A gilt dragon-and-horse patterned double-heart vessel.
Li Yuangui frowned, vaguely remembering he had heard of “double-heart vessels” before, and that they weren’t good things.
Lawyer Pei patiently explained: “It’s commonly used for poisoning in recent times. The vessel has two inner chambers, one holding good wine, and one holding poisoned wine, controlled through two air holes in the handle. Though people see wine poured from the same vessel, the two cups are completely different. These vessels require extremely fine craftsmanship, even more concealed and difficult to detect than ‘turning-heart vessels.'”
“How so?” Li Yuangui asked while imagining the internal structure of both double-layered vessels. Lawyer Pei explained: “‘Turning-heart vessels’ also have two inner chambers, but the pourer needs to rotate the vessel body to align the desired chamber’s outlet with the spout to switch what’s poured, making the action quite obvious. The attendants Prince Qin brought to the banquet were all vigilantly guarding against their master being poisoned. If Eastern Palace people used a turning-heart vessel, they might not have escaped their watchful eyes…”
“That’s it!” Li Yuangui slapped his thigh. “That night when the Eastern Palace’s eldest princess first offered wine to Imperial Son-in-law Chai and others, they drank without incident. But when it came to Prince Qin, though poured from the same vessel, he nearly lost his life after drinking. So the secret lay in this double-heart vessel!”
Lawyer Pei nodded in agreement: “Exactly. After retrieving this vessel from the well, the fact that the Eastern Palace poisoned Prince Qin’s wine became undeniable. Even without finding the mastermind or perpetrator, the case could be considered solved and recorded in history.”
The phrase “recorded in history” carried a hint of mockery and cut to the heart, but it wasn’t excessive. Most likely, Second Brother and the others rushing to reopen the investigation had this as their only purpose… Li Yuangui silently mocked the current emperor in his heart, then thought further:
“From the incident to when you, Second Master Pei, had people retrieve the double-heart vessel from the well, over a year had passed. How could you determine it was the same vessel used at the Eastern Palace betrothal banquet? Couldn’t someone from the Eastern Palace have thrown a suitable vessel into the well after the palace coup, when they learned of the reinvestigation, to avoid widespread punishment, then tipped off you investigators?”
“My father and I considered this point at the time,” Lawyer Pei nodded, stroking his beard. “However, when the gilt vessel was retrieved from the well bottom, it was covered in a layer of thin silt with moss growing on it. It couldn’t have been thrown in just days before; it had been lying underwater for a long time. Later, my father deliberately preserved some of the silt and moss without cleaning it off, displaying it publicly when reporting the case, and asked the banquet guests present to verify. The princes, nobles, ministers, and chancellors in the hall—including former Eastern Palace officials like Wei Zheng and Wang Gui—raised no objections.”
Li Yuangui still had doubts and asked: “Can this gilt vessel evidence still be seen? For such an important case, wouldn’t the files be kept longer?”
Lawyer Pei thought before answering: “This case still has uncertainties, and since it occurred in the Eastern Palace and endangered His Majesty, I believe the case files and important evidence like the gilt vessel and food box wouldn’t be easily destroyed, likely still sealed in the Court of Judicial Review’s archives. If the Prince of Wu wishes to review them, you could try looking there.”
The Vice President of the Court of Judicial Review, Sun Fuqia, was another unyielding official like Wei Zheng, often embarrassing Emperor Li Shimin by opposing him in law enforcement and judgment. Just thinking about asking him for evidence gave Li Yuangui a headache, so he changed direction:
“Though the wine vessel was crafted ingeniously, someone still had to use it to successfully poison Prince Qin. After finding the poisoning vessel, did you find the person who poured the wine?”
“No,” Lawyer Pei shook his head and sighed. “precisely because we couldn’t find them, I say this case was never truly solved.”
“The one who offered the wine cup to Prince Qin was the Eastern Palace’s eldest princess,” Li Yuangui pondered. “She was only six or seven, naturally couldn’t have masterminded such an intricate, poisonous plot. The poisoner must have been the servant holding the tray and pouring wine behind her…”
“Correct. In Wude’s eighth year, Court of Judicial Review President Cui Shanwei personally went to the Eastern Palace Catering Bureau to investigate who poured wine for the eldest princess that night. Two servants stood behind the princess then—her childhood nursemaid of the Hebi clan held the cup, she was easy to find, but the eunuch who poured the wine mysteriously disappeared…”
“How could an Eastern Palace eunuch mysteriously disappear?” Li Yuangui frowned. “Even if he disappeared, surely someone would remember his name, appearance, and background?”
“That’s exactly what’s strange,” Lawyer Pei answered. “Later when I questioned Cui Shanwei and others in person, they said no one in the Eastern Palace Catering Bureau or Internal Affairs Bureau knew or had heard of anyone being assigned to pour wine and hold trays for the eldest princess. When questioning Nursemaid Hebi, she said she accompanied the princess from the ladies’ banquet in the rear hall to the front hall, where at the entrance stood a eunuch wearing a cage hat, wide sleeves, and hanging whiskers, holding a tray with wine vessel and gold cups, waiting to follow them in. The nursemaid assumed he was arranged by the catering staff, and though he seemed unfamiliar, it was common to temporarily transfer servants from elsewhere during large Eastern Palace banquets. Moreover, she was focused entirely on the princess, so she didn’t suspect anything and led the princess in. The eunuch handed her the cup and tray, then poured the wine himself, while Nursemaid Hebi guided the princess on which elder to toast, how to address them, what to say…”
“She never noticed anything unusual about the eunuch’s wine pouring?” Li Yuangui asked.
“Of course not, she insisted she only paid attention to the princess all evening, didn’t even see the eunuch’s face clearly—remember how dim the lighting was where they stood? After the princess finished toasting, the nursemaid returned the tray to the eunuch and took the princess back to the rear hall, never seeing that eunuch again.”
Li Yuangui frowned: “Looking at it this way, the poisoner was this eunuch. Did the Eastern Palace firmly maintain they couldn’t find this person, saying he had infiltrated from outside?”
“Correct. The Eastern Palace maintained this position from beginning to end. That night both inner and outer halls held banquets, with many noble guests and attendants, making it possible. When the Court of Judicial Review first investigated, they did some research into this person, but after a few days received orders to close the case as Prince Qin fell ill, so the eunuch’s true identity was hastily dismissed and left unresolved. When my father and I uncovered the truth in Wude’s ninth year, the Court officials were held responsible for dereliction of duty.”
This was to be expected. The Court of Judicial Review specialized in case investigation but rushed to close the case under royal pressure. When the case was reopened, the original investigators would certainly face consequences. But Li Yuangui recalled how recently Empress Zhangsun had also ordered him to conclude the Linfen County Princess case as “suicide”… In such matters, no one could criticize others.
They fell silent for a while, each drinking another cup of tea. Li Yuangui redirected his thoughts again, focusing on the suspicious events when the Pei father and son investigated the case in the latter half of Wude’s ninth year:
“After June of the ninth year, when you, Duke Pei, entered the Eastern Palace to reinvestigate this case, you obtained that utensil with the written hint, which was key to solving the case. Did you later find out who wrote those characters on the bottom of the food box?”
“No,” Lawyer Pei smiled bitterly: “I repeatedly investigated who wrote those characters at the time. That food box was mixed among many used dishes waiting to be washed, collected from various halls and courtyards after lunch that day, making it difficult to determine which palace area it came from.”
“Were there many people living in the Eastern Palace then who received meals from the kitchen?” Li Yuangui asked.
“Many. Besides the former Crown Prince’s wives, daughters, and servants concentrated in Yiqiu Hall, forbidden to move around freely, Prince Yi’s wives and daughters, and the families of executed officials from both palaces were all temporarily detained in different courtyards within the Eastern Palace, not allowed to wander. All these people received meals from the kitchen, with similar food containers. After the masters ate their three daily meals, leftovers went to servants, and after an hour servants collected the empty containers… Besides these prisoners’ families, the Eastern Palace’s original servants also had many opportunities to access these containers, making investigation extremely difficult.”
“At that time… Prince Yi’s wives and daughters were also confined in the Eastern Palace?” Li Yuangui murmured, a beautiful face flashing before his eyes. “Did that include Princess Yi, Lady Yang?”
“Yes. Lady Yang had recently given birth, so men couldn’t enter her chambers. When we questioned her several times, we spoke through screens and curtains, but noticed nothing unusual—does the Fourteenth Young Lord suspect Lady Yang?”
Li Yuangui pondered without answering. Regarding the poisoning, since Prince Yi Li Yuanji was highly suspicious, and given how close he was with his wife, Lady Yang likely knew about her husband’s actions and thus the poisoned vessel’s whereabouts. When the case was reopened, for whatever reason, she might have deliberately tipped off the investigators…
“Did you never suspect Lady Yang?” he asked Lawyer Pei. “You mentioned earlier that Prince Yi’s behavior was suspicious during the poisoning.”
“Suspect… we did, but didn’t think deeply about it,” Lawyer Pei sighed. “The Fourteenth Young Lord hasn’t seen that food box—the eight characters ‘Eastern Palace poisoned, wine vessel in well’ were crudely written, we assumed it was done by a barely literate servant. Lady Yang came from the noble Yang clan of Hongnong, raised by her talented uncle the Fifth Imperial Son-in-law, and as a princess consort, her calligraphy would surely be much more refined.”
“That makes sense, though handwriting could be disguised…” Li Yuangui contemplated. “It seems we need to check the old files at the Court of Judicial Review to examine the evidence.”
He spent the rest of the day discussing the Eastern Palace poisoning case with Lawyer Pei. Later they called up Yang Xinzhi, and the three debated extensively but couldn’t develop any new theories.
Li Yuangui should have taken the emperor’s commission and gone to the Court of Judicial Review to retrieve the old files, but he dared not leave the Pei estate—if Steward Zhang returned with news of his Seventeenth Sister’s whereabouts, he didn’t want to waste a moment in rescuing her. Similarly, he couldn’t send Yang Xinzhi back to Chang’an to get the files—who knew how many accomplices the Hu people holding his sister had, and his side already had limited fighting power, with Yang Routa being their main strength.
Moreover, the situation in Chang’an was unclear. When he fled from Great Peace Palace earlier, they were investigating a “plot to assassinate the Retired Emperor.” Crown Prince Li Chengqian was leading it, and worried about finding someone to blame, he would surely take advantage of Li Yuangui’s disappearance to brand his Fourteenth Uncle a traitor colluding with outside enemies. If the emperor believed these one-sided claims and issued orders to arrest the Prince of Wu at the city gates, then Li Yuangui and his attendant Yang Xinzhi would be immediately bound and sent to the palace if they appeared—what use would old files and evidence be then?
So Li Yuangui could only wait patiently at the Pei estate north of the Wei River. He had sent his two young servants Achen back to Great Peace Palace to gather news, instructing them to act according to circumstances. But the journey from Xianyang Ferry to the palace was not short, and after a day and night, Achen returned alone with a jumble of news. Li Yuangui and Yang Xinzhi questioned him for half a day in the hall before finally sorting out the sequence of events.
“How is the Retired Emperor’s health at Great Peace Palace?”
Achen reported: The seventy-year-old had suffered greatly and grown weaker, everyone worried the Retired Emperor wouldn’t pull through. But the founding emperor of the Great Tang had heaven’s blessing. Under the constant care of Consort Zhaoyi and other imperial consorts, the imperial physicians said his pulse had stabilized, at least no worse than before the incident. However, servants in Great Peace Hall revealed that when the old man occasionally regained consciousness, he would call for “A’Yin,” weeping and sighing when he couldn’t see his beloved Consort Yin, which didn’t bode well if it continued…
“How’s the investigation into the night assassins? Have they captured any alive? Who’s been identified as the mastermind?”
They had found over ten black-clad assassins’ corpses, mostly inside Great Peace Hall and around the watchtower, no survivors were reported—the bodies were all strong Hu men, no teenagers among them—Consort Yin and her brother’s bodies were also found, currently presumed to have conspired with external enemies. They found evidence of bribes on Yin Tuo’s body and in his chambers, and their family members in the capital were arrested. However, it was said neither the palace nor the Eastern Palace was satisfied with this conclusion, and the emperor had lost his temper with both the crown prince and Right Guard General Zhang Shigui. Rumors suggested Zhang Shigui might be demoted and sent to frontier military service for failing to protect the palace, with the emperor planning to bring in a more capable general to command the palace guards.
As for the Eastern Palace, the crown prince must have said something about Li Yuangui, as now the Seventeenth Prince’s residence and Prince of Wu’s mansion were under guard, with servants forced to search places Li Yuangui frequented. Though officials hadn’t directly accused “Prince of Wu of treason,” only saying they needed to question him, their tone and attitude were disrespectful, making Minister Chen and others nervous. Achen had snuck into the mansion by climbing walls at night to gather this information, nearly being discovered by Great Peace Hall guards…
“What about the True Master and…”
“…how are the True Master and Minister Wei Zheng’s daughter staying at Purple Void Temple?” Yang Xinzhi smilingly completed his master’s question, earning a glare from Li Yuangui.
The morning after the incident, just after the Fourteenth Young Lord left the city, the True Master and Miss Wei visited the Prince of Wu’s mansion—even taking in the fleeing Liu family’s nursemaid—then disappeared. Investigators couldn’t find the two women at Purple Void Temple, Imperial Son-in-law Chai’s mansion, or Minister Wei’s residence, and were reportedly intensifying their search.
“Disappeared?” Li Yuangui asked in shock. Had they actively avoided official searches like himself, or… had someone forcibly taken them? When two young beautiful women suddenly disappear, it usually isn’t good news.
“Don’t worry, Fourteenth Young Lord,” Yang Xinzhi consoled him, “Though Miss Wei might be naive, the True Master has always been capable and clever. Together, they should be fine.”
Li Yuangui frowned, still anxious, and asked Achen: “Did the True Master leave any messages at the mansion, Purple Void Temple, or Chai’s residence? Something hidden from officials, meant only for me?”
“Ah!” Achen lightly slapped his ear, “Look at my memory! If the Fourteenth Young Lord hadn’t mentioned it, I almost forgot! Minister Chen whispered to me that the True Master told him to tell only the Fourteenth Young Lord… tell what… ah, how can’t I remember…”
Seeing this muddle-headed servant scratching his head and muttering to himself, unable to remember after so long, Li Yuangui grew angry and reached for his sword: “A beating will help you remember fool!”
“No… spare me, Your Highness… ah, I remember!” Achen slapped his forehead, “Right, right, Minister Chen said the True Master and the others went to start fires!”
“Start fires?” Li Yuangui and Yang Xinzhi looked at each other bewildered. “Where? To burn what?”
“No, no, that’s not how it was said…” the young servant bit his lip and frowned in concentration, “The True Master and others… were going to some mansion to… light fires!”
Note: Regarding the “eunuch with cage hat, wide sleeves, and hanging whiskers” suspected of poisoning—in early Tang and before, palace servants weren’t limited to women or eunuchs; there were also regular male scholars. The Tang dynasty’s agency managing imperial daily affairs was the “Palace Service Department,” with six bureaus: “Imperial Diet, Imperial Medicine, Imperial Wardrobe, Imperial Accommodation, Imperial Transport, and Imperial Palanquin.” Officials in these institutions were scholars, mostly sons of nobles and aristocrats.
For example, as mentioned earlier, Duke Li Shiji’s eldest son Li Zhen served as “Imperial Transport Service Officer,” managing imperial mounts and frequently moving about near the emperor, considered an imperial intimate.