Loyalty That Doomed the Nation

"All right." Emperor Huizong finally nodded. "All right."

Three dragon robes crowded into a single imperial carriage. Zhao Gou sat in the middle, Huizong on the left, and Emperor Qinzong on the right. The carriage was spacious, but with three emperors crammed inside, it felt cramped. Before the curtains fell, Zhao Gou's gaze passed over the ministers kneeling across the ground and settled on the figure at the very front.

Yue Fei.

He still wore the mountain-patterned armor he'd worn when he set out to war. The sword marks and arrow holes in it were plain to see. Now he knelt on one knee, head bowed, his back straight as a spear driven into the earth.

The wheels turned, and the heavy imperial carriage rolled over the flagstones with a creaking groan. On both sides of the imperial road, the people cried out, "Long live the emperor!" Their shouts shook the heavens. Inside the carriage, however, it was so quiet that the three men could hear one another breathe.

Huizong suddenly spoke. "That's Yue Fei, isn't it?"

"Yes," Zhao Gou replied.

"He's so young," Huizong mused. "As I recall... he should be thirty-eight this year?"

"Father remembers correctly."

"To have achieved such unprecedented feats at that age." Huizong tapped his knee lightly with his fingers. "Ninth Brother, you have a fine sword."

Zhao Gou smiled. "He is a pillar of the nation."

Qinzong, who had been silent until then, suddenly said, "A sword that sharp could cut your hand."

Silence fell over the carriage once more.