Chapter 319. Prelude to the Great Battle— The Emperor's Decision
At first, the emperor was furious.
But as the anger began to subside, a deeper fear rose beneath it.
Great Liao mattered because I am its emperor.
If rebellion replaces the man on the throne, what use is this vast army, or even the name that rules all under Heaven?
The altars of Great Liao, the tomb of the founder, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers—all of it rests upon the man seated on the imperial throne.
If that seat begins to shake, everything shakes with it.
The emperor despaired.
He had always suspected that a day like this might come.
Someday, someone would speak aloud of his incompetence, use those words as justification, and raise swords and banners against him.
The words people had once swallowed in silence had finally become soldiers, wagons, and hoofbeats.
Was being somewhat clumsy at ruling truly such a terrible crime?
He had enjoyed hunting.
He had put affairs of state aside.
He had disliked listening to the warnings of his generals.
Even so, he had never sold the country away.
He had never deliberately set out to torment his people.
How many men in this world had destroyed their countries while loudly claiming that they meant to improve them?
I merely let time pass.
He wanted that thought to comfort him.
The comfort did not last long.
An incompetent man always looks first for excuses within his own heart.
I never committed some great evil.
I did not personally ruin everything.
The world cornered me.
The generals failed in their duties.
The times themselves were bad.
One by one, he stripped away pieces of responsibility.
And once he had stripped them all away, nothing remained in his hands.
It was those empty hands that frightened him.
Still, he had endured for a long time.
Fifteen years had passed since he ascended the throne.
Countless court audiences, hunts, banquets, rites, reports, and commands had come and gone.
Through all those years, the title of emperor had remained his.
And now the end had come this close?
Whom should he send?
Xiao Fengxian?
Another trusted retainer?
Should he choose someone dependable from among the imperial clan?
His thoughts immediately ran into a wall.
Yelü Zhangnu had a smooth tongue.
He would speak of restoring Great Liao.
Before speaking of deposing Tianzuo, he would speak of honoring the will of the founder.
Instead of speaking of his own ambition, he would speak of the foundations of the state.
He would say that he had no desire to become emperor himself, only that he wished to raise a worthy prince of the imperial house and save the dynasty.
Men could be swayed by such words.
That was precisely why he had gone to the Supreme Capital.
If he offered rites at the founder's shrine, even rebellion could wear the face of loyalty.
Then I must go myself.
The emperor himself had to stand before the founder's temple.
Before Yelü Zhangnu could claim the founder's name, he had to show that he was the founder's true descendant.
He would go in person, rebuke Yelü Zhangnu, and show those following him who the emperor truly was.
But if I leave, what happens here?
Seven hundred thousand soldiers stood facing the enemy.
The Jin army was right before them, while the tribal forces were still far from united.
If word spread that the emperor had left the camp, the entire army could be shaken even further.
Xiao Fengxian will manage.
Abul, Commander of the Central Army under the Palace Guard, is here.
Yelü Zhangganu is serving as military inspector as well.
They can hold the main camp.
I need only take the fastest cavalry and ride to the Supreme Capital and back at once.
The mere fact that the emperor himself had moved could shatter Yelü Zhangnu's claim to legitimacy.
But Yelü Zhangnu had troops of his own.
He had not gone empty-handed.
He had taken his personal guards and clan retainers, along with documents, ritual vessels, wagons, and horses.
Once he reached the Supreme Capital, people there would hear what he had to say.
What if there is an ambush on the road?
What if I am seized in the Supreme Capital?
If the emperor rides out to save his throne and is taken prisoner, Great Liao ends then and there.
His thoughts circled the same ground again and again.
I must go.
Going is dangerous.
I must send someone.
Whoever I send may be persuaded.
I should wait.
If I wait, the rebellion will grow.
I must give an order.
But whom can I trust to carry it out?
The emperor had to make a decision.
Yet to a man accustomed to postponing decisions, every decision came like the edge of a blade.
He built one course of action after another in his mind, only to tear each one down moments later.
Every path carried his own responsibility with it.
If he went, it would be his responsibility.
If he sent someone else, it would still be his responsibility.
If he waited, that too would be his responsibility.
He found it unbearable when responsibility gathered onto a single man.
The night was long.
The lamp inside the command tent trembled faintly, and outside, the horses occasionally snorted into the cold air.
The emperor lay down, but his body kept turning restlessly.
Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw the founder's temple in the Supreme Capital.
He saw Yelü Zhangnu arranging offerings before it and bowing.
He saw the soldiers behind him lowering their heads.
Then came the image of someone speaking the name of Yelü Chun.
The emperor sat up, lay down again, then rose once more.
Dawn seemed impossibly far away.
The night stretched without end, and his thoughts grew sharper and sharper.
After hours of tossing and turning, he finally stepped outside the tent.
Cold moonlight fell across the ground, white with frost.
The shadows of the tents lay low against the earth, while distant torches trembled faintly in the wind.
The encampment of hundreds of thousands of sleeping soldiers breathed quietly like some enormous beast.
Yet even that breathing sounded uneasy to the emperor.
It seemed to him that somewhere in the darkness, voices were already beginning to call another name.