Book 61: Chapter 4: A Lull in the Storm

Kou Zhong was in deep slumber when he was suddenly awakened by the sound of a horse neighing and people shouting from afar; he sat up from the couch with a start.

Flustered and exasperated, Hou Xibai rushed through the door and said, “Reporting to Shaoshuai, the turn of events is not too encouraging, a large number of men and horses are coming to attack from the direction of Chang’an. Xiaozu [foot soldier, minor pawn] received Xu and Ba, two Daren’s order to invite Shaoshuai to leave immediately.”

Kou Zhong composed himself a little bit, he laughed and said, “At a time like this, you, this kid unexpectedly is coming to tease me, ha! No wonder I suddenly dreamed of going to the battlefield. Li Yuan is so quick.”

He swiftly sprang up off the couch, picked up the outer robe, which he put by the bed with the Moon in the Well and the Piercing the Sun Bow concealed within, and simply slung it over his shoulders. Rushing out of the room, he asked, “Where are Xu kid and Lao Ba?”

Hou Xibai ran after him, he laughed and said, “Everyone gathers at the east gate, they are one step ahead to join in the fun, while telling me to get you there, not to care whether you are awake or asleep.”

Kou Zhong suddenly came to a halt, standing in the corridor leading to the east gate, he said to Hou Xibai in surprise, “You should have loved life more than anyone else! How come you acted like you don’t consider life and death worthy in your eyes, but free and do not have any care?”

Hou Xibai cheerfully said, “Life comes and goes, just like the change of the seasons, it is a natural way, there is nothing to fear. The reason why people feel that life is precious is entirely because at any moment, death is glaring like a tiger watching its prey. On the battlefield, this feeling is particularly deep, so that I especially treasure life, sensing the beauty of life. I have a sudden understanding that being alive in itself is so touching. Ha! Since I am enjoying the gift of life, how can I be in a bad mood?”

Kou Zhong wrapped an arm around his shoulders, he said, “Actually, you did not need to wade in this muddy water, it is only due to you are a brother enough. Ha! But be careful of, don’t fall into my Shigong’s poison.”

Hou Xibai laughed and said, “Falling into his poison can’t be too bad, can it? Let’s go to the battlefield first!”

Kou Zhong and Hou Xibai climbed to the top of the wall, Li Shimin, Ba Fenghan, Xu Ziling, and Li Jing, Yuchi Jingde, Changsun Wuji, Qin Shubao, Pang Yu and more than a dozen Heavenly Policy Mansion’s great generals were standing on top of the wall, looking into the distance at the large group of the Tang Army coming over.

Under the flying banner, there were about 3,000 men, all were cavalry, they seemed to be the vanguard unit, because although Hong Yi Palace and the City of Chang’an had small-scale, large-scale differences, but the defenders of the city were Li Shimin and his subordinates, the soldiers and generals capable of military campaign and accustomed to fighting. Plus, there were Kou Zhong, four men helping their troop formation. Attacking Hong Yi Palace with such a force was no different from committing suicide.

Kou Zhong has not stood next to Li Shimin and spoken yet, Li Shimin already shouted, “Withdraw the defense, open the gate! I will personally go out to meet them.”

His subordinates transmitted the order.

Kou Zhong still has not figured out what was going on.

Xu Ziling heaved a deep, deep sigh and said, “Success! The newcomer is Shimin Xiong’s zunweng [honorable father], and he is not coming to attack Hong Yi Palace.”

Kou Zhong looked with rapt attention, the incoming army was still about a li away, inside the rising dust, a banner was held high, the flying flag precisely represented Li Yuan’s title of honor. Greatly delighted, he said, “We pass another barrier, his Niang’s!”

Looking at the sky again, he turned to Ba Fenghan and said, “Don’t forget that you have an appointment with beautiful lady [Note: the word ‘jiaren’ literally means ‘fine/good person’]. Immediately rush over now, you should be there on time.”

Ba Fenghan shook his head and said, “I have lost the mood to meet the appointment.”

Xu Ziling spoke in displeasure, “A real man has a promise, he will keep it, how could you go back on your word?”

Smiling ruefully, Ba Fenghan said, “Did she agree to go?”

Li Shimin spoke in astonishment, “I never thought Fenghan unexpectedly would have a date with a beautiful woman [jiaren]. Who is this beauty [meiren – beautiful person. Just so you know, Chinese has so many different words for one English word ‘beauty’.]?”

Hou Xibai cheerfully said, “Lao Ba is afraid of sitting alone and waiting foolishly, let’s do this: we are all brothers, let me uphold yiqi by accompanying Lao Ba to go. If she fails to meet the appointment, we might as well have breakfast together!”

He reached out and grabbed Ba Fenghan’s arm, and forcibly pulled him down the city gate tower.

A subordinate came to report that the warhorses were ready.

Li Shimin said, “How about we go out of the palace to welcome his honored self?”

Kou Zhong laughed and said, “Of course, of course, playing a game, we must play the full set, let’s go!”

Accompanying Li Yuan, other than the two great generals Liu Hongji and Chang He, beyond Kou Zhong and the others’ expectation, there were also Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji. However, the latter two’s expression was wooden, and their smile was forced. Obviously, they did not take this trip willingly and gladly [idiom], only they did not dare to disobey Li Yuan’s sacred desire.

Li Yuan was wearing an informal light cavalry attire, with a long sword hanging on his waist. He looked as if his spirit was trembling with excitement [idiom], but a tired countenance was contained and revealed from between his brows, it seemed that last night was hard to take.

When the two sides met, Li Yuan slapped his horse to step out of the ranks, he said with a gentle chuckle, “Let me take care of my family affairs first, and then welcome Shaoshuai and Xu Xiansheng into the city again.”

On Li Yuan’s side, the entire army stopped their horses, Jiancheng and Yuanji rode to behind Li Yuan’s horse, forming a triangular formation.

On Kou Zhong’s side, there were only he with Xu Ziling, plus Li Shimin, three men. Hearing that, the latter immediately scrambled off the horse, knelt down and knocked his head on the ground, and said in a loud voice, “Child is willing to take all the responsibility for the explosion in the Yeting Palace last night, asking Fuhuang to punish me.”

Li Yuan looked down at Li Shimin on the ground in front of the horse, the murderous intent his pair of eyes was flashing, but it disappeared in the blink of an eye, replaced by a smiling expression. He spoke heavily, “What happened last night is an unforgivable sin, but Zhen remembers that for the past many years Wang’er [child king] has established countless heroic contributions, splendid and outstanding military service. Your meritorious service can make up for your guilt, I grant you pardon for your worthy contribution. You can return to the Yeting Palace, everything will be as before. You may rise.”

Hearing that he did not mention the strange fire at Li Jiancheng’s East Palace, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling sighed in their hearts, knowing that the hatred in Li Shimin’s heart was like fuel being added to the fire.

Li Shimin shouted loudly, “Thank you for Fuhuang’s dragon grace,” he slowly stood up.

Kou Zhong was about to speak, Li Yuan laughed cheerfully and said, “Shaoshuai’s kind intention, Li Yuan understands clearly, how about we talk after returning to the palace?”

Kou Zhong responded with a smile, “I, Kou Zhong, am finally convinced that Fazhu has the sincerity to cooperate, all doubts are gone. Naturally everything will be in accordance with Fazhu’s wishes.”

Turning to Xu Ziling, he said, “Didn’t Ziling agree to have breakfast at Fu Ju Lou with Lao Ba and Hou kid?”

Xu Ziling understood, he saluted to Li Yuan, asking to be excused, and rode his horse alone back into Chang’an one step ahead.

With solemn and respectful expression, Li Shimin mounted his horse. After receiving Li Yuan’s permission, he urged his horse to turn around and return to the Hong Yi Palace first, to make arrangement for their return to Chang’an.

When riding side-by-side with Li Yuan back into the city, Kou Zhong thought that this crisis was not resolved successfully at all, rather, he knew that the confrontational situation was becoming more acute very quickly; Li Yuan had chosen to stand on Jiancheng, Yuanji’s side. The danger in the City of Chang’an was increasing and not decreasing at all.

Xu Ziling galloped back to Xing Qing Palace first, to make sure Wang Xuanshu and the other brothers were safe and sound after passing through the tranquil-on-the-outside-but-waves-were-surging-forth-in-the-inside of last night. He changed horses and rushed to the West Market.

Passing through the Yue Ma Bridge on horseback, he could enjoy the Wu Liang Temple, Yong An Canal and the residences with magnificent forest trees on both sides of the river. Under the spring sun, willow branches hanging low over the canal dike, the lush fragrant grass and the sparse greeneries, the market and the bridge facing each other, and the bluish-green waves reflecting the sun, the Wei E shrines and high-courtyards, grand residences, setting off a prosperous and comfortable atmosphere, he could not help thinking about the future unpredictable fate of the Duke Yang’s Treasure-House underground and this magnificent capital city, emotional stirring grew as a thicket in his heart.

It was only the second morning they were returning to Chang’an under the banner of righteousness, but their mood has changed a lot, the dramatic turn of the situation made them no longer have the confidence of certain victory.

Xu Ziling dismounted from the horse in front of the Fu Ju Lou, several grooms with special duty of waiting-upon the horse-riding guests [I was tempted to use the term ‘valet parking attendance’ 😀] welcomed him in great delight. ‘Xu Daxia’, ‘Xu Daye’ calls were incessant, they strived for the opportunity to take care the horse for him, making Xu Ziling feel very embarrassed. The crowd of grooms’ respect and admiration for him all came from the bottom of their hearts, which made him feel the very difficult and heavy responsibility to the people in the whole Chang’an City that he bore on his shoulders one step further.

The attendants already received the report, they scrambled to the main entrance to welcome the guest and to show the way, bowing continuously and said, “Xu Daye honoring us with your presence, it is Fu Ju Lou’s honor. Ba Daye and Xibai Gongzi are on the third floor. Please let Xiaoren lead the way.”

Stepping into the main entrance, it was even more incredible. The hundreds of diners in the hall suddenly fell silent, the chatter and laughter subsided like a rapid tide, and then burst into cheers and applause filling the hall.

Xu Ziling cupped his fist to return the greeting, he responded with a smile, but the load on his mind was substantially getting heavier; he secretly made the determination in his mind that he would not disappoint the common people who had hope and eager anticipation for him.

For the soldiers and civilians in the City of Chang’an, this time they were coming to Chang’an to discuss the alliance, to the commoners, the ordinary people facing grave threat from the allied armies from beyond the Great Wall, it brought about the greatest hope and a turn for the better, just like being in the dark world seeing the first light of dawn.

With great difficulty he climbed to the third floor and swept his gaze across, what attracted his attention was not Ba Fenghan and Hou Xibai, sitting opposite each other by the east window, but a pair of a man and a woman sitting in the other corner.

Even with Xu Ziling’s cultivation, he still could not help but get angry. Ignoring the fact that he had become the target of everyone’s eyes. After raising his hand as a way to greet Ba Fenghan, he walked straight to the pair of a man and a woman.

Li Yuan sighed and said, “Shaoshuai, do you know that by insisting on going to the Hong Yi Palace last night, you made things difficult for me, as well as made me distressed and confused?”

In the main hall of the study room of Taiji Palace, Li Yuan and Kou Zhong, two men sat down separately as the host and the guest. It was a peaceful and quiet early spring morning, but the content of their conversation, every word and every sentence bore upon the Central Earth’s future success and failure, thriving and withering.

Kou Zhong was secretly grumbling that he had been dozing off only for less than half a sichen just now; hearing that, he smiled wryly and said, “Oh, Fazhu Daren! Please be magnanimous, I have no choice, otherwise how can I answer Ziling? Ziling was willing to persuade me, it was for Feixuan’s sake, and Feixuan was for Qin Wang’s sake. If Qin Wang was punished severely by you without any pardon, for example, if he is banished from the court to a distant place, the basis for our cooperation will no longer exist. Ay! What do you want me to say? The relationship between Taizi and I is not good. On the battlefield, the only person we trust is Qin Wang, only his military ability can cooperate seamlessly with ours. If knowing perfectly well that we are fighting a losing battle, I might as well return to Liangdu, lie down and have a good sleep, and then sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight; it beats being forced to retreat and defend Yangzhou, no matter what. Therefore, although my actions last night were disrespectful to Fazhu, in the end it is still for the sake of our alliance.”

Li Yuan fixed his faze on him, he spoke heavily, “Does Shaoshuai know that Xieli finally proposes his conditions. As long as we are willing to comply, they will withdraw from the army per our agreement.”

Kou Zhong was dying to ask him what those conditions were, but he still refrained from asking about the situation. He smiled and said, “Does Fazhu believe Xieli?”

Li Yuan spoke indifferently, “I want to hear Shaoshuai‘s opinion.”

Laughing involuntarily, Kou Zhong said, “If the conditions include offering my, Kou Zhong’s head as a sacrifice, Xieli may temporarily retreat.”

Li Yuan spoke in displeasure, “Shaoshuai, please be serious. If there is such a condition, I, Li Yuan, will not consider it at all.”

Kou Zhong slightly leaned forward, his eyes burning, he met Li Yuan’s gaze, he said, “One of the conditions must be that you cannot form an alliance with me, to make us having a fall out and break off relations with each other; this way, after receiving the heavy gift that will damage Fazhu’s nation’s power, Xieli will temporarily retreat. When I attack Luoyang, he and Tuli will go down south on a large scale, no longer need to rely on other outer tribes to accomplish the magnificent feat of conquering the Central Earth that they had dreamed of for many years. This is my, Kou Zhong’s view, which also Qin Wang’s view. Naturally Taizi and Qi Wang have different view. This is precisely the reason why I am only willing to cooperate with Qin Wang. The Central Earth’s future fate, Fazhu can decide it with one sentence.”

Li Yuan rose up to his full height, he paced back and forth in front of Kou Zhong, suddenly he stopped, looked up at the roof beam, and seemingly muttering to himself, he said, “This morning, it was not yet dawn, Jing Nian Chanyuan’s Zhuchi Liao Kong Dashi, introduced by the Dong Da Si’s Huangshan, came into the Palace to see me.”

Kou Zhong calmly said, “I already knew about this matter. If it wasn’t for his powerful persuasion, I would have stormed off in a huff. Under such circumstances, Ziling can hardly blame me.”

This is called hitting the snake following a stick, at the appropriate fortunate timing, he tried to play down his relationship with Li Shimin as much as possible.

Li Yuan turned around to look at him, the refined light in his eyes flashing brightly, he spoke heavily, “Unexpectedly Shaoshuai is so dissatisfied with me, Li Yuan?”

Without yielding at all, Kou Zhong returned his sharp divine light, he said, “This is not a question of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, but a strategic consideration. If I, Kou Zhong, am being all alone in the world, so what if I risk my life to accompany the gentleman? But now, there are more than ten million er lang [children, youths] under my command, their life and death are under my mind’s control, how could I not give thought to them?”

After a short pause, he continued, “The reason why I accepted Ziling’s proposal is not only because of Yuzhi, but more importantly, because I believe it makes sense. Most of this view is based on Qin Wang, because I know better than Fazhu what kind of person Qin Wang is.”

Li Yuan let out a cold laugh, he stared at him and said, “I will never agree with Shaoshuai‘s remark, he is my son that I raised by myself. What kind of person he is, who knows it better than me, Li Yuan?”

Kou Zhong laughed calmly and said, “Please forgive this kid’s offense, the Li Shimin in Fazhu’s eyes, most of it is based on other people’s opinion. But my understanding of Li Shimin is the most direct, because he is the strongest, most obstinate formidable enemy I have ever encountered in my life. The reason why I can live to this day is because I understand his strengths and weaknesses, it is a matter of life and death. For example, the firearm explosion in Yeting Palace last night, I can guarantee with my head, he definitely is not responsible for it. I can tell Fazhu with 100% certainty that this is a conspiracy to transfer stolen goods and shift the blame. The firearms are most likely from Liang Shidu, because Ziling and Xibai had seen with their own eyes Liang Shidu’s son Liang Shangming receiving a large quantity of firearms from Haisha Bang. If there is one empty word, may the Heaven punish me, the Earth extinguish me.”

Hearing that, Li Yuan’s countenance changed, it was quite half a day later that pressing down his voice, he said, “Unexpectedly there is such matter?”

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “Fazhu’s real enemy is the Tujue, not me, Kou Zhong at all. As I said earlier, after beating back the outside tribes, we can sit down and talk in detail. I practically have no interest in being an emperor. I just don’t want the land under heaven to fall into the damaging the country and causing suffering to the people [idiom] stage in the hands of muddleheaded ruler who has secret ties with foreign enemies. Last night I told Liao Kong clearly that my patience is getting smaller and smaller, having to be on guard day and night. I might as well return to Liangdu to train my er lang, we all stake everything in delight on the battlefield, with sabers come and spears go. Didn’t Fazhu say that you would not let me go home empty-handed? Then take action, announce our alliance formally, drive Bi Xuan’s diplomatic group back to their hometown, we all will see each other on the battlefield.”

He has indeed lost the patience to continue winding around blindly. These words could be said to be the last piece of advice to Li Yuan, implying that if he got rid of Jiancheng and Yuanji who had secret ties with foreign enemies, then everything would be negotiable.

Li Yuan returned to the dragon seat, he sat down absent-mindedly, staring blankly straight ahead for a moment, and then cast his gaze on him, nodded his head, and said, “I will carefully consider Shaoshuai’s candid statement; however, please give Li Yuan a bit of time, could be as soon as five days, ten days at the latest, Li Yuan will give Shaoshuai an affirmative answer.”

Kou Zhong sighed inwardly, but in any case, for the time being, Li Yuan should not turn against him and use force; this could be considered good news.

The woman looked at Xu Ziling in surprise, but the man hurriedly stood up, with a smile across his whole face, he said, “Chance encounter is better than asking to meet, let this ignorant one be the little host today, Ziling Xiong, please honor me [orig. bestow a face]. Oh! I was so happy that I nearly forget my etiquette; this is Zhijing, the Si Xiaojie [fourth young lady] of the prominent Sha family of Chang’an.”

Sha Zhijing half rose out of her chair up in an easy manner to salute, her posture graceful, the air of a girl from a wealthy family.

Liexia added, “This is my old friend, who currently everybody in Chang’an City is talking about, Xu Ziling, Xu Gongzi.”

“Ah!” Sha Zhijing exclaimed tenderly, evidently she was awed by Xu Ziling’s fame.

Xu Ziling struggled hard to press down the rage burning his crown and flaring out, he smiled to return the politeness, but in his heart he really wanted to tear this despicable traitor into ten thousand pieces. Yesterday, Liexia said that he had a date with a beautiful woman, most likely it was Sha Zhijing. Seeing each other every day like this, evidently they had a close relationship. He was sure that Liexia should have learned about the relationship between Sha Zhijing and Kou Zhong from Zhao Deyan, so much so that under Zhao Deyan’s instigation, he deliberately approached Sha Zhijing to capture her fragrant heart, to use this kind of despicable method to strike and provoke their anger to make reprisals, to disturb the foot of their troop disposition and to add to their worries.

Liexia pulled away the chair and said with a laugh, “Let’s all sit down first and talk later.”

Xu Ziling’s gaze landed on him, immediately it became sharp and icy cold; he spoke indifferently, “Lie Xiong, no need to be overcourteous, I’m here to tell you that the Five-Colored Stone has been returned to its rightful owner, Lie Xiong does not need to take trouble to set your crooked thoughts in movement.”

Sha Zhijing was greatly astonished, only then did she realize that the relationship between Xu Ziling and Liexia was not simple.

The murderous intent in Liexia’s pair of eyes flashing, he laughed and said, “Ziling Xiong please be considerate! This ignorant one only hopes that the Colored Stone could be returned to Persia safe and sound.”

Xu Ziling turned his gaze to Sha Zhijing, he smiled and said, “Sha Xiaojie, please sit down. This old friend of mine loves to promote the teachings of an evil cult, something about darkness and light opposite to each other, things like that, to pull people into his religion. Sha Xiaojie must distinguish clearly right and wrong, crooked and straight.”

He also reached out to pat Liexia on the shoulder, and said with a laugh, “Is that right? Lie Xiong!”

Liexia felt that this seemingly simple and casual pat unexpectedly enveloped all the acupoints on his head, neck and shoulders. If Xu Ziling were to suddenly change his moves, it indeed had the threatening power to put him to death with one stroke. Although fully aware that Xu Ziling would not dare to commit a violent act in public like this, how could he dare to take a gamble with his own life? Overwhelmed with shock, he flashed behind Sha Zhijing’s, who had just sat down, chair.

Laughing involuntarily, Xu Ziling said, “If one never did shameful deed in all his life, a knock on the door in the middle of the night won’t alarm him. Why is Lie Xiong panicked and frightened? Are you afraid that Song JinGang, who went to the Yellow Springs [the underworld of Chinese mythology] with grievance, is coming to you to demand your life?”

Turning to Sha Zhijing, he spoke with serious expression, “Sha Xiaojie, please forgive Zaixia for talking intimately while being comparative stranger [idiom]; I, Xu Ziling, rarely loathe anybody, but Lie Xiong is one of them.”

Finished speaking, without waiting for Liexia to refute, he simply left.

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