His dry, cold hands were gathered into warm palms. Fu Shen leaned down, deliberately pressing his cold cheek against the other’s face: “Why are you here again?”
Yan Xiaohang brazenly said, “It’s almost New Year. How could I let you spend the night alone? I’m here to warm the bed for the Marquis.”
Fu Shen shook his head and laughed, his face showing helpless indulgence, and was kissed on the chin.
Amusingly, from the commander down to the ordinary soldiers, the Tianfu Army seemed to have decided to cling tightly to the Northern Yan cavalry. Since joining forces in Luoyang, the Tianfu Army had become a small tail of the Northern Yan army. This was partly due to the close relationship between the two commanders, and partly because most of the Tianfu Army was from the capital region and had a natural affinity for the Northern Yan army.
Moreover, Yan Xiaohang was inexperienced in leading troops and often needed Fu Shen to watch over him. Thus, when others weren’t paying attention, Yan Xiaohang would almost come to the Northern Yan camp every night to “consult” with Fu Shen.
Fu Shen had long instructed his personal guards not to stop him, and over time, everyone became accustomed to this. When he encountered Yan Xiaohang leaving Fu Shen’s tent in the morning, he told him to “eat before leaving.”
Yan Xiaohan put down his brush and turned around, picking up a cloth towel to cover Fu Shen’s feet. He picked up the wooden basin to go out and dump water, casually responding: “A memorial to the imperial court, nothing much. Hurry and lie down, don’t catch a cold.”
When he lifted the curtain, a small breeze blew in, causing the paper pages to flutter. Fu Shen originally didn’t want to peek, but his eyesight was too good, and he caught a glimpse of a neat line of small regular script on the white paper.
The moment he saw it clearly, his heart inexplicably skipped a beat. Panic, but not chaotic, instead feeling a sudden clarity like breaking through clouds.
The memorial contained only six words – “Prefer to die fighting, not negotiate peace.”
When Fu Shen first returned to the capital, Yan Xiaohan was denounced by scholars as a court hawk. But now, after wind and rain, when principles were easily changed and loyalty easily broken, he was one of the few who still stood straight.
By now, who would dare say he was a sycophant who only followed orders and harmed the loyal?
Another sound, and Yan Xiaohan returned.
Fu Shen, wrapped in the warm blanket, comfortably sighed and called out: “Menggui.”
“Hmm?” Yan Xiaohan was washing his hands, turning his head: “What do you want?”
Fu Shen: “You.”
Yan Xiaohan was caught off guard, stunned for a moment, then laughed. He dried his hands, took off his clothes and got into bed, lying beside Fu Shen: “What for?”
Fu Shen leaned over, kissed him on the nose, and said righteously: “Nothing, just getting intimate with my husband. Is that not allowed?”
The Leaders of Four Armies gathered on the open ground before the camp, making their final deployment before battle. After they finished speaking, Yan Xiaohan called a soldier and distributed a bowl of hot wine to each person, beginning with: “This wine is to fortify you. May Heaven bless our army, and may we achieve a great victory.”
The generals each raised their bowls, creating a crisp sound in the air as they shouted in unison: “Heaven bless our army, may our flags rise victorious!”
Others returned to their troops, but Yan Xiaohan was slightly slower. Fu Shen seemed to sense his intention and raised an eyebrow with a smile: “Do you have something you want to tell me privately?”
His eye corners were flushed with wine, and his smile was softer than his usually sharp features. Yan Xiaohan knew the time and place were inappropriate, but he couldn’t help but be moved.
He most didn’t want to see Fu Shen go to battle, yet he had to admit this was also the most admirable sight of him.
“On New Year’s Eve, one should say auspicious words,” Yan Xiaohan raised his cup against the vast winter wind: “May our country be peaceful and the world prosperous.”
Fu Shen paused briefly, then lowered his eyes, seemingly sighing or perhaps smiling.
He raised his cup in return, his voice not loud, but clear in the wind, with each word distinctly heard by Yan Xiaohan.
“May we stay together forever, growing old side by side.”
After speaking, he drank the remaining wine and rode his horse into the boundless night.
Yan Xiaohan once asked Fu Shen before the Golden Platform Assembly what he really wanted to do. Did he want to be crowned and become an enlightened monarch himself, or to grasp power, control the court, and use the emperor to command the feudal lords?
Fu Shen’s answer was extremely brief, just four words, but also shocking.
“The world’s joint governance.”
He had long ceased to believe in wise rulers and had no intention of replacing them.
In the dark, it seemed some law constrained generations of heroes, with rise and fall having a predetermined fate. Fu Shen vaguely perceived this “heavenly way” but could not articulate it. One day, while browsing the “Xuemei Hermitage Collection,” a sentence broke through his confusion, and his hazy thoughts finally crystallized –
“The world belongs to the people of the world, not to a single family’s private domain. The world’s governance and chaos do not depend on a single family’s rise or fall, but on the people’s sorrows and joys.”
Generals guarding the frontiers, regional military commanders, local governors, and court advisors should have been advocating for the common people, yet they had long been shackled, bowing to the throne of a single family.
This catastrophic upheaval overturned a dynasty, and under the ashes, some embers still remained.
The timing, geographical advantage, and human harmony were all in place; the moment of transformation was about to arrive.
When the northern army remained motionless and the court officials in Jinling argued endlessly, unable to compromise, the Jiangnan, Lingnan, and Fujian regional commanders suddenly submitted a petition, requesting the Emperor to approve the northern seven armies’ proposal. The East Sea naval commander followed suit.
Shortly after, the Jiannan regional commander sent an imperial edict from the Grand Emperor, explicitly stating to “widely gather public opinion and carefully decide.”
Fu Shen never expected the three Jiangnan regional commanders would speak up so quickly. He had originally planned to pressure Jinling by recapturing the capital, dragging it out for a month, believing the Emperor would eventually agree. Now, the situation was settled, with even the Grand Emperor supporting them, and the Emperor’s approval was just a matter of time.
On the fourth day of the fifth month, the Emperor issued an edict in Zhouzhou, approving the proposal.
By the end of June, the capital was recaptured, and the Tartar remnant army retreated to Miyun. The Northern Yan cavalry continued northward to clear remaining enemies. By September, Northern Yan’s three passes were back in Han army hands, and the northern border was rebuilt.
That same year, internal rebellion broke out in the Bohai Kingdom, with insurgents surrendering their original monarch, willing to submit to the Great Zhou, paying tribute and becoming a vassal state.
In December, the Emperor arrived in the capital. On New Year’s Day the following year, he received court greetings at the Taiji Hall, rewarded generals, appointed his legitimate son Sun Hui as Crown Prince, and issued the “Hall Conference Law”.
In the spring of the third year of his reign, Fu Shen was promoted to Jingguo Duke and granted the title of Upper Column State General. Shortly after being enfeoffed, he requested to resign from his Northern Yan commander position, citing a recurrence of leg disease.
