The Ugly Empress

—

Before Chen Yi left the capital city, he did go to visit Marquis Wannian. Unfortunately, Chen Yi"s way of speaking was too vague and mysterious. Xue Houyang could not understand anything of what Chen Yi was saying.

Teng Shang understood, but he thought he didn"t need to say anything.

Since Xue w.a.n.g left the capital city for the south, Xue Houyang had been so busy managing everything. Every court matter, no matter if it was important or trivial, had to be reported to Xue Houyang before any decision could be made. As a result, Xue Houyang had to check each and every matter carefully. Also, he also had to oversee the soldiers" training at the capital city suburb"s military camp.

Less than half a month of Xue w.a.n.g"s absence, someone reported to Xue Houyang that there seemed to be some movement up north.

These people moved in little groups as if they were just travelers pa.s.sing by country. But then, gradually they behaved too much like a military troop. Marquis Wannian hadn"t been transferring troops north, so his subordinates started to get suspicious and decided it was best to report to Marquis Wannian.

Xue Houyang was not a person who often took matters lightly. As soon as he heard the report, he immediately felt something was not right. He sent spies to investigate.

The spies found that these groups were all heading for the capital city, but they would often stop at random places along the road as if they didn"t move as one organized unit.

Xue Houyang was reminded about Xue Yu and started to feel alarmed. Xue Yu still had a large military force based in the northern border.

At this time, Marquis Wannian remembered Chen Yi"s vague words. He quickly took out the package left by Chen Yi. The package was actually a finely decorated small box, and when he opened the box, there was a piece of paper inside.

On the paper was written :

— Seek the Empress" advice.

Staring at the paper, Xue Houyang felt discouraged. He knew very well that the Empress was very skilled in military strategies, but this matter should not be treated lightly. If it was really Xue Yu planning to attack the capital city, then it was a huge event; one that might require Xue w.a.n.g"s presence.

Teng Shang watched as Xue Houyang hesitating over Chen Yi"s message and finally couldn"t sit still. He said, “You might as well go and ask the Empress" advice.”

There was no other choice. Xue Houyang immediately put on his formal attire and entered the Palace seeking audience with his Imperial Sister-in-law.

Xiu Yao let Marquis Wannian into Yunfeng Palace and led him to the main room. As soon as he was inside, Xue Houyang didn"t sit down; he remained standing while keeping his sight to the ground. Teng Yun thought that, true to his honest and law-abiding nature, Xue Houyang kept his respectful manner in order not to invite gossip. After all, his sister in law was still an empress.

Teng Yun felt admiration. This Marquis Wannian was indeed a gentleman through and through.

Teng Yun had not heard that Xue Yu might be sending troops, but when he was told by Xue Houyang, he didn"t seem to be surprised.

Xue Houyang noted how the Empress calmly received the report; as if this matter was not so dire and complicated. Xue Houyang thought maybe the Empress really had the solution at hand.

Teng Yun thought for a moment before saying, “High Mentor left an advice before leaving, but his message was vague. I think it must be because he feared his message would fall into the wrong ears and eventually only alerted the enemy… Since the enemy doesn"t want us find out about them, why don"t we beat them at their own game?”

Xue Houyang was not clear about what the Empress meant.

Teng Yun said, “From what we"ve found so far, the enemy doesn"t want the capital city know about their movement and then proceed to reinforce the capital city"s defense. It"s not because they are afraid they would not be able to enter the capital city, but it"s because their force is not big enough. It"s possible they had bribed the gate keeper to let them in, too. Marquis Wannian may want to send your people to the gates to check.”

Xue Houyang did as advised. Because the situation was quite serious, he immediately sent his trusted subordinates to investigate. However, his subordinates didn"t know how to catch official who was accepting bribes.

Teng Yun sent someone to inform Xue Houyang, “Offer some rewards, there must be servants brave enough to speak up.”

Sure enough, when Xue Houyang offered rewards, the servants were quick to disclose their superior. Xue Houyang caught and executed the chief gate-keeper. He let one of the chief gate-keeper"s a.s.sistant escape to contact Xue Yu.

The chief gate-keeper"s a.s.sistant told Xue Yu that somehow Marquis Wannian was able to figure out they had bribed the chief gate-keeper. The a.s.sistant was afraid the chief would be intimidated by Marquis Wannian into confessing, so the a.s.sistant had to kill the chief himself and bring his severed head to Marquis Zhenjiang.

Xue Yu initially didn"t believe the a.s.sistant"s story, but he sounded genuine so Xue Yu eventually believed him.

The a.s.sistant also told Xue Yu that every midnight, Marquis Wannian always came to personally inspect the city gate. He suggested Xue Yu preparing a troop of skilled archers. The a.s.sistant would return to the city gate, and when the a.s.sistant lit a fire-signal, his archers could shoot and kill Marquis Wannian.

If the most prominent figure in the capital city died, both the military and civil officials would then be in a state of chaos. Right then, the city"s gate would be open. It would be so easy for Marquis Zhenjiang to take over the city.

The more Xue Yu listened to the a.s.sistant"s plan, the more his eyes brightened. He was torn; half of him believed this was an excellent plan, the other believed this was a suicidal plan.

The a.s.sistant said, “Lord Marquis doesn"t understand. If you take over the capital city, I can raise into a honorable n.o.bleman. But under Xue w.a.n.g"s reign, I"ll only be minor a.s.sistant for the rest of my life, never even rise to an official. Now, the chief gate-keeper is dead, we have to act quickly. If it"s dragged on, Marquis Wannian might find out something, and then we all will be dead.”

—

Teng Ying used to be an official tasked with safe-keeping swords. Although he didn"t have any real power, at least he could be closer to the superiors. The closer he got to his superiors, he could build close relationship with them. Teng Ying was skilled in flattery; he was also skilled in gathering supports.

Now, inside Xue Country"s Imperial Palace, he was just a low-level guard. It counted as a demotion in rank. Xue w.a.n.g had also placed him under the three He brothers" watchful eyes. Those three brothers were barbarians who took joys in torturing idle subordinates. They always delegated Teng Ying to do task after task; making Teng Ying exhausted.

In the end, Teng Ying decided he had to make Teng Qianyi back him up. She was only a consort in the Imperial Harem, but when you wanted to climb the social ladder, a consort"s support was as good as any.

Teng Ying waited for an opportunity to approach Teng Qianyi. One day, he saw her staring at the small pond and sighing mournfully. He drew closer to the pond and then promptly burst into tears.

Teng Qianyi heard someone crying very loudly and ordered her servant bring the noisy intruder over and beat him with a plank.

Teng Ying was caught and forced to kneel on the ground. He crawled and hung on to Teng Qianyi"s feet, crying, “Your Highness, Your Highness the Princess! Don"t you recognize this lowly servant?”

When the guard calling her Princess, Teng Qianyi knew he was someone from Teng. She looked down at him and saw he was indeed familiar.

Teng Ying noted that Teng Qianyi recognized him and seized the chance. He cried louder, “This lowly servant begs for Your Highness" forgiveness. It"s just that I saw you from a distance and unknowingly burst into tears.”

Teng Ying made up an elaborate story. He said Teng w.a.n.g always missed the Princess. Every day, overcoming with longing, Teng w.a.n.g would cry over and over again. Teng Ying said he was often accompanying Teng w.a.n.g, and often saw Teng w.a.n.g crying for the Princess. Therefore, when he saw the Princess, he recalled Teng w.a.n.g"s sadness and promptly cried.

Teng Ying said, “Your Highness, please don"t be upset that your father could not come see you. Actually, he is…”

He looked around and then added, “Actually, this lowly servant doesn"t think it"s appropriate to talk about that right here. There is a lot of people who could get this lowly servant punished. This lowly servant could be executed.”

Teng Qianyi had never been touched by Xue Junliang even once since she married. Naturally, she was very dissatisfied. Which woman would want to be married and then be ignored by her husband? What difference was she compared to a widow?

So when Teng Qianyi heard Teng Ying said like that, of course she believed him completely. She wiped her tears, and true to her arrogant and spoiled nature, she said to Teng Ying, “From now on, you can follow me. If I say I want someone I"m familiar with to be my guard, no one cannot object.”

Since then, Teng Ying found his backing. Every day, he did everything to make Teng Qianyi pleased with him. Although he was far from Xue w.a.n.g or Marquis Wannian, Teng Ying was still quite good-looking. Teng Ying had a face as white as jade and a mouth as sweet as honey; he only needed to say one word and women would fall on their knees for him.

Teng Qianyi was bewitched by Teng Ying"s charm. If not for Teng Ying"s skill in knowing the perfect things to say, he reckoned he would"ve been long dead. Eventually, Teng Ying could also climb into Teng-fei‘s bed.

Today, Teng Qianyi was strolling along a small flower garden. Teng Ying smiled and said, “Your Ladyship, this servant often saw you looking unhappy. This servant has found a personal guard for you. You"ll definitely like him when you see him.”

Teng Qianyi only wanted the guard if he was good-looking. But she also knew Teng Ying was aware of her preferences so she agreed to see this guard.

Teng Ying called the guard to come over and stand closer to Teng Qianyi. Withing just one glance, Teng Qianyi jumped to her feet. She was so elated she couldn"t help reaching out and grabbing the guard"s hand. With shaky voice, she said, “How… How is it you? You… You must have heard that I"m here and come to find me, right?”

Teng Ying knew he had pleased Teng Qianyi greatly. He laughed and said, “Your Ladyship, you can reunite with this fellow guard, but it"s best if we go somewhere else. It"s not appropriate talking here.”

Teng Qianyi realized she was losing her manners in public. She immediately dragged the new guard to her residence and ordered Teng Ying to leave her alone.

Teng Qianyi stared at the new guard with adoration clear in her eyes. But other people who knew the man, would be able to immediately tell this man was no one other than Xue Yu"s trusted a.s.sistant, Lang Jing.

Actually, Lang Jing entered the Palace under Xue Yu"s order.

Lang Jing and Chen Yi used to be comrades. He and Chen Yi were fellow students as they studied together. Chen Yi often called Lang Jing elder brother.

[T/N : They"re not birth brothers. In Chinese, you called your fellow students as brothers.]

That year, Lang Jing and Chen Yi were traveling through Teng Country together. Unfortunately, they encountered robbers on the road.

Lang Jing might appear tall and st.u.r.dy, but at that time, he was only a pale-faced scholar who knew nothing about defending himself. In the end, he and Chen Yi were separated.

Chen Yi continued traveling to Teng, and Lang Jing was rescued by Xue Yu. Since then, Lang Jing always followed Xue Yu as a thank-you. Xue Yu found that Lang Jing was very clever and talented, so he appointed Lang Jing as his trusted aide, which made Lang Jing even more grateful.

Lang Jing was always devoted to Xue Yu. If not for Lang Jing"s advises, Xue Yu would not be able to stay alive until today. Xue Yu might look very friendly and tranquil, but Xue Yu was actually hot-headed and impulsive; always acting rashly without considering the results.

This year, Xue Yu decided since his power had grown quite strong, he didn"t want stay idle anymore. Lang Jing had tried to calm Xue Yu down, saying it wasn"t the time yet. But Xue Yu didn"t want to listen, so Lang Jing had no other choice than to help him.

Teng Ying was cowardly, yet greedy person. Of course, his mind was far inferior than Lang Jing"s. Lang Jing only needed to use a few words before Teng Ying agreed to take him see Teng Qianyi.

A few years ago, Xue Yu took Lang Jing to Teng Country under a guise. They met Teng Qianyi who had been sightseeing outside the Palace. Lang Jing"s appearance was very eye-catching, his conduct was calm and pleasing. Teng Qianyi took one glance at Lang Jing and immediately invited Xue Yu and Lang Jing into the Palace, planning to steal Lang Jing from Xue Yu. But truthfully, Lang Jing was never interested in Teng Qianyi, even if she was a princess.

Teng Qianyi was so happy to see Lang Jing to the point she might pa.s.s out.

Although Lang Jing didn"t like Teng Qianyi, he hid his indifference behind a gentle facade. He said, “This lowly servant has been looking for Your Highness, but I was a step too late.”

Teng Qianyi immediately cried, “Why didn"t you find me earlier?”

This sentence was exactly what Lang Jing was waiting for. He said, “If Your Highness does as I ask, maybe it"s not too late for us.”

Teng Qianyi was eager to listen. She was captivated by Lang Jing"s gentleness. But when Lang Jing told her the plan, Teng Qianyi couldn"t help trembling in fear, “But… It"s impossible!”

Lang Jing laughed curtly, “Didn"t you say you want to be with me? Apparently, it was all fake…”

“But…” Teng Qianyi cried louder, attaching herself into Lang Jing"s embrace.

Lang Jing added, “Lord Marquis has already had it all planned. As long as the Empress died, we can go far away from here. But if you like wealth and fame, Lord Marquis has promised he would grant me a marquis t.i.tle. We"ll be ranked second highest citizen in this entire country. Isn"t it better than being a consort who is not respected?”

Teng Qianyi was still afraid. Conspiring to murder the Empress was considered a grave crime. A matter this big, if someday came exposed, she would not have a peaceful death.

Lang Jing said, “I have already thought of an escape plan for you. You only need to send Teng Ying to set Yunfeng Palace on fire. If things fall through, your involvement in this will be so small and you can place all the blame on Teng Ying. I a.s.sure you it"s going to be fine. As for Teng Ying, I know a way to make him do the job willingly and gladly.”

Teng Qianyi was moved by the way Lang Jing talked so gently. Lang Jing was so gentle and warm, it was as if she was floating on the cloud. In the end, Teng Qianyi reluctantly agreed.

She tried to coax Lang Jing to stay, but Lang Jing had to decline, saying they would be together soon enough. Lang Jing still had things to do and he was anxious to go.

After persuading Teng Qianyi, Lang Jing went to seek Teng Ying. Teng Ying was weak to Lang Jing"s promises, and he easily and happily agreed to the plan.

After he finished arranging everything, Lang Jing heaved a sigh and went out of the Palace.

That evening, Xue Yu was preparing his troops and waiting for the signal to kill Xue Houyang. The night had come but Lang Jing still hadn"t come back.

A soldier rushed over to present a letter, said it was from Lang Jing.

Lang Jing"s letter conveyed that Lord Marquis had given him a great kindness, something Lang Jing was deeply grateful and vowed to repay. If Lord Marquis was willing to hear, Lang Jing advised Lord Marquis to retreat to the northern border right at this moment and wait for another opportunity to realize your big plans. If Lord Marquis read this letter and got angry, it was exactly why Lang Jing decided to write this letter.

In the letter, Lang Jing also said that he had paved an alternative route for Lord Marquis, this was the last thing he could do for Lord Marquis. With the help of one of the guard, Lang Jing had secretly entered the Palace and persuaded Teng-fei to set fire to Yunfeng Palace. If Lord Marquis" soldiers failed, you could throw all the blame on Marquis Tengnan. Moreover, Lord Marquis was still Xue w.a.n.g"s blood relative. As the Late Xue w.a.n.g had said, no one could kill his clan members other than the Heaven itself. Xue Jungliang would not be able to kill Xue Yu.

As Xue Yu read the letter, his whole body shook with anger and his hands were trembling. The final sentence of the letter was written: ‘I"m not afraid of dying, but I"m afraid of seeing Lord Marquis fails when victory is already within your sight."

Xue Yu grabbed one of the soldier"s knife and fed the letter into the brazier. The paper immediately caught fire and soon turned to ashes, lighting the darkening night fleetingly.

At this point, naturally Xue Yu could not just abandon the whole plan and escape. He had already placed a few archers just near the city wall"s tower. With the light from of the lit torches on the city wall, he could see someone wearing a full armor and a cloak. The figure was moving about the city wall"s tower as if inspecting the situation.

[T/N : I a.s.sume only commanders and generals wore cloak over their armors.]

At this time, someone who was walking beside the figure in a cloak was waving their blade, knocking one of the torches and put its flame out. Xue Yu realized this was the signal they were waiting. He immediately ordered the archer to release their arrows and shoot the figure on the city wall"s tower.

The archers were all carefully selected by Xue Yu himself, their skill was excellent. One of their arrows shot right through the city wall"s defense.

The city wall"s tower was immediately thrown into a chaos. Xue Yu could faintly hear the soldiers shouting, “Lord Marquis was shot! Lord Marquis was shot!”

The next day, Xue Yu sent people to find news. His spies reported that Marquis Wannian was shot with a poisonous arrow, and the poison was affecting his blood circulations. A royal physician was immediately brought in to treat him, but the poison had already spread to Marquis Wannian"s heart which made it impossible to cure him.

The news that Marquis Zhenjiang had been waiting was exactly this news, but recalling Lang Jing"s words in the letter, he was still hesitating. He sent some more people to find out. His spies all came back to report that people of the capital city were all in a state of shock. Without Xue w.a.n.g and Marquis Wannian, there was no one to lead the court hall and it resulted in heated disagreement among the officials.

Hearing this, Xue Yu was unable to repress his excitement. He immediately ordered his soldiers to enter the capital city. He would show Lang Jing, who was the one losing and who was winning.

Marquis Zhenjiang himself led his most elite troops. This time, no longer having the need to disguise themselves as travelers, they all started closing in on the capital city"s gate. The a.s.sistant who had contacted Xue Yu previously opened the gate, allowing them to enter as promised.

But as soon as he pa.s.sed the gate, Xue Yu felt something was not right. Even if there was an internal strife in the capital city, it shouldn"t be this desolate; there was no one on the street at all.

By the time Xue Yu realized, his entire army had already pa.s.sed the city gate. He hastily ordered withdrawing, but then he saw that he was too late. Xue Houyang himself entered, leading his own soldiers to surround Xue Yu"s soldiers inside the city. Meanwhile, Teng Shang was leading the other half of the soldiers to barricade the city wall from outside.

Xue Yu"s soldiers were insufficient compared to Xue Houyang"s. They didn"t even have the chance to raise their swords before they were captured.

Xue Houyang ordered his soldiers try not to kill anyone. After all, this was the Imperial City; if there were corpses laying about everywhere, the commoners would panic. He announced whoever captured one rebel soldier alive would be rewarded one liang of silvers, whoever captured the rebel army"s leaders would be rewarded with gold, possibly even be promoted into n.o.bility.

Xue Houyang"s soldiers naturally were all more than glad to capture the rebel army alive.

The situation could be described like beating an already cornered dog. The rebel soldiers panicked, and quickly realized they could keep their heads on their shoulders as long as they surrendered. In the end, most of the rebel army threw away their weapons.

Xue Yu was deeply favored by the previous Xue w.a.n.g, naturally he was well versed in literature and military knowledge. Unfortunately, despite his skills, he could not beat one hundred people all at once, nor could he spread wings and fly away. The soldiers, who were already imagining the rewards they could get, would not miss this golden chance. Soon, Xue Yu was captured and tied securely with ropes.

Xue Yu was a proud man. He never imagined he would have to swallow a defeat this bitter. At this time, he recalled Lang Jing"s words in the letter and realized what he meant. Turned out, Lang Jing was not mocking him, instead was warning him.

Marquis Zhenjiang was still Xue Houyang"s brother. Added with Xue Houyang"s kindhearted nature, it was hard for him to see Xue Yu like this. Xue Houyang immediately ordered his soldiers to strip down Xue Yu"s armor and weapons. For the time being, Xue Yu would be locked inside Marquis Zhenjiang"s residence in the capital city and guarded heavily. No one was allowed to enter the residence without Xue Houyang"s personal permission and official seal.

Two guards escorted Xue Yu. Just when they were about to enter Marquis Zhenjiang"s residence, a soldier was rushing over on a horse. The soldiers seemed to be beside himself with distress. Right in front of Xue Houyang, the soldiers jumped down from his horse and knelt on the ground, shouting, “Lord Marquis, something bad happened! The Palace is in flames!”

Xue Houyang"s heart dropped to the ground and he turned to glare at Xue Yu.

Xue Yu also stilled. He realized this must be the alternative route Lang Jing had created for him before leaving.

Xue Yu wanted to laugh, mocking at how stupid Xue Houyang was for focusing solely on him and forgetting to watch over Xue Houyang"s own family. But somehow his laugh could not come out. Recalling Lang Jing"s words only left his heart bereft.

Xue Houyang understood this must be part of Xue Yu"s trick. He ordered people to carefully watch over Xue Yu and not to make any mistake whatsoever. Teng Shang knew Xue Houyang was still doubtful about leaving Xue Yu unsupervised, so he volunteered to personally guard Xue Yu. Xue Houyang then led his soldiers to the Imperial Palace.

Inside the Palace, the Imperial Guards were all struggling to fight the fire. The fire was huge. This fire didn"t seem like someone being careless and forgetting to douse a small fire. Xue Houyang grabbed a guard to inquire about the current situation.

The guard was so anxious to put the fire out he didn"t even recognize Marquis Wannian. He said, “Yunfeng Palace ran out of water.”

—

After putting Chen Yi"s plan into effect, sure enough, Xue Junliang"s journey to south was smooth and trouble-free. They arrived at the same place Teng Zhengxuan had come down to help the commoner affected by disease. In this place, people had built a temple where they could worship and burn incense for Teng Zhengxuan.

Refugees had all flocked down here as they had no other place to go or to live. They took shelter from the rain and wind in the temple. The unbelievable thing was, no matter how many refugees came here, no one was barging in and cutting the line of people waiting their turn to burn incense. This scene made Xue Junliang could not help but feel moved.

Xue w.a.n.g ordered people to open a kitchen right in front of the temple and give out food for the refugees. Xue w.a.n.g wanted Teng Zhengxuan to see that other than himself, there was someone else who cared and was willing to help the people to this extent.

After the people had some food, they were provided a temporary place to stay. There was so much rain in south, and this temporary place would protect them from rain and wind. The refugees were grateful and they all knelt on the ground to thank Xue w.a.n.g.

At this time, many of the refugees pa.s.sed down praises that Xue w.a.n.g was like Teng Zhengxuan"s reincarnation himself; that he was like a saint descended at the temple. The refugees who heard the news all rushed to the temple and grabbed some food. In only a few days, the number of refugees grew. Among them, there were many strong and able young men who were more than happy to enlist into the military.

Xue Junliang didn"t expect this trip would bring so much pleasant surprises. He recalled that day, if the Empress didn"t convince him to help the refugees, he reckoned he might never get to see the surprises he saw today. Also, this trip had taught Xue Junliang many lessons that he was grateful for. He went into the temple and, in front of Teng Zhengxuan"s shrine, he cupped both his hands in salutations.

Xue Junliang didn"t knelt, instead just saluting Teng Zhengxuan, but it was clear how respectful he was to the late Teng w.a.n.g.

Xue Junliang thought about something to say to Teng Zhengxuan, but right at this time, Chen Yi came in with distress written all over his face.

Chen Yi was proud and arrogant; some might even say he was overconfident. It was rare to see Chen Yi put on such expression.

Xue Junliang smiled and said, “Why is High Mentor looking like this? Could it be that you"re afraid of the refugees?”

“Your Majesty…” Chen Yi took a deep breath and knelt on the ground, “Her Majesty the Empress… has pa.s.sed away.”

—