Empress (28 page)

Gentleness stayed by my side, a young woman now, speechlessly contemplating my sorrow.

A FEW LETTERS sent by Wisdom had escaped the vigilance of the guards and had been propagated over the world. Seven months after his suicide, an insurrection erupted. Li Jing Yei, the grandson and heir of the Great General Li Ji, who had recommended me to the Forbidden City fifty years earlier, led a rebel army. He had been driven out of the Capital for corruption, and he and his supporters hoped to come back to Court as liberators. They succeeded by occupying the strategic town of Yang and gave command to a man who looked like Wisdom and claimed that the king was not dead, that they were acting on his orders. In the span of ten days, they gathered an army of one hundred thousand volunteers, a rabble of hooligans and bandits lured by the promise of incredible booty.

That morning I received the officials’ salutation in Luoyang. The pillars in the Palace of Virtuous Authority were like black dragons reaching up for the dark skies. Fires blazed along the rows, lighting the ministers’ anxious frightened faces. After the prostration and the prayer for long life, Pei Yan handed me the declaration that the rioters had distributed through districts that were now in their control.

Gentleness spread the scroll out on my table. The first verse seemed to jump off the page at me like a jet of venom: “The aforementioned regent Lady Wu is the issue of vile origins. In her youth she was summoned by the Emperor Eternal Ancestor, then she seduced Sovereign Father, debauched the Inner Palace, and bewitched the Supreme Son. She supplanted the Empress with her slander; her treacherous smile drove our master into an incestuous trap. Her heart is slyer than a lizard’s and crueler than a she-wolf’s. She is possessed by demons; she tortures loyal servants. She killed her sisters and assassinated her brothers. She hastened the sovereign’s death and poisoned her mother. Now that she has committed these murders, she no longer hides her usurpatory ambitions. She has imprisoned the heirs to the throne and entrusted affairs of State to members of her family. She is a cannibal, eating her way through the imperial lineage; she is evil, putting the dynasty in peril. Her crimes have provoked the wrath of men and of the gods. Her very existence sullies the purity of Heaven and Earth…”

In the second half of the manifesto, its author sang the praises of the rebel leader Li Jing Yei: “… Jing Yei, a former servant to the Imperial Court, the son of noble and glorious lords, has been denied power because he denounced corruption. Since then his indignation has grown more furious than a rainstorm, and he has sworn that he will free the throne from these vampires. Summoned by the disappointment of this world beneath the heavens and mandated by the Will of the People, he has raised the flag of revolt to cleanse away the scum of humanity. As far as the Land of One Hundred Tribes to the south and the limits of the Mountains of Rivers in the north, iron horsemen jostle to be first in line, wheels of jade rumble constantly onwards, everyone is marching on the enemy. Our grain stores are full of red sorghum from the four seas; our yellow banners advance inexorably as impetuous waves in a storm. The whinnying of our horses silences the North Wind itself, the gleaming blades of our swords outshine the celestial constellations. Our troops have only to whisper for entire hills and valleys to collapse; when our troops utter war cries, the clouds and the wind change color. With this strength, what enemy can resist us? With this strength, what city could withstand us?”

The third part was the height of pathos: “… The earth poured onto His Majesty’s tomb is not yet dry, and already his orphans no longer have a right to exist… If you still cling to the warmth of your home, you will be lost in the labyrinth of fate! If you do not grasp the providential hour, you will flounder in the hour of downfall! Answer me now-this very moment: Who shall be sovereign of the Empire, who shall own the Black Lands, who shall be master of the Yellow People!”

I closed the scroll and looked up. I asked who had wielded this quill. Someone in the audience hall replied that it was the scholar Luo Bin Wang.

“Surely he has a reputation for having been a precociously gifted poet, already famous by the time he was seven? What a shame that his flamboyant style and powerful gift should have been used to serve these intriguers. For a poet to become an instrument of politics, for the genius of an artist to debase itself and surrender itself to be used for dishonest propaganda-what a pity! How is it that I did not hear of him sooner? The fault lies with the Great Ministers who have neglected such talent. Mistakes like this must not be made again!”

My calm reaction astonished the ministers and reassured the generals. The Meeting could go ahead in an atmosphere of confidence. Suddenly, in among the vociferous opinions that needed quashing immediately, Great Secretary Pei Yan made his voice heard: “Supreme Majesty, your servant feels it would not be sensible to raise an imperial army!

Surprised by his attitude, I asked him why.

“His Majesty the Emperor Heir has already reached adulthood, but Your Supreme Majesty is still governing in his place. This irregular situation means that the rebels are right to call for the reign of a prince by blood. If your Supreme Majesty hands over the reins and gives power to the sovereign, all this agitation will no longer be legitimate and could be calmed with no crossing of swords.”

I was more stunned by Pei Yan’s words than by the rioters’ shattering manifesto. Thirty years earlier, this Great Secretary had been nothing more than an impoverished scholar from commoner stock. I myself had noticed him during the last stage of the imperial competition, and, on my orders, he had been received at the Splendid Institute of Letters, the school of higher administrative studies established by the sovereign Eternal Ancestor to train future ministers. As a reclusive Mandarin, he knew neither how to build up a network of contacts nor how to espouse a political leaning. His career had taken off only when I perceived his qualities as a hardworking and incorruptible official. In fifteen years, under my protection, he had climbed up the imperial hierarchy and had become head of government. Now, when I most needed his support, his conciliatory attitude was worse than a betrayal. Instead of condemning the rebels, he was acting as their mouthpiece by publicly accusing me of monopolizing power for too long.

Outside the day was dawning. A continuous stream of light flooded the audience hall, and the sun opened its arms to me. I disguised my anger and smiled.

“ Lord Pei, I helped the previous sovereign for almost twenty years without making a single mistake. Heaven and Earth demonstrated their satisfaction during the Great Sanctification, and the Chinese people have recognized the value of my advice by giving me the title of Celestial Empress. My regency is now the only guarantee of imperial stability after all the troubles that have afflicted the land of China. That is why the previous sovereign and the sovereign heir both confided the dynasty to me. It would not be difficult to hand power to my son, but this small gesture would be an unconditional surrender on my part. In the eyes of the people, it would be as if I recognized these unfounded accusations and encouraged every lawless creature to disrespect our authority. Even though I have for some time fostered the desire to withdraw gently from the affairs of this world, it will not be possible in the immediate future. The imperial order has been flouted. The prestige of ancestral sovereigns has been called into question. In such a situation, no prince by blood thrust into the forefront of the political scene would be respected by his vassals. He would simply be manipulated. Lord Pei Yan, you who once demonstrated such extraordinary perceptiveness, why are you now so blind?”

BACK IN THE gynaeceum, it took me a long time to recover from Pei Yan’s insolence, and I was weighed down by a dark feeling of foreboding. I gave orders for the guard around Future’s residence in exile to be reinforced, then I sent spies to listen to Miracle’s conversations with officials.

The overseeing magistrate Cui Cha asked for a secret audience.

“On his death bed,” he whispered, “the previous emperor asked Pei Yan to watch over the government. This bequeathed power must have nurtured some unspeakable ambition in him. That is why, instead of defending your Supreme Majesty, he is now asking you to abandon your regency. Everyone knows that the sovereign heir has no political experience and that he would not be a firm ruler. Calling the sovereign back to the throne would be to entrust power to Pei Yan. Your Supreme Majesty should be wary of this.”

This comment complied with my own investigations. I delayed sending an imperial army out against the rioters and increased the number of guards protecting the Inner City. Within a few days, secret enquiries into Pei Yan’s activities revealed that one of the principal organizers of the revolt was his nephew. Apart from this relationship, there was nothing to prove the Great Secretary’s guilt.

I had made my decision, even if there were still doubts that should have worked in Pei Yan’s favor. It no longer mattered to me whether he was guilty or innocent. The riot led by Li Jing Yei, grandson of the Great General who was a veteran of the dynasty, had sown the seeds of unease in the Outer Court. Men who had obeyed me blindly were beginning to doubt my legitimacy. Pei Yan’s position served only to reinforce this destructive tendency. Pei Yan had been made Great Secretary on my husband’s wishes, and with my support, he had dethroned my son Future. His power had become a danger that I had to suppress quickly.

One wintry morning during the salutation, I ordered Pei Yan’s arrest. The generals of the Forest of Plumes Guard led their troops into the Palace. Taken by surprise, a number of ministers pleaded his innocence, but the Great Secretary submitted without protest or tears as he was stripped of his cap of lacquered black linen, his ivory tablet, and his leather belt sewn with jade discs.

During that same ceremony, I sent orders for Great General Li Ji’s grave to be destroyed because he had begat an insurgent grandson. “Let the name Li, presented to him by the Emperor Eternal Ancestor, be withdrawn. Scatter his bones over the countryside!” By persecuting this dead minister who had been so close to me, I was warning any living person who might dare betray me. That day the imperial divisions received orders to set out. Three hundred thousand armored soldiers hastened to the occupied cities. Soon news of victories was sent back to me. The so-called rebel army was nothing but a horde of beggars who fled when they saw our banners. A revolt had broken out within their own ranks. Forty days after their dramatic declaration, the insurgent soldiers were asking to surrender by offering me the severed heads of Xu Jing Yei and his followers. I had them paraded on pikes through the centre of Luoyang where they soon streamed with spittle from my people.

My imperial officers executed every last survivor of the rebel chiefs. When Cheng Wu Ting, Great General of the regiment of Eagles of the Right, was denounced to me for having secret meetings with the rioters, I asked for no further proof, and, despite his reputation as the conqueror of the Turks and the Koreans, I sent the Great General of the regiment of Eagles of the Left to behead him in his barracks.

After Pei Yan was arrested and his quarters had been searched, the examining magistrate informed me that the Great Secretary had lived in a state of destitution. His furniture was rudimentary and his rooms quite without ornamentation. In his six-year term of office as a Great Minister, he had managed to save up a few bags of rice and a dozen rolls of silk, gifts given to him by my late husband and myself.

I was moved by the man’s honesty. In prison he would not admit to the crime of which he was accused and never proclaimed his innocence. In mid-autumn he was decapitated in the middle of a public crossroads. Before dying he allegedly asked for forgiveness from his banished brothers: “When I was in power, I never let you benefit from my position; now, because of me, you have been exiled to the ends of Earth. I am so sorry!

I chose to ignore whether he deserved to die. His condemnation had been a deciding factor in the fight against the insurgents. I secretly ordered for his head and body to be collected and given a decent burial in the countryside near Luoyang. Occasionally, on the anniversary of his death, I would send a few offerings and prayers to his grave.

Within the Forbidden City, my voice echoed solemnly around the Palace of Virtuous Authority: “Gentlemen, I have never disappointed Heaven, you know that well! I served the previous sovereign for more than twenty years, and the Empire’s affairs have caused me much concern! I have watched over the stability and happiness of this world. I have offered wealth and nobility to all of you. Since the previous sovereign abandoned you and entrusted me with command, I have never troubled with my own health; my every thought has been for the happiness of the people. These rebels were ministers, generals, and Court officials. Where, then, is loyalty, and where is honor? Shame on you! I am not afraid of treacherous, rebellious men. I ask of you: Who among you would be more powerful, more sour-tempered, and more stubborn than hereditary minister Pei Yan? Who would be more violent, more reckless, and more inflamed than Xu Jing Yei descended from one of the dynasty’s Veterans? Who would be more experienced, more adroit, and more tactical than Cheng Wu Ting who never suffered military defeat? Those three men were believed to be indomitable! When they tried to betray me, I cut off their heads. If you consider yourself better than them, then you must revolt straight away. If not, work together and save all your energies for helping me in affairs of State. Prove yourselves worthy of posterity!”

IN THE FIRST month of the first year in the era of the Residence of Sunlight, I begat a new world. The imperial banners of ancient times disappeared from the city’s ramparts, and my golden standards edged with mauve now flapped in the wind. At Court I distributed new colors to the dignitary’s clothes: mauve to scholars and generals above the third rank, crimson to the fourth rank, and vermilion to the fifth rank. The sixth rank had to make do with dark emerald green, while the seventh rank wore light green. The eighth and ninth ranks, at the very bottom of the grading system, were given consolation for their humility; I attributed the color of blossoming springtime to them. In government, I did away with the age-old names given to ministers of state. Inspired by the venerable Zhou dynasty from which our Wu clan descended, I wanted politics to be a celebration of life from now on. I published an edict renaming the Great Chancellery the Terrace of Divine Birds; the Great Secretariat became the Pavilion of the Phoenix; and the Ministry of Supreme Affairs became the Lodge of Prosperous Letters. The six ministers responsible for the administration of the Inner City, human affairs, religious rites, armaments, punishments, and major works became Officers of the Heavens, the Earth, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, respectively.