Paraded through the Streets

Just after dawn, Ji Yuan, who was lying on his side on a straw mat covered with a smelly, dirty, and tattered quilt, was awakened by the loud bang of the door opening.

The sound came from the iron gate at the end of the corridor, followed by footsteps.

Soon, a dozen or so Nightwatchers came into view of Ji Yuan and the officials of Yunzhou.

"Get up, I'll take you outside to get some sun."

A gong-wielder took out a key and unlocked the chains wrapped around the gate.

Ji Yuan was roughly dragged up by a taciturn gong-wielder and violently shoved out of the cell.

This was his third day in the Nightwatchers's dungeon. The dry straw mat and tattered quilt saved his life, preventing him from freezing to death in the cold dungeon.

But having been pampered since childhood, he had never suffered such hardship.

In just two days, my hands and feet were covered in chilblains, my face turned blue, my lips were bloodless, and my hair was disheveled.

In the past two days, he has been constantly regretting taking on the role of peace envoy.

Ji Yuan is learned and eloquent, which are genuine talents. However, he is, after all, a pampered young nobleman who lacks social experience and worldly wisdom.

Having talent doesn't necessarily mean having strong resilience.

The ordeal of the past two days, coupled with his fear of the future, has brought him to the brink of emotional collapse.

His only hope was that he still had value; Xu Qi'an probably wouldn't kill him, but would use him as a bargaining chip to negotiate with Yunzhou.

It was this hope that sustained him through gritted teeth and persevered.

"It's good to get some sun. If I stay in prison any longer, I'll freeze to death sooner or later," Ji Yuan staggered down the dark corridor, followed by more than twenty Yunzhou officials.

Stepping out of the dungeon, the air was crisp but invigorating, and the sun hung in the sky, offering a gentle warmth.

Ji Yuan stopped, tilted his head back, and enjoyed the feeling of the sunlight on his face.

The man behind him kicked him in the butt, knocking him to the ground.

Ji Yuan struggled to his feet and glared angrily and resentfully at the gong-wielding man.

"What are you looking at? Believe me or not, I'll gouge your eyes out!"

The man with the gong rested one hand on the hilt of his knife, his serious and stern face expressionless, and said:

"Weren't you so arrogant that you only agreed to enter the capital after the Ministry of Rites, the current Grand Secretary, and a prince came out of the city to greet you?"

"Didn't you reprimand the officials in the imperial palace, making all the civil and military officials unable to lift their heads?"

"Didn't you use a little trick to make the people of the capital question Xu Ningyan's reputation?"

"Keep being arrogant."

Ji Yuan clenched his fists, gritting his teeth and enduring the pain.

When the iron hooves of Yunzhou conquer the capital, he will personally destroy the Nightwatchers's office, and all the Nightwatchers who have connections with Xu Qi'an will be executed by slow slicing.

At this moment, a middle-aged man with a silver gong walked over, his stern gaze sweeping over the crowd.

The gong players straightened their robes, adjusted the position of the gongs on their chests, and after confirming that everything was symmetrical and there were no problems, they respectfully said:

"Boss."

The middle-aged man with the silver gong nodded slightly, satisfied, and withdrew his gaze, not looking at Ji Yuan, whose hair was disheveled and whose prison uniform was dirty and wrinkled.

"Let's set off, don't be late."

"Set off? Where to?" Ji Yuan's heart skipped a beat. He wanted to ask, but he felt he was destined to get no answer and would instead get a beating.

The taciturn gong-wielder escorted Ji Yuan out, casually remarking:

"Boss, Ningyan wants to drink with us tonight."

The middle-aged silver gong paused for a moment:

"Gonglan or Imperial Academy of Music?"

"The brothel, he said he won't be going to the Imperial Academy of Music anymore," Tongluo replied.

The middle-aged silver gong felt a little gratified:

"A promise is a promise; he has always been a man of his word."

Li Yuchun knew that after Fuxiang's death, Xu Qi'an had promised not to go to the Imperial Academy of Music again.

Zhu Guangxiao paused briefly, then added:

He said he could invite all the top courtesans from the Imperial Academy of Music to the entertainment district.

Li Yuchun didn't want to talk anymore.

After passing through the back of the yamen, walking along the corridor, and then through a series of offices and courtyards, we finally arrived at the yamen gate.

Outside the government office, rows of prison vans were parked.

Zhu Guangxiao looked at Ji Yuan and said calmly:

Let's go soak up some sun.

Ji Yuan's face stiffened, and he stood there dumbfounded.

A new notice was posted on the notice boards of various government offices in the capital, as well as at the gates of the inner and outer city.

Notices were an important channel for Beijing residents to obtain official information on a daily basis.

Ordinary people don't usually pay much attention to notice boards unless something major happens recently.

The most important thing in the capital right now is negotiating peace.

What does the notice say?

As soon as the notice was posted, the surrounding people flocked over, some discussing it, others asking the official who posted it.

An hour before the notice was posted, an official would announce the contents of the notice to the people.

After all, only a small percentage of ordinary people in the city are literate.

These official imperial notices had a high reading threshold; even literate people without a certain level of education could not understand their contents.

Eventually, it will become a situation where "I recognize each character individually, but I don't know what it means when they are put together."

"It must be about the peace negotiations. The imperial court suffered a defeat, Qingzhou fell, and I heard they're going to cede territory to sue for peace."

"This mere bandit prefecture is so arrogant! Since the new emperor ascended the throne, the people's lives have become increasingly worse, and corrupt officials run rampant."

Shh, keep your voice down, don't talk nonsense.

"What's there to be afraid of? There aren't any soldiers around. Besides, everyone's cursing like this."

As they talked, the topic shifted from "peace negotiations" to the fall of Qingzhou.

"Even Xu Yinluo couldn't defend Qingzhou? He was a powerful figure who single-handedly wiped out the entire army of 200,000 of the Witch God Cult at Yuyang Pass."

"I've heard this question countless times. Who knows? Speaking of which, it's been a long time since I've seen Xu Yinluo in Beijing."

"What I've heard is that the supervisors all died in Qingzhou, and Xu Yinluo is no match for the rebels in Yunzhou."

"Sigh, no wonder Xu Yinluo is so low-key. There's nothing he can do; he can't beat them."

After venting their emotions for so many days, most people, though still resentful, had passed their most intense moment. They still privately cursed the court and Yunzhou's decision to negotiate peace, but were powerless to change it.

The opposition was not as strong.

In particular, with the fall of Qingzhou and the arrival of the Yunzhou delegation in the capital, a series of rumors fermented and spread. The people of the capital gradually figured out the ins and outs and learned the news that the Great Feng Guardian Shenjian had died in battle in Qingzhou.

Although in their eyes, the supervisor's prestige was far less than that of Xu Yinluo.

In the minds of ordinary people, the position of "supervisor" was just a title, a concept.

At this moment, the clerk standing beside the notice shouted:

"Those who ruled the world in ancient times valued the preservation of the lives of all people and could not bear to harm others for the sake of their well-being. Since I ascended the throne, I have failed to govern the country well, which led to the rebellion in Yunzhou, causing turmoil throughout the land, a perilous situation, and immense suffering for the people. I am ashamed before my ancestors."

"Princess Huaiqing is virtuous and capable, far surpassing me in virtue. Therefore, Princess Huaiqing shall ascend the throne in due order, with Xu Qi'an assisting her, to uphold the state, quell rebellions, and Great Feng to the world. Would this not be a virtuous act? So be it."

The notice, which was over four hundred words long, left the surrounding people speechless after the official finished reading it, frozen in place like statues.

"Huh, what does that mean?"

"It seems the emperor abdicated in favor of the eldest princess?" The speaker's eyes widened suddenly.

"Does the eldest princess want to become the emperor?"

It immediately caused an uproar; the crowd erupted in uproar.

The notice had a strong impact on the public, causing shock, confusion, and bewilderment.

This made them disregard the dangers of their words and they began a heated discussion.

"How can a woman be an empress? Isn't that absurd? Does she expect officials to embroider along with her?"

"Can the princess even read? Why does His Majesty abdicate in favor of her? Isn't it shameful for a woman to be emperor?"

Their first reaction was resistance, anger, and inability to accept it; they felt it was the most absurd thing in the world.

Then someone said:

"Have you ever listened to storytelling in teahouses? I think there used to be a woman who was an empress, her name was... what was it again?"

"Empress of the Sun?"

"Yes, yes, you've heard of it too."

The commotion subsided slightly, and it was clear that many people had heard similar things in the past few days at entertainment venues such as restaurants, teahouses, and brothels.

Then someone else said:

The notice stated that the eldest princess had ascended the throne, with Xu Yinluo assisting her.

Oh, with Xu Yinluo assisting him.

The dissenting voices subsided somewhat, but some still muttered:

"Why would Xu Yinluo assist a woman to become emperor? Isn't this utter nonsense? In the six hundred years Great Feng Dynasty, there has never been such a precedent."

"Yes, it's really hard to figure out what the officials and Xu Yinluo are thinking. They're negotiating peace with Yunzhou on one hand, and promoting the princess to be the emperor on the other."

"Xu Yinluo is confused."

The people, who originally regarded Xu Qi'an as a hero and protector, were disappointed by the fall of Qingzhou and regarded the peace talks as a disgrace. Although no one openly criticized Xu Qi'an, they were certainly disappointed.

As soon as the notice was posted, feelings of disappointment quickly turned into dissatisfaction.

Suddenly, a commotion attracted the attention of the people around the notice board.

Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw a prison wagon slowly approaching, followed by a large group of people who kept throwing stones and spitting at the prisoners on the wagon.

Some people even carried chamber pots and threw excrement at the prisoners in the prison van.

Among the leading riders, a Nightwatchers, perched high on horseback, struck a bronze gong and shouted:

"By order of Xu Yinluo, the rebels of Yunzhou will be paraded through the streets in public."

On both sides of the street, the crowd was in high spirits. Some of the people who came to join in the fun joined in throwing stones, some pointed and cursed, and some clapped and sang, which was very satisfying.

Ji Yuan was covered in blood, his heart filled with despair.

The accompanying Yunzhou officials trembled and wept bitterly.

dusk.

In the Imperial Study, Huaiqing sat behind a large table covered with yellow silk. Inside the hall were Liu Hong and Qian Qingshu, the two leaders of the political parties, as well as the Ministry of Rites.

The Ministry of Rites bowed and said:

"Your Highness, preparations for the enthronement are complete."

Huaiqing, dressed in an elegant palace dress, nodded slightly.

After the Ministry of Rites returned to his position, Liu Hong stepped forward and bowed.

"The whole city is in an uproar today. There is still some resentment among the people, but it is not serious. Xu Yinluo's reputation has also improved. Most people in the capital still love and respect him."

After Liu Hong finished speaking, he couldn't help but laugh:

"Given Xu Yinluo's current prestige, he is the most suitable person to protect His Highness. No one in the court enjoys the people's favor more than him."

When a princess ascends the throne and becomes empress, the nobility is actually more likely to accept it than the common people. As long as the benefits are right and there is coercion through force, there are quite a few who will submit.

Most importantly, in the eyes of the ruling class, although Huaiqing was a woman, she was, after all, a member of the royal family with impeccable lineage.

The fact that a woman became empress was an exception, and the next new ruler was still from the Great Feng royal family.

This greatly reduced the resistance from the ruling class.

But the common people don't care about these things. To appease the people and gain their trust, Huaiqing's prestige is insufficient, and the other officials' prestige is also insufficient. Only Xu Qi'an can do it.

Qian Qingshu echoed:

Whether Your Highness can win the hearts and minds of the people depends on tomorrow.

Huaiqing kept his head down, reviewing the document in his hands, and gave a curt "hmm" without looking up.

"It's getting late, my dear subjects, you may all leave now."

The three bowed and left the imperial study.

The memorial in Huaiqing's hand was submitted by the Grand Secretariat. It contained a list of matters to be handled after his ascension to the throne, including various trivial matters. However, one item was extremely important: the summons of the provincial governors and military commanders of each prefecture to return to the capital to report on their duties.

This was actually a negotiation, a courting effort, to do some ideological work with the state leaders.

The next day.

The atmosphere in the capital was extremely strange that day. From princes and nobles to ordinary citizens, everyone knew that this was a day destined to be recorded in history.

Because Princess Huaiqing ascended the throne today, setting a precedent that has not been set in the six hundred years of the Great Feng.

While ordinary people may not have the opportunity to witness the emperor's ascension to the throne, this does not prevent them from paying attention to and discussing it.

Different social classes held different opinions. The students of the Imperial Academy and the Confucian scholars were heartbroken about Huaiqing's ascension to the throne. Even the public shaming of the Yunzhou delegation could not win their favor.

At most, they'll just stop criticizing Xu Qi'an.

The opinions of ordinary people were the most diverse; some couldn't accept it, some were indifferent, and some chose to believe Xu Yinluo.

At the Xu Residence, Auntie also expressed her views on behalf of the noblewomen.

"My lord, Ningyan is just making a fool of herself. How can a woman be emperor? I don't even dare to go out. I'm afraid of being recognized as Xu Ningyan's aunt. What if someone throws rotten eggs at me?"

My aunt is as beautiful as ever; time seems to have been exceptionally kind to her.

Although she no longer looked youthful when sitting with her daughter, she didn't appear old; her face was fair and smooth, without any wrinkles.

Second Uncle Xu lowered his head and ate his food, offering no opinion.

"My elder brother knows what he's doing."

Compared to her mother, Xu Lingyue greatly admired her eldest brother's heroic act.

Seeing that her topic was going cold, the aunt sighed:

"Qingzhou has fallen, and Erlang is nowhere to be found. Lingyin is cultivating in the Gu Clan, and we don't know when she will return. Will she be bullied by the barbarians of the Southern Frontier?"

"That heartless bastard Xu Ningyan went back to the capital and didn't even bother to come home to visit."

As they were talking, the aunt's gaze suddenly froze, and she stared straight out of the hall.

PS: Typos will be corrected later.