novelAbuy Chapter 65: The First Anniversary of Death
Chapter 65: The First Anniversary of Death
December 15th.
At 3:45 AM, Feng Yi delivered a box of Winter Solstice cakes made by Consort Zhang herself from Deshou Palace to Cining Palace.
Besides the cake, there was a piece of paper folded to the size of a fingernail hidden at the bottom of the food box. The front of the paper read, "Qin Hui has transferred two squads from the Imperial City Guard to the abandoned carriage and horse shop in the back alley of the Imperial Ancestral Temple."
On the back are two very small lines of text in Zhang Quwei's handwriting: "Cining Palace is safe, deploy according to the time."
After reading the note, Zhao Bozong burned it. After thinking for a moment, he picked up a pen and wrote down the final deployment order on the paper.
At the old camp in the southern suburbs, Xin Qizong was squatting by the drill ground sharpening his knife when he received the "historical material delivery" document from the archives on the day of the winter solstice.
He unfolded Zhao Bozong's handwritten letter and glanced at it. There was only one line: "At the hour of Mao (5-7 AM) on the winter solstice, the three squads shall wait outside the tide gate for orders. They shall not leave without a signal. If there is a signal, they shall give three short whistles."
Xin Qizong burned the letter, stood up, dusted off his knees, and waved to Ma Zhong and Shi Yan behind him.
"Pass down the order: the three squads will sharpen their knives and whistles tomorrow, and on the winter solstice, all of them will change into the new cotton-padded coats for escorting documents from the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs."
Jiaoshan Fishing Village, Zhenjiang.
Jinbao squatted in the kitchen, packing winter solstice medicines for the pharmacy's apprentices. Each package was wrapped in three layers of oil paper and labeled with the name of a different fishing village.
A young man who had just joined the team peeked out of the pharmacy and said in a low voice with a hint of nervousness that there were two unfamiliar faces outside the village buying fish.
Jinbao stuffed the last packet of Panax notoginseng into the oilcloth bag.
"There won't be just two unfamiliar faces. After you finish delivering the herbs, go back to the pharmacy and dust off the fake fritillaria bulbs as usual."
In Xiangyang, Yue Yinping had already gathered all four hundred veterans at the old camp drill ground three days before the winter solstice, but she did not raise the flag or prepare for battle.
She simply had everyone clean their guns, then planted the plain wooden spears in the center of the drill ground. "Don't let the winter solstice pass by," she told the veterans.
The winter solstice of the twelfth year of Shaoxing.
The sky was overcast from the hour of Mao (5-7 AM) on this day.
The candles on the altar in front of the Imperial Ancestral Temple were lit at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM). Sandalwood incense burned in a two-person-tall brass incense burner, and the blue smoke twisted into a giant rope against the gray-white sky, pointing straight to the heavens.
Two thousand imperial guards from the Palace Guard were deployed along the Imperial Street in the north of the city to the foot of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Their crimson banners fluttered in the wind, and a thin layer of frost covered the tips of their spears.
Before dawn, Zhao Gou set off from Deshou Palace, dressed in a crimson-purple sacrificial robe and wearing a crown, and rode in a carriage to the main gate of the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
Following closely behind him were Qin Hui and his high-ranking officials from the Three Departments and Six Ministries, as well as a procession of dozens of members of the imperial clan led by Zhao Shiyi, the chief minister of the Taizong Emperor.
Zhao Bocong stood seventh among the imperial clan members, wearing a plain gauze over his official robes, and holding a jade tablet used in sacrificial ceremonies.
His gaze swept over the dense crowd in front of the main gate of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and he spotted a spy sent by Xin Qizong at the edge of the crowd.
The old soldier, dressed in the blue cotton-padded coat of a document escort, stood silently among a group of onlookers, nodding slightly.
The ceremony to worship Heaven proceeded according to procedure.
The officiant chanted the rites, and Zhao Gou led his officials in kneeling three times and kowtowing nine times, offering wine, and reading the prayer.
Qin Hui stood at the head of the civil officials, his expression solemn, his demeanor impeccable.
Zhao Bocong's gaze passed over the altar and saw a small section of yellow silk peeking out from his sleeve, which should be the roster of the Imperial City Guard for tonight's troop rotation.
He carried the roster with him...
After the ceremony, the officials withdrew from the main altar of the Imperial Ancestral Temple according to the established rites and knelt in the square below the altar to wait for the Empress Dowager to offer incense alone.
Zhao Gou rose and helped Consort Wei walk toward the main hall of the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
According to etiquette, after the emperor escorted the empress dowager into the palace, he should also leave, leaving the empress dowager alone to complete her prayers in front of the ancestral tablets.
Zhao Gou, supporting Consort Wei's arm, whispered, "Mother, take care."
Consort Wei patted the back of his hand, didn't look at him, and stepped straight across the threshold of the main hall of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, which was glowing red from the candlelight.
The palace doors slowly closed behind us, shutting out the cold wind from outside and also shutting out all eyes.
The main hall of the Imperial Ancestral Temple was brightly lit with candles.
Portraits of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong of Song are hung directly above, with dozens of ever-burning lamps lined up in front of the portraits, making the eyebrows and eyes of Emperor Taizu in the portraits exceptionally clear.
Consort Wei knelt before the ancestral tablets and took out the manuscript of the eulogy from the Court of Imperial Sacrifices from her sleeve.
She looked down at the words "favorable weather and abundant harvests, national prosperity and peace" on the manuscript, but did not read them aloud.
She folded the manuscript and put it back in her sleeve, clasped her hands together, and began to speak to the ancestral tablets.
"Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong above, your concubine Wei, bearing the humiliation of sixteen years of captivity in the north, the still-warm bones of Emperor Huizong, and the unredeemed grievances of countless soldiers, respectfully beseeches upon our ancestors."
Consort Wei's voice was very soft, and it was gently pushed by the candlelight in the empty hall, echoing back and forth in the hall.
"May our land be forever secure, may our loyal ministers rest in peace. May those who are devoted to serving their country have their grievances redressed. Heaven and earth bear witness, heaven and earth bear witness."
When the last eight words came out of her mouth, all the sounds outside the hall seemed to be cut off by an invisible wall.
Qin Hui knelt in the square below the altar and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
The palace gates slowly opened under the watchful eyes of the officials. Consort Wei stepped out of the threshold, her steps steady, her face expressionless.
As she descended the stone steps, the wind on the Imperial Street lifted her plain white mourning sash, brushing against the back of Zhao Gou's hand as he bowed to greet her.
Zhao Gou supported her, his lips moved, but she only gently pressed his wrist and said nothing more.
The ceremony ended.
But the eight characters "Serve the country with utmost loyalty, and let the heavens and the sun shine upon you" seemed to have grown legs and walked out of the Imperial Ancestral Temple before nightfall that day.
After 5 PM, Zhang Quwei arranged for several palace maids and eunuchs from Cining Palace to casually mention, in the kitchen, well, and shopping shops on Imperial Street, that the Empress Dowager had offered incense alone in the Imperial Ancestral Temple for the cause of loyalty and patriotism.
At the same time, Qin Keqing instructed several drop-off points in the city to release a very brief message.
"The Empress Dowager spoke up for Yue Fei."
It was just a verbal message.
But it ran faster than any command, and overnight, it seemed the entire city of Lin'an knew about it.
The storyteller in Xihefang slammed his gavel in the teahouse and recited a line from Yue Fei's last poem as the opening verse.
In the taverns of Wazi Lane, an old soldier, drunk, slammed his fist on the table and cursed Qin Hui; in the Imperial Academy, students gathered in twos and threes, passing each other slips of paper with eight characters copied on them, and someone drew a heavy line under the character "昭昭" with a pen.
......
The next morning at court, Qin Hui claimed illness and did not attend.
Feng Yi's message to Zhao Bocong contained only two lines: "Qin Hui locked himself in the signing room for a whole day."
The Imperial City Guards searched everywhere for the source of the rumors, but the rumors had no origin.
Everyone was saying that Qin Hui was realizing for the first time that he couldn't arrest everyone in Lin'an.
Zhao Bozong closed the court gazette in his study in the Prince's Mansion, stood by the window looking at the December sky, which was still gray and hazy, but the corners of his mouth curved slightly.
After a long while, he finally spoke to Qin Keqing behind him, saying to himself, "Yue Fei died at Fengbo Pavilion on the 29th day of the 12th month of the 11th year of Shaoxing."
On the 22nd day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year of the Shaoxing era, the people of Lin'an celebrated his first anniversary of death.