Book 59: Chapter 4: Troop Disposition Greatly Shaken
Under the two boys’ gaze, Song Shidao spoke heavily, “I have a very bad news, but first of all, you must stay calm.”
Hearing that, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling’s scalp went numb, they looked at each other in dismay, unable to speak.
Song Shidao swept his gaze around; although seeing that several tables nearby were without any diners, he still lowered his voice and said, “Feng Deyi came to look for you just now, and I met him. He said that this morning Li Yuan summoned him into the palace for a private meeting. He thought that Li Yuan wanted to talk about the big explosion in the East Palace last night, it was only after he noticed that Wang Tong was present that he realized this must be an unusual matter. Participating in the meeting was Pei Ji as well, and in his opening remarks Li Yuan solemnly stated that the content of the discussion must not be leaked outside; clearly the situation is serious.”
The two boys’ hearts sank straight down, knowing that the news was bad, worse than what they had imagined when they first heard it.
Song Shidao said, “You do know Wang Tong, don’t you?”
His throat suddenly turned unbearably bitter, Kou Zhong nodded and said, “We have had predestined affinity to see him once, he is the most prestigious great scholar in the present age, I just never thought that he is Li Yuan’s close friend.”
Song Shidao said, “Wang Tong and Li Yuan’s friendly relations went very deep, this time he specially came to Chang’an this time to tell Li Yuan that Li Shimin had secretly met with you, he even decided to surrender to you and betray his family.”
Even if Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling had the Mount-Tai-collapsing-in-front-of-their-eyes-their-countenance-did-not-change calmness, this moment, as they heard what was said, they were severely shaken and their countenance changed. The success and effortless accomplishment of last night was swept clean, in its place was a terrifying nightmare as if they were sinking into ten-thousand-fathom abyss, all their great efforts since entering Chang’an had flowed down the drain, leaving a blank in their head, they completely lost the ability to think.
How could Wang Tong, someone who was completely without any relation to this matter, know their biggest and most critical secret?
Kou Zhong’s face turning deathly gray, he groaned, “This is impossible. Only people we can trust are in the know of this matter. How can it leak out, plus Wang Tong find out about it?”
Taking a deep breath, Xu Ziling said, “What is Li Yuan going to do to punish Li Shimin?”
Song Shidao said, “Li Yuan is extremely furious, he wanted to go to Luoyang and execute Li Shimin himself. Fortunately, after Pei Ji and Feng Deyi thoroughly laid out the pros and cons, he calmed down and decided not to make any word or movement for the time being. When Li Shimin comes back, he will immediately seize his military authority, and then settle the accounts with him.”
Drawing out a mouthful of cold air, Kou Zhong said, “The only feasible plan right now is for us to try to inform and help evacuate Li Shimin, as well as the relatives and families of the officers and soldiers under his command, and it must be accomplished in one or two nights. And then Li Shimin, with our support, raise his troops and proclaim independence in Luoyang …”
Cutting him off, Song Shidao said, “That is the reason I said that we must stay calm. Your proposal is not feasible at all. Li Yuan already ordered to closely monitor Li Shimin and his principal high-ranking military officers’ family members and relatives and observe their movements. This is the city of Chang’an, we can’t act blindly without thinking.”
Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, “This matter emerged too abruptly, the two of us became agitated, what good suggestion does Song ErGe have?”
Song Shidao’s pair of eyes emitted a hard-to-understand complicated look, he said, “We must first solve the most important doubts and suspicions. Where did Wang Tong’s information come from?”
Having a headache, Kou Zhong said, “There’s no way to guess it.”
Shaking his head, Song Shidao said, “Just from the fact that the information itself has leaked out, you can obtain clues; it is obviously targeted at Li Shimin. Otherwise, there’s a great chance that it would also point out that you have arrived in Chang’an.”
Kou Zhong’s tiger-body shook, he said, “That makes sense; in that case it shouldn’t have been leaked by my Shao Shuai Army brother. And in fact, it was not Li Shimin who surrendered to us, but we are supporting him to ascend to the throne.”
Xu Ziling asked, “Did Wang Tong mention that we went to Lingnan with Li Shimin to see Song Fazhu?”
Song Shidao shook his head dejectedly.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling you look at me I gazed at you, a peculiar feeling welled up in their heart. Looking at Song Shidao’s expression, he ought to know the person who has leaked the secret, plus that person must be related to the Song Family.
Shidao Song said with difficulty, “It should be ErShu [second uncle] who told Wang Tong.”
Unexpectedly, it was Song Zhi.
The two boys were dumbstruck and unable to reply.
Song Shidao sighed and said, “I have always wondered why ErShu was willing to easily agreed to support Li Shimin’s decision? This moment naturally I can think that he has another reason behind it. He has always been in the pro-war faction, hoping that our Song Family can lord over the world. This scheme of his is extremely ruthless, since the one telling him was Wang Tong, without any evidence, Li Yuan would readily believe firmly without any doubt, much less if he could confirm it to be true? If Li Shimin is killed, Shao Shuai Army would have no choice but to continue to work hard for our Song Family, to help the Song Family accomplishing the task of establishing and maintaining hegemony.”
Hearing that, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were dumbstruck, musing inwardly that one wrong word, the entire tray would fall off the floor. The only consolation was that they learned about this matter before Li Shimin was executed by his father, only too bad they were still unable to do anything about it.
Song Shidao recovered his cool-headedness, he spoke heavily, “Gaining the initiative by striking first, moving later to control others. At present, the only feasible solution is to simply expose the matter, to make Li Yuan unable to charge Li Shimin with the capital offense of deceiving the emperor and committing treason. Do you guys understand what I’m talking about?”
Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong shook his head and said, “It’s like my head is turning into a rock, without the slightest ability to work.”
Song Shidao explained, “We have the control over what to speak, but it must be within reason. Fortunately, we have Feng Deyi to respond to us from the inside, so we can find out about Li Yuan’s reaction one step ahead.”
Turning to Xu Ziling he said, “Ziling must go to see Li Shimin immediately, ask him to write a secret letter, to gain the initiative by striking first, by telling Li Yuan that he and you guys had reached a secret agreement, deciding to join hands to deal with the allied armies from beyond the Great Wall on the verge of pressing down on our territory, and then divide up the world. This kind of alliances is a common matter in nearly these last dozens of years, it is purely a matter of need in terms of strategy and situation. As for the course of events and the details, the phrasing and the degree of seriousness, let Ziling and Qin Wang deliberate. The matter should not be delayed, Ziling must set off immediately.”
Hearing that Kou Zhong was greatly excited, his spirit recovered, he nodded and said, “Since we have fifty thousand taels of gold on the way, Ziling leaving Chang’an to check on it should be a matter of course.”
Knitting his brows, Xu Ziling said, “Your ErShu problem, how are we going to deal with it?”
Letting out a cold humph, Song Shidao said, “This matter concerns the common people under the heavens, there is no favor to speak of. I will send someone to notify SanShu [third uncle], Die will definitely handle it properly, I guarantee he will not leak any secrets anymore.”
Kou Zhong said, “Could it be that Zhi Shu does not know that Feng Deyi is our man?”
Song Shidao replied, “He is far away in Lingnan, so he is not aware of personnel relations and the changes of the situation in Chang’an, furthermore, he did not expect that Li Yuan would call on Feng Deyi to discuss the matter and contrary to his expectation, avoided Jiancheng and Yuanji. Perhaps the explosion last night has some merit, making Li Yuan has an ill-feeling toward Jiancheng. However, this matter also shifts Li Yuan’s attention, so that he has no time to think about punishing Jiancheng.”
Xu Ziling stood up and said, “The matter should not be delayed, we will act according to plan immediately.”
When Kou Zhong left the Dong Da Si, his feeling was sky-earth, cloud-mud different from this morning.
He already ordered Zha Jie to cease all surveillance activities on He Chang Long, until he could figure out whether they should withdraw from Chang’an immediately.
Fortunately, the secret of the Duke Yang’s treasure-house had not leaked. Otherwise, apart from raising his troops and proclaim independence outside the Pass, Li Shimin had no other choice. However, the upper-hand advantage grasping the initiative has been completely swept away, all the originally like seamless heavenly clothes deployment has been thrown in great chaos.
Presently, the two most troublesome issues were Shi Zhixuan and the Xiang Clan’s family of crime.
If the former knew that he had been deceived, his reaction would be hard to fathom, the plan to work together to assassinate Zhao Deyan would cease to be mentioned even more; could it be that while they were talking about making truce with the House of Tang and resist foreign enemies together, they would also create havoc in the Imperial Palace, killing and burning?
As for Xiang Gui, if he knew that they made peace with Li Yuan, he would most likely leave Chang’an, this dangerous place, as a security measure.
When Li Yuan received Li Shimin’s gaining-the-initiative-by-striking-first letter, how would he react? He did not wish to guess, he was only certain that Li Yuan would issue strict order for Li Shimin to return to the capital immediately to explain in person. And that would be the most floating-in-the-wind, hard-to-fathom moment for Li Shimin’s little life.
Ay! How did matters turn into this plight?
Wei Zheng was nearly half-a-hundred years old, he appeared to be in a good shape, without the slightest bit of old and frail look, his waist and back were exceptionally straight, his demeanor dignified, of a medium build, his slender face was matched with a pair of ears with big earlobe, his two eyes spirited, wise and farsighted, but carried a slight melancholy expression, so that people feel that he was the kind of scholarly man who did not fear authority, while bemoaning the state of the universe and pity the fate of mankind.
When Kou Zhong arrived, before he had a chance to speak, Shen Luoyan already took him to the study room to meet with Wei Zheng.
Before entering the study room, Kou Zhong took off his mask. He grabbed the standing-up-to-greet-him Wei Zheng’s both hands, four eyes met, there was quite an amiable feeling that everything was already in his heart, as if he had met an old friend.
Standing on the side, Shen Luoyan said, “Wei Daren already knows clearly the rise and fall of the terrain of the whole thing, you both can speak without any worry.”
Kou Zhong originally wanted to ask about Li Jiancheng’s reaction to the big explosion the most, but this mood had already disappeared without any trace. Compared with the problem of Li Shimin confronting life and death crisis, everything else was irrelevant.
Wei Zheng spoke in his deep, baritone voice, “Shaoshuai is indeed an extraordinary person. Only an extraordinary person can do extraordinary things. Wei Zheng admires you that I prostrate myself in admiration.”
And then his two eyes turned red, he spoke in grief, “Truth to tell, that day it was me who strongly advised Mi Gong to surrender and pay allegiance to the Li Tang, yet he ended up like this, Wei Zheng has to bear the blame.”
Kou Zhong secretly thought that this was the real main reason for Wei Zheng’s dissatisfaction with Li Yuan. Li Yuan’s killing of Li Mi was indeed an unforgivable mistake. He said, “Let’s sit down and talk.”
Kou Zhong had always held the believe that he would not suspect people that he employed, and would not employ people that he suspected. He believed that Wei Zheng was a person with loyal liver and righteous guts. He briefly explained the situation, without concealing the problem that Li Yuan learned from Wang Tong that there was a secret agreement between them and Li Shimin.
Shen Luoyan’s countenance changed, she asked, “Where did this information come from?”
Kou Zhong explained everything clearly, including Song Shidao’s gaining the initiative by striking first strategy.
Wei Zheng’s pair of eyes flashing with the brilliant rays of light of wisdom, he spoke in calm and collected manner, “Shaoshuai, no need to worry, this strategy to restrain people will take effect. Because from Jiancheng Taizi, I know that before Qin Wang went to go into battle against Liu Heita this time, in a military meeting inside the inner courtyard, which Huangshang presided, with limited attendance of only a few trusted aides and cabinet ministers, including Qin Wang, Taizi and Qi Wang, Huangshang asked about a way to deal with Xieli amassing large forces north of the border. At that time, Qin Wang suggested that as long as Shaoshuai is willing to temporarily lay down the weapons of war, the danger of Xieli’s coalition forces will be resolved on its own.”
Kou Zhong spoke in delight, “Unexpectedly there is such matter.”
“It’s absolutely true,” Wei Zheng said, “Afterwards, because of this, Taizi wrote a letter, which he sent via Yin De Fei, in which he suggested to Huangshang that Qin Wang still has friendly relationship with you, so that in the Battle of Luoyang he deliberately let you go.”
Shen Luoyan asked, “At that time, what did Huangshang say?”
Wei Zheng replied, “Huangshang asked Qin Wang, our Great Tang and Shao Shuai Army, the two cannot exist together, Shao Shuai Army will only seize the opportunity to rise in revolt, how could it end beautifully? Qin Wang’s reply was that he knows clearly Shaoshuai and Xu Ziling’s behavior and how they conduct themselves, they can’t possibly disregard the Central Earth’s overall situation, men who only seek personal gain. Therefore, persuading Shaoshuai to be willing to temporarily lay down the weapons of war is not impossible.”
Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “This matter has both advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage is that it strengthens Li Yuan’s belief that Qin Wang will betray the family. The biggest problem is that Qin Wang did not ask for his permission beforehand.”
Knitting her brows, Shen Luoyan asked, “After hearing that, how did Huangshang react to Qin Wang?”
Wei Zheng replied, “Huangshang declined to comment, but Taizi, Qi Wang, and Pei Ji raised their voices together to object on different grounds. In the end the matter was settled by leaving it unsettled.”
Slapping the small side table, Kou Zhong said, “That will do! No, it won’t! I have to rush to Luoyang immediately to warn them.”
Wei Zheng smiled and said, “Shaoshuai need not make this journey, Qin Wang is the person involved, he has deep knowledge of Li Yuan’s likes and dislikes, he knows the degree of seriousness of putting pen to paper.”
Shen Luoyan said, “If Li Shentong is willing to stand on our side, he could speak a few good words to help Qin Wang, he should be able to resolve this matter.”
Wei Zheng nodded and said, “What Huangshang is most worried about right now is not the Shao Shuai Army or even Song Que, but the assembling-in-unprecedented-military-strength-north-of-the-border allied armies from beyond the Great Wall. If Qin Wang is executed, there won’t be any buffer against you, Shaoshuai; it’s not something that a sage would choose.”
After a short pause, he continued, “Does Shaoshuai know that in order to avoid the Tujue’s Wolf Army, there has been some discussion in the imperial court about moving the capital recently?”
“What?” Kou Zhong blurted out, “This is not a joke? Where are they going to move to?”
Wei Zheng replied, “The proposal was raised by Pei Ji, and Taizi supported it. As for where to, it has not been decided. I strongly opposed it, but it only invited Taizi’s harsh reprimand, which made my enthusiasm came to an end, I even thought about retiring and going back to my hometown [orig. announcing old age and returning to the field/farm]. Ay! Since the rise of the Great Tang, it has been without equal, if because of the hu [barbarian] bandits disturbing the border unexpectedly the capital is moved to avoid it, hoping that the hu bandits would not dare to penetrate deeply and thus sound out the difficulties and retreat to avoid defeat, this idea is simply too naive and preposterous. Furthermore, it would present shame from the four seas, becoming a matter for ridicule of the hundred generations. Such a figure, how could it become the good tree that the birds would choose to perch? If Shaoshuai had come out earlier, Wei Zheng would definitely surrender to Shaoshuai. Among Li Yuan’s sons, only Shimin, one person is worth having, this has been decreed from above.”
Kou Zhong’s brains brightened up. Turned out Li Yuan was this afraid of the Tujue, no wonder he invited Bi Xuan to express his goodwill. “Is there any news from Gongzhu?” he asked Shen Luoyan.
Shaking her head, Shen Luoyan replied, “But I am going to the palace later to see her.”
Kou Zhong let out a long, long sigh, he said, “Temporarily we are not going to do anything, let’s use no-change to deal with ten-thousand changes.”
Returning to the Situ Mansion, Kou Zhong found that troubles were coming one after another. Having just went out to see the Huang He Bang’s Gang Leader, the ‘Great Roc’ Tao Guangzu, Lei Jiuzhi had just returned. He was in a secret deliberation with Song Shidao inside the inner hall, his expression grave. Ren Jun’s Furong Ye was left alone in the main hall, to deal with men and horses of various ways in Chang’an who wanted to negotiate and invest, ranging from wealthy businessmen to the leaders of gangs and societies; all kind of styles were present.
Kou Zhong had not yet settled in his seat, Lei Jiuzhi went straight to the point, “What do we do? Tao Guangzu has officially issued written war challenge, he has agreed for a grand battle on the gambling table against Chi Shengchun, with ‘Da Xian’ Hu Fo as the witness. Both parties can send representatives to enter the arena, Chi Shengchun already gave his nod of agreement.”
Frowning, Kou Zhong said, “Is it possible to delay it for two days?”
Shaking his head, Lei Jiuzhi said, “Gamblers speak about a promise worth one thousand in gold, how can we delay it for no reason? Could it be that we tell him that our representative is traveling outside and has not returned?”
Song Shidao asked, “Did they talk about the form of the gambling?”
Lei Jiuzhi spoke in distress, “The one issuing the written war challenge was us; according to casino rules, the other party has the right to choose the gambling method.”
Puzzled, Kou Zhong asked, “Ling Shao is just the apprentice, why not let the Shifu go down the arena himself?”
Lei Jiuzhi was slightly startled, it was quite half a day later that he spoke dejectedly, “I’m afraid to lose Lao Tao’s familial property.”
Kou Zhong laughed and said, “So what if you lose? The most important thing for us is to draw Xiang Gui out; another day our Li kid will ascend to the throne, the Yellow River will still be Lao Tao’s world.”
Lei Jiuzhi’s countenance turned pale, he sighed and said, “I am even more afraid that I won’t be able to withstand the blow of another crushing defeat.”
Song Shidao and Kou Zhong you look at me I look at you, only then did they realize that Lei Jiuzhi had fallen head first in Xiang Gui’s, who was equally famous with him - hands; momentarily they did not know what to say.
Kou Zhong suddenly laughed aloud and said, “How could Lei Dage not have the guts like this? His Niang’s! I think that no matter what, Lei Dage will have to go down the arena and pit yourself against Xiang Gui again, and tell Tao Guangzu to leak out the news that you will be his representative. Then Xiang Gui will definitely go out in person and would not dare to neglect.”
Frowning, Song Shidao said, “Xiang Yushan is very clear that Lei Dage is our man, will there be any problems?”
Lei Jiuzhi said, “This aspect, there won’t be any problem instead. Jianghu has the Jianghu rules, not to mention that this time the gambling party will be held on a large boat at the mouth of the Great River outside Chang’an. Even if the government officials wanted to control it, they simply can’t.”
Kou Zhong spoke decisively, “We’ll do it this way. Lei Dage, the day to restore your prestige has come! After obtaining the saber, forget the saber. After obtaining the bet, naturally you have to forget the bet. Although as for the outcome it is difficult to avoid victory or defeat, but in the course of events, there is no desire for victory or defeat. Just consider it as playing a game of polo!”
Xu Ziling stood at the bow of the ship, different thoughts were surging in his mind.
The boat he was riding on was medium-sized fast boat, operated by the brothers of the original Shuanglong Bang who were familiar with the water characteristic of the Yellow River, it sailed speedily with the current towards Luoyang.
On both banks of the river, the ice and snow began to melt, the severe winter seemed to be waving goodbye, soon the mother earth would return to the beautiful scenery of lush green everywhere in the wilderness.
Song Zhi’s crafty scheme brought about potentially fatal blows and harms to their grand plan. Whether they would be able to cope was still unknown, and dealing with Shi Zhixuan suddenly became a burning-their-eyebrows urgent matter.
No matter how good of a reason Kou Zhong presented, dragging the stand-aloof-from-worldly-affairs Shi Qingxuan into this matter was really not something that he wished for. His only regret was that there was simply no alternative, he was hoping that asking her to play a song for his father would not make things difficult for her too much.
Every time they dealt with Shi Zhixuan, they ended up abandoning their soldiers and dragging their armor, fleeing with their plumed spears; if only this time would be the only exception.
Going into the Great Tang palace to assassinate the not-worth-to-be-pitied Zhao Deyan was having a huge attractive force to both he and Kou Zhong, yet now they could only watch this matter fizzle out with blank stare; they even had to get rid of Shi Zhixuan, this major trouble, before Shi Zhixuan found out about it. This alone has taught him that success or failure in the future was hard to fathom, and he and Kou Zhong no longer have the slightest assurance of victory.
Shi Feixuan’s immortal countenance floated into appearance in his heart.
Where would Yi Ren [(literary) that person (usually female)] be?
Thinking of her, a touching warm and hard to describe feeling welled up in his heart, what happened between him and her would always be hidden deep in his heart, it would never be forgotten.
The river breeze whispered, the sailboat, like a galloping horse, set out toward Luoyang.
Just like their current situation, it could only overcome all obstacles and brave the waves to forge ahead, hoping that one day it would arrive at its destination.