Chapter Eighty-Five: The Campaign for Yanyi (Part Nine)

At the Palace of Great Brilliance, in the Flying Fragrance Hall, on a day of repose, the Empress Wu gathered her trusted nobles, Hanlin scholars, and attendants of the Phoenix Terrace and Lofty Pavilion, and spent the hours in lively discourse on verse and prose, with wine, feasting, and revelry.

Then, suddenly, the zither began to sound throughout the city. Its notes rang out sharp and fiery, vigorous and majestic, and there was something strangely familiar about it: it was the General’s Command.

“You do have a talent for making a scene,” Empress Wu said with amused teasing. With a graceful motion of her hand, she summoned Xie Yaohuan, who stood nearby in attendance. “All of you should hear Master Quan’s great work. This piece was born from the woman general at my side; to hear the music is also to behold the person. A rare thing indeed.”

Since the day the General’s Command was born, Xie Yaohuan had abandoned her hairpins for a warrior’s cap. She wore no court dress and no civil official’s robes, but instead the plain attire of a military officer. From her colors, she was identified as General Dingyuan, fifth rank upper, equal in standing to Shangguan Wan’er as a Hanlin waiting scholar. Besides her, more than ten female attendants in armor-like dress ringed the empress, wearing the green robes of the Imperial Guard without armor. They looked imposing enough, though they lacked any true killing aura, and were much like the embroidered pillows of the Imperial Guard.

“Report! The governor of the capital, Yang Shouyu, requests an audience!” the little eunuch announced in a loud voice. Such a great commotion had erupted in Chang’an that Yang Shouyu had quickly investigated the cause and practically rushed, stumbling and scrambling, into the palace.

“Your servant reports to the Heavenly Empress: after my investigation, I have confirmed that this matter was undertaken spontaneously by the merchants of Pingkang Ward. To enliven the capital, they have sent all manner of musicians and singing girls into the streets to perform the General’s Command within the city. The piece is played once every incense stick, five times a day, from the Hour of the Snake until the first mark after noon, and the plan is to continue for ten days. I believe this is harmless and have come specially to inform Your Majesty, asking for your sacred decision.”

Empress Wu nodded and rose from her seat. “All of you come with me and see what manner of spectacle this is.”

Seeing that the empress was in high spirits, the officials all chimed assent and followed her out of the hall, up to the Tower of Sovereign Heaven at the highest point of the Palace of Great Brilliance, where they looked down upon the city of Chang’an below.

There, among the square wards and market streets of Chang’an, with avenues and alleys crossing like a lattice, sat a musician in plain white dress at every intersection. Each was seated on a zither bench, with a small table before her and a chimera incense burner sending up curling blue smoke. In the center sat a guzheng, and the musician’s ten fingers moved in frantic haste, plucking the strings like a storm and a torrent, sleeves billowing, hair coming loose. Around them stood crowds of onlookers, all with hands tucked respectfully away, listening in silence and not daring to be frivolous.

“Chang’an is a board of level ground, the people are the pieces, and when the General’s Command sounds, the ten thousand citizens become reverent and solemn,” Empress Wu said softly, taking in the whole scene. Her imperial bearing was vast; the moment she spoke, it was with all the domineering force of a dynasty.

The assembled ministers, dense as clouds, prostrated themselves in worship and offered their prayers and congratulations, praising the empress for her capable governance and the people’s peace and prosperity.

“Hahaha!” Empress Wu laughed heartily. “I cannot really claim credit for this. That the people of Chang’an may hear the sound of arms is all thanks to my woman general.”

“Your servant would not dare. My good fortune is bestowed by the Heavenly Empress and is not even one ten-thousandth of your grace,” Xie Yaohuan said, dropping to one knee and clasping her fists in salute, with something of a true general’s bearing.

By then, constables had appeared in the market wards. The common folk, hearing the music, caught sight of the Heavenly Empress in her purple robes and gold crown atop the Tower of Sovereign Heaven. At once they surged forward in a mad rush, gathering beneath the gate tower in a black mass. The square before the gate seethed with heads; countless hands were raised high, and a jumble of cries rose into the air.

On the empress’s ascent to the terrace, she spread her arms wide, took Xie Yaohuan by the hand, and threw her head back in a booming laugh, full of heroic spirit.

Before so many eyes, Xie Yaohuan’s glory shone unmatched.

Yet the sudden stir upon the palace walls brought calamity to a group strolling within the city. Swept along by the surging crowd, they were jostled into utter disorder, spun senseless, and left in a miserable state. At last, seizing a gap, they hurried to the roadside and stood tight against the wall before they could regain their footing.

The group was four in all, all dressed as men, though only one was truly male. Quan Ce, like a frantic hen, stretched out both arms to shield the three behind him. But seeing the people all rushing like mad toward the palace gate, desperate to catch a glimpse of the empress’s grand bearing, and seeing that not even a ghost remained by the zither players, he complained bitterly, “The Heavenly Empress has ruined my great plan.”

“Nonsense,” Princess Taiping snapped, though with a trace of fond reproach. She took his shoulder and strolled onward at an easy pace. “Your gift has stirred the entire city, and even startled Mother Empress. It counts as a magnificent success already. Must you still be so greedy?”

Quan Ce was not a perfectionist, but to step out and find such a scene of chaos was indeed a blow to his pride. He gave a dry laugh and changed the subject. “Aunt, let us go see the book market. If not many people are buying the score, I shall purchase a few hundred copies myself, just to make the thing look more respectable.”

“You wicked little thief. Did you not say the score was a gift for Aunt? How can you turn around and sell it?” Princess Taiping wound her slender hand around and gave him a hard pinch. “I thought you had finally shown some filial feeling, but it turns out you still care most about making money.”

Quan Ce only smiled and did not explain. When they reached the book market, they found that dozens of bookshops lined a single narrow lane, yet few customers came and went.

He asked a shopkeeper, “Sir, how is the sale of this Taiping Score?”

The gray-haired shopkeeper shook his head again and again, his face dark. “I’ve been open for three days and haven’t sold a single copy. I’m afraid I’ll lose money on it. That Taiping abbess truly does not bring fortune. If she publishes anything again, I’ll pay no heed whatsoever.”

Yu Nu and Xiang Nu, who followed behind, raised their brows and were about to scold him when they heard hurried footsteps. Several scholars in white robes came in with a sour air about them.

“Greetings, elder. As the sage said, a gentleman must be versed in the six arts, and music is not something to neglect. We have just heard of the General’s Command, and since it comes from the Taiping Score, if you have it, we would like to buy a copy.”

“Yes, yes!” The shopkeeper shoved Quan Ce aside with one hand. The man asked only and did not buy; there was none of the hearty generosity of a true scholar. But these scholars left satisfied, and more soon came after them. Within half an hour, the shopkeeper had sold out entirely, and he called to his helper over and over: “Er Gou, you damned fool, hurry to the engraving workshop and bring back more copies of the Taiping Score. If you ruin my business, I’ll skin you alive!”

With a good mood, everything became easy to say. Turning back, he was all smiles. “Noble guests, would you care to choose some miscellaneous books to pass the time? My shop has a full edition of The Affair at the Outer Wall, and Handsome Misfit, complete with illustrations. Would any of you care to take a look?”

Quan Ce was greatly displeased. “Shopkeeper, get lost. Your eyesight is poor; don’t go around pretending to do business like other people. I am an honest man.”

With the three women behind him laughing until they nearly bent double, he swept his sleeves and departed.

“You composed the piece yourself, and you didn’t even leave your own name?” Princess Taiping flipped through the score and was quite astonished to find that, apart from the title page naming the Taiping Abbess, there was no other attribution anywhere.

Quan Ce waved both hands repeatedly. “No name, no name. If I left one and someone came calling to discuss it, I wouldn’t know the first thing about music. Then wouldn’t I make a laughingstock of myself? Absolutely not, absolutely not.”

Princess Taiping gave him a faint glance and smiled leisurely as she led the way. “Come on. Didn’t you say there’s a banquet tonight at Daughter-Lang? Don’t be late.”

Being late would indeed be improper, but this uninvited guest was hardly any more honorable, Quan Ce muttered inwardly as he followed behind. Tonight’s host was Cui Rong; let us see whether he and the guests he has invited can withstand the occasion.

Within Chang’an, wealth and indulgence soaked the air. Near the ancient road by Hangu Pass, in Xin’an County, Wu Yanyi took the lead himself, clad from head to toe in armor like an iron shell, drilling formations. The horses’ saddles and tack had been specially made and linked together by iron chains; so long as one could maintain even speed front to back, the formation would remain neat and square.

“Iron chains linking boats, iron chains linking horses—this Quan Ce fellow does have a few tricks,” Wu Yanyi said, laboriously removing his helmet and tossing it to the ground. His long hair was soaked through, and the skin of his face had turned pale from the sweat.

A whinny rang out.

Then came a dull thud, and the earth trembled.

“How unlucky.” Wu Yanyi’s brow furrowed deeply. Over these past days the training had been intense; it seemed a warhorse had finally broken under the strain and been driven to death in drill.

Striding away with long steps, he headed toward the outer residence he had purchased in Xin’an County, where he had brought the sisters Chunzi and Lianzi to attend him.

Thinking of the two beauties, a heat rose in Wu Yanyi’s lower abdomen.