Gale force

At a quarter to four in the morning, Tan Ziwen, Vice Minister of the Imperial Clan, woke punctually from his dreams. Wearing his undershirt and drawers, he hopped out of bed, studied himself in the bronze dressing mirror for a while, and picked a speck of sleep from the corner of his eye. His wife, Tan Baishi, was already beside him with a basin of warm water.

Tan Ziwen hastily washed his face. While he brushed his teeth with green salt, his wife helped him into his crimson gauze robe and skirt, broad waist sash, and square-fronted curved collar.

With one hand, he grabbed two pastries from the fruit platter and stuffed them into his mouth; with the other, he hurriedly pulled on his white silk socks and black leather shoes. His wife gave his shoulder a light, reproachful thump, placed his straight-winged official hat on his head, and thrust his court tablet into his hand. Only then did Tan Ziwen take up his lantern and step outside beneath a sky full of stars.

The carriage was already harnessed at the gate. Tan Ziwen lived in southern Luoyang City and had to cross Dingding Bridge every day to attend morning court. As the driver guided the carriage over the bridge, the horses' hooves clopped crisply through the deserted early morning.

The sky began to brighten faintly. Tan Ziwen swayed with the jolting carriage, resting with his eyes closed for about the time it took an incense stick to burn. By then, the carriage had passed through Dingding Gate and reached Vermilion Bird Avenue.

Tan Ziwen lifted the curtain and looked outside. Apart from a few soldiers checking identification plaques at the gate tower, hardly anyone was on the misty street. Those who were there were minor officials like him, rising early to hurry to court. Most officials of the Great Chen Empire who held the third rank or higher owned homes in the center of the capital.

In fact, property in the imperial capital of Luoyang City was not particularly expensive. With his salary as a Subordinate Fifth Rank Vice Minister of the Imperial Clan, Tan Ziwen could easily afford a house and land in Chongwen Ward, Guide Ward, or Golden Valley Garden.

But Tan Ziwen believed that crossing half of Luoyang City to attend court every day demonstrated his diligence in public service. Living in a shabby southern alley offered further proof of his honesty and incorruptibility. When the court next assessed its officials, his superiors might recognize his efforts and give him an excellent rating, then send him out to a lucrative provincial post. Wouldn't that be splendid?

Tan Ziwen was pleasantly absorbed in these thoughts when he suddenly realized that the carriage had reached the end of Vermilion Bird Avenue. Straight ahead to the north, beyond Tang Palace Road, stood the palace. He tapped the carriage footboard with his foot. Once the driver stopped, he stepped leisurely down and looked toward a courtyard nearby.

The courtyard occupied an enormous expanse, enclosed by gray-white brick walls. Though it was late autumn, lush green bamboo filled the grounds. Huge, fanlike banana leaves also reached over the wall, and a small two-story wooden building could be glimpsed amid the luxuriant greenery. Dawn was only just breaking. Several clear, lilting birdcalls rose from within, and with the mist curling around it, the place truly resembled an immortal's secluded retreat.

Tan Ziwen stood on tiptoe to peer inside. In the center of the two-story wooden pavilion hung a plaque bearing four bold characters: "Unity of knowledge and action."

Startled, Tan Ziwen immediately straightened his hat and brushed down his clothes with solemn respect. He clasped his hands and bowed three times toward the distant pavilion, then climbed back into his carriage and hurried away...

This courtyard was Luoyang City's Knowledge and Practice Institute. Its head, Li Xingzhi, was renowned throughout the world and a legend of the Great Chen Empire.

Tan Ziwen, Vice Minister of the Imperial Clan, had heard countless tales about Li Xingzhi. As for the man himself, a minor Subordinate Fifth Rank official like Tan Ziwen had seen him only once, from afar, at the emperor's enthronement ceremony-so far away that he had seen only his back.

It was said that although Li Xingzhi held the exalted position of national preceptor, he had taken little interest in court affairs since Emperor Zhao Chang of Chen ascended the throne. He lived in seclusion and seldom appeared in public. Apart from teaching disciples at the Knowledge and Practice Institute, he often wandered the world, a divine dragon whose head might be glimpsed but whose tail remained unseen.

The late emperor, Zhao Zhen, had held Li Xingzhi in the highest esteem. According to legend, back when Zhao Zhen was still a Salt Administration Commandant in Pujiang County, Chengdu Commandery, in the Shu Region, he met Li Xingzhi at Guanwen Hall. As soon as they began talking, Zhao Zhen recognized his vast learning and extraordinary bearing. Further conversation revealed that Li Xingzhi knew everything from astronomy and geography to military command, farming, irrigation, and sericulture. He also possessed unique insights into martial arts. Zhao Zhen was immediately astonished, taking him for a Celestial Person.

The two talked by candlelight deep into the night. At midnight, they debated whether the Way or its methods mattered more, and neither would concede. Sitting cross-legged on the couch, Li Xingzhi made his dantian rumble like thunder and let out a long cry that could be heard a hundred miles away. Zhao Zhen was stunned. Only then did he realize that Li Xingzhi was also a peerless martial arts master...

Later, when Zhao Zhen rose in rebellion against the former Great Liang dynasty, he often told his generals, "Having Li Xingzhi is better than having a hundred thousand mighty soldiers." Even after becoming emperor and founding the Great Chen Empire, the late emperor Zhao Zhen often joked, "If the world's heroic talent fills ten measures, Li Xingzhi alone accounts for five."

It was said that during the war against the former Great Liang Kingdom, the late emperor and his two princes were surrounded on Coiling Dragon Ridge for three days and nights. No reinforcements could reach them, and their provisions were gone. At that moment, with their lives hanging by a thread, Li Xingzhi rode out alone with a single sword and fought the Great Liang Kingdom's eight great masters at Eagle's Sorrow Ravine. He killed five and wounded three, then exchanged over a hundred moves with Han Zongwang, the Great Liang Kingdom's grand marshal and a grandmaster of martial arts, before withdrawing unscathed. The late emperor seized the chance to break free, joined the reinforcements in an encircling counterattack, and annihilated over two hundred thousand enemy troops. The battle gravely weakened the Great Liang Kingdom. Afterward, the late emperor praised Li Xingzhi as a man who "held the cosmos within his breast, encompassed all creation, and possessed wondrous methods without end"...

Tan Ziwen had also heard that when the late emperor first ascended the throne and rewarded the founding ministers who had followed him, Li Xingzhi accepted only the title of national preceptor and fifty jars of imperial wine. He returned everything else-official residences, farmland, gold, silver, and beautiful women-firmly refusing to accept them. The late emperor praised him lavishly...

He had never truly met such an immortal-like figure. Even any one of Li Xingzhi's personal disciples was an outstanding talent famed far and wide. National Preceptor Li's students and former subordinates were everywhere, and many students of the Knowledge and Practice Institute had entered court service. Some were already second-rank officials. If Tan Ziwen could be fortunate enough to befriend one or two, it would greatly benefit his career. I showed the utmost respect today, bowing toward the pavilion's plaque from outside the courtyard. Surely someone observant noticed. Once the people of the Knowledge and Practice Institute hear about it, they'll certainly think well of me. Then... Tan Ziwen was lost in thought inside the carriage when it stopped.

Tan Ziwen lifted the curtain. Through the mist, he could faintly make out the massive, bright-yellow palace walls. They had arrived. Not far away stood Remonstrance Counselor Huang Jiulang, Imperial Academy Chancellor Cao Huachun, Vice Minister of Imperial Sacrifices Kang Xiaolian, Supervising Secretary Pan Changzai, and Secretariat Drafter Liang Daoming. With their necks hunched and their hands tucked into their sleeves, the five paced in tiny steps at the foot of the wall, shivering like five quails.

Tan Ziwen glanced at them and nearly laughed. He had dressed warmly that morning; his wife had deliberately added a thin fox-fur coat over his underclothes. Late-autumn weather could change in an instant. Silently praising his wife's wisdom, he straightened his clothes and hat, assumed a serious expression, and greeted them with clasped hands. "Good morning, gentlemen!"...

The sky gradually brightened, and more and more people gathered before the palace gates. With the arrival of Grand Commandant Tong Huan, Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs Jiang Chendong, Six Ministries Minister Wang Daolun, and other senior court officials, the palace gates thundered open, and everyone filed inside...

Half an incense stick into the court session, Tan Ziwen stood at the very back of the ranks. From there, he could not make out the emperor's face. Besides, ever since the emperor finished his opening remarks, the court had been so noisy that much of what was said was unclear. Apparently, the emperor wanted to send troops against Western Liang and gather provisions. The senior ministers at the front were arguing furiously over whether to go to war, how to wage it, who should command, and even whether to attack Western Liang first or the Eastern Yang Kingdom.

A spokesman for the civil officials launched into a lengthy discourse, moving from the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang to the thefts suffered yesterday by several farming households in Guide Ward and whether the supreme military constabulary had neglected its duties. Then he turned to loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and brotherly respect, recalling how the late emperor had governed benevolently, cared for the people, and bestowed blessings upon all. He repeatedly stressed that warfare was inauspicious, that sages resorted to it only when no other choice remained, and that His Majesty must think once, twice, and then a third time... The civil official was an excellent speaker. Words poured out of him in an endless stream, quotations from the classics flying along with his spittle. The military officers beside him either stared at one another blankly or grew drowsy.

The other civil officials, however, nodded and swayed their heads in delighted admiration, basking in reflected glory. Some looked as though they had been injected with chicken blood, their faces flushed and their spirits blazing. Behind the dragon desk, the emperor closed his eyes and rubbed the space between his brows.

After a long while, the civil official finished speaking, and it was the military officers' turn. The entire hall erupted. Combining concise language with expressive gestures, the officers vented their feelings, and curses began flying through the hall-

"Fuck their mothers!"

"Fuck their ancestors!"

"Western Liang-I'll fuck their forefathers!"

"Those motherfucking bastards in the Eastern Yang Kingdom!"...

The civil officials exchanged bewildered looks, while others, long accustomed to such behavior, merely cast scornful glances at them.

With a sharp crack, His Majesty struck Suppress Mountains and Rivers. The officials stopped clamoring, and the hall instantly fell silent...

Taking advantage of the pause, Tan Ziwen looked between the two ranks of civil and military officials in their crimson and purple robes and saw Zhao Chang, emperor of the Great Chen Empire, seated behind the dragon desk at the head of the hall. He wore a towering ceremonial crown and a yellow robe embroidered with dragons. His thick eyebrows swept toward his temples, and a slight mustache shadowed his chin. Seated with both hands braced on the desk, he breathed heavily through his nose, his imposing presence commanding awe without anger.

Emperor Chen surveyed the assembled ministers. Many faces were familiar, and some belonged to decorated veteran generals who had fought beside the late emperor.

Emperor Chen drew a deep breath and spoke in a low voice, enunciating every word. "Since ascending the throne, I have risen early and retired late. Not for a single moment have I dared forget my late father's dying charge, or the blood-deep vengeance owed for my elder brother. The Western Liang Kingdom—I will have it! Qinzhou Commandery—I will take it back! Even the Eastern Yang Kingdom will sooner or later be mine for the taking!" As he spoke through gritted teeth, he extended one broad hand, spread its fingers wide, then slowly clenched it into a fist and slammed it onto the dragon desk.

The moment he finished, the hall burst into an uproar. His ringing declaration was like a barrel of explosives tossed among the military officers, driving the court session straight to its climax. Fired with passion, the generals clamored to volunteer for the campaign. These rough soldiers could not recognize a basketful of written characters between them, but each had a louder voice than the last. Emperor Chen could not help rubbing his brow again.

The generals shoved and jostled one another, shouting at the tops of their voices in a tremendous commotion.

Liu Daxia of the Left Golden Crow Guard was over eighty. At the sight of this, he immediately grew anxious. The old general was fierce indeed: he snatched off his official hat and flung it to the floor, then stripped off his court robes in a few swift movements. In moments, he was almost stark naked, wearing nothing but a pair of loincloth drawers in the bitter cold, his lean, muscular torso bare.

He strode up to the dragon desk and pointed to an arrow scar the size of a bowl on his chest. In a voice like a great bell, he recounted how he had thrown himself into the path of an arrow to protect the late emperor during the Battle of Bianliang. Then he pointed to a saber scar beside his sexy navel and tearfully told its story. Next, he raised his right arm high and indicated a spear wound on his biceps, fondly recalling those glorious years when he had fought shoulder to shoulder with the late emperor.

Finally, he turned around and tugged down his drawers to expose half his backside. Pointing to the countless scars on his millstone-sized rump, he described how he had risked his life and been wounded while covering the late emperor's breakout from Coiling Dragon Ridge. In conclusion, the old general vehemently demanded that if the emperor sent troops, he must command the punitive expedition's vanguard-or else he would dash his head against the foot of the imperial steps and die, and so forth...

Chief Censor Qin Lie had been standing at the front of the civil officials for ages. His back ached, his legs hurt, and his stomach was empty. Hearing Liu Daxia drone on without end, he felt an inexplicable flame of anger flare in his chest. He craned his neck and shouted, "The imperial physician! Fetch the imperial physician at once!"

Hearing this, Emperor Chen leaned forward over the dragon desk and asked with concern, "My minister Qin, who is feeling unwell?"

Qin Lie flicked his long beard and said sarcastically, "Liu Daxia appears to be acting like a lunatic and losing his mind. Please have the imperial physician examine him."

How could Liu Daxia fail to hear the mockery in those words? He flew into a rage and lunged over with a roar, throwing a punch at Qin Lie's chest. "You're the one who's fucking lost his mind!"

Qin Lie hastily dodged, but the punch caught his shoulder and sent him staggering. He, too, had a fiery temper. Rolling up his sleeves, he untied his waist sash and lashed it at Liu Daxia's head and face, cursing all the while. "You shameless old bastard! Behaving disgracefully before the sovereign, dragging all decorum through the dirt-what sort of conduct is this? Why don't you take your drawers off too? You humiliating old fool! I've put up with you long enough!"

The two old ministers, both white-haired and white-bearded, grappled together, pinching arms and clutching thighs. Liu Daxia had a military background, but Qin Lie was younger and stronger. Scratching faces and tugging beards, they fought to a standstill for a time. Everyone in the hall stared, dumbstruck.

Seated behind the dragon desk, Emperor Chen watched the spectacle before him. Never in his wildest imaginings had he expected two elderly second-rank officials to start trading blows in court over a few words. The Great Chen Kingdom had been founded more than ten years ago, yet the fierceness in its bones had never changed.

Emperor Chen coughed. Everyone in the hall woke as if from a dream and hurriedly pulled the two apart!

Crack, crack, crack! Emperor Chen struck Suppress Mountains and Rivers several times, his face livid. "Court is dismissed! All of you, leave... Grand Commandant Tong, remain behind. Come with me to the side hall!"

The military officers supported Liu Daxia of the Left Golden Crow Guard, still bare-chested after his fight, while the civil officials clustered around Chief Censor Qin Lie, whose eye was bruised. Amid another noisy uproar, they filed out.

After leaving the palace gates, Tan Ziwen waited for the other ministers to depart before summoning his driver and climbing into his carriage. Once seated, he recalled the scene at court and could not help smiling. He took a box of candied fruit from a hidden compartment in the carriage wall, happily picked out a piece, and tossed it into his mouth. After that long court session, his stomach had been growling with hunger for some time. Tan Ziwen leaned out to tell the driver to take the journey slowly, then headed home at his leisure...

The sky was fully light, though the sun had yet to rise. Within the palace in the capital, Luoyang City, Chief Eunuch Zhao Qin hurried through the thin mist and entered Xuanshi Hall. Emperor Zhao Chang had just seen off Grand Commandant Tong and was reviewing memorials. Zhao Qin knelt before the desk, bowed his head, and waited.

About an incense stick later, Emperor Chen closed a memorial, set down the brush in his right hand, closed his eyes, and rubbed his brow. "What did the national preceptor say?"

Zhao Qin bent a little lower and answered cautiously, "The national preceptor said only four words... 'The time has not yet come'..."

Emperor Chen's eyes snapped open, a sharp light gleaming within them. After a moment's contemplation, he rose and walked to the window. Through the hazy white mist, he gazed toward the Knowledge and Practice Institute in the southern city...

The Great Chen Empire had been founded ten years ago, and its capital, Luoyang City, now rivaled Wuwei City of the Western Liang Kingdom and Yangzhou City of the Eastern Yang Kingdom in size. The palace stood in northern Luoyang City, while to the south lay the Knowledge and Practice Institute, founded by National Preceptor Li Xingzhi.

Inside the Knowledge and Practice Institute, on the second floor of the wooden pavilion bearing the plaque "Unity of knowledge and action," a breeze swept through the thin mist, revealing a figure in blue robes. The institute's head, Li Xingzhi, stood with his hands behind his back, his hair and eyebrows white. He, too, was looking toward the palace. "Was it truly your doing? Ah..." he murmured to himself. His sigh drifted away into the breeze and mist...

A gust swept past, and several ginkgo leaves fluttered slowly down...