Feng Shijin was nearly driven mad by the torment of unknown terror. He had never imagined that the Crown Prince would personally go to the military front himself. With this turn of events, could he still have any good days ahead?
The wealth and glory he had fantasized about had transformed into soul-snatching poison, and now he had no choice but to drink this poisonous brew. Ji Ganxiaoji had disappeared—whether he had already changed his name and fled into the wilderness, or was being tortured in the dungeons of the Bai Qi Si, either way his fate was grim. Feng Shijin couldn’t escape. He had actually wanted to flee, but with his elderly mother, wife, and children—a whole household of people—where could he go?
Treason had never been a minor accusation. If the Crown Prince had rebelled together with them and they had failed, he would at least have had the excuse of “unable to disobey superior orders.” But now the Crown Prince had never planned to rebel at all, which meant all the blame would fall on Hou Junji and people like himself who had tried to attach themselves to a rising power.
Hou Junji had put himself in shackles and was walking back to the capital from the grasslands on foot, awaiting judgment. Gao Shilian had dismissed his servants and remained alone in Luoyang, waiting for imperial wrath to descend. Although no uprising had occurred and no damage had been done to the Great Tang, the charge of treason had never required much evidence—the mere intent to rebel was enough to warrant the confiscation of property and extermination of one’s entire clan.
His Majesty was near Dengzhou, and the Wuli司马 from his own army had already taken over the main camp. Everything that had happened proved that crisis was approaching step by step.
His own life was no longer within Feng Shijin’s considerations. He had recently transferred his family assets, only hoping that the Emperor’s thunderous fury would fall on him alone.
“Master, is there truly no way to salvage this?” His wife, Liu Shi, entered the study carrying a wooden tray with food, looking at Feng Shijin with his bloodshot eyes—clearly another sleepless night—and asked carefully.
“What’s done is done. What can be done? What can be done!” Feng Shijin let out a long sigh and took the wooden tray from his wife’s hands, placing it on the desk. He and his wife had been childhood sweethearts, knowing each other since youth, falling in love as youngsters. Before they knew it, nearly thirty years had passed. Their two sons and one daughter were all clever and intelligent good children. He had participated in this great affair originally wanting to secure a higher and better status for the children. Instead, fate had played a cruel trick, and overnight he had lost everything.
“Why haven’t you left yet? Wenniang, take advantage of the darkness and hurry to your uncle’s house to hide. If you’re caught, put all the blame on me. Say that you and the children knew nothing. I created this evil, and I will bear it alone.”
“Master, how have you become so confused? When people are in trouble, where do they still have relatives? Uncle’s family has their gates tightly shut. I knocked for a long time and no one answered. They’re afraid of being implicated and won’t take us mother and children in. I’ve also thought it through—I’m not going anywhere. Only you and mother remain at home, and I can’t rest easy. If we truly cannot escape this calamity, then let our whole family go to the Yellow Springs together—at least we won’t be lonely on the road. I only feel sorry for our three children.”
Feng Shijin listened in a daze to his wife’s words. He raised his head to look at the ceiling, his fists clenched tightly, yet he could say nothing. When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter; when the wall collapses, everyone pushes—this was simply the truth of the world. He had expected too much from his relatives.
His elderly mother led the three grandchildren in. The old lady’s expression was calm as she served food to the children. Seeing the three children eating with such relish, her gaze became even more loving.
“Ciwu’er, when matters come to a head, one must have responsibility. You came from the Crown Prince’s Six Guards—thinking of the Crown Prince was originally your duty. Offering corrections and remonstrances is indispensable. Having received the prince’s favor, naturally you must be loyal in his service. The Crown Prince wanted to obtain greater power, and you, as his Left Tunwei Commander, would naturally be at the forefront. So the fault is not yours.”
“Now the Crown Prince is unwilling to let chaos befall the Great Tang and has escorted grain supplies to the military front—such a choice cannot be said to be wrong. It’s just that this makes things difficult for you, making you into traitors and rebels. Now that great disaster is imminent, those with backbone are more admirable than those without. So mother hopes you can be a person with backbone. You absolutely must not make wild accusations. Once you set that precedent, our whole family will lose even the slightest thread of survival.”
“Don’t panic and lose your composure. Perhaps His Majesty is waiting for you to make a mistake. Whether or not a son truly plotted against his father, it’s not a good thing for His Majesty either way. Since you haven’t actually rebelled, there’s no need to panic. Child, mother has lived through chaotic times. Living long in Chang’an, I’ve seen many families destroyed. Many households met with disaster precisely because they panicked and lost their composure. If the Bai Qi Si questions you, just speak truthfully. Don’t accuse anyone—only speak of your own affairs.”
Liu Shi also said softly, “Husband, this is a calamity for our whole family. Whether we can escape it or not, mother, the children, and I will always be with you.”
Feng Shijin nodded and picked up his rice bowl to begin eating. He ate three large bowls of rice in one breath, then drank a bowl of vegetable soup before putting down his chopsticks. He patted each of the three children on the head, paid respects to his mother, and with his wife’s help, dressed in his official robes. Since his position had not yet been stripped, he was still the dignified Left Tunwei Commander.
“In an environment full of ambitious agitation, conspiracy, and suspicion, whether one actively plots or keeps to oneself peacefully, no one can be guaranteed a relatively satisfactory outcome. Being killed or framed is commonplace—a normal peaceful death has instead become a rare exception.”
“So accusations, entrapment, and betrayal emerge one after another. Discover one point and you can pull out an entire thread. So, Chengqian, I don’t have much confidence in this Feng Shijin whom you rather like. What, even if he betrays you, you’ll only punish him alone? Naturally you can’t touch his family, but surely you need to take action against his subordinates, right? They’re all people from the Crown Prince’s Six Guards—it’s very necessary to purify your own ranks.”
Yun Ye rode his horse side by side with Li Chengqian on the road to Dengzhou. Li Chengqian didn’t believe that the Crown Prince’s Six Guards he had maintained for many years would be as Yun Ye described—randomly pull out anyone and they would betray him. He had far more confidence in his subordinates than Yun Ye did. Having obtained from his father the authority to reorganize the Crown Prince’s Six Guards, he also very much wanted to see if his subordinates were as unreliable as Yun Ye claimed.
The guard who had gone ahead to scout returned. Before he could make his report, Yun Ye asked with a smile, “Did Feng Shijin run away?”
“Reporting to Your Highness the Crown Prince, Feng Shijin is still drilling troops at the Left Tunwei.”
The guard ignored Yun Ye and still reported formally to Li Chengqian about the situation he had investigated.
“Are his family members there, or have they already disappeared without a trace?” Yun Ye asked persistently.
“His elderly mother, wife, and children are all there. He has only dismissed his servants.”
Hearing the guard’s report, Li Chengqian glanced at Yun Ye with a teasing look, pursed his lips, and ordered them to continue forward. Yun Ye’s guess had been wrong, which was somewhat embarrassing. He rubbed his nose and spurred his horse to catch up.
Finding two men from the Bai Qi Si, Li Chengqian ordered them to bring Feng Shijin back to a prepared dungeon. He sat in another room to listen to how Yun Ye would interrogate Feng Shijin. For Li Chengqian, this was a test—testing whether his Six Guards were loyal, and also making a summary of his years of leadership ability.
When the two warriors in black armor found Feng Shijin, he didn’t seem surprised at all. He asked them to show their credentials, arranged his military affairs, and then followed them onto a carriage. Since his eyes were blindfolded, he only remembered that the carriage traveled for a long time, passed through a busy market, went through a grove of trees, and along a bumpy path finally arrived at what seemed to be an orchard.
It was indeed an orchard. This scent was very familiar to Feng Shijin. When he was young, his family had also had such an orchard. He had caused plenty of mischief in the orchard as a child. It was now June—the fruit had not yet ripened and the blossoms had already fallen. Though his eyes were covered, Feng Shijin was very certain this was an orchard.
Led down a flight of stairs, the cloth over his eyes was pulled away. He rubbed his eyes and could finally see clearly the furnishings here: shackles, fire tongs, whips, wooden frames, and many strange and peculiar instruments of torture. Two burly men roughly removed his clothing and bound him to the wooden frame.
Feng Shijin stood like a wooden man, allowing the strong men to do as they pleased. He only turned his eyes toward the darkness—there was someone there. He could even sense that it was a pair of eyes without goodwill.
“I, Feng Shijin, am a court official. If I have committed an error, naturally the proper authorities will apprehend me. Why have you brought me to this place so furtively? Can the Bai Qi Si trample the laws of the state at will?”
“Feng Shijin, male, currently twenty-nine years old, rank: Left Tunwei Commander. Not bad, not bad. Feng Shijin, in eleven years to go from inherited rank of Captain to Commander is quite an achievement. Considering you are also an outstanding man, tell me your accomplices in treason, and this official will spare you from physical punishment. This way we both save trouble.”
A flat voice came from the darkness, its tone devoid of emotional fluctuation, wooden as a parrot’s mimicry. Hearing the two words “treason” in the speech, Feng Shijin sighed and raised his head to say, “This official holds fifth rank and was stationed in Dengzhou by imperial command. From last spring until this summer solstice, not a single soldier of my Left Tunwei has left the garrison. Where is there talk of treason? If you want to fabricate charges, why worry about finding a pretext? Whether it’s treason or not, His Majesty will naturally discern. You cruel officials, if you want to hear false accusations from my mouth, you’re dreaming foolishly.”
“Since the Zhenguan era, there have been frequent ailments from wind. When the various ministries present memorials, often the Crown Prince is ordered to decide them, and he always gives appropriate decisions. Therefore he participates in state governance… while His Majesty campaigns far away, this is precisely when the wise and ambitious rise up. Heaven opposes it—if one does not seize the opportunity, one will instead suffer from it! Feng Shijin, you should not be unfamiliar with these words, should you? Though our Bai Qi Si is overbearing, we never arrest people without evidence. With just this one statement, executing your entire family would not be unjust, would it?”
Feng Shijin’s face turned deathly pale. He hadn’t expected that even his private words with Li Anyan, Zhao Jie, and Du He urging the Crown Prince would be known to the Bai Qi Si. In an instant, all hope was lost. They truly had conclusive evidence, and he could not explain himself.
Only the Crown Prince, Li Anyan, Zhao Jie, and Du He knew of this matter. The Crown Prince wouldn’t speak of it. He himself hadn’t spoken. That meant among the remaining three people, there was a traitor. But who?