Chapter 393 - 213: Painting the Heart

Chapter 393: Chapter 213: Painting the Heart

The Northern Barbarian Chaos lasted for five long years.

The ambitious King of the Beiman had intended to use the forces of the Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions to create chaos in southern Daqian. This, he hoped, would overstretch the empire’s forces and relieve the pressure on the northern front.

「The twenty-fifth year of Tianjing.」

A rumor spread among the common folk: a star fell from the heavens, landing west of the Great Desert. It was said that Heaven itself had smitten ten thousand enemy soldiers from the Western Regions.

Somehow, this joyous news quickly spread throughout all of Daqian, with the people exclaiming, "Heaven protects Daqian!" At the same time, the largest rebel faction, the Chu Mountain Army, fell into disarray after its leader, Chu Chengfeng, vanished for reasons unknown. The remnants of his army were no longer a significant threat.

The Court seized the opportunity to issue another Edict of Pacification. The terms were incredibly generous, offering high office and noble titles. It was practically a promise that "one man enlists, his whole family gains honor, and future generations will live without worry." The rebel armies found these terms impossible to refuse. Their morale collapsed, and they surrendered to the Court in droves. Thus, in a remarkably short period, Daqian’s internal conflicts were resolved. With the south pacified, the Court reorganized the former rebels into a new unit: the Southern Barbarian Suppression Army.

The Southern Barbarian Suppression Army was commanded by the "General of Pingxi," Xie Yunliu.

Xie Yunliu led the fifty-thousand-strong Southern Barbarian Suppression Army north, where he joined forces with General Zheng, one of the four great generals of the nation.

In the same year, the Southern Barbarian Suppression Army reached the front lines. They fought alongside General Zheng and began their counter-offensive.

Spearheaded by the Southern Barbarian Suppression Army and General Zheng, the charge broke a massive hole in the enemy’s front. The combined might of General Zheng and Xie Yunliu was unstoppable. In the heat of battle, they severed both hands of the King of the Beiman.

Overpowered, the King of the Beiman fled. General Zheng and Xie Yunliu pursued him for a thousand li, driving deep into the Barbarian Kingdom. They came close to breaking through the "Holy Mountain" itself, Bagnamo Mountain. In the Northern Barbarian language, "Bagnamo" means "eternal," an eternity that was very nearly extinguished.

「The twenty-eighth year of Tianjing.」 Because supply wagons could not venture deep into enemy lands, provisions became scarce. Furthermore, the Northern Barbarian Army had retreated along its entire front, its will to fight utterly shattered. Xie Yunliu and General Zheng commanded their remaining troops to return to Daqian’s borders.

In the same year, the Court issued an urgent military decree. To prevent the Northern Barbarians from making a comeback, and at the subtle suggestion of the National Preceptor, the Ministry of War ordered Generals Zheng and Xie to temporarily guard the border.

「The twenty-ninth year of Tianjing.」 The defeat of the Northern Barbarian Army was now a certainty. The overall situation was settled.

The Zheng Clan had been loyal and valorous for generations, so General Zheng gladly accepted the command.

General Xie, however, flagrantly disobeyed the order. In front of thousands of his officers and men, he laughed freely, cast off his armor and helm, and simply rode away.

When the Ministry of War learned what had happened, they recognized that Xie Yunliu’s actions amounted to desertion. However, his immense contributions could not be ignored. The Ministry reported the incident to the new Emperor. To maintain the army’s morale, the Emperor decided not to press charges. Declaring his merits and demerits to be in balance, he ordered Xie Yunliu’s name struck from the military rolls. From that day on, the man named Xie Yunliu was gone from the army.

「The thirtieth year of Tianjing.」

Once the nation’s governance was stable, the new Emperor belatedly held the complex funeral ceremonies for his predecessor—the lesser and greater encoffinments, the period of mourning, the sacrifices to Heaven, and more. Then, on the third day of the third month of the following year, the new Emperor formally ascended the throne. He produced, seemingly out of thin air, a "final edict" left by the late Emperor and proclaimed it to all under Heaven.

The new era name: Yonggong.

In the first year of Yonggong, the new Emperor declared a general amnesty and revitalized all industries to celebrate the peace that had returned to the realm.

Immediately after, the new Emperor gathered the Historians of the Court to chronicle the events of the past "momentous" twenty years.

From the official histories, the Secret Factory was erased. Lou Mengkong was erased. The rebellions of the Martial Knights were erased. Cheng Xiao’s assassination of the former Emperor was erased. In the new records, the late Emperor had been a wise and hardworking ruler who poured his very heart and soul into governing, finally succumbing to a grave illness. Thus, the history books restored the late Emperor’s pristine reputation and preserved the honor of the Imperial Family. An Emperor, after all, could not possibly have been decapitated.

And so, the world changed.

The green mountains still stood, the setting sun still glowed red, but all notions of right and wrong, success and failure, had turned to dust.

「The second year of Yonggong.」

A bald, burly man, riding a small pony that was groaning under his weight, arrived at a small, forgotten town.

The sun was setting, and its long, fading rays cast a brilliant gleam on his bald head. The burly man’s face was etched with exhaustion. Beside the town gate, a guard leaned against his spear, dozing off.

"Excuse me, have you seen a man? His feet are crippled, he’s nearly forty, he loves Danqing, and he keeps a small orange cat."

It was the Monk.

He was asking everywhere for his sworn brother’s whereabouts.

It wasn’t long before he got an answer.

A kind old woman told him:

"That strange man you’re talking about, sir, he lives right here in town. See, just follow this road, turn right at the fifth intersection, and in the seventh alley, you’ll see a small, rundown courtyard..."

The old woman said he was a strange one. He was a recluse who rarely went out, and though he clearly didn’t have a cat, he was always talking about the one he owned. He was half-mad, always burning things in his house, and all the neighbors were afraid of him.

The courtyard gate was unlocked. As the Monk pushed it open, a hoarse, cursing voice drifted out from within:

"Wrong! Wrong! It’s all wrong! This is wrong! Wrong!"

RIP!

Inside the room, a pair of crutches lay casually tossed aside. Scraps of paper flew through the air, some landing on the cat. The little feline rolled over with a long-suffering look, glaring with disdain at the frantic man in the room.

The man’s hair was wild, his beard so unkempt it nearly obscured his entire face. When the Monk entered, he was in the throes of a hysterical fit. With a sinister look in his eyes, he frantically tore up one "half-finished" piece after another, his whole body radiating a dead, stagnant air.

"Monk! You’re back!"

The moment he saw the Monk, the man’s face lit up with joy. He stumbled and fell, but he seemed not to feel the pain as he began to crawl desperately toward the Monk. After just a few feet, his filthy clothes were smeared with even more ink. The Monk rushed forward to help him up. Seeing the deep weariness and sorrow etched into the man’s face, the Monk—he who had been Xie Yunliu and served in the army for so many years—could not stop tears from falling.

This last war had lasted five years. At the start, the Monk had said he didn’t want to go. But the man had insisted. He said that the Monk was Xie Yunliu, and he *had* to continue being Xie Yunliu. He said that Xie Yunliu’s entire life was deeply entangled with Gongsun Mo’s. If the Monk refused to play his part as Xie Yunliu, Gongsun Mo might never be able to create that one special painting, and all of the man’s own efforts would be for naught.