The Longest Day in Chang'an

Chapter 4: Si Zheng (10:00-10:59) Part 4

Translator: DragonRider

On hearing the old man mention “that one”, the youth’s eyes darkened, and immediately burst into a more dazzling blazes after a moment of thinking, “Supervisor He, since you said we couldn’t put it on the table, how about sending few elite soldiers to catch them secretly?”

For this advice, the old man stroked his beard hesitantly.

And Cui Qi suddenly raised his head and said loudly, “I know that I’ve made a big mistake. I don’t ask for your forgiveness, just want to kill the enemy myself to avenge for my brother’s death.”

The youth and the old man simultaneously shook their heads.

There were nearly one million residents in Chang’an, including Han and Hu officials and various characters. All kinds of forces intertwined and struggled, making Chang’an a complicated vortex of light and dark. Cui Qi had been working in Chang’an for only six months, and was no problem in heading to battle. But it was not realistic to expect him to shuttle in the city to search suspects.

The Jing’an Department brought together talent from all over the country, including able officials with expertise in money and grain trades, scholars with photographic memory, doughty soldiers, and even Hu officials familiar with internal information. What was lacking was a hunting hound with strong sense of smell, and could access to shadows in Chang’an.

Cui Liulang, brother of Cui Qi, should have been the best candidate. Unfortunately, he was dead. Knowing why the governor was sorrowful, Cui Qi’s eyes went red, he punched on the ground, even got cracks in the bricks.

After a silence, the old man picked up his cap on the side table, put it on properly, and tied the stationery bag and towel to his waist. The youth glanced at him and asked where he was going. The old man sighed, “The court has attached great importance to the Turkic wolves. So what happened today cannot be long a secret. I’m going into the palace to buy more time. Changyuan, you’d better carry out a solution to correct the mistake, otherwise....” the old man lowered his white eyebrows, held words back.

Slightly dropping his shoulders, the youth took a breath of relief, and despised him from heart. “What a cunning old guy! He is making an excuse to escape responsibility of the screwed-up. Well, this way, I can make my own decision freely.”

Time is money. He didn’t have much time to deal with his own people.

The youth saw the old man off at the screen wall, and then returned to the hall, a bit happy. He looked sternly at Cui Qi, who was still kneeling there, waved his sleeve, “At this very moment, your punishment can be temporarily postponed. No slacking off any more!”

Cui Qi bowed out of the hall in all seriousness. He knew that the old man surnamed He was just a dummy director. The real person in charge of the Jing’an Department and his own life was this young man, Li Bi. Despite the senior executive was young, he was a decisive man of means, and had the Jing’an Department under foot.

After dealing with Cui Qi, Li Bi banged the corner of the table and called all the principles, “Now you think about it, is there a suitable candidate to replace Cui Liulang? By the way, I want the best.”

The principles were deep in thought, none saying a word. There were only eight hours before the Lantern Show, and it was nearly impossible to find out Cao Poyan in such a short time. Doing well might not be rewarded; once things were broken, you might as well be the scapegoat, even endangered the referral.

Li Bi was about to scold their cringe, suddenly his eyes stopped at the shortsighted principle Xu, who hesitantly raised his hand. He knew this man. His name was Xu Bin, a former archivist in the Ministry of Revenue. With a photographic memory, he was transferred to the Jing’an Department as principal. However, he had a slight stammer. Li Bi chinned up to mention him to speak.

Principle Xu thought for a while and said, “I...I have a recommendation, but I’m not sure if he is the person for you.”

“Go ahead!”

“He is my friend, called...Zhang Xiaojing. He was a squad leader in the Protectorate General to Pacify the West, and then was transferred back to Chang’an for his battle achievements. He had been general of the Indecent in Wannian County for nine years. Sicheng Li, you may like him.”

“Oh?” Li Bi narrowed his eyes.

His resume looked simple, but was not common on second thought. The general of the Indecent was deputy Marshal, the top position among officials under the ninth rank, who was responsible for criminal catch and county security. It was very seldom that a squad leader could be promoted to general of the Indecent in a county. Moreover, this was Wannian County, not an ordinary one.

Chang’an was divided into East and west counties, Chang’an County to the West and Wannian County to the East. The Wannian County was at the foot of the emperor, royal families of complex origins lived here. How could he hold the title for nine years? Li Bi was getting somewhat interested.

“Where is he?”

“Eh....He committed a crime last year and is now in prison in Chang’an County, awaiting execution.” Xu Bin deliberated every word. The people around whispered, “Is principle Xu confused? How can he recommend a prisoner, even a prisoner condemned to death? Isn’t that a jinx on superior?”

Surprisingly, Li Bi was impassive, “What I need is a skilled man, not a saint. Is he the best?”

Xu Bin quickly raised his voice, “No one is better than him at seizing the criminals in Chang’an.”

A silver fish bag flied through the air, Xu Bin hurriedly reached for it, almost missed. Li Bi said, “Take my horse. I want to see him here in half an hour.”

It took Xu Bin a few seconds to figure out what was his meaning. He tied the fish bag in the waist, and felt that it was inappropriate. Then he quickly took it down, held it in his hand, rushing out of the hall.

Li Bi looked around and noticed that others were craning their necks to look outside. He couldn’t help getting angry, “what are you looking at? Now go check all the passes through the East and West Markets, record at the city gate, and newspaper all over the street. Hurry up!”

The officials in the hall quickly returned to their seats, burying themselves in work. The hall was, once again, very busy. Li Bi took a piece of boiled flower brocade from the maid besides him, vigorously rubbing his face. Suddenly he thought of something and said, “Yao Ru’neng, go to the Jingzhao office to bring Zhang Xiaojing’s personal records.”

A young official immediately got up and ran out.

Li Bi pulled open his robe, held his arms beside the sand table, leaned forward and continued to overlook the sand table of Chang’an. His sharp eyes ran down each building, as if to pluck the wolf out.

In the corner of the hall, a water clock (a copper container) was still dripping leisurely. No matter how urgent the affair was, it had never changed.

There came desert, ruins, and strong smell of blood.

Thousands of black riders galloped back and forth in the distance; above the long river, there was a rounded and bloody sunset; in the isolated city, the smoke of signal rose straight into the dim sky.

He struggled to straighten up and shouted angrily. There were layers of bodies stacked around the wall, and no one stood up to respond him. Only a tattered dragon flag drooping on the top of the city wall, the inclined flagpole was almost broken.

Rat-tat.... With the drum roll, the enemy was closing in with dense Bone arrows like locusts. This time, he was the only one to face....

Zhang Xiaojing woke up suddenly and realized that he was not in the Serindia, but in the dead prison of Chang’an County. The shackles locked his neck and hands so tightly that he couldn’t even move when waking up from a dream.

The drum roll in the dream, actually, was the whip handle striking the wooden cage. He opened his eyes and saw two men standing at the door: one was prison officer; another man, who had narrow face, short eyebrows, and five untidy strands of long whiskers, was looking at him with concern.

“Are you Xu Bin (another name Xu Youde)?” Zhang Xiaojing paused for a second and smiled, “I’ve never thought that you are the one to see me off.” Nothing in the words slightly revealed his depression on death row.

Xu Bin knew that he had misunderstood. Because he couldn’t explain it, he bowed to the prison officer, “Please open the door and remove the shackle.” The prison officer popped his slightly protruding eyes like an unwilling toad. When he glanced at the silver fish bag that Xu Bin held in right hand, he winced and pulled out the key to unlock the jail reluctantly. The two guards went in to remove the shackle.

The two prison guards were trembling and seemed to be in awe of Zhang Xiaojing. They were so nervous that they could not open the shackles. Zhang Xiaojing sighed coldly, “Stupid, this is a three-twisted snake lock. Use your thumb to pull from under, focus your power in the middle.” The guards obeyed his instructions and cracked the shackles into two pieces finally. The two men each held a piece and hurriedly stood away. Zhang Xiaojing swept the prison officer from the corner of his eyes. The latter shivered and quickly avoided his eyes.

Zhang Xiaojing was not tall, but he was as strong as a mountain rock, with a slightly convex forehead and two short and black lying silkworm eyebrows. He shook his sour wrist, looked around and said loudly, “Where is my meal? The County has a rule that the standard for the last meal is worth RMB100 yuan, so don’t you lie to me.”

People around avoided him like the plague, and didn’t answer him. Xu Bin stooped into the jail, took his arm, and whispered, “Someone wants to see you ....”

“Eh?”

Zhang Xiaojing was surprised. “He comes here to save me. Being a Mr. nice guy, why does he have the right to take me out of prison?”

Xu Bin didn’t explain too much, but just urged the officer to help them to check out. Soon an employee brought a paper and asked Xu Bin to sign it. From the side seal, Zhang Xiaojing knew that this was not a paper for pardon, but a document transposing prisoners, which generally used by the Dali Temple or the Ministry of Justice to transfer prisoners from the county prison. But they wouldn’t remove the prisoners’ shackles first.

Zhang Xiaojing was beset by doubts. But it was not time to ask question, he just kept silent.

Xu Bin scrawled his name, and together they left the dark jail and returned to the ground. The sun was shining in from the entrance, creating a sharp contrast on the last few steps. Zhang Xiaojing ascended the last step, suddenly stopped, and appreciation appeared on his face.

The step separated the Yin and Yang realms. He had prepared to die, but did not expect to knock at death’s door, and somehow come back again.

It was unknown what was ahead. No matter it was good or bad, he had one more looked at the sunshine. That was enough.

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