The 'Involution King' Second Female Lead Quits [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 41

Chapter 41: My Father and Brother Died in Vain? My Mother on the Run? Am I Going to Rebel?

“Heaven above, I, Li Liang, am loyal to the great Jin dynasty. I have no intention of rebelling. I hope Your Majesty will see clearly! For thirty years, I have been stationed on the frontier of the great Jin, working diligently and tirelessly. During this time, I have killed countless enemies. How could I possibly collude with the Xiongnu!”

“Your Majesty, do not listen to the slander of treacherous officials. My father would never betray the great Jin! He would never offend a concubine! I implore Your Majesty to investigate!”

“False! What a false accusation! Even if I must die, I should die with a clear name, not be framed and left with a bad reputation!”

“May heaven be my witness!”

“I am willing to die to prove my innocence!”

“It’s a travesty, Jianwei! Your father was framed!”

“Jianwei, don’t return to the capital! His Majesty intends to seize the Li family’s military power. Beware of the Third Prince!”

Gasp… Gasp…

Li Jianwei shot up from her bed, her mind throbbing with the shrill voices.

“General, are you alright?” a guard standing outside asked in a low voice.

“I’m fine. What time is it?” Li Jianwei rubbed her head with her fingertips, her breathing gradually calming down.

“General, it’s just the Chou hour (1 a.m. – 3 a.m.). There’s still more than an hour until sunrise,” the guard replied.

Li Jianwei, still in her inner garments, got out of bed, lit a candle, and pushed open the slightly ajar window. Outside, the moon was bright, casting a silvery glow over the courtyard. The occasional breeze rustled the leaves, making it a perfect night for drinking and enjoying the moon.

“Is there any news from the capital yet?” Li Jianwei asked unhurriedly as she put on her outer robe, the door wide open.

The guard lowered her head to reply. “No, based on the Great General’s marching speed, it would take at least ten days to return to the capital. The Great General left half a month ago. Even if he sent a message right after returning to the capital, it would still take three to five days for the letter to reach the Northern Frontier.”

After a brief silence, Li Jianwei, now fully dressed, suddenly asked, “Do you think my father will be a threat to the Emperor due to his great achievements?”

The guard’s pupils shrank, and she knelt on the ground. “General, I dare not speak carelessly!”

“It’s fine. The people in this courtyard have all fought alongside me. I trust them. Just think of it as a private conversation between us,” Li Jianwei said, helping the panicked guard up, her tone lenient. “Just tell me what’s on your mind.”

The guard stood up, trembling, and carefully glanced at her young General. “This subordinate believes that the Great General has been stationed in the Northern Frontier for more than thirty years, which is enough to prove his loyalty to the previous Emperor and His Majesty. As long as His Majesty is not deceived by treacherous officials, he will never doubt the Great General.”

“Moreover, the General’s older brother and mother have been in the capital for a long time, and only the General has been with the Great General in the Northern Frontier since childhood. His Majesty should not be overly suspicious.”

The guard’s thoughts were not wrong. Although Li Jianwei was officially a third-rank general with a military title granted by the imperial court, in the eyes of most powerful people, Li Jianwei was also a woman. A female general whose military power could easily be taken away if she married and had children was much less of a threat than a male general of the same rank. Of course, no one in the Northern Frontier thought this way. People from three to eighty years old knew that their General had killed a Xiongnu prince at the age of thirteen. After that, she won battle after battle and was exceptionally promoted to a loyal lieutenant at fifteen. Now, their General was twenty-three and had received many imperial commendations for her military achievements, rising step by step to a third-rank general.

As a personal guard, she knew more than the average person in the Northern Frontier. For example, the Great General, worried that his daughter was rising too quickly and becoming a target for some people, had deliberately downplayed her achievements in his reports to the imperial court. If he had reported everything truthfully, their General might have been granted a noble title like him!

“I just had a nightmare. I dreamed that my father and brother were framed by treacherous officials and came to me in my dream, asking me to clear their names,” Li Jianwei sat down and took a sip of the cold tea. “Never mind. Come with me on a patrol. I must be overthinking things.” Li Jianwei stood up, hung her sword on her waist, and strode out of the room.

The guard followed closely, giving a look to a colleague to go ahead and prepare a horse for the General.

The Jin dynasty was almost two hundred years old. The Northern Frontier was originally guarded by the Li family, but after the founding Emperor’s death, the Li family declined. It was only about thirty years ago that they rose again through military achievements. The Xiongnu had always coveted the fertile land of the Central Plains. Every year, they would send cavalry to harass the border and would invade if they found an opportunity. Therefore, there were three hundred thousand soldiers stationed in the Northern Frontier, nominally commanded by the Great General Li Liang. In reality, Li Liang’s direct line only had one hundred thousand. Of the remaining two hundred thousand, Li Jianwei commanded eighty thousand, and the other two vice-generals each commanded sixty thousand.

However, in Li Jianwei’s opinion, there should be three hundred and fifty thousand soldiers stationed in the Northern Frontier because there were also fifty thousand female soldiers in the logistics army. Although the logistics army did not appear on the front lines much, what they did in the rear was still very important. If the imperial court were willing to acknowledge them as military families and pay them full wages instead of just seventy percent, it would be hard to say who was more powerful between the logistics army and the regular border army.

Li Jianwei was no stranger to night patrols. The soldiers guarding the city were not surprised to see her; they just stood a little straighter, trying to show their top officer their most spirited side in hopes of becoming a personal guard!

After the patrol, a faint light had appeared in the eastern sky, and soon after, the sun rose from behind the mountains.

“Young General, why are you up so early? Is there any sign of a Xiongnu movement?” asked Vice-General Han, who had also gotten up for a patrol. In terms of rank, the two vice-generals of the Great General were also third-rank, but they had been promoted by Li Jianwei’s father and had long regarded him as their leader. Li Jianwei had naturally become their young master. Of course, this was all because Li Jianwei’s abilities were enough to earn their respect, and she would also share her achievements with them from time to time.

“I don’t know why, but I’ve been feeling uneasy ever since my father returned to the capital to report, and I had a bad dream last night,” Li Jianwei said, a worried look on her heroic face.

“Young General, even though the Great General only took a hundred personal guards back to the capital this time, they are all masters who can fight ten men at once, not to mention the Great General himself can fight a hundred. Even if he encounters some trouble on the way, the Great General won’t be at a disadvantage,” Vice-General Han said heartily, his words and demeanor full of confidence in his Great General.

“But what if the danger isn’t on the road?” Li Jianwei asked.

Vice-General Han made a sound of surprise. As a general who was good at charging, he didn’t immediately understand what Li Jianwei meant.

“Is the Young General worried that someone in the imperial court wants to harm the Great General?” asked the other vice-general, Zhang.

Li Jianwei nodded. “It has been twenty years since His Majesty ascended the throne, and the three oldest princes have all been made kings. The Crown Prince is the King of Wei, the legitimate son is the King of Zhou, and the youngest but most favored is the King of Cheng.”

“My father’s return to the capital this time will certainly be an opportunity for the three princes to try and win him over. I don’t know how broad-minded they are and if they will become angry and embarrassed if my father refuses.”

Vice-General Han stroked his beard. “But the Young General and we are still in the Northern Frontier. Even if the three princes can’t win over the Great General, they wouldn’t dare do anything to him, would they?”

Vice-General Zhang couldn’t help but roll his eyes at his colleague. Was that what the Young General meant? She was worried that during a change of the throne, the Great General would be seen as a thorn in the Emperor’s side and be dealt with! If the Great General didn’t side with any of the three princes, would he truly be convinced if one of them became the new emperor?

What’s more, the Emperor had been building many new projects in recent years, and with the drought in the south, small groups of rebels had appeared in many places. More than ten imperial officials had been killed by these rebels. If the Emperor became paranoid and a prince fanned the flames, the Great General, who had returned to the capital to report, might indeed face some danger.

Vice-General Zhang, who was better at strategy and quicker-witted, spoke up. “Young General, why don’t we send a military report to the imperial court, saying that the Northern Frontier has had a bad harvest this year, and use that as an excuse to ask the court for more provisions.” If they were worried about being seen as a threat, they should deliberately expose a weakness, like a shortage of provisions. This would make the people in the imperial court think they could control them by cutting off their supplies.

Li Jianwei nodded slowly. “I’ll leave this to General Zhang. Also, in the military report, inform His Majesty that the Xiongnu have been active lately and are likely to invade the south to seize the people’s food and property.” After all, what she was worried about hadn’t happened yet. If she made too big of a move, she would be giving them a reason to act against her.

…

After breakfast with the two generals, Li Jianwei led a battalion of soldiers in their daily training. She also sparred with the battalion and company commanders, getting along with the lower-ranking officers.

After lunch, Li Jianwei took a few hundred personal guards to hunt in the forest. Afterward, she took half of the game to the logistics army, so they could have meat for dinner and grow stronger.

“General, will we ever get a chance to go to the front lines? We don’t want to always be in charge of mending armor and maintaining weapons,” the leader of the logistics army couldn’t help but complain. “My sisters aren’t afraid of getting hurt or bleeding. We can also charge and kill the enemy.”

“Of course you will, but there’s no need to rush. For now, go and deal with the bandits nearby and get familiar with the surrounding terrain,” Li Jianwei said comfortingly. “It seems like the Xiongnu aren’t making a big move this year, but once they do, the casualties will be in the thousands.”

“When that happens, the front lines will be handled by the border army. You’ll be responsible for the safety of the people in the surrounding villages. They have no combat power and need your protection.”

After hearing that her General already had a plan for the logistics army, the leader felt a sense of relief. It wasn’t that she was hoping for a Xiongnu invasion, but their situation and treatment were truly bad. Without military achievements, there was no chance of rising up. In the short term, she could keep these fifty thousand people with their wages, but if they couldn’t see a future for a long time, these soldiers would inevitably be urged by their families to leave the army to get married and have children.

The women of the Northern Frontier were as capable as the men, but the world had so many demands on women, placing one restriction after another on them.

“Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, the logistics army will not be disbanded,” Li Jianwei said, patting the leader’s shoulder. As someone who grew up in the Northern Frontier, Li Jianwei was nearly five feet seven inches tall, taller than many men in the capital. Her preferred spear was over three meters long, and she was exceptionally brave when charging on horseback.

…

“Quick, protect the Madam and the Second Miss! Go to the Northern Frontier and find the Eldest Miss! Don’t let the tyrant harm them!”

“Tell the Eldest Miss not to return to the capital! The tyrant wants to destroy the Li family!”

“The south has a drought, the north has war, and the tyrant is still raising taxes on the people! The world is in chaos. When the nest is overturned, can any egg remain whole!”

Li Jianwei woke up with a start again, but this time the dream was different from yesterday’s. The voice was no longer her father and brother but the old steward from the family mansion.

Was the steward giving her a message in her dream now? Or was it because she was thinking about her family too much during the day? Li Jianwei felt uneasy. She had always scoffed at the idea of ghosts. After all, she had killed thousands of Xiongnu. If they could become ghosts after they died, how could she still be alive?

After learning that there was only half an hour until dawn, Li Jianwei simply got out of bed and went to the study, lighting a lamp to deal with the pile of military documents. For the next five days, Li Jianwei had no dreams at all, but she didn’t relax. Instead, she grew more anxious about why her father hadn’t sent a letter back.

It wasn’t until the afternoon of the sixth day of having no dreams that a pale-faced personal guard galloped to the General’s residence and collapsed on the ground as soon as he dismounted.

“General, I must see the General,” the guard said, his face sallow. He even had a hint of a rotten smell, the kind that came from an untreated wound.

Recognizing him as one of the guards who had accompanied the Great General to the capital, the guard at the gate didn’t dare to delay and immediately carried him to see Li Jianwei.

“General! The Great General and the Crown Prince were framed by villains and had to die to prove their innocence!” the guard said, trembling. He then pulled a bl00d-stained letter from his chest. “This was left by the Crown Prince. He told me to gallop as fast as I could to get it to you.” After he finished, the guard’s head drooped and he passed out, his withered fingers still clinging to the bl00d-stained letter.

Li Jianwei’s face was grim, and she gritted her teeth when she saw the letter. It would take at least six days to gallop from the capital. This meant that her father had been killed less than six days after returning to the capital to report.

Her dreams weren’t just her overthinking things. Her father and brother had come to her in her dreams after their deaths! They were warning her to be careful of the tyrant! To not fall into the trap!

“Take him to get some proper treatment. Ask General Han and General Zhang to come here. Don’t alarm anyone outside for now,” Li Jianwei ordered calmly. If the dreams of her father and brother were real, then the dream of the old steward was also true. Even if her father and brother died to prove their innocence, it wouldn’t stop the tyrant from hunting down her family!

The guard bowed and left. Within half an hour, the two generals rushed over from their homes. Since the guard hadn’t revealed anything on the way, General Han still looked confused when he arrived. General Zhang, on the other hand, had a guess, but he didn’t dare to say it out loud.

“This is a bl00d-stained letter that a personal guard brought back with his life. My father and brother have both been killed by the tyrant!” Li Jianwei said, her eyes red, dropping a bombshell of a message.

“How could this happen!” General Han’s face was filled with shock. He picked up the bl00d-stained letter with trembling hands.

The ruler believes slander. A false accusation. My father was forced to die. His son followed. Do not return to the capital!

The letter had only twenty characters, but the information it conveyed was enough to leave General Han speechless for a long time.

“Young General, are there any trustworthy people in the capital? If the Great General and the Crown Prince were killed, I’m afraid the Madam and the other family members will also be implicated!” General Zhang reacted quickly.

“Mother won’t sit around and wait for death. I need to send someone south to meet her,” Li Jianwei said as if she had just come to her senses, her voice urgent. “I’ll leave the military affairs to the two of you. I’m leaving immediately.”

“General, I’ll handle this! The tyrant could only force the Great General and the Crown Prince to their deaths because the Great General didn’t bring a large army with him. You must not leave the Northern Frontier, or you’ll give the tyrant an opportunity!” General Zhang changed his title without a trace.

“Young General, I can handle it too! I’ll immediately take a thousand cavalry and head south! The officials in the nearby provinces are my old friends. They won’t make things difficult for me!” General Han followed suit.

…

While Li Jianwei was entrusting General Zhang to lead the cavalry south, the situation in the capital was also very turbulent. The civil and military officials were all using the deaths of the Great General Li Liang and the heir of the Marquis’s residence as a pretext to demand a thorough investigation from the Emperor.

The Emperor, sitting on his throne, had a headache. He did want to reclaim Li Liang’s military power, but he wasn’t in such a hurry to force him to his death. At this thought, the Emperor’s eyes turned unfriendly as he looked at the King of Wei.

His eldest son was truly an impatient idiot. He had only hinted that he could make a move on Li Liang, and he couldn’t wait to act. It would have been fine if his methods were clever, but he used a low-level one, deliberately luring him into the harem to frame him and his son for offending a concubine. Then, he sent people to surround the Marquis’s residence in a hurry, claiming to have found a dragon robe and armor inside. The framing was too obvious. In the end, he forced Li Liang and his son to die at the palace gate to prove their innocence, and he couldn’t even control the news. Within a few days, this absurd story had spread throughout the capital.

All the military generals knew that Li Liang had been diligently guarding the Northern Frontier for thirty years. How could they not feel sorry for him when they saw him die like this? Li Liang’s son was a legitimate scholar who had passed the imperial examination and was a member of the Hanlin Academy. He was a student of a great scholar. How could his teacher and fellow students let him die so unjustly?

He was useless! How could he be so stupid! Did a dog eat his brain!

The Emperor’s gaze at his eldest son grew colder. But no matter how much he cursed him in his heart, he would never admit that Li Liang and his son had been wrongly killed.

“Is rebellion a false charge? As an outside official, offending a concubine is a capital crime! Not to mention that over a hundred sets of armor, weapons, and a dragon robe were found in the Marquis’s residence!” the Emperor said, his face stern, taking a firm stance. “You don’t need to say anything more. If Li Liang hadn’t guarded the Northern Frontier for the great Jin, I wouldn’t have spared his family from death!”

The Emperor’s stance was firm, and the civil and military officials who were not part of the First Prince’s faction were just as firm. They knelt on the ground and refused to move, demanding that the Emperor allow a joint trial by the three judicial offices to investigate the case thoroughly. Seeing that half of the officials had knelt, the officials who supported the First Prince also knelt, not wanting to stick out.

“May Your Majesty reconsider,” the officials shouted in unison.

“Father, Li Liang and his son’s offense against the royal family is unforgivable. However, since you have already spared his family from death, why not first lift the arrest warrant and issue a decree for the young General Li, who is still in the Northern Frontier, to return to the capital?”

The Second Prince jumped in to mediate the tense situation. “If the young General Li feels that her father and brother were wronged, a joint trial can be held again.”

“Father, your son believes there’s no need to investigate. Li Liang and his son’s rebellion is an ironclad case. It’s already an act of mercy that you didn’t execute their whole family,” the First Prince also said. He was convinced that he was not wrong. Dealing with a high-achieving official was all about speed. Li Liang and his son were already dead. As long as the Emperor’s attitude was firm enough, the officials who didn’t want to lose their positions would eventually back down. He was sure that as long as the Emperor showed a willingness to choose a new general to guard the Northern Frontier, the military officials would give in without a fight. As for the civil officials, their spines were always soft. If he just imprisoned a few and dismissed them from office, they would know to keep their mouths shut.

The Emperor glanced at his two sons. He wasn’t blind to his eldest son’s plotting, but that didn’t stop him from thinking he was a useless idiot. Governing a great nation was like cooking a small fish. It was best to control the heat and be flexible, not to crank up the heat and stir-fry everything, thinking that it was ready to be served as soon as it was cooked. The way to deal with Li Liang should have been a mix of kindness and power. He could have given him a relaxed position in the capital, a promotion in name but a demotion in reality. Then, he could have found a princess or a county princess to marry the Marquis’s son. Wouldn’t the military power naturally return to him?

The Emperor was thinking a lot. Looking at the kneeling officials, he could only sigh. “I’ll think about this matter. The arrest warrant for Li Liang’s family will be put on hold for now. I have no intention of taking their lives.”

After the Emperor showed his willingness to compromise, the goals of most officials were achieved. They began to shout, “Long live!” and the requests for a thorough investigation started to decrease.

This absurd scene left a certain editor from the Hanlin Academy, who had been in his position for only a year, dumbfounded. What happened to the sagacious ruler? Were all the civil and military officials in the court incompetent? This whole thing was clearly a frame-up by a villain!

Shu Heng couldn’t understand. After the court session ended, she returned to her office, staring blankly at the history books and classics. When the rabbit is dead, the hound is cooked. When the birds are gone, the bow is put away. Could it be that the Emperor was behind the Marquis of Zhongyong’s death? Otherwise, how would a eunuch have the guts to accuse him?

“Shu Heng, His Majesty wants you to draft an imperial decree to summon Li Jianwei back to the capital,” her superior said, returning with the order.

“Yes, I’ll draft the decree right away,” Shu Heng said subconsciously. Only then did she realize that she might be becoming an accomplice. The Emperor’s hostility toward the Marquis of Zhongyong’s family was very clear. Summoning Li Jianwei back to the capital at this time was just so he could seize her military power and eliminate her.

But maybe it wasn’t a complete elimination. Since the Emperor had already pardoned the Marquis of Zhongyong’s family from death, he might just want to take away their military power. After the young General Li was stripped of her power, she might even be ‘graciously’ given a marriage.

Shu Heng thought a lot while she was grinding the ink. She picked up the brush and put it down many times, sighing more than she could count before finally sending the draft of the decree. She was just a small sixth-rank editor in the Hanlin Academy. She couldn’t even clear her father’s name from a false accusation. How could she interfere in a major matter like this that involved treason?

She could only hope that this young General Li was someone who had a plan and wouldn’t blindly follow the decree, returning to the capital foolishly and letting others manipulate her.