The Xuan Emperor looked tired, and the whole of him seemed to have aged a great deal.

It was a while before he spoke, slowly. “Ning Chen, this emperor is truly weary. Go home for now.”

“The business of the Empress and Prince Fu is to be kept quiet.”

Ning Chen understood perfectly well that the Xuan Emperor must be in great pain just now.

His own brother carrying on with his wife.

His son in revolt.

And more than one son at that. The Third Prince was certainly caught up in this somewhere.

Those men of letters and ink out among the people, who did not know the truth of it, might well hang on the Xuan Emperor a charge of having a taste for blood and murdering his own brothers.

If unofficial histories like that got about… in time everybody would take them for the truth.

Ning Chen bowed. “Your subject obeys the command. Your subject takes his leave.”

“Leave the men of the musket battalion with this emperor. He has a use for them.”

“Yes.”

Ning Chen left the palace.

The Empress, Prince Fu and the crown prince were all finished.

He felt for the Xuan Emperor, but his own spirits were good all the same.

He did not go to the Inspectorate. He drove home.

What came next was no business of his to meddle in.

Back at the Ning house.

Ning Chen had Uncle Chai get wine and food ready.

Three of his greatest enemies settled at one stroke. Ning Chen was in high spirits… and an hour like this called for a full cup.

“Uncle Chai, sit down and drink with me.”

Uncle Chai hesitated, and then sat down. “It’s not often I see the Fourth Young Master in such spirits. Is there something to celebrate?”

Ning Chen nodded, smiling. “Something to celebrate. A great deal to celebrate.”

Uncle Chai’s eyes lit up. “Is the Fourth Young Master to be married? Whose daughter is she?”

Ning Chen laughed in spite of himself. “It has nothing to do with that.”

“Then the Fourth Young Master has been promoted?”

Ning Chen said, smiling, “Nothing to do with that either. It is palace business, and Uncle Chai had better not ask… Come. Drink.”

The next day Ning Chen woke with the sun three poles high.

He rubbed his temples. He had drunk too much the night before.

He got up and washed, and Uncle Chai had a plain meal ready. Ning Chen ate it and drove to the Inspectorate.

At the gate of the Inspectorate he happened on Geng Jing coming back on horseback.

“Where has Lord Geng been?”

Geng Jing swung down off his horse, his face grave. “Court has only just risen.”

He glanced at Ning Chen. “You were in the palace last night, weren’t you?”

Ning Chen nodded.

“Come in. We’ll talk inside.”

The two of them came to Geng Jing’s room.

The moment they were through the door Geng Jing said, “Ning Chen, what actually happened last night?”

Ning Chen shook his head. “The Empress, Prince Fu and the crown prince rebelled… it failed, and His Majesty turned it back on them and killed them with it. As simple as that.”

The corner of Geng Jing’s mouth twitched. “I want the details.”

Ning Chen said, “The truth is it was a long game His Majesty was playing, and he was waiting for those capering clowns to hop out on their own.”

Geng Jing smiled bitterly. “His Majesty deceived every one of us.”

“At court this morning His Majesty was in a fury… Every official who spoke up for the Empress and Prince Fu has had his entire household put to the sword.”

Ning Chen was startled.

Good God. It seems the Xuan Emperor really is in a rage this time. He has gone killing mad.

Geng Jing went on, “Everyone in the Hibiscus Palace has been put to death. The prince’s residence is sealed and everyone in it is held in custody. There is to be no questioning, and in three days they will be beheaded in public.”

“The Eastern Palace is the same. Apart from the crown prince, who is held in custody for the present… everyone else is to be beheaded in three days.”

“Guo Pengyi, commandant of the Dragon Guard’s right camp, and Yan Yuxiang, deputy commander in chief of the inner palace guards… three generations of their families are to be put to death.”

“Every official who spoke for Prince Fu and the Empress in court today has had his entire household put to the sword… and more men are being drawn in all the time.”

“His Majesty is truly in a rage this time. No questioning at all, straight to the block… A thousand people will die over this at the very least.”

Ning Chen said heavily, “Treason is a crime punishable to the ninth degree of kin… His Majesty is taking only three generations, or the household to the sword. That is mercy already.”

Geng Jing smiled bitterly. “His Majesty’s game was too well played. How did I never catch anything wrong in it?”

While they were talking there was a knock at the door.

Geng Jing said, “Come in.”

Pan Yucheng pushed the door open.

He looked at Ning Chen. “Word has come from the palace. His Majesty wants you there at once.”

Ning Chen did not dare delay, and drove to the palace.

He was walking in, leaning on his blade, when a body of men came toward him… men of the musket battalion.

“We greet General Ning.”

A thousand men saluted him with one voice.

Ning Chen said, smiling, “Going back to camp?”

“Yes. Ordered back to camp.”

Ning Chen nodded. “Hurry on back, then. I’ll come and see you one of these days.”

All at once Ning Chen noticed a man carrying two muskets.

“Why are you carrying two muskets?”

By the regulations every man was issued one.

“General Ning will not have heard. Those few brothers who went into the Hall of Cultivated Heart with the general last night have been kept back by His Majesty. They are to serve in the palace from now on.”

The soldier who said it had envy all over his face.

But Ning Chen’s heart gave a lurch.

“Go on back.”

Ning Chen leaned on his blade and quickened his pace.

Those dozen-odd musketeers who went into the Hall of Cultivated Heart last night heard too many secrets… I’m afraid His Majesty has not kept them back to give them heavy responsibility. He has kept them back to close their mouths.

Damn it. When His Majesty told me to keep it quiet, that was when I should have seen those dozen men were in danger.

Those dozen men had gone with him on the raid against the North Royal Court and in and out of death at his back, every one of them a man of iron and blood… Ning Chen did not want them to die like this.

Ning Chen came to the imperial study in a great hurry.

The imperial study was near the audience hall, so His Majesty went there first whenever court rose, and moved to the Hall of Cultivated Heart only in the afternoon.

Ning Chen found Nie Liang at the door of the imperial study.

“Ning Chen, His Majesty left word. You are to go straight in.”

Ning Chen walked quickly into the imperial study.

“Your subject greets Your Majesty.”

The Xuan Emperor was sitting behind the dragon desk. He glanced at Ning Chen. “Get up and speak.”

Ning Chen hesitated. “Your subject hears that Your Majesty has kept ten musketeers back. Your subject makes bold to ask… are they well?”

The Xuan Emperor looked at him. “You have guessed it already. Why ask?”

Ning Chen went a little white in the face, and the whole of him went stiff.

The Xuan Emperor said heavily, “Ning Chen, there are things that cannot be let out… a scandal in the imperial house above all. Once it is out, those men of letters out among the people who do not fear death, and the enemy states too, will spend any amount of ink spreading it as far as it will go.”

Ning Chen’s smile was bitter. “Those men are all of them iron-boned. They rode a thousand li at your subject’s back and took the King of the Left Court alive… Your subject should never have brought them into the palace.”

“Your Majesty, your subject knows all of it too…”

The Xuan Emperor’s face darkened. “Ning Chen, are you setting yourself against this emperor?”

“Your subject would not dare.”

“Ning Chen, this emperor has said it. There are things that absolutely must not get out.”

Ning Chen nodded. “Your subject understands.”

The Xuan Emperor’s face eased. “This emperor will make it up to their families, and will tell their families that these men were heroes who gave their lives for their country.”

“The truth is that this emperor ought to kill you too, to make certain the shameful business of the Empress and Prince Fu never leaks… but this emperor cannot bring himself to do it.”

“But remember this. If you dare go out and talk nonsense, do not blame this emperor for showing you no consideration… Even if he cannot bear to kill you, he will have your tongue cut out.”

Ning Chen jumped.

“What business does Your Majesty mean? Your subject knocked his head last night and lost his memory. He remembers nothing at all.”

The corner of the Xuan Emperor’s mouth lifted, but he put the feeling down again quickly and glared at him. “Do you know why this emperor sent for you?”

“Your subject is a dullard. Your Majesty had better tell him.”

The Xuan Emperor had meant to say something else, and then asked suddenly, “Did you know all along that this emperor was shamming the faint?”

“Er… your subject did guess it, but Prince Fu made that King of Hell’s incense sound so terrible that your subject was not sure again.”

Ning Chen said it with his whole face honest.

“By that account, all those declarations of loyalty of yours were said for this emperor to hear on purpose?”

Holy shit!!!

The pat on the horse’s rump has landed on its leg. The Xuan Emperor means to settle accounts after the harvest.

(End of Chapter 233)