Greedily, I inhaled. Thinking about Pheasant’s question, I asked myself, Is it worth it going through all this trouble for him?
I had risked my life and pleaded with the Emperor. I had stumbled across the blood-soaked ground. I had watched people lose their heads and knelt before a tree stump, waiting for my own death. I had almost been beheaded. I had survived, and the Emperor had simply gone away.
It was worth it. I had made my own destiny.
Before me, the sky brightened, the hue of indigo dissolving, replaced by an intense shade of milky white.
? ? ?
Soon after, the punishment for the rebels was announced. The Emperor’s uncle was beheaded, along with all his immediate family, including his wife, his wife’s family, his concubines, his concubines’ families, their children, their grandchildren, and their families. Their family’s estate, their wealth, their titles, and their yearly allowances were confiscated.
The Pure Lady’s entire family line was eliminated. All of her blood-related kin—her parents, her grandparents, her siblings, her siblings’ families, their children, and their children’s families—were beheaded.
On the day of their deaths, I heard, the execution grounds in the Western Market were flooded with rivers of blood.
Because Pheasant begged for Taizi’s life, the Emperor banished him to the southern edge of the kingdom, where he would live in oblivion, but at least he was still alive. His household, however, was disbanded, and all his women and servants became slaves. All his associates, tutors, aides, and even the wrestlers invited to his bouts were all beheaded.
I heard Chancellor Wei Zheng had died that night too, but no one seemed to be aware of his involvement in the revolt, and the Emperor decreed a generous funeral and sent condolences to his family. Secretary Fang had a minor injury to his shoulder. It took him a month to recover.
The Duke survived. When the Emperor ordered him to hold the front gate, he had taken some guards with him, but by the time he’d arrived, the gate had already been broken into. He had been forced to pull back and never quite faced the rebels himself. Nonetheless, he was rewarded for his stalwart support. When I saw him days later, he did not have a scratch or a bruise on his face. I suspected there was more to the story as to what really happened that night. Perhaps he had hidden in a latrine.
I told Prince Ke about his mother. The poor prince’s delicate face crumpled, and his willowy frame doubled over. When he went to fetch her body, he cried like a child. My eyes growing misty, I recounted to him how brave the lady was at the moment of her death. I did not tell him what she had said about poisoning Jewel. It was better for him not to know.
The wind of the rebellion did not die off easily. A few months later, one of the Emperor’s vassals in the northeast, a Koguryo general, encouraged by the rebellion, murdered the obedient boy king the Emperor had groomed and proclaimed his own dynasty. The Emperor, infuriated, decided to start a punitive war and led the army himself. Unable to mount a horse, he put on his breastplates and a cape, hiding his useless right arm, and rode in a cushioned carriage to the eastern border while he ordered the Captain to lead with the cavalry.
The Captain proved to be the most vital force on the battlefield. His cavalry broke through the rebels’ front line, leaving many dead and entire villages engulfed in fire. In three months, he took over ten forts, driving the Koguryos all the way back to the heart of their land. It was said that the Captain was so fierce, the mere mention of his name would send the rebels fleeing. But when the army arrived at Anshi Fort, the final stronghold of Koguryo, the army was threatened with food shortages and brutal winter weather and was forced to withdraw. Finally, the Emperor returned home, without touching the rebellious general’s flag.
Nonetheless, a song of victory was sung across the kingdom to praise the Emperor’s valor and supremacy. Indeed, the Emperor had taught his vassals a lesson, people said, and the ministers cheered.
But the Emperor, haggard, sickened by the weather and rough traveling conditions, would never walk on his own again. Unable to see well or stand on his own feet, he was carried in a stretcher draped with thick curtains when he attended the audiences, and for the next two years, he spent many months in a mountain spa in hopes of regaining his health.
When he was well enough, he took Pheasant with him to the Audience Hall, and he asked Pheasant to sit with him, dine with him, and together they watched polo games and laughed.
Naturally, people whispered. Would the Emperor name Pheasant his heir?