The Longest Day in Chang’an: A Race Against Time - Chapter 53

Chapter 53: You Chu (17:00-17:59) P3
Translator: DragonRider
This place was called Yining Fang, located in the northwest corner of Chang’an, beside Kaiyuan Gate. In the ninth year of Zhenguan period(627-649 AD), a Nestorian monk named Aloben from Persia came to Chang’an. Emperor Taizong granted him permission to establish a Nestorian temple in Yining Fang, which counted as the Ancestral Temple of Nestorianism in central mainland. The directory from the Department of Religions indicated that there were around two hundred Nestorian monks in that temple.

On the surface, this temple was sited in a lonely corner in northwestern Chang’an, but if people read the map more carefully, they would find that it had Kaiyuan Gate on its northwest side, Goldlight Gate on its southwest side and the West Market on its true south side, all of which were important entrances and exits that foreign merchants used very often. People in this temple could conveniently see unusual enemy movements from any high position. There was an east-west road along the north side of this fang, which was one of the Six Streets of Chang’an. The street stretched past the imperial city and intersected with the Rosefinch Street at a right angle. The two streets formed a pattern of a cross, one running north-south through Chang’an and the other west-east. The transport was very convenient.

No matter in terms of secrecy or communication, the Nestorian temple in Yining Fang was Yousha’s inevitable choice.

“I’ll go check the place myself right now.” Zhang Xiaojing quickly stood up. Li Bi stopped him, saying, “Even if you manage to get in the temple, there are hundreds of monks in there. How can you find him?”

Zhang Xiaojing said, “Yousha’s status is very high in Tujue. By no means has he been hiding in Chang’an all along. I just have to find out which Nestorian monks are newcomers. He’s probably one of them.” Li Bi still felt that this method was somewhat unreliable, but due to limited intelligence, it seemed that this was their only choice. Zhang Xiaojing would have to play it by ear when he got there.

‘It’s all because of the goddamn time. All decisions were made so hastily,’ Li Bi thought.

Zhang Xiaojing added, “Within this area, there are also Nestorian temples in Buzheng Fang, Yankang Fang and a couple of other fangs. We have to send some teams to search them, too. We can’t afford any careless lapses.”

“I’ve already made some preparations for this.”

At this moment, Zhang Xiaojing made an unexpected request. “Can I borrow Lady Tanqi?”

On hearing this request that could be deemed inexplicable even impertinent, both Li Bi and Tanqi were greatly surprised. Zhang Xiaojing said, “There are too many people in Nestorian temples, and the situation is very complicated. Lady Tanqi is far more discerning and also far more scrupulous than most men. I think she will surely prove helpful – under the circumstances, we can’t afford a single mistake.”

The last remark somewhat convinced Li Bi. Pinching his chin, Li Bi thought for a while and then said, “It’s not my decision to make. Ask her yourself.” Zhang Xiaojing walked up to Tanqi, briefly cupped his hands before his chest and said, “Time waits for no one.”

Tanqi had thought that he would make a long statement. Unexpectedly, he uttered only five abrupt words, leaving no room for negotiation at all. She looked at her master, as if asking him for help, but Li Bi decided to stay out of this. Tanqi lowered her head and kept silent, biting her lip. With a serious look on his face, Zhang Xiaojing said, “Don’t worry. Others might drool over your beauty, but what I value is your wisdom.”

“You… ” Tanqi was unable to tell whether she was feeling annoyed or delighted. She looked at her master again and her heart was melted when she noticed that the wrinkles on his forehead had grown much deeper than before. ‘I can even sacrifice my life for master, not to mention this!’

She raised her head and bravely looked back into the wastrel’s eyes. “I’ll go, but on one condition: I’ll make my own judgement. You have no right to give me any orders.” Zhang Xiaojing raised his arm and stretched over.

“What’s this supposed to mean?”

“Clap our hands and make it a pledge.”

Tanqi reluctantly gave him a high five and felt that this man’s palm was so coarse. There was a thick layer of callus on it, which made her palm slightly hurt. She suddenly recalled that back then when they were at the gateway of the Praetorian Guards Department, it was this hand that he pressed on her shoulder.

They were indeed pressed for time, so Tanqi quickly got rid of these petty thoughts. After sketchily making some preparations, the two hurriedly left the thatch-roofed hut.

Zhang Xiaojing was just about to step over the threshold when Li Bi suddenly said, “Commandant Zhang, this time you don’t have to worry about anything. Just do whatever you deem necessary. Under no circumstances will I suspect you again.” Zhang Xiaojing paused before the threshold and turned his head back. Since he was standing with his back to the faint lamplight outside, his face was completely in the dark, but there was an unusual light gleaming in his only eye. “I never suspected Sicheng Li, but the enemy in the Jing’an Department is another matter.”

After saying this, he left the thatch-roofed hut in strides. Li Bi suddenly heaved a sigh. Tanqi flicked a glance at her master in suspicion, feeling that there was something inexplicable in his sigh.

Zhang Xiaojing and Tanqi soon left, which made it meaningless for Li Bi to stay in the thatch-roofed hut alone, so he directly returned to the hall of the Jing’an Department. A wooden ladder had long ago been placed beside the wall of Cibei Temple. Xu Bin had considerately tied up the top of the ladder with ropes lest his superior fall off it.

Climbing over a wall was undignified after all. For the sake of Li Bi’s feelings, Xu Bin was the only one on the other side of the wall, holding a lantern waiting for him. He got off the ladder and Xu Bin was just about to turn around to lead the way when Li Bi suddenly stopped him. “One moment. There’s something I want to talk to you about.”

Having no idea why Li Bi didn’t choose to talk after they returned to the hall of the Jing’an Department, Xu Bin hurriedly stopped, face full of puzzlement. Li Bi looked around again, confirmed that there was nobody else around eavesdropping and then asked, “Do you have this feeling that something is not right?”

Xu Bin was a little confused. ‘Hasn’t the matter about Turkish Wolf Guards already been fully discussed? What else is Sicheng Li suspecting? Besides, even if he’s found something suspicious, he should have talked about it with Zhang Xiaojing. Why did he choose to tell me about it at the foot of a wall?’

Seeing that he was confused, Li Bi didn’t give any explanation but continued speaking. “Do you still remember Zhang Xiaojing and Yao Runeng went to Xifu and FarFortune Trade respectively to investigate into cases at Wuchu?”

“I do. Er.., I do,” Xu Bin’s memory was very good. During that operation, bales of hay in the stable caught fire due to a brazier in the FarFortune Trade, which caused chaos. Yao Runeng set off smoke signal in alarm and Zhang Xiaojing had to leave Xifu to hurry to his rescue, but halfway there, he felt that something was wrong and doubled back only to find that Wolf Guards killed someone and were just about to leave.

Li Bi sneered, “That trade company had been in horse business for so many years. How was it possible that they carelessly placed a brazier beside hay? Zhang Xiaojing had just arrived at Xifu when things went wrong in the FarFortune Trade. If it weren’t for that, Zhang Xiaojing would probably have long ago caught that Turkish Wolf Guard.”

Xu Bin was confused why Li Bi was so obsessed about this detail. Li Bi continued, “Zhang Xiaojing reached Changming Fang at Shenchu but got caught by Cui Qi at Shenzheng. The interval between the two was less than an hour. How did Li Bi manage to find out his whereabouts and then convince Cui Qi in such a short time?”

“Are you saying that… ” Slow as Xu Bin was, he also began to understand but didn’t dare to say it out at all.

Li Bi stood beside the wall, a cold look flashing across his eyes. “Surprisingly, Zhang Xiaojing had discovered this long ago: there’s a mole in Jing’an Department.”

A ball of hemp paper was twisting and curling in a ceramic brazier. Flames licked their way through the paper and soon turned it to ashes.

Yousha clapped his hands and stood up, looking as if a heavy weight had just been lifted from his mind. This was the last confidential document signed by him and the royal court. From now on, nobody would be able to find any connections between him and Tujue – at least nobody could find any proof.

Then he looked around and took up a gilded wine pot. This wine pot was a reward given to him by the Khan. It had a curved handle, and there were patterns of a galloping horse and a crouching sheep on the surface, which were of strong prairie style. As if feeling sorry about what he was going to do, Yousha clicked his tongue, dropped the wine pot onto the ground and started stamping on it until it completely lost its shape.

He also found a sheepskin haversack, several boxes of horse oil cream, two silver necklaces with tiger-head-shaped pendants and a windproof percale lampshade, all of which were more or less of prairie style and thus might lead to disclosure of Yousha’s identity. Some of them were destroyed, and the others were dumped to somewhere far away.

In fact, these items couldn’t prove much. Turkish culture was very prevalent in Tang Dynasty, and these kinds of things were everywhere. But Yousha felt that he could never be too cautious under the circumstances.

It took Yousha quite a long time to deal with all these thing, and droplets of sweat could be faintly seen on his forehead. He tried to undo a towel off his belt to wipe the sweat but accidentally touched a strand of human hair wrapped around the belt. Yousha briefly frowned and recalled that this was from the top of Cao Poyan’s head. He contemptuously snorted, heavily pulled it off and tossed it into the ceramic brazier. Soon, the hair was also burnt to ashes.

“Ha-ha, these morons,” Yousha straightened his waist, looked through the window into the distance and couldn’t help smiling wryly. These foolish Wolf Guards thought that Tujue was still a match for Tang Dynasty as it was decades ago? Stupid!

As a high-status official, he could distinctly see the overall situation. Currently, Tujue was nothing but a prairie tribe lingering on with its last breath of life. In name only, the Khan wasn’t even capable of subjugating nearby small tribes. A senile, sick wolf would sooner or later be replaced by another wolf in its prime in the pack.

Surprisingly, under this circumstance, the Khan still tried to provoke Tang Dynasty in Chang’an on a whim. In Yousha’s opinion, this act was synonymous with courting his own doom. But he didn’t try to dissuade the Khan. Instead, he volunteered to come to Chang’an to direct this operation.

Since sooner or later Tujue would perish, he might as well sell it at a decent price before it did, and these Wolf Guards were the best bargaining chip.

Originally, Yousha had planned to side with Tang Dynasty, but the Imperial Court’s attitude towards him had been erratic, so Yousha didn’t dare take risks, but soon he made contact with a better buyer who made him an absolutely satisfying offer and also had an amazing plan.

Yousha didn’t care what that plan was. He just ordered his subordinates to execute every step of it according to the buyer’s requests. This was a deal from which he could gain ten thousand percent. Tujue would provide costs and take all risks, and he would be the one getting all profits. Those pathetic Wolf Guards probably had no idea at all what they were doing at the last moment of their lives.

‘There’s nothing I can do about it. They were Wolf Guards, and I’m Yousha. What’s that saying of Tang people? Oh – Those who work with their brains rule and those who work with their brawn are ruled. The one who said this was absolutely a genius.’

Thinking about this, Yousha curved his lips and let out a peal of hollow laugh in his bedroom where he was the only one inside. Now he had kept his end of the bargain. Yousha destroyed the last letter sent by Wolf Guards and also dumped all his belongings related to Tujue.

Now everything was ready. All he had to do was wait for the other party to come to him and complete the transaction. And then he would be able to go wherever he wanted and live whatever kind of life he liked.

Yousha moved the ceramic brazier to a corner, returned to the middle of the bedroom and sat back into the chair before the table. Apart from sutras, a candlestick and that short knife he had used to cut off the hair on the top of Cao Poyan’s head, there was also a ceramic wine pot in the shape of Capricorn with glazed goblets to match – they were not typically Turkish, so they survived.

Yousha poured himself a goblet of blood-red wine from the Western Regions and gently shook it. Under the lamplight came from outside, he could see the glistening amber liquid in the goblet.