The Mandate of Heaven (59 page)

The diary of Chancellor Liu Shui

(Written in a code decipherable only by those closely familiar with Yun Cai’s ‘Lotus Poem’.)

Summer, 1322

10
^th
Day, 8
^th
Month, 1322
A most regrettable altercation occurred in the Noble Count’s morning audience. At least, one may call the outcome regrettable. As I write this in my quarters I fear spies peering over my shoulder for the first time since I gained the honourable station of Chancellor.

The dispute was provoked by Deng Teng in his role as Respected Friend to the Noble Count. This position gives him the right to voice what others dare only think. One can never fault his integrity or courage. The Noble Count had used the audience to instruct his officers about a new campaign that would commence in twenty days. A campaign larger than any ever attempted by the Yueh Fei rebels: in short, the capture of Hou-ming City.

The senior officers – many loyal to our cause since its birth – muttered anxiously and in great surprise, so the Noble Count was forced to silence them. It was obvious the majority do not consider our strength sufficient for so bold an offensive, yet feared to say so. There was an angry light in the Noble Count’s eyes that made even me hesitate. Fear is the poison that has spread through our court since Lady Ying-ge and her circle gained influence over Hsiung’s mind – as instanced by the summary execution of Naval Commisioner Ma Fu and others accused of treason.

Into this silence stepped Honourable Deng Teng. ‘Your Highness,’ he said, ‘I would be failing in my obligations to you if I did not voice a deep concern. Though only a scholar, I have observed the manoeuvres of the Newly Adhered Navy with close attention. Your Highness, it does not seem ready for so essential a role.’

At this the officers nodded with relief and grunted their agreement. All that is, except Admiral Won-du.
He
protested they were ready to defeat a force twice their size. Yet I could see the doubt in my beloved Hsiung’s eyes, for Deng Teng had merely voiced his own fear.

‘Your Highness,’ I murmured in his ear, ‘your Respected Friend is certainly right.’

‘Noble Count,’ urged Teng in his forthright way, ‘I beg you to be cautious! First sail with the fleet yourself and attack a town up the coast. That will reveal the Navy’s true readiness.’

A fierce debate followed, but Deng Teng’s point was so well argued even the scorn and insinuations of Ministers Chao and Hua had no effect and the Noble Count agreed to a trial of his navy’s strength. Let me add that Teng’s most vociferous supporter in this matter was the doughty General P’ao, a man whose loyalty to Hsiung can never be doubted.

11
^th
Day, 8
^th
Month, 1322
The Temporary Palace is full of rumours and whisperings; most concern the sincerity and trustworthiness of Honourable Deng Teng. No need to ask which well of malice they are drawn from. I have long noticed a deep tension between Teng and the circle clustering round Lady Ying-ge. She never leaves the Noble Count’s side so it is a great struggle to speak with him alone. The piles of memoranda, petitions and needful decisions that must be authorised grow daily.

12
^th
Day, 8
^th
Month, 1322
His Highness led the Newly Adhered Navy out into the lake for their first taste of true action. They will assault a fortress on the coast north of Chenglingji and be gone some days.

Almost as soon as the Navy had vanished over the horizon a most distressing incident commenced in the gardens, where Honourable Deng Teng was exercising with his close companion, Shensi. Chao and Hua came with a contingent of armed men, seeking to arrest Deng Teng for high treason. They claimed to have intercepted letters proving this crime. By a lucky chance I happened to be taking my afternoon walk in the same section of the gardens and so intervened at the precise moment when weapons had been drawn.

My own bodyguard – each of whom is worth three of those employed by the Lesser Ministers – ensured violence was prevented. Nevertheless, Chao and Hua hurled many charges at Honourable Deng Teng, not just of treason, but that he had tried to seduce Lady Ying-ge in the Noble Count’s absence, making improper suggestions of an amorous kind. Deng Teng’s motive, they claimed, was base jealousy, for everyone knew of the Noble Count’s humble beginnings in the Deng household.

So their plan is revealed! Not just to use forged documents but Ying-ge’s undoubted power over Hsiung, his blindness and absurd devotion. In this way jealous madness might be unleashed. A plot, I fear, likely to succeed.

Such grave charges cannot be ignored and I have placed Deng Teng ‘under arrest’ in my own quarters while I think of a way to avert injustice.

18
^th
Day, 8
^th
Month, 1322
At dawn I took it upon my own authority as Chancellor to send Deng Teng and his companion Shensi away before Hsiung returns. Accordingly, I requisitioned one of two swift ships owned by Ministers Chao and Hua, bolstering their crews with picked men of my own. These men are fanatical in their devotion to the cause of Yueh Fei. I have instructed them that Deng Teng is the last descendent of our Great Hero capable of siring sons and that they must sacrifice their lives sooner than allow him to perish. All swore solemn oaths to never fail in that duty.

Luckily the ship was being maintained in a state of readiness for instant departure. It has been made quite clear to the captain that a failure to co-operate will lead to his immediate execution, followed by the death of his two sons who I have taken hostage.

These desperate measures are the only way I can see of preventing a crime that would damage Hsiung’s equanimity forever – more deeply even than the sacrilege he committed in the Buddha’s caves. At least he was defending himself there. If, in a jealous rage, he ordered the death of his boyhood companion, nay, the only son of the noble scholar who fed him when he was an abandoned child, how lamentable a fall from virtue that would be!

With luck, Chao and Hua will not discover the absence of their ship until tomorrow, by which time Teng will be beyond reach.

Word has arrived that the ‘trial’ of the Newly Adhered Navy was chaotic. I anticipate Hsiung’s return with foreboding. His moods, darker and less manageable with each year that passes, will hardly be improved by the failure of his beloved fleet.

20
^th
Day, 8
^th
Month, 1322
The Noble Count has returned. I am still reeling from the harshness of his criticisms towards me. If it did not mean abandoning him to the mercies of Ying-ge and her circle, thereby condemning our noble cause to failure at the very time we are gaining in power, I would resign my Chancellorship. I can write no more tonight.

30
^th
Day, 8
^th
Month, 1322
Despite all evidence of the fleet’s weakness in battle and all the advice, no, entreaties, of his trusted captains and officers and officials, the Noble Count has sailed off to attack Hou-ming. As for me, he avoids my presence. I suspect pride lies behind it – and the ceaseless flattery and whisperings of Ying-ge. She gave me a smile of malicious triumph as she waved a yellow handkerchief in farewell. In less than ten days they will be besieging Hou-ming, having disembarked our land army to surround the city as planned. At that point the Newly Adhered Navy will assault the harbour and wharfs using specially built ships with towering prows. I fear such an assault may prove inept. Worse, I begin to have misgivings we are sailing into a trap. Yet surely our agents would have reported any gathering of enemy forces?

2nd Day, 9
^th
Month, 1322
We wait for news of the war. Nothing yet. However, an unexpected – and not entirely unwelcome event – has occurred. Ministers Chao and Hua sailed away without warning in the middle of the night. No one knows where or why. Lady Ying-ge seemed as surprised as anyone. All her valuables had been packed for days, as though she anticipated a sudden departure of her own. Spies in her quarters have reported that these treasures – jewellery, pearls, silks and
cash
given as presents by the Noble Count – vanished along with Ministers Chao and Hua. It is assumed a maid provided the thieves with access to Lady Ying-ge’s not inconsiderable wealth.

Her anger and wailing shook the palace! She even sought me out, shrieking demands that I send ships and men in pursuit of her treacherous allies. That, I advised her, scarcely concealing my amusement, was impossible; all available men are needed to protect the Noble Count’s belongings from thieves in his absence. The expression of mingled vexation, hatred and fear on her pretty little face was a joy to behold. If my suspicions prove correct her fear will be more than justified.

Hou-ming City, 8
^th
Day, 9
^th
Month, 1322

Yun Shu’s palanquin slowed to a halt. The street was blocked by bare-chested penitents, some moaning in a trance, others chanting half-learned sutras. Their hysteria had been gathering for months, years. Passions simmering since the riots between the Buddhists and Daoists at the start of the summer. Now that cauldron, stoked by ambitious men, threatened to boil over.

‘Bo-Bai!’ she called, leaning out of the palanquin. ‘Can we advance no further?’

It was dusk. Already she was late for her appointment with Worthy Master Jian at Golden Bright Temple. All day she had delayed her departure from Cloud Abode Monastery. Reports flew everywhere of crowds inflamed by holy men from Tibet. The city authorities were also much to blame. As soon as the huge rebel fleet had been sighted near Hou-ming, proclamations appeared on all ward gates stating the Yueh Fei bandits planned to massacre the entire population of the city.

Prince Arslan’s intention had been obvious: dissuade malcontents from supporting the rebels when they attacked. Yet the people had reacted in surprising ways. Though it was over forty years since the Great Sacrifice in Hou-ming, terror was an abiding wound. The loss of entire generations haunted everyone. Sheer panic welled from the dark places of numerous souls. Crowds of the Buddha’s most zealous followers gathered in the slave market, burning incense, chanting, praying and pleading for salvation. This mass of bodies blocked Yun Shu’s way.

‘Bo-Bai!’ she called ‘Should we go back?’

The tall old eunuch appeared at the window.

‘Hide yourself!’ he hissed. ‘What if you are recognised?’

Yun Shu hesitated. Yet her robes were plain enough and her nun’s ‘whirlwind clouds’ hair concealed beneath a shawl.

Certainly some fanatic might decide Abbess Yun Shu’s presence was an affront to the Buddha Makhala. Around them penitents jostled and advanced slowly in the direction of the market square. Many were emaciated by hunger and labour; their naked torsos bore lesions caused by accidents, whips, disease. People with nothing to lose except their hope for a favourable rebirth.

‘I dare not disappoint the Worthy Master,’ she told Bo-Bai. ‘If the palanquin can go no further, I shall walk.’

Though Bo-Bai protested, Yun Shu was accustomed to getting her way.

‘You’ll be no help to anyone dead,’ he muttered as she stepped out of the palanquin and pushed into the crowd. ‘He won’t be able to suck you dry then.’

Yun Shu ignored both warnings. ‘Golden Bright Temple is not far. Stay close to me, Bo-Bai.’

They came upon a clear alleyway that led in the direction of the temple. Yun Shu’s ears echoed with droning voices and shuffling feet. Surely the authorities should not allow such a gathering, not with enemy forces approaching the city. Surely they would clear the streets.

‘Over here!’ she called.

‘No! That is not the way!’

Too late. She had broken out of the shuffling procession and hurried into the dark alleyway. A moment later Bo-Bai appeared behind her.

‘Yun Shu,’ he said, ‘we should go back.’

The alley had narrowed alarmingly. She saw a flickering glow of fires in the distance. ‘See! We must be near the Temple now.’

At the end of the narrow passage her mistake become obvious. With the realisation came revulsion – more of spirit than body, for it seemed she had stepped from familiar Hou-ming, the stage she had known all her life, to a place not of this earth, to Di-yu itself, the Underworld Mansion, one of the Ten Courts of Hell. If so, it was a court without a wise or benevolent judge, or any law except the reasonless passions of distressed, misguided souls.

Large fires had been built all over the slave market. Smoke and waves of heat shimmered. The roar of flames joined loud chants and screams.

Yun Shu realised many of the men and women in the square were seeking instant salvation from the miseries of this world. Of course, she had heard of such desperate steps towards nirvana:
Relinquishing the Body
or
Mounting the Smoke of Glittering Colours
. Never had she imagined such practices in Hou-ming. As she watched, a man clad only in a loincloth, his skin shiny with oil, limbs bandy and thin, applied a burning torch. Instantly he was ablaze – standing quite still while the flames absorbed his sins until he slumped to his knees. Elsewhere in the square others tried different ways to Abandon the Body. Glimpses were revealed through drifting clouds of smoke then obscured. A man with a huge cleaver, hacking frantically at his own fingers, wrist, then arm. Another used hooks to gouge out his eyes, screaming the Buddha’s blessed name over and over.