Chapter 75 — TVF Chapter 75

The Table-Flipping Old Father 15

The disciple who had fulfilled his wish by causing Elder Young Master Dugu’s limp followed Dalang to meet a few senior and junior brothers and, without a hitch, became an Imperial Guard.

The Imperial Guards were mainly split into three groups: those directly under the Emperor, those nominally under the Imperial Guards but in truth taking orders from the Crown Prince, and finally, those responsible for guarding the concubines of the harem and the Emperor’s daughters residing in the palace.

Without a doubt, this disciple belonged to the third group. After joining, he was surprised to discover that not only his colleagues and his superior but even the eldest son of their direct supervisor were all “from their own side”...

Seeing his Master’s arrangements, and thinking he had guessed his Master’s ambitions, the disciple grew ever more excited.

He followed his superior and colleagues to pay respects to Consort Yang. In their spare time from duty, he gathered with his sect brothers to study and cultivate the new martial arts technique distributed by their Master.

Consort Yang reported her grievances to Prince Haicheng, who then ordered Consort Dugu to confine herself for self-reflection. Old Master Dugu at once put his own concubine under house arrest... As for the Third Prince in the Crown Prince’s Residence, he knew everything, but deliberately played dumb.

He more and more felt that his wife and his advisors were right: the Imperial Father was intentionally separating him from his mother and the Dugu Clan.

He could still remember what his wife had told him: "Your Highness, if you were the Imperial Father, how could you possibly tolerate what the Dugu Clan has done?"

If he were his father, he would have already found some excuse to exile the entire Dugu Clan!

Now, his Imperial Father was obviously intent on keeping his mother from becoming Empress. He even used Imperial Consort Yang to keep her suppressed... Everyone in the world could see what was going on, but he had already settled into the Crown Prince’s Residence, and from start to finish, his father had never shown the least bit of blame or resentment to him. So... of course he must be loyal to the monarch and honor his father!

Thus when Consort Dugu was confined to Xianfu Palace, her attendant ladies worked hard to secure a meeting with him, but he remained unmoved.

From then on, the Third Prince completely cemented his reputation with Prince Haicheng as someone who “understands priorities, but lacks affection.”

Next, Prince Haicheng gave Old Master Dugu a stern warning, and after much consideration, Old Master Dugu chose to retire for safety... It had to be said, the old are always wiser.

With his most troublesome hidden danger gone, Prince Haicheng had a few more dreams of his White Moonlight and took no further action against the Dugu Clan. Under Imperial Consort Yang’s gentle attentiveness, he resolved to live a few years longer and to spend more time raising his youngest son.

The following year, Prince Haicheng ascended the throne and named the Third Prince as Crown Prince; Consort Yang was titled Noble Consort and was given authority over the harem; Consort Dugu attended the enthronement ceremony, then returned to her self-reflection in Xianfu Palace. After the new monarch finished rewarding the meritorious, the Imperial Decree concerning her came belatedly...

Though she was the Crown Prince’s birth mother, Consort Dugu was only granted the title of “Concubine Jing,” and the title remained “Jing,” which was deeply ironic.

What followed was the Emperor’s ridiculous move: he had the coffin of his White Moonlight, Lady Dugu, removed from the Dugu ancestral land. After reinterment, it was temporarily placed beside the Temple of Imperial Ancestors. He then publicly announced in court that he would posthumously confer the title of Empress on Lady Dugu, and that the Crown Prince—the Third Prince—would be registered as her son.

The Crown Prince was dumbfounded, but on second thought, he felt it freed him: honestly, he was sick of his birth mother dragging him down again and again! If the Imperial Father did not make her Empress, so what? Could he not just wait patiently? In the future... Would it not be perfect for her to become Empress Dowager directly? Now, thanks to his Imperial Father’s rage, he and his mother were officially no longer connected, at least in name.

What was the point of all this?

It was just as his wife had said: his mother’s thirst for power far outstripped that of her own son!

As for the Emperor, seeing the Crown Prince with downcast eyes thinking for a long time and not pleading for his mother, he assumed it was tacit consent and could not help but be disappointed.

Qin Jingzhou stood not far from the Crown Prince, catching all the subtle expressions between the Emperor and his son.

This father and son were bound to clash sooner or later, and the Dugu Clan would hardly remain quiet. He thought he might as well head to the frontier for a while to avoid the storm.

Although the world seemed stable for a while after Prince Haicheng took the throne, a bumper harvest in the western regions of Great Qi soon stirred the restless Prince Fan to act. The Emperor’s path to the throne had seemed a little too smooth, and these Prince Fan believed they could manage just as well.

In Qin Jingzhou's view, the ambitions of these Prince Fan were not entirely unfounded; the new monarch’s abilities were only average compared to previous emperors.

So, in the second spring after the new monarch’s enthronement, the Prince Fan jointly delivered a surprise: multiple princes rose in rebellion, using the excuse that the Emperor was slaughtering the donkey after it finished grinding—betraying those who had served him.

The Emperor’s claim to the throne was not particularly legitimate, and both Imperial Family and Noble Clans had their elders speaking harshly, but their real intent was for the Emperor to pay them off to silence them. Never did they expect the Emperor to go his own way; when cleaning house in the inner palace, he stumbled upon a batch of secret medicine hidden by the Original Emperor, a supply whose effects were subtle and strange.

Those elders who had stuck their necks out successively suffered "sudden seizures" over the course of a year... After sharing a lament with Noble Consort Yang—“Thanks to the Original Emperor for sparing my life”—the Emperor destroyed that batch of secret medicine, and all who had handled it were eliminated as well. Still, even with the witnesses and evidence gone, he could never completely clear himself of suspicion.

Even so, the rebellious Prince Fan did not enjoy the anticipated overwhelming support, though he commanded excellent troops and ample provisions—having fought the North Di People on the frontiers for years, their soldiers and generals were veterans, while those inherited by the Emperor from the Original Emperor’s regional defense forces... It was like seasoned veterans fighting new recruits.

In no time, the coalition of Prince Fans was just five hundred li from the Capital, reminiscent of the days when Prince Haicheng’s Vanguard Army had swept to the city gates.

The Emperor received the report, had no time to vent his frustration, and quickly summoned the Inner Cabinet and Clan Elders to discuss countermeasures.

Reinforcing the army and replacing the generals were necessary, but who to send?

In the end, all those present pushed the unlucky one, Prince Nanping, forward... A Prince who had garrisoned the border for a decade donned his seal and led the expedition. Qin Jingzhou, itching for action after a long period of calm, had his disciple secretly relay the news to Noble Consort Yang.

Noble Consort Yang’s eyes turned, and she had an idea.

In the past two years, the Crown Princess had more or less won the Crown Prince’s full trust, but she remained wary of Qin Jingzhou’s influence. At the instigation of a lady-in-waiting placed in the Crown Prince’s Residence by Noble Consort Yang, the Crown Princess fell for the setup and promptly urged the Crown Prince to send Qin Jingzhou to the frontier for some military experience.

The Crown Prince admitted his wife’s reasoning was sound, yet he also hesitated: he did not really want Master to hold military power, for if he achieved military merit he would be hard to control. The flipside, though, was that it would bring huge benefits if Master commanded troops... this was military authority, after all... Besides, with an uncle above him in the pecking order, Master would merely become acquainted with the generals.

In the end, he agreed.

With the Crown Prince himself as sponsor, the Emperor had no objections. Qin Jingzhou really had been extremely quiet for the past two years, behaving more like a hermit than an official.

After receiving the mobilization order from the Minister of War, Qin Jingzhou had his disciple express thanks to Noble Consort Yang. He returned home to instruct his daughter and son-in-law, who watched the household, and two disciples, then took his eldest son with him to join the army at the front.

Over the course of more than a year, his second son established a small trading firm as a front, which was in fact a branch of their sect.

He never imagined his father and eldest brother would arrive so soon. Excitedly, he brought his newly accepted disciples to find them and indeed received praise from his father.

The second son had good judgment—most of the young men he had chosen showed real promise.

Qin Jingzhou estimated that now that he was in the northwest, he would not be returning anytime soon. With nothing better to do, he might as well teach his disciples a little more.

Truthfully, the 200,000-strong coalition of Prince Fan could not dream of a quick victory against the Forbidden Army led by Prince Nanping, who had actual command and battle experience, together with the former Prince Haicheng’s guards. Anyone could see a general assault at first contact was impossible.

For two months, the two sides only probed one another, then winter came... With the first snowfall, both sides officially rested.

In the dead of winter, with nothing much to do, Prince Nanping gathered some subordinates to go hunting: brimming with confidence, he rode out on horseback, only to be brought back by Prince’s Personal Guards—lying on a stretcher.

Prince Nanping was not ambushed, but ran into a starving tiger... In the end, the tiger escaped, but Prince Nanping suffered serious injuries.

Though Prince Nanping barely survived—having lost half an arm—he obviously could no longer command. The Emperor could only grit his teeth and swap him out, appointing another Prince, Prince Shan, to take his place.

Prince Shan was a touch less experienced than Prince Nanping, but Qin Jingzhou thought he would manage well enough. What he did not expect was that the not-quite-forty Prince Shan caught a serious cold, which turned into pneumonia; had Qin Jingzhou not taken pity and delivered some powerful medicine, the man would have died outright.

Prince Shan only recovered when spring came and managed to lead the troops against Prince Fan in a few battles, winning some and losing some. Yet his health soon gave out, so he petitioned the Emperor for permission to return to the Capital.

The Emperor had plenty of spies in the army and knew Prince Shan was not exaggerating, so he reluctantly agreed and replaced him with another Prince... Qin Jingzhou no longer even bothered to name this one, for he was a reckless youth who insisted on charging at the front and took an arrow squarely in the shoulder.

Qin Jingzhou could not bear it and personally dragged this one out from the enemy ranks.

Not only was the rescued prince ungrateful, he even tried to hold Qin Jingzhou responsible for failing to protect him. Before he could order the military advisor and judge to act, he died of tetanus.

After three consecutive changes of commander, not even the Emperor found it odd anymore, choosing to visit the altars with the Crown Prince and Noble Consort Yang before going to the Temple of Imperial Ancestors to pray.

After the rituals, Prince Fan's coalition seized the main general’s absence to launch a few raids, but all were repelled by the defending commanders with Qin Jingzhou at their head.

In early summer, the fourth general, Jin Zhengming, finally hurried to the front... He had once led the Imperial Guards, and his eldest son was Qin Jingzhou’s disciple.

Jin Zhengming differed from his predecessors. He dared to make full use of Qin Jingzhou.

After sharing a few teas and chess games, Qin Jingzhou sensed they were like-minded, and he increasingly got the feeling that Jin Zhengming was willing to lend him a helping hand.

The system helped Qin Jingzhou search the plot for clues and, with a subtle tone, remarked, “Jin Zhengming... I think his grandfather was part of the former imperial clan.”

But the previous dynasty’s imperial clan was not surnamed Jin.

Clearly, Jin Zhengming’s family had changed its name.

When Qin Jingzhou met Jin Zhengming again, he asked bluntly, “Do you know what I plan to do?”

Jin Zhengming smiled. “I was once rewarded by the Original Emperor and only ever had a single daughter.”

Qin Jingzhou understood. Jin Zhengming’s features overlapped with his own eldest daughter-in-law. “My eldest daughter-in-law is your daughter?”

Jin Zhengming explained, “After my daughter was born, she was switched out. The other side meant to obey the Imperial Decree and kill her, but they couldn’t bring themselves to do it—or maybe they wanted to leave a way out—so instead, they sent her far away.”

Qin Jingzhou nodded and smiled. “No wonder you made sure to send your son to me for martial training.”

Jin Zhengming extended his hand.

Qin Jingzhou recalled that, in the original plot, Jin Zhengming’s official daughter also joined Si Chenghui’s harem, and he gladly clapped hands with Jin Zhengming in a vow.

The two exchanged smiles.