Chapter 129: 111, Deep-seated blood feud, avenging army marches south (Chapter of 7K, asking for monthly votes) _2
Even if this was a political marriage. But time and again... where was he, the Crown Prince, supposed to hide his face? Moreover, Song Miyao was already pregnant with his child and would soon be giving birth.
"Xiaozu..."
"Look, what word has your father written?"
With slightly whitened temples and a meticulously arranged hair bun, King Zhenbei Li Liang showed no sign of anger. Holding a brush in his right hand, he silently completed the piece of calligraphy he was writing. After the final stroke, he looked at his son calmly, then pointed to the ink characters on the white paper.
"A word?"
Li Xiaozu was influenced by his father Li Liang’s calmness. King Zhenbei Li Liang was not only the backbone of the royal mansion but also the pillar supporting over a hundred thousand soldiers and generals of Luzhou beyond the pass. Without Li Liang, the Prince Zhenbei’s Mansion would be nothing. Without Li Liang, the Outside Iron Riders would be but scattered sand. Facing pressure from the Imperial Court and the Tartars beyond the pass, a miserable fate was all but certain for them.
Before even looking at the characters, a flicker of shame went through Li Xiaozu’s heart.
Women... Could he not even endure this bit of humiliation?
"A poem by Emperor Tiande?"
Li Xiaozu’s eyes showed surprise when he saw the first line of the characters Li Liang had written.
But he quickly composed himself. True, Emperor Tiande had, in just four short years, raised an army, overthrown the Imperial Court, and seized the world. All men under heaven regarded Emperor Tiande as a hero. Likewise, with Emperor Tiande’s ascension, the rebellious poems he had once composed also circulated, recited by nearly every scholar in the land. It wasn’t strange for his Father King to write this poem today.
The current situation in the world was clear. Emperor Tiande’s Siming Mountain Court now controlled the world, while Li Liang maintained a separatist regime in Yanbei. The Tartars in the northern border were also interested in the dazzling world within the pass, now a chaotic mess.
Although the Imperial Court Army had nearly conquered the world, this conquest had yet to establish effective rule. The Imperial Court Army, though numerous, was spread thin across the land; in contrast, the core elite forces of Mount Siming were even fewer.
"Without sending Princess Anren away... how can the Tartars trust our sincerity?"
Li Liang put down his brush, heavily laden with rich ink, and patted Li Xiaozu on the shoulder. "Xiaozu, if the Imperial Court Army attacks, Father can surrender and go to Shenjing to live as a wealthy man. But what about you? You married Princess Anren; you are bound to suffer bullying from the nobles in the Capital..."
"The Princess’s beauty is known throughout the world. She was also the most beloved daughter of the former Emperor Song Ming."
"Who wouldn’t want a moment of her favor..."
Li Liang left the latter half of the sentence unsaid. As her father-in-law, it was indeed inappropriate for him to say such things. But what he had said was true, and it came from the heart.
Today, the Li Family’s military strength could protect Princess Anren for Li Xiaozu, the Crown Prince. But if the Li Family lacked these 100,000 Iron Riders... the consequences would be unthinkable.
Even if he surrendered his military power and entered Shenjing, he would not lose the reward of ennoblement. However, there were differences among ennoblements. Those ennobled who were not part of the Mount Siming system held no real power, much like the Dukes of Anle throughout the generations—titled but powerless.
"Conversely, your father now holds military power," Li Liang said, his gaze profound as he tried to make Li Xiaozu understand. "Even if we send the Princess to the Ascending Dragon Mansion, given Shuo Duo’s intelligence, he would only treat Princess Anren with courtesy, not with the slightest mistreatment."
"What Father King says certainly has merit..." Li Xiaozu, hearing Li Liang’s high-sounding arguments, tore away the weakness that had momentarily taken root in his heart. He sneered, "If the Princess is sent to Shenjing, the world’s scholars and commoners will not blame you, Father King; they will only think you are pragmatic. But if the Princess is sent to the Ascending Dragon Mansion, the former dynasty’s princess—your daughter-in-law—will be humiliated. In the future, even if we enter the pass, how could we, with such a stain, ever win the allegiance of the realm’s people?"
His every word made Li Liang’s expression darken.
"Father King, when it comes down to it..."
"It’s just that you’ve grown old."
"You lack the courage for such a gamble."
"Outsiders say you are as cunning as a fox, and that’s no lie. But now that you’re old, you’ve become timid and hesitant. You dare not relinquish the power in your hands, nor dare to fight to the death. Seeking aid from the Tartars is merely your cowardly attempt to protect this small piece of land you possess. A tripartite balance of power? You must be delusional!"
Li Xiaozu had earned many military honors with the army beyond the pass. Though born into an aristocratic family, he was spirited and powerfully built—with the broad back of a tiger and the strong waist of an ape—no mere good-for-nothing. Otherwise, given how Emperor Chongming doted on Princess Anren, he would never have married her to Li Xiaozu.
With that, Li Xiaozu drew his treasure sword and held it to his own neck. "Father King, I would rather die than suffer such humiliation again!"
"Sending the Princess as a hostage might gain us the Tartars’ aid, but we would also lose the army’s loyalty."
"It’s better to march south directly and seize Emperor Tiande’s rivers and mountains! We of this generation will not be prisoners awaiting execution, nor will we stoop to being the Tartars’ lapdogs!"
As his words fell, the study plunged into a deathly silence.
"Crown Prince?" Li Liang’s face was grim. "Are you trying to force my hand?"
"Battlefield heroics are but the acts of a brute; it is strategic calculation in the halls of power that decides all. How can you confront Emperor Tiande with just these troops from beyond the pass? The forces of an entire nation would number over a million!"
"Emperor Tiande is not Emperor Chongming!"
"Without the Tartars, the Li Family..." He lamented repeatedly.
"Before King Xing Tian broke into Guanxi Road, he had but a few dozen generals, and his soldiers and horses numbered only in the tens of thousands. Now, our Li Family commands 100,000 elite troops, yet we act like startled birds—how utterly ridiculous!" Li Xiaozu retorted.
"You childish brat, making such insolent remarks!"