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Chapter 846: A National Beauty and a Worldly Beauty

Category: FantasyAuthor: Fenghuo Xizhuhou

In the early autumn of the second year of Xiangfu in Liyang, the civil and military officials in the Great Chu imperial court were eager to divide the realm among themselves. However, a mere three months later, an atmosphere of widespread desolation pervaded the court. If not for the old Grand Tutor Sun Xiji remaining consistently impassive, and Cao Changqing still showing no signs of taking military command from Xie Xichui, the court might have already fallen into utter chaos. But for Empress Jiang Si, who sat on the dragon throne and wore the dragon robe, there was little difference between seeing a group of rosy-cheeked officials and a band of worried, frowning ones. In fact, she harbored a private, unspoken irony. Earlier, Great Chu had achieved a remarkable victory with fewer forces against stronger ones on the Guangling River, utterly annihilating Prince Zhao Yi's Guangling Navy. Afterward, they successfully ambushed the vital grain supply of the Southern Army. At that time, the most vociferous arguments were traditional sentiments like, "A state cannot be without a ruler, nor can a ruler be without an heir." Now, even though the Great Chu Emperor was a woman, didn't she still need an "Empress" to conform to ritual propriety? Thus, Song Maolin, known as one of Great Chu's "Twin Jade" alongside Xie Xichui, and the eldest legitimate grandson of the Song clan, who, with the new Prince of Beiliang, was hailed as "Xu of the North, Song of the South," had the loudest calls for this position. Perhaps Song Maolin was so outstanding that even the old Grand Tutor Sun Xiji subtly suggested to Cao Changqing, who had kept his distance from the court, that he might as well agree to this marriage, as it would not only benefit the stability of the Jiang clan's Great Chu dynasty but also meant the young Majesty would not be "marrying beneath herself" in any way.

However, as Wu Chongxuan, the Southern Frontier's top general, parted ways with Prince Zhao Bing and returned to Guangling Province with the dual titles of Liyang's Minister of War and General Who Conquers the South, Lu Shengxiang also finally revealed the ferocity expected of a famous Spring and Autumn general. Song Li, who had also been to Tai'an City, seized all military command from Prince Zhao Yi of Guangling. Especially with Chen Zhibao and the elite troops from Shu entering the battlefield, Great Chu's battle lines fully contracted. They transitioned from frequent reports of victory to a passive defensive posture. The fervent belief in the imperial court that conquering Tai'an City was within reach was doused with a bucket of cold water, leaving most nobles and high-ranking officials wilted like frost-bitten eggplants. It was at this moment that Cao Changqing, who had intentionally been honing the young generals of Great Chu, finally withdrew from the Guangling River Navy. He returned to the Great Chu capital as the commander-in-chief and concurrent Minister of the Imperial Secretariat. It is important to note that when Jiang Si ascended the throne and became empress, Cao Changqing still held the official position of commander of Great Chu's navy, a rank even half a step lower than the three old generals, and only equal to his disciple Xie Xichui, who served as the commander of the eastern front, merely a second-rank official. Shenhuang City without Cao Changqing overseeing it was filled with constant panic and fear. But with Cao Changqing present in Shenhuang City, even though he didn't bring a single soldier, the dark clouds above the Great Chu capital immediately dispersed, and light returned.

In truth, everyone clearly understood that the new Great Chu could indeed not restore the nation without Jiang Si. However, if not for Cao Changqing's prior extensive efforts and travels, it might have been a tragic situation of being powerless and even unwilling to restore the nation.

After the court session today, Cao Changqing, who hadn't made it in time for the morning court, went to the imperial palace to report. He changed into a brand new court robe and, led by the eunuch director of the Directorate of Ceremonial, walked through corridors and passages. He waited quietly outside the imperial study for someone to inform His Majesty and grant him an audience, meticulously adhering to the etiquette between a ruler and his subject in every action. The old eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial was anxious. In the past, His Majesty, who would have already known of Cao Changqing's arrival in the capital, should have gone out of the capital to welcome him, let alone meeting him in the imperial study. This meant there was a very high possibility of a rift between His Majesty and the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, whom she had previously respected as her own elder. This was by no means fortunate for the nation. Cao Changqing, expressionless, waited below the steps, a bitter smile in his heart. He naturally understood why His Majesty was keeping him waiting outside; she was angry, very angry. Because the Grand Tutor had strongly recommended Song Maolin at the time, and he had neither agreed nor refused. How could she not feel resentment? Not using the Daliang Longque Sword to "prune" him, Cao Changqing, was already giving a lot of face to him, her "Uncle Chess Attendant."

After the worried elderly eunuch bowed and closed the door, Cao Changqing remained silent, standing in place. The Imperial Study in the Great Chu palace was extremely spacious. Although many precious and heavy artifacts in the room had been embezzled by Prince Zhao Yi of Guangling, Great Chu's foundation was incredibly deep. In the early stages of restoration, the royal grandeur of the Imperial Study was already no less than in former years. Cao Changqing looked up and saw the young woman wearing a bright yellow dragon robe, her head bowed, practicing calligraphy with a brush on tribute Xuan paper. She wasn't using the imperial brush "Thousand-Year Green," which symbolized the longevity of the dynasty. Cao Changqing slightly shifted his gaze and saw the golden lacquer cup engraved with the four characters "Golden Goblet Forever Solid." According to ritual propriety, on the first day of the first lunar month each year, the Great Chu Emperor would open the window and begin writing here, using the "Thousand-Year Green" brush dipped in a cup full of Tusu wine, to write auspicious phrases like "Peace under Heaven" and "Long Live the Nation," and present them to civil and military officials. Before this, she had shown him some difficulty and nervousness, saying her calligraphy wasn't beautiful, and quietly suggested asking Uncle Chess Attendant to write on her behalf. Cao Changqing naturally didn't nod; he just comforted her, saying she should write, just fewer pieces. At that time, she could just give them to a few trusted people like Grand Tutor Sun, and it wouldn't be embarrassing. Only then did she reluctantly agree, but still couldn't hide her sullenness. Cao Changqing heard that after her ascension, for the writing on New Year's Day, she practiced calligraphy a lot this autumn and winter. Anyway, it was definitely a hundred times more diligent than practicing swordplay. It was said that she had already filled a small basket with paper slips, which she didn't discard, just letting them accumulate day by day. Palace maids and eunuchs were not allowed to touch them.

Cao Changqing looked at the wide desk, at the slightly slender and delicate bright golden figure behind it. His gaze was distant, as if recalling a blurred scene from many years ago. Cao Changqing suddenly felt a bit heartbroken, and even more remorseful.

The Great Chu Empress, whom no one now called Jiang Ni, pouted and didn't look at Cao Changqing. She said indignantly, "I'm still angry. I need to write at least thirty more characters before I calm down. Uncle Chess Attendant, just you wait."

Cao Changqing didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He pulled a chair and sat by the window. The chair was angled towards the window, allowing him to see the scenery outside, while his peripheral vision could catch a glimpse of the little girl who didn't look like an emperor even in a dragon robe. But even Cao Changqing couldn't have imagined that Jiang Si, sitting on the throne during daily court sessions and receiving homage from all civil and military officials, would display such an increasingly pronounced regal demeanor that even Grand Tutor Sun Xiji nodded secretly. Not only did she not lose her composure, but even he, an old man who had served in the imperial courts of two major dynasties for nearly sixty years, disregarding her gender, could not find a single flaw. Her interactions with her officials, from initial slight stiffness to current effortless ease, progressed by leaps and bounds. She was simply a born emperor. Sun Xiji privately joked to his old acquaintances and colleagues, "Her Majesty's progress in swordplay is remarkably fast; the same applies to her becoming a ruler of a nation."

She meticulously wrote more than a dozen characters, then secretly glanced at Cao Changqing, who was sitting upright. Jiang Si pouted, probably realizing it wasn't appropriate to argue with Uncle Chess Attendant. She gently put down her brush and snorted, "Finished!"

Cao Changqing suppressed a smile and said softly, "There are still eleven characters. I'm not in a hurry."

Jiang Si glared. "Uncle Chess Attendant!"

Cao Changqing smiled slightly. "Alright, I know the matter of Song Maolin has made Your Majesty angry. My trip to the capital this time is to be Your Majesty's punching bag. After all, the Grand Tutor is old; Your Majesty can't possibly hold it against him."

Jiang Si demonstratively picked up her brush again and tapped it. "If I weren't this emperor, I'd secretly beat that guy named Song into a pig's head."

Cao Changqing couldn't help but laugh. "Who did you learn that from? That Prince of Beiliang pulled out Jin Lantian's beard in Tai'an City, causing that Minister of Rites to only dare show up for duty at the yamen after half a month."

Jiang Si heavily placed the brush on the pen holder.

Cao Changqing hesitated for a moment, then sighed. "Qingliang Mountain must have a Princess of Beiliang after the great victory. On this matter, he cannot be blamed."

Jiang Si gently tapped the desk with her fist, glaring at him. Then she wrinkled her nose and snorted coldly, "So it's my fault?!"

Cao Changqing laughed and quickly waved his hand, "Of course not, of course not."

He finally understood: that Song Maolin was nothing. The Prince of Beiliang taking a consort was the main point of their Great Chu Empress's anger. So he, Cao Changqing, was actually caught in the crossfire because of that young fellow named Xu.

Cao Changqing's face wore a gentle smile.

When men and women are young, he likes her, she likes him; no one dislikes anyone. How wonderful.All men in the world have a wish: to win one heart, and to grow old together without parting.But more than fearing seeing a beauty's hair turn white, he feared a short-lived beauty who would never reach old age.

Cao Changqing felt a little dejected, questioning for the first time: was he wrong?He had already missed out; why should he let them miss out too now?

Liu Songtao, who had converted to Buddhism, tried to persuade him with life and death. The Confucian Duke Yansheng tried to persuade him with reason and emotion. Even the smoke of war rising throughout the Central Plains, none could persuade him, Cao Changqing of Great Chu, to "let go."

Jiang Si asked cautiously, "Uncle Chess Attendant, are you angry?"

Cao Changqing reined in his thoughts, shook his head, and said softly, "Even if Uncle Chess Attendant were angry with everyone in the world, or even with Great Chu, he would never be angry with Your Majesty."

Jiang Si sighed in an old-fashioned manner. "Although it's a bit unfair to my parents to say this, I think, if Mother had met Uncle Chess Attendant earlier..."

Cao Changqing, who was hailed as "possessing eight-tenths of the world's scholarly elegance," "Great Chu's most distinguished," and "with the Blue Robed scholar appearing early, Great Chu will not perish"—Cao Guanyi, who passed through Liyang's imperial palace thrice as if walking through a corridor—for the first time ever, his old face reddened, and he coughed a few times. He quickly interrupted what Jiang Si was about to say, then feigned anger, "Your Majesty!"

Jiang Si chuckled mischievously, "My mother couldn't have met Uncle Chess Attendant earlier, otherwise there wouldn't be me, Jiang Ni."

For some reason, she referred to herself as Jiang Ni, rather than "Jiang Si," the name destined to be recorded in history regardless of the success or failure of the nation's restoration.

Cao Changqing's face darkened with anger and embarrassment. "Your Majesty, be careful, I might intentionally forget a sentence! Someone in Tai'an City asked me to deliver this very sentence to Your Majesty!"

Jiang Si quickly straightened her posture and said seriously, "Uncle Chess Attendant, national affairs are important, tell me!"

Cao Changqing said with a straight face, "Your Majesty, your humble servant is a little thirsty."

The Empress of Western Chu stood up with astonishing speed and darted to the door, not caring whether she lost her regal dignity. She personally opened the door and instructed, "Bring a pot of tribute tea from Spring God Lake for Minister of the Imperial Secretariat."

Not long after, Cao Changqing, looking completely at ease, held a teacup in one hand and fanned the tea's aroma with its lid in the other.

Cao Changqing closed his eyes, inhaling the refreshing fragrance, as if he had completely forgotten the "serious matter."

Cao Changqing didn't even need to open his eyes; he knew that the Empress was deliberately putting on a straight face but had her ears perked up.

Cao Changqing's lips curled upwards. After taking a sip of tea, he said, "Your Majesty, I was just teasing you. Your humble servant only had a fight in Tai'an City; I didn't hear anything."

Jiang Si simply said "Oh," pretending not to care.

Looking at the characters on the Xuan paper on the desk, they were furious and murderous.On the densely covered Xuan paper, there were actually only three words repeated over and over.

Cao Changqing suddenly asked, "Your Majesty, I heard that some people are now proposing three strategies: The best strategy is for our Western Chu army to primarily advance south, not hesitating to collude with Prince Yan Chi, Zhao Bing, to divide the realm with Liyang along the river? The middle strategy is to expand territory westward? And the worst strategy is to fight a decisive battle against Lu Shengxiang's army?"

Jiang Si absently hummed in response.

Cao Changqing sneered, "Armchair strategy by pedantic scholars!"

Jiang Si raised her head, looked at Cao Changqing, and asked softly, "Uncle Chess Attendant, when we went to Beimang together, besides the aristocratic family heads from the Southern Dynasties who were remnants of the Spring and Autumn period, was that lecherous old man we met at the end the current commander of Beimang's eastern front, Wang Sui?"

Cao Changqing nodded.

Jiang Si hesitated for a long time, finally asking in a deep voice, "Then, Uncle Chess Attendant, have you also secretly contacted Gu Jiantang?!"

Cao Changqing remained silent but smiled.My Great Chu Empress is absolutely no less capable than Liyang's new Emperor Zhao Zhuan.

Jiang Si lowered her head, biting her lip. "The ambitious Prince Yan Chi, Zhao Bing, is not a good person, but Wang Sui, Gu Jiantang, and the likes of them aren't much better."

Cao Changqing stood up, walked to the window, and said slowly, "Scholarly governance led to Great Chu's centuries of prosperity, becoming the Central Plains' orthodoxy. But in times of chaos, how difficult it is for scholars to save the nation. My Great Chu scholars can't comprehend this principle, and I, Cao Changqing, also a scholar, cannot personally speak this truth. But no matter what, I can do one thing: make three successive Liyang Emperors understand that without Xu Xiao, your Zhao family will still fail to save the nation as scholars!"

Cao Changqing lowered his voice, "But the truth I, Cao Changqing, truly want to tell this world is still not this one."

A long time later, Cao Changqing turned around, looked at her, and smiled. "In the early Spring and Autumn period of turmoil, countless deceptive prophecies and ballads circulated. Among them were those that spoke of your mother... that is, our Great Chu Empress... So Uncle Chess Att attendant knows that when you were willing to leave Beiliang, you were afraid..."

Jiang Si turned her head away and said fiercely, "No!"

The Imperial Study was silent.

Jiang Si suddenly realized that Uncle Chess Attendant had moved to the desk. She hurriedly reached out with both hands to cover the stack of Xuan paper, her face flushed, and said, "No looking, no looking!"

Cao Changqing deliberately stretched his neck to take a peek, asking curiously, "It doesn't seem to be the three characters 'son of a bitch', does it?"

Jiang Si blurted out, "Of course not! Who would want to write 'he's a son of a bitch'! I'm too lazy to even curse him!"

Cao Changqing smiled without speaking.

The young Empress, in her dragon robe, steadfastly continued to block Cao Changqing's view.

Cao Changqing asked with a playful smile, "'Stab you to death'? Uncle Chess Attendant is the only one in the Imperial Study, Your Majesty. This makes your humble servant feel like walking on thin ice."

Jiang Si simply bent over and lay on the Xuan paper on the desk, raising her head. "You saw wrong, you saw wrong! Uncle Chess Attendant, your eyesight isn't good anymore! You should read less by lamplight in the future!"

Cao Changqing placed the lid on his teacup, leaned forward, and with his free hand, ruffled the silly girl's head. "Uncle Chess Attendant is old; not only is his eyesight bad, but his memory is failing too. Now I finally remember that sentence. That person in Tai'an City said, roughly, that he would soon personally lead the Beiliang Iron Cavalry to Guangling Province to take you back. If you don't agree, then he'll snatch you, stuff you in a sack, and carry you back. As for Liyang, Western Chu, and the world, Xu Fengnian couldn't care less."

She was wide-eyed, merely blinking her eyes.

Cao Changqing smiled, "I'm not lying to you this time; it's true, absolutely true."

She continued to blink.

Cao Changqing seemed to mumble to himself, feigning annoyance, "No matter how I look at it, since Deng Taia and I, two against one, couldn't defeat him in Tai'an City, it's clear he can't be stopped. I, Uncle Chess Attendant, am not a true immortal; what can I do? Hmm, how does that saying go?"

When Jiang Si smiled, she had two dimples, one for toppling nations, one for toppling cities. She subconsciously replied with a smile, "Cold mixed cucumber, that's delicious!"

Cao Changqing said softly, "The former Emperor was an enlightened and capable ruler, but not a good husband. I, Cao Changqing, am even worse; just a coward made foolish by too much studying. But that young man from Beiliang is better than all of us. Your Majesty, when the time comes, just make a symbolic strike with a sword; please, don't really stab him to death. You'll regret it and be heartbroken."

Giving up hope seems far heavier than heartbreak, but in reality, heartbreak is far less easy than giving up hope.

Jiang Si's eyes welled up, on the verge of tears, as if hearing the dying words of a beloved elder.

Cao Changqing gently set down the teacup.He let go.

Wars between nations, like the previous confrontation between Great Chu and Liyang at West Wall, where armies faced off. Now, Beiliang and Beimang, similarly, have 300,000 iron cavalry confronting a million-strong army.

But one day not long after, in the third year of Xiangfu in Liyang, and the second year of Shenxi in Western Chu.At that time, Gu Jiantang stood alone in his tent, silent all night, and finally only muttered a single sentence: "Cao Changqing misled me for twenty years."Meanwhile, Wang Sui on Beimang's border drank heavily alone, laughing heartily: "What a relief, what a relief! This is true romantic elegance for us passionate souls!"

On that day, outside Tai'an City,There was Cao Changqing of Western Chu,Attacking the city alone.

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