Upon hearing this news, she knew something was wrong. If the campaign were going smoothly, why would they specifically send Zhangsun Wuji back to Chang’an to mobilize troops? So she immediately went to see Zhangsun Wugou, who shared the same thoughts. After the two consulted together, they immediately issued an imperial decree summoning Zhangsun Wuji to the palace. After learning the situation, both were deeply worried and wished they could fly to Li Shimin’s side.
Although Yunyi managed to suppress her thoughts, this notion didn’t disappear but instead grew stronger. After much struggle, she went to see Zhangsun Wugou again with only one request—to go see Li Shimin.
Zhangsun Wugou initially refused, as there had never been precedent for harem consorts to go to battlefields. But faced with Yunyi’s earnest pleas, she finally agreed and entrusted Zhangsun Wuji with escorting her to the battlefield. In truth, Zhangsun Wugou herself wanted to go to the battlefield, but as Empress, she had to remain in Chang’an to oversee the overall situation.
Throughout the journey, Yunyi disguised herself as one of Zhangsun Wuji’s personal guards as they hurried toward Luoyang. She had always thought it was merely soldiers mistakenly drinking poisoned water and dying, until she met Du Ruhui, who had come at Liu Hongji’s request, and learned the situation was far more serious than she had known. Poisoned water and plague had come one after another, and even Li Shimin had contracted the plague, hanging between life and death.
“Your Ladyship, rest assured. With Imperial Physicians here, His Majesty will certainly be fine.” Before Liu Hongji had finished speaking, Yunyi said, “That’s not what you said just now, Sir.”
Her words made Liu Hongji somewhat embarrassed. He coughed lightly and said, “His Majesty is blessed by Heaven and will certainly be fine. But Your Ladyship being here might be dangerous. I’ll immediately have someone arrange a carriage to escort Your Ladyship back to Chang’an!”
Yunyi turned to look at him directly, “Since this palace has come, I absolutely will not leave. Wherever His Majesty is, this palace will be.”
“Your Ladyship…” Before Liu Hongji could continue, Yunyi said, “Enough. This palace’s mind is made up—Sir need not say more. Moreover, the urgent matter at hand is not this palace’s staying or leaving, but Luoyang.”
Liu Hongji’s heart stirred, recalling her earlier words, and probed, “Does Your Ladyship have a method for dealing with Luoyang?”
“It’s hardly a method, merely a thought.” Yunyi held Li Shimin’s hand, which had little warmth, and said softly, “If the ground is difficult to attack, then could we perhaps strike from the air?”
“The air?” Du Ruhui frowned deeply, “We’re not birds—how can we attack from the air?”
Yunyi smiled slightly, “Kites also aren’t birds, yet can they not fly into the sky?”
Upon hearing this, Liu Hongji had already guessed her meaning, “Does Your Ladyship want us to use kites to descend from heaven into Luoyang City?”
“Precisely so.” After receiving Yunyi’s affirmative answer, Liu Hongji pondered carefully for a moment, then shook his head, “Though Your Ladyship’s words have some merit, they’re impractical in execution.”
Yunyi wasn’t annoyed by his rejection and said calmly, “Why does Sir say this?”
“Whether kites can carry people aloft is still unknown. Even if they truly could, does Your Ladyship think they could carry one hundred or two hundred people? With just these few hundred people, how could they match the thousands upon thousands of soldiers in Luoyang City? How could they open the city gates to let us in? It would be nothing but sending them to their deaths.”
Du Ruhui also agreed, “Correct. Unless we could bring people in on a large scale, this plan truly won’t work.”
Yunyi smiled, “Why must we fight head-on with the thousands of soldiers in Luoyang City? Isn’t our purpose to destroy the catapults and crossbow carts?”
“To destroy these two things, we must inevitably fight with Luoyang City’s soldiers—this is unavoidable.” Faced with Liu Hongji’s words, Yunyi said with undiminished smile, “I heard from Ruhui that considerable gunpowder was brought for this campaign, correct?”
Liu Hongji nodded, “Some was brought, but not enough to blast through the city walls, so it hasn’t been used.”
“If this gunpowder were detonated atop the city walls, what would happen, Sir?”
“Naturally…” Liu Hongji suddenly stopped speaking and in the next moment stared intently at Yunyi, “Your Ladyship means to use kites to carry gunpowder to the city walls and detonate it there?”
“Correct. In this way, those catapults and crossbow carts would all be destroyed, unless Li Jiancheng hasn’t placed these things on the city walls!”
“Since the first battle, he’s always kept them on the city walls and never removed them.” Liu Hongji spoke urgently. The difficult problem that had troubled him for days finally showed signs of resolution. According to Yunyi’s words, they only needed one person to fly onto the city walls and drop gunpowder with lit fuses—that would be enough. Li Jiancheng wouldn’t have time to remove the catapults and crossbow carts from the walls. Once these were destroyed, Li Jiancheng would be like a toothless tiger, and capturing Luoyang would be just a matter of time!
After understanding these matters, Liu Hongji bowed deeply to Yunyi, “Your Ladyship’s intelligence surpasses others—this minister is impressed.”
“A person weighs over a hundred catties after all. Using kites to fly into the sky won’t be easy, but using wind to glide to Luoyang’s city walls should be much easier. That is to say, we must build a platform at least twice as high as Luoyang’s city walls. Moreover, with kites gliding over, they’ll inevitably fall into Luoyang City, meaning whoever is responsible for dropping the gunpowder will certainly die!”
Liu Hongji understood, “This minister comprehends. Before acting, I’ll explain clearly to the soldiers and let them choose for themselves!” Seeing Yunyi had nothing more to say, he bowed again, “This minister will immediately make arrangements!”
After he left, Du Ruhui said, “Your Ladyship, you’ve traveled a full day and must be tired. Why not rest for a while? His Majesty’s condition is relatively stable now, so presumably…”
“This palace is not tired.” Yunyi tightened her grip on the hand in her palm, “Rather, General Du, having traveled back and forth hundreds of li, must be utterly exhausted and should rest well.”
Du Ruhui knew he couldn’t persuade her and departed as suggested. After the tent curtain returned to stillness, Yunyi caressed Li Shimin’s gaunt face, scalding tears falling silently onto Li Shimin’s hand, “Your Majesty, you promised this consort you would return safely to Chang’an. A ruler’s word is his bond, so you must hold on, you must!”
She whispered about past events in Li Shimin’s ear, hoping some word or phrase might reach him, letting him know she was by his side and that he shouldn’t give up!
As soon as Liu Hongji left the tent, he immediately ordered people to saw wood and split strips to build a high platform. They had built one before, so they only needed to make it taller. The kite Yunyi had mentioned was also quietly being constructed.
Though it was already dark, their activity still attracted attention from Luoyang and was reported to Li Yuanji. Not daring to be negligent, he immediately rushed to the city walls. Straining his eyes, he indeed saw the Tang army building a high platform in their camp, but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand why they would do this.
A personal guard beside him said, “Your Highness, could they be trying the same old trick again, having someone speak nonsense from up there?”
“That’s possible.” Saying this, Li Yuanji sneered, “Thinking they can shake our morale with some nonsense—it’s simply wishful thinking.”