Chapter 307 This Is a Punishment!
In the central tent, after Kuang Shihan listened to the Imperial Guard’s report that his only son asked to see him outside, deep fatigue flashed between his eyebrows.
Kuang Qingwu had been foster for several years, but he was the only son of Kuang Shihan. Even though Kuang Qingwu had been resentful since he was recognized as a child, Kuang Shihan had never neglected to care about him. How could he not understand his son’s mind?
He could guess Kuang Qingwu’s intention without asking.
“This is a punishment for me!” The commander-in-chief of Western Army thought to himself, “In my early years, I didn’t care about my adoptive father’s kindness. I killed his son-in-law and harmed his descendants. Now my only son even wants me to die. It’s just that I robbed my adoptive father’s place after I hurt his family. If this rebellious son annoys me to death, what does he think will happen to him?”
Kuang Shihan couldn’t help looking at the map not far away. The war started last winter. He told the Darui court that the war started because the barbarians were short of food and gra.s.s this winter, and they wanted to marry Princess Asemu because of their military contributions. However, it was he who sent people to sneak in and burn those pastures.
He did so in order to have a reason to fight after Qiu Jinglan’s filial piety.
“Although my son hates me deeply, he still has some talent and attracts Mr. Leshan as a think tank. No wonder he often doesn’t take my advice. But he didn’t think about that Qiu Jinglan went to Hanlin Academy at the age of eighteen and held Tianya in his hand. He was deeply loved by Xue Chang. He also promised his younger sister to Jiang Yashuang, the most outstanding son of the Jiang Family, as his wife, so as to win over the Jiang family as an ally. In terms of ability and background, Qiu Jinglan is not worse than him.”
Kuang Shihan recalled his original plan and sighed, “It’s not just Qiu Jinglan! How many people are staring at the position of commander-in-chief of the Western Army? The reason why Empress Dowager Gu built Xingkang Grand Princess’s Mansion in Shazhou at the beginning was that she hoped XingKang could overhead me. If I didn’t have the ability, I would have been the puppet of the mother and the daughter. The Princess Changping was raised by Empress Dowager Gu herself. How could she not have the same idea as her aunt?”
So he arranged this war. The original purpose was not to stop Qiu Jinglan from going west. In Kuang Shihan’s view, it was definitely not a good time for Qiu Jinglan to go west, let alone a good time for him to revenge. If he were Qiu Jinglan, he would choose to continue to endure. After all, Qiu Jinglan had the advantage of going to Hanlin Academy at the age of 18 and had the background of Half Regime Jiang, as well as the ident.i.ty of a student of the famous official. He could settle down to run the imperial power, slowly wait for the enemy’s aging, and then launch the revenge.
Kuang Shihan thought this would be a wise choice.
However, although Qiu Jinglan’s eagerness to go west surprised him, he didn’t think it was a threat. The Ruan and Qiu Family took turns to control the Western Army since the founding of the state. These two families’ authority was deep-rooted in the Western Army, but he made it to take their place and became the commander-in-chief of the Western Army.
Now it was just Qiu Jinglan. He wanted to make things difficult for him only by contacting a few generals who were allegiant to General Ruan and Qiu Zhongyan. Kuang Shihan thought that Qiu Jinglan’s literary talent was really excellent, and he also had a brilliant mind. But after all, he was young and full of vigor and thought too much of himself.
Maybe Kuang Qingwu’s loss in Jing City made him feel that Marquess Zhang’s Mansion was just like this?
“After killing this man, we can take the opportunity to clear up the Western Army. Do you really think I don’t know who in the army is still thinking of the kindness of the Ruan and Qiu Family? The reason why I keep you still is to build up my son’s reputation and prestige.”
Kuang Shihan had been thinking about how to help his son acc.u.mulate military achievements and prestige while he was on the position. Kuang Qingwu should grow up when he was too old to protect him.
But now…
The others were coming according to his plan, except for his son. After the Commandery Princess Ningtai issue, would he start to toss again?
After a long hesitation, Kuang Shihan didn’t say a word.
He didn’t speak, and the Imperial Guards didn’t dare to urge him.
Kuang Qingwu didn’t have patience. He neither didn’t see the Imperial Guards come out nor heard a word in the tent. So he just rushed in!
“Young Prince!” Another Imperial Guard at the door was shocked and wanted to stop him, but Kuang Qingwu had already stepped into the tent. He asked coldly regardless of his father’s anger, “Why don’t you send someone to help people in Xiaosha Mountain?! If you let that person go to Shazhou, once they succeed, do you want me to pay your debts for you?”
“Shut up!” Kuang Shihan broke his pen angrily. He didn’t answer his question about Xiaosha Mountain but said with anger, “Drag this man out and deal with him by military law!”
There was a law in the army. Even the general next to the commander couldn’t enter the commander’s barrack without permission. He must get the permission of the commander before he could enter the barracks! Anyone who broke this rule would get killed.
Kuang Shihan’s orders were simple, but the Imperial Guards all knew that many generals killed their children to frighten the whole army and make them obey the rules. However, Kuang Shihan was not included.
They didn’t dare to tie Kuang Qingwu out to find the judge and pleaded immediately, “Young Prince just joined the army for a short time. He doesn’t know the rules. General, please forgive him!”
“It’s also my duty. I didn’t stop Young Prince in time!”
They also cleverly said, “Now, there is a lot of snow outside the tent. No one else sees that Young Prince came in except for us.”
Sure enough, Kuang Shihan was furious for a moment, and then he forgave his son as the Imperial Guards’s words were done. He announced that Kuang Qingwu would be fined three months’ salary. He didn’t mention dragging him out anymore. He waved his hand to let the two Imperial Guards go out to keep the door.
Finally, with a gloomy face, he asked his son, who was always looking on with a sneer, “Do you know that if it’s not because it is snowy today and people couldn’t see far away and these two Imperial Guards are my confidants and won’t talk about the scene just now, you will be killed because you broke in if someone reported it to the court?”
Kuang Qingwu changed his docility in front of Mr. Leshan and his sadness in front of Zheng, and he sneered, “So what? Don’t you have solved the problem?”
Kuang Shihan was choked by him and even wanted to vomit blood. He said, “You have married the princess. You can’t be a child in your twenties. Why do you still play such a child’s temper today? I can deal with the aftermath for you once or twice, but you can’t keep doing this. Do you really think I can do anything? Or do you think you don’t have enough enemies?”
“No matter how many enemies there are, you are the one who provoked them!” Kuang Qingwu said contemptuously, “If you hadn’t coveted Princess Ruan and betrayed them in your early years, how could you have so many enemies now, even if you were not a general in the Western Army? Even if there are still people who are planning to trap the Western army, General Ruan and Qiu Zhongyan will deal with it. You could have lived a good life, but you have to toss about it. Now you are blaming me. Please tell me among those people who are malicious to me now, which one is caused by me except for the Ningtai issue?”
Kuang Shihan felt that all the blood poured into his brain at this moment!
“Even if I did something wrong in those years, it was not you that I was the most sorry for! Over the years, the only person I’ve tried to make up for is you. What do you want?” The Major General of the Western Army suddenly burst into tears, “Do you really want to annoy me or force me to death? You are so stupid that you never think about it. If I die, what will you live on?”
The general was running out of tears, but Kuang Qingwu was not infected at all. He looked at his father coldly, thinking, “When you killed my mother and my family, they cried and begged. Did you let them go? You are good to me just because I am your son. Otherwise, if I were your daughter, I would be afraid I wouldn’t be as important as I am today.”
Kuang Shihan wailed bitterly for a long time before he asked coldly, “Are you going to send some people to Xiaosha Mountain or not? Since Qiu Jinglan went to the west, Empress Dowager Gu and XingKang had sent people to kill him many times. But he still arrived outside Shazhou peacefully. Are you sure those two women can really kill him?”
“You even said that I wanted you to pay off for me. What else could I say?” Kuang Shihan said sadly, “If you want to add more people, then I will add more people. I have said that I might have cared about Ruan more than anyone else at that time, and I didn’t care about your mother and her family. Today, for me, no one is more important than you! Why don’t you believe it? I didn’t intend to violate what I promised to Ruan. But if you mean it, I don’t care about destroying my promise. My son, why don’t you understand? For me now, besides you, what else can I care about?”
After a long time, Kuang Qingwu left his sad father and went back to his tent with a smile. He told Mr. Leshan that Kuang Shihan would add people. He said, “We will surely bring back the head of Qiu Jinglan!”
When he was talking confidently, numbers of strong riders rushed out and disappeared in the vast snow.
It was just different from Kuang Qingwu’s ease. As Zheng saw the commander dispatched his confidants to Xiaosha Mountain to take part in the killing of Qiu Jinglan and the area near the commander became empty, he frowned.
In Jing City, Empress Dowager Gu and Empress Jiang were gnashing their teeth in anger and asked, “Dead again? Ask again!”
The head of the servant who was in charge of questioning fell on the ground and was frightened. He said, “Your majesty, servant Lv is the last one who was alive.”
“…” Empress Dowager Gu and Empress Jiang both said nothing with a serious face.
Today was the sixth day of the first lunar month. If New Year’s Eve was counted, it was seven days!
The Emperor had been able to wake up for a long time and eat liquid food, but there was still no clue about the real murderer under the two empresses’ personal trial. Not to mention that more and more ministers began to ask, there was also gossip in the royal clan. They said that the two empresses’ personal trial made them suspect that it was not the other party that did it. So who was the third party? What did they want to do? Did they also want to kill the two empresses? In a word, it was hard for either Empress Dowager Gu or Empress Jiang to stay calm now.
As a result, the last suspect was tortured to death. What should they do next?
“Convene the great court.” Empress Dowager Gu said in the silence of the two empresses. The servant had soaked the thick carpet on the ground with sweat. Just before he almost fainted, he finally heard Empress Dowager Gu’s unwilling sigh, “Ask the ministers if they have an idea.”
If they didn’t take the initiative to hand over the matter to the ministers, they would ask the two empresses whether they could investigate the case. If not, why not hand it over to the Ministry of Justice earlier?