Fan Changsheng sat cross-legged and continued meditating, saying mildly, "General, please go back."

Li Xiang’s breathing grew rapid; he asked hoarsely, "With the Prime Minister acting like this, can he face Your Majesty with a clear conscience?"

Fan Changsheng sighed. "Does the General think these things are beyond Your Majesty’s grasp? It’s just that the Princes are truly unworthy, so we have no choice but to settle for the next best."

Li Xiong chose Li Ban in part because he respects and loves his elder brother, but isn’t the greater reason still that his several sons are simply too disgraceful?

They are not only cruel and arrogant, they lack even the most basic filial feeling.

Last year there was war in Shu. Li Xiong personally led the army out to battle, and inevitably came back wounded. When the heat set in after summer began, some of the wounds festered, turned purulent, and stank. His several sons, upon smelling it, let alone caring for him, all showed looks of disgust, and simply moved out of the Imperial Palace to live elsewhere. For ten days, half a month they wouldn’t enter the palace even once, and repeatedly associated with the head of the Imperial Guards, sending gifts to his residence every few days, seeking to win him over.

Li Ban, on the other hand, once he learned that his uncle’s injuries had worsened, stayed by his side day and night, tirelessly caring for him, even personally sucking out the pus and carefully applying medicine.

At one point Li Xiong ran a high fever that wouldn’t break and nearly died. It was thanks to his and the Imperial Physician’s devoted attendance that they managed to pull him back from the brink.

A man who cannot even be filial to his own father—how can one hope that he will show benevolence and kindness toward the common people?

And if a sovereign without a heart of benevolence ascends the throne, it is a calamity of annihilation for the state and the people.

Therefore, Fan Changsheng supports Li Xiong. Even without Zhao Hanzhang, he would still agree to Li Xiong establishing Li Ban. At least with him, there is half a chance of success; as for establishing those sons of Li Xiong...

Fan Changsheng closed his eyes for a moment. No matter how Li Xiang pressed him, he uttered not another word.

Seeing this, Li Xiang could only bow prostrate and then take his leave.

By the time he exited the Daoist temple, the sky was already near dark. He stood before the temple, letting the mountain wind blow against him, looking at the dusky ridgelines. The floating clouds were driven by the wind to surge up and down among the mountains. Grief suddenly welled up within him, and his tears poured down all at once.

This time he did not wail aloud, but sobbed. Just like that, stumbling with uneven steps, he cried as he made his way down the mountain.

His personal attendant was drenched in sweat, hastily leading the horse while following behind him. "My lord, it’s getting dark. We should still ask to lodge at the temple for the night."

Li Xiang paid him no heed, and went down the mountain all the way, weeping.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, the attendant caught up again. "My lord, it is completely dark now, the road is hard to walk. Let’s rest for the night in the village."

Li Xiang ignored him. By now he had begun crying out loud, yet only two lines of clear tears silently flowed down, as he kept walking toward the city gate.

The attendant had no choice but to hastily make a torch on the spot, light it, and illuminate the road for him.

Li Xiang thus stumbled along the whole night. When he returned to the city gate, the sky was just beginning to lighten. He stopped, raised his head to look at the two characters "Picheng" over the gate, and his knees went weak as he dropped straight down.

He tilted his head back, weeping soundlessly, only able to murmur, "Your Majesty, I have wronged you. I have wronged Cheng Country..."

The attendant looked on, utterly at a loss, completely unable to understand what had happened to Li Xiang.

When Li Xiang returned alone in this fashion from West Mountain, the officials of Cheng Country Court knew what Fan Changsheng had chosen, and they were greatly shaken. They could not understand why Fan Changsheng would make such a choice. Can it be that he does not see the consequences of establishing Li Ban?

No one knew what Fan Changsheng had said to Li Xiang, and the ministers who had gone to the city gate to greet him could not get a word out of him no matter how they asked.

Zhao Xin had tagged along to watch the spectacle.

He had no idea that this matter had anything to do with him, so he folded his arms and stood aside, enjoying the show.

Tsk, tsk, tsk—he really hadn’t expected that before their own negotiations reached any result, Cheng Country would start falling into disorder by itself.

Though this chaos would not last long—after all, Li Xiong was still there—being able to watch a farce and temporarily ease the pressure on his own side, Zhao Xin was watching with great relish.

Just as he was watching happily, Li Xiang suddenly raised his head and looked toward his direction. Zhao Xin didn’t know what he had seen, but Li Xiang’s eyes were bloodshot.

Zhao Xin was startled, immediately straightened up, and assumed a solemn expression.

Only after the people of Cheng Country Court carried Li Xiang away did Zhao Xin’s eyes show a probing look, as he sank into thought.

Once back at the post station, he summoned his personal guard. "Quietly contact our Scout and have him compile for me all information on Li Xiong, Fan Changsheng, Li Xiang, and the others. No matter how minor or major, whether confirmed or rumor, bring it all to me."

The personal guard’s expression was grave as he accepted the order and left.

Zhao Xin paced back and forth in the room. In truth, his understanding of the ruler and ministers of Cheng Country was only superficial. After all, they had not paid Shu much attention before, keeping their gaze mainly fixed on the north, the Central Plains, and the south.

Because Shu had natural defensive terrain, before the Central Plains was settled, outsiders found it very hard to pay serious attention to what was going on inside.

So his understanding of them was in fact not deep. He had already been working hard to make up for this gap recently, but judging from today, he still did not know them well enough.

Li Xiang—why had he looked at him with that kind of gaze?

Fan Changsheng—why did he not stop Li Xiong from establishing Li Ban?

Li Xiong—why, in the face of such vehement opposition from his ministers, did he still insist on establishing Li Ban?

Zhao Xin had asked for a lot of things, and it was not until the third day that they quietly delivered them. In the interim, Zhao Xin met once again with the ministers of Cheng Country. This time the talks were relatively amicable. Although nothing was finalized, both sides once more probed each other’s bottom lines. Zhao Xin gradually had a clearer picture in his heart, and the ruler and ministers of Cheng Country also gained some sense of his stance. They were not very satisfied with Zhao Xin’s terms.

Including Li Xiong, even though they knew the chances were slim, they still wanted Han Zhong County. If that was really impossible, then at least cede half of Han Zhong’s counties to them?

Zhao Xin did not agree. As soon as he returned to the post station and saw his guard’s meaningful look, he immediately went back to his room.

The materials delivered by the Scout were substantial, and Zhao Xin began reading them carefully.

Once he finished, he vaguely understood a few things.

He had been too narrow, lumping Li Xiong and the others in with that group of the Jin State Imperial Family who, for the sake of power and status, had plunged the people of the world into an abyss of suffering.

Look at them and it becomes clear. Under heaven, there are not only people like the Sima family who care for nothing but power, nor only men like Shi Le, who are brutal and trust only themselves.

There are also men like Li Xiong and Fan Changsheng.

After Li Xiong’s father and elder brother died, the refugee army once verged on disintegration. Yet he refused to surrender, gritted his teeth and persisted in fighting. At that time, famine raged throughout the refugee army, and even Li Xiong, their leader, had to endure hunger.

It was precisely under such circumstances that they drew in the local gentry and great clansman Fan Changsheng.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that Fan Changsheng is a Taoist; he is no ordinary Taoist.

Here he possessed broad tracts of fertile fields and fine land, as well as over a thousand household troops. And because he followed the Heavenly Master Dao, he commanded enormous numbers of believers throughout Ba Shu.

Once Li Xiong connected with Fan Changsheng, Fan began supplying them with grain, so that the refugee army did not starve to death.

After that, Fan Changsheng provided the refugee army with great quantities of grain and equipment, assisting them in their campaigns.

Li Xiong felt that this, truly, was their provider of food and clothing, so he called together his sworn brothers and subordinates and went to Fan Changsheng, intending to make him emperor.

Fan Changsheng thought it through carefully and felt that he could not control the refugee army, so he firmly declined and instead pushed Li Xiong onto the throne.

In the years since, he had fulfilled his duties conscientiously, and the relationship between ruler and minister had been very harmonious. The policies Fan Changsheng proposed—"nurture life and rest the people, light taxes and revive education"—had been implemented very effectively.

The people of Shu within their effective control lived far better than those outside their territory. It was precisely because of this that their struggles with the other commanderies and counties of Shu had grown increasingly intense in recent years. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Put plainly, neither Li Xiong nor Fan Changsheng is particularly obsessed with power. One acts for the sake of the refugee army and the people of Shu, the other for the people of Shu and the rise and fall of Daoism.

After Zhao Xin finished reading all the materials, he straightened with solemn respect—and at the same time, another idea formed in his mind.