Standing atop the ramparts of Chang’an City, his armor clanging resonantly, Yun Ye paid no heed to his cloak fluttering in the wind as he persisted in completing his inspection of Chang’an’s defenses alongside Wang Cai. Though this was the most secure defensive position in all the realm, Yun Ye dared not be the slightest bit careless.
Verification, enumeration, identification—all of this needed to be completed in an instant, testing a great general’s discernment and judgment. Yun Ye would never be like Yuchi Jingde, who would casually execute suspects without even asking questions. However, no matter what, he wanted to know why the commander of Kaiyuan Gate, which bordered Puning Ward and Yining Ward, was actually someone he didn’t recognize.
As Minister of War, it was impossible not to know the names of commanders at the three capitals and at certain important strategic passes. This was part of the Minister of War’s duties and subjects requiring special attention. Now something strange had emerged—who was Gong Wenxiu? Why had he become the commander of Kaiyuan Gate?
If he hadn’t conducted a thorough review this morning, Yun Ye would never have discovered this unfamiliar name. Fifteen days ago, the commander of Kaiyuan Gate had still been Dugu Qiu. The fellow who could replace someone from the Dugu family—Yun Ye very much wanted to make his acquaintance.
The Emperor was absent, Li Tai had vanished without a trace, and he himself was the commander of Chang’an City. After learning all the details, Yun Ye ordered the execution of sixteen people, including this Gong Wenxiu!
He then mobilized the city defense forces to conduct large-scale searches of Puning Ward and Yining Ward, ferreting out over one hundred and ten suspicious individuals. Di Renjie was conducting interrogations through the night, and Yun Ye strictly ordered that not a single person be released.
After reading Yun Ye’s memorial, Zhangsun said helplessly: “There’s no need for this. It’s not just one or two people from Wa who have become subjects of Great Tang—you can’t kill them all, can you? Ever since that person called Inugami Mitasuki and Medicine Master Huiri came to Great Tang in the fourth year of Zhenguan, envoys from Wa have never ceased coming. Later, Takamuku Genri brought a large group of Wa nobility’s sons to Chang’an, and people from Wa have been arriving in an endless stream. Now many of them hold posts throughout Great Tang’s territories, each one conscientious and diligent. Why would you kill them?”
Yun Ye cupped his hands and said: “Kishi Nagatatsu assumed the false name Gong Wenxiu and guarded Kaiyuan Gate without a Ministry of War transfer order. The Dugu clan privately transferred authority, allowing a retainer to substitute for such an important position—this is already a capital offense. Dugu Qiu abandoned his post without authorization, merely because he wanted to go hunting in Hu County, daring to disregard the great gate of the imperial capital. This humble subject very much wants to go to the Dugu household and ask their venerable ancestor: is this how they instruct their descendants? Since he doesn’t take the nation’s gate seriously, then he must be prepared for others not to take his life seriously.”
“This humble subject knows deeply that I am not a renowned general like Duke Wei or Duke Ying. The only thing I can present to others is my adherence to regulations—this is this humble subject’s magic weapon for defeating enemies. Therefore, I never dare to slack off in the slightest.”
Zhangsun suddenly sat bolt upright on her couch and asked Yun Ye: “What have you done to Dugu Qiu? Don’t tell me you’ve killed him too?”
Yun Ye raised his head to glance at the sun outside the hall and said to Zhangsun: “The three hundred cavalry from the Ministry of War should have reached Hu County by now. The order this humble subject gave was: bring back his head!”
Zhangsun rose from her couch, hastily summoning eunuchs to ride swift horses without stopping for even a moment to Hu County, hoping they could find Dugu Qiu before the Ministry of War cavalry and save his life.
“You, oh you! This time you’ve caused great trouble. Before the great change at Xuanwu Gate, His Majesty made an agreement with the Dugu family that in this lifetime he would never arbitrarily execute a single Dugu person, but would only reward and never punish them. This was in exchange for the Dugu family’s vigorous support of His Majesty after Xuanwu Gate. And the Dugu clan has been very peaceable these years—no one from the family holds high office at court. Apart from Dugu Mou being Marquis of Yunzhong, even those who do serve in official positions are mostly young descendants with generally low ranks. Why do you think Dugu Qiu dared to act this way? It’s precisely because he relies on this agreement. Even if he deserves death, he can only be handed over to the Dugu family for their own disposition. His Majesty would never punish anyone from the Dugu family.”
“The Dugu family has a sparse lineage. Besides the clan head Dugu Mou, only this Dugu Qiu remains. In earlier years, Dugu Mou was as unscrupulous as you. Later, however, he battled Xie Li at Mount Eyang and three times repelled Tubo attacks. His Majesty greatly praised him, once saying: ‘The Dugu clan produces heroes generation after generation. For Great Tang, seventeen men of the Dugu clan died on the battlefield, leaving only Dugu Mou as a single seedling, resulting in his being pampered and spoiled in childhood, arrogant and domineering, becoming one of Chang’an City’s famous profligate sons…'”
Speaking to this point, Zhangsun glanced at Yun Ye and said: “How strange—you’re a profligate, Dugu Mou is also a profligate, yet why have you rarely had any contact? By rights, you two should have a good relationship. Why did you strike with lethal intent this time?”
Having the Empress bring up his past, Yun Ye looked thoroughly embarrassed. After hesitating for a long while, he finally said: “He beat up Chumo and threw me in the river.”
Zhangsun raised her head toward the ceiling, laughed twice with a “ha ha,” and then said: “Then just wait for Dugu Mou to throw you in the river again! With the Dugu family, His Majesty speaks to them of loyalty and affection, not national law.”
“You were present the day the Retired Emperor passed away, weren’t you? You should know how intimate the Dugu family’s venerable ancestor was with the Retired Emperor. Now hurry and leave the palace. If Dugu Qiu isn’t dead, that’s one thing, but if he is dead, just wait for Dugu Mou to come find you. Even when Dugu Mou followed Hou Junji in rebellion, His Majesty didn’t move against him, but instead married Anyang to him. Think this through yourself—this matter is beyond my control.”
After leaving Liangyi Hall, Yun Ye went to the Left Martial Guard to find Cheng Chumo. This time it seemed he’d truly gotten into trouble—in disciplining the military, he’d disciplined right up to the tiger’s head. Very troublesome indeed.
“Dugu Mou? You’ve provoked him? That bastard, ever since he followed Hou Junji in rebellion and then sold out a whole bunch of people—quite a few he dealt with personally—you weren’t in the grasslands then, so you don’t know. This bastard is the type who turns his face and denies all recognition. One moment he’s calling you brother, the next moment he’s pulling a knife to kill people. Son of a bitch—in a single day, they say he killed until his eyes turned red. Only after marrying Anyang did he finally settle down, hiding at home raising children, no longer going out.”
The more Yun Ye thought about it, the more irritated he became. This was precisely the time when he shouldn’t have come into conflict with the Dugu family. Zhangsun Wuji was probably laughing himself to death. He had already formed a habit—whenever he donned armor, all his thinking patterns would immediately switch to military mode, not touching politics even slightly. This was a major shortcoming that absolutely had to be corrected.
“Ever since that fellow and I had a conflict while viewing pear blossoms at Xingqing Ward, there’s been no more contact. Back then you were beaten quite badly by him—even Xue Wanche went up and couldn’t get the better of this guy. But now that we brothers have already done the deed, we’re not afraid of him coming to make trouble. Worst case, prepare more fire-thunder bombs and knock him down first.” Yun Ye heavily slammed his fist on the table.
The cavalry sent out had been gone three days without a single bit of news—this was very wrong. Those cavalrymen, rather than being Ministry of War special envoys, were more accurately city defense troops. After thoroughly witnessing the Dugu family’s imposing authority, Yun Ye began to worry about those three hundred cavalrymen. The Dugu family’s estate was right there in Hu County.
Hu County itself was the imperial Shanglin Park and also the location of the national Zhongguan City mint. For years, Xinyue, with all her formidable connections, had wanted to obtain a plot of land by the East Lao River in Hu County to plant rice, but even with her far-reaching influence she hadn’t succeeded. Yet the Dugu family had an extremely large estate there. Marquis of Yunzhong Dugu Mou’s most important duty now was protecting the Zhongguan City mint. That Li Er would entrust such a crucial vital department to Dugu Mou showed just how highly he valued this fellow.
The soldiers sent to arrest Dugu Qiu returned, looking extremely wretched. After being captured by others, both men and horses had been deliberately starved for two days before being driven back.
For the Dugu family to act this way was unacceptable. If they had merely hidden Dugu Qiu, making it impossible for the soldiers to find him, that would be one thing. But to so brazenly defy military orders—this was no longer a matter of Yun Ye’s face, but concerned the dignity of military law. This thing could not be profaned!
Yun Ye looked at the military officer who had come to report and sighed deeply: “Request approval from the Wuli Commandant. The Left Martial Guard will deploy five hundred soldiers, fully armed, with three basic loads of firearms. This official will personally lead the team to arrest Dugu Qiu!”
Just as the Ministry of War was in complete chaos, Dugu Mou walked into the Ministry of War’s great hall. Looking at Yun Ye’s cold expression on the main seat, he said: “Are you truly going to kill Dugu Qiu?”
“Abandoning his post without authorization, privately transferring authority, treating military law as child’s play—Dugu Mou, if you were the commanding general, would you kill him or not?”
Dugu Mou wore a scholar’s blue robe, not even wearing fur in the depths of winter. Standing there with his back straight, he appeared refined and cultured. Combined with his distinguished appearance, no wonder the Emperor couldn’t bear to kill this fellow. Dugu Mou clasped his hands behind his back and admired for a while the green garlic that Yun Ye had planted in a pot, nodding and saying: “If a general under my command dared to do this, his corpse would have long since turned to earth.”
Having said this, he slowly walked to Yun Ye’s desk, resting his hands on it as he looked at Yun Ye and said: “However, this depends on the person. The Dugu family now has too few people—just two male descendants who cannot be killed. Even if Dugu Qiu is a wine sack and rice bag, he must still father sons and daughters for the Dugu family to continue the incense line. Your Yun family is down to you as a single seedling—tell me honestly, isn’t bearing sons and daughters also physical labor? Isn’t it tiring?”
“I’m not like you with so many wives. I have just one, and Ankang’s health isn’t good either. After bearing two children, she couldn’t bear more. So our venerable ancestor has placed all his hopes on him. If you want to kill him, you must wait until after he’s fathered eight or ten children, and then I definitely won’t say one more word. I’m here at Marquis Yun’s place to ask for this favor. Could it be you still remember the grudge from when I threw you into the stinking ditch years ago?”
“I know you’re now riding the tiger and can’t dismount. You and the Zhangsun family are fighting to the death—I won’t add to your troubles. Dugu Qiu’s post wasn’t something the Dugu family requested ourselves. His Majesty forcibly imposed it on the Dugu family. At the very beginning of his appointment, I told His Majesty that having Dugu Qiu as commander of Kaiyuan Gate was seeking death. His Majesty said to let him gain experience. So if something went wrong, go find His Majesty—you can’t pin it on Dugu Qiu.”
Yun Ye also stood up, looking at Dugu Mou and said: “I only ask one question: does the Dugu family have any connection with the Wa people?”