In the late autumn of the second year of the Hongxi era, in September, in a mountain range on the outskirts of Changluo, a valley plain was lush with fragrant grass. A manor stood embraced by the hills, having stood for a hundred years. A plaque of black iron engraved with the three characters “Frost Blade Pavilion” hung casually on the entrance wall—so casually that the place seemed like some nameless spot.
Inside Frost Blade Pavilion, the fine sounds of machinery ran rhythmically. A flood of intelligence from all corners of the Jin Kingdom poured into the archives of Frost Blade Pavilion, neatly sorted into four colors—black, crimson, cyan, and light yellow—according to their severity.
The mechanical bookshelves scrolled steadily. The sunlight shifted from the east to dim in the west, and the sound of footsteps was muffled by the machinery. Before long, a calloused hand pulled out a scroll on the northern border, bound in black, from the shelf, unrolled it, and read word by word.
The scroll methodically recorded three points.
First, in mid-June, the Northern Rong used their own princess consort, Gu Renli, as a pretext for a sacrificial banner, trying to force the two Gu family commanders to retreat. Gu Jinyu had just agreed when that very night, Gu Renli was shot dead by the Jin army’s own hands, and the one who did it was none other than the Prince Zhenbei, Gu Yan.
When he reached this line, the reader stepped back to read it over several times, mouthing the words mechanically.
Frost Blade Pavilion’s intelligence network spanned the four borders. There were pavilion scouts within the Northern Border Garrison, and the intelligence collected was so detailed it was dedicated to specific individuals and sections.
The scroll detailed the scene of Gu Yan shooting his eldest daughter, Gu Renli, on an autumn night, along with a precise analysis.
Gu Jinyu had forcefully overruled the other commanders to keep Gu Renli safe, even going so far as to use force to place the other four major commanders under house arrest. The other commanders could not stand by and watch him waste the fruits of the Northern Expedition for the sake of a long-wedded concubine. That night, Gu Yan took the lead, found an opportunity to leave camp, rode straight to the Jin-Rong border, bent his bow and nocked an arrow, aiming at Gu Renli, who was bound on a distant altar, releasing twelve arrows in succession, sacrificing his own daughter for the greater cause.
The Northern Expedition returned to a position of strength for the Jin army.
June had passed, and now winter was approaching. The Northern Rong were surrounded and trapped, unable to hold out much longer. The Jin army now only needed to wait for winter to nearly deplete the Northern Rong without expending troops.
The second point recorded that the Northern Border Garrison was involved in the embezzlement of military funds.
The Northern Expedition had lasted a year and seven months; aside from casualties in the initial battles, the hundreds of thousands of Jin troops stationed at the border had remained holed up, enduring like turtles, only defending and never fighting. The Hanzhou front line hadn’t advanced half a zhang, practically eating unearned meals for a year and a half.
The Central Plains heartland had sent nine large-scale northern relief missions. The trust in the Northern Border Garrison was overdrawn. In June, the central government sent Su Mingshao and the Ge father and son, nominally as deputy commanders for support, but in reality as imperial inspectors to thoroughly investigate the northern front.
On the night of June twelfth, one of the inspectors, Cloud Banner General Ge Wanchi, was unfortunately assassinated, his corpse left in a gruesome state, not intact. Su Mingshao was also urgently attacked, fortunate to only sustain minor injuries.
Upon hearing the news, the Empress was furious and this time sent the Third Imperial Princess Gao Mingxing to go, clearly suspecting that among the five major northern commanders there was a traitor to the nation.
The third point: in late July, the imperial family and noble clan reinforcements arrived at the northern border. Gu Jinyu, contrary to his usual behavior, led troops to raid the Northern Rong at night, riding the wind to avoid the poisonous miasma, and slaughtered across three hundred li without restraint, in what seemed an ill-timed shift from defense to offense, and his attack was an effortless victory.
Under Gu Jinyu’s faction, the relief forces composed of the imperial family and central government only had judicial authority, not military command.
The scroll recorded in cold vermilion script: Now that the imperial family has entered the fray, there is absolutely no chance of a peaceful resolution. Whether the Northern Garrison embezzled funds or to what scale is no longer important. The final result will inevitably be the emergence of a treasonous general involved in massive military embezzlement, to silence the public outcry and quell the people’s anger. And now among the five major commanders, only Gu Jinyu, through violence, has earned “absolute innocence.”
At the end, the scroll recorded with unabashed sharpness: The Northern Expedition, in name, was to defend Jin territory, but in reality it was still an internal power shift within the Jin Dynasty; most likely the new Emperor and Gu Jinyu joined hands, with the so-called boost to national prestige being merely an afterthought. Whenever a Jin Emperor ascends the throne, in the first five to ten years they purge the previous dynasty and massacre the remnant elders; in the tenth to twentieth year they scheme to check and balance while holding their power. Such a cycle, like a curse.
By the time he finished reading the entire scroll, night had fallen.
The reader returned the scroll and left the archive, his body slightly chilled.
The cold calm did not last long; not long after leaving the archive, he met a junior disciple of Frost Blade Pavilion on the night path.
“Guan Yunji.” The junior disciple addressed him by full name with a natural expression, as was the custom in Frost Blade Pavilion—one’s status, high or low, was all the same here. “Gao Mingshi has come looking for you and your brother.”
Guan Yunji even blanked for a moment before remembering that Gao Mingshi was the name of the current Emperor.
Back then, Gu Jinyu had spared the lives of him and his half-brother in private; now that the Emperor had come, the situation was very strange.
The little disciple waved for him to follow, chatting away casually with a familiar tone: “Do you want that scar on your face removed? Without that scar, you’d be a handsome fellow. There’s a Divine Physician Department in the pavilion; if they give it their all, they could probably remove about seventy percent of it. The part on your nose bridge is tricky, but the cheek should be easier.”
“No need.”
“Don’t you want to be handsome?”
“It’s more that I don’t want to be your test subject again.”
The little disciple’s face lit up with expression: “Oh, right, I was wondering why those useless Divine Physicians hadn’t dragged you off for study—turns out they already did, hahaha! Then it seems their medical skills aren’t much either, not recovering you well.”
Guan Yunji did not reply.
The one who had cut him had been precise; this scar was difficult to remove, and it would follow him for life.
“I heard you came in with your brother. Judging by your gait, your martial arts are much better than his; seems your brother is both dumb and lazy. But I think you both should have stayed a few more years, otherwise you won’t learn solidly. Too bad Gao Mingshi is here tonight; from the way she looks, your days here are numbered.”
Though the disciple was young, his words were not childish. When Guan Yunji first arrived at Frost Blade Pavilion, he found it extremely hard to adjust; everyone here, young or old, was a bit odd, as if a nest of geniuses, each one an eccentric.
Perhaps it was due to not being part of the world.
Guan Yunji waited until the disciple stopped before asking, “What sort of place is Frost Blade Pavilion?”
The little disciple rolled his eyes at him: “It’s Frost Blade Pavilion, what else could it be?”
Guan Yunji then gave up asking; he only knew that this was a strange place with its own rules, like a private school for miscellaneous studies, but absolutely not like Vast Marsh Academy.
The little disciple led him to a small courtyard with a vegetable patch, waved goodbye, then turned and disappeared with a flash of lightness skill.
Guan Yunji, used to it, calmly walked in and saw the simple little cabin packed with people. Standing were imperial guards in plain clothes; sitting were the Empress Gao Mingshi in male attire, and his brother Guan Yunxiang, sweating on his forehead like a quail.
“Yunji, long time no see.”
Guan Yunji calmly walked over to sit and asked something else: “Your Majesty, have you found my cousin?”
Guan Yunxiang’s forehead dripped even more sweat; he kicked Guan Yunji under the table, begging him not to walk into the tiger’s mouth—Gao Mingqian and they were all criminals deserving of death.
The Empress’s face showed no extra emotion, no sign of happiness, sorrow, or anger: “His trail has been found but he has yet to be captured. He is still alive, just like you two.”
Guan Yunji understood something.
“Zhen came looking for you with no other intent. The surname Guan is no longer usable, but the Yue clan of my mother’s family still has many vacancies. Since Xunzhi’s death, Zhen has hoped for someone to fill his position. Yunji, you are a smart man. Before, you had only one choice; now Zhen gives you two paths: one, leave Frost Blade Pavilion and be used by Jinyu; two, leave with Zhen the day after tomorrow and be used by Zhen.”
Both paths meant being driven by enemies.
Unless dead, as long as he lived, this was his fate.
Guan Yunji thought of the scroll he had just read in the archive and asked, “There is one thing I would like to ask Your Majesty first.”
“Speak.”
“In the Northern Expedition, is the biggest winner you or Gu Jinyu?”
The Empress smiled: “In terms of historical merit, Zhen wins; in terms of quick vengeance, he does.”
In early winter of October, Changluo was still a stretch of green, but the northern border was already filled with gray frost.
The weather was cold, so Zhang Dengqing circulated his inner power to fend off the cold, but the bothersome Gu Pinghan still picked out a dozen winter clothes and sent them over.
