Li Wu Enters Prison

The seventeenth year of Hongchang.

Summer.

A special prisoner arrived at the Heavenly Prison.

No one escorted him, nor did anyone dare to escort him. He walked into his cell of his own accord.

Li Wu!

The Heavenly Prison had been built by the Fengyang Kingdom upon the former dynasty's prison. Tracing its origins, it had a history of a thousand years and had held countless princes, dukes, and nobles. Today, it welcomed its second Innate Grandmaster.

All the Imperial Guards on duty combined would not have been enough for Li Wu to slaughter!

"This truly was beyond expectations..."

Zhou Yi had fancied himself an observer who understood the great currents of the Fengyang Kingdom, yet he could not accurately read the human heart.

"Bring me the food box. I'll deliver it myself."

"Master Zhou, you've worked hard."

The prison guard now responsible for delivering meals was Zhang Yun, Zhang Zhou's grandson from back then. His son, Zhang Jin, had died beneath a bandit's blade less than two years after entering the Heavenly Prison.

Remembering old kindnesses, Zhou Yi had brought Zhang Yun into the Heavenly Prison as a guard after he came of age last year.

Cell Block Nine.

Li Wu sat with his eyes closed, regulating his breath. Suddenly sensing a dangerous aura, he opened his eyes and watched the prison guard approach.

"Who are you?"

"Just a nameless prison guard."

Zhou Yi replied through voice transmission. He opened the cell door, took fine wine and delicacies from the food box, and arranged them on the table one by one.

After fifteen years, he was finally seeing this famous general and Martial Grandmaster up close!

It was not as though he had never had the opportunity before. Zhou Yi had simply always been cautious. Before he was certain of his safety, he had been unwilling to approach such a figure, lest some accident occur.

For instance, anyone who sought revenge against Li Wu would surely stand at the pinnacle of martial arts. Should the two fight to the death, they might reduce bystanders to ashes along with them.

"Li had never believed there were hidden masters among the common folk. Life is bitterly short—who could ascend to the summit, yet willingly remain obscure and unknown?"

Li Wu's eyes were full of admiration. He too used a secret voice-transmission technique. "Only today did Li learn that such an extraordinary person truly exists in this world. Li is ashamed to admit inferiority!"

"You flatter me, General."

Zhou Yi voiced the doubt in his heart. "Why did the General enter the Heavenly Prison today?"

Li Wu said, "Back then, Li Xiong allowed his troops to wreak havoc and slaughtered thousands of commoners. As a commander, Li was guilty of failing to observe and neglecting his duty. As his clan elder cousin, Li was guilty of failing to discipline him strictly."

"You jest, General. Everyone in the Fengyang Kingdom knows how strict you are in governing your household."

Zhou Yi said, "I have spent decades in this Heavenly Prison. Members of other families come in regularly, but the Li family only ever produced one Li Xiong."

Moreover, Li Xiong's crimes truly had little to do with Li Wu. And Li Wu's act of putting righteousness above family had already given the people an answer.

Li Wu shook his head. "That was merely what an official ought to do. How was it worth mentioning?"

"General, you know what I wish to ask..."

Zhou Yi spoke plainly. "Why not follow Long Ni's example?"

Li Wu said, "Since he was a rebel, how could Li be the same as him?"

"If there had been no General back then, perhaps he would not have been Long Ni, but... Grand Ancestor Long?"

Zhou Yi had personally lived through Emperor Chongming's reign. That dog emperor had long since lost all popular support. Had Chancellor Long's rebellion succeeded, it would have been easy for him to secure the throne.

"Long Ni's rebellion was limited to the capital, yet more than sixty thousand died or were injured before and after it. If Li were disloyal, whether he won or lost, it would surely become a great calamity sweeping across every province and prefecture."

Li Wu murmured, "The dynasty has only known peace for a few years. Li cannot, for his own selfish reasons, plunge all living things into misery and suffering!"

Zhou Yi fell silent for a moment. "The General could resign and retire into seclusion."

An Innate Grandmaster did not covet power. The court would never deliberately make things difficult for him; if pressed too far, he could simply charge into the imperial palace and kill!

Li Wu said, "Li knows his achievements overshadow the sovereign. So long as Li lives, the dynasty cannot be secure. The late emperor showed Li immense kindness. Before his death, he repeatedly and earnestly instructed Li to place the dynasty and its people above all else!"

That dog emperor only knew how to lecture others. When had he ever cared about the dynasty's people?

Seeing Li Wu mention Emperor Chongming with such deep affection on his face, Zhou Yi found it difficult to curse the man to his face.

"Has the General settled matters at home?"

Li Wu nodded. "His Majesty promised that so long as Li remained loyally devoted to the nation, the Li family would share the kingdom's fate!"

Once dead, that counted as loyally devoted to the nation!

Did you believe that promise?

Zhou Yi ultimately did not ask. Li Wu might believe it or might not, but in truth, he had already made his choice.

First, he was unwilling to start another war. Second, he wished to repay Emperor Chongming's kindness.

"No matter why Li Wu bound himself within prison walls, he had ultimately extinguished the conflict."

Zhou Yi knew that if he had been in Li Wu's position, he absolutely could not have done the same. Most likely, upon receiving the Ministry of War's order in five years, he would have led the northern border army straight back to Shenjing to remonstrate with arms.

As for how many would die in that armed remonstrance, Zhou Yi did not care. So long as he and his family did not die!

How many people in this world could give up their lives and power for strangers?

Someone like Li Wu would most likely be cursed by later generations studying history as foolishly loyal.

"People like Li Wu were born heroes, strict with themselves and firm in restraining their family. What a pity... When the Li family enters prison, I should take good care of them."

Zhou Yi had never been stingy with malicious speculation about human hearts. He had previously guessed that Li Wu would rebel, and he had been wrong.

Now he guessed that before Emperor Hongchang died, he would thoroughly dispose of the Li family and the military forces under them, leaving his successor a Fengyang Kingdom clean and spotless, pure and untainted.

The times created heroes, and heroes changed the times!

Li Wu's imprisonment scattered the gloom shrouding Shenjing in a single day. The previously oppressive court suddenly became much lighter.

The hundred officials submitted memorials one after another, saying that General Li had rendered great service to the nation and begging His Majesty to show mercy and forgive his crimes.

No one knew exactly what crime Li Wu had committed, but everyone knew that Li Wu could not walk out of the Heavenly Prison alive.

"The Duke Who Pacifies the Nation is truly a bulwark of the realm!"

The hundred officials used every kind of lavish praise to extol Li Wu's imprisonment, all eager to have him enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple as soon as possible.

Yet when speaking privately with their confidants, they scorned Li Wu as nothing more than a crude Martial Man. He had held a million troops in vain, only to meet the same end as Long Ni!

When word spread among the common people, it caused a tremendous uproar!

Li Wu had been squeezed out by the hundred officials at court, and even the Ministry of War did not support him. Yet in the eyes of the common people, he was like a savior descended from heaven.

At first, public sentiment surged like a tidal wave, and people everywhere clamored to demand an explanation from the court.

Later, rumors spread: "Li Wu slaughtered civilians wantonly during his southern campaign," "Li Xiong's plundering of merchants was done with Li Wu's tacit approval," "Li Wu was the true mastermind behind Duke Wei's death," and so on...

After enough filth had been splashed around, the Brocade Guard arrested quite a few people. Before long, public opinion vanished without a trace!

Just as Li Wu had said, the people of the Fengyang Kingdom had only lived in peace for a few years. They did not wish for fresh turmoil, and so they had no need for a mighty general whose fame shook the world and who could sweep all beneath heaven.

In consideration of Li Wu's past suppression of the rebellion, they would build a temple and erect a stele for him. There would be nothing more...

"The common people already treated you as dead. They built temples, erected steles, burned incense, and offered worship. They wept quite bitterly."

Zhou Yi asked, "Do you regret your choice?"

"Mr. Zhou need not persuade me. This was Li's own decision from the start and had nothing to do with anyone else. It was not about leaving my name in history. I simply did not wish for many more people to die!"

Li Wu picked up a bite of food with his chopsticks, then drank a cup of wine. "Besides, there is no longer any chance to regret it."

Zhou Yi frowned slightly at those words and beckoned the wine jug into his hand.

The wine was called Nine Brew Spring, a royal tribute wine of the Fengyang Kingdom, aged for two hundred years.

The liquor had originally been a crystal-clear amber red, but because too much unidentified medicinal powder had been added, it had turned pale white.

"This poison was laid on far too heavily. Such a fine jug of wine has become poison mixed with wine!"

"The flavor is not bad. It is rarely seen in this world!"

Li Wu's expression remained perfectly natural. He ate a bite of food and drank a mouthful of wine, treating the deadly poison as though it did not exist.

"Does the General have any last wishes? I can still lend a hand with small matters."

Zhou Yi's nature made it difficult for him to be noble, but that did not prevent him from holding noble people in reverence.