“If the Young Lord trusts me, let me help.” Lawyer Pei smiled, adjusting his headcloth. Li Yuangui nodded gratefully. He hadn’t told the Pei family that the missing girl they were seeking was his sister, the Seventeenth Princess, nor had he revealed what they had done at the Great Peace Palace or why they were being pursued. Lawyer Pei didn’t ask or press the matter, just quietly helped.
When you trust someone and choose to stand by them, you take on that risk and responsibility. Li Yuangui didn’t have a deep impression of the former minister Pei Ji, but if Lawyer Pei’s way of handling matters was inherited from his father, he understood why his father, the Emperor Emeritus, had maintained such consistent trust in Pei Ji during his reign.
Lawyer Pei took Zhang Zhangtou and a young servant with him, and the three of them entered the bridge garrison post. Li Yuangui and Yang Xinzhi’s group retreated to a street corner where they wouldn’t be easily spotted by the bridge guards, waiting for Lawyer Pei to return.
The wait wasn’t short. Only after sunset when it was completely dark did the three emerge from the garrison gate, stopping to exchange pleasantries with those inside before bowing farewell. Li Yuangui was burning with anxiety. When Lawyer Pei came over, he pulled him to the corner and asked, “How did it go?”
“There’s good news and bad news,” Pei sighed. “The young lady Young Lord is looking for should be safe and sound, but…”
“But?”
“She’s now in the hands of the Northern Command garrison.”
Earlier that morning, not long after Xianyang Bridge opened, a youth who looked somewhat like a barbarian brought a girl around ten years old, claiming they were siblings, and was stopped by the guards at the bridge. Though the youth had no transit pass, he showed no panic or resistance, boldly demanding to see the garrison commander, saying he had confidential matters to report.
The young man and woman were taken into the thatched house at the bridge, where the deputy commander on duty drove everyone else out and closed the door for a private discussion. Shortly after, the deputy commander came out and hurriedly ordered someone to fetch the commander. When the commander arrived, after just a few words, he sent someone across the bridge to the south bank to request the Ferry Director’s consultation.
The Xianyang Bridge Ferry Director was a proper official of the upper ninth rank, different from the unranked bridge guards and minor officials. After he arrived, he also spoke privately with the young man and woman away from others, quickly wrote something down, and ordered someone to deliver it to the garrison camp at the Imperial Garden. Afterward, the Ferry Director took the two people to the office on the south bank, and the north bank garrison knew nothing of what followed.
After hearing this, Li Yuangui exchanged a bewildered look with Yang Xinzhi. Had Sangsai “turned himself in”? Or had he quickly bribed the deputy commander, commander, and Ferry Director with gold in such a short time? In broad daylight? In front of so many guards?
Had Tang Dynasty officials and soldiers’ integrity fallen so low?
“Wait,” Yang Xinzhi suddenly remembered and asked Lawyer Pei, “Was it always the barbarian youth who spoke with the bridge guards? He spoke Chinese?”
Lawyer Pei thought for a moment and nodded, “No one mentioned the young lady speaking; it must have been the barbarian youth doing all the talking.”
Speaking fluent Chinese… then the barbarian youth wasn’t the Tuyuhun prince Sangsai.
Then who could it be? How did another barbarian-looking youth suddenly appear, hiding with An Yanna and the Seventeenth Princess in the Hu merchants’ warehouse in Small West Market? Was he a friend or foe?
Or… had Sangsai been pretending not to speak Chinese all along?
Even more, was he the son of the Tuyuhun King of the Heavenly Pillar, an enemy noble sent to Chang’an to direct disruption of Tang politics? What was his true identity? What was the purpose of joining forces with Li Yuangui’s group to cause trouble at the Great Peace Palace?
“There’s more bad news,” Lawyer Pei continued, “I indirectly inquired about recently wanted notices for suspicious persons received by the bridge guards, and sure enough, descriptions were matching Young Lord Fourteen and Lord Yang’s age and appearance. It didn’t mention your identities, only saying ‘These two men are interfering with a serious case. Anyone who sees them should detain them immediately and report to the Northern Command for handling. However, their lives must not be harmed.'”
Li Yuangui smiled bitterly. That last line showed that the Emperor and Crown Prince had at least shown some familial consideration for their younger brother and uncle.
His mind was in chaos as he looked toward Xianyang Bridge. By now it was pitch dark, with the bridge entrance blocked by thick wooden barriers half a man’s height tall, and guards still on duty. To cross the bridge to pursue his sister, they would have to fight their way through, and they almost certainly couldn’t win against superior numbers…
If not by bridge, what about crossing by boat, like when he came to the north bank… well, not exactly the same way.
Li Yuangui calmed himself and asked Zhang Zhangtou about nearby ferry crossings, but was immediately rebuffed by the old man:
“Nonsense! The spring floods are rising, don’t you know how dangerous the river is? Who would dare take a boat out at night? Do you want to die?”
From their street corner, though some distance from the Wei River, they could still hear waves crashing against the shore. Lawyer Pei also advised, “Young Lord, don’t be hasty. We can’t cross the river tonight. I suggest we return to my residence for now, and tomorrow we can go to the south bank to gather more information before deciding what to do.”
“Government offices and the Northern Command garrison are places of law and order,” Yang Xinzhi added, trying to persuade Li Yuangui. “The young lady has endured hardship these past days but has escaped danger now. Young Lord should stay calm and not cause more trouble.”
If that unknown youth had truly taken his sister to surrender to the garrison troops and revealed her identity, indeed no one would dare easily harm a Tang Princess’s safety. Li Yuangui felt somewhat relieved at this thought.
“I want to go back to examine that stable warehouse,” he said with furrowed brows. “Earlier we were in such a hurry to pursue them, I didn’t carefully look at the items inside. Just who is that youth? I definitely won’t be able to sleep without figuring it out.”
In the warehouse where An Yanna died, there were many daily items like bowls and bedding that might provide clues about the users’ origins and identity if carefully examined. Seeing his determination, the others didn’t argue. With Zhang Zhangtou leading the way, the group headed back toward the Hu merchant warehouse district north of town.
Li Yuangui walked quickly in his agitation. Soon they entered the compound gate. The Hu gatekeeper reported “Another group has come to view the deceased,” which he didn’t pay much attention to at first, but when he heard Zhang Zhangtou ask “Who are they” the gatekeeper replied “Seems to be the deceased’s family, a bald man is crying very sadly,” he suddenly became alert.
An Yanna’s family… that should be people from the Kangsa Borough in Chang’an city – could it be Bald An San?
Looking back at Yang Xinzhi, they both understood and gripped their sword hilts, quickening their pace toward the warehouse. All around was dark and silent, with only flickering lamplight from the small door where the corpse lay, making it easier to find at night than during the day.
As they got closer, they could gradually hear voices arguing inside, including a delicate female voice that sounded very familiar. Li Yuangui’s heart jumped, and he broke into a run.
“…accompany my son across the Bridge of Judgment!”
A man inside roared out these words, followed by a woman’s scream, the clash of weapons, and a chorus of shouts.
Li Yuangui drew his sword and burst through the door, just in time to see a snow-bright blade in the lamplight strike a woman, blood spraying across the room.
Note: Modern people might find it hard to imagine that for a very long time in ancient times, checkpoints were set up at major roads, large bridges and docks, strategic locations, and towns across the country, partly to inspect suspicious persons for security and partly to occasionally collect taxes like “plucking feathers from passing geese.” These checkpoints were generally called “guanjin” (customs and ferries) inland, a term frequently mentioned in various dynastic edicts.
Regarding specific bridge management, from Tang Liu Dian Volume 23 – Department of Construction and Water Control:
For all ferries: One Director, upper ninth rank; (The Biographies of Exemplary Women mentions a ferry official’s daughter, but nothing after that. Jin Dynasty: “Twenty-four ferry crossings, each with one ferry inspector.” Northern Qi had three local officials all sharing jurisdiction over ferries and bridges. Later Zhou had one Bridge Master in charge of ferry crossings and waterways regulations, as well as bridge construction.
Sui Dynasty water administration over ferries: Major ferries had one captain and two deputies; middle-sized ferries had one captain and one deputy; minor ferries had one captain. Each ferry had one construction overseer and four ferry chiefs. Our dynasty changed this to Directors and Deputies.) One Deputy, lower ninth rank. (Our dynasty continued from Sui. Ferries within the Capital Region and Henan jurisdiction were under the Water Control Department; those outside were under local provincial jurisdiction.) All Ferry Directors managed their ferry’s water transport and bridge matters, with Deputies as their assistants.
Xianyang Bridge was one of the capital’s most important transportation routes to the outside world, so its Ferry Director and official organization should have been the highest-ranked nationwide. The need for transit passes to cross bridges and checkpoints was explained in detail in my book “Tang Dynasty Travel Guide,” with continuing archaeological evidence like the Tang Kaiyuan 20th-year transit pass document found in Astana Tomb 509 in 1959, now in the Xinjiang Museum.