Chapter 1875: Chapter 7: Flames of Chaos, The Gentleman Transformed
"If Your Highness wishes to persuade Your Majesty to change his mind, then please do it quickly."
He raised a finger and pointed at the sky, saying, "At noon, they will be buried."
Jiang Gao’s gaze was icy as he turned to look at the imperial city within the capital of Ying Country. Ever since the Qin Yulong affair, he had never set foot in the palace again. He had, after all, remained guarded against his younger brother—but at this moment, he could no longer refuse to go.
He looked at the commoners who had been seized and said in a low voice, "Don’t worry, don’t be afraid."
"Even if it costs me my life,"
"I will still bring back this Imperial Decree!"
He turned, spurred his horse, and entered the palace, galloping all the way. The heart of a gentle, mellow gentleman he once had began to fissure and mutate, seething with fury. Those who seek fame are bound by fame; those who seek beauty are bound by beauty.
But those who live for the people are driven to transform by the suffering of the world.
Since the day he was born, this was the first time Jiang Gao had ever been so angry. When he barged into the palace, he heard within the sounds of banqueting and laughter. To his ears they were so harsh, so grating. He walked slowly up, watching his younger brother in dragon robes laughing loudly there.
All around him were the close ministers and officials he had promoted.
Jiang Gao’s fist clenched, his sleeves billowing as he strode in. Jiang Yuan had already seen his elder brother and laughed aloud, saying, "And who might this be—why, isn’t this my good elder brother?!"
"Hahahaha, King Zhao, you and I, brothers, have not seen each other for years."
"If later generations hear of it, they might think it is I who wanted to kill you."
Jiang Gao said, "Why do you want to bury the commoners alive?"
Jiang Yuan said, "They are all rebellious traitors, nothing more than several tens of thousands of households. Killing the chicken to warn the monkey is the only way to let the realm be at peace."
Jiang Gao was so enraged he almost laughed. He had no interest in saying anything to his younger brother, no interest in speaking of great principles. He already knew: there are some people who cannot be persuaded—or rather—
No one can ever truly persuade another.
He only said, "I know what you’re thinking."
"Spare the commoners, and I will let you deal with me as you will."
Jiang Yuan fixed his gaze on Jiang Gao and said, "Good!"
"I do not think there needs to be such estrangement between us brothers. After today, you will live in a separate courtyard within the palace. I will prepare maids and Attendants for elder brother. You and I, born of the same mother, can see one another every day."
"And we shall drink this cup dry!"
Jiang Yuan waved his hand, and an Attendant had already brought over a cup of wine.
Jiang Yuan’s finger pressed upon the purple sandalwood tray and the fine jade wine vessel atop it, and he said:
"I ask elder brother to drain this cup."
Jiang Gao looked at that cup of wine; with his intelligence he had already guessed there was something wrong with it. He slowly reached out his hand. "Immediately write an Imperial Decree. Once it is proclaimed and the commoners are safe, I will drink and offer my congratulations."
Jiang Yuan said, "Very well!"
He at once took up the brush and wrote the Imperial Decree, then casually flung the brush aside, grabbed the decree and handed it off, saying, "Go proclaim the decree!" A eunuch took the Imperial Decree in both hands and hurried off. Jiang Yuan raised his hand, inviting Jiang Gao to drink.
Jiang Gao understood completely now.
This mass burial of the commoners was all for his sake.
Otherwise, why carry out such a slaughter just south of the capital? The reason such a thing was done near the capital was to set a trap for Jiang Gao, to force the brother who had hidden for years to enter the palace in person.
This younger brother of his was even more clever than the world believed.
Far more clever.
He had elevated new close ministers, pressured and wooed Wei Yiwen and He Ruoqinhu; the court above and below was almost entirely in his grasp.
Yet all that cleverness had been spent only on such things.
But this world—
is not merely Ying Country!
Pitiable, lamentable, hateful.
Jiang Gao lifted the wine cup to his lips.
A faint smile surfaced on Jiang Yuan’s face.
Everyone around was watching him; even the music of pipes and strings ceased. Jiang Gao closed his eyes, and everything from these past years flashed before him—Qin Yulong, the dispatch of troops, the canal, the commoners, the burying alive, the rebels, the gentleman, the gentleman...
A blaze burned in his chest.
That blaze, along with his yearning for kinship, the adorable image of his younger brother in childhood, all gathered together, finally becoming a mass of chaotic, raging fire—everything Jiang Gao cared about.
That air of the gentleman, bit by bit, shattered upon him.
All the ministers watched this scene. In the next instant, just as this mild, mellow gentleman was about to drink, Jiang Gao instead tightened his grip on the cup, and with a twist of his wrist—
The cup, like a stone, whipped forward with a violent swing.
It hurtled straight toward Jiang Yuan.
Jiang Yuan recoiled in fright, retreating to avoid the cup. The wine splashed onto the floor with a rank, fishy stench. But Jiang Gao had already stepped in and lunged forward, raising his hand to seize a guard’s sword and yanking it free. The sound of the blade leaving the scabbard rang out, resounding like a Dragon Roar.
Candlelight and fire’s shadows.
A person is not immutable—never has been.
The light of the flames was reflected in Jiang Gao’s eyes.
Like the fires of a world in chaos, like a fiercely burning heart, like that little tongue of flame Jiang Su had waited on in hibernation for four years.
Jiang Wanxiang’s fire.
At last, upon Jiang Gao, it blazed fully to life.
Beacon fires of a troubled age; the gentleman’s leopard-like transformation.
