Chapter Seventy-Eight: Secret Report

Wu Ning was, after all, only a minor figure. The matters that touched the higher reaches of power were far more intricate than he had imagined.

He did not know that before ten days had passed, every word he had spoken to Princess Taiping that day, and even every word he had said to Daoist Xiao and Wu Sansi, would reach the eyes of the true master of the Great Tang, far away in the distance.

...

— —

The eastern capital, Luoyang, had been renamed the Divine Capital since the first year of the Sacred Dwelling era.

Perhaps, in the Empress Dowager's view, Chang'an held memories too bitter to bear, and so for all these years she had chosen to dwell in the Divine Capital.

At this moment, within the imperial palace, a white-haired old woman was trying on a new robe.

Maidservants carefully draped a crimson gown embroidered with dragon and phoenix motifs over the old woman's shoulders, while the eunuch attending beside her wore a face full of obsequious flattery as he bent in praise.

"This dragon-and-phoenix robe was completed only after the embroiderers of the Garment Bureau worked three whole months. Worn upon the Sacred Empress, tsk tsk, it is truly peerless in splendor!"

The old woman said nothing, closing her eyes to rest while the attendants adjusted the robe.

The eunuch went on, "This humble servant has always said that only the union of dragon and phoenix is worthy of the Sacred Empress's exalted rank. Through all history, never has there been another so uniquely honored."

On this point the eunuch was not wrong. Since ancient times, empresses had worn only phoenix robes; what woman would dare dress herself in the image of the true dragon?

Alas, upon hearing this, the old woman suddenly opened her eyes and murmured, "Dragon and phoenix together? Why must there be a dragon at all?"

"This..." The eunuch thought she was asking him, and for a moment could not answer. "At present, the abbot of White Horse Monastery has presented the Great Cloud Sutra. Within it is written that a female ruler may govern the realm and ultimately attain Buddhahood. His Majesty has also submitted memorials several times, earnestly asking the Sacred Empress to take his place. Even all the civil and military officials of the court come daily to petition, pleading with the Sacred Empress to ascend the great throne."

As he spoke, the eunuch smiled ingratiatingly. "As for the dragon embroidery, naturally it is fitting for the Sacred Empress."

"Is that so?"

Wu Zetian's expression remained calm and unreadable as she asked again, "Why must it be the dragon? Why cannot the phoenix do?"

"This..." The eunuch grew flustered. After a long pause, he said, "It is ancestral custom."

At this, Wu Zetian suddenly gave the dragon-and-phoenix robe on her body a sharp shake and cast it off at once.

"Someone come! Change it to a phoenix robe! I insist on replacing the dragon with the phoenix. Who dares disobey me?!"

"Yes!" The eunuch broke out in a cold sweat and bowed deeply in assent, hurrying off at once to fetch a phoenix robe.

...

"Reporting to the Sacred Empress, Lady Shangguan seeks an audience."

"Admit her." Hearing that Shangguan Xiaowan had come, the old woman had her summoned in.

She herself, clad only in her inner garment, leaned back upon the couch, closed her aged eyes again, and gathered her strength.

"Sacred Empress!"

In a haze, she heard a soft call, and then felt a mantle being draped over her shoulders.

Slowly opening her eyes, she saw before her a graceful palace attendant, wrapping her robe more snugly about her.

"Wan'er has come!" She propped herself up. "What is it?"

The female official before her made a deep bow. "Reporting to the Sacred Empress, dispatches from Fang Prefecture have arrived."

"Bring them here."

...

— —

The reports from Fang Prefecture were more than one. Those Shangguan Wan'er presented before Wu Zetian numbered three or four at a glance.

The old woman glanced over them and a smile appeared on her face.

She could not help thinking that Wan'er truly understood her heart. The one placed on top was precisely the one she most wished to see: the personal memorial written by Prince of Luling, Li Xian.

She unfolded it and read in silence. As expected, it was a petition by Li Xian asking his mother to take the throne.

Though full of praises and earnest entreaties, such surface words mattered little. What mattered was Li Xian's attitude.

That alone was what the old woman wanted.

After a cursory glance, she handed it to Shangguan Wan'er. "Take this to His Majesty. Tomorrow at the regular court, have it proclaimed to the officials."

"Yes."

Wan'er lowered her slender hands in assent, yet did not move.

The old woman then picked up the second letter, which proved to be a secret report from the palace informants concerning the situation in Fang Prefecture.

This was only natural. With two nephews and one daughter having gone there in person, how could the old woman fail to keep them in her thoughts, watching every movement with concern?

Yet when she opened it, she froze, and a muttered exclamation slipped from her lips. "That mischievous Taiping girl still refuses, after all!"

The report said that Princess Taiping had actually gone to ask her grand-uncle for advice, and still did not wish to marry into the Wu clan.

She looked up at Shangguan Wan'er. "Why can she not understand that I am trying to save her?"

Wan'er did not know how to answer, and only lowered her head and bowed again.

The old woman had no intention of waiting for a reply. She shook her head and gave a bitter smile. "And how could her grand-uncle be the sort of man who can relieve a crisis?"

As she spoke, she continued reading, and then once again her expression changed.

Setting the secret report aside for the moment, she saw that the next letter beneath it was precisely a memorial submitted by Wu Sansi.

Opening it, she discovered that her nephew Wu Sansi was actually...

actually pleading for leniency for Li Sujie and Li Shangjin?

One must know that before they left for Fang Prefecture, it had been Wu Sansi who instigated the ministers of court to impeach the brothers Sujie and Shangjin and thoroughly investigate their treasonous rebellion.

His purpose needed no explanation: to intimidate the House of Li and ensure Wu Zetian's smooth ascent to the throne.

For this, the old woman had felt Wu Sansi's actions to be somewhat too aggressive, but considering the broader situation, she had still tacitly approved.

She had never expected Wu Sansi to change his mind now. His memorial said that if Li Sujie and Li Shangjin were truly punished, it might damage the Sacred Empress's benevolence; they should be handled with gentleness, by which the Sacred Empress's mercy would surely be revealed and the realm moved.

This surprised the old woman greatly. She sat up straight, holding both Wu Sansi's memorial and the secret report to compare them carefully.

She muttered to herself, "Could it be that that Daoist truly has such insight? Have I misjudged him?"

Yet what astonished Wu Zetian even more than the Daoist was this:

"Wu Ning..."

"Fifteen years old?!"

The old woman truly could not believe that the one who had enlightened Wu Sansi was a boy of only fifteen.

She held the report and continued reading, and there before Wu Zetian unfolded Wu Ning's impassioned speech about court struggles and the suffering of the people.

Even Shangguan Wan'er at his side was full of confusion. This Wu Ning, whose name had been called out by the Sacred Empress, could actually make her read a memorial with both astonishment and laughter.

...

"The Great Tang has stood for sixty years, and it is actually about to welcome a female sovereign. Does Your Highness think the men of the world will submit to it?"

At this point, the old woman's brows knotted tightly, and anger flashed across her face, bringing to mind the dragon-and-phoenix robe she had just cast off.

She thought darkly: What if they do not submit? If they will not submit, then kill them until they do!

...

"And on the contrary, perhaps in all this world I am the only one who truly submits, who truly believes the Sacred Empress ascending the throne is entirely proper."

"The duty of the Son of Heaven is to act on Heaven's behalf. So long as one can help Heaven govern this world well, man or woman, in my view, it is all the same."

At these words, the old woman's anger turned to laughter, and she said to herself, "You clever rogue, at least you know your place!"

Without that sentence, once the old woman set down the secret report, an imperial decree would likely already have been flying to Fang Prefecture.

By the time Wu Ning reached the foot of the mountain pass, he would already have been cold.

...

Continuing downward.

"The House of Li seeks to preserve the dignity of the imperial clan; the House of Wu must hurry to catch up and command power over all under Heaven!"

"The gentry of Guanzhong must preserve the unrivaled glory they have enjoyed since the reign of Taizong."

"And the Seven Noble Houses and Ten Great Clans must survive under the Sacred Empress's heavy pressure, so as to sustain the thousand-year continuity of their lineages."

"In the civil service examinations, the officials chosen are the trusted retainers of the Li and Wu families. Thus the contest is not over who has greater learning or greater ability, but over who knows how to flatter and who knows how to curry favor."

"Harsh censors and punishment officials do not seize the wicked; they seize dissenters!"

"The men are not thinking about statecraft, but about not being pressed beneath women!"

"Does Your Highness not feel that something is missing from this game of power?"

"Something missing?" The old woman frowned deeply, and Wu Ning then provided the answer.

The suffering of the people was missing. The world was missing.

Beneath power, there are still hungry masses and suffering common folk; behind all splendor, there remain the countless living beings.

What was missing was a minister's sense of duty!

When the old woman reached this point, she felt as though sweat drenched her entire body. How invigorating it was.

"Excellent!"

She cried out in praise at once.

"Well said!"

She flung the report before Shangguan Wan'er. "Copy down this passage. Tomorrow at the regular court, I shall read it aloud myself to those ministers of the realm!"

As she spoke, a trace of mockery appeared on Wu's old face.

"I wonder what faces those so-called virtuous and worthy men will wear when they prove no better than this fifteen-year-old boy!"

(Wu Ning howls!)

(No way, isn't this just a full-scale taunt?)

(Just how much hatred is this old woman trying to stir up for me?)

Completely doomed.

...

.