Chapter Ninety-One: The Hot-Tempered Deputy Minister, Part Two

From the high platform, the scene below was entirely different. Looking down, one saw a hundred riders and a thousand cavalry racing in several vast circles, with the Turkic horsemen trapped in the middle, lunging left and right only to be cut down one after another by halberd and axe, severed limbs and broken arms flying through the air.

Empress Wu wore a faint, restrained smile. The court ministers at her side praised her without end, but Princess Taiping was vexed. Her gaze never left Quan Ce. She saw him take a Turkic lance through the body, still forcing himself onward as he swung his poleaxe and took off a head. Unmindful of his wound, he kept wheeling his horse with wild excitement. Taiping, however, scolded, “Quan Ce knows neither rank nor propriety, and has no regard for himself. He must be punished severely.”

Empress Wu gave her a sideways glance, her smile deepening. Huse Luo’s face had gone black as pitch, and fear lurked in the depths of his eyes. “The armor and blades of the Celestial Empire are indeed formidable, and it does possess extraordinary men. This newly devised battle formation is truly remarkable.”

“You are mistaken, Khan,” Xie Yaohuan said lightly, with unmistakable contempt. “This is an ancient stratagem of the Han, not some new invention. His Majesty Taizong once said that history is a mirror by which one may learn the rise and fall of states. With this chariot-and-hanging formation, the Han sealed the Wolf Mountain and soared to the splendor of its triumphs. If Your Khan does not take warning, I fear the day when the iron cavalry of Great Tang will ride unhindered across the northern desert will not be far off.”

Huse Luo could accept defeat. He could accept defeat in battle formation. But he could not accept defeat at the hands of a woman. Raising his chin, he said stiffly, “From what I have seen today, your side merely issued one signal arrow and did not even move the hundred infantry in the outer ranks. I fear the one directing this battle is someone else entirely.”

“The infantry are the Thousand Guards of the Eastern Capital,” Xie Yaohuan replied without a flicker of emotion, glancing at him. “They are a force prouder even than the Thousand Cavalry. To send them in at this moment to snatch glory would be the same as sending them to their deaths. That is not what a true commander does.”

She blinked at him with feigned innocence and asked, “Khan, do you truly understand warfare?”

Huse Luo’s face turned the color of soy paste. Furious and humiliated, he no longer dared to be insolent.

While they were exchanging barbs, the outcome on the battlefield below had already been decided. Huse Luo had brought two hundred guards with him; by the time he left, he was likely to be all but alone.

Geshu Que was not dead. Nor did he wish to die. Taking advantage of the moment when the Thousand Cavalry were reforming, he scrambled up from the corpses and charged toward the hillside, crying out in terror, “Great Khan, save me! Great Khan, save me!”

Then came the rapid beat of hoofbeats.

A single rider came like a streak of lightning, cutting him off at the foot of the slope. The rider cast aside the halberd-axe in hand, swung the whip in a full arc, and lashed it brutally across Geshu Que’s face, smashing half of it apart and sending him tumbling head over heels.

“Great Khan...” Geshu Que cried one last time, only for another lash to strike straight across his mouth. Blood and shattered teeth filled his mouth, and he could no longer utter a sound.

Before Empress Wu and Huse Luo, the mounted warrior rode in circles on horseback and whipped Geshu Que to death, blow by blow, as though he were nothing more than an animal.

Seeing that he had breathed his last, Xie Yaohuan confirmed that the battle was over. She rode down the hillside to inspect the casualties, reorganize the troops, and return to camp.

Huse Luo watched the brazen rider, his rage burning sky-high. His eyes rolled as he considered how, using his special standing as a vassal subject, he might make that damned fellow pay dearly.

But someone else did the work for him. Princess Taiping had long since been unable to restrain herself. With a sharp cry she said, “Quan Ce, come up here at once!”

The rider laboriously removed his fully enclosed helmet, swung down from the saddle, and dashed up the slope. His face was full of smug satisfaction. Princess Taiping stepped forward briskly, but she had no kindness in store for him. Extending a slender hand, she seized his ear and dragged him toward the imperial carriage. “When the imperial physician has examined you, if your injuries are not serious, just see whether I shall spare you lightly.”

“Ow, ow—hurts, Aunt!” Quan Ce cried again and again. The fierce and godlike killer of moments before instantly became as meek as a lamb.

The turnabout was so strange that Huse Luo stared in utter bewilderment. At once, he developed an almost reverential admiration for the women of the Celestial Court.

It took Huse Luo a long while to remember that he still had to seek justice for his beloved general. He dropped to his knees with perfect speed. “Great Empress, I have traveled here from far beyond the seas, seeking only the protection of the Celestial Court. On the battlefield, life and death are matters for Heaven, and I have no complaint. But now that the outcome is already decided, to have my man slaughtered in such a cruel fashion is truly contrary to the renown of benevolence that the Celestial Court enjoys. I beg Your Majesty to act for me.”

Empress Wu looked down with amusement at the massive barbarian kneeling at her skirt. A trace of feeling stirred in her. Different people required different methods. Against such savage men, only iron and blood would avail. Swords and blades alone revealed the truth. No matter how fierce and unruly they were, what could they do about it?

With a soft laugh, she motioned toward Doulu Qinwang beside her. “Grand Herald, help the Khan to his feet. Quan Ce acted too rashly. I shall see that he is dealt with.”

Huse Luo rose, but he was not satisfied by the Empress’s vague answer. He had knelt, after all, and yet they still could not handle a mere stripling? He asked bluntly, “I saw just now that the Princess treats him like family. Is he of exalted status? Since we both serve the Empress, Your Majesty must not favor one side unfairly.”

Empress Wu laughed aloud, her grandeur spilling over like a flood, her voice carrying across the fields. “Quan Ce is my own grandson, of royal blood. If I do not show him favor, who should I favor? Khan, do you have anything more to say?”

Naturally Huse Luo had nothing left to say. The Empress’s answer even gave him a strange sense of kinship. To prey on the weak with strength, after all, was the true law of the world. Her attitude made him respect her all the more.

When Empress Wu and the others returned to the carriage, neither General Quan nor Deputy Minister Quan could be seen. Only a splendidly dressed, jade-like young libertine remained. Princess Taiping was especially fond of dressing him this way. Two places at his chest bulged slightly, clearly where wounds had been bandaged: one from the fresh injury just now, the other from the wound he had suffered two days earlier when he killed Wu Yanyi. Neither was serious.

Quan Ce stood behind Princess Taiping, while Taiping sat by Emperor Ruizong’s carriage with one leg crossed. The siblings chatted idly. Emperor Ruizong doted on his younger sister to an extreme degree; even when she mocked him for lacking the courage to watch battle and slaughter, he did not grow angry, and instead only smiled and begged her indulgently for mercy.

Empress Wu glanced at them, then ascended her carriage and set out. Quan Ce, in this attire, obviously could not attend to his duties, so he climbed into Princess Taiping’s four-horse carriage and rode along with her.

“You acted as you did today,” Princess Taiping said, her expression solemn, “which is not at all like your usual steadiness. Have you some request to make?”

Quan Ce sniffed and lowered his head. “Because of the command of the troops, Wu Yanyi rebelled and was executed. I was afraid I might bring trouble on myself, so I thought...”

“So you thought you would struggle desperately for some merit and save your own life? Absurd!” Princess Taiping cut in sharply, eyes blazing. “Wu Yanyi slandered the Empress Mother and had every reason to die. What are you afraid of? Just because he bore the Wu name? If those who bear the Wu name can kill those who bear the Li name, are those who bear the Li name not allowed to kill those who bear the Wu name?”

Quan Ce slipped from the cushion and knelt, offering no defense. In truth, his reckless display had been less about earning merit than about inviting offense. He had acted out of loyalty, but to be marked out for trouble in the process. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ceremonial, by administrative structure, fell under the Department of State Affairs. Wu Chengsi was the chief minister in charge and also acting right vice-director, one of the four principal heads of that department. Having taken Wu Yanyi’s life and then remaining under such a man’s command would be like sending a sheep into a tiger’s mouth. It was best to withdraw as soon as possible.

Princess Taiping reached out and pulled him up, the frost still unsoftened on her face. “I have warned you many times. Born into the imperial house, with your body and blood both precious, you must value your rank, tend yourself properly, and never lightly risk your life. Yet you persist in acting recklessly. This time, because you had your reasons, I will let it pass. But if such a thing happens again, you must come to me first and discuss it. If I cannot protect you, then you may go and pursue your shameful bargain with your own body.”

A shameful bargain with his body? Even selling his life would have sounded better than that.

Quan Ce looked up in astonishment, only to find that Princess Taiping was herself embarrassed by her slip of the tongue. Her cheeks had turned faintly pink. When she noticed his gaze, she forced a fierce expression and glared back at him.

Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, “One backward glance, and a hundred charms are born.”

Princess Taiping flushed with thin anger. “You little thief, how dare you be rude to your aunt?” She shoved him hard with both hands and sent him tumbling from the carriage.

Quan Ce rolled off in a sorry heap. He staggered to his feet, only to find the rest of the imperial convoy rumbling past behind him. Yet this was a matter of rank and order; he could not overstep. Covered in dust and embarrassment, he stood by the roadside for a long while. Only when the rear guard of the army finally arrived was he able to borrow a horse and avoid the misery of walking all the way back to the Eastern Capital.