The Legend of Chu Qiao: Division 11's Princess Agent

Qiu Sui stepped up, and with deference, she firmly declared, “Lady, after you left, His Majesty began to build this place, and after over two years, it was finally done.”

Many servants knelt on the ground and kowtowed upon seeing Chu Qiao arrive.

Chu Qiao walked along, only to see that the palace was constructed using sandalwood, and lighting was encapsulated in crystals, with fragrance exuding from the walls. The waves of the veils looked like a sea, and large crystals were embedded in the walls, emitting a weak light as though they were the moon in the night. There was a multicolored bird carved on the central pillar, decorated by golden powder, gleaming in the shine of the candlelight. At the side, there were drawings of Yulan flowers. The display had probably been aptly soaked with the Yulan aroma oils, as the fragrance of the flower wafted in the area. She was suddenly reminded of that night when he had childishly snatched the headdress of the maidservants and stuck it along with a flower into her head.

I hereby specially decree that, you, Lady Chu, for your diligence, wisdom, honorable conduct, along with your kindness and generosity, I will bestow upon you the title of (____). May you be blessed forever.

Below those scripts, there was the sign of Li Ce’s stamp, and only the title was not filled up.

Sun Di walked up, and firmly informed, “On that day, His Majesty had not decided on the title. Even after discussing with others multiple times, and even the Ceremonial Department sent some suggestions, His Majesty was still displeased, and as a result, it was left blank. Who knew, after delaying, he had lost the chance forever.”

Chu Qiao quietly stood there, and the light gently shone on her pale face. Biting her lips, her finger held the piece of paper with all her force that even her knuckle turned white.

Within the room, there were all kinds of rare treasures dowries that he had prepared for her. It was apparent that those items had been stored here for a long time.

Her tear glands started to warm up, as her brows furrowed up. Her voice was deep, with a slight tremble, as she calmly said, “Since I had not been given a title, that matter shall be left to rest. Do not bring it up again.”

Sun Di nodded, “Lady, you are indeed wise. It is pretty late already. Please rest, this subordinate will leave first.” As he finished his sentence, he left.

The maroon door slammed shut. The boom seemed like a distant thunder rolling past the floor of the mansion.

Mei Xiang walked over with a letter in her hand while frowning, “Miss, Master Zhuge sent letters again.”

Chu Qiao’s expression softened. Receiving the letter, she clenched it in her fist but did not open up to read its contents. The cold sweat in her palm soaked into the letter, turning it slightly moist.

Mei Xiang frowned, and reminded her, “Miss, this is the ninth letter. If you do not reply, Master Zhuge will get worried.”

Quietly sitting there, Chu Qiao did not respond. Her eyes stared at the candlelight by the window, as though her mind was lost in thought.

Yan Bei and the Xia Empires resumed their battles. Below Yanming Pass, there had already been four battles. The frontlines stretched all the way to the south side of Batuha lands.

Along with the Mu family in Ling Nan, and the young master of Jing, Jing Han, Zhao Yang had commanded the entire strength of the Southwest forces. They stood opposing Zhuge Yue and Zhao Che’s Northern forces at the Phoenix Tower. The situation in Xia was extremely volatile, as though things could fall apart anytime.

The Emperor had been sick for too long, and had already not appeared in court for over one year. Wei Guang had claimed that he was sick too, and had stepped away from the limelight of politics. Who knows what this cunning old fox was plotting. At this time moment, the entire scene in the Xia Empire was like a can of gunpowder. The moment anyone struck even a single match, it would explode into a fireball of chaos.

This point was something that even she could understand, how could he not?

Mei Xiang could not help but ask, “Miss, what are we doing now?”

Chu Qiao’s vision turned to her, with frost in her gaze. Slowly, and coldly, Chu Qiao spat out only one word, “Wait.”

The succession ceremony of the new Emperor was to be held the next day.

In the gigantic palace, a young kid was sitting on the huge dragon throne. Behind the veils that were situated at the back of the throne, there were two neatly dress women. They were the mother of the Emperor, Empress Yuan, and Noble Consort Zhan.

In the spacious palace, Zhan Ziyu, as the King of Shezheng, sat quietly, with his figure along causing pressure. His jet black clothes were embroidered with six dragons, and his lips were curled up in an almost undetectable smile, utterly confident in himself.

As Li Ce had never declared his Empress, and he had no siblings, along with the fact that his death was all too sudden and even the previous Empress had passed on, there was no other choice but to instate the eldest son Li Xiuyi as the Emperor. The mother of the eldest son, Lady Yuan, was from the lowest class and was not judged to have the blue royal blood that fully qualified her to listen to the morning court. As such, Lady Ming became the stepmother to the young Emperor, and would supervise the morning court.

The Emperor was merely six years out. With the two ladies listening on the national matters, it became clear as day that others had grasped the actual authority. Empress Yuan had no family, so the entire power was in the hands of the Zhan siblings who had been exiled to beyond the Tang Empire prior.

The changes in the politics were so quick and furious, much like the deep undercurrents of the oceans. One could never see them coming, yet they were swift and deadly.

The loyal subordinates of the previous emperor were undoubtedly suppressed. Most of them were locked up by the court and investigated based on suspicion of assisting the Luo King during the rebellion. All the servants that were by Li Ce’s side on the day of his passing were beheaded, and all the ladies of the harem were chased out of the palace and were forced to convert to nuns.

The new rulers had created a stir, sweeping through the Tang Empire like a typhoon. The cold sword of death hung by a hair above the entire Tang Empire, and anyone who dared oppose the new rule would be awarded death.

Under this ruthless rule, many hesitating old officials changed their sides, and even after the morning court, they would crowd at the Residence of the King of Shezheng like a pack of wolves.

What surprised Chu Qiao was that under such a situation, the first person to stand out and oppose this was Elder Liu who had repeatedly gone against Li Ce.

On the first of September, before the gates of Jinwu Palace, Elder Liu scolded that the Zhan siblings were the people who had staged everything, and the first assassination was full of suspicious points. Zhan Ziyu, Zhan Ziming were traitors who deserved to die. After saying that, he slammed himself onto the blades of their guards while shouting the name of Emperor Li Ce. With that, he died on the spot.

Zhan Ziyu was sitting in the carriage and had not even appeared even once. Only when EIder Liu’s body had already been taken away did he walked out. He threw out some money and told the relatives of Elder Liu to use the money for his funeral.

Chu Qiao was eating when she heard that notice. Pingan had told her this information cautiously, and even then, hearing that, Chu Qiao’s hand trembled so hard that half her soup spilled out from her spoon. After that, she thought over that incident for a long time.

After the incident about Elder Liu was spread throughout the entire Tang Empire, there was a huge upheaval. All kinds of scholars gathered at Tang Jing. The enraged academics wrote long essays and those had spread to within the palace requesting for the law enforcement departments to properly investigate the incident.

Two days later, Zhan Ziyu had begun his ruthless suppression of those scholars. For a moment the prison was filled with people shouting angrily. The supervisor of the jail frowned as he asked Zhan Ziyu as to what to do. The young King of Shezheng casually left behind a sentence, “Isn’t there still place at the Huangquan hill outside of the city?”

The supervisor felt chills down his spine. The Huangquan hill was a mass grave, so he naturally understood what this young King of Shezheng meant.

In the afternoon of the same day, the jail accidentally caught fire, and the prisoners in it were mostly injured or killed, turning into bodies that had been burnt to a crisp. Those bodies were thrown messily into the mass grave without any cover from the elements, turning into the food of beasts. The jail ended the incident by handing over two jail guards who had been drunk while on duty.

27th of September, it was deep into autumn, and it was a windy day.

The morning court on this day was a tad different from usual, and was handled entirely by the King of Shezheng, Zhan Ziyu. There was only Zhan Ziming behind the blinds listening in as well. The imperial doctors said that the Emperor caught a cold, and his mother was taking care of the Emperor, and would be absent as well.

Before the crowds had time to react, there was a golden throne that was lifted out from the back of the main palace. There was a dragon carved onto the seat, and with nine tails fluttering with majesty, it was as grandiose as the Emperor’s throne.

The messenger who usually read the royal decree praised Zhan Ziyu without any sense of shame, before reaching for the royal decree and announcing that that seat was ordered by the Emperor himself, and that considering Zhan Ziyu’s weak constitution, the Emperor wishes that Zhan Ziyu could seat on the seat. Not only that, the Lingxiao Palace that was situated within the Jinwu Palace would be given to the King of Shezheng to reduce the travel time every day.

Zhan Ziyu seemed to be reluctant at receiving this honor, but after the crowd convincing him for a while, he sat down on the new throne. At one glance, it was hard to tell which seat was the actual throne.

On that night, after Chu Qiao put down a letter she had just read, she heaved a sigh before telling Tie You, “Go back and look after the Emperor. The time is near.”

In the middle of the night three days later, a loud cacophony erupted in Jinwu Palace. Those who were deep in their slumber were rudely awoken, as the officials and civilians rushed out of their home and looked at the origin of the noise. All that they could see was that in the direction of Jinwu Palace, even the sky was colored by the bright crimson of flames, with sounds of fighting breaking out almost everywhere, with groaning and shrieking sounding off everywhere.

At that moment, everyone was all stunned. Some cowardly men quickly brought their family into their house and shut all their doors and windows tight in fear of being caught up in the conflict. The only ones left spectating were some officials who stared at the palace and murmuring, “Seems like power will be changing hands again.”

At midnight, the palace gate had been opened up. In a gown of blood, Lu Yunxi rushed out with his 3,000 elite soldiers, and informed Chu Qiao who was standing before the Tai’an Gate, “Lady, we had already taken over the Lingxiao Palace.”

Under the pitch black backdrop of the sky, Chu Qiao’s dark maroon clothes seemed to merge into the night. On her clothes, there was a golden embroidery of the mandarin duck, and her jaded like complexion stood out in the jet darkness, her beautiful feature shining through the fog of the night like a lighthouse. Behind her, there were the 10,000 strong Xiuli soldiers. Completely calm, He Xiao sat on his war horse and guarded by her side. The white flag that had a red cloud on it fluttered high above everyone’s head. The rainclouds loomed over everyone’s head, covering any other light from the moon and the stars. Even as the warm light from the torches shone onto Chu Qiao’s face, she seemed like an emotionless sword, ready to strike.

“Enter.” Her cold voice softly sounded off, yet, it was firm, and pierced into everyone’s ears.

As the wind raged passed, it sent Chu Qiao’s clothes fluttering. Lifting up her sharp chin, Chu Qiao squinted as she lightly tapped the stomach of her horse with her feet, signaling for the horse to enter the majesty palace.

As the last guard of Xiaoling Palace fell, the inferno in the west palace had been extinguished. Du Pingan led a group of soldiers up, with a gleam of determination shining in his eyes. It was as though in this one night he had matured as a man.

With all her forces consolidated, more than 10,000 soldiers stood behind Chu Qiao, with their bright torches illuminating the entire sky, along with the countless bodies that litter the marvelous palace.

Chu Qiao’s horse trotted up the white marble stairs. The banner that indicated that this was the residence of the King of Shezheng, something that normal people would not even dare to look up at, was smashed onto the ground and with the horses’ trampling, there were crisp sounds of it shattering into a million pieces.

A servant who was good at observing stepped up and loudly hailed her and welcomed this great marshal. Seeing him, Chu Qiao stepped on his back without reservation, using him as a step to get off the horse as she paced toward the palace.

The palace door suddenly opened as she was welcomed with a wave of cold wind that was infused with incense, sending her maroon cape fluttering in the wind. Her sword that hung at the waist gleamed with a lethal coldness that seemed to pierce deep into her enemy’s hearts. In the empty hall, Zhan Ziyu sat alone, and it was like the two of them had returned to those days when the man in a green blouse sat on a wooden wheelchair while facing the crashing waves of the rivers. She could still vividly remember his crystal clear eyes and his deep voice as he asked, “Who was there?”