"General Shenwei, receive the imperial decree." Upon hearing this, the eunuch, who had accepted the bribe, took out the imperial decree and stepped forward to speak to Wang Han.
Following the eunuch's words, apart from Wang Han and the eunuch who delivered the imperial decree, Zhong Shidao and the other envoys immediately knelt down.
"Read it aloud!" Wang Han said casually upon hearing this.
Seeing that Wang Han didn't care, the eunuch didn't dare to say anything. He had already heard from the previous eunuch that the Divine Might General didn't have to kneel, so he directly read out: "The Western Xia has formed an alliance with our Great Song and has made compensation for the previous invasion. I have decided to stop the war against the Western Xia. In order to avoid the friendship between the two sides breaking down again, I request the Divine Might General to set off immediately and return to the capital. So be it. Divine Might General, receive the decree."
"Great General Shenwei, receive the decree!" The eunuch finished reading, but Wang Han did not receive the decree. He spoke again.
Zhong Shidao and the others also looked at Wang Han, wondering what Wang Han was up to now.
"Great General Shenwei, the imperial edict has been read aloud." The Western Xia envoy became anxious when he saw that Wang Han did not accept the edict, and quickly said to Wang Han.
“The imperial edict contains obvious, and very serious, errors, so I cannot accept it,” Wang Han said with a smile.
"The imperial edict is wrong? No, it's not wrong!" Upon hearing this, the eunuch paused for a moment before replying. His heart pounded with anxiety, wondering if General Shenwei was going to disobey the edict. If so, perhaps General Shenwei would be fine, but he himself was doomed.
“The imperial edict is indeed wrong.” Upon hearing this, Zhong Shidao quickly whispered to the eunuch who was delivering the edict: “This morning, the Western Xia soldiers mutinied, killed the Western Xia emperor and the civil and military officials present, and declared the Western Xia kingdom destroyed. The Western Xia kingdom is gone, so… the alliance with the Western Xia kingdom mentioned in the imperial edict is impossible.”
Zhong Shidao understood Wang Han's meaning: they still needed to take over the territory and people of Western Xia, and absolutely could not go back now.
"Uh...!" Upon hearing this, the eunuch was stunned. The Western Xia Kingdom was gone, so the imperial edict's mention of an alliance with Western Xia was naturally meaningless, since the allied party was gone. Just like words, without a primary target, the imperial edict became nothing but empty talk.
"Impossible! How could Western Xia have perished? Western Xia couldn't possibly be destroyed!" the Western Xia envoy said in disbelief. "I don't believe it. Western Xia could never be destroyed. You just don't want to withdraw your troops."
Upon hearing this, Wang Han smiled and said, "I really don't want to retreat. After all, Western Xia is now a piece of fat meat without an owner. Who would want to retreat? But I'm not lying to you. The destruction of Western Xia is real. Just this morning, your own Western Xia Imperial Guard mutinied. Western Xia no longer exists. If you don't believe me, go and see for yourselves. It's only half a day's journey from here to your former capital. Go and see for yourselves whether Western Xia still exists or not."
"Giddy up...!" Upon hearing this, the envoys of Western Xia, seeing that Wang Han did not seem to be lying to them, immediately mounted their horses and galloped towards the capital of Western Xia.
"General Zhong Shidao." After the Western Xia envoy left, Wang Han called out to Zhong Shidao.
"Your subordinate is here." Upon hearing Wang Han call him, Zhong Shidao immediately responded.
"You continue to lead the troops and expedite the takeover of the former Western Xia territory and its inhabitants. I will return to the court with this eunuch who delivered the imperial decree to report on the matter," Wang Han instructed.
"This subordinate obeys the order." Upon hearing this, Zhong Shidao immediately responded loudly. Wang Han had already defied the imperial decree, so he naturally wouldn't let go of this meritorious deed that would be recorded for all time. Expanding territory and recovering lost lands—what general wouldn't like such a glorious reputation?
"Let's go," Wang Han said to the eunuch.
"Yes." Knowing that Wang Han wanted to invalidate the imperial edict, the eunuch dared not say or ask anything. Wang Han rode Little White to the front and back, and then quickly led the imperial guards to follow behind. The other eunuchs had told him before they came that no matter what disrespectful things General Shenwei did, he must not offend General Shenwei on the spot, otherwise even if General Shenwei did not kill him, His Majesty would kill him. Whatever General Shenwei said or did, he must secretly report to His Majesty without missing a single detail.
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"How much money did you receive from the Western Xia envoy?" During the journey, Wang Han suddenly patted Xiaobai to stop it and asked the old eunuch.
"General, this servant dares not accept money." Upon hearing this, the eunuch's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly said.
“You can fool others, but you can’t fool me,” Wang Han said coldly, turning his head to stare at the old eunuch with icy eyes. “This imperial edict should have arrived as late as possible. Even if we didn’t know, it would normally take ten days to reach us, but you rushed here at breakneck speed.”
"General, your conclusion is unreasonable," the old eunuch argued, though cold sweat was already pouring down his forehead. He had thought a lot, recalling the true meaning of the emperor's words before departure: "If possible, try to travel as quickly as possible." If what the Great General said was true, it clearly meant he couldn't, and was being forced to delay. He feared that by the time he returned, he would be finished. Unfortunately, he was just a palace eunuch, ignorant of military affairs and politics, only knowing how to please people and how to abuse his position.
"Hmph, I really can't understand why Emperor Huizong would send someone like you. You reckless fool, you almost ruined our grand plan. If you had arrived even half a day earlier, we could have annexed Western Xia." Seeing the old eunuch's expression, Wang Han coldly snorted, his voice even colder, sounding to the old eunuch like the biting wind of a frigid winter, making him feel as if he had fallen into hell. He finally realized the enormity of his mistake.
"General, this old servant was blinded by greed. Please forgive me! Save me!" Realizing the enormity of his mistake, the old eunuch dared not continue to argue. He fell from his horse, ignoring the pain, and knelt before Wang Han, repeatedly kowtowing and begging for forgiveness. Such a grave error could not be explained away; it would surely be thoroughly investigated, and not only he, but his entire family would be executed. Now, it seemed only the Divine Might General could suppress this matter. After all, it was the Divine Might General who had conquered Western Xia.
"Hmph, you greedy lackey, now you know you've been blinded by money, why don't you honestly confess how much money you've taken and who took it from?" Wang Han said coldly.
"The Western Xia envoys gave each of us twenty strings of cash and several treasures to speed up our journey, and promised even more generous gifts. They also said they would give each of us one hundred taels of silver upon our return to Western Xia. General, I beg you, please spare this old servant. If His Majesty finds out about this, my entire family will be doomed. I beg you, General," the old eunuch pleaded.
"General, please spare us!" Hearing that the old eunuch had confessed everything, and knowing that the matter was very serious, the imperial guards who were escorting them all rolled off their horses and knelt down to beg.
"How much did you take? How much did you promise to give you?" Wang Han coldly looked at the old eunuch who still dared to hide the truth and said in a cold voice.
"This old servant accepted three hundred taels and was promised another thousand taels," the old eunuch said, trembling. "This old servant dares not touch a single coin of this money. General, please save us! We know we were wrong."
"You bastards," Wang Han cursed, "I could indeed save you, but why would I save you money-grubbing bastards who almost ruined everything?"
"General, please save us! Save our families! They are innocent!" The other imperial guards also quickly begged for mercy upon seeing this.
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