“Father, as long as you write an edict of abdication, I promise nobody will hurt a hair of your head; also, I’ll confer the title ‘Taishang Huang’ (a title assumed by an emperor’s father who abdicated in favour of his son) on you and make sure you spend your remaining years in comfort.”
The large army had encircled the whole manor in the southern suburb, soldiers swarming inside it. The emperor on the run was intercepted by Zhou Mingyuan the King Duan and his men. Zhou Mingyuan didn’t want to become a patricide unless he had to, so he requested the emperor to write an imperial edict of abdication to let him lawfully ascend the throne.
“Outrageous! You treacherous, traitorous creature actually have the nerve to ask me to write an edict of abdication? I would rather abdicate the throne in favor of a beggar than you!” railed the emperor, pointing a shaking finger at Zhou Mingyuan, almost fainting from rage.
“Father.” Zhou Mingyuan looked at the emperor resentfully. “You think you still have a choice?”
“You unfilial son. Kill me if you really have the balls. I doubt you could sit on the throne for long after that!”
This was a confrontation between a father and a son. Zhou Mingyuan had an army at his back, while the emperor had only a team of palace guards at his command.
There had been a lot of loud noises and fire during the operation. Although Zhou Mingyuan had sealed all entrances and exits of this manor, he still worried that someone might manage to escape and get reinforcements. Once people in the capital city or the Eastern City Garrison Battalion were alarmed, he would be in grave peril, so he must force the emperor into writing an edict of abdication as soon as possible.
The emperor’s refusal to do it was also a delaying tactic. He wanted to buy himself more time to wait for the reinforcements to arrive.
“Don’t test me, Father, or I WILL be the unfilial son you said I was,” huffed Zhou Mingyuan menacingly.
The emperor sneered, “I’d like to see how far you’re willing to go!”
The palace guards immediately clustered around the emperor. Zhou Mingyuan clenched his teeth. “Then you leave me no choice!”
“Kill the palace guards. Bring the Taishang Huang to me!”
“Yes, Marshal!”
All people that had joined the King Duan in this usurpation were tempted by the rewards attached to the meritorious service of assisting a prince to become the emperor, so although they were fully aware that participation in a rebellion was punishable by extermination of their families, they still unhesitatingly charged forward.
…
In the capital city.
The whole southern gate tower was well lit by flaming torches. Within the pool of torchlight was a horrible, messy sight. Bodies and blood could be seen everywhere on the ground. At the same time, the city gates were wide open, through which chill night winds were blowing from outside, lending an eerie, grim air to this gate tower.
An hour ago, there had been an intense fight in this place. The two opposing sides of it had been the gate guards bought by the King Duan and a large number of soldiers of the City Patrol led by the King Yu who’d intended to get out of the city.
In the end, the Eastern City Garrison Battalion had arrived and joined forces with the King Yu from the outside. Together, they’d successfully opened the city gates and galloped straight southwards.
What with such loud noises of the fighting and the strong smell of blood carried by night winds, all residents in the capital city were cowering beneath their quilts, trembling all over, their doors and windows shut tight.
“I wonder whether the King Duan would be able to finish the job quick enough.” Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong, under the cover of night, had been following the King Yu and his men all along and could distantly see the light from the imperial manor now.
As the two of them were very fast and moving in the dark, nobody had noticed them.
Their noses caught the rank scent of blood from the imperial manor in the distance. Suddenly, the burning torches inside and outside the manor started moving quickly. It was an emergency deployment. Manifestly, people there had perceived the movement in this direction.
As expected, when the two of them in the wake of the King Yu’s men approached the manor, the Western City Garrison Battalion led by the King Duan charged over and then both sides came to a halt in front of the manor.
“You’re so heartless, Third Elder Brother. I never thought you were capable of such traitorous deeds. You detached the Western City Garrison Battalion to lay siege to an imperial manor without authorization. This is rebellion!” spat the King Yu, pointing at the King Duan.
Zhou Mingyuan cast him an icy, dismissive look and then fished a bright yellow imperial edict out of his bosom. “Father has abdicated in favor of me. From now on, I’m the monarch, and you’re my servant, Fifth Little Brother, and whenever you meet me on a street, you will dismount from your horse and kneel before me to pay your respects to me. This time around, I’ll forgive you and your men for blocking my path. Now get out of my way!”
The King Yu was astounded, staring fixedly at the imperial edict in Zhou Mingyuan’s hand. “I don’t believe it. This must be fake. Where is our father? What did you do to him?!”
Zhou Mingyuan replied, “Father is fine. He’s just resting in the carriage. Now step aside. I’m not going to say it again!”
The King Yu shifted his gaze to the horse-drawn carriage behind Zhou Mingyuan and yelled, “Father, it’s me! I’d like an audience with you!”
There was no reply from inside the carriage.
The King Yu’s face changed. Gazing at the carriage unblinkingly, he yelled once again, “Father! I request an audience with you!”
There was still no response.
The King Yu’s eyes immediately flashed at Zhou Mingyuan. “What did you do to our father?! He would never ignore me if he’s able to answer. You must have done something to him. Zhou Mingyuan, you monster actually dared abduct our father? Under no circumstances will I let you get away with it! Soldiers and officers of the Great Yue, don’t let a single one of them get through us! Follow me and rescue His Majesty!”
With this shout of the King Yu, the army behind him immediately charged towards the enemies.
Zhou Mingyuan looked at the King Yu with frosty eyes. “The King Yu committed defiance of an imperial edict. I hereby sentence him to death. Everybody advance! Show them no mercy!”
“Yes, Marshal!”
The two sides soon engaged, roaring battle cry bursting forth.
“Did the emperor really write an edict of abdication? If that’s the case, he would be able to lawfully succeed to the throne.” Ling Zhang eyed the written imperial edict in Zhou Mingyuan’s bosom.
Yuwen Tong replied, “I don’t know for sure. We’ll have to get it to find out about its authenticity.”
Yuwen Tong was more inclined to believe that that edict of abdication was a forgery. Also, they had to figure out without more ado whether the emperor was in that carriage, and whether he was still alive.
“You stay here. I’ll take advantage of this chaotic situation and get over there to check.” Yuwen Tong covered his face with a piece of black cloth.
Ling Zhang grabbed his arm. “Wait.”
“No matter whether the imperial edict is real or not, on no account will the King Yu let the King Duan get through. I’ve already had Wang Dashan and the others disguise themselves and lay a misguidance formation in the woods behind us. Even if the King Duan manages to break through the cordon of the King Yu’s men, he wouldn’t be able to get through the woods, and that’s when we make our move.”
Yuwen Tong looked at him. “When did you instruct them to do that?”
Ling Zhang answered, “Right before we set out to come here.”
Yuwen Tong thought hard back to the time when they were leaving the residence, but couldn’t recall what Ling Zhang had said back then.
Ling Zhang raised his hands and made a gesticulation. “We agreed on this sign language when they were receiving training in the new manor. All of them could understand it.”
Yuwen Tong glanced at the woods behind them. The deafening noises of the battle in front of them made it impossible for him to hear sounds from the distance, so he couldn’t hear any movements in the woods.
“My grandfather taught them this formation, a large-scale misguidance formation. The darkness of the night will make the formation more effective,” said Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong inclined his head. “Okay, then. Let’s wait for a while.”
That horse-drawn carriage, driven by the driver, was swerving and dodging constantly, hiding among the soldiers all the time. There had still been no movement inside the carriage. Yuwen Tong thought for a moment and then gave a strange whistle that sounded like the squawk of some kind of bird. Before long, a man in black emerged from the woods and called, “Marshal!”
“Go there and check to see if our men keeping watch on the entrances and exits of the manor have found anything. Don’t let the emperor escape.”
“Yes, Marshal.”
…
The King Yu’s army, consisting of not only the Eastern City Garrison Battalion but also the City Patrol, outnumbered the King Duan’s army. The longer the battle lasted, the greater the probability that the Northern City Garrison Battalion would come. Seeing that the battlefield was in a stalemate, Zhou Mingyuan who hated to be stuck in this place got anxious.
He also had a contingency plan – the Gu family had taken command of half of the palace guards and would lead them outside to come to his help and then seal all the city gates if the occasion arose.
“Your Highness, you need to take the imperial edict back to the city as soon as possible. If things keep going this way, the situation will get very unfavorable for us!” observed one of Zhou Mingyuan’s henchmen.
Zhou Mingyuan’s eyes moved to the carriage behind him. The henchman continued through gritted teeth, “We cannot afford to let His Majesty fall into the King Yu’s hands, Your Highness. Given the circumstances, we have but one choice – kill him.”
An pained expression twisted Zhou Mingyuan’s face. He was hesitating.
“Stop dithering, Your Highness. You need to make a decision right now!” shouted his henchman.
Eventually, with a murderous countenance, Zhou Mingyuan instructed through clenched teeth, “Kill him.”
Having convinced his master, the henchman heaved a sigh of relief. “I’ll do it, Your Highness.”
With his hand laid on the hilt of his saber, he made towards the carriage.
In the distance, Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong both saw this. The former knitted his brows and said, “Is the emperor really in that carriage, by any chance? What do we do? Do we let him die here or do we save him?”
Yuwen Tong pondered for a few moments. “We can’t let him die here, but we can’t let him return to the city unharmed either. Stay here. I’ll be back soon.”
After saying this, Yuwen Tong took a flying leap and disappeared into the darkness in the twinkling of an eye like a ghost.
At first Ling Zhang could follow Yuwen Tong’s back with his eyes, but after Yuwen Tong blended in with the crowds of fighting soldiers, he lost sight of him completely and could only stare fixedly in the direction of the carriage.
Holding a saber, the military officer walked to the carriage, jumped onto the footboard, lifted the curtain and went inside.
At the same time, Yuwen Tong reached the carriage, ducked his head to get beneath the carriage, easily detached the carriage floorboard and with that two men instantly dropped to the ground.
Inside the carriage, the military officer raised his saber and ferociously slashed at the emperor when suddenly he lost his footing and started dropping, his saber missing its target. Startled, he bellowed, “Who is it?!”
On hearing the voice, Zhou Mingyuan immediately looked in the direction of the carriage, his countenance changing drastically. “Surround the carriage!”
However, at this moment, Yuwen Tong had already dragged the unconscious emperor out from under the carriage. With a gleam of the saber in his hand, all soldiers around him were downed. Taken aback, Zhou Mingyuan failed to notice a silver needle rapidly shoot into his chest. After a short while, he paled visibly, clapped his hands over his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood, tottering on his carriage.
“Your Highness?”
“Your Highness!”
At this time, what was happening near the carriage caught the King Yu’s attention. He looked over in time to see that Zhou Mingyuan was teetering and about to fall off the carriage. He was stunned at first and then rejoiced and erupted, “The King Duan has been grievously wounded! Surrender yourselves right now, you rebels!”
With this yell of his, soldiers on both sides paused for a moment, and then the King Yu’s men’s morale was boosted significantly, and they started gaining ground on the rebels who were beginning to panic.
Watching the fight in the distance, Ling Zhang saw the whole thing, and at the same time his eyes were searching for Yuwen Tong.
Suddenly, he sensed some unusual movements in the shadows and with that another large group of men came out of nowhere, quickly ringed the whole battleground and quietly started shooting flaming arrows at the troops in the middle of it, pungent smell of black oil filling the air…
To everybody’s shock, the battlefield was rapidly turning into a blazing inferno. Meanwhile, soldiers were being hit by arrows and going down constantly, the King Duan’s and the King Yu’s alike.
