Chapter 23: The Cost of Mercy
The air in the Imperial camp was thick with the scent of fear, freezing earth, and bloodied bandages. Li Feng walked back to his command tent, the blood spatter on his black armor feeling impossibly heavy. He ordered treatment for the wounded and then stood alone, his hands braced on a campaign table, fighting a wave of nausea.
Li Feng (mental): This isn't a strategy game. These aren't pixels. They're dead.
The Divine Emperor Xuan Tian materialized silently, observing the young Emperor's trembling hands.
Divine Emperor Xuan Tian:
> "I see the boy is experiencing the true cost of the Mandate. They told you this was glory. They lied."
>
Li Feng (mental): You saw what happened. I could have held that line further. But for what? To kill two hundred more of theirs and lose another five hundred of mine? It's insanity!
Divine Emperor Xuan Tian:
> "It is war. And you showed mercy. That is not always a quality valued on the battlefield."
>
The Verdict of the Camp
The immediate reaction was fiercely divided, creating a silent fault line right through the center of the Northern Front camp.
The Clan Heads and minor Nobles, the political arm of the local defense, were furious. They gathered near the supply tents, their whispers sharp and accusatory.
Clan Elder (to a fellow noble):
"A retreat? The Emperor ordered a retreat after the first skirmish? This invites contempt! An Emperor who retreats invites disaster!"
Clan Head 1:
"He traded a position for blood. An Emperor must be willing to spend the lives of his subjects to secure his political legitimacy. This is cowardice."
The only clan head who remained silent was the head of the Jin Clan, who had previously benefitted from Li Feng's intervention. He observed the Emperor's tent, thinking: He values people's lives more than political capital. If he is weak, he is weak for humanity.
Meanwhile, the Imperial Generals and the Soldiers felt a starkly different emotion.
One of the five frontline Generals, a man named Wei who had expected to die holding the line, approached Commander Yu Shan.
General Wei:
"He ordered us back. When the line was cracking, he chose to save the men instead of the momentum. My Emperor… he values us. He is not throwing lives away like meat shields for his glory."
Commander Yu Shan nodded, his face grim but respectful. "He may not be a born tactician, General, but he is an Emperor who cares for his soldiers. We follow him."
The soldiers themselves, huddled around meager fires, nursed their wounds, not their grudges. They knew the difference between a battle won for the court and a battle fought for their survival. Li Feng's retreat had saved many of their lives. For the first time, their loyalty felt personally earned, not merely commanded.
The Western Butcher
While Li Feng struggled with the moral cost of his defensive victory, the news from the Western Front painted a brutal contrast.
Second Prince Li Ren was not defensive; he was aggressively brilliant. A born tactician, he marched into the rugged western terrain and immediately confronted the combined forces of the Western Duke, local bandit tribes, and allied factions.
Li Ren did not retreat. Facing approximately 30,000 irregular troops, he used his 25,600 Imperial soldiers ruthlessly. He was fighting fiercely, winning territory, but taking steep losses.
The reports detailed Li Ren's signature strategy: The Fake Retreat and Encirclement, using cavalry to draw the enemy into narrow valleys. It was devastatingly effective.
But his victory came at an appalling moral cost. To deny the local bandit tribes and allied villages supplies, Li Ren issued decrees ordering the seizing and burning of entire villages and towns.
His focus was not on minimizing casualties, but on achieving total dominance through fear and strategic starvation. He was securing the border swiftly, but cementing his reputation as a ruthless, fear-based commander.
The contrast was stark:
| Emperor Li Feng (North) | Second Prince Li Ren (West) |
|---|---|
| Strategy: Defensive, Life Preservation | Strategy: Aggressive, Total Dominance |
| Cost: High political risk, low troop casualties | Cost: High moral risk, high troop casualties |
| Gain: Soldier loyalty, moral legitimacy | Gain: Territorial conquest, fear-based control |
The war had only just begun, but the character of the next Emperor of Xia was already being cast in blood.
Li Feng is facing both a military and political struggle. The next chapter will return to the capital, where the Regent Dowager and the consorts are reacting to these contrasting reports.
Chapter 24: The Capital's Tensions
Chapter 24: The Capital's Tensions
Back in the capital, the imperial winter had settled in, matching the cold, taut atmosphere within the palace walls. The war reports from the two fronts were the only topic of discussion—and the reports were bewildering.
The Empress: Pure Jealousy
Empress Wan Qing was confined to her chambers by the Emperor's order, a circumstance that fueled her fury more than the war itself. She was permitted to receive court updates, but the lack of personal contact with Li Feng had driven her to a spectacular internal breakdown.
She sat rigidly by a warming brazier, surrounded by scrolls of military updates, but she was reading none of them.
Empress Wan Qing (internal): He has been gone for two weeks. He locked me in! He chose the border over me! And now, the reports say he is leading from the front—he is risking his life!
Her jealousy, stoked by the memory of the Jin Consort (Mei Lian) and the Northern Princess (Anya), now focused on the war itself.
Empress Wan Qing (internal): He can be brave for the Generals, he can fight for the Dynasty, but he cannot stay safe for his Empress? He risks death to prove his power to those nobles, but he won't give me the courtesy of his safety! If he is going to be brave, he should be brave enough to face my anger, not Tang's arrows!
She felt a desperate urge to break down the locked doors, ride north, and drag him back to the safety of the palace, perhaps even using a riding crop. Her anger was a shield for her terror.
Consort Mei Lian: Cold Calculation and Confusion
Consort Mei Lian (the Jin Consort) sat in her quieter residence. She was highly politically active, serving as the Empress Dowager Regent's primary contact with the Treasury.
She received the reports: Li Feng's successful, but retreat-marked, defense of the Northern Chokepoint.
Consort Mei Lian (internal): Retreat? The Emperor retreated?
Her mind was a ledger of calculated risk. A retreat meant weakness to the central factions. But the accompanying reports mentioned that the wounded were saved, and the Generals were holding their tongues.
Consort Mei Lian (internal): The General is defending his move. He is showing mercy. The Second Prince, however, is burning villages to secure his flank.
She looked at her own situation. Li Feng had risked political chaos to elevate her clan, had denied her an audience to focus on security, and now showed mercy on the battlefield.
Consort Mei Lian (internal): Is this his political strategy? To gather loyalty not through fear, but through preservation? If he is truly a man who prioritizes the lives of his troops, then he is less predictable than the Second Prince, but ultimately more stable for the future of the Dynasty.
She found herself analyzing his character rather than his power. The man was a puzzle, but a puzzle worth solving.
The Regent Dowager: The Influence of Kindness
Empress Dowager Liu Yan sat in the grand administrative office, surrounded by memorials. She was the absolute power in the capital, governing with the cold, experienced efficiency she was known for. She was punishing the Second Prince's network ruthlessly, auditing every single asset connected to his faction.
But her focus was constantly fractured.
Empress Dowager Liu Yan (internal, suppressing thought): The North is a bloodbath. He retreated. The nobles will call it cowardice. He is going to be attacked by the court when he returns.
She fought the impulse, forcing her mind back to the tax registers.
Empress Dowager Liu Yan (internal, surfacing thought): Why am I worried about him? He used me. He betrayed me less than the Second Prince, but he still used my anger.
Her eyes fell upon the fine porcelain tea set Li Feng had gifted her, resting on the corner of the desk. The white sable coat hung prominently behind her screen. These small acts of humanity kept piercing the walls of her political cynicism.
She remembered the difference. When the Second Prince wanted something, he used gold and false intimacy. Li Feng used political necessity and a simple, genuine kindness.
Empress Dowager Liu Yan (internal): A small act of kindness—a practical gift in a cruel era—it means trust. He wanted me warm. He didn't want my body or my favor. He wanted me to survive.
This modern approach—treating an opponent with respect and human consideration—was an alien concept in the brutal ancient court. It made her doubt her own bitterness.
Empress Dowager Liu Yan (internal): Is he safe? If he dies, Li Ren returns, and everything I've fought for is destroyed.
The thought was selfish, but the worry beneath it was genuine. She was suppressing maternal instinct and political dependency, all fueled by a simple winter coat.
The Dowager Regent picked up a brush, her resolve firming. She would protect the throne—not for the glory, but because the boy currently risking his life on
the Northern Front had proven to her that the game was worth playing again.