The rear courtyard.
Li Chi went through every carriage and horse among the guests one by one — his people didn’t miss a single one — yet nothing suspicious turned up.
Still, Li Chi didn’t dare let down his guard. These carriages had been sitting here for some time already, and the rear courtyard had few people — no one had been watching them closely. The guards had had their attention on the envoys themselves; they hadn’t thought there was any reason to keep a fixed eye on empty carriages.
Though every carriage was checked before entering the Residence gates, a skilled fighter could have concealed themselves beneath a carriage, or clung to the roof, covered by something — and gone undetected.
Yuemai had said that Feiyun Crossing’s assassins had all manner of uncanny abilities — impossible to guard against fully.
Thinking on this, Li Chi made his way back to the carriage park and opened the carriage doors one by one. On one of them he found a wine jar.
The jar wasn’t small — it could have held thirty jin of wine easily. Yet normally, there was no way a person could fit inside: the mouth of the jar was simply too narrow.
Li Chi carefully approached, found something to hook the jar and topple it — it rolled off the carriage and smashed on the ground, and it was empty.
But this didn’t put Li Chi’s mind at ease. It was precisely because the jar was empty that his suspicion deepened.
A guest’s carriage with an empty wine jar on it — that in itself seemed somewhat off. If someone liked to drink, they might keep wine aboard their carriage at all times, but what were the odds it would be empty at precisely this moment?
Li Chi crouched down to examine the jar. He smelled it — no scent of wine at all. That was even more wrong.
He stood and looked inside the carriage again. In one corner was the jar’s stopper — made of cloth. He deduced that the jar had been sealed before, and the cloth stopper was there to avoid suffocating whoever had been inside.
“Find out whose carriage this is.”
Li Chi gave the order, then pointed at the remaining carriages. “Check them all — look for any jars like this, or any similar containers.”
His people immediately fanned out. At this point, the two dozen or so carriages parked in the courtyard belonged mostly to the envoys of those smaller nations.
“Found one.”
A Residence guard came running back. “This is the Qiuci Kingdom envoy’s carriage. Their coachman is resting in that side room.”
Li Chi immediately said, “Bring him here.”
The Residence guards had already received orders that Li Chi’s instructions were to be followed — so they ran at once to the rear courtyard side room.
Not only the Qiuci Kingdom coachman was brought back — every coachman and attendant present from every nation’s delegation was brought over as well.
The Qiuci Kingdom coachman was a westerner of about fifty, looking somewhat flustered — he appeared not to know what had happened, his eyes carrying a hint of blankness.
“What’s the story with the wine jar in your carriage?”
Li Chi asked.
The coachman also spoke the Central Plains tongue. He answered hastily, “That wine was a gift this morning from the Maoli Kingdom’s envoy, General Sanding — everyone received some.”
A nearby attendant said, “Yes — our carriage has one too. It was all sent over early this morning by General Sanding of the Maoli Kingdom.”
Li Chi frowned slightly. “Why was he giving you all wine?”
The attendant answered, “Last night, General Sanding suddenly sent someone to invite the envoys of every nation, saying he was hosting a banquet on behalf of the Maoli Kingdom’s new Emperor to welcome them all.”
He read Li Chi’s expression and continued, “The Maoli Kingdom had that great upheaval not long ago — a new Emperor has taken the throne, and hasn’t yet had any formal dealings with the other nations.”
“So last night, when General Sanding suddenly invited everyone, the envoys felt they couldn’t refuse — so they gathered together.”
“General Sanding also said: if everyone met in his quarters, it might invite misunderstandings, so he set up a banquet in the courtyard instead.”
“During the gathering, General Sanding said he was representing the Maoli Kingdom’s Emperor, just to meet the envoys and exchange greetings.”
“He also said he had brought several hundred jars of fine wine from the Maoli Kingdom — half to be presented to Grand General Dantai as a birthday gift, and the other half to be distributed among the envoys.”
“He said he had urgent matters to return and attend to after today’s birthday banquet, so the wine was delivered early this morning. Everyone appreciated the gesture, so no one refused — some took one jar, some kept more.”
After Li Chi heard the attendant finish in one breath, he immediately followed up: “Did you carry this wine yourselves, or did their people load it?”
The attendant answered, “They delivered it to the relay station entrance — their people did the loading. But I moved it around a bit — it was heavy. Quite weighty.”
Li Chi turned back to his own people. The officer came forward and said, “All the jars are empty — no wine, no anything else inside.”
Hearing this, even the attendant was taken aback and murmured to himself, “That’s impossible — those jars were heavy when I lifted them…”
Li Chi asked again, “Besides the wine, were any other gifts sent?”
The attendant shook his head. “We only received the one jar. Whether the other envoys got anything else, I couldn’t say.”
Li Chi ordered his people, “Go through the entire rear courtyard — don’t miss a single spot.”
Then he immediately turned and ran toward the front courtyard.
—
At the same time in the front courtyard, Maoli Kingdom envoy Sanding was bowing before Grand General Dantai Qi.
“Grand General — I have also brought over a hundred jars of a distinctive wine from our Maoli Kingdom, all fine vintages, as a birthday gift for the Grand General, for the guests to enjoy. I hope the Grand General will be pleased to accept.”
Dantai Qi smiled politely. “Many thanks — it was kind of you.”
Sanding waved a hand, and his people began carrying in the wine, stacking it in the courtyard — jar upon jar, a pile that did appear to number over a hundred, possibly more.
Sanding smiled. “This wine is from the cellars of the Maoli Kingdom’s imperial palace — the youngest vintage is over ten years, the oldest several decades. His Majesty says: only by gifting this wine to celebrate the Grand General’s birthday does it find its true purpose, and only such fine wine is barely worthy of the Grand General’s standing.”
Just at that moment, Dantai Yajing noticed Li Chi come sprinting over, and hurried to intercept him. After hearing what Li Chi had to say, Dantai Yajing’s expression shifted slightly. If assassins were hidden inside those jars, it truly would be impossible to guard against.
Once the banquet began, those wine jars would be distributed everywhere — and who could know what chaos would break out?
“Wait a moment.”
Dantai Yajing walked before Sanding and said with a smile, “Since this is all fine vintage wine, why don’t we sample some first?”
He watched Sanding’s face closely. Sanding seemed to hesitate for just a moment, but quickly nodded. “By all means — let me have some poured for the Young General.”
“No need — I’ll get it myself.”
Dantai Yajing stepped forward, didn’t take from the outer row, but moved several jars aside and lifted one from deeper in the pile.
Carrying the jar back, he made a show of catching his foot on something — and the jar flew from his hands, smashing onto the ground with a crack.
As it broke open, wine spilled out — the amber liquid spread across the ground, and the wine’s fragrance rose immediately.
At this, Dantai Yajing stood there in a daze. Li Chi’s brow also furrowed slightly.
Dantai Qi made a show of displeasure: “How can you be so careless — you’ve wasted the fine wine Envoy Sanding brought, and shown disrespect for his good intentions.”
Dantai Yajing said, “Forgive me, Father — I was truly clumsy. Let me go and fetch another jar.”
He turned and went back to the wine stack, this time selecting from even further in. He picked one up — the weight felt much the same as the one just now. He set it down, picked up another — again, similar weight. He put it down again.
Like this, he went through the stack, lifting one jar, finding the weight comparable, setting it aside, lifting the next — one after another…
Just at that moment, the Yuezhi Kingdom’s envoy Pangteidi came over from the other side, beaming. “Grand General, take a look — my Yuezhi Emperor has one more precious gift, ordered personally into my hands for the Grand General on his birthday. This gift was not on the prior gift list.”
The Yuezhi Kingdom had once been the most powerful empire in the Western Regions, coming within a hair of unifying the entire West — a colossus in its time that rivaled the Black Wu Empire. At that point, the Central Plains was the Great Zhou Dynasty, and equally formidable.
Nothing in the Western Regions could defeat the Yuezhi Kingdom at its height — yet the Yuezhi fell to internal strife.
The Yuezhi Kingdom split into three. One of the three was the present-day Maoli Kingdom; another was known as Pucan Kingdom; and the last was the Yuezhi Kingdom — retaining the old name. The Yuezhi had inherited the original capital and a great mass of armies, making them initially the strongest.
But then several generations of incompetent emperors came in succession, all war-hungry, launching repeated campaigns against the other two kingdoms — and losing most of them.
This steadily eroded the Yuezhi’s national strength.
Before all of this, the Maoli Kingdom’s predecessor had been Feidingtan, whose old Emperor Takeri was gentle and magnanimous by nature. Yet the Yuezhi Kingdom, thinking this old Emperor easy to bully, had provoked him constantly — over twenty years, the two nations had fought fourteen or fifteen times, with mixed results.
The Yuezhi and Feidingtan were the most bitterly opposed of all.
Now Feidingtan was gone — the old Emperor was dead, the crown prince in exile. Qiehuli had seized power and renamed the country the Maoli Kingdom.
Envoy Pangteidi of the Yuezhi Kingdom clapped his hands, and his attendants carried something in.
In the sunlight, it gleamed and glinted — and it looked, impossibly, like a set of armor forged from pure gold.
Such a thing — never mind whether it could be worn — its value alone was beyond reckoning.
This suit of golden armor was full-coverage plate — helmet complete with face guard — and though it gleamed brilliantly, the armor’s form was ancient and austere, not like something newly made.
Pangteidi said with obvious pride, “This is the armor of our Yuezhi Kingdom’s ancient sacred Emperor, enshrined in our golden hall for close to a thousand years. Now our Yuezhi Emperor, in deep respect for the Grand General’s character and admiration for Dachu’s culture, wishes to present this golden armor to the Grand General.”
The sight of the golden armor startled everyone present. If this suit truly was the armor of the Emperor who had nearly unified the entire Western Regions, its value was beyond reckoning in another sense entirely.
To offer such armor was not merely a gesture of esteem — it could truly be called submission. To offer even the late Emperor’s armor was a statement beyond any words.
Pangteidi said, “Bring the Ancient Sacred Armor forward — let the Grand General take a look.”
His four attendants carried it forward on a wooden frame — which showed just how heavy the complete suit was. Mounted on the frame was also a jewel-encrusted curved sword.
Pangteidi smiled. “This curved sword is also the blade our ancient sacred Emperor once carried. The ancient sacred Emperor, in his time, wore this divine armor, wielded this divine blade, and commanded the Yuezhi’s million-strong army — invincible, victorious in all things.”
He bowed low. “To present such treasure to the Grand General: first, as a prayer for long friendship and harmony between our two nations; and second, as a prayer for the Grand General’s health and a hundred victories in every battle.”
In that moment, Dantai Yajing — standing beside the wine jars — saw his father beginning to move toward the golden armor, and his expression changed.
“Father, let me take a look first.”
Dantai Yajing called out and quickly stepped away from the wine.
And in that same moment, one of the wine jars shifted.
—