Chapter 125: The Golden Pardon

"Your Highness, please hear me out!" Kong Sheng waved his hand. "Protecting the grain convoy and safeguarding Wang Family Fortress are not mutually exclusive goals."

Princess Li Xuan raised a delicate eyebrow and gestured, halting the one-sided slaughter that was about to unfold. "Speak, and be quick about it!"

"The best course of action now is for Your Highness to send a dozen men to break out of the fortress. Taking advantage of the rebels' lack of vigilance, they can fight and retreat toward Huanggang to intercept Li Biao's caravan. From there, they can either redirect the caravan or have them hold their position. If they can avoid detection for just three to five days, these rebels will surely retreat without a fight!" Kong Sheng stepped forward slightly. "My three companions and I are but humble men, yet we are willing to serve as your vanguard. If I should die among the rebels, then it is simply my fate. But if I should miraculously survive, it would not only demonstrate your magnanimity but also allow me to warn Li Biao. What do you say?"

Kong Sheng stared intently at Li Xuan as he spoke.

Despite there being hundreds of rebels outside the walls, if Kong Sheng and his three companions charged on swift horses, taking the enemy by surprise, they might truly stand a chance of escaping with their lives.

Li Xuan spat in disgust. "You little thief, what a cunning scheme you've concocted! I cannot trust you at all, and I certainly will not let a tiger return to the mountains. If you defect to the rebels to save your own skin and reveal the state of this fortress, we will be in grave danger!"

Li Xuan already suspected Kong Sheng of being a rebel sympathizer. How could she possibly trust him to warn Li Biao's caravan? In her eyes, if this little thief truly left the fortress, he might very well surrender to the rebels and lead them in a counterattack against the walls. That would be the true danger.

Li Xuan gave a sharp cry: "Archers, prepare! Men, move forward and finish off this little thief!"

The arrows were notched, ready to fly. The air was thick with murder, heavy as an approaching storm.

Suddenly, Kong Sheng threw his head back and laughed wildly. "Princess Fengyang, you have immense audacity! As a member of the Tang Imperial Clan, you dare to disregard the laws of the Great Tang, privately maintaining an armed force, and now you seek to execute an imperial official? This is lawlessness, treason!"

Kong Sheng’s roar was thunderous, clear enough for every soldier and servant within the fortress to hear, leaving them all trembling.

Li Xuan’s expression shifted instantly.

Behind Kong Sheng, Wu Xian stepped forward with an arrogant air, shouting, "Why do you not back down? Do you know who this is? And do you know who I am?"

Wu Xian felt a sense of exhilaration, as if he were eating a popsicle on a sweltering midsummer day—the relief reached his very bones. In his view, revealing their status as imperial officials was long overdue; it was their only lifeline. Though Li Xuan was a princess of the imperial line, Kong Sheng was a student of the Emperor himself, an eighth-rank magistrate appointed by imperial decree. Executing someone without trial or imperial authorization was something even a princess could not do—not even Prince Li Ju of Guo could overstep that line.

Wu Xian laughed heartily and patted his chest. "My brother is a member of the Emperor's Imperial Guard, and this, Master Kong, is the Emperor's own protégé, appointed by imperial edict as the Magistrate of Songcheng County in Henan Circuit! I am here under the orders of the Special Imperial Envoy, Li Fuguo, to escort the Magistrate to his post. Princess Fengyang, what is your true intent in attempting to murder an imperial official before he has even assumed office?!"

Wu Xian immediately pulled Kong Sheng's appointment documents and the imperial decree from his pack. The surrounding men turned pale; without waiting for Li Xuan's orders, they dropped their weapons to the ground and retreated in fear and panic.

***

Li Xuan, being a princess of the imperial line, knew all too well how to distinguish a genuine imperial decree from a forgery. Her mind went blank, buzzing with confusion. She never imagined that Kong Sheng would turn out to be the Emperor's protégé and a government official—no wonder he insisted on going to Henan; he was traveling to take up his post!

Her emotions surged, and she felt a wave of burning shame; her murderous intent vanished without a trace. She had targeted Kong Sheng primarily because she feared he was a rebel and could not be controlled. Now that he was an imperial official heading to the war-torn Henan Circuit, she had lost all justification for killing him.

Furthermore, even as a princess, she lacked the authority to execute an imperial official without cause. If word got out, it would inevitably implicate Prince Li Ju. If someone with malicious intent labeled her actions as treason, it would be a catastrophe.

Kong Sheng sighed softly. He had hoped to avoid revealing his identity until absolutely necessary, as it would surely make his journey to his post fraught with danger. Moreover, since the Magistrate of Songcheng was under the jurisdiction of the Prince of Guo, if Li Xuan used various excuses to force him toward Pengcheng, he would find it hard to escape her influence later.

But if he hadn't revealed his status, he would have truly lost his life.

Throughout his power struggle with Li Xuan, Kong Sheng had refused to yield, banking on this final trump card. Now that it had been played, while Wu Xian and Wu Jie felt a sense of triumph, Kong Sheng felt only a weary frustration.

Mu Changfeng breathed a sigh of relief, his hand dropping from his sword hilt. He looked toward Kong Sheng, his respect for the young man growing even deeper.

Li Xuan stared directly at Kong Sheng until he felt a chill down his spine, then she coldly snapped, her face flushed with a mix of anger and embarrassment, "Kong Sheng, since you are an imperial official, you should know to respect the laws and regulations of the court. You have committed many offenses against me and showed great disrespect. Do you acknowledge your crimes? Men, seize him and lock him in the courtyard! I shall memorialize the court and report his conduct!"

Kong Sheng narrowed his eyes, finding the situation both absurd and amusing. He knew the princess was lashing out in shame. While she could no longer justify killing him, she could certainly slap him with a charge of disrespect and keep him under house arrest.

With that thought, Kong Sheng suddenly shouted, "Your Highness, if you are determined to find a crime, you will always find an excuse! You claim I have been disrespectful, but where is your evidence? Where are the witnesses and the material proof?"

Kong Sheng was actually asking her for evidence?! Li Xuan was mortified. She thought to herself: *You grabbed my chest, you bound and teased me, you stole my imperial jade medallion—these are crimes enough! What more proof do you need?* But she knew that while these things were true, she had no evidence to present. Even if the matter were brought before the Emperor, her case would be weak.

"Why are you all just standing there? Seize him!" Li Xuan roared. This was her domain, and these were her subordinates. Seeing her fury, and knowing that a local official is more immediate than a distant one, the soldiers obeyed and "escorted" the four men into the courtyard, slamming the gates shut to keep them confined.

Li Xuan paced back and forth in the hall, agitated and anxious. Although the rebels outside had temporarily ceased their assault, they had sent out small scouting parties to pillage nearby villages. It appeared they had no intention of leaving for several days; they were determined to crack the hard nut that was Wang Family Fortress.

It was no wonder. The fortress walls were tall and sturdy, signaling to the rebels that the residents were wealthy landowners. And where there is wealth, there is gold, silver, grain, and women. If they could take this fortress, their plundering mission would be a massive success.

This meant that the grain convoy guarded by Li Biao was highly likely to be discovered by the rebels. Once they realized they were guarding supplies, they would undoubtedly abandon the siege of the fortress and swarm the caravan. With only a hundred men, Li Biao would not last long against five or six hundred seasoned rebel soldiers.

What to do?

***

Li Xuan suddenly recalled Kong Sheng's suggestion. Sending a small team out on fast horses to warn the convoy was one option. The rebels might not chase a group of a dozen men, and if they could break through the perimeter and reach Huanggang to intercept Li Biao, the mission would be accomplished.

However, there was a high probability that they would be outnumbered, captured, and killed in vain. If that happened, it would only alert the rebels and raise their suspicions.

And then there was the matter of how to deal with Kong Sheng and his men. She certainly couldn't kill them now, but letting them go so easily left her deeply unsatisfied and unable to vent her frustration. Recalling Kong Sheng’s past insolence, especially his haughty rejection of her recruitment offers, her anger flared.

What Kong Sheng considered "keeping a low profile," Li Xuan viewed as a series of slights, teases, and provocations. *Fine, so you are an imperial official, yet you hid it from me and treated me as if I were nothing? A mere eighth-rank magistrate, not even having taken office, and you dare look down upon a princess of the Tang? You have toyed with me, and only when your life was at stake did you reveal your status as a "get out of jail free" card. Do you really think I am so easily played?*

"Li Hu! Li Bao!" Li Xuan called out toward the hall, her voice cold.

Li Hu and Li Bao appeared side-by-side at the entrance. "Your Highness!"

"What is that little thief doing?" Li Xuan asked coldly.

"Reporting to Your Highness, Magistrate Kong... he is in the courtyard learning archery with the two palace guards," Li Hu replied, a flicker of shock in his eyes.

He had been there just moments ago. Kong Sheng had personally asked the guards for horn bows of various weights. Because Kong Sheng was now recognized as an imperial official, and knowing that their mistress had cooled her anger, the guards' attitudes toward Kong Sheng had shifted dramatically.

Following Kong Sheng's request, Li Hu had ordered men to bring over three-stone and six-stone bows. As for a ten-stone bow, the fortress simply didn't have one. Even the six-stone bow was mostly a decorative relic of war, rarely used by anyone.

Seeing Kong Sheng effortlessly draw the three-stone bow to its full length and then exert enough force to snap the bow frame in half, Li Hu was struck with awe. He used a three-stone bow himself, but the explosive power required to snap one was unimaginable. But what he saw next would haunt his memory for the rest of his life.

Kong Sheng threw the broken bow to the ground and picked up the six-stone bow. Without hesitation, and without needing to brace himself, he drew it to a full crescent. A six-stone bow required at least seven hundred pounds of force. For a scholar as frail as Kong Sheng to draw it was already shocking, but the bow did not escape its fate. While it did not snap, it was twisted and warped out of shape by his raw strength.

Li Hu stared, dumbfounded, as Kong Sheng forced the precision-crafted six-stone bow into a deformed shape. He could not find the words to describe the shock in his heart. Yet, despite this, Kong Sheng merely smiled and asked, "Brother Li Hu, are you truly sure there is no ten-stone bow?"

Upon hearing this, Li Hu nearly fainted on the spot. *Is this boy even human? Looking at his thin arms and legs, where does such terrifying divine strength come from?*