“Your criminal slave is here.”
After Yang Zhaoyue said those words, he turned back beneath his umbrella and asked, “Since I’ve already spoken out of turn, let me ask one more thing. How exactly did the fire at Tianji Temple start?”
Zhang Yao did not answer.
Taking the umbrella from the accompanying eunuch, he walked alone past the blood-soaked punishment benches. Song Yinbing, lying prostrate on the ground, suddenly grabbed his ankle.
“Yinglian would never burn Tianji Temple. After her mother died, the He family abandoned her and even took away her surname. Tianji Temple… was the only place she had left in this world. She… she could never destroy the one place that gave her shelter. She couldn’t…”
Zhang Yao remained silent, but Yang Zhaoyue spoke from behind him.
“If she didn’t do it, then who did? Lord Song, you’re a judicial official yourself. You should help ease His Majesty’s burdens.”
Struggling to lift his head, Song Yinbing let the rain pound against his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Looking toward the heavens, he cried out miserably:
“It was Heaven itself!”
The cry was so tragic that it carried far through the wind and rain. There were no passersby before Shenwu Gate, and his voice traveled a great distance through the bleak storm.
Yang Zhaoyue coughed lightly and tilted his umbrella, revealing half a teasing smile.
“Commander Li.”
Li Hanzhou answered immediately.
“Yes.”
Yang Zhaoyue raised a hand and pointed at Song Yinbing.
“Drag him back onto the punishment bench and continue.”
Since Zhang Yao stood ahead of him, Li Hanzhou did not issue the order immediately. Instead, he looked toward his own Commander.
Only then did Yang Zhaoyue step forward and explain to Zhang Yao:
“Oh, he’s already received punishment, but he’s still a court official. Even if I had several heads, I wouldn’t dare privately torture him. This is His Majesty’s decree.”
Leaning close to Zhang Yao’s ear, he lowered his voice.
“Beat him until he can no longer utter a single word.”
After hearing that, Zhang Yao glanced over Song Yinbing’s injuries. Blood had already soaked through his undergarments and was flowing beneath him in streams mixed with rainwater.
The staff techniques of the Northern Pacification Bureau had all been personally drilled into its men by Zhang Yao himself. Judging by Song Yinbing’s complexion, he estimated the man could survive at most twenty more blows.
“That’s all His Majesty said?”
Yang Zhaoyue nodded.
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
Looking at the hand gripping his ankle, Zhang Yao said quietly:
“Let go.”
Song Yinbing was already in such agony that all five senses were fading. He did not hear Zhang Yao’s deliberately lowered voice.
Tilting his head, Zhang Yao measured a point three inches away from Song Yinbing’s vital spot near the heart. Calculating the force carefully, he suddenly kicked.
Before Song Yinbing could even cry out, a mouthful of blood burst from his lips. He rolled over painfully in the rain and immediately lost consciousness.
Zhang Yao withdrew his leg and stepped back, ending up beside Yang Zhaoyue.
Looking at Song Yinbing lying on the ground, Yang Zhaoyue sighed with a smile.
“Commander Zhang rarely shows this sort of mercy to someone from the Ministry of Justice.”
Zhang Yao said nothing.
Yang Zhaoyue added:
“For the sake of that former Vice Minister of Justice?”
Zhang Yao looked toward Li Hanzhou.
“Remove the punishment benches. Have each prisoner’s family take them home.”
Only then did he turn to Yang Zhaoyue.
“Why did His Majesty punish the two offices today?”
Yang Zhaoyue laughed.
“The Censorate and the remonstrance officials simply wanted this round of court caning. Just look at them.”
He pointed at the officials who were being helped away by their families.
“They won’t even cover their wounds. They want to parade through the streets bloody and battered, showing everyone how upright and fearless they are, how willing they are to speak frankly to the throne. For the sake of one woman’s life, they sacrificed their own backsides. Ha…”
His words dripped with mockery, and by the end he was openly laughing.
Song Yinbing had already been handed over to his family by Li Hanzhou. Having worked alongside Zhang Yao for years, Li Hanzhou understood that kick had been intended to save Song Yinbing’s life. Away from prying eyes, he quietly explained a few things to the Song family.
Several of the more perceptive family members immediately knelt before Zhang Yao and repeatedly kowtowed.
One by one, the officials were taken away.
Li Hanzhou led the Northern Pacification Bureau in dismantling the punishment benches. Rain poured from the sky, washing away the blood across the ground, so there was no need for the Office to splash water over the area afterward.
Before Shenwu Gate, only Zhang Yao and Yang Zhaoyue remained facing one another.
Watching Song Yinbing’s retreating figure, Yang Zhaoyue spoke again.
“Song Yinbing says Heaven burned Tianji Temple. But why would Heaven burn Tianji Temple? Song Yinbing is a pure-hearted man. All he wants is to save Liu Yinglian’s life. I sympathize with those two unfortunate lovers.”
He sneered.
“As for the officials of the Censorate and the remonstrance offices…”
“They simply want to hear His Majesty admit one thing: that the Son of Heaven has killed too heavily, that his virtue has failed, and that Heaven has sent punishment in response. Hah. I truly don’t understand these people. They kneel in court begging His Majesty to be a benevolent ruler, yet they force him to have them beaten bloody before Shenwu Gate. Is that honest remonstrance, or are they using His Majesty’s reputation to elevate their own?”
His eyes narrowed.
“If it’s the latter, then they truly deserve to die.”
After saying that, he stepped aside and gestured ahead.
“His Majesty is still waiting for you in Qianqing Palace. Commander Zhang, this way.”
Yang Zhaoyue led Zhang Yao through Shenwu Gate.
After entering the Inner Court, neither man spoke again.
They passed the white stone terrace and arrived beneath the marble foundation platform. The Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, Pang Sheng, and Wu Longyi knelt side by side upon the platform. Behind them stretched a curtain of endless rain.
Rain hammered against the yellow glazed tiles of the double-eaved palace roof, making the already silent Qianqing Palace seem even more desolate.
Yang Zhaoyue stopped before the palace doors.
Du Lingruo, who had been standing guard outside, immediately approached with several young eunuchs to take their umbrellas.
While drawing close to Zhang Yao, he quietly whispered:
“Inside, only the Chief Eunuch is attending.”
After speaking, he bowed and pushed open the palace doors.
Inside, a rich scent of ambergris incense filled the hall.
Fengming Emperor was writing beneath the candlelight.
The hall truly contained no other attendants. Only Xu Songnian stood beside the Emperor holding an inkstone. Seeing Zhang Yao enter, he softly informed the Emperor:
“Your Majesty, he’s here.”
Silently, Zhang Yao walked to the red bronze incense burner and knelt.
This was the place Fengming Emperor had designated for him.
Outside Qianqing Palace, Zhang Yao could travel freely throughout the empire with a single ivory identification token. But within Qianqing Palace, he could only kneel before this red bronze incense burner.
He could not stand.
He could not raise his head.
Before the Emperor spoke, he could not speak either.
The Emperor was clearly dissatisfied with the calligraphy he had been practicing. Before Zhang Yao entered, he had already sighed several times.
After Zhang Yao knelt, the Emperor merely glanced at him before lowering his head to continue writing.
Casually, he said to Xu Songnian:
“The ink isn’t thick enough. It doesn’t sit well on the paper.”
Xu Songnian hurriedly replied:
“This servant’s hands truly are useless now. If Your Majesty is dissatisfied with today’s writing, it’s entirely because the ink I ground was poor. Perhaps… perhaps Zhang Yao could serve Your Majesty by preparing the ink for once?”
The Emperor laughed.
“You always try to break the rules I established for him.”
Xu Songnian bowed even lower.
“My heart lies completely exposed before my master. If I’m right, Your Majesty may reward me. If I’m wrong, Your Majesty may punish me. This servant has never dared deceive his master.”
Rolling back his sleeve, Fengming Emperor picked up the brush.
“Take the inkstone down to him. Let him serve from there.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Limping on one leg, Xu Songnian slowly approached Zhang Yao and placed a Duanzhou inkstone and half a stick of pine soot ink before him.
Only after bowing deeply did Zhang Yao pick up the ink stick and begin grinding it carefully.
The Emperor set down his brush and leaned back in his chair, looking toward the rain beyond the palace doors.
“This rain still hasn’t stopped.”
Xu Songnian replied:
“In this servant’s opinion, it should last only through tonight.”
The Emperor smiled.
“You predict the weather more accurately than the Imperial Astronomical Bureau. Zhang Yao.”
Zhang Yao’s fingers paused briefly before resuming.
The ink within the Duanzhou inkstone gradually thickened. Looking down into it, he saw his own blurred reflection.
Then he answered in a low voice:
“Your criminal slave is here.”
Other than Xu Songnian, no one knew that before Fengming Emperor, the Commander of the Northern Pacification Bureau referred to himself as a “criminal slave.”
The Emperor seemed reasonably satisfied with his attitude and asked calmly:
“Has the injury on your shoulder healed?”
“Your Majesty’s punishment was deserved. This criminal slave dared not refuse it.”
“Heh.”
The Emperor laughed.
“You’ve grown up. You’ve learned Xu Songnian’s trick of answering a question without answering it.”
Zhang Yao set down the ink stick and bowed.
“This criminal slave would not dare.”
“You should call yourself ‘your subject’ again.”
The Emperor looked toward the palace entrance.
“The heads of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau and the Censorate are kneeling outside. The rain is loud, but the palace doors remain open. I don’t wish to embarrass you too much.”
Straightening his back, Zhang Yao responded:
“Yes.”
The Emperor rose to his feet and looked down at him.
“I summoned you here for one matter only. Wang Chong has concluded that Liu’s daughter deliberately set fire to Tianji Temple. The Court of Judicial Review reviewed the case and agreed. However, that Ministry of Justice official, Song Yinbing, claims she’s mute and has questioned whether the Military Commission handled the investigation fairly. Because of that, the Court of Judicial Review rejected the Military Commission’s findings. Very well.”
The Emperor smiled faintly and continued:
“Then there’s the matter of heavenly fire. The Imperial Astronomical Bureau has brought me the same nonsense they used last year about Heaven sending omens. Frankly, I’m tired of hearing it.”
No one in the hall responded.
The Emperor also fell silent for a long while before finally sighing.
“The criminal is only a woman. She isn’t worthy of convening the Three Judicial Offices. So I’ll leave her to you.”
He paused.
“As for me, I have only one thing to say. My health has not been good recently, and I don’t wish to quarrel with the people below.”
A pinch of incense ash drifted down before Zhang Yao’s knees.
The ash from the finest ambergris incense was white as snow.
Yet at this moment, Zhang Yao felt it looked more like human ashes.
The Emperor’s voice descended from above.
“It isn’t easy for the Imperial Astronomical Bureau to train someone capable of becoming its chief official. You killed Pang Sheng’s teacher before. Even now, I sometimes think it was a pity.”
He continued:
“So this time, I’d like to negotiate a little longer with the Bureau. As for Wu Longyi…”
The Emperor sighed.
“That man is truly old now. So old that he’s become confused. Yet he is still one of my senior ministers. I cannot bear to have him dragged before Shenwu Gate to receive imperial favor.”
He paused.
“I only hope the Tianji Temple case is concluded quickly so that all these people can finally disperse.”
“Zhang Yao.”
“Here.”
“Have I made my meaning clear?”
Of course Zhang Yao understood perfectly.
Just as Fengming Emperor had said, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau oversaw astronomy and the calendar. Skilled astronomers were difficult to cultivate.
Last year, after the rear halls of Tianji Temple burned down, the Bureau’s declaration of “Heaven’s punishment” led to a flood of memorials from remonstrance officials, urging Fengming Emperor to issue a self-reproach edict.
Zhang Yao had killed half the Bureau’s personnel. Their ranks became incomplete and their operations crippled.
The Emperor could no longer afford to kill more of them.
The same was true of the officials from the Censorate and remonstrance offices. Their lives had been spared. Instead of execution, they had merely been dragged to Shenwu Gate for caning. Even the order Fengming Emperor gave Li Hanzhou had been “severe punishment,” not “beat to death.”
But if that was the case, then Liu Yinglian would have to die.
So in the end, the Emperor still wanted him to kill someone.
Kneeling before the red bronze incense burner, Zhang Yao felt a wave of nausea rise from his stomach.
When the nausea finally subsided, he found himself thinking of the words Yu Lin had said to Liu Yinglian:
“I will help you.”
The Emperor wanted Liu Yinglian dead.
How could Yu Lin, a penniless government slave with nothing left to her name, possibly help Liu Yinglian survive inside the Northern Pacification Bureau’s imperial prison?
He couldn’t understand it.
Yet he desperately wanted Yu Lin to defeat him.
If she truly managed to win this time, then perhaps one day she would also be able to execute him.
At that thought, Zhang Yao unconsciously lifted his head and looked toward the Emperor standing before the imperial desk.
Xu Songnian immediately barked:
“Insolence!”
The Emperor waved a hand.
“Enough. I only put him in the cangue for ten days, and now I’m asking him to shoulder my burdens again. It’s natural for him to be unhappy.”
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
“If he breaks the rules once in a while, I can forgive it.”