UCTOOT CH127

Having eaten and drunk their fill, Shi Shu climbed into bed to sleep. Xie Wuchi sat on the edge of the mattress as Shi Shu reached out to unfasten the toggles of his outer robe, the amber glow of the firelight bathing his back.

Shi Shu reached out to trace the scars along his spine: “Things have been so steady between us lately. Your temper has gotten a lot better.”

Xie Wuchi: “I told you long ago, I am not an inherently aggressive person.”

Shi Shu: “…………”

“Do you even know yourself?”

Xie Wuchi: “When I am in a good mood, I can show people a pleasant face.”

“Either way, everyone ends up watching your face for cues.”

Propping himself on his knees felt awkward, so Shi Shu simply sat in his lap, brushing aside the immaculate dark hair by his ear. Xie Wuchi lifted his eyes, the shadow across the bridge of his nose cool and aloof. Shi Shu studied him closely: “We’ve been dating for over half a year now, and sometimes you still look at me like you’re looking at a dog. What kind of family raised you to turn out like this?”

Marveling at him, Shi Shu traced down to the scars on his wrist, leaning close to press a kiss there. Xie Wuchi let him kiss him for a while, dipping his head before lifting Shi Shu’s chin.

Shi Shu looked up, recalling everything from the past: “I’m going to love you for a lifetime.”

Xie Wuchi stroked his cheek: “Oh?”

Shi Shu: “Back then, you brought me meals every day, slept beside me, and got up in the middle of the night when I needed to use the privy. In the monastery, at Liushui Nunnery, in that little courtyard in Senzhou… You treated me so well.”

Xie Wuchi: “Those count as treating you well?”

Shi Shu: “Of course. A person can’t just expect others to be good to them; I want to treat you well too.”

Shi Shu rolled over, pinning him beneath him, and Xie Wuchi’s hands clamped around Shi Shu’s waist. Winter was freezing and a brazier burned in the room, so Shi Shu quickly pulled the quilt over them, tucking them in tight. Breathing against the hair beside Xie’s ear, Shi Shu said after a long silence, “I’ve saved up all my wages from the agricultural colony and the medical bureau.”

Xie Wuchi: “What for?”

Shi Shu: “Your line of work is dangerous, full of wild rises and falls. If one day you get exiled three thousand li again, or your house gets ransacked and you’re left penniless, I’ll have money. We can roam the ends of the earth together.”

Xie Wuchi replied flatly, “Then your fantasy is doomed to crumble. I will not fail.”

“…”

Shi Shu lifted his head with an effort, catching his breath: “You.”

Before he could say more, a scorching kiss descended once again. Shi Shu managed to squeeze out words through Xie Wuchi’s lips: “That’s good. It’s a good thing you won’t fail.”

They kissed for a long time until Shi Shu grew drowsy, burying his head into the pillow to fall asleep, savoring the stillness and warmth together. Late autumn chilled into winter. Shi Shu kept busy toiling at the agricultural colonies, returning to the main camp at night whenever he could make it, sometimes riding back on horseback just so he could share a bed with Xie Wuchi.

Meanwhile, Xie Wuchi was consumed with reorganizing the four prefectures, managing internal military affairs, and absorbing resources from Yong’an and Bufuzhou. By this point, he was too entrenched to dislodge. The newly arrived Pacification Commissioner could not assimilate into the Yanzhou power structure to check him. With civil administration, taxation, and military command firmly concentrated in Xie Wuchi’s hands, the imperial commissioner could only idle in the official yamen, living in constant terror of being assassinated.

To the outside world, Xie Wuchi remained dignified, impeccably composed, deep, and beyond reproach. Yet he always left an entrance open for Shi Shu. When night fell, Shi Shu was regularly escorted straight to his central command tent.

On days of official leave, Shi Shu stayed in General Xie’s quarters. Everyone chalked it up to deep fraternal affection and asked no further questions.

Time passed like this until one day, snow began falling in heavy, goose-feather flakes.

As the end of the year drew near, agricultural work ceased for the season. Shi Shu and Du Zihan spent the afternoon wandering idle through the city. Carrying a braised rabbit, Shi Shu headed out of the city toward the military camp to find the ever-busy Xie Wuchi.

The garrison lay steeped in solemn austerity, red banners whipping in the biting wind, snow piled high at the camp gates. Rapid patrols trotted past from time to time, scanning their flanks. Treading through the fresh snow with the braised rabbit in hand, Shi Shu strode forward when a rustling murmur like crushed jade drifted to his ears.

Looking up, Shi Shu saw a procession of officials striding briskly through the snow. They wore round-collar silk robes with sashes at their waists, broad red and blue sleeves fluttering, each carrying an austere expression, visibly wealthy or titled. Behind them followed a retinue of attendants bowing low in sycophantic deference.

And all of them answered to a single center. Clad in fine scale armor beneath a pale crane cloak, his dark hair bound high, Xie Wuchi stood surrounded at the center of the crowd.

After offering formal bows, the visitors departed into the swirling snow. On the other side, generals, scholars, and strategists clustered in a dense host behind Xie Wuchi.

Deep thought furrowed Xie Wuchi’s brow, as if an unsettling report had just arrived. Catching sight of Shi Shu, he commanded, “Open the council tent. Bring the Second Young Master inside.”

“Me? Me too?”

Still holding the braised rabbit, Shi Shu heard an attendant say, “Second Young Master, please. It is freezing outside; warm yourself by the brazier inside the tent.”

Shi Shu entered the tent. Charcoal crackled within a large bronze basin chased with cloud patterns. The assembly filed in, taking their seats one after another.

Shi Shu swallowed his words, settling near the warmth of the fire. Xie Wuchi lowered his eyes while an attendant gingerly brushed flakes of snow from his cloak. He stared in silence at the bright yellow imperial decree resting on a lacquer tray directly ahead.

Xie Wuchi: “Speak, gentlemen.”

Miao Yuanliang spoke first: “Congratulations to My Lord on being promoted to Military Commissioner of Xingu and Changping Prefectures, and Pacification Commissioner of Linjiang Prefecture! This general knew it: how could there be no reward for reclaiming two prefectures from the Min? Why did it only arrive right at the New Year?”

Shi Shu was startled, thinking to himself: So those were envoys from the capital? His Majesty finally conferred rewards for the peerless merit of reclaiming Yong’an and Bufuzhou?

The moment Miao Yuanliang finished, Lin Yan chuckled quietly, and Ping Yichun laughed as well: “You only see the feast, not the beating!”

What beating?

Miao Yuanliang: “How did I miss the beating? Granting the title of Military Commissioner, only to order us to suppress the rebels in the southwest. Isn’t this an empty promotion to bleed our army dry for a hollow title?”

Shi Shu looked up sharply. What? Reclaiming two commanderies and being named Military Commissioner wasn’t a promotion? It was saddling him with empty prestige while sending him to fight the southwest rebels?

The southwest rebels, known as the “Azure Army,” had been mentioned by Xie Wuchi. They had stirred unrest for a year or two, repeatedly put down only to flare up again. This time, breaking out of Qian’an Prefecture and making waves across the realm, their true threat had finally become undeniable.

Following Miao Yuanliang’s logic, was the court deliberately dispatching Xie Wuchi to suppress the rebellion, pitting the two armies against each other so his foundation would be bled dry, just like Feng Zhongshan at Yunzhou?

What kind of scheme was this? The commissionership was no benevolent reward. Trading the reclamation of two lost prefectures for high office only amounted to an order to squander his forces.

If Xie Wuchi stepped in, he would crush Dajing’s domestic uprising while simultaneously crippling his own military strength. A brilliant calculation: slaughtering the enemy to eliminate foreign threats, while bleeding his army to stifle internal rivals.

While a chill seized Shi Shu’s heart, Xie Wuchi looked completely unperturbed, asking evenly, “Where has the Azure Army reached?”

Miao Yuanliang: “Reporting to My Lord, they are currently sweeping through Zhongchu Prefecture. Just across the river lies Linjiang Prefecture. That is likely why the Emperor scrambled to name you Pacification Commissioner of Linjiang!”

Xie Wuchi remained cool: “I see. It seems that according to His Majesty’s intent, the Northern Army has no choice but to march. What do you all think?”

Everyone watched his expression. In commanding troops, Xie Wuchi appeared calm on the surface, but everyone knew his methods were ruthless as thunder, showing no sentimentality for human life, acting with absolute precision and severity.

Lin Yan said, “My Lord, the border of Linjiang Prefecture, alongside Shukang Prefecture, shields the Eastern Capital. If the Azure Army breaches Linjiang and threatens the imperial throne, that would be disastrous…”

Xie Wuchi rose, picking up the fire tongs to stir the charcoal in the brazier, the glow reflecting against the bridge of his nose: “No need to mince words. There are no outsiders in this tent.”

“Yes, My Lord. This subordinate believes that in principle, we ought to deploy troops, regardless of the consequences for now. If we refuse, we not only disobey an imperial edict, but invite accusations of entrenching our forces and harboring rebellion. That would be unfavorable.”

Shi Shu realized that everyone in this room was already in league with Xie Wuchi.

The moment Lin Yan spoke, Miao Yuanliang clicked his tongue in vehement objection: “Lord Lin! Plenty of officials feign compliance while secretly defying orders; how is that any different from outright disobedience? Second, you speak of entrenching military power. In the court today, which civil official isn’t looking out for his own career, and which general isn’t guarding his troops? If My Lord hadn’t entrenched our strength, the Northern Army would have been the weakest, most vulnerable flank when the Min attacked!”

Someone chimed in: “Indeed! The court has always been stingy with grain and payroll, hoarding every tael. The Eastern Capital revels in music and feasting, with capital mandarins dining on rare delicacies, while we frontier soldiers drink the northwest wind! Without Lord Xie’s painstaking efforts to farm and drill, how could our men and horses be sustained? The troops Lord Xie raised with his own blood and sweat, cherished by his own command, how does that warrant the label of entrenching power?”

Unable to state the Emperor’s malicious motives too overtly, Ping Yichun could only argue: “Exactly. My Lord mobilized heavy resources in the north to train a new army to defend against foreign foes. How do we have the leisure to waste elite heavy cavalry fighting starving rebel peasants? Where are the garrison troops stationed in Zhongchu Prefecture? Where are the Imperial Guards of Shukang and the Eastern Capital? Why must our Northern Army suppress the rebellion? The court drags its feet on provisions, yet remembers us the moment war breaks out! If the backbone of the Northern Army is broken and our momentum shattered, how will we defend the realm? How will we resist Beimin?”

“Everyone makes fair points,” Lin Yan nodded. “Yet My Lord commands the vital sinews of the Northern Army. Receiving an imperial decree and refusing to march makes it impossible to report back. To put it bluntly, ‘commanding heavy troops while defying imperial decrees’ would give court detractors every excuse to brand you a rebel!”

“Rebel? Isn’t this driving us to rebel?!” Miao Yuanliang barked with a roaring laugh: “Hahahahaha!”

Cold sweat coated Shi Shu’s back. Looking back and forth, he finally grasped the scene: this room was playing a coordinated performance, one group playing the conciliatory diplomat, the other playing the fiery rebel.

They laid out costs and benefits repeatedly just to give Xie Wuchi the justification to decide.

At this moment, seated upon the pearwood armchair at the center, Xie Wuchi was admiring a jade bi disc, a congratulatory gift celebrating his promotion to Military Commissioner.

Xie Wuchi showed no expression. Those below could not read his thoughts, feeling a creeping chill down their spines.

A civil official pressed on stubbornly: “We cannot refuse outright. If we truly do not go, our Lord will surely be smeared with treason, and that will invite immense trouble.”

Another general scoffed: “Treason? Are there few who commit treason across Dajing?”

“The decree arrived, blatantly demanding our flesh and blood to plug their leaks! How did the peasant rebellion in Qian’an start in the first place? Corrupt officials extorting the people, abusing women, sucking their marrow dry until the peasants had no choice but to revolt! They drove the people to rebellion, so let them clean up their own mess! Why should we always wipe their asses?!”

“My Lord, we absolutely must not deploy! The army we raised with such toil, the moment it is thrown into that bloody meat grinder, it will be a case of boiling the hounds once the hares are dead! Once the Northern Army’s strength is sapped by the rebels, the fate of Feng Zhongshan is right before our eyes!”

Feng Zhongshan, scion of an illustrious military clan, lost hundreds of thousands at Yunzhou, bleeding his entire foundation dry until his central army withered away.

Xie Wuchi had already calculated the outcome long ago. Good or bad, he had no need to speak the words himself; he let others say them for him.

Seated in his chair, listening to the heated debate for a long while, Xie Wuchi said calmly, “Enough. Silence.”

The gathered commanders had been arguing until the tent shook with flying spit. Yet hearing that quiet command, delivered without raising his voice, was enough to make everyone freeze.

All eyes turned toward him.

Xie Wuchi said, “His Majesty’s decree must naturally be obeyed. Otherwise, what would become of order?” Shifting his tone, he looked toward Ping Yichun, tossing the jade disc into his hands. “A few days ago, I received your letter stating that bandit outlaws had declared themselves kings and stirred up trouble within the borders of the North Tea River. What is the situation there now?”

Ping Yichun looked up, his thick brows furrowing: “My Lord…”

The North Tea River region bordered Yong’an Prefecture, nestled at the foot of Dongping Ridge.

The tent fell dead silent. Miao Yuanliang muttered, “When did that happen?”

Abruptly, Ping Yichun sprang to his feet, armor clattering: “My Lord, this general was just about to report on this matter! Outlaws in Dongping Ridge along the North Tea River have proclaimed a king, pillaging and slaughtering across the region. This general intends to dispatch our main army to suppress the bandits, and came to request Your Lordship’s orders!”

Xie Wuchi rose and strode toward the entrance: “Subdue the bandit threat first before considering any southward march. Why haven’t you set off yet?”

“Understood!”

A blast of icy wind swept through the parted curtain, swirling with flakes of snow, instantly chilling the warm tent.

“The North Tea River?”

“Bandit unrest along the North Tea River?”

The remaining officers inside the tent exchanged glances. Moments later, a shivering dread crept down the spines of every perceptive man in the room.

Who had ever heard of bandit unrest along the North Tea River?

Defying imperial orders, refusing to march south.

This was open rebellion in all but name.