Undercurrents in the capital
Northern Xinjiang, Black Stone Fortress.
In the biting chill of early spring, a faint warmth finally melted the cruelty of the frozen earth.
Shen Xiao was silently protected by Lan Ying.
His face gradually lost its terrifying pallor, revealing a hint of life.
Meanwhile, in another, slightly smaller tent.
A battle concerning the soul is also beginning to see the first light of dawn.
The ginseng soup in Shen Yan's hand was no longer warm, but he didn't care.
His gaze was fixed on the face of Captain Wang—Wang Ben.
A complex light is now rekindling in those eyes that were once dimmed by despair.
The deep pain has not yet subsided.
But it was suppressed by an even stronger, indomitable will.
Like lava locked in place by stubborn rocks, it is scorching and unwavering.
The huge rock that had been hanging in Shen Yan's chest for so long finally fell to the ground with a thud.
It's done.
This tough guy wasn't completely crushed by fate.
"Good! Wang Ben! This is the 'Wang Tiegu' I know!"
Shen Yan let out a low growl, filled with heroic spirit.
Without a word, he shoved the bowl of soup into Wang Ben's slightly trembling hands.
"Drink it! Pour it down! Only after drinking it will you have the strength to figure out how to be the 'stabilizing force' for our new city!"
Wang Ben's hands were still unsteady, and the rim of the bowl lightly tapped against his teeth.
But his eyes were like tempered iron, unusually solid.
He tilted his head back, his Adam's apple bobbing, and gulped down the now-cold ginseng soup.
A warm current seemed to spread from my throat all the way to my cold, stiff limbs and bones.
He slammed the empty bowl down on the low table beside the bed.
It made a muffled sound.
He raised his hand and forcefully wiped the water stains from the corner of his mouth, his voice hoarse but with a resolute force.
"Brother Chen! A wheelchair! Get me the sturdiest one, the fastest one! Once my legs are a little stronger, take me to see that valley you mentioned! And the workshop... site selection! The veterans... we can't let them bleed and lose heart!"
"That's more like it!"
Shen Yan grinned and patted Wang Ben's sturdy shoulder hard.
"Don't worry! Leave it to the best old craftsmen in my Chenji Workshop. I guarantee you'll be even more imposing sitting on it than standing up! My men are already on their way from the valley. We'll get to work as soon as the snow melts!"
He was weary of his youthful exuberance.
"Resettlement of veterans, workshop planning, and the patrol deployment you mentioned..."
"Every single matter depends on you, 'Manager Wang,' to make the decisions!"
He changed the subject abruptly, winking mischievously.
"As for settling down and starting a family... Once the new city takes shape, my Chenji Trading Company will take the lead in organizing a few lively 'matchmaking events'! Good girls from the Northern Frontier, straightforward girls from the Di people, I guarantee you, Old Wang, will be spoiled for choice! At that time, you, as the 'leader,' have to set an example for the brothers and be the first to step up!"
A rare blush appeared on Wang Ben's dark face.
A twenty-seven-year-old man, with a faint hope for the future deep in his eyes.
The words of Chen Yan, which were half a joke and half a promise, suddenly became clear.
He was no longer a useless person who could only lie in his tent waiting to die.
He is the future "General Manager Wang" of the new city.
He is the "leading goose" in the hearts of hundreds of veterans.
They might even have their own home, a home filled with the warmth of everyday life.
This weighty responsibility and warm hope.
Like the most resilient vine, it firmly binds the bitter well caused by the body's disability.
The curtain was gently lifted by a fair hand, and a breeze carrying the refreshing scent of herbs rushed in.
Shen Hong carried a small basin of freshly picked Snow Soul Grass and walked in quietly.
The boy's pure, snow-white gaze swept over the rekindled fighting spirit in Captain Wang's eyes and the gratified smile on his father's face.
A gentle, warm light shone in her clear eyes.
"Uncle Wang, Father."
He placed the medicine basin aside.
"Freshly picked snow peony, crushed and applied externally, is excellent for the recovery of muscles and bones. You should continue to use it."
"Thank you for your trouble, Young Master Hong."
Looking at the refined and elegant young man, Wang Ben felt a warmth in his heart.
Several days later, a thousand miles away, in the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
In a side hall of the Zichen Palace, the stove fire burned extremely brightly, crackling loudly, but it could not dispel the bone-chilling cold that permeated the hall.
The young emperor, Wei Chen, sat behind his desk, his face ashen.
Several confidential reports and several pieces of physical evidence were laid out on the table.
Like a poisoned ice pick, it pierced his heart.
Each heartbeat brought excruciating pain and bone-chilling cold.
His fingertips.
He was unconsciously stroking a piece of jade pendant with charred edges.
Its warm and smooth texture indicates it is made of high-quality mutton fat jade.
The intricate and exquisite dragon patterns on it, even after being licked by raging fire, still exude their former nobility.
This pattern… Wei Chenji closed his eyes again.
The image of the dragon pendant that the late Crown Prince Wei Chengji wore close to his body instantly appeared clearly in his mind from the secret files of the Imperial Clan Court.
Absolutely perfect!
"It was hidden so well..."
A suppressed, cold laugh escaped from Wei Chenji's throat.
He was filled with furious anger at being fooled and a suffocating sense of frustration.
He tapped his knuckles heavily on the cold tabletop, causing the nine-dragon pendant at his waist to sway gently.
It wasn't that he was afraid of losing his position; he was the youngest son of the late emperor, and his status had long been established.
Rather, it was the shame and indignation of being regarded as an ignorant child and roasted over a fire.
It almost overwhelmed his youthful rationality.
"Wei Jin!"
They even prepared such a thorough scapegoat!
Huo Ying! Jiang Wenhuan!
You old foxes...
He suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze flashing with cold light.
It was as if one could see through the palace walls and into the meaningful faces of those old ministers.
"Just how much do you know?! Do you treat me like a plaything in your hands?!"
"Bang--!"
He swept the heavy white jade paperweight off the desk and onto the ground.
It shattered into pieces in an instant, scattering glistening fragments all over the ground.
The chief eunuch Gao Wuyong, who was standing to the side, and Huo Mingguang, who was kneeling on the ground, trembled violently.
He lowered his head even further and held his breath.
"Huo Mingguang!"
Wei Chenji's voice was icy and venomous, his gaze like two sharp daggers piercing the trembling figure on the ground.
"Raise your head! Look at me! Tell me, how much did your father, Huo Ying... actually know about this matter?!"
Every word was imbued with the humiliation and fury of being deceived and looked down upon by powerful officials.
Huo Mingguang felt his back instantly soaked in cold sweat, feeling icy cold.
He struggled to lift his head.
When faced with the emperor's cold, fierce eyes, which were only sharpened by the pain of power and eager to tear everything apart, his tongue was tied in knots.
"Your Majesty...Your Majesty! My father...my father...is eager to defend the border, or...or perhaps he simply finds this person...his talent is useful and he has rendered meritorious service to the country...regarding his...his background...this humble subject...this humble subject truly does not know whether my father...has thoroughly investigated! But...but my father has absolutely no intention of protecting traitors! The irrefutable evidence here...is definitely not what my father presented!"
He was rambling incoherently, only wanting to extricate the Huo family from this monstrous vortex.
"Useful? Effective?"
Wei Chen was so angry that he laughed, and the laughter sounded particularly eerie in the empty hall.
He seemed to see in his mind the memorial submitted by Huo Ying and others, which they wrote with tears in their eyes.
The effusive praise of "meritorious service to the nation and benefit for generations to come" sounded incredibly jarring at that moment.
"What a fine example of 'meritorious service to the nation'!"
What a fitting description of "reporting with tears of blood"!
Whose blood is he weeping for?!
Is it the blood of a wolf in sheep's clothing, capable of deceiving one's father and father and showing no regard for moral principles?!
He could almost see those old ministers pointing and whispering behind his back, mocking his youth and "ignorance".
He took a deep breath.
He forcibly suppressed his boiling anger deep within his chest.
All that remains is the cold, calculating nature of emperors.
Wei Jin (Chen Yan)... This name weighs as heavily as a thousand pounds at this moment.
Snowflake cotton, border defense strategy, wolf packs, new city, border troops' support...
This person seems to have become the pillar of stability in the northern frontier.
Or perhaps it's a sword hanging over his head.
To touch him is to cause a domino effect.
What's even more troublesome is that... the imperial decree summoning him to the capital has already been issued!
“Gao Wuyong!” Wei Chenji’s voice returned to its cold calm.
"Your servant is here!" Gao Wuyong replied hastily.
Where is the imperial edict summoning Shen Yan to the capital?
"Your Majesty, the urgent message, traveling 800 li, should have already passed Tongguan by now, according to the timeline."
"good."
Wei Chenji's lips slowly curled into a chilling, sinister smile, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.
"Let him come! I want to see for myself whether this 'genius' who has stirred up trouble in the northern frontier and is praised by the old foxes is a dragon or a worm! Once he enters my capital, even if he's a dragon, he'll have to coil up before me! Even if he's a tiger, he'll have to lie down before me! I want to personally... weigh his own strength!"
He wanted to tear away all the pretense of tenderness.
Keep this dangerous variable firmly under control.
His gaze locked onto Huo Mingguang once more, not allowing him the slightest chance to escape.
"Huo Mingguang!"
"Your humble servant is here!" Huo Mingguang's heart sank to the bottom of an ice cave.
"You personally lead 'Hidden Scale' and immediately and secretly head north!"
Wei Chenji's voice was like ice beads falling, "Before Shen Yan arrives in the capital, dig up everything around him! Investigate thoroughly! Especially that Shen Hong, and that Ling Zhan! Any clue, any treacherous intentions..."
He paused, a murderous glint in his eyes, "You're allowed to act first and report later!"
This is the ultimate test of loyalty to the Huo family, and also a sinister act of exploitation.
Huo Mingguang felt ice-cold all over, as if he had fallen into an abyss.
He met the emperor's eyes, which held only the fierce retaliation of someone stung by power, devoid of any warmth.
"...Your humble servant...accepts the decree!"
He kowtowed deeply.
The sound of forehead touching cold gold bricks was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent hall.
Huo Mingguang and Gao Wuyong disappeared outside the palace gate.
Only Wei Chenji remained in the hall.
The broken pieces of white jade reflected his inscrutable face.
He stood alone by the window, gazing at the leaden-gray sky to the north.
Unconsciously, his fingers repeatedly stroked the nine-dragon pendant at his waist, a symbol of supreme imperial power.
On the young emperor's face were humiliation, anger, and the stinging pain of being deceived.
And an intense desire to control everything, as murky and distorted as paint.
His fingertips once again traced the charred dragon-shaped pendant on the imperial desk.
With a warm and smooth touch.
It seemed to conceal a raging fire, scorching his fingertips.
fear.
Wei Jin... that ghost bearing the name "Chen Yan".
She is no longer the infant who could be easily erased in the fire that engulfed the Eastern Palace.
The snow-covered cotton warmed the border troops, the border defense strategy stabilized the territory, the veterans saw him as their hope, and the blueprint for a new city unfolded in his hands...
Each and every one of these points reveals a colossal entity that has taken root and flourished in the harsh, cold lands of the North!
He possesses the world.
Yet he clearly felt a silent pressure from the north, like dark clouds shrouding the dragon throne.
A trace...
An extremely faint, chilling sense of guilt quietly crept into my heart, slowly tightening.
The case of the Crown Prince Li was the greatest stain and pain of the late emperor's later years.
It is a curse that hangs over the royal family and cannot be shaken off.
Now the evidence is overwhelming, proving it was a miscarriage of justice back then!
In his later years, the emperor even issued an edict of self-reproach.
The raging flames consumed not only his father, the crown prince.
He should have grown up in the luxurious palace.
He should have been raised like an "imperial uncle" by his own nephew!
Although he was a few years older than me.
Although he was not the instigator, he was the biggest beneficiary of that bloody miscarriage of justice!
The cold dragon throne beneath him is stained with the blood of his closest relatives!
I stared at the charred edge of the jade pendant.
I could almost hear the helpless cries of a baby, even though it was Yang Sijian's son.
A heavy sense of guilt, stemming from his very blood, nearly crushed him.
But then, an even more violent wave engulfed him—
It was a vortex of weighing options and fears.
kill?
It's too easy.
With just a secret decree, Huo Mingguang's knife could fall silently.
But what will be the consequences? Northern Xinjiang will become a living hell!
How will Huo Ying react?
How furious would those border soldiers who had just seen the hope of "veterans returning to their hometowns" and "snowflakes for warmth" be?
The new city that is about to rise from the ground, and even those assimilated Di people who yearn for peace...
The fragile balance in northern Xinjiang will be shattered in an instant!
The Di cavalry would pounce like hungry wolves smelling blood!
This is self-destruction!
Moreover... Wei Jin's displayed talent is a real and significant contribution to the country!
Killing him would be tantamount to cutting ourselves off from the hearts of the people.
Accept it?
Is this a public announcement to the world, welcoming back the "Imperial Grandson"?
Then what is Wei Chenji?
What does the late emperor's decision matter?
The imperial court is bound to be engulfed in a massive upheaval!
Those lurking, scheming forces will seize this opportunity to frantically question the legitimacy of his throne!
Can this young emperor, whose power base is not yet secure, handle the turbulent waves stirred up by the "reversal of wrongful convictions"?
Consort Huo had vaguely mentioned matters from the previous dynasty...
After the Crown Prince's affair, the princes vied for the throne, and powerful ministers seized the opportunity to install the young emperor...
The lessons learned from the eventual usurpation of imperial power and the abuse of absolute authority are still recorded in history!
Who knows if Huo Ying... will become that kind of powerful minister?
Will Wei Jin become the "young master" who is pushed to the forefront of controversy?
The thought coiled around his neck, gnawing at his nerves.
He must find a third way.
One can hold Wei Jin (Chen Yan) firmly in one's hand.
He could utilize his talents, appease the northern frontier, and intimidate Huo Ying, ultimately forging this double-edged sword into a powerful weapon in his hands.
Summoning him to the capital was merely the first move in the game.
“Shen Yan…Wei Jin…”
The young emperor, facing the boundless dark clouds of the north, squeezed out this name through gritted teeth.
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