In the early summer of the second year of the Xuanwen era.
Song Yinghuai, the Regent King, returned triumphantly from the northern expedition with the Princess of Nan'an.
Banners fluttered in the capital city of Shangjing. The streets were packed with people, and the air was filled with the sounds of drums and music.
Song Yinghuai, along with five great generals including Zhu Xiao and Tan Xiong, were dressed in armor and rode on tall horses.
Riding side by side with them was Xu Buyue, the Princess of Nan'an. Her silver armor made her look valiant and heroic.
Fresh fruit baskets were tossed into the air, and the laughter of children filled the air like a vast ocean.
The young emperor, Song Xiuzhu, led his court officials to welcome them at the Shence Gate.
Someone in the crowd shouted excitedly, "The king is the god of our Great Ye!"
The young emperor's smiling lips stiffened. Listening to the deafening congratulations and praises, yet no one even glanced at him, the emperor, his face turned solemn.
Song Yinghuai dismounted from his warhorse and was about to kneel on the ground.
Song Xiuzhu hesitated for a moment. Remembering Lu Baiwei's instructions, he quickly reached out his hand to stop Song Yinghuai from kneeling. With a smiling face, he said,
"Uncle Regent, you're embarrassing me. You're the unparalleled hero of our Great Ye and also the regent king. You don't need to kneel when you see me."
Song Yinghuai was silent for a moment. He took a step back and still knelt on the ground. "There's a distinction between the monarch and his subjects. Your Majesty will always be my sovereign. The etiquette cannot be abolished. Your Majesty must always remember that you're the emperor and should keep a distance from your subjects. You must not make exceptions for your subjects."
"Hey, but you're different..."
Song Xiuzhu took a step forward to help Song Yinghuai up, but all the generals behind Song Yinghuai immediately knelt down as well and shouted in unison,
"Long live the emperor! Long live! Long live!"
Song Xiuzhu's outstretched hand froze in mid-air. He looked embarrassed.
After a while, he said with a smile, "Uncle Regent's soldiers are really obedient to you!"
Just as Li Muge had said.
He had heard that the Yan Army only obeyed the orders of the King of Yan and not the emperor's. Now he had witnessed it with his own eyes.
He looked up again and saw hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the armor of the Capital Army and the Xu Family Army. He said with a smile, "All of you, get up!"
The Capital Army and the Xu Family Army turned a deaf ear to his words.
Since their commander hadn't gotten up, they remained motionless.
Song Xiuzhu's heart felt like it had been splashed with a basin of cold water. He felt extremely cold.
The Capital Army had been temporarily transferred to Song Yinghuai by his grandfather before his death. It was part of the emperor's army. The Xu Family Army was the army of the Duke who pacified the country.
In just a year and a half, Song Yinghuai had managed to bring all the armies under control.
No one listened to his words as the emperor. All he could see was Song Yinghuai.
Seeing this, Li Muge frowned and shouted loudly, "The emperor has ordered you to get up! Can't you hear?"
Everyone still knelt on the ground with their heads down.
Xu Ziyi then said, "Your Majesty, you only ordered the generals to get up. You didn't order the Regent King to get up. Since the commander is still kneeling on the ground, how dare they get up?"
Song Xiuzhu said with an embarrassed smile, "Yes, yes, yes. I forgot about this."
He reached out his hand to help Song Yinghuai up. "Uncle Regent, please rise. I've prepared a welcome banquet for you and all the soldiers. Let's go into the palace and talk while drinking!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
The sun was setting, and the afterglow filled the imperial city.
In the imperial garden, the music was melodious, and delicious food was served continuously.
The young emperor personally raised his glass and toasted all the soldiers one by one.
After several rounds of drinking, Song Yinghuai exchanged a glance with Xu Ziyi. He suddenly stood up from his seat and knelt in front of the young emperor.
"Your Majesty, I have something to report."
The young emperor had never drunk so much alcohol tonight. He was naturally gentle and weak. After a few glasses of wine, he was already dizzy and felt extremely light-headed.
He grinned and said, "Uncle Regent, why do you have to discuss such an important matter on such a joyous occasion?"
Song Yinghuai looked up at the young emperor, who was acting a bit out of shape. In the end, he didn't scold him. He just said,
"I couldn't have pacified the Tartar tribe this time without the help of one person. I'd like to ask for a reward for her."
"So it's just such a trivial matter!" The young emperor let out a sigh of relief. "I thought it was something serious. Since she's a hero who helped us defeat the Tartars, it's only right to reward her. Who is the person you're talking about, Uncle Regent?"
"The Khagan of the Tartars, Lan Jinxiang, the second daughter of the Marquis of Yongchang!"
As soon as he said this, the young emperor was so shocked that he sobered up instantly. "Who?"
"Your Majesty, the reason why the Tartars transferred their 300,000 troops from Shanhaiguan to Yanmen Pass and Tongguan a year and a half ago was because Lan Jinxiang sent a letter to the Khagan of the Tartars, luring the enemy deep into our territory. This gave my Yan Army the opportunity to outflank them from behind and prevent them from escaping. In the end, we attacked them from both inside and outside and dealt a fatal blow to the Tartars."
"Lan Jinxiang is not a traitor of our Great Ye. Back then, as a weak woman, she suffered the downfall of her family and was forced to flee to a foreign country. But she never forgot her homeland and its people. She married the Khagan of the Tartars three times just to gain control of the internal politics of the Tartars. She sacrificed herself for the peace of our Great Ye's people."
"Your Majesty, Lan Jinxiang's contribution is greater than mine. I hope Your Majesty will announce to the world and rehabilitate her so that her name can be cleared!"
The young emperor stared at Song Yinghuai with his mouth open. He was so shocked that he stammered, "Is... is that so... But I was the one who ordered her to be executed..."
The young emperor frowned and looked very embarrassed. "If I rehabilitate her, what if the people of the world know that I wrongly executed her? Won't they condemn me?"
Song Yinghuai stared at Song Xiuzhu.
He had to admit that the young emperor was really similar to his grandfather in his actions.
He made a mistake but didn't have the courage to admit it.
"Your Majesty, the emperor is also a human being. He can make mistakes. The people are not unreasonable. At that time, the situation was such that everyone thought Lan Jinxiang was a traitor. I was far away in the north and couldn't prove her innocence with just words..."
"But now that the world is at peace, everyone can see that it was because the Tartar army was transferred that this war ended smoothly."
"The mistake is not just Your Majesty's. Moreover, it's never too late to mend the situation. Lan Jinxiang is still alive. As long as Your Majesty rehabilitates her, she can live a free life again."
What?
Lan Jinxiang was still alive?
The young emperor was so shocked that he stood up from his dragon throne. His face turned pale. "She she she... Didn't she drink the poisoned wine I gave her and die?"
Xu Ziyi also knelt down. "Your Majesty, please forgive me. It was me who replaced the poisoned wine. The one who died was just a palace maid who had committed a capital crime."
"You!"
The young emperor staggered. If he hadn't grabbed the armrest of the throne, he would have fallen.
He looked at the two men below in disbelief, trembling with fear.
This wasn't just about Lan Jinxiang. What scared him wasn't this!
How dared his subjects deceive him and act against his will?
Today, Lan Jinxiang was openly replaced. What about tomorrow?
If he wanted to execute someone tomorrow and Song Yinghuai disagreed, would he openly oppose him?
He, the emperor, was just a puppet sitting on the dragon throne!
Just as Li Muge had said, there had long been rumors among the people that he was just a puppet emperor!
Song Yinghuai ignored his pale face and just pressed on step by step. "Your Majesty, I request that you issue an imperial edict to clear Lan Jinxiang's name!"
Xu Ziyi also said, "I second the motion!"
Li Muge said angrily, "This is outrageous! Since ancient times, there has never been a word of 'mistake' when it comes to the emperor's actions. Regent King, you insisted on rehabilitating the Lan family back then, which made the late emperor extremely angry. Now you're doing the same thing again. You're forcing the young emperor for Lan Jinxiang. You..."
"You don't put the emperor in your eyes at all!"
Song Yinghuai's gaze suddenly swept over, like a cold knife. Li Muge was startled and took a step back. He looked at Song Yinghuai in fear.
The man pursed his thin lips slightly and scrutinized him. "You must be Li Muge, the Minister of War. I've heard of your name when I was at the border. I've heard that you're the young emperor's most trusted person and that the young emperor listens to you the most... Since that's the case, you're like the young emperor's teacher. You should guide the young emperor to be an honest and brave person, not a person who buries his head in the sand!"
"The young emperor is young, like a blank piece of paper, and you're the ink. Whether it's a mistake or an achievement on the paper, you should be cautious with your words and actions."
Li Muge stared at Song Yinghuai with his mouth open. Then he looked at the young emperor, as if asking for help. "Your Majesty..."
The young emperor trembled his lips and summoned up his courage to ask,
"What if... I don't agree?"