A Single Tie Of Long Hair Seals A Lifelong Commitment - Chapter 97

The Xi Ma Nou people in the fields let out wild roars when they saw Xicang dead. Before long, they had Chen Liangyu surrounded.

Chen Liangyu spun her short dagger and returned it to its sheath; Xicang’s blood still stained it, uncleaned. She raised her long sword and leaped onto the back of her horse, Jade Lion.

More and more Xi Ma Nou men gathered.

Chen Liangyu charged left and right through the crowd of fierce Xi Ma Nou people, accompanied by only a few close guards who followed her closely. While attacking and defending, she also had to keep an eye on Sheng Yuan and Li Hezhang in the carriage, and save the common people from the Ximanu people’s blades.

A three-edged spiked mace viciously swung down at Chen Liangyu. She raised her sword to meet the blow. The mace head, covered in sharp spikes, struck the black iron sword, drawing a trail of sparks.

Chen Liangyu pushed away the extremely sharp iron mace.

Taking advantage of this gap, she clamped her legs on the horse’s belly. Jade Lion gave a neigh, its front hooves desperately clawing at the air, forcing back several Xi Ma Nou men in front of it.

The Xi Ma Nou people fought without fear of death, and new forces constantly rushed forward. The guards behind Chen Liangyu drew their short daggers and engaged in close combat with the charging Xi Ma Nou, gradually losing strength.

The man reined his horse and turned, swinging the spiked mace again.

Chen Liangyu glimpsed the surrounding Xi Ma Nou men. Only the one wielding the spiked mace was wearing a leopard skin cloak like Xicang’s. She rode toward him, and the moment the mace swung at her, she leaned back on the horse’s back, dodging the blow. In an instant, her wrist flickered, and the Lancang Sword plunged straight into the man’s lower abdomen.

The sword tip burrowed a few inches into his flesh.

Jade Lion continued to gallop a few steps due to inertia, and the Lancang Sword, in turn, sliced through the beast skin covering the man’s front, leaving a deep wound in his abdomen. The Xi Ma Nou man instinctively leaned backward, falling off his horse. The spiked mace landed on the empty ground, leaving several marks on the yellow earth ridges.

The man clutched the sword wound on his abdomen, breathing heavily.

A black Xuan iron sword was placed against his neck. The will to survive forced him to stammer out a self-introduction in broken Zhongyuan Central Plains language, “I am an envoy of the Wanhe Festival. I want to see your Emperor…” He felt it was humiliating for their warrior to die here, to be killed in this place.

A cold, stern voice came from above his head, “Tell your men to stop!”

The man seemed startled when he first heard the voice. Then his gaze fell upon the Lancang Sword and slowly moved up.

His eyes widened in disbelief.

“How are you here?”

Shouldn’t she be stationed in the three northern prefectures of Zhonglin?

Xicang was only sixteen this year and had never been to the battlefield. The woman in front of him wasn’t wearing an eagle-head helmet and armor, so Xicang naturally didn’t recognize her. However, he had fought against the Eagle Head Army of Zhonglin’s northern border with Xiqing, and he recognized the voice and eyes of the Grand Marshal of Zhonglin’s northern border forces.

Chen Liangyu advanced her sword slightly. Feeling a chill on his neck, the man cried out and immediately shouted to the people still charging, “Hadaji! Heiwen Heidege!”

Stop! Stop immediately!

The people wearing beast skins were still rioting. He quickly felt for a thin rope on his neck, pulled out a bone whistle, and blew it. The restless crowd gradually calmed down, looking toward the source of the whistle.

Just as they quieted for a moment, another sound of horse hooves rushed toward them.

Chen Liangyu pointed the tip of her sword at the man’s carotid artery. “Blow the whistle and tell them to stop where they are. Don’t move.”

“No, those aren’t our people.”

The whistle blew again. The sound of horse hooves drew closer. Hearing the whistle, the Xi Ma Nou people retreated to both sides, opening a path in the middle.

“Grand General, are you alright?”

Gao Guan, leading the South Court Twelve Guards, galloped up. On the back of his horse, he also carried a person dressed in dark purple palace eunuch robes, presumably a palace attendant before the Emperor.

Upon seeing an acquaintance, Chen Liangyu moved the sword tip away from the Xi Ma Nou man’s neck and stepped over the lush green wheat stalks underfoot while holding the sword hilt. “Commander Gao, you came just in time. I’m short on manpower here.”

The soil in the field was wet and sticky from the overcast rain. Chen Liangyu walked to the roadside and rubbed her feet repeatedly on the wild grass to clean the muddy clump from her soles.

The fighting outside the carriage stopped. Sheng Yuan and Li Hezhang cautiously peeked out from the carriage, adjusted their official hats, and then jumped down from the carriage shaft, one after the other, to bow to Gao Guan.

Gao Guan dismounted first, then helped Zheng Hechuan down from his horse. He returned their bows, then cupped his hands to Chen Liangyu, saying, “Your subordinate was off-duty today. I saw you gallop out of the city and figured you were here for this matter, so I had two of my younger brothers follow you in case of any emergency. Allow me to speak frankly, what kind of people managed to invite a great figure like you? It would be strange if you showed up and didn’t fight. Now, I rushed over as soon as I got the news.”

Sheng Yuan pushed Li Hezhang forward upon hearing this and patted Li Hezhang’s chest, “Lord Li invited her.”

Li Hezhang slapped Sheng Yuan’s annoying hand away. “You stay quiet.” He hid behind Sheng Yuan and secretly glanced at Gao Guan. “Your subordinate was truly at his wit’s end.”

Gao Guan did not look his way and continued to talk with Chen Liangyu, saying, “I’ll handle this here. Grand General, please enter the palace with the eunuch first.”

Zheng Hechuan surveyed the field of wheat. Not far away, an old man, a young boy, and a burly man lay motionless. A black horse with severed front hooves lay across the wheat ridges, and a dozen Xi Ma Nou men in cow and sheep skins were scattered in the trampled crops. The Xi Ma Nou had injured many common people, but fortunately, Chen Liangyu and her capable guards fought to protect them, preventing further loss of life.

He bowed, “Grand General.”

Chen Liangyu greeted him, “Eunuch Zheng.”

Zheng Hechuan bowed low and said, “Grand General, His Majesty’s verbal decree summons the Grand General for an audience in the palace.”

“I obey the decree.”

She then went to lead Jade Lion.

Zheng Hechuan hurried a couple of steps to catch up behind Chen Liangyu. “Grand General.”

Chen Liangyu turned her head and asked, “Eunuch Zheng, does the Emperor have any other decree?”

Zheng Hechuan shook his head. “His Majesty has no other decrees.” He looked Chen Liangyu’s clothes up and down. Her dark green, belted long robe was stained with blood, which didn’t show the color but appeared as deep and shallow patches here and there. The two silver wrist guards strapped on her narrow sleeves were also splashed with viscous blood.

This appearance was unsuitable for an audience with the Emperor.

“It won’t hurt to wait. Grand General, please return to your residence to change into your official robe before entering the palace.”

Chen Liangyu looked down at her dusty, bloody clothes. “Thank you, Eunuch Zheng.”

With that, she immediately mounted her horse and rode back to the city.

As she passed through the small path cleared by the Xi Ma Nou people in the field, the Xi Ma Nou men on both sides held their machetes. Some wanted to charge forward but were timely pulled back by the person next to them.

Sheng Yuan nudged Li Hezhang, who was shrinking back. “Lord Li, we should also return to the city to await the decree.”

Xicang was dead, and he died as an envoy within the borders of Great Lin. If the Emperor did not pursue the matter now, it would be difficult to explain to Xi Ma Nou. At best, it would affect trade; at worst, it might ignite military conflict on the border again. Although the man was not killed by the two of them, they were present and each had been assigned duties concerning Xi Ma Nou, so neither could entirely escape blame.

He thought he had found a lifeline, but instead invited the King of Hell. Li Hezhang felt even more miserable. He had cried while hugging the stone beast’s leg in front of the Xuanping Marquis’s mansion gate at noon, and now he couldn’t even cry if he wanted to. With a worried face, he lifted the hem of his official robe and climbed into the Sheng family’s carriage.

It was nearly dusk, and the sky was darkening. Dense clouds hung over the Chongzheng Hall, and the rain began to fall more steadily.

Zheng Hechuan knelt in the hall to report, and Xie Yuan listened with his eyes lowered. When it came to Chen Liangyu accidentally killing Xicang after the Xi Ma Nou people trampled civilian fields outside the city, Xie Yuan laughed it off, “Accidentally killed?”

Zheng Hechuan kowtowed. “This servant misspoke.”

Killed is killed. Whether it was intentional or accidental was not for him, the imperial eunuch, to judge.

Xie Yuan had been sitting on the dragon throne in the Jinluan Hall for a day and felt very tired. He stood up to stretch his muscles and walked to the outside of the Chongzheng Hall. Zheng Hechuan flicked his horsetail whisk and followed.

“Zheng Hechuan.”

“This servant is here.”

“You don’t understand Chen Liangyu well enough. How could anyone who dies by her hand be ‘accidentally’ killed?”

Zheng Hechuan detected that the Emperor did not seem angry about the matter from Xie Yuan’s tone. “This servant serves His Majesty, so of course, I do not understand the Grand General. It was presumptuous of me to speak.”

“Indeed presumptuous.”

Zheng Hechuan raised his hand to slap himself.

“Stop it. Who are you showing that to?”

Zheng Hechuan replied, “This servant is merely trying to remember the lesson.”

The sky was gray. Two high geese flew low in the air, skimming past the eaves of the palace and circling with mournful cries. The roof ridges and tiles of the palace were slopes carefully measured by the craftsmen, which the birds’ talons could not grip. After circling a few times, the two geese flew away.

Xie Yuan said, “A life for a life. Anyone who harms Our subjects should be killed. Xicang is an envoy of the prairie. If We didn’t kill him then, We might only be able to take his life on the day We dispatch troops in the future.”

Zheng Hechuan said, “In that case, the grandfather and grandson would have died in vain.”

Xie Yuan stood silently before the rain curtain, watching a low-lying spot outside the hall where water was pooling. The rain was getting heavier.

He had long suspected that Ximu Qing’s request to marry the female attendant by Jiangning’s side, but insisting on waiting for Jiangning to descend the mountain to witness their marriage before returning to the prairie, meant that someone wanted to use Ximu Qing to stir up trouble in Yongdu and force him to relax the security of the Grand Peace Temple.

Chen Liangyu killed Xicang to stop the destruction of the fields.

Was this sufficient proof that Chen Liangyu knew nothing of Xi Ma Nou stirring up trouble in Yongdu?

As long as Chen Liangyu was not involved in the conspiracy, whether Xiqing’s troublemaking was instigated by Xie Wenjun was no longer that important by comparison.

Xie Yuan stood against the wind in front of the Chongzheng Hall for a long time until a figure in a purple official robe, holding an umbrella, rushed toward the Chongzheng Hall from a distance. Only then did he turn and return inside the hall. “Zheng Hechuan, summon Sheng Yuan and Li Hezhang to Us, and also summon Tan Xialing, the Minister of Justice.”

“This servant obeys the decree.”

Chen Liangyu dusted off the moisture on her shoulders and sleeves before stepping into the main hall and kneeling, “Your subject greets His Majesty.”

Xie Yuan was not in a hurry to grant her permission to rise. “You killed an envoy in Our capital. Tell Us, what were you thinking?”

Chen Liangyu said, “Xicang was the first to destroy civilian fields and later massacred common people. This act was that of an enemy invader, not a friendly nation. It is your subject’s duty to repel foreign invaders.”

Xie Yuan lightly slapped the imperial desk and chastised, “Stop using flowery, scholarly phrases to fool Us. Tell the truth, why did you kill him?”

Chen Liangyu truthfully said, “Xicang rode his horse and trampled a large area of young crops. Those fields were rented by tenant farmers. They were waiting for the autumn harvest to pay the landlord’s rent, with some grain left over. That would have been enough to get by for the year, even if they had to tighten their belts. If this season’s crops were ruined, how could they survive? The common people naturally objected and went to stop them, which angered Xicang, who then tried to trample a pair of grandfather and grandson to death.”

“Continue.”

“Your subject cut down his horse. He retaliated against the grandfather and grandson, and the old man and the young boy perished. He is Ximu Qing’s own brother and an envoy. If your subject could not end his life on the spot, then if I were to kill him later to avenge the old man and the young boy, it would make our Great Lin appear narrow-minded, and your subject would be in the wrong.”

Before Xie Yuan could speak, Zheng Hechuan, guarding the hall door, couldn’t help but crack a smile at the corner of his mouth. He quickly lowered his head to stifle his laughter. Her words were exactly the same as what the Emperor had said.

Xie Yuan gave a dry laugh, unsure whether he was angry or amused. He said, “You think you’re very much in the right now?”

“Not entirely. Your Majesty, it’s not the same thing.”

“You are presumptuous, Chen Liangyu!”

Xie Yuan walked down from the high platform. “You, you… We…” He pointed at Chen Liangyu for a long time. “You took the moral high ground, leaving Us with the difficulty. If We don’t punish you, We cannot give Ximu Qming an explanation. If We punish you, you are in the right, so would that make Us unreasonable?”

Chen Liangyu bowed. “However Your Majesty wishes to punish your subject, I shall have no regrets.”

“Of course, We must punish you!”

Xie Yuan took two memorials from the imperial desk. They were the very ones submitted today by Jiang Xiantang, the Censor-in-Chief, and Sheng Xiuyuan, the Minister of War, along with the military dispatch from the Southern Border, and handed them all to her. “Take a look.”

Chen Liangyu took them from Xie Yuan’s hand and read them one by one. Before she finished half of the Ministry of War’s memorial, the Minister of Justice, Tan Xialing, arrived after being summoned and was waiting outside the Chongzheng Hall.

At this moment, the palace gate guard rushed to report that Ximu Qing had gathered at the palace gate with the bodies of Xicang and a dozen Xi Ma Nou men, demanding an explanation from the Emperor.

Chen Liangyu was still kneeling. She didn’t notice the extra person kneeling in the hall as she was immersed in the memorials and military dispatch. A moment later, Chen Liangyu looked up from the papers.

“Finished reading?” Xie Yuan said, “Tan Xialing.”

“Your subject is here.”

“Imprison Chen Liangyu in the Ministry of Justice’s prison.”