Chapter 26: Whoever Dares to Disrespect the Empress, He Shall Show No Mercy

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Just as Yang Chuan was leading his army back toward the capital with Guo Mingyu in custody, Zhang Ze’s forces, which had been ordered to “seize the grain,” came charging back as well.

Yet the army behind him was not composed solely of Qi troops. Countless Kang soldiers pursued them relentlessly, and the two sides fought their way all the way to the city gates.

At the western gate, Zhang Ze first caught sight of Chancellor Yang Chuan, clad in white armor at the head of the formation. Then he saw the Great Kang general Guo Mingyu, bound hand and foot behind the Chancellor.

By then, the light had long since faded from Guo Mingyu’s eyes. He seemed dazed and vacant, utterly resigned to being at the mercy of others.

Zhang Ze, however, was overjoyed to see hope of rescue. He immediately wheeled his horse around and faced the Kang army that had pursued him all the way there.

On the other side, the remaining Great Kang troops lost their fighting spirit the moment they discovered that their supreme commander had been captured.

They formed ranks opposite Yang Chuan and waited for their deputy commander to decide their next move.

The deputy commander, Ma Wen, knew that the newly appointed supreme commander, Guo Mingyu, was a disciple of Jiang Ziqi, the current Chancellor of Great Kang.

Now that Guo Mingyu had been unfortunate enough to fall into enemy hands, Ma Wen would have no way to answer to Jiang Ziqi if he could not bring him back.

But if they fought Yang Chuan head-on, they would be facing a martial cultivator whose abilities had fully recovered.

And with only around ten thousand men remaining behind him— even if another twenty thousand were added— they still would probably not have enough soldiers for a seventh-rank martial cultivator like Yang Chuan to kill.

Left with no choice, Ma Wen lowered himself and tried to reason with Yang Chuan.

“Grand Chancellor Yang, when you served beside Her Majesty, the Empress of Great Kang, Yan Wugou, you knew full well how formidable our nation is. General Guo Mingyu is also the disciple of Jiang Ziqi, the current Chancellor of Great Kang!”

“If you refuse to release General Guo today, once the Chancellor and the Empress learn of this, they will certainly not let Qi off easily!”

“Oh? Is that so? I must say, I’m absolutely terrified!”

Yang Chuan had originally intended to take Guo Mingyu back to the capital and slowly torment him there.

But now that the Kang deputy commander had threatened him in front of everyone, how could he possibly tolerate it?

As for Great Kang’s true strength, Yang Chuan had served as its Grand Chancellor for three years. He understood it far better than any of these soldiers.

Moreover, according to the intelligence he had received, food shortages had been breaking out throughout Great Kang. If the nation continued launching wars at a time like this, its national strength would inevitably suffer a severe decline.

He had not feared Great Kang even during its golden age. Why would he fear an empire that was now only impressive on the surface?

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“Hmph. Go back and tell your Empress and Chancellor this: in my eyes, the two of them are nothing more than dry bones in a tomb. Sooner or later, they will become souls beneath my blade!”

“As for the disciple your Chancellor treasures most, the only thing I can allow you to take back today is his head!”

The moment he finished speaking, Yang Chuan drew his sword and beheaded Guo Mingyu before the assembled armies.

He then picked up the severed head and casually hurled it into the Kang formation.

Though the Kang deputy commander was furious, he did not dare make a reckless move in Yang Chuan’s presence.

With tears in his eyes, he could only place Guo Mingyu’s head into a sack and return to Pingtian City to report.

...

Three days later, Yang Chuan led his men back to the capital of Qi.

That very day, he ordered the imperial kitchens to prepare a lavish feast and held a victory banquet for the soldiers who had taken part in the campaign.

At first, the civil and military officials of the capital knew nothing about Yang Chuan’s beheading of the enemy general. They had only heard that the Empress and Yang Chuan had used a brilliant stratagem to repel an army of one hundred thousand Great Kang troops. Naturally, they were delighted and gained an even greater appreciation of Yang Chuan’s abilities.

Yet as the generals chatted during the banquet, some boastful soldier carelessly let the truth slip. Word that Great Kang’s supreme commander, Guo Mingyu, had been beheaded by Yang Chuan—and that Yang Chuan had humiliated him before the Kang army—soon reached the ears of every official.

At court the following day, everyone had something to say about the matter.

The Duke Protector of the State, Sun Xin, was a veteran minister who had served under two dynasties. Though he usually approved of the Empress’s favor toward Yang Chuan, this incident filled him with apprehension.

Even though Yang Chuan now stood above the Three Excellencies and could sit as an equal to the Empress in court, Sun Xin still summoned his courage and stepped forward to present his memorial.

“Your Majesty, yesterday I heard that Chancellor Yang beheaded the enemy’s supreme commander in the midst of battle. Surely such an act was ill-advised!”

“Although our army has defeated Great Kang twice, the disparity in national strength between us remains enormous. Even if Great Kang were to lose another several tens of thousands of troops, it would still have no fewer than five hundred thousand soldiers available for deployment!”

“Yet Chancellor Yang not only beheaded the enemy’s supreme commander, he also humiliated the man’s remains in full view of the enemy army. This is nothing less than an invitation to disaster!”

Once the Duke Protector of the State had spoken, the officials below erupted into a clamorous uproar, all of them criticizing Yang Chuan.

“Hmph! I said it long ago. Whenever a nation appoints a minister who can stand on equal footing with the emperor, disaster is bound to follow in time!”

“Exactly! Yang Chuan defected here from Great Kang, already provoking the fury of the Empress. And now he has slain their supreme commander in battle as well. Is he trying to drag Great Qi into the grave?”

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The reason the ministers reacted so strongly was that Yang Chuan’s conduct would have been shocking even by the standards of later ages.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the Shu general Huang Zhong faced Xiahou Yuan, commander of the Wei army, at Mount Dingjun. After using a stratagem to behead him, he provoked Cao Cao, King of Wei, into launching the full might of his nation in retaliation.

At the time, Xiahou Yuan had been the supreme commander of all three Wei armies. He held an exalted position in Wei and was the martial general most beloved by the King of Wei.

In ancient warfare, the soldiers of both sides generally fought among themselves. Whenever a supreme commander was slain in the midst of battle, however, it invariably brought down the enemy nation’s furious retaliation.

Now Qi had only just begun to rise, thanks to Yang Chuan’s policies, yet he had gone and killed a supreme commander on the battlefield. It was inevitable that Great Kang would respond with an even greater vengeance.

Yang Chuan offered no further explanation. Instead, Tian Yueying could no longer bear to remain behind the curtain and stepped out.

“Gentlemen, it was not that Chancellor Yang deliberately sought to kill Guo Mingyu. That villain repeatedly insulted me on the battlefield, and every soldier who accompanied us knows this. I ask you: if you had been at my side, would you have tolerated an enemy general insulting your ruler?”

As a woman leading an army, she had to carefully disguise her feminine features with special attire. Otherwise, she would inevitably attract the covetous attention of enemy soldiers.

Though Tian Yueying possessed a formidable martial heritage, her cultivation was not yet high enough for her to gain much of an advantage against tens of thousands of enemy troops.

Hearing the Empress’s explanation, Yang Chuan thought back over the events and realized that she was indeed telling the truth.

At the time, he had sensed that Tian Yueying would be in danger that day.

Only after studying the map had he deduced the route the Empress would be forced to take during her retreat.

And when Guo Mingyu had once again insulted her with vile words, Yang Chuan’s fury had driven him to shoot and wound the man on the spot.

Had that villain shown even the slightest respect toward his sovereign, Yang Chuan might have spared his life and allowed him to return to Great Kang to report.

The campaign might then have ended on a favorable note.

But whether because of the bond between ruler and subject, or because of the feelings between a man and a woman who had spent three years together day and night, Yang Chuan could not tolerate anyone speaking a single word against Tian Yueying.

Even among the civil and military officials of the court, anyone who dared show disrespect toward the Empress would be sentenced to death without exception.

“Gentlemen, I had no choice but to slay their supreme commander in battle. If Great Kang dares to raise its army against us again, I will personally go forth and repel them!”