Chapter 1445: Chapter 1445: Return to Beijing
Time flew by, and the war did not end as quickly as anticipated. The Emperor’s ambition was not merely to subdue the various tribes. As time went on, corpses littered the dual fronts, and the Imperial court’s counterattacks caught the tribes off guard. Gradually, the tribes gained experience in being hunted down, but the war could not be concluded in a short moment.
Both fronts were like colossal meat grinders, with the Imperial court suffering fewer casualties. The Emperor was well-prepared and unafraid of acquiring a bad reputation, using a significant amount of poison on the battlefield.
Zhou Shuren had become numb to all sorts of poisons. The real ruthless one was the Emperor. It’s not that no one warned about the excessive slaughter, but the Emperor simply smiled and said to Zhou Shuren, "History is written by the victors."
Zhou Shuren agreed with the Emperor’s words. Erasing some history was quite simple. He also learned some painful secrets about the decade-long war from the Retired Emperor.
The Retired Emperor said, "Your Zhou family village is lucky. When I first raised an army in rebellion, there were many uprisings, and even I, well-prepared, lacked grain and supplies. Not to mention others, plundering and killing were countless, many of the bandits impersonated soldiers. My methods were considered kind compared to some people’s."
The chaos of ten years left corpses strewn everywhere; his imperial throne was attained by stepping over countless bodies.
Zhou Shuren was not shocked after hearing this: It’s better to be a dog in a peaceful age than a human in chaotic times. During ten years of war, human life was the least valuable as Silver. Fortunately, he had not been transported back to that time prematurely.
The dual fronts were not only meat grinders but also colossal silver-consuming beasts. Zhou Shuren was extremely concerned about grain and supplies every day. As a person who always planned ahead, seeing any Zhezi urging for grain and supplies made his scalp tingle.
Victorious dispatches kept arriving in the capital, and the panic in the capital had long dissipated. Those who had fled to the Northeast started returning to their hometowns.
Merchants from various countries once again traveled to and from the capital. Zhou Shuren’s control over the market had been effective. Those who wanted to profit from the war were embarrassed; exceeding the market price by twice was fined for disrupting the market, with severe cases resulting in confiscation of goods.
When the laws were enacted, the announcement was not publicized; this was a trap set long ago, to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, and it reaped a lot of goods and Silver.
Foreign merchants naturally felt aggrieved. The laws were enacted with noted dates. If they didn’t read carefully, whom could they blame?
If they didn’t have the intention to loot amidst chaos, they wouldn’t be fined. It was their own not-so-pure motives to blame.
It was during this time that Rongchuan arrived in the capital.
At the Zhou family, Zhulan received news that Prince Qin had arrived in the capital; she anxiously awaited, as she could not rest easy until she saw her daughter with her own eyes.
Prince Qin had personal soldiers for escort. Having a significant target made his travel conspicuous. While large-scale assassinations had ceased, attempts at covert assassinations continued unabated. With the frequency of such attempts, sometimes they were hard to guard against.
Fortunately, he made it to the capital safely in the end.
In the Palace, Rongchuan’s wounds had healed. Meeting with his imperial brother and father, he said, "I’ve caused Father and Brother concern."
The Retired Emperor seeing the scar on his son’s hand, "What about this scar?"
Rongchuan replied, "It was from blocking my face during an assassination attempt."
It was indeed a close call back then. If he hadn’t blocked his face with his hand, there would have been a long scar left on his face.
The Retired Emperor felt extreme heartache. With the Grassland Tribe’s increasingly frenzied retaliations, aiming to kill Rongchuan with each assassination becoming more perilous than the last, he said, "It’s good that you’re back, good that you’re back."
The Emperor patted his brother’s back. The journey back to the capital was dangerous for his brother, but it also flushed out spies. To kill Rongchuan, many spies from the Grassland Tribe were exposed, "You’ve worked hard."
Rongchuan was truly exhausted, psychologically drained. He was flesh and blood and faced relentless assassination attempts that pushed his spirit to the limit. Finally back in the capital, there was no safer place than the Palace.
Then Rongchuan fainted, which terrified the Retired Emperor. The Retired Emperor’s hands trembled continuously until the Emperor spoke up, "Rongchuan is okay, probably just tired."
The Retired Emperor dared to go over only then, checking his breath, and heaved a sigh of relief, "Have the Imperial Physician take a look."
Emperor leaned over to help his brother lie down on the small kang bed where he rested.
Rongchuan fell asleep from exhaustion, Xue Han also lay down to rest, and Empress Dowager kept vigil; the assassination attempt wasn’t aimed at Xue Han, but husband and wife are united as one. Xue Han had lost a lot of weight, and this pained the Empress Dowager deeply.
Empress Dowager waited at the palace gate for her son, relieved to see him unharmed. But upon seeing her daughter-in-law, it was apparent that the pregnancy was unstable. Hurriedly, she took her daughter-in-law back to the harem; a closer look revealed that the daughter-in-law could scarcely hold up her Princess Consort’s clothing.
The Imperial Physician spoke thoughtfully, "Princess Qin has suffered multiple pregnancy scares. This child will be born prematurely, and moreover..."
A jolt went through Empress Dowager’s heart, "And what?"
"Princess Qin needs meticulous care; otherwise, the childbirth may encounter complications."
The color drained from Empress Dowager’s face; this meant Xue Han could have difficulties during labor. After several pregnancy scares, the mother’s health was affected, and the child’s condition wasn’t minor either. Empress Dowager loathed the Grassland Tribe responsible for the assassination attempts on her son.
Back at the Zhou family, Zhulan hadn’t seen her daughter and Rongchuan, nor had any palace maid arrived with news from inside the Palace; when Zhou Shuren returned, Zhulan became anxious, "Something must be wrong with the couple, or they wouldn’t have forgotten to send us a message of safety."
Zhou Shuren’s mind was also in turmoil. He knew about Rongchuan’s multiple assassination attempts, but only because the Retired Emperor didn’t want to worry alone and had decided to share his concerns with him.
"Maybe they’re just too busy, too exhausted to remember for the moment."
Zhulan pursed her lips. Recall that Lin Xi and Zeze were brought back to the Palace the previous day. If the children were still here, she could have learned more news.
Throughout the night, Zhulan tossed and turned, unable to sleep; her mind filled with unpleasant thoughts about her daughter. Zhou Shuren also stayed awake, more worried now that their daughter was in the capital without sending any news back home.
The next morning, during the early court session, Zhou Shuren yawned as he attended. Qiu Yan asked, "Didn’t sleep well?"
Zhou Shuren replied, "Didn’t sleep the whole night."
Qiu Yan’s hair had also greyed considerably, worried about provisions daily; this worry turned his hair white rapidly, "Your Excellency should take better care of your health, the provisions will be fully prepared."
Zhou Shuren, "It’s not that. I’m not worried about this batch of provisions; I already have plans. What worries me are Prince Qin and Princess Qin."
Qiu Yan, preoccupied with the thought of provisions, "Prince Qin and Princess Qin?"
"Yes, they returned to the capital yesterday."
"That’s good news then; why worry?"
Zhou Shuren said somberly, "Indeed, it’s supposed to be good news, yet I’ve received no updates from them."
Qiu Yan fell silent, understanding the anxiety of a situation being right before your eyes yet unseen.
During the morning court, Zhou Shuren occasionally glanced at the Emperor, who felt the stares and initially thought he might have overburdened Zhou Shuren. It took him a moment to realize that Rongchuan had slept deeply the previous day, perhaps not having had a good rest for a long time, and was still not awake now.
The same was true for Princess Qin; the couple had slept soundly, whereas their parents, the Emperor and Empress, had hardly slept the whole night, with the Imperial Physician also staying on guard.
After the morning court, Zhou Shuren made his way towards the Emperor, but the Crown Prince saw this, "Father Emperor, Minister Zhou."
The Emperor paused in his steps, "Let him come over."
The old man cherished his descendants dearly. If he would not let him see them today, he would persistently nag him.