I Rely on Beauty to Stabilize the Country

It wasn’t as if Xue Yuan, as he cleaned the horse dung and horseshoe prints, hadn’t thought of making the palace attendants sweep for him instead. However, Gu Yuanbai’s Imperial orders couldn’t be disobeyed. When these palace attendants saw Xue Yuan, they hid far away as they led the horses to walk through the area.

Even the son of a dignified general, under the Emperor’s orders, would still be forced to obediently clean horse dung as punishment.

Besides the stink and the inconvenience, Xue Yuan didn’t feel anything.

As someone who crawled out of a mountain of corpses and sea of people1, Xue Yuan had been soaked in foul smelling blood, so now he seemed just indifferent, as if his mind was elsewhere.

When Gu Yuanbai took Chu Wei walking with him, Chu Wei knew that the Emperor had gone out to check on Xue Yuan.

Xue Yuan had bad intentions towards the Emperor, and Chu Wei wanted to stop him from having too much contact with Xue Yuan. However, he was in no place to say that sort of thing, so he could only do his best to prevent Xue Yuan from approaching the Emperor.

Gu Yuanbai looked very happy to see the future regent sweeping horse dung, a smile on his lips. Chu Wei caught a glimpse of his smile out of the corner of his eye, and he pursed his lips to say, “Your Highness, this place is dirty, we should not stay here for too long.”

Chu Wei was like the moon during a clear night, clean and immaculate, so Gu Yuanbai thought that he was uncomfortable about the smell and said, “In that case, walk with Us towards a spring garden instead, Zhuangyuan.”2

The spot where the medicine had been applied was now wrapped in soft cotton cloth. Gu Yuanbai, walking a bit slower, didn’t feel any pain.

The Emperor turned and left and Chu Wei followed behind him, footsteps echoing across the empty palace road. Xue Yuan looked up when he heard the sound.

Chu Wei seemed to sense something. He turned his head and glanced at Xue Yuan with indifference, then gently raised his hand. From a distance, it seemed as if his arm were wrapped around the Emperor’s waist.

“Emperor,” Chu Wei whispered, “did the official bother Your Highness?”

Gu Yuanbai laughed when he heard him say that. He turned his head to look at Chu Wei and asked with a smile, “Why? Can’t it just be that We find watching official Xue sweep horse dung very interesting to watch?”

The corner of Chu Wei’s lips twitched and he also smiled lightly.

Both of them had beautiful faces, too good to be drawn. But in Xue Yuan’s eyes, he just saw that Chu Wei had his hand on the Emperor’s waist, and the Emperor turned his head and smiled at Chu Wei.

Xue Yuan’s eyes became cold.

What’s this?

When Xue Yuan finished his task and went back home, the crescent moon was already hanging high in the sky.

He went straight to the study and sent someone to call the manor’s retainers to go see him. Due to the time, most people were already in bed, but when Xue Yuan called for someone, they wouldn’t dare not come.

Xue Mansion didn’t have many retainers, but they were all very talented. Some of them worked under General Xue, but, when Xue Yuan arrived, they showed up at his doorstep. Xue Yuan was ruthless, and there weren’t many retainers that didn’t fear him. Having been called over, they showed up before Xue Yuan.

Under the dim candlelight, young master Xue smiled darkly, as if a ghost had possessed his soul. “Go and investigate the new Zhuangyuan.”

The retainers replied carefully, “What do you want to know about the new Zhuangyuan?”

“Anything bad about him,” Xue Yuan replied in a deep voice. “Does he like men? What sort of bad things has he done? I want to know everything.”

The retainers replied, “Understood.”

Xue Yuan continued, “Also, go find some nice gifts tomorrow.”

The retainers looked at each other, and someone boldly asked, “Your master, who are you going to give gifts to?”

Xue Yuan grinned. “Of course, I need gifts to give to the Emperor.”

The retainer simply thought that he wanted to please the Emperor. “Don’t worry, young master, I will find a good gift tomorrow.”

“If it is to be given to the Emperor, it cannot be something ordinary,” someone else said. “It’s better to choose something expensive or rare as a gift, at least you can’t go wrong with that.”

“Exactly,” the retainer replied. “What do you have in mind, young master?”

Xue Yuan stroked his chin and narrowed his eyes.

In mind?

Xue Yuan’s hand twitched and he suddenly said, “Send something soft that is pleasant to touch.”

Retainers, “Ah?”

In the inner palace, Gu Yuanbai was looking at all the suspicious items that the Imperial guard had taken out of Qi Mansion.

There were people that were hidden behind Prince Qi who were involved in the matter, but they hadn’t expected Gu Yuanbai to do things so thoroughly. It had been useless to try to destabilize Gu Yuanbai’s physical condition with the matter of the Great Imperial Concubine Wan. Instead, it had allowed Gu Yuanbai to find their tail and grab it, pulling them out of the mud.

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Even though they knew Gu Yuanbai had a cold that day, they hadn’t dared to do anything directly, and, instead, they just sent a false message to test the waters. They were really pathetic and mediocre.

Not just underestimating Gu Yuanbai, but also overestimating themselves.

The Imperial guard had rummaged through Prince Qi’s mansion for several days, and, finally, they found some hidden information.

“Your Majesty,” said General Cheng, “A soldier among the two teams I led found this letter inside a hollow piece of jade. The soldier was very brave, I was shocked when he took the jade piece and slammed it to the ground.”

When General Cheng heard that the Emperor wanted to select a group of elite soldiers for the Imperial Guard, he wanted to recommend soldiers he valued. This soldier under his command was very courageous and daring. Even if he was illiterate and unable to understand military books, he was born with a keen mind and had a great talent.

The great general of the Han kingdom, Wang Ping, could not write, the most he could write was X,3 but he had been born extremely skilled at military combat, and he was capable of winning many battles even without reading military books. General Cheng didn’t dare compare his soldiers to Wang Ping, but he was also unwilling to hide their talent.

Gu Yuanbai was more interested in talents such as these rather than in spelling. He asked, “Where’s that man now?”

General Cheng chuckled twice, apologized to Gu Yuanbai, and walked out to the hall to bring back the person. When the man came in, Gu Yuanbai focused his eyes on him. The man was extremely tall, all tendon and sinew, with slender and powerful limbs with good proportions, looking both impulsive and collected, looking like a cultured general.

“I, Qin Sheng, am here to see Your Majesty.” His voice was bright, neither humble nor arrogant.

Gu Yuanbai asked, “How did you discover this secret letter?”

Qin Sheng bowed and gave Gu Yuanbai a clear and thoughtful account of what happened. Gu Yuanbai nodded slowly, deep in thought, and said, “Stand down.”

Qin Sheng retreated silently. General Cheng wanted to ask the Emperor about how he felt about Qin Sheng, but he didn’t dare to ask without permission, so he had to remain silent.

Gu Yuanbai was quite mean, pretending not to see the anxiety that was clearly visible on General Cheng’s face. The secret letter that had been hidden inside the jade pendant was checked to ensure it was harmless by an eunuch that stood to the side, and then it was placed into Gu Yuanbai’s hands.

But, when Gu Yuanbai opened it, it turned out to have no words on it.

General Cheng frowned and said vehemently, “How can this be?!”

Gu Yuanbai checked the front and back, and confirmed that there were no scratches or multiple layers. He pondered for a while, and suddenly said, “Bring water.”

The palace attendant brought water and Gu Yuanbai soaked the hidden letter in the water. Handwriting slowly appeared in the water.

General Cheng was speechless. “——How?!”

When writing with alum water, after it dried out the writing became invisible. Gu Yuanbai remembered well that the Song Dynasty had started to use alum, and the Great Heng dynasty was in the same time period. Alum water was not unusual, but it was strange that the person who had written with Prince Qi knew of the method.

They were a wise person, but a wise person would be capable of reading the situation. Prince Qi was as stupid as a pig. Why would such a person help Prince Qi?

They were all adults, and this kind of work was all about vested interests. Gu Yuanbai took the letter out of the water and carefully dried out his hand with a towel, asking Tian Fusheng, “Who’s the mother of the youngest son of Prince Qi?”

Tian Fusheng thought for a while and said, “I believe it’s the Imperial Censor deputy’s daughter.”

The Imperial Censor’s department in the Great Heng dynasty was the central supervisory authority, supervising all the levels of central and local officials to ensure they complied with the nation’s laws and fulfilled their duties. It also supervised the Ministry of Justice and the Board of Punishments.

The Imperial Censor’s deputy was the second rank in the Imperial Censor’s department, and above him was only the Imperial Censor. At that time, the Imperial Censor was approaching retirement age, and Gu Yuanbai was looking for a successor.

It seemed logical that his deputy would take over the position.

Gu Yuanbai held the silk towel and flattened the secret letter. The handwriting on it was tiny, and it was trying to persuade Prince Qi not to be impulsive.

“Look,” Gu Yuanbai said, “how can Prince Qi not listen to this advice?”

There was also a line of small characters at the bottom of the secret letter, telling Prince Qi to destroy the letter the moment he finished reading it. However, Prince Qi seemed to believe that no one else would know how to make the handwriting visible in this wordless letter, so he decided to proudly display it in the open.

Most people in the Imperial dynasty had mediocre skills, like Prince Qi, and they just indulged in their prosperity and wealth.

But there were still some that were obedient and sensible. After seeing Gu Yuanbai send troops to swarm Qi Manor, they became as obedient as sheep that had been sheared.

But even with this obedience, Gu Yuanbai decided to change the system of inheritance of nobility titles in the future.

The rank of the titles would be lowered by one step with each generation, so a family would disappear if their offspring were useless.

The hidden letter gradually dried and the handwriting on it disappeared again. General Cheng asked, “Your Majesty, what should I do now?”

Gu Yuanbai smiled and said, “General Cheng, no need to worry about it any more. We have Our own plans. But We have one more thing to ask of you. Together with the Military Affairs bureau, you should select two thousand elite soldiers from the Imperial Guard.”

General Cheng bowed. “Understood!”

After the discussion of political affairs, Tian Fusheng waited on the Emperor as he dressed and freshened up. Since the last time that he had been punished for tying Chu Wei to the imperial bed without authorization, he no longer dared to speculate about the Emperor’s intentions. Even if he didn’t understand why the Emperor wanted to stop the conversation there, he didn’t dare ask more. The most important thing was to simply serve the Emperor sincerely.

Since the last time he had vomited a mouthful of blood a few days ago and caught a cold, Gu Yuanbai hadn’t shown any symptoms of disease as of late. The spring days were becoming longer, which was also causing warmer weather.

“Your Majesty,” said Tian Fusheng’s young apprentice, massaging Gu Yuanbai’s arm, which had been hard at work evaluating memorials all day. “Is this strength fine?”

Gu Yuanbai closed his eyes and nodded slightly.

The people serving the Emperor had already developed the skill to read people. Seeing the Emperor’s relaxed face, the young apprentice guessed that he was in a good mood, so he thought it’d be good to talk about something interesting.

He spoke about the newest Zhuangyuan.

“The Zhuangyuan is still not married. On the day when the list of the Imperial exam results was released, he was almost claimed to be someone’s son in law,” said the eunuch. “I heard that the servants of multiple families rushed to go see the Zhuangyuan that day, and, when they tried to jump him, they ended up fighting each other instead.”

The corners of Gu Yuanbai’s lips went up. Those people didn’t need to worry. Chu Wei would be Xue Yuan’s close friend in the future.

After a while, the Emperor grew tired, so Tian Fusheng led the servants to put out the candles and quietly slipped away.

On the next day, Xue Yuan took the generous, valuable gift and carried it in his arms. He felt apprehensive in the morning, and he was stiff like a corpse.

He was wearing a brand new guard uniform, all pressed and clean, without any rips or dust from getting dragged on the floor nor any horse manure on it. However, as soon as he arrived at the palace, the guard captain told him, “His Majesty wants you to go take care of the Akhal-Teke horse.”

The Akhal-Teke horse had been dragged into the stable, but it was too strong, and the usual palace servants that fed and washed the horses didn’t dare approach it. When they reported the situation in the morning, Gu Yuanbai directly ordered Xue Yuan to take care of it.

Xue Yuan: “…”

He had really been used and thrown away.

Xue Yuan turned around lazily and followed the palace servant to the stable. After walking a few steps, he suddenly stopped, turned to the side and asked, “What’s the horse’s name?”

The guard captain was taken aback momentarily. “The Emperor hasn’t named it yet.”

Xue Yuan raised the corner of his lip and tilted his head in a sneer. “Then I’ll give it a nickname. A bad name is good to raise a kid, so I’ll call it Little Ungrateful.”4

The chief guard did not listen to that sentence clearly, so he just noted it and, after the Emperor finished his breakfast, he brought up the matter. “Your Highness, you haven’t named the Akhal-Teke horse yet.”

Gu Yuanbai thought for a while, and then said mediocrely, “Call it Red Cloud.”

“Good name,” Tian Fusheng said, eager to praise him. “Elegance brings banality and banality brings elegance, and between the two of them the color and speed of the Akhal-Teke is illustrated concisely. Your Majesty is so wise.”

Gu Yuanbai rubbed his eyebrows. “Shut up.”

The Emperor would go to the Xuanzheng hall and the Military Affairs bureau that day, and then go to the Hanlin Academy, particularly to check on the new official with Xixia blood, the one with the ability to make Xixia start a war against the Great Heng and conquer five or six cities in a row. Gu Yuanbai didn’t have any brain power to spare.

But after eating breakfast, before Gu Yuanbai had enough time to get up, he was told that Prince Qi had started a hunger strike.

Gu Yuan frowned. “When did he start the hunger strike?”

The informant bowed his head in embarrassment. “To answer Your Majesty, Prince Qi refused to eat this morning and has been crying in prison about going on a hunger strike.”

“Then let him die,” Gu Yuanbai sneered, annoyed and with a headache. “From today onwards, don’t deliver food to Prince Qi for three days. So he doesn’t want to eat? Don’t let him waste my food if he doesn’t want to eat it.”

So bold, did he think that he had suffered such a great punishment that it was enough to have redeemed his sins? Enough for Gu Yuanbai’s anger to be assuaged?

Gu Yuanbai then realized something.

Mental torture was no more useful than physical torture.

 

 

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Footnotes

The raws say it this way but the normal expression is “a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood”.鸟语花香 ‘A place where birds sing and flowers scent the air’ more or less, but it refers to a spring scenery as a whole.Raws say that he could only write a number 10, which is 十.Giving kids shitty nicknames was a custom in Ancient China because it was supposed to be better to raise them when they were young by making them unappealing to spirits that might want to kidnap them.