The Longest Day in Chang’an: A Race Against Time - Chapter 50

“How did you convince him?” asked Zhang Xiaojing.

Looking through the window, Li Bi sighed deeply, “It wasn’t me but Supervisor He who did it.”

Zhang Xiaojing squinted his only eye. “Eek? He actually agreed to help?”

Li Bi said, “I just visited Supervisor He. When Supervisor He heard that the Praetorian Guards Department had detained a hero, he suffered a relapse and passed out on the spot. I and his adopted son He Dong went to Gan Shoucheng and demanded an explanation.”

He gave a sketchy account of the process of his meeting with Supervisor He and all people present were taken aback. Supervisor He was already eighty-six years old. There was an eighty-percent chance that this relapse would cost him his life.

But after some careful thinking, they realized that – though it was somewhat disrespectful to say so – He Zhizhang’s suffering a relapse was more helpful to them than his presence could have been. Ten days ago, the Emperor himself specially set up a tent to see this old man off, which was a great honor to him. If the Emperor was informed that Gan Shoucheng’s reckless deed infuriated He Zhizhang to death, there was no means by which a mere General of the Praetorian Guards Department could survive the dire consequences of angering the Emperor.

Gan Shoucheng, who held no deep hatred towards Zhang Xiaojing, was just trying to do Prime Minister Li a favor. He was not willing to take the blame for He Zhizhang’s death just to get this petty interest. As a result, facing Li Bi’s confrontational attitude as well as the pressure He Zhizhang’s son put on him, Gan Shoucheng finally made a reluctant concession.

Simple as this matter sounded when put in words, the efforts he had made trying to outwit the other side must have been extremely mentally exhausting.

Clamping the tail of his clothes with his fingers, Li Bi mumbled an inexplicable remark.”There had always been only one path leading to the top of the Hua Mountain from of old (A famous mountain in China.).”

Hearing this, Tanqi and Yao Runeng held their chests and sighed. When they risked infiltrating into the Praetorian Guards Department, they had already psyched themselves up for the fact that there might not be backup. It turned out that Li Bi had been making efforts outside all along and had never given up. It was with all-out efforts of them all that they miraculously rescued Zhang Xiaojing.

But why couldn’t Zhang Xiaojing return to the Jing’an Department?

Li Bi clicked his tong, face full of scorn. “Gan Shoucheng was unreconciled after losing this bet. He got word out that Zhang Xiaojing was not allowed to publicly appear in Jing’an Department, or else he would regard you as a prisoner wanted by the Imperial Court and detain you again. He’s so narrow-minded. As a result, I had to went to the head monk of the Cibei Temple and got ourselves a thatch-roofed hut separated from Jing’an Department by merely a wall. Xu Bin will be our temporary liaison.”

“Commandant Zhang won’t be coming to this hut very often anyway. We might as well take it as a way to coax General Gan into calming down,” Yao Runeng said sarcastically, stroking the cattail hassock.

On the sight of the dignified General of the Praetorian Guards Department throwing a tantrum like a child trying to save his face, everybody burst into laugh and the atmosphere was finally softened a little.

Zhang Xiaojing didn’t laugh. He rested his elbow on his knee and his chin on his hand, descending into contemplation.

It was not Turks but Li Bi that he was thinking about.

When Zhang Xiaojing was the General of the Indecent, he had dealt with numerous cases and heard numerous testimonies. There were many contradictory remarks in Li Bi’s account of events.

He Zhizhang had always been against the reinstatement of Zhang Xiaojing. How come he got infuriated unconscious because of this matter? Back then, Li Bi and He Zhizhang were the only ones in the room. He Zhizhang suffered a sudden relapse, and then Li Bi went out of the room and claimed that the old man got furious and passed out on hearing what the Praetorian Guards Department did. All this was Li Bi’s one-sided statement.

What was the real reason that He Zhizhang suffered a relapse? What actually happened in that room?

There had always been only one path leading to the top of the Hua Mountain from of old. People intending to get there must psych themselves up for overcoming all the obstacles in their way. What did this mean?

Staring at Li Bi’s bloodshot eyes, Zhang Xiaojing suddenly realized that he was not investigating into a case, so he didn’t have to know every detail of everything. Zhang Xiaojing cupped his hands before his chest as a gesture of respect and said, “Sicheng Li once said that you would stop the Turks, whatever the cost. You’re really a man of your word.”

Li Bi detected the undertone of his words but didn’t give any further explanation. He asked a rhetorical question in a bland tone, “May I ask whether Commandant Zhang is also willing to keep the promise you made?”

“Sure. Otherwise I wouldn’t have come back,” said Zhang Xiaojing. “The Imperial Court is the Imperial Court. Commoners are commoners.”

The two exchanged an eye contact. Both of them saw something in each other’s eyes but didn’t say anything by tacit agreement. Outside the courtyard, some birds suddenly started twittering and with that the two gave a wry smile at the same time.

“All right. That’s all for the chat. We’ve already wasted an hour on a fool. Let’s get down to business.” Li Bi knocked on the edge of the couch. The others hurriedly straightened themselves up.

He told Zhang Xiaojing all his doubts about the number of those Fierceflame Bombs. Zhang Xiaojing nodded. “Great minds think alike. I was going to remind Sicheng Li of this when I crawled out of the canal. Given the scale of the warehouse, the number of Fierceflame Bombs Turks kept there was not too big but too small. They must be up to a bigger plan, and it’s still on-going.”

Li Bi flicked a glance at Xu Bin who then hurriedly stood up and said, “Er..Er.. Today there are too many people on the street. Near the East Market and the West Market alone, there are several hundred animal-drawn vehicles and rickshaws, and the total number of vehicles on all streets in the city is no smaller than ten thousand. It is totally impossible to find the flatbed carts that Turks use to transport Fierceflame Bombs with merely those watchtowers. And we’ve just been… er… delayed by the Praetorian Guards Department for over an hour. I’m afraid… I’m afraid the bombs have already been transferred to the place they want them to be.”

“I have an idea. May I ask whether Sicheng Li has ever noticed this?” Zhang Xiaojing’s voice became solemn. “I always feel that there are somebody else behind those Turkish Wolf Guards.”

“Isn’t that an obvious fact? The Khan on the grassland. We don’t need you to remind us of it!” There were not many people in the thatch-roofed hut, so even Tanqi became bolder.

But Zhang Xiaojing shook his head. “No. I’m talking about someone inside Chang’an City.” He drew a couple of lines on the dusty floor before the cattail hassock. “Think about it. Turkish Wolf Guards asked Cui Liulang for the map of Chang’an because they were unfamiliar with Chang’an, right?”

With a sullen face, Li Bi didn’t say anything but repeatedly patting the edge of the couch.

“But let’s look back on the previous investigation we’ve conducted. There had already been a lot of Turkish Wolf Guards hiding in the city. They had safe houses, warehouses for gatherings, and also logistics companies in contact with other cities. Leaving all other things aside, that deserted warehouse in Changming Fang alone must have been chosen by someone extremely discerning. It is unobtrusive, not far away from busy streets and has two entrances, which makes it very convenient to covertly transport goods in large quantities. Someone with this discernment must be very familiar with Chang’an. Why did they still need a map?”

Yao Runeng ventured a guess, “Maybe they just wanted to carry out the plan in a more precise manner?”

“If Turkish Wolf Guards merely want to bring chaos to the city with Fierceflame Bombs, they don’t need a map at all. I mean, there are only ten-plus fangs in the prosperous part of Chang’an. They can just keep driving the wagons northwards.” Zhang Xiaojing picked up a cup of water and drank it in one gulp.

Yao Runeng thought for a while and realized that what he said was very reasonable. Fierceflame Bombs were very powerful, so Turks didn’t need to precisely put them at a certain position. They could cause extensive damage by casually throwing the bombs to random places.

“The whole plan of Turkish Wolf Guards gives me this feeling that it involves two groups of people whose styles are entirely different from each other. One group of people are very familiar with Chang’an and also have a wide range of contacts. They even managed to plant moles in the Parsee Prayer Hall in Huaiyuan Fang half a year in advance. The other group of people were very unfamiliar with Chang’an City, so they had to find a map and they also carried out a raid in haste.”

After a brief pause, Zhang Xiaojing held up a finger. “To put it in more simple terms, Turks are just a bunch of impoverished people living in the prairie. How could they travel a thousand miles to Chang’an and carried out such precise attacks by themselves?”

The look in Li Bi’s eyes abruptly became piercing as he heard this. After doing some thinking along the train of thought of Zhang Xiaojing, he gradually came to a horrifying conclusion. “So Commandant Zhang’s conclusion is that some people have been helping them?”

Zhang Xiaojing heavily put the cup down onto the ground and gave a wry smile, saying, “I’m afraid… apart from Wolf Guards, we’ll have to face a more formidable enemy. This enemy is very familiar with Chang’an, and Turkish Wolf Guards are just a saber and a pawn of them.”

After he made this remark, the thatch-roofed hut fell into terrifying silence. They could distinctly hear that the breathing of each of them was becoming heavier. Turkish Wolf Guards were merely a beginning? There was yet another more formidable enemy? This news was shocking enough to send everybody unconscious.

Though Li Bi had noticed something previously, he hadn’t thought as far as Zhang Xiaojing had. The more he thought about it, the more reasonable he felt his deduction was, but the more reasonable it was, the more scared he became. Exactly who this enemy was? He wanted to use Turks to destroy Chang’an City? The Tang Dynasty had many enemies, but hardly any one of them was so cold-blooded and sly.

Li Bi even felt a trace of remorse. If Supervisor He was still here, with his previous experience in the Imperial Court, he might have found more clues. He shook his head in a self-deprecating manner, getting rid of these rough-and-tumble thoughts. “Xu Bin, have we made any progress?”

After hesitating for quite a while, Xu Bin uttered only one word, “No… ”

After Turkish Wolf Guards were wiped out, most people believed that the overall situation stabilized. Except for the one concerning Wang Yunxiu, all other investigations were in routine wind-up stage. Investigators wouldn’t have put a lot of effort into them, so they certainly wouldn’t have found any clues of value.

Li Bi intended to order them to check again, but Zhang Xiaojing stopped him. “That won’t help. If it was that mysterious enemy who did this, he wouldn’t have left any detectable clues behind.”

In annoyance, Li Bi stood up and paced up and down in the thatch-roofed hut. They had been though so much trouble and finally managed to eliminate Turkish Wolf Guards, but now a mysterious enemy came out of nowhere. They knew clearly he was hiding in the very heart of Chang’an, but there was no trace of him at all. He dumped Wolf Guards and then disappeared into the dark like a lizard dumped its tail.

“If there is no clue, let’s force a clue to show up! Ask everybody to search with all their strength! Those Turkish Wolf Guards fled from the West Market, but we found a way and got them afterwards, didn’t we?” Li Bi yelled at Xu Bin. He had paid such a high price. By no means would he give up at this moment.

Xu Bin wiped the sweat off his forehead and started checking the document beside him again, trying to find some slightly better news. After a long time, he hesitantly raised his head. “There is only one… Er… one clue of sorts… We caught Cao Poyan.”

Zhang Xiaojing sitting beside him was stunned. He remembered that he had stabbed Cao Poyan to death during the conflict happened in Changming Fang. How come he came back to life?

At first Li Bi was rejoiced. This Cao Poyan was an important member of those Wolf Guards, so he must know something, but soon he got very angry –why didn’t Xu Bin report to him earlier that they caught such an important person? Xu Bin stooped down, moved his eyes closer to the document, read it several times and then raised his head with a wry smile, saying, “Er… The reason why I didn’t report this to you earlier was because he was seriously injured and dying when we found him. We couldn’t have extracted any information from him.”

It was too difficult to have a Wolf Guard tell them anything on his own account. Besides, Cao Poyan was dying back then and they couldn’t have tortured him. No wonder the Jing’an Department didn’t regard this as a worthwhile matter.

“How about I go there and interrogate him?” Zhang Xiaojing stretched his fingers, giving off intense killing aura. Li Bi was puzzled. “He won’t be able to survive the Five-Honored Yama’s methods given his current condition.”

“You don’t always need to adopt violent methods to get someone talking.” Zhang Xiaojing squinted his only eye. “Besides, this is our only chance. We don’t have much time.”

The moment he finished the last word, a crisp sound emanated from the hourcopper in the hall of Jing’an Department on the other side of the wall, and with that the giant bell of the Cibei Temple also rang. From nearby ones to those far off, drums and bells in various fangs sounded one after another, striking the hour, their resonant sounds resounding through the whole Chang’an City. Candles in hundreds of thousands of lanterns were lit at the same time. With cascades of fireworks and a sea of lanterns ablaze with festive light, the darkening sky became bright again.

You Hour had arrived. The lantern show, the grandest annual event in Chang’an, began.