********A great army besieged the east kingdom of Chu.They were like blades of grass in a field that stretched to the horizon.They killed the last protective troop of the royal palace and successfully infiltrated the palace.The northern kingdom had successfully conquered that of the east without too much of a fight.The weak defenses of the eastern kingdom was a huge advantage to the northern king and his battalion army troops. Xu Yan walked majestically to the golden throne and sat on it.A feeling of accomplishment washed over him.He had finally gotten his goal of becoming the ultimate emperor of the Qing.His glory,his birthright.
"Let me go this instant you devils! I am the emperor!" Xu Wang's voice reasonated in the palace halls as he was being dragged unceremoniously by Xu Yan's men over the dirt floor like a mere slave.They had dragged him from the ancestors shrine where he had hidden until the northerners burst in.Committing sacrilege in the revered shrine.
Xu Wang was forced on his knees Infront of the northern king who was seated on his throne comfortably with authority. "Get off my throne you barbarian!" Xu Wang seethed.
He soon quickly noticed the northern king bore a strong resemblance to someone he knew.But it could not be as that person was dead! Sensing the former emperor's thoughts, Xu Yan said with a mocking gaze
"How have you been brother?" Xu Wang instantly stiffened,his face becoming as white as his sclera."It cannot be possible! You are supposed to be dead!" Xu Wang shouted as he got over the initial shock.
Xu Wang and his mother,the queen dowager had thrown out Xu Yan who was the eldest among the two sons of the former emperor through a conspiracy with some of the highiest officials of the royal court to accuse him of high treason.Their father, emperor Xu Qin,ordered for his son to be buried alive along with his mother. Emperor Xu Qin later changed his orders and spared Xu Yan's mother.Seeing her only son face such a cruel end was for more worse than death.
The woman died from grief only a month after.Xu Yan received news of his mother's passing while in the north Kingdom.He had been saved by the senior general of the royal army.The night before Xu Yan was to be buried alive,a guard forced a strange liquid down his throat.He did not resist.He wished for it to be poison so he wouldn't have to be put in a burial shroud while still alive.
The last thing he remembered was that he collapsed into the musky waste water of the drainage prison he was put in.
He awoke in a tight wooden casket that he could barely turn in.Xu Yan was baffled at the fact that he was still alive.What on earth did that guard give him if it wasn't poison?
Locked in a casket beneath the cold earth,Xu Yan lamented his fate to have been born as a son to Emperor Xu Qin or to have even lived at all.
What kind of a father would believe a lie and order for his son to be buried alive? The empress and his half brother had won.Xu Yan knew his place and never had any intentions of succeeding the throne.He made that very clear to the whole court by being a drunk,a shameless womanizer, pretending to be subpar and nothing compared to his brother's battle skills.
It was his tactic, to stay alive.But the empress must have been very insecure because he is the eldest son, though he was borne by a concubine.He did have plans to be emperor.He planned to overthrow Xu Wang when he becomes emperor after their father.He hated that he and his mother were looked down upon by almost everyone in the royal court.No one in his position could live with that.But they got him first as he had not yet set his plans in motion.
Xu Yan expectantly waited for death in the casket.He heard shuffling but his mind was preoccupied with the thoughts of death.Soon later, the sound of metal hitting against the casket and a person's voice was unmistakable.But he did not want to believe that he was being dug up.It must be his hallucination.The door to the casket was suddenly opened from the outside.A man stood holding a fire torch.Xu Yan was helped out of the casket.Was this really happening,or it is just a subject of his imagination? "You must leave this place your Highness.Please go far away for our sakes" the general spoke.He was the empress dog and the one of the people who helped her frame prince Xu Yan but he could not stand and watch the prince be falsely executed.
"General?" Xu Yan called surprised,He did not expect the general to help him like this.He was never close with the general as he was strongly loyal to the empress.The guard who had made him drink the liquid was also present, standing beside the general. "I had my men give you an elixir to slow your heartbeat.Everyone thinks you are dead.So live like you are and go far far away." He had taken a great risk.His head would for certain be on a stake. One of the guards came forward to Xu Yan handing him a cloak and sac cloth containing food and water.
"That is enough to last for a few days.Make sure you are out of the border before the winter."
"How is my mother,can I see her?" Xu Yan asked.
"Her Highness is devastated." Answered the general.
"I need to say goodbye to her." The general held Xu Yan's clothes tightly.
"You cannot do that your Highness,they all need to think of you as dead, including her Highness.It would be terrible if anyone were to find out that you are alive." Xu Yan saw reason with the general.If his mother knew that he was alive instead of dead,she would want to keep in touch and thereby bring harm to herself and the general.The man had risked his head and that of his family's to save him.