The hall was desolate, the courtyard overgrown.
Li Yuangui sat with his legs dangling from the couch in his hall, staring at the piles of packages and boxes on the floor and the waist-high wild grass growing below the steps. He sighed wordlessly, not even bothering to order servants to clean up.
What was the point? In two or three days at most, after the funeral ceremony for the Emperor Emeritus, he would be heading west again. The same people, the same destination, the same mission. The luggage would be tied to the carts again, everyone would change into traveling clothes again, and the horses would be saddled and bridled for the journey once more.
He didn’t fear the hardships of the journey, nor the unpredictable fate awaiting him in the Gaochang Kingdom. What troubled his mind were the many people and matters he couldn’t let go of in Chang’an. He could sense that many mysteries were beginning to reveal their truths, yet he had to leave at this crucial moment—it was utterly frustrating.
After Wei Shubin and Yang Xinzhi went to Cihe Temple with the Fifth Princess, there was no news. Yang Xinzhi hadn’t returned to the Seventeenth Prince’s residence at Da’an Palace to report anything, so the mystery of his parentage remained temporarily unexplained.
Li Yuangui had visited Prince Consort Chai’s mansion to see Chai Yingluo, but his niece who had been sent home had gone out again, so he missed her. He only discussed the matter of the false Tuyuhun prince with his third brother-in-law for half a day.
Chai Shao was already aware of his daughter’s entanglement with the Crown Prince, sighing and calling it “ill-fated karma.” He said he planned to send Chai Yingluo back to their old home in Linfen, Hedong, to build a temple and practice Daoism there, avoiding trouble for a few years. Perhaps this was the most prudent solution, and Li Yuangui agreed it wasn’t bad.
In a few years, once the Crown Prince had an heir his marriage became peaceful, and the Emperor and Empress were no longer so concerned about the Crown Prince’s marriage fate, Chai Yingluo might be able to return to the capital and palace, resuming her previous life.
Chai Shao planned to petition the Emperor after the Emperor Emeritus’s funeral procession and burial ceremony. The Emperor would likely approve. After their uncle and nephew consoled each other, Li Yuangui returned to his Prince of Wu mansion at Da’an Palace and spent another day socializing with his brothers, and when the guests left and things quieted down, he felt desolate and bored.
Below the hall, black hair buns swayed as the mixed-race barbarian maid Fendu carefully peeked to see if the master was at leisure.
Li Yuangui called her up and asked what matter she had. Fendu had just returned from Minister Kang’s mansion in Buzheng District. She had been sent to deliver a message to Kang Sumi, and another barbarian maid, Miwei, had pulled her aside to speak privately. Miwei asked her to secretly tell the Fourteenth Lord and Young Lord Yang that Kang Sumi was plotting with the young Tuyuhun prince Sangsai against the Tang Emperor.
“Against the Tang Emperor?” Li Yuangui frowned, basically disbelieving. The Tuyuhun war was over, the Murong family’s rulers and ministers were dead, and their power was scattered. How could Kang Sumi, that old fox who was best at reading the winds of change, still possibly side with Sangsai to scheme against Emperor Li Shimin? What benefits could Sangsai possibly offer him?
“Miwei overheard while serving them at night. Sangsai promised that if they could kill the Tang Emperor and return to Fuxi City together, taking advantage of the chaos to seize the Khan position, he would make Kang the National Preceptor, establish their holy religion as the state religion, and put Kang in charge of all trade along the Southern Qinghai Road.” Fendu reported seriously.
Li Yuangui just smiled, still not believing. That naive noble youth Sangsai might think that way and make such promises, but for Kang Sumi to agree to take such a huge risk would be utterly absurd.
He didn’t doubt that the two barbarian maids would lie to him. Fendu was now a maid in his Prince of Wu mansion, her life, and death in his hands, while Miwei was heavily pregnant with Yang Xinzhi’s child, only concerned with having a safe delivery, getting Yang Xinzhi to acknowledge the child, and living together as a family. Li Yuangui had already planned that if Kang Sumi wouldn’t relent after a while, he would plead on Yang Xinzhi’s behalf, even if it meant adding Miwei’s price to his debt to old Kang. After all, what’s one more debt when you already owe so much…
“When Miwei heard Kang and Sangsai discussing, did she hear Kang seriously agree to Sangsai’s proposal? Even if he agreed, how did they plan to ‘kill Emperor Li Shimin’?” Li Yuangui asked Fendu.
Months ago, when Sangsai had a group of suicide warriors at his disposal and Li Yuangui himself as an inside man, they still failed to kill Emperor Emeritus Li Yuan. Now that he was alone, he still thought he could kill the even more heavily guarded Tang Emperor. What a dream.
That young Tuyuhun prince had already been extremely lucky. On the way back to Chang’an from Qinzhou, Li Yuangui questioned Kang Sumi and learned that Sangsai’s father, the Tianzhuwang, and his aunt, the Queen, valued him greatly. When Sangsai came to Chang’an to plot and scheme, it was entirely his own stubborn decision, without the approval of his uncle Khan Fuyun or the current court. But once he had run away here, first his retainers, then his father the Tianzhuwang, and then the Queen had repeatedly sent skilled warriors to Chang’an, both to protect him and to try to bring him back to Tuyuhun.
Slave warriors like the one who called himself “Qibi Luo” couldn’t refuse the commands of their noble prince master, and could only helplessly follow his orders, becoming executors of his assassination plan, ultimately dying on Cuiyun Peak at Da’an Palace. While Sangsai might have been lacking in other areas, his quick thinking in escape wasn’t bad. That night when he saw the Da’an Palace guards closing in, while Qibi Luo was buying time by holding Li Yuangui hostage in front of the watchtower, he created false evidence of having climbed down Cuiyun Peak via the rope at the back of the tower, but mixed himself among the corpses on the first floor of the watchtower, playing dead with closed eyes.
After the Da’an Palace guards dealt with Qibi Luo and searched inside and outside the tower, they indeed believed the remaining assassins had climbed down the cliff via the rope, so they split up, with some pursuing down the cliff while others helped the wounded in the surrounding area. During those few moments before dawn when no one was on the first floor of the watchtower, Sangsai seized the opportunity to get up and escape Da’an Palace under cover of darkness, finding his way out through the deserted wilderness areas of the imperial gardens.
After his plot failed, his men were all lost, and he was wounded, he was angry, hateful, and ashamed. No longer daring to trust Li Yuangui and the Kang family, he afterward hid in the wilderness, healing his wounds while making his way toward Longxi to find his Tuyuhun tribespeople. Only when he struggled alone to the Qinzhou area did he find old acquaintances and stay temporarily, where he heard the news of his country’s defeat and his relatives being transported there as prisoners—the rest need not be said.
Based on Li Yuangui’s understanding of his imperial brother and Sangsai, even if given the chance for a one-on-one knife duel without interference, that young pup Sangsai would hardly last ten rounds against his second brother. This was the Emperor of the battlefield who had survived hundreds of fights, who led charges into enemy formations during the war, and who got restless if he didn’t go hunting bears and tigers every few days during peacetime. If an assassin suddenly rushed to attack him, His Majesty might be delighted—it would be the imperial guards who would have to commit mass suicide to apologize to the realm…
“When Kang and he were discussing their plans, they lowered their voices. Miwei could only catch bits and pieces, but heard two key points,” Fendu told Li Yuangui. “First, Kang mentioned something about ‘the Tang Emperor’s father’s coffin being transported for burial’ and ‘envoys from various countries.'”
Ah, Li Yuangui thought, this referred to the funeral ceremony the day after tomorrow. From Taiji Palace to outside Shuntian Gate, the Emperor and princes, royal relatives, civil and military officials of the ninth rank and above, former regular participating officials, barbarian chieftains, and envoys from various countries would all have their positions to participate in, and observe the ceremony, bidding farewell to the founding emperor of the Great Tang… Was Kang Sumi planning to have Sangsai mix in among the foreign envoys during the chaos of the crowd and suddenly assassinate the Emperor?
Did he think the Court of State Ceremonials officials and the soldiers of the Sixteen Guards were all dead men?
“Second, Kang also mentioned that there was a Tang prince, or the Crown Prince, in any case, a young prince, supporting them from behind, ensuring they could escape safely after killing the Emperor.”
“What?” Li Yuangui was truly shocked now. “Which is it—a prince or the Crown Prince?”
“Your slave asked Miwei the same thing, but Miwei said she didn’t know. My lord’s wisdom will understand—Kang and Sangsai were speaking in the Tuyuhun barbarian language, and in their language, the sons of khans and princes have no distinction, using the same word. Unless they specifically emphasized ‘the prince who will inherit the khan position,’ outsiders couldn’t understand the difference…”
As Fendu explained timidly, Li Yuangui understood her meaning but grew more confused. At first hearing “young prince,” he thought it meant himself, but he wasn’t involved in these treasonous matters anymore—was this just Kang deceiving Sangsai?
Or… had Kang Sumi conspired with Crown Prince Li Chengqian, Prince Li Tai of Yue, or other imperial brothers who coveted the throne, to commit this act of great treason?
Well, he hardly had the standing to criticize others… The sons of the Li family were quite skilled at harboring such thoughts and doing such things.