Something’s happened!
Something major has happened!
The court officials who had only just left hurried back into the palace one after another. Along both sides of the great hall, the palace attendants on duty couldn’t help whispering among themselves.
“How could the Imperial Armory have been destroyed?”
From within the hall came the Emperor’s furious voice.
“Have the spies of the Western bandits and Eastern Liao already learned to walk freely through the Armory as if it were their own courtyard? Then what next – will they be coming and going in my palace as they please?”
Several more officials came rushing over. When they saw the attendants whispering and peering toward the hall, one of them gave a loud, angry snort, flung his sleeve, and stamped his foot.
The attendants immediately straightened, lowered their heads, and stood at attention as the sound of official boots and robes passed before them.
“Your Majesty, Inspector-General Fan has arrived.”
Hearing the report, the Emperor immediately stopped pacing and turned back, his face still clouded with anger and alarm.
What on earth was going on today?
First, during morning court, the Imperial Censorate Deputy had pressed insistently to investigate that Lady Cheng. Then, driven to the brink, Chen Shao had offered his resignation. The whole uproar had left the Emperor’s thoughts in disarray. It had taken him quite some time after court to regain his composure. After lunch, he had planned to rest a little – but had barely lain down before being jolted upright.
An earthquake!
In the middle of winter, no less – such a tremor could only mean grave losses of life and property.
The Emperor had been unable to sit still in the Hall of Diligent Governance until a message soon arrived.
It was not an earthquake.
The Emperor let out a long breath of relief. Wonderful – perhaps this year might yet pass peacefully, without his ministers buzzing around his ears to scold him for neglecting good governance.
But the next instant, his heart leapt again.
The Imperial Armory had been struck.
The Imperial Armory – where the very weapons of a strong army and a powerful nation were forged.
“Inspector-General Fan!”
The Emperor’s gaze fell on the official below – and he startled.
The man had always been plain-looking, a rough fellow of rural birth, but now he appeared as though he had just crawled out of a charcoal kiln – so blackened and grim that it was almost frightening.
“What happened?”
Fan Jianglin dropped to his knees and bowed deeply.
“I came in such haste that I had no time to change clothes or wash my face. I beg Your Majesty’s pardon.”
The Emperor waved his hand impatiently.
He wasn’t some delicate young maiden, after all.
“What exactly happened?” the Emperor demanded. “How could the workshops of the Imperial Armory be destroyed?”
A few damaged buildings were a small matter – but what they housed were the carefully secured Divine Arm Bows, along with the materials used to make them. The initial report had already reached him: a rough estimate said three hundred of the bows had been lost.
The Emperor’s heart clenched in pain.
Three hundred bows!
“Inspector-General Fan!” he exclaimed. “The Imperial Armory is a vital military site – how could you allow enemy spies to infiltrate it?”
“Your Majesty, it wasn’t enemy spies infiltrating,” Fan Jianglin hastily explained. “It was the Imperial Armory that caught the spy. One of our transport offices reported two mobile cannon carriages missing. We investigated yesterday and apprehended the suspect early this morning. The interrogation is underway.”
Mobile cannon carriages too!
The Emperor’s brow twitched again.
“Investigate at once!” he barked.
By now, the entire perimeter of the Imperial Armory had been sealed off by armored soldiers standing in strict formation.
Fan Jianglin and several officials went to deliver their report to the Emperor, while the remaining officials surrounded and interrogated the culprits – Li Mao, who had caused the earlier disaster, and the craftsman who had stolen the cannon carriages.
“We really aren’t spies,” Li Mao and the craftsman kept insisting.
“Then tell us – what on earth is this contraption?” one of the officials barked.
“It isn’t a contraption,” Li Mao raised his head and said.
“Then what is it?” the official shouted.
Li Mao’s lips moved slightly – he seemed hesitant to speak.
That moment of hesitation, seen by the soldiers nearby, was taken as defiance. One of them immediately raised his arm and struck Li Mao across the face with the flat of his blade, sending him sprawling to the ground. His face, already bruised and swollen, now bore a fresh crimson gash.
Li Mao coughed violently, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the floor.
“Speak!” the official roared.
“You’ve destroyed a hundred of our Divine Arm Bows – don’t think you can feign death and escape this!”
But whether from pain or from something else, Li Mao lay on the ground without answering.
Footsteps clattered outside the office, and a group of people walked in.
Those present exchanged wary glances.
The Imperial City Guard.
“Have you gotten anything out of them yet?” the leader of the newcomers asked in an unhurried tone.
The officials from the Imperial Armory looked reluctant.
“The interrogation is still underway,” one of them replied.
“Our Supervisor says that if you can’t get results, the case should be handed over to us,” the man said with a faint smile. “We wouldn’t want to delay affairs of the state.”
“This is a matter for the Imperial Armory,” one of the institute’s officials answered, his voice edged with displeasure.
On the other side, a soldier crouched down in front of Li Mao.
“Li Mao, you were once a man of the army – you should know very well what kind of place the Imperial City Guard is,” he said in a low voice. “If you fall into their hands, you’ll beg for death before it comes. Whatever you’ve got to say, you’d better say it now. You’re dead either way – might as well make it quick.”
Before Li Mao could speak, the craftsman kneeling nearby began knocking his head against the floor over and over.
“My lord, my lord – it has nothing to do with me! Nothing to do with me! I just took his money, that’s all – I took his money! He only said he needed two trebuchets! I lost my mind, I deserve to die a thousand deaths! I’m not a spy, I swear I’m not! I didn’t know he was a spy – I knew nothing, my lord, please have mercy, please spare me!”
The craftsman’s frantic cries rang in everyone’s ears, leaving them buzzing and numb.
The Imperial City Guard officers approached Li Mao with smiling faces.
“Li Mao, do you have anything to say?” one of them asked.
At last Li Mao lifted his head from the ground and looked up at the towering officer.
“I have something to say,” he panted. “I am not a spy. I want to see His Majesty.”
The officer from the Imperial City Guard frowned.
“You want to see the Emperor?” he sneered. “Who do you think you are?”
“I, a commoner, wish to present a treasure to His Majesty,” Li Mao said, raising his head.
“A treasure?” the officer asked. “What do you intend to present? You’d better produce something new – don’t try to stall us with information we already have.”
Li Mao smiled faintly and tried to force himself upright, but he failed.
“Please inform His Majesty,” he said, “what I wish to present is a weapon a hundred times more powerful than the Divine Arm Bow.”
…
“Nonsense!”
Feng Lin’s voice rang out in the hall as he turned toward the Emperor.
“This is the disaster left behind by that Cheng lady! Now everyone has learned to use strange tricks and contrivances to threaten Your Majesty. When those above delight in such things, those below will always take it to extremes.”
With Chen Shao having withdrawn from office and confined himself at home, Feng Lin’s was the only voice in the hall.
Indeed – surely not everyone under heaven could be another Lady Cheng.
The Emperor’s expression turned a little awkward. He reined in the momentary excitement he’d felt upon hearing mention of a weapon “a hundred times stronger than the Divine Arm Bow,” and straightened in his seat.
“Have the Imperial City Guard interrogate him,” he said after a moment’s thought.
“Your Majesty,” the Supervisor said, bowing his head, “that Li Mao insists the item is of utmost importance and can only be presented directly to Your Majesty. He dares not let it pass through another’s hands.”
“Outrageous!”
Before the Emperor could speak, Feng Lin’s sharp voice cut through the hall.
“If he truly possesses some ingenious device, then let the Court of Judicial Review, the Grand Court of Revision, or the Imperial City Bureau investigate it. If guilt is found, he shall be punished; if merit, he shall be rewarded according to law. Since when does every petty craftsman demand an audience with His Majesty?”
“To speak so shamelessly of offering a treasure before it’s even verified – and for Your Majesty to be moved by such words, losing your discernment – clearly, it is the chaos Lady Cheng caused which has clouded Your Majesty’s judgment!”
Well, there was truth in that.
Lady Cheng had once presented what she claimed to be a weapon a hundred times stronger than the heavy crossbow – and she had indeed lived up to all expectations.
Now, whenever the Emperor heard anyone utter “a hundred times stronger,” he could not help but grow excited.
Yet thinking on it, he knew it was because Cheng’s “Divine Arm Bow” had been so richly rewarded that everyone now coveted the same glory.
He couldn’t possibly grant an imperial audience every time someone made such a claim. If the court turned into a marketplace, that would truly demean the dignity of an emperor.
Indeed – this, too, was the lingering misfortune left behind by that Lady Cheng.
The Emperor opened his mouth to speak – but someone else spoke first.
“Hasn’t it already been verified?”
The sudden voice drew every gaze toward its source – it was Zhang Chun, who rarely attended court and almost never spoke.
At the sight of Zhang Chun, the usually indifferent Attendant Scholar Gao straightened at once, an inexplicable jolt running through his chest.
He didn’t particularly like Zhang Chun, true – but compared to Chen Shao, who constantly opposed him in matters of state, Zhang Chun was at least harmless. The man kept to his own lane, immersed in study and scholarly discourse, and seldom interfered in anything that concerned Attendant Scholar Gao.
Yet precisely one of those rare occasions when he had intervened was unforgettable.
What was he planning now?
Attendant Scholar Gao pulled back his lazy demeanor, narrowed his eyes, and looked toward him.
“Verified what?” Feng Lin was already demanding.
“The effectiveness of the weapon he wishes to present,” Zhang Chun replied calmly. “Hasn’t it already been tested?”
“Tested where?” Feng Lin frowned.
Zhang Chun withdrew a hand from his sleeve and gestured toward the side.
“By him,” he said.
Everyone followed the direction of his hand – and saw Fan Jianglin, standing at the far end of the hall.
Suddenly singled out, Fan Jianglin jumped in fright.
“Me?” he blurted.
“Yes, you,” Zhang Chun said. “Didn’t you see it with your own eyes?”
Fan Jianglin seemed to come to himself.
“Yes – yes, yes! I saw it with my own eyes!” he shouted, his voice rising with excitement. “A single thunderous blast – the building collapsed in two sections, and a hundred Divine Arm Bows were destroyed beyond repair!”
As he spoke, he dropped to his knees and shuffled forward.
“Your Majesty, it is truly a formidable weapon!”
Indeed – anything that could shatter two rooms in an instant and destroy so many Divine Arm Bows at once was, by that measure, a hundred times mightier than the bows themselves.
The Emperor could listen no longer; Fan Jianglin’s words had already rekindled his excitement.
“Summon Li Mao,” he commanded.
The eunuch answered loudly and hurried off at once, leaving Feng Lin no chance to speak.
Zhang Jiangzhou!
Feng Lin turned sharply toward Zhang Chun.
But Zhang Chun did not look back. Holding his tablet in both hands, he stood silent – serene and motionless, as though he had never spoken at all.
