"Sit!" Wang Yu pointed to the seat across from him.
Song Chengyue took a seat on the bench facing him and asked once more, "Who is Your Excellency? Please state your purpose here, or do not blame me for being discourteous!"
Wang Yu chuckled. "I am here to capture you, of course. Otherwise, how would I know you were here, and why would your uncle have sought me out?"
Song Chengyue's brow furrowed. "Aren't you from Longshan Prefecture?"
Wang Yu nodded. "The imperial decree was issued directly to me."
Song Chengyue was certainly no fool. In Longshan Prefecture, there was only one person to whom the Emperor would personally issue a decree. Coupled with the two ravishing women at his side, his identity was all too obvious.
"You are Zhao Yu!"
"And you are Song Chengyue?"
While Wang Yu and Song Chengyue spoke, Li Yunxiu had already figured out who this man was, yet even she had not expected Song Chengyue to be working in a beef noodle shop in Loulan's marketplace.
"That is right. I am Song Chengyue." He nodded.
Li Yunxiu gave a faint smile. "Would you rather trust the Shuntian Army than your own uncle?"
Song Chengyue remained expressionless. "My uncle is a general of the border army. I cannot drag him down."
Li Yunxiu nodded, not caring whether his words were true or false, merely saying, "Your uncle approached us and asked us to show mercy and spare your life."
Song Chengyue fell silent for a moment. "And you agreed?"
"Of course we agreed. We have no grudge against you," Wang Yu said with a smile. "In truth, the Emperor might not even care about your lives. What he cares about is the Loulan treasure."
Flames flared in Song Chengyue's eyes. "He murdered my entire family. I will never surrender the treasure to you."
Li Yunxiu frowned. "Your father colluded with the Shuntian Army. That was already a capital offense."
Song Chengyue flared in anger. "My father never colluded with the Shuntian Army! The Emperor simply coveted the Loulan treasure map in my father's hands, nothing more!"
"Oh?" Wang Yu raised an eyebrow. "Elaborate."
"My father was the Minister of Rites. Years ago, when the Prince of Loulan returned to court, he begged Taizu to dispatch troops to restore his kingdom. Taizu refused. Afterward, the prince lingered in the capital, often visiting the Ministry of Rites.
"At that time, my father was still a director in the Ministry of Rites, responsible for receiving the Prince of Loulan. Over time, the two became friends. Later, my father was promoted to Minister of Rites and submitted memorials to the late emperor, but by then Loulan had long stabilized, and the late emperor was unwilling to wage war.
"Three years ago, the Prince of Loulan fell ill and died in the capital. Before his death, he presented a batch of gifts to my father. My father accepted the gifts, not knowing there was a Loulan treasure map hidden inside.
"Later, after the Prince of Loulan died, his retainers fell into destitution in the capital and spread rumors about the Loulan treasure map, even claiming it was in my father's hands.
"The Emperor issued an imperial decree demanding answers, and my father naturally denied it. Thus, the Emperor believed my father sought to embezzle the treasure. My father was upright and unyielding, contradicting the Emperor in open court, saying that even if the treasure map were in his possession, the treasure was not theirs to take if the Emperor would not restore the prince's kingdom.
"The Emperor flew into a rage, threw my father into prison, and had our family slaughtered and assets confiscated—all to find that old Loulan treasure map in our home. Fortunately, my sister and I caught wind of the danger in advance, found the map among that batch of gifts, and fled with it."
Li Yunxiu stared at Song Chengyue and gave a faint smile. "Then how do you explain the fact that you actually established contact with the Shuntian Army?"
Song Chengyue said harshly, "The Emperor murdered my father on false charges. Are we not even allowed to seek revenge? I contacted the Shuntian Army of my own accord, because I heard that Military Strategist Niu held a memorial for my father and denounced the Emperor. So I sent him a letter asking him to come to the Western Regions to meet with us."
Li Yunxiu fell silent.
Qianqian asked out of curiosity, "Why didn't you just give the treasure map to him?"
Song Chengyue hid nothing. "Because the imperial court was hunting me at the time, and the Shuntian Army was locked in battle with the imperial army. I could not see Military Strategist Niu in person, and I could not trust anyone else."
Wang Yu and Qianqian both looked toward Li Yunxiu.
Li Yunxiu was expressionless, her emotions unreadable.
Ma Bojun smacked his lips. "This Emperor really is something else. Killing such a good official just for money—no wonder the realm is in total turmoil, with the Shuntian Army and the Red Lotus Cult rising up to make trouble."
Song Chengyue glanced at Ma Bojun, wondering how someone sent by the Emperor dared to disparage him so openly.
Ma Bojun snorted. "No matter how mighty the Emperor is, his reach doesn't extend to my White Horse Manor."
Then he turned to Wang Yu. "We northwesterners are still more practical. Let's send this kid back to Wang Bin. If he follows Niu Zilian back to join the Shuntian Army on the battlefield, he probably won't survive."
"I'm not going back!" Song Chengyue said immediately. "The Emperor killed my entire family. I want him dead to avenge them!"
Li Yunxiu sighed. "You cannot kill him. Handing the treasure to the Shuntian Army and fanning the flames for rebels across the realm is already revenge enough."
Song Chengyue snorted coldly. "He deserves it!"
Wang Yu nodded. "He certainly deserves it. But throughout history, those who were among the first to raise the banner of rebellion rarely achieved anything. Joining the Shuntian Army will not only make it difficult to fulfill your wish, but you are also very likely to die in the chaotic fighting.
"I took payment from your uncle and promised him to spare your life, so naturally I won't kill you. But I never promised to drag you back to him. If you refuse to go back, I will not force you."
Song Chengyue let out a breath of relief. "Thank you."
"Still, I would like to offer you a word of advice. Apart from you and your sister, the rest of your family is dead. Just as she said, you have already had your revenge in a sense. There is no need to throw your own life into the fray."
Wang Yu spoke as he ate his noodles, sounding as if he were merely offering casual counsel. "The continuation of the Song family relies entirely on you. I doubt your parents would want you to throw your life away after revenge has already been exacted."
Wang Yu added languidly, "Unless what you seek is not revenge, but your own ambition—wanting to join a faction, claim the empire, and hold power once more?"
Song Chengyue glared and snapped, "I do not!"
"If you do not, your best choice is actually not joining the Shuntian Army, but joining the Northwestern Army."
Wang Yu smiled. "Listen to my breakdown. I've already explained the consequences of joining the Shuntian Army. Once you hand the treasure over to them, your usefulness will be negligible.
"Yet once you join the Northwestern Army, things will be different. The Emperor will completely lose faith in the Northwestern Army, effectively opening up a whole new battlefront. Furthermore, he will have no way to force the Northwestern Army to hand you over, which will damage his own prestige.
"From then on, the Northwestern Army will no longer serve the Emperor's whims. Down the road, once the realm's situation becomes clear: if the court stabilizes the land, you can easily flee far into the Western Regions; if the court is besieged by crises, you can step forward and strike a blow against them. You would have full freedom to advance or retreat.
"The trade-off, however, is that the Northwestern Army has almost no chance of claiming the throne. If you possess grand ambitions and wish to step into your father's shoes, joining the Northwestern Army might not yield that result."
Song Chengyue was stunned. Though he could not process it all at once, it struck him as quite reasonable.
"Of course it's reasonable!" Wang Yu nodded matter-of-factly. "Because everything I've said is considered strictly from your perspective."
Song Chengyue could not help but ask, "Weren't you sent by the Emperor to seize the treasure and take me back? Why would you consider things from my perspective?"
Wang Yu chuckled. "Because I took payment from your uncle!"
Song Chengyue asked, "Then how will you account to the Emperor?"
Wang Yu replied, "As long as I deliver the Loulan treasure to him, that will be enough. Do you think he truly cares whether you siblings live or die?"
Song Chengyue caught on immediately. "I will never hand the treasure over to you."
"That is not up to you," Wang Yu said with a smile. "Whether it is the Shuntian Army or the Mount Qi bandits, as long as I wish it, none of them will be able to take the treasure away right under my nose."
Song Chengyue gave a noncommittal response. "Perhaps."
Li Yunxiu glanced at Wang Yu, then fixed her gaze on Song Chengyue. "Have you already handed the treasure in the Ancient City of Loulan to the Shuntian Army?"
Song Chengyue's heart leaped, and he immediately retorted, "I haven't even met with anyone from the Shuntian Army yet."
Li Yunxiu nodded. "I see."
Wang Yu could not help chuckling. Finishing the last bite of noodles in his bowl, he exhaled contentedly. "It seems the beef in the Western Regions isn't really any tastier than in Longshan Prefecture."
Ma Bojun laughed and chided, "We're in the northwest too. It's all northwestern yellow cattle—the beef is tender, firm, and richly flavorful. If you went to Jiangnan, you'd know just how awful their water buffalo meat is."
Wang Yu nodded, pushed back from the table, and rose. He said to Song Chengyue, "I have said everything that needs to be said. As for whether you go to the Shuntian Army to serve as cannon fodder with no backing, or head to the Northwestern Army to find your uncle and cause a headache for the Emperor, that is entirely up to you."
Song Chengyue looked at Wang Yu with a complicated gaze. "You're not going to arrest me?"
"I won't arrest you. I don't even care to arrest those Shuntian Army people."
Wang Yu smiled. "I even hope you will go and persuade the Shuntian Army forces who came to the northwest, telling them that their greatest wealth is not treasure, but the hearts of the people. Giving up the treasure would actually be far more advantageous to them than claiming it."
Song Chengyue was bewildered once more. "How so?"
"This is the treasure of the former King of Loulan. Taking the treasure without doing the work will only invite ridicule from all under heaven," Wang Yu said. "Even your father understood this truth.
"For thirty years, the imperial court never granted the Prince of Loulan's request. Now, the moment he dies, they want to seize his treasure. How is that any different from profiting off a dead man?
"Even if the Emperor acquires the treasure, it will only yield several million in military funds. For an individual, of course, that is monumental wealth, but for a major faction, it is hardly enough to alter the overall situation.
"As for the Shuntian Army, traveling ten thousand li all the way to the northwest to squabble over treasure with the Mount Qi bandits—it drags them down to the exact same level as mere bandits. How will the realm view them if they conquer the empire relying on such coin?"
Song Chengyue looked at Wang Yu. "Don't tell me you have no desire to bring down the Shuntian Army and seize the treasure?"
Wang Yu chuckled softly. "If contending for the realm were merely a matter of a single Loulan treasure, then you take this matter far too lightly. It has never been a question of one or two people; it is a question of where the hearts of the people lie.
"If the imperial court can win the people's hearts, then no matter how many talents the Shuntian Army possesses, they won't stir up the slightest wave. But if the court levies extortionate taxes and rules tyrannically, then even without a Shuntian Army, there will still be an Earth-Obeying Army or a Man-Obeying Army rising in revolt."
Wang Yu smiled. "If taking the treasure means losing the people's hearts, then the loss far outweighs the gain."
Song Chengyue stood dazed. "Could it be that I should hand this fortune over to the Emperor?"
Wang Yu nodded, completely solemn. "Do you want to hear my advice?"
Song Chengyue's eyes shone bright. "I do!"
Wang Yu grinned cheekily. "I've already analyzed so much for you. The rest doesn't come free. If you want to hear it, tell me the information regarding the Loulan treasure."
Seeing Song Chengyue's face change color, Wang Yu simply waved a hand and turned to leave. "No rush. I am staying at the Yuelai Inn. You can take your time to think it over."
Wang Yu left the beef noodle shop, leaving behind Song Chengyue, whose eyes flickered with indecision.
Chapter 59