“I think you’re fully aware of the cause of what happened in the residential compound of the Yuwen family a couple of days ago, Marshal. I admire very much the decisiveness you displayed in your decision to cede half of your military power, and I’m also indignant at the injustice you were done,” said Zhou Mingyi the King Yu who was sitting opposite Yuwen Tong.
With a calm look on his face, Yuwen Tong said, “You may cut to the chase with me, Your Highness. I don’t like it when people beat around the bush.”
The King Yu, not offended at Yuwen Tong’s bluntness, responded, “I like your straightforwardness, Marshal. My intention is very simple – I wish to strike up a friendly relationship with you.”
He didn’t say anything about wanting Yuwen Tong’s help. He just said he intended to cultivate good relations with him.
“And how do you want to do that?” Yuwen Tong looked at him.
Eyes on Yuwen Tong, an earnest expression on his face, the King Yu replied, “Marshal, I think you know very well that although you’ve ceded half of your military power, there’s no guarantee you and your family will be safe forever. I hope you’ll give more consideration to your escape route. Actually I invited you to meet me here today because there’s a particular thing I want to tell you about – the sole reason why my father set out to eliminate you so soon was that the Wan Kingdom’s emperor, in order to ensure Shan Congwen’s safe return from the Great Yue, had agreed to prolong the period of validity of the non-aggression treaty to twenty years!”
Yuwen Tong’s brows briefly twitched, his eyes flashing towards the King Yu.
Seeing that there was finally an expected expression on Yuwen Tong’s face, the King Yu secretly felt a slight sense of relief and continued, “Think about it – the non-aggression treaty will last twenty years. Such a long time is more than enough for my father to put the North-western Army under his command, turning them into an imperial guard, which will, naturally, render you redundant.”
The King Yu had made it very clear – what with this twenty-year peace treaty, Yuwen Tong had become the emperor’s greatest threat, and on no account would the emperor let Yuwen Tong live; if Yuwen Tong wanted to survive, he must find a way out, and offering him a way out was exactly why the King Yu had come here.
“I’ve always been holding you in high regard and admiring you, Marshal. When I was a young boy, what I heard the most often was battlefield report about where you, who was then still a general, had won yet another victory. So since childhood, I’ve been looking up to you as a hero of the Great Yue, the incarnation of the God of War. I never believed that you’d ever do anything traitorous. If I’m enthroned, I’d want to see you remain the marshal of the Great Yue.”
The King Yu, having expressly made his point, fixed Yuwen Tong with a gaze, waiting for him to make a decision.
Yuwen Tong didn’t make a reply immediately. After a while, he rose to his feet. “Thank you for your advice, Your Highness. Consider your efforts to cultivate good relations with me successful. As for what might come next, we shall have further talks about it.”
Inwardly the King Yu was very satisfied. Yuwen Tong’s positive response to his overtures was a good start!
“Sure. You don’t have to rush into any decisions. I arranged this meeting merely because I wanted you to know about the cause of that unfortunate incident, so that you’d be more aware of the situation.”
Having achieved his ends, the King Yu didn’t try to persuade Yuwen Tong to stay longer when Yuwen Tong expressed his intention to return.
“Your Highness, do you think Yuwen Tong will agree?” said the King Yu’s henchman, watching Yuwen Tong’s receding back.
The King Yu replied in a deep voice, “He will agree.”
“Well, if by any chance the King Duan…”
“Zhou Mingyuan?” the King Yu sneered. “Impossible. Back then when Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang were on their way to this city, Ling Zhang was almost poisoned in Wu City, for which Peng Fang was the one responsible. Although at that time Peng Fang hadn’t openly taken Zhou Mingyuan’s side, Yuwen Tong has definitely found out about the truth, and even if he hadn’t, we’ll have to figure out a way to make sure he’s informed. Everybody knows how protective Yuwen Tong is of Ling Zhang. You think he would still choose Zhou Mingyuan after this matter comes to his knowledge?”
“Uh… there are no permanent enemies.”
The King Yu shook his head. “Yuwen Tong is different, and if he really could put aside Zhou Mingyuan’s previous attempt on Ling Zhang’s life, he would be too formidable, and what he wants to be would by no means be merely someone who helps a prince accede to the throne.”
His henchman fell silent.
…
Meanwhile, Yuwen Tong had returned to the Ling Mansion, and Ling Zhang had seen Tao Yi off.
“What was it Tao Yi wanted to see you about?” Yuwen Tong was the first to start asking questions.
On hearing this, Ling Zhang, who wanted to asked him about his meeting with the King Yu, had no choice but to tell him about why Tao Yi had visited him. “I declined the invitation, because I don’t want to get them into any trouble, given the circumstances.”
Yuwen Tong nodded. “It’s indeed not the right time, but if you really want to meet them, I can make it happen.”
Ling Zhang shook his head. “No, that won’t be necessary. Knowing that they care about me is enough for me. Right now you need me more than they do.”
Yuwen Tong was briefly stupefied and then, as a beam broke across his face, reached out his hand with the intention to sweep Ling Zhang into his embrace to make out with him.
Ling Zhang slapped his hand away. “Stop it. You still haven’t told me what your meeting with the King Yu was about.”
“Just as I expected, he wants me to take his side and assist him to take the throne,” said Yuwen Tong blandly. “It turns out that previously I kind of underestimated him. At this juncture, he’s showing more daring and greater resolution than Zhou Mingyuan is.”
Unfortunately for the King Yu, no matter how audacious and committed he was, it was already too late. In addition, Yuwen Tong didn’t believe a single word of what he’d said during the meeting. His statements about admiring Yuwen Tong as a hero could only fool the unsophisticated. If Yuwen Tong really helped the King Yu ascend the throne, the King Yu would also try to eliminate him just like the incumbent emperor. None of the members of the Zhou family was trustworthy.
“What did he say?” asked Ling Zhang curiously.
“He told me about the cause of this upheaval. The period of validity of the peace treaty between the Wan Kingdom and the Great Yue has been extended to twenty years,” said Yuwen Tong.
“Twenty years?” Ling Zhang was astonished. To his knowledge, previously it’d been ten years.
Yuwen Tong appeared very calm. “I’ve long since come to know about this. It doesn’t matter whether it is twenty or thirty years. Actually the Wan Kingdom would’ve made it fifty if they have to. All they want is for Shan Congwen to return safely, and for their country to have enough time to regain strength. When they have enough troops and provisions, they might immediately wage another war.”
It was ridiculous that the Zhou family, after suffering so many losses during their previous dealings with the Wan Kingdom, still hadn’t learned their lesson and had actually believed it. Or maybe they just needed something to justify their attempt to eliminate him.
It wasn’t for merely one or two days that the emperor had been wary and suspicious of him anyway.
“Are you saying that the Wan Kingdom could scrap the treaty at any moment? Then what should we do?” The possibility of the outbreak of another war concerned Ling Zhang.
“That won’t happen anytime soon. Without help, the Wan Kingdom needs at least five years to regain enough strength to start another war,” replied Yuwen Tong.
Five years? Ling Zhang felt slightly relieved. Chances were that after five years, many matters would have been settled. Relaxed, he failed to see that a glint flitted across Yuwen Tong’s eyes.
Without help, the Wan Kingdom indeed would need that much time, but what if they got help?
Yuwen Tong didn’t remind Ling Zhang of this, because there were some things he’d been planning, the developments of which would depend on potential changes of situation.
Yuwen Tong’s cession of half of his military power was indeed being a hindrance to the emperor’s further moves, and it’d even silenced many of the courtiers. Added to the cession of power had been a farce which had ended in a rather ugly fashion, and maybe because of this, the emperor, apart from paying generous compensation for the Yuwen family’s loss during the search, had willingly granted Yuwen Tong’s request for a long extension of his leave of absence in an effort to get a fig leaf.
There was no telling whether or not people were still discussing it in private, but on the surface, nobody was so insensible as to bring up what had happened in the residential compound of the Yuwen family earlier.
Yuwen Zhi had also taken a leave of absence and hadn’t been attending court meetings. Yuwen Feng and Yuwen You, however, were unable to rid themselves of the prying eyes. When in the imperial court, no matter how hard the other courtiers tried to nose out the details, the two of them refused to breathe a single word of the incident, having no intention whatsoever to satisfy their colleagues’ curiosity.
On this day, after a court meeting, Yuwen Feng and Yuwen You chanced upon each other.
“Granduncle.” Yuwen Feng made a bow with hands folded in front.
Yuwen You inclined his head, flicked a glance at him and sighed, “Is your father okay?”
Yuwen Feng replied, “He’s just suffering from some ailments caused by depression. He’ll recover in a couple of days.”
“And your brother?”
It was a few moments’ silence before Yuwen Feng said, “A court physician said there’s a high chance he’d never be able to walk again, so he’s been giving us a rather hard time recently.”
Yuwen You reached out his hand to pat his shoulder and asked, “You have grudges, don’t you?”
Yuwen Feng slightly shook his head. “Granduncle, if I say I don’t, you definitely wouldn’t believe me, but I also know that this time around my mother had only herself to blame. At bottom it was my fault. As her son, I failed to detect in time signs of my mother’s plan, almost allowing her to bring a disaster to our family. I inwardly hate myself more than anybody.”
Yuwen You made no remarks, sighing repeatedly. After quite a while, he said, “If you need my help, all you have to do is ask. The Yuwen family… is faced with an oncoming calamity, which makes many of our personal grudges trivial. Only by surviving this calamity will we be able to have a chance to settle the other matters.”
Yuwen Feng nodded. “I understand.”
What the Yuwen family was faced with was far more serious than just a calamity. If they failed to tackle it in the correct way, everybody bearing the surname ‘Yuwen’ in this family would meet their end. Nobody wanted to die.
Yuwen You, after parting from Yuwen Feng, sighed constantly on his way back and didn’t stop even when he was at home.
“Father, just now Tong had someone deliver a message here, saying that he’d pay us a visit in a while, that the team sent to Tanyang should return to the capital city in two days,” said Yuwen Si.
Yuwen You inclined his head, finally a hint of delight appearing on his face. “I see.”
…
In the Ling Mansion.
“I wonder whether or not news of what happened in the capital city has reached my grandfather’s and uncle’s ears. If it has, they must be very worried right now,” said Ling Zhang.
“I’ve personally written them a letter to explain everything already,” said Yuwen Tong.
Ling Zhang was astonished. “And when did you do that?”
He found that recently Yuwen Tong had been quite mysterious about his letters to his family in Tanyang, keeping them from him.
Yuwen Tong replied, “Quite a few days ago. I think their reply is about to arrive.”
Ling Zhang looked at him. “Don’t you keep this kind of thing back from me ever again. You must tell me. I don’t want my family to worry about us.”
Yuwen Tong hadn’t been intentionally trying to hide it from Ling Zhang. He’d just been too busy and forgotten that he needed to inform Ling Zhang. At this moment, after hearing Ling Zhang’s words, he naturally hastened to promise that next time he would tell him beforehand and would never keep it from him ever again.
Ling Zhang’s mood lightened somewhat as he heard his promise.
