When the Iron Pagoda and warhorse armor were placed in the court hall, the assembled civil and military officials fell into a dead silence.
“Xin Zhui, don the armor for His Majesty’s inspection.”
“Aye!”
Ever since the Iron Pagoda was captured, Xin Zhui had devoted himself to studying it.
Now, he could put the armor on quickly and efficiently, with practiced ease.
Watching Xin Zhui, who in an instant was reduced to just a pair of visible eyes, the ministers collectively drew a sharp, cold breath.
Xiao Ao’s expression also turned stern and severe.
How utterly despairing must it have been to face such a terrifying contraption for the first time?
And yet, “Huo Ci” managed to capture Kanhou Mountain and reclaim Qingzhou Prefecture under such difficult conditions, without losing a single soldier.
At this moment, even Xiao Ao had to admire “Huo Ci’s” capability.
“Everyone, don’t be afraid. This iron monstrosity looks intimidating, but it’s actually strong in appearance only, weak within.”
Jiang Xingyan shared all her findings without holding anything back.
“Xin Zhui, run a few laps back and forth.”
Obediently, Xin Zhui began jogging in the court hall.
Fortunately, the Taihe Hall was spacious; otherwise, there would have been no room to move.
Everyone watched intently as Xin Zhui, like a great iron tower, was already panting and struggling to continue after just two or three laps.
“Deputy General Xin is one of the top officers in the Huo Army in terms of strength, endurance, and speed. If even he can’t last long, how much longer could someone even slightly stronger possibly hold out?”
The officials murmured amongst themselves, agreeing that “Huo Ci” made a valid point.
In the time it takes for one incense stick to burn, Xin Zhui could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground.
It took Su Sheng directing over a dozen young eunuchs to help him remove the armor and take him away to rest.
Xiao Ao’s expression softened slightly.
“Now, regarding this refined iron horse armor: it protects the front, back, left, and right quite thoroughly. Even the bridle is fully encased in refined iron, which is equivalent to blindfolding the horse, making it ignorant and fearless, capable only of charging.”
“But consider this, everyone: a warhorse first must carry a strong, fit warrior. The warrior wears seventy or eighty jin of armor, and the horse itself has to carry at least thirty or forty jin of horse armor.”
“With this cumulative weight, when charging down a mountain, its four hooves simply cannot sustain the effort. Death is the only outcome.”
Xiao Ao’s eyes lit up. He signaled to Su Sheng, who immediately understood. Swishing his horsetail whisk, Su Sheng announced sharply, “Bring up the spies from the court!”
Jiang Xingyan knew the Emperor intended to let the spies understand why they were dying, and she felt a surge of indignation.
She wondered which colleague had been swayed by Beiluo, forgetting the nation’s enmity and family hatred, concerned only with their own wealth and status.
Clang, clatter, jingle.
A group of disheveled prisoners, wearing shackles and manacles, were dragged up by the Imperial Guards.
They were disheveled, heads hanging low, not daring to look up.
For a moment, Jiang Xingyan didn’t recognize a single one of them.
“Lift your heads!” Xiao Ao roared angrily.
The spies trembled all over, fearfully raising their faces.
Some looked ashamed, some regretful, some indifferent.
Jiang Xingyan’s eyes fell on a familiar face, startling her into speechlessness for a long moment.
“Ci-Censor Wang?”
Yes, it was none other than Censor Wang, the one who had impeached Huo Ci most fiercely, the man full of righteous integrity and lofty principles.
Censor Wang was both ashamed and remorseful, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Xiao Ao snorted coldly. “Did you all hear from the back hall?”
“What Iron Pagoda? It’s nothing but a child’s trick!”
“Minister Huo saw through their weaknesses long ago and devised a way to counter them.”
“Laughable that you believed it so deeply, even to the point of betraying our Western Zhou!”
“Today, I will send you down early to atone for your crimes to the Beiluo scoundrels!”
“When you reach the underworld, see if the countless souls they slaughtered will let you off!”
Su Sheng timely unrolled the imperial edict and announced with full pomp, “By the decree of Heaven, the Emperor proclaims: All Beiluo spies, regardless of rank or whether intelligence was passed, are sentenced to execution of their nine kinship groups! So it is decreed.”
Hearing the verdict, Censor Wang panicked, kowtowing repeatedly. “Your Majesty, this subject was momentarily deluded, mistakenly believed the lies of the Beiluo scoundrels! One misstep led to eternal regret, resulting in this grave mistake.”
“But my family members knew nothing! I beg Your Majesty to spare their lives!”
“In my household, there is still an infant in swaddling clothes! They are all innocent!”
“Innocent?” Xiao Ao sneered. “And what of the Western Zhou citizens you害死? What was their crime?”
“Drag them down! Carry out the execution immediately!”
Censor Wang’s heart ached terribly!
He shouldn’t have, a thousand times shouldn’t have, ten thousand times shouldn’t have, truly shouldn’t have been momentarily deluded, thinking to find an escape route for himself, only for it to become a dead end.
“General Huo! I am despicable, but my son knows nothing!”
“He’s only six months old, so small.”
“You have a child too, you understand me, don’t you?”
“I beg you, save his life!”
Censor Wang kowtowed so hard it seemed to shake the mountains.
Jiang Xingyan’s heart truly softened.
The child is innocent.
She clasped her fists and had just called out, “Your Majesty—”
Xiao Ao frowned and interrupted her. “His mistake was being born into the wrong family, born into a Beiluo spy’s household!”
“Guards! Smash this traitor’s mouth!”
“Stop him from spouting nonsense and deluding people here!”
Censor Wang was dragged down, screaming miserably.
Jiang Xingyan trembled with horror, feeling a sense of shared despair, like the fox mourning for the dead hare.
If one day, Huo Ci made a mistake, would the Emperor also exterminate his nine clans so mercilessly?
Thinking of Little Ya, who好不容易 got a second chance at life, possibly being forced under the executioner’s ghost-head blade again—she would truly go mad.
The court hall returned to silence.
Yun Chunfeng gently fanned himself with a feather fan, his face calm as water. “Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, although the Iron Pagoda has many flaws, we still must not underestimate the enemy.”
“What does General Huo think?”
Yun Chunfeng’s voice was like a calming pill, soothing Jiang Xingyan’s unsettled heart.
She regained her composure.
Once she and Huo Ci fully switched back, she would take Little Ya to live in Da Xia, far away from danger.
“The Grand Astrologer is correct.”
“The Iron Pagoda is impervious to blades and spears, difficult to harm with hidden arrows. Even with just the机动 time of one incense stick, it can break infantry formations.”
“If paired with flexible light cavalry harvesting from the flanks, it would be extremely difficult to handle.”
“Moreover, these are firsthand materials we obtained because the officers and I discovered them in advance, attacked their unpreparedness, and caught them off guard.”
“If we went into battle blind, facing the Iron Pagoda directly, our soldiers would still only be fodder.”
Xiao Ao’s slightly relaxed expression tightened again.
Jiang Xingyan also understood the hint Yun Ge was giving her.
As long as Huo Ci remained highly useful to Western Zhou, Xiao Ao would never move against him.
The real reckoning would certainly come after the cunning hares were dead and the hounds were no longer needed.
“Furthermore, I personally suspect that since Tuoba Hongxue dared to send the Iron Pagoda out for us to know about, besides shaking our military morale, he must have another purpose.”
“Oh? What purpose?”
Xiao Ao himself didn’t notice how tightly he was gripping the armrests of the dragon throne, as if he could break off a piece.
“I venture to guess that Beiluo must be secretly preparing a larger weapon, a trump card even more lethal than the Iron Pagoda.”
If we cannot scout ahead, by the time the two armies clash, our Western Zhou will suffer heavy casualties and morale will collapse.
Xiao Ao’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Minister Huo is so certain?”
Jiang Xingyan nodded solemnly: “No matter what industry you’re in, a smart person will never reveal their last trump card to their opponent in advance.”
“Five days ago, on the Yisi day, Summer’s Beginning already passed. The weather is gradually getting hotter, making the Iron Pagoda even less viable for the battlefield.”
“For them to be fully prepared, the earliest would be this autumn, the latest this winter.”
“If we want to strike first to gain the advantage… the time left for our Western Zhou is only two months at most!”