Chapter 44: New Moves from the Northern Barbarians

A woman entering the ancestral hall to participate in a council—such a precedent had never been set before!

Before anyone could voice their objections, Xie Renfeng raised a hand to silence them, and then spoke, "My Xie family has been passed down for a thousand years, weathering six dynasties. We have seen prosperous eras and chaotic times, yet we still stand tall to this day. Why is that?"

The crowd remained silent; some pondered deeply, some looked resentful, and others simply turned their heads away.

"Chuyu, you tell them."

"In times of chaotic warfare, ambitious heroes rise in swarms. Our Xie family offends no one and maintains good relations with everyone. When government troops arrive, we offer fine wine; when rebel forces pass, we present fat sheep."

"Well said!" Xie Renfeng stroked his beard, looking rather pleased with himself.

If Xiao Zhi had been present here, he certainly would have summarized it simply: spineless, a family of professional surrenderers through the generations.

Xie Renfeng continued, "To the emperor, imperial power is paramount; whether the common people are well-fed or not is irrelevant. To the common people, food, clothing, shelter, and transportation are most important; who sits on the throne is irrelevant. To us aristocratic families, none of them matter—our continued survival is what matters."

"My Xie family does not seek to be emperors. Any dynasty lasts mere centuries at most; when chaotic troops swarm from all directions, the imperial clan is slaughtered to the last person."

"Today, the Xie family suffers a calamity, but in the span of a thousand years, this is merely a minor entry in our genealogy. To lose a few young men and seek vengeance at all costs—even then, one must consider against whom that vengeance is directed. If you act with such recklessness, foolishness, and arrogance, the day will come when the Xie family is utterly destroyed and our lineage extinguished."

Xie Renfeng's voice grew louder and louder, full of vigor, deafening and awakening.

Naturally, the crowd remained unconvinced. Then they heard Xie Renfeng ask in a loud voice, "Do you know who that masked leader was?"

"He was the emperor's study companion when the emperor resided in the Eastern Palace; he is the ruthless fellow who assassinated Huai Zhong at court; he is the supreme commander of the Imperial City Bureau who ransacks estates and exterminates clans; he is the madman who whipped the emissaries of the Northern barbarians."

"When he came to our door today, was it truly just him, or was it the emperor?"

No one could have imagined that the Xie family was so well-informed about Xiao Zhi, or that Xie Renfeng could have guessed that the face behind the mask was none other than Xiao Zhi's.

At this point, the crowd fell silent. The relationships and stakes behind this were intricate and complex. Although the Xie family was a prominent aristocratic clan in Shandong, how could they contend with imperial power?

Now the emperor wanted their land, and if the Xie family refused to give it, what would the consequences be?

"Why would they disguise themselves as bandits and target only the Xie family? Just wait and see; from now on, countless aristocratic clans will perish just like this."

"When I asked Chuyu if she was willing to marry this man, it was precisely to forge a good relationship with him. In the days to come, if others lead armies to our gates, the Xie family shall respond the same way."

The influential elders of the Xie family were all persuaded by Xie Renfeng's words.

The patriarch remained the patriarch—deeply experienced and calculating. The Xie family's survival to this day relied entirely on the forbearance and wisdom of generations of patriarchs.

Everyone lost their objections; even if they wished to retort, they found themselves utterly at a loss for words.

Xie Renfeng's voice grew much heavier. He looked at the five coffins parked in the courtyard and sighed mournfully.

"We shall bury them today, and tomorrow we will open the granaries and set up porridge stalls. At the same time, make arrangements: I will travel to the capital to have an audience with the emperor, present the family's lands to the imperial court, and arrange Chuyu's marriage."

After settling everything, Xie Renfeng sat there, his emaciated figure looking as though his spine had been pulled out, appearing somewhat hunched.

How he wished to exact swift and fierce vengeance, but he always had to consider the more than one thousand lives of the Xie family household.

A moment of rashness to make an enemy of Xiao Zhi—if it resulted in the eradication of his clan, he could not bear the consequences, even if the probability was merely one in ten thousand.

Everyone left. Chuyu was the only one he kept behind. "Child, it has been hard on you."

Chuyu gently shook her head. "It is not hard for me, Grandfather. The patriarch once said that the heroes of this world are all decisive and ruthless individuals. The only thing Chuyu can do for the Xie family is to enter into a political marriage. I am willing to marry such a hero. Even as a concubine, this life of mine will not have been lived in vain."

"Do you hold any hatred? Those lying in those coffins are your cousins and uncles."

Chuyu replied, "If I marry him, I belong to him. I can plan and scheme for the Xie family, but I must never create a rift with my husband's household."

Only by handling the relationship with her husband's family properly could she secure benefits for her natal family.

Xie Renfeng clapped his hands, his spirits visibly reviving. "Well said. You truly are a good child."

Naturally, Xiao Zhi had no idea what the Xie family was doing, and even if he knew, he wouldn't have believed it. In his eyes, this was sheer, undiluted madness.

Having eaten and drunk his fill, drowsiness crept over him. No sooner had Xiao Zhi lain down than he sneezed a string of times.

Rubbing his nose and wiping away the stray saliva, he frowned and muttered to himself, "Who the hell is plotting against me?"

Heqing stood quietly by the side, attending to him obediently, wordless as she simply watched Xiao Zhi.

Xiao Zhi wanted her to stay further away, but this young woman seemed born stubbornly resolute; she didn't argue, choosing instead to go her own way.

When Xiao Zhi fell soundly asleep, Heqing first went to wash his clothes.

After returning to the room and hesitating for a long time, she finally crept stealthily onto the bed, lying down with her back to Xiao Zhi, inching backward little by little to snuggle into that warm embrace.

She was shy and hesitant, biting her lip with a smile that brought out two dimples.

Traveling at four hundred li a day, taking less than two days, Xiao Zhi's memorial arrived in the capital and was placed upon Qin Yong's imperial desk.

At this moment, Qin Yong's brow was tightly furrowed, his expression exceptionally grim.

He hadn't read Xiao Zhi's letter yet, because another urgent dispatch from the border had thrown the entire imperial court into chaos.

The Northern Barbarian King had adopted a two-pronged strategy.

On one hand, he launched a night raid on a border city; gaining no advantage and leaving behind a hundred or so corpses, he retreated.

On the other hand, he dispatched emissaries bearing heavy bribes to ally with the Western Rong, intending to launch a joint military campaign against Great Chu.

Within the imperial court, opinions were sharply divided; some advocated for war, while others advocated for peace.

Yet one voice was unanimous: deal with Xiao Zhi. It was this pest who had provoked the Northern Barbarian King.

Displaying the hand-thrown thunder bombs to the Northern Barbarian emissary to make them wary of Great Chu would have been enough, but Xiao Zhi had insisted on devising a vicious scheme to deliver a giant firecracker to the Northern Barbarian King instead.

The Northern Barbarian King hadn't been blown to bits, but the relations between the two sides had completely ruptured.

Judging by past experience, the Western Rong's habit was to bite wherever there was flesh. Over the years, growing restless, they had repeatedly attempted to make Great Chu pay annual tributes. As long as the Northern Barbarian King offered sufficient spoils, the Western Rong mobilizing troops against Great Chu was virtually a certainty.

Presently, although the Imperial City Bureau had accelerated the production rate of hand-thrown thunder bombs, they were still stretched thin when waging war against two nations simultaneously.

Geng Wenshi, the Minister of Works, submitted memorials three times a day, demanding that the manufacturing process of the hand-thrown thunder bombs be handed over to the Ministry of Works so that production capacity could be increased.

Qin Yong had suppressed these matters for two days. By now, the memorials before his desk were piled high, all repeating the same chorus.

Qin Yong casually tossed one memorial aside, picked up another, and finding it contained the same rhetoric, threw it away as well.

In the Hall of Diligent Government, memorials were scattered everywhere.

Finally, Qin Yong instructed Hu Bao to open Xiao Zhi's memorial.

Seeing that it was entirely filled with drawings, Eunuch Hu could not help taking a few extra glances.

"This... What is Lord Xiao..."

He didn't even know how to describe it; he had never seen any official submit a memorial in such a manner.

Qin Yong took it and looked, momentarily stunned as well, then flipped through them page by page.

Thousands of miles of starving corpses, skeletons like firewood.

How was this any different from pointing at Qin Yong's nose and cursing him as a tyrant?

"Absurd!"

Qin Yong flung Xiao Zhi's memorial aside as well.

"Ever since my ascension, I consider myself diligent in governance and loving of my people. Why on earth did this Xiao Zhi send these items before the throne?"

"Is he cursing me for being a foolish ruler?"