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n“That’s easy for you to say. Yanzhou is the closest to Cangzhou, but the garrison there is also the army closest to the capital city. If the Yanzhou garrison is detached there and something happens in this city, they would never be able to make it back here in time.”

n“Then who do you suggest we send? Yanzhou and the capital city are the only two cities near Cangzhou. Currently there are not enough troops in the latter, which means we either have Yanzhou send backup or watch the Cangzhou uprising get out of control!”

nThese people directly started quarreling with each other at the court meeting. Half of them advocated detaching Yanzhou garrison to Cangzhou, while the other half believed Yanzhou garrison should stay put.

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n“His Majesty is still in a coma. If we don’t figure out a way to tackle the issue of Cangzhou right away, I’m afraid before long we are going to have some serious problems,” Zhao Zheng the Minister of War observed and then looked at Yuwen Tong. “What do you think, Marshal?”

nOn hearing his remarks, all the others at the meeting fell silent and shifted their gaze to Yuwen Tong.

nPreviously, Yuwen Tong had never expressed his opinions on this kind of matters, and most courtiers were uncertain of his position. Now that Zhao Zheng was asking Yuwen Tong about it, they immediately quieted down, intending to hear what Yuwen Tong would answer.

n“Right now the Northern City Garrison Battalion is the only security force stationed in the capital city. They are not only guarding the imperial palace and city gates but also patrolling streets, despite the fact that they’re badly short-handed. If any foreign enemies launch an attack on this city, we might not be able to defend against it, so the garrison in this city must not be drafted elsewhere.

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nSending the military presence in Yanzhou is feasible. Yanzhou is the closest to Cangzhou. If we don’t quash the rebellion in Cangzhou, sooner or later it will spill over to Yanzhou, so we must dispatch Yanzhou garrison there. It’s just that there are two problems facing us.”

nThose against detaching the garrison in Yanzhou were just about to speak when the Right Prime Minister and Zhao Zheng started talking.

n“You’ve got a point, Marshal. The issue of Cangzhou is of utmost urgency. Once General Dai fails to hold back those rioters, it would be the capital city rather than Yanzhou that’d be in the gravest peril. Given the severity of the incident that happened here a few days ago, we can’t say for sure that it hasn’t come to the knowledge of leaders of the rebel army. If by any chance they decide to attack this city, it’d be very difficult for us to defend against them with the men we have at our disposal, and we’d be forced to draft the garrisons in other cities here. Since drafting security forces in other cities is inevitable, we might as well launch a pre-emptive strike instead of deploying defense. Finishing the insurrectionary army once and for all is the only way to ensure long-time security.”

nThese words rendered those courtiers speechless. After all, the capital city was now indeed quite vulnerable and in dire danger.

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n“May I ask what the two problems are, Marshal?”

nAfter they quieted down, Yuwen Tong continued, “The first one is that we need His Majesty’s authorization to detach the army in Yanzhou. As you all know, His Majesty passed out this morning and still hasn’t come to yet. According to the director of the imperial hospital, his prognosis is rather gloomy, which means how to get his authorization is going to be a problem. The second one is that the commander of the garrison in Yanzhou is no less incompetent than Dai Cheng. If he leads the garrison to Cangzhou to back up Dai Cheng, I’m afraid the only thing he would be doing there is get his men killed by the rebel force for nothing.”

n“Uh…”

n“Aside from that, we don’t really know how the situation in Cangzhou is specifically, and neither do any of us know the real reason why Dai Chen got hurt, or any details about the insurrectionary army. The intelligence reports from Cangzhou are somewhat vague and ambiguous. I worry that the rebel army is not the only problem in Cangzhou – there might have been some changes in the garrison of Cangzhou, so the leader of the reinforcements must be someone having enough authority to have the officers toe the line.”

nAfter hearing Yuwen Tong’s words, many courtiers at the meeting broke out in a cold sweat. There’d been some changes in the garrison of Cangzhou?

nThen the capital city… Was the capital city still safe?

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nWhat with the spate of unforeseen events that had happened in the capital city recently, these courtiers were all like frightened birds and had no sense of security whatsoever.

n“I volunteer for the mission.” Someone suddenly stepped up. It was the General Zhongwu (AKA the General of Loyalty and Valor) who was already in his fifties.

nAll courtiers’ eyes flashed in his direction. Yuwen Tong also looked at the General Zhongwu and gave a smile. “I was just about to suggest you.”

nOn hearing this remark of Yuwen Tong’s, the courtiers came to know that the General Zhongwu being the commander of the reinforcements sent to Cangzhou was now a sure thing.

nSomeone proposed Yuwen Tong be the leader, but the Right Prime Minister and Zhao Zheng objected to it and the proposer had to give up.

n“Now that we’ve got a commander, the only thing we need is His Majesty’s authorization. Which one of Your Lordships is willing to talk to His Majesty about it?” said Yuwen Tong after his eyes swept across everybody present.

n“I’ll go. Lord Zhao, Lord Liu, how about you two go with me?”

n“It’d be a pleasure, Right Prime Minister.”

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nCurrently, all civil officials were looking to the Right Prime Minister for leadership. Owing to the attempted usurpation, half of the courtiers had been executed, and the emperor was unconscious. None of the vacancies in the imperial court had been filled, so the court seemed rather empty and bleak, and not many of the courtiers were competent enough to help improve the situation.

nThe Right Prime Minister, accompanied by the Minister of War and the Assistant Minister of Revenue, paid a visit to the imperial bedchamber. When they walked out, all their faces clouded over with deep apprehension.

n“Wha–What happened, Your Lordships? Did you get His Majesty’s authorization?”

n“His Majesty is still comatose, and a court physician said that His Majesty probably… didn’t have much time left. He’s been relying heavily on medication to keep himself alive, and now I’m afraid it won’t be long before he breathes his last.”

nAt this juncture?! Everybody at the court meeting exclaimed in shock, their hearts sinking so low that they felt as though the bottoms had dropped out of their stomachs.

n“The Ministry of Rites… has got to start making preparations.”

n“I see,” the Minister of Rites answered and then exchanged glances with Yuwen Feng.

n“What should we do now? Without His Majesty’s authorization, nobody could detach the garrison in Yanzhou.” Now everybody came to realize that the issue had got tricky.

nSubconsciously, these people shifted their gaze to Yuwen Tong, who hadn’t shown a single sign of alarm and had been unhurried and collected all along from the very beginning. As though he was their “stability anchor”, they all started to depend on him in spite of themselves.

n“Are there any other adult members of the imperial clan?” Yuwen Tong looked at the Right Prime Minister.

nThe Right Prime Minister looked back at him, made a slight bow and replied, “Only an uncle of His Majesty’s. He’s in his nineties and has been lying in bed to nurse his illness since last year. Also, his mind is not very clear. He frequently mistakes people for others and has a memory like a sieve. It’s very inadvisable to put him in charge.”

nThere had originally been more members in the imperial clan, but because of the emperor’s suspicious mind and his sudden changes of mood lately, he had had almost all of them executed on various pretexts. Just a few days ago, an imperial member involved in the King Duan’s attempted usurpation was beheaded.

nAs things stood, to put it simply, the two underage princes were the only candidates.

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nWhen almost everybody was at their wits’ end, someone stepped up and suggested, “We might as well have the Eighth Prince make the decision.”

n“The Eighth Prince is only ten. What could he possibly do to help?”

n“But what choice do we have? The Great Yue has reached a point where its very existence is at stake!”

n“Faugh! The way I see it, you’re just doing this for your own gain. Everybody knows you’re the Eighth Prince’s grandfather.”

n“You–!”

n“That’s enough,” said Yuwen Tong flintily.

nThe hall fell silent again.

n“Let’s invite the Eighth Prince to this meeting.”

nWith his back to the others, the Right Prime Minister looked up at Yuwen Tong, puzzlement in his eyes.

nYuwen Tong’s countenance remained unchanged. After giving it some thought, the Right Prime Minister said, “Okay, then. Let’s hear what the Eighth Prince has to say.”

nAside from anything else, the Eighth Prince was just an underage prince. His mother hadn’t been in the emperor’s good graces for many years, and his mother’s family wasn’t very powerful. He himself used to be under the shadows of his many big brothers, striking people as rather weak.

nWhen he entered the hall, his face was still a little pale. His eyes raked the courtiers and then moved to Yuwen Tong, and with that he walked up and said, “Marshal.”

n“It’s an honor to meet you, Your Highness,” said Yuwen Tong.

nAfter the Right Prime Minister briefed the Eighth Prince on what was at issue, the latter paled even further and also appeared somewhat scared. “But… I don’t have a clue how to deal with this kind of thing, and neither can I right an imperial edict.”

n“The Right Prime Minister will draft the imperial edict for you. All you have to do is stamp the imperial seal on it,” observed Yuwen Tong.

n“The imperial seal?” The Eighth Prince was flustered.

nThe others also looked at Yuwen Tong. “Marshal, it’s inappropriate for anybody other than His Majesty to touch the Privy Seal, isn’t it?”

n“How about you find us a better way of solving this tricky problem?” Yuwen Tong looked at him.

nUnconvinced as the speaker was, he had no choice but to shut his mouth.

nAfter all, the Right Prime Minister and the couple of ministers raised no objections to this. Given that all the top-ranking courtiers were keeping silent, he felt that as an inferior official, he’d better keep his mouth shut.

nThe Right Prime Minister drafted an imperial edict, and then the Eighth Prince was brought to the imperial bedchamber. When they exited it, the imperial edict in the Right Prime Minister’s hand bore the imperial seal.

nThe General Zhongwu took the imperial edict and left.

nAll courtiers in the hall raised their hands to wipe the sweat from their foreheads, feeling that the circumstances in which things had gone at this meeting were rather suspicious, but they were also fully aware that at this point in time, there was no way to look into the details.

nThey had found a solution to the issue of Cangzhou, but it meant that there would be no garrison left in any of the cities near the capital…

n…

nIn the Ling Mansion.

n“Have some rest. Are you hungry? They’ll serve lunch soon,” said Ling Zhang, proffering Yuwen Tong a cup of tea.

nYuwen Tong took it, drank the cup of tea in one gulp, exhaled deeply and replied, “The garrison of Yanzhou were detached. Barring accidents, they’ll be able to hold back the rebel army in Cangzhou for some time.”

n“How’s everything going in Cangzhou exactly?” asked Ling Zhang.

n“Dai Cheng is wounded. Wang Cai took advantage of the opportunity and took command of half of the army. Troops are not happy about it, but there’s nothing they could do, because he’s got an imperial edict. On top of that, Wang Cai did a lot of things behind Dai Cheng’s back that the rioters found provocative, which was the very cause of the turmoil that happened afterwards,” said Yuwen Tong.

n“Surely it won’t get out of hand?” Ling Zhang was worried.

n“The General Zhongwu has set out for Cangzhou, so there’s nothing to worry about. He’s far more capable than Dai Cheng,” observed Yuwen Tong.

n“He is? But I have barely heard of him,” said Ling Zhang.

n“That’s because you don’t know that he used to be my father’s comrade-in-arms and they performed some wartime exploits together. It’s just that after I achieved fame, the emperor transferred him back to the capital city to let him live out his life in retirement,” said Yuwen Tong.

nLing Zhang’s eyes dilated with astonishment. “Are you saying that he’s actually an old acquaintance of yours?”

nYuwen Tong inclined his head. “I’ll tell you more about it another time. Anyway, with him being in Cangzhou, the situation will be stabilized. From the vantage point of the present, the emperor wouldn’t last long. In all likelihood, he’ll kick the bucket in a day or two, and when he does, news will soon spread through the whole country, and troublemakers will emerge from all sides. I’ve already taken adequate preparations in the south, but the north… is the most part.”

nLing Zhang’s brows were furrowed at these words. He had a lot of questions to ask, but…

n“Then what do we do? The emperor’s death will leave the imperial court leaderless. It’s very likely that the Eighth Prince will be enthroned by the courtiers, right?”

n“Currently, there is but one person whose words carry weight with the imperial court.”

n“Who is it?”

nYuwen Tong looked at him. “Me, of course. Who else could it be?”

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