The Longest Day in Chang’an: A Race Against Time - Chapter 51

With a sideways movement of her pretty eyes, she turned around and left the room. After a while, she brought back a plateful of deep-fried dough under which were a couple of pastries. The deep-fried dough was fried with vegetable oil and thus very filling.

Youchu, 14th of the first lunar month, Tianbao Year 3, Tang Dynasty.

Guangde Fang, Chang’an County, Chang’an City.

Outside the temple, the festive atmosphere in Chang’an City was so hot that it seemed as if the city was going to melt, but this house in Guangde Fang was still chilly and grim.

It was a short house built with bricks. There were no tiles on the roof, only two layers of blackened thatch. Located just between the Jingzhao Office and the Cibei (Lit. mercy) Temple, beside the Yongan Canal, this house used to be a mortuary of the Jingzhao Office where post-mortem examiners performed autopsies. The canal beside it facilitated sewage disposal, and the temple on its side helped expiate the sins of the dead. Folk rumors said the very reason why Sun Simiao chose to live in Guangde Fang back then was that it was very convenient for him to perform autopsies and thus improve his medical skills here.

Cao Poyan was lying on a crude board made from elm with his chest gently heaving. Blood flowing out of the wound in his abdomen was gradually permeating through the board, making its dull-red grain even more hideous. For the moment, he didn’t count as a corpse, but soon he would be one. The Ying Qi (Supernatural energy from the underworld existed in Chinese mythology) in this room was very strong. He could feel that coldness was greedily eating away at what little remains of his life.

After Zhang Xiaojing stabbed a saber through his abdomen in Changming Fang, Cao Poyan fell onto the ground. Having been a Wolf Guard for many years, Cao Poyan had a very powerful physique, which was why he didn’t die instantaneously, though what he sustained was a fatal blow. When soldiers of Lubi Army were clearing up the site, they found that Cao Poyan was still alive and immediately sent him back to the Jing’an Department.

Back at that time, Mageer and the others on the wagon were driving madly fast, and all staff members of Jing’an Department were concentrating their attention on them, so the acceptor just perfunctorily examined Cao Poyan, deemed him unworthy of interrogation and then directly transferred him to this mortuary. Fortunately, a Lubi soldier who participated in the operation in the West Market recognized Cao Poyan and recorded the apprehension in a document, otherwise Xu Bin might not have known about this.

With a squeak, the wooden door was pushed open and with that Zhang Xiaojing entered the mortuary alone. Step by step, he walked on the uneven, bluestone floor with a white lantern in his left hand held up high and a varnished lunch box in his right hand. Under the light giving off by the flickering flame of the candle in the lantern, his one-eyed face looked exceptionally fearsome, as if the Yama materializing in the world of the living.

Stimulated by the light, Cao Poyan’s eyeballs slightly moved.

Candles were prone to draw spirits, so people never placed candlesticks in mortuaries. Instead, they used torches that burnt pine oil. Silently, Zhang Xiaojing lit the four torches on the walls one by one, put out the candle in the lantern and then fished out a bowl of tawny decoction, which could stimulate a dying person, out of the lunch box.

He propped up Cao Poyan’s upper body, put a piece of stow-wood behind his back and let him lean against it. Then Zhang Xiaojing picked up an autopsy-hook, roughly opened Cao Poyan’s mouth with it, twisted the hook to widen the gap between his teeth, and then forced the bowl of soup into him.

After the warm soup went down into his body, Cao Poyan’s face seemed less ashen.

Facing his head, Zhang Xiaojing stooped down and said in a deep voice, “We met again.”

Eyes closed, Cao Poyan stayed still, but his cheek muscles fleetingly twitched, indicating that he did hear it and understood it. Dying people had much less control of their bodies.

Zhang Xiaojing gave a giggle and then said in fluent Turkish, “I killed a lot of Wolf Guards from the prairie. You’re the toughest one, a good opponent.”

Cao Poyan still made no response.

“I know Wolf Guards. To you people, loyalty is like blood, and honor is like souls. You live solely for the Khan’s words.” Zhang Xiaojing slowly walked around the board bed, as if not anxious to get to the point at all. He stretched out his hand and stroked the patch of bald scalp on the top of Cao Poyan’s head. “I’m very curious. Why did the hair on the crown of a Wolf Guard loyal enough to be unafraid of death like you was cut?”

The hair on his crown being cut off meant that his soul was collected in advance, which was a huge dishonor. As expected, the moment Zhang Xiaojing brought this up, Cao Poyan, slightly mortified and unreconciled, abruptly started panting heavily.

“I have a shrewd why they did this. Your team got ambushed by the Jing’an Department and suffered heavy casualties, so they cut the hair on your crown as a punishment. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you this. Your plan has failed. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been standing here.”

Zhang Xiaojing’s voice was deep and slow, as if he was chatting with an old friend. “The only person who has the authority to punish a Wolf Guard is that dignitary from Ahshi’s family, which means that there is at least one superior above you, who has been directing operations of all Wolf Guards. You’re lying here waiting for death, but he is still at large.”

Cao Poyan contemptuously moved his eyeballs, as if teasing Zhang Xiaojing’s clumsy methods of making mischief. Surprisingly, Zhang Xiaojing shook his fingers and clicked his tongue, saying, “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to tempt you into betraying him. I know this won’t work for a Wolf Guard. I just want to do some sharing with you so that you won’t feel too lonely before you die.”

Leaning against a column at the side and starting from his appointment from the Jing’an Department, Zhang Xiaojing gave Cao Poyan a full account of the investigation in a very relaxed tone, as if the person lying in front of him was a friend he had known for many years, and as if they were chatting while drinking green-ant wine heated by a red-clay stove.

He narrated the story in a very frank and very detailed manner, with some caustic comments like “It was a very imaginative move to hang smoke bombs on the inside of a door.”, “People in the Imperial Court of Tang Dynasty are far more stupid than you.” But in these descriptions, Zhang Xiaojing half unconsciously ignored some details and highlighted some other details. This was an unfair duel. He must be very cautious with his every remark and close in on the target by circling around him, and he would win once the opponent shut up and died.

“…Kidnapping Wang Yunxiu is a mistake. Yes, she’s Wang Zhongsi’s daughter, but how much influence could a woman possibly have on the overall military and political situation? Since you want to destroy Chang’an, you should have concentrated all your resources on one target.”

“Why didn’t you get the map from that foreign merchant at the very beginning? He was clearly a safer choice than Cui Liulang was.”

“You were able to find safe houses and warehouses. Why did they wait until the day for the operation to let you enter the city in haste?”

Like a cunning hunter, Zhang Xiaojing kept asking rhetorical questions, slowly steering his talking onto the topic he had prepared in advance. These questions were destined to remain unanswered, but they helped control the pace of the conversation. Having interrogated many prisoners before, he knew when was the time to give the opponent a fatal blow.

Cao Poyan’s eyes were tightly closed during the whole process. The heave of his chest was the only indication that he was still alive.

“… Turkish Wolf Guards probably got used by another group of people to distract the Jing’an Department. And that group took advantage of the opportunity and transferred those Fierceflame Bombs for some other purpose. You’ve made so many sacrifices but they stole the fruits.”

Zhang Xiaojing launched the first attack. He expressed his speculation and then shut up, giving Cao Poyan some time to think about these things.

Cao Poyan opened his eyes and watched the ceiling made of thatch. It was very thin and he could see the change of color of the sky outside. Silent as he remained, Zhang Xiaojing knew what the silence meant, “So what? All I want is the destruction of Chang’an.”

Cao Poyan didn’t care whether this thing would be done by Turkish Wolf Guards or somebody else. Zhang Xiaojing realized that an attack from this direction wouldn’t work, so he made some adjustments in time.

“Yes. So what?” Zhang Xiaojing said with a grin. “The Tang Dynasty has such a vast territory. If Chang’an is destroyed, there are still Luoyang, Yangzhou, Jiangling and Chengdu. There are fifteen Offices of Reign Power having jurisdiction over more than three hundred cities. Can you blast all of them? But how many people does Tujue has? If the Imperial Court send troops to the prairie, your tribe will be annihilated. Your relatives and friends as well as your Khan will become the lowest pastoral slaves.”

Cao Poyan clenched his fists so tightly that blood started oozing out of the wound in his abdomen again. Zhang Xiaojing seize this opportunity and made some comments as sharp as a saber.

“You see. Even if this plan succeeds, it will lead to the most brutal retaliation of the Tang Dynasty, and Turkish people will suffer the heaviest loss. Your people did most of the work and suffered the most but benefited the least. When Khan Usumish was formulating the plan for this attack, had he carefully thought about the consequences? Was he after a momentary relief or… was he fooled by anybody?”

The moment he finished speaking, Zhang Xiaojing noticed that Cao Poyan had an abrupt twitch in his fingers. He knew that this time he hit a raw nerve.

“As regard this matter, I’m afraid someone deliberately tricked your Khan into sending Turkish people to the front line to do all the risky jobs, which was a brilliant tactic. Tang Dynasty will suffer heavy casualties. Tujue will be annihilated. And that group of people? They will take all the profits unharmed.”

Cao Poyan remained silent, but there was a different look on his face now.

“In order to use Tujue, that group must find a Turk to assist them from inside. This Turk must be influential enough to lobby the Khan, have the authority to dispatch Wolf Guards and also stay inside Chang’an City to keep the whole situation under control… ”

Zhang Xiaojing slowed down. Cao Poyan’s chest started heaving fast.

“I suppose your curator is the only one who could have done all these things, isn’t he? He betrayed Khan Usumish and all Turkish Wolf Guards, and threw the whole prairie into perdition. All your efforts and sacrifices became a gift he gave to his new master. Yet this traitor cut the crown hair of a loyalist.”

Before his voice died away, Cao Poyan abruptly raised his head and let out a cry like a howl of a wolf, “Yousha!!!” The thatch roof quivered due to this sudden yell. On hearing this word, Zhang Xiaojing was taken aback. Tujue had sent a noble of such a high status to Chang’an.

He put his hand on Cao Poyan’s chest and patted it, as if trying to comfort him. “Everybody has to be responsible for the choice they make. A traitor cut your crown hair and humiliated you. Only by killing him can you restore the honor of Wolf Guards-”

Before Zhang Xiaojing could finish his sentence, Cao Poyan yelled at the roof again, “Yousha!!!”

The two roars seemed to have cost all his residual life. Cao Poyan’s whole body started convulsing violently. Zhang Xiaojing had no choice but to clamp a hand on his shoulder and forced another mouthful of decoction which could stimulate a dying person into his mouth. But this time it didn’t work. Tawny decoction flowed out of the corner of his lips and Cao Poyan’s face was dimming rapidly.

Zhang Xiaojing hurriedly stooped down and yelled into his ears, “Tell me! Where’s Yousha!”

But Cao Poyan made no response. He was overwhelmed by despair and fury. Wolf Guards was never afraid of death, but they did fear to die for nothing. When he realized that all he had been fighting for were lies, the mental breakdown was more than enough to destroy what little remains of his life.

Having never expected that his reaction would be so dramatic, Zhang Xiaojing madly patted Cao Poyan’s face. If this guy died just like this, the last clue would be gone. Seeing that his eyes were dimming quickly, Zhang Xiaojing hurriedly fished out a necklace made of colorful stones and shook it before Cao Poyan’s eyes.

Under the guidance of Li Bi, Lubi soldiers developed a good habit: they collected all suspicious items found in the warehouse of Changming Fang, both big ones and small ones, including pieces of wooden barrels and bits of bamboos. And they stored all of them in the storage room beside the left side-hall. When Zhang Xiaojing was checking those things, he found a couple of colorful stones and immediately recalled that they were from a necklace Cao Poyan used to wear, which was broken by him with a saber. So he had Tanqi thread those stones onto a string and then brought it into this mortuary.

Surprisingly, Cao Poyan’s eyes regained part of their vitality as he saw this necklace made of colorful stones. He calmed down and uttered some inexplicable murmurs, as if calling somebody’s name. Zhang Xiaojing put the necklace into his palm, and said into his ears, “I, Zhang Xiaojing, swear to God I will send this necklace and your soul back to the prairie.”

Cao Poyan’s crown hair was cut by Yousha, which meant that only Yousha’s death could free his soul.

Cao Poyan turned his face sideways and looked at Zhang Xiaojing on his own account for the first time. Zhang Xiaojing clamped a hand on his shoulder and asked again, “Where’s Yousha? For your reputation, for your Turkish Khan, for the well-being of the person who made this necklace, answer me. Where’s Yousha?”

Cao Poyan opened his mouth and uttered a couple of vague syllables. Zhang Xiaojing pricked up his ears and narrowly managed to distinguish what he said was “Cross-shaped lotus flower.”

“Cross-shaped lotus flower? What does it mean?”

Zhang Xiaojing wanted to ask some further questions but Cao Poyan exhaled the last breath, closed his eyes and limply crumpled up. The look on his face was no longer twisted and became serene for the first time. He was still holding the necklace tight.

Zhang Xiaojing was just about to release Cao Poyan’s body when he suddenly flared his nostrils, squinted his only eye and did something strange: he steadied Cao Poyan by holding his shoulders, keeping his upper body up, moved his head close to the chest cooling down, and kept still for quite a while.