The Longest Day in Chang’an: A Race Against Time

Chapter 41: Shen Chu (15:00-15:59) P10

Translator: DragonRider

Beneath the gaze of all residents nearby, Zhang Xiaojing displayed his superb driving techniques. Using his rope as a horsewhip, he had the wheel-horses turned west bit by bit. The cart’s wheels traced two almost perfect arcs on the unsurfaced road. When the cart finished turning and headed true west, the hoofs of the two wheel-horses had just passed the Dragon-threshold at the east gate of the West Market.

The two spinning wooden wheels accurately went through the two gaps in the threshold without the minutest error. The turning didn’t influence the speed of the cart at all. It swished into the West Market.

The moment he entered the West Market, he didn’t drive along the major road to the Tenth Street but dashed into a courtyard on the side. First the cart knocked aside ten-plus stacking big wine vats with a loud crash, then broke through a couple of fences and half a wooden house, and then hurtled squarely downhill along a slope.

Zhang Xiaojing knew what kind of state the five wooden barrels were in without even turning his head back to look at them. After so many impacts, the smell of sulfur was getting stronger and stronger, approaching the point of transition. In fact, it was due to the bless of all gods in the heavenly kingdom that those Fierceflame Bombs still hadn’t exploded, which was truely a miracle. Though he was facing imminent death, in his only eye, there was neither panic nor despair, only serenity, the kind like that of rock.

At the bottom of the slope was a canal about twenty meters in breadth, the surface of which was firmly frozen. The name of this canal was Guangtong Canal. It entered the city through the Goldlight Gate, passed Jude Fang and Qunxian Fang and then went into the West Market. Guangtong Canal was widened in Tianbao Year 2 in order to facilitate the shipping of logs from Qin Ridge. Deep and wide, the canal allowed ships as big as five hundred Shi(A unit for measuring volume; 0.1 cubic meters) in volume to sail in it.

Six hours ago, Cao Poyan jumped into this canal at this place and got rid of the pursuers. There was still a hole in the ice surface, which was caused by Cui Qi’s landing.

Expressionless, Zhang Xiaojing pulled the cape tighter around him and heavily whipped the two wheel-horses for the last time. The momentum that the cart gained when going down the slope and the wheel-horses’ mad running due to the pain sent the cart shooting forward at an extremely high speed. It swished past the canal bank formed of compact mass of loess and fearlessly fell towards the broad frozen surface.

The heavy cart flew through mid-air and heavily landed onto the thin layer of ice. As expected, with a almighty bang, the frozen surface subsided. Icy cold sprays turned into countless hands dragging the cart down into the deep water. At the same time, those Fierceflame Bombs finally detonated, generating a muffled boom and a string of clouds of fire half of which were deep underwater, and the other half of which were at the surface, ripples quickly spreading outwards.

The Guangtong Canal abruptly started churning violently like a giant frightened serpent, sprays and flames surging up at the same time. Numerous fine ice splashed up high and shot into the sky, accompanied by thick smoke. If poets who were visiting the capital city had seen this rare scene from the bank, they must have composed a lot of good poems that would become famous in the future.

Not long after the explosion, large numbers of elite soldiers of the Jing’an Department and the Praetorian Guards Department hurried to the bank of the canal. At this moment, the frozen surface of this part of the canal had all collapsed. Only half an incomplete wheel was floating in it, blackened all over.

The whole thing started from the frozen surface at this place, and it ended under the water here as well, as if in accordance with the Buddhist theory on reincarnation.

After running a preliminary damage investigation, they found that a massive fissure appeared in the canal bank due to the force of the explosion. The locks on the canal tilted. Half of a small Town God Temple near the canal collapsed. Some trees and small boats near the bank were destroyed. A couple of porters broke their legs. These were all the damages caused by the detonation.

There was no way to find out exactly how many of the five barrels of Fierceflame Bombs detonated, but one thing was clear – if it weren’t for that Zhang Xiaojing drove the cart into Guangtong Canal to abate the power of the explosion with water, the damage would have been dozens of times heavier no matter where those bombs detonated.

Finally, the crisis was resolved. Everybody felt greatly relieved. It was not until this moment that they realized Zhang Xiaojing’s true intention. In an emergency like that, the Guangtong Canal in the West Market was the only solution. It must not have been easy for him to come up with this idea, and it must have been even more difficult for him to carry it out.

Xu Bin anxiously grabbed Yao Runeng’s arm and said, “My eyesight is poor. Yours is good. Did you find him? By the way, the Bureau of West Market has six small boats in the Guangtong Canal. Dispatch them to the middle of the canal and search for him!”

Having mixed feelings, Yao Runeng was filled with admiration for this convict condemned to death. It turned out that Zhang Xiaojing wasn’t bragging. He really risked life and limb saving this city. Recalling all the things happened during the last few hours, Zhang Xiaojing had done nothing to find fault with except for killing Little B. Yao Runeng felt more ashamed that he had been suspecting such a hero all along.

But he believed that hardly anybody could survive an explosion as powerful as that. Yao Runeng didn’t have the heart to tell Xu Bin his judgement, so he just stood beside the canal in silence, looking into the distance with a solemn face.

If Zhang Xiaojing died just like this, he and his previous experience would be a mystery forever.

Footsteps came. He turned his head back and found that Sicheng Li himself arrived. He was standing on the top of the slope, looking in the direction of the canal, the look on his face indistinguishable. That beautiful handmaid was standing beside him, her yellow brocade coat very obtrusive. Yao Runeng thought, ‘Back then Sicheng Li overrode all objections and appointed Zhang Xiaojing as an agent. He even fell out with Supervisor He because of this. I wonder how he feels about this ending.’

Right at this moment, on the opposite bank of the canal, a member of the Indecent waved his hand and yelled in excitement. Yao Runeng hurriedly stopped contemplating and looked in the direction of that man along with Xu Bin.

They saw that a couple of members of the Indecent were helping a figure get ashore. That figure was wearing a cape and looked feeble, but at least he could still walk. Behind them was a high stone Sutra Pillar(A pillar with Buddhist sutra carved on it) with a top shaped like a lotus flower with nine petals.

Buddhism was particularly prevalent in Tang Dynasty. Naturally, an important place like Guangtong Canal must have a Sutra Pillar. Officials also had a Bodhisattva temple built nearby. The pillar also could be used to indicate the water level of the canal. That figure probably had happened to be lying under the stone Sutra Pillar, which was why the first search team failed to find him.

Xu Bin excitedly gave a jump and nearly went into the river to directly swim to the other side. He repeatedly urged Yao Runeng to answer him whether that person was Zhang Xiaojing or not. Trying hard to suppress his pounding heart, Yao Runeng widened his eyes and looked in the direction of the opposite bank. With excellent eyesight, he immediately saw that taupe cape with a couple of big, pitch-black holes in it.

Yes. That was a cape made of Huohuan cloth(Huohuan cloth is fireproof material used in ancient China).

So, Zhang Xiaojing was still alive?!

He probably jumped off the cart on his own account the last moment before the explosion, and the blast threw him to a position near the stone Sutra Pillar. The cape sheltered him from the first surge of roaring flames. The octagonal stone Sutra Pillar provided him with something to hold on to, which was why he didn’t sink to the bottom of the canal. This was really a blessing from Buddha!

Xu Bin and Yao Runeng cheered like children, faces full of delight. Yao Runeng exhaled deeply. There couldn’t have been an ending better than this one. He began to consider what he should say to him when they met a while later, ‘Should I congratulate him on his being absolved from capital offence first or should I make another apology to him?’

Zhang Xiaojing was unaware that two people rejoiced at his survival and cheered. He was still dizzy and feeble. After walking a couple of steps with others’ help, he had to stop and sat down on the spot. Though he had luckily dodged the blast, he was caught in the flames first and then soaked in icy water, which was really a miserable experience. Blood oozed out of the wounds in his broken fingers, armpit and back again.

A couple of members of the Indecent obsequiously helped him remove the worn cape and coat, and put a thick dry jacket on him. “Commandant Zhang, because of your heroic deeds, now everybody is safe,” a member of the Indecent said sycophantically, handing him a towel.

Zhang Xiaojing took the towel, wiped the water off his eye sockets and returned it to that person, but there was no relieved look on his face at all.

Indeed, all Wolf Guards were dead, but he kept having this feeling that the whole thing wasn’t over yet. The number of of those Fierceflame Bombs was not too big but too small. With only fifteen barrels of mountain tallow, those Turks could blast a couple of fangs at the most, which was far from burning the whole Chang’an. Was the “Kailu Hodo” that those Turks invested so much hope in really so simple?

If it were really so simple, they could have directly driven the carts into a couple of fangs. They wouldn’t have needed the map of fangs.

Besides, Wen Ran’s whereabouts remained unknown. There was no signs of any women in the warehouse or the three carts.

There were too many questionable points in this matter. Zhang Xiaojing was thinking about how to consult with Li Bi on this matter when suddenly he heard sure-footed steps coming near. He raised his eyes, flicked a look in the direction of the sounds and found that it was Cui Qi, who was responsible for searching this side of the canal and thus arrived first.

“General Cui, this thing isn’t over yet. Bring me to Sicheng Li immediately,” Zhang Xiaojing said loudly.

But Cui Qi’s face was expressionless with no smile on it at all. He walked up to Zhang Xiaojing, waved his hand and with that two Lubi soldiers pounced on Zhang Xiaojing and firmly pressed his arms onto the ground.

“Take him away.” Cui Qi kept avoiding his eyes.