The Longest Day in Chang'an

Chapter 17: Wu Zheng (12:00-12:59) Part 4

Translator: DragonRider

Every Fang had Street Office. When disputes happened or anyone saw anything suspicious, Street Office was the first place people go to report. And this kind of report was called Xunbao or real-time message. In order to get hold of the overall situation of Chang’an, Li Bi ordered all Street Offices to report all matters, no matter how trivial it was, and arranged special persons to go through and sort out all kinds of messages.

And this message said: Someone found a male body under the bridge next to Yanshou Fang. After initial examination, they found that the dead person’s neck was broken by a great force and his clothes were stolen. And the identity of the dead person was identified by customers of nearby taverns – it was Jiao Sui.

Drinking was the in thing in Chang’an and among all drinkers, eight of them were the most prestigious, called “Eight Immortals of Drinking”. He Zhizhang was the most famous one and the rest included Li Bai, Li Shizhi, Li Jin, Cui Zongzhi, Su Jin, Zhang Xun and Jiao Sui. Jiao Sui was the only one not holding any official post. He Zhizhang was pot companion with him since the first year of Kaiyuan and their friendship had grown really deep.

He Zhizhang never expected to hear his old friend’s death at such a time.

Li Bi said solemnly, “Yanshou Fang is next to Yong’an North Canal, which is the exact place where Cao Poyan got ashore according to our estimation. Jiao Sui died in the same way like Cui Liulang did and I’m afraid the Turk again is behind this.” These words shocked He Zhizhang even worse, who was so dizzy and faint that he barely could stand by himself.

“Quick, lend Supervisor He a hand.” Li Bi said calmly.

Tan Qi stepped forward without hesitation and supported He Zhizhang by holding his arm. She could feel that the old man’s arms were trembling and body shaking. He had been bothered by vertigo for years and the grievous news which happened without warning seemed to cause the onset of his dizziness.

Luckily, Jing’an Department had skimmia alcohol in stock and He Zhizhang was given a drink immediately. The recipe of this alcohol was provided by the King of Medicine. And after the drink, He Zhizhang finally recovered a little bit, but he was so devasted like he had lost his soul. After all, he was already over eighty years old which meant weak body and nerves, and, worse still, the loss of an old friend was the most nerve-racking thing.

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He Zhizhang struggled to stand up but only to make his dizziness worse. So, he gave a long sigh for he knew once his vertigo attacked, there was no way he could continue to work. Therefore, he called Li Bi to his side and said, “Now......everything is counting on you, Changyuan.” He paused and then said in a low voice, “As for Zhang Xiaojing, you can make use of him but do not let him go free. Once all wolf guards are caught, do away with him immediately. Or there will be an endless flow of disastrous aftermath – the enemy of Jing’an Department does not only refer to the Turks ......”

These words seemed have consumed all the remining energies of this old man. Without further delay, Tan Qi had someone prepare an ox cart, asked a doctor to go along and escorted He Zhizhang to his house to recuperate. Li Bi solemnly stood at where he was with a horsetail whisk before his chest.

After He Zhizhang left, Zhang Xiaojing squinted his eyes and said out of blue, “Sicheng Li, you are really good at taking the tide at the flood.” His tone was full of admiration and sarcasm.

“Special means at special times.” Li Bi said with a poker face.

They were speaking in riddles and Tan Qi at the side had no clue what they were taking about. She put all files on the desk in order and because the message about Jiao Sui was on top of all, she took another look at it and suddenly noticed one wired thing. Normally, after Li Bi signed on a message, the signing time would be marked at the upper-right corner of each. And the time on this report was the second quarter of Wushi, which was just right before He Zhizhang returned to Jing’an Department.

She frowned and thought that since young master had already read this message earlier, then why he brought it up to Supervisor He so late. Could it be......

That was just too absurd. Tan Qi shook her head and drove all those ridiculous thoughts out of her mind.

Right at this time, Xu Bin ran over with a row of file in his hands. With the Great Art of Documents and the register of Zoroastrianism, he found a suspect in such a short time.

The suspect was named Long Bo, from Qiuci (An ancient state in Western Regions) and got his urban residence certificate of Chang’an at Kaiyuan Year 20. And he joined the Zoroastrianism at the same year, lived in Huaiyuan Fang and reminded single. According to the register of Zoroastrianism, his consecration for Zoroastrianism had increased suddenly for the past half year and he even got rewarded for this. On the end of Tianbao Year 2, all existing census registers were destroyed and new ones were made, but the urban residence certificate of Long Bo was still the one made on Kaiyuan Year 20. One experienced petty official noticed this tiny error. The register was specific about one’s appearance; if old record was not renewed, then the person was very likely to be an imposter.

Yao Runeng was still around the temple of Zoroastrianism, so Li Bi asked the Watchtower to notify him to search Long Bo’s residence immediately.

Then suddenly Jing’an Department had nothing to be busy with. At this time, Li Bi thought of something and asked, “That bastard, Cen Shen, where is he?” Cen Shen spoiled Jing’an Department’s plan at a critical time, so it was a must to interrogate him to make it clear whether or not he took orders from the Turks.

Cui Qi aside replied, “His identity is cleared. He is a scholar who passed the county level exam in Xian Prefecture, born in Nanyang . He’s here in Chang’an to attend the imperial examination in next spring.” Then he added, “Forefathers of three generations in Cen Family had hold the post of Prime Minister, but during the reign of Rui Zong, Cen Family was involved in a criminal case and was expelled. His father, Cen Zhi, once acted as the provincial governor of Xian and Jin Prefecture. So, he should have nothing to do with the Turk. I guess he is just......fat-witted.”

A scholar from an improvised family – it was no wonder there were so many poems and essays in his bag. He was planning to present them to those well-known giants to collect some good fame before attending the examination.

All Li Bi thought about was capturing those wolf guards and after hearing the background of Cen Shen, he swung the sleeve of his rob a little bit and said, “Bah, he spoiled our big plan so there is no way he could get away with punishment. Just lock him up for some time.” People around knew from deep down that if the Turks really succeeded in their evil plan, this man was surely the scapegoat. This poor scholar, even though his goal was to attend the imperial examination, could barely keep himself safe and sound, let along passing the examination.

Zhang Xiaojing murmured, “That man has real skill.” Then he stopped. Time was running out and all irrelevant things must be put aside. They both walked to the sand table and looked at the model marked as Huaiyang Fang.

Now at Huaiyuan Fang, Yao Runeng gave the wooden door a hard kick and broke in. Then he looked around with crossbow held high in the air but only to find the house empty.

The house Long Bo lived in was a wing-room without yard and there was only one living room and one wing-room. When they all rushed into it, the house was packed with people. Long Bo lived alone and there wasn’t much furniture. Therefore, Jing’an Department, without even trying hard, found lots of Turk-styled gadgets under his bed, like utensils made of silver and gold, parchment and a few boxes of cream made of horse oil.

Long Bo had indeed colluded with the Turks. But it was a pity that Long Bo was not in the house and they had no clue where he had gone. Yao Runeng sent people to inquire the neighbors, but all neighbors said that Long Bo barely had contact with them and they had no clue about what he did for a living or where he usually went.

Yao Runeng was not reconciled to this result so he went back to the house and searched around. And suddenly he found one suspicious place. In the living room, there was a hearth and above the hearth, there was a portrait of the Kitchen God. But Zoroastrianism took fire as their god and believers must honor the kitchen fire three times a day in their house. So how could the portrait of Kitchen God be hung over there? Yao Runeng got closer and found that the paper was really clean and smooth with almost no traces of fire and smoke. After touching it with his hand, he felt that the wall beneath the portrait was sunken to some extent. Then it hit Yao Ru. He ripped down the portrait and a brick slot was revealed with a square wooden board in it.

This wooden board was about the size of a palm with images of peony and musa basjoo intaglioed on all four corners. On the front, it was engraved with three Chinese characters “Pingkang Li” in regular script, and on the back, it was engraved with “First Lane”.

Yao Ru was in a daze for a second. Pingkang Li, located at the east side of Chang’an, was the top-rank red-light district which was well-known to all living in the capital city. And this wooden board was called “Grace Guest” and only regulars could get one which gave them the privilege to get served directly. So, although Long Bo seemed to be leading an impoverished life, he really spent a big fortune at red-light district.

Long Bo lurking around as a spy had to be prudent all day long, which inevitably made him feel empty inside. He had no other choice but to spend time at Pingkang Li. Guests put on a false display of affection when they went to brothels, which provided a perfect place for Long Bo to get some relax. This fitted the needs of a spy perfectly.

Although there were lots of prostitutes at Pingkang Li, they were all in the charge of a certain procuress. And it still needed further investigation to find out which procuress issued this wooden board.

Yao Runeng instantly sent this information back to Jing’an Department and Li Bi said to Zhang Xiaojing, “Pingkang Li belongs to Wannian County. That’s used to your jurisdiction. You know it well and handling this matter back there is just a small piece of cake for you.”

“A piece of cake......” Zhang Xiaojing smiled and the officials around all gave a knowing smile. Tan Qi looked at him in disgust and felt from deep down that all men were alike – as long as they saw the women at Pingkang Li, their eyes would be glued on them and their legs rooted. In contrast, young master kept his nose clean and was so much better than the rest of them.

After calling Yao Runeng to follow him, Zhang Xiaojing turned around and planned to leave. But suddenly, Li Bi stopped him by saying, “Em......about what happened before, I hope you do not bear a grudge. Now Supervisor He has delegated his powers to me and my promise to you hasn’t changed a bit.” For Li Bi, this was his way of apologizing.

“Now I do not have time to accept your apology.”

After this brief answer, Zhang Xiaojing left in a hurry.

Li Bi thought so much while watching the back of Zhang Xiaojing. Zhang Xiaojing was bold and thoughtful. When he took over this case, all clues hit dead ends; but he managed to find something out of nothing and gave them a new direction to work on. What’s more, the protests of Zoroastrianism should have been a disaster, but his little tricks killed three birds with one stone – appeasing the anger of Da Sabao, finding new clues and shutting He Zhizhang up.

Serving in the army at the Western regions for ten years and being field marshal of Chang’an for nine years, he really deserved the reputations he enjoyed now.

Suddenly a sense of uneasiness welled up in Li Bi’s heart. Would such a person really be willing to work for me? Could the righteous course of saving all people in Chang’an really win him over?

Li Bi turned this over in his mind and concluded that if he were in Zhang Xiaojing’s shoes, he would definitely hold a grudge because of what happened before. He made so great an effort to lend a hand but only to be doubted and humiliated. Who would continue to exert all his efforts to help? At the thought of that slight irony that was always in his tone, Li Bi couldn’t help but feel headache. He really hated this feeling of losing control of things.

It seemed what Supervisor He had said made some sense now. Maybe he had to make some preparation in advance. Just in case. After all, Yao Runeng was too young and Cui Qi was not prudent enough. Neither of them had the ability to keep Zhang Xiaojing under control. But before that, there was another more urgent thing to take care of.

Thinking about this, Li Bi felt tired to some extent but still, after putting the horsetail whisk on his arm, he said loudly, “Tan Qi, come with me.”

After this, Li Bi led her to the back of the hall and closed the door on purpose. After confirming they were alone, Li Bi said, “I have to leave for some time.”

“What! Where do you have to go? And for how long?”

Tan Qi felt confused because the situation here was extremely critical now and how could Li Bi leave at such a time? Li Bi squeezed the bridge of his nose and replied, “Supervisor He leaves his post and many things have to be rearranged. I have to report this to HIM in the Palace. I will be back in one hour. You just tell others that I’m resting in the room and nobody is allowed to come in and disturb me.”

That wired message crossed Tan Qi’s mind and she just blurted out, “Supervisor He......It is you that......” As long as this slipped her tone, Tan Qi regretted. Since Young Master did it, he had his reasons for doing it and there was no need for her to bring it out into the open.

Li Bi was not enraged; instead, he relaxed and took a deep breath, “I do not regret for that. Supervisor He with that high post and great reputation is involved in too many things. I have to tell the whole story to HIM to avoid HIM falling into a passive position.”

“But......If you do not let it out, who would know?”

Li Bi shook his head and said in a sullen voice, “I will never lie to HIM.”