Book 62: Chapter 11: Dragon Tally, Tiger Tally
Li Xiaogong said angrily, “What is the meaning of this? Shaoshuai and Xu Xiansheng are our Great Tang Kingdom’s distinguished guests, Huangshang’s allies. Who dares to offend them?”
With his hands folded on his chest, Yan Li, leaning against the door behind Yuwen Shang, remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos – said, “There are still more than two sichen before alliance ceremony. One day we still have not formed an alliance, our Great Tang and Shao Shuai State are still at war, we are enemies and not friends at all.”
Li Xiaogong’s pair of eyes dazzled, he stared fixedly at Yan Li, and spoke heavily, “How dare you! Who do you think you are [orig. what rank are you], unexpectedly you speak to this king in such a tone of voice, disrespecting your superior?”
Dugu Feng [phoenix] let out a silver-bell like tender laughter, she said, “It’s Hejian Wang who has such a big guts! Unexpectedly you collude with external enemy, intending to assassinate Huangshang.”
Li Xiaogong’s countenance changed, he said, “Be careful what you say, don’t make false accusations against people [orig. keeping blood in one’s mouth and spray people]. Whether this king is loyal or not, Huangshang knows better than anyone.”
Just by looking at Yan Li and Dugu Feng’s demeanor and tone of voice, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling knew that the other side had a card up their sleeve, they fully occupied the initiative and the upper hand; immediately they knew the turn of events was not too encouraging.
On the other side of Yuwen Shang, Yuwen Shiji smiled calmly and said, “Since Hejian Wang voiced his loyalty to Huangshang, he will show it to us by his actions.”
And then, raising his right hand high, he shouted, “Huangshang‘s dragon tally is here. Seeing the tally is like seeing Huangshang. Li Xiaogong, you kneel down for me and receive the order!”
The three men’s eyes could not help landing on his raised hand. Golden light flickering, the peculiarly shaped dragon tally glittering brightly under the illumination of the lanterns, representing the highest authority that could mobilize and dispatch all the imperial guard units inside the imperial palace and imperial city.
Li Xiaogong’s chest felt like being struck by a thunder, his countenance changed again and again, without the slightest color of blood, and he fell back. Were it not for Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling supporting him from left and right, it was guaranteed that he would fall on his butts on the ground.
Kou Zhong spoke sternly, “I dare to bet the head on my neck with yours, Yuwen Shiji, this tally was handed over to you by Wei Gonggong, not by Huangshang himself.”
Xu Ziling sighed inwardly, no matter who was present, whether friend or foe, only he understood why Kou Zhong said what he said. Tonight they originally already grasp victory in their hands, but now they have completely lost the certainty of winning. One wrong move [in the game of chess], the whole game was lost. The one wrong move they made was that they could not see through one step earlier that Wei Gonggong was Yin Gui Pai’s wonder troop [in ambush] in the palace, and could not completely grasp Wei Gonggong’s conversation with Yin Zuwen inside the secret passage.
The two most crucial military tallies that Li Yuan carried with him, the dragon tally could command the imperial guards inside the palace, and the tiger tally would command the military units of external garrison. Dragon and Tiger, two tallies were like Li Yuan’s total control of two main forces inside and outside the palace in Chang’an.
The demonic school’s plan was far more perfect than their emergency response, and with the facts before their eyes, Wei Gonggong, as easy as blowing off dust, seemed to have achieved the absolute advantage of supporting the Son of Heaven to command the various nobilities. The dragon tally has already been handed over to Yuwen Shiji to deal with them, three men, the tiger tally should have also fallen into Wei Gonggong’s hands. Tang Jian’s army of 15,000 men might be summoned into the palace by Wei Gonggong, which was part of the plan made by Wei Gonggong and Wanwan.
Although he, Xu Ziling still could not figure out Lin Shihong’s role in sneaking into the palace via the secret passage, but he was certain that it would strengthen Wei Gonggong‘s advantage. Now Chang’an’s military power has fallen into the demonic school’s hands, all the other factions’, including Jiancheng and Yuanji, allotted share was only to take a beating. Without needing to be told, he and Kou Zhong and the others knew clearly even more.
And their disaster was happening right in front of them. Once they were entangled by Yuwen Shang, You Pozi, and the others, and then the martial art masters Li Yuan’s personal guard flooding in, even with his and Kou Zhong’s abilities, it would still be very dangerous.
Once the fight started, with multitude of enemies, few friends, they would not possibly obtain any convenience.
According to reason, the one holding the dragon tally commanding the martial art masters protecting the emperor’s good self and the army of personal guards to deal with them ought to be Wei Gonggong instead of Yuwen Shiji, but the latter, due to Yuwen Shang’s deep friendship with Li Yuan, after throwing his lot to the Tang, became the great general that Li Yuan doted on, naturally, compared to Wei Gonggong, this chief of the court eunuchs, he was more qualified and more conforming to reason to give orders; however, this was definitely not the reason why Wei Gonggong entrusted him with the dragon tally.
According to Xu Ziling’s estimation, first of all, Wei Gonggong believed firmly that Xu Ziling still suffered serious internal injury, which would leave only Kou Zhong to drag them down, and he could not pose any threat. Secondly, Wei Gonggong had more important things that he needed to personally attend to, that he could not borrow other people’s hands. Most likely Wei Gonggong wanted to directly control the 15,000-man army in Tang Jian’s hands.
For this reason, Kou Zhong first used his words to stabilize Yuwen Shiji, but the real target was the dragon tally in his hand. As long as the dragon tally fell into Li Xiaogong’s hands, Li Xiaogong could, compared to anybody else, except for Li Yuan, grasp the imperial guards firmly in the palm of his hand more easily.
They really were not without any chance, because the enemy’s attention was completely focused on Kou Zhong, hence Xu Ziling, who was mistakenly thought to be seriously injured, had an opportunity that he could exploit.
The two boys’ minds were interlinked, Kou Zhong’s remarks made Xu Ziling understand the only chance to turn defeat into victory at the moment. They had no doubt that after obtaining the dragon tally, to fight their way out of the Yanjia Ge was still more difficult than ascending to the sky, but this has become their only option.
Evidently, for Yan Li, the humiliation Kou Zhong gave him last night was still hard to forget even after his teeth fall out [idiom]. This moment, since there was a wind, he must raise the sail to the fullest. Reaching back, he took the lance hidden behind him and shouted loudly, “Who has interest in talking nonsense with you!”
Striding forward, the lance spun around, and when the lance momentum was full, it started to move towards Kou Zhong looking like it was sweeping, but also as if it was slashing down, but actually it was attacking straight in violent strike, full of mighty power.
Among the crowd, the Yuwen Family and the Dugu Family, two sides, five people, all turned a blind eye to Yan Li’s taking the lead in making his move. Not only did they not show the least bit of sign to join him, Dugu Feng [phoenix] even revealed a smile of disdain, showing off the haughty status and identity of a family influential for generations, practically looking down on the coming-from-the-uncultivated-land Yan Li, intently wanted to watch him making a fool of himself.
Only Zhu Junming and Hua Ying, a pair of husband and wife known as the ‘Immortal Couple’, approached Kou Zhong from the left, holding up their troops disposition for Yan Li.
Xu Ziling’s heart was moved, he pulled back Li Xiaogong, whose emotions had not yet recovered, and using subtle movements, he showed his opponents that his internal injuries had indeed not yet healed.
‘Qiang!’
Kou Zhong pulled the Moon in the Well out, without even looking his saber hacked Yan Li’s attacking-with-full-momentum lance, and still had the leisure to say, “Not only this is not nonsense, but it is also related to your life and death …”
‘Dang!’
Beyond everybody’s expectations, Kou Zhong’s careless chop unexpectedly hit the tip of Yan Li’s repeatedly changing lance, so that it became a stake-it-all hard clash between the two sides.
Spiraling qi power shot out, Yan Li’s powerful body shook violently. He was stiffly jolted by the chop so that the lance, as well as the person, were falling back to his original position. ‘Bang!’ He slammed onto the side of the door, and continued falling back more than ten steps. Although he did not vomit blood, his face immediately turned pale. It could clearly be seen that Kou Zhong’s casual saber strike had caused him an internal injury, which was not light.
Even Yuwen Shang and Granny You, two senior martial art masters of grandmaster level – were also emotionally moved. Their original intention was to let Yan Li groped Kou Zhong’s foundation first, and after seeing through and understanding Kou Zhong clearly, they would charge in one fell swoop to strike and kill Kou Zhong. Who would have thought that not only things turned out contrary to the way they wished, they also felt that Kou Zhong’s clumsy move contained ingenuity, it was deep and unfathomable, his saber technique already reached the fully mature and faultless state? It looked like one saber strike, but it was actually two saber strikes. The first saber strike used an exquisite beyond compare technique to neutralize the opponent’s lance power, and then, without generating any noise, the second saber strike was the real culprit that humiliated Yan Li.
Chu Junming, husband and wife were greatly surprised, momentarily they did not dare to advance prematurely. Yan Li was even more speechless.
Dugu Feng [phoenix] sneered at Kou Zhong and said, “You, this man, your character really never changed to your death; powerless to defend yourself, yet you still talk nonsense.”
Kou Zhong knew that the other side was about to make a move, hence he drew legs on a snake [idiom: overdo it] even more; acting as if he was afraid that other people did not know that Xu Ziling was wounded, he stood and guarded in front of Xu Ziling and Li Xiaogong, holding the saber across his chest. Shaking his head, he laughed and said, “If you guys knew Wei Gonggong’s identity as Wanwan’s Shibo [martial (older) uncle], and Yin Zuwen is the ‘Tian Jun’ [heavenly lord] Xi Ying’s Shidi [younger martial brother], and that this moment Wanwan is inside Huangshang’s bedroom [palace to lie down], you would not dare to point at me as babbling nonsense.”
Yuwen Shang snorted coldly and said, “You’d better leave these words for later when you are talking to Yan Wang [King of Hell] in the nether world!”
The cold qi invaded and pressing over.
Kou Zhong knew that his Bing Xuan Gong [Black/Mysterious Ice Power, previously was ‘Bing Xuan Jin’] which had reached the pinnacle, was waiting for action after having accumulated power; he hurriedly said, “Hold on! Can you let me explain something in the past that is related to you, the Senior?”
Dugu Zhang [sic, I don’t know which one, maybe the phoenix, since the peak seemed to be a mute] said happily, “Kou Zhong! Finally the day like today has come to you!”
But Yuwen Shiji was knitting his brows, pondering about what Kou Zhong just said. Hearing that, he said, “Quickly speak up!”
Kou Zhong sighed and said, “Not only did we not kill Yuwen Huaji, but we also let him commit suicide for Zhen Sao and die together in the name of love. The secret place where the husband and wife were buried together is only known to me, the funerary object was the portrait that Hou Xibai painted for Zhen Sao.”
Yuwen Shang said in astonishment, “What nonsense are you talking about?”
Greatly astounded, Yuwen Shiji said, “Zhen Sao! Are you talking about Zhen Fei [imperial concubine]?”
Sighing bitterly, Kou Zhong said, “Zhen Sao used to sell vegetables and meat buns in Yangzhou. She was Xiao Ling’s and my benefactor, our first Niang. Ay! Thinking of her, all hatred, gratitude and grudges disappeared. If it wasn’t for her, how could we anger Xiao Shiyi [little martial aunt] Fu Junqiang, and provoked Shigong to anger? Feng Xiaojie knew Qiang Yi, you should know that what I said is the truth.”
Laughing coldly, Dugu Feng said, “Turns out that the hero in his whole lifetime Kou Zhong unexpectedly could behave like a dog wagging its tail, seeking its master’s affection [idiom]. Death is near at hand, and trying to gain friendship everywhere. Now it involves the rise and fall of my Great Tang Kingdom, no matter how bright your tongue is, you still cannot escape death.”
Li Xiaogong was about to speak, but was stopped by Xu Ziling.
Kou Zhong’s tone suddenly changed, he took the demeanor and the tone of the ugly divine doctor Mo Yixin’s voice, saying, “Lao Furen’s asthma is due to the coordination between the Twelve Regular Channels and the Eight Extraordinary Channels became dysfunctional, the calamity reached the lung passage, over the years it manifested into this illness.”
These words were spoken by him when he was diagnosing You Chuhong that day; what was rare was that he repeated it without missing a single word.
Dugu Feng screamed, her flowery countenance turned deathly pale, she stared at Kou Zhong, revealing an expression of disbelief, while continuously shaking her head, as if to convince herself that this was not true.
Dugu Feng [peak] and Granny You were too shocked to speak.
Yan Li struggled hard to stand firm, pointing his halberd-fingers at Kou Zhong, he shouted, “Don’t listen to him misleading the public with rumors [idiom]. (Cough!)”
Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “Lacking in confidence [or having a guilty conscience]! Since you, this kid, are colluding with Yang Xuyan and Liexia, you can’t be a good person. Do you know what I was talking about? You don’t even have a turn to interject.”
Showing a grave expression, Zhu Junming spoke heavily, “Could Shaoshuai explain a bit more clearly, the dragon tally in Yuwen Jiangjun’s hand was indeed passed on by Wei Gonggong.”
Kou Zhong said to Yuwen Shiji, “I won! My head is safe. I dare to bet the head above my neck, because no one knows the demonic school’s tricks better than me. If you still don’t believe it, you can send someone to see Huangshang. I dare to bet my head one more time, I guarantee that you won’t see the dragon countenance.”
Yuwen Shang said, “Shaoshuai, don’t use frightening words to scare people.”
The tone of his voice became polite, obviously because he knew that Kou and Xu, two boys were not the persons who killed Yuwen Huaji, plus they had the virtue of burying the dead, so that the hostility in their heart was greatly reduced. Kou Zhong passionately spoke earnestly about their relationship with Sister-in-law Zhen, and both Yuwen Shang and Yuwen Shiji knew Sister-in-law Zhen’s family background and history, they knew even more that Kou Zhong was not the kind of people who would use this kind of matter to beg for mercy, hence it greatly increased Kou Zhong’s credibility.
This moment Xu Ziling joined in, “Tang Jian’s men entering the palace for a change of the guards, was it Wei Gonggong who passed down the written imperial order?”
“That’s right,” Li Xiaogong replied.
Kou Zhong said, “Now this matter becomes very simple. We will stop this kid Yan Li, and then you will send one person to see Huangshang. The matter will be as the water recedes, the rocks appear [idiom: the truth comes to light]. I am not using frightening words to scare people, if we let the demonic school’s evil plan to succeed, not only you will no longer have any place to stand in Chang’an, the consequences will be too horrible to contemplate. Based on the usual vicious and merciless style of the demonic school, they would definitely seize Huangshang, and then they will pull opposing forces up by the roots. The Dugu Family and the Yuwen Family are precisely the thorn in their side.”
Knitting her brows, Dugu Feng said, “By doing this, what’s the benefit for you, Kou Zhong?”
Kou Zhong laughed calmly and said, “The benefits are very great. First of all, I don’t have to be any pain-in-the-butts emperor, in everything, let Shimin, that kid do it for me. Secondly, I have the opportunity to lead the most powerful righteous army in the world, to have a show-down with Xieli, that fellow. Not concealing anything from ladies and gentlemen, don’t think that you can take us down, actually, Ling Shao is not injured at all. If he attacks you unprepared, plus with Xiaodi acting in concert with him, there is a good chance we can capture the dragon tally in Shiji Xiong’s hands. If you don’t believe me, let Ling Shao give you a demonstration.”
He had not finished speaking, Xu Ziling flashed away from his side, launching the Xu Ziling’s style ‘Huan Mo Shenfa’, he suddenly appeared on Yuwen Shiji’s left side, his hand grabbed toward Yuwen Shiji.
How could Yuwen Shiji ever imagine that Xu Ziling’s shenfa was this fast? Overwhelmed with shock, he stepped aside, powerless to fight back.
Yuwen Shang was, after all, the master of a clan, facing death he was not in chaos. His pair of palms pushed out, Bing Xuan Jin shot out. It appeared that he was about to hit Xu Ziling, who could have thought that Xu Ziling reversed his true qi and changed his momentum. His body spun around, he came in front of Yan Li. Yan Li was shocked, he raised his lance in a flurry, Xu Ziling suddenly came close to him but immediately separated. By the time he retreated back to Kou Zhong’s side, Yan Li dejectedly dropped down on his butts, his acupoint was sealed by Xu Ziling.
Everybody, none was not emotionally moved, including Kou Zhong.
Yuwen Shang could not believe it even more. He clearly hit Xu Ziling, unexpectedly with a spin of his body his attack was completely neutralized. Such martial art was indeed shocking.
Kou Zhong’s spirit soaring high, he said, “Did you see that? It was from the harmony is to be prized standpoint that we have spoken so much to you. If Qin Wang ascends to the throne, not only will the world be unified immediately, peace will come, and there will be a situation of long-term peace and stability. Your Dugu and Yuwen, two families, due to establishing great merit, will continue to flourish. Tell me, in today’s world, who is more qualified to be the emperor than Qin Wang?”
Li Xiaogong spoke with serious expression, “This time Shaoshuai came here to ask for an audience with Huangshang, it is to persuade Huangshang to rein in the horse at the edge of the precipice, to avoid disastrous turn of events in the imperial court tomorrow.”
Kou Zhong cried inwardly, ‘Ashamed!’ Up to this moment, he still wanted to wholeheartedly sweep away Jiancheng and Yuanji. What Li Xiaogong thought was really a misunderstanding.
Granny You cleared her throat, she said, “It’s not that Laoshen [lit. old body] doubted Shaoshuai, but even if Wei Gonggong obtained Wanwan’s assistance, to control Huangshang without making any noise like it is now is still impossible. The situation tonight is special, Huangshang and us are all in high alert, the saber-wielder personal guards did not leave for half a step, they are men who Wei Gonggong is unable to bribe. As long as there is a sound of fighting, the personal guards from all around will swarm in to rush to the rescue, Wei Gonggong definitely will not have any chance.”
Kou Zhong asked, “Did Huangshang go to bed?”
Yuwen Shang said, “I personally escorted Huangshang outside the door of the bedroom, and then the personal guards heavily guard him. Unless Huangshang’s summoning him, Wei Gonggong would not be able to get in. The chief of the personal guards is Li Fan, he is astute and cautious, he won’t be easy to deceive.”
Scratching his head, Kou Zhong said, “This is really difficult to figure out.”
His attitude gave Chu Junming, husband and wife, a good impression. Thinking on his behalf, Hua Ying said, “Accompanying Huangshang tonight is not Yin De Fei, they shouldn’t be able to acquire the military tally.”
Just by listening to her remark, they knew that her heart was leaning towards Kou Zhong’s side.
Tonight, it could be said that Kou Zhong was giving it his all to move their hearts, laying out the pros and cons, intimidating them with his mighty power. Xu Ziling’s cooperation was of course important, even more crucial was that seed of good karma would reap virtuous result, good actions of the past would be rewarded here and now.
Xu Ziling’s heart was moved, he asked, “Which guifei [noble concubine] is serving Huangshang tonight?”
Dugu Feng was still staring blankly at Kou Zhong, as if talking in her sleep, she said, “It’s Huangshang‘s new favorite imperial concubine, Qing Guiren [nobility]. I have searched her thoroughly, everything is fine. Ay! Whatever you say now, nujia will believe you!”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling blurted out at the same time, “Bai Qing’er!”
Yuwen Shang, Granny You, Dugu Feng, and the others were all emotionally moved.
Kou Zhong slapped his forehead and said with a sigh, “A thousand calculations, ten thousand calculations, we did not consider her.” And then he briefly described her appearance and explained clearly her background and origin.
Granny You stood up abruptly and shouted, “I’ll go to the bottom of this matter immediately.”
“Hold on!” Yuwen Shang said.
Stunned, everybody looked at Yuwen Shang.
Yuwen Shang spoke heavily, “Shiji, give the dragon tally to Shaoshuai.”
Hesitating, Yuwen Shiji said, “This …”
Granny You raised her thumb to Yuwen Shang, she praised, “Well done! Shaoshuai is willing to return good for evil, what else we cannot trust him in? Hejian Wang is loyal and devoted to Huangshang even more, there is absolutely nothing to doubt.”
Turning to Yuwen Shiji, she shouted, “You have not done as your Die wants?”
Yuwen Shiji suddenly made up his mind, he strode forward, and handed the dragon tally to Kou Zhong with both hands.
Kou Zhong laughed aloud, took the dragon tally, and without looking at it, he handed it over to Hejian Wang, saying, “On behalf of Qin Wang, I would like to express our deep gratitude to you all. We are doing this for the common people of the world, the Central Earth’s honor and disgrace. First, we need to understand the urgent situation this moment. And then carry out the most appropriate strategy to go to the bedroom to rescue the emperor’s good-self. Hejian Wang, please preside over everything.”
King of Hejian spoke with solemn expression, “Receive the order!”
Yuwen Shang said, “Saving people is like putting out a fire. Based on our strength, how could the demonic [mo – devil] school’s demons [mei] and mountain demons [chi] presumptuously flaunting their might?”
Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “Reminded by Fazhu, my plan immediately takes shape. Let us first besiege heavily the bedroom palace without making any noise, and then contact Li Fan. Just like that, we will storm inside. What do you think?”