Chapter 014 – His Majesty returns to the imperial palace

Xue Yuan put Gu Yuanbai on the bed, and the palace servants that were in the room knelt on the ground.

With tears in his eyes, Tian Fusheng carefully took off the Emperor’s shoes and socks, rolled up the hem of his pants,the swollen ankle joint appearing before their eyes.

The Emperor’s ankle was already slender, and, after swelling, it looked horrifying. Xue Yuan lowered his head and glanced at it, his brow furrowed. He actually felt bad.

Gu Yuanbai looked at the door expressionlessly. A moment later, a rush of footsteps approached, and the guard, Zhang Xu, brought in the imperial doctors to treat Gu Yuanbai’s injuries. Behind them was General Xue, who kneeled on the floor as soon as he crossed the door.

General Xue knocked his head heavily on the ground, his heart desolated. “Your Highness, your servant is guilty!”

The two imperial doctors washed their hands and carefully touched Gu Yuanbai’s foot, which was like a figure carved from jade. Now that he had suffered such an injury, the two doctors frowned helplessly, not even knowing where to start.

“General Xue, what crime are you guilty of?” Neither joy nor anger could be detected in the Emperor’s voice.

General Xue sounded defeated when he spoke. “Your Highness suffered a fright in this official’s mansion and your dragon body received an injury. This servant is to blame.”

Gu Yuanbai said: “We believe it was all a coincidence. During the day, Prince He sent someone to bring Us a bowl of deer blood, but the young man accidentally spilled it by the window. In the middle of the night, ferocious wolves followed the smell of blood into Our rooms. Everyone around the courtyard was asleep, and the guards were tired. We just happened to wake up at that time and run into these two wolves. Official Xue, We feel that this was the will of the Heavens.”

A bead of sweat slid down General Xue’s forehead as he bowed his head deeply.

Xue Yuan followed his father and knelt behind him. While the Emperor remained in silence, one could have heard a pin drop in the room. The guards standing around were holding onto their big swords that hung on their waists, looking at the Xue family members with cold, fierce eyes.

Earlier, when Gu Yuanbai had Xue Yuan carry him, he had been dismissing him; his words now were dismissing General Xue.1

Xue Yuan knelt on the ground, his face gloomy.

Such coincidences don’t exist in the world, and yet it was all a coincidence. If he didn’t know that it was impossible, Xue Yuan would have thought that the Emperor had guessed that the wolves would appear in the yard in the middle of the night and went there on purpose.

Xue Mansion was suddenly all lit up in the middle of the night. Prince He’s servants, as well as those from Xue Mansion, knelt in a group, while Zhang Xu, the captain of the guard, sullenly checked them one by one with his subordinates.

After a stick of incense,2 Zhang Xu’s guard sent someone to press the frightened second son of the Xue family to the ground before the Emperor while Zhang Xu himself stepped forward, whispering on the side about what had happened into the Emperor’s ear.

Gu Yuanbai raised his eyebrows, glanced at the second young master Xue, and leisurely signaled for him to be released.

The second son of the Xue family was an idiot. He had gotten jealous of Xue Yuan after learning that he wouldn’t be allowed to visit the Emperor the day before. The wolves kept by the household were all Xue Yuan’s pets. Xue Yuan had trained them to be very obedient, and they’d go to Xue Yuan’s courtyard to be fed every day. Since the Emperor was staying at the Xue Mansion that day, Xue Yuan hadn’t had time to feed the wolves, and the second young master had a bad idea.

In the middle of the night, when everyone was asleep, he released two hungry wolves and let them run into Xue Yuan’s courtyard. They would surely bite people if they had no meat to eat. If Xue Yuan got bitten, he would not be able to visit the Emperor the next day.

The second young master thought that he would then be the only healthy heir in the Xue Mansion, so he went through with it.

But what he didn’t expect was that the wolves, who had been starved for a day, would be attracted by the scent of deer blood while they were on their way and jump at Gu Yuanbai.

What a fool, Gu Yuanbai thought.

But nonetheless, he felt pleased to know that there was such an idiot in General Xue’s household.

Gu Yuanbai waved away the unrelated people and then let Zhang Xu tell General Xue what had happened. The face of the second young master Xue went red and his legs weren’t able to support him.

General Xue’s breathing gradually grew ragged, and he stared, wide eyed, at his second son.

Xue Yuan sneered.

For a time, it seemed like General Xue was getting older by the second. He bowed his head towards the Emperor awkwardly. “Thank you, Your Highness, for your mercy.”

Since unrelated people had been all sent away, at least this ridiculous event would not become known by everyone.

At this time, Gu Yuanbai sighed and spoke with an amiable expression: “Official Xue, why would We be bothered by this? Since We know that it was just a coincidence, of course, this matter won’t be pursued any further.”

The Emperor’s swollen ankle was right in front of his face. It was a shocking sight, and General Xue didn’t even dare to look. Every glance condemned him further. With tears in his eyes, he proclaimed: “This official’s son made a grave mistake! It would only be natural for Your Majesty to punish him. This official would have no complaints!

“This official failed to protect Your Highness properly, and is just as guilty!” Two lines of tears fell down General Xue’s face. “It is this official’s fault for not raising him properly, and I am willing to accept my punishment!”

Xue Yuan said politely: “These wolves were my wolves, so naturally I am also guilty. Your Majesty’s foot is now broken. If necessary, I can accompany Your Highness and be at Your Highness’ service.”

Among the three of them, he was the only one who spoke in a calm tone. Hearing that sentence, the second master Xue shivered and came close to peeing his pants in fear.

Such an unpleasant thing had happened right in front of the Emperor, and the two of them were already trembling. At this point, General Xue would do anything as an apology, as long as it would make the Emperor not be displeased with the Xue family.

When he heard Xue Yuan’s words, he immediately realized it was an opportunity to regain the Emperor’s favor. Previously, he had even sent an imperial physician from the palace to treat him. Didn’t that mean that Yuan-ger had gained His Majesty’s favor?

General Xue immediately said: “This dumb son of mine can’t use pen, ink, paper, and inkstone,3 but his martial arts are still remarkable. It would be inconvenient for Your Highness to walk right now. Although this dumb son is no better than the palace guards, at least he’s a bit strong. If Your Highness does not dislike him, allow him to enter the palace to accompany Your Highness.

”
”
Xue Yuan’s smiling mouth froze, and his expression suddenly turned gloomy.

The Emperor was such a villainous character that he pretended to think for a moment before saying reluctantly: “Since that’s the case, let it be so.”

Tian Fusheng promptly said: “General Xue, and the two young masters, go to rest. The Emperor needs to go back to sleep.”

After they left, Gu Yuanbai slowly leaned back on the bed. The imperial doctor had been applying medicine on him, and every time it touched him, he felt a sharp pain. The imperial doctor was completely concentrated on the task at hand, and he did not dare to stop for a moment. Gu Yuanbai had been enduring it for a while. He leaned against the bed frame and groaned, unable to hold it in, when he saw that everyone had gone away.

Xue Yuan had already stepped outside of the door, but still heard a muffled groan. He couldn’t resist glancing back. The bed canopy hid the Emperor’s face, but his hands were grasping onto his robes, creating deep folds on Xue Yuan’s satin clothes.

The Emperor was a very controlled person, and the white fingertips revealed the level of his restraint. Even if the pain was severe, he’d just tighten his grasp to endure it.

Xue Yuan frowned and looked away.

Even if he was wearing Xue Yuan’s robe, that didn’t mean he was allowed to tear the fabric.

On the second day, the officials that weren’t far from the Xue Mansion all learned about the Emperor’s stay in Xue Mansion the night before.

Chang Yuyan appeared at the gates of Xue Mansion early in the morning. He visited Xue Yuan energetically, and insisted on dragging him along to go greet the Emperor.

When the two of them arrived, Gu Yuanbai was sitting on a chair and his swollen ankle was being massaged by a doctor. His fair calf was slightly exposed, and the soles of his feet were resting on the doctor’s knees.

The inside of the manor lacked sunlight, and the imperial doctor didn’t dare to massage him without bright lighting, so they were sitting in the middle of the courtyard, next to a big tree that had just begun to sprout green buds. The sunlight shone onto the Emperor’s body, making him look so white that he was almost glowing.

Xue Yuan and Chang Yuyan had to be announced when they arrived. The guards formed a circle around the doctor, with their backs towards the Emperor, but the human wall wasn’t completely opaque, and Xue Yuan and Chang Yuyan were able to see the full scene when they looked from a distance.

As soon as Chang Yuyan saw the scene, he quickly lowered his gaze as if he had been burned. He didn’t dare to look up, and his face was on fire.

An eunuch came over to announce them. Gu Yuanbai, in the middle of his discomfort, glanced in the direction of the two men and frowned impatiently. “Send them away.”

Every now and then, the imperial doctor would retire his hands and rub the palms together to warm them up again before holding the ankle once more. Gu Yuanbai’s forehead was covered in fine sheen of sweat that a palace attendant would wipe away. After some time, the imperial doctor mentioned in a quiet voice: “Your Majesty, a hot compress should be applied for a quarter of an hour.”

“Alright.”

The hot towel was wrapped around his ankles, and his tight brows finally relaxed. Gu Yuanbai leaned back against the chair and closed his eyes. After the quarter of an hour was up, the doctor removed the towel. Carefully, Tian Fusheng squatted down before him to put his socks and shoes back on.

Tian Fusheng whispered: “Your Highness, General Xue took his second son to the ancestral hall last night and beat him half to death with the disciplinary rod. I heard that, afterwards, Master Xue went with a club to the second young master’s room, and, when he came back out, the young master’s leg was broken.”

The Emperor didn’t care about it, and he didn’t care to hear it. When Tian Fusheng put on his shoes and socks, Gu Yuanbai opened his eyes and slowly stood up straight.

The head guard stepped forward with concern. “Should this official carry Your Highness into the carriage?”

Gu Yuanbai laughed and said: “We can walk unaided.”

Asking Xue Yuan to carry him last night was a show of power. Now, under these circumstances, wouldn’t he lose face if he got carried by someone else?

Xue Mansion was, by far, much smaller than the Imperial Palace. Gu Yuanbai walked slowly, but steadily, to the gates of the mansion. The carriage that would take them to the palace was ready, and the entire Xue family showed up to send the Emperor off. When Madam Xue learned of the previous night’s events, she knelt tremblingly and bowed to Gu Yuanbai, with her face looking sallow.

Gu Yuanbai patiently accepted her courtesy before stepping into the carriage.

Looking at the Emperor’s departure, Chang Yuyan had a complicated expression on his face and seemed a bit lost. The Emperor had treated him so kindly the last two times they had met, but that day, it seemed that he hadn’t spotted him at all, and he hadn’t spared Chang Yuyan half a glance. He had even been rejected when he tried to visit, and the sudden change made Chang Yuyan almost unable to keep his gentlemanly smile on his face.

“Xue Yuan,” he said, trying to make a risk assessment, “did you offend His Highness?”

The reason the Emperor didn’t want to see him was because of Xue Yuan. That was the sole thing that made Chang Yuyan feel better.

When Xue Yuan heard his words, the blue veins on his forehead became more visible. “Shut up.”

After returning to the palace, Gu Yuanbai wasn’t able to take any rest. The first thing he had to do was to deal with all the government affairs that had gotten accumulated for the last two days.

All sorts of official reports and memorials would pass through the Emperor’s hands. There weren’t too many, but there weren’t few either. The officials from the Zhengshi Hall4 would classify them according to their respective administrative divisions and urgency, and important matters would be delivered to the Emperor’s own desk for him to handle. He would have to handle small matters, even loaded with trivial details. The processed memorials would receive commentary, and on occasion they would be reviewed by the Supervision Office in Juzheng Department.5

After the three procedures were completed, the Emperor would occasionally go to Zhengshi Hall, so the officials there would be industrious and diligent. As such, there weren’t many cases of memorials being returned to the Supervision Office.

However, Gu Yuanbai still felt very inconvenienced when he was correcting the official documents.

The local officials were thousands of miles away, so they especially didn’t dare risk losing the Emperor’s favor. Therefore, they would always flatter themselves when addressing Gu Yuanbai. There would be several pages of useless flattery,6 and the memorials would be written very poetically. However, the main points that Gu Yuanbai wanted to really understand would be mentioned in barely one line, and they were always left vague.

Gu Yuanbai had had in mind reforming the evaluation of local officials’ performances, and reforming the memorials was essential for it. After a new batch of scholars were selected, some of them would be sent to those prefectures and the local governments would get changed from the bottom up.

It would be better to set a template for presenting memorials, and have people only fill out the data in the template. If the system were to be unified, the official’s performance would be clear and consistent, and it would be possible to reduce the amount of unnecessary administrative offices across the country and improve efficiency greatly.

“Tian Fusheng,” Gu Yuanbai rubbed his eyebrows, lacking energy, “make Us a strong cup of tea.”

Very often, as a dynasty continued in time, the Emperor would be subject to more limitations.

When an Emperor founded a dynasty, his military and imperial powers would be vibrant. The first emperors would be able to turn the tables, directing the troops with their own hands with the authority to fight down the world and introduce reforms from the top down. However, as the dynasty aged, the Emperor’s actual power would diminish more and more.

There were very powerful families clinging to the land of Great Heng. These local clans were very powerful, expanding their territory and committing crimes, and some would even slaughter innocents. It was the underworld of ancient times. How can the central government deal with these local clans? They occupied tens of thousands of acres of fertile farmland. Some colluded with the local government, and some even controlled it.7

These long rooted clans were all tangled up with each other, and pulling at any vine could bring out the mud.8

The Emperor didn’t just have to balance the bureaucrats, the eunuchs, and the military, but also had to deal with these clans.

Such a situation can only be changed by force, and then Gu Yuanbai can rebuild it from scratch.

Gu Yuanbai knew that there were enemy countries coveting the lands of the Great Heng Dynasty, and he also knew that there were some sources of instability within the territory.

He himself had allowed some of those sources to exist.

He had deliberately allowed some of the supporters of Lu Feng, the powerful minister, to escape. The reason was that Gu Yuanbai still had a use for them.

Perhaps, some people thought that he, the Emperor, was in a dangerous position, and the world was about to descend into turmoil.

But what they didn’t know was that Gu Yuanbai was the one waiting for the turmoil, and even stealthily pushing for some changes in the territory behind the scenes. He drove the remnants of Lu Feng’s power where he wanted them to be, intending to use the turmoil to pull out the most deeply rooted part of the poisonous tumor in the Great Heng dynasty.

He intended to use the power of his enemies to take the land and wealth away from these powerful clans.

After the enemies got rid of the powerful clans, Gu Yuanbai would use his benevolent reputation to take over the land, peasants, gold and silver that would have fallen into his enemy’s hands.

Under the banner of the imperial army, which stood on the highest moral ground, he’d wipe out these greedy and brutal rebels.