The sundial’s shadow slowly drifted from noon toward wei.
A hasty, disorderly clatter of footsteps rose along the narrow palace road from Chengtian Gate to Meridian Gate.
From above, the dark hems of robes trailed like a tide of night; the round hats were like reefs amid the surf; the sheathed embroidered spring blades at waists flashed like flying fish cutting the waves.
This tide surged fiercely through the Meridian Gate, crossed the five Golden Water Bridges, and poured into Fengtian Gate Square, closing in on the ministers who still waited there for the imperial command.
Some officials, thinking it was the Embroidered Uniform Guard on duty that day returning to urge them to leave, shouted impatiently, “His Majesty ordered us to stand by here! You Embroidered Uniform Guard should be guarding the gates and protecting the emperor, what are you meddling in now? Go, go, go!”
But the Embroidered Uniform Guard surrounding them numbered four to five hundred, each tall, sharp-eyed, and dangerous-looking. At the words, they did step back, but only to both sides, opening up a long passageway down the center.
Jiao Yang watched as a man in a flying fish uniform walked toward them step by step through the passage. Even before the man approached, the metallic stench of blood seemed to fill the air. Jiao Yang frowned. “Northern Surveillance Bureau, Shen Qi.”
“That is this subordinate,” Shen Qi said as he came forward. Though he called himself “subordinate,” his expression carried not a trace of respect, not even a cupped-fist salute. “Gelao Jiao, Gelao Wang, and all you honored sirs, you’ve worked hard. I’ll take you now to the private rooms to rest.”
“Private rooms?” Jiao Yang’s tone hardened. “The cabinet is right next door. If we wish to rest, we’ll go there ourselves. No need for you to trouble yourself, Shen Tongzhi.”
Wang Qianhe looked wary. “Shen Qi, what do you mean by this?”
Shen Qi’s gaze swept over the two grand secretaries, and the corners of his mouth twisted into a sneer. “Naturally, I mean the private rooms of Northern Surveillance Bureau’s imperial prison. Don’t worry, gentlemen, one cell per person, plenty of space for all.”
He waved his hand and gave the order: “Take them all! Don’t let a single one escape!”
The Embroidered Uniform Guard surged forward like wolves and tigers, pinning every official on the spot, even the two gelaos who stood above tens of thousands of men were no exception.
Jiao Yang’s face blazed with fury. “Shen Qi, are you mad? How dare you lay hands on me?!”
Wang Qianhe paled as well. “The cabinet’s grand ministers, how could you, a mere guard, offend them? Shen Qi, you’re insane! Are you not afraid you’ll be impeached and lose your head?!”
Shen Qi gave a cold laugh. “And what would you impeach me for? I’m acting under the emperor’s command.”
“The emperor’s command…” Jiao Yang’s face changed drastically. “Impossible! His Majesty clearly accepted our joint memorial through Lan Xi and said it reflected the people’s will. He told us to wait here for good news…”
“This memorial,” Shen Qi interrupted, raising a hand. A rolled scroll unfurled from between his fingers, hanging in the air. At its end were densely signed names of officials. “Is this what you mean? Strange, this looks to me like a confession of guilt. See? Every criminal’s signature is here. I’m simply following the list, arresting everyone on it, no more, no less.”
When they saw that the joint memorial urging the emperor to depose the crown prince, the one they had submitted through Lan Xi, was now in Shen Qi’s hands, both Jiao Yang and Wang Qianhe, no matter how they tried to deny it, could no longer escape the truth: the emperor had betrayed them.
No, not “betrayed.” Entrapped them.
Everything, the emperor’s ambiguous gestures, his half-praise and half-reproach over the past year, had never been secret signals at all. It had all been a carefully laid trap, meant to draw out the core of the “Faction for Changing the Heir” and destroy them in one stroke.
Jiao Yang’s face turned ashen. He shouted, “I demand to see His Majesty! Heaven above bears witness, and the rites and law still exist, how can loyal ministers be so falsely condemned? I must argue this before the throne!”
Other officials took up the cry, clamoring to see the emperor.
One outspoken man shouted outright, “The Sage said, ‘How can a ruler deceive the people and still be righteous?’ His Majesty’s actions today are the deceit of ministers! We refuse to accept this!”
Shen Qi flicked a glance toward the guards. The Embroidered Uniform Guard holding that man struck him hard across the mouth with the hilt of his blade, smashing teeth and filling his mouth with blood. The man doubled over, clutching his face, weeping from pain.
“I haven’t stripped your robes, nor put you in chains, nor gagged you,” Shen Qi said coldly. “I’m trying to leave you a little dignity. If you keep making noise, don’t blame me for disgracing you further.”
Dragged in disheveled clothing from Meridian Gate to Northern Surveillance Bureau, how was that different from parading criminals through the streets? To say nothing of losing face, it would ruin them utterly.
The officials glared but fell silent, clinging to one last hope: perhaps the emperor only meant to frighten them with the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Surely he wouldn’t really imprison nearly a hundred officials at once?
After all, in his seventeen years on the throne, Emperor Jinglong had always been known for his benevolence and kindness toward his ministers.
—They were wrong.
The emperor seemed to have become a different man overnight, from a wise ruler to a tyrant. He gave them only one explanation: “It is not I who act alone, it is you who have walked willingly into my net.”
Of the ninety-seven officials who jointly petitioned to change the crown prince, seventy-nine below fourth rank were all imprisoned and tortured, forced to confess to “slandering the crown prince and coercing the sovereign.” Those who refused were dragged out and beaten before the court, at least ten died on the spot.
The rest, officials of fourth rank and above, including the two gelos, were dismissed, stripped of salary, and confined at home to await judgment.
The thunderbolt-swift punishment and its sheer ferocity stunned the entire court.
Not only did their old friends, disciples, and relatives grieve and plead for clemency, but even those who had supported the crown prince, the so-called “orthodox faction”, were shaken, pitying their fallen colleagues and urging restraint.
But Emperor Jinglong showed unprecedented resolve and ruthlessness. He silenced all dissent with a single decree: “Any who plead on behalf of these ninety-seven shall be treated as their accomplices and imprisoned in the same cell.”
At that, eighty to ninety percent of those who had thought to intercede fell silent. After all, friendship was one thing, one’s own life and career, another.
As for the few who remained obstinate, choosing death over abandoning their so-called righteousness, they weren’t even given prison cells, they were directly stripped of office.
“Resigning in protest” had always been a minister’s last, most effective threat, if everyone quit, who would run the state? The emperor would have to yield and recall them.
But Emperor Jinglong had already planned ahead. As soon as the dismissals were issued, replacements were appointed the same day. The backup candidates had long been decided, and the government never missed a beat.
After all, in any dynasty, few refuse office, but there is never a shortage of those eager to take one.
Those officials who had only meant to use “collective resignation” as a threat were dumbstruck when their dismissal decrees arrived.
They had truly lifted a rock only to smash their own feet! But now that things had come to this, could they still shamelessly say, “Never mind, I won’t resign after all, I’d like to keep my post”? Even if they swallowed their pride to beg, would the emperor take them back?
Better to swallow the blood along with their broken teeth and preserve at least the reputation of being “upright ministers.” If they went back to plead for reinstatement, they’d lose both dignity and integrity. Despairing and helpless, they could only return their seals and robes of office and slink away from the capital.
The entire purge took barely three days, the greatest upheaval at court since the “Temple Incident.”
But unlike that earlier affair, this time Emperor Jinglong relied on no outside powers, neither the Empress Dowager, nor veteran ministers, nor any external faction. With only his own planning and his sharpened “claws and fangs,” he struck like lightning while most were still reeling, and won an overwhelming victory.
Confined to their homes, Jiao Yang and Wang Qianhe sent word in secret to the Empress Dowager on the very first day, begging her to intervene.
The Empress Dowager, shocked and furious, immediately ordered her phoenix carriage to the imperial study to reason with the emperor about propriety and law.
But the emperor wasn’t there. The attendants said he had gone to Yangxin Hall.
Her carriage went there, but again, no emperor. The attendants said he was inspecting the reconstruction of Kunning Palace after the fire.
Face livid, the Empress Dowager ordered her guards to ride there at once to confirm. A while later they reported back, not there either. The emperor had finished inspecting Kunning Palace and, finding no issues, had gone on to review the four armies under the Imperial Horse Office.
And so, after chasing in circles all day, the sun set with no audience granted.
The next morning, before her carriage even set out, the Empress Dowager sent guards to every palace with strict orders to intercept the emperor, only to learn he wasn’t in the palace at all. Allegedly, he had suffered a recurrence of his head ailment and had gone out of the palace seeking medical treatment.
“He’s deliberately avoiding me! My good son… my good son!” the Empress Dowager ground her teeth until they nearly cracked, slapped her jade table in fury, but no amount of rage could drag the emperor out of whatever hidden corner he’d vanished to. Nor did she have the authority to issue an edict and intervene directly. After all, while the emperor still reigned, the inner palace must not meddle in state affairs. Even as his mother, she could only influence things through indirect means, never openly.
Unwilling to see all her careful plans go to waste, she summoned Shen Qi, hoping to start with the emperor’s sharpest claw.
The eunuch bearing her summons went to Northern Surveillance Bureau. Shen Qi, being the presiding officer, could not refuse to meet, but he did something even bolder: he refused the edict.
His reason was simple, and infuriatingly hard to counter: “Though I am a bodyguard, I am also an outer-court official, and young and strong besides. To receive the Empress Dowager’s summons without His Majesty’s command would not only breach propriety but invite gossip. This lowly minister is but dirt beneath Her Majesty’s feet, I dare not stain the soles of her shoes.”
—That was right. Yes, I’m the emperor’s hound, his words implied, but I’m also a young man in his prime. Without the emperor’s permission, if I were to enter the presence of you, a long-widowed lady, tongues might wag. And if your chastity or even the cleanliness of your shoes were sullied, that sin would be mine alone.
When the eunuch nervously repeated those exact words to her, the Empress Dowager’s face cracked as if from a blow. Her complexion turned greenish-white; she nearly fainted, then hurled the teapot and cups to the floor. “That dog slave Shen Qi dares humiliate me like this! Well done, this is the fine hound my son has raised!”
Fuming, but what could she do? Could she send the Cining Palace guards to storm Northern Surveillance Bureau and arrest a Embroidered Uniform Guard commander for “palace misconduct”?
Her son refused to heed her, and she found herself nearly powerless in the outer court. Only then did the Empress Dowager truly realize the extent of her isolation, and in her simmering anger, she remembered: she still had another son.
Yu Wang, summoned in haste, rushed to Cining Palace.
The Empress Dowager greeted him furiously: “Are you two brothers trying to drive me to my grave? If that’s your aim, no need to work so hard, I’ll hang myself with a white silk cord in Fengtian Hall, so you can both go down in history as unfilial sons who drove their own mother to death!”
Yu Wang was horrified. He fell to his knees, clutching her legs, and pleaded: “Royal Mother, please don’t! If this unworthy son has ever spoken or acted improperly, punish me as you will, only don’t think of ending your life! Your son would never forgive himself!”
Seeing her younger son so frantic, the Empress Dowager’s anger eased a little. “Your elder brother has made a great uproar, purging over a hundred officials at once, throwing the court into panic and resentment. You’ve heard of this, haven’t you?”
Yu Wang blinked, baffled. “What? Such a thing happened? Your son truly knew nothing of it…”
The Empress Dowager snapped, “You’re in the palace every few days, either here flattering me or bickering with your brother! You attend court, you sit in council, how can you know nothing?”
Yu Wang flushed with embarrassment. “Please, calm yourself, Royal Mother, and hear me out. You’ve often said my heirs are too few, but I always thought one son, Ah Wu, was enough. Lately I’ve reflected and realized you were right. So I’ve been planning to take a few more concubines, to expand the family line… I’ve been busy with that these days, and haven’t had time to bother with all that political nonsense.”
…“Expanding the family line”, a legitimate pursuit, of course. Whether it was truth or excuse, the Empress Dowager had no time to call in the women and verify. She could only scold, face dark: “That’s state business! How can you call it ‘nonsense’? You, you… ah, what sin have I committed, to have borne two sons who both give me no peace!”
Yu Wang retorted, indignant: “From what you say, it’s my imperial brother who’s angered you? For a ruler of a great nation to disregard even filial piety, how can he serve as a model for his subjects? No, I must go and confront him for your sake! Royal Mother, just wait, your son will get justice for you!”
He stood abruptly, brushed the dust from his robe, and strode out of the hall with determined steps.
The Empress Dowager watched her younger son’s commanding back, opened her mouth, but in the end said nothing.
She understood now: whether or not Yu Wang knew the truth, one thing was clear, he had no intention of getting involved. He wouldn’t touch this matter at all.
For a moment, the Empress Dowager was overwhelmed by the pain and sorrow of being abandoned by everyone, even by her own kin. For one fleeting instant, she truly thought of ending her life.
But the despair lasted only a heartbeat. Years of surviving the harem’s ruthless intrigues, of facing life and death, had long forged her will into steel. The Emperor could avoid her for a time, but not forever. Sooner or later, she would find a way to corner him.
And that chance finally came on the fourth day of the “Kneeling at the Gate” case, after victory and defeat between ruler and ministers had already been decided, and it came in a way she had never expected.
—The Empress Dowager’s phoenix carriage stopped directly in the palace path after morning court, blocking the Emperor’s dragon palanquin.
With no way to avoid her, the Emperor could only bow respectfully and, at her request, accompany her back to the Cining Palace.
Inside, the Empress Dowager restrained her anger and began by mentioning the two Grand Secretaries who had been dismissed, saying that the Emperor’s methods were base and unworthy, that such ruthless tactics would only earn his ministers’ contempt and chill their hearts.
Emperor Jinglong listened calmly and replied evenly, “Indeed, my approach was not entirely upright or magnanimous. Yet I had no other choice. I gave them many chances to repent and turn back, but they failed me, not the other way around.”
The Empress Dowager flared up. “Even if their actions were excessive, it was out of concern for the nation! Yet you, without distinction, had court officials tortured, flogged to death, or stripped of office, such cruelty and recklessness! How can the hearts of the people ever submit to you?”
The Emperor smiled faintly. “Royal Mother scolds me with the words ‘cruel and reckless,’ exactly as those ministers did when they accused the Crown Prince. It only proves I was right to appoint Helin as heir, at least the son takes after his father.”
The Empress Dowager’s face went white. “You, you dare speak so to your Royal mother? Tang’er… ever since you were a child, you have been the most filial, the most considerate of my sons. And now, nearing forty, you speak to your Royal mother with such insolence and disrespect…”
Seeing her voice break and tears fall, Emperor Jinglong frowned, sighed, and knelt down to beg forgiveness. “Your son has spoken out of turn. I beg Royal Mother to calm her anger.”
She did not let him rise. Her tone grew harsher. “Even an emperor cannot defy righteousness and public conscience to act solely by his own will!”
Under her unrelenting reprimand, the Emperor’s fingers clenched tighter on his robe hem; sweat beaded on his forehead, his face gradually turning pale-green. Forcing out his words, he said hoarsely, “Royal Mother… your son feels unwell. Permit me to withdraw and rest a moment, I will come again to pay my respects once I recover.”
The Empress Dowager interrupted, furious yet laughing in disbelief. “Still playing this ‘avoidance’ game? The palace may be large or small, but you are my own son and I your own mother, how long can you hide from me?”
“It is not an excuse to flee,” the Emperor said weakly. “I truly feel unwell…”
“I saw you perfectly fine just now, and the moment I speak, you ‘suddenly feel unwell’? Fine! Since you can’t bear to see me, can’t stand to hear me, then I’ll remove my robes and hairpins, don plain clothes, and leave the palace for a white-robed convent! I’ll no longer be in your way!”
She stood up in anger, but the Emperor caught her sleeve. “Royal Mother… Royal Mother, your son truly…”
The rest of the sentence never came. The Emperor suddenly slumped forward, his head falling against her waist.
Sensing something wrong, the Empress Dowager quickly lifted his face. All color had drained from it, only his brows and hair seemed to have been inked upon a sheet of white paper. His eyes were closed; he was utterly unconscious. Panic seized her.
“Emperor! Emperor!” she cried, kneeling on the floor without realizing it, holding her son’s upper body in her arms. “Someone! Hurry, someone come!”
The attendants outside the hall rushed in; Lan Xi was the first to arrive.
Seeing him, the Empress Dowager exclaimed in terror, “The Emperor suddenly fainted, quickly, summon the imperial physicians, quickly!”
Lan Xi’s face changed; he immediately ordered the eunuchs behind him, “Fetch every physician from the Imperial Medical Institute! And go to the First Pavilion, call for Chen Shiyu as well!”
“Chen Shiyu? He’s a surgeon! Why call him? The Emperor’s unconscious, do you mean for him to prescribe a medicinal bath?!” the Empress Dowager snapped in anger and confusion.
Over the past year, the Emperor’s headaches had grown more frequent, but he had never collapsed so suddenly. Lan Xi, equally frantic, had no choice but to speak the truth: “The Emperor has long refused to summon the court physicians. For the past two years, it has been Doctor Chen Shiyu who has treated His Majesty’s head ailment…”
“Why would a common surgeon be allowed to treat the Emperor?” the Empress Dowager shouted. “Even if the Emperor dislikes the physicians, do you servants have no sense of duty? You never tried to persuade him, nor informed me?!”
Lan Xi fell to his knees. “Your Majesty, forgive this servant! His Majesty gave strict orders forbidding us to speak, I dared not disobey! And that Doctor Chen’s skill is extraordinary; His Majesty trusted him deeply…”
“Extraordinary? Then how did his ‘extraordinary skill’ render the Emperor unconscious!”
Even as she scolded, the Empress Dowager felt the Emperor twitch faintly in her arms, as if startled. She quickly lowered her voice and gritted her teeth. “Help the Emperor onto the couch, carefully!”
The attendants hurried forward, gently settling the Emperor onto the soft couch.
The Empress Dowager, though frantic, could only wait for the physicians to arrive.
Soon after, the imperial physicians came rushing in, panting for breath.
Old Doctor Chen, too frail to run, had been carried by the guards all the way to the Cining Palace, arriving moments behind them.
Without further words, the Empress Dowager ordered the physicians to conduct their consultation and called Doctor Chen aside for questioning.
Though under imperial command to keep silent, Doctor Chen could no longer conceal the truth when the Emperor had collapsed before his mother’s eyes. He laid out everything, the new symptoms and changes over the past two years, his own diagnosis of the illness’s cause, the conservative treatments he had used, and even the bold methods he had considered but dared not attempt.
The Empress Dowager had long known her eldest son suffered from chronic head pain, but she had always assumed it was from overwork, she had never imagined it could be so grave. Listening to the account, she moved from shock, to anguish, to horror, until finally she sat frozen like lifeless wood, unable to speak a single word.
Chen Shiyu kowtowed and pleaded, “Allow this old servant to examine His Majesty once more.”
The Empress Dowager raised her hand in a daze, a faint, ghostlike gesture of assent.
Chen Shiyu waved aside the imperial physicians, examined the Emperor’s breath, took his pulse, and used golden needles to stimulate the acupoints. After a series of treatments, the Emperor finally woke, slowly and faintly.
Tears streamed down the Empress Dowager’s face. She rushed to the bedside, grasped the Emperor’s hand, and sobbed uncontrollably, unable to speak a word.
The Emperor said weakly, “Royal Mother… stop arguing…”
“All right, no more arguing, no more arguing. Whatever you say, whatever you want, Royal Mother will listen to you…”
“The Crown Prince… summon him back… the edict, Lan Xi will draft it…”
“All right, summon him back. Lan Xi, go draft the decree. Bring it as soon as it’s ready!”
Lan Xi kowtowed and hurried out of the hall.
“Royal Mother… your son is truly tired…”
The Empress Dowager slid an arm under his neck to support him, letting his head rest against her chest. She bent down and kissed his hair, crying softly, “You’re not tired, my son. You’ve only been on the throne for just over ten years, how can you call that tired…? Let the imperial physicians and Doctor Chen prescribe medicine, acupuncture, moxibustion, whatever works, as long as it helps. You’ll recover soon…”
The Emperor lay motionless on his mother’s arm, eyes half-closed, as though sinking into that long-forgotten warmth of maternal love.
Lan Xi returned quickly, holding the freshly drafted edict.
The Emperor murmured, “Read it.”
Though hastily composed, Lan Xi was well-trained from his years in the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, and the wording was sound.
The Emperor said, “Seal it and issue it immediately.”
The Empress Dowager held his hand, still weeping softly. “Don’t strain yourself any more. Just rest… Physicians, go prepare the medicine! Doctor Chen, since you were able to wake the Emperor, you can surely cure him!”
Chen Shiyu bowed deeply. “This old man will do his utmost.”
“Also, post notices across the land, summon all famed physicians and healers, ”
“No need.” The Emperor’s weak hand tightened slightly around hers. “The man before you, Doctor Chen, is the famed healer himself. Let him treat me.”
Seeing how firm he was, the Empress Dowager didn’t argue further. “Don’t speak anymore. Rest first.”
The imperial physicians discussed for a long while before settling on a prescription and presented it to the Empress Dowager. Not versed in medicine, she handed it to Chen Shiyu. “Well? What do you think?”
After reading it carefully, Doctor Chen replied with measured words, “The medicines are fine, tonic and restorative. They can be taken without harm.”
“Can be taken without harm”, meaning harmless, but also useless.
The Empress Dowager’s heart sank. “Must it really come to… opening the skull? No! That’s far too dangerous, too absurd!”
Chen Shiyu prostrated himself. “This old man would never dare use such a method! In all recorded history, no craniotomy has ever succeeded. The legend of the Divine Healer Hua is only a legend. I cannot risk a life, much less the life of the Son of Heaven! Even if I were executed with my family, I would not dare!”
The Empress Dowager knew in her heart, if medicine alone could have worked, the many skilled doctors inside and outside the palace would have cured the Emperor long ago. How could it have come to this, when all were at a loss?
All her life, she had loved, hated, envied, fought, harmed, and killed, but never had she known such bone-deep fear, a chill rising from her very marrow.
The Emperor took a slow breath and whispered, “Zhen… wants to sleep for a while.”
“Then sleep,” she said quickly. “Royal Mother will stay with you.”
“Zhen can’t sleep here… Zhen wants to go back to Yangxin Hall.”
The Empress Dowager hesitated. Fortunately, Yangxin Hall was near the Cining Palace. After consulting with the physicians, she ordered the attendants to carry the soft couch there carefully and smoothly.
After receiving acupuncture from Chen Shiyu and drinking the prescribed medicine, the Emperor lay quietly on the dragon bed, seemingly fast asleep.
The Empress Dowager sat at the bedside, silently weeping for a long time, until the palace attendants finally persuaded her to return. Before leaving, she reminded Lan Xi again and again, “If the Emperor wakes, report at once. If there’s any change, anything at all, report immediately.”
Lan Xi agreed repeatedly, and only then did the Empress Dowager leave, glancing back every few steps.
After escorting her out, Lan Xi returned to the hall, walking quietly to the bed to lower the bed curtain.
The Emperor suddenly opened his eyes and looked at him. “Has the edict been sent?”
Lan Xi jumped, then sighed in relief. “Yes, Your Majesty. But… why not use the draft you prepared beforehand?”
“An edict issued under such circumstances is least likely to be intercepted by people sent by my mother.”
Lan Xi chuckled. “So Your Majesty was pretending earlier, scared me half to death! Still, that act worked perfectly. The Empress Dowager truly does care for Your Majesty, ”
“Lan Xi—” the Emperor interrupted abruptly.
“Your servant is here!”
The Emperor was silent for a few seconds. Fine lines gathered at his brow. Then, slowly and calmly, he said, “I fear… this time, I truly won’t last much longer. Go tell Chen Shiyu, whatever fierce medicine it takes, make sure I live until Helin returns.”
Lan Xi froze. His grip faltered, and the curtain hook snapped, clang, the jade ornament struck the floor and shattered.
“…Your Majesty!” he cried, voice choked with grief, tears spilling freely at last.
