The Northern Frontier.
The Northern Frontier is deeply divided internally.
The Royal Court, led by the faction advocating for peace, manages to barely hold an edge over the other tribes, thanks to the support of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Apart from the peace faction, there are three major tribes within the war faction. Although they all advocate for war, they too have internal disagreements.
Some wish to unite the war faction to campaign against the Great Zhou, while others seek to overthrow the Royal Court, recuperate and plunder resources from the border regions, as a prelude to invading the Great Zhou.
But without exception.
None of them wish to submit to the rule of the current Royal Court, yet they are constrained by the balancing tactics of Princess Axiang, forcing them to resort to frequent minor provocations to vex her.
Recently, however, the war faction, led by the Kulu tribe, has been unusually quiet.
Because news has spread from the Royal Court—
Princess Axiang is gravely ill.
So they have settled down, like predators preparing for a hunt, lying in wait.
The Royal Court.
Outside the Royal Tent.
Rows of bare flowerpots are lined up in two lines, meticulously tended by maidservants.
"Sigh, it's been months, and not only have they not bloomed, they haven't even sprouted. Can the seeds from the Queen really flower?"
"Shh. Keep your voice down, don't upset the Queen."
No matter how softly the maidservants spoke, their words drifted gently into the Royal Tent.
From the moment Princess Axiang heard the news of Consort Zhou's death, she wept until she fainted. Since that day, her health has been poor, deteriorating steadily.
Later, it was only after receiving the seeds of the "Cangyan" flower sent by Qu Dubian and Zhiyi that her spirits lifted somewhat.
She sets aside time each day to tend to the soil in the pots, making it fertile and moist, striving to recreate the environment of the Xiang River.
Despite her efforts over many days, the seeds have never sprouted.
Coughing incessantly, she sits inside the Royal Tent, writing a letter.
[To the Marquis Who Holds the Sword:
Axiang's days are numbered, like the setting sun; I fear I have little time left.
The Royal Court still yearns for peace, and internal conflicts are temporarily suppressed. The King's energy is waning, and he intends for Agumudo to succeed him. King Kulu is closely watching the Royal Court's movements, with ambitions to seize power.
After Axiang's death, there will be no one left in the Northern Frontier to act as a restraint. I fear the Royal Court will undergo upheaval. I am sending this letter specifically to request that my Imperial Brother support Agumudo's ascension. He is sincere and has no desire for war; the people of the border regions may then live in peace...
If possible, please convey a message to my Imperial Brother: Axiang wishes that after her death, her ashes may return to the Xiang River, to return home.
Axiang will hold on a little longer, awaiting my Imperial Brother's decree.]
She covers her lips with a handkerchief, coughing repeatedly, then leans over the desk. Moments later, the handkerchief is stained with blood.
A young man nearby cries out anxiously, "Mother!"
He is Princess Axiang's child, but because he carries Great Zhou blood, he cannot inherit the throne. He can only return to the Great Zhou or choose to assist the next ruler of the Royal Court.
Princess Axiang shakes her head, "It's nothing. Ahanli, do you remember what I told you?"
Ahanli: "I remember. I will stay and assist Agumudo well."
Princess Axiang touches his face, "Good child. If you have the chance, return to the Xiang River for me. Will you?"
Ahanli chokes up, "Mother, you should see it for yourself."
Princess Axiang smiles faintly but says nothing.
She looks outside the Royal Tent, "That is a flower from my homeland, called Cangyan. Every summer and autumn, it blooms and falls three times. It blooms quickly and falls quickly, perhaps knowing that the soil it roots in can embrace its bloom as well as its withering."
Ahanli: "Mother, I don't quite understand."
Princess Axiang offers no explanation.
She seals the letter and hands it to Ahanli.
"Send it through the covert channel. Ensure it reaches the hands of either the Marquis Who Holds the Sword or the Marquis of Changping."
Ahanli: "Rest assured, Mother."
After he runs off to carry out the task, Princess Axiang gently rests her head on the desk, like a weary butterfly with nowhere to land.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, this will be her final letter to the Great Zhou.
The mission and duty of a princess sent in marriage alliance—to safeguard the peace of the Northern Frontier and reduce conflict—is finally coming to an end.
Border City.
A messenger disguised as a commoner is stopped.
He presents his secret token.
The soldier immediately withdraws his spear and leads him into the city. However, upon reaching a corner, the soldier suddenly changes expression, knocks the messenger unconscious with a chop to the neck, kills him, and searches his body, finding Princess Axiang's letter.
After disposing of the body, he takes the letter to the Border Army Inspection Office.
This is a supervisory agency composed of the Prince of Ming and eunuchs.
Ever since the decentralization of power in the Northern Frontier over a decade ago, when Emperor Chongzhao ordered the Prince of Ming and eunuchs transferred from the Eastern Depot to be stationed there, this inspection agency gradually took shape.
The Prince of Ming often travels to other cities on inspection tours, leaving half of the eunuchs in charge of the main city's inspection office to oversee the issuance of military orders.
Over time, these eunuchs have also put down roots here.
They are the emperor's eyes in the Northern Frontier, authorized to observe battle deployments, question military orders, and send memorials back to the Great Zhou to report any acts of disobedience by generals towards their supervision.
The Marquis Who Holds the Sword detests them the most, because since the inspection agency's establishment, the entire process from issuing to executing border defense orders has become increasingly slow.
Fortunately, Xia Hong patiently mediates.
Yet, many eunuchs still feel stifled.
They initially thought it was a short-term assignment, but who would have guessed they'd be in the Northern Frontier for over a decade? They have no descendants, no parents; what do eunuchs seek if not wealth and opportunities for advancement?
Back in the Eastern Depot in the capital, how comfortably they lived!
But here, even food and drink lack flavor, and it's a dead-end position with no future in sight.
Feng Bing is the chief eunuch of the Border City Inspection Office, holding the greatest authority aside from the Prince of Ming.
He has a separate small courtyard where he resides when not on duty.
Feng Bing opens the letter Princess Axiang wrote to the Marquis Who Holds the Sword. After reading it line by line, he spreads it out on the table.
"So Princess Axiang is this seriously ill... The last report said she could hold on for three to five years."
Now it seems, thirty to fifty days might be the limit.
Princess Axiang's handwriting is neat and regular, easy to imitate. The main issue is the seal.
Feng Bing has someone imitate her handwriting and rewrites a letter:
[My condition has improved, all is well. King Kulu remains fixated on the throne, and changes may occur. At that time, fireworks will be the signal. I request the assistance of the Marquis Who Holds the Sword.]
He takes a locked box from a cabinet under the desk.
Opening it reveals a chest filled with gold, silver, and jewels.
After rummaging for a while, Feng Bing finally pulls out a worn seal from inside, dips it in ink paste, and stamps it on the letter.
"It's still easier for people from the Northern Frontier to obtain Princess Axiang's seal."
There is trade between the border city and the Northern Frontier. Besides this chest of gold and silver used to bribe him, King Kulu also sent Princess Axiang's seal.
Feng Bing seals the envelope, leans over the chest, and takes a gentle sniff.
"Fragrant... This is tangible, real benefit."
What does it matter if he colludes with people from the Northern Frontier? A man with no descendants and no ancestors need only enjoy a lifetime of fortune.
He locks the chest, hums a tune, and tosses Princess Axiang's final letter into the fire.
Requests to return to her homeland after death? Since she married into the Northern Frontier, she should be buried here.
The flames leap for a moment, and the letter turns to ashes.
A few more days pass.
Ah Xiang received a reply from Xu Jin, just one brief line: ["Noted. Will pay more attention to the situation in the Northern Frontier."]
She felt relieved, the burden on her shoulders lightening considerably.
For the next month, she waited for an imperial decree from her elder brother, the Emperor.
She waited for an edict that would allow her to return home.
She waited and waited, until she became bedridden with illness, unable to rise again. She waited until the flowering season of her hometown's Cangyan flowers had completely passed. She waited until the bitter cold of winter descended once more upon the Northern Frontier royal court.
"Has the messenger on the road been delayed…"
Ah Xiang lay on her side on the bed, her voice frail. She held Ahanli's hand. "How many days have I waited?"
Several maids who had followed her from the Great Zhou knelt around the bed, all weeping softly.
Ahanli: "One month."
One month. Even by normal horseback speed, let alone Northern Frontier express delivery, it should have arrived.
Princess Ah Xiang understood. "Then… it means my elder brother does not permit it."
Tears fell heavily onto the pillow.
Ahanli: "Mother… don't cry, Mother… can we wait just a few more days…"
Princess Ah Xiang closed her eyes, a wave of sorrow flooding her heart.
Looking back on her life, she left the capital at fifteen, a bride for peace, and it had been more than half a lifetime since.
She had grown from an ignorant young girl into a queen capable of balancing the various tribes of the Northern Frontier, assisting the Great Zhou's border cities, exhausting her heart's blood, all for a sliver of peace.
She had never failed the responsibility she bore.
Perhaps she was not yet old in years, but when the heart grows old, the person grows old. When hope is severed, life reaches its end.
No one was left hoping she could traverse the Northern Frontier's wind and snow to return home.
Princess Ah Xiang opened her eyes and stroked Ahanli's head. "Don't cry. Mother is just going to find my own mother."
"Promise me one thing. After I die, I do not wish my grave to face the Great Zhou. I want it to face the Xiang River. My mother looked north, so I shall look south."
Ahanli wept soundlessly, unable to speak, and could only nod.
Ah Xiang took one last look at the flowerpot not far from the bedside and began to drift in thought.
It was as if she had returned to childhood, that time when her mother's parents passed away. Her father, the Emperor, granted special permission for her mother to return to her hometown, so her mother took her along.
She was so small then. She only remembered standing under the Cangyan flower tree, her mother raising a branch to tap the trunk, and a shower of blossoms raining down upon her.
Princess Ah Xiang sighed.
"A flower that grows in the Great Zhou can never truly bloom in the soil of the Northern Frontier…"
The weary butterfly never flew back to its native land, falling into eternal slumber in a foreign country.
Wailing suddenly rose within the royal tent.
Rising with the wails came the sounds of weapons clashing outside.
"The Great Zhou princess is dead! The royal court no longer has the Great Zhou's support. Kill all the Great Zhou's lackeys!"
"Kill them—!"
"Overthrow the old royal court! Establish a new king!"
"Overthrow the old royal court! Establish a new king!"
"It's a raid!" Ahanli turned in shock. "When did they… Go quickly, protect the King! Find Agumudo and protect him, he absolutely must not die!"
Several days of internal chaos in the Northern Frontier passed before the news reached the border city.
Marquis Xu Jin, the Sword-Bearer, frowned deeply as he read the newly arrived report.
This was a long-planned raid.
Princess Ah Xiang had died of illness, and King Kulu's rebellion had succeeded.
He killed the old king, expelled Agumudo and the old king's lineage, took control of the grasslands, and established a new royal court.
Coinciding with winter, a time of bitter cold in the Northern Frontier, King Kulu marshaled his troops south to raid the Northern Frontier border, seeking to assert the new king's authority.
He passed the report to Xia Hong, walked onto the city wall, and stood with his hands clasped behind his back. His frost-white temples were dusted with scattered snowflakes. His eagle-like eyes gazed towards the Northern Frontier ahead.
"The Northern Frontier army will likely arrive in two days."
Xia Hong: "Last time, Princess Ah Xiang still sent word saying her health had improved. How could she suddenly pass from illness?"
Xu Jin sneered coldly: "The warmongering faction in the Northern Frontier harbors wolfish ambitions. Is there anything they wouldn't dare? In two days, I will meet the enemy."
"Let me take this one," Xia Hong shook his head. "Don't push yourself. Every winter, your old pains flare up. Last time, the pain was so bad you had to use burning liquor on your joints to get relief. If you get injured, it will be even harder to bear."
Xu Jin and he were comrades of many years. "Alright. I'll go deal with those fellows from the Surveillance Bureau and submit a memorial to His Majesty."
After a brief exchange, the two fell silent, gazing quietly towards the Northern Frontier.
In truth, they had one more comrade.
But that young woman now slept eternally in a foreign land.
Accustomed to life and death from years of warfare, this was their only way to express their grief.
Great Zhou.
The Imperial Palace.
After Xu Jin's urgent memorial arrived, the atmosphere in the court grew somewhat heavier.
Princess Ah Xiang's death from illness, the warmongering faction seizing control of the royal court, raids on the border.
None of these were good news.
Yet, just two days later, another urgent battle report arrived from the Northern Frontier—
Marquis Xia Hong of Changping took to the field, was struck by a poisoned arrow, fell from his warhorse, and was gravely wounded, hovering between life and death, unable to command.
When Emperor Chongzhao received the news, his heart gave a heavy thump, startling him to his feet.
The two battle reports arrived less than two days apart, meaning Xia Hong was gravely wounded almost as soon as the armies engaged.
A wound severe enough to be noted in a battle report was certainly no ordinary injury.
Yet Xia Hong had always been steady and reliable, never making mistakes.
Emperor Chongzhao frowned. "The state treasury is depleted, domestic disaster relief is far from over… If the Southern Ning choose this moment to interfere…"
But with the Northern Frontier invading, the Great Zhou could only retaliate.
Just as the entire court braced for war, the new warmongering royal court sued for peace—
They wished for generations of friendship with the Great Zhou, seeking to marry an imperial princess, and to form a marital alliance just like the previous royal court.