The Longest Day in Chang’an: A Race Against Time - Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Xuchu (19:00-19:59) Part 6

Translator: DragonRider

Yao Runeng stayed still but shock was churning inside him. He was amazed not only by Zhang Xiaojing’s deeds, but also by those people’s greed and wickedness.

It was very rare for a Vice County Magistrate to patrol the streets himself at night. Apparently, the reason why he showed up that night was that he had colluded with the Ministry of Mining and Fires Gang. They intended to eliminate Wen Wuji with both the violent means of a mafia and the authority of the local government, so they could take his land. Yao Runeng believed that Zhang Xiaojing must also have figured this out, which was why he became infuriated and killed those people.

Yao Runeng had heard about many evil deeds done by officials, but this was the most brutal and ruthless one. A moderately well-to-do family was ruined overnight, yet this was a relatively fortunate outcome after Zhang Xiaojing sacrificed his life to protect it. If it were some other family, things might have ended up even uglier. When Zhang Xiaojing said that Chang’an was a giant beast which devoured people, he wasn’t exaggerating at all.

He finally understood why Zhang Xiaojing went so spiteful every time somebody mentioned the Imperial Court in front of him.

“I sigh deeply to choke back my tears and lamented the hardships people had to suffer. (from a famous Chinese poem)” A sigh came from the side. Yao Runeng turned his head aside and found that Cen Shen was leaning against a corridor post, also intrigued by the story.

Yao Runeng knew that the two lines he had just read conveyed lamentation. Cen Shen paid Wen Ran a compliment. “With a little adjustment, this lady’s account of the events could make an excellent ballad in which the author satirizes the ruling class.” He lowered his head and tried to find a writing brush to record the story only to discover that his bag had been burnt. He had no choice but to rummage around the compartments of the wooden cabinet in the drugstore, hoping to find some paper and a writing brush.

A little confused, Yao Runeng asked, “This could be a poem?”

Cen Shen waved his hand and said indignantly, “Why not? Most of today’s poems are rhetoric and flowery. Poets always travel to faraway places trying to find inspiration, unwilling to open their eyes and face the dire situation in their own hometowns. It’s high time somebody steps forward and advocate a new style, which is that poems should be written to make a difference in people’s lives, not to promote literature development.” Then he lowered his head to continue rummaging.

Yao Runeng said in a resigned tone, “You’re only under temporary custody in Jing’an Department. You can leave at any moment if you want.”

The reason why Cen Shen was locked up was that he interfered with Zhang Xiaojing’s investigation into a case and was suspected of being related to Turkish Wolf Guards. Now that his true identity had been confirmed, he was free to go. Besides, there was no cells to lock him in even if Yao Runeng wanted to…

Cen Shen craned his head above the counter and said indignantly, “Leave? I won’t leave now. I lost my horse and my poems. You have to compensate me.”

“There’s a price for your mount… but how am I supposed to compensate you for the loss of the poems?”

“Hmm. It’s very simple. Just let me follow you,” Cen Shen said with a smug expression on his face, as if his excellent plan was a success. “I’ve been observing Lady Wen’s story, Cui Qi’s story, your story, that Zhang Xiaojing’s story as well as Jing’an Department’s story hunting down Turks… You know something about poems, right? Do you have any idea how good materials they are for a poet?”

Yao Runeng was a little surprised. In this guy’s eyes, these things were just materials for his poem? He shook his head and said, “Sorry, I know nothing about poems. I merely have a nodding acquaintance with rhymes.”

On hearing that he had a knowledge of rhymes, Cen Shen immediately became excited and said, “That’s enough. We can chat about that.” Yao Runeng smiled wryly. The reason why he had some knowledge of rhymes was that the message-passing codes used by watchtowers were based on Tang Rhymes. It had nothing to do with writing poems.

Surprisingly, Cen Shen became more curious and insisted on Yao Runeng to tell him how to pass messages with Tang Rhymes. Yao Runeng facepalmed, regretting having told him about this. He had Cen Shen push the window open, through which they could see a lantern overhanging the gate of Cibei Temple in the distance. Looking at this lantern, Yao Runeng gave a brief explanation of how people on watchtowers used drumbeats in daytime and lanterns at night to pass messages in the form of rhymes.

Cen Shen smacked his palm on his scepter and gasped in admiration, “They use lantern signals to send rhymes which convey the messages. This is a brilliant idea! Who came up with it? That guy’s a genius! It seems that there’s no need for me send copies all around. I just have to beat a drum on a height and then my poems will be broadcasted throughout the whole city!”

The corners of Yao Runeng’s mouth twitched. He stopped trying to contradict Cen Shen, thinking, ‘Whatever makes you happy…’ Looking through the window at the lantern, Cen Shen started gesticulating and mumbling –he was trying to encode his poems into lantern light codes.

At this moment, the door was swung open with a bang and a petty official in fancy leather clothes walked inside. The petty official looked around and yelled, “Anybody working for Jing’an Department here?”

Since that man looked strange to him, Yao Runeng hesitantly raised his hand, indicating that he was a staff member of Jing’an Department. The petty official said, “The Sicheng of Jing’an Department ordered all mobile staff members to fall in at the gateway of Cibei Temple to receive instructions.” Yao Runeng was stunned. ‘Wasn’t Li Bi abducted? Someone rescued him?’ The petty official flicked a glance at him and said, “The new Sicheng of Jing’an Department.” Then he left the drugstore to inform others.

Somebody took over so soon? Yao Runeng felt a little uneasy. But since Sicheng Li was abducted and unaccounted for, the department did need a new leader to restore the situation – if only this person were Zhang Xiaojing. Unfortunately, it was absolutely impossible.

He laid the sleeping Wen Ran flat onto a mat and entrusted her to Cen Shen, who waved his hand and said, “Just go. I’ll take care of this lady.” Then he continued looking for paper and writing brush intently.

The front gate of Cibei Temple was not far away from Jing’an Department. In front of the gate was a vast square. All residents enjoying the lantern show had been asked to leave, and monks had closed the gate. Currently, there were only several dozen people standing on the square, all of whom were mobile staff members who survived the attack, and all faces were full of sorrow.

Yao Runeng counted them and found that only one third of the staff survived. In other words, nearly a hundred of his colleagues died in the raid. A bout of grief clutched his heart. Tears uncontrollably flowed out of people’s eyes before they cupped their hands when they met their acquaintances on the square, unable to say anything except words of gratitude for their survival.

Before long, a gong thundered and with that over twenty soldiers arrived at the square from all sides, all holding torches ablaze with light brightening the whole square. An official walked to the front gate of Cibei Temple at a steady pace and stood on top of the stone steps, looking down at the square. He was about forty years old, a tall figure with sharp cheekbones which made the bridge of his nose protruded so far that it might drop off his face at any moment. He had a nice beard on his chin, which was glossy and gleaming under torch light. People could tell with half an eye that he had been putting effort into grooming.

Yao Runeng noticed that this man was in a pale green official uniform, and there were nine shiny copper belt-rings mounted in his silver-edged belt. This was a belt issued to an official of the ninth grade which was a grade lower than that of Li Bi.

The gong sounded again to draw the attention of people on the square. The official holding a copper seal said loudly to people standing down below, “Listen up! I’m the Left Supervisory Minister, the Palace Privy Censor (An official responsible for maintaining order in the imperial court’s daily morning meeting attended by an emperor and high-rank officials), Ji Wen. I’m under orders from the Secretariat to reorganize Jing’an Department. Everybody shall return to the department to perform their duty. No delay allowed.”

His identity aroused animated discussion among people standing on the square. They all knew that the power behind Jing’an Department was the East Palace, but now the Secretariat appointed a censor as the head of this department, which greatly surprised them.

Clearly Ji Wen came prepared. He nodded and another official immediately walked over holding a thick scroll. The official unrolled the scroll and started reading it aloud, his voice resounding through the whole square.

“Censor Department Palace Privy Censor, the thirteenth volume of the Six Classics of Tang Dynasty, stipulates: there shall be two Supervisory Ministers in the capital city –the Left Supervisory Minister and the Right Supervisory Minister, each of whom is responsible for supervising trials of all cases in his own jurisdiction. Demoted officials, evicted residents refusing to leave the city, blackmails, Buddhist monks’ gatherings at night, gambling, theft, erroneous judgement, illegal legislation of local laws, illegal trade, illegal taxation, and such, shall all be reported to the Imperial Court.”

“In addition, Law of Officials stipulates: the Left Supervisory Minister is in charge of areas within the capital city. The Right Supervisory Minister is in charge of areas outside of the capital city stretching as far as Yongzhou and Luozhou. At the end of each month, the two shall inspect the Ministry of Punishments, the Dali Temple, the East Tufang and the West Tufang (Both are prisons), Jingwu (A prison), and county prisons.”

As he read those obscure regulation hard to articulate, staff members of Jing’an Department gradually understood.

This Palace Privy Censor had two titles: the Right Supervisory Minister and the Left Supervisory Minister. He had authority to supervise the trail of cases in the capital city. The chief of Jing’an Department was responsible for organizing defense of Western Chang’an. The duties of the two partially overlapped, which meant that they were two different officials in charge of the same matter.

It was not inappropriate to assign a Left Supervisory Minister to take over Jing’an Department, whether in terms of the law or pragmatic affairs.

This Censor Ji neither tried to overwhelm them with his authority nor tried to force them to obey with the power of the Chief of Secretariat, but had someone read a statute scroll in front of everyone, which indicated that he was a law-abiding official. Currently, the department was leaderless and all staff members were in panic. They desperately needed someone to clean up the mess. Besides, this censor had an appointment issued by the Chief of Secretariat, so they felt it totally unnecessary to disobey him.

The hostility in staff members’ eyes slightly abated and gradually they stopped discussing. Ji Wen stroked his beard and resumed his speech, “Jing’an Department was attacked by ruffians, which deeply grieved me. But the culprit is still at large, and so are our formidable enemies. I hope all of you subdue your agony and regard His Majesty’s safety as the first priority. Bring the crime culprit to justice first and then we’ll hold a memorial ceremony for our late colleagues.”

His remarks perfectly suited to the occasion. He not only pointed out that the situation was urgent but also implied that the Imperial Court would handsomely reward them after the job was done. All officials of Jing’an Department who survived the attack cupped their hands and bowed to him, which was a salute an official gave when he met his superior and suggested that they had acknowledged him as the new Sicheng of Jing’an Department.

Seeing that he had successfully subjected most people to his authority, Ji Wen was very smug. He turned his head aside and, in a low voice, said to the official who had just read the statute scroll, “Gongfu, this tactic of yours sounds simple but is actually very smart. It worked so well.” The official smiled, “I never lie to you, Duangong. Make hay while the sun shines. Just stick to the plan.”

Privy Censor was called “Duangong” outside of the Imperial Court, and Palace Privy Censor was called “Vice Duangong”. That official deliberately addressed Ji Wen as a title one grade higher than his actual grade. On hearing this, Ji Wen was very delighted. He raised the copper seal and said, “Everybody listen up!”

He was going to give the first order after he was inaugurated as the Sicheng of Jing’an Department. Everybody quieted down.

Ji Wen said loudly, “Jing’an Department was raided by terrorists. There must be a mole operating in collusion with them. In order to bring those terrorists to justice, we must eliminate enemies hiding among us first, so the first priority is to get rid of this cancer. As for his identity, I’ve already found out about it – ” His eyes swept through all people on the square. Seeing that everybody was staring fixedly at him, he was very satisfied and uttered a name. “Commandant of Jing’an Department, Zhang Xiaojing! He is the mole who colluded with the Termites.”

This conclusion sent a ripple of astonishment through the crowd.

The smile on Ji Wen’s face gradually froze. “You might not know this, but the very reason why Zhang Xiaojing was condemned to death was because he murdered his immediate superior. A leopard cannot change its spots. He did that kind of thing once. Inevitably he would do it for the second time. And he was also part of the abduction of Wang Zhongsi’s daughter. Now Jing’an Department was attacked. There’s no doubt he was the one who let those attackers in. Send my orders to Guards Stations in all Fangs – search the whole city to hunt down this man and bring him to me, dead or alive!”

Standing on the side, Yuan Zai leisurely rolled up the scroll, a ghastly smile on the corners of his lips.

He heard that those ruffians who attacked Jing’an Department went by the name of “Termites”. Wasn’t it a perfect match with the identity of this lowly guy named Zhang Xiaojing?