The old duke stared at the fragments of the jade walnuts on the ground, as if he had returned to the brutal battlefield.
He had few defeats in his half - life of military service. The bloody battle at Pingsha Pass was the shame of his life.
Three years ago, in early March, the barbarians launched a large - scale invasion of the border, burning, killing and looting.
He was ordered to defend Liangzhou.
Facing a powerful enemy, a newly - delivered batch of military rations was mixed with a large amount of sand.
The old duke was furious. With a great battle imminent, insufficient rations would surely lead to a mutiny in the army.
The responsibility must be investigated, but the most important thing at the moment was to raise military rations and stabilize the army's morale.
He sent his most trusted Song Hengyi to Pingsha Pass, not far from Liangzhou, to collect rations.
Song Hengyi lived up to his expectations. He had collected 3,000 catties of grain in seven days. He first sent a small team to transport the rations to Liangzhou City while he himself stayed in Pingsha Pass to continue collecting grain.
The old duke was overjoyed and had already thought about the reward for Song Hengyi. However, a group of commoners came to the military camp to complain, saying that Song Hengyi had brutally seized grain, not only without paying but also killing many innocent people.
These commoners, dragging their families along, were ragged. Their tearful accusations were very convincing.
The old duke flew into a rage and personally led a light cavalry to Pingsha Pass to arrest Song Hengyi.
Song Hengyi was stripped of his armor and relieved of his post. The old duke personally put fetters on him.
"You've disappointed me so much!"
His army never violated the people's interests wherever it went and was deeply loved by the commoners. How could he tolerate Song Hengyi ruining his military discipline and reputation?
Song Hengyi tried his best to defend himself, but the old duke wouldn't listen to anything.
On the way back to Liangzhou while escorting the "prisoner", something unexpected happened.
A group of barbarian cavalry seemed to have accurately grasped their whereabouts and surrounded them in a dangerous valley.
The old duke only had 500 cavalrymen. Outnumbered, they were steadily losing ground.
Only then did he suddenly realize that he had fallen into the enemy's scheme of sowing discord!
At this critical moment of life and death, it was Song Hengyi who fought off hundreds of enemies and always protected the old duke.
The old duke managed to escape, while Song Hengyi died on the battlefield.
This fierce general on the battlefield remained as upright as a mountain until the moment of his death.
In this bloody battle, he lost two of his generals. Besides Song Hengyi, there was also his deputy general Han Cheng, who had followed him for many years.
Looking back now, the old duke was so remorseful that he felt as if his heart was being scratched. He even wished he could bleed to death on the spot.
Afterwards, he personally found out that the group of commoners had been bribed to slander Song Hengyi.
It was his own stubbornness and one - sided listening that had killed the upright Song Hengyi.
Having caused such heavy losses, the old duke felt that he couldn't account to the emperor.
He couldn't even imagine whether he could still maintain his reputation as the number - one general of the Great Zhou Dynasty once the truth was known to the world.
Shamefully, he lied in the battle report.
He fabricated a fierce encounter battle.
Although the result that Song Hengyi sacrificed himself for him remained the same, he had completely absolved himself of responsibility.
Guilt, uneasiness, the fear of being detected, and the heavy sense of guilt for the past three years had been torturing him.
He had never mentioned it to anyone because he was ashamed to talk about it and cared too much about his own face.
Tonight, in front of his mother, he told the whole truth. Suddenly, the weight on his heart seemed a bit lighter.
The old duke looked up and met a pair of clear eyes. The anger bursting out of those eyes chilled his heart.
"Mother, I had no other choice. You have to understand me. I wasn't doing it just for myself but for the whole Duke's Mansion!"
"Scoundrel!"
The old lady's deep scolding made the window lattice hum. She picked up her walking stick and hit the old duke hard. Her trembling fingertips pointed at him like a sharp sword of judgment.
The place on his forehead hit by the walking stick quickly swelled up. The old duke's cheeks burned with shame. At nearly fifty years old, being scolded and beaten by his mother made him feel completely humiliated.
But he didn't dare to defend himself. He even hoped that his mother would scold him more severely to ease his guilt.
"What a sin, what a sin!"
When the old lady thought of Song Wanchu, who had become an orphan, all her strength seemed to drain away. She slumped onto the couch dejectedly.
"I'm such an old fool, an old fool!"
She regretted it and kept pounding her chest and stamping her feet. "I even went to beg the emperor for an imperial edict to marry Wanchu to the son of the man who killed her father!"
Back then, this proposal was quickly approved by the old duke. The old duke even submitted a memorial to the emperor, requesting that Song Hengyi be posthumously named a third - rank general and his memorial tablet be enshrined in the Lingxiao Pavilion.
It was all because of his guilty conscience!
But what was the use of doing all this? Wanchu's father would never come back!
"Our whole family owes Wanchu. We'll owe her for a lifetime..."
The old lady was in tears.
"Being a noble concubine was already a great injustice to her, yet you still want to take away the position of the mistress that should belong to her and give it to that slut Yu Huiyan! Liang Xuguang, have you lost your conscience? How could I have given birth to such a heartless son like you?"
"Mother, I know everything you've said. I also know that Wanchu is a good girl and deserves to be the mistress. But the princess can turn hostile at any moment. If she reveals this matter, not only will the Duke's Mansion lose face, but my official career will also be affected. And the Song family and ours will surely become enemies!"
The old duke had dealt with the princess enough to know how cruel and venomous she was, so he didn't dare to take the risk.
He had to endure his nausea and welcome Yu Huiyan into the mansion.
The princess's intention was nothing more than to win over the Duke's Mansion as a strong guarantee for her future confrontation with the crown prince.
The old lady knew well that the glory of the family was much more important than personal preferences.
She closed her eyes. The candlelight illuminated her tired and vicissitudinous face.
When she opened her eyes again, there was a clear look in them.
"Since we can't go against the princess, there's still a way to handle this."
The old lady said slowly, "I have two ways. You can choose for yourself."
"Please tell me, mother." The old duke asked eagerly.
"The princess's goal is to marry Yu Huiyan into the Duke's Mansion as a link between her and our family. You have more than one son. It doesn't matter which one marries her. Zhou'er is already with Wanchu, and it so happens that Chuan'er hasn't married his official wife yet..."
"How can this be possible?"
Before the old lady could finish her words, the old duke strongly opposed. "Chuan'er is a man of noble character. How can he marry the daughter of a corrupt official? He's going to be an official in the court in the future. His innocent reputation can't be ruined by a woman!"
He justified himself, and every word was for Liang Yuchuan's future.
The old lady's face gradually turned cold.
"You, as a father, are being too partial! Chuan'er's reputation is important, but Zhou'er's isn't?"
The old duke kept silent. He knew he was partial, but he felt justified in being so.
The old lady also knew that the old duke had been planning for Liang Yuchuan to marry Princess Lingyang.
The emperor would never let his only youngest daughter be wronged. If Liang Yuchuan could really marry Princess Lingyang, he would surely be named the heir apparent.
But it was clearly Liang Yuzhou who was both civilly and militarily talented and outstanding.
Before he reached the age of twenty, he had followed the old duke to suppress bandits. He had beheaded eight powerful bandits in a single day and was highly praised by the emperor as a young general.
The emperor already had the intention to name Liang Yuzhou as the heir apparent.
Naming the heir apparent was both a national and a family matter. The emperor respected the old duke, and since the old duke, as a father, had never expressed his opinion, the imperial edict had never been issued.
"There's another way. Since Yu Huiyan must marry into the mansion, let her be a concubine and make Wanchu the official wife. In this way, we can also give the princess an explanation."