The winter night was solemn and still. Clouds lay deep, with no moon. The air seemed to float with ice crystals. The lights of ten thousand households were quiet, with only a scattering of points of light adorning Chang’an. The vast city lay blanketed in remnant snow, silent as a palace in the heavens.
When the wheels of fate begin to turn, they always do so without a sound. On this night, most people slept as they did on any other, feeling nothing particular about this evening. The servants of Daming Palace chatted idly for a while and then drifted off to sleep one by one, afraid of not being able to rise the next morning. Prince Wei lay on his bed in a muddled stupor, coughing intermittently. The servants attending him were so drowsy their eyes could barely stay open; they had long forgotten Prince Wei’s consort’s instructions and had fallen asleep leaning against the bed frame. The Princess of Anle had just been intimate with her husband, and the couple lay sunken in the crimson gauze canopy, sinking into deep sleep under the soothing influence of musk.
Yet certain places still had lights burning — like a solitary boat amid the sea’s waves, drifting and swaying in the darkness. The usually nightly-festive Princess Taiping’s residence was tonight peculiarly tranquil. Princess Taiping stood in her room, pacing back and forth, repeatedly glancing at the color of the sky outside.
It was time. She wondered how things were going at Xuanwu Gate. She forced herself to calm down, gripped her prayer beads, and sat down, closing her eyes in silent prayer.
Father, Elder Brother, Xue Shao — do you see this? Second Brother is at the place where our grandfather once launched his uprising, reclaiming the realm for our Li family. If you are watching over us from beyond, you must bless the Li family, and let our fortunes turn from extreme adversity to prosperity.
In Duke Zhenguo’s household, Second Young Lady — who ordinarily retired early — had stayed up through the entire night on this extraordinary occasion. She held a peace knot she had just finished braiding, and was threading a bead in the lamplight. Whether it was because the candlelight was too dim, she had tried several times without success in passing the red cord through the jade bead.
Ming Huashang’s hands would not stop trembling. Ming Yuji saw this, set down the half-finished peace knot in her own hands, and gently clasped Ming Huashang’s.
She said nothing, but in such a moment, silence spoke more than a thousand words. Ming Huashang drew a deep breath, and said, not knowing whether to herself or to Ming Yuji: “I am all right. Everyone will be safe and sound.”
At this moment, before Xuanwu Gate, the heavy wooden doors were slowly pushed open. A slender, upright silhouette in black sat mounted on horseback outside the gate. Behind him stretched a dark mass of soldiers.
A crowd of men stood silently and ferociously outside the palace walls, and yet not a single person had noticed them.
Li Huazhang looked down from his elevated position and quickly found Jiang Ling among the crowd. He rode his horse to Jiang Ling’s side and, as he dismounted, the saber at his waist struck the saddle, producing a cold, clear ring of metal: “The others?”
“Everything is proceeding according to plan. Ren Yao has taken control of the city tower, and the patrol guards have all been replaced with our own people. As soon as everyone is assembled, we can enter the palace immediately.”
“Good.” Li Huazhang opened the bird cage, tied a specially prepared yellow piece of cloth to the pigeon’s leg, and extended his arm to release it. The white pigeon beat its wings and vanished in an instant into the black depths of the night sky. Li Huazhang and Jiang Ling watched the carrier pigeon become a white dot until it was no longer visible. Li Huazhang’s expression was calm and composed: “All will be decided by this single move.”
They had spent a full year planning carefully for this day.
After Li Huazhang reached an agreement with Princess Taiping, he had been making secret preparations ever since. Princess Taiping was primarily responsible for operations behind the scenes — drawing on her many years of understanding of the Empress Regnant and the imperial court, she won over the court’s chancellors and high-ranking female officials. Where she could not win them over, she found ways to eliminate them. Princess Taiping contributed many schemes, but the actual execution fell to Li Huazhang.
Over the course of that year, Li Huazhang used his official position and access to master Chang’an’s defensive deployments, carefully planning the coup’s route, and quietly working through the various nodes within the Golden Guard of Chivalry, the Feathered Forest Army, and the Metropolitan Prefecture, ensuring that on the appointed day he would be able to mobilize troops and take control of the palace city and imperial city before the Empress Regnant could react.
That he was able to accomplish all this without arousing the Empress Regnant’s suspicion was largely thanks to Ming Huashang. Ming Huashang served as the information relay hub for all of them — any requirement or change among their group was communicated directly to Ming Huashang, who then found ways to pass the information to the corresponding parties.
Throughout the entire process, Ming Huashang undoubtedly bore the greatest risk. But she miraculously evaded the eyes and ears of the Xuan Xiaowei, and even on the several occasions when she had nearly been discovered, her ability to improvise had turned danger into safety. Who could have imagined that a young noblewoman who appeared sweet and lovely, simple and harmless, was in fact a double agent? Single-handedly she had woven a great net that, if drawn in, would have been enough to wash half of Chang’an in blood.
Ming Huashang, like Princess Taiping, was primarily responsible for the earlier phases of organizing personnel. Once the day of the coup arrived, there was nothing more she could do. What remained, beyond trusting Li Huazhang, was to leave it to the will of Heaven.
According to the plan, Jiang Ling and Ren Yao had arranged in advance to swap shifts with others and were stationed to guard the palace gate on this particular night. Once the hour of midnight came and everyone had fallen into deep sleep, one would stand guard while the other acted, opening the gates from the inside.
Li Huazhang waited outside to receive and coordinate, overseeing everything. If the gate opening went smoothly, Li Huazhang would send word to Xie Jichuan, instructing him to escort the Crown Prince to Xuanwu Gate. At that point, the soldiers would support the Crown Prince in charging into the palace, killing the Zhang brothers under the charge of treason. Princess Taiping had already arranged people inside the palace — once they entered, those people would guide them in finding the Empress Regnant and the Zhang brothers.
As for whether the Zhang brothers had truly planned a rebellion, no one particularly cared. Everyone understood in their hearts: what they were doing was entering the palace to revolt against the Empress Regnant herself, and the Zhang brothers were simply the most conspicuous and flamboyant targets, convenient to use as the sacrificial standard-bearers. In the process of “investigating the rebels,” they would take advantage of the chaos to eliminate the Empress Regnant’s trusted advisors. By the time she realized what was happening, she would have no one left to rely on, and could only yield the throne to the Crown Prince.
Whether the Tang dynasty would rise or fall depended entirely on this night’s battle.
Li Huazhang knew there was no turning back once the bow was drawn. If they launched troops and failed to surround the Empress Regnant, the ones who would die would be themselves. And so he had prepared for this night’s action over a long period, scrutinizing every link repeatedly and arranging many contingencies. Fortunately, everything had gone smoothly thus far. They needed only to wait for the Crown Prince to appear, and they could move.
Yet with victory so close at hand, something went wrong. Li Huazhang had calculated the time from the Eastern Palace to Xuanwu Gate — by all accounts the Crown Prince should have arrived long ago, but there was no sign of him. The soldiers below were already growing restless, and Li Huazhang’s expression darkened as he realized something had gone wrong at the Eastern Palace.
At this moment, in the Eastern Palace:
Xie Jichuan saw a white pigeon fly from the night sky toward him, a yellow silk ribbon tied to its leg, circling nearby. He knew that Xuanwu Gate was ready. He strode quickly into the Eastern Palace’s main hall and said to the Crown Prince: “Your Royal Highness, Prince Yong has opened Xuanwu Gate. You may set out.”
This operation was nominally a matter of the Crown Prince leading troops to eliminate the Zhang brothers for bringing chaos to the court, but in reality it had nothing to do with the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince did not know the specific timing or specific details — he needed only to appear at the right moment, walk through the motions before everyone, and someone would escort him onto the throne.
What the Crown Prince needed to do was already as simple as it could possibly be, leaving almost no room for error. Xie Jichuan and Li Huazhang had rehearsed many contingencies — chance encounters on the road, being discovered, betrayal from within — but neither of them had anticipated that in the end, the one to fall apart would be the Crown Prince himself.
Despite what had been agreed upon beforehand, as he reached the doorway to go out, the Crown Prince suddenly thought of his mother’s years of imposing authority and ruthless methods. Cold sweat broke out all over him, and he absolutely refused to take another step.
The Crown Prince was ashen-faced, gripping Crown Princess Consort Wei’s hand tightly, and said to Xie Jichuan: “Mother is all-knowing and all-seeing. If she discovers us, she will certainly not spare us. Perhaps we should just let this go?”
Xie Jichuan heard this and nearly coughed up blood. Let it go? The troops were already in formation outside — how could they just let it go?
Xie Jichuan said gravely: “Your Highness need not worry. Everything outside has been arranged. The soldiers are willing to risk their lives for the Crown Prince — how can Your Highness retreat now? If tonight succeeds, the Li family will be able to enter and leave the palace openly and without shame, never again having to watch others’ faces. Do you not wish to end these days of suffocating humiliation?”
The Crown Prince of course wished it — but he feared death more. He had spent his entire life in the shadow of his mother’s domineering power. The first time he was enthroned, he had been spirited and full of ambition, brimming with confidence and wanting to accomplish great things. Yet even as Emperor, a single word from his mother could pull him down from the throne, confine him to Fangzhou, and leave him spending over a decade barely alive from one day to the next, never knowing what each morning would bring.
His fear of his mother had been carved into his very bones. Before, listening to Xie Jichuan’s account of the coup plan, the Crown Prince had not truly felt the reality of it. Now, with the moment upon him, he finally realized — he was actually about to overthrow his mother. How had he ever dared to think this?
The Crown Prince kept shaking his head, gripping the Crown Princess Consort’s hand without letting go: “No — Mother knows everything. She may well already know what we intend to do, and may be waiting right now for us to walk into her trap. If we stop now, she may still show mercy and spare us.”
Xie Jichuan looked at the Crown Prince cowering behind Crown Princess Consort Wei and felt he was on the verge of dying of frustration. A Crown Prince who had once been Emperor — how could he be so foolish and weak, so entirely devoid of a man’s blood and spirit?
Crown Princess Consort Wei had seen her family members and her son killed by the Empress Regnant, and hated her to the marrow of her bones. Yet the Empress Regnant’s years of accumulated dominance were not something that could be overcome by a word of resentment alone. The Consort thought of the days of confinement in Fangzhou and suddenly felt that staying in the Eastern Palace was not so bad.
Though Chongrun and Xianhui were gone, at least they themselves were still alive. She truly did not want to return to those days in Fangzhou — not enough to eat, not enough to wear, giving birth to a child inside a carriage and not even being able to find a scrap of cloth to wrap the infant in.
To do nothing was to lose nothing. Crown Princess Consort Wei wavered as well and said: “No one knows anyway — if we have the soldiers stand down now, wouldn’t it all simply go away?”
The Crown Prince had survived Fangzhou entirely by relying on the Crown Princess Consort. There had been several times when he wanted to end his own life, and it was she who had sustained him. For the Crown Prince, the Consort was like another “mother.” Now that even the Consort said to let it go, the Crown Prince had all the more reason to retreat into his shell and said: “Indeed, what the Crown Princess Consort says is quite right. These violent and wicked men certainly ought to be annihilated, but His Holiness is not in the best of health, and if we were to enter the palace in this manner, we would certainly give the Sacred Personage a shock and worsen the illness. Let us speak of these things another time.”
Xie Jichuan glanced aside — a great deal of time had already passed since the appointed hour. A coup’s success depended on unbroken momentum. Once stopped midway, the soldiers’ hesitation, doubt, and fear would take hold, and the venture was bound to fail.
Every moment they delayed here multiplied the risk of failure several times over. He could not allow an entire clan to be dragged down with this cowardly wretch. Xie Jichuan made up his mind, said “forgive the presumption” to the Crown Prince, suddenly stepped forward, forcibly pried the Crown Prince’s hands apart, and pulled him toward the door.
The Crown Prince, caught completely unprepared, was dragged along. Crown Princess Consort Wei was startled and instinctively moved to help the Crown Prince: “How dare you — what are you doing!”
Xie Jichuan appeared refined and slight of build, but the strength in his hands was surprisingly great. No matter how the Crown Prince struggled, he remained immovable. Xie Jichuan looked directly at the Crown Prince and said with cold ruthlessness: “Your Highness — there is no taking back a move once it has been made, and spilled water cannot be gathered. You yourself said that the Empress is all-knowing and all-seeing. The coup has already begun. We have no opportunity for regret. If we succeed, there may still be a sliver of hope. If we stop now and the Empress detects the slightest trace of this tomorrow, how could any of us survive?”
Xie Jichuan’s voice was icy and unsparing, and it actually succeeded in cowing the Crown Prince. Crown Princess Consort Wei, too, snapped back to clarity in an instant. She was right — how had they dared hope for the Empress Regnant’s mercy? That woman was more vicious than a ferocious tiger; she was capable of anything.
Crown Princess Consort Wei stopped and no longer blocked Xie Jichuan. The Crown Prince had for years been accustomed to submitting to his domineering mother and his domineering wife. Now that another, even more domineering person had appeared, he instinctively followed.
Half urging, half coercing, Xie Jichuan finally brought the Crown Prince out of the Eastern Palace. The guards waiting at the Eastern Palace’s rear gate had been in agony, convinced the entire enterprise had already failed, but at last they saw Xie Jichuan and the Crown Prince emerge. They let out a long breath and immediately asked: “Master Xie, what happened? Was there an incident?”
Xie Jichuan, afraid of undermining morale, did not say that the Crown Prince had tried to flee at the critical moment. He simply said indifferently: “Nothing — we ran into a small obstacle on the way. Move out, toward Xuanwu Gate.”
Though they were delayed somewhat, the plan had finally been reconnected. The soldiers settled their hearts, clasped their fists, and said: “Yes, sir.”
Xie Jichuan was escorting — or rather, pressing — the Crown Prince forward when they met the soldiers Li Huazhang had sent to intercept them. After the two parties quickly confirmed identities, one soldier could not help complaining: “Master Xie, why have you only arrived now? Prince Yong thought something had gone wrong.”
Something almost did go wrong. Xie Jichuan had no time to explain: “Never mind all that — to Xuanwu Gate first.”
Li Huazhang had already prepared for the worst, and finally saw Xie Jichuan and the Crown Prince appear at the far end of the street. Li Huazhang looked at the Crown Prince — ashen-faced, dazed — and cast an inquiring glance at Xie Jichuan.
Xie Jichuan gave a slight shake of his head. Li Huazhang had a rough sense of what had happened. He did not ask further. Composed as ever, he stepped to the front of the soldiers and declared with resounding force: “The Zhang brothers have exploited and bullied the common people and have been a scourge for long enough. They have now gone so far as to harbor treasonous ambitions, seeking to usurp the Great Tang. The Crown Prince can bear it no longer and is resolved to act on Heaven’s behalf, to kill these two villains for the sake of all the people under Heaven. All of you are escorting the Crown Prince into the palace to execute the rebel partisans, purge those beside the Emperor, and restore the foundations of state — your achievement will resound through the ages. Soldiers, hear my command — kill the Zhang brothers and you shall be rewarded a hundred taels of gold, and enfeoffed as a Marquis of a thousand households! Follow me — charge!”
The silent soldiers erupted in a great roar — like a surging flood, they charged into the palace with a battle cry of “kill!” Jiang Ling led the Feathered Forest Army to open a path at the front. Ren Yao stood on watch at the watchtower, seeing the lights of the city being startled awake by the sounds of killing, one after another illuminating the night. She drew her bow and nocked an arrow, the cold arrowhead aimed at the road behind them. Her expression was blank: “Guard the palace gate. Until dawn breaks, let no one approach Xuanwu Gate.”
The Crown Prince felt that from the moment he left the Eastern Palace, his vision had been spinning. He did not know where he was or what he was doing — he was like a kite, pulled along this way and that, saying things he himself did not understand. Yet the people around him did not need him to say anything. The sounds of killing around him suddenly became fierce; time passed, and by the time the eastern horizon had begun to take on a faint fish-belly hue, someone came running toward Xie Jichuan with blood covering his face, shouting: “Master Xie, Prince Yong sends word that Zichen Hall is fully under control. You may bring the Crown Prince to the main hall!”
“Excellent!” Xie Jichuan finally allowed himself the first smile of the night. He seemed only to remember now that he was a subject, and released his tight grip on the Crown Prince. He straightened his court attire, turned to the Crown Prince, bowed, and said: “Your Highness, the rebel partisans have been brought under control. Please give your command.”
What need was there for instructions from him? the Crown Prince thought as he quietly rubbed his arm, bruised purple-blue from the grip. He said: “Let us go and see.”
They said they were going to see the “rebels,” yet the Crown Prince saw nothing of the Zhang brothers. Upon entering, he caught an indistinct glimpse of a pool of blood accumulated in the corridor, and a white, beardless head lying not far away. The Crown Prince did not dare look carefully at the features. He followed Li Huazhang and Xie Jichuan into the main hall.
Zichen Hall was as he remembered it — vast, soaring, and richly magnificent, like an endless, boundless nightmare. But tonight, Zichen Hall was particularly empty. The curtains hung low, blocking out all light.
Li Huazhang walked at the forefront and swung his blade to cut through layer after layer of draping curtains. In his dazed state, the Crown Prince suddenly saw through the curtains a half-reclined figure beyond.
Though he could not see clearly, it conveyed to him an inexpressible sense of oppressive authority. The figure beyond seemed to have just been awakened by the commotion, and even at such a moment showed no sign of panic. Her voice was steady and imperious: “Crown Prince, why have you entered the palace at this hour?”
Her voice was not loud, but the Crown Prince’s knees instantly went soft and he nearly collapsed, unable to bring himself to answer. Xie Jichuan had known from the start that the Crown Prince could not be counted on. He spoke without obsequiousness or arrogance: “In reply to Your Majesty: Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong plotted treachery and rebellion, and your subjects have carried out the Crown Prince’s command to execute them. Fearing that news would leak, your subjects did not report this to Your Majesty in advance. To raise troops within the palace and execute rebels within the imperial precincts, disturbing the Son of Heaven — your subjects deserve death for ten thousand crimes!”
The figure behind the curtains gave a mild acknowledgment. She did not inquire how the Zhang brothers had rebelled. With an indifferent air, as though this were indeed something that had occurred, she said: “Now that the rebellion has been quelled, Crown Prince — you may return to the Eastern Palace.”
The Crown Prince hesitated. At this juncture, both the Empress Regnant and they themselves knew clearly that they had not made it this far because of any so-called rebellion — this was a palace siege. But the Crown Prince did not dare step forward and pull aside that curtain, to lay the matter out in plain sight. He had almost submitted to his mother and begun to turn back, when Li Huazhang stepped forward with serene authority: “Your Holiness, when Emperor Gaozong passed away, the imperial throne was transmitted to the Crown Prince, and Your Holiness was commanded to assist from the side. Sixteen years have now elapsed. The Crown Prince has long resided in the Eastern Palace — this is contrary to propriety. The common people have long yearned for the Li clan, and the court ministers have not forgotten the virtue of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong. We thus reverently support the Crown Prince. We entreat Your Holiness to transmit the throne to the Crown Prince, in accordance with the will of Heaven and the hearts of the people.”
The Empress Regnant finally looked at Li Huazhang. She looked at him for a long while, her tone unreadable: “I did not expect it would be you who led troops to lay siege to this palace. I have treated you well. In doing this — can you claim to have fulfilled your duty of loyalty and filial piety?”
Li Huazhang’s fingers tightened, but in the end his gaze steadied with resolve. His voice rang clear: “My loyalty is to the righteousness of the realm and the nation. My filial duty is to the conscience of Heaven and earth. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I entreat Your Holiness to issue a decree and transmit the throne to the Crown Prince.”
Li Huazhang clasped his saber and held his bow. The Empress Regnant did not move, and so he did not rise. The soldiers behind him waited in silence as well. Zichen Hall remained in a standoff for a long while. From outside the hall came no cries of “protect the Emperor”; there were no signs of the Xuan Xiaowei. Finally, the Empress Regnant let out a low sigh, as though resigning herself to fate.
“Bring me the brush.”