by Yan LeiSheng
“So, master, how should we proceed?” she asked.
“A contest of strength does not equal a contest of minds,” he responded with a smile.
A gust of wind caused the thick layer of snow on the roof to fall with a soft thud.
“When Two arrives, Six is not far behind,” said Master Yangming in a low voice. “It grows late, young girl, let us discuss the details over a drink, it will give you the strength to cut off the head of Wei the Snake.”
In his Book of Strange and Incredible Things, Niu Shengru of the Tang dynasty called the god of the wind Two and the god of snow Six. It amused Shao Jun that this scholarly commentary could also be applied to their current plan to kill Wei Bin. She bowed her head.
“I will follow your instruction, master.”
•••
While Shao Jun and Wang Yangming discussed how they would cut off the head of Wei Bin, the latter was himself drinking in his home, looking out at the winter-flowering plums sagging under a thick layer of snow. Despite the wide variety of vegetation surrounding his elegant manor, those plants, which formed their buds in winter, were his favorites. Most were not very popular, with their flowers sometimes referred to as looking like “ticks on a dog”, but this variety was an exception. The Village of Flowering Plums, a work from the Song dynasty, described it in these terms: “Its wood is light yellow, its ochre flowers small and perfumed. It is very beautiful.”
Wei Bin considered himself to be refined and elegant despite his military experience. He drank alcohol only in moderation, ate only the finest foods, and avoided sumptuous banquets. If one didn’t know his identity, one might mistake this middle-aged man with clear, hairless skin for a scholar rather than the military man that he was. He felt that he was like the wintersweet, an exceptional being among a sea of vulgarity. He had blindly obeyed his orders from Uncle Liu, then when Zhang Yong betrayed him, he had immediately sworn allegiance to his new master. He had never been motivated by ambition, but the years had begun to weigh on him and he felt like he was growing old alone with “a pitcher of wine among the flowers”.8
8 From the famous poem by Li Po, Drinking alone by moonlight, expressing the author’s solitude.
The alcohol was cool and sweet, and Wei Bin savored it, and was far from being drunk as he thought back to the events at the palace.
He had grudgingly visited the Leopard Quarter on Uncle Zhang’s orders and had not succeeded in completing the mission. He had encountered that person in strange clothing as he left Xiyuan park, initially mistaking them for a lost guard. Initially he had planned to kill them quickly and throw the body into the lake, but as they fought he had soon realized that his opponent was far too skilled for a mere soldier. Now he thought about it, he had been wrong to slip away, because that person must have been connected to the old Brotherhood…
Wei Bin didn’t dare believe that it could have been Shao Jun; that would have been too great a coincidence. But it was the only possibility. While several members had escaped the eradication of the Central Plain Brotherhood during the Great Ritual controversy, they had only been insignificant people who would never dare involve themselves in palace affairs. The only person with the motivation and ability to do so was the former imperial favorite. He had missed a golden opportunity to get rid of her once and for all!
He calmed himself with a mouthful of wine, then suddenly stood and turned as he heard quiet footsteps on the stairs behind him.
He always said that he was not to be disturbed when he drank alone in front of the window overlooking the tree-lined courtyard. He knew of only one person who would consider themselves sufficiently important to ignore these instructions, and it was indeed he who calmly glided up the steps. Irritated, Wei Bin tugged his right sleeve with his left hand. Taking a deep breath, he leaned over the railing.
“Venerable captain general?” he called.
It did indeed appear to be him, dressed in a simple coat despite the cold weather.
He quietly protested as Wei Bin prostrated himself before him, and noting the jug of wine that was warming on a stove near the window, commented mischievously, “How elegant, drinking in the company of plum blossom.”
Despite the warm tone, Wei Bin felt an icy chill run down his back. He invited Zhang Yong to join him, sitting down only after his guest.
“Venerable captain general, your humble servant has completed the mission you entrusted him with last month.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear. And you left no evidence, it’s perfect.”
The month before, the leader of the Tigers had ordered Wei Bin to enter Xiyuan park to set fire to the Leopard Quarter. The place had been abandoned and emptied of any items of value long ago, but having lived there for two years Shao Jun may have known hidden nooks that only complete destruction of the building would prevent her from reaching. By the time the guards discovered there had been a fire the following morning, Xiyuan park had been reduced to ashes. Fortunately, while the fire had been fierce, there had been no victims as most of the leopards once raised in the park had been moved on Emperor Zhengde’s death, and Lake Taiye had prevented the fire from spreading.
Dreading his master’s reaction, Wei Bin was careful as he broached the sensitive subject of Shao Jun.
“I don’t have any leads on Shao Jun for the moment.”
He felt the chill as Zhang Yong glared at him, keeping his thoughts to himself. While both were members of the Eight Tigers and occupied positions of similar rank in the palace, moments like this clearly reinforced the balance of power that governed their relationship. Having no desire to follow in Liu Juin’s footsteps, Wei Bin maintained a respectful and docile attitude.
“Wei Bin, the whore Shao Jun is certainly already in Beijing.”
“Does the honored captain general have new information?”
“No.”
Wei Bin shivered again. Why the sharp tone if they had received no information? Zhang Yong answered his unspoken question.
“I find this lack of news increasingly strange. It’s almost as if she vanished into thin air after Geo Feng’s death. Someone has to be protecting her.”
“I also wondered who would dare such a thing, venerable captain general…”
“Tell me, Wei Bin. Three years ago, you executed all the leaders of the Brotherhood with your own hands, did you not?”
Following the Great Rites controversy, Wei Bin had used his exceptional tracking skills to unearth the location of the Brotherhood’s secret meeting place, putting to the sword all those he found there. He remembered finishing off their leader, who had resisted until the very last second.
“Yes, captain. The last one was Hong Liwei…”
“Hong Liwei was merely a fighter, not a visionary. Someone else must have been pulling the strings from the shadows.”
The war between the Eight Tigers and the Brotherhood had lasted for centuries. Even during the Warring States period, the predecessors to the Tigers had helped Emperor Qin Shihuang annihilate the six rival kingdoms while their opponents fought against the Qin empire.
In the world of the ten thousand things, each must remain in their place and avoid disturbing the natural order. It was a vision of existence that the Eight Tigers defended without any compunctions on the use of force. For the Brotherhood, everything was permitted, it being up to individuals to decide their place in the world. Thus, when Wei Yu assassinated Emperor Qin Shihuang in 210 BC, Zhang Yong’s predecessors declared themselves the sworn enemies of the Brotherhood. Their philosophies being completely at odds, the two factions had been at war ever since. Their feud had continued from dynasty to dynasty, from generation to generation, with each side taking the upper hand in turn but never succeeding in annihilating the other… until 1524. The almost complete destruction of the Brotherhood by the Eight Tigers was unprecedented.
The thought of it made Zhang Yong em
otional, but he was very aware that the Brotherhoods of Europe could not be considered defeated while they still had a mentor at their head. Pyros had explained to him that the mentors were hard to identify because they were not necessarily the Brotherhood’s best fighters. Hong Liwei had been powerful and influential, but Zhu Jiuyuan, for example, had been much more so. And so, Zhang Yong had growing doubts over their victory, which did not seem as complete as they had hoped.
Leading such an organization required extraordinary charisma and intelligence. Wei Bin allowed no one to attend his executions, but when Zhang Yong saw Hong Liwei’s body, it was nothing more than a corpse punctured by a thousand sword cuts. A brave man for sure, but he was no leader. The attempts by the head of the Eight Tigers to unmask the last remaining members of the Chinese Brotherhood had been so unsuccessful that he sometimes wondered if it was indeed possible that they had been well and truly destroyed. But Shao Jun’s return suggested otherwise, and the fact that she had an accomplice indicated that they had failed to kill the important target during the Great Rites controversy.
Wei Bin nodded.
“You speak the truth, venerable captain general. I have always believed the same.”
He instantly regretted these words. He had betrayed himself by confessing his suspicions, as they implied he had always known he hadn’t killed the right person, and that he had failed to inform his master. He was normally a cautious man but had just exposed himself to accusations of treason. He hastened to redeem himself.
“But as we never had any evidence, I told myself that I must be mistaken. I only saw it clearly as I listened to you just now.”
Zhang Yong didn’t really care about these considerations, being at that moment intrigued by the winter-flowering plum in the center of the courtyard.
“Regardless of their identity,” he said, “we will find them eventually. Yu Dayong will soon have everything ready, and the Precursor Box is the last item we need to bring the Dai Yu project to fruition. When do you think you will finally be able to get it?”
While the captain’s tone betrayed no animosity, Wei Bin felt an icy chill run through his body as he struggled to hide his anxiety. He thought of the death of Uncle Liu, who he subjected to the torture of a thousand cuts – not out of compassion for the torture he had gone through, but thinking back to the faithful and loyal demeanor Zhang Yong had shown before his former ally. The man was truly incomprehensible. He had given him two missions: burn the Xifan pavilion, and find Shao Jun and seize the Precursor Box. However, he had no leads to begin this second task.
Choosing his words carefully, he asked, “Your humble servant wishes only to complete his missions, but are you sure Shao Jun has the Precursor Box?”
“According to Pyros, it was in Ezio Auditore’s possession before it disappeared, and the whore was the last person to see him alive. Only…”
Zhang Yong blinked. The clarity of his vision and thoughts were closely linked. He continued.
“The box isn’t large, but it’s impractical to carry all the time. Shao Jun will almost certainly have left it with her compatriot, so she mustn’t be killed before she reveals its location.”
With that he decided to take his leave, but stopped after several steps and added, “You remember how we kill theirs, do you not?”
“How could I forget, venerable captain general?”
“Of course, it is not something to be forgotten easily.”
Full of fear, Wei Bin bowed his head in deference to the figure facing away from him.
“Your instructions will be obeyed, venerable captain general.”
Outside the snow was as thick as in winter, but spring made it almost as warm and soft as willow catkins. As Zhang Yong left the manor with Qiu Ju at his heels, he looked up to admire the pleasant sight.
“February,” he said. “Next month, old Xie will return in the new ministerial cabinet.”
Alongside Minister Li and Minister Liu, Xie Qian had been one of the three wisest advisors to Emperor Hongzhi, Zhengde’s father. At the time there was even a saying that went, “Minister Li suggests, Minister Liu decides, and Minister Xie carries it out”. But Emperor Zhengde made Liu Jin, the eunuch at the head of the Eight Tigers, his most trusted confidante, and Xie Qian was quickly relieved of his duties when he dared criticize this choice. He was recalled to government when Jiajing took the throne, and the minister would have to return in March to form a new cabinet despite his protestations.
The Great Rites controversy began in the sixteenth year of Zhengde’s reign and remained unresolved to that day, as the Eight Tigers still had opponents in high places. Zhang Yong had taken advantage of this turbulent period to attack the Brotherhood. He knew that certain officials such as Xie Qian, who had always been opposed to him and disapproved of his acts, had constantly drawn the Emperor’s attention to his schemes. His high rank and status as a veteran minister made him almost untouchable, and after his return to the cabinet it would be almost impossible to accuse him of some crime to remove him. He might become a problem at least as urgent as that of Shao Jun. Some way must be found to force him to resign and finally turn the page. Meanwhile, the captain had to trust Wei Bin to find the Precursor Box, upon which the success of the Dai Yu project depended.
Xie Qian was cunning as a fox and could count on much more support than Zhang Yong, who shuddered at the thought of this threat. He had trampled over the body of Liu Jin to become the leader of the Eight Tigers and had no intention of ceding his position, despite his advanced age.
“I have always believed the same”, Wei Bin had said. So, he too had long suspected that Hong Liwei had not been the leader of the Brotherhood but had never said anything. Why had he withheld such a significant doubt? Ulterior motives as unfathomable as a bottomless lake might make this man even more dangerous than Shao Jun.
“He who would take must give,” the captain murmured.
Thinking his master was addressing him, Qiu Ju heard these words without recognizing the quote from Laozi.
“Venerable captain general, did you give me an order?” he asked.
“No, nothing. Where is Ma Yongcheng right now?”
“He is on his way back to the capital in accordance with your instructions. He should arrive in several days.”
“Tell him to search for Shao Jun for another five days before returning.”
Qiu Ju failed to hide his surprise.
“May I ask why, venerable captain general?”
United by their common interests, the Eight Tigers were not necessarily linked to one another by personal relationships. Liu Jin had been executed as the result of a plot led by Zhang Yong, and Gao Feng did not get along with Yu Dayong. But Ma Yongcheng and Wei Bun had cordial relations that made them an effective team, with one excelling in tracking their enemies, and the other in executing them.
The slow-witted Qiu Ju was unable to understand why the captain wanted to keep Ma Yongcheng away from the capital for several more days. But he was a bodyguard; no one expected him to think.
As night fell the two men walked up a wide avenue as the snow grew thicker, almost seeming to dare the spring to stop it as it blanketed the roofs of the capital.
Chapter 5
The empire had two capitals for a large part of the Ming dynasty: Nanjing in the south, and Beijing in the north. Each had its own Imperial Academy.
They offered no lucrative careers, but the position of libationer, while a ceremonial role with no political power, conferred a certain level of prestige.
Wei Bin had a talent for reading people, so he was surprised that the man he visited seemed more like an austere scholar t han a collector of titles and flatteries. On the contrary, Libationer Yan was commonly acknowledged to be a methodical and competent individual. Wei Bin was impressed as he leafed through the documents the scholar had handed him.
“How did you locate the box
so quickly?” he asked.
“I would be delighted to answer all of Uncle Wei’s questions. Do you know the Yongle Encyclopedia?”
The Tiger was offended by the question. Of course, everyone knew of this famous book, but those who had read it could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
“Master Yan, I may just be a mere servant of the Emperor, but I do have some education.”
“Of course, of course, Uncle Wei is an important man before whom I humbly prostrate myself. The nineteen thousand six hundred and sixty-third scroll of the Yongle Encyclopedia includes the two tomes of the Record of Blood Spilt for a Righteous Cause, author unknown. However, in the nineteenth chapter of this manuscript, it mentions a ‘Precursor Box’ located somewhere in the West. This must be the object you search for.”
“Really? That’s incredible!”
Wei Bin occupied the third rank of the official hierarchy. As Libationer was as close a rank – the fourth – in reality nothing obliged him to agree to his visitor’s requests. But he was the second-most important person in the Eight Tigers, and in this respect it was difficult to refuse him anything. The scholar had thus spent over a month examining his collection of old books, over a hundred of them, searching for references to the Precursor Box.
Zhang Yong had prioritized the search for the object ever since the Portuguese man Pyros had told him of it. Wei Bin had only asked Libationer Yan to search the archives simply to look like he was doing something; he had never dreamed that he would find anything of use. He had focused on tracking Shao Jun, but as that was currently at an impasse, the scholar’s unexpected discovery had come at just the right time.
Seeing Wei Bin’s excitement, the libationer couldn’t help but feel a huge wave of pride. Coming from a poor background, he had toiled throughout his youth to study without compromising the righteousness of his ideals. But his ascension had been hampered by the excessive pride of Liu Jin, and the previous year he had finally been forced to renounce his integrity to gain this position through Zhang Yong’s connections and influence. As a result he had needed to redouble his sycophancy towards the latter, contrary to his beliefs. Since then, he had departed from the Confucian maxim that instructed “govern your morality to govern the country”, which he had followed his entire life up to that point. He was tired of being the last in line, so if he had to devote himself body and soul to the Eight Tigers in order to fulfil his ambitions, then he would do so. Truthfully, he was even slightly flattered that Wei Bin had entrusted him with this task; he saw it as a mark of trust on his part, and would never have dreamed of lying to him.