The Book and The Sword (53 page)

I
mmediately after seeing the Empress Dowager out of the Martial Hero Pavilion, Qian Long called for his bodyguards. Bai Zhen came forward to report.

"Master Chen has escorted the lady back to the palace, and she is now awaiting Your Highness in the Precious Moon Pavilion," he said.

Qian Long was delighted with the news and walked briskly to the door of the Martial Hero Pavilion. Then he stopped and turned. "Was there any trouble on the road?" he asked.

"Your slaves came across a large number of Red Flower Society fighters at one point, but luckily, Master Chen intervened and prevented an incident."

When Qian Long arrived at the Precious Moon Pavilion, he found Princess Fragrance seated as before, facing the wall.

"Did you have fun at the Great Wall?" he asked happily. She ignored him. Qian Long decided to deal with more pressing matters first before questioning her further. He went into the adjoining room and gave orders for his favourite, Fu Kangan, to be summoned.

Before too long, Fu rushed in and Qian Long ordered him to lead a troop of Imperial Guardsmen and lay an ambush around the Lama Temple. After he had departed, Qian Long ordered Bai Zhen to also hide near the temple.

"I intend to hold a great feast in the Lama Temple tomorrow evening," he added. "Tell Master Chen and all of the senior Red Flower Society people to attend."

Bai Zhen immediately guessed the Emperor intended to deal with all the Red Flower Society leaders at one stroke and shuddered at the thought of the slaughter that would take place.

"Also," Qian Long added, "summon the Head Lama of the temple immediately."

As the old Lama kowtowed his way into the Imperial presence, Qian Long asked: "How many years is it since you came to the capital?"

"Your vassal has served the Emperor for twenty-one years."

"Do you want to go back to Tibet?"

The Lama kowtowed again but said nothing.

"There are two Living Buddhas in Tibet, the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama," Qian Long continued. "Why isn't there a third?"

"Your Highness, that has always been the way, ever since…"

Qian Long silenced him with a wave of his hand. "If I made you the third Living Buddha and gave you an area to govern, no-one would dare to defy the order, would they?"

The Lama's joy soared to the skies, and he kowtowed furiously, unable to believe his luck. "Your Reverence's benevolence will be difficult to repay," he said.

"I want you now to do something for me. Go back to the temple and gather together all your trusted lamas and prepare gunpowder, firewood and other inflammable materials." He pointed at Bai Zhen. "When he gives you the signal, you will put the temple to the torch."

The Head Lama began frantically kowtowing again, this time in fright. "But it is the former residence of the late Emperor," he protested. Many of his possessions are there, I wouldn't dare…"

"Do you dare to disobey my command?" Qian Long roared, sending the old Lama into a cold sweat.

"I…I will do as Your Highness commands," he replied in a quavering voice.

"If half a breath of this matter leaks out, I will have you and every single one of your eight hundred lamas executed." After a moment, he added in a more friendly tone: "There will be Banner troops guarding the Suicheng Pavilion in your temple, so you must be careful. When the time comes, I want those troops trapped inside and burned to death. When things have been successfully completed, you will be the third Living Buddha of Tibet. Now go!" He waved his hand and the Lama left with Bai Zhen, thanking the Emperor for his benevolence as he went.

His preparations completed, Qian Long considered how his plan would enable him to kill two birds with one stone, both the Red Flower Society and the Dowager's forces. After tomorrow evening, his position secured and stable, he could continue his reign in peace.

He felt very satisfied. Looking round, he noticed a lute sitting on a tabletop and went over to play it. After a few phrases, his playing became increasingly strident and aggressive, and with a twang, the seventh string broke. He started in surprise and laughed loudly. Then, pushing the lute aside, he stood up and walked back to the other room.

Princess Fragrance was sitting at the window staring up at the moon. As she heard his footsteps, there was a glint of light as she pulled the dagger out again. Qian Long frowned and sat down at a distance.

"When you and Master Chen were at the Great Wall, did he tell you to kill me?"

"He told me to do as you said."

"Are you going to disobey him?"

"I would never do that."

Qian Long was both delighted and jealous. "Then why are you still carrying the dagger? Give it to me!"

"No, I'll wait for you to become a good emperor first."

Aha, thought Qian Long, so that's how he hopes to control me. Anger, jealousy, lust and hatred rose within him all at once, and he laughed harshly. "I am already a good emperor," he replied.

"Huh! I heard you playing the lute just now. You're going to kill people, you're going to kill many, many people. You're…you are evil."

Qian Long realised that his thoughts had indeed revealed themselves through his playing. "Yes," he replied. "I am going to kill people. I have already caught your Master Chen, but if you do as I say, I can release him. If you don't do as I say…" He laughed again. "Then you know I will kill many people."

Princess Fragrance was shocked. "You would kill your own blood brother?" she asked in a quavering voice.

Qian Long's face went white. "So he told you everything?"

"I don't believe you've caught him. He's much cleverer than you."

"Cleverer? Huh! And even if I haven't got him today, what about tomorrow?" She did not answer. "I advise you to forget this idea," he went on. "Whether I'm a good emperor or a bad emperor, you are never going to see him again."

"But you promised him that you would be a good emperor," Princess Fragrance protested. "How can you renege on your promise?"

"I will do whatever I want," he roared. "No-one can tell me what to do." All his pent up anger from the humiliating audience with the Dowager spilled out.

His words struck Princess Fragrance like a fist-blow to the chest. "So the Emperor is going to cheat him," she thought in anguish. "If only we had known earlier, I wouldn't have had to come back here." She almost fainted at the shock of it.

Seeing her face suddenly go pale, Qian Long immediately regretted being so coarse. "If you will treat me well," he said, "I will naturally not harm him. In fact, I will make him a senior official and allow him to become rich and powerful."

But Princess Fragrance was not listening. She was trying to work out a way of letting Chen know of the Emperor's deceitfullness, so that he wouldn't fall into a trap. She frowned deep in thought, her expression adding to the beauty of her face, and Qian Long stared at her, mesmerized.

"Everyone in the palace is a servant of the Emperor," she thought. "So who can deliver a letter for me? There's only one way to do it."

"So you promise not to harm him?" she said.

Qian Long was delighted. "I promise, I promise," he replied immediately. There was not the slightest touch of sincerity in his voice, and Princess Fragrance glanced at him in hatred.

"Early tomorrow, I want to go to a mosque," she said evenly. "I will only do as you say after I have prayed to Allah."

Qian Long smiled. "All right," he replied. "But there is to be no more delay after tomorrow."

Princess Fragrance watched him leave, laughing as he went, then found a pen and paper and wrote out a letter to Chen warning him of the Emperor's intentions, and telling him that the plan to overthrow the Manchus was just a dream. She urged him to quickly devise away to rescue her. When she had finished, she wrapped the letter in a blank sheet of paper and wrote on it in the Moslem script: "Please deliver speedily to the Great Helmsman of the Red Flower Society, Chen Jialuo." She knew the respect all Muslims had for her father and sister, and the way in which they worshipped her herself, and felt certain that if she just had a chance to pass the letter on to any Muslim in the mosque, they would certainly find a way to deliver it.

Having written the letter, her heart felt much easier. She was certain Chen was capable of anything and would easily find a way to rescue her. At that point, a sense of indescribable warmth and sweetness swept over her, and tired out from the day's exertions, she fell fast asleep.

Through the mists of slumber, she became aware of bells chiming around the palace, and opened her eyes to find the sky was already growing light. Hurriedly, she arose and washed herself, then combed her hair. The maid servants went to look after her knew she would allow no-one near her and watched from a distance. She carefully secreted the letter in her sleeve and then left the pavilion. Eunuchs were already waiting outside with a palanquin and took her to the mosque on the West Avenue of Eternal Peace while bodyguards crowded round both before and aft.

Seeing the round dome of the mosque as she descended from the palanqin, she felt both happiness and anguish. She walked through the mosque's entrance with head bowed and noticed two men walking on either side of her. They were dressed as Muslims, and she was about to pass the letter to one of them, then stopped herself. His features and manner were not at all those of her people. She glanced at the other man and saw he was the same.

"Were you sent by the Emperor to guard me?" she asked quietly in the Muslim tongue. Both men nodded, not understanding what she had said.

Disappointed, she turned round and saw there were another eight palace guards dressed as Muslims behind her, and that all the real Muslims were being kept at a safe distance. She walked over to the chief Imam of the mosque and said: "Please make sure this letter is delivered no matter what happens." The Imam started in shock as Princess Fragrance pushed the letter into his hand. A guard rushed forward and snatched the letter away and gave the Imam a heavy push on the chest, causing him to stumble and almost fall. The other worshippers looked at each other in surprise, wondering what was going on.

"What do you people think you're doing?" the Imam demanded angrily.

"Mind your own business," the guard hissed at him. "We are from the palace."

Severely frightened, the Imam did not dare to say another word, and turned to lead the gathering in prayer.

Princess Fragrance knelt down with the others and tears welled out of her eyes like water from a spring. In the midst of her pain and sorrow only one thought remained: "How can I warn him to be on his guard? I must let him know even if I die doing it, but how?"

"By dying!" The realisation streaked across her brain like a flash of lightning. "If I die here, word will get out and he will hear of it. That's it. There's no other way!"

Then the Prophet's words sounded in her ears like thunder: "Those who take their own life will fall into the eternal fires and will never escape." She was not afraid of death, and believed that people who died could ascend to Paradise and be re-united with their loved ones for eternity. But with suicide, there was nothing to look forward to but never-ending pain!

A violent shiver ran through her and she suddenly felt extremely cold. She listened for a moment to the congregation reciting the scriptures.

For a true religious believer there is nothing more terrible than the consignment of the soul to eternal Hell, but she could see no other way. Love overcame the greatest fear of all.

"Most sacred and Holy Allah," she whispered. "It is not that I don't believe you care for me. But there is no other way except by using my own blood."

She took the dagger out of her sleeve and on the stone in front of her, carved out the words "Don't trust the Emperor." Then she lightly called out the word "Brother!" and thrust the blade into the purest, most beautiful breast in this world.

T
hat morning, while the Red Flower Society heroes were discussing the situation in their quarters in Twin Willow Lane, a servant appeared to announced the arrival of the Emeror's chief bodyguard, Bai Zhen. Chen went out alone to meet him. Bai Zhen passed on the Emperor's invitation to all the leading members of the Red Flower Society to attend a banquet in the Lama Temple that evening to be hosted by the Emperor himself. He explained that the banquet was being held outside the palace in order to avoid raising the suspicions of the Empress Dowager and the Manchu nobles. Chen expressed his thanks. He assumed the news indicated Princess Fragrance had already done what had to be done and had given in to the Emperor, and felt an inexpressible mixture of emotions. After having seen Bai Zhen out, he returned to discuss matters with the heroes, who were very excited that the Emperor was keeping his part of the bargain, although they were also painfully aware of the sacrifice Chen had made to make it possible.

They passed the rest of the morning in kung fu training, and Chen showed the others some of what he had learned inside the White Jade Peak. Just as they were in the midst of the practice, they heard wailing and mournful singing outside. At first, they did not take much notice, but the noise gradually increased in volume, as if thousands of people were gathering in an state of extreme grief.

Xin Yan had lived in the desert for a long time and recognised the song as a Muslim funeral dirge. His curiosity aroused, he ran out to find out what was going on, and returned a while later, unsteady on his feet and ashen-faced. He walked over to Chen. "Master!" he exclaimed, his voice shaking.

The heroes stopped their kung fu training, and Chen turned to him. "What is it?" he asked.

"She… Princess Fragrance is dead!"

The heroes blanched. For Chen, everything went black and he collapsed to the ground. Priest Wu Chen dropped his sword and helped him up.

"How did she die?" Luo Bing asked.

"The Muslim I talked to said she stabbed herself to death while praying in the mosque," Xin Yan replied.

"What else did he say?"

"That the Empress Dowager would not let her body back into the palace and had it handed over to the mosque. They are just on their way back from burying her now."

The heroes all cursed the Emperor bitterly for his cruelty in hounding such a pure, innocent young girl to her death. Luo Bing broke down and started to cry. Chen was silent for a while, and then suddenly said to Prist Wu Chen: "I haven't finished showing you all the moves yet. Let us continue."

To their amazement, he walked back out into the middle of the courtyard. Wu Chen decided it would be a good idea to help distract Chen from his grief, so he raised his sword and resumed the training session. The heroes saw Chen's footwork was just as sure as before and his hands moved with the same skill as if the news had had absolutely no effect on him, and they began to quietly discuss it amongst themselves.

"Men have no hearts," Yuanzhi whispered into 'Scholar' Yu's ear. "He thinks only of his great plans for the country, and doesn't care at all about the death of the woman he loved."

Yu said nothing. But he silently praised Chen for his self-control. If it were me, he thought, I think I would immediately go insane.

Aware that a great change had come over Chen, Priest Wu Chen did not dare press him too hard, and in a few moves, Chen had easily gained the upper hand. As the Priest retreated, Chen's hand suddenly shot out and touched his hand. The two leapt apart.

"Good! Excellent!" exclaimed the priest.

"You weren't really trying," Chen replied and laughed. But before the laugh was finished, he vomited a mouthful of blood. The heroes rushed forward as one to help him, but Chen waved them away with a wan smile.

"It's nothing," he said. He walked back into the house, supporting himself on Xin Yan's shoulders.

Chen slept for more than two hours. Upon waking, he thought of all the important things he had to do, including seeing the Emperor that evening, and knew he had to look after himself. But as soon as he thought about Princess Fragrance's tragic death the pain was such that he wanted to end it all. He wondered why she would suddenly commit suicide after clearly agreeing to give in to the Emperor. Could it be that she had changed her mind and decided she could not renounce her love for him? But she knew this was a matter of no small significance. He was convinced that something must have happened, but what? He meditated on the problem for a while but could come to no conclusion, so he took out a set of Muslim clothes he had brought from the northwest and put them on, then blacked his face with some diluted ink.

"I'm going out," he said to Xin Yan. "I'll be back in a while." Xin Yan quietly followed him. Chen, who knew he was simply acting out of loyalty, did not try to stop him.

The streets were full of people and noise, intermingled with many carriages and horses, but in Chen's eyes, all was deserted. He walked into the mosque on the Avenue of Eternal Peace, went straight into the main hall, and threw himself down on the ground to pray. "Wait for me in Heaven," he said quietly. "I promised you that I would be converted to the Islamic faith, and I will make sure that you do not wait in vain."

He raised his head and noticed what looked like an inscription on the floor about five feet in front of him. He went forward to investigate and saw it was several Muslim words etched into the stone with the point of a knife: "Don't trust the Emperor." There was some pigment in the grooves of the words, and Chen started in shock. Looking around, he found a part of the floor nearby that was slightly darker in colour, and thought: "Could this be her blood?" He bent down to smell the patch and caught the tang of fresh blood. In a second, he was overcome with grief and he threw himself on the ground, sobbing.

After crying for a while, he felt someone tap him lightly on his shoulder. He leapt to his feet ready to fight, then started in surprise: it was Huo Qingtong, dressed as a Muslim boy.

She had arrived that day with the Twin Eagles in the hope of rescuing Princess Frangrance, but had heard almost immediately that her sister was dead. She had come to the mosque to pray for her.

Chen noticed two palace guards enter the mosque, and with a tug on Huo Qingtong's sleeve, pulled her down to the ground where they prostrated themselves in prayer.

The guards walked over. "Get up!" they barked. Chen and Huo Qingtong did as they were told and walked over to a window. Behind them, they heard the sound of hammering as the guards used implements to prise up the flagstone on which Princess Fragrance's message was engraved. They carried the stone out of the mosque and rode away.

"What was that?" Huo Qingtong asked.

"If I had been one step late I would have missed the warning she wrote in her own blood and sacrifed her life for."

"What warning?"

"There are too many eyes and ears here," Chen replied. "Let's kneel down on the floor again and I'll tell you." So they prostrated themselves again and Chen gave her a brief account of all that had happened.

"How could you be stupid as to trust the Emperor?" Huo Qingtong declared angrily.

Chen was mortified with shame. "I thought that because he is Chinese, and also my blood brother…" he began.

"And what if he is Chinese? Do you mean to say Chinese are incapable of doing bad? And what use is he going to have for brotherly love, as Emperor?"

"I am responsible for her death," Chen sobbed. "I…I can't bear not to follow her immediately."

Huo Qingtong saw how heartbroken he was and felt she had been too hard on him. "What you did was for the good of the common people," she said softly to comfort him. "You can't be blamed." After a moment's silence, she asked: "Are you going to go to the banquet in the Lama Temple this evening?"

Chen gritted his teeth in rage. "The Emperor will be there, so I'll assassinate him and avenge her death."

"Yes," Huo Qingtong agreed. "And also avenge my father and brother, and all the people of my tribe."

"How did you manage to escape when the Manchu troops attacked?" he asked.

"I was very sick at the time, but luckily I had my troop of bodyguards with me who managed to get me out and took me to my teacher's home," she replied.

Chen sighed. "Your sister said that even if it meant travelling to the ends of the earth, we had to find you." The tears began to stream down Huo Qingtong's face.

They walked out of the mosque and Xin Yan came up to meet them. He was astonished to see Huo Qingtong with Chen.

"Mistress! How are you?" he exclaimed. "I've been thinking of you."

"Well thank you," she replied. "You've grown a lot since I last saw you."

They returned to Twin Willow Lane to find the Twin Eagles of Tianshan in the middle of a heated argument with the heroes. Chen swallowed his tears and told them of the blood-stained words he had seen in the mosque. Bald Vulture slapped the table.

"Didn't I tell you?" he demanded. "Of course that Emperor means us harm. The girl must have obtained some definite proof of it in the palace before she would give her life to let us know." The others agreed.

"When we go to the banquet this evening, we won't be able to carry swords, so everyone prepare daggers or darts," said Chen. "The food and drink may be poisoned so don't allow anything to touch your lips. We have to kill the Emperor tonight for the sake of revenge but we must also plan our escape route."

"None of us will be able to live in central China again," said Bald Vulture. "We should all go to the Muslim regions."

The heroes had long lived in the south of China, and the idea of leaving their home was not easy to accept. But the Emperor was evil and dangerous and bitterly hated by all of them, and everyone was willing to do what was necessary.

Chen ordered 'Leopard' Wei to go to the west gate of the city with several of the heroes and to kill the guards at the right moment to allow them all to escape. He then ordered Xin Yan to arrange for horses to be waiting outside the Lama Temple. Turning to Yu, he told him to immediately inform all the Red Flower Society's members in Beijing and all other provinces to go to ground to avoid being arrested.

The arrangements complete, Chen turned to the Twin Eagles and Master Lu. "I would like to ask you three elders for suggestions on how the assassination should be carried out," he said.

"Isn't it simple?" replied Bald Vulture. "I go up and grab his neck and give it a good twist. That should finish him."

Lu smiled. "I'm afraid you won't get close enough to grab his neck with all the bodyguards he is bound to have around him."

"It would be better if Third Brother attacks him with poisonous darts," suggested Priest Wu Chen. "Even if just one hits the target, that will be enough."

Lu turned to Luo Bing. "You could dip your throwing knives into some poison too, and I could do the same with my Golden Needles," he said.

Luo Bing nodded. "If we all loose our weapons at once, a few at least will hit him no matter how many bodyguards he has," she said.

Chen watched the heroes as they dipped their various weapons into a pot of bubbling poison on the stove, and thought uncomfortably about how the Emperor was born of the same mother as himself. But then he remembered his cruelty and deviousness and his rage burned up again. He drew his dagger and placed it for a moment in the pot of poison along with the others.