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Chapter Nine

Imperial Gathering

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Earth -414 IR1. Northern Yuan Empire

4 Ding Wei (24th of May 1431)

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Beijing Main Imperial Palace entry

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The troop rode till they were stopped by the Captain of the Imperial guards who had been warned the very second the troop of Mongol women had entered the City.

Had it been a troop of male warriors they wouldn't even have been let in the City but the Sergeant in charge of the North Gate had been impressed by the perfect aristocratic Han the troop's leader had used and by said leader affirmation.

And by the very impressive and badass looking armor she was wearing.

- I am here to see Empress Xiaogongzhang. She doesn't know it yet, but she needs to have a long conversation with me.

Speaking those words, she had handed out a small but visibly precious little ebony box within which was a multilayered message.

The message had been made by IT and was of pure gold with impossibly neat jade inscriptions on its tablets. If the box reached the Empress, they were very sure that it would without a doubt trigger said Empress to come and see Sun!

- Please let this message be brought to her Imperial Majesty, meanwhile we will proceed at a leisurely pace to the Palace. No need for a guide I know the layout of Beijing by heart.

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They had reached the huge place in front of the forbidden city's main portal and had ridden to the place where the Palace Guards had come out to form the six lines of twelve guards that were mandatory to great incoming aristocratic groups.

Sun's troop could have easily turned around the group but Sun had spent quite a long time studying the Chinese Court protocol and she knew that not following the protocol would have labelled her and her followers as barbarians.

So, she stopped her horse at the exactly awaited distance from the Captain of the Guard who was standing three paces in front of his men.

He let a small frown be seen on his face just before nodding once to acknowledge her presence -and her familiarity with the protocol- at the right place.

And here they were sitting on their horses looking down at the sextuple line of guards standing in their path waiting for something to happen.

And whatever would happen would come from within the walls of the Palace.

Sun was quite sure that the Empress would have reacted positively to their little gift. But to react as Sun was hoping she would, she would have had to read the whole message and that, even if Empress Xiaogongzhang was well known to be a scholar and a well-versed book worm, it still would take some time for her to read the whole message and reach the part that described what would happen in the incoming years.

It could take a couple of hours…

Probably a little less. Because the Palace could decide to consider them as more than visitors.

Guests would be the best outcome since they would have to be invited to enter the Palace and live in the guest quarters.

Envoys would be good too, perhaps better when considering her own safety, since it would force them to be hosted in one of the five imperial outbuildings the Emperor was possessing in the Palace's immediate surroundings.

And Sun was rather impatient to see, if they were dubbed Envoys, which one of the five abodes the Empress Xiaogongzhang would choose.

The nearest which was also the shabbiest but the one where envoys who were at the brink of being dubbed guests were hosted?

Or the one with a pond and a garden which was, normally, reserved for new arriving wives or concubines.

Or the one with the secret passage to the Palace?

Each one of those had a story and a very precise protocolar meaning which would speak volumes for Sun.

The first hour was spent with only the sound of hooves hitting on granite when the sound of the inner draw bridge could be heard.

The portal finally was opened and to Sun's surprise she recognized the Xuande Emperor and his consort Empress Xiaogongzhang being carried together towards her by what looked like half a hundred carriers…

The guards did their very best to choreograph a perfect horse movement to open an aisle for the Imperial Palanquin.

The carriers placed the Palanquin in front of her and soon walked away to be outside of the range of normal speech.

The guards, too, immediately spread out to form a double line between the Palanquin and the rest of the Place.

Sun who, by necessity, had become a very knowledgeable specialist of Chinese Court Protocol, made the prepared sign and all her followers dismounted, knelt down, took their horses' bridle and walked away to ensure that what would be discussed wouldn't be overheard.

Once far enough away to be sure to be out of listening range they knelt again and looked at the cobblestoned covered ground.

Looking respectful but not cowed.

Sun who had lengthily discussed that precise moment with her own husband waited until all her followers were in position and then slowly dismounted, unbuckled her two swords, one dagger and medium arbalest to hang them at her saddle before turning around to look at the imperial couple.

She first bowed in Empress Xiaogongzhang's direction using the bow the protocol asked from a lower ranked imperial wife to greet the Empress, before turning to look the Emperor in the eyes long enough to count to four, perhaps not exactly four seconds but as similar as possible.

Normally, looking the Emperor in the eyes was punished by death for everybody. But for a family member. Which her bow in the Empress' direction should have established just before.

Were they family? Not in the common sense of the word. But they formed a very formal group of people in charge of others and that fact needed to be conveyed to the imperial couple from the very beginning.

Xuande Emperor was the current ruler and even if she wasn't one of his followers she had to convince him of the fact that not only was she a part of the ruling class but that she was a part of the ruling family.

But before everything else she had to show the whole staff who was, with certainty, looking at them from the secret looking places within the main portal's roof, that she did recognize Xuande Emperor as the current Son of Heaven.

And to show that there was only one protocolary admissible gesture.

So, she first knelt and then get down in a prone position with her arms spread out.

As soon as she was prone on the ground she began to count.

The longer Xuande Emperor would let her stay down prone, the less status she would have been granted.

She was at five when he loudly coughed twice in the short-long code inviting the kowtower to stand up.

She stood up immediately with the natural grace of a she-tiger slowly taking in her surroundings.

Xuande Emperor waited until she was back on her feet and then he nodded once.

It wasn't a very spectacular nod but with his elevated crown there was no chance that it wouldn't have been seen by any bystander looking at him.

Sun answered to the nod with a bow of her own.

The military underling bow. The one with crossed finger over her heart. The one that was reserved to members of the General Staff. The one that, if the Emperor didn't immediately protest, would place her at a top ranking military position within the Son of Heaven's staff.

She muffled the smile that was coming up.

For months, she had hated the protocol lessons. For years, she had resented her father's orders and her teachers' insistence.

Until, one day, everything had fallen into place and what had looked like silly mannerisms had become the most precious auxiliary a smart member of the Beijing court could wish. Becoming fluent in the only language necessary to survive at court had changed everything and now she was like a duck to water whenever she had to meddle with Imperial politics.

Time to discreetly remind Xuande Emperor that within the pond we share there are preys and predators.

And, as Yonglin Emperor had suggested, there was nothing better to remind an Emperor of his own mortality than an allusion to their powerful First Ancestor.

- In the name of the Sun, our common ancestor, I greet you, Xuande Emperor…

Her Mandarin was as perfect as possible after years of corrective pronunciation lessons!

- Thank you for receiving me on such a short notice and thank you to have decided to meet me outside of the Forbidden City. We all know that its walls are riddled with too curious and sometimes hostile ears. Out here I will be able to speak out aloud and without having to fear pointless witnesses.

- You are welcome, said Xuande Emperor.

He tapped on the ebony bow in his lap.

- When a messenger brings a message whose value belittles what I already have in my treasure vault, one finds that taking the time to discuss with said messenger is a wise gesture.

Once more he tapped on the ebony box.

- Why did you come?

- Because black tidings are showing up and those tidings are not coming, as usual, from the North. I have been sent by my Husband Yonglin Emperor to provide help and advice should said help be asked for.

Here she lifted her left eyebrow and let the hint of a smile appear on her impressive long-nosed face.

- Since there can be, at any time, only one Emperor, may I ask, where or when your husband reigns?

- Two hundred years from now in the future, he'll be sitting on the heavenly throne and I will have the great honor to be his seventh wife.

- And in two hundred years the Middle Kingdom will have the means to travel back in time?

- In two hundred years of time our family will indeed have a lot more means than you have today. The possibility to travel along the timelines being one of those. And, in a certain manner, I'm here to share some of those means.

Her words had clearly the intended effect since an answering smile appeared on Xuande's face while he lifted the ebony box a fraction of an inch.

- We didn't choose to make you wait but we needed to take the time to read the message. It was highly interesting, and should it have expressed the truth of what is coming, can your help stop Death's arrival?

- I will have to admit that if I'm a lot better when it comes to dealing out Death

And like her father had guessed her words were taken with a smile not a frown.

- That does not means that when it comes to disease and illness, I am without any effective means. Knowing what would happen to you I have been provided with the means necessary to strengthen your body to make him stronger when it comes to resist illness, disease or poison. I also have means to restore health and well-fare should the worst happen. Should those means I bear be insufficient, know that there are members of our family who have the gift of healing almost anything. I'll have no problem to call them should their presence be needed.

Xuande Emperor nodded once and lifted the little ebony box containing, with the History of the end of the Ming Dynasty, his own life story.

- Had your story not being imbedded jade in a book made of pure gold whose craftmanship was deemed impossible by mere Human Beings, and was probably worth more than everything else the Forbidden City contains, I wouldn't have believed it.

- We thought lengthily and thoroughly about ways to give our message the weight and importance it needed. Add to that that limitless wealth and superb craftmanship are messages all in themselves. We were sure that, should the box reach you, you would be impressed and perhaps even convinced.

Xuande Emperor let out a long sigh.

- Was I really going to die so soon?

- There's only one Force powerful enough to provide that precise answer and, even if we have extraordinary means at our disposal, we are not able to enter in contact with it. But, out of our experience, I will have to acknowledge that what's written by the Sun would probably have happened. It did happen a countless number of times for all those other Xuande Emperors who didn't get our visit in time. But now that you know what is awaiting you, I suspect that you will be a lot more cautious in the future. Especially while dealing with illness and disease will be a lot easier than before. You will be better than you would have without our warning.

She shrugged.

- Will not dying at thirty-six be enough to grant you a long and interesting reign? Only the Sun knows but I'd say that the odds are a lot better now that we are speaking than they were a few days ago.

She pointed at the Sun in the sky.

- He's the only one to know if said higher prudence will provide you with more or less time! Just remember that illnesses and diseases are easy to fight when you have access to the proper tools.

- And you are sure that you have the proper tools?

Sun nodded emphatically.

- I'm sure I do. And since in my experience, you rarely die within minutes after catching a life-threatening illness, we'll have a few hours before your demise, and a few hours is more than enough time to get the right medicine for the diseased person or to get him or her in the vicinity of a real healer. And as I said, we will have provided you the means to never again have to fear poison.

- So, what you say is that I should go on without changing anything?

Here she couldn't help but laugh out discreetly.

- I do know rather intimately a Son of heaven and I know how difficult it is to make him change his habits. I will just say that while after I have been around and after we agreed on helping each other there is no life-threatening illness, disease or even poison that will be able to kill you! So, there's really no reason to change your behavior out of something you didn't fear before, and you no longer need to fear at all considering your new possibilities. There are nevertheless other reasons to change your current habits that I will try to convey.

Here she couldn't help but shrug.

- And here we enter the real reasons for my presence here…

Xuande Emperor nodded once.

- So, why exactly are you here?

- When everything is said and told, the reason a woman has been sent to advise the Ming Dynasty today is because it will be Empress Xiaogongzhang's endeavor to deal with some greedy and power-hungry eunuchs' attempts to take over the power in the Palace.

- Why go to her and not me?

A small frown appeared on Sun's brow.

- If I'm well-informed, such trivial matters as ruling the Empire are so much below the great Artist's attention that we suspected that said artist would not be interested in stopping said eunuchs to work against the Empire's interests.

Xuande Emperor wasn't an idiot and even if he wasn't used to criticism, he did recognize one coming his way.

- Do I discern criticism in your voice?

Sun shook her head. It was truth and truth was always a good argument.

- No, because, as all members of the family know, when it touches the Emperor there's nothing to criticize! You are the Emperor and if the Son of Heaven believes that painting average landscapes over and over again is more critical than doing the job he's been crowned for, who, aside from our common ancestor, is there to judge?

Sun's eyes looked for a second towards the Heavens.

- We have thought about the tiny possibility that said ancestor takes, from time to time, some behavior into account to make decisions that could impact an Emperor's survival. We don't know for sure but it might be that some Emperors' untimely demise could be put in relation with said Emperors' tendency to be derelict to their duties as a ruler.

Xuande Emperor's eyes filled with anger.

- I am an artist! And I won't let anyone threaten me!

Sun's answer was well prepared, well-rehearsed and was spoken out with just enough force to show authority.

- In our family one does not threaten, one warns!

And Sun's tone was a lot more powerful than Xuande Emperor's.

- And, added she, who says that said artistic talent couldn't also be used while ruling the land? Originality and passion are gifts way too many rulers lack. If the Heavens hand out gifts, it is, of course, to see them used. If possible, used within the boundaries of one's duty. Having a passionate and smart Emperor should be an advantage not a disadvantage! The Empire and the Emperor should benefit of it, don't you think?

- Once more, I do feel the hint of a criticism…

Xuande Emperor's voice was serious but there was no longer anger underlying it.

- I wouldn't dare, I know my place…

- Do you really? You should remember that some places are more exposed than others.

- I am Yonglin Emperor's seventh wife. And my rank as a wife has been lengthily discussed by my husband and my father's family. I had to be High enough to be an asset but low enough to be forgotten when not present. I will, one day, give birth to one of his male heirs who will play an important role in the family because, like me and my husband, he will have very real advantages in health, strength and life expectancy. But that's not what I want to be remembered for. I believe being more important than just being the womb giving birth to a possible heir. Hence my presence here and in other places where the Middle Kingdom's future is at risk.

She took a long breath.

- Coming here to be able to warn you has been my choice! I see it to be my duty to always work in favor of the people of the Middle Kingdom wherever said Middle Kingdom is in danger. Everybody, who has the means to have leisure and who isn't starving, is entitled to his preferred hobbies but for rulers it is a little more difficult to justify. Contrary to everybody else there is for the ruler the problem of his duty and an Emperor's duty should be to use most of his time and all of his gifts to be the best ruler possible.

All traces of friendliness were erased of Sun's face.

- Must I remind you that since you've climbed the throne, there was not one year without a rebellion somewhere. You've even got five major peasants' revolts. And whatever your advisers say the only reason the peasants are revolting is that they no longer have enough food to feed their families. Food they don't have because your eunuchs' administration taxes them to death! And each uprising costs more in destroyed real estate than what the taxes -at least the part that doesn't go into the eunuchs' coffers- bring into your coffers.

- The summers have been too rainy and cold the crop hasn't been able to grow correctly…

- Which should have made you decide to lower the taxes for those peasants who are facing the bad weather. You are also the Emperor of the little people…

- I have huge financial burdens…

- We do know that and we do know why those burdens are so high. And because we know we can be of good advice in those matters too. And once all those who are robbing you have been dealt with, you'll see that you have the means to maintain the Empire while feeding the people.

- We do punish those we catch robbing us, said the Empress.

- If Xuande Emperor accepts to hand me the duty to get rid of the bad sheep of the flock, I'll do it with pleasure and efficiency. Give me two days and you'll not only know who was robbing you but you'll have their signed confession…

Xuande Emperor wasn't very pleased to hear that. He, of course, knew that some of his administrators were cheating and taking advantage of their positions but most of them couldn't be replaced easily. He knew the devils he had…

- It will throw my court into chaos. It's not perfect as it is but it works…

- That's part of being a ruler, insisted Sun. Should ruling be considered as too heavy a burden, there is always the possibility to stop being Emperor and to abdicate to dedicate your life to your true passion.

- You want me to abdicate?

Sun's answer was forceful.

- Not in the least! Who am I to want anything about you and your Middle Kingdom? But still we have lots of experience about how to rule. And just by looking at what has happened here these last years we can see that your way to rule is not the best.

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