cloth bag on the headboard of the Shen residence.

"The person who delivered the hairpin said that she had died in the epidemic camp north of the river."

"You believed it?"

"I killed the person who delivered the hairpin."

"and then?"

"Keep searching."

"Found it from three years ago?"

Pei Shen told me that Wang was still using the dream-locking drug to support two former witnesses.

"One of them might be her."

Why didn't you tell me?

My father finally looked at me.

"If I told you, would you still go to Beijing?"

"Won't."

"That's why I didn't tell."

He was too direct.

I didn't get to use any of the things I had prepared.

"You'd rather I kill the emperor."

"Yes."

"They won't even let me go to my mother."

"Yes."

Why?

"Because Xiao Jingheng deserves to die."

"He sealed off the imperial tent."

"He knew that the disaster-stricken grain from Jiangbei had been diverted."

"Knowing that the Wang family borrowed from the Imperial Treasury, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Revenue to write up 6,000 shi of grain as a legitimate emergency payment."

He also knew why the late empress was seriously ill.

"But he chose to stabilize the political situation first."

"Wang Song is not dead."

Pei Shen is not dead.

"Those who signed the grain ration order were only demoted a few."

How many people died in Jiangbei?

"How many more people died in the Southwest later?"

My father looked at me.

"He sat on the throne."

"Is admitting your mistake enough?"

I asked, "So you want me to kill him?"

"Yes."

"For the sake of people dying in Jiangbei?"

"For all those he included in the overall picture."

"Also for your mother?"

The father remained silent.

"have."

"For your own sake?"

He still didn't hide.

"Yes."

I asked, "If Xiao Jingheng dies, will the score be settled?"

"Won't."

"Wang Song has fallen, but the Accountability Committee still exists."

"You know."

"Know."

"What's the point of killing the emperor?"

"As long as the emperor is alive, the court will always say that as long as the Liang dynasty is stabilized, old scores can be settled later."

"What happened after he died?"

"The government will be in chaos."

"Old grievances are even harder to settle."

"That's why I need you."

I laughed.

"Father."

"Um."

"That sounds a lot like a debt settlement meeting."

His eyes darkened.

"They always say that."

"Let one person die first."

"The accounts will naturally fall into place later."

"Wang Song cleared up old scores and stabilized the court."

"My father said to kill the emperor first, and then settle old scores."

"The characters are different."

"The procedures are very similar."

"What did Xiao Jingheng give you?"

he asks.

"official."

"marriage."

"The seal used for investigation."

"And one more thing: I only believe in you."

Do you believe him?

"Don't believe everything."

"Then why do you work for him?"

"I'm not on his behalf."

"You're holding his seal."

"The seal belongs to him."

I said, "It's not the account."

"Those who returned to their original residence in Jiangbei are not."

"None of the 109 people in Qingxia are included."

"They lived not so that Xiao Jingheng could become a wise ruler."

"It's not to make my father the leader of the rebel army."

The father tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

"Did your mother teach you that?"

"She first had me write the person outside the door to life."

There was finally something else in his eyes.

Like pain.

It's like regret.

She's still the same.

"Her father knew her very well."

"Yes."

"Then why did you lie to me that she was dead?"

He did not answer.

This time, he didn't prioritize the bigger picture.

They didn't say it was for my own good.

Because the answer is already very clear.

He wanted me to make a knife.

A knife that doesn't know if its mother is still alive will be more effective at stabbing the emperor.

I then asked about the Twin Moon Box and the Returning Name Warehouse.

My father admitted that he knew three years ago that my mother might be alive, and also tacitly agreed that Madam Wang had led me here all the way; if the 109 people were willing, he still wanted to recruit them into the Southwest Army.

I simply replied: They can go, but they must decide for themselves and not wear uniforms prepared by anyone.

He took out a bronze medal.

Clear old accounts and genuine plaques.

There are only four characters on the front.

Settle old accounts.

An Chaogang was not there.

The back features one of the six grooves, a fire pattern.

"Take it."

I didn't answer.

"condition?"

"Go back to Beijing."

"Kill Xiao Jingheng."

"This is not a condition."

"It was my father's order."

finally come.

It's not a fake letter with rubbings.

It wasn't the extra killing of Zhao Ning that came from the Ministry of Rites' sleeve.

It wasn't Lady Wang who spoke on his behalf.

My father was sitting across from me.

Tell me yourself.

The tyranny remains unchanged.

I looked at the real card.

"What if I disobey orders?"

"You can still take the cards."

This is unexpected.

Why?

"The cards belong to your mother."

"It's not mine."

"What about your father's command?"

"It's still there."

"Isn't Father afraid that I'll use the cards to save someone, and then go back to protect the Emperor?"

"Afraid."

"Why give it back?"

"Because Gu Qinghe will give it to me."

He said.

"If I don't give it to you."

"She'll yell at me when she wakes up."

I suddenly felt like laughing.

I can't bring myself to laugh.

Eleven years.

He lied to me that my mother was dead.

He sent someone to escort me to the capital to kill the emperor.

He received disaster relief grain from Jiangbei.

He imprisoned his mother.

But he still remembered that she would scold him.

That's the most troublesome thing about people.

There are always a few genuine debts hidden among the bad debts.

It prevents you from freely burning the whole book.

I picked up the real cards.

"I'll take the cards."

"What about Father's orders?"

"No, we won't accept it."

My father looked at me.

"You can think about it again."

"No need."

"You believe Hsiao Ching-heng?"

"I've said it before, I don't believe everything."

"Then why not kill them?"

"Because he is guilty."

I said, "If someone is guilty, they should be held accountable."

"It shouldn't be me who, following my father's orders, stabbed him in the night."

"Is there a difference?"

"have."

"After the knife is used to kill, the person cannot speak."

"Once the accounts are settled, everyone has to speak."

The father asked, "What if he should die if the bill goes up to the very end?"

"Then let the world know why he died."

"Who will judge the emperor?"

"That's what we should be thinking about."

"It's not about killing first and then coming up with a reason."

The father remained silent for a long time.

The fire in the brazier is about to go out.

The last bit of red light shone on his face.

"You've really changed."

"The capital city is a nurturing place for people."

"They also kill people."

"You haven't been tamed."

"He didn't die either."

"good."

He actually nodded.

Like when I was a kid, he saw me calculate a sum of military rations correctly.

He then pushed the horse-slaying sword aside.

He then took out an old letter from under the table addressed to "An'er," saying it was left to him by his mother and had never been opened.

I didn't open it on the spot; I just put it in the evidence bag and prepared to have it sealed by the third party when I got back.

Suddenly, the sound of horses' hooves came from outside.

It's urgent.

It wasn't the direction the garrison was heading down the mountain.

It's on the southwest slope.

A scout stopped outside the door.

They didn't go inside.

"General."

"Urgent report from the capital."

The smile on his father's face vanished.

"explain."

Scouts were separated by a doorway:

"The fourth batch of people in blue uniforms did not walk the water line."

"We have entered the capital."

"The palace guards were rotated last night."

"Wei Zhi has gone missing."

My father looked at me.

"Return to Beijing now."

"There's still time."

I stood up.

"Is Father coming along?"

"When I entered the capital, the court was already in chaos."

"So let me go."

"You are an imperial censor."

He said, "He's my son too."

"No matter what your role is, you should go."

I walked to the door.

I heard my father's voice from behind me.

"Shen An".

I turned around.

He was still sitting by the brazier.

"If Xiao Jingheng dies at the hands of someone else."

"You haven't fulfilled your father's command."

I looked at him.

"Don't worry, Father."

"He truly deserves to die."

"It's not up to a fake dead person to carry out the surgery for the world."

I pushed open the door and went out.

A mountain breeze blew in my face.

He had a letter from his mother in his arms.

There was a second Qing Dynasty old account card in his sleeve.

My father, who still wanted me to kill my lord, was sitting behind me.

Ah Liu from the mountainside came over, first to confirm that I hadn't been beaten, and then to wonder if Hu Yin might also be lying.

"Return to Yong'an."

"So urgent?"

"Send an urgent report to the capital first."

"Next, Xiao Lingyi."

"and then?"

"Go back to Beijing to arrest the dead."

Ah Liu followed behind.

"Young master, how do you catch a dead person?"

"First, see whose clothes he's wearing."

I touched the real card hidden in my sleeve.

"Ask him again who he was holding the knife for."