The Longest Day in Chang'an

Chapter 16: Wu Zheng (12:00-12:59) Part 3

Translator: DragonRider

Wen Ran lifted up her dress a bit and jumped on the carriage. In the carriage, there was a thick blanket, a raw of lacquer varnish hampers with all kind of cakes and pastries inside and a six-corner incense burner at the corner. A maid was placing them with carefulness—definitely looking like they were going for an outing.

Wang Yunxiu, the daughter of Wang family, raised her finger and said ostentatiously, “What a coincidence! I just get this Hu-styled carriage and I’m planning to go out for a drive. This new thing comes from the grassland area and is the only one in Chang’an. So, no one else owns this......

Come on, put on this Hu-styled robe, or you’ll spoil the mood here.”

Wen Ran had planned to talk about her own thing but obviously Wang Yunxiu wasn’t interested because she just went on and on about how amazing this new carriage was. Wen Ran knew this arrogant and unreasonable girl was really into Hu style and dared not to ruin her moment, so she had no choice but to put on the Hu-styled robe and waited for her to finish what she wanted to say patiently.

When they were talking, this carriage carried them out of the Wang Mansion, turned south and went down the road leaving Anren Fang, Guangfu Fang and Jingshan Fang behind them. Seeing Wen Ran get on the carriage of Wang Family, those two flighty young ruffians neither dared to step forward to catch her nor could they leave, so they had to stalk the carriage at a distance. Luckily, the camel couldn’t run too fast so they could catch up even by walking.

After they passed Jingshan Fang, the number of pedestrians around them was greatly reduced. The south of Chang’an was not as prosperous as the north; with fewer residences and temples, it gave people a bleak and desolate impression. When the carriage arrived at a crossroad, the driver suddenly stopped the camel. Wang Yunxiu asked about what happened unhappily and the driver replied that some people from JiangZuo Office (An ancient department responsible for the construction and maintenance of palaces, roads and other implements) were mending the road and asked them to detour.

There was indeed a willow board ahead, saying “Under Construction”, and a few laborers at a distance whose faces were covered by pieces of white cloth were scraping the ground with wooden rakes. Wang Yunxiu with a cold smile said, “Just a few servants of Jiangzuo Office! How dare they stop my carriage! Just run over and get through!”

When Wen Ran was pondering on the timing of getting her thing out, she suddenly heard a series of sullen rumbles. As soon as she turned around, her pupils contracted. They were at the lower place, and a horseless cart fully loaded with firewood was rushing down the high hill on the right side of the crossroad and right onto their carriage.

The firewood cart was so heavy that it ran down the hill like an unleashed mad beast, wheels rumbling and unstoppable. With Wen Ran screaming, the driver hurriedly whipped up the camel to avoid being hit but that was impossible in such a short time. Consequently, the firewood cart smashed onto the side of their carriage like a violent thunder hitting the ground.

With loud sounds of wood cracking, the roof of the carriage was broken into pieces and the whole carriage was turned upside down on the ground, which was soon buried by stones and rocks.

This accident attracted the attention of the scouts at nearby streets, who hurried to check out what happened. But all of a sudden, those laborers of Jiangzuo Officestraightened up, pulled out their daggers from that pile of sand and ran towards the scouts. They had been planning this for a long time and with their ruthlessness, all scouts were soon wiped out.

Then there came an old woman selling fruits who happened to pass by; after seeing this, she immediately turned around and tried to run away. But right at this time one laborer throw a knife at her, which impaled her back and brought her down in a pool of her own blood.

After killing all the scouts, the laborers gathered around the ramshackle carriage. With two wheels on the top, the passengers of the carriage were trapped inside. Thanks to the spacious coach and its rails, they were like trapped in an upside-down box, rather than being pinned underneath it. However, the driver was not as lucky. He was under the two-hump camel and with so many broken bones, it was impossible for him to make it.

The laborers kicked open the boards on the side of the carriage and dragged the three passengers inside it out, but only to find that the girl in maid dress was already dead and the other two girls were knocked out due to the collision. One laborer took off the white cloth on his face and the solemn face of Cao Poyan was revealed.

“Which one of them is the daughter of Wang Zhongsi?” he asked. And the others shook their head to express that they also had no idea. The two girls were all in Hu-styled robe. Cao Poyan raised his head and took a glance at the people that were slowly gathering towards them from a distance. Then he waved his hand and said, “We are running out of time. Just cut off their arms and heads and bring them with us. We can take time to distinguish who is our target when we get back.”

Cao Poyan raised his blade but was stopped by a nearby wolf guard named Ma Ge’er, a burly man, who was even taller than Cao Poyan. He interrupted by saying, “Respected Yousha has told us to capture her alive. Wang Zhongsi killed his son, so he has to let Wang Zhongsi see his family die right in front of him.”

Cao Poyan shouted back, “There is no time for such kind of personal grudge. Don’t you know how big burden two live persons can be! And where can we place them?”

Ma Ge’er replied, “Respected Yousha says there is a backup house, which could be......”

“Still, this will take up extra people and time. Wolf Guard serves Khan, not aiming to meet the personal interest of Yousha!” Cao Poyan put forth his strength through his waist to brandish down his blade but Ma Ge’er also pulled out his blade and with a clanging sound he stopped Cao Yoyan’s blade.

Cao Poyan was enraged because it was him who recruited Ma Ge’er into the Wolf Guard and now he dared to disobey his order! He was about to rebuke Ma Ge’er but found that the expressions of wolf guards around seemed weird. Then he suddenly realized that the hair on the top of his head had been cut off, so strictly speaking, his rank was even lower than the herding slaves on the grassland.

The reason these wolf guards were still following him was because that respected Yousha ordered them to. Therefore, if his order went against with Yousha’s, then wolf guards wouldn’t hesitate to take off the gloves because Yousha represented Khan.

All Cao Poyan wanted was to be loyal to Khan, but ironically, the other wolf guards who were trying to stop him also had unquestionable loyalty to Khan.

The confrontation didn’t last long for Cao Poyan finally took a deep breath and put his blade down. Ma Ge’er was relieved as if a heavy burden was off his shoulder because he knew his old leader all too well that if he was really determined to do it, there was no one there could stop him.

“The goods from Yan Zhou is about to arrive. This is important, so I’ll go and pick up them in person. And you guys take charge in sending the hostages away.” After saying this, Cao Poyan turned around and left without looking back.

Ma Ge’er dared not to bother him with this. So, he asked other wolf guards to move Wen Ran and Wang Yunxiu to a big pre-prepared carriage with curtains on all four sides and fled the scene.

At a further distance, facing the blood that covered nearly half of the street, that two flighty young loafers were so terrified that they had no idea what to do besides standing there like statues.

He Zhizhang entered the hall again, an awkward smile on face and a silk band with fire pints on neck. This kind of funny look made all present want to laugh but dared not.

He Zhizhang took a glance at Zhang Xiaojing without saying anything, then walked directly to Li Bi and handed him a roll of slightly worn-out register. Li Bi after a quick flipping gave it to Xu Bin immediately. Then the scribes again started to go through all kinds of files and archives. And the Great Art of Documents was used again.

Zhang Xiaojing, standing at the doorway of the hall with arms crossed, stared at Tan Qi boldly. Tan Qi felt disgusted but could do nothing about it; she wanted to strike him with her stick but couldn’t because that wretched playboy just created a miracle.

The meeting between He Zhizhang and Da Sabao was totally Zhang Xiaojing’s idea.

Zhang Xiaojing speculated that the Turks must have a spy disguised as a believer hiding in Zoroastrianism temple within Huaiyuan Fang. So, the wolf guard fled to the temple on purpose and this was all planned beforehand just to facilitate the stealing the map.

Zoroastrianism was relatively closed so believers were familiar with each other. Therefore, this spy was unlikely sprinkled lately but most possibly had been lurking around for some time.

Every believer of Zoroastrianism had to worship the sacrificial fire periodically and all those consecrating incenses, oil and money were listed on the register. So, if they wanted to find out this spy’s identity, the best way was to get this register. And then comparing it with the census register of Chang’an, Jing’an Department, with its mighty calculating and deducing skills, could easily get some clues about who the spy was.

This was why Zhang Xiaojing took the initiative to notify Da Sabao. Without his cooperation, it might not be that easy to get the above-mentioned register.

Then the next problem was how to persuade Da Sabao to cooperate with them. And the reputable He Zhizhang was clearly more fit for this task than Li Bi.

Although He Zhizhang was indisposed towards Zhang Xiaojing, for the overall safety of Chang’an, he had no choice but to listen to the man who had been sentenced to death. The moving words and speech he gave Da Sabao were what Zhang Xiaojing had told him to say.

People of Zoroastrianism did not care too much about money and power, but they did like making friends with those who understood their creed and could exchange opinions with them. Following this direction, they not only quelled the potential riot of believers but also made Da Sabao so willing to cooperate with them that he sent some to fetch the register of Huaiyuan Fang at once.

Tan Qi looked at Zhang Xiaojing with complicated feelings. This man seemed have all things planned out and even He Zhizhang, the wise man, had to stick to his plan. Tan Qi thought that now came the most interesting part—how would Supervisor He deal with Zhang Xiaojing? Recall his order or insist on discharging him?

But it was not He Zhizhang made the first move but Zhang Xiaojing, who unfolded his arms, stroke his eyes to brush away any possible dust and then walked towards the door of the hall. Li Bi with frowned eyebrows asked him where he wanted to go. Zhang Xiaojing with a faint smile on his face asked, “That’s not my shots to call, right?” Silence reigned the hall and even the scribes who were busy looking through archives were like in slow motion.

He Zhizhang coughed a little bit and said, “Jing’an Department operates by law and rules which do not allow a man sentenced to death to linger around. But I do not hold any grudge against you. The contribution you made today won’t be wasted. If you have any needs in jail, just bring them up.”

“Then bring me more paper money.”

“What for?” This request was definitely beyond He Zhizhang’s expectation.

“I want to hold a memorial ceremony for Chang’an and its people in advance.”

Hearing this answer, He Zhizhang was choked up and trembled because of anger, while Zhang Xiaojing just laughed and walked out of the hall with head held high. Right at this time, Li Bi reached out to stop Zhang Xiaojing and shouted to He Zhizhang in a severe tone, “Supervisor He, this person has a vital role to play now. Shouldn’t we make our choices according to the specific situation?”

He Zhizhang shook his head slowly but decidedly. This was a matter of principle.

Li Bi frowned his eyebrows even harder, took out his official and personal seals, clearly planning to put them on the desk. Tan Qi was astounded—Young master was planning to achieve his goal by threating to resign. Was a man who had been sentenced to death really worth all these troubles?

Before those seals made their way down to the desk, a scribe shouted, “Sicheng Li, look at this!” Then he handed a file to Li Bi, who after taking a look, handed it to He Zhizhang without hesitation. Just a simple glance of it made He Zhizhang shake violently whose expression was like he had been hit by a thunder.

The file was a message reported by street scouts stationed at Yanshou Fang.

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