Chapter Forty-Eight: Exterminate All Traitors

“This feeling may be recalled in memory, but at the time it was already lost in confusion.” Cui’er blinked her large, watery eyes and gazed at Li Xiuning in puzzlement. “What does that mean?”

Li Xiuning naturally did not know that this poem was, in fact, Chen Ying’s plagiarized version of a late Tang poet’s classic. Yet a good poem is a good poem. What came to Li Xiuning’s mind was that Chen Ying actually liked her as well, but their statuses were worlds apart. Only when he died would that affection be left to fade into regret.

Li Xiuning did not answer Cui’er’s question. Instead, a pressing matter suddenly occurred to her. Back when she was repairing armor at Princess Pingyang’s residence, she had inadvertently overheard that Chen Ying had gone to Red Sleeve Pavilion to visit courtesans. This news had infuriated her, prompting her to storm toward Red Sleeve Pavilion in a rage.

It all seemed logical, yet when Li Xiuning calmed down and thought carefully, she immediately noticed something amiss.

Someone had deliberately lured her to Red Sleeve Pavilion. The moment she realized this, it became clear—someone had purposefully wanted her to know that Chen Ying had gone to visit prostitutes, so that she would become disgusted with him and sever all ties.

“How far their hand reaches!” Li Xiuning erupted in fury. “Who was on duty at Yongxin Court today?”

Cui’er was startled by Li Xiuning’s anger and replied timidly, “I didn’t pay much attention, but I’ll go ask right away!”

“Summon all the palace maids and eunuchs in the residence!”

Cui’er sensed the gravity of the situation and hurried off to gather the palace staff. Li Yuan doted greatly on Princess Pingyang, so she was treated as a prince, with her residence organized accordingly.

Princess Pingyang’s residence, like other princely estates, had three divisions and three chief stewards, totaling six officials. The divisions were: the Attending Division, the Steward Division, and the Treasury Division. The Attending Division was staffed by left and right attendants, both sixth-rank eunuchs, mainly responsible for Li Xiuning’s daily life. The Steward Division managed finances, staffed by seventh-rank civil officials. The Treasury Division oversaw valuables. The chief stewards included: the Household Steward (handling daily affairs), Keeper of Treasures (managing the storeroom), Chief Chef (overseeing the kitchen), Consort (attendant official), and Instructor (tutor).

Ma Sanbao’s official post in Princess Pingyang’s residence was Chief Steward, but he also held a fifth-rank military title as General of Ningyuan.

In total, the residence had more than three hundred sixty staff, including all officials, maids, and eunuchs. Over three hundred people knelt in a throng, terrified to lift their heads.

“Who was discussing General Chen at Red Sleeve Pavilion today in Yongxin Court?” Li Xiuning looked down coldly at the trembling staff. “Step forward of your own accord, lest you suffer for it!”

Yet all the maids and eunuchs quaked with fear, none daring to respond.

Li Xiuning watched, her smile deepening. “Good, very good. You won’t admit it, will you? Drag them all out and sell them!”

“Mercy, Princess, mercy…” A maid, her face drained of color, collapsed in fright.

Li Xiuning said, “Chun’er stays, the rest are dismissed.”

---

“Who told you to say those words?” Cui’er stepped forward, grabbed Chun’er by the hair, and slapped her hard.

Chun’er was battered and miserable, but she clenched her teeth and refused to speak.

Cui’er, feisty as ever, saw Chun’er’s silence and turned to a guard as sturdy as a black bear, his face fierce and brutish. “Hu Sandao, you don’t have a wife yet, do you? I’ll make the decision—Chun’er will be your bride. Pick a date for the wedding.”

Cui’er saw through it now. Whatever Chun’er’s reasons, she was surely acting on someone’s orders and could no longer stay in Princess Pingyang’s residence. To marry the delicate, lovely Chun’er off to the hulking, uncouth, ugly Hu Sandao was Cui’er’s small revenge.

Chun’er saw Hu Sandao’s grim face and turned pale with terror. If she really had to share a bed with such a hideous man, she would surely have nightmares every night.

“Princess, Princess, I’ll speak, I’ll speak, just please don’t marry me off!”

Li Xiuning, after all, was a woman. Having suffered an unfortunate marriage herself, she didn’t want to burden another woman with the same misery.

“Speak—who ordered you to say those words?”

“It was the Nin—”

A sharp whistle sounded. An arrow shot from the shadows, piercing Chun’er’s back and tearing through her organs. When she opened her mouth again, only blood gushed forth, not words.

Ma Sanbao shouted, “Protect Her Highness!”

A dozen armored guards instantly surrounded Li Xiuning, forming a human shield.

Ma Sanbao drew his saber and rushed toward the source of the arrow. Soon, he returned, handing Li Xiuning a crossbow.

“A standard military crossbow from the Left Guard?”

Li Xiuning’s face was now frosted with anger. “Such audacity!”

“I failed, the assassin escaped!”

“So what if they escaped?” Li Xiuning snapped. “Even if they ran, I know who ordered it! This is not over!”

---

On September 27th, first year of Wude, Li Yuan issued a decree, appointing Crown Prince Li Jiancheng as Right Martial Grand General to quell the rebellion in Pangqi. Li Jiancheng ordered Chen Ying, Captain of the Right Guard of the Eastern Palace, to serve as Field Commander and concurrently as Prefect of Shizhou, in charge of suppressing the revolt.

Upon receiving his orders, Chen Ying immediately led the Right Guard’s officers and two auxiliary divisions, advancing swiftly. Though Chen Ying could not ride a horse, for the sake of rapid movement, he learned as he marched toward Shizhou.

He wasn’t sure if Xu Jingzong had presented the Gaokiao saddle and double stirrups, but Chen Ying personally commissioned over a hundred sets of Gaokiao saddles and double stirrups. With these, even a novice like him managed to trot a gentle blue horse within a day.

After thirty li, Chen Ying was excited; after fifty, he was miserable; after a hundred, he felt as if his insides were shaken loose. Yet he didn’t realize his ordeal had only begun.

“Ow, ow, damn it, be gentle!” Chen Ying grimaced in pain as Liang Zan forcefully tore off his blood-soaked clothes.

“Ah—damn!” Blood spurted like a fountain; Chen Ying couldn’t help but curse.

Liang Zan said, “My lord, why put yourself through this? Your skin is too tender for this torture. There’s a carriage, but you insist on riding—who’s to blame?”

“Get out!”

When Liang Zan sprinkled wound medicine on Chen Ying’s bleeding backside, Chen Ying nearly jumped in agony.

After a while, Chen Ying calmed himself, dressed, and looked at Liang Zan. “I was ordered to suppress the rebellion. How can I lounge comfortably in a carriage? What would the soldiers think?”

Despite his suffering, Chen Ying gritted his teeth and persevered.

By marching rapidly, the army reached Xixian in Liangzhou on the eighth day, October 4th, first year of Wude. Yet there, Chen Ying witnessed an unbelievable sight.

Dense crowds of civilians gathered at the city gate, but the gate remained tightly shut. Hundreds of bandits wielding crude weapons or clubs brazenly slaughtered the people outside.

Heart-rending screams echoed across the sky, while the Tang soldiers atop the walls had become deaf and blind, ignoring the massacre before them.

Chen Ying shouted, “All soldiers, follow me—kill every rebel!”