Pei Ju looked around the court. Most of the high-ranking officials were silent as cicadas in winter. Only one Hanlin scholar, who was only a fourth-rank official, had a cold smile on his face and his lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself.
"Qin Qianli, what do you have to say?" Pei Ju asked, addressing him by his given name.
"Your Majesty, what the Left Chancellor and the Grand General said is absolutely right." Qin Qianli sarcastically remarked to Wei Da and Wei Jie, then calmly continued, "The Grand General said that he wanted to choose another capable general. Among all the capable generals in the world, none surpass Lu Xiang and Liu Guang. Although Lu Xiang is dead, Liu Guang is still alive. The Grand General ostensibly used his advanced age as an excuse, but in reality, he was asking Your Majesty to appoint Liu Guang. Liu Guang is renowned throughout the world, but his lord could not use him. In a time of crisis, he defected to our Great Chen. This is exactly what the Left Chancellor meant when he said that Your Majesty is blessed with boundless good fortune."
Most of the civil and military officials nodded in agreement. Although Wei Da and Wei Jie understood Qin Qianli's sarcasm, his plan had indeed saved them from a difficult situation. Only the Imperial Censor Ximen Rang stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty should execute Qin Qianli to deter treacherous thoughts. The Lianfa rebels are nothing but a bunch of rioters; their army uses wood and bamboo as weapons, and their generals are illiterate in military strategy. Your Majesty only needs to appoint a lieutenant general with tens of thousands of troops to eliminate them one by one. As for Liu Guang, he is an outsider who came to our Great Chen. If he harbors disloyal intentions, the state will be in danger!"
"We must not heed Ximen Rang's words." Qin Qianli once again pleaded, "When Liu Guang came to our Great Chen, the power of life and death was in Your Majesty's hands. Your Majesty granted him this power, and Your Majesty can also take it away. What is there to worry about? On the contrary, if Your Majesty does not allow Liu Guang to serve our Great Chen, and Liu Guang has nowhere to turn, he will lead his troops to attack our borders and disrupt our territory. Who can stop him?"
Both men had valid points in their argument. Although their official ranks were only third or fourth grade, they possessed far more knowledge and experience than those of first-grade officials. Just as the two were locked in a heated debate, another fourth-grade official, Vice Minister Guan Peng, offered a new suggestion: "I believe both of you are right. Why doesn't Your Majesty appoint Liu Guang as general, leading his troops to suppress the rebels, and simultaneously order various prefectures and counties to raise troops to defend the Emperor? I have heard that the newly appointed Governor of Yu Prefecture, Hua Xuan, has many soldiers and generals. Your Majesty could issue an edict to Hua Xuan, ordering him to lead troops to suppress the rebels."
Everyone understood his meaning: to have the Yuzhou soldiers restrain Liu Guang and prevent him from taking advantage of the suppression of the uprising to grow too powerful. At this moment, this seemed to be the best solution.
"Issue my urgent decree: appoint Liu Guang as the Deputy Marshal of the Great Chen Army, to command the troops of all the prefectures and counties he passes through, and to quell the rebellion!" In near despair, Pei Ju issued this order. Then he thought of Yu Prefecture. During the chaos in Yu Prefecture, some ministers suggested sending troops to take advantage of the conflicts between the various factions to bring the military and political power of Yu Prefecture back to the emperor. However, he had no time to attend to this. A few days ago, Hua Xuan, the governor of Xinyu Prefecture and the governor of Yu Prefecture, sent an envoy to the court with many gifts and claimed that he had already taken control of the entire Yu Prefecture. He was still somewhat uneasy. Now, he had a good opportunity. Qin Qianli's suggestion was exactly what he wanted. He wanted Hua Xuan to send troops to conquer Lianfa Sect and, incidentally, restrain Liu Guang. Ideally, all three sides would perish together.
Li Jun, far away on the Qionglu Grassland, may have also smelled the blood in the air. The war blood that had rested in his heart for only a month began to boil again. This time, the opponent he would face would be more terrifying than he had imagined.
Section 2
Unlike Lu Xiang, who died tragically before the age of forty, Liu Guang, who was over fifty, had a more persistent pursuit of military power and strength than most people. From a young age, he realized that without power, one could only be slaughtered by others in this world.
Life is either about being at the mercy of others, or about elevating yourself to dominate others; that's life. Thus, born into a declining noble family, he schemed at the age of twenty to marry the daughter of the governor of a prefecture in Heng State. This young lady was known for her jealousy, but Liu Guang, determined to rise above his station, saw nothing wrong with his actions. Sure enough, with the help of his father-in-law, he became a commander and distinguished himself in battle alongside the newly enthroned King Wu Yuyu against the rebellious Yue people, earning his place in the sights of this ambitious and capable monarch.
On the night after the decree that would make him rise to prominence was issued, Liu Guang got drunk with his childhood friends. In his drunken state, he angrily told them, "In this world, only those who are ruthless can survive."
But now, recalling his words from back then, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. Although he had taken good care of himself, with only a few strands of white hair showing at his temples, he still felt that his words from thirty years ago were too reckless. Could he really be so ruthless? If he could, why had he ended up like this today?
The new ruler of Heng was dissatisfied with him, mainly because Wu Yuyu had repeatedly consulted Liu Guang about the matter of the crown prince. Liu Guang had always used the excuse that the crown prince was older and more virtuous to persuade Wu Yuyu to change the heir apparent to his favored sixth son, Wu Jizhang. While the crown prince was grateful to him, Wu Jizhang deeply resented him. Just as he was leading troops to suppress a rebellion in Huai, which had been annexed by Heng, strange events occurred in the capital, Changping. First, the old king Wu Yuyu, who had always been healthy and trusted him greatly, died of a serious illness. Then, rumors circulated in the palace that the old king had changed the imperial edict on his deathbed, making his sixth son the crown prince and demoting the crown prince to the Marquis of Guang'an.
Liu Guang, far away at the front lines, immediately held his troops still. Upon hearing of Old Wang's passing, he felt grief for the first time in his life. Only then did he realize that the military power and strength he had gained at all costs were nothing more than Old Wang's trust, and all of this would be gone with Old Wang.
Boundless grief did not make him lose his mind. He quietly awaited the new king's decision. He thought that with his years of hard work for Heng Kingdom and his countless military achievements in expanding territory over the past thirty years, the new king would not do anything to him. But what he received was an imperial edict ordering him to hand over his military power and return to the capital to await trial.
"General, you must not return to the capital," Han Chong, his loyal deputy commander, advised. "If you return to the capital, you will be like a lamb entering a tiger's den, at the mercy of others."
Liu Guang narrowed his long eyes, stroked his long beard, and said expressionlessly, "If we don't return to the capital, what should we do? We have no choice but to obey the emperor's command."
"Why do you say such a thing, General? The land of Heng was won by the late King and you through hard work. The late King often said that the land of Heng also owes half to you. Now that the new ruler is tyrannical, why don't you raise an army to punish him?" His advisor, the white-faced and beardless chief clerk of the army, Gongsun Ming, said something astonishing. As he spoke, Gongsun Ming's eyes darted around, secretly observing the expression on Liu Guang's face.
"Shut up!" Liu Guang roared angrily after Gongsun Ming finished speaking. "Are you trying to frame me for disloyalty and injustice? How dare you utter such treasonous words! Do you have a death wish?"
Gongsun Ming, however, discerned a different meaning in Liu Guang's scolding. He was secretly pleased, knowing he had guessed correctly again. "General, what good is loyalty and righteousness?" He knelt down and kowtowed, tears streaming down his face, saying, "General, don't you see that Lu Xiang left behind a name of loyalty and righteousness, yet he was buried in a foreign land?"
"General!" All the generals in the camp knelt down at the same time. Looking at these generals who had survived his campaigns in the south and north, Liu Guang's eyes narrowed even more, and the wrinkles on his face trembled slightly. He said, "Did you all plan this all along?"
"We dare not. We are only concerned for the safety of our commander and have no other thoughts to consider," Han Chong replied tactfully on behalf of the generals.
Liu Guang paced back and forth in the camp for a while. His subordinates, who had followed him for a long time, all understood that this was a sign that he was about to make a major decision. After a moment, he returned to his chair, proving that his mind was made up.
"It was you who trapped me in this disloyal and unjust situation, so let it be as you wish." A cold glint flashed in Liu Guang's narrowed eyes as he spoke casually.
"We will follow the Commander's lead!" the generals responded in unison, and for a moment, a subtle atmosphere enveloped the tent.
“Then, let’s turn back north! We must avoid the tyrant’s troops and try to enter the State of Chen before he can muster his full army,” Liu Guang said. “The tyrant has been unkind to me, but I cannot be unjust to him.”
The soldiers looked at each other in astonishment. Liu Guang had always been fearless in his military campaigns. He would never avoid battle for fear of accidentally harming civilians, nor would he harbor any doubts after making a decision. Since he had decided to rebel for survival, he would never consider any benevolence or righteousness towards the monarch who had betrayed him.
"General, please reconsider," Gongsun Ming advised. "Now that the foolish emperor has ascended the throne, the whole country is watching. If you, General, simply raise your voice, the people of Heng will surely rise up in response. You can then punish the wicked and bring peace to the people, thus establishing a lasting dynasty. Why go north to avoid the foolish emperor?"
Liu Guang stroked his beard and smiled, saying, "That's all you've seen." He didn't say anything more, and the generals dared not ask any more questions.
Liu Guang's reluctance to directly confront Wu Jizhang wasn't truly out of benevolence or righteousness. While the new emperor's ascension was somewhat peculiar, he benefited from the legacy of his predecessor, and the people and military would not easily rebel. Although Liu Guang had rendered meritorious service to the people and the nation, his army of only 50,000 men was no match for Wu Jizhang's million-strong army. Moreover, while his military achievements were unparalleled over the years, they were built upon mountains of corpses. The people feared his military power and respected his command abilities, but not from the bottom of their hearts. Furthermore, the powerful clans had never admired his ambition to marry a shrewish wife for advancement; without power, he simply could not succeed.