Chapter 261 — Doubts

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This was an ancestral precept handed down by Emperor Taizong.

The stone tablet bearing Emperor Taizong's own inscription was said to stand outside the gates of Kunning Palace.

Yet the Empress's ceremonial office could mobilize the Emperor's personal guard!

Was it because of this that the Prince of Liao had grown ambitious? Or was it because the Prince of Liao had grown ambitious that the Empress's ceremonial office had begun to act?

Knowledge is never so precious as when it is needed.

And now Dou Yan cursed herself for having paid so little attention to such matters in her former life.

When Song Yan emerged from his washing and dressing, she smiled and poured a cup of tea, setting it on the kang table.

Song Yan readily took the seat on the kang opposite Dou Yan.

Dou Yan dismissed the serving maids and asked him in a low voice, "How is it that the Empress's ceremonial office can command you men of the imperial guard?"

Song Yan had not expected Dou Yan to ask this. He was somewhat surprised, but answered with great patience: "In the spring of the ninth year of Chengping, the Emperor suddenly fell into a coma while reviewing memorials. After careful treatment by the Imperial Medical Academy, his illness was cured, but he was left with a recurring headache. By then Empress Shen had been dead four or five years, and Empress Wan had just taken charge of the inner palace. She learned the massage techniques from the Academy's physicians and massaged the Emperor every day, and his headaches gradually eased. In the eleventh year of Chengping, the Yellow River burst its dikes. When the memorial reached the palace, the Empress's ceremonial office was massaging the Emperor. Seeing him vexed over the choice of a censor for disaster relief, she recommended Mu Chuan, who was then only a compiler in the Hanlin Academy. It was also Mu Chuan's good fortune that Ye Shipei, whom the Emperor had favored, had come down with dysentery, and with no suitable candidate at hand, the Emperor summoned Mu Chuan to an audience. Only then did he learn that Mu Chuan's father had once served as prefect of Kaifeng, and that Mu Chuan had grown up at his father's post and had considerable knowledge of river works. The Emperor made him the relief censor.

"He discharged his duties extraordinarily well. Not only did no displaced peasants cause trouble, but he also produced a comprehensive plan for taming the Yellow River. Ye Shipei read it and praised it highly, and governed the river according to his methods; in all these years the Yellow River has not breached its dikes once. Mu Chuan rose steadily on this account, accumulating offices up to Minister of Works and Grand Secretary of the Zhongji Hall.

"The Emperor saw that the Empress's ceremonial office had a gift for judging talent, and would occasionally discuss court affairs with her, and she nearly always struck the mark. Over time, the Emperor came to trust her more and more."

Here his tone paused slightly, and a rare look of hesitation surfaced, though it quickly vanished from his eyes. He went on gently, "Once, the Emperor suddenly fell ill, and the ceremonial office, fearing others would see him in his disgraceful state, ordered the palace maids to shut the gates of Kunning Palace. But the Emperor pushed her to the ground in his fit, and her forehead struck a censer, covering her face with blood... Yet she clung to the Emperor and would not let go, waiting until he calmed and the Academy physicians arrived. Only then did she wash the wound hastily with salt water... The Emperor afterward felt deeply guilty, and granted the ceremonial office the authority to mobilize the Golden Mace Guard, the Standard-Bearer Guard, and the Divine Pivot Camp..."

In her former life, she had never heard that Mu Chuan was one of the ceremonial office's people.

Dou Yan turned pale with shock. "The Emperor is truly ill to such a degree?"

It was now the sixteenth year of Chengping—which meant the Emperor had been ill for seven years!

She began vaguely to understand why the Prince of Liao's palace coup had succeeded.

Song Yan nodded, his voice dropping a little. "In earlier years he only had a bout every two or three years..." He spoke with deep anxiety, plainly worried about the Emperor's condition.

Dou Yan could only comfort him. "If the Emperor is gravely ill, the matter of the succession will come into play. You must be careful. The Ying Duke's household is renowned; it would be best not to get involved. Whoever becomes Emperor must court the court officials—this merit of following the dragon. It may be an opportunity for others, but for us it is merely a flower added to brocade."

Her words were tactful yet tinged with bluntness, and blunt yet tinged with consolation, which made Song Yan's eyes light up. Then he asked, puzzled, "How did you come to think of such things?"

"This morning my sisters-in-law came to see me, and spoke of an old matter in my hometown—half brothers fighting over property—and I was moved to reflect." Dou Yan's mind raced. "Men will fight to the point of bloodshed over property worth three or five hundred taels, so how much more fiercely over such a vast realm?"

Song Yan could not help laughing, thinking Dou Zhiwei deeply suspicious. By rights, a person like Dou would not easily trust anyone, yet for some reason Dou had never doubted him... He could not help staring at Dou Yan.

Dou Yan wore a plain green padded jacket. Her complexion was rosy and she looked full of vigor; the pearl earrings beside her ears shimmered with a bright, moist luster that set off her face, fine as cream and vividly beautiful.

"What is it?" Dou Yan touched her own face. "Is there something dirty on it?"

"Nothing," Song Yan said. "Just now I thought I saw a mark on your face, but on closer look it was the reflection of the pearl pins in your hair... I was mistaken."

"Oh!" Dou Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

Song Yan said, "What have you been doing at home these days?"

Dou Yan's interest was at once aroused, and she told Song Yan how Tao Jun had gone to Zhending to inquire about her, only to be set upon from behind by Duan Bing and his men.

Song Yan was taken aback, then laughed heartily. "If you had lived in the Spring and Autumn or Warring States period, you would surely have been a second Lord Mengchang—crowing cocks and sneaking dogs, talents of every description!" He added, "Duan Bing did well in this. You ought to reward him richly."

Dou Zhiwei smiled with pursed lips and brought up the matter of Old Chen and the others coming to the capital in the tenth month. "...As for how to arrange them when they arrive, I must ask the Heir to decide."

These were Dou Zhiwei's own retainers; Song Yan absolutely could not take them for his own use. Moreover, Song Cen's hostility toward Song Yan was plain for all to see, and Dou Yan needed people to guard her. He discussed it with Dou Yan. "Why not have them stay in the Yizhi Hall? Entrust the inner household affairs to them."

This was Dou Zhiwei's plan as well. "Tell outsiders only that they are my retainers, but at critical moments they can act on your behalf. With Master Yan and the others in the open and Old Chen and the others in the dark, that is the safest plan of all."

Song Yan had long envied Chen Yanzhou's skill in strategy and Duan Bing's skill in combat, and could not resist the urge to try them out; the more he thought of it, the better he found Dou's idea.

Still, there seemed to be rather too many of them!

Perhaps the dowry had been prepared in too much haste—most of Dou Zhiwei's dowry consisted of gold, silver, jewels, curios, calligraphy, and paintings, and even a chest of silver drafts, but no fields or shops. Now that they had decided on one open and one hidden force, the sudden appearance of so many people required a reasonable explanation.