It all began with looks

"Has the Prince of Yu set out yet?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, the Prince of Yu is almost at Nanjing."

"Where is General Huang now?"

"He has already reached Shandong."

"Good. Our army will march as well. We'll aim to join General Huang in the capital!"

"What is our purpose on this expedition?"

"To set things right and purge the treacherous villains!"

"To set things right and purge the treacherous villains!"

At Zhu Qizhao's command, the Rebellion-Quelling Army began marching south.

By now, public opinion had been stirred up. The reigning emperor, the second prince Zhu Qizhen, had persecuted his elder brother, defied the late emperor's final decree, joined his faction in imprisoning the crown prince, murdered a prince, and rebelled to seize the throne.

The Prince of Yu intended to rebel, colluded with an evil sect, plundered Kaifeng's grain supplies on a massive scale, and rose in revolt to seize power.

Prince Zhu Qizhao, meanwhile, had long since withdrawn from the struggles at court and gone to Kaifeng to provide disaster relief.

Yet the late emperor's passing had left him stricken with grief. Unable to bear seeing his crown prince brother imprisoned, brothers slaughtering one another, and Great Qian's realm ruined in the hands of his cruel and heartless second brother, he was heartbroken.

The Prince of Yu, however, gave no thought to the people of his fief and intended to rebel. Such intentions deserved death.

To give justice back to all the people under heaven and put Great Qian back on the right track, he had been left with no other choice.

He could only call upon General Huang, a trusted minister of the late emperor, to join him in purging the villains at the emperor's side, slaying traitors, quelling rebellion, and setting the record straight.

Zhu Qizhao's public image had been firmly nailed down since childhood. Both the court and the world knew that his dream was to be a carefree prince, roaming through life at leisure.

Thus, officials in the capital and ordinary people alike were willing to believe Zhu Qizhao's words.

Whatever decrees the second prince, who had already been on the throne for several days, issued, and however high-sounding the Prince of Yu's words were, Zhu Qizhao had indeed won so thoroughly in public opinion that it was almost absurd.

Because however the second prince defended himself, the man sitting on the throne now was not the crown prince.

And even if the Prince of Yu talked the heavens down, he could not explain why he had been able to arm a force of 120,000 men in an instant.

As for Zhu Qizhao, he had personally gone to Kaifeng to provide disaster relief. Only when left with no other choice had he contacted the local grain merchant Tang Jie. His troops had come from the funding of the Confucian merchant Tang Jie, and even then, he had gathered fewer than ten thousand men.

As for old General Huang, he had summoned him by an urgent dispatch sent at eight hundred li a day.

To put it plainly, the second prince and the Prince of Yu had both prepared in advance. Like Sima Zhao's ambitions, their intentions were known to every passerby.

Only the Prince of Jin, Zhu Qizhao, was acting for the sake of all the people under heaven.

Zhang Qingyuan smiled. He still fell a little short. If the Douyin users from his previous life were here, they could have made it sound even better.

Inside Nanjing, Zhu Qizhen sat in the imperial audience hall, dressed in dragon robes.

The ministers below were all his men. Those who refused to submit to him had already been thrown into prison.

"What? The Three Great Camps have only a little over ten thousand men altogether?"

Zhu Qizhen, already prepared to don armor and lead the campaign in person, was utterly bewildered.

What happened to the finest army under heaven?

"Yes, Your Majesty. I have already ordered the commanders of the Three Great Camps bound outside the hall. Please question them yourself."

"Bring them in!"

Zhu Qizhen was beside himself with rage as he looked at the three commanders kneeling on the floor. Every one of them came from a noble lineage whose ancestors had been important ministers who helped the founding emperor conquer the realm.

"Spare us, Your Majesty! Spare us!"

"Spare you?"

Zhu Qizhao looked at An Deshi, commander of the Five Army Camp. This man had followed him since he was a prince.

"Commander An, tell me. Where are the men?"

"Y-Your... Your Majesty, well... I beg Your Highness to spare my life for the sake of our past ties."

An Deshi offered no explanation, because there was nothing left to explain.

Embezzling soldiers' rations and drinking their blood happened in every dynasty as it neared its end.

Had these three gone too far?

Of course they had.

An elite force established to number over fifty thousand had been reduced to just over ten thousand old, weak, sick, and disabled men.

Zhu Qizhen felt a wave of despair. Why had he dared to leave the Prince of Yu alone despite knowing he was rebelling? Wasn't it because he had been counting on the Three Great Camps to turn things around?

But now...

How was he supposed to turn things around?

He tore the crown off his head and hurled it at An Deshi, roaring, "If I spare your life, who will spare mine?"

The ministers below, who had rebelled alongside him, also felt chills down their spines. Inwardly, they began blaming the emperor they had chosen with such painstaking care.

When you gained command of the Five Army Camp, couldn't you have checked how many men they still had who could fight?

Of course Zhu Qizhen had gone to inspect them. It was just that An Deshi had fooled him when he did.

The Five Army Camp he had seen was merely the Five Army Camp An Deshi wanted him to see.

It was just like schools in small county towns, where the basketball courts, table tennis rooms, libraries, and other campus facilities would all be opened whenever the provincial education bureau came to inspect.

In reality, once the visitors left, the students got nothing.

What you see is only what I want you to see. Only I know what it's really like.

Besides, did you think the commanders were the only ones benefiting from embezzled military pay and inflated troop counts?

There were plenty of people behind them, all nobles with immense influence.

So without a thorough investigation, if it was merely a formality, countless beneficiaries would help cover it up.

In Earth's Great Ming dynasty, an emperor with exactly the same name had suffered an extremely similar fate, playing a fine hand of cards into utter ruin.

At this point, Zhu Qizhen could no longer worry about anything else. He looked at An Deshi.

"I'll spare your wretched lives for now. Cough up every bit of military pay you embezzled, muster the troops immediately, and hold off the Prince of Yu's army!"

However much he wanted to slice them into a thousand pieces, he had to restrain himself now. If he killed all three, who would fight the war?

There were indeed other generals in the capital, but he could not be certain they were all loyal to him.

What if their first act after receiving command was to tie him up and open the city gates? For now, he could only doctor a dead horse as though it were still alive.

"Jing Wencai, send someone to the southern frontier immediately to notify General Wang Biao. Have him send reinforcements at once. Tell him I agree to all his conditions!"

"Yes!"

"Your Highness, Prince of Yu, the Prince of Jin has already dispatched his troops, and General Huang Ze's army of a hundred thousand has crossed the Yellow River. Should we... perhaps surrender?"

Liu Xiangquan was a civil official, after all. By now, he was scared out of his wits, and his resolve was extremely shaky.

Veins bulged on the Prince of Yu's forehead, and his teeth ground together.

"To think that my least threatening nephew was the most calculating, the one best able to conceal his intentions and bide his time."

The Prince of Yu felt weary at heart. He had thought himself patient enough, yet someone had proved even more capable of biding his time.

Zhu Qizhao, who had neglected his studies since childhood and aspired to be a carefree prince, had actually become the mischievous boy holding a slingshot behind the oriole.

Was everything he had laid out ultimately going to become a wedding dress sewn for someone else?

I can't accept it!

I simply can't accept it!

That seat was right before his eyes! That seat was already within his grasp!

The Prince of Yu looked at Liu Xiangquan and turned it over in his mind again and again.

At last, he said, "Victory is already in sight. Order the army to continue marching."

He was like a gambler, one driven red-eyed by his losses, staking everything on one final throw. Even if he died, he would die at the gambling table.

Nanjing is already within reach. As long as I storm the city, I can ascend the throne immediately. I've concealed my intentions and endured for decades for this moment. With victory finally in sight, why should I surrender? What reason do I have to surrender?

Xiahou Jue sighed. He knew he had already lost.

Even if the Prince of Yu succeeded, he would still be on the losing side.

Because among the common people, the Heavenly Principle Sect had already been branded an evil sect. Even if the Prince of Yu ascended the throne, would he risk the condemnation of the entire world to make an evil sect the state religion?

Would he make him the state preceptor?

Once the cunning hare was dead, the hunting hounds would be cooked.

The first thing those who rose to power had to do was wipe away the stains of their past.

Besides, there was no longer any visible chance of the Prince of Yu winning.

But...

Zhu Qizhao, why did you reject me back then?

"Brother Zhao, when Xiahou Jue offered to help you take the throne back then, why did you reject him?" Zhang Qingyuan asked from horseback.

Zhu Qizhao snorted. "What respectable man hides himself in black robes? Do you wear black robes?"

"I don't," Zhang Qingyuan answered.

"Could anyone who wears black robes be respectable?"

The two exchanged a smile. "Despicable!"

If Xiahou Jue had worn Taiji Daoist robes back then, with his hair piled high in an ox-heart topknot and a Qiankun horsetail whisk in hand, dressed immaculately and looking detached from the mortal world, perhaps Zhu Qizhao would have employed him.

To put it plainly, it still came down to looks!