In the fifth month, the locusts move their legs; in the sixth month, the quail flap their wings; in the seventh month, they are in the wild; the filial son travels far to join the army.
On the vast, open wilderness road of Long Xi, Li Yuangui rode beside the old Hu merchant Kang Sumi, surrounded by a large escort detail specially assigned from the Northern Command—ten frontier guards—along with servants and attendants from his Prince of Wu residence forming a circle around him. At first glance, it appeared to be an impressive dark mass of people, as long as one didn’t look too carefully for a second time…
Kang Sumi’s merchant caravan had even more people than Li’s retinue, plus twenty-some tall and strong camels, donkeys, and large bales of silk goods. Together, the two groups formed quite an impressive procession on the Western Regions trade route. With such a scale, plus official banners and soldiers in light armor carrying long spears, at least within Tang territory south of Gan Prefecture where imperial control was stable, ordinary small bands of brigands wouldn’t dare target them.
Li Yuangui knew the route they had to travel. Before departure, he had specially sent someone to the Ministry of War to copy a map showing the route from Chang’an to the Western Regions, which he had studied and memorized after viewing it many times. They would take the relatively prosperous Central Plains route, passing through Xing Ping, Wu Gong, Fu Feng, Long Prefecture, Qin Prefecture, Wei Prefecture, Lin Prefecture, Liang Prefecture, Lan Prefecture, Gan Prefecture, Su Prefecture, Gua Prefecture, then exit through the Jade Gate Pass, cross the Mo He Yan Desert (now the Ha Shun Gobi) and the Great Ghost-Haunted Desert (now the Kumtag Desert), then head southwest to the royal city of Gaochang. If all went smoothly without obstacles, perhaps… they could arrive in three months.
They had set out a bit too early and hastily, with many preparations still inadequate. He hoped they wouldn’t get lost and starve to death, freeze to death at night, die from the midday sun, get eaten by wild beasts of the wilderness, get cut down by bandits guarding the passes, or get burned alive by the princes and khans of foreign territories…
He wasn’t just scaring himself—these warnings had been repeated hundreds of times by Kang Sumi, who stayed constantly by his side, though the old Hu merchant always said them with a smiling face that didn’t match his words’ meaning. According to Kang Sabo himself, he had been wandering these crisscrossing trade routes with his parents and family since he could remember, personally experiencing all of the above encounters, only surviving each time through sheer luck.
What if one couldn’t escape just once? Well, that wasn’t such a big deal—one would simply become another set of bleached bones half-buried in the desert sands, while luckier An Sabo, He Sabo, and Shi Sabo would emerge victorious, establishing vast family enterprises and rising to become leaders among the Hu merchants, wielding great influence in the Central Plains, Western Regions, and countries beyond the Onion Range. Fate is heaven’s decree, and fortune is sought in danger—no need to think too much about it.
Despite such consolation, Li Yuangui’s melancholy remained difficult to dispel. He knew that according to these merchant Hu customs, his current true status was closer to… Kang Sumi’s slave.
The promissory note for fifty thousand bolts of silk, written in his hand with his fingerprint, was still in Kang Sumi’s possession. Such an enormous debt, even in Han territory, would give the creditor the right to petition officials, leaving the debtor with basically no choice but to voluntarily sell himself into slavery to settle the contract. Moreover, the merchant Hu viewed debt contracts and master-slave relationships even more seriously and dealt with them more harshly. If Kang Sumi hadn’t been wary of his status as an imperial prince and dared not act rashly, it wouldn’t have been excessive to have him walking with an iron chain around his neck.
If he had delayed departure by just a month or two, he might have been able to redeem that promissory note. In another month or two, his selected and trained “Tuyuhun Prince Murong Nuohebo” would have likely completed his education and could have been presented at court to thank the Heavenly Khagan for his benevolence, while he could have thanked his imperial brother for the generous gift of thirty thousand bolts of silk.
It wasn’t difficult for him to arrange a meeting with Special Envoy Murong Shun through Chief Minister Long Sun Wuji’s connections to work out the details of creating the “false prince.” Though neither spoke explicitly, they had a tacit understanding. The envoy also knew about the military and political changes within the Tuyuhun nation and was even more eager than Li Yuangui to bring back “Murong Shun’s legitimate son” to inherit the position of heir to the khagan. They only needed to discuss what Prince Nuohebo should look like, what knowledge he needed to master, what manners to cultivate, and what tokens to prepare to convince the Tuyuhun people.
Selecting the false prince from the garrison troops proved much more difficult, and most of the time before departure was spent on this trouble. Finally, through Yang Xinzhi’s recommendation, they chose a poor orphan from a Wei Bei military family named Zhou Twelve, who matched the age requirement, had a sturdy build and rugged features, and after persuasion was willing to go beyond the frontier to become a prince. There was just one problem—the youth wasn’t very bright, learned new things slowly, was forgetful, and had Li Yuangui and others jumping in frustration every day.
After the Emperor Emeritus’s seven-seven mourning period, as the national mourning affairs gradually relaxed, the Emperor cited urgent military matters in the northwest and ordered Li Yuangui to set out first for Gaochang, saying the court would issue a clear edict after some delay. Li Yuangui had no choice but to entrust the task of training the Tuyuhun prince to his third sister’s husband, Chai Shao—Imperial Son-in-law Chai was friendly with Kang Sumi, familiar with frontier affairs, and had a son and daughter who could help with the task; there was no one more suitable to entrust it to. Chai Shao was still grateful to Li Yuangui for facilitating the “Nine Princes’ Condolences” affair and readily agreed, telling him not to worry.
Thus before Li Yuangui’s departure, he had only one unfulfilled wish.
He had gone to Minister Wei’s residence in Yong Xing Ward several times, whether under the pretext of congratulating Minister Wei on his newborn son or seeking advice about frontier affairs, but never managed to enter their gate. The Wei household guards had received strict orders from their master and blocked the Prince of Wu’s grand arrival each time, not even bothering to announce him.
Li Yuangui had discussed with Yang Xinzhi whether they could attempt another midnight wall-climbing escapade to secretly enter the Wei residence to see their daughter but was eventually persuaded by the Ku Zhen guards to abandon this improper idea. He still hadn’t completely given up hope of having a chance to properly marry Wei Shubin and didn’t want to further deepen her father’s poor impression of him. With no other choice, he wrote a respectful long letter swearing eternal devotion, attached a token gift, and entrusted Chai Yinglu to deliver it to Wei Shubin.
That token gift had led to… Now Kang Sumi not only held Li Yuangui’s promissory note for fifty thousand bolts of silk but also kept a life-or-death secret about him in his heart, pressing down on the Tang Prince of Wu so he dared not act rashly, making his glances toward the old Hu merchant full of bitterness.
The token he sent with his love letter to Wei Shubin was an exquisite gilt silver filigree sphere incense holder that could be hung at the waist or from bed curtains. The incense tray inside had its mechanism and wouldn’t spill the burning incense no matter how it was turned. The incense holder was naturally a precious imperial item, originally awarded to him for winning first place in the grand archery competition during last year’s Double Ninth Festival, but what he valued, even more, was the small box of incense pellets sent along with the silver sphere.
That was his last box of palace incense blended by his mother’s own hands.
He had divided one box into two, sending half to his beloved and leaving the other half along with other valuable items as a dowry for his seventeenth sister, who shared the same mother. His sister’s formal marriage to Legal Secretary Pei was supposed to take place in three years, and he couldn’t be certain whether he would be able to return to Chang’an by then, so it was better to make preparations in advance.
Also for this dowry, he had sent word requesting Nurse Liu, who had been staying in the rear courtyard of Li Zheng Hall accompanying his sister, to come to Da An Palace. After Nurse Liu obtained permission and came to the Seventeenth Prince’s residence, they met and shared a tearful reunion, and he had people carefully explain all the prepared items to her. As it was already late, Nurse Liu had to spend the night at the Prince of Wu’s residence before returning to Li Zheng Hall the next day… and then he asked.
After sending everyone else away and making sure no third pair of ears could hear, Li Yuangui asked his nurse—Liu who had served his mother Beauty Zhang, and Consort Yin De since before his birth:
“Who is my real father?”