Chapter 18: Three Words to Slay the Traitor

The vast military camp held several thousand men, yet they had only three hundred!

But at this point, there was no turning back.

Li Longye walked into the camp with his head held high, holding a yellow scroll in his hands. The scroll, adorned with dragon and phoenix motifs, was an imperial decree bearing the weight of the Emperor’s own presence.

Pei Min had already blended into the group of three hundred soldiers. The three hundred of them marched in one after another, and relying on Li Longye’s arrogant, devil-may-care demeanor, they charged straight along the main thoroughfare and into the central command tent.

While the central tent was spacious, it could not accommodate three hundred men. Two hundred and eighty-five remained outside, while only fifteen—including Li Longye, Pei Min, and Wang Maozhong—entered. This was a number Pei Min had carefully calculated. If too many had entered, it would inevitably have aroused the suspicions of Chang Yuankai and Li Ci, making them view the tent as a death trap and causing them to hesitate. By keeping the numbers low, even if they suspected it was a trap, they would have no choice but to enter.

The Xuanwu Gate, the northern gate of the Taiji Palace, sat on the slopes of Longshou Plain. Its elevated position allowed it to overlook the palace city, making it a vital portal and a site of immense political and military significance. In the twelfth year of the Zhenguan era, Emperor Taizong, Li Shimin, ordered the establishment of the Left and Right Tun Camps at the Xuanwu Gate, commanded by generals of the various guards. Their forces, initially known as the "Hundred Riders," expanded over time into the "Thousand Riders" and then the "Ten Thousand Riders." In the first year of the Chuigong era, Wu Zetian renamed them the Left and Right Yulin Guards. Thus, it became a heavily fortified stronghold for the central imperial guard and the birthplace of numerous palace coups.

Because of their elevated vantage point, Chang Yuankai and Li Ci had spotted Li Longye, Pei Min, and Wang Maozhong’s group of over a hundred men early on.

They gathered together, sensitive and wary, watching as Li Longye marched toward the command tent, wielding the imperial decree with unassailable confidence.

"What could the Retired Emperor be thinking?" Chang Yuankai asked, his face pale with shock. "Does delivering a mere decree require the mobilization of three thousand riders?"

Li Ci’s face was also drained of color. "Could the Retired Emperor have changed his mind again? Does he want the Emperor to remain on the throne and strip us of our military command?"

"It’s just a fake imperial decree," Pei Min had told Li Longye to comfort him, but in truth, forging a decree was a crime of treason. Decapitation was the lightest punishment; at worst, it would implicate three generations of one's family. Chang Yuankai and Li Ci, blinded by their own assumptions, could never have imagined that the decree was a forgery.

Moreover, Li Dan was notoriously not a strong ruler; his tendency to be easily swayed and his indecisiveness were common knowledge. His whims were as unpredictable as the weather. Heaven only knew what had possessed Li Dan this time, or what scheme he had devised. Chang Yuankai could not fathom the Emperor’s mind; an inscrutable emperor was difficult to read, but an indecisive one who changed his mind every moment was equally baffling.

In response to Li Ci, Chang Yuankai countered, "That seems unlikely. The Retired Emperor does, after all, dote on the Grand Princess; he wouldn't leave us without any path forward. I am more worried that the Retired Emperor has been deceived into believing we harbor treasonous intent, and has thus sent the Prince of Xue to lead the Ten Thousand Riders here to test us."

Li Ci’s expression shifted. "Then what should we do?"

"Do not worry!" Chang Yuankai said, gradually regaining his composure. "With the Grand Princess on our side, she will not sit idly by while we are falsely accused of things we have not done. We must not give them any leverage, or we will truly be unable to defend ourselves."

Li Ci looked toward the distant command tent and swallowed hard. "So, we must go and receive the decree? I don't know why, but I have a chilling feeling about this."

"Nonsense!" Chang Yuankai did not stand on ceremony with his subordinate, snapping, "Refusing to receive the decree is tantamount to resisting an imperial order. I still wish to live a few more years."

Li Ci said sheepishly, "I’m just afraid. These last few days are when trouble is most likely to arise."

Compared to Li Ci, who had risen through the ranks based on his family background, Chang Yuankai had at least seen the world; he had once replaced Zhang Renyuan as the Superintendent of the Shuofang Army, responsible for northern military operations. Though he hadn't performed well and was looked down upon by the local people, he was not a hothouse flower like Li Ci. He said in a deep voice, "Your concerns are not without merit. We must guard against the Emperor pulling a last-minute desperate move. I saw that there are only a dozen people in their tent, with the rest remaining outside. Let us arrange for our troops to wait near the command tent, and we will each take our own guards to receive the decree. Even if there is an accident, we will be prepared to react instantly. We must also inform the Grand Princess of the situation here..."

Thinking of the guards Princess Taiping had arranged for them, Li Ci felt greatly reassured. "The General is right! This Right Yulin Guard camp is our territory; why am I worrying so much? To be safe, I will go and put on my Mingguang armor—I'll just say I’m conducting drills."

Chang Yuankai agreed. While issuing orders for his trusted men to notify Princess Taiping, he also returned to his camp to don his Mingguang armor.

The Mingguang armor was the most renowned armor for Tang dynasty generals, crafted from hundreds of iron plates, with the vital areas protected by steel plates. While not entirely impenetrable, it was not easily breached by common iron weapons.

Fully armed and accompanied by their respective bodyguards, they walked toward the command tent.

Li Longye spread the decree out before them and shouted, "Chang Yuankai, Li Ci, receive the decree!"

When an imperial decree was read, the messenger was treated as the Emperor himself, and officials were required to receive it with reverence. In the Tang dynasty, kneeling was not standard, but bowing was mandatory.

Chang Yuankai and Li Ci both bent their bodies, leaning forward.

Li Longye began, "The Right Yulin..."

*Clang!*

Li Longye had only uttered three words. Before he could finish the title "General," the back of the scroll in his hands was splattered with crimson. Two massive heads rolled to his feet, forcing the rest of his words back into his throat.

Before him stood only two headless corpses, fountains of blood spraying into the air, the stench of iron instantly filling the tent.

Chang Yuankai and Li Ci were dead!

Li Longye didn't even know how they had died; in a single breath, in the span of three words, the two had been decapitated.

Pei Min, having killed Chang Yuankai and Li Ci in one stroke, did not stop. He threw the scabbard in his left hand at the slight, middle-aged man behind Chang Yuankai and lunged at the remaining three with his Qin Emperor sword.

Pei Min’s strike was too fast; even his own prepared men hadn't reacted, let alone the bodyguards. Though skilled, they were all bowed in obeisance and had no time to dodge or draw their swords. With just two strikes, Pei Min killed the two men behind Li Ci. The third man managed a slight reprieve, dodging Pei Min’s lightning-fast blade. Just as he was about to draw his sword to fight, Pei Min thwarted him, slicing diagonally with the Qin Emperor sword and severing the man’s wrist.

Only then did Pei Min realize he was not holding the flashy but fragile Qiushui sword, but a weapon capable of cutting through gold and jade. Without pausing, he brought the blade upward, sweeping across the man’s neck.

A scream, followed by a thud!

Wang Maozhong flew through the air like a missile, crashing face-first into the ground. He roared, "Pah... kill him, kill him!"

It turned out that Wang Maozhong, seeing Pei Min succeed, had tried to snatch the glory, and out of spite, had ordered the soldiers to draw their weapons.

The slight middle-aged man, in order to dodge Pei Min’s hidden weapon, had ended up right next to him and swung his blade at him.

Strike after strike—swift and fierce!

But he hadn't counted on the middle-aged man being more skilled than him. The man’s footwork was particularly eerie, weaving left and right until Wang Maozhong was dizzy, unable to tell north from south. A powerful kick to his backside sent him flying.

Pei Min stepped forward, sword in hand, laughing, "Your opponent is me!" Even before Chang Yuankai and Li Ci had entered the tent, he had been watching the six of them. Chang Yuankai and Li Ci, wearing heavy armor, were slow to dodge and appeared like lambs to him. All he had to do was position himself and slice across their necks. The four men behind them, however, were exceptional; their gait revealed a solid foundation in martial arts. Anyone with a steady stance was no amateur.

In particular, the slight middle-aged man closest to Chang Yuankai—though unremarkable in appearance—stepped with such precision that each footfall seemed calculated, rooted firmly in the ground. Pei Min admitted that his own footwork couldn't compare; this man was the most skilled of the four guards.

Pei Min had analyzed this instantly: after killing Chang Yuankai and Li Ci, he would eliminate the other three before focusing his full strength on the middle-aged man. Using the scabbard as a projectile was intended to keep the man from interfering.

He hadn't expected Wang Maozhong to clumsily get in the way and suffer for it.

Wang Maozhong was the leader of the three hundred troops; if he died, the situation would only worsen. Without hesitation, Pei Min thrust the Qin Emperor sword toward the middle-aged man’s heart.

The man dodged with a flicker of his body, then struck down a soldier beside him, ending his life.

Pei Min’s brows arched in fury. When the first strike missed, the second followed, even swifter and more ferocious. The middle-aged man dodged to the left again. Pei Min unleashed a flurry of strikes—third, fourth, fifth, sixth. In an instant, the air was filled with sword shadows, a bizarre and treacherous style like a dragon dancing in the void, suppressing the man until he had nowhere to hide.

With a loud *clang*, the man’s sword snapped in two, and a deep gash opened across his chest, blood gushing out.

The man slumped to the ground, grinning at Pei Min. "To think that before I die, I would personally experience such a treacherous and sharp sword technique... I have no regrets." He was not one of the bandits recruited by Huifan, but a talent specifically sought out by Princess Taiping—a retainer named Xu Ning. He excelled in footwork and possessed a degree of swordsmanship. When Princess Taiping had tested him, she had ordered fifty master archers to fire ten arrows each at him, yet he hadn't suffered a single scratch. Today, seeing Pei Min’s lightning-fast strikes, even he, with his superior speed, hadn't been able to intervene. With his masters dead, he had hoped to use his footwork to escape, but Pei Min’s sword had sealed all his exits, forcing him to take the strike.

Wang Maozhong, having caught his breath, was consumed by rage and hurled his long saber.

Xu Ning, already mortally wounded and resigned to death, made no attempt to resist, letting the weapon pass through his chest.