“How do you know that?” The Crown Prince was startled.
Diplomatic relations between two countries involved many matters that, at formal occasions, were merely going through the motions — the real negotiations had already been conducted and contested behind the scenes. Though the Mobei Khanate’s delegation had not yet entered the capital, word of the primary purpose of this trip had long since been brought ahead and reported.
The Crown Prince had not expected Xie Yuzhang to be this well-informed.
“Don’t worry.” The Crown Prince consoled her. “If talks are reached, we’ll just give a title to some girl from the imperial clan and send her.”
But those were the old methods, from when Da Zhao was still powerful. Foreign peoples asked for a girl from the imperial clan and were satisfied. Now things were different.
Xie Yuzhang asked, “I heard the Military Governor of Hexi has been in the capital for several days. Why did the Mobei Khanate’s delegation arrive later than he did?”
At the mention of this, the Crown Prince was aggravated. He said with displeasure, “All of this was stirred up by the Military Governor of Hexi.”
Xie Yuzhang did not actually know the full details of these matters at the time, so she appealed to him: “Crown Prince Elder Brother, please tell me.”
The Crown Prince let out a sigh and said, “Li Ming used pursuing the western foreigners as a pretext, driving them southward all the way and taking advantage of the situation to seize the territory of Zhaozhou. He is the Military Governor of Hexi, bearing responsibility for guarding the northwestern border defenses — his primary task being to guard against the Mobei Khanate. He mobilized his forces to fight with Zhang Baichong. How could Khan Ashina not know? He seized upon this moment of chaos and sent a delegation by a roundabout route through Yunzhou to enter the capital — nothing more than seizing the opportunity to extort something. These Hu people are truly despicable.”
Xie Yuzhang was silent.
If the military governors had each kept to their own borders in dutiful peace, the central court’s backbone would have been strong, and they would naturally have had nothing to fear from the Hu people’s threats.
But Da Zhao was in complete internal disorder, with military governors seizing each other’s territories and populations, stirring up endless troubles. The Mobei Khanate seized on this moment to threaten with war, made outrageous demands and opened their mouth asking for a true princess — and the Emperor… gave one.
“Don’t worry. It’s nothing more than giving them some goods and treasure. Our great Da Zhao is a vast and prosperous nation — we are not short of such treasure.” The Crown Prince, thinking Xie Yuzhang had been frightened, consoled her gently.
“But what if,” Xie Yuzhang asked in a low voice, “they open their mouths and insist on a true princess? What then?”
The Crown Prince was mildly taken aback. “That simply would not do.”
“But what if they do make that demand?” Xie Yuzhang pressed.
The Crown Prince thought for a moment, and beads of sweat began to form on his brow. “They… they wouldn’t, would they?”
“Why did the Ashina Khan’s men not travel through Hexi, but take the roundabout route through Yunzhou?” Xie Yuzhang asked again.
That was, naturally, because the Mobei Khanate’s people also knew full well the tensions between Da Zhao’s various military governors. Hexi was a tough bone to gnaw — they could not crack it. And since this rare opportunity had presented itself, they had made contact with Qiu Kun, the Military Governor of Shuofang, who bore a longstanding grudge against Li Ming, and obtained passage through Yunzhou.
The sweat on the Crown Prince’s brow grew more dense.
“Elder Brother.” Xie Yuzhang straightened her skirt, sat up properly, bowed forward formally. “I have a favor to ask of you.”
The Crown Prince hesitated, then said, “What matter?”
Xie Yuzhang raised her head. “I would like to ask Crown Prince Elder Brother to help me watch the Khanate’s delegation.”
The Crown Prince looked at her with uncertain suspicion.
“Elder Brother need not read too much into it. I do not intend to do anything — I only ask that Elder Brother watch to see if anyone in the inner palace makes private contact with the Khanate’s delegation.” Xie Yuzhang reassured him. “Beyond that, there is nothing I need Elder Brother to do.”
The Crown Prince relaxed slightly, but did not understand. “What is my younger sister trying to accomplish?”
Xie Yuzhang raised her eyes. “Elder Brother, if Father Emperor wished to choose one of us sisters to send beyond the frontier in marriage, who does Elder Brother think it would be?”
The Crown Prince answered without hesitation: “That would naturally be…”
“Anle” was right on the tip of his tongue, but he could not get it out. The Crown Prince looked into Xie Yuzhang’s dark, deep eyes, and fine beads of sweat appeared even on the tip of his nose.
He stuttered: “That would naturally, naturally…”
Thinking of the situation in the inner palace, the words could not be completed with confidence.
Xie Yuzhang lowered her head slightly. “As long as Elder Brother understands.”
The Crown Prince was not of legitimate birth, and Xie Yuzhang was legitimate but had no mother to protect her — in the face of Noble Consort Chen, the two of them were in fact natural allies.
The Crown Prince sighed and agreed: “Don’t worry. I will keep watch for you.”
He added: “Father Emperor cherishes you most. Don’t let your thoughts run wild.”
Xie Yuzhang nodded and changed the subject. “Elder Brother, is there truly nothing we can do about those military governors? I saw that Li Ming was summoned into the palace to be personally reprimanded by Father Emperor and showed not the slightest fear.”
The Emperor had, in fact, been forced to make gestures of appeasement, summoning Li Ming daily to attend him as a sign of imperial favor.
The Crown Prince said with resentment, “That Li Ming is recklessly arrogant — he has no regard for the court at all. But there is no need to worry too much about him. He cannot manage his own affairs at home, and there will inevitably be internal strife in time.”
This was, in fact, a prophecy that would come true.
Xie Yuzhang asked, “How does Elder Brother know future events?”
The Crown Prince said with a cold laugh, “Do you know he has twelve sons? Only his fourth son is his by blood. As for the adopted sons, that is one thing — but the top three in rank are all his kinsmen in the Li family, with a different standing from the others. This time Father Emperor used the pretext of ‘merited sons’ to grant rewards. The rest were all given fifth-rank or junior fifth-rank general titles. Only the top three were given fourth-rank titles.”
Xie Yuzhang understood.
The Emperor had deliberately raised the status of Li Ming’s top three adopted sons who shared blood ties with him, placing them above his own biological son. So the seeds of internal strife within Hexi had already been planted at this time.
It was only that in the end, all of this had become a gift that served Li Gu’s benefit.
“Elder Brother, what is the actual… fighting strength of the Six Northern Armies right now?” Xie Yuzhang could not help but ask.
The Left and Right Feathered Forest Armies, the Left and Right Dragon Valiant Armies, and the Left and Right Divine Martial Armies together were known as the Six Northern Armies — the personal guard of the Son of Heaven.
The Crown Prince was surprised. “Why the sudden interest in this?”
Xie Yuzhang said, “If the Northern Army were formidable, Father Emperor would not need to worry about the military governors. Are the Northern Armies… capable of battle?”
The Crown Prince’s answer to Xie Yuzhang was one long sigh.
“You don’t understand,” he said with frustration. “There is a great deal involved in this.”