After retaking Qinan, Xing Muzheng pressed the advantage and drove the Xili army back to Hemen Pass. In truth, this was the perfect opportunity to crush Xili altogether. But imperial edicts from Yongan came down like falling snow. The old General Xu, after untold hardships, finally arrived at Hemen Pass—only to collapse into illness the moment he received the commander’s seal. Zhaohui produced the Imperial Sword of Authority to summon Xing Muzheng back to Yongan. The generals dared not speak their rage aloud. In such circumstances, Xing Muzheng boarded the carriage bound for Yongan.
Zhaohui came to see him off. Half-reclined in the carriage, Xing Muzheng asked, “Eunuch Zhaohui, are you not returning to Yongan?”
Zhaohui bowed. “His Majesty commands this servant to remain at the border to supervise the army.”
Xing Muzheng nodded. “Then I must trouble you.”
“Not at all.” Zhaohui glanced around, then asked, “Will Madam Xie not accompany the General?”
Xing Muzheng replied, “My wife cannot endure the bloodshed of the battlefield. She has long since returned to Yuzhou.”
“I see.” Zhaohui nodded thoughtfully. He looked at Xing Muzheng, hesitated, then finally bowed deeply. “This servant respectfully sends you off, my lord. May you travel safely.”
“My thanks.” Xing Muzheng signaled Li Qingquan to lower the carriage curtain. “Set out.”
Li Qingquan raised his hand. “Set out!”
With a hundred guards, Xing Muzheng departed in simple convoy. Zhaohui watched him go, eyes stung by the dust.
From the border to Yongan took no less than half a month, even at the fastest pace. No matter how hard Xing Muzheng hurried, he could not reach by the eighth of the twelfth month. Emperor Yongtai, in a fury, fell ill. The Bureau of Astrology declared that dragon qi clashed with festive qi, and so all weddings in the realm were delayed by fourteen days—including Princess Huairou’s marriage.
The Xie estate in Yongan had already prepared to welcome the princess as bride. On the fifteenth of the twelfth month, Xing Muzheng arrived in Yongan. But before he could even step through the gates of the Xing manor, the Imperial Guards escorted him directly into the palace.
Emperor Yongtai was holding court. Xing Muzheng entered the hall with a eunuch guide. The emperor did not even wait for him to offer formal greetings before hurling the memorial in his hand at him. “Xing Muzheng, do you know your crime!”
The court was in uproar.
Xing Muzheng’s expression did not change. “This minister knows not what crime he has committed.”
Emperor Yongtai glared in fury. “You defied imperial edicts—do you not know your guilt?”
Xing Muzheng said, “At the time, the military situation was dire. I believed that the matter of a son taking a wife was insignificant compared with saving tens of thousands of lives at the border. Therefore, I dared to defy the decree, retook Qinan before the battle lines, and drove the Xili barbarians back to Hemen Pass. I beg Your Majesty’s pardon.”
He was deliberately wielding military merit against him! He was saying, in essence, that the whole world knew of Xing Muzheng’s achievements. “one’s contributions is so great that they overshadow or make the superior”—a minister whose merit eclipses his sovereign. And was that not exactly the case? Now the world knew only of Xing Muzheng; who still remembered the emperor?
“Do not quibble! The one your son marries is no common woman, but Zhen’s Princess Huairou in marriage! Moreover, We have sent more than one imperial decree, and yet you treated them as nothing, delaying again and again. It seems to Zhen that you never had this emperor in your eyes at all. Guards—seize Xing Muzheng and throw him into the prison, to await punishment!”
“Your Majesty, reconsider!” All the civil and military officials of the court dropped to their knees in unison.
“You…” Emperor Yongtai was beside himself with fury, thinking all beneath him had rebelled. Xing Muzheng had clearly and openly defied imperial edicts—proof as solid as iron—yet these courtiers still pleaded for him? Did they all look upon his decrees as nothing?
Hang Zhi, kneeling, spoke: “Your Majesty, though General Xing did not promptly return to Yongan to report, there is the ancient precept—‘When a general is abroad, the sovereign’s orders may not always be carried out to the letter.’ History is full of such examples. General Xing did not, out of selfish motive, disregard your command, but acted to save the borderfolk from calamity and to defend our Great Xie from invasion. This is precisely fulfilling the duty of a general. May Your Majesty think twice.”
Hong Tai also said: “Your Majesty, General Xing is a rare and invaluable pillar of Great Xie. Now he has achieved yet another great victory, and the common people praise him in every quarter. Should Your Majesty imprison him at this moment, I fear it will provoke unrest among the people.”
The other ministers all added their support.
But Emperor Yongtai sought only a pretext to rid himself of Xing Muzheng. Now that he had one, how could he heed their counsel? He waved his hand sharply, ordering the Imperial Guards to drag Xing Muzheng into the Heavenly Prison.
From beginning to end, Xing Muzheng’s expression never wavered. He left the hall with calm composure.
After court, Emperor Yongtai summoned Hang Zhi, Hong Tai, and several senior ministers to the imperial study—not for other matters, but to draft an edict sentencing Xing Muzheng to death.
A heavy silence filled the imperial study.
Hong Tai was utterly aghast. He could not fathom such hatred toward the empire’s foremost general. “Your Majesty, you must not! To put to death a meritorious statesman over such a trifling matter—how could that win the hearts of the people?”
Emperor Yongtai said coldly: “Do you truly believe Zhen would kill Xing Muzheng for such a minor offense? Even if Zhen is no enlightened ruler, Zhen is not a foolish one either. Zhen acts only for the sake of Great Xie’s altars and realm! Xing Muzheng’s merit now overshadows the throne; he brazenly threatens Zhen’s very position. If Zhen does not eliminate him, shall Zhen wait for him to rebel and destroy the state?”
Hang Zhi answered: “General Xing voluntarily laid down arms to retire to his fields, never once disturbing the court. Though ill in body, he still carried his sickness to the frontier to fight—that is the mark of a loyal servant. Your Majesty must not believe slander, nor condemn the realm’s foremost general to die unjustly.”
“I have not listened to slander! Among the people, none is spoken of but General Xing. If Xing Muzheng wished to rebel, it would be the simplest thing! Now that the borders are pacified, if Zhen puts him to death, will not both within and without be at peace?”
Hang Zhi said: “Your Majesty speaks of the common folk—do you know what they now say? Ever since your decrees were sent in succession to the frontier, rumors have spread among the border people: that while the general was killing the enemy for the nation, His Majesty demanded he abandon them, casting aside their lives. These rumors have already traveled inward and are now widely spread through Yongan. They say His Majesty, fearing General Xing’s great merits, seeks an excuse to kill him. If you truly issue such an edict now, will that not turn rumor into truth? The people may well rise in revolt.”
Emperor Yongtai was shocked. “Who! Who spread these rumors? Seize the culprits and put them all to death!”
Hang Zhi shook his head. “The rumors are widespread—there is no tracing their source.”
The Minister of Works spoke: “Your Majesty, forgive my bluntness, but General Xing has time and again saved the people of Great Xie—at the borders against invaders, within the land against bandits. If Your Majesty is the backbone of the nation, then General Xing is the pillar of the common people. Should that pillar collapse, the consequences are unthinkable.”
Emperor Yongtai grew only more enraged. “Zhen does not believe it! Will Our Great Xie truly perish without Xing Muzheng?”
The ministers fell into silence.
“You all… will you or will you not draft this edict for Zhen?”
Led by Hang Zhi, the senior ministers knelt again as one. “We beg Your Majesty to reconsider!”
Emperor Yongtai choked on his own fury. He longed to kill Xing Muzheng, but without the ministers’ assent he could not act. And yet these men stood firm, as if they did not even acknowledge him as emperor. Clearly they were exploiting the weakness of his new reign! Once he dealt with Xing Muzheng, he would take each of them in hand as well!
Unable to prevail, Emperor Yongtai stormed back to the inner palace. The Empress Dowager was already waiting in the audience hall.
“My son, I have heard you have cast the newly returned General Xing into prison—tell me it is not so?”
Emperor Yongtai seized a cup of tea, drank a mouthful, then smashed it furiously. “Idiots! Such scalding tea, and you dare serve it to Zhen! Guards—drag the wretch out and execute them!”
The maid wailed but was taken away and killed nonetheless. Emperor Yongtai felt satisfied—this was the dignity of an emperor: whomever he wished dead, died.
The Empress Dowager had no time to concern herself with such petty lives. She dismissed the servants and drew her son down to sit. “My son, tell me plainly—have you truly imprisoned Xing Muzheng?”
Emperor Yongtai said, “It is so.”
“Aiya, my son, how muddleheaded you are!”
His anger flared again. He said harshly: “Royal Mother, how can you speak like those ministers outside? Am I not the emperor? Do I not even have the authority to punish a minister who disobeys my edicts?”
“My son, of course—as emperor you may kill whomever you please. I too support removing Xing Muzheng. But all things must be done at the right time. Right now Xing Muzheng has returned triumphant from the frontier, and the people sing his praises. At such a moment, if you suddenly call for his death, is that not making an enemy of the entire realm?”
“Royal Mother, this realm is Zhen’s—how can Zhen be said to be at odds with it?”
“My son, though the Wu clan sits as master of Great Xie, the common people are its foundation. Your grandfather often taught your father and the princes: ‘Water can carry the boat, but also overturn it.’ Even I, a woman, have heard these words. You must never take them lightly.”
Emperor Yongtai of course knew those two lines—they were carved into the ancestral temple, recited at every sacrifice, memorized by every prince since childhood.
Emperor Yongtai clenched his fists.
“Your Majesty, this servant has urgent news to report!”
“Get in here!”
A eunuch rushed in. “Reporting to Your Majesty: Young Marquis Xing is crying and shouting grievances in the middle of the street, saying you have thrown General Xing into the Heavenly Prison. By now the entire city of Yongan knows of it!”
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