By Pooky
Chapter Two:
"Her story begins before I was born, twenty-two years before to be exact. Even her birth was remarkable. It was a year of danger for the Tang empire, war had broken out with the Tujue again, only this time they waged a successful invasion. If they were defeated, the threat would be banished forever, if the Chinese were defeated, the empire would fall.
These wars would make little sense to anyone outside of China, everyone knows the Li family is of strong Turkish blood. But we are not ashamed of this, we celebrate it in the court, we dance to Turkish music and wear Turkish clothes. I even have girl cousins who like to ride horses, they borrow their husbands' boots and clothes and play polo together. They think it's fashionable, and very exciting. So you see, sometimes we are more Turkish than Chinese, although we are also descendants of Li Er, the man who recorded the Tao te Ching. But that is another story. At court, it is so fashionable to be a barbarian, and among the barbarians, it is so fashionable to be Chinese. It makes no sense at all, but this is how it happened and this is who we are.
As I said, my aunt's birth was remarkable, but the legend is for you to choose to believe. My grandfather's wife, Wu Zetian, is said to have carried her for twelve months with no sign of labor. The doctors were mystified. The Empress had already given my grandfather four sons, two are dead now and the third is Emperor today. As soon as the Tujue waged their strongest attack against the Tang forces, and as soon as the Empire was in the greatest danger, the Empress demanded to be brought to the temple in the Palace, even though the fighting was so close to the city. She gave birth to a daughter in the temple, the people believed it was an omen. Soon after, the Tujue were defeated, and so the princess was named Taiping, Great Peace.
In order to understand my aunt, you have to understand her mother. She ruled the Empire long before my grandfather died, he could do nothing without consulting her. When she became absorbed in raising her children, my grandfather was displeased there was no one to tend state affairs for him. He was too busy having affairs with Palace women, especially one from Korea. To solve the problem, my aunt was simply brought along with her mother as she managed the Empire.
My aunt was something like you, Mulan, she liked to resort to tricks and games. It is lonely being an only daughter. But you understand, her life was very dangerous, yet she didn't see this at first. She was a symbol of power, and even though at that age she did not understand, she sought power, wanting to sit in the Crown Prince's place, wanting things done to her liking. You could say she was wild, but this was only the beginning. The men of the palace were already against her mother, and there was a plot to remove her from power. Some of the eunuchs and officials fabricated a story that the Empress used sorcery to hold her influence, they were Confucists and believed a woman in power was unnatural, much like Chi fu. My grandfather had the ringleaders killed, the others fell out of his favor, which was just as bad if you were after advancement. My grandfather was not a stupid man, he knew that he needed this woman close to him in order to keep the Empire together.
The Emperor began to turn his attention on this concubine from Korea, she became his favorite plaything but she was no doll. She had a vision of her own, a vision of power for herself, that brought her and Wu Zetian at odds. My own grandmother was also one of these concubines that my grandfather favored at one time. Her name was Cun Suiliang and she was a famous calligrapher, remind me to show you her art adorning the Temple of Motherly Kindness in Ch'ang-an. She was found one day in her chamber, she had bitten her tongue until she bled to death, shortly after my father was born. No doubt Wu Zetian feared this first son would please my father and somehow threatened the woman into comitting suicide. As the Empress, she could have claimed this son as her own, but she didn't, she was too smart. She wanted a puppet, her puppet. It was another of my grandfather's playthings who would suggested my grandfather should hide this child. You see, my grandfather was not so inept, and he sent the child to be raised in Louyang.
Wu Zetian was not a natural woman, and I do not say that because she was in power, I say that because she had no love for her children, in fact she saw them as obstacles. My eldest uncle Li Hong, whom I never knew, was my grandfather's favorite son. Someday I will take you to see his tomb near Ch'ang-an, and you will see what a gift he had for art. There was much talk around the Palace about his love for a manservant, but I don't think that was the reason he died. One day, he comitted suicide in secret, he stabbed himself with a pair of scissors. Some say he had gone mad, terrorized by his mother. My grandfather grieved deeply, his favorite son, the entire court grieved. I can only imagine how this must have changed my aunt forever."
He stopped to see Mulan's eyes wide, she was leaning up on one elbow. It was no wonder, the story of Empress Wu seemed to fascinate everyone. "And the Empress?" Mulan pressed excitedly, "Didn't she grieve too? I would have been devastated."
"I doubt she shed a tear," he answered quietly, thinking of his own father. "Li Hong was the eldest son in the Palace, heir to the throne that she wanted for herself. Maybe we cannot condone this, but in all fairness, it was better she had the throne."
This cold and detached logic did not set well with Mulan, but she had been raised by parents who loved her. Mulan sighed and fell silent for him to continue.
"That was only the beginning. Not long after that the concubine from Korea mysteriously drowned, and there was no need to guess who had been behind it. My aunt was apalled, and her life became darkened by these tragedies. But soon, she grew wild again. She snuck out of the Palace to meet men. Her parents did not know what to do with her, and so they sent her to a convent. They had hoped to marry her to a Tujue prince, but that was impossible given her refusal. She had her eye on a man in the city.
It was a few years after my aunt returned to the Palace that another tragedy happened. I call it a tragedy because like my first uncle's death, and the battle at the Wall, it never should have happened and was a waste of a life. By this time my grandfather was ill. and so Wu Zetian's power had increased. My second uncle was called Li Xian and Prince of Zhanghuai, he was Crown Prince, and he hated his mother. This uncle I also never knew, it was only four years ago that Emperor Zhongzong moved his remains to Qianling and restored his title, the Emperor himself told me this story. Because Li Xian hated his mother, he had ambitions of his own, I think it was her ruthlessness he despised most. He was not stupid, but very impatient, he was tired of the old ways. Once he summoned famous scholars to court to study the history of the Liu family, who ruled during the Han Dynasty. He criticized Empress Lu, who seized power after Liu Bang's death. His mother took this as mockery, and so she sought to remove him. He tried to stage a coup, and had hidden weapons in the Eastern Palace. He was first exiled to Bazhou, and then she had him executed in secret. You see, she had no love at all for her children. And so, because of her, my aunt lost her second brother.
The next person to die was my grandfather, four years before I was born. Wu Zetian was not pleased when my third uncle Li Xian took the throne for the first time. Now he was young in those days, and could not handle the officials well, his mother did everything for him, as well as his wife, Empress Wei. My uncle was so frightened of his mother, so frightened that he would be the next son to die. He and his wife and their daughter Princess Anle were exiled. He had another daughter, Princess Yongtai, who died nine years ago. They say she died in childbirth when she was seventeen, but who can be sure? His son, Prince Yide also died that same year. You see how it is mysterious?
There is a fourth prince, his name is Li Dan and he is still alive today. He was emperor for one year but his heart wasn't in it. He gave up the throne and went to live as a commoner. This was Wu Zetian's chance, with no heir left in the city. She murdered all the officials who would oppose her, just as she had the concubines and sons who stood in her way. Twenty years ago she declared herself Emperor of China, and changed the Empire's name from Tang to Zhao. For sixteen years she ruled and she ruled well, despite all those who had to die for it. They say my aunt is a copy of her, but this is not true, my aunt is hardened, but she is not ruthless.
I knew the Empress, I even helped to save her life once. In her later years she started to lose her grip on power, intrigue was everywhere. There is one thing about her that deserves infinite credit, she always picked the best people to fill positions at court, not many of them were of her own family aside from the Palace Guard. She appointed many members of my family, and so she did honor her husband's name.
I remember so well this strange thing that happened in Louyang. I was sixteen years old and in Louyang with Marshal Yu and Tai-shan, we were guarding the city while the Empress was there visiting. I remember what happened because it was the first time I ever saw men fighting each other. It was not the same thing as what we saw at the Pass, but it was just as horrible. It was a sign that my country was being torn apart, right before my eyes. Since that day I have felt a kinship with my aunt."
For a moment he thought Mulan had fallen asleep, she was lying so still, but she jerked her eyes open as soon as he fell silent. "What happened in Louyang?" She had her hand on his shoulder. "You can't just stop there."
Drawing a long breath, Shang closed his eyes...
~ * ~
"Tai-shan!" Shang threw the stones pieces down on the board in disgust. "You're cheating, you can't move that way, it's against the rules." Maosu was kneeling next to them, on the tower top, laughing as he brought the liquor bottle to his mouth again.
Picking up a toppled piece and setting it aright again, the censured man glared back at his friend. "Well Uncle always said you do what you must to win a war, the rules are relative. Besides, why don't you yell at him?" He gestured to Maosu, "It's against army rules to drink on duty and at this rate we'll be carrying him back."
"I would if it'd do any good," Shang grumbled. Maosu put the bottle down and stood up, walking a few steps to demonstrate that he was still sober. Shang and Tai-shan just looked at each other, shook their heads and rearranged the pieces for another game.
"Oh go ahead and drink yourself into oblivion," Tai-shan relented. "Like it's any fun sitting out here in the freezing cold guarding the city gates while the Empress sits in the warm Palace. I'll bet she's got a couple of nice pets keeping her warm too. We all know what a slut she is."
Maosu looked shocked, sputtering a mouthful of wine on the stones. "Could you go commit treason somewhere else? Some of us would like our heads where they are." After another sip, he spoke more loudly. "Our Empress is the greatest ruler this empire has even known, long live the Empress!" He genuflected with forehead to the ground for emphasis.
Tai-shan hurled one of the stone pieces at him. "Shut up! Before your drunk ass gets us all killed."
Before Maosu could retaliate, the silence swelled into the pounding of drums. Ignoring the bickering of his friends, Shang turned his eyes to the source of the noise, approaching the city gate. He watched from the tower as a small procession made its way to the entrance, even in mere torchlight the bright colors of pinions of costumes gave them away. Red cloaked soldiers rode well balanced white horses in the lead, bearing lances topped with red and gold streamers, flailing wildly in the night breeze. Behind them bobbed a silk canopied carriage borne by several stalwart men, followed by silk clad servants playing the drums and gongs. A middle aged woman stepped out, impressively garbed in blue brocades and glittering hairpins which caught the dim light like a halo of fireflies. The woman was tall and moved about with great dignity, stripping her of all her jewels and silks could not deny the power she held. A man appeared at her shoulder, just as finely dressed as she, yet she was undisputed leader here. Shang kept his eyes on her a moment, he had not seen this woman in many months.
"See?" Maosu and Tai-shan were still at it behind him. "The guards heard you call the Empress a slut and they've sent word to her. The Empress has come to behead you for treason, and she heard me praise her. She's come to make me one of her concubines."
Tai-shan laughed so hard he nearly fell over. "Then she'll execute you for wasting her time. It's like hiring an infant as a doctor, too clumsy to have a clue where to begin." He continued laughing until Maosu punched him.
Patiently, Shang grabbed Tai-shan's arm before he could strike back. "That's not the Empress, that's my aunt, the Princess Taiping, and I don't know who the other man is."
"Your uncle," A familiar voice said behind him, Shang turned to see Marshal Yu standing there. "Third son of Gaozong, he was exiled before you were born." So this was the Emperor Zhongzong? The uncle who had lived his life in fear of Wu Zetian, the uncle the people in the streets wanted to take the throne again. Shang compared him to the sister beside him, the finest political mind in the court next to her mother. Marshal Yu did not give him much time for thought. "A pair of rebels managed to lay siege to the Palace from within, where the Empress is now, possibly connected to the Empress's nephew, Wu Sansi, who thinks to rule the country for himself. The Princess and Crown Prince give us orders to crack their defenses. It seems the guards there have either been captured or bribed. Get your gear and get ready to move out."
Shang tried not to show his shock as the Marshal made his way down the tower again, giving the same warning to a few other men. He seemed to be hand picking his soldiers this time. Shang wondered if he had been chosen by Marshal Yu himself, or if his aunt had asked for him. He always had the feeling the woman had something in mind for him.
The three men shared a look of confusion before donning formerly discarded helmets and checked weapons to follow after the Marshal. They were going to see battle tonight, and for the first time in their lives. Before today warfare had meant nothing but watching and theorizing, and repeating what long dead generals had learned over the centuries, and cleaning up the messes at the border. In one way it was a kind of passage rite, they were no longer known as shadows of their fathers, but men who had earned enough merit in their own right to be entrusted with this duty. On the other hand it was daunting, better to hope for death by a rebel sword then to fail tonight.
"Are you two afraid?" Maosu asked quietly as they made their way down the stairs. These orders had sobered him up quickly.
Tai-shan laughed nervously, putting on an exaggerated swagger. "Fear is for foot soldiers," he remarked arrogantly. "Courage is for officers and we're supposed to be the next generals of China. See, Shang isn't afraid."
Giving a kind of distracted nod Shang said nothing, but his hands were shaking.
Once on flat ground they found Marshal Yu again, in the midst of three hundred men. His aunt and uncle were at the head of them, talking to each other quietly. The Princess looked Shang's way and he lowered his head in respect. Her face did not change but he was sure that she saw him, that she had been looking for him in the crowd. It made him nervous, and more afraid, to think that with that glance some unknown expectation had been placed on him.
"We'll move on foot," Marshal Yu was saying. "We want to draw as little attention as possible."
It was two miles to the Palace, not to mention almost another mile winding through the courtyards and parks once they did arrive. Of course they could not go as far as the inner grounds, not yet, only scan the territory through the gates. They had marched in relative silence, through the shadowy streets of Louyang. The danger was not in the city, or even at the Palace gates, but inside. Any suspicion of retaliation and the rebels might kill the Empress. From the outside, nothing appeared amiss, the guards stood watch as always.
Shang watched with the rest of the men as his aunt stepped forward out of her carriage again. The leader of the guards saluted her in front of the gate, bowing low. his red cloak spread onto the ground, his face well disguised beneath a plumed helmet. Was he one of those who had been bribed, Shang wondered, were they all courting disaster at the Princess's command?
"Keep watch as you were," She commanded him. "We don't want the traitors to suspect."
He had been so busy following and watching his superiors that Shang did not notice where they had stopped. The men were hidden from view behind the outer wall, none from inside the Palace could see them, not even those in the courtyards or standing watch on the towers, the shadows of the wall hid them so well. Only a carriage was in plain sight at the gate, and who would think strangely of that?
"She is in command?" Maosu whispered in surprise, looking from the Princess to the Prince beside her. Shang only nodded as he saw Marshal Yu raise a hand signal, directing them to move. His watched his aunt climb back into the carriage with her brother. None of them intended to be part of the fighting.
They did not order the gates opened for them, but instead crept around to an unguarded part of the wall which they climbed over easily and slipped into the shadows of the courtyard. In the daylight, the inner yard was a beautiful place, sparkling in jewel tones under the sun, but in the dark it seemed a playground for danger. Tai-shan kept close beside Shang as the Marshal ordered them to spread out through the courtyard to secure a back entrance of the Palace.
The three men dropped to their knees on the grass, avoiding the walks and keeping cover beneath the trees, lest they be seen by rebels in the windows above. They crawled as fast shadows over the ground, nothing that would differ from those wrought by the trees swaying in the breeze. It seemed liked an eternity before the designated entrance was in sight.
A pair of men stood at the doors, not even dressed as Palace Guards and pacing nervously. The nervousness was enough to betray them as rebels. Reaching inside his sash Shang found the hilt of his knife, his friends following his example. They were alone, with only the three of them and the two rebels occupying the quiet corner of the grounds, and the tall stone statues of large beasts rising up in the night. The guards would have to be taken quickly, before they could give any warning.
Tai-shan was pressed against him where they crouched in the shrubbery, while Maosu hung back. Shang gestured to the statues on either side of the doors, pointing for each of them to strike from behind one of them. Maosu was not quite sober enough to fight, he would be safer left here.
"Stay here and signal," Tai-shan whispered sharply. "We'll be watching." The agreement more than pleased Maosu, who inched further under cover.
Giving Tai-shan a shove in the opposite direction, Shang made his way through the shrubs, ducking behind the statue.
Shang's eyes settled on the place where Maosu was hidden, drawing his knife and waiting for his friend to lift his hand. Everything depended on Tai-shan, on the two of them striking at exactly the same time, before either of them men could cry out.
At the pale flash of a hand above the greenery, he lunged, gripping a hand over the guard's mouth and throwing him to ground on impact, raking the edge of his knife across the man's throat.
There was no sound, no cry of pain, only the heavy slumping of the dead man under him. He glanced up, seeing Tai-shan rising to his knees with the bloody knife in his own hand, looking as though he wanted to be sick. He just knelt there, holding that knife, and not until then did Shang realize that he was doing the same. They stared at each for help, or comfort. Neither of them had ever killed a man before.
Recovering himself, Tai-shan cleaned his blade, then lifted one hand to wipe Shang's face with his sleeve. Shang stared at him in confusion and then saw the dark stain of blood on the cloth. He frowned, but quickly offered Tai-shan a hand to help him to his feet as Maosu popped up and hurriedly joined them to make their way inside.
Nothing seemed amiss in the hall, the hung lanterns and carpets only a precursor to the splendor farther inside. Shang stared down the length of the wide corridor, dominated by deep shades of red and striped with dark shadows where the lamplight did not touch. The end of the hall was hardly visible, just a portal of darkness where no one stood.
"I want to go back outside," Maosu whispered quietly, wedging himself between Shang and Tai-shan. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Tai-shan chuckled. "What are you scared of? It's not like we have to go save the Empress ourselves, all we have to do is guard this door. There's no one even here." He strutted forward a few steps to emphasize how at leisure he was pretending to be.
"Get back!" Shang flung out an arm and pushed Tai-shan against the wall. The other man swore furiously but once his eyes followed Shang's he grabbed Maosu protectively beside him. The three hurriedly brandished their swords, a thrown knife slamming into the ground in the same spot where Tai-shan had stood.
Torchlight flickered in the square of darkness at the end of the hall, and then there appeared four tall shapes and the slender shadows of drawn blades. The sound of boots pounded on the carpets, but not from them, behind them, giving them chase. When the first four came into the light Shang caught view of their clothing, hired men. Marshal Yu's soldiers soon appeared as well, plate armor gleaming in the lamplight. The rebels ran abreast to flee them through the door which Shang guarded. One broke ahead to take a lead, just as one of Marshal Yu's men raised the crossbow he held, landing a bolt into the man's back.
Shang nearly jumped back as the man fell dead at his feet, trying to avert his eyes from the stricken face of the victim as he rolled over in one final spasm of pain. The remaining three wasted no time for last glances at the their fallen comrade. They advanced quickly for Shang and his friends. Shang poised himself for a fight, holding his sword ready, backing up towards the door. It all happened in such a blur.
He swung the blade for the first rebel, aiming for a neat strike in the stomach. Beside him Maosu finally gathered some courage, stepping forward to catch the third man off guard. The second raised his blade, and suddenly Tai-shan yelled something as Maosu fell to the ground, his opponent joining him soon after. The second man had backed up, thinking to escape Tai-shan, instead he whirled to find himself face to face with one of Marshal Yu's men, slumping to the ground within seconds.
Without waiting for further orders, Shang dropped to his knees. Maosu was bleeding heavily from somewhere under his armor where the swordpoint had managed to slip through the plates, twitching and breathing heavily in Tai-shan's arms. Shang's ears were soon deaf to the commotion rising in the halls, the clash of metal, the shouts of soldiers pursuing rebels.
His friend was dying.
