Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Half a month later, we arrived in the Yan Territory.
The Yan Emperor had prepared a ‘Hongmen Banquet’ in the great hall.
He invited both the royalty of the Yan State and the royalty of the Southern Dynasty.
Bronze lamps, tall and slender as trees, stretched from the exterior into the interior of the hall, bathing the space in brilliant light.
Two people sat upon the highest seats.
Besides the Yan Emperor, who was nearing fifty, there sat our fugitive emperor.
That’s right-he had almost escaped across the Yellow River, but he was still captured in the end.
At this moment, the two were drinking together in a picture of perfect harmony.
In the center of the hall, dancers clad in skimpy, revealing clothes performed the Hu-style whirl dance wretchedly. One look was enough to tell they were not of Yan origin.
I couldn’t bear to look closely, yet I still recognized several of them as the Emperor’s concubines.
Zhao Pingyan, however, did not look away. She drank her wine with an expressionless face.
“It’s not just Imperial Father’s concubines,” she whispered. “There are also the consorts of my uncles.”
I silently scanned the people at the banquet.
Zhao Pingyan’s uncles, brothers, and other sisters all wore bizarre expressions. They had recognized the dancers, but none dared to object.
The Yan royalty were still not satisfied. One of them casually picked up a wine cup and hurled it at a dancer.
The dancer was struck, blood streaming from her forehead. She collapsed onto the floor in front of everyone, her body mostly exposed.
This drew a roar of laughter from the crowd.
The laughter was laced with foul, obscene language.
It was like a series of crude, arrogant slaps hitting the faces of the Southern Dynasty royalty one after another.
But when they noticed that half the people present weren’t laughing, the sound quickly died down.
The room fell abruptly silent; even the music stopped.
The Yan Emperor feigned confusion and asked our Emperor, “This woman was so careless. Why is no one laughing?”
“Perhaps they have just arrived in the Yan Territory and are still a bit constrained,” the Emperor replied. He drank three cups as a self-imposed penalty, clapped his hands, and laughed loudly.
He laughed with such genuine relish.
There wasn’t a single trace of forced merriment to be found.
The Southern Dynasty royalty seated below didn’t have his acting skills; they began to laugh in a scattered, awkward manner.
Zhao Pingyan didn’t laugh the entire time. She gripped her cup so hard her knuckles turned white.
With a smile on his face, the Yan Emperor asked the Emperor again, “Then how should this woman be handled?”
Without a second thought, the Emperor said, “She is unfit for such a grand occasion. Drag her out and kill her.”
The dancer knelt on the ground and broke down, her cries sounding like a mournful wail.
“Your Majesty, save me! I am Consort Yun! I have borne you two sons! Your Majesty!”
No one pleaded for her.
I tried to find her two sons among those present, but there was no sign of them.
Everyone’s faces looked the same.
Panic-stricken, pale, and subservient-they only wanted to hide themselves.
The Yan Emperor observed everyone’s expressions and then let out a bold laugh.
“It would be a pity to put her to death. I don’t like waste. Send her to the army.”
With this single decree, it wasn’t just Consort Yun who was sent away.
Instead, every female member of the Southern royalty who had ever given birth was to be sent to the army to serve as military prostitutes.
The Yan Emperor tilted his head back to drink, then suddenly voiced a regret.
“It is a pity the Southern Dynasty’s Imperial Consort is not here. She truly was a beauty capable of toppling kingdoms.”
The Emperor chimed in flatteringly, “That is only because she did not have the good fortune to serve you, Elder Brother.”
Zhao Pingyan’s body suddenly stiffened. She stared fixedly at her father, her eyes so red they looked ready to bleed.
I placed my hand over the back of hers, patting it gently to soothe her.
At this moment, I actually felt relieved that Zhao Pingyan’s mother had already committed suicide.
The Imperial Consort had been devastatingly beautiful and the most favored in the palace; for years, she had borne the infamy of the Emperor’s fatuousness and cowardice.
It wasn’t until her death that the world learned of her noble character.
And Zhao Pingyan looked exactly like her mother.
Halfway through the banquet, the Emperor, representing the Southern Dynasty royalty, walked solemnly to the center of the hall and prostrated himself on the ground.
“I, Zhao Yan, am willing to honor the Yan Emperor as my lord. From this day forward, my nephews shall be your nephews, and my women shall be your women.”
He practically screamed that short sentence at the top of his lungs.
In this vast hall, it still didn’t sound very loud.
But to the ears of the Southern people, it was deafening enough to shatter their souls.
The atmosphere reached its climax with these words.
The scoundrels of the Yan royalty looked at each other and laughed, standing up one after another.
Right in front of the Southern people, they began to force the princesses and county ladies beneath them without restraint.
I didn’t dare look at all.
But the cries and screams of the women never ceased.
They called out for their fathers, their princes, their older brothers, their younger brothers…
Every cry corresponded to a Southern man present who didn’t even dare to lift his head.
Zhao Pingyan drank her wine, watching silently.
Naturally, someone set their sights on her as well.
“Are you that Southern princess with the wanton reputation? Why don’t you follow this Prince tonight?”
This man bore some resemblance to Yuwen Xuan, but his eyes were excessively narrow, giving him a sinister aura.
Since he referred to himself as ‘this Prince,’ he was likely the Yan Emperor’s eldest son, Yuwen Zhu.
Zhao Pingyan raised her eyes to look at him but said nothing.
Yuwen Zhu’s gaze moved past her and landed on me, his lips curling into a mocking smile.
“Are you the daughter of the Zhenbei General, Song Lin? Your father was a capable man; I wonder if his daughter’s skills are just as good?”
I had lost both my parents three years ago.
My father and mother were both generals who fought on the battlefield.
They both died on the front lines resisting the Yan State.
Zhao Pingyan suddenly slammed her hand on the table and stood up. Grabbing her wine cup, she hurled it violently at the man’s forehead.
It struck him, and blood began to pour from his temple.
“The soldiers of my Southern Dynasty were loyal unto death, content to be buried where they fell wrapped in horsehides. How dare you insult them?”
Yuwen Zhu bared his teeth in pain, his gaze becoming even more poisonous.
He angrily wiped away the blood and shoved Zhao Pingyan down onto the wine table.
The cups and dishes were swept to the floor with a loud crash.
“Bitch! You dare lay a hand on me! I’ll make sure you’re crippled!”
I lunged forward, shielding Zhao Pingyan with my entire body.
I would protect the Princess with my life.
Just as my parents had defended the Southern Dynasty.