A coffin lay in the lobby of the Prince's Mansion, and inside it lay the body of the former Prince of Xiping, Yuwen Shouren.
After the defeat, he was unwilling to follow Li Yan into Xifan to avoid disaster. He hated his son and Li Dalu for turning against him and was furious. He retreated all the way westward, taking the last group of defeated soldiers who had not yet dispersed, and occupied Songcheng, known as the gateway to Jiannan, intending to regroup there and make a comeback. Unexpectedly, he was captured alive by the locals and intended to be presented to Xue Mian, the general manager of the imperial army to suppress the rebellion. Yuwen Shouren did not want to be humiliated, so he committed suicide. Upon hearing the news, Xue Mian ordered his men not to insult the body, and to put it in a coffin, and then sent it back to the Prince's Mansion and returned it to Yuwen Zhi.
Yuwen Zhi wore a mourning band on his forehead and knelt in front of the coffin. The cold candles in front of the coffin flickered, but after a long while, his back remained motionless.
His grief and mood at the moment can be imagined. However, the military situation was urgent, and any further delay would increase the danger to Dache City.
The messenger who was ordered to bring the coffin back with the imperial order had been waiting outside for a long time. Seeing that it was getting dark, but there was still no response, he finally couldn't hold back and went in to carefully persuade: "Please mourn for the old prince. The court will consider and properly arrange for the old prince's reputation after his death according to his merits after the rebellion is quelled. The prince does not need to worry about this. Now Hedu has reached Songzhou, and we are waiting for the prince to take action and send troops to Xifan Zhongdu together. As long as Songzhou sends troops and uses the banner of Hedu, He Lituo will be afraid of the instability in the rear and will be hesitant. He will definitely return troops nearby. In this way, the crisis in Dache City can be alleviated, and General Pei can also escape smoothly and go north to meet with Linghu General."
After he finished speaking, a long while passed before Yuwen Zhi's back finally moved. He slowly turned around and said, "Come here, take the envoy away and have a good rest."
As soon as he finished speaking, a dozen armored guards rushed into the hall, immediately surrounded the messenger, and "invited" him to go down.
"What does your Highness mean?" The messenger didn't know what this meant and was shocked.
"Jiannan's military strength is limited, and they have just experienced a civil strife. Everyone is eager to rest. I have taken note of the court's urgency. After the rest is complete, I will naturally send troops to Zhongdu!" Yuwen Zhi said coldly with bloodshot eyes, and then waved his hands. His wolf-like guards immediately took the envoy out.
"Prince! Prince of Xiping! This is the princess's order! How dare you disobey—"
The messenger was pushed and forced to go outside. He grabbed the door and refused to retreat, shouting loudly.
It would have been better if he hadn't said anything. When he mentioned the princess, Yuwen Zhi's eye muscles twitched slightly, his face was gloomy, and he suddenly shouted in a stern voice: "Take him away! Lock him up!"
Li Dalu was nearby and was surprised and shocked by his nephew's sudden action.
The messenger was dragged away by force, and the shouting gradually disappeared. He hurriedly went up and said, "What do you mean? This is the order of the court! I don't know how your father's plot was known to the court, and you were imprisoned in Chang'an. He didn't care about your life or death, and was bewitched by others. Taking advantage of the saint's loss of his son, he thought that the court was weak, so he rashly raised an army. According to the proposal of those Chang'an ministers, you were to be sacrificed. I swore to the princess that I would be loyal to the court, and the princess believed me, and released you without saying a word! Do you also want to rebel against the court?"