Du Yuanhui had never investigated the Crown Prince of Qi in any depth, but Zhao Xuan had personally led the campaign that destroyed Chu, Shu’s neighbor. Plenty of stories about him had made their way into Shu through merchants and refugees.

Besides descriptions of his sharp brows and bright eyes, his towering build, his unsmiling demeanor, and the commanding presence he made no effort to hide, Du Yuanhui had also heard of the many tactics Zhao Xuan had devised for taking cities and routing armies. More importantly, he knew that Zhao Xuan maintained exceptionally strict discipline. Whenever troops under his command captured a city, no soldier was permitted to harass the civilians. To this day, the former people of Chu spoke highly of the Crown Prince of Qi and willingly accepted the new dynasty.

A commander who noticed the suffering of ordinary people and was willing to protect them, a commander who cared about keeping the populace safe and possessed enough authority to restrain every soldier under him, had to be a man of upright character—someone who led by example and kept his word. A greedy, lecherous, bloodthirsty, faithless general could never have produced an army praised by the very people it had conquered.

For that reason, Du Yuanhui trusted Zhao Xuan’s promise.

What worried him was the capital. Once news of his surrender reached the court, Li Ye might fly into a rage and have everyone in both the Du and Zhou households executed.

Of course, from what Du Yuanhui knew of him, Li Ye was kindhearted by nature. He would surely remember Old General Du and Chancellor Zhou’s many years of service and would not normally implicate innocent people. Unfortunately, Li Ye was also easily swayed, and he was surrounded by corrupt courtiers whose only concern was preserving their own wealth and privilege. If they muddled his head badly enough, Li Ye truly might order bloodshed—unless, when ruler and ministers debated the matter, some powerful statesman could suppress the anti-surrender faction and successfully persuade Li Ye to capitulate.

Chancellor Zhou ranked high enough, but unfortunately he was short. In a shouting match, he lost on sheer presence before he even began. Nor could the little old man bring himself to behave like those corrupt courtiers, spraying spittle and shoving people around when an argument turned ugly. They had already driven him home in fury. Even if he rushed back to the palace after hearing the news, his calls for surrender would probably still be drowned beneath the torrents of eloquence pouring from his political enemies.

Uncle Zhu was far away in Yuzhou and could not possibly return in time.

There was no one else to rely on. He would have to do it himself.

Then let him, a surrendered general, personally deliver the battle report to the capital—and personally smash Li Ye’s daydream of driving back the Qi army and continuing to sit on the throne.

After allowing Zhao Xuan’s army through Jianmen Pass, Du Yuanhui explained his plan to persuade Li Ye to surrender. Once Zhao Xuan approved, Du Yuanhui set out ahead of the army with only twenty personal guards, riding at full speed toward the capital.

Nearly six hundred li separated the two places. Du Yuanhui and his men rode day and night, stopping only when their horses required care. At last, around noon on the third day, they reached Jincheng, the Shu capital.

The soldiers at the city gate, who were inspecting merchants and civilians entering the city, recognized Du Yuanhui beneath the layer of stubble covering his jaw and stared in shock.

Du Yuanhui ignored them. He returned to neither the Du Residence nor the Zhou Residence, heading straight for the imperial palace instead.

At that hour, Shu’s ministers were all at their respective offices attending to their duties, while Emperor Li Ye remained in Chongyuan Hall. He longed for good news from the front yet dreaded receiving another disaster instead. So restless was he that even the calligraphy and painting he normally adored had been pushed aside.

When word came that Du Yuanhui had actually returned from Jianmen Pass, the northern gateway to the capital, Li Ye shot up from behind his desk and instinctively began to order that Du Yuanhui be brought in at once.

Eunuch Sun, who stood waiting nearby with his back slightly bowed, gave a timely cough, cutting him off before the words left his mouth. He stepped closer, his expression grave.

“Your Majesty, for General Du to return to the capital without authorization at a time like this, some enormous disaster must have occurred. Since the matter concerns the fate of the state, Your Majesty should summon the senior civil and military ministers who remain in the capital and hear it together.”

Li Ye nodded and immediately issued an oral order summoning the ministers to the great hall.

By the time Du Yuanhui arrived outside the palace hall in full armor, his bearing sharp and formidable, Li Ye was already seated upon the throne. Below the imperial steps stood one row of senior civil officials and another of military officers.

The imperial guards took Du Yuanhui’s saber before allowing him inside. It was simply palace protocol.

Without the slightest hesitation, Du Yuanhui handed it over. He even removed his military boots and crossed the threshold wearing nothing but a pair of coarse white cloth socks.

The moment he came to a stop, Li Ye asked anxiously, “With the fighting at such a critical stage, Yuanhui, why have you come back?”

In years past, Li Ye had respected Old General Du as an elder. Now he regarded both Du Yuanhui and Du Yizhen as members of the younger generation of his own family. There was more intimacy than imperial authority in the way he treated them.

Du Yuanhui stood tall and answered with perfect confidence.

“Your Majesty, three mornings ago, the Crown Prince of Qi personally led a surprise force through a mountain trail and circled around behind our army. I knew we could not withstand the Qi army attacking us from both sides. Rather than sacrifice more sons of Shu for nothing, I yielded the pass with my men and surrendered to the Crown Prince of Qi.”

Surrendered?

Li Ye froze upon the throne, unable to believe his ears.

The ministers were stunned as well, but they recovered more quickly. The military officials remained comparatively calm. The anti-surrender faction, led by the Right Chancellor, immediately turned as one and began denouncing Du Yuanhui in anguish and fury. One accused him of fearing death and betraying his country for personal gain, thereby disgracing Old General Du’s illustrious name. Another condemned him as faithless and disloyal, saying he had betrayed His Majesty’s trust.

Du Yuanhui seemed neither to see the civil officials nor hear their clamor. His eyes remained fixed on the emperor seated upon the throne.

Li Ye sat dazed for a long while. Yet Du Yuanhui’s expression remained open and righteous, without the slightest trace of shame. Perhaps there was some compelling reason behind what he had done.

Li Ye raised one hand with difficulty. Once the civil officials fell silent, he asked with one last shred of hope, “Yuanhui, is there anything else you wish to say?”

Du Yuanhui’s gaze was piercing.

“Yes. I have one last piece of honest counsel for Your Majesty. Set everything else aside and think carefully. The Crown Prince of Qi has already passed through Jianmen Pass. Even if I had fought to the death, he would still have led tens of thousands of elite troops straight toward the capital. Every soldier Shu possesses is deployed elsewhere. What does Your Majesty have with which to resist the Qi army?

“Once the city gates fall, Your Majesty will have only two choices: die with the kingdom and preserve your honor, or become a prisoner like the Emperor of Chu, stripped of every last shred of dignity. Rather than end that way, why not follow the example of the Emperor of Wu and surrender voluntarily? You can then enter the Qi capital, receive the title of Duke, and spend the rest of your life in comfort somewhere else.”

The young general’s voice rang through the hall, firm and forceful. Li Ye, who had never been difficult to sway, was convinced almost immediately.

The Right Chancellor and the others still wanted to object. They even wanted to persuade the emperor to execute Du Yuanhui as a warning to others.

Yet the Right Chancellor—who happened to have more private wealth to lose than anyone present—had barely charged up to Du Yuanhui and raised an arm, finger extended to denounce his treason, when Du Yuanhui moved first.

He seized the old man’s arm, twisted it, and flung him heavily aside.

The Right Chancellor, already past sixty, hit the floor face-first.

For a moment, no one knew what to say.

The remaining civil officials stopped in their tracks and retreated in unison.

Du Yuanhui looked at Li Ye one final time.

“Your Majesty, the Crown Prince of Qi maintains strict discipline, but he also values every soldier who follows him. Before I returned to the capital, he gave me his word personally: if Your Majesty submits a formal declaration of surrender and ends this war of your own accord, he will guarantee wealth and honor for both Your Majesty and the imperial clan once you enter Qi. But if Your Majesty stubbornly refuses and causes more Qi soldiers to die on the battlefield, then the Crown Prince will have no choice but to send you back to Qi in a prison cart.”

The Qi army would certainly treat a future duke or marquis very differently from a prisoner.

Li Ye had been raised amid luxury from childhood. Being easily swayed was one of his weaknesses. His fear of hardship was another.

The Crown Prince of Qi had already broken through Jianmen Pass. Li Ye knew there was no longer any hope of preserving the kingdom, and he had no intention of dying merely to uphold an emperor’s honor.

He might as well surrender.

Du Yuanhui’s voice was loud enough and his presence overwhelming enough that, this time, Li Ye chose to listen to him. After dismissing the Right Chancellor and the others, he sent for Left Chancellor Zhou Tai and ordered him to draft the surrender declaration.

With the matter of the state finally decided, Du Yuanhui relaxed slightly.

“Your Majesty, may I see my younger sister?”

The very fact that Li Ye had brought Du Yizhen into the palace was proof of his distrust toward Du Yuanhui. The moment the subject arose, Li Ye grew guilty. His gaze shifted away as he ordered someone to take Du Yuanhui directly to Qinghe Palace.

Du Yuanhui was afraid that if he walked away, someone might talk Li Ye into changing his mind again. He insisted on seeing Du Yizhen here instead.

Li Ye had no choice but to send someone to fetch her.

Du Yizhen was catching up on sleep.

She understood perfectly well that she was a hostage. After moving into this unfamiliar palace, her difficulty sleeping in strange beds had only worsened. She was often awake through the night and could only make up for it by sleeping whenever drowsiness overtook her during the day.

Zhenzhu, who had kept watch the previous night, was also asleep. Jinzhu, Yinzhu, and Yuzhu were standing guard in the outer room.

For almost anything else, they would have been reluctant to disturb their mistress’s rest. But the moment they heard that Du Yuanhui had asked to see her, all three happily woke Du Yizhen.

Her real family had returned.

All the hurt and grievance Du Yizhen had deliberately suppressed these past several days came surging up at once. She managed to hold herself together on the way there, but the instant she reached Chongyuan Hall and saw the elder cousin she had been separated from for two months, tears poured from her eyes.

She stopped right where she was.

Like a cloud blown in by the wind, she simply hovered outside the hall and began to rain, heedless of what anyone inside might think.

The sight of her was so pitiful that not only Du Yuanhui but even Li Ye, a generation her senior, felt his heart ache.

Poor sleep inevitably dulled the appetite. If she could not eat properly, of course she would lose weight.

Du Yuanhui saw at a glance that his sister had grown thinner. Not by much, perhaps—but if he had not returned, how much longer would she have been forced to endure life in the palace?

His chest tightening, Du Yuanhui strode outside and pulled her into his arms.

“Don’t cry. Don’t cry. I’m back. I’ll take you home today.”

Home…

Du Yizhen’s sobbing abruptly faltered.

She lifted her head from his embrace, tilted it slightly, and peered just past his shoulder toward Li Ye with nervous eyes.

Her eyes were naturally clear and luminous. Filled with tears like this, they made a person want to promise her anything she asked.

Li Ye parted his lips.

Three paces behind him came another familiar cough.

Li Ye turned around. Du Yuanhui and Du Yizhen both looked toward Eunuch Sun as well.

Ignoring the sudden chill in Du Yuanhui’s gaze, Eunuch Sun moved close to Li Ye and whispered into his ear.

“If Your Majesty allows Miss Du to return home, and later, when the Qi army enters the city, the Crown Prince of Qi breaks his word and permits his soldiers to burn, kill, and loot within the palace, will General Du—a commander who has already surrendered—still do everything in his power to preserve the dignity of the imperial household?”

They did not know the Crown Prince of Qi, and the Crown Prince of Qi did not know them. The Du family, however, held both the loyalty of Shu’s soldiers and the goodwill of its people. If the Crown Prince wanted to absorb all of Shu smoothly, he would have to show the Du family due consideration.

In other words, once Li Ye surrendered and gave up the throne, he would become a powerless man stripped of his claws and teeth. Whether Qi treated him with courtesy would depend entirely on the decisions of the Qi emperor and Crown Prince.

Du Yuanhui and Du Yizhen, on the other hand, would still have value.

If Li Ye firmly maintained the father-daughter relationship with Du Yizhen that had already been proclaimed throughout the realm, then, if only for the sake of appearances, both Du Yizhen and Du Yuanhui would have reason to look after him to some degree.

The prospect of burning, killing, and looting frightened Li Ye.

If he had already given up the throne, then it did not matter if this palace, which would no longer belong to him, was burned. Nor did it matter if treasures that were no longer his were plundered.

But what would happen to all the palace servants—especially the palace maids—if they fell into the hands of Qi soldiers?

Would his consorts and beauties truly be spared?

He pitied the innocent Du Yizhen.

But on the other side stood far more women who needed his protection…

Li Ye lowered his eyes.

After a long silence, he looked toward the hem of Du Yizhen’s skirt and said, “Yizhen is already my daughter. You should remain here in the palace with me.”

At those words, Du Yuanhui’s entire body went rigid. Veins bulged along his neck.

Du Yizhen, standing close beside him, saw it clearly.

Before her brother could completely break with Li Ye, she gently placed a hand on his arm and gave Li Ye a soft smile.

“All right. I’ll stay in the palace and face whatever comes with Imperial Father.”

She had heard Eunuch Sun’s whisper.

She now knew that her elder cousin had surrendered to the Qi army and that Qi forces would soon enter the Shu capital.

Du Yuanhui had rendered merit by surrendering. Wherever she might be, the Crown Prince of Qi would not allow his soldiers to humiliate her.

Li Ye, meanwhile, merely wanted to protect the innocent women of the palace—the consorts who might have visited her over the past several days, the maids who had attended her, even those she had only happened to pass in a corridor.

For their sake, Du Yizhen was willing to do her part.

Besides, even if she insisted on leaving the palace, Du Yuanhui was only one man.

Could he single-handedly fight his way through the thousands of imperial guards stationed within and outside the palace?

Until the Qi army arrived, this capital still belonged to Li Ye.

Chapter 2

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