Ning Chen and the others were brought into the great hall.

Every eye in the place gathered on Ning Chen.

Most of the officials, civil and military, had never seen him before, and they were curious what a man who dared kill the Empress’s brother looked like.

One look, and they were astonished.

A boy with the child not yet out of his face?

“Greetings, Your Majesty.”

Gao Ziping and the others knelt and made their bows first.

“Your guilty subject Ning Chen greets Your Majesty.”

Ning Chen bowed over his clasped hands.

“Ning Chen. You are before His Majesty. Why are you not on your knees?”

Eunuch Quan’s thin, high voice rang out.

It was meant as a warning. At any other time it would not have mattered — His Majesty was generous and would let it pass. But today, if Ning Chen did not kneel, it would give the censors a handle to attack him with.

Ning Chen frowned slightly. What he hated most about this world was how quickly it put people on their knees.

Never mind. One kneel… The Xuan Emperor has been good to me, after all.

He knelt.

Gao Ziping spoke first. “Your Majesty. Your subject has a matter to report.”

A silver coat had no standing to enter the court at all. He had gotten himself in under the name of escorting Ning Chen, and he had done it for one reason: to say what had happened on the road.

The Xuan Emperor said, mildly, “Speak.”

“Your subject escorted Ning Chen by order, and on the road here we were attacked by assassins… What they wanted was plain enough. They came for Ning Chen.”

The Xuan Emperor’s face darkened all at once.

An uproar went through the whole court.

At the Son of Heaven’s feet, a prisoner His Majesty meant to question himself, and somebody had dared try to kill him… It was a challenge to His Majesty’s authority.

“Insolence. What nerve is this? Is the empire still this emperor’s?”

The Xuan Emperor’s anger was past holding.

The fright put ministers on their knees all across the floor.

The Xuan Emperor fixed his eyes on Gao Ziping. “Who did it?”

Gao Ziping’s voice shook. “It was urgent, Your Majesty. Pan the Gold Coat took men to meet them, and we four brought Ning Chen on to be tried… Your subject does not yet know the particulars.”

The Xuan Emperor’s face went livid.

“Good. Very good… A prisoner this emperor meant to question himself, and somebody dared have him killed in the open street. Have any of you any regard for this emperor at all?”

“Your Majesty, calm your anger. Your subjects are at fault.”

With His Majesty in a fury, cold sweat stood out on every forehead in the hall, and they begged him with one voice to calm his anger.

“Calm my anger? Is that the only sentence any of you knows? They dared assassinate a prisoner this emperor meant to question himself. Tomorrow will it be this emperor they assassinate?”

“Send word to Geng Jing. He is to look into it and get to the truth of it… Whoever it turns out to be, this emperor will take his family to the ninth degree of kin. No leniency of any kind.”

Not a minister there dared breathe.

The Left Chancellor kept his head down and went pale. If any one of those men is taken alive by the Inspectorate, I am finished altogether.

Useless. They cannot even kill one man, and now they have angered His Majesty on top of it. He cursed them inwardly.

“Your Majesty, calm your anger. Your subjects are at fault.”

The ministers cried it out again.

The Xuan Emperor said angrily, “You are at fault, certainly. You eat your sovereign’s salary and you let a thing like this happen under this emperor’s own eyes… This emperor will keep the account against you.”

There was horror on every face.

“Court is dismissed. Get home, every one of you, and think about it.”

The Xuan Emperor waved a hand and rose to go.

The Left Chancellor turned his head quietly and looked at one of the censors.

The man shivered. His Majesty is at the height of his temper. Making me jump out now is sending me to my death.

But there was a threat in the Left Chancellor’s eyes and he had no choice. He steeled himself, shuffled forward out of the rank on his knees, and said with his head down, “Your Majesty. Ning Chen has not been tried yet.”

The Xuan Emperor gave him a long look, then made a show of being brought up short. “Beloved Minister, you are right to remind this emperor. The anger had driven it clean out of my head.”

“Beloved ministers. Tell this emperor how Ning Chen ought to be punished.”

Punished?

Any man who can stand in this court is a shrewd one. They caught his meaning at once.

His Majesty had said punished. He had not said killed.

So His Majesty does not want Ning Chen dead.

What is this Ning Chen to His Majesty?

The Left Chancellor looked around again.

A censor stepped out. “Your Majesty. Ning Chen has ignored the law of the land, killed the innocent without cause, and shown contempt for imperial authority… Any one of those alone is enough for the ninth degree of kin.”

“Your Majesty. Ning Chen cut down the Empress’s brother. There is no law and no heaven in him. The ninth degree of kin is as good as nailed down.”

“Your subject makes bold to propose that Ning Chen be dragged out and beheaded at once, so that everyone may see where the law stands.”

“Ning Chen is beyond pardon and should go to the ninth degree of kin… Your subject begs Your Majesty to give the order and deal with it severely at once.”

Censor after censor leaped out and set on Ning Chen.

They had the look of men who would not stop until his head was off.

Ning Ziming was so frightened he nearly went down where he stood. His vision went black and his head swam in waves. How did I ever father a thing like this?

Is there still time to cut the tie of father and son?

The Left Chancellor kept his head down, and a trace of pleasure came into his face. Once Ning Chen is dead I have something to show the Empress, and even if the trail does come back to me she will find a way to protect me.

As for Ning Ziming — or his own daughter, or his three grandsons by her — he did not consider them at all.

A daughter married out is water thrown out. And those three grandsons were Ning, not Chang… Whether they lived or died was of no weight.

The Xuan Emperor said, mildly, “So the beloved ministers all think Ning Chen deserves to die.”

“Your Majesty. Ning Chen has no law in his eyes and contempt for imperial majesty. He is beyond pardon.”

“If a villain like this is not beheaded, how is anyone to be satisfied?”

“We beg Your Majesty to give the order, have Ning Chen dragged out and beheaded before the people at once, and uphold the statutes.”

The censors held their heads up with the look of men who were justice itself.

The Xuan Emperor glanced at Ning Chen, then said mildly, “Since everyone thinks Ning Chen deserves to die, take him out and behead him.”

Ning Chen jolted. Christ… This is a questioning? Nobody has asked me anything. These censors yap a few lines and I get dragged out and cut down. Is this a joke?

Gao Ziping and the others went chalk white.

“Your Majesty. This old subject has something to say.”

Old General Chen, who had not said a word until now, got up on his crutch.

The Xuan Emperor glanced at him and cleared his throat. “What has Old General Chen to say?”

“Ning Chen has indeed committed a crime that reaches heaven. But when Ning Chen set out for Chongzhou, Your Majesty granted him the imperial sword by special favor, with the right to execute first and report afterward.”

The imperial sword was the emperor’s own blade, given out as a warrant of his authority.

Old General Chen went on. “The Empress’s brother was of the imperial house. He ought to have loved the people as his own children, cared for the common people, and set an example… Instead he treated a human life as so much grass, carried off other men’s daughters by force, and left the people of Chongzhou with no way to live… When Ning Chen cut him down there was no help for it.”

“At that moment the Empress’s brother was about to kill innocent people in front of Ning Chen. If Ning Chen had turned a deaf ear to it, he would have failed heaven’s favor above and the common people below… He is a boy still, he did not think it through, the blood went to his head, and he did a rash thing and cut the Empress’s brother down.”

“Ning Chen did wrong, certainly. But this old subject believes there was a reason for it, and his crime does not deserve death.”

Every official in the hall, civil and military, was lost.

The imperial sword?

His Majesty had given Ning Chen the imperial sword?

Never mind them — Ning Chen was lost himself. When did His Majesty give me an imperial sword? What does an imperial sword even look like?

The Xuan Emperor’s face was ugly with it. He made a cold sound and said angrily, “This emperor gave him the imperial sword to kill corrupt officials, not to use on the imperial kin.”

Old General Chen said, “The Empress’s brother was imperial kin, but he was also a corrupt official… So in cutting him down, Ning Chen showed no contempt for imperial majesty.”

Something flickered in the Left Chancellor’s eyes and he grew uneasy. This was not going the way it should.

(End of Chapter 66)