Book 60: Chapter 1: Journey to the Death

The joint fleet slowed down as it sailed towards Chang’an City along the Yong’an Canal.

Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, Li Shimin, and Ba Fenghan, four men stood side by side at the bow of the ship, preparing to disembark.

The grand city of Chang’an loomed just ahead, a symbol of the rise of a new era. Kou Zhong was deeply aware that the moment they entered the city, they would climb to the extreme peak of both their lives and undertaking, which would reach the end when they repelled the allied armies from beyond the Great Wall under Xieli’s leadership. Within this period of time, he must do his best to confront all the crises and challenges; no longer like before, where they could use all kinds of quick-witted crafty schemes, so much so that if they could not handle it they would simply run away – to meet any contingency. They could only rely on their own strength, any mistake or hesitation would not be allowed, just like a high-roller on the gambling table, who would bet everything on every game, any loss would mean that they would never be able to turn around.

Ba Fenghan looked up at the clouds floating in the blue sky; overwhelmed with emotion, he said, “From the moment we enter the city, Chang’an will become the center of everything that everybody, inside and outside of the Great Wall will raise his head and look up to. The success or failure it faces will dominate the rise and fall of various powers in the world, as well as the honor or humiliation of the peoples and nations; the impact is far-reaching. Thinking about it, it makes people’s thought to fly over, and give rise to a strange feeling like in a dream.”

Xu Ziling’s eyes in high spirits, he cast his gaze first to Kou Zhong’s impressive majestic new clothes that Song Yuzhi personally sewed for him, plus the sheepskin outer cape that was given by Chuchu, a hard to describe feeling welled up from the bottom of his heart, and then his gaze moved to Ba Fenghan; he laughed and said, “Fenghan rarely shows such emotional stirring; merely listening to these few sentences, people who don’t know your honorable self would think you are a melancholy and moody person.”

Blurted out laughing, Ba Fenghan said, “Melancholy and moody? Ha! Ziling thinks of me as a woman who’s touched by spring and grieved by autumn? Actually, what I was thinking of is Fu Cailin. I wonder what kind of thing is the Yijian Technique that made his name spread throughout the world?”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “You, LaoGe will be very clear about it really soon! The first thing we must do upon entering the city is to pay a visit to him, the Senior, to show my and Ziling’s respect. At that time, whether we are going to fight or to curse, it will depend on this Shigong [martial grand (as in grandpa) master’s] mood. Ziling! Am I right?”

Xu Ziling only responded with a wry smile. What he was thinking of was Shang Xiufang, he was secretly depressed endlessly on Kou Zhong’s behalf.

On the other side, Li Shimin’s expression grave, he said, “We each have our own feelings, but because of my situation is different, what I am facing is the struggle within my own family, hence my feeling is particularly heavy and profound. Listening to gentlemen’s chatting and joking just now, I suddenly felt a sense of apprehension and alarmed in my heart. We are entering the Pass today, although we are deeply in line with the ‘preparation before action, creating victory because of the enemy’ principle of the art of war, the fact is that victory or defeat still depends on whether we could ‘leave the camp and strike in orderly manner’, using the ‘we are focused the enemy’s divided’ momentum to achieved the goal. The original situation should be beneficial to our side, but because of the leaks, we are compelled to make this move of entering Chang’an publicly, which turned our operation from being in the dark to come out in the open, our advantages are nearly completely gone, only the treasure house move remains, while the opponent’s target is clear, before we launch the wonder troops, they fully grasp the initiative, which makes it difficult for us to predict the changes in the situation. Any fault, none of us can afford; therefore, hereby Shimin cannot help reminding gentlemen.”

Kou Zhong, three men, none was not emotionally moved; naturally not because they thought Li Shimin was timid because he spoke these words, because they knew what kind of person Li Shimin was. Speaking about thorough consideration, Li Shimin was actually a notch above Kou Zhong, he could make up for Kou Zhong’s shortcomings. He said these words at this time, it was precisely the ‘know oneself, know your enemy’ of the art of war, comparing the situation between the enemy and us, making Kou Zhong not to underestimate the enemy; because in the current situation, they were indeed caught in a passive and inferior position.

Xu Ziling’s eyes were fixed on the continuously-growing-bigger City of Chang’an ahead, he nodded and said, “Shimin Xiong’s words are thought-provoking; I have another feeling. The situation before my eyes is like a repeat of the situation in Longquan, which is known as the Little Chang’an, only the danger is far greater. At that time, we were in difficult situation many times, we nearly lost our life; therefore, we absolutely cannot deal with the present crisis with rough heart [carelessness].”

Smiling wryly, Li Shimin said, “Not that I suddenly pour cold water on you, but since Fuhuang is willing to let me personally welcome gentlemen into the Pass, I had an ominous feeling. This moment Chang’an is right before our eyes, this feeling is especially clear. Ay!

Astonished, Kou Zhong asked, “I wonder if Qin Wang could speak a bit more clearly?”

Li Shimin sighed and said, “If Fuhuang summoned me back to the capital first, and inquired clearly the relationship between me and you in person, it would show his sincerity in joining hands with you to resist foreign enemies together. Now it is clear that he believes that I have the heart to fight for the throne by borrowing you, hence he is completely standing on Taizi’s side. My guess is that the problem should be there’s no lack of people who know you in Chang’an, who know that based on your conduct, due to the blood enmity of Dou Jiande and Liu Heita, you would never compromise with Taizi and Qi Wang, plus you have always had a deep friendship with Shimin, hence helping me is only to be expected. Therefore, the risks after entering the city will be far beyond our estimation.”

Kou Zhong’s countenance changed, he said, “You, LaoGe are right, not only it is our own wishful thinking to be overly optimistic, we are also immeasurably self-satisfied by thinking that we can solve all problems with ease, while actually we practically have no way of settling everything.”

It was Li Shimin’s turn to be emotionally moved, he said, “I never thought that Shaoshuai would be this willing to accept Shimin’s opinions and thus let Shimin put down one of the loads in my mind.”

Greatly interested, Ba Fenghan said, “In that case, Qin Wang still has some concerns about Shaoshuai, you might as well say it, Shaoshuai will definitely be open-minded in receiving the instruction, because I know his conduct well.”

Li Shimin recovered his calm, he smiled and said, “I do have another thing on my mind. I’m afraid that Shaoshuai’s attention will be entirely focused on the ensuing battle on the plains against the allied armies from beyond the Great Wall, so much so that he will ignore the dangerous and treacherous changes that are beyond the scope of the current situation.”

Ba Fenghan’s eyes were fixed on Li Shimin, apparently he was greatly amazed at his sudden change in recovering his cool-headedness and calmness; nodding his head, he said, “After Qin Wang raised that point, I guarantee that none of us will dare to be negligent. If Lingzun [your esteemed father] is determined to make us not leaving Chang’an alive, after entering the city, it will certainly be difficult to move a cun, and might lose our lives at every turn, unable to foresee any changes. Any one of us sustaining an injury, it might affect the final outcome. Ha! Frankly speaking, I am greatly delighted to be in such a situation; it will be more exciting than a showdown on the battlefield.”

Kou Zhong laughed to his heart’s content and said, “I’m really glad that no one suggested that we turn around, which is saying that we have no other choice. This game has now reached the wanting-to-stop-but-can’t, no-turning-back state. His granny’s bear! Ye’ermen [old gentlemen] are here!”

The clamorous sound of drum music rose to sky, the joint fleet slowly entered the city via the Yong’an Canal. At the pier on the left bank, the crowds were surging, the banners were flying.

Li Yuan personally led the princes and dukes, cabinet ministers, civil and military officials to welcome them. With the Left and Right Yulin Jun [imperial bodyguards] acting as the guards of honor, they stood in formation from the dock all the way to the Vermillion Boulevard Gate; the troop arrangement was flourishing, completely putting the Great Tang’s might on display. The Chang’an City’s residents who were pleased beyond their expectations at Kou Zhong gracing them with his presence, thinking that peace and security were coming, lined the streets in welcome, striving for the opportunity to see Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling’s – whose names shook the world – elegant manner. The atmosphere was blazing and boiling, the multitudes came out from everywhere, emptying every alleyway [idiom: the whole town turns out].

‘Bang! Bang! Peng! Peng!’

The four firecracker towers, which height reached three zhang each, on either side of the bank, lighted up the firecrackers at the same time, bits of paper, smoke and fire filled the air, covering the sky above all the cheering crowd and the sound of the drum music.

The four men also seemed to smell the smell of gunpowder permeating the city of Chang’an, but just as Kou Zhong said, they had no way of turning back.

Kou Zhong was the first to disembark, Li Yuan stepped out of the formation to welcome Kou Zhong.

Kou Zhong noticed that he was wearing a warrior outfit, only there was an addition of outer cape with twin-dragon motif, carrying the lofty quality of the Great Tang overlord, inwardly Kou Zhong felt a sudden shock, wondering if Li Yuan was going to do a military show of force to him? However, he put on a brilliant smile on his face, as he bowed in accordance with Jianghu rules of a junior paying his respect to a senior, “Wanbei [junior, lit. those who come after] Kou Zhong, came to Chang’an with a specific purpose in mind to wish good health and send my regards to Fazhu [Clan Master].”

Hearing that, standing behind him, Xu Ziling, Ba Fenghan, Li Shimin and others, looked at each other. Kou Zhong dealt with Li Yuan with this kind of flattering-openly-demeaning-secretly manner, if as soon as he met Li Yuan, he already offended Li Yuan, wouldn’t the coming days be more difficult to pass?

Hearing that, Li Yuan was slightly startled; he halted his steps while still three steps away, anger flashed in his pair of eyes but it passed in the blink of an eye. Laughing involuntarily, he said, “Shaoshuai made Li Yuan feel a bit like returning to the blood-staining-the-head-of-the-saber Jianghu life in the past. Ay! After sitting on the Tang master position, I lost too many things!”

Responding with a wry smile in deep sympathy, Kou Zhong assumed a dejected expression, he nodded and said, “Thank you very much for Fazhu’s guidance. After sitting on some pain-in-the-butt Shaoshuai whatever position, Wanbei has already tasted various feeling of without the freedom to act independently; therefore, this time I am here to solve the problem rather than adding to a difficult problem, I hope Fazhu and I will have the same way of thinking.”

Xu Ziling, three men came to their sense; they finally figured out the game Kou Zhong was playing. This is called to be put to death and coming back to life.

Kou Zhong was using this kind of words quite brimming with sharp, antagonistic overtone to deal with Li Yuan, the first person to receive the blame ought to be Li Shimin, because it was Li Shimin who called Kou Zhong. Precisely because of this, it would appear that Kou Zhong, with nonchalant attitude, really wished that Li Yuan would condemn Li Shimin, which would provide enough proof that Kou Zhong really did not want to secretly collude with Li Shimin. Otherwise, why would he want to harm Li Shimin?

The acclaims and cheers of the masses gradually faded, so that Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji, Li Shentong, Li Nantian, Yin Zuwen, Yuwen Shang, Pei Ji, and so on standing behind Li Yuan, none did not hear the exchange between Li Yuan and Kou Zhong clearly; although it sounded harsh, but this time Kou Zhong was coming to form an alliance and not to surrender at all. His words carried warnings, which put Kou Zhong’s tough distinctive character in full display.

Xu Ziling was paying attention to the expressions of the people behind Li Yuan. The core members of the princeling faction headed by Jiancheng and Yuanji, none did not reveal astonished expression; apparently they were a little bit unclear about the relationship between Kou Zhong and Li Shimin. Both Yuwen Shang and Dugu Feng [peak] fixed their gaze at Kou Zhong with wooden expression, only their two pairs of eyes shot profound enmity, which showed that it was difficult for them to forget old grievance. The more neutral cabinet ministers, such as Wen Yanbo, Liu Zhenghui, and the others, their hearts alarmed, their guts palpitating, they waited for Li Yuan’s response to Kou Zhong’s rather-heavy-with-provocative-overtone remarks. Yang Xuyan, Wang Bodang, Zhuge Dewei, and the others had deep grievances with them, yet none was in sight, they were not present.

Li Yuan revealed the elegant demeanor of his background as the Clan Master of a big clan, a family influential for generations; throwing his head back, he let out a long laughter and said, “Knowing someone by their reputation can’t compare to meeting them in person [idiom], seeing each other far surpasses hearing the name. Shaoshuai’s heroic, unyielding character makes people convinced. Li Yuan sincerely, acting on behalf of the Great Tang subjects, welcomes Shaoshuai’s honoring us with your presence, which will be written as an immortal chapter in our Central Earth’s history. As long as Shaoshuai is coming with sincerity, Li Yuan will definitely not let Shaoshuai return empty-handed.”

Hearing that, Xu Ziling cheered inwardly, Li Yuan’s response carried hard within the soft, his words carried play on words, without losing his identity.

He and Kou Zhong had once fought side by side with Li Yuan on the polo field, he knew that Li Yuan was not only not an ordinary scholar, but was also proficient in calculating and scheming, adept in techniques of winning by a surprise move; he must not be underestimated.

Kou Zhong shivered inwardly, knowing that the more Li Yuan was able to ‘tolerate’ him, the more he showed that he was harboring evil designs. Just like Li Shimin guessed, he had already stood on Jiancheng and Yuanji’s side, making their situation after entering Chang’an even more difficult.

Seeing that he already established a good standing, Kou Zhong calmly said, “Kou Zhong is here today to pay respects and send my regards to Fazhu, not for personal gains or losses, honor and disgrace, but for our Huaxia’s [old name for China] prosperity and decline. Fazhu, please note clearly.”

Li Yuan smiled and said, “What kind of person Shaoshuai is, whether friends or foes, all know clearly. Shaoshuai is coming from afar, Li Yuan only wants to act as the host, inviting Shaoshuai to raise your honored-self; let us drink and chat merrily after entering the palace, to increase the understanding between both parties as much as possible, and narrow the differences between you and me; why worry that big undertaking will not succeed?”

Kou Zhong hurriedly said, “If Fazhu does not mind, Kou Zhong would like to visit and meet Shigong first, to show respect toward him, the Senior, and then raise my cup and have a heart-to-heart chat with Fazhu to discuss the big plans?”

Stunned, Li Yuan said, “Shigong?”

Kou Zhong took a step forward; lowering his voice, he said, “My Shigong is Fu Cailin, Fu Dashi [great master]; Fazhu, please understand.”

Laughing in spite of himself, Li Yuan said, “It was me who’s muddle-headed! Shaoshuai is my Great Tang’s honored guest, naturally everything will be in accordance with your respected opinion. Li Yuan already made arrangement for Shaoshuai’s honored self to stay at the Chun Lin Xuan [lit. spring-is-about-to-arrive pavilion] of the Taiji Palace. I will get together with Shaoshuai tonight to talk in details while washing the dust from Shaoshuai’s feet.”

Kou Zhong lowered his voice a bit more, almost whispering, he said, “This kid is accustomed to coarse and wild life, I wonder if we could find another place outside the palace so that it will be convenient for us to stroll down the street for sightseeing, to give us freedom of action.”

Li Yuan began to understand Kou Zhong’s not-adhering-to-compass-and-set-square side. Unable to do anything about it, he said, “Xing Qing [lit. rising/flourishing celebration] Palace near the Chun Ming [Bright Spring (season)] Gate on the east side of the city has beautiful garden scenery. Shaoshuai, what do you think?”

Kou Zhong reached out with both hands, he laughed cheerfully and said, “Fazhu is indeed a good master who understands people. I offer best wishes for the success of our two armies’ cooperation.”

Li Yuan also reached out and clasped his hands tightly. The tens of thousands of people crowding the bank on either side saw from a distance the two men were talking endlessly, they were baffled. Now that they suddenly saw the two men’s four hands were grabbing each other, immediately deafening cheers exploded, their shouts, ‘Long live!’ shook the northwest corner of Chang’an City.

The drum music rang out at the same time, the reception ceremony has come to an end.

With the carriage at the front opening the way, Li Yuan personally accompanied Kou Zhong and the others back to the palace. Along the way, they received the cheers, which evolved from deep within their hearts – from the crowd lining the street. Wang Xuanshu and thirty Flying Cloud Guards, led by an appointed official, went to the Xing Qing Palace to make proper arrangements for Kou Zhong and the others’ stay.

The huge cavalcade of horse-drawn carriages entered the palace from the Vermillion Bird Boulevard, along the Heavenly Street, and passing through the traversing square. After entering the Cheng Tian Gate, Li Yuan originally wanted to accompany the three to visit Fu Cailin, but Kou Zhong tactfully declined, and thus Wei Gonggong assumed the heavy responsibility of escorting the three.

Li Yuan, Shimin, Jiancheng, Yuanji, and so on went back to their respective palaces, while one after another the crowd of the cabinet ministers went their separate way. Wei Gonggong personally led the way toward the Ling Yin Ge [towering relations (usually used in marriage) pavilion (usually two-storied)], located northeast of the Taiji Palace, where Fu Cailin was hosted.

It was obvious that the security inside the palace were heightened. When they arrived at the entrance to the courtyard wall of the Ling Yin Pavilion, the more than a dozen imperial guards escorting them stopped outside the gate, they did not accompany them into the Ling Yin Pavilion’s perimeter.

Wei Gonggong explained in a cordial and friendly manner, “We are honoring Fu Dashi’s wish, there are no guards inside the pavilion.”

Ba Fenghan blurted out without thinking, “Is Bi Xuan inside the palace?”

A condescending look flashed through Wei Gonggong’s pair of eyes, as if saying that Ba Fenghan did not have enough weight to inquire, but it quickly disappeared. Plastering a fake smile on his face, he nodded and said, “The place where Bi Dashi’s dharma-self is staying is the Lin Chi Xuan [lit. overlooking-the-pond pavilion (with a view)] on the south bank of Tao Chi [pottery/pleased pond] at the northwest corner of the Taiji Palace, the scenery is not inferior to Ling Yan [sic, yan – smoke, it was Ling Yin above] Pavilion, which shows Huangshang’s respect to the two Dashi.”

His spirit greatly aroused, Ba Fenghan laughed aloud and said, “Oh, Bi Xuan! We meet again!”

Without any trace of politeness, Kou Zhong asked, “I wonder if Xiang Yushan, that utterly disgraceful kid – is coming with that fellow Zhao Deyan?”

Wei Gonggong was stunned; hanging his head down, he said, “On that, Xiaoren is not too clear.”

Naturally the three knew that he was playing dumb; the most unique thing about Wei Gonggong was that he was a sage presenting as an ordinary person, with his rank as an absolute top martial art master, he disguised himself as a slave. The fact is that he was a formidable martial art master of the same caliber as You Pozi [granny] and Yuwen Shang.

Wei Gonggong evidently did not wish to dillydally with them much longer; bowing down, he said, “Shaoshuai, please!”

Kou Zhong took the lead to stride inside, taking in the whole beautiful scenery of the Ling Yan Ge at once.

Ling Yan Pavilion was a cluster of dian [palace hall], ge [two-storied pavilion], lou [multi-story building] and tai [terrace], built on the shore of an artificial lake, it appeared to be perching above the mist covered water. The lake water was turquoise, surrounded by swaying trees. A long bridge, several zhang long, spanned across the misty water extending all the way to the tributary, connecting the corridors and pavilions on the shore, straight toward the main gate of the Ling Yan Pavilion’s main building. The balcony reflected the light from the water, creating interesting reflections; the scenery was extremely beautiful.

The four men walked over to the head of the bridge. Suddenly a man stepped in the bridge and came toward them. Calling out from a distance, he said, “Isn’t it karma that separated by a thousand li, yet we meet together here? Yumeng [this ignorant one] is thinking of three gentlemen, unexpectedly just run into the three gentlemen head-on. Friends coming from afar, isn’t that a joy?”

Surprisingly, it was the meeting-face-to-face-on-a-narrow-path [idiom: enemies or rivals meet face to face] Huihe martial art master, the surviving member of evil former regime Da Ming Zun Jiao, Liexia, only to see him excited, in a hateful manner like he was meeting old friends, without the least bit of grudge, as if he knew perfectly well that under current circumstances, the three men could not do anything about him; it was very annoying.

Seeing him ostentatiously coming out to welcome them, Kou Zhong thought of Shang Xiufang’s relationship with him, immediately the fire was burning in his heart, but a smile was hanging on his face, as he casually said, “Lie Xiong hasn’t been slaughtered yet? It’s worthy of celebration.”

Liexia came straight to the three men, showing his signature devious smile, he said, “It’s all thanks to Shaoshuai’s flood of good fortune that Zaixia is still alive, healthy and merry. Oh! Xiufang Dajia thought that upon arriving in Chang’an, Shaoshuai would be so busy that you will be confused and disoriented, and not until the palace courtyard banquet tonight that she would have the opportunity to personally see Shaoshuai’s elegant manner. But now Shaoshuai is coming in to see Xiufang Dajia, I am sure that she will be pleasantly surprised.”

Even with Xu Ziling’s indifferent and unconfrontational style, he still could not help cursing Liexia in his heart. He deliberately mentioned Shang Xiufang, it was clear that he wanted to provoke Kou Zhong, implying that he and Shang Xiufang had a close relationship. He could not help butting in, “Lingjiaozhu [your esteemed cult leader] was strung through and filled with evil; were it not for Lie Xiong leaving one step earlier, you would have seen his end killing himself for dreading the punishment.”

Inwardly Kou Zhong and Ba Feng were pleased, they thought that if Xu Ziling’s remark did not hit Liexia’s vital part, then nothing would.

Hearing that, Wei Gonggong following behind them was completely at a loss. He only knew that the three men had a deep grievance, it would be difficult for this matter to end well.

Who would have thought that Liexia took a step forward, lowered his voice, and said, “Not concealing anything from three gentlemen, Dage, actually, I am very grateful for this. Zaixia has long had the heart to get away from the cult, only sadly there was no good way. Now that Da Ming Zun Jiao is like scattering cloud, vanishing smoke, whatever walking-in-error, stepping-on-mistake that Xiaodi did in the past, I am asking three gentlemen, Dage to show a lot of forgiveness, and allow me to start all over again.”

Hearing that, the three looked at each other in dismay, because they never expected that he would say something like this.

The refined light in Ba Fenghan’s pair of eyes was flashing, he let out a cold snort and said, “Shameless!”

Stunned, Liexia smiled bitterly and said, “However Ba Xiong wants to see Zaixia, there’s nothing Zaixia can do. Zaixia’s beautiful woman is waiting, please!”

And just like that, he walked through between the three men, passed by Wei Gonggong, even greeted him in loud voice, wishing him good health, deliberately teasing the three men.

Ba Fenghan withdrew his gaze from looking at his back as he walked farther and farther away, he spoke indifferently, “This kid is courting death; he is mine!”

Kou Zhong put his hand on his shoulder, and said with a laugh, “Be my guest; as a brother, how could I object? Come! I am afraid Shigong is waiting impatiently!”

The four men stepped onto the bridge, and walked towards the Ling Yan Pavilion’s main entrance.

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