Chapter 9
The clapperboard sound of the Yin hour ripped through the dead silence of Shengjing's night, carrying a fatalistic heaviness as it crashed against the towering vermilion walls of the palace, shattering into dust. The sky was a thick, indissoluble ink, devoid of stars or moon. Only the massive lanterns at the palace gates struggled to sway in the damp, cold morning breeze, casting a dim, swaying halo that stretched the figures of the officials filing in like ghosts bound for the underworld. The air was thick with dust, cold, and... a lingering, bloody aftertaste from the abandoned well in Changlefang and the golden bricks of Fengtian Hall, weighing heavily on everyone's heart.
Fengtian Hall.
The golden brick floor, smooth as a mirror, reflected the blurred, intricate caisson ceiling murals, as well as the faces of the two groups of courtiers below, some dejected, some frightened, some filled with deep, calculating intent. The air was as thick as lead, and every breath felt heavy and stagnant, as if inhaling not air but cold rust. No one dared to breathe loudly, and even their glances were filled with cautious, tentative, and fearful expressions.
The young emperor sat upright on a golden throne adorned with coiled dragons. The twelve white jade beads dangling from his crown trembled violently, barely concealing the deep fear and... the tinge of despair deep in his eyes. His knuckles gripped the cold, gilded armrests, their pads turning white. His body tensed like a fully drawn bowstring. His gaze, like a frightened trapped animal, darted frantically below. Finally, as if drawn by a magnet, it fixed, with a morbid dependence and a final hope, on the dark figure standing at the forefront of the officials.
Gu Linzhi. His dark python robe, embroidered with dark gold cloud patterns, evoked a deep abyss of profound calm and a silent sharpness beneath the dim palace lanterns. His figure stood tall and straight, like a pine tree on a solitary peak. No matter how the invisible pressure within the palace surged, he remained unmoved. His face was calm, like a still, unruffled well. His deep eyes, like two eternally cold pools, reflected the splendor of the palace as well as the darkest corners of the human heart, seemingly able to penetrate all hypocrisy and calculation. He was the only calm presence in the eye of this storm, the player on this vast chessboard, about to make the decisive move.
"My dear...my dear ministers..." The emperor's voice was dry and hoarse, with an unconcealable weakness and trembling, which sounded particularly harsh in the empty and silent hall. "Do you...do you have any more memorials?"
Deathly silence. Even worse than before. The air seemed to freeze into a lump of ice, pressing heavily on everyone's chest, suffocating them. Several officials in the back row shuddered, their eyes wandering, but no one dared to disrupt the frightening equilibrium. The tragic scene of Chen Bingzhi's sudden death yesterday, and the glaring dark crimson pool, haunted everyone like a nightmare.
Just when this suffocating stalemate was about to drive people crazy——
"Your Majesty! Feng Zijing! I have a memorial to submit!!"
A loud shout like a bell, like thunder, suddenly broke the silence!
From the ranks of civil servants, Feng Zijing, the Right Censor-in-Chief of the Metropolitan Censorate, stepped forward! He was tall, with a square, resolute face. His tiger eyes burned with rage, his hair and beard standing tall, like an enraged lion! In his hands he held a memorial, its edges frayed, the paper yellowed, as if weathered, and a chilling, bloody aura emanating from it.
Everyone's gaze instantly focused! The emperor's body suddenly leaned forward, and the jade beads on his crown jingled! The important officials named by Chen Bingzhi yesterday—Minister of Works Zhang Xian, Left Vice Minister of Personnel Li Mao, and others—instantly turned pale as paper, and their bodies swayed imperceptibly!
Feng Zijing's eyes were like lightning, sweeping across those frightened faces. Finally, he pierced the throne directly. His voice was loud and clear, filled with undeniable grief, indignation, and determination:
"I impeach the Minister of Works Zhang Xian! The Left Vice Minister of Personnel Li Mao! The former Director of the Ministry of Revenue's Warehouse Department and current Governor-General of Jiangnan, Shen Ziqing! They colluded with corruption and embezzled money! They resold military supplies! They passed off moldy old rice and poisoned grain as premium military rations and shipped them to the Jingbei Camp in the northern border! They are the direct culprits behind the 30,000 Jingbei soldiers buried in the snow and wind in the winter of the eleventh year of Tianyou! Their crimes... are monstrous! Too numerous to list!"
"boom--!!!"
The entire Fengtian Hall erupted like a powder keg of boiling oil, instantly unleashing a torrent of devastating waves! Although Chen Bingzhi had already revealed the tip of the iceberg yesterday, the impact of the impeachment by the renowned "Iron-faced" Right Censor-in-Chief Feng Zijing was even greater! The court officials were horrified! Countless gazes instantly turned to shock, fear, and disbelief!
"Feng Zijing! You... you are slandering me!" Zhang Xian's face turned from pale to blue, and then from blue to purple. He suddenly stepped out of the train, pointing a trembling finger at Feng Zijing. His voice was sharp and out of tune with extreme fear and anger. "You have no evidence! You... you are framing me! It's slander! Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Feng Zijing is spreading rumors and misleading the people! He is disrupting the order of the court! I..."
"No evidence?!" Feng Zijing suddenly interrupted Zhang Xian's roar. With an almost tragic smile on his face, he held up the yellowed memorial in his hand. "Evidence?! This is a transcript I 'accidentally found' on my desk in my study! Every word on it is copied from the 'Record of Border Defense (Incomplete)' written in blood on the inner garments of Zhao Tiezhu, the Assistant General of the Warehouse Department of the Jingbei Camp, before his death!"
He flipped open the memorial abruptly, his voice like a weeping bell, each word like a hammer, hitting everyone's eardrums:
"In the winter of the eleventh year of Tianyou, on October 27th, three batches of military rations were deposited into the warehouse, totaling 50,000 dan. Signed by: Shen Ziqing, Director of the Ministry of Granaries! Inspection: Beige gray, with a pungent musty smell. Crushed into powder, with over 30% sand and gravel mixed in! Signed by: Zhang Xian, then Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue! Li Mao, then Director of the Ministry of Granaries!"
"On the third day of the eleventh month, fodder was distributed to the vanguard camp. After eating, over a hundred soldiers suffered from vomiting and diarrhea. They suspected the rice was poisonous! Reporting this to their superiors, they denounced the soldiers for 'spreading false information and deceiving the troops,' and issued twenty lashes! The responsible officer: Zhang Xian!"
"On November 11th, heavy snow blocked the mountains. Our food reserves were exhausted! We had to eat moldy rice, grass roots, and tree bark to fill our stomachs. The number of people falling ill in the camp increased day by day, their stomachs clenched like knives, and they wailed incessantly..."
"November 21st, the Di people attacked the pass! The soldiers met the enemy on an empty stomach! Exhausted... Exhausted... Zhao Tiezhu's final words!!"
Feng Zijing's voice was choked and trembling with extreme grief and indignation, and his eyes were filled with tears:
"This is the accusation of 30,000 loyal souls, weeping and bleeding! This is a disgrace to the soldiers of Dayong! A tragedy for our country!" He suddenly pointed the memorial at the pale, shaky Zhang Xian and Li Mao. "Zhang Xian! Li Mao! Shen Ziqing! You are receiving the emperor's salary, yet you commit acts worse than those of beasts! Your hands are stained with the boiling blood of 30,000 Dayong soldiers! How can you... still face standing in this golden palace?! How can you... still face the world?!"
“Plop!”
Under Feng Zijing's tearful accusations and the countless piercing gazes that pierced him like blades, Li Mao, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, finally couldn't bear the immense pressure and fear. His legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground! His official hat tilted, his whole body trembling like a sieve, a dark stain quickly spreading across his anus, and a fishy stench filled the air!
"Master Li!!"
"Minister Li!!"
Several officials around exclaimed, but no one dared to step forward to help. Their faces were filled with contempt and deeper fear.
Minister of Works Zhang Xian struggled to stand, his face turning from purple to black, his lips trembling. He tried to argue, but only a hoarse sound escaped his throat, as if something were strangling him. A wave of fear and despair washed over him like an icy tide! A bloody letter! It was from the same warehouse official who should have rotted in the frozen soil of the northern border! How had this thing ended up in Feng Zijing's hands?!
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please understand!" Zhang Xian finally cried out at the top of his lungs, his voice as shrill as a ghost's howl. "This... this is a frame-up! Someone is trying to kill me! It's Gu..." His terrified gaze swept towards the dark figure, but when he met the other's bottomless, cold eyes, it was like being bitten by a venomous snake, and the rest of his words were stuck in his throat! He suddenly remembered the "Moyuan Guards" who broke into his house last night and the cold warning - dare to bite, and your clan will be exterminated!
The emperor, seated on the throne, trembled violently. He clutched the armrests, his knuckles pale from the strain, his eyes hollow and confused. Feng Zijing's accusations, Zhang Xian's wails, Li Mao's incontinence... all of it like a whirlpool, plunging him into a world of boundless fear and suffocation. Thirty thousand soldiers...were they really murdered by their own people?!
"Your Majesty!" Feng Zijing suddenly fell to his knees, banging his head against the ground with a dull "thud"! "Your Majesty, I beg you! Issue an immediate decree! Arrest the three thieves, Zhang Xian, Li Mao, and Shen Ziqing! Thoroughly investigate the Jingbei military grain case! Severely punish the traitors! To comfort the souls of the 30,000 soldiers in heaven! To rectify the government! To bring peace to the world!"
"I second the motion!"
"I second the motion!"
Several censors and upright officials who were on good terms with Feng Zijing or were already dissatisfied with Zhang Xian's faction also plucked up the courage and knelt down one after another!
In the court, the situation suddenly reversed! Zhang Xian's officials were ashen-faced and trembling, and no one dared to speak out in protest. An invisible pressure weighed heavily on everyone's heart like a huge rock.
At this moment when the situation is tense and about to explode——
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! I have a memorial to report!!"
A sharp, crying voice suddenly came from outside the hall, breaking the solemn confrontation!
Everyone looked at him in astonishment.
An official wearing the uniform of a prison warden from the Ministry of Justice, his face covered in sweat and panic, rushed into the hall, tumbling to his knees. His voice was distorted by extreme fear:
"Your Majesty! Jiang… Jiangnan Governor Shen Ziqing… He… He committed suicide in the Ministry of Justice prison… out of fear of… out of fear of his crime!!"
"What?!"
"Shen Ziqing is dead?!"
The court was once again in uproar, filled with voices of surprise and doubt!
The emperor stood up suddenly, his body swaying, and Wang Defu, who was beside him, held him tightly to prevent him from falling. The blood drained from his face! Shen Ziqing... the key witness... was dead?! At this critical moment?!
An indescribable glint of fear and a twisted sense of relief flashed across Zhang Xian and Li Mao's eyes. Dead? Shen Ziqing dead?! Dead with no witnesses?!
Feng Zijing suddenly raised his head, his eyes wide open, filled with incredible anger and sorrow! With Shen Ziqing's death, this case... has lost another key link!
Gu Linzhi stood with his eyes lowered, as if the clamor within the hall had nothing to do with him. Only the fingers beneath the wide cuffs of his black python robe twitched ever so slightly. Shen Ziqing's death was predictable. It was Xie Yong's final act, but also... a new move.
The prison officer of the Ministry of Justice lay on the ground, shaking like a leaf in the autumn wind. He continued in a sobbing voice, "Chen...Chen Ziqing's death... was extremely tragic... He...he died by swallowing gold...but...but the coroner found...a line of words...written in blood on the wall in the corner of his cell..."
"What word?!" The emperor's voice was hoarse and urgent, with an ominous premonition.
The warden swallowed his saliva and said in a trembling voice:
"That...the bloody words read...'Minister Gu...silenced...'!"
“Buzz——!!!”
The entire Fengtian Hall instantly fell into a dead silence! You could hear a pin drop! It was as if even the air had frozen!
Minister Gu...silenced the witness?!
The bloody words left by Shen Ziqing before his death actually pointed directly at the powerful minister Gu Linzhi?! Accusing him of murder to silence him?!
Countless gazes, filled with shock, horror, disbelief, and a hint of subtle prying, like invisible arrows, all focused in unison on Gu Linzhi's dark figure that stood as tall as a solitary peak!
The emperor's body suddenly froze. He stared at Gu Linzhi, his eyes filled with utter horror, confusion, and... a hint of anger at being fooled! Gu Qing? Silencing him? Could it be... could it be that all of this... was orchestrated by him?! He was... the mastermind behind this?!
Zhang Xian and Li Mao seemed to have grasped the last straw, their eyes instantly bursting with ecstasy! They pointed at Gu Linzhi and shouted at the top of their lungs:
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please see clearly! It was him! It was Gu Linzhi! He was the one who ordered Shen Ziqing to commit evil deeds in Jiangnan! He was afraid that the truth would be exposed, so he killed people to silence them! He was the one who framed loyal officials! He brought chaos to the government! Your Majesty! This guy is the real traitor to the country!!"
"Yes! It's him! Your Majesty! Capture this beast immediately!"
"Your Majesty, please make a holy judgment! Severely punish the traitor Gu Linzhi!"
Several officials who were attached to Zhang Xian jumped out like chicken blood, accusing loudly and spitting everywhere, instantly directing all the spearheads towards Gu Linzhi! The atmosphere above the Golden Palace suddenly became strange and dangerous!
Feng Zijing was also stunned. He looked at Zhang Xian and others who looked like crazy, and then at Gu Linzhi who was still terrifyingly calm. His brows were furrowed, and his eyes were full of surprise and confusion.
The emperor's expression shifted wildly, a mixture of surprise, suspicion, anger, and fear. He looked at Zhang Xian and the others kneeling on the ground, identifying Gu Linzhi, then at the dark figure. His heart was in turmoil, and he didn't know who to trust. Shen Ziqing's death, the bloody words "silence," were like a poisonous thorn, piercing deep into his already fragile trust!
"Gu...Gu Qing..." The emperor's voice was trembling and tentative, staring at Gu Linzhi, "Chen Ziqing...wrote in blood before his death...pointed to you...you...what do you have to say?!"
All eyes were once again focused on Gu Linzhi. Inside Fengtian Hall, the silence was as dead as a grave. The air was so heavy it almost crushed people.
Gu Linzhi slowly raised his eyelids.
His gaze was as calm as a polar glacier, slowly sweeping over Zhang Xian, Li Mao and others who looked like mad, sweeping over Feng Zijing who was in doubt, sweeping over countless pairs of eyes in the hall, some frightened, some prying, some gloating, and finally, falling on the young emperor with a pale face and confused eyes sitting on the throne.
The corners of his lips twitched upward ever so slightly. It wasn't a smile, but a cold arc filled with endless mockery and... pity.
At this critical moment, the eyes of the entire court were fixed on Gu Linzhi, waiting to see how he would respond to this fatal accusation.
“Boom! Boom boom boom—!!”
A dull, rapid, drum-like crashing sound, accompanied by an old, hoarse, yet penetrating cry of sorrow, suddenly came from outside the heavy, tightly closed door of the Fengtian Hall, instantly breaking the dead silence in the hall!
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! I, your humble servant Han Zhenshan, have brought the blood letters of 30,000 heroic spirits from the Jingbei Army to the palace to appeal for justice!"
That voice, like a ghost crawling out of the abyss of hell, brought with it fourteen years of accumulated blood, tears and overwhelming hatred, wrapped in the wind, snow and the whimpering of swords, violently slammed open the heavy door of the palace, and also crashed into the depths of everyone's soul!
"boom--!!!"
The two heavy, golden-studded red doors of the Fengtian Hall were suddenly slammed open by a massive force from the outside. Dazzling daylight instantly flooded into the dim hall!
A tall and burly figure, but hunched like a candle in the wind, staggered and fell resolutely on the cold and hard golden brick threshold like a meteor burning the last of its life!
It’s Han Zhenshan!
He was no longer the dusty old man in the prime minister's study yesterday. Now, he was dressed in a washed-out, patched-up Jingbei Army battle jacket! The faded jacket was covered with marks from swords and axes, and bloodstains that had long since turned dark brown! It was like draping a tattered battle flag! His graying hair was disheveled, his face etched with the ravages of life and deep sorrow, and turbid tears streamed down his face! In his withered hands, tightly grasping his life, he held high above his head the shocking hardcover book, its cover drenched in dark red—"Records of Border Defense (Incomplete)"!
"Your Majesty—!!!" Han Zhenshan's voice was hoarse and bloodshot, and he roared with all his might. Every word was like a blood clot squeezed out of his chest. "This is the record written by Zhao Tiezhu, the Jingbei Army's Warehouse Officer! He froze to death and wrote it with his finger blood! Every word is tearful! Every sentence is filled with injustice! Thirty thousand loyal souls! They died with their eyes wide open! All because of the treacherous officials in the court! They resold military rations! They used moldy and poisonous rice to cut off the survival of our army—!!!"
He slammed his head hard on the golden brick threshold!
“Bang!!”
A dull, heart-pounding thud echoed like a death knell! Crimson blood instantly spurted from his graying forehead, staining the cold gold brick beneath him red!
"Please, Your Majesty! Open this blood letter! For the 30,000 soldiers who died unjustly! Demand restitution for their blood debt!!"
Han Zhenshan's voice abruptly stopped, his body drained of all strength as he slumped limply on the threshold. Only his hands, still tightly holding the blood-stained "Border Guard Records" aloft, flowed down his ruptured forehead, blending with the long-dried dark crimson on the book. Under the glaring sunlight, it emitted a soul-shaking, eerie, and tragic light.
The entire Fengtian Hall was completely silent!
Time seems to have frozen at this moment!
The emperor abruptly stood up, his body teetering from the sheer shock! He stared intently at the veteran officer crouched in a pool of blood on the threshold, holding a blood-stained letter aloft. He looked at the tattered Jingbei Army jacket, the double-drenched booklet... A huge wave of horror, pity, and a sense of powerlessness swept over him by the torrent of history, like a tsunami, instantly overwhelmed him! He seemed to see the snowstorms of the northern border fourteen years ago, the countless young faces slain by hunger, cold, and the blades of swords!
The ecstasy on the faces of Zhang Xian, Li Mao, and the others froze in an instant, like a frozen, inferior mask, leaving only boundless fear and despair! A blood letter! A blood letter from the Jingbei Army! That veteran, Han Zhenshan, who was supposed to be dead! He's actually... still alive?! He's actually... holding a blood letter and threatening to die?!
Feng Zijing's eyes were filled with tears. He suddenly slammed his head to the ground again, and screamed in a tearful voice: "Your Majesty! Here is the blood letter! The loyal soul weeps blood! Your Majesty, please open this letter and make it clear for your consideration--!!!"
Countless eyes instantly shifted from Gu Linzhi to the blood-stained "Record of Border Defense" held high by the veteran with his life! That booklet, at this moment, seemed to possess magical power, emitting an irresistible call from the depths of hell!
Gu Linzhi slowly raised his eyes, looking past Han Zhenshan, lying in a pool of blood on the threshold, past the blood-stained "Record of Border Defense," and calmly cast his gaze at the utterly distraught young emperor sitting on the throne. Deep within those eyes, as deep as a cold pond, beneath the icy layer, a barely perceptible ripple finally appeared.
The blood letter has been delivered to the palace.
Loyal souls are watching.
The end of this chess game... has arrived.
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