Thousand Autumns

Ever since Yan Wushi tricked him with pretend spitting blood, until they entered Chang’an walked into Sui-guogong Manor, Shen Qiao did not speak another sentence to Yan Wushi.

In his mind, he had connected this person to the word “treacherous”, his plots more numerous than wasp nests, even if he were to use all of his skills he couldn’t outplot him, therefore silence was golden, saying nothing, no matter what Yan Wushi said, Shen Qiao would “en” or “oh”, he’d leave no openings.

Yan Wushi also realized he had overdone it, although he had forced out Shen Qiao’s reaction under those circumstances, but people have their pride, even for someone well-tempered like Shen Qiao, if you don’t leave them any face, can they still grin and bear it, it would be normal to get angry, if they weren’t angry it would make less sense.

Chang’an was her usual colours, its tall city walls, imposing façades, a thousand permutations within herself, no wonder she was an imperial capital, her grand spirit alone, Shen Qiao had not seen the likes of it in the southern capital Jiankang City.

Jiankang City had been the imperial capital for several dynasties, since the Three Kingdoms when Sun, Wu built their capital there, the palace walls were three layers in and three layers out, the south had Qinhuai, the north had Houhu, back when Yan Wushi had undertaken Yuwen Yong’s request to escort Zhou’s ambassadors to the southern dynasty, Shen Qiao had spent time in Jiankang, to compare the two, Jiankang had more charm and flourish, but several parts less gravitas. The saying goes imperial energy decides the capital, where the emperor breathes, a dynasty is born, although this sounds like something one might hear from a swindling fortuneteller, it had its own logic, Daoists did not cultivate the yin yang arts, so although cursory, Shen Qiao did have some ability when it came to observing energies, that day observing Yuwen Yong’s energy, he had the impression he would not live a long life, today comparing Jiankang and Chang’an, he had the impression that the former had several parts less imperial energy, losing to Chang’an by a margin, and this margin, may well decide a dynasty’s destiny.

These superstitious ramblings, enough to think them to yourself, even if the emperor was a believer, there haven’t been many emperors willing to move capitals for this reason.

In the end, a dynasty’s fortune: timing, geography, people, all crucial, Zhou dynasty having lost Yuwen Yong, even if it attained the most favourable hand from heaven and earth, what would be the use? No more than chrysanthemums marking the past.

“Why does A-Qiao look so deep in thought?” Beside him Yan Wushi’s voice broke his reverie.

Shen Qiao did not want to deal with him at all, and pretended not to hear.

Like encountering a metal nail, Yan Wushi was still was able to smile, not a hint of displeasure, he followed behind as they entered the city.

The day that Shen Qiao fought his way out of the barricades with Yuwen Song had left a strong impression, at this moment even his outfit was unaltered, still in the green-blue Daoist robes, a sword on his back, his face was also one that didn’t blend into crowds, even the sentries recognized him right away, they watched wide-eyed as he walked straight through the main gates, no one had the courage to approach or question him.

Most people will admire someone with true ability, Shen Qiao’s performance on that day was truly brilliant, even the lowest level soldier, participating in the ambush of Shen Qiao and Yuwen Song, in the bottom of their hearts towards this person who carried the Yuwen family orphan away against a wall of archers and numerous martial masters, respected this Daoist, despite later hearing the emperor fly into a rage when he learned he hadn’t killed his uncle’s entire family, his cousin becoming the fish that burst from the net, but in their private conversations, who wouldn’t give Shen Qiao a thumbs-up, the battle in front of the city gates that day, had long been spun into folktales and performed in the city, residents might not know of the number one martial artist in the world Qi Fengge, but they definitely knew about the righteous, powerful Shen-daozhang.

But Chang’an was Chang’an, since they entering the city, the two of them drew the attention of numerous pairs of ears and eyes, Yan Wushi didn’t care much, and didn’t caution Shen Qiao, he brought him directly to shaoshi manor.

Huanyue Sect was diminished, but Yan Wushi was not a wanted criminal, Shen Qiao had escaped with Yuwen Song, but afterwards Yuwen Yun decided that a mere seven year old couldn’t pose much threat, moreover he spent his days in pleasure, didn’t care for much else, and was too lazy to pursue the matter further, so when these two entered the city, although they attracted attention, no one tried to stop them, first there was no good reason, second, even if they wanted to, they weren’t capable of doing so.

Since the ascension of the new emperor, shaoshi manor had been seized and sealed, a lock put on its doors, the notice plastered over, Yan Wushi pulled at it without great force, never mind the notice, even the thick metal chains crumpled to the floor, he pushed the doors open and went inside, watching this kind of total disregard for official regulations made Shen Qiao who stood behind him grimace.

Was he so set on supporting Puliuru Jian, that even in broad daylight he didn’t hold back?

Shen Qiao wanted to ask, opened his mouth, resisted.

Yan Wushi didn’t turn around, but as if he had eyes on the back of his head, volunteered: “This iteration of shijiandahui, Hehuan Sect went to make trouble for Chunyangguan, in the aftermath of that chaos, Sang Jingxing and Yuan Xiuxiu are certainly injured, they can’t have rushed back so quickly, the remaining ants aren’t worth considering, to say who else has my regard, Chang’an currently only has Xueting, that old bald donkey has to retain the orthodoxy of the Buddhist sects, he won’t be willing to plot espionage behind-the-scenes. As for Yuwen Yun, when he was crown prince, I taught him, he knows not to annoy me, and is totally focused on his pleasure and leisure, unless he can be totally sure, he will not act prematurely, even if someone were to report this to him, he can only open one eye and shut the other.”

Shen Qiao frowned, it looked like Yuwen Yun was not completely incapable, after all after his ascension he had managed to kill off all of his uncles’ families, though this kind of strategy really was disheartening.

As if Yan Wushi sensed his thoughts a second time, he said: “Yuwen Yun values the Buddhist sects, and also pulled Hehuan Sect into it, clearly he doesn’t want to see the Buddhist sects grow unhindered, when it comes to managing his subjects, decentralizing power, he does have some talent, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to pretend for so many years in front of Yuwen Yong and not be deposed, but that is the extent of his ability, if Yuwen Yong had listened to me back then and made Yuwen Xian his successor, the Zhou dynasty could have had at least another three generations of peace.”

Shen Qiao didn’t expect Yan Wushi to have made this kind of suggestion to Yuwen Yong, no wonder Yuwen Yun as soon as he ascended moved against Huanyue Sect, he probably hated Yan Wushi. Unfortunately this emperor did not use his smarts on proper matters, and continued to act wantonly.

As things stood, the north had Tujue, the south had its dynasty, even the current territory of the north was conquered by its previous emperor, any normal emperor, even if they didn’t wish to unify the country, would not be able to do such a thing as pass on their throne to their son, and make himself taishanghuang, when Shen Qiao was in Xining Town, he had heard rumours that the emperor was excitedly building imperial gardens, making a scene with his concubines in tow, if Yuwen Yong in the afterlife knew how his son trampled on his decades of night-and-day toil, he probably could rage back to life.

Yan Wushi said further: “Although Yuwen Xian was pliable, he had skill leading troops, even if he couldn’t fulfill Yuwen Yong’s ambition, he wouldn’t bring the family enterprise to its knees, too bad in the end Yuwen Yong couldn’t shake the shackles of normativity, insisting that his son inherit the throne, his vision was too narrow and short-sighted, he toiled his entire life, was killed by his son, efforts amounting to nothing, his self-fashioned fate met him in the end!”

He paid the previous emperor no more respect than anyone else, the criticisms spouted as he opened his mouth, if it were anyone else they would have long been frightened to death, but Shen Qiao couldn’t help secretly rolling his eyes once, he thought: weren’t you the one outside the Tuyuhun capital ambushed by grandmasters that your skull was broken open, only barely avoided death, saying Yuwen Yong was short-sighted, and you’re so much better?

Yan Wushi didn’t look back, in a teasing tone: “A-Qiao, I didn’t expect you as a man of integrity to have learned to not speak directly, but curse people behind their backs, this isn’t a good habit!”

Shen Qiao knew he was provoking him into saying something, so instead he shut his mouth tightly like a clam.

In the interim, the two of them had passed the central hall, and arrived in the back gardens.

Shen Qiao didn’t know why he was brought here, but looking at the surrounding greenery and furnishings, they were not on account of their owner’s absence overgrown or dustcovered, instead they appeared orderly and well-attended to, someone had been taking care of things, but the notice and the lock on the front door had been left intact, the whole affair required more thinking over.

Yan Wushi pushed open the doors to a side room, inside it was not empty, several people were already seated.

Seeing the two arrive, they got up to greet them, the one in the middle stepped forward, folded his hands in respect: “I heard Yan-zongzhu has experienced much difficulty recently, unfortunately I am not a jianghu person, unable to assist in any way, I’m glad to see that you are well, now my worries are appeased.”

Turning to Shen Qiao: “Shen-daozun, your flying colours from that day, I find hard to forget to this day, even more so for Chang’an residents, they take great delight in discussing it, seeing you today, you appear even more charismatic than before!”

This was an old acquaintance, Shen Qiao wouldn’t have not recognized him, Yan Wushi had mentioned it previously so he was prepared, at this moment he also folded his hands in a gesture of respect and said: “Sui-guogong is too kind, I heard that when I was leaving the capital with Qi-lang, I was lucky to receive your behind-the-scenes assistance, which resulted in our safe departure, on this matter this poor one has yet to thank Sui-guogong.”

Puliuru Jian laughed: “It was no hardship, no need to dwell on it!”

He introduced to Shen Qiao the person that accompanied him: “This is inner court official Zheng Ze.”

The last person did not need introductions, he was a familiar face— Yan Wushi’s eldest disciple Bian Yanmei. Earlier when Yan Wushi had walked in, he had already paid his respects, now seeing Shen Qiao’s gaze fall on him, he also smiled and folded his hands in respect.

With Yan Wushi’s pride, unexpectedly he did not posture with Puliuru Jian, instead he said very amiably: “While I was out I received da-lang’s letter, that you had run into some troubles.”

Everyone took their seats, Puliuru Jian smiled bitterly: “Yes, definitely some trouble, I’ve thought long and hard but haven’t come up with anything, so I can only humbly make this request of Yan-zongzhu.”

Yuwen Yun was not adept at managing the affairs of the state, but when it came to political games he was like an old stovefire turned green, since killing his uncles he turned his attention to his other subjects, the first target was his father-in-law, Sui-guogong Puliuru Jian.

Puliuru Jian was not Yuwen Xian, had no desire to sit and wait for his death, or maybe he already had plans to revolt, seeing Yuwen Yun this kind of emperor, could not wholeheartedly be a willing subject, so while he kept up appearances, in truth he had long made preparations secretly, first was establishing troops — trying to reclaim Yuwen Xian’s previous holdings— after Yuwen Xian’s death, the people previously loyal to him were subject to violent suppression, were in various stages of desperation, seeing Puliuru Jian’s extended olive branch, naturally accepted. With his time in court, many officials were also inclined towards him, some were in his core group, Zheng Ze was one of them.

But Yuwen Yun wasn’t entirely clueless, Puliuru Jian’s daughter was Yuwen Yun’s empress, Yuwen Yong couldn’t find anything concrete upfront about Puliuru Jian, his attitude towards his empress worsened everyday, frequently hurling invective, several times threatening death, it was only by the grace of Puliuru Jian’s wife Dugu-shi entering the palace to beg for mercy, that her life was spared.

Puliuru Jian said: “A couple of days ago, it was the empress’ birthday, the emperor had no intention of holding a large celebration, just gifted several things, and permitted my wife to enter the palace for a visit, on account of a message from the palace saying that the empress wanted to see her brothers, my wife brought my first and second son with her into the palace to celebrate, who knew that after meeting the empress, an excuse was made to force my wife to leave, when she returned she was told that the empress had missed her brothers and intended to have them stay for a meal, my wife requested an audience but was declined, she bitterly begged the emperor, and was chased out of the palace, since then, I have not seen the empress or my sons, I’ve tried every route, the emperor is not willing to let them go, I don’t know if they are alive or dead.”

To say it another way, Puliuru Jian’s two sons and one daughter were being held hostage by Yuwen Yun.

Puliuru Jian had five sons, the eldest, the one who had been brought into the palace, was not yet nine years old.

He stopped here, his face distraught, his devotion to his children was evident: “I tried everything, flattery, begging, the emperor isn’t willing to release them, he insists that my sons want to stay in the palace to keep the empress company, Xueting-chanshi overesees things in the palace, martial masters everywhere, to use brute force, I cannot guarantee the safety of my children, I didn’t think Yuwen Yun would resort to this strategy, I do not know what else to do, can only make this request of Yan-zongzhu!”

Inside it was so quiet one could hear a pin drop, Yan Wushi smiled, slowly and with every reason he said: “I’ll say something you won’t like, Sui-guogong is fully prepared, just waiting for the east wind, even if you lost two sons, you’d still have three left, in truth it doesn’t affect the grand scheme of things, as long as you stand your ground, Yuwen Yun cannot use this to threaten you.”