Book 62: Chapter 11: Dragon Tally, Tiger Tally

Li Xiaogong said angrily, What is the meaning of this?

Shaoshuai

and Xu

Xiansheng

are our Great Tang Kingdoms distinguished guests,

Huangshang

s allies. Who dares to offend them?

With his hands folded on his chest, Yan Li, leaning against the door behind Yuwen Shang, remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos said, There are still more than two

sichen

before alliance ceremony. One day we still have not formed an alliance, our Great Tang and Shao Shuai State are still at war, we are enemies and not friends at all.

Li Xiaogongs pair of eyes dazzled, he stared fixedly at Yan Li, and spoke heavily, How dare you! Who do you think you are [orig. what rank are you], unexpectedly you speak to this king in such a tone of voice, disrespecting your superior?

Dugu Feng [phoenix] let out a silver-bell like tender laughter, she said, Its Hejian

w.a.n.g

who has such a big guts! Unexpectedly you collude with external enemy, intending to a.s.sa.s.sinate

Huangshang

.

Li Xiaogongs countenance changed, he said, Be careful what you say, dont make false accusations against people [orig. keeping blood in ones mouth and spray people]. Whether this king is loyal or not,

Huangshang

knows better than anyone.

Just by looking at Yan Li and Dugu Fengs demeanor and tone of voice, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling knew that the other side had a card up their sleeve, they fully occupied the initiative and the upper hand; immediately they knew the turn of events was not too encouraging.

On the other side of Yuwen Shang, Yuwen s.h.i.+ji smiled calmly and said, Since Hejian

w.a.n.g

voiced his loyalty to

Huangshang

, he will show it to us by his actions.

And then, raising his right hand high, he shouted,

Huangshang

s dragon tally is here. Seeing the tally is like seeing

Huangshang

. Li Xiaogong, you kneel down for me and receive the order!

The three mens eyes could not help landing on his raised hand. Golden light flickering, the peculiarly shaped dragon tally glittering brightly under the illumination of the lanterns, representing the highest authority that could mobilize and dispatch all the imperial guard units inside the imperial palace and imperial city.

Li Xiaogongs chest felt like being struck by a thunder, his countenance changed again and again, without the slightest color of blood, and he fell back. Were it not for Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling supporting him from left and right, it was guaranteed that he would fall on his b.u.t.ts on the ground.

Kou Zhong spoke sternly, I dare to bet the head on my neck with yours, Yuwen s.h.i.+ji, this tally was handed over to you by Wei

Gonggong

, not by

Huangshang

himself.

Xu Ziling sighed inwardly, no matter who was present, whether friend or foe, only he understood why Kou Zhong said what he said. Tonight they originally already grasp victory in their hands, but now they have completely lost the certainty of winning. One wrong move [in the game of chess], the whole game was lost. The one wrong move they made was that they could not see through one step earlier that Wei

Gonggong

was

Yin Gui Pai

s wonder troop [in ambush] in the palace, and could not completely grasp Wei

Gonggong

s conversation with Yin Zuwen inside the secret pa.s.sage.

The two most crucial military tallies that Li Yuan carried with him, the dragon tally could command the imperial guards inside the palace, and the tiger tally would command the military units of external garrison. Dragon and Tiger, two tallies were like Li Yuans total control of two main forces inside and outside the palace in Changan.

The demonic schools plan was far more perfect than their emergency response, and with the facts before their eyes, Wei

Gonggong

, as easy as blowing off dust, seemed to have achieved the absolute advantage of supporting the Son of Heaven to command the various n.o.bilities. The dragon tally has already been handed over to Yuwen s.h.i.+ji to deal with them, three men, the tiger tally should have also fallen into Wei

Gonggong

s hands. Tang Jians army of 15,000 men might be summoned into the palace by Wei

Gonggong

, which was part of the plan made by Wei

Gonggong

and Wanwan.

Although he, Xu Ziling still could not figure out Lin s.h.i.+hongs role in sneaking into the palace via the secret pa.s.sage, but he was certain that it would strengthen Wei

Gonggong

s advantage. Now Changans military power has fallen into the demonic schools hands, all the other factions, including Jiancheng and Yuanji, allotted share was only to take a beating. Without needing to be told, he and Kou Zhong and the others knew clearly even more.

And their disaster was happening right in front of them. Once they were entangled by Yuwen Shang, You

Pozi

, and the others, and then the martial art masters Li Yuans personal guard flooding in, even with his and Kou Zhongs abilities, it would still be very dangerous.

Once the fight started, with mult.i.tude of enemies, few friends, they would not possibly obtain any convenience.

According to reason, the one holding the dragon tally commanding the martial art masters protecting the emperors good self and the army of personal guards to deal with them ought to be Wei

Gonggong

instead of Yuwen s.h.i.+ji, but the latter, due to Yuwen Shangs deep friends.h.i.+p with Li Yuan, after throwing his lot to the Tang, became the great general that Li Yuan doted on, naturally, compared to Wei

Gonggong

, this chief of the court eunuchs, he was more qualified and more conforming to reason to give orders; however, this was definitely not the reason why Wei

Gonggong

entrusted him with the dragon tally.

According to Xu Zilings estimation, first of all, Wei

Gonggong

believed firmly that Xu Ziling still suffered serious internal injury, which would leave only Kou Zhong to drag them down, and he could not pose any threat. Secondly, Wei

Gonggong

had more important things that he needed to personally attend to, that he could not borrow other peoples hands. Most likely Wei

Gonggong

wanted to directly control the 15,000-man army in Tang Jians hands.

For this reason, Kou Zhong first used his words to stabilize Yuwen s.h.i.+ji, but the real target was the dragon tally in his hand. As long as the dragon tally fell into Li Xiaogongs hands, Li Xiaogong could, compared to anybody else, except for Li Yuan, grasp the imperial guards firmly in the palm of his hand more easily.

They really were not without any chance, because the enemys attention was completely focused on Kou Zhong, hence Xu Ziling, who was mistakenly thought to be seriously injured, had an opportunity that he could exploit.

The two boys minds were interlinked, Kou Zhongs remarks made Xu Ziling understand the only chance to turn defeat into victory at the moment. They had no doubt that after obtaining the dragon tally, to fight their way out of the

Yanjia Ge

was still more difficult than ascending to the sky, but this has become their only option.

Evidently, for Yan Li, the humiliation Kou Zhong gave him last night was still hard to forget even after his teeth fall out [idiom]. This moment, since there was a wind, he must raise the sail to the fullest. Reaching back, he took the lance hidden behind him and shouted loudly, Who has interest in talking nonsense with you!

Striding forward, the lance spun around, and when the lance momentum was full, it started to move towards Kou Zhong looking like it was sweeping, but also as if it was slas.h.i.+ng down, but actually it was attacking straight in violent strike, full of mighty power.

Among the crowd, the Yuwen Family and the Dugu Family, two sides, five people, all turned a blind eye to Yan Lis taking the lead in making his move. Not only did they not show the least bit of sign to join him, Dugu Feng [phoenix] even revealed a smile of disdain, showing off the haughty status and ident.i.ty of a family influential for generations, practically looking down on the coming-from-the-uncultivated-land Yan Li, intently wanted to watch him making a fool of himself.

Only Zhu Junming and Hua Ying, a pair of husband and wife known as the Immortal Couple, approached Kou Zhong from the left, holding up their troops disposition for Yan Li.

Xu Zilings heart was moved, he pulled back Li Xiaogong, whose emotions had not yet recovered, and using subtle movements, he showed his opponents that his internal injuries had indeed not yet healed.

Qiang!

Kou Zhong pulled the Moon in the Well out, without even looking his saber hacked Yan Lis attacking-with-full-momentum lance, and still had the leisure to say, Not only this is not nonsense, but it is also related to your life and death

Dang!

Beyond everybodys expectations, Kou Zhongs careless chop unexpectedly hit the tip of Yan Lis repeatedly changing lance, so that it became a stake-it-all hard clash between the two sides.

Spiraling

qi

power shot out, Yan Lis powerful body shook violently. He was stiffly jolted by the chop so that the lance, as well as the person, were falling back to his original position. Bang! He slammed onto the side of the door, and continued falling back more than ten steps. Although he did not vomit blood, his face immediately turned pale. It could clearly be seen that Kou Zhongs casual saber strike had caused him an internal injury, which was not light.

Even Yuwen Shang and Granny You, two senior martial art masters of grandmaster level were also emotionally moved. Their original intention was to let Yan Li groped Kou Zhongs foundation first, and after seeing through and understanding Kou Zhong clearly, they would charge in one fell swoop to strike and kill Kou Zhong. Who would have thought that not only things turned out contrary to the way they wished, they also felt that Kou Zhongs clumsy move contained ingenuity, it was deep and unfathomable, his saber technique already reached the fully mature and faultless state? It looked like one saber strike, but it was actually two saber strikes. The first saber strike used an exquisite beyond compare technique to neutralize the opponents lance power, and then, without generating any noise, the second saber strike was the real culprit that humiliated Yan Li.

Chu Junming, husband and wife were greatly surprised, momentarily they did not dare to advance prematurely. Yan Li was even more speechless.

Dugu Feng [phoenix] sneered at Kou Zhong and said, You, this man, your character really never changed to your death; powerless to defend yourself, yet you still talk nonsense.

Kou Zhong knew that the other side was about to make a move, hence he drew legs on a snake [idiom: overdo it] even more; acting as if he was afraid that other people did not know that Xu Ziling was wounded, he stood and guarded in front of Xu Ziling and Li Xiaogong, holding the saber across his chest. Shaking his head, he laughed and said, If you guys knew Wei

Gonggong

s ident.i.ty as Wanwans

s.h.i.+bo

[martial (older) uncle], and Yin Zuwen is the

Tian Jun

[heavenly lord] Xi Yings

s.h.i.+di

[younger martial brother], and that this moment Wanwan is inside

Huangshang

s bedroom [palace to lie down], you would not dare to point at me as babbling nonsense.

Yuwen Shang snorted coldly and said, Youd better leave these words for later when you are talking to

Yan w.a.n.g

[King of h.e.l.l] in the nether world!

The cold

qi

invaded and pressing over.

Kou Zhong knew that his

Bing Xuan Gong

[Black/Mysterious Ice Power, previously was

Bing Xuan Jin

] which had reached the pinnacle, was waiting for action after having acc.u.mulated power; he hurriedly said, Hold on! Can you let me explain something in the past that is related to you, the Senior?

Dugu Zhang [sic, I dont know which one, maybe the phoenix, since the peak seemed to be a mute] said happily, Kou Zhong! Finally the day like today has come to you!

But Yuwen s.h.i.+ji was knitting his brows, pondering about what Kou Zhong just said. Hearing that, he said, Quickly speak up!

Kou Zhong sighed and said, Not only did we not kill Yuwen Huaji, but we also let him commit suicide for Zhen

Sao

and die together in the name of love. The secret place where the husband and wife were buried together is only known to me, the funerary object was the portrait that Hou Xibai painted for Zhen

Sao

.

Yuwen Shang said in astonishment, What nonsense are you talking about?

Greatly astounded, Yuwen s.h.i.+ji said, Zhen

Sao

! Are you talking about Zhen

Fei

[imperial concubine]?

Sighing bitterly, Kou Zhong said, Zhen

Sao

used to sell vegetables and meat buns in Yangzhou. She was Xiao Lings and my benefactor, our first

Niang

. Ay! Thinking of her, all hatred, grat.i.tude and grudges disappeared. If it wasnt for her, how could we anger

Xiao s.h.i.+yi

[little martial aunt] Fu Junqiang, and provoked

s.h.i.+gong

to anger? Feng

Xiaojie

knew Qiang

Yi

, you should know that what I said is the truth.

Laughing coldly, Dugu Feng said, Turns out that the hero in his whole lifetime Kou Zhong unexpectedly could behave like a dog wagging its tail, seeking its masters affection [idiom]. Death is near at hand, and trying to gain friends.h.i.+p everywhere. Now it involves the rise and fall of my Great Tang Kingdom, no matter how bright your tongue is, you still cannot escape death.

Li Xiaogong was about to speak, but was stopped by Xu Ziling.

Kou Zhongs tone suddenly changed, he took the demeanor and the tone of the ugly divine doctor Mo Yixins voice, saying,

Lao Furen

s asthma is due to the coordination between the Twelve Regular Channels and the Eight Extraordinary Channels became dysfunctional, the calamity reached the lung pa.s.sage, over the years it manifested into this illness.

These words were spoken by him when he was diagnosing You Chuhong that day; what was rare was that he repeated it without missing a single word.

Dugu Feng screamed, her flowery countenance turned deathly pale, she stared at Kou Zhong, revealing an expression of disbelief, while continuously shaking her head, as if to convince herself that this was not true.

Dugu Feng [peak] and Granny You were too shocked to speak.

Yan Li struggled hard to stand firm, pointing his halberd-fingers at Kou Zhong, he shouted, Dont listen to him misleading the public with rumors [idiom]. (Cough!)

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, Lacking in confidence [or having a guilty conscience]! Since you, this kid, are colluding with Yang Xuyan and Liexia, you cant be a good person. Do you know what I was talking about? You dont even have a turn to interject.

Showing a grave expression, Zhu Junming spoke heavily, Could

Shaoshuai

explain a bit more clearly, the dragon tally in Yuwen

Jiangjun

s hand was indeed pa.s.sed on by Wei Gonggong.

Kou Zhong said to Yuwen s.h.i.+ji, I won! My head is safe. I dare to bet the head above my neck, because no one knows the demonic schools tricks better than me. If you still dont believe it, you can send someone to see

Huangshang

. I dare to bet my head one more time, I guarantee that you wont see the dragon countenance.

Yuwen Shang said,

Shaoshuai

, dont use frightening words to scare people.

The tone of his voice became polite, obviously because he knew that Kou and Xu, two boys were not the persons who killed Yuwen Huaji, plus they had the virtue of burying the dead, so that the hostility in their heart was greatly reduced. Kou Zhong pa.s.sionately spoke earnestly about their relations.h.i.+p with Sister-in-law Zhen, and both Yuwen Shang and Yuwen s.h.i.+ji knew Sister-in-law Zhens family background and history, they knew even more that Kou Zhong was not the kind of people who would use this kind of matter to beg for mercy, hence it greatly increased Kou Zhongs credibility.

This moment Xu Ziling joined in, Tang Jians men entering the palace for a change of the guards, was it Wei

Gonggong

who pa.s.sed down the written imperial order?

Thats right, Li Xiaogong replied.

Kou Zhong said, Now this matter becomes very simple. We will stop this kid Yan Li, and then you will send one person to see

Huangshang

. The matter will be as the water recedes, the rocks appear [idiom: the truth comes to light]. I am not using frightening words to scare people, if we let the demonic schools evil plan to succeed, not only you will no longer have any place to stand in Changan, the consequences will be too horrible to contemplate. Based on the usual vicious and merciless style of the demonic school, they would definitely seize

Huangshang

, and then they will pull opposing forces up by the roots. The Dugu Family and the Yuwen Family are precisely the thorn in their side.

Knitting her brows, Dugu Feng said, By doing this, whats the benefit for you, Kou Zhong?

Kou Zhong laughed calmly and said, The benefits are very great. First of all, I dont have to be any pain-in-the-b.u.t.ts emperor, in everything, let s.h.i.+min, that kid do it for me. Secondly, I have the opportunity to lead the most powerful righteous army in the world, to have a show-down with Xieli, that fellow. Not concealing anything from ladies and gentlemen, dont think that you can take us down, actually, Ling

Shao

is not injured at all. If he attacks you unprepared, plus with

Xiaodi

acting in concert with him, there is a good chance we can capture the dragon tally in s.h.i.+ji

Xiong

s hands. If you dont believe me, let Ling

Shao

give you a demonstration.

He had not finished speaking, Xu Ziling flashed away from his side, launching the Xu Zilings style

Huan Mo Shenfa

, he suddenly appeared on Yuwen s.h.i.+jis left side, his hand grabbed toward Yuwen s.h.i.+ji.

How could Yuwen s.h.i.+ji ever imagine that Xu Zilings

shenfa

was this fast? Overwhelmed with shock, he stepped aside, powerless to fight back.

Yuwen Shang was, after all, the master of a clan, facing death he was not in chaos. His pair of palms pushed out,

Bing Xuan Jin

shot out. It appeared that he was about to hit Xu Ziling, who could have thought that Xu Ziling reversed his true

qi

and changed his momentum. His body spun around, he came in front of Yan Li. Yan Li was shocked, he raised his lance in a flurry, Xu Ziling suddenly came close to him but immediately separated. By the time he retreated back to Kou Zhongs side, Yan Li dejectedly dropped down on his b.u.t.ts, his acupoint was sealed by Xu Ziling.

Everybody, none was not emotionally moved, including Kou Zhong.

Yuwen Shang could not believe it even more. He clearly hit Xu Ziling, unexpectedly with a spin of his body his attack was completely neutralized. Such martial art was indeed shocking.

Kou Zhongs spirit soaring high, he said, Did you see that? It was from the harmony is to be prized standpoint that we have spoken so much to you. If Qin

w.a.n.g

ascends to the throne, not only will the world be unified immediately, peace will come, and there will be a situation of long-term peace and stability. Your Dugu and Yuwen, two families, due to establis.h.i.+ng great merit, will continue to flourish. Tell me, in todays world, who is more qualified to be the emperor than Qin

w.a.n.g

?

Li Xiaogong spoke with serious expression, This time

Shaoshuai

came here to ask for an audience with

Huangshang

, it is to persuade

Huangshang

to rein in the horse at the edge of the precipice, to avoid disastrous turn of events in the imperial court tomorrow.

Kou Zhong cried inwardly, Ashamed! Up to this moment, he still wanted to wholeheartedly sweep away Jiancheng and Yuanji. What Li Xiaogong thought was really a misunderstanding.

Granny You cleared her throat, she said, Its not that

Laoshen

[lit. old body] doubted

Shaoshuai

, but even if Wei

Gonggong

obtained Wanwans a.s.sistance, to control

Huangshang

without making any noise like it is now is still impossible. The situation tonight is special,

Huangshang

and us are all in high alert, the saber-wielder personal guards did not leave for half a step, they are men who Wei

Gonggong

is unable to bribe. As long as there is a sound of fighting, the personal guards from all around will swarm in to rush to the rescue, Wei

Gonggong

definitely will not have any chance.

Kou Zhong asked, Did

Huangshang

go to bed?

Yuwen Shang said, I personally escorted

Huangshang

outside the door of the bedroom, and then the personal guards heavily guard him. Unless

Huangshang

s summoning him, Wei

Gonggong

would not be able to get in. The chief of the personal guards is Li Fan, he is astute and cautious, he wont be easy to deceive.

Scratching his head, Kou Zhong said, This is really difficult to figure out.

His att.i.tude gave Chu Junming, husband and wife, a good impression. Thinking on his behalf, Hua Ying said, Accompanying

Huangshang

tonight is not Yin De

Fei

, they shouldnt be able to acquire the military tally.

Just by listening to her remark, they knew that her heart was leaning towards Kou Zhongs side.

Tonight, it could be said that Kou Zhong was giving it his all to move their hearts, laying out the pros and cons, intimidating them with his mighty power. Xu Zilings cooperation was of course important, even more crucial was that seed of good karma would reap virtuous result, good actions of the past would be rewarded here and now.

Xu Zilings heart was moved, he asked, Which

guifei

[n.o.ble concubine] is serving

Huangshang

tonight?

Dugu Feng was still staring blankly at Kou Zhong, as if talking in her sleep, she said, Its

Huangshang

s new favorite imperial concubine, Qing

Guiren

[n.o.bility]. I have searched her thoroughly, everything is fine. Ay! Whatever you say now,

nujia

will believe you!

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling blurted out at the same time, Bai Qinger!

Yuwen Shang, Granny You, Dugu Feng, and the others were all emotionally moved.

Kou Zhong slapped his forehead and said with a sigh, A thousand calculations, ten thousand calculations, we did not consider her. And then he briefly described her appearance and explained clearly her background and origin.

Granny You stood up abruptly and shouted, Ill go to the bottom of this matter immediately.

Hold on! Yuwen Shang said.

Stunned, everybody looked at Yuwen Shang.

Yuwen Shang spoke heavily, s.h.i.+ji, give the dragon tally to

Shaoshuai

.

Hesitating, Yuwen s.h.i.+ji said, This

Granny You raised her thumb to Yuwen Shang, she praised, Well done!

Shaoshuai

is willing to return good for evil, what else we cannot trust him in? Hejian

w.a.n.g

is loyal and devoted to

Huangshang

even more, there is absolutely nothing to doubt.

Turning to Yuwen s.h.i.+ji, she shouted, You have not done as your

Die

wants?

Yuwen s.h.i.+ji suddenly made up his mind, he strode forward, and handed the dragon tally to Kou Zhong with both hands.

Kou Zhong laughed aloud, took the dragon tally, and without looking at it, he handed it over to Hejian

w.a.n.g

, saying, On behalf of Qin

w.a.n.g

, I would like to express our deep grat.i.tude to you all. We are doing this for the common people of the world, the Central Earths honor and disgrace. First, we need to understand the urgent situation this moment. And then carry out the most appropriate strategy to go to the bedroom to rescue the emperors good-self. Hejian

w.a.n.g

, please preside over everything.

King of Hejian spoke with solemn expression, Receive the order!

Yuwen Shang said, Saving people is like putting out a fire. Based on our strength, how could the demonic [

mo

devil] schools demons [

mei

] and mountain demons [

chi

] presumptuously flaunting their might?

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, Reminded by

Fazhu

, my plan immediately takes shape. Let us first besiege heavily the bedroom palace without making any noise, and then contact Li Fan. Just like that, we will storm inside. What do you think?