Jinghe Year Fifteen, the twenty-seventh day of the first month, morning.
The official boat had traveled for three days and nights without pause. That day, Suzhou's walls finally came into view.
The sky gradually brightened, the river mist thinned, and withered reeds stood shivering along both banks.
The boat slowed, and the strokes of the oars grew fewer.
Wei Zi stood at the bow, his Crane Cloak billowing in the river breeze, fatigue showing on his face after days aboard.
He raised his eyes and gazed into the distance, where the city walls loomed through the haze.
The boat had reached Suzhou, he was in Suzhou, and everywhere he looked was Suzhou.
Green waves flowed east, west, south, and north; red railings lined three hundred and ninety bridges.
North of Suzhou, above the canal, stood the Imperial Splendor Pavilion.
Emperor Taizong had established this pavilion during his southern tour, expressly to receive imperial envoys and court messengers.
The pavilion stood three zhang high, with sweeping eaves, upturned corners, and vermilion pillars. Beneath the eaves hung a plaque bearing the words "Imperial Splendor."
Before it lay a bluestone wharf, its steps level, moss growing in the cracks between the stones, damp and slick.
A stone lion stood on either side of the wharf, mouths slightly open, eyes fixed on the river, as though awaiting a traveler from afar.
Before the Imperial Splendor Pavilion, three parties awaited him.
He Yanming stood foremost, wearing a brand-new Scarlet Official Robe, a Jade Belt at his waist, and a meticulously straight Futou.
His three wisps of beard were neatly trimmed, lending him something of a distinguished scholar's air.
"So he has come at last."
The court assembly on the twenty-ninth of the twelfth month, the Imperial Decree on the first day of the