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Li Yuan raised his cup and said, “Zhen [I, imperial use] salute all qing [subject] with one cup!”

All the people in the palace hall responded with a loud roar; following the example, they drank their cups in one gulp.

Ge Suwen laughed and said, “The performance just now, was it the Hu Xuan Wu [hu (barbarian/non-Han) whirling dance] from Qiuci?”

Li Yuan cheerfully said, “Dashuai’s [lit. great/grand commander] discerning eye did not err, it was indeed the Hu Xuan Wu of Qiuci. Only it has been somewhat enhanced, compiled and edited by the masters. The Qiuci song lyrics have also been translated into Han language.”

Turning to Kou Zhong he asked, “Shaoshuai‘s trip outside the Great Wall, I wonder if you also went to Qiuci?”

The mention of Qiuci stirred up Kou Zhong’s memory of Ling Longjiao, hence his mind was wandering. Hearing the question, he was slightly startled; shaking his head, he said, “I missed that opportunity!” foxswuxia.wordpress.com

Ge Suwen spoke indifferently, “Shaoshuai seems to have something in your mind. I wonder if you, just like Suwen, are speculating about the master that Bixia [His Majesty] was referring to, unexpectedly able to choreograph such a splendid singing and dancing piece?”

Kou Zhong mused, ‘Here it comes!’ Since Li Yuan introduced he and Ge Suwen to each other, the other party has been polite, naturally it was just a formality [orig. shop front effort], and now he finally came around to provoke him, Kou Zhong.

Hastily composing himself, he replied, “Hearing Dashuai’s comment, Xiaodi’s curiosity is piqued as well, I want to know which this divine figure is this gentleman?”

Actually, he already guessed that it was Shang Xiufang’s creation, but he did not lay it bare.

Ba Fenghan spoke in astonishment, “Fazhu seems to be holding the climax on purpose, am I right?”

Li Yuan smiled and said, “Ba Xiansheng did not guess incorrectly, that is indeed so. It is a pity that she is absent tonight, otherwise we could ask her to appear and enlighten us.” [Note: the word I translated as ‘enlighten’ is the same word refering to ‘preaching (religion)’.]

Ge Suwen’s pair of eyes revealed worshiping and admiring look, he sighed and said, “No doubt that must be Xiufang Dajia.”

Separated by Li Jiancheng, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling exchanged glances, both were thinking that Kou Zhong had one more ‘rival in love’.

Ge Suwen cast his gaze at Kou Zhong again, his pair of slender eyes narrowed into two slits, emitting rays of light swifter and fiercer than saber blade, arrow and dart; he spoke calmly, “This time I, Ge Suwen, make light of traveling a thousand li coming to the Central Earth, it is to fulfil a big wish in my heart, hoping to have the opportunity to experience the ‘Heavenly Saber’ Song Que’s brilliance, to see how the Heavenly Saber has reached perfection? I wonder if Shaoshuai could help Suwen fulfilling this big wish?”

On the main banquet table, from Li Yuan all the way down, everybody’s smile vanished; the crow and peacock made no sound.

At this time, Wei Gonggong came to ask for instructions, as soon as Li Yuan gave his nod, the cabinet ministers such as Pei Ji, Feng Deyi and the others would lead the crowd of ministers to propose a toast, but Li Yuan signaled him with his hand, telling him to retreat.

Kou Zhong’s gaze turned sharp, he met Ge Suwen’s gaze, with a smile yet not a smile, with an air of displeasure. foxswuxia.wordpress.com

Ba Fenghan sneered in displeasure, he said, “Why did Dashuai challenge Shaoshuai in a roundabout way?”

Xu Ziling understood the meaning behind Ba Fenghan’s words best. Ge Suwen’s scheming ability was indeed outstanding, if he directly challenged Kou Zhong, Kou Zhong could refuse, and then Ba Fenghan or Xu Ziling could go down the arena on his behalf. But by only challenging Song Que, since Kou Zhong was Song Que’s future son-in-law, he was the only one with the qualifications to act on Song Que’s behalf, other people’s interference would become meddlesome. Ba Fenghan expressed his dissatisfaction because he missed the opportunity to fight hand to hand against Ge Suwen.

Li Shimin looked at Li Yuan first, seeing his brows deeply furrowed, he turned to Ge Suwen sitting beside him, and spoke calmly, “There’s one thing that Shimin don’t understand, I wish to consult Dashuai.”

With Li Shimin’s status and reputation, no matter how unwilling, Ge Suwen could not ignore him, thereupon he smiled and said, “How could I dare? Qin Wang

, please give advice.”

Li Shimin’s interruption greatly diminished the tense atmosphere.

Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji, and Li Nantian all appeared that they were paying attention, they wanted to clearly grasp the relationship between Li Shimin and Kou Zhong from this.

Remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos, Li Shimin said, “As far as Shimin knows, the Tujue Wolf Army’s threat to your distinguished country far exceeds the threat to our Central Earth Huaxia [old name for China]. At this moment, when inside and outside the Great Wall war could happen any moment, if Dashuai and Shaoshuai fight against each other, regardless of victory or defeat, inevitably one side will suffer damage, what good is that for Dashuai?”

Ge Suwen has not responded yet, Li Jiancheng, in anger and displeasure, frowned and said, “Qin Wang’s words are wrong. Bi Xuan Dashi was willing to come to Chang’an in person, it shows that even though there was misunderstanding between our Great Tang and the Tujue in the past, currently we have already forgotten previous differences, the big earth is returning to spring. If Qin Wang’s words spread outside, the consequences are too horrible to contemplate.”

Turning to Li Yuan, he said, “Fuhuang, please bestow instructions!”

This remark did not leave the slightest leeway, it carried a killing-Li Shimin-to-the-last-one attitude, and it indirectly attacked Kou Zhong, accusing him of coming to Chang’an to ruin the friendly relations being established between their Li Tang and the Tujue.

Immediately Li Yuan was trapped in difficult position left and right. If he supported Li Jiancheng, he would offend Kou Zhong. If he did not, he would offend the Tujue. And in his status as the emperor, no one could help him resolving this dispute, their allotted share was just to quietly wait for him to speak up.

Kou Zhong and the others began to understand the reasons why Li Shimin had always been at the disadvantage in the struggle within the imperial court, it was because Li Jiancheng indeed had a set of skill, he knew how to decipher the dragon’s intention better than Li Shimin. foxswuxia.wordpress.com

Li Yuan was, after all, someone who was accustomed to seeing the big picture. His countenance solemn, he said, “Er Huang’er [the second emperor’s son] is talking about the current situation, while Da Huang’er [the first emperor’s son] is referring to the development of the situation, both have certain logical basis for it, there is no question of who is right or who is wrong. This matter is not suitable to discuss here, we’ll let it drop at this point.”

Han Chao’an was staring hatefully at Kou Zhong, hearing that, he spoke grimly, “Shaoshuai is not timid, is it?”

The refined light in Ge Suwen’s pair of eyes flashing, he shouted in displeasure at Han Chao’an, “How could Chao’an talk nonsense?”

Han Chao’an hung his head down, his face was like cicada in winter [mournful].

Ge Suwen put on a smile and explained to Li Yuan, “Suwen is not a brave man who loves fierce battle at all, only, just like Fu Dashi, I regard the saber technique as one kind of art, the ultimate beauty; like some people are pursuing rare paintings and calligraphy, hence unwilling to enter the treasure mountain and return empty-handed.”

Li Yuan sighed and said, “It does not matter which side suffer harm, that is the thing that I, Li Yuan do not want to see the most.”

Ge Suwen calmly said, “Suwen certainly wholeheartedly desire to experience the brilliant skills, but absolutely do not have the intention to distinguish life and death.”

Xu Ziling laughed indifferently, he said, “Dashuai has not yet answered Qin Wang‘s question.”

Li Yuanji could not help but intervene, “Fuhuang indicated that it is not suitable to discuss this issue on the banquet table. I wonder if Xu Xiansheng ask for Dashuai’s guidance at another occasion?”

He and Li Jiancheng echoed one another. This remark seemed to be addressed to Xu Ziling, but secretly the spearhead was pointed at Li Shimin, to remind Li Yuan who was the main culprit.

Xu Ziling spoke slyly, “Is Qi Wang asking me in retrospect?”

Immediately Li Yuanji was at a loss for words, because he was asking after Kou Zhong and Ge Suwen had fought, at that time, the rice has already been cooked, what was the sense in speaking?

Laughing involuntarily, Kou Zhong said, “Frankly speaking, having the opportunity to fight hand to hand and exchange blows against Ge Dashuai is indeed a pleasure in life, but it is definitely not a touch-and-stop, the defeated side will definitely have his might greatly reduced, perhaps if not death then injury. Therefore, Qin Wang’s remark is very reasonable. After clarifying Dashuai’s intentions first, fighting will be a bit more straightforward. Don’t Dashuai think so?” foxswuxia.wordpress.com

Ge Suwen’s eyes became even swifter, fiercer and sharper, but the tone of his voice was surprisingly relaxed. He smiled and said, “For me, Ge Suwen, the pursuit of saber technique not only transcends personal gratitude and grudges, honor and disgrace, it transcends the issue of struggle, strength and weakness between nations. If Shaoshuai

doesn’t have this kind of aspiration, how could you be worthy of being the Central Earth’s most outstanding saber technique great expert after the ‘Heavenly Saber’ Song Que?”

Kou Zhong stretched his limbs, he smiled and said, “Dashuai praises me, this Xiaoshuai, too much [da and xiao mean big and small, respectively]! My saber technique is only used to deceive people who don’t understand saber. Xiaodi’s aspiration cannot compare with your, Laoxiong’s grandeur even more.”

And then he leaned forward slightly; meeting Ge Suwen’s sharp gaze, he said, “Don’t say that I am bluffing, if you and I are going down the arena to move sabers and come to the palace courtyard for a contest, his Niang’s! There’s definitely no such thing as touch-and-stop. Life or death, victory or defeat will be decided in a few saber strikes.”

He leaned back into the chair, smiled and said, “Therefore, it is said that a gentleman uses his mouth and not his fist. Your, LaoGe’s Han language is more refined than mine, you ought to understand the meaning of this saying.”

These remarks displayed Kou Zhong’s consistent style and the getting-more-powerful-when-meeting-the-powerful heroic qualities, brimming with Jianghu flavor.

A burst of uncomfortable feeling suddenly welled up in Xu Ziling’s heart, he was certain that it was not because of the unavoidable palace courtyard competition against Ge Suwen, but he could not tell a better reason, so he could not help but wonder.

Immediately Ge Suwen became the target of multiple arrows. Everyone wanted to see how he responded, only to see a smile escaped from the corners of his mouth, which gradually grew and turned into a brilliant smile. He spoke cheerfully, “As long as Shaoshuai is willing to bestow some face and impart your wisdom to me, how could I, Ge Suwen still have the leisurely mood to bother about life or death, victory or defeat?”

Kou Zhong’s pair of eyes turned bright, he was about to speak.

‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’

Everyone was stunned, their countenance changed, instinctively they looked to the west of the palace hall at the same time, because the series of explosions were coming from the west outside of the Taiji Palace Hall; it was quite close.

The entire Taiji Palace Hall suddenly was so quiet that the crow and peacock made no sound, the sound of a needle falling would have been heard, yet no one knew what was going on.

‘Boom!’

There was another explosion, and then outside the palace hall there was a boiling cauldron of voices [idiom]. foxswuxia.wordpress.com

Li Yuan stood up abruptly and shouted sternly, “What happened?”

Only to see Cheng Mo, flustered and exasperated, pounced into the palace hall, straight toward the steps, crouched down in front of it and spoke with trembling voice, “Reporting to Huangshang, the Qing Liang Zhai [lit. clear and cool building (usually religious, maybe similar to a chapel)] northwest of Yeting Palace suddenly exploded and caught fire!”

Hearing that, Xu Ziling, Kou Zhong, Li Shimin, Li Shentong, and Ba Fenghan, five men looked at each other in dismay, they cried, ‘Bad!’ inwardly. Although they were still unclear of what was happening, they knew that it must be the enemy’s doing.

Xu Ziling swept his gaze around at Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, they were exchanging a pleased-with-themselves expression surreptitiously.

By the time everybody spurred their horses to rush to the scene, the Yeting Palace’s Qing Liang Zhai had become damaged-roof-ruined-walls, only the poisonous black smoke was still rising [orig. the soul of a deceased has not yet dispersed (idiom)], the imperial bodyguards in the palace poured water to fight the fire, gradually the smoke disappeared.

After Li Yuan got off the horse, his face ashen, he started blankly at the disaster site after the catastrophe, so that people knew that another storm was brewing in his heart, which could erupt at any time.

Behind him stood Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, Ba Fenghan, Li Shimin, Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji, Li Shentong, Li Nantian, Wei Gonggong, Cheng Mo, Dugu Feng, and so on, while farther away were the various generals of the Heavenly Policy Mansion who rushed over to the disaster site one after another.

And thus the state banquet was chopped in half at the waist due to the sudden disaster. At Kou Zhong’s insistence, Li Yuan reluctantly agreed to let them, three men, to come with him, while others, such as Ge Suwen and the others, left on their own.

The disaster this time was obviously caused by firearm explosion. In term of scale, it could not compare to Li Jiancheng’s East Palace big explosion, but it was still big enough to destroy the entire Qing Liang Zhai, along with burning more than a dozen large trees nearby.

Seven corpses were excavated and were laid up in a row on the ground; they were burnt like coke, hard to identify.

Li Shimin’s pair of eyes shot an expression of disbelief, his face was like dead ashes, as he stared blankly at the big tragedy that had happened in his own domain.

Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, and Ba Fenghan you looked at me I gazed at you, they had a faint feeling that it was Jiancheng, Yuanji and the others’ malicious scheme of a tooth for a tooth, using a batch of surplus firearms they did not know about, creating the tragedy before their eyes to frame Li Shimin. Furthermore, they were certain that before the explosion the maids and servants inside the building [zhai] have been killed by their lackeys. foxswuxia.wordpress.com

They wanted to comfort Li Shimin, yet they were unable to utter anything.

His gaze fixed on the disaster area, Li Yuan spoke heavily, “What is this all about?”

Li Shimin took a step forward to come behind him, he spoke in grief, “Child does not know, really don’t know.”

Li Yuan muttered, “You don’t know? Really don’t know?”

And then, like a whirlwind he turned his dragon’s body around, the blaze in his pair of eyes burned into the sky, suddenly he spoke furiously, “Whose place is this, you unexpectedly said you don’t know and push all responsibilities away one and all? Obviously there are a large quantity of firearms hidden in here, and you still tell me you don’t know. Quickly own up to the fact.”

Li Shimin dropped down on his knees and cried out sadly, “Child really does not know the facts, Fuhuang please note clearly.”

Rage welled up in Kou Zhong’s heart; Li Yuan blamed Li Shimin like this in front of them, three outsiders, not leaving the slightest amount of leeway.

Li Yuan’s face was as cold as water, word after word burst forth from the gap between his teeth as he spoke in heavy voice, “The facts are there, how could there be any room for quibble? Just today Zhen have repeatedly urged that you, brothers to be kind and love one another, ay!”

After a short pause, he went on, “Do you want me to serve you with the family law [rules and discipline that apply within a family] before you are willing to tell the truth? Ay! The Li Family is unfortunate, unexpectedly we produced such a rebellious child. Toward your past conduct and deeds, Zhen have made supreme effort to tolerate. Considering time and again you rendered meritorious military service, I did not bother about you, who could have thought that unexpectedly you change to become more severe, concealing firearms, conspiring illegally. Are you even unwilling to let Zhen off?”

Li Shimin knocked his forehead on the ground, he cried in distress, “If Child has this intention, let the heaven punish and the earth exterminate Child and die. Child is completely without any knowledge of these firearms, heaven and earth can be my witness.”

Xu Ziling looked at Jiancheng, Yuanji. Although the two men were silent without speaking, they both had triumphant expressions in their eyes.

Even with such an apathetic personality, he still felt indescribable grief and indignation, Li Shimin, who bore the brunt, need not be mentioned. Why did Li Yuan this generous to that but unkind to this? He did not mention a single word about Li Jiancheng keeping firearms in his private possession, but he blamed Li Shimin so heavily. Without even listening to Li Shimin’s explanation the slightest bit, he stubbornly decided that Li Shimin’s intentions were unruly; it was indeed too much. Only regretfully with their status as outsiders, under the circumstances, they did not have any qualifications to speak up and offer an opinion. foxswuxia.wordpress.com

Li Yuan looked down at the kneeling-on-the-ground Li Shimin, his face alternated between bursts of red and white, while his chest fluctuated indeterminately with rage. Suddenly he pointed his halberd fingers and spoke sternly, “Get lost to the Hong Yi Palace for Zhen. Without Zhen’s permission, you are not allowed to step out of the palace gate for even half a step, wait for your punishment.”

Kou Zhong and the others secretly breathed a sigh of relief, as long as Li Yuan did not immediately execute Li Shimin on the spot, they still had a chance to redress the lost game.

Jiancheng, Yuanji’s move was indeed formidable, attacking them that they had no time to deal with it.

On the way back to the Xing Qing Palace, the three men inside the carriage were in a heavy mood, yet because the Tang Army escorted them in front and behind, it was inconvenient to talk, they had no choice but to temporarily sealed it inside their heart.

The first day in Chang’an, already twists and turns were coming one after another, the last one being Li Shimin brutally framed-up, not to mention that later in the zi hour [11pm – 1am] they were going to see Fu Cailin, good or bad luck was still difficult to foresee.

It was only this moment that they began to realize how difficult their opponents were. Long before they arrived in Chang’an, Jiancheng’s party had already drawn up a comprehensive plan to deal with them. Plus Li Shimin was readily available to take the blame, which made them having their hands bound and were unable to do anything about it even more, they had the power but difficult to use it, unable to move a single step.

Time passed in heavy pressure. After returning to Xing Qing Palace, the three men went to the highest floor of Shuang Hui Lou [Double Splendor Building] to talk.

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “What do we do? If Li Yuan uses this excuse to send Li Shimin away to the western border, the various generals of the Heavenly Policy Mansion under his command would be divided to Jiancheng and Yuanji. The only way we could deal with it was to slip away immediately and slowly plan follow-up strategy.”

Ba Fenghan spoke heavily, “This must be Jiancheng and Yuanji’s idea, and they surely recruited the imperial concubine party to lobby Li Yuan. The most frightening thing is that from Li Yuan’s standpoint, this is the best way to solve the separating wall problem between brothers, once the main problem is solved, all troubles are solved.”

Frowning, Kou Zhong said, “Shall I come forward and point out that without Li Shimin providing assistance in military affair, we will cancel the alliance proposal?”

Ba Fenghan sighed and said, “In that case, the fantasy that often appears in your brain about five hundred saber and axe wielders pouncing from the left and right will become a reality.”

Kou Zhong dejectedly said, “You are right! Ay! His granny’s bear, how could it suddenly become like this?”

Ba Fenghan said, “Li Jiancheng is very capable, unexpectedly he could came up with such a malicious trick.”

Xu Ziling said, “We’d better check this point, to see if there is still a third batch of firearms. Ay! The top priority before our eyes is to prevent Li Yuan from using this as a pretext to execute Shimin Xiong.” foxswuxia.wordpress.com

Ba Fenghan said, “In addition to this problem, there is still a possibility that can’t be worse. Let Ziling tell you! He was the one who thought about it.”

Kou Zhong’s countenance changed, he said, “Please consider my ability to bear it. His Niang’s! Speak up!”

Thereupon Xu Ziling expressed his suspicion about Wanwan in fives and tens [idiom: to narrate systematically and in full detail]. Finished listening, Kou Zhong’s countenance became so unsightly that it could not possibly be worse.

After muttering to himself irresolutely for a long time, Kou Zhong’s palm slapped the center of the small table by his side, he screamed, “Li Shimin fell into someone’s trap, we also fell into someone’s trap. Nine out of ten, Ziling’s analysis is right. This is called rivers and mountains are easy to change, it is hard to change human nature, Wanwan practically has never changed, what has changed is only the means. Is there any way to dig her mole out of the palace?”

Recovering his calm, Ba Fenghan said, “This is definitely not a moment of self-pity [orig. to repent and redress one’s errors], we must first make a contingency plan, otherwise Chang’an will be the place where our bones are buried; there is no other possibility.”

Xu Ziling nodded and said, “Things have slight or important, urgent or non-urgent [idiom]. First of all, we must try to lighten Li Yuan’s punishment to Shimin Xiong, other things we can take our time in making a decision.”

Shaking his head, Kou Zhong said, “Based on Li Yuan’s contradictory character, the punishment to Li Shimin for should not be decided in a rush within one or two days, because it will have an unimaginable impact on the troops’ heart. I think the most urgent matter is to deal with Shi Zhixuan, to cut off Wanwan’s greatest support. Shi Zhixuan is the thorn on our backs. One day we have him glaring like a tiger watching his prey in the dark, we can forget about being able to sleep peacefully. The explosion and big fire at the Ye Ting Palace are so brilliant that it makes people’s heart tremble, it’s not like something that Jiancheng and the others’ brains can conceive; it’s comparable to Shi Zhixuan or Wanwan’s tricks.”

Ba Fenghan stood up and said, “Now it’s best to put everything aside, sit quietly for his granny’s one or two sichen, and then go visit your Shigong in optimal condition, otherwise, tonight, you will not be able to sleep even more.”

Wang Xuanshu climbed up the stairs and said, “Hou Ye is here!”