Book 59: Chapter 2: Launching the First Artillery Shell
The two boys stepped out of the guard house’s main hall, like a bird escaping from the cage, fleeing out to the sky, leaving from the side of the building and leaping over the wall.
Nearly half of the government offices in the imperial city were still brightly lit; the sound of joyous laughter and roaring shouts were heard amidst the whooshing cold wind, greatly reducing the somber and desolate, solemn atmosphere of the cold winter in the imperial city. As usual, the imperial palace did not hold a celebration of victory.
As they hid in the dark, Xu Ziling suggested, “After our true qi merged, your senses are more effective and sharper than mine alone. It would be better if I am responsible for supplying the true qi, and you, Dage are in charge of opening up a path; what do you think?”
Kou Zhong happily agreed, grabbing the hand that he offered, he laughed and said, “This time we are joining hands, united in common effort, not just in name only, but also in reality, calling his granny’s! The entire imperial city suddenly became completely within Xiaodi’s control.”
Xu Ziling reminded him, “Don’t act too big, let’s go!”
Kou Zhong pulled him to brave the wind and darted towards the Heavenly Street, which connected the Imperial Palace’s Chengtian Gate and the Imperial City’s main gate, the Vermillion Bird Gate. He suddenly stopped in the dark shadow of a government office, waiting for a group of patrolling troops to pass by, and only then he continued their journey. The two boys’ heart and mind were interlinked, they were moving in synch, as if they had become one person, soaring, moving, flashing rapidly like spirits and devils from the weak points and the gaps between the patrolling troops and standing guards, both covert and undercover. Occasionally they even flew on top of the government buildings, looking at the Imperial City’s imperial guards as nothing. The moon was dark and the wind was high, there was another kind of unspeakable excitement.
The most beneficial thing for them was that the garrisons of the Tang Imperial Palace were concentrated on the perimeter walls. Since they were coming in from the secret tunnel, they avoided the danger of breaking through this heavy defense. Moreover, their combined acute spirit gave them the ability that a capable person could not accomplish.
However, when they were crouching on the snow-covered roof tile of a government office in the southeast corner of the Imperial City, overlooking the East Palace across the traversing square, they still had the gazing at the ocean and lamenting their inadequacy [idiom: feeling powerless and incompetent], unable to have access to set their hands to it - disheartened feeling.
While admittedly the south main gate of the East Palace, Jia Fu [lit. auspicious happiness] Gate was heavily guarded, on top of the city walls, a guard stood at every few zhang intervals, not to mention there was the continuous patrolling troops and the tight copper saucepan [used for cooking food by day and for sounding the night watches during the hours of darkness], the defense was impenetrable.
The two boys stared fixedly for a moment, Kou Zhong sighed and said, “Even if we are willing to have a free hand, the risk of going back from the old road is not much lower than stealing into the East Palace. This time we have no room to advance or to retreat.”
In the whooshing cold wind, they still had to apply their power to suck their clothes to stick to their body, so as not to create unusual noise of the fluttering sleeves.
Xu Ziling spoke in low voice, “Now the northwest wind is blowing, and the wind lanterns on top of the city walls, none are not blown that they flicker between light and dark, which is of great help to our magnificent feat of crossing over the wall, as long as we make good use of a certain sudden gust of wind, perhaps we could smoothly cross this barrier.”
Kou Zhong spoke dejectedly, “The problem is that to enter the East Palace we still have to cross the absolutely-empty traversing public square. Unless all of the men guarding the city lose their eyesight, how could they not see us, two kids who had lost their heads?”
Xu Ziling spoke indifferently, “When the way exhausted, change will come, and change leads to clarity. To enter the palace from the traversing public square, we have to sneak across the public square and two high walls. That is not something that we need to take trouble in vain attempt. Supposing we walk from the outer wall near the top of the wall and stay close to the wall, what will happen? The attention of the guards on top of the wall is only focused on the ground outside the wall.”
Kou Zhong’s spirit greatly aroused, he said, “Good plan! Fancy that you are able to come up with it. The guards guarding the outer wall of course only pay attention to the place outside the wall, to guard against people coming close. This is called internal thieves are difficult to guard against.”
Xu Ziling said, “Come then! Even if we are discovered, slipping away will be a bit easier.”
When a team of patrolling troops walking through the horse lane along the outer wall has already passed, the two flashed out from the darkness of the government building, in the blink of an eye they disappeared into the shadow of the northeast corner of the imperial city wall where the light from the city gate tower and from the foot of the wall could not reach. They stayed motionless against the wall, quietly waiting for the fortunate timing.
Xu Ziling’s right hand grabbed Kou Zhong’s left hand. The latter drove away ten thousand thoughts and guard his heart into one, to let the spiritual sense to rise to its apex, to enable him to seek luck and avoid calamity [idiom]. The long wind rolled in violently, blowing the accumulated snow from the big trees around the various government buildings in the Imperial City that it swirled in the air.
Suddenly Kou Zhong released his power to soar, bringing Xu Ziling up sticking on the wall, crossing over the high wall nearly half of its height, and then it was Xu Ziling’s turn to take Kou Zhong to complete the remainder of the journey. Finally the two boys’ hands grabbed the edge of the battlements; taking advantage of the wind momentum, they stuck their heads out to look at the situation on top of the city wall.
The wind lantern was blown that it flickered between light and darkness, a team of patrolling troops had just passed by, blocking the guards standing guard on the left side’s line of sight, while the imperial guard on the other side of the city gate tower was looking outside the city. Knowing there was no time to lose, the two boys did not dare to hesitate, they somersaulted over the battlement, like a wisp of smoke they traversed the nearly three-zhang wide top of the wall, and then somersaulted over the other side of the city wall. Their hands grabbed the battlement again, they dangled high in the air on the edge of the top of the outer city wall. Climbing the city wall, crossing the wall, and dangling in the air, these movements flowed smoothly, and it was over in just a few blinks of an eye. Even if there was no strong wind providing cover, or even if someone saw it, they might think that they had dimmed eyesight.
Kou Zhong’s pair of palms produced suction force, he moved northward along the wall, more agile, fast and nimble than a gecko. When he passed through the battlement where no one was standing guard, he pulled himself up to the edge of the battlement to regain his qi and raise his breath. Xu Ziling followed closely behind him, moving silently together to the outer wall of the East Palace.
The City of Chang’an had already gone to bed, with the north wind wreaking havoc, there were only sparse lights, the atmosphere of night travel gave them a feeling of leaping onto roofs and vaulting over walls excitement, different from daily life. Finally they reached the outer wall of the East Palace, Kou Zhong simply continued moving his hands, and only stopped when they arrived at the middle of the east wall of the East Palace, where he stuck out his head to get a clear picture of the situation. When the same team of patrolling troops they had seen before passed by, plus there was a comparably stronger gust of wind blowing over, he immediately repeated his old tricks; flashing across the top of the wall, from the other side safely stepping into the high wall of the East Palace and swept into the darkness of the garden outside a building.
The two boys squatted down between two big trees, they looked at each other happily, both had the joyful feeling of having been through untold hardships, finally successfully accomplished the goal.
Kou Zhong leaned over to Xu Ziling’s ear and said, “This building is the Peony Hall due east of the East Palace. When the spring comes, we would be surrounded by the beautiful sceneries of blooming peonies, but now of course it’s just snow and frost all over the garden.”
Flying down from the city wall, Xu Ziling has already taken a glance and seen it clearly. Within the perimeter wall of the Peony Hall, there were five courtyards, surrounded by gardens, the main hall was located right in the middle, with long corridors connecting the courtyards. Inside the garden, there were seven or eight wooden bridges, with small streams flowing under the bridges. Water entered in from the north, and when it reached the south of the Peony Hall, it formed a large pond, pavilions were built around this pond. At this time, all the multi-story halls were dark with no lights in sight, only the corridors were lit by palace lanterns in several zhang interval, swaying gently in the wind, flickering.
Kou Zhong went on, “If we cross over the western perimeter wall of the Peony Hall, we will arrive at the place we have chosen to hold the fireworks festival tonight. The soldier brothers of the Imperial City not only have good fortune for their mouths, they will also get good fortune for their eyes. Come!”
Xu Ziling grabbed him and pulled him back, saying, “Don’t be reckless. The firearms hidden in Ju Bao Dian bears upon Li Jiancheng’s imperial throne, surely they would reinforce the guard. If we treat it like regular situation in the palace, there’s a great chance that we may ruin the enterprise for the sake of one basketful. Do you see that? There is a two-story pavilion next to the west perimeter wall, nearly a zhang higher than the perimeter wall. From there, you can see the surrounding situation clearly.”
Kou Zhong nodded and agreed. He promptly put it into action. Together with Xu Ziling, they darted out, using the garden as their cover to reach the east side of the pavilion. Flying to the top of the building, they crouched down to look around.
As Xu Ziling expected, they were able take in the whole Ju Bao Dian’s scene at once. They saw the pavilion standing proudly in the cold wind, the flickering palace hall, winding corridors and secluded paths were interweaving in the garden, connecting the nine hall-courtyards, with the Ju Bao Dian stood in the middle.
Looking from this side, on the surface, the palace hall was not much difference in size compared to the Peony Temple; however, it was in fact heavily guarded, with hidden sentry posts and patrolling troops in teams of ten covering the whole area, as soon as they set foot within the courtyard of the Ju Bao Dian no matter how brilliant their shenfa was, it would still be difficult to escape the guards’ eyes and ears.
Kou Zhong fixed his gaze on the four guards guarding the Ju Bao Dian’s main entrance, enduring the wind and withstanding the cold. He laughed and said, “Even if they double the number of men, they still can’t stop us, two brothers.”
Xu Ziling’s eyes scanned the sentry outposts located in the four corners of the courtyard, as well as observed the power distribution of the upper level of the buildings in the courtyard.
Kou Zhong put down the bundle on his back, picked up a long rope, and said, “We are going to ride the wind high in the air, but first, we must reach the top of the palace hall east of Ju Bao Dian. Brother! The time to display our real skill has arrived!”
The two boys were accustomed to working together, they no longer talked. Amassing their power, they focused their momentum and wait.
A burst of strong wind rolled in.
Kou Zhong’s right hand lightly pressed the roof ridge, he soared up into the sky, his left hand held the three-zhang-long rope firmly. When the long rope was pulled taut, Xu Ziling, holding the other end of the rope, was pulled along, away from where he was crouching, and soared at an angle into the night sky.
Kou Zhong continued soaring to a high altitude of nearly twenty zhang above the ground, his true qi reversed, he continued sweeping forward horizontally, flying towards the top of the palace hall, which was nearly fifty zhang away from their starting point. At the same time, his right hand started to move.
Xu Ziling borrowed Kou Zhong’s true power to speed up his flight. By the time Kou Zhong’s true qi was exhausted and he started to descend, they were still about fifteen, sixteen zhang away from the target building, Xu Ziling was precisely behind and above Kou Zhong.
Such a high altitude was beyond the sentries and patrolling troops’ line of sight, even the light from the lantern could not reach it; even if someone looked up, unless their eyesight was exceptionally fine, plus they were watching with full attention - they would definitely miss it. What’s more, the north wind was roaring, the air was biting cold, the enemy’s alertness was greatly weakened, their eyes and ears were not working properly.
Xu Ziling’s true qi revolved, he continued the final stage of their flight. His right hand pulled, he took Kou Zhong flying toward the building.
Obtaining fresh power from Xu Ziling’s true qi, Kou Zhong regained his upward momentum and revolved his true qi. When Xu Ziling started to descend, Kou Zhong came on top of Xu Ziling instead. One after another the two boys set foot on the top of the building.
The north wind still had no intention to rest.
Xu Ziling seized this opportunity, he took the lead to soar into the sky again.
By the time the storm somewhat subsided, the two boys have already crouched safely on top of the Ju Bao Dian.
Kou Zhong spoke cheerfully, “Although it was extremely strenuous, it’s still worth it.” While talking, he stuffed the rope into his bundle, then he took out a sharp dagger from the bag. He said to Xu Ziling, who was sticking his ear to listen to any activity inside the hall, “Since this palace hall is difficult to guard, if we make a hole here, no one would find out.”
Xu Ziling sat up, his pair of palms pressed down on the snow-covered roof of the palace hall, using his burning hot true qi he began to melt the snow. He said, “Fortunately, Jiancheng did not post any guard inside the palace hall. Ay! What a pity!”
Kou Zhong watched the thick snow melt into water under Xu Ziling’s palms. It was even following its nature by flowing down. He said, “Not only Jiancheng will not post any guard in here, he won’t even allow anybody to take even half a step inside, because this matter should not be exposed to light. Those in the know must be limited to a few of his trusted aides. Why did you say it’s a pity?”
Xu Ziling withdrew both hands, he replied, “It’s a pity that the invaluable treasures and antiques in the temple will be burned and destroyed completely by the firearms! You can use a dagger now. If we let the water flows down the eaves like a waterfall, it will be a big joke.”
Kou Zhong’s power pierced through the blade, he cut through the remainder of the snow that was only a few cun thick, and started to work. He laughed and said, “The storm is blowing, water and snow are splashing in all directions, who can tell anything difference? Hey! Here’s one piece!”
Xu Ziling took the tile he handed over and put it aside.
The two boys worked with a common purpose, they proceeded carefully. In just the time needed to drink one cup of hot tea, a small hole, enough for one person to pass through - was opened in the roof of the hall.
The inside of the hall was so dark that they could not see the fingers stretched in front of their eyes.
Kou Zhong slipped into the hole and jumped down. When Xu Ziling set foot inside the palace hall, he saw Kou Zhong was staring blankly, “What’s the matter?” he asked in surprise.
Kou Zhong reached out to put his hand on his shoulder, his other hand raised the Night Pearl, he spoke cheerfully, “Brother! We are in luck! Look!”
Under the weak ray of the pearl, not a single article of the treasures and antiques, which were supposed to be stored inside the palace hall - was in sight. Instead, there were wooden boxes, containing the firearms - spread all over the hall.
Xu Ziling drew out a mouthful of cold air, he blurted out, “Really dangerous! The firearms were brought up from the underground storehouse, it must be because Jiancheng changed his plan and wanted these to be transported away. Fortunately, we are acting first tonight, otherwise we will lose all linking arms.”
Kou Zhong laughed and said, “The treasures and antiques should be under our feet. Song ErGe gave us three fuses that can burn for up to two quarters of an hour. We can take apart three of the wooden boxes, connect the fuse to them, and after lighting it, we go at top speed to look for the Princess. As long as any one of the fuses does its job and effective, the fireworks show will start according to schedule. Ha! I am more and more convinced that Li Shimin is the Son of Heaven, ordained by heaven itself, hence the ghosts fall short, the gods are at work, to let us, two big idiots to rush over in time tonight!”
His words were still in the air, strange noise was heard. The two boys’ countenance changed at the same time. It was the sound of a large number of mule carts and horse-drawn carriages starting to arrive from a distance. Immediately their good dream turned into a nightmare.
Kou Zhong blurted out, “Li Jiancheng unexpectedly wanted to take the firearms away tonight. This does not make sense, where in Chang’an can he found a more hidden and safer place than here?”
Xu Ziling made prompt decision, he shouted, “Tear the box open! Burn the palace hall!”
The two boys knew that the slightest hesitation would mean time was no longer in their hands. They immediately started working. Splitting up, they used their inner power to smash nearly ten boxes, took out the firearms, and poured kerosene to the four walls of the main hall.
By the time the mule convoy arrived at the plaza in front of the palace hall, everything was ready. They piled the wooden planks taken from the dismantled wooden boxes at the foot of the wall, altogether there were seven or eight piles, all were drenched in kerosene, and then, while they were at it, they also piled the military uniforms, boots, caps, even the cloth bags, which were also drenched in kerosene - all thrown into the fire, to destroy the corpses and wipe out the traces.
When the fire was raging, the two boys took a peek outside, only to see a group of men and horses entering the Ju Bao Dian area. It should be Li Jiancheng coming personally to supervise the transport of the firearms. Inside the hall, the flame was blazing, only the light had not yet leaked outside the hall.
At this time, the noise of the fire could barely be heard, since it was still contained within the Ju Bao Dian.
They did not dare to linger on, using the same method as before, they soared into the air and left.
‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’
The blazing flames from Ju Bao Dian soared into the sky, illuminating the night sky over the East Palace. The sound of big and small explosions was heard continuously, interspersed with rockets carrying flame and white smoke shooting into the air. Shattered roof tiles and fragments of wood were splashing everywhere like fine powder.
The entire Imperial Palace area was boiling over, the imperial guards were rushing from four sides, eight directions to the disaster area, but Kou Zhong clearly knew that anybody lacked the strength to reverse the rotation of the sky, they could only sit and watch as not a cun of roof tile of the Ju Bao Dian was spared. If not for the strong northerly wind was blowing, the poisonous smoke from the firearms would indeed cause a big catastrophe.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Kou Zhong sneaked toward Li Xiuning’s princess palace hall. As he had expected, the awakened Li Xiuning already climbed over to the upper floor of Wang You Lou and watched the dreadful situation in the disaster area of the East Palace over the wall.
Kou Zhong stuck his head in and peered through the window on the west side. Li Xiuning, wearing cotton robe to defend herself against the cold, was staring blankly through the window at the other side. Two palace maids were waiting upon her nearby.
Kou Zhong sighed inwardly, he could imagine the misery and feeling of loss in Li Xiuning’s heart. Focusing his voice into a thread and sent it into Li Xiuning’s small ear, he said, “Xiuning! It’s me, Kou Zhong!”
Li Xiuning’s tender body shook violently, the two palace maids thought that she could not withstand the terror, hastily they rushed forward to support her from left and right.
Li Xiuning shouted in a low voice, “You go downstairs. Without my order, no one is allowed to come up.”
Hearing that, the two maidservants you look at me I gazed at you, but they did not dare to disobey; helpless, they went downstairs.
Kou Zhong entered in through the window and came over to stand behind Li Xiuning’s silky back. Reaching out, he caressed her continuously trembling fragrant shoulders. All sorts of feelings welling up in his heart, he sighed slightly and said, “Our guess still missed the mark slightly.”
Li Xiuning recovered her calm somewhat, she spoke softly, “Was it you?”
Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong replied, “Is there anyone else?”
Li Xiuning spoke in distress, “The firearm is actually hidden in Ju Bao Dian?”
Kou Zhong nodded and said, “I’m so sorry to use this drastic method to prove to you, Xiuning the relationship between Taizi and the firearms, but we have no other choice.”
Li Xiuning’s tender body shook again, she leaned back weakly into his arms, and spoke in helplessness, “What should I do? What did you guess wrong?”
Kou Zhong smelled the fragrant soft jade he was holding in his arms, yet there was not the slightest romantic thought, only unlimited tender affection, sympathy and care. Leaning toward her sparkling and translucent small ear, he gently said, “We thought that your Da Wangxiong [oldest brother king] would only wait until Qin Wang moves into Hong Yi Palace before he use the firearms against him, but actually your Da Wangxiong’s plan is to make his move when Qin Wang is on his way back. With the help of the Western Tujue martial art masters headed by Yun Shuai, plus the power of people like Yang WenGan and others, and the strong formidable power of firearms, how could Qin Wang escape alive? After he is killed, Jiancheng Taizi can push the responsibility away, neat and clean, he could even frame me, Kou Zhong, saying that it was my doing. He must be planning to transport the firearms out of Chang’an via the waterway tonight, but Ziling and I managed to destroy the firearms in time. Ah, Xiuning! If you don’t make a decision, your Great Tang Kingdom will fall into all split up and in pieces chaotic situation, which is exactly what Xieli is hoping. I don’t know when will the common people of the world pass their lives in peace and happiness?”
Seeing that the fire in the East Palace was extinguished one by one, but the chaotic situation still continued unabated, as if it was the panic of the doomsday’s arrival, Li Xiuning spoke feebly, “How did you know that the firearms were hidden in the East Palace?”
Kou Zhong spoke softly, “This matter, start explaining and it’s a long story. Is it possible to give you detailed report later? The matter of vital importance before our eyes is to win support for Qin Wang as much as possible.”
Li Xiuning closed her beautiful eyes, two lines of clear tears from her eyes flowed down her jade cheeks, but the tone of her voice was so tranquil that it felt strange, she said, “How does Shaoshuai want Xiuning to help?”
Kou Zhong said, “I want to have a secret meeting with lingwangshu [your esteemed uncle king] Li Shentong to talk.”
Li Xiuning stood and straightened her tender body; turning around slowly, she faced Kou Zhong, and reached out to stroke his cheek. Tears continued to trickle down, her beautiful eyes looked deeply in his eyes, she said, “Tomorrow Xiuning will let Luoyan know the time and place for the meeting. Oh, Kou Zhong! Xiuning really doesn’t know whether to thank you or blame you.”
A burst of emotional stirring grew in Kou Zhong’s heart. Inwardly, he knew that his first love has reached an end in this kind of unusual manner before his eyes.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Kou Zhong slipped into the imperial garden toward Xu Ziling’s hiding place, from which he was able to watch the entrance of the secret tunnel on the pond, between the fake rocks, “How’s the situation?” he asked.
“Did you succeed?” Xu Ziling asked back.
Kou Zhong nodded and said, “She is a sensible woman. Since she is certain that Jiancheng has the heart to kill Shimin, naturally she knows what to choose.”
Xu Ziling said, “Li Yuan, Yuwen Shang, and his party have just returned from the rockery. Looking at Li Yuan’s murderous look, Li Jiancheng will be in trouble.”
Kou Zhong said with a sneer, “With the imperial concubine faction speaking on his behalf, at most he will be rebuked harshly. It’s time to go home! Ha! We can also wash our hands clean along the way.”
The two boys flashed out of their dark hiding and disappeared among the fake rocks.