NOVEL WEB Chapter 256: Terms For Peace
The night air in the outer corridor was cooler, its breath curling faintly against Mingyu's skin as he crossed into the smaller strategy chamber. This one had windows, narrow and high, the paper screens closed against the drafts. A brazier burned in the corner, the smoke scent sharper here than in the rooms they'd just left.
Deming and Longzi entered in right after him, splitting up in different directions, already getting to work. They'd cleared the central table of scrolls, leaving only the map that bled from Daiyu's capital and up into Baiguang's crippled heart.
Mingyu took the seat at the head without hesitation.
Like in the other room, his guards stopped at the door; the eunuchs and maids who had trailed him peeled away like shadows dissolving at dawn. He didn't need them here. This was not court, and he would not be attacked in this room with these men.
This was the kind of work that would never be written down, the kind that decided how much blood the ground would have to drink before the year was done.
He looked at the map once, then at the two men he trusted most as a few other trusted ministers and generals entered in after. These ministers weren't part of Bai Yuyan's circle; they didn't get the letter of her cries.
These generals and ministers were on the side of Daiyu and had never once waivered in their loyalty.
"We will end the war," Mingyu announced when everyone had settled down. He looked around the room, and at the men who were invited.
It was not a suggestion so much as a statement of face.
Deming's eyes flicked to Longzi, then back but didn't say anything. He already knew it was coming.
But for some of the ministers and generals, this was the first time they were hearing about it. "How?" demanded General Sun, Sun Longzi's father as he briefly looked over at his son.
"By making it impossible for Baiguang to stand again," Mingyu replied. He tapped the capital's mark with two fingers. "My Empress has already removed the head. It is up to us men to cut the hands, the feet, and anything else in order to make sure that no one manages to grow them back."
"You're talking about more than garrisons and patrols," said Minister Hua Qian, the one in charge of Daiyu's foreign policy. The man was personally chosen by Mingyu long before he ever even considered taking over the throne.
He was a smart man, one who could read between the lines.
"Much more," Mingyu confirmed with a nod. "I'm talking about trade, travel, the spine of the countryside itself. Baiguang's royal line is gone. What's left of its command is sitting in our guest compound, dressed like courtiers but living like watched prisoners. As long as they breathe, someone will think they can use them to raise another banner."
General Wei Lanting leaned forward, his forearms on the table and a gleam in his eyes. "So we take away the people willing to follow that banner." The man tended to be the more aggressive one of the four military men in the room. He valued decisiveness and had no problem making his stance known.
He hadn't stepped foot in court while the other Emperor was still in charge, for he knew that he would say something out of turn and would end up dead because of it.
"Exactly." Mingyu's gaze moved to General Wei with a slight smirk on his face. "Yuyan and her husband stay here. We control the movement of every messenger, every caravan, every wagon of grain. We 'escort' anything claiming to be from Baiguang until there's nothing left that isn't already ours."
Minister Zhao Wen, the minister who oversaw commerce, slowly nodded his head, his expression was unreadable. "We can do that quietly enough. But it won't stop the loyalists in the north from dreaming about rebellion."
"It will if they can't feed themselves without our permission," Mingyu pointed out. His tone didn't sharpen, but the truth in it did. "We decide who eats and who starves. We decide which bridges stand and which conveniently need repair. We make them dependent until there's no 'them' left—only people who think of themselves as part of Daiyu again."
Minister Lin Chao grunted. "And in the meantime?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. As the Minister of Law and Justic, there was nothing he hated more than to toe the line of right and wrong. It was for that conviction that the old Emperor hated him and had him placed under house arrest for almost ten years.
"In the meantime, we give them just enough hope to keep them still," Mingyu replied, his eyes narrowing on the other man. "We open certain roads. Let their markets run on our coin. Give Bai Yuyan small victories to boast about so she feels clever, we give her just enough rope to hang herself while every real decision still comes from us."
Minister Hua's mouth tilted faintly at that. "A puppet who thinks she's holding the strings. That can be dangerous. Stupidity is always dangerous to both sides."
"I understand," Mingyu agreed, the tension in his shoulders relaxing just a bit. "Which is why, if she steps out of line…" He let the sentence trail off, the end of it obvious in the silence that followed.
Colonel Shen Rui sat back in his chair, rubbing his jaw. "It still leaves the question of what to do with her. You and I both know peace will never truly hold while she's alive." Since he was in charge of the palace guards, he needed to know what he could and could not get away with when it came to the political prisoners.
Mingyu didn't argue. "True. But killing her now risks turning her into a martyr for whatever scraps of Baiguang still think they have a cause. Better to let her wither. Keep her silken cage comfortable enough that she doesn't notice the bars until it's too late to find the door."
General Sun spoke up then, his voice deliberate. "And if she's not Crown Princess anymore? If she's nothing more than a noblewoman from a dead country? No title. No claim. No reason for anyone to bleed for her?"
Mingyu's eyes sharpened on the older man. "You're suggesting…"
"I'm suggesting," General Sun purred, his eyes flashing, "that we confirm Baiguang has no royal family at all. Publicly. Officially. Let it be known across every province that Li Xuejian has renounced his claim. Whether he wants to or not."
Mingyu considered that for a long moment, gaze on the map but mind clearly elsewhere. Then he nodded once. "Let's do it. Quietly first though. We need to make sure that he understands the wisdom of the idea before we announce it. If he refuses, we'll find a way to make the refusal cost more than he's willing to pay."
"His wife might fight it harder than he does," Deming pointed out, his face twisting in a sneer.
"She can't fight what she doesn't hear about until it's already been done," Mingyu shrugged. "Control the message. Control the timing. No arguments if the words are already inked and sealed."
The roomful of men fell into the kind of silence that meant they were all thinking the same thing: the work would be long, it would be messy, and none of it could be undone once it started.
Finally, General Sun rose to his feet and tapped the edge of the map. "If we're doing this, we'll need to move on the supply lines first. My people can take the river checkpoints by the end of the week."
Minister Zhao nodded. "I'll lock down the merchant guilds in the capital. If Baiguang traders want to operate here, they do it under our tax stamps. No exceptions. I also have some contacts with Yao Luo which should make it easier to keep everything under control."
Mingyu looked at them both, the faintest curve to his mouth. "Good. Then we begin tomorrow."
He didn't say it out loud, but everyone knew the reason for the urgency. The war had dragged long enough. The soon to be Empress Xinying had done more than anyone to end it, and Mingyu meant to make sure her work wasn't undone by politics or patience.
She deserved a country that could breathe without choking on its own history.
The brazier cracked softly in the corner. Outside, the faint clang of the palace bell marked the late hour, a reminder that most of the city was already asleep. Mingyu pushed to his feet, the decision settled in his bones.
"Keep your movements quiet," he advised, looking around at the nine other men. "The court doesn't need to see the knife until it's already between the ribs."
Deming's answering smile was humorless. "You've been spending too much time with her."
Mingyu didn't bother to deny it. "And I've learned more in a year than I did in the decade before at my father's side."
The older men left the room first, leaving Deming, Longzi, and Mingyu alone again.
They left the chamber together, the cold from the outer corridor seeping in as the doors swung open. Guards straightened at the sight of them, pikes thudding softly against the floor in salute.
Mingyu let the sounds wash past him. His thoughts were already moving ahead—over roads and rivers, through the cramped alleys of Baiguang's surviving towns, into the halls of Daiyu's own court where whispers could cut deeper than any blade.
They would have peace. Not the fragile kind that broke under the first true blow, but the kind hammered into shape by will and precision. The kind that would last because no one strong enough to challenge it would be left standing.
For her. Always for her.