Lan Ming Yue

The court session, which was originally scheduled for after the Lantern Festival, was moved up to the first day of the New Year.

Not long after receiving news of Wen Zong’s death last night, several important ministers had barely had time to be surprised before they were summoned to the palace by an imperial edict.

Ziyan City had fallen, and 100,000 soldiers had been completely massacred. The remaining Northern Army was scattered, and the court had not yet received any news from any of the commanders. In fact, if Yang Wujiu’s mistakenly sent distress signal had not been discovered in time by the people Liang Ye had sent to watch him, by the time the news reached the capital, it would likely have been too late.

The Northern Liang lacked talented generals – this was an indisputable fact. Jiao Wenbo’s son, Jiao Yan, had received an urgent edict and was rushing to the capital with his men, but it would take at least half a month to reach the capital, let alone continue north.

There was a shortage of military officers in the court. Those who could attend court had grown fat on the people’s wealth, and could barely fit into their armor. At this moment, they were all claiming illness, afraid that others would not know they were cowards. A few retired old generals volunteered to go to battle. Liang Ye saw that they were about the same age as Wen Zong, trembling as they knelt on the ground pleading for the mission. He really couldn’t bring himself to agree.

Eastern Chen’s move was truly unexpected, far beyond everyone’s expectations. Eastern Chen and Loufan had deep enmity, and previously it had always been a fight to the death. Now Eastern Chen was about to strike at the Loufan royal court, and there was no reason for them to stop. Yet surprisingly, not only had Eastern Chen stopped, but they had also managed to incite Loufan to attack Northern Liang.

Although Northern Liang had been in chaos these years, even a lean camel was larger than a horse. It would not be easy for Eastern Chen to take a bite. Their eagerness to attack was truly unwise.

Whether Shen Yao had become senile or was plotting some scheme, in the first battle, Northern Liang had lost 100,000 men, and a huge gap had been opened in the northern defense line against Loufan. If it weren’t for Liang Ye’s suspicious nature that led him to have someone watch Yang Wujiu, and this kid’s incredible luck in getting a signal out, they wouldn’t have had to wait until the Lantern Festival – Loufan’s army would have been able to directly trample the capital to pay a New Year’s visit.

It seemed that the heavens had finally favored Northern Liang once, but not completely. The emperor himself, along with key court officials, had racked their brains for half the night, but they still couldn’t find a single general capable of leading troops into battle.

If this situation had occurred a year ago, Liang Ye would probably have been happy, nonchalantly walking away, and might even have set off some fireworks to celebrate. But now, with dozens of eyes staring at him expectantly, waiting for him to make a decision, with the lives of millions of Northern Liang citizens weighing on his shoulders, he had to restrain even his expression of frustration.

He had originally planned to rest for a couple of days, then make another trip to Southern Zhao to watch the lion dance with Wang Dian, taking the opportunity to bring him back when he was off guard.

All his plans had turned to bubbles, which made Liang Ye even more annoyed.

He looked at the ministers below, arguing like a pot of porridge, with an expressionless face. He lightly cut down two cowards who were shouting about ceding territory to sue for peace, and his ears finally quieted down.

The ministers who had been arguing heatedly trembled in fear, finally remembering what kind of creature was sitting on the dragon throne. They suddenly felt that the future of the Great Liang was becoming increasingly bleak.

Liang Ye’s patience was exhausted. He propped up his head and looked askance at the ministers kneeling all over the floor, smiling as he made his decision.

“Zhen will personally lead the expedition.”

The destructive power of these five words was comparable to the fall of Ziyan City. The ministers’ knees seemed to have taken root in the floor as they cried to the heavens and shouted to the earth, begging him to reconsider.

Without Wen Zong, Yan Ze was in no position to advise due to his status of “abandoning darkness for light”. Even without this status, he was not very familiar with how to deal with the little madman Liang Ye. Cui Yun maintained a straight face and unconditionally supported all of the emperor’s decisions. Bian Cang frowned, wanting to speak but hesitating. With the three bigwigs unable to handle the situation, the people below could only wail dry tears.

Usually, when an emperor personally led an expedition, it was to boost morale. The actual fighting on the battlefield was left to the generals. But now, the emperor was to personally lead troops into battle. If he were like the Shengwu Emperor, well-versed in military strategy and invincible in battle, that would be fine. But everyone in the court knew that Liang Ye had never finished reading even two books. They would be thankful if he didn’t go crazy and could behave like a normal person.

Letting him lead the expedition personally was practically serving him up to Loufan and Eastern Chen on a platter. The fall of the country was imminent.

The ministers below wished they could drag Old Imperial Preceptor Wen out of his coffin, begging the old man to die two days later and control this madman who didn’t know his own limitations.

Even those who had been hiding and pretending to be ill earlier now trembled as they volunteered to go themselves in order to stop him.

Liang Ye didn’t even bat an eyelid.

With the emperor determined to go to his death, a pall of gloom fell over the entire court. They could only fall back on the next best option, requesting Liang Ye to establish a crown prince before setting out on the expedition.

After the court session, Liang Ye sat on the steps of the discussion hall, lost in thought. He watched the endlessly falling snow outside the door and touched the copper coin hanging around his neck.

He had not read many military books, nor had he led troops in battle. Having lived in the deep palace for over twenty years, he had learned intrigue and manipulation of people’s hearts without a teacher. Most of the time, he had been thinking about how to survive or how to die.

Even when it came to governing the country, he had only been stumbling along, learning from Wen Zong and Wang Dian for the past few months. Before he could fully understand, one had died and the other had left, unwilling to teach him anymore.

He could easily make people die, but he had no way to make people live. His luck in this aspect was truly terrible.

Liang Ye felt so frustrated that he wanted to give up. Being an emperor was really troublesome. Just as he was thinking this, his gaze suddenly paused.

A corner of a robe with white fluff suddenly appeared from behind the coiled dragon pillar, then was carefully pulled back. The willow leaf knife moved so fast in the air that it left an afterimage, pinning the robe to the pillar. “Come out.”

A white, chubby little dumpling crawled out from behind the coiled dragon pillar, clinging to the dragon’s claw on the pillar, red-eyed and on the verge of tears as he looked at him.

Thinking about having to establish such a thing as the crown prince, Liang Ye’s head ached even more.

“Come here,” Liang Ye beckoned with his hand, trying to be patient.

Liang Huan was so scared that tears immediately fell. Liang Ye glanced at him with disdain, “Get lost.”

Liang Huan understood but was also terrified. His two little hands gripped his fluffy little robe, using all his strength until his face turned red, but he still couldn’t pull his robe out from under that thin blade. He became anxious and scared, tears flowing more fiercely. His little feet even kicked against the pillar. He hiccupped from anxiety, the sound particularly loud in the empty hall.

Liang Ye laughed mockingly. Seeing the little thing about to worry himself to death, he finally condescended to get up from the steps and sauntered over to him. He crouched down and stared at him with a sinister gaze. “Liang Huan.”

Liang Huan only remembered that this terrifying big fellow would eat children. Being looked at like this scared him so much that he didn’t even dare to let his tears fall. His robe was still pinned to the pillar and couldn’t be pulled down, and he couldn’t run away. His already pale little face now lost all color. After stammering for a while, he squeezed out a few words. “I… I don’t taste good…”

The Great Liang truly couldn’t be saved.

Liang Ye said sinisterly. “Zhen intends to establish you as the crown prince. If Zhen dies, you will be the emperor.”

Liang Huan shrank back. Probably because he was too scared, he burst into tears with a “wah” sound. His white, tender little hands grabbed the thin blade on the pillar recklessly, pulling with all his might. He actually managed to pull out a small section, with blood dripping onto the floor.

Liang Ye raised an eyebrow, imperceptibly using a bit of inner force to help him pull out that willow leaf knife.

Liang Huan gripped the knife and turned to run, but was maliciously caught by the corner of his little robe by the big fellow behind him. He ran for a while but was still kicking his legs in place.

Liang Huan sobbed. Suddenly, he turned around and tried to stab the willow leaf knife towards Liang Ye’s eyes. However, the blade was easily flicked away by one of Liang Ye’s fingers, deeply embedding itself in the pillar on the other side, right in the eye of the golden dragon.

The crown prince-to-be who had just attempted regicide cried like a pear blossom in the rain, as if he was the one who had nearly had his eye poked out.

Liang Ye picked up the little sticky rice ball in front of him, somewhat at a loss for words. “Cry again and Zhen will cut out your tongue.”

Liang Huan hiccupped from crying, immediately not daring to cry anymore. Tears welled up in his eyes, and his two little hands were covered in blood, dyeing his snow-white little robe completely red.

Liang Ye picked up the child and tossed him onto the wide dragon throne. After carefully examining him for a while, he still felt this little rabbit was too beautiful, without any trace of majesty. He said coldly, “Show Zhen how fierce you can be.”

Liang Huan curled up in the corner of the dragon throne, hugging his bloodied little hands and dropping tears, extremely heartbroken. “It hurts… I want Uncle…”

Rarely hearing other words from his mouth, Liang Ye became somewhat interested. “Who is your uncle?”

Liang Huan was both fearful and afraid of him. Under the threat of being eaten, he sobbed, “Uncle… Uncle is called Wang Dian… I-I’m called Liang Huan, five and a half years old… Uncle is called Wang Dian… Nineteenth Uncle is called Liang Ye… Father is called Liang Xuan… Teacher is called Liu Ce… We live in Northern Liang- Northern Liang capital… Thirty li outside the city… Wugu Manor, hiccup, if you eat me… my Nineteenth Uncle knows martial arts, I’ll have Liang Ye k-kill you!”

The child said “kill” fiercely, like a little white rabbit getting angry enough to bite. This strange self-introduction was obviously taught by Wang Dian, as no child would dare to call their elders by name so boldly.

The Nineteenth Uncle himself was somewhat satisfied. He poked the child’s tender white cheek and bared his teeth ferociously, “Zhen is Liang Ye.”

Liang Huan was stunned for a moment. Probably because he had drunk the white jade soup, his mind wasn’t very sharp. It took him a while to react. He looked at Liang Ye with terror and helplessness, crying, “I-I’ll have my uncle… kill you.”

“Your uncle can’t love Zhen enough.” Liang Ye shamelessly boasted to the child, saying smugly, “Your uncle listens to Zhen the most. Even you were sent here by him.”

He mischievously went to poke the child’s soft cheek, but Liang Huan, driven to desperation, bit his palm hard and wouldn’t let go, trembling. Liang Ye used too much force but was afraid of squeezing the little rabbit to death. He could only leave the hall with a sour face and ask the palace servants for help.

The palace maids and eunuchs were shocked. They hurriedly and anxiously tried to pull this little ancestor off this big ancestor’s hand. However, although Liang Huan was crying pitifully, he was determined to die together with Liang Ye and refused to let go. The scene in front of the discussion hall was chaotic.

In the Imperial Medical Courtyard, Li Bu was preparing medicine when he saw His Majesty enter with a black face, carrying a large white bundle. He hurriedly went out to kneel and greet him, but was caught off guard by the child’s tear-reddened eyes, almost forgetting to bow.

“Get him off Zhen,” Liang Ye said impatiently.

Li Bu fell silent as he looked at the bloodied hands of both the large and small figures.