Chapter 219: The stolen scroll

Empress Lihua sat alone in her private study, the doors shut and the windows covered by heavy curtains. A single lamp burned beside her, its flame trembling whenever the wind slipped through the cracks in the wooden frame.

On the table before her lay the scroll she had picked up from Han Shuying’s room when she’d been distracted.

Han Shuying had always been difficult to read with her constant blank expression. But Empress Lihua had seen the slight panic on her face when she saw her about to pick up the scroll. And she hated that Han Shuying was hiding something from her.

She should’ve never let her go to Tiancheng.

Empress Lihua slowly loosened the cord around the scroll and unrolled it across the table. Her eyes moved over the writing in a hurry, eager to convince herself that she was just being paranoid about Han Shuying betraying her.

She stopped at the first text.

It was a letter addressed to Qingyue back at Ashen Fortress.

Empress Lihua’s expression hardened.

She read every line.

Han Shuying had given detailed information on a shipment of weapons that would soon leave one of the empire’s largest military foundries and travel toward the capital. The shipment contained enough weapons to arm several battalions, along with specialized weapons that had apparently been commissioned for the imperial army.

But the part that caught Lihua’s attention was not the shipment itself.

It was Han Shuying’s instructions.

’Intercept it.’

She had written to Qingyue with precise information about the route, the estimated arrival date, the number of guards escorting the shipment, and the safest point at which Ashen Fortress could seize it without alerting the capital too quickly.

Empress Lihua stared at the words for several seconds. Then she laughed once.

It was a sickening sound that was void of humor and amusement. It scraped against the walls in a deadly screech.

"So this is what you’ve been doing," she muttered to herself in disbelief.

Han Shuying had not merely been helping the people at Ashen Fortress survive. She had been supplying them, even opening trade routes for them.

Empress Lihua’s fingers tightened around the edge of the scroll. The implications were far worse than a stolen shipment.

Weapons meant soldiers.

Soldiers meant power.

And power at Ashen Fortress meant Qingyue was getting ready to wage war against her.

The Empress rose abruptly from her chair and began pacing across the study, her robes whispering against the floor.

If those weapons reached the capital, Han Zheng could use them to strengthen the imperial army exactly as planned. More importantly, the shipment contained weapons that had been specifically ordered for several elite units loyal to the throne.

If Qingyue intercepted them, the balance of power could shift. And Han Shuying would have made it possible.

Empress Lihua returned to the table. She picked up the scroll again and reread the letter, this time searching for anything she might have missed.

There was no signature. Only the unmistakable handwriting of someone who had once pledged her loyalty and love.

Her jaw tightened, a wicked smile taking over. "Traitorous girl...I expected nothing less from you. It isn’t unheard of that a rose would have thorns."

For one moment, Empress Lihua considered confronting Han Shuying herself. Then she thought better of it.

A confrontation would accomplish nothing.

The Empress carefully rolled the scroll back up before crushing it with her fist. The paper crackled beneath her fingers.

She did not tear it apart immediately.

Instead, she stared at it with narrowed eyes before finally squeezing it into a tight, wrinkled ball.

"General Han Zheng." Her voice carried toward the closed doors.

A maid waiting outside immediately entered and bowed. "Your Majesty?"

"Find the General. Tell him to come here immediately."

The maid hurried away.

Empress Lihua remained standing beside the table, her mind moving rapidly. The weapons had to be stopped. And there was only one other person she trusted to handle something like this.

-

-

General Han Zheng arrived less than half an hour later.

He entered the study dressed in dark robes, his expression stern from being summoned so abruptly. He closed the door behind himself before turning toward the Empress. "You summoned me."

Empress Lihua did not answer immediately. Instead, she pointed toward the table.

General Han Zheng stepped closer. "What is it?"

"Read it."

He picked up the crumpled scroll and slowly unfolded it. His eyes moved across the writing, before his face turned deadly. "Where did you get this?"

"From your daughter’s room."

General Han Zheng looked up sharply. "You searched Shuying’s chamber?" He looked back down at the letter when she didn’t offer any response.

His face became colder with every line he read. "She is informing Qingyue about the weapons shipment."

Han Zheng read the letter again, his fingers tightening around the paper. "If Qingyue intercepts this shipment, the Ashen Fortress will gain enough weapons to strengthen its forces considerably."

"Which is why you are going to prevent it."

Han Zheng looked at her. "How?"

"You will meet the supplier."

A long silence followed. "The supplier?"

"Yes."

Han Zheng stared at her as though she had just asked him to sweep the palace courtyard. "Your Majesty, that is beneath my position."

Empress Lihua’s eyes narrowed. "I am aware."

"I command the imperial army," he tried to reason without letting his annoyance creep into his voice. "This is a task for a mere soldier."

"And yet apparently your army is about to lose an entire weapons shipment because your daughter has decided to send information to our enemies."

Han Zheng’s expression darkened. "That can be dealt with."

"Then deal with it." She kept her gaze on him. "You will go yourself."

Han Zheng’s disbelief was almost visible.

"I want you to make certain those weapons reach the capital." Empress Lihua stepped closer. "If the supplier becomes frightened, reassure him. If he has been approached by someone from Ashen Fortress, find out who. If the shipment has already been compromised, recover it. I do not care how you accomplish it."

She paused.

"But those weapons must reach the capital."

Han Zheng remained silent.

Empress Lihua’s voice dropped to a threatening whisper. "And General Han?"

He looked at her.

"Consider your title goodbye if they do not."

The room became utterly still. Han Zheng slowly raised his eyes and Empress Lihua held his gaze without blinking.

She was ordering him...asserting her power over him. For the first time that night, Han Zheng looked genuinely unsettled.

He had spent years building his influence within the military, removing rivals, placing loyal officers in important positions and quietly turning the imperial army into an extension of his own ambition.

His title was not merely a rank.

It was the foundation of everything.

Without it, the soldiers would no longer answer to him with unquestioned obedience. Without the army, his plans for the throne would become considerably more difficult.

Empress Lihua knew exactly what she was threatening and he would be sure to get back at her for forcing him to his knees.