Chapter 746: The Great Instructor Ximen Qing (18)

The Martial Alliance sat in Kaifeng, and by Central Plains standards, Kaifeng Prefecture and Beijing were close enough that if you tripped and fell, your nose would hit the other—practically within arm’s reach.

All the more so when the courier line in question ran along government channels—most of all, when it ran along the Imperial Palace’s line.

By national law, all cattle and horses belonged to the state, which meant every famous steed under heaven was, on paper, the property of the imperial house. Those magnificent bloodlines were bred with one another, foaling yet more superb horses.

So when dispatches left the palace or came into it, they were carried by the finest of those horses, swapped out at each city, galloping twelve shichen a day. No foot courier anywhere in the Central Plains could match that godlike speed.

That was what you called ultra-high-speed communication.

So the fifteen hundred-li stretch from Kaifeng to Beijing, crossing fifty relay stations and burning through fifty-one good horses, reached the Dragon Throne in only fourteen shichen.

Straight into the Forbidden City.

In the past, in the present, and even in the imagined future, the greatest palace between heaven and earth.

But this vast exterior shell of the Forbidden City was a sight the common people were rarely allowed even to look at. To begin with, you had to pass the great outer walls that encircled it, and then pass the gate in those walls.

Tiananmen—the first gate of the Forbidden City, where nothing whatsoever was scheduled to happen now or at any point hereafter.

Beyond Tiananmen lay the palace gate proper, Wumen, and past Wumen you emerged into a garden closed on all sides, hemmed in by high walls crowned with countless bows, crossbows, and cannons, all aimed in. A killing courtyard.

Cross the running water to the other side, and you came to the tightly shut Hwanggeuk Gate, where soldiers poured out to verify your identity.

Pass Hwanggeuk Gate, and only then did the great hall where the Son of Heaven received memorials—the Hwanggeuk Hall—finally show itself.

Behind Hwanggeuk Hall, taking up space for no purpose but looking impressive, stood Jungguk Hall; behind Jungguk Hall sat Geonguk Hall, used for the realm’s great sacrifices and its largest councils.

The place where the Son of Heaven actually handled state affairs, however, was elsewhere.

You went along the left side of Hwanggeuk Hall, then past the three great halls—Hwanggeuk Hall, Jungguk Hall, and Geonguk Hall—and at the end of that path, in a modest building, you arrived at Yangsim Hall.

Maybe they found Hwanggeuk Hall and Geonguk Hall simply too big, the emptiness too cold to sit in and do paperwork.

Or maybe Yangsim Hall was just the closest to Geoncheong Palace, the residence where the emperor actually lived.

Thus: the Forbidden City, Yangsim Hall.

The Son of Heaven’s seat was always on top of steps.

Because the Son of Heaven was the child of heaven and the deputy of heaven’s will, a being not merely human but a divine person, set apart in rank.

So the top of those steps was like the heavenly realm above the sky: a sanctuary not just anyone could trespass upon.

The steps that split heaven from earth were called the Imperial Steps.

Beneath those Steps, the twelve highest eunuchs—the Grand Eunuchs—always took their places, tasked with taking the business of the human world and conveying it up to the heavens.

So if some mere human wanted to address the Son of Heaven, they first had to submit what they wished to say to the eunuchs below the Imperial Steps, to be lifted up toward heaven.

That was why humans said,

“Your Majesty, I report.”

“Humbly, your servant Wi Seokjong and the Golden Guard knights bring word of those lowlife river-and-lakes rabble gangs. In accordance with the command Your Majesty issued, we present it to Your Majesty.”

A Grand Eunuch took the letter, carefully climbed the steps, bent his back until his head was almost touching the ground, and stretched both hands straight forward to offer it.

The Son of Heaven took the memorial and his face rotted as he read down the lines.

“These... these... these insolent, lawless bastards...!”

“Rotting” wasn’t really sufficient.

His face didn’t just turn red; it darkened to a jujube-black, the veins standing out livid and ugly, bristling like scrub on a crumbling wall.

The whites of his eyes flushed blood-red, his whole body trembled, until he looked like some murderous evil god incarnate.

A balloon that might detonate into a grand explosion if someone so much as pricked it with a pin.

In that moment—

“Your Majesty, be steady. I fear the imperial body might be harmed.”

A voice as clear as spring water floated out.

A woman’s pure, beautiful tone, the kind of silken sound you’d get if you wove brocade out of music, spoken by a eunuch standing behind the dragon throne, sleeves folded together, offering gentle concern.

True, a eunuch castrated before the age of ten was bound to have a lovely voice, but the face revealed beneath the court cap looked far more like a woman’s than a gelded man’s.

The Grand Eunuch who had carried the letter up, Jo Wang-gang—one of the Twelve Grand Eunuchs—felt the corner of his eye twitch, but his head was already bowed too low to show it.

“Yes. What you say is truly correct. That is exactly what these vermin want. Hoo...”

By strict court ritual, the Son of Heaven was not supposed to speak directly; the voice of heaven was supposed to reach the earth only after passing through the man on the steps who served as its medium.

That was how the rules of the palace went.

But that was just palace etiquette.

How inconvenient would it be to have someone sitting just below you, and then insist on making some eunuch shuttle back and forth, whispering, every time you wanted to say something?

Maybe that ceremony helped maintain the Son of Heaven’s dignity, but it didn’t do a thing to help his blood pressure.

So after the very first formal meeting, they went through the motions once, and from then on they just spoke like normal people.

The Son of Heaven was still human, after all. Human.

The Son of Heaven handed the memorial down to the ministers gathered below, his closest confidants.

The officials inside Yangsim Hall took turns reading it and reacted with ferocious outrage.

Those bastards...! Those sons of bitches...! Those pieces of trash...!

With their highly honed survival instincts, they knew exactly how to vent their anger in a way that made the Son of Heaven feel comforted.

The memorial was nothing other than the Martial Alliance’s official announcement.

“Please, for the love of all that’s holy, stop doing this. We’re done putting up with it. Look at this, you got all our subordinates killed. Yes, Minor Water Witch did that, not us. Of course, it might have been us too?”

And the back page was an opinion report drafted by the Henan intelligence branch.

“We have confirmed that a large battle occurred in Nosan County between Minor Water Witch and assassins. Several eyewitnesses claim to have seen Minor Water Witch, and their testimony is credible.

“Multiple eyewitness statements describe Minor Water Witch’s appearance as dark and rough, indicating a probable berserk state in a demon-entranced martial practitioner. From this, we can tentatively fix Minor Water Witch’s realm at the Heart-Devil stage.

“However, rumors indicate the assassins’ target was not Minor Water Witch, but the Righteous-Proper Martial Academy instructor in charge. After apprehending several assassin groups, this has been confirmed as fact.

“They insist that a high official of the Bureau commissioned them, but the client’s identity remains unknown.

“Thus, the initial disturbance was a battle between the assassins and Heavenly Flower Sword Ximen Surin, an instructor at Righteous-Proper Martial Academy, after which Minor Water Witch appears to have joined in for reasons unknown.

“There are rumors that Minor Water Witch was driven off by the Righteous-Proper Martial Academy instructor corps, but there are few eyewitnesses to that process, and their accounts differ wildly, so they cannot be trusted.

“The claim that Minor Water Witch was repelled is highly likely to be a false rumor spread by the Martial Alliance to publicize their achievements.”

It was intelligence compiled by the Henan branch after the Martial Alliance’s announcement, gathering up the rumors.

Of course a mere branch office had no way to know about a secret operation to assassinate the son of the Chief Censor.

They wrote that opinion piece without realizing the client who had hired those assassins was the Imperial Palace itself.

“What are we to do with them, hoo, what are we to do with these people? These bandit bands who privately raise arms are growing ever more arrogant; a great illness has befallen the realm. How are we to cut this rotten flesh away?”

“Ahem. Well, like this... tch.”

“For the moment, it will be difficult...”

The ministers all made troubled faces.

The Martial Alliance’s announcement was simply too sly.

In their gut, they felt, These bastards... they finally went and cut down Golden Guard bodyguards, they’ve crossed the line.

But on paper, the announcement said, We didn’t do it, it was all the Blood Cult.

The Martial Alliance might be innocent. Or they might not.

The memorial itself said the fight between the assassins and Heavenly Flower Sword had come first.

The Martial Alliance clearly knew someone had attempted a strike on the Righteous-Proper Martial Academy instructor.

And yet, in their announcement, they quietly left that part out and repackaged it as a battle with a Blood Cult demon. If that wasn’t shifty, what was?

No one knew why Minor Water Witch had suddenly appeared and wrecked the Imperial Palace’s plans.

No one knew why Golden Guard bodyguards had ended up fighting Minor Water Witch in the first place.

So maybe the Martial Alliance had used Minor Water Witch as an excuse and cut down the Son of Heaven’s men.

Or maybe, as demonic fiends were wont to do, she had flown into a rampage over some trivial cause and things had escalated.

In the worst case, it was not impossible that they had joined hands with the Blood Cult to pull something.

In the end, the exact truth was unknowable.

All the Martial Alliance had done was take the opportunity to toss a question mark.

Had the Martial Alliance caught on to the palace’s operation?

If so, what they were saying was, We won’t tolerate this any further. From now on, any work to clear out those lawless warlords of the Central Plains would have to be handled with even greater care.

If they tried something again and those river-and-lakes bandits all rose up in unison, what then?

The court could mobilize troops and it would not lose—but it would only just barely manage not to lose.

“Anyone with a good plan, speak without reserve.”

At that, the men standing to the left and right below the steps traded glances.

On the left, a fat old man—head of the eunuchs and chief of the Eastern Depot, Grand Eunuch Jeong Sabon—shot a look heavy with mockery at his long-time rival.

Well? Have anything to say?

The one receiving that look was a thick-built man, a middle-aged hulk with muscle wrapped around his neck: the head of the Golden Guard, Inner-Palace Commander Bang Cheollyeong.

That fucking old bastard.

Bang Cheollyeong clenched his teeth, the already thick muscles of his trapezius bulging even more.

Seeing that, Jeong Sabon’s lips oozed into a lazy smile. Then he smoothed his face into solemnity and stepped one pace forward.

“Your Majesty, I would say this is rather a stroke of luck. The Heavenly Flower Sword, is it not? Why not seize this chance to summon her to the palace and lavish her with imperial praise?”

The lilting, feminine cadence peculiar to eunuchs, a coy, sing-song voice.

Coming out of the mouth of a fat old man, it might have turned a few stomachs, but what could you do—that was what eunuchs were.

The Son of Heaven’s face hardened.

“What nonsense is that? Praise her? They cannot even subdue these lawless bandits who rampage without knowing heaven from earth and throw the realm into disorder, and you would have me laud her as admirable?”

“Your Majesty, how could I possibly not know Your Majesty’s true will? I say this with nothing but loyal devotion to Your Majesty.”

A lie, once spoken, always demanded bigger lies to clean it up, until it grew so large you could no longer reel it back in.

Those people calling themselves the Martial Alliance had dared to deceive the world with a lie. Even if the court made that lie bigger, they would be in no position to deny it.

So, the fact that they had fought a great Blood Cult demon was, in itself, something that could be praised.

If the court named Heavenly Flower Sword as their representative in that deed, the Martial Alliance would be in no position to object.

“Your Majesty. Isn’t Heavenly Flower Sword the woman widely hailed as the next Number One Under Heaven? Even that monstrous Wucheonja failed to reach the transcendent realm at twenty; left unattended, this woman could become a grave threat.”

At the word “Wucheonja,” veins stood out once more on the emperor’s face, thick with rage.

Jeong Sabon lifted his sagging cheeks in a smile.

“But no matter how outstanding her martial talent, she is, in the end, a woman. Is it not pitiful that a woman past twenty has yet to find a match? If Your Majesty were to personally arrange a marriage for her as reward for her service, what greater grace could there be?”

“Oh? But do you not know how insolent martial-world women can be? Even if I grant such a marriage, if she refuses it, how ridiculous will that make me look?”

“That is why the proposal must be one she cannot refuse. Your Majesty, would she not make a suitable candidate for the Crown Prince’s lady in waiting?”

A “lady in waiting” was the lowest of the Crown Prince’s primary consorts.

Once the Crown Prince ascended as Son of Heaven, she would be promoted to the fourth primary rank, a consort with full rank and title.

In short, he was suggesting they grant Heavenly Flower Sword a rightful place as an imperial consort.

It was, admittedly, an offer that could not be refused.

Who in this world would dare turn down the position of the Crown Prince’s consort?

If anything, all the civil and military officials would likely rise as one in opposition.

To entrust the Crown Prince’s primary consort’s seat to some lowborn human butcher girl? They would throw themselves flat in front of Hwanggeuk Hall and beg His Majesty to reconsider.

Of course, the Son of Heaven himself felt beyond exasperated—he was on the verge of exploding.

“What, what did you say? You would bring some filthy bandit girl from the martial world into the palace? Have you finally lost your mind?”

He exploded in a shout.

Jeong Sabon, however, remained composed, wearing only that plump smile.

“Your Majesty, is she not hailed as the next Number One Under Heaven? Recall Wucheonja. Once she becomes a woman of the imperial house, she will no longer be able to devote herself to martial arts, and thus will cease to be dangerous.”

“That is that and this is this! Nonsense! Grand Eunuch, do not utter another insolent word!”

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I beg you to see the sincerity of this lowly servant’s loyalty. A wild woman of no faction will have no one in the palace to lean on but her own husband. Naturally, she will cling to the Crown Prince. Then a transcendent-realm martial master will be following the Crown Prince, will she not?”

“That is... mm.”

The Son of Heaven stroked his beard.

When you put it like that... it didn’t sound entirely bad.

“If, in the end, she fails to please Your Majesty, you can simply remove her after some time. By law, any imperial woman who uses wicked sorcery is to be executed at once. Who can say what tricks a wild woman might attempt if she is blinded by the favor she receives? And what could mere river-and-lakes fighters dare say about the internal affairs of the palace?”

Once Heavenly Flower Sword entered the palace, whether she lived or died would thereafter be strictly an internal imperial matter. There would be no need to concern themselves with the Martial Alliance’s opinion.

“More than anything, it will serve as a stern rebuke to that Martial Alliance rabble. No matter what they think they are, they are, in the end, nothing but commoners. How do you think it will feel to watch us snatch away their divine dragon before their very eyes?”

At that, the scales in the Son of Heaven’s heart tipped hard.

He still did not like the idea of bringing some barbarous, filthy woman into the imperial clan.

But how many marriages in the process of ruling the Central Plains had ever been non-political?

If anything, a ruler’s marriages had to be political.

Every time a monarch truly gave his heart to a woman and married for love, the realm had fallen into chaos.

Daji had been such a woman. Xishi had been such a woman. Yang Guifei had been such a woman. The histories were full of wicked women and the harm they brought.

At length, the Son of Heaven nodded.

“Very well. We grant it. Grand Eunuch Jeong shall see that there is no disgraceful incident.”

At that, Grand Eunuch Jeong Sabon somehow managed to bow very deeply, despite all that quivering flesh.