Wen Zhengxi had by now returned to Chang'an, and he was kneeling in the Wen family ancestral hall, his face full of grief and fury.
He had been back in Chang'an only a few days when Wang Chong's dirt arrived—and it had gone out to everyone at once. The entire court, high and low, was shaken by it. Just as Wang Chong had foreseen, all of Chang'an was in an uproar.
The Heavenly Empress's only son had been slandered as a lecher and driven out of Chang'an; and now there was this collusion with the eighteen grassland tribes, this coalition army raised to come and kill. It was a case fit to pierce the heavens.
Everyone knew that the great clans all wanted Wen Zhengchun dead, but how could such a thing ever be brought before the court?
To say nothing of colluding with the eighteen grassland tribes, letting in a coalition of grassland masters, even bringing troops across the border—that was a crime calling for the extermination of nine generations of kin!
Compared with that, using such despicable methods to hound this Prince of Yan to his death counted as a small matter.
Wang Chong had not killed this cousin of his because Wen Zhengxi was doomed to die in any case.
And the one who killed him was bound to be the Wen family.
That was what it truly meant to kill a man and destroy his heart.
Three Wen elders walked slowly into the ancestral hall, and Wen Zhengxi said, grief and fury in his voice, "I did not kill Zhiwei!"
Wen Yande, Grand Master of the Golden Seal and Purple Ribbon, the highest-ranking official in the Wen family at present, said in a low voice, "Whether you killed her or not no longer matters. Have you anything else to say?"
Wen Zhengxi's face was full of terror. Trembling, he said, "Second Uncle, is there no way I can live?"
Wen Yande turned his head away. "Take your own life."
Wen Zhengxi felt as though he had fallen into a pit of ice. He had prided himself on his divine calculations; even his cousin Wen Zhiwei had long enjoyed the name of a strategist among women. This kill-the-chrysanthemum plan had been hammered and reforged a thousand times, flawless and seamless—who could have imagined it would end like this?
He cried out, "It must have been Wen Zhengchun! He killed Zhiwei and pinned it on me!"
Before Wen Yande could speak, the Grandee Wen Yanmo beside him said impatiently, "Did you not pin it on Wen Zhengchun as well?"
"Your handling of the matter was careless, and that is how this defeat came about."
"The Wen family must have someone answer for it and carry every name-calling on his own back. If you have nothing more to say, then be off on your way."
Wen Zhengxi's whole body shook. He truly could not bring himself to imagine that he had come to such a pass.
Suddenly he burst into wild laughter and shouted, "I was the one who did the work, but who in the Wen family, high or low, did not know of the scheme? Which of the gentlemen at court did not hope for it? Which of the great clans did not add fuel to the flames and promise our Wen family its rewards? They promised at least ten official posts between them. Second Uncle is already Grand Master of the Golden Seal and Purple Ribbon, a top official of the senior third rank, and was on the very edge of rising higher, was he not? Even I was promised the post of Senior Cavalry Commandant of the Imperial Guard, vaulting me into first place among the military officers of the younger generation. Now none of it has come, and I alone am to blame?"
The three Wen elders frowned as one. Wen Yande was about to speak, to urge Wen Zhengxi to die quickly, when this finest junior of the Wen family's present generation abruptly exploded into motion and drove a palm at Wen Yanshou, who had not said a single word all this while. One of the three elders, Wen Yanshou knew nothing of martial arts; he was a civil official through and through. Facing this kin-killing blow from the most outstanding junior the Wen family had, he had no chance to react at all. Wen Zhengxi's palm caught him square in the face, and he died miserably on the spot.
Wen Yande and Wen Yanmo struck together, two palm forces screaming through the air, but Wen Zhengxi, seeking only to snatch life out of death, cared nothing for anything else. He simply hauled Wen Yanshou's corpse over and shoved it forward with all his strength, blocking the palm forces of Wen Yande and Wen Yanmo. The body was at once burst into seven or eight pieces by the two heavy palm strikes—there was not even a whole corpse left of him.
Wen Zhengxi seized the moment and rushed out of the ancestral hall. Without a backward glance he leaped onto the top of the wall. Hearing the whistle of something sharp splitting the air behind him, he swept a hand back and knocked down three feathered arrows, then threw his whole strength into his lightness skill and vanished in an instant.
He too was a disciple of Wudang, and his martial arts were far above those of Wen Zhengchun, who had only just transmigrated here. He had long since entered the innate realm; had he not been somewhat older, and had he not been indifferent to any reputation in the jianghu, there was no saying he might not have won a place among the Four Heavenly Prodigies of the Central Plains.
This fit of madness, this kin-killing bid to stay alive, drew every ounce of skill out of him. He charged out of the Wen residence, burst into a neighboring household, forcibly "borrowed" a set of clothes, and left by shoving open the back window.
Half a shichen later, word had spread through all of Chang'an that Wen Zhengxi had raped and killed his cousin Wen Zhiwei, killed his own uncle Wen Yanshou, and schemed against his cousin Wen Zhengchun…
More than ten members of the Wen family who held office knelt in the great hall, shaking uncontrollably…
Wang Chong would have very much liked to know all of this, but at that moment he was far away in Bazhou. Even if his men in Tongzhou received the news, they would have no idea where to send it to him—and in any case, it would take at least half a month for word of this to reach Tongzhou.
The Prefectural Governor of Hejian lay flat on the ground, shouting over and over, "This official wishes to surrender! This official wishes to surrender! Please, Your Highness the Prince of Yan, withdraw your divine powers!"
Wang Chong had pulled a sack over the lower half of the governor's body and cut a small hole in the bottom of it. Beside them sat an iron cage holding several dozen rats just caught for the occasion, squealing and squeaking, leaping up and scurrying about.
The governor's face was ashen. He knew that the moment even one of them was put into the sack, he would be finished. His manner of begging surrender could not have been more urgent, nor more panicked. Tears streamed down his face, and he hated only that he had not surrendered sooner.
A little more initiative, and he would never have been brought to such a state of terror.
Wang Chong asked, smiling, "And is this of your own free will?"
The governor shouted, "Of my own free will! This official is truly willing! I have long admired the Prince of Yan—his great talent and bold vision, his refined and elegant character. I only regret that I had no road by which to offer my allegiance. I beg His Highness to look down and take this official as his hound and falcon. From this day forward, I will willingly be driven at the Prince of Yan's command, wade through fire and boiling water, and never dare the slightest delay."
Wang Chong said mildly, "Since that is the case, give the order. Have the Hejian garrison troops escort your household and everything in this prefecture's storehouses to Tongzhou Prefecture."
The governor did not dare utter half a word of refusal. He hurriedly shouted, "Quickly summon the two commanders of the garrison horse and foot! Have them obey the Prince of Yan's orders!"
Wang Chong waited a while, smiling. Only one military officer came in, trembling with fright, and knelt on the ground, not daring to stir. Su Luo Yan came in after him and said, light as a drifting cloud, "The Hejian Infantry Commander tried to run off and send word to Shi Lüshan. I've already killed him."
Wang Chong said quickly, "Thank you, Sister Su, for thinking of everything."
The officer kneeling on the ground said hurriedly, "This humble one will certainly deliver the governor's household and the goods, coin, and grain in the storehouses to Tongzhou Prefecture. I would never dare fail the trust His Highness the Prince of Yan has placed in me."
Wang Chong looked at him for a moment, then said, "You're thinking that once you're out of Hejian Prefecture, you'll turn straight around and go pledge yourself to Shi Lüshan, aren't you?"
The officer was aghast and knocked his head on the ground again and again. "This humble one would never dare, never dare!"
Wang Chong said coolly, "A pity. I don't trust you."
The prefectural governor of Hejian was sent by the court, but the commanders of the horse and of the foot, even in mere garrison troops, had to be Shi Lüshan's trusted men. And with the fate of the infantry commander as a warning just before him—one who had tried to send word to Shi Lüshan—there was simply no need for Wang Chong to take any risk on this man.
There were never many transmigrators, and few of them were anything but ruthless. Wang Chong waved a hand and barked, "Give the governor a steel saber and have him kill this man. If he won't, then put the rats in."
The officer started up in alarm, but several Yaglakar clan warriors kicked him down again, both legs snapping. The governor watched, and his heart and liver quaked.
Someone at his side handed up a saber. He shut his eyes and chopped down—half a step short of the commander, without harming a single hair of him.
A young man of good family who had come from Tongzhou with Wang Chong brought his blade down in one stroke and finished the commander, then shouted, "The governor has cut down an enemy general in the ranks!"
Chapter 88