Yun Ye’s bellyful of fury disappeared after entering the palace filled with the smell of smoke and fire. The anger was gone, but the sorrow in his heart was impossible to suppress. Originally, he had planned to find Li Chengqian, Dugu Mou, and Hei Chi Changzhi to cause trouble. Now there was no need to find them.
Li Chengqian stood in the plaza wearing a cloak without saying a word. It appeared he had been standing here for quite some time—there was still undried dew on his cloak. Dugu Mou’s expression was so gloomy water could be wrung from it, while Zhangsun Chong looked up at the sky with a face of indifference. On the ground were over a hundred additional corpses.
Among them, one body whose covering had been lifted was clearly Hei Chi Changzhi. There was no expression of pain whatsoever on his face—when he died, he seemed extremely peaceful.
Wu She lifted the coverings from seven or eight corpses in succession, whispered a few words in Yun Ye’s ear. Yun Ye smiled slightly, nudged the deceased Hei Chi Changzhi with his foot, and said to Li Chengqian: “Death by a highly toxic poison, its name is—Rift.”
Li Chengqian asked Yun Ye with reddened eyes: “What do you mean by Rift?”
“A highly toxic poison, newly developed by the academy. Under all Heaven, the number of people who can obtain this poison can be counted on one hand. Your Highness the Crown Prince is one of them. If you look at the secret intelligence reports, you’ll know—I’m also one of them. Qing Que has gone to his fiefdom in Yongzhou. Let me state first, I’m afraid of that poison and didn’t dare touch it. Even the poison I used to kill Lu Dongzan was a different type.”
Hearing Yun Ye speak so comically, Zhangsun Chong laughed and said: “If you have the guts, speak out the names of the other two people as well.”
Dugu Mou turned his head and asked Yun Ye: “Didn’t you say you weren’t going to concern yourself with court affairs anymore? Why have you come again?”
“I’ve come to lead my family members to turn ourselves in. The secret agents have all been eliminated by you people. I’m frightened in my heart. There’s still one remnant in my household—I’m bringing him over together for you to behead. This way the Yun family will be completely clean.”
Wu She sat down cross-legged on the ground, lowering his head to expose his neck, ready at any time to be beheaded.
Li Chengqian flew into a rage, kicked Wu She in the shoulder, and roared: “Get out!”
After Yun Ye pulled Wu She up, he indicated for him to leave the palace, then said with a smile: “Does that count as sparing his life?”
After saying this, he looked seriously at Li Chengqian, only now discovering this fellow’s two eyeballs were red like autumn persimmons, his entire body trembling slightly—he appeared quite angry indeed.
“There are only so many people who can use Rift. Not you, not me, and not Qing Que either. So your beloved general died in vain. Carry him out and bury him. Only someone stuffed full from eating would stir up waves at this time, making His Majesty say his iron spear has completely lost its spiritual power and can no longer protect Taiji Hall. Only killing Hei Chi Changzhi—I even feel that’s your good fortune.”
“Dugu Mou, that you can live well, I find extremely strange. Aren’t you an official who specializes in managing money? How have you also started managing palace affairs? Don’t you think you’re reaching your hand too far?”
Li Chengqian gave a muffled grunt and said nothing. Dugu Mou spoke one sentence so shamelessly it made both Yun Ye and Zhangsun Chong laugh.
“I’m still the Xuanwu Gate garrison commander!”
Zhangsun Chong said in a strange, mocking tone: “I also seem to have the position of Fengyi Gate garrison commander. Yun Ye, don’t you also have a position at Taiji Palace?”
“That’s right, General of the Qianniu Guard. What about it? I only remember never having done any work, just collecting salary. You and I both occupy positions without fulfilling duties, but that Xuanwu Gate garrison commander is diligent to the extreme.”
Yun Ye spoke in an equally strange, mocking tone. Speaking of positions in the palace, they were actually all honorary titles the Emperor had added to show favor. Xuanwu Gate had a general, Fengyi Gate likewise had a general. If Yun Ye, this Qianniu Guard general, dared to command the Qianniu Guard even once, it would be a grave crime.
“Enough! Are you three preparing to anger me to death, then establish a new Crown Prince?”
Li Chengqian’s fury finally erupted, even bringing out words that struck at the heart.
As ministers, the proper etiquette still had to be observed. The three men hastily bowed and said they dared not.
Li Chengqian walked around the ground full of corpses while saying: “Father Emperor has moved out of the palace and gone to Yushan City for retirement. Shouldn’t this palace be for me to command? Yun Ye, you have the greatest objections. You speak first—isn’t this the principle?”
Yun Ye smiled slightly and said: “This is natural. Slowly, all under Heaven should be for you to command. No one disputes this principle. I only want to ask—is it really so difficult for our Great Tang to have a bloodless, completely harmonious transfer of power?”
“Must over four hundred people be strangled to death? Those people were all people of the Great Tang, not savages from beyond civilization. Many of them, it can be said, established outstanding military achievements for the Great Tang. Their lives spent entering death were not one bit inferior to ours. Just because they wouldn’t bow their heads to you, you beheaded them? Couldn’t you wait? Wait until you truly ascend, sit in the great seat of Wanmin Hall and issue one order—I refuse to believe they would dare not come to pay court?”
“At that time, whether you split them up, merge them, dismiss them—wouldn’t it all be according to your wishes? If at that time they dare not respect orders, even if you execute their nine generations of kin, no one would have anything to say. Now, when your name is not legitimate and your words lack authority, you behead so many people and burn down Taiji Palace and Wude Hall—what is this for?”
“Taiji Palace and Wude Hall are indeed ugly to look at. I’ve long found them displeasing to the eye. Tearing them down isn’t a big matter, but please consider His Majesty’s, Her Majesty’s, and Qing Que’s feelings, all right? When doing things, don’t act so tyrannically.”
“Taiji Palace is nominally His Majesty’s sleeping quarters. Wude Hall is Qing Que’s fiefdom. Even if you burned down Wanmin Palace, it wouldn’t be as vile as burning down Taiji Palace and Wude Hall.”
When Yun Ye reached this point, he suddenly paused, looking at Dugu Mou and saying: “Chengqian still couldn’t do this thing. Dugu Mou, this wouldn’t be your handiwork, would it? You wanted to test His Majesty’s reaction, and conveniently also see if Qing Que had any movements, isn’t that right?”
“What a brilliant stratagem of sowing discord! The imperial family’s trust and affection were torn to shreds by you in a single night. Excellent methods! This Yun admires you, admires you. When you personally told me years ago that the Great Tang could not continue mutual slaughter—those words were apparently just farting!”
As soon as Yun Ye’s words left his mouth, Dugu Mou’s eyes reddened. This was the most vile mockery. Those standing in the court most feared being slapped with their own words. After hearing Yun Ye’s words, Dugu Mou rolled up his sleeves preparing to fight with Yun Ye. Zhangsun Chong, smiling, stood to the side preparing to watch the show.
Li Chengqian inserted himself between the two men, looking at Yun Ye’s hand reaching into his bosom, and angrily asked: “What are you carrying in your bosom? Don’t tell me you brought explosives into the palace?”
“No, just some everyday odds and ends. You see, here’s a small crossbow. You know I never leave my body without this crossbow. This ball of silk thread is woven from iron-wire snake sinew—extremely resilient, it’s saved my life several times. This is a snack prepared for Wang Cai. As for these few gold coins, they’re my pocket money. Just now I was planning to pull out my hand crossbow and knock down Dugu Mou first.”
Only then did Li Chengqian feel somewhat better. Even when meeting the Emperor, this fellow apparently had never taken out that crossbow. In front of himself, there seemed even less need to do so. Dugu Mou clamored from behind Li Chengqian: “If you have the guts, use your broken crossbow to shoot this old man. If this old man blinks an eye, he’s not a good man.”
Seeing he couldn’t watch a good show, Zhangsun Chong finally walked over and said with a smile: “His Highness didn’t kill all those people to the last man. Actually, fewer than ten people died. The origin of the matter was His Highness wanted to drive those people out of the palace. Who knew those people would say that without His Majesty’s edict, they wouldn’t leave? As a result, Hei Chi Changzhi used force. Those people weren’t weak either, and they started fighting.”
“You know, those people have high martial arts skills. Hei Chi Changzhi couldn’t beat them, so he used firearms. Firearms, well, that thing has no accuracy. Then the great fire appeared. Seeing the fire start, those people knew they’d caused great trouble and quickly surrendered to fight the fire. The result—haha—in the fifth month, Heaven is dry and the earth parched. How could they possibly extinguish a fire started by firearms? Then it became a conflagration spreading through connected camps.”
“These words are true. Those people are still in the dungeon. Pull one out and question him and you’ll know. In my view, Hei Chi Changzhi’s death was deserved. Using firearms in the palace—if he died, he died. Yun Ye, you take those people back to Yushan City and hand them over to His Majesty. Conveniently help His Highness the Crown Prince apologize. You’re most favored by His Majesty. You should have this much ability, right?”
“Dugu Mou, go bury Hei Chi Changzhi, pacify the common people, issue a proclamation. As for Hei Chi Changzhi, just act as if this person never existed in the world. I’ll lead the Ministry of Works’ craftsmen and seize the time to clear the ruins. One month from now we’ll start building the new palace. Let’s quickly turn this page. My heart is in turmoil. If there’s any further incident, the Great Tang will truly be in trouble. Your Highness, do you see—is this arrangement acceptable?”
Li Chengqian looked again at Hei Chi Changzhi on the ground, waved his hand meaning to proceed according to what Zhangsun Chong said. Now maintaining stability was the best method. Who could have imagined that a matter as ordinary as could be would actually provoke such severe retaliation from the Emperor? Li Er was clearly already a setting sun in the western mountains, yet his tiger’s authority still would not tolerate offense.
The dungeon—that is, the place where Li Zhi had previously stayed—was now packed full of singed and battered eunuchs. These eunuchs all knew martial arts, quite a few were masters. Seeing Yun Ye arrive, a large group knelt down begging the Duke of Chu to save their lives. Some with harder temperaments still sat cross-legged in their cells, as if resigned to their fate, waiting to be beheaded.
“Get up and come with me! Are you all dead people? Someone told you to scram, you just scram and that’s that. You actually dared to stand in confrontation? Now it’s fine—Taiji Palace and Wude Hall are completely destroyed. Come out with me to receive punishment.”
An old eunuch with a face full of soot and ash, his features impossible to distinguish, suddenly opened his mouth and asked: “Exactly to whom are we apologizing? If we’re going to Yushan City to apologize to His Majesty, this old slave naturally dares not refuse. If we’re apologizing to the Crown Prince, please have the Duke of Chu execute this old slave right now.”
Yun Ye laughed aloud, pointing at that old eunuch and saying: “Your face is so pitch-black I can’t even distinguish who you are, but these words still show quite some backbone. Keep them to say before His Majesty. Whether you can keep your life depends on His Majesty. Let’s go. Clean yourselves up, wash your faces. You may not care about face, but the empire still cares about face. Is it pleasant for outsiders to say the imperial family is engaged in internal fighting?”
When leading these people out, Yun Ye went to see Li Chengqian again. Discovering this fellow was still somewhat despondent, he tapped the desk and said: “Don’t be dissatisfied. This time, Zhangsun Chong rarely came up with a good idea. Now you only need to manage your national affairs well. You’ve waited forty years—is waiting another half year really so difficult?”
“Do you know the current situation is much better than we previously imagined?”
Li Chengqian drank a cup of wine and said to Yun Ye: “I didn’t expect Father Emperor’s counterattack would be so severe!”
“Is this your first day knowing your old man? What kind of person is he? A figure like an eternal emperor! In my view, far more formidable than Emperor Wu of Han, almost comparable to Qin Shi Huang. I’m merely a son-in-law and have been severely brutalized. That you’re his son and haven’t died—consider your life blessed. When there’s nothing to do, don’t provoke him. When people get old, their thoughts become strange. Just guard against him and do your own business.”