Chapter 1707: General Amnesty!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The eagle had belonged to Old Eagle, and with Old Eagle still unconscious, it was under Zhang Que’s command. This eagle had wings as tough as steel and could fly extremely quickly. It was only used to deliver extremely important news.
Whoos.h.!.+
w.a.n.g Chong immediately reached out with his hand, and the eagle quickly descended into his palm.
With a light raise of his finger, he removed the letter from the eagle’s leg and glanced down. From the date, it seemed the letter had been sent three days ago. In other words, it had been sent almost the day he had left the capital.
“What’s going on here?”
w.a.n.g Chong’s heart sank as he hastily opened the envelope.
‘Your Highness, the situation is bad…’
The first line immediately made w.a.n.g Chong’s heart plunge, and by the time he reached the last line, his face had turned into a nasty scowl.
Zhang Que had not mentioned too many matters in his letter, only that the day after w.a.n.g Chong had left, the Imperial Court—or perhaps one could just say the First Prince—had announced a momentous decision.
The First Prince, using the Sage Emperor’s illness as his reason, had issued a general amnesty, and many criminals had been released from prison. This included w.a.n.g Chong’s former foe who had been caught in w.a.n.g Chong’s trap and charged with the crime of deceiving the sovereign, Fumeng Lingcha.
At the same time, the First Prince had said that, as Geshu Han was dead and the army could not be without a commander for a single day, he had decided to place Fumeng Lingcha as commander of the Big Dipper Army in order to fend off any potential attack from Ü-Tsang. The report said that Fumeng Lingcha had a.s.sumed the post on the same day as his release.
The capital had been deeply shaken by the news, and while major officials had objected, the First Prince had forced the proposal through.
Geshu Han was dead, and Longxi still faced the threat of Ü-Tsang. This was a real and present danger that no one could deny. There were no reliable candidates in the court besides Fumeng Lingcha, and his objectors had no alternative solution.
Finally made his move!
w.a.n.g Chong looked up at the dark clouds in the sky, his mind just as gloomy. Crack! His hands clenched together, his joints crackling as the letter was scrunched into a ball.
In the Setting Sun Villa incident, An Sishun was ordered to be escorted back to the capital, and he had not been included in the list of those pardoned. As for the other one hundred generals, they had already been replaced by the First Prince’s men. With Geshu Han now dead, the man in the Eastern Palace had used the excuse of seeking divine favor for the Sage Emperor to pardon Fumeng Lingcha so that he could replace Geshu Han and take the mighty Big Dipper Army for his own.
The man in the Eastern Palace had planned things out meticulously, leaving not a single flaw.
The First Prince did not have this level of strength, and it was already obvious who the schemer was!
Whoooah!
In the middle of his thoughts, he suddenly heard a commotion, the voices of several Big Dipper Army generals mixed into it.
w.a.n.g Chong came to his senses and looked over.
Those high-ranking Big Dipper Army generals making their way toward the spirit hall had apparently been blocked by several figures.
These people wore silk robes and had fair and beardless faces. w.a.n.g Chong instantly recognized them as court eunuchs, but somewhat different from those normally found in the palace.
It was not merely the subtle difference in the patterns on their clothes. They each had a sandalwood token on their waists, on which he could faintly make out a cinnabar insignia.
Eunuch army supervisors!
A thought suddenly occurred to w.a.n.g Chong.
There had been a longstanding precedent for the court to send eunuchs to supervise the armies, ensuring that it could gather information on the border and hear the voices of the generals. Bian Lingcheng had been one of these eunuchs. Upon its ascendancy, the Confucian Sect had used this precedent to expand the supervisory system so as to restrain the generals.
Once he became the regent, the First Prince also used this point and secretly replaced some of the Confucian Sect supervisors with his own eunuchs. w.a.n.g Chong had heard about this some time ago.
“Generals, please restrain your grief! Great General Fumeng will be here soon, and everyone must prepare to welcome him!” a tall and thin eunuch with p.r.o.nounced cheekbones said in a shrill voice. He led the other eunuchs in placing themselves in front of the generals.
“Orders from above must be followed, and we have already read the decree from the Imperial Court. Do you seek to defy it?” another eunuch sharply said, his expression proud and aloof.
“b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, you go too far!”
“The general just died, and his body isn’t even cold yet, and you’ve already sent someone to replace him! Even beasts are better!”
“What Great General Fumeng? Our Big Dipper Army has only one commander. No matter the time, only Great General Geshu is fit to be our commander!”
The Big Dipper Army soldiers were enraged. The Great General hadn’t even been buried, his body still lying in state in the spirit hall, and these people were already rus.h.i.+ng to replace him. How could they possibly accept this? Were these people not worried about the blow they were dealing to the people’s morale?!
“That’s right! There is no Great General Fumeng in our Big Dipper Army!”
“You eunuchs, get out!”
The Big Dipper Army soldiers in the surrounding area knew the whole story, and their red eyes were almost popping out of their sockets in rage. Some of them even gripped their weapons and surrounded the eunuchs.
“Rebellion, rebellion!”
“What is your Big Dipper Army’s intent? Treason?!”
“Great General Fumeng replacing Geshu Han is a decree from the court! Do you even dare to ignore the court’s decree?!”
The eunuch supervisors were startled and frightened, backing up as they angrily yelled.
“Impudent! Simply absurd! You, you, you! I will definitely submit a memorial to the court and have you all locked up in the imperial prison for your disrespect!
“I’ve remembered everything you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds said! Just wait and see!”
The leading eunuch glared at the soldiers and fumed.
“Hmph!”
In the distance, w.a.n.g Chong sneered, and before anyone could react, he vanished.
Clap!
w.a.n.g Chong suddenly appeared and gave the eunuch a vicious slap to the face, the force in the palm deforming the man’s face and sending him flying into the distance.
Neeeigh! A distant warhorse was struck by the eunuch and staggered backward several dozen steps. The eunuch dropped to the ground, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and a few teeth dropping out.
Whoooah!
The other eunuchs were shocked and immediately began to cause a ruckus.
“King of Foreign Lands, you dare!”
“We’re army supervisors, representatives of the court! You dared to strike us!”
“w.a.n.g Chong, do you still have any regard for the laws and the court? I will report this matter to the regent and have you charged with crimes of major disrespect!”
w.a.n.g Chong had seemingly enraged a beehive with his palm, and the eunuchs began to angrily rebuke him. If not for the fact that they could never beat w.a.n.g Chong and were also surrounded by the threatening Big Dipper Army soldiers, they would have rushed over and started to beat w.a.n.g Chong up.
“King of Foreign Lands, you’re starting a rebellion!”
The eunuch who had been knocked flying by w.a.n.g Chong staggered to his feet, his expression cold and vicious.
“You even dare to strike an army supervisor! Just wait and see! I will report everything that happened today to the court!”
The eunuch’s face was pale with rage. Ever since he had been made an army supervisor, everyone had to bow to him. This was the first time someone had dared to hit him.
“A few eunuch supervisors dare to flaunt their strength at Great General Geshu’s funeral? That is the true disrespect. This palm was a small lesson, but if you continue to speak nonsense, this king will kill you all. I’d like to see if the First Prince and the court will speak on your behalf!”
w.a.n.g Chong stared at the eunuch with his domineering eyes, his entire body radiating immense and murderous energy.
w.a.n.g Chong had forged this aura through his life on the battlefield, and he was a Subtle realm expert besides. While the eunuch supervisors sent by the court had their own cultivation, it was nothing compared to w.a.n.g Chong’s.
These eunuchs immediately felt the suffocating aura of w.a.n.g Chong’s energy and began to tremble in fear.
“King of Foreign Lands, you dare?!”
A thin-lipped eunuch lost his composure and bellowed, but the other eunuchs pulled on his sleeve and told him to stop.
“Stop talking,” the s.h.i.+vering eunuchs whispered.
The trends were stronger than the man, and they were in the territory of the Big Dipper Army. If they truly managed to enrage the soldiers, they might not come out alive. Moreover, w.a.n.g Chong’s status was not something that mere eunuch officials could touch.
His t.i.tles of ‘Son of Heaven’s disciple’, ‘King of Foreign Lands’, and ‘the Great Tang’s new War G.o.d’ were enough to crush them to death.
In addition, Geshu Han had only just died, and the entire world was watching. If they actually reported this to the court, there was really no telling whether the First Prince cared if they lived or died.
“Reporting!”
Amidst this awkward tension, a Big Dipper Army horseman with a white band across his forehead rode in.
“General, we’ve spotted a force of ten-some soldiers approaching from the east. They have raised the banner of former Qixi Protector-General Fumeng Lingcha. They are less than thirty li away! They should be here in another hour!”
The scout dismounted and swiftly kneeled on the ground.