Chapter 214 Life Takes Many Different Paths
After a long silence, Xiao Ling finally asked, "Grandfather, who did this?"
The old man didn't answer immediately, and after a long while sighed:
"It was done by my junior brother, Zhang Herun."
Xiao Ling thought for a long time and then suddenly exclaimed in surprise:
"Mr. He Run, Prince Rui's right-hand man?"
Grandpa Xie nodded wearily.
"Back then, the late emperor was worried that Your Majesty would kill Prince Rui after ascending the throne, so he gave half of the talented people in the court to Prince Rui."
My junior brother was one of them.
At that time, I was already the Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince, so I was automatically assigned to His Majesty's camp.
My junior brother then had no choice but to follow Prince Rui.
I once privately advised him that Prince Rui was a wolf in sheep's clothing and not a wise ruler, and that he should not be an accomplice to evil.
However, he said that he could not realize his ambitions in the court, and that he would be given an important position in the north.
We parted on bad terms because of this.
After he went to the North, we kept in touch for the first few years, and I was the one who told him about this method of map marking.
However, later someone in the court impeached me, saying that I had been in private dealings with him and was suspected of colluding with the enemy.
I had no rebuttal at the time, so I asked His Majesty to let me resign from my position as Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince and retire to my home.
In the years that followed, we had no further contact or meeting.
Until last year, three months after his death, someone suddenly delivered this box and this letter.
I only realized later that his initial argument with me was because he didn't want to implicate me.
His initial intention was to help the dynasty subdue the northern border.
He greatly assisted King Rui in governing the people of the North, enabling them to live in peace and prosperity.
However, he also secretly drew up this detailed map.
The letter stated that if the court were to ever wage war against the northern border, this map could be consulted, and a decisive battle would surely suffice.
Xiao Ling and Xie Yunman then noticed a letter underneath the box.
As Mr. Xie spoke, tears welled up in his eyes.
Xiao Ling thought to himself: There are still so many things to do in between.
It turns out that the renowned Mr. He Run is actually one of our own.
No wonder I heard that he was good at governing the people but not at governing the army.
It now seems that it wasn't that they were bad at managing troops, but rather that they didn't want to.
The silence in the study was deafening.
After a while, Grandpa Xie packed everything up, put it in a box, and handed it to Xiao Ling, saying:
"Give this to His Majesty tomorrow."
Hopefully, this will be helpful to the war in the North.
The old man was in a bad mood and did not want to talk much, so the two had to take their leave.
After the two left, Old Master Xie looked at the antique-style lamp with a golden monkey holding a lantern on the table in front of him and murmured:
“Junior brother, you are Master’s most prized disciple. I am far inferior to you…”
The days of studying at Qingya Academy seemed to appear before my eyes.
A slender young man, holding a lamp shaped like a golden monkey holding a lantern, stood at the door and said:
"Why aren't you asleep yet, senior brother? It's so late."
"Junior brother, the moon is beautiful tonight, let's go catch some fish."
The boy's eyes lit up: "Great, senior brother. If I catch it, you'll make me grilled fish."
"No problem. We can have the extra fish soup."
"Let's go."
"Let's go."
The boy's voice faded into the distance, leaving only the lamp burning slowly.
Time has burned away, youthful spirit has burned away, leaving only sighs...
The next day, Xiao Ling and Xie Yunman went to the palace together and gave the things they were carrying to the Crown Prince.
The crown prince was overjoyed when he saw the map, but after reading the letter inside, his expression became serious.
He then got up, took the box, and went to see the emperor.
After being angered to the point of fainting by the people in the court yesterday, the emperor did not attend the morning court session today.
The morning court session didn't discuss the eldest prince, but only the northern border issue, and the court officials were all as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood.
Most advocated for war against the North, aiming to achieve a decisive victory in one fell swoop.
Therefore, today's morning court session went quite smoothly, without any major disputes.
After hearing about the morning court session, the emperor closed his eyes.
He also wanted to attack the northern border, and it was rare for the court officials to support him so much.
Yesterday's dissatisfaction with the officials has dissipated considerably at this time.
When she saw the Crown Prince arrive, her expression wasn't too bad; instead, she gestured for the Crown Prince to sit down.
"Father, please take a look at this first."
The crown prince then took the contents of the box out and handed it to the emperor.
The emperor squinted and stared for a long time, then exclaimed in surprise:
"Is this a map of the North?"
The prince nodded: "Yes, and this map of the mountains and rivers."
He then opened another image.
The emperor asked in surprise, "Who drew this in such detail?"
The crown prince took the letter out of the box and handed it to the emperor.
The emperor read the letter, or rather, it was Zhang Herun's confession.
The emperor was stunned after reading it: "So it was him."
Where did this letter come from?
"After Zhang Herun died, his family followed his last wishes and entrusted someone to deliver this small box to Grand Tutor Xie."
Grand Tutor Xie, knowing we were going to war against the northern border, gave the items to Ling'er to bring.
The emperor closed the letter in his hand, sighed deeply, and said:
"If the northern border can be settled in one battle, Zhang Herun will be credited with the greatest merit."
After a while, he said to the Crown Prince, "Since the court supports the war, then let's fight."
With these two maps, the odds of winning increase by at least 30%.
"It is summer now, the perfect time to wage war against the north. If we delay any longer, the cold weather may be disadvantageous to our army."
The crown prince nodded.
After leaving Taiji Palace and returning to the East Palace, he had someone make a rubbing of the map.
He then summoned all the generals from the Ministry of War to discuss strategy using maps.
Following that, the imperial decree for military action was sent to the border via an urgent courier.
The army has been stationed at the northern border for more than ten days, but the enemy has not yet launched an attack.
After observing for a few more days, it was discovered that the other party did not seem to have any intention of attacking.
General Wei Qing, the commander of the Northern Garrison, had no choice but to summon his deputy, Xue Yong, to discuss the matter together.
Xue Yong is Xue Weiyang's elder brother and the eldest son of the Duke of Zhenguo.
He was transferred to the northern border to serve as Wei Qing's deputy.
The two carefully analyzed the current situation in the North and concluded that the other side did not want to start a war.
Having reached this conclusion, he sent someone back to the capital to await the emperor's decree.
However, more than ten days had passed since the news was sent back, and they still hadn't received any imperial decree from the capital. The two of them were getting quite impatient.
"Little Xue, what do you think His Majesty means by this?"
Xue Yong and Wei Qing sat together on the steps at the entrance of the main tent, basking in the sun, looking very relaxed. Wei Qing picked his teeth as he asked a question.
Hearing Wei Qing's question, he squinted his eyes and said contentedly:
"Before I came, my third brother told me that I would be under the command of the general."
As for Your Majesty, matters concerning the palace are not my concern.
Wei Qing was feeling anxious when he heard this, and looked at him irritably:
"Can't you say something nice? I'm getting really anxious and upset."
Xue Yong turned to look at him, thought for a moment, and said:
"Well, General, it's not that I don't want to say it, but I really don't know how to say it."
As you know, I am quite brave and skilled in battle, no doubt about it.
But when it comes to courtly strategies or intricacies, I'm not good at that.
In my letter when I came, my father said that I shouldn't concern myself with matters in the palace, as he and my brother-in-law would be there.
"I'll just follow your orders, fight the battle well, and win."
Wei Qing listened to his words, turned to look at his serious face, and felt quite envious.
"You really are a fool with a fool's luck."
Xue Zhan laughed when he heard this: "My dad said the same thing."
Especially my younger sister, who married a top scholar who achieved the highest honors in all three levels of the imperial examinations. She's even more lucky than me, a fool in disguise.
Wei Qing became interested upon hearing this and gossiped:
"I've heard of that. Your sister helped catch a husband, but she ended up kidnapping him."
"Yes, my sister took a liking to him first and asked for his opinion. My brother-in-law is probably a reserved scholar and didn't agree at the time."
My sister was hoping to find a husband through the imperial examinations, but someone else snatched him away.
As he spoke, Xue Yong couldn't help but grin, revealing his large teeth.
The laughter was as loud as a barbell, exactly like that of the Duke of Zhenguo.
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