Chapter 151: Covert Conflict Between Song and Liao (Part V)

In the imperial palace of the Great Song, the imperial jade seal vibrated slightly.

"Hmm?" Zhao Ji put down his brush.

A eunuch on the side immediately stepped forward. "Your Majesty."

Zhao Ji commanded, "Go to the Imperial Library and intercept anyone looking for me," and then strode out of the study.

Inside the Imperial Library, Zhao Ji gazed at the jade seal before him. The next moment, two distinct auras rose from his body: the aura of the dragon and the aura of the stars.

Externally reputed as a mediocre and fatuous ruler, this emperor was actually a martial arts expert. Aside from Li Qingmeng, who had reached the Third Tier due to Sun Meng's arrival, his strength was arguably the highest in the realm.

Under the mutual enhancement of these two auras, his power had already broken through to the Third Tier.

Resonating with the dragon aura, the jade seal projected a map. Zhao Ji then magnified the map, pinpointing the cause of the anomaly.

"A change has occurred at the border city... They actually captured a city from the Liao Dynasty?! Who did this?!" Zhao Ji's expression shifted drastically. Something was terribly wrong! According to intelligence, while border tensions between the two sides were indeed escalating, a war of this scale should never have broken out before a full-scale confrontation!

What accident had happened? What faction had intervened?

Zhao Ji's brows furrowed deeply. It wasn't that he didn't wish to defeat the Liao Dynasty; rather, he did not want the outcome he had foreseen to be altered! Heaven knew whether the one hundred and eight stellar spirits would still be able to defeat the Liao after such a massive deviation! Was he destined to share the same tragic fate as ordinary mortals and ultimately be captured by invaders?!

"Grand Master Liang is in charge of Daming Prefecture, isn't he? Given his temperament, he shouldn't do something like this. An accident must have occurred!" Stepping out of the Imperial Library, Zhao Ji walked into the courtyard and ordered, "Someone come! Investigate and find out what is truly happening in the northern territories!"

At the same time, Cai Jing stared at the letter in his hands, breaking out in a cold sweat.

"How could those Jianghu martial artists possess such formidable strength?! The repercussions of this matter are far too vast. I must report this to His Majesty immediately!" Cai Jing knew very well what secured his current position. The outside world assumed he was a treacherous minister, oblivious to the fact that everything he did was permitted by the emperor!

Yes, not merely condoned, but explicitly permitted!

What exactly was this sovereign planning? Cai Jing had no idea and could never guess. He only knew that he was currently useful to the emperor—a valuable piece on the board.

He had always been merely a chess piece, and a chess piece needed to know its place. Once he lost his utility or foolishly attempted to break free from the chessboard, only one fate awaited him: death!

Outside the study, Cai Jing knelt on the ground.

"Your son-in-law is truly capable! In just a few short years, the elite army he cultivated actually managed to annihilate ten thousand elite Liao soldiers, capturing a strategic major city and seven or eight towns!"

Cai Jing did not dare to raise his head in the slightest. The previous letter had only mentioned the elimination of five thousand cavalrymen! How had the number grown so large? This was a victory of such magnitude that it could legitimately be counted as a decisive campaign!

He knew the limits of his son-in-law's abilities; maintaining stability was within his grasp, but launching an offensive with such devastating results made Cai Jing suspect his son-in-law had been replaced by an impostor!

Cai Jing considered himself a shrewd judge of character, and he refused to believe Liang中书 (Liang Shuzhong) could have concealed his true capabilities from him for so long!

"Your Majesty, I—I truly knew nothing of this!" Cai Jing's body trembled. He could already sense the fury radiating from Zhao Ji.

"Your son-in-law, and you knew nothing about it?" Zhao Ji glared at him. "Fine! I believe you. Go and handle this properly. If there are any more mishaps this time, I wouldn't mind acting like an enlightened monarch right now!" With that, silence fell within the room, and a eunuch handed a slip of paper to Cai Jing.

After reading the contents of the slip, Cai Jing was startled, but harboring not a shred of doubt, he swallowed the paper and kowtowed. "This subject guarantees this matter will be executed to perfection!"

In the capital of the Liao Dynasty, just as the Song could sense the acquisition of a city, the Liao naturally sensed the loss of one. Reports of fallen soldiers also trickled back. With both pieces of news converging, the Emperor of Liao could not afford to take the situation lightly.

Why had such an event occurred so abruptly, especially when previous reconnaissance indicated the Song remained as weak and spineless as ever? Could the enemy have endured in silence merely to deliver a single, devastating blow? That defied all logic!

At that moment, an announcement rang out.

"The Empress Dowager has arrived!"

The Emperor of Liao hurried to the doorway. "Mother!" He could not fathom why his mother had been alarmed. Was she about to wrest back the sovereign authority he had just secured?

"This incident was orchestrated by the people of Western Xia. To be precise, it was done by the people of the Vulture Palace," the Empress Dowager stated.

"The Vulture Palace! Didn't they renounce interference in state affairs long ago?" the Emperor of Liao asked in astonishment. He was well aware of what the Vulture Palace represented; even back in the day, the Liao Dynasty had merely forced the palace to keep its female sovereign sequestered on the mountain for twenty years without descending.

Within the Liao imperial family, especially among the royalty, the legendary deeds of King Xiao Feng of the Southern Court were still widely circulated. Every royal scion could recite from memory how he had single-handedly charged into enemy arrays to capture rebel kings.

"Mother, should we establish contact with the Vulture Palace..." the Emperor of Liao asked tentatively. The core disciples of the Vulture Palace were all women of peerless beauty, and he harbored secret desires for the current mistress of the palace in particular!

"Put away those vile thoughts!" The Empress Dowager glared at him. "Since they dared to strike openly and achieve such results, it proves they possess absolute confidence in facing our retaliation. Even if you were to demolish the Vulture Palace, conquer Western Xia, and unify the entire realm, her personal strength would still be more than sufficient to take your life!"

The Emperor of Liao lowered his head and murmured assent, yet sinister glimmers flashed in his eyes as he mentally calculated various alternative schemes. In his view, his mother's mindset remained trapped decades in the past. Now that the elite armies of the Liao had achieved resonance with the national will, they only needed to resolve the issue of maintaining that resonance outside imperial borders to march forth and conquer the world unopposed. Why should anyone fear mere martial arts masters?

"First, dispatch envoys to the Song Dynasty to demand an explanation, and to Western Xia to lodge a formal reprimand. Furthermore, issue an order to the Buddhist temple in the western territories, commanding them to assault the martial artists of Western Xia. I shall personally write a letter to Tibet, inciting them to harass the Western Xia border. Even if a full-scale war cannot commence immediately, we must let them know that the Liao Dynasty remains formidable as ever!" the Empress Dowager commanded sternly.

The Song Dynasty had been biding its time, and so had the Liao! However, the intervention of Sun Meng and Li Qingmeng had introduced variables, setting off a chain reaction of new developments.

Reviewing the submitted reports, Li Qingmeng curled her lips in mild disdain. These Song officials were just like slaves; unless given a taste of hardship, they would always resort to petty schemes. When initially handling internal city affairs, they had unconsciously begun lining their own pockets and falsifying accounts together. Because Liang Shuzhong dared not openly transport grain and funds to her, they had even resorted to crying poor to her.

Clearly, they had miscalculated, assuming Li Qingmeng was ignorant of such matters and could be easily deceived by their excuses. Consequently, a combination of the Life-Death Talisman and seductive arts made them confess everything. Had it not been for their utility as current officeholders linked to the national fortune of the Song, she would have chased them out long ago.

Nevertheless, leveraging their positions, Li Qingmeng had appointed several ordinary citizens as grassroots officials, diluting the power of the corrupt officials and prompting them to abandon their petty machinations.

She had to admit that as officials of the Song, their baseline administrative competence was present; once efficiency improved, the speed of handling affairs accelerated considerably.

"With officials possessing such strong capabilities, how on earth did the Song Dynasty manage to degenerate into such a pathetic state? Could a Song like this end up being utterly destroyed by the Liao?" Li Qingmeng mused aloud.

Sun Meng replied, "That's because Song officials could never work fourteen hours a day the way they do under you!" When Li Qingmeng had first inquired about the working hours of Song officials, she had immediately imposed that exact schedule upon them. Compelled by her methods and fearing to slacken, the officials had no choice but to continuously process state affairs.

And that was only because they had already grown accustomed to bureaucratic routines and found clever ways to steal moments of leisure; otherwise, undergoing such high-intensity work under constant nervous strain would have broken them entirely.

"By the way, are there any movements from the Liao side?" Sun Meng asked. Their recent operation had merely been a probing strike; after all, two more Liao cities still lay along the border!

"What else could there be? Tibet is raiding the borders, lamas are harassing the frontiers, and the Liao have dispatched envoys to demand explanations!" Li Qingmeng curled her lip. "And that Liang Shuzhong—he sold me out immediately. Yet he still hasn't managed to resolve the Life-Death Talisman within him; he's merely relying on treasures bestowed by the emperor to temporarily isolate my control."

Before Sun Meng could respond, he suddenly received a message from Pixis.

The imperial court's army was attacking Mount Liang!