Li Yuanji and Yang Xinzhi led their horses out of the palace’s west gate and headed south along Fanglin Gate Boulevard. They galloped straight into Buzheng Ward, dismounting in front of the residence of Outer Courtier Yang Min.
The doorkeeper, hearing that a prince had come to visit, dared not be negligent and hurried inside to inform his master. Yang Min quickly changed his clothes and came out to welcome them. After a series of formal bows and courtesies, they entered the main hall and took their seats. Yang Min then inquired about the purpose of their visit.
“To be frank, I’ve come unannounced hoping to meet your grandmother, Former Empress Xiao,” said Li Yuanji.
Yang Min, courtesy name Zhengdao, was the posthumous son of former Sui Dynasty’s Prince of Qi Yang Yun, and Emperor Yang’s only surviving grandson. Born in the first year of Wude, he was just a frail youth who had recently come of age. Hearing Li Yuanji’s request, his face took on a cautious expression.
“Your Highness honors our humble home. The entire household should come to pay respects. However, my grandmother is elderly and has been bedridden with illness for over a month. She cannot receive visitors. I beg Your Highness’s forgiveness.”
“What? Empress… Madam Xiao is ill?” Li Yuanji was startled. “She must be over seventy now? Is her condition serious? Have you consulted any renowned physicians? Might I be permitted to pay my respects at her bedside?”
“We dare not trouble Your Highness with our domestic matters,” Yang Min replied. “We have consulted physicians who say grandmother caught a cold. They advised that she should avoid visitors and rest quietly to recover.”
Though politely phrased, the meaning “no visitors allowed” couldn’t have been clearer. Li Yuanji was momentarily speechless, not expecting to be rebuffed by Yang Min.
During the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, all of Emperor Yang’s children and grandchildren who accompanied him were killed. The two eldest sons’ descendants left to guard the eastern and western capitals also died at the hands of the Wang-Zheng faction and the Li-Tang family. Only Yang Min, then an infant, followed his grandmother Empress Xiao through the custody of Yu Wenhuaji and Dou Jiande, before being welcomed into Turkish territory where the Khan named him “King of Sui” with over ten thousand followers. In the fourth year of Zhenguan, when the Tang forces defeated Dingxiang, the Khan’s trusted Hu chieftain Kang Misu brought Empress Xiao and her grandson to surrender to the Tang forces and return to Chang’an. That year, Yang Min was only thirteen or fourteen. The Emperor granted him the sinecure title of “Outer Courtier” and bestowed a residence in Buzheng Ward, where grandmother and grandson had lived ever since.
Given Yang Min’s sensitive status, he was always cautious and compliant, never daring to offend others easily. Li Yuanji had come courteously requesting to see Empress Xiao, expecting at least to speak with her through a screen or curtain, to inquire about which royal princess was betrothed to the Tuyuhun prince during the Sui Dynasty. As the former empress, Xiao would surely know about such important matters concerning the royal family and imperial harem genealogy.
Seeing Yang Min’s refusal, Li Yuanji anxiously pulled out a thick yellow paper from his robe and presented it with both hands:
“I carry His Majesty’s edict to inquire about the details of the Sui court’s marriage alliance. The edict grants me discretionary authority. If Her Grace is recovering from illness, I would be most grateful for an audience.”
Seeing the crimson imperial characters covering the paper, Yang Min immediately stood up solemnly and ordered his servants to prepare incense tables and offerings. Despite Li Yuanji’s repeated explanations that “this edict hadn’t gone through proper channels and wasn’t a formal decree,” Yang Min insisted on performing the full ceremonial reception of an imperial edict.
But even after receiving the edict… it still didn’t work.
Yang Min repeatedly kowtowed in apology, insisting that his grandmother truly could not receive visitors. He suggested that if Prince Wu was urgent to inquire about matters, perhaps he could have someone relay questions inside to see if Madam Xiao was well enough to respond. Li Yuanji considered that he and Yang Xinzhi could simply force their way into the inner quarters – with Yang’s ox-like strength, few would dare stop them…
But he thought better of it. Though Yang Min’s official rank wasn’t high, he was genuinely the “grandson of two empresses,” and Madam Xiao was both a Southern Dynasty princess and former Sui empress who still received courteous treatment from the Emperor and Empress during seasonal palace visits. If he, a minor Tang prince, caused trouble at their residence, he would surely be condemned as an “arrogant youth bullying lonely survivors of a fallen dynasty.”
He had no choice but to tell Yang Min about the Sui Dynasty’s marriage alliance with Tuyuhun’s Murong Shun and his wish to investigate Princess Dehua’s family background, asking him to relay the questions to Empress Xiao. Fortunately, the matter wasn’t too complex – after briefly explaining, they sat in the main hall making small talk while waiting.
As the shadows on the floor grew longer, Li Yuanji grew increasingly impatient. Suddenly, he heard distant drum beats and started:
“Is that the night curfew drum? Why are they beating it so early?”
“Your Highness need not worry,” Yang Min smiled for the first time, showing a touch of youthful innocence. “That’s from the Hu Zoroastrian temple across the way. They’re celebrating some festival these days, beating drums and playing flutes, having drinking contests from dusk until late into the night.”
Hu Zoroastrian temple… why did that sound so familiar…
Just as Li Yuanji remembered that Hebo’s wet nurse had mentioned it in her testimony, a servant emerged from the inner hall with a paper, saying it was “Her Grace’s handwritten reply to Prince Wu’s inquiry.”
After all this trouble, finally a concrete response. Overjoyed, Li Yuanji hastily took the paper and read:
“Former guilty concubine Xiao replies to Tang’s Prince Wu:
Your presence brightens our humble dwelling. This old woman has been unwell for ten days, and my illness prevents me from receiving you properly – I am deeply ashamed. Regarding your inquiry about former Sui Princess Dehua, she too was a pitiful soul. Born to the Yang surname, due to past karma, she was transplanted to the imperial family only to meet with disaster in the palace uprising. Her mortal shell has perished – why seek further? I only pray that under the Great Tang’s virtuous rule over heaven and earth, whose might subjugates all directions, this old woman’s remaining bones may return to native soil. Day and night I make offerings praying that Buddha will protect the common people’s peace and prevent further calamities in this world. Concubine Xiao kowtows twice.”
The former Sui empress’s right-hand calligraphy was graceful and vigorous, far superior to the Linfen County Princess’s handwriting. But the content of her reply – saying only that Princess Dehua was originally from the Yang clan and met her end in the Jiangdu palace uprising – decisively extinguished any hope of finding her.
The blow left Li Yuanji seeing stars. After collecting himself and thinking it over, he decisively rose to take his leave.
Yang Min made no pretense of detaining him – in fact, his expression suggested he couldn’t wait for Li Yuanji and his servant to leave. He escorted them out like seeing off plague spirits, bowing respectfully in farewell.
They hadn’t gone two steps when Yang Xinzhi urged: “Fourteenth Brother, mount up quickly! The street drums are about to sound. Fortunately, this ward isn’t far from the north gate – if we hurry, we can still make it home for dinner. Otherwise, the braised meat and fresh chives we prepared this morning will all go to the servants…”
“We’re not returning to the Seventeenth Prince’s residence tonight,” Li Yuanji snorted.
“What? Not going back… then where will we spend the night?”
“Follow me.”
Li Yuanji led the way, and their two horses galloped to the ward’s northeast corner. The Right Wuhou Guard Office, which managed security in the western half of Chang’an, was located in the northeast corner of Buzheng Ward. Li Yuanji had been there before. They dismounted at the office, showed the golden fish tally to enter, and found the duty officer – a middle-aged man named Su Dingfang.
Using the emperor’s handwritten edict to throw his weight around, Li Yuanji smoothly made some arrangements, even managed to get dinner for two, and rested in the duty room.
After the street drums had sounded eight hundred times and darkness was falling, the Wuhou Guards began departing in teams for night patrol. The earliest patrol had already returned when Li Yuanji got up, called Yang Xinzhi, and they mounted up, mixing in with a patrol team heading southwest toward Yang Min’s residence.
Arriving at the residence and seeing no one around, Li Yuanji nodded to the patrol leader. He and Yang Xinzhi dismounted and crept halfway around Yang’s residence until they found a relatively low section of wall. Li Yuanji ordered Yang Xinzhi to crouch down, then stepped on his shoulders to vault over.
This wasn’t their first time pulling such wall-climbing stunts – they coordinated perfectly. Once atop the wall, Li Yuanji turned back and, grimacing with effort, pulled up the beefy Yang. They both jumped down inside.
Though not large, the residence bestowed on Empress Xiao and her grandson had some artificial mountains, ponds, and trees in the back garden. At this silent night hour with no sound of people, Li Yuanji estimated the layout and made his way toward the rear sleeping quarters.
A flickering light showed in a room in the small courtyard east of the sleeping quarters – Li Yuanji guessed it was Yang Min’s bedroom and avoided disturbing it. The main sleeping quarters were pitch dark and completely silent – perhaps Empress Xiao and her servants were all asleep?
Li Yuanji waited a moment longer to confirm no one was moving in the sleeping quarter’s courtyard, then signaled behind him and quietly crept along the wall to the main door. He had expected it to be barred from inside, but in the starlight, he could see a long brass padlock fastening the door rings shut.
The door locked from the outside… which meant no one inside. Had he guessed wrong about where Empress Xiao lived?
Strange. Li Yuanji shook his head. Seeing that all the windows had thick paper over straight lattices and couldn’t be opened, he made another circuit of the nearby halls and wing rooms, but none looked like they housed the elderly mistress of the household. Finally returning to the main door, he examined the brass lock closely and whispered to Yang Xinzhi who had been following him:
“Do you know how to pick locks?”
Yang Xinzhi grinned: “I’ve never learned such skills. Thought Fourteenth Brother would know how.”
I’ve had even less chance to learn that craft… Li Yuanji sighed, realizing that investigation was intricate work, far more than could be learned by just listening to a coroner tell stories for a few nights.
“This lock isn’t very thick – let me try if I can twist it off…” Yang Xinzhi was known for his great strength.
“Don’t be foolish. If you break it, the whole household will know tomorrow.” Li Yuanji had intended to investigate under cover of night, hoping to question Empress Xiao through her bed curtains if she was lucid enough to talk. He figured neither he nor the old empress would want to speak of a man entering the women’s quarters at night. If unsuccessful, they would slip away quietly, trying not to disturb anyone or cause trouble.
But now blocked by a small brass lock, they had to use cruder methods – he ordered Yang Xinzhi to be a footstool again while he climbed onto the roof, carefully removed some tiles, and lowered himself through the hole, sliding down a beam into the rear hall.
There was indeed not a soul inside.
After quite a while, Li Yuanji’s eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness and he could make out some objects dimly. The sleeping quarters had complete furnishings, but bed curtains, cushions, mirrors, cosmetic boxes, and other items were all packed away as if no one lived there regularly. The brazier was empty too. Several large clothes chests weren’t locked – Li Yuanji lifted one lid and felt inside, finding it full of smooth, finely embroidered expensive clothes that seemed to be Empress Xiao’s ceremonial robes.
He lifted the lid of another smaller chest and this time felt a large mass of fluffy hair that startled him.
He quickly opened the lid fully and stared hard, examining carefully in the faint light until finally confirming the chest contained no severed head, just a pile of wigs – many women of the time used false hair, which wasn’t unusual, and the chest also contained a flowered crown that made sense stored with the ceremonial clothes.
After feeling through all the chests with no further discoveries, he noted the dust wasn’t too thick in the rear hall, suggesting regular cleaning. Unable to think what else to look for in the empty room, Li Yuanji had to return the way he came – climbing back to the roof, replacing the tiles, and jumping down where Yang Xinzhi still stood to help break his fall.
They whispered briefly, both unable to guess Empress Xiao’s whereabouts. Still not giving up, Li Yuanji made another stealthy circuit of Yang’s residence, even peeking into Yang Min’s bedroom where the lights were out and all was quiet.
Li Yuanji then crept toward the kitchen courtyard but didn’t enter, just stood at the door sniffing hard for a while. Besides the charcoal and firewood smell common to all households, there was nothing unusual.
“Did you smell any medicine in the residence?” he asked Yang Xinzhi in a low voice. The latter shook his head: “No.”
This was strange. Yang Min had insisted all day that “grandmother has long been bedridden,” yet there wasn’t even the smell of medicinal decoctions anywhere in the compound. Was the Sui Dynasty’s imperial grandson so miserly he wouldn’t buy medicine for his long-ill grandmother?
The evening letter from Empress Xiao had dismissed Princess Dehua’s whereabouts with a light “perished in the palace uprising,” which felt oddly insubstantial to him. His original question about Princess Dehua’s family background had been completely avoided. Moreover, for an actual person, even if they met with disaster, there should be details of when, where, cause and effect, who killed them, who witnessed it, how the body was handled, what happened to their attendants – most importantly, whether Princess Dehua and Murong Shun’s month-old son died together or what became of them – these all needed careful questioning, preferably face-to-face for clarity.
But where had this former Sui Empress Xiao hidden herself?
Having confirmed there was nothing more to see in the Yang residence, Li Yuanji returned to where they had climbed in, stepped on Yang Xinzhi’s shoulders to reach the wall, and reached down to pull him up. Just as they jumped down outside, there was suddenly a loud crash of collapsing earth. Li Yuanji knew this was bad news, and sure enough, someone shouted:
“Wall-climbing thieves! Don’t move! I’m warning you! We’ll shoot!”