Li Zhigao sat frozen in shock beyond measure, speechless for a long while.
Li Zhigao’s personal guard commander Deng Tai’s gaze swept back and forth between Yao Xishui and Li Zhigao’s faces. Upon careful examination, he confirmed there were some resemblances, but in his heart he could hardly believe that Li Zhigao and Yao Xishui shared blood ties, much less that they were actually scions of the previous dynasty’s imperial clan left behind.
If Li Zhigao was a scion of the previous dynasty’s imperial clan, then who was Deng Shiru, who had served as Li Pu’s subordinate commander in life and was Li Zhigao’s birth father?
Moreover, when Deng Shiru died in battle and Li Zhigao was adopted into Li Pu’s household, he was already fifteen years old. At that time, the previous dynasty had not yet fallen. If Li Zhigao truly was imperial clan, would it have been necessary to go to such lengths to hide his identity under a false name? How deep must the Madam’s planning have been?
Furthermore, Li Zhigao had absolutely no memory of these past events or his own origins. He must have been sent to Deng Shiru’s home before age three to be raised as his natural son—that would be nearly thirty years ago.
Thirty years ago, the previous dynasty’s Emperor Zhaozong had just died of illness and Emperor Xizong had just ascended the throne, hadn’t he?
What secrets lay hidden behind all this?
“The Madam said that based on birthmarks alone, elder brother would likely still harbor doubts,” Yao Xishui could see the enormous shock and questions in Li Zhigao and Deng Tai’s hearts. Her exquisitely beautiful face locked away the turmoil within as she continued: “Lord Deng was actually a leader that the Shenling Bureau planted within the Jianghuai Army. This is a letter he left with the Madam before his death, which explains why the Shenling Bureau hid elder brother in his household even before the previous dynasty fell. When Lord Deng died in battle, elder brother was already fifteen years old. I believe you still have Lord Deng’s family letters in your possession that can be compared to verify the handwriting…”
Yao Xishui took a sandalwood box from beside the zither stand, opened it, and extracted an old letter with mottled marks and yellowed pages to hand to Li Zhigao.
The end of the previous dynasty lasted over forty years through Emperors Zhaozong and Xizong before its fall. In his youth, Zhaozong had been determined to reform and innovate, even showing signs of reviving the previous dynasty at one point. The Shenling Bureau was secretly established by Zhaozong under the pretext of repairing imperial tombs.
History records that Zhaozong died of illness in the palace, but in reality, Zhaozong was poisoned to death by the Grand Ancestor of the State of Liang.
Though after Zhaozong’s death, Xizong succeeded to the throne and continued the previous dynasty’s mandate for over twelve years, Xizong had essentially completely become a puppet controlled by the Grand Ancestor of Liang, who was then titled Prince of Liang—merely a tool in the Prince of Liang’s hands to command the realm’s lords. The imperial clan at that time became livestock penned by the Grand Ancestor of Liang, almost all under the Grand Ancestor of Liang’s surveillance.
At that time, the Guanzhong and Heluoyang regions as foundational territories had long been beaten to ruins by warring lords.
The Divine Strategy Army, once viewed by the previous dynasty’s imperial clan as a protective buffer, after being forced by Liang’s army to retreat into Shu, showed no ambition to advance. No commanders thought to retake Guanzhong and rescue the imperial household. Instead, they fell into chaos in Shu, endlessly fighting for power and killing each other. By the time Wang Jian finally emerged victorious and occupied Shu, he no longer recognized what the previous dynasty had been.
When Zhaozong was poisoned, the Shenling Bureau had already realized the previous dynasty’s fall was inevitable. Li Zhigao, as Zhaozong’s legitimate grandson and the newly-born two-year-old youngest son of the Princess Consort of Lu, was immediately sent to be fostered in the household of Deng Shiru, a Battalion Commander who had infiltrated the Jianghuai Army.
To avoid detection, Deng Shiru’s own three-year-old son, Deng Tai, was sent to the Shenling Bureau’s secret base to undergo rigorous and brutal training from childhood alongside other orphans adopted by the Shenling Bureau…
After reading the letter Deng Shiru had left before his death, not only Li Zhigao but also his trusted subordinate Deng Tai stood frozen in place, as if struck by lightning, hardly able to believe that Li Zhigao’s “birth father” Deng Shiru was actually his own birth father, and that he wasn’t a parentless orphan after all.
This was far too absurd, wasn’t it?
Li Zhigao turned with difficulty to glance at Deng Tai. In fact, some of the older members of Marquis Xinchang’s household and Wanhong Tower often said Deng Tai bore considerable resemblance to his “birth father” in life. Some had even joked that Deng Tai was a bastard son his birth father had left behind through dalliances. Who could have imagined the truth would be so cruel and absurd?
“Lord Deng made such great sacrifices. Father and son both served as personal guards at elder brother’s side. I believe elder brother can understand what Lord Deng’s dying wish was,” Yao Xishui said.
Li Zhigao felt as if mountains were pressing down on him, making it hard to breathe. After quite a while, he asked with difficulty: “You say you’re also from the previous dynasty’s imperial clan. I wonder from which lineage you descend?”
“Eighteen years ago, the Grand Ancestor of Liang imprisoned the Prince of Lu, Cui Hao, and other princes and high ministers of the previous dynasty at White Horse Station and slaughtered them. Then he released troops to plunder the city. That night the Prince of Lu’s residence caught fire. The Princess Consort of Lu died after being violated. Over three hundred children, descendants, and servants all burned in the flames. History records this as the ‘Calamity of White Horse Station.’ What history doesn’t record is that a five-year-old girl hid in a latrine pit for five days and nights until the Madam arrived to rescue her and she escaped disaster,” Yao Xishui said expressionlessly. “Elder brother’s mother was the Princess Consort of Lu, Lady Rong. My mother was the Prince of Lu’s secondary consort, Lady Yao…”
At this moment, Li Zhigao’s heart felt as if something had stabbed it viciously. Yao Xishui was his half-sister?
It was hard to imagine what painful life memories a five-year-old girl had endured through those events. No wonder when the Madam had brought her back, she spent several years silently and grimly practicing swordsmanship.
“Husband, did you think all these years when Xishui called you elder brother, it was false sentiment?” Su Hong Yu also had tears in her eyes as she asked softly.
Li Zhigao raised his head, not letting the tears in his eyes overflow. How could he have imagined the twists and turns behind all this? How could he have known that Xishui, ten years his junior, carried such a heavy burden yet had concealed it from him all these years?
“Elder brother, are you now willing to tell Xishui what exactly Han Qian said when Deng Tai went to Xuzhou this time?” Yao Xishui asked.
Seeing that Yao Xishui didn’t believe what he had said before and thought he had concealed something, Li Zhigao further explained the true situation: “I sent Deng Tai to Xuzhou hoping Xuzhou would support my military campaign against Yongzhou, to eliminate the Executive Secretariat’s rear concerns in the south so we could completely free up forces to deal with the northern situation. But Deng Tai was blocked by Tian Cheng at Qianyang and turned back. He truly didn’t see Han Qian.”
“That makes no sense,” Yao Xishui said hesitantly.
Hearing Yao Xishui say this, Li Zhigao knew that before Yao Xishui came, the Madam had already anticipated his side’s reaction and seemed certain Xuzhou would respond to his request.
After all, everyone had always thought he was Marquis Xinchang Li Pu’s adopted son, and in the Xiangzhou military remonstrance he and Han Qian had jointly initiated, an irreparable rift had formed between the two sides. This also meant that when facing suppression from the Shenling Bureau, his and Han Qian’s positions should necessarily be aligned.
Li Zhigao was utterly puzzled as to why Han Qian would refuse to see him!
“It’s truly so,” Deng Tai said at this point.
“Then was there anything else unusual on the Qianyang side?” Yao Xishui asked.
“No,” Deng Tai shook his head.
“What does elder brother think Han Qian means by this?” Yao Xishui looked at Li Zhigao and asked.
Li Zhigao shook his head and said: “You also know I have a rather high opinion of myself, but Han Qian’s supernatural cunning should rank among the top three to five in the world. I can’t see through him—my earlier guess that he might sit back and watch the situation deteriorate while waiting to sell his services was just speculation, not to be taken seriously.”
“Yes, even if he doesn’t support military action against Yongzhou at this time, there’s no need to refuse to see the people elder brother sent,” Yao Xishui pondered in confusion.
Deng Tai looked at Yao Xishui and asked: “Since the Commander and you are siblings and orphans of the previous dynasty, why doesn’t the Madam support the Commander against Yongzhou but instead divides the Commander’s military authority at this time?”
“The Madam says Zheng Yu, Zheng Chang, and Shen Yang aren’t so easily fooled, much less with Han Qian still there,” Yao Xishui said.
In fact, this time it was because Shen Yang and Yang Yuanpu’s attitudes were too unsteady and they chose to compromise directly. Combined with Xuzhou’s silence, the plan to attack Yongzhou could be said to have completely failed.
Li Zhigao remained silent.
At this moment, a military officer came running over to report. Seeing Li Zhigao and Deng Tai standing in the rear courtyard pavilion with strange expressions, he hesitated slightly before coming forward to report: “Several more men in the army have deserted and fled. They’ve now been caught and brought to Adjutant Cao. Adjutant Cao sent me to ask the Commander how to handle them. Adjutant Cao says if we don’t severely punish these soldiers, the army’s morale may be difficult to stabilize!”
“What, the Shaozhou army also has Vermillion Bird Army soldiers fleeing back to Jinling?” Yao Xishui asked.
“Yes,” Li Zhigao nodded helplessly.
Although during the Jinling Incident, the families and dependents of the Vermillion Bird Army’s main commanders in Jinling had basically all successfully escaped and later were sent back to Yueyang in batches without major incident, keeping the commanders’ loyalties relatively stable, the families and dependents of ordinary soldiers—over forty thousand people—remained in Jinling.
With Jinling, Chizhou, and even Jiangzhou all controlled by Anning Palace’s forces, it was simply impossible to evacuate so many women, children, and elderly across a thousand li to west of Ezhou.
This group of women, children, and elderly represented the families of nearly one-quarter of the elite soldiers in the Left and Right Vermillion Bird Armies.
After Marquis Xinchang Li Pu was used as bait by Prince Xin, and the seven thousand elite troops that had been assembled with great difficulty in Jinling and Runzhou were devastated, the loyalties of these elite soldiers across the armies became extremely unstable.
This was the fundamental reason Emperor Tianyou combined theMansion兵 prefecture garrison system and部兵 division system to implement military offices throughout the regions—to weaken commanders’ control over soldiers.